Archive for January 2nd, 2008
Posted by: in Productivity
Filed under: Internet, Macintosh, Productivity, Apple, Search, web 2.0
There’s a bit of an OS fanboy in all of us, but we’re not all personal programmers. So when it comes down to arguing which OS is “better,” we may not always have our facts straight. Andy Matuschak, on the other hand, is an OS X fanboy with a level head on his shoulders, and he believes OS X would be much better if Apple took a few more cues from Ubuntu.
Matuschak believes an operating system is only as good as its ability to avoid or solve problems, and that’s what Ubuntu’s really good at. For example, in Ubuntu, if a user tries to watch a video and doesn’t have the proper codec to do so, the open source OS will attempt to find and install the codec.
But there’s a solution on the horizon, or Matuschak would like there to be. He believes the answer is in Spotlight, a commonly underused but very powerful OS X feature which can be adapted to be a general problem solving tool.
Coming back to the video codec problem, if the user would like to figure out what’s needed to play the video file, he types the file extension into Spotlight. The service would return a variety of options including codecs and programs. The recommended codecs and programs aren’t necessarily installed on the personal, but, with one (or two) clicks, the user can then install whatever programs or codecs came up as a result of the search. It’s merely a concept at this point, but Matuschak would like to make it a reality. If you’d like to help him out, make sure to check out his site.
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Posted by: in Productivity
Filed under: Internet, Macintosh, Productivity, Apple, Search, web 2.0
There’s a bit of an OS fanboy in all of us, but we’re not all computer programmers. So when it comes down to arguing which OS is “better,” we may not always have our facts straight. Andy Matuschak, on the other hand, is an OS X fanboy with a level head on his shoulders, and he believes OS X would be much better if Apple took a few more cues from Ubuntu.
Matuschak believes an operating system is only as good as its ability to avoid or solve problems, and that’s what Ubuntu’s really good at. For example, in Ubuntu, if a user tries to watch a video and doesn’t have the proper codec to do so, the open source OS will attempt to find and install the codec.
But there’s a solution on the horizon, or Matuschak would like there to be. He believes the answer is in Spotlight, a commonly underused but very powerful OS X feature which can be adapted to be a general problem solving tool.
Coming back to the video codec problem, if the user would like to figure out what’s needed to play the video file, he types the file extension into Spotlight. The service would return a variety of options including codecs and programs. The suggested codecs and programs aren’t necessarily installed on the personal, but, with one (or two) clicks, the user can then install whatever programs or codecs came up as a result of the search. It’s merely a concept at this point, but Matuschak would like to make it a reality. If you’d like to help him out, make sure to check out his site.
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Posted by: in Productivity
Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Mozilla, Open Source
 If you spend a lot of time on the Internet then you’ve probably accumulated dozens hundreds of bookmarks. Here are a few Firefox extensions to help keep them — and you — organized.
Bookmark synchronizer Foxmarks is a must-have if you like to access your bookmarks from multiple locations. Install the Foxmarks extension on your laptop and your desktop Computer, and whatever Web site you add to your bookmark manager on one machine will automatically show up on the other. You can also access your bookmarks via the Web from any computer with Internet access, no download required.
People who use the Opera Web browser often rave about its “Speed Dial” function, which grants you faster access to sites you visit regularly than searching through a long list of bookmarks. Though similar functionality isn’t available natively in Firefox, there are a couple of extensions that get the job done. Speed Dial for Firefox places a button on your toolbar; click it to bring up thumbnails of up to nine Web pages whose addresses you’ve pre-programmed. Adding a Web site to the list is easy: simplfirefox; ffy right-click and select “Set as Speed Dial.” Fast Dial does the same thing as Speed Dial, and also adds middle-click functionality and keyboard shortcuts.
If you like your browser’s address bar to do your thinking for you, then take a look at Autocomplete Manager. This little extension checks what you type in the address bar for matching bookmarked Web sites; it even checks page titles and names you’ve assigned to the bookmarks in your folders.
Want to give your boring old bookmark folders a face-lift? Use Favicon Picker to decide what icon you want appearing next to each bookmarked Web site. Once installed, simply open Firefox’s Bookmark Manager and right-click on a bookmark. Select “Properties”, then the “Browse” button in the Icon section. Choose a .jpg to replace the existing default icon and click “OK”.
New to the whole concept of bookmarks? Then make sure this is the first site you save to your Bookmark Manager.
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Posted by: in Productivity
Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Mozilla, Open Source
If you spend a lot of time on the Internet then you’ve probably accumulated dozens hundreds of bookmarks. Here are a few Firefox extensions to help keep them — and you — organized.
Bookmark synchronizer Foxmarks is a must-have if you like to access your bookmarks from multiple locations. Install the Foxmarks extension on your laptop and your desktop PC, and whatever Web site you add to your bookmark manager on one machine will automatically show up on the other. You can also access your bookmarks via the Web from any computer with Internet access, no download required.
People who use the Opera Web browser often rave about its “Speed Dial” function, which allows you faster access to sites you visit regularly than searching through a long list of bookmarks. Though similar functionality isn’t available natively in Firefox, there are a couple of extensions that get the job done. Speed Dial for Firefox places a button on your toolbar; click it to bring up thumbnails of up to nine Web pages whose addresses you’ve pre-programmed. Adding a Web site to the list is easy: simplfirefox; ffy right-click and select “Set as Speed Dial.” Fast Dial does the same thing as Speed Dial, and also adds middle-click functionality and keyboard shortcuts.
If you like your browser’s address bar to do your thinking for you, then take a look at Autocomplete Manager. This tiny extension checks what you type in the address bar for matching bookmarked Web sites; it even checks page titles and names you’ve assigned to the bookmarks in your folders.
Want to give your boring old bookmark folders a face-lift? Use Favicon Picker to decide what icon you want appearing next to each bookmarked Web site. Once installed, simply open Firefox’s Bookmark Manager and right-click on a bookmark. Choose “Properties”, then the “Browse” button in the Icon section. Select a .jpg to replace the existing default icon and click “OK”.
New to the whole concept of bookmarks? Then make sure this is the first site you save to your Bookmark Manager.
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Posted by: in Productivity
Filed under: Internet, Text, Productivity, Web services, web 2.0
Though it may seem like everything has an RSS feed nowadays, lots of sites still lack the feature, leaving RSS fiends with no option but to actually surf the web (blasphemous!). Fortunately, there’s Dapper: The Data Mapper, a web service that will take information from a site and package it in the form of your choice (RSS feeds, Google Maps, iCalendar, and more). In order to create a “Dapp,” or Dapper app, navigate to the Dapper site and click on “create a new Dapp.” The next few steps are very interesting, requiring users to answer a variety of questions regarding the source of information. The answers will depend on the format you select and the information you’d like to collect. Options include RSS, Dapp XML, Google Gadget and others. The process of creating a Dapp should be pretty simple if the user comprehends the concept of RSS.
It may seem like RSS feed creation is the most obvious function of the service, but it’s in the more complex stuff that Dapper shines. You can, for example, have the latest YouTube search results for a given keyword appear in your iCalendar daily. The possibilities certainly aren’t endless, but there are a lot of them.
[via Read Write Web]
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