Tag mac

Entries 4 Total

Hidden tracks your stolen computer

Apr 29, ’12 9:14 AM

Hidden:

Hidden is a small application which sits idle on your computer until you need it. When your computer gets stolen simply login to your online Tracking Control Panel and mark your computer as stolen. Hidden will kick into action and locate your stolen computer anywhere on the planet, collect photos of the thief and screen shots of the computer in use.

Ever since my laptop was stolen years ago, I’ve had Hidden installed on my new laptop. Pretty horrible feeling when someone breaks in and steals your stuff. If you have a laptop, there is no excuse for not installing a tracker.

Comments Off

Simplifying by Reducing Mac User Accounts

Feb 10, ’11 10:29 PM

I’ve got a bunch of Macs. Why? Well, I guess I’m a Mac-Rat. They just seem to multiply. I’ve got a Mac Mini. Wait, two Mac Minis. An Air. An old PowerBook. An old iMac. A Cube. An old iBook. And don’t get me started on my iOS devices.

I’ve got a user account on each of the Macs. Why? I’m stupid, that’s why. Well, I thought I was being smart but really I’ve just created a major headache for myself.

Sync this. Sync that. I’m not sure how I managed before Dropbox to be honest. But even Dropbox can’t create the peace I now seek. I’ve over-complicated things and now I will simplify things.

Tonight I removed all files from the Mac mini that my wife, Michelle uses. Michelle, it’s all yers. Have fun. I won’t be pushing you out of your chair anymore or taking over your screen with Screen Sharing. After I am positive all my personal files are removed, I’m going to delete my user account. One down, a crap-load to go.

My goal is simple. Mac Mini at work. MacBook Air for everything else. There’s still a bit of user management and file syncing I’ll have to do but reducing my number of accounts to two from a zillion has got to help.

Comments Off

Hitting my Hyperspaces Button

Jan 27, ’11 8:22 AM

For my work Mac mini, I’ve settled on 9 spaces to contain my apps. Hyperspaces enhances the Mac’s built-in Spaces functionality by allowing you to customize each desktop background, name, growl integration, hotkeys, and more.

This is my Hyperspaces configuration.

Hyperspaces

Each space is dedicated to a specific mode. For instance, when I’m writing in Word or PowerPoint, I’m in space 1. When I switch to OmniFocus, I’m working in space 2. Chrome and any other browser is assigned to space 4 and so on.

I’m experimenting with the Dashboard space. I was keeping utilities like MiStat, a terminal, the console and that type of thing but once Geckoboard sent me an invite, I’ve been trying to focus on solely displaying my Geckoboard in that space.

I keep almost all apps at full screen. Sometimes I’ll split a screen in half, though. For instance, when reviewing an email that pertains to a report I’m writing, I will use SizeUp to align the email on the left and my report on the right. SizeUp is a great addition to Mac window management junkies like myself.

On my other Macs, I’m replicating this layout so that I feel comfortable on whichever Mac I move to. Of course, the more spaces you configure, the more you want. Got to keep that in mind. And the amount of RAM your Mac has makes a big impact on this kind of solution as well because once you configure all these spaces, you are going to want to keep all your apps running. I find 8 GB a very nice amount of RAM with plenty of breathing room for everything I need to do.

Comments Off

Let Your Computer Do the Proofreading

Jan 19, ’11 2:48 PM

Excellent tip for quick and easy proofreading from Ljuba Miljkovic at Adaptive Path. I think I’ll use this tip for the report I’m writing this week.

If you write on a Mac, there’s a robust way of proofreading using the system’s built-in text-to-speech feature. Intended for the visually impaired, this feature will read any text back to you in a relatively pleasant voice, immune to human visual biases.

Speech-Pref-Pane.png

Comments Off