My must have tools – Part 2

After spending a little more time on my new Mac I have started to add other applications that I use less frequently, but still find extremely useful. I will be posting about some of them in the future. I have also taken a little time to explore a few applications that I have been wanting to try. At the top of my must try list is Tweetie.

Tweetie:

I started using Twitter about six months ago, but I have not been a heavy user. However, one feature that I use frequently is the option to post Tweets automatically to Facebook. I use this method to streamline posting from my blackberry. Now that I have discovered Tweetie, I will probably become a more active Twitter user. If you are not yet a Twitter user you should give it a try, but I recommend using Tweetie from the start.

Twitter out of the box is simple, but some of the more advanced functions can be a bit confusing. Tweetie takes all of the confusion out of it. While Tweetie is fairly intuitive I found this screen cast that explained everything I needed to know. I would recommend this screen cast especially if you don’t yet use Twitter and want to get up to speed quickly. By the way, this site contains many other useful instructional videos. I have bookmarked it and I expect to be using it frequently.

When you do sign up for Twitter don’t forget to add Birddog10 as a friend.

Tweetie is free for the add supported version, but also has a paid version sans the adds. There is also a version for the iPhone.

My must have tools – Part 1

I am now the proud owner of a new 13-inch MacBook pro. One of the things I always look forward to when I get a new machine is tricking it out with my favorite applications and tools. It will take me a few weeks to get the machine exactly like I want it. However, there are a few tools that I installed immediately. These are the gems that I use everyday, the stuff that I would not even think about doing without. I thought it might be interesting to share these with you. Maybe you use a few of these tools yourself, or maybe you will want to try them out,

Some of these are Mac applications so if you have not yet seen the light you may not benefit much from this post.

1. Qucksilver
Quicksilver is a free application launcher that lets you quickly search for and launch programs and files just by typing in the first few characters of the name. You launch Quicksilver by hitting cntrl-space. Then, as you type in the name of the program or file you want to launch, it appears. You simply hit enter and the program launches. In most cases you can launch a program with 4 or 5 keystrokes. This is much faster than clicking through the finder hierarchy. Using Quicksilver becomes a habit very quickly. The problem is that I often find myself hitting cntrl-space to no avail on my windows machine at work.

2. Evernote
I just started using Evernote for recording notes, web clippings, to-do lists, and just about anything that I would normally jot down on a piece of paper. Notes are stored in the cloud so that you can get to them from anywhere. Evernote has many different ways of capturing information. For example, you can highlight text on a web page and convert it into a note simply by clicking a button on your browser menu bar. Another cool feature is the ability to send a note to yourself vie email. I use this when I am on my blackberry and don’t have access to a full sized browser. I am still finding amazing ways to use Evernote.

3. Marsedit
I use Marsedit to write all of my blog posts. While it is not free, it’s ease of use and pays off in reduced time and frustration.

4. Gmail
While my primary mail application is Mac Mail, I have started to use gmail and the other google applcations more and more. I love google reader, calendar and google documents.

5. Flickr Uploader
Also free, the uploader allows you to drag and drop pictures for loading to Flickr. It makes it easy to add descriptions and tags to your pictures before they are uploaded. If you upload a lot of pictures it is a must have tool.

There are others tools that I use everyday, but these are the ones I can’t do without. If you have tools that you think are special I would love to hear about them.

30 Years of Apple Computers in three minutes

As many of you know I am very interested in the history of the computer industry, especially Apple computers. This video shows just about every model of Apple computer that has ever been produced. It blows my mind to see how far technology and personal computers have come in such a short time.

For me personally, and probably for many people my age that are in to computers, this brings back a lot of fond memories. After all I was just 12 years old when the first Apple computer was introduced. I spent the next few years just trying to figure out how to get my hands on any computer – Apples were out of the question because of the cost. This probably explains why I now have five Apples in my collection.

The music in the background is fitting.