As you may know, I work at the University of Nottingham Students’ Union magazine, Impact. We produce seven issues per academic year, which works out to about one a month. All of our files are stored on our main Mac Pro computer, which until recently was not backed up at.
This left us very vulnerable, so I ordered Leopard (the newest version of the Mac OS) and an external hard drive. They arrived last week and I installed both on Saturday, just as we were coming to the end of the latest issue’s production. I set up Time Machine just like I do at home and left it to do its business.
So I walk in on Monday to work on the magazine and turn on the Mac Pro. It went to the white screen with the large Apple logo, but stayed there… and stayed there. After 20 minutes, I was getting anxious, but then I remembered that I had just installed Leopard and Time Machine. So I reformatted the hard drive, restored the entire machine from the backup and little over an hour later we were back up and running as if nothing had happened.
This little incident points out a few things. Firstly, Macs are not infallible. Secondly, when they do let you down, it’s extremely easy to recover and get on with what you’re doing. Time Machine is an absolute godsend. Most importantly though, it’s absolutely imperative that you backup your data. Be paranoid about it. We could have lost a month’s worth of work and a year’s worth of archives. We dodged a bullet though and I dread to think about what could have happened if we weren’t prepared.
Published in Software, tagged Impact on 6th May 2008. One comment.
Here’s an awesome little piece of design; the Word Clock screensaver. All it does is tells the time in beautiful, simple type. It’s a neat idea implemented really well and if you have a Mac, I recommend that you check it out.
Published in Design, Software, tagged typography on 23rd April 2008. One comment.
Browsing around on my Mac, I noticed a few interesting details in a couple of application icons:
CSSEdit 2.5
Apple’s TextEdit
Published in Software, tagged CSSEdit on 22nd March 2008. No comments.
Ars Technica reports rumours of an iTunes subscription model:
A report by the Financial Times (registration required) cites unnamed executives who say that Apple is in talks with record labels to offer access to the entire iTunes music library for a lump sum price. The fee would be added as a premium option on an iPod or iPhone, or it could come as a monthly charge. It would allow downloading of any song at any time so long as the purchaser still owns the device, and the songs would be yours to keep.
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Since the average iPod owner buys about 20 tracks from the iTunes, Apple wants to make the premium about $20, arguing that it should cover the average consumer’s downloads. Then the owner can make unlimited music downloads from the iTunes Store for the life of the device. Once downloaded, the tracks are yours to keep, even if you get rid of the original iPod or iPhone.
I use iTunes intermittently, but if a subscription model was on offer that allowed you to keep the music instead of just renting it, then this would be an unbelievably good deal. Even if it was about $100, you’d still get your money’s worth from about six or seven albums. Maybe they’re banking on people not taking full advantage of it, but I know that I’d be on there all day filling up an external drive with new music!
Published in Software, Tech, tagged iTunes on 19th March 2008. No comments.
Getting Things Done application Things has been updated to version 0.9, with recurring tasks now implemented. The Mac software, which is in beta testing, is designed to help you manage your everyday tasks. I’ve written about it before and along with iCal, use it to keep track of everything I need to do.
As well as other enhancements, Things now allows you to make every task a recurring one. The development team at Cultured Code have done a remarkably good interface design job and almost any repeating pattern can be used. Note the clever addition of the next predicted dates, which makes visualising complex sequences extremely easy.
Recurring tasks are then stored in the Scheduled section, where they are split into segments for daily, weekly, monthly and other patterns. From here you can reschedule tasks or pause them, which is a nice touch.
There are many Getting Things Done applications on the Mac, but Things stands out above the rest because of its outstanding user interface design. Its clean lines, simplicity and logical layout are on par with anything that Apple produce themselves, and when it’s finally released it’ll be well worth the $49 asking price.
Published in Productivity, Software, tagged Getting Things Done, Things on 16th March 2008. No comments.
Anyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch is sitting very comfortably after today’s announcements. Apple revealed its software developer kit (SDK) and showed off demos of enterprise software and videogames which had been built in only two weeks. There are two sides to this - the developers’ and the users’ - but both perspectives look extremely rosy.
I’ve never made an application for the Mac, but I was extremely impressed by the tools that they’re offering with the SDK. They’ve made it incredibly easy to build programs and then test them right away. People are going to want to make applications for the iPhone and iPod regardless of how easy it is, but I never anticipated them making it this accessible.
As a consumer, the announcements are also of great interest. The easy and speed with which programs can be developed means that all of the applications that we’d like will likely be up and running very quickly. By the time the software update comes in June, you can bet that many of the ‘wanted list’ will be ready. Games also featured heavily in the presentation and you can bet that this is one area that’ll really take off.
I bought a 32GB iPod Touch a few weeks ago and although it cost a lot of money, I thought it would be worth it in the long run. Now I know for sure.
Published in Software, Tech, tagged iPhone, iPod Touch on 6th March 2008. One comment.
If you work with images, chances are that you use Photoshop. When it comes to photo editing and digital art work, there really is very little competition for Adobe’s product. Sure, for basic touching up and resizing, Picasa, iPhoto and co will do a fine job, but for creative professionals there really is only one option on the market. While no-one’s likely to topple Photoshop from its lofty position anytime soon, the products available directly below it in the software hierarchy are very interesting indeed.
Pixelmator is one such program, a Mac-only image editor and a new one at that. Released last year by two brothers, it has two main selling points. First of all, it looks stunning and secondly, it takes advantage of Mac OS X’s built-in technology to make editing super fast.
The program has all the usual tools that you’d expect - burn, dodge, crop, layers and so on - as well as a number of filters which are powered by Apple’s Core Image technology. Because Pixelmator is built for OS X alone, it can and does use all of the fancy effects that’d you’d come to associate with a Mac exclusive product. On looks alone, Pixelmator is a fantastic advertisement for the platform and in terms of aesthetics, puts Photoshop to shame.
However, when it comes to actually using it for everyday tasks, Pixelmator lacks numerous basic features which make up your image editing workflow. For instance, you can’t save an image size and resolution as a preset to use later and the colour mode (RGB, CMYK, etc.) can’t be altered. There’s no action history, magnetic lasso or magic eraser, to name a few. When I’ve tried using it to edit images for Thunderbolt or Impact, these shortcomings are immediately apparent and I’ve gone straight back to Photoshop.
Pixelmator is a fine program, but one with more potential than substance. What it does, it does well and makes it look fantastic to boot. If you’re looking for a program that provides more flexibility than iPhoto and fits in well with Leopard’s aesthetics, then this is definitely worth a look. At only $59, it’s certainly tempting. As for the creators’ intention to “give Photoshop a run for its money”, they’ve still got a long way to go.
Published in Software, tagged Pixelmator on 22nd February 2008. One comment.
I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one with a hectic lifestyle. I have university work to do, Thunderbolt to run and write for, Clan Recruiter to rebuild, a magazine to help design and manage, a social life and various other commitments. With all this stuff going on, learning how to keep it all in balance has been a major preoccupation of mine. I’ve now settled with a system which allows me to keep track of everything and I thought it might be interesting to share a few tips and ideas.
I basically organise my life with three programs: iCal, Mailplane and Things. These are all Mac-only applications, but I’m sure there are various Windows and Linux equivalents that you might use.
I don’t know what I would do without iCal. Pretty much everything I do is in it, from lecture times and society meetings to Thunderbolt stuff and TV schedules. Any appointment or meeting that I have goes straight in it and I sync it with my phone so that I know what I’m doing on the move.
A calendar is pretty much essential to staying organised and I’m sure that most of you use one to one degree or another. Keeping them up to date can be a pain, but the more you rely on them, the more useful they become. The neat thing about computerised calendars is that you can separate different topics from one another, which makes it really easy to understand the context of your day, week or month.
I’m not sure about you, but I have quite a few email accounts. The amount of messages I receive each day isn’t too bad, but the number of accounts I have could make it infeasable to keep track of it all. However, there’s a wonderful application called Mailplane here to help. Essentially, it’s a desktop viewer for Gmail. It looks and functions almost exactly the same as using Gmail through a brower, but it makes switching between accounts extremely easy. A draw on the right shows you total unread messages for each account, which you can switch to by clicking on it.
You could always forward all your mail to one account and sort it that way, but I prefer keeping mail separated into various accounts. That way, when you reply, the address you’re sending from is always consistent. Email can often be overwhelming if left untended, so tools like this are a great help.
The third and final thing I organise is tasks. You know, things like “write a Halo 4 review” or “go and pick up the laundry”. To-do lists are great for keeping track of these kind of tasks, but you might find that you have a huge list of unordered items with no real context. This is where applications like Things come in.
Things is basically an advanced to-do list that is based on the Getting Things Done (GTD) idea. I read the book on the theory by David Allen and to be honest, I couldn’t find a reliable way to get it to work. Things is the first program that I’ve been able to implement it effectively with, so I’m pretty pleased with it.
Essentially, the idea is that you record every task that comes into your head, then organise them into different groups. You have tasks that you’re doing today, or ones that are next up, or items which are postphoned. You can also group these by projects or areas of responsibility. It seems complicated, but it works surprisingly well once you get used to it.
In practice, getting organised can be a hit and miss process. It’s easy to forget that you need to write things done or put them into a program, but the busier your life gets, the more neccessary it is. Unless you have an amazing memory, remembering to do everything can be almost impossible. However, with a bit of research and curiosity, you can get to a stage where you don’t have to worry about forgetting and you can spend more time on living your life.
Recommended reading:
What do you think? How do you keep track of life?
Published in Productivity, Software, tagged Getting Things Done, iCal, Mailplane, Things on 19th February 2008. No comments.
I find that I’m frequently distracted when writing and I’m sure other people must feel the same. Fortunately, there are applications here to help us! WriteRoom (OS X) is a full screen text editor which is very simple and great for just concentrating on what you’re meant to be working on. Dark Room is a free the Windows clone of it.
I tried writing the first part of my Sega Rally review in WriteRoom earlier and it’s a strange but productive experience. It’s nice not having lots of other programs to draw your attention away from the review or article you’re meant to be doing. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to use this for all my writing from now on, but I’m leaning towards doing so.
Published in Productivity, Software, tagged writing on 14th February 2008. One comment.