September 2011
39 posts
Check Your Eligibility →
With a new iPhone or two just around the corner, TUAW has been getting the usual flood of “how can I check to see if I’m eligible for an upgrade” emails. At least for those of us in the US on either the AT&T or Verizon networks, that’s a fairly easy proposition. Here’s how to see if you’ll be eligible for an iPhone upgrade.
It doesn’t look like I...
Finder Toolbar
Yeah yeah, the image would have been to long to post whole so I had to cut it in half, but that isn’t stopping me from giving you a mini tour of how I have my Finder toolbar configured and why.
Back and Forward
This is self-explanatory. It’s the easiest way to maneuver back and forth within the Finder. And since there is no longer that multitouch gesture to flick back and forth...
The Tiny Things in Lion →
A user generated list of the little things in Lion that make all the difference.
CEO Swapper App From HP →
Building on the expertise they’ve gained by firing two CEOs in less than a year, HP has launched CEO Swapper — a beautifully designed iPad app that makes it easier than ever to dispose of one CEO and pop in a new one.
CEO Swapper streamlines the CEO replacement process by putting all the basics at your fingertips. Using HP’s proprietary CEO Seeker™ technology, you can search the current...
Known Networks?
Quite possibly one of the most annoying things I ever felt my iPhone did was ask me every time it detects a WiFi network if I wanted to join it. Now, I could understand why it would do this and how, for some people, it would actually be rather nice. But for me, it was just plain annoying.
Luckily, there’s a super easy way to turn it off. Just hop on into the Settings app, go to Wi-Fi, and...
Anthropomorphizing The iPad
I’ve been meaning to make this point for a long while, but in light of this current post I figured now is a great time to finally get it out there.
So here is the deal. You know the iPad? Well that’s just the thing. It’s AN iPad. Not just iPad. Apple will not one day introduce iPad 3. No. They will introduce THE iPad 3. See what I’m getting at here? Apple, one of the...
Coldplay On Mylo Xyloto →
A great exclusive with the band about their new album.
Architectural Photography Timelapse →
[Via Ben Brooks]
Solarized Alfred Themes →
I always like a good Alfred theme. These are really great. And I agree with the creator - I like the light one far better.
Kaishin's Business Cards →
THAT is a business card? More like a piece of art.
Lion and Wallpapers
Since upgrading to Mac OS X Lion I have been faced with a most peculiar issue when it comes to wallpapers. For some reason, when I set a wallpaper from, say, Safari (by right clicking and choosing to set it as my desktop wallpaper), if and when I restart my computer the wallpaper changes back to Lion’s default blue space wallpaper. I would imagine that the reason it does this is because the...
Ditching The Hoodie →
Ooh, I like that Shawl Collar Cardigan.
Things Learned After Rearranging a Home Office →
Unplggd:
So, I sporadically decided to rearrange my entire home office this afternoon. Before I knew it, I was already knee deep in wires and was even a bit nervous that I wouldn’t finish this post in time, but fortunately remembered some precautionary measures I’ve taken in the past to avoid an apocalypse of missing wires, repeated rework, and wasted time.
I moved some stuff...
To All Glasses Folk
Just something that I discovered.
If you wear glasses, as I do, when you do your daily lens clean with soap and water - you’re doing that, right? - use bar soap instead of the liquid/pump soap. I find that bar soap comes off far easier than liquid soap, thus expediting the washing process by a surprising amount. But more than that, I found that it cleans them so much better. I...
Integrating Byword and nvALT →
A great tip that removes the need my Keyboard Maestro macro. Now still to choose between ByWord and iA Writer…
The Future According To Films →
I always wondered if there was something like this.
Print & Press →
A great new site by the inimitable Alex Leiphart about the relationship between print and web design. I would’ve linked to this sooner, but for some reason it has eluded me until just now.
Launchpad Trouble
Aside from the fact that I don’t think I have ever once used Launchpad, when I first installed Lion I did take a quick peek. Only, what I found was rather upsetting. Launchpad was a complete mess. It was riddled with duplicates and totally disorganized.
That was not okay.
So I took to the internet and came across this. It’s a little system preference utility that allows you to show...
FinalTouch →
The idea:
FinalTouch allows you to create a hot key to slow down the speed of your mouse when you need extra precision.
This is especially handy if you have large monitors and have your mouse speed set high.
Really clever, no? I can see this being a great tool for designers and the like. I do a tad bit of design work and would have considered getting this. Why didn’t I?
It’s...
Some People Get Search. Some Don’t. →
Not only is this so unfortunately true, it’s a seriously under appreciated genius feature of the Mac.
Mental Tagging
These days I have lots on my mind and tons of things to remember. Tools like Things, NvAlt, and others help me keep track of everything. But sometimes, for whatever reason, I can’t get to my iPhone or Mac to jot down some info into a note, or a task into Things. Maybe I’m stuck in class, or in a position where taking out my phone would be rude, am just away from it all, or just want to...
What Evernote Is For →
Eddie Smith of Practically Efficient at the end of an article detailing how he uses Evernote:
Don’t approach Evernote with an all or nothing attitude. Instead, 1) look for specific ways that Evernote can make your life easier, 2) use it for those things, and 3) STOP.
May I make two points:
The same can be said for Yojimbo my “everything bucket” of choice.
I am still left...
My Relationship With My ToDo List
I just had a thought.
You see, there’s something that I have to do today, and in fact every day this week. The details of which are unimportant, but the fact of that matter is that it’s not something that I really enjoy doing, and thus there is not much motivation for me to actually do it. And thus, knowing myself fairly well, I knew that it was not going to get done unless I put it...
Behind The Scenes of "Suits" →
Missing the best show this summer after that fantastic finale? Can’t wait an entire year until the next season starts?
Well, these behind the scenes shots from Gabriel Macht’s wife on set ought to hold you over until then.
Oh who am I kidding. There’s no way I can wait that long. But that’s not reason not to bask in the awesome glow of these pictures. My favorite, by...
How To: Make a Website Stripe
Take a look at the top of this site. See that colored bar running along the top purely for stylistic purposes? That’s what we’ll be learning how to make today.
These bars are becoming increasingly popular these days. While sites like Shawn Blanc have had theirs since the dawn of time, others like The Brooks Review, Alex Leiphart, or my own site have only recently added theirs.
But...
Nike Mag 2011 →
Way expensive and super gimmicky. And as someone who thinks he’s somewhat fashionable, I would never wear them.
But damn, are they cool! They light up, they’re from “Back to The Future” after all, and all proceeds go to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Lucky are those few who end up getting them.
Tales of The Magic Trackpad
On July 27, 2010 Apple released the Magic Trackpad, the first radical new pointing device in a long time. Instead of dragging a mouse around your desk, you simply have a slanted metal trackpad that you drag your finger around on. Push down to click and the feet beneath the trackpad create a true ‘clicky’ feeling. All the multitouch gestures found on the iPhone and iPad can also be...
Apple’s Worst Icons →
Don’t agree with them all, but they do have some seriously painful ones here. Apple makes some killer icons, and some that are disgusting. Very few are in between.
Don't Trust Your Hotel Room Safe →
Good to know for when I actually need to unlock it because the bimbo before me didn’t.
Then again, perhaps it is indeed best to avoid them entirely. Just don’t leave your things out in plain site. No one is ransacking your room, but making things overly tempting to take is never a good idea either.
A Magical Magic Wallet
If you’re a guy, you no doubt carry around a wallet with you. In fact, you probably have a large bulge in your back pocket from said wallet right now.
Yuck.
That bulge is not only a big no-no in the fashion world, but I just flat out hate it. It’s annoying and looks terrible. I’ve always been one for thin wallets. And I always thought my wallet was pretty thin until I heard...
Really Simple Really Simple Syndication
In short, I’m going to be explaining the simple system I use to manage my RSS feeds.
Before we get started though, a quick refresher. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication was created as a sort of email service for the web. In other words, instead of you going to all your favorite sites, you have them come to you. Any site tat so choose, which is close to all, can ‘burn’ their site...
Alphasmart →
EggFreckles:
An AlphaSmart is not a Newton. It is a portable word processor. A full-sized keyboard combined with a reflective LCD that can display six lines of text, save eight 25 page long files, and work off of three AA batteries for up to 700 hours. During hurricane Irene my AlphaSmart Neo was all I had to type on after the power went out. It allowed me to write two whole articles...
TextExpander Tools - Brett Terpstra →
Some nice additions to add to your snippet collection.
Safari Restores Buffered Video →
A nice new feature found in Lion:
When you accidentally close a tab in Safari and then hit Command-Z to restore it, not only does it restore the browsing history of the tab but it also retains the buffered state of any videos you may have hit Play on before you closed the tab.
I’d also recommend reading the entire post for a heads-up about some oddities with this feature, and how to...
Growl Notification Style →
A nice theme for Growl that I’m currently using.
Dial Better With Dialvetica: An Evaluation
My application launcher of choice on my Mac is Alfred (with the Powerpack). On my iPhone however, well, there really is no application launcher at all.
Dial Better
On an iPhone
On an iPhone when you want to dial someone’s number you have one of two options:
Use the dial pad in the phone and enter in the number manually. Madness.
Use the contacts search (whether in the standalone...
The Need to Code →
Frank Chimero answering the age-old question “Do I need to know how to code?”:
My short answer is “Learn code.” My long answer, I suppose, would be that one should learn to code (specifically HTML and CSS), because it’s the language of the web, and while these skills aren’t necessary for every position, team or project, the knowledge does nothing but benefit the designer. Design...
How Your Tie Should Fit →
PutThisOn:
The length has less wiggle room. For whatever reason, men always wear their ties too short… The tip of your tie, however, ought to be around the middle of your waistband. It doesn’t have to exact, but it should be close. Your ability to achieve this will depend on how tall you are, where your waistband hits, and whether you have the correctly sized tie.
That is how your tie...