Category Archives: Software

Switching to wireless delivery from Instapaper for my Kindle 3G

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For months, I’ve been using Wordcycler (Windows, freeware) to manually sync individual items from Instapaper to my Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi via USB cable. Now that I have a smaller number of articles to read, I’m going to try receiving new items via Wi-Fi through Instapaper.

I’ll also start trying Instapaper’s Send to Kindle bookmarklet for immediate delivery (Account > Manage My Kindle Settings).

If this works well, it’ll be fantastic not having to connect my Kindle to my computer every few days. I’d only need to worry about charging it.

Pronto writing in six steps

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I don’t like hand writing as much as typing simply because I’m a slow writer. The faster I write, the less legible my words become.

It’s incredibly easy to get going with a MacBook Air (Oct 2010), especially since it wakes up from sleep so quickly.

Mac OS X on my MacBook Air

  1. Open lid.
  2. Enter password.
  3. Press Command + Spacebar to activate Spotlight (or whichever keyboard shortcut used to activate Quicksilver , LaunchBar, or Alfred App), type “Bean” or whichever text editor/word processor you use, then press Enter.
  4. Frantically type whatever thoughts are spewing from your mind.
  5. Command + S to save your document, then Command + Q to quit your text editor program.
  6. Close lid.

Windows 7

You can type the program name after pressing the Windows key.

Once you’re done writing, Control + S to save your document, then Alt + F4 to close the program.

Software

Which programs do I use to write? The following are essentially free simple text editing programs, designed with minimal features so you can focus on writing. If you like any of them, please donate to the developers.

I save these small text files to a dedicated folder within Dropbox[1. Affiliate link to Dropbox. "For every friend who joins and installs Dropbox, we'll give you 500 MB and your friend 250MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 16 GB)!"] only for text files, with a specific prefix to help me find it later. (e.g. BP means blog post in “BP – Pronto writing in six steps.txt”.)

Why not use Microsoft Word, Apple iWork Pages, or OpenOffice.org Writer? If you’re only working with plain text, you don’t need the extra features and bloat.

If you don’t know the HTML tags for post formatting, copy your text[2. Select All for: (Windows) Ctrl+A; (Mac OS X) Command+A], paste it[3. Paste for: (Windows) Ctrl+V; (Mac OS X) Command+V] into your blog post, then format and/or add links accordingly.

Hello, MacBook Air (and Mac OS X)

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After much consideration, I finally bought a MacBook Air. It’s my first Mac.

I chose the 11-inch model with a 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of memory, and 64 GB of SSD flash storage.

PowerMax got my money, not MacMall

I almost bought my Mac from MacMall. But, when I got to the payment step, the math wasn’t correct. The MacBook Air, USB ethernet adapter[1. I bought the USB ethernet adapter just in case.], shipping, and tax didn’t add up to the estimated subtotal (which was six dollars more).

Next, I stumbled onto Oregon-based PowerMax. Their site was visually much more pleasant. After over an hour of reading through their company information about pages, warranty information, and plenty of good feedback, I made my purchase.

Another bonus: I saved on sales tax and opted for free shipping.

After two days of processing and six days in transit, it finally arrived. Thanks PowerMax!

By the way, I finally heard back from MacMall. It took four business days (six days total). While I explicitly stated I did not want to order over the phone, the MacMall Account Executive replied:

If you call my extension I will be able to place the order for you with the correct price.

Wow. No explanation about the math error. That’s a shame.

Setting it up

Opening the box was an elegant experience. I wasn’t rushing. I couldn’t help but snap a few photos.

I’ve been following the directions and suggestions from “How to Switch to the Mac” by Tao of Mac. To minimize any botched accounts, creating a standard user after creating the first Administrator user was stated several times in the article. Once I got that out of the way, and skimmed through the booklet, I was ready to get going.

I updated from Mac OS X 10.6.5 to 10.6.6, plus a slew of other updates, totaling 529 MB. That took about 40 minutes. After rebooting my Mac, an iDVD 7.1.1 Update (36 MB) also needed to be installed.

Another security measure for working at public WiFi hotspots is to configure PPTP VPN to connect to my DD-WRT router at home. (See DD-WRT PPTP Server Configuration for Mac OS X. I needed to force encryption on my router. I should probably update my router firmware, then use OpenVPN.)

Third-party Software

I’ve installed the following:

  • Bean – My current alternative to Q10, a freeware minimal text editor for Windows.
  • Dropbox (referral link) – Now I really need to keep my Dropbox folder tidy, especially since I have a smaller amount of space than my desktop PC
  • F.lux – “It makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.” I’m a long time user.
  • Google Chrome
  • OpenOffice.org – It’s been fine not using Microsoft Word, and I don’t see the need to try iWork at the moment.
  • Synergy and SynergyKM – Allows me to use my keyboard and mouse on my PC to control my MacBook Air.
  • Thunderbird – I didn’t want to try Mail, and I’m used to Thunderbird from Windows.
  • Tofu – Column-ize text to make reading on a widescreen easier. It might come in handy when I’m not reading from Instapaper or Google Reader.
  • VLC
  • StartupSound.prefPane – So I don’t annoy the class with the Mac startup sound if I have to power on or reboot my Mac.

Performance

The boot and wake speeds are ridiculously fast:

  • Cold boot to login screen: 15 seconds
  • Log in to desktop: 7-8 seconds
  • Go to sleep: 2-3 seconds
  • Wake from sleep: 3-5 seconds

With Google Chrome, OpenOffice.org, Bean, Stickies, iCal, and Activity Monitor open, my system is using 1.66 GB of memory, leaving 2.34 GB free. I would be usually running Thunderbird, too, and possibly iTunes. The best part: the system feels incredibly snappy. (I don’t think it’s just cool and new to me. Honest!)

Easter Egg: If you’re on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), try holding Shift while clicking a stack or folder in your Dock for some slow, smooth opening action.

Other odds and ends

  • Copy my address book from Thunderbird on my PC.
  • Setup printing to my USB-connected HP LaserJet 1020 that’s shared from Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
  • Try MediaRover to sync my iTunes library. I’m not sure if I want to do this, but it depends on the size of my music library. I think it’s under 15 GB.

Why?

I wanted a MacBook Air since it was first released January 29, 2008. With the switch to SSD, it was even more tempting. I don’t need a lot of storage space this laptop won’t be my primary computer.

With a few textbooks, my messenger bag was already heavy. I didn’t want to carry a separate bag for my laptop, nor did I want to lug around one huge bag.

Furthermore, I’m not necessarily biased toward PC or Mac. I see strengths in both. While you can get a PC for much less than a MacBook Air with similar or better specs, it’s not all about specs. It’s a beautiful feeling to put my laptop to sleep in a couple seconds or less, then to jump back into my work much later without missing a beat.

The last six days

After reading Marco Arment’s thoughts on the 2010 MacBook Air, then trying the 11” MacBook Air at the Apple Store, I felt pretty confident that sacrificing screen size wouldn’t affect my usage. I love that it has a full-size keyboard.

So far, I’m extremely happy with it. I write, read (Google Reader or Instapaper), and check email. Speed isn’t a problem. Even right now, I’m typing this blog post from Bean while relaxing on my couch. The screen brightness is set at “4” and I can see everything on my screen pretty comfortably.

As I get accustomed to Mac OS X, you’ll probably start seeing related posts in the near future, so I’m stoked for another layer of diversity here.

If you have any articles for new Mac users, recommended software, or other usage tips, please leave them in the comments.

My love for Dropbox

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My 8GB MicroSD card on my Android phone basically died on me a few weeks ago. I’m glad I save my photos and sync my text files to @Dropbox.

You really should get a free Dropbox account, especially since you get 2GB free. (Disclaimer: That’s a referral link. If you use my link, I get 500 MB and you get 250MB of bonus space, up to a limit of 16 GB.)

Recording video with a Canon EOS 40D

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After reading “Capture 720P HD With Any LiveView Capable Canon Camera,” I wanted to try recording a simple video to see if it works.

It really does!

Why is this relevant? Only a few Canon digital SLR cameras record video, regardless of Live View. EOS Camera Movie Record allows any Live View-capable Canon DSLR camera to record video onto a connected computer.

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Revisiting my private journal with TiddlyWiki

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In 2007, between the months of April and December, I kept a private journal on my computer. I don’t know why I stopped.

I want to start writing in my journal again, so I’ll try again with a fresh TiddlyWiki. For a customized look, I installed the K2Blog theme from TiddlyThemes.

Sadly, TiddlyWiki doesn’t seem to be popular, so I don’t know of a site with newer themes. Don’t ask.

Do any of you keep a private journal? Online or offline? What program or service?

Getting into Smart Collections

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I’d like to share my ideas for using Smart Collections in Lightroom 2.

The past two years, I haven’t touched collections. What are they?

Collections are a great way to organize photos into groups for easy viewing at a later time. Matt Kloskowski

Workflow background

My workflow consisted of picking (P) the best photos, processing those, then exporting low-res JPEG files for Flickr (or hi-res JPEG files to Zenfolio).

  • Blue (label, keypad 9) photos were processed, but not uploaded to Flickr.
  • Green (label, keypad 8) photos are on Flickr.

How about figuring out if photos were on Zenfolio? I’d open the Metadata library filter and change one of the sort columns to display “Uploaded to Zenfolio.”

Photos were sorted into folders by year, month, and day. I’d append the event/location after the day.

I had to make things easier for myself.

Utilizing Smart Collections

I finally added collections and smart collections to help me find photos that need to be processed and/or uploaded. I keyword and geotag my photos liberally, so that’s the driving power behind these smart collections.

  • The California[1. Hopefully I travel out of state so it won't just be California.] collection set will only work if I add location metadata to my photos. Since I geotag almost everything, this’ll work for me.
  • I’m not sure what else to put into genre, but I’ll figure it out. They’re all based on keywords.
  • Photo sessions will be manual collections, but maybe I can enter a Job Title (IPTC > Contact) and use that for a smart collection. (I’m pondering out loud.)
  • Websites are manual collections. I keep track of where photos are posted (aside from Flickr and Zenfolio).

Smart Collections: Workflow

The main one is the Workflow collection set.

Processed — Photos labelled blue.

Processed without title — Photos labelled blue, but without a title. Since you can’t use an “is empty” modifier for Title, entering these vowels is a workaround.

Unprocessed — No labels.

The Flickr/Zenfolio collection sets are based on the color label and the “Uploaded to Zenfolio” tag.

I’ll need to add smart collections based on stars/picks, especially if I want to make it easier on myself to share my favorites at the end of the year.

I have no smart collection for rejected (X) photos. I’m more daring when it comes to deleting photos I’ll probably never touch again.

The bigger “picture”

Since you can sort photos by date (Library Filter > Metadata), I might move away from date-based folders. It’s all open to discussion.

For now, please leave comments related to Lightroom 2 smart collections.

Do you have any ideas for smart collections?

P.S. I’ve heard of “The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers.” I’ll eventually get it, but if you’d buy it for me, I’d appreciate it!

Related

Geotagging revisited

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Last year, I wrote about my geotagging workflow with the Amod AGL3080 GPS Data Logger, Lightroom, and GeoSetter. Since I’ve been doing it for nearly a year, I felt compelled to write an update.

Here’s my current geotagging workflow:

  1. Copy photos to my “To geotag” folder on my Drobo.
  2. Geotag photos with GeoSetter.
  3. Import photos into Lightroom.

GPSBabel is extraneous for the Amod AGL3080

GeoSetter reads the log file just fine, no converting necessary. (Thanks George!)

If you don’t have that GPS data logger, you might need GPSBabel.

Save time by creating favorites in GeoSetter

GeoSetter defaults to somewhere in Germany. If you take photos around a few places regularly, and you’re not using a GPS data logger, create a favorite at that location.

For example, when I’m going to and from work, I’m usually around Los Angeles Union Station, Koreatown, and Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena. So, I made favorites for those spots.

GeoSetter quirks

Sometimes, the server won’t connect. An annoyance in which you have to wait until it does.

Any ideas or solutions for this one?

Dump your photos in a “To geotag” folder

Since I want to have my photos geotagged on my computer (before uploading to Flickr and/or Bryan Villarin Photography), I don’t edit any of them in Lightroom until that step is done.

Why?

The “Read metadata from file” step [in Lightroom] will overwrite the metadata with the one saved from GeoSetter.

Do you still use the Amod AGL3080?

Yes, and it’s still a champ. I wouldn’t see any reason to go with another one.

What if I don’t have a GPS data logger?

Get the Localize bookmarklet. You’ll love the place/address search. So, if you’re photowalking, bring pen and paper, then write your location every few minutes (e.g. Wilshire and Normandie, Los Angeles). After you’ve uploaded your photos, refer to your notes and geotag accordingly.

Why geotag?

It’s a slick way to see where you’ve been. You might also want to revisit a place or inspire others to check it out.

Of course, don’t geotag where you or your friends live. Be safe.

What did I miss? Share your suggestions with everyone else!

[amtap amazon:asin=B000WO6HJW]

Why doesn't Skype want my money?

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You’re upsetting my mom, Skype.

When I lost my ATM/Debit card last month, I had to associate my account information with PayPal to use the new card. PayPal currently has it confirmed, but Skype is still refusing my payments.

I contacted Skype on January 2nd, 2009 and received a response on January 8th — three business days later.

It was a canned response, telling me everything was fine on their side, but I should check if all my data is entered correctly or try different payment methods. I waited three business days to read what I already saw on their website initially?!

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