Slow Syncs with Omnifocus and Your iPhone
Fortunately, Omni Group is planning a new version of Omnifocus for iPhone that will solve the problem, but hasn’t appeared yet in the App Store. If you can’t wait like me, there is an AppleScript workaround provided by Omni Group at this link.
It solved the problem and I am happy again. If you are a serious GTD user, you should check out Omnifocus.
UPDATE 8/13/08 --- Omnifocus V1.0.3 is now on the App Store and supposedly fixes the Sync problems.
Fluid & Google: The Death of Office?
If you are an Apple user and
frequently use sites like Facebook, FriendFeed,
Google Docs, etc., then Fluid is a technology that
you need to investigate. Fluid allows you to very easily to run
your favorite web applications as separate Cocoa
applications on your desktop.
I created a separate application for FriendFeed,
Facebok and Google Docs. Why? To manage my workflow
easier and to prevent the situation where an error in
one tab kills my other tabs. The combination of
Google Apps and Fluid is very powerful and has the
definite potential to make Microsoft Office
irrelevant someday. I am not yet ready to abandon
Office; however, the sharing and search capabilities
of Google Apps are very appealing.
I recommend that you download Fluid and try to make
some Site Specific Browsers. I think you will find it
very helpful in the move to web applications if you
are use to the desktop application
workflow.
Evernote and ShoZu
Lately, I have been using the beta
of Evernote as a way to organize my notes on
the MacBook Pro as well as to have an online copy.
While still a little immature, the
synchronization, search and OCR on photos are very
impressive. Also, the integration with various
platforms (Mac, Windows and Windows Mobile) is
cool.
One thing I was not happy with was
the resolution of the snapshots done by the Evernote
Windows Mobile client. As an alternative, I could
take a higher resolution photo and then email it to
my Evernote email account; however, it would take a
lot of steps. Enter ShoZu.
By making Evernote email my
one-step account in ShoZu, I can quickly take a photo
and send it to Evernote online. Evernote will store
it, OCR it and, when I synchronize with my Mac
application, provide a copy on my laptop. It is quite
cool.
I recommend that everyone should try Evernote and
ShoZu. They are an excellent combination.
"A Tale of Two Upgrades"
To quote Charles Dickens, “It was
the best of times. It was the worst of times.” This
week two long-awaited upgrades arrived for Mac users:
RapidWeaver V4.0 and Delicious Library 2. Both have
offered some free upgrades to its installed base.
RapidWeaver allows any registered
RapidWeaver 3.6 customer, i.e. a Serial Number
starting with RW3SN. RapidWeaver is an excellent
Web site creation tool and is the one used for
this blog. For me, the upgrade was a snap and now
I am using RapidWeaver 4.0 for this entry. I will
report on my impressions of RapidWeaver 4.0 in a
later blog entry, once I have had the opportunity
to explore it further.
Delicious Library
has stated that any
customer that bought Delicious Library 1 on or
after December 1st 2007 would be entitled to a
free upgrade to Delicious Library 2, when
available. Here is the actual blog entry. Delicious Library is a cool
application that allows you to “catalog your
books, movies, music, software, toys, tools,
electronics and video games”. However, unlike the
RapidWeaver upgrade, this upgrade is not going as
well. The Delicious Library 2 installation and
migration of my library has gone flawless;
however, the new version does not accept my
Delicious Library 1 license key. Consequently, my
instance of Delicious Library 2 is running in demo
mode and will NOT allow me to scan in any new
items.
There are no instructions on the Delicious Monster
Web site on the process to get a free Delicious
Library 2 upgrade license key and I contacted
Delicious Monster by email two days ago about the
problem. I have yet to receive a reply.
My hope is that Delicious Monster will be honoring
their commitment to the installed base. In any event,
they are not handling the situation as well as
RapidWeaver. I am wondering if we will see a rerun of
the YazSoft PR disaster?
UPDATE
6/4: Good news.
I found the free upgrade path for Delicious Library.
You simply need to go through the normal purchase
process embedded in the software and they will credit
you the $20 upgrade fee if you qualify.
Unfortunately, I needed to find this on my own and
there is no real explanation on the Delicious Monster
Web site. Nevertheless, I never received a direct
response from Delicious Monster.
UPDATE
6/18: I finally
got an email from Delicious Monster with my free
license key. Clearly, they have honored their
commitment to existing users; however, it is more
than three weeks since the product announcement.
YazSoft Makes Good on Their Offer to MacHeist Customers
Happily, YazSoft has come to a final resolution on the issue and it is very good. Kudos to MacHeist and YazSoft to fix the situation for the best interests of the customers. However, time is short to take advantage of the upgrade so read below:
• This offer will last a total of 14 days from today (expires March 27, 2008).
• All MacHeist II bundle purchasers interested in Speed Download 5 can get it for free by entering username/email on this webpage. Once your info is validated, you'll receive your personalized Speed Download 5 info via email.
• Those of you who get Speed Download 5 for free will only get one Speed Download 5 license (not two). That free Speed Download 5 license will not qualify for discounted pricing or a free upgrade to Speed Download 6 when it's released.
• All MacHeist II bundle purchasers who've already purchased the Speed Download 5 upgrade for $15 before the start of this 14 day arrangement have 2 options:
you can do nothing and keep the two Speed Download 5
licenses you received as well as get Speed Download 6
for free when it's released
- or -
you can request for a refund from Yazsoft, in which
case the 2nd Speed Download 5 license supplied to you
will be de-activated and the free upgrade to Speed
Download 6 removed
• All MacHeist II bundle purchasers who'd like to
purchase the Speed Download 5 upgrade for $15 to show
their support (during this 14-day period) will
continue to get a 2nd Speed Download 5 license for
free. If you choose to do this you'll also get Speed
Download 6 for free when it's released.
• All MacHeist II bundle purchasers users that would
like to purchase the Speed Download 5 upgrade for $15
to show their support (after this 14-day period) will
continue to get a 2nd Speed Download 5 license for
free. A free upgrade to Speed Download 6 will not be
offered however.
YazSoft also has information at their Web site
http://yazsoft.com/content/macheist.html.
My Trusty HP12C Calculator...on my Mac
One key different between HP12C calculator and others, besides the reliablity and excellent keys, is the use of reverse polish notation (RPN). In short, rather than inputting "1+1=" to get an answer, you input "1 enter 1 +". It uses the concept of a stack to store intermediate values. For a simple equation like "1+1", it is not relevant, but, for complex equations like (5+6)*(42-23)+24, RPN is much more effective. Of course, once you start using an RPN calculator, you become totally dysfunctional with a regular calculator beyond a simple "1+1="!
Not normally a problem since I have the trusty 12C; however, it always was a problem with standard calculators on PCs. Not with Leopard on my Mac! The standard calculator in Leopard can be easily converted to RPN with a simple Command-R. Nevertheless, it is not the same layout as my HP12C and doesn't come with all the same functionality.
That has changed...enter nonpareil for Mac OSX.
Nonpareil is a simulator of vintage HP calculators that was originally written for Linux. At this site, you can get a version for Mac OSX for your favorite HP calculator. Enjoy!
A Little Software to Trick Up Your Mac
Definitely check it out. It is a great, free application. Also, the developer accepts donations thru Paypal.
Anatomy of a PR Meltdown
So where is the PR meltdown? Let me tell you a little story. I am using Speed Download Version 4 from my MacHeist bundle purchase last month and am quite happy with the product. Today, when Speed Download starts, it tells me that there is a new update for the software and starts an automatic download. Turns out, that the update is NOT a free update and loads a demo version of the software. Moreover, it won't accept my MacHeist bundle license when I entered it.
After looking at the MacHeist forum site, I found out that the MacHeist Bundle License wouldn't work so I tried to downgrade back to Version 4. Guess what, the Version 4 on Yazsoft's Web site was also a demo software that wouldn't take the MacHeist bundle license, but now it wouldn't download at all. The trial period was expired. Now, I couldn't download at all! Luckily, I was able to save the day by restoring from Time Machine!
I found out something else while at the MacHeist forum site. Even though Yazsoft was giving their MacHeist customers a discounted upgrade fee as they did with other Version 4 customers, it was giving customers who bought the software since January 1st the upgrade for free. Despite assurances that the version that was bought last month with the MacHeist bundle was a full version --- later confirmed by MacHeist on the forum ---, Yazsoft decided to change the rules and consider its MacHeist customers as promo software customers, different from their other customers. Unlike Circus Ponies who clearly stated that their V2.0 product would not be a free upgrade for MacHeist customers, Yazsoft never clearly stated their intentions.
Consequently, the MacHeist forum is ablaze with unhappy customers that feel that they have been cheated. Moreover, in addressing their concerns, Yazsoft's responses have been very defensive and evasive. They have blamed MacHeist for the misunderstanding and have pretty much alienated more than 40,000 new customers from the MacHeist bundle. One can follow the entire situation at the MacHeist forums. Moreover, the bad publicity is now spreading into the mainstream Mac bloggers (see Macmerc.com).
Whether or not it was an unethical business practice (bait and switch comes to mind) or simply incompetent marketing, this is a clear case of how NOT to do marketing in today's web marketing world. Yazsoft should have been upfront with the status of the MacHeist customers during the bundle sale. Now they face the need to make a drastic change in their policy or risk permanently destroying their reputation with a broad vocal group within the Mac user community.
Pimp your Mac with Gelaskins
They claim it is for protection purposes and, while it does protect against scratches, it only protects the top of your computer due to heat flow issues. Nevertheless, if you want to get noticed at the coffee shop while surfing the Internet, this is definitely the way to go!
They come with various types of artists; both traditional from Monet to Hokusai and new young artists such as Nathan Ota and Aya Kato. The skin on my MacBook Pro is The Great Wave Off Kanagawa from Katsushika Hokusai. It is part of his famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji wood block series from around 1831. Hokusai is world-renown as the best at Japanese woodblock printing; also known as ukiyo-e. In fact, his work was very enthusiastically collected by French impressionists, such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
Finally, if you looked closely at the photo, you will see that my 3rd Generation iPod Nano is also tricked out with a Gelaskin. Yes, they have them for iPods, iTouchs and iPhones, too! It is a skin of work from a young artist in Los Angeles, named Nathan Ota. His illustrations are very cool!
Leopard Version of MenuCalendarClock for iCal
It is a great replacement for the standard clock on the menu bar. When you click on the menu bar, it gives you a complete view of the monthly calendar. The days where you have appointments are highlighted and if you mouse over the day, it shows your appointments for the day. It also shows your to-do items within iCal. It is a very cool tool.
One negative is that it has a clunky dock icon that normally must exist on your dock. Search the Internet and you'll find out how to get rid of it, too. The software comes in a freeware version as well as a paid version with additional functionality.
http://www.objectpark.net/
Please Buy the Excellent Mac Bundle using Another Link
LaunchBar really fills a gap between a true launcher and Spotlight. Previously, I had been using Quicksilver, but its future development is suspect. Moreover, LaunchBar is actually easier to use. Notebook allows you to arrange all your information into a flexible, notebook format.
I have been fortunate that two of my friends have bought through my referral link so i do not need any more referrals. However, there are a large number of people that either are looking for someone to buy with their link or are about to buy and are willing to trade referrals. I recommend that you go to the MacHeist forum to buy.
So please do not use my link below, but rather go here:
http://www.macheist.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6697
Excellent Mac Bundle at MacHeist
The bundle costs $49 and 25% of the sale price will be donated to a charity that you can choose out of a 10 options. All the applications are unlocked at the time of this writing, except Pixelmator. However, it is close to being unlocked, too. Click on my referral link to get to the site.
https://www.macheist.com/buy/invite/52696
SRS iWOW V2.0
The product costs $19.99; however, it was included in a recent promotion bundle from MacUpdate that I discussed last week. In addition to the improved quality, the software has automatic presets that will automatically change the settings based on the genre classification in iTunes. Finally, the product comes from SRS Labs who has a long pedigree in quality audio products. If you listen to audio on your laptop speakers, you should get this product.
Edit 10/23/07: Bad news...it turns out that SRS iWOW interferes with iMovie HD audio playback. Consequently, I have removed it from my computer; however, if you don't use iMovie HD, it is still a good product. Also, there may be other incompatibilities out there.
http://www.srs-store.com/store-plugins/mall/iwow-plugin.asp
My Ten Favorite Non-Apple Software Packages for My MacBook Pro
1) Journler --- Journaling software
http://journler.com/
2) Rapidweaver --- Website and blogging software
http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/
3) iGTD --- Getting Things Done software
http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/
4) Sapiens --- Interesting mouse-based launcher
http://www.donelleschi.com/sapiens/
5) Inquisitor for Safari --- Spotlight for the web
http://www.inquisitorx.com/safari/
6) MacTheRipper --- DVD Ripper for Mac OSX
http://www.mactheripper.org/
7) Quicksilver --- Comprehensive application interface
http://www.blacktree.com/
8) Slingplayer --- Watch your life TV on your MAC
http://www.slingmedia.com/
9) VMware Fusion --- Run Windows in a VM
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
10) SecuritySpy --- Watch your IP Surveillance Cameras
http://www.bensoftware.com/ss/