The Brotherhood of Mac

So tomorrow I'm starting a big case and I want to give a print out of my Keynote to the judge with space on the side for him to take notes. It is never a bad idea to have the guy wearing the black robe go home with my Keynote in his briefcase while the other guy creates funny adjectives for me like "slick" and "fancy".

Anyway, I put a PDF version of the Keynote on a thumb drive and cruised into the nearest Kinkos to have them run it on their gazillion dollar color machine. After all that work, it needs to look pretty. The only problem was the Kinkos guy could not get it to print. He was surrounded with customers and invited me "behind the counter" to try and figure it out myself. For some reason the Kinkos machine was hanging up in the middle of the print job. They poor guy was swamped and he really didn't have time to help me. It is early December at Kinkos and that means the "Christmas Letter Gang" is in full swing. You know those Christmas letters, right? The one that explains about Uncle Earl's Lumbago and how Linus finally won the cow chip throwing contest? (Yes, there is such a thing as cow chip throwing.)

Well, I really need to win tomorrow so I told him I'd grab my laptop out of the car and re-create the PDF to see if that was the issue. He then shrugged at me . . . probably secretly hoping I just wouldn't come back.

Anyway, I went to the car and returned with my trusty Mac. That was when things changed for the better.

The Kinko's guy, demonstrating an instinctual Mac geekiness, popped his head out of the crowd of irate Yuletiders like a lemur on the first night of mating season. Suddenly the Christmas letters weren't so important. Turns out the Kinkos guy was part of "The Brotherhood." He explained he is a proud owner of a G5 and card carrying member of the Brotherhood of Mac.

He brushed aside the Lumbago gang like so much rubbish and came straight over to bask in the glory that is my MacBook Pro. We reset the PDF and I gave him a quick spin on OmniFocus and then we went back to the big Kinkos machine. Suddenly he had all the time in the world for me.

Turns out the problem was Kinkos' monster printer but we figured it out and in no time I had some beautiful color copies of my Keynote and a new MacGeek friend.

Never underestimate the Power of the Brotherhood.

NewsFlash - El Jobso Speaks at MacWorld

It is offical, Steve Jobs will be the keynote speaker at MacWorld tuesday morning, January 15. I'm not really sure why this is big news but at least we know for sure now. Unfortunately, I'll just be arriving at that time. Not that it matters. I didn't buy the superpass to get me in anyway. I'll be somewhere close though . . . having a zen moment with all the other broke Mac geeks.

OmniGraffle Pro 5 beta 1 - Initial Impressions

The march of the Leopard only applications has begun. The Omni Group just released beta 1 of Omnigraffle 5. I've reviewed OmniGraffle already and explained how darn useful this application is. The new version takes advantage of Leopard with many new features.

I've been using it a few hours this morning making some diagrams for one of my cases and so far it is "thumbs up." This is a major upgrade and I'm too early in the process to really understand them all but some initial thoughts are as follows:

* The new stencil viewer is an excellent upgrade.

* The overall improvements have made the process of drawing and creating both easier and more intuitive.

* The new bezier system is a definite improvement.

* The integration with OmniOutliner seems easier with drag and drop.

I'm looking forward to getting to know this beta a bit better. In the meantime you can download a copy for yourself from Omni. Pricing and availability of the final build has yet to be announced.

Quick Look Folders Plugin

There is a great plug-in on the net that allows you to change the Quick Look behavior of folders. Instead of getting the big useless folder icon, this new Folder QuickLook shows you the contents of the file and various details regarding its contents. You can get the plug in and instructions right here.

Holy Crackers! More Mac Software on Sale

Isn't December the month you are supposed to be buying gifts for family and friends? The Mac development community is sorely tempting me with a series of good promotions.

MacSantaDeals.com

This is a daily list of programs with 20% off. They then linger at 10% off until Christmas. Today they have several interesting applications on sale. I keep looking at SpamSeive. Hmmm.

GiveGoodFood2YourMac

This is a group of excellent European developers. You can put together your own bundle of software including such excellent programs as Pixelmator, CSS Edit, and RapidWeaver. You get 30% off if you buy three titles and it scales up to as much as 70% if you buy ten.

New Link: Mac-Lawyer.com

I've been corresponding with my friend Kevin Morton. He just launched his site, Mac-Lawyer.com which is his blog of about the transition of his law office from Windows to the Mac. Kevin, who is a very smart and friendly attorney, (Yes! Such people DO exist) hopes to share a lot of good tips that would be useful to any switching business. Head on over and check it out.

Review - Hazel

If you would like to listen to this review, you can hear my dulcet tones on MacreviewCast #136

I’ve been getting deeper into automation lately. In this regard, I’ve discovered a very handy little application called Hazel. Hazel, published by Noodlesoft.com, is an appropriately named application that does the housekeeping on your Mac. It is a preference pane that allows you to make a series of rules as to how to handle certain files on your system. Hazel then, either automatically or at your command, goes off and executes the rules you create. I think perhaps the easiest way to describe it is to give a few examples of some of my Hazel rules:

* Hazel empties my trash every few days

* Hazel empties my downloads folder and puts the movies in my movies folder, pictures in my picture folder, and music in my iTunes library.

* Hazel clears out my media-heavy temporary files such as soundtrack and movie temp files once a week.

* I have one folder on a password encrypted sparse image drive that is the recipient of my scanned documents. When I ask Hazel to clean that folder, it takes each pdf and moves it to a sub folder organized by month and year. If it needs too, Hazel will create a new monthly folder.

I’ve really only scratched the surface with my usage so far. Hazel can also set color labels and add Spotlight comments. It can even rename your files. It integrates with the iLife library allowing you to send files into iPhoto and iTunes. If you are trying to break yourself of the habit of accumulating files on your desktop, Hazel can lend a hand.

These are just a few examples of what Hazel can do. Lately, whenever I catch myself doing repetitive file management tasks, I end up making a Hazel rule to get that bit of drudgery out of my life.

If you don’t already have a program to delete applications, like AppZapper, Hazel has a feature called AppSweap that sniffs out related files when you go to delete an application.

I exchanged email with Hazel’s developer, Paul Kim. Paul explained that he developed Hazel out of frustration with keeping his desktop clean and his observation about what a good job smart folders did of keeping his mail organized. Paul says he is looking into adding a few Leopard specific features but also intends to continue supporting Tiger

I really enjoy using my Mac. I want to spend that time, however, getting my work done or having fun making music or working on the MacSparky blog. Hazel helps you cut down on the time spent doing computer housekeeping and more time for the fun stuff.

My review was of version 2.1.1 which is universal binary. Hazel can be downloaded at Noodlesoft.com for a free 14-day trial. A full license will cost you $21.95. However, Paul agreed to give a 10% discount to MacReviewCast listeners and MacSparky readers for the week of December 1-8, 2007. Just enter the coupon code MACSPARKY. Now is your chance!

An Open Apology to My Side Dock

Hello Side Dock,

It is so nice to see you again on my vertically challenged MacBook Pro. I know what you are thinking. You are upset that I've ignored you since installing Leopard. Well, I must admit I was smitten with that fancy new lower dock. How could I help myself? It is shiny. And it reflects things! Well you knew all along you'd be coming back to my Mac and indeed here you are. I can only apologize publicly and hope you understand that us geeky types are always tempted by shiny, reflective things.

MacSparky

Leopard Tip - Scroll Any Window

I had one of those little "Aha!" moments today. I was putting together an outline for a work project and next to it I had a Preview window with a long PDF document in it. I kept moving back and forth between the windows and activating the Preview window to scroll down the document then clicking back in OmniOutliner to resume work there. Well wouldn't you know one time I forgot to click first in Preview AND IT DIDN'T MATTER. Yup. In Leopard you can mouse scroll (or two finger scroll on your laptop) and move through an inactive window. Try it yourself.

MacSparky on the Web

I've been posting a bit to my friend Victor Cajiao's excellent blog and podcast at TypicalMacUser.com. I've got to support Victor since he is from Riverside, California and I grew up just down the street in Ontario. Anyway, you can read several of my ramblings over there including:

The Birth of a Windows Dummy

OmniFocus Impressions

The New Candy