Minimal Mac

"We sometimes underestimate the influence of little things."

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:02:26 -0500

“We sometimes underestimate the influence of little things.”

- Charles W. Chesnutt

Practical Opacity

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:27:41 -0600

I think it is finally time to take the wraps off another project I have been working on…

Think of it as “Minimal Social Media”. In this age where Radical Transparency is championed, I want to suggest another direction (hence the name). In this age where we are drowning in a sea of information and expected and encouraged to drown others, I want to suggest otherwise. Basically, I hope to provide links, tips and suggestions on how to increase the signals and unfollow the noise.

I actually have been loading it up with content over the last several weeks, quietly, in the shadows. There is lots of good stuff there so go when you have time to take a look around and load up your Instapaper.

Nimble Design - /the/path/of/most/resistance

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:18:00 -0600

Nimble Design - /the/path/of/most/resistance:

Unfortunately for the average person, the file system is so complex that everything outside of the desktop and the documents folder appears to be a vast labyrinth which most likely hides booby traps and minotaurs.

That’s because it does hide booby traps and minotaurs.

Let’s just say I tell a client “That ‘Home’ folder is where all of your stuff is. The Mac likes it when you store stuff in there. Use it to store your stuff.” So of course, they put all of their documents in the Documents folder, All music in Music and all eBooks in the Library folder. Then, they go in there and see all of this other stuff and start moving it around, throwing it away, etc. Then, the next time they restart they wonder why nothing is working right. Booby Trap!

So, instead, I have to say “Well, you can touch this but don’t touch that. This is your stuff but this other thing that, while it is your stuff, you can’t touch because it will break things.” With all of that confusing and conflicting information, of course they are just going to save everything to the Desktop and never move it. It’s easier and there is not chance of “breaking” anything. No booby traps.

This a great read but, if you have been paying attention, it is nothing you have not heard me hammering away at for a while now.

(thx DF)

Marco.org - Overdoing the interface metaphor

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:23:38 -0600

Marco.org - Overdoing the interface metaphor :

Functionally, it’s almost a calculator. But it’s also almost a spreadsheet and almost a list pad. By not constraining its design to that of a common physical object, it’s able to be and do much more than anything in the physical world ever could.

Marco raises some good arguments against the idea that mimicking real world objects in UI design is not always the right answer. In fact, it can also lead to replicating all of the problems inherent in the device you are attempting to replicate.

That said, he is also pretty honest about what this really is – another chance to highlight Soulver. Soulver is a fantastic app I have mentioned only in passing before that is basically a smart scratchpad for doing calculations in near natural language.

Both points are sound ones though and another excellent piece of insight from Marco. The world would be a much better place if all of us put the amount of thought into the things we produce that he does.

Yummygum Office

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:59:37 -0600

At Yummygum, we embrace a minimal mind set not only in our online corporate visual identity but also in our office. We’ve tried to create a minimal workspace, using the Bluelounge CableBox, a lot of whitespace and a clean and clutter free desk.

(Submitted by Yummygum)

Holy moly! This shot is just the beginning. Click the link and see the whole set. Beautiful stuff.

Desk! (via IFGD) Lovely.

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:38:55 -0600

Desk! (via IFGD)

Lovely.

Speaking of things I have linked to before… I can’t...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:39:00 -0600

Speaking of things I have linked to before… I can’t believe I have not fully endorsed Clipstart before. But first, a rant…

One of my goals of this site is to profess my belief that the built in applications on the Mac (and I am including both iLife and iWork in that category) can fulfill most people’s needs without any additional software. Mail is a really great email program. TextEdit is a really decent basic word processor. iPhoto is great for organizing photos and doing basic corrections… iPhoto… Let’s talk about iPhoto…

It sucks monkey nuts at organizing video. I’m not talking about movies or TV shows – I’m talking all of the video us parent types like to shoot of our two year olds with those Flip Cameras we got for Fathers Day. Or the footage of the hockey leagues our kids play that we shot with our pocket digital camera. You know, those random, personal video snippets. iPhoto tries really hard. It will import that stuff into your iPhoto library just fine and then it will, well, try to treat it like a photo. Double-click the thing and, does it open it and play it right there? No. It launches Quicktime. Quicktime for Hades sake! And don’t even get me started on how bad iMovie is at such things.

Clipstart fills this massive void and does so by doing one thing really well – organizing your personal video and making it easy to tag, find and share it. It automagically sorts everything by year, makes navigating and tagging your videos as keyboard friendly as possible, and can upload your stuff to Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo or Twitter. It even has some basic editing capability so you can delete the fact that your thumb was covering the lens for the first minute you were rolling. Watch the video to get a sense of how wonderful in it’s simplicity this all is.

I really can’t say enough good things about it or how badly needed this app was before it existed. If you have a lot of home movies, buy this. Seriously.

Simple Desktops

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:08:00 -0600

Simple Desktops:

I have actually linked to this site before (Oct. 19 2009 to be exact), but people keep pinging me about it every time any other blog mentions it so I’ll link to it again.

"We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication."

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:29:49 -0600

““We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication.””

- John Gardner

April Third

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:10:00 -0600

April Third

What Apple Sells...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:51:40 -0600

Apple has never really been in the business of selling product. What Apple really sells is an experience.

What Apple sells begins before you even walk in the door…

It begins before you take out your credit card…

It continues when you get back home…

To when you start it up…

My point being that, any company can sell you a product. Very few take the time and attention to detail that it takes to sell you an experience. If you really want to know what makes Apple so successful where others struggle, look at what they sell.

Tully Hansen

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:26:00 -0600

Tully Hansen:

Shout out to Tully, who was the 4000th follower of Minimal Mac on Tumblr. His reward: Sending him some Sweet Schwag™. Not to worry though, the schwag will be even sweeter for number 5000.

How-To: Use Time Machine Over a Network

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:22:05 -0600

How-To: Use Time Machine Over a Network :

I love Time Machine for its simplicity and the fact that it’s free. Apple did the right thing in creating a backup utility that was integrated into the OS and was actually useful. Anyone who has fought with Windows Backup can tell you, this has been needed for a long time. Apple created a beautiful backup utility and then made money on hardware that seamlessly works with it. For the home user, nothing could be more simple.

Good quick tutorial on how to get Time Machine backing up to a network volume without laying out the cash for a Time Capsule.

iPad Aesthetics

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:51:00 -0600

iPad Aesthetics:

But as someone who prefers tidiness and iPhone screen real estate, I think the iPad interface is a step in the right direction

Me too. Chris makes a good simple argument (with pictures) to make the case.

Today was one of the early apps I featured here on Minimal Mac....

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:41:00 -0600

Today was one of the early apps I featured here on Minimal Mac. It’s for good reason, it’s a simple yet elegant interface to your iCal calendars showing you just the info you need (what is happening today) and none you don’t.

It was recently updated to version 2.0 and has many nice touches including:

Redesigned user interface.
The option to show tomorrows events.
BusyCal support.
64 bit support.

In all, it is a nice upgrade and worth checking out.

A collection of favorite Mac OS X Hints tips | Mac OS X | Mac OS X Hints | Macworld

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:31:56 -0600

A collection of favorite Mac OS X Hints tips | Mac OS X | Mac OS X Hints | Macworld:

Speaking of getting to know your tools deeper… Rob Griffiths, the founder and editor of Mac OS X Hints one of my all time favorite Mac sites, is stepping down from that role to pursue other interests. While I am very sad to see him go, I know he will leave the site in good hands. Here, he recounts some of his favorite tips and tricks from over the years.

That said, part of my goal of Minimal Mac is to advocate the idea of getting the most of the Mac and the apps that it ships with. Part of that, is getting to know these tools a bit deeper. Mac OS X Hints is chock full of nothing but ways to do just that.

Good luck in your travels Rob.

Work Better and Faster by Exploring Your Tools — Brett Kelly Dot Org

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:14:00 -0600

Work Better and Faster by Exploring Your Tools — Brett Kelly Dot Org:

Take some time today to really get acquainted with one specific tool that you use frequently. Poke around the menus and help files, search Google for “ tricks” and see what comes up. I think you’ll be surprised by what you find.

Excellent advice from Brett. I too am guilty of only using a few specific features of an application and not really diving in and really getting to know it. And while there are certainly some apps that are so deep you could spend years fully learning them, even those might be worth a least a half hour of time investigating just one thing that could change your game.

Instapaper in Byline

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:08:00 -0600

Here’s how you do it. Go to Instapaper an set it up to import your starred items from Google Reader. Now, back in Byline, when you star an article it will be starred in Google Reader and show up in the GR folder in IP.

I have not tried this yet (dealing with a sick kid) but, if this works, I will be a very happy man and dub the submitter (Harmon) a BadAss™.

Update: Here are very good, step-by-steps instructions. Keep in mind, this is a workaround and, IMHO, not a substitute for having this implemented in Byline.

iPhone’s Missing Feed Reader – Shawn Blanc

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:37:56 -0600

iPhone’s Missing Feed Reader – Shawn Blanc:

It is my safe assumption that readers of this website also prefer apps which do less, but do it well. And so read on for a high-level look at some of the more popular iPhone feed readers, what I find good and not-so-good about them, and my suggestions for amelioration.

Great overview of the state of the iPhone RSS reader market. For the record, I use Byline and mostly agree with what Shawn had to say about it. That said, version 3.0, due out soon, includes the only feature I feel is really missing from it (Instapaper integration) so it will be enough for me at that point. If you have not tried any RSS readers, are still on the fence, or just want to see what else is out there, this post is for you.

"Our Heart and Soul and DNA is in consumers"

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:53:53 -0600

““Our Heart and Soul and DNA is in consumers””

- Tim Cook, regarding the importance of focus on the consumer market to Apple.