December 2010
51 posts
November 2010
49 posts
How To Survive With Just 64GB - [Members Show] |... →
I have yet to watch it because I just signed up but it looks like Don at Screencasts Online has done a special members only two part show on tips and tricks for living with 64GB on a low end Macbook Air. I especially want to call your attention to this today because there is currently a 50% discount on the membership, but it will expire any moment now. Seems like these two episodes, if you are...
Eating dog food, scratching itches, walking talks...
I have ordered a Macbook Air 11inch with a 64GB SSD to replace my 3.5 year old Black Macbook (Blackbook) that had been upgraded with a 320/7200 HDD.
Once it arrives, I will use it fresh out of the box. I will not “migrate” any of my data until it is needed. Even then, the question before doing so that will always be asked is “Where does this belong?”. I will only install...
52 Tiger » Down to what’s necessary →
As my MacBook Pro slowly dies, I’ve called my old G4 iMac back into service. Years ago, that machine was wiped clean and given an install of Mac OS X 10.5 before being boxed in the basement. On Friday I will wrap up one week of using it as my primary work machine. In that time I’ve found that it’s slow, beautiful and perfect.
I actually linked to this before as part of commentary on another...
Minimal Mac | The Season of Stuff →
A friendly reminder from last year. Control the stuff. Don’t let the stuff control you.
Path — Introducing The Personal Network →
No following, no friending…just sharing with the people who matter most.
Path is a new app for iPhone that sets off on a very different approach to social networking. It’s goal is to be a highly focused “personal network” that allows you to share and tag personal moments using photos with no more than your fifty closest friends. Why no more than fifty?:
We chose 50 based on the research of...
patrickrhone / journal – The Driver and The... →
If you are wondering why posting has slowed to a crawl over the next few weeks, click the link above.
“I know that sometimes I get caught up on trying to make my computer as...”
– To Minimalist Computer Geeks (Like Me) | The Brooks Review
What I believe in (as I have said over, and over, and even on the about page).
One of the things I constantly battle with this site is that people will read the title and one or two posts and think they have some idea about what I believe...
“Gratitude turns ‘what we have’ into ‘enough’.”
– Aaron Mahnke
Jonathan Harris — AIGA | the professional... →
This video, featuring artist/programmer Jonathan Harris, affected me deeply. I’m sure it will affect you as well. Well worth the time spent.
(via Gwen Bell)
Patrick Rhone | Intrvws →
I had the extreme pleasure of being interviewed for Ian Hines’ new site, Intrvws. This is the most comprehensive interview I have ever done. We cover lots of ground, from how I got started writing, my somewhat accidental geekdom, my business, my favorite blogs, and my approach to all of my sites (most specifically this one). I’d be extremely grateful and humbled if you gave it a read.
Photo shoot by Diana Walker (Aug 2004) →
This is a lovely and highly personal photoshoot. I had never seen it before now. Love how the first shot is so much of “what we don’t believe in” – a desk piled with stuff. I bet you Steve can tell you exactly what is in those piles (but then he’d have to kill you). Proof that there is no right way. There is only the way that works for you.
(via Mr. Brooks)
saving ink — One (App) at a Time* →
Fantastic post from Anna Spysz about being forced to do with less after her Macbook Pro logic board died. It’s a nice reminder that one can really surprise themselves with how little they really need and how, in fact, “less” may have certain advantages over “more”. I love this part:
After the initial frustration subsided and I came to terms with the fact that I will...
T-Shirt Sales Closing Wednesday
Short version: If you want a Minimal Mac T-Shirt, click that link up there in the menu and order one sometime before Wednesday at 11:59am.
Long version: I’m having some fairly major surgery next Monday. I have some disk degeneration in C5, 6, & 7 that is causing bulging into the nerve space. It has caused me to be in various levels of constant pain from my neck down my right arm for...
Minimal: Find your own Way →
mnmal:
Before Buddha became enlightened he searched enlightenment by following different masters. Each one promised him that if he followed his way he would find what he was looking for. Buddha starved himself, lived a live of poverty and did other things as he was told by his masters. After several years he realized that none of this was going to give him what he was looking for, so he picked...
WatchGriffin Technology was kind enough to send me their new AirCurve Play for iPhone 4 for review. I thought a video review was most appropriate so that one can get a sense of how it sounds. Enjoy.
P.S. Price is $19.95, a fact I could not remember during production.
P.S.S. Yes, I’m aware the iPhone version is reporting it requires Flash. I’m not sure why. I’m using the iOS...
“Lessen your choices and your actions will quicken as well. You will not have to...”
– Patrick Rhone
Steven Frank on Notational Velocity, workflows,... →
There’s lots of what we believe in contained within Eddie Smith’s interview with Panic co-founder Steven Frank. His reliance on text files, his general aversion to third party software, and his iPad and 11in Macbook Air. Nice to-the-point peek into his workflow.
Looking at Different Writing Tools for Macs | The... →
Mr Brooks provides a nice tidy rundown of a lot of the Writing Apps available for the Mac. Some really great choices here (TextEdit being my favorite, of course). The one he likes and uses is called Ulysses which I had never heard of before but looks interesting (hardly minimal).
MacJournal for Mac, iPhone, and iPad | Mariner... →
I would like to take a moment out to thank Mariner Software and their excellent MacJournal for sponsoring this weeks RSS feed. Now available for Mac, iPhone and iPad. For home, for the office, for travel or just relaxing with some coffee in your favorite chair. You can take MacJournal with you wherever you go and never miss writing down anything ever again. I have used it daily for years now.
...
MUJI Apps for iPad | MUJI →
Silly me. I have not posted about these simple minimal iPad apps from one of my favorite retailers on the planet despite them being all over the internet last week. My bad. No excuses really.
There are three apps total. A calendar app (Free) that has a nicely designed interface with some interesting use of pinch and zoom to navigate and Google Calendar integration. A notebook app ($3.99) that...
Simple Productivity Task Of The Day: Give... →
Remember: he who dies with the most toys is still dead. We the living need to lighten our load and find it easier to get things done using only what’s essential.
Sage words from the Captain. In this spirit, I’ll be cleaning through some of my pile of nifty but unused tech and posting it up somewhere today.
Instapaper 2.3 for iPhone and iPad now available -... →
Major update to my favorite iPhone and iPad app with a ton of useful new features. Here is the one I have been waiting for:
The list now indicates approximate article length and progress with a row of dots, similar to how it’s done on a Kindle’s home screen. The more dots, the longer the article is, and darkened dots indicate approximately how far you’ve read in the article.
Often times I have...
Apple: Their Tablet Computer History – liquidpubs'... →
This is a treasure trove of early prototype pictures and history of the devices and ideas that eventually led us to the iPad of today. I’m actually floored by how many of these are new to me because I thought I had seen them all. I’ve been a fan of Apple’s moves in the space since before I owned the first Newton.
This link is a day wrecker for any true fan. Consider yourself...
52 Tiger » Mac OS 10.7 Lion’s secrets →
Dave Caolo slings a tasty bit of claim chowder with his take on Mac OS 10.7 as shown at the recent Back to The Mac event:
The event’s title was a fun play on words. At first I assumed Apple was re-directing the consumer’s attention away from iOS and back to the Mac. But no, the message was that Apple’s iOS developers are applying what they’ve learned to the desktop OS. Expect Mac OS 10.7 to be...
MacJournal for Mac, iPad, and iPhone | Mariner... →
I’m incredibly excited to welcome MacJournal for Mac, iPad, and iPhone from my friends at Mariner Software as the sponsor for the RSS Feed this week. For me, it is essential. I have been using the Mac version for as long as I can remember. I compose every post on my personal site in MacJournal as it easily allows posting to a number of blogging platforms (Wordpress in my case). I have...
“Each step requires asking “What’s really important?” That’s the most important...”
– The class I’d like to teach - (37signals)
Sure, it’s about writing but the essence of the idea is applicable everywhere.
A Lions Prey (See Ya Finder) | The Brooks Review →
What is our ultimate goal here: is it to have the ultimate version of Finder, or is our real goal not to have to constantly troubleshoot other peoples computers? For me it is the latter. (The argument can also be made that in simplifying computers it helps to better society, but such an argument is far more complex.)
Ben makes the argument for a more simple Finder that makes it easier for the...
Shanghai Mahjong for iPhone, iPad and iPod... →
With all the excitement about the shirt, I did not want my sincere thank you to MobileAge and their excellent Shanghai Mahjong to get lost. They have sponsored this week’s RSS Feed.
I might understand if you don’t have $20.00 for a t-shirt right now. I get that. What I have a much harder time understanding is not having less then a buck to buy a beautiful game that will provide hours...
Buy The Shirt!
The title says it all. You will now see a new (albeit, temporary) addition the the menu items. There, in the menu near “archive” and “rss” is “minimal mac t-shirt”. Click that. Launch the store. Buy one. They are $19.95 with shipping included. There is a $10.00 USD shipping surcharge for International orders. It’s also $3.00 extra for XXL. Sorry for...
Apple’s Next Macintosh OS | Monday Note →
A few days ago, I downloaded a neat little utility to silence the startup sound on my new 11” MacBook Air. How much did the developer make? Zero, it’s freeware; the programmer didn’t want to spend the time and money to set up a commercial site. How much would I have paid for it from a Mac App Store? Less than $5, more than 99 cents.
And this is just one of the reasons why I know the Mac App...
Daring Fireball: Going Flash-Free on Mac OS X, and... →
OK, now that the Chairman has laid out some clear and concise instructions, with a workaround for the (increasingly rare) times one needs it, I’m going to give this a swing.
Minimal Mac T-Shirt (Coming Soon)
Soon, I will be offering for sale, for a limited time, an official Minimal Mac T-Shirt. Please bear with me for the “teaser” style of this all but I’m still working out some of the details. That said, I wanted to give everyone a heads up on it so, if you are interested, you can start preparing now. So far, here is the plan:
The shirt will be very close to the picture above....
Lucky 13: A MacBook Air Review | The Brooks Review →
The 13 is a wonderful Mac and I can do just about everything on it that I could on my MacBook Pro. 14 Somethings are not as fast as they used to be, but those are things that I do infrequently and that when I am doing them I am never in a rush to finish them.
If you read any thorough review of the new Macbook Air, make it this one.
52 Tiger » Using Apple’s Preview as an image... →
Recently I was looking for a lightweight image editor. After auditioning great candidates like Acorn and Pixelmator, I realized that Apple’s own Preview offers nearly everything I need.
Great overview of all the wonderful things most people have no idea Preview can do. I use at least half of these daily.
Minimal | Feature bloat and the art of keeping... →
Take Firefox for example. Firefox started as a response to the Mozilla Suite. Mozilla was big, slow and wanted to be an all in one internet suite. For people wanting to browse the web this was an overkill. Firefox, then called Phoenix, was lighting fast with very few features; because of this small number of things the program allowed people to reach the main purpose of the program right away:...
Ten Thousand
Thank You.
Just a short post to thank each and every one of you. Just hit ten thousand followers on Tumblr. No words could ever be sufficient so I will have to leave it at that.
Mac Mount →
Are you sick of spilling coffee on your Mac Mini, or dropping staplers onto your expsensive AirPort Extreme? By bolting your gadgets to the underside of your desk, you instantly create physical, usuable space on the desk top. You’ll have more room to work and your devices sit safely under your workspace, but still within easy reach.
This looks like a really great solution. (via Jorge...
Shanghai Mahjong for iPhone, iPad and iPod... →
I would like to welcome MobileAge and their excellent game, Shanghai Mahjong, as this weeks RSS Feed Sponsor.
I’m going to be honest, I’m not much of a gamer. Never have been. You see, I know my limits and gaming is one of them. I know, once I start, I have a hard time stopping. That said, when I do want to go down that path, I’m very picky about how I do so. I want a classic...
