November 2009
46 posts
October 2009
115 posts
Poor Equipment for Pro Contact Sports
merlin:
Now Up–to–Date & Contact [April 1997]
It’s mind-boggling to me that both Gmail Contacts and OS X’s Address Book application lack many of the basic features that have been available in equivalent apps for 10 or more years.
Back in the day, I was a big fan of the pairing of Now Contact and Now Up-To-Date. Starting around 1993 or so (?), and as the administrator of a small...
“Our goal is not to build the most computers. It’s to build the best.”
– Tim Cook
Simple Desktops →
Curated collection of simple desktop pictures. Nicely design site with some great choices so far.
focus booster - the pomodoro technique →
This looks like an amazing app. I have not had the time to download and try it out but I’m totally on it the first chance I get. It really reminds me of Merlin Mann’s Productivity Dash which I use all the time. I’ve been looking for a good app for this and this looks like it could be the trick. (via a submission by lionthegirl)
ikea hacker: iMac computer desk →
Stunning.
“Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the...”
– Edwin Way Teale
One-handed computing with the iPhone →
The easy single-handed operation of the iPhone is not one of its obvious selling points but is one of those little features that grows on you and becomes nearly indispensable. A portable networked computing and gaming device that can be easily operated with one hand can be used in a surprising variety of situations.
Jason Kottke outlines one of the most important, yet overlooked, features of the...
Desktops : fiftyfootshadows.net →
This was mentioned in the screenshot post earlier today but I finally got a chance to go take a look. Every single desktop picture here is amazing. Take a look around the rest of the site while there too. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
If you are wondering why posts will be slow today, it’s because that’s where I will be – exploring every inch.
“Some people like surrounding themselves with beautiful objects, furniture, and...”
– Jason Fried (via mnmal)
exPhone — clever ways to responsibly reuse or... →
While we are on the subject of recycling, here is another good resource that is specific to cell phones.
How-to: recycle your old gadgets →
This is an excellent resource for helping you get rid of your gadget clutter in a responsible way. Full of links, details and what to expect.
Strange Loop 2009 Keynote: Minimalism in Computing
Strange Loop 2009 Keynote: Minimalism in Computing
Though this fantastic presentation by Alex Payne lacks accompanying audio it is still worth flipping through. Alex is one of my personal heroes. This will stand in for my usual end of the night inspirational quote as there is more than enough inspiration here.
O’Reilly wants to help with your computer book... →
Sorry I’m so late to the game on this. The promotion expires at the end of this month. Here’s the deal: Digital copies of any O’Reilly book you own, for only $4.99. Go. Hurry.
“Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window.”
– Steve Wozniak
GUIdebook > Screenshots > System 7.0 →
This GUI doesn’t have this feature.
Simplifying Your Life: It’s Time For A Reality... →
James hits the nail on the head here with something that is easy to forget when throwing around words like “minimalism” and “simplify”. The idea behind any of this stuff is not to do away with things for the sake of doing so and then slapping a label on your chest that screams “Oh, look at me, I’m so minimal!”. The idea is to look around and ask tough...
JustNotes →
JustNotes aims to be a straight forward and easy to use notes application for the Mac. Not only that, but it provides built in syncing with Simplenote, which I have written about a few times here. If I am correct, this is the first native Mac application to provide this feature integration. Worth a look indeed.
Makebelieve Help, Old Butchers, and Figuring Out... →
This is:
a) Not necessarily Mac related.
b) Important enough that I’m posting it here anyway.
c) Longish but worth spending a lunch break watching.
d) All of the above.
If you choose “d” then you are correct. High five the person nearest to you.
“We love music and it’s always good to do something you love”
– Steve Jobs (Introducing the iPod)
3-tap Middleclick on OSX for MacBook →
Being a macbook user doing everything with the trackpad (as having a external mouse isn’t much minimalist), I always wondered why you won’t have a setting to emulate middle click. Using the keyboard for Cmd+Click is a pain, especially when you are opening so many link in new tab with firefox!
So I’ve fixed that with an app I made some time ago.
(Submitted by Clem)
Make sure...
FastScripts →
Thanks to Shawn Blanc’s post about keyboard shortcuts yesterday, I have installed and have been using FastScripts. It’s mainly a one trick pony – allowing one to assign keyboard shortcuts to run Applescripts. That said, there are a lot of little details that make that one trick really valuable.
My favorite little detail is the Smart Switching. When you execute a script, FastScripts...
Guggenheim Desktop
Well here is my setup and I thought what better to use for a minimalist background than something done by Solomon R. Guggenheim.
The clock and weather you see are made using GeekTool and a few unix commands for getting the info. My dock is hidden on the bottom and only contains finder trash and my dropbox and application folders. For everything else I use Quicksilver.
(Submitted by Chris...
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their...”
– Mohandas Gandhi
Old and New
I wanted to share how the Minimal philosophy has impacted my work. I work from my home office. About 18 months ago I was using PC’s and you can see the setup as it was.
Then I switched - and everything changed. I’m now far more productive than I ever was. More organized. And my home office is a pleasure to work in.
Also included is a screenshot of my main workspace - the desktop...
Frequendly Used Keyboard Shortcuts From My Day – ... →
What I love about this is that, not only does Shawn provide the shortcuts and the apps he uses, he also has included links to the scripts he is using for ultimate keyboard productive-fu.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
– Steve Jobs
“A hard disk is recommended, but not necessary since each week’s issue of...”
– TidBITS - A HyperCard-based news journal. - comp.sys.mac | Google Groups
The announcement of TidBITS issue #1 by Adam Engst some 1000 issues ago. Another nugget of historical awesome for you to chew on. (via Daring Fireball - but you should know that because you should be reading it)
“As infants we learned to move objects around our play pens. Using a mouse is an...”
– Larry Magid’s 1984 LA Times review of 128K Mac | LarrysWorld.com
This whole thing is several kinds of wonderful. (via Shawn Blanc - who is today’s short term personal savior).
"Quick Look" in Open Dialog Box
One of my favorite new features of Snow Leopard is being able to use “Quick Look” in open or “choose file” dialog boxes. Makes it much easier to figure out which file to choose regardless of filename.
(Submitted by getgaryfit)
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really...”
– Steve Jobs 