Klok

May 13, 2008 Filed in: Software
Klok is an interesting little time tracking app written using Adobe Air.

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Google Reader for iPhone/iPod Touch

May 13, 2008 Filed in: Internet
A when-is-it-ever-not-beta version of Google Reader has been released for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

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Zero Unread: My New Google Reader Workflow

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Lifehacks
I've been testing out some new workflows with respect to the massive reading queue that makes up my Google Reader subscriptions.

Here are my issues:
  • If I don't use Google Reader several times daily, that I will have over 1000 unread items within 24 hours.
  • Manually checking the "mark read" box whether by mouse or keyboard shortcut doesn't cut it when you have that many unread items.
  • I use the "Star" for stuff that I know I will refer to in the future, whether I blog about them or not, which makes it impractical for tracking items to blog about.
  • I group the feeds by subject matter. Probably a little too old school.

So here's what I've adjusted, and I find I spend a lot less time on Google Reader, and keeping my own unread queue down to zero.

  • For items that I don't have time to read or blog about immediately, I use the Shared marker, so I can follow up later.
  • I recategorized my feeds as "Bloggable" and "Browse and Dump".
  • For the Browse and Dump list, I read them as list view, mark any for follow up, and then "Mark All As Read".
  • For the Bloggable group, I still click by blog in the Expanded View, to keep the number of unloaded items reasonable, but quickly mark items for follow up, followed by "Mark All As Read". One key difference, however, is that I don't try to read the detail of every item (tricky in Expanded View).
  • For all items that I've followed up or blogged about, I unmark their Shared status.
The changes are minor, but have worked wonders, saving me around half the time that I used to spend clearing my Google Reader queue.

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PicLens

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Software
I've been using PicLens for the past week or so, and it's a neat little add-on that works with most browsers on Windows and Mac. It's especially handy on Google Images, Flickr and Facebook.

Pasted Graphic

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Learning Cocoa/Objective-C

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Programming
I've been looking at what it would take to write applications on Mac OSX.

To provide you with a little perspective on my experience, I come from a Microsoft-centric, Visual Studio background when it comes to applications programming. I have used Java, but that was a long time ago. I'm no stranger to the C based syntax, or object oriented programming. It's definitely a different world using XCode and Objective-C.

It seems that most Mac developers use Objective-C. There might be a few peeps still programming Cocoa with C these days, but from what I've seen, they appear to be in the minority.

Objective-C 2.0 came out with Leopard, and makes programming for the Mac a little less intimidating, the biggest game-changer being garbage collection. Objective-C, however, has a syntax that I'm still trying to come to grips with. It's not the logic part that's bothering me, either, since anyone who has seen PHP or JavaScript code has seen the basics of programming C.

The funniest thing is that the things that are confusing me are so... trivial and dumb. I just need a good explanation of the symbols that are used. By symbols, I mean [, *, @ and :. Out of all the great tutorials I've seen, I haven't seen a great explanation of the use of these symbols.

Of course, whether I actually write an app will be dependent on how much time I have to dedicate to building something. With so many ideas that I'd like to execute, I guess the odds are slim to none. In any case, outside of the syntactical dyslexia that I have, there's a lot to like about Objective-C. I love that, unlike Java, that there is no strict typing.

Alas, enough bitching. Time to just start playing with the IDE.

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FontStruct: Design Your Own Fonts in a Browser

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Internet
FontStruct is pretty cool. It lets you design your own fonts online and then download the TrueType version to install and share.

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DExposE2: Mac's Expose for Windows

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Software
DExposE2 is a freeware app eases that Expose envy for Windows users.

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I (heart) My Phone... NOT

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Gadgets
An errant pairing with Windows Active Sync the other day resulted in the unwitting destruction of the contacts, tasks and appointments in my Windows Mobile phone. Yes, Virginia, I am a crazy-ass glutton for punishment.

Meanwhile, I am still waiting for my replacement battery to arrive, since the phone, which is barely a year old, can't hold its charge in standby for 6 hours.

And to those few readers of my blog: If you need a smart phone today, buy a Blackberry or an iPhone. If you can wait, consider a phone based on Google Android. But whatever you do, don't spend your hard earned money on anything running Windows Mobile, no matter how nice it is.

I've been fooled twice, so shame on me.

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Amazing Video Rework

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Mac
Here's a music video that both Macs and music aficionados can appreciate. Clever editing work.

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Pixelmator 1.2 Out

May 12, 2008 Filed in: Software | Mac
Pixelmator 1.2 is now out. Upgrade if you got it - there's one HUGE reason to get it.

They've now implemented curves. This feature is so important to so many people (including myself) that I'm sure it overshadows all of the other enhancements in this latest release.

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