There are a number of excellent launching tools on OS X that allow you to access information, applicaitons, and documents without having to use their mouse. Over the past three years, I’ve tested out the big three: Objective Development’s LaunchBar, Peter Maurer’s Butler, and Blacktree’s Quicksilver.
All three are superbly helpful. Essentially, you “invoke” the application by typing a combination of keys like Command and Space (all applications allow you to customize your key combination) and then type in a few letters; the software then tries to quickly figure out what you’re looking for, be it another application, an address, or an image. For example, if I type in “DAR,” I immediately come up with “http://www.daringfireball.net” – a blog I like to read; hitting Return brings up the website immediately. If I type in “WNYC” and then hit Return, iTunes launches my fave talk station. That’s it.
While I like Butler because it’s “free” (actually donationware) and very powerful and I semi-like Quicksilver because it looks pretty, I really like LaunchBar (which costs $19.95). The application works very, very quickly and its matches are accurate. I recently switched to using my Address Book application to manage all of my contacts and LaunchBar beautifully brings up information from Address Book easily – phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
Lately, I’ve been using LaunchBar to take quick notes on something or other without having to leave the keyboard. For instance, if I want to make a note “clean out car” while I’m working on something else, I don’t have to leave Photoshop. I just call up LaunchBar, type in “TODO” and a .txt file caled “todo.txt” is noted. I then hit the Tab key, type “APP” to call up the Append Text script (built into LaunchBar) and when I type “clean out car,” that text gets entered in my todo.txt file. It sounds like a lot of work. Why don’t I just open the file todo.txt and then add information to it? Because it would twice as long and I’d have to open the file, type in the information, close the window, save the file and then regroup.
Of course, I didn’t invent the Append Text method. Merlin Mann noted how to append text using Quicksilver about a year ago. If you want to try it with LaunchBar, make sure that you can first find the .txt file that you want to open. You’ll need to open the Configuration panel, select the group that you’re indexing (for instance “Documents”) and make sure that “Access items via sub-search only” is not checked. This will allow LaunchBar to find your text document. Much thanks to Objective Development for helping me figure it all out.
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Children of Men-y.
For some forsaken reason, the movie Children of Men wasn’t on my radar screen. It looks quite incredible, just having read the synopsis. It’s exactly how I kind of imagined 2027 – nuclear terrorism, totalitarianism, environmental degradation, and a secret sect of scientists seeking to keep humanity on life support.
In fact, my theory is that there are four inescapable reasons that I was not told about this movie beforehand:
- The government has built, between my ears, a wire cage made of invisible bolts, powered by dark matter and managed by ISK10.
- My long-time fascination with and adoration of Julianne Moore has destablized my relationship with the newspapers that I acquaint myself with each day.
- My college honors thesis, written about William Blake in 1989, is now controlled by Universal Pictures, who is distributing this film. Blake’s lyrics are featured in the original film score by John Tavener.
- The word “bummer,” which I used randomly when I was 8 years old, is now considered a legitimate term of art by New York Times writers like Manohia Dargis, who wrote of this movie, “Children of Men may be something of a bummer, but it’s the kind of glorious bummer that lifts you to the rafters, transporting you with the greatness of its filmmaking.”
Forward.
My friend, R.M., sent this video to me. I have nothing to add, except that it’s kind of amusing and the performer is very rehearsed and very talented.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRP6NkBP0Xk]
When It's Crazy.
As my child gets, ever so slightly, older and wiser (not necessarily for the better), the demands of language become more pronounced. About four or five months ago, she started using the word “crazy” to describe certain things that don’t quite make sense or aren’t right or are, in general, outside the normal scope of daily affairs. For instance, she might say that “that guy looks crazy” because he’s wearing a large red hat. I know she got this from me and a few other select sources, because I would say something similar, probably ironically.
It’s the other sources that I wonder about. Television and other communication mechanisms use the words “crazy,” “insane,” “ridiculous,” “loony,” “nuts” to describe things that don’t make sense and “nut job,” “nut ball,” “loony tune,” “dumby,” “dumb-head,” “dumb-ass,” “stoopid,” “crazy ass,” “shit head,” “shit for brains,” “lunatic,” “mad hatter,” “crackpot,” “crazy,” “crackhead,” or “bonzo” to describe people that don’t make sense.
I wonder where all of this stems from. The Surrealists, who were essentially shoved under Magritte’s umbrella by popular culture, were highly attuned to questions of mental stability, insanity and its cousin, inanity. For the Surrealists, culture was a kind of submission to our dreams and mental disabilities, our nightmares and fears. I remember reading, many years ago, that Breton believed that our real lives are lived in our dreams; I believed him. It could be said that all good artistry is a recognition of the surreal, or the components of life that are not easily explained and it was really the Surrealists that brought this gift to us.
Going back to our need to call things “crazy,” I wonder if the increased use of the word and its synonyms has to do with the super-rationalized, hyper-realistic, and over-informed world we inhabit. Capitalism, in all of its glory, has taken those living in the West for a linear ride of structured living. From Ikea to Microsoft, the object is to partition and contain and enhance and support—not to combine, expand, destroy and deny, which is what crazy people do.
Five Minutes to Midnight (or The Weather).
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock is now set at Five Minutes to Midnight. These guys, probably the smartest group of affiliated individuals in the world (unless you count the employees at Google), have determined that we’re now almost entirely screwed, completely and utterly screwed. Briefly, they lay out three horror stories, which, for some reason, only get very light coverage on the daily news, the Web, and on the tube. They are:
Nuclear: “Terrorists alter the long-accepted nuclear threat paradigm.”
Environmental: “The future looks even bleaker, as scientists continue to observe cascading effects on Earth’s complex ecosystems.”
Emerging Technologies: “The emergence of nanotechnology–manufacturing at the molecular or atomic level–presents similar concerns, especially if coupled with chemical and biological weapons, explosives, or missiles.”
The Bulletin site (which is quite a work of art in and of itself) goes into lots of nice detail.
Me, I don’t need no smarty-pants professorial types to tell me the world is wacked. I read the weather report. Today’s weather says this:
“WINTER STORM WATCH FOR SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS / LOWER GILA REGION, SIERRA COUNTY LAKES REGION, TULAROSA BASIN / SOUTHERN DESERT, SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS, SOUTHWEST DESERT / BOOTHEEL, SOUTHWEST DESERT / MIMBRES BASIN, SOUTHERN DESERT, NM EL PASO COUNTY, HUDSPETH COUNTY, TX UNTIL THU JAN 18 2007 06:30 AM MST”
“COASTAL FLOOD WARNING FOR SOUTHERN BREVARD COUNTY, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, ST. LUCIE COUNTY, MARTIN COUNTY, COASTAL VOLUSIA COUNTY, NORTHERN BREVARD COUNTY, FL UNTIL THU JAN 18 2007 04:00 PM EST”
A FREEZE WARNING MEANS SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE IMMINENT OR HIGHLY LIKELY. THESE CONDITIONS WILL KILL CROPS AND OTHER SENSITIVE VEGETATION.TO PREVENT FREEZING AND POSSIBLE BURSTING OF OUTDOOR WATER PIPES…PIPES SHOULD BE WRAPPED…DRAINED…OR
ALLOWED TO DRIP SLOWLY. THOSE THAT HAVE IN-GROUND SPRINKLER SYSTEMS SHOULD DRAIN THEIR SYSTEMS…OR COVER ANY ABOVE-GROUND PIPES TO PROTECT THEM FROM FREEZING.”
Windows 386 is Cool.
My friend, D.C., sent me this today and it’s for real. Microsoft sent this video to various retailers to promote its new operating system in 1987. As the original poster of the video says, “boring until the 7-minute mark when the production is taken over by crack-smoking monkeys.” Dirty monkeys, I say.
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=4915875929930836239&hl=en
Andrew Hawk.
I can hardly believe I’m writing this but here I am writing to, essentially, support the call for more troops being sent to Iraq. After four years of destroying the country’s political and social economy, President Bush has determined that he has one last chance to do right by Iraq and its people. I, and all Americans, should hold Bush responsible for ruining the country by, at the very least, not following the advice of critical generals and State Department advisors at the very start and, before that, aiming to invade a tortured nation for no reason except some kind of misbegoten, frat-party imperial exceptionalism.
Having said that, in my opinion, Bush has no choice but to throw more troops at the problem. Pulling soliders and materials out of Iraq precipitously could exacerbate a civil war that could lead to a region-wide conflict, one that could at some point, turn into full-out nuclear war. The military and logistical support already exists in the region to supply this last-ditch endeavor with possibility. The last thing the world needs is a conflict among Israel, Iran, Syria, Egypt and Saudia Arabia over the resources and security of the Iraqi nation-state.
There are a lot of “ifs” in this equation that Bush has made: If 20,000 troops is enough to pacify and quiet Baghdad and other critical areas of the country; if the baby Iraqi government can get its act together to agree upon shared sovereignty; if already exhausted American troops aren’t too cynical to keep fighting; if the Bush administration can work diplomatically to get countries like Iran and Syria to be part of some solution; if the most angry elements of Iraq aren’t further inflamed by the American presence; if the President tells the Iraqis that the US will not have a permanent presence in their country; if the new “surge” can happen over a period of two months and security becomes more real over a period of six months, if Americans and their newly elected Democratic representatives can stomach more violence; if a sustainable plan for economic development can be stabilized in the country, then, maybe, there’s a chance that Iraq will not fall apart. There must be a timetable, however, and this table should be provided in weeks, not months.
I recognize the inherent naivitie in all of this. But it’s based on the knowledge that the United States too often abandons the messes it clearly makes. I sincerely wish the newly appointed troops luck and the administration something else.
The Hour.
There are not a lot of US-based shows I miss in Canada these days and the ones I like are typically broadcast here on PBS affiliate stations. But there are a few Canadian television shows that I’ve been really enjoying of late, including one especially, The Hour, a CBC news/talk show. The show, hosted by none other than a semi-fit/semi-pudgy guy (just like me) named George Stroumboulopoulos (not to be confused with George Stephanopoulos), is a one-hour-long riff on politics, entertainment, grotesqueries and general news with a generally liberal slant that feels uniquely Canadian.
Geared toward the 20- and 30-somethings throughout Canada, recent guests are one or two cuts above the usual hoi poloi shedding panties and whatnot. Mr. Stroumboulopoulos has interviewed Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens, the moustacioed head of the Canadian NDP (Jack Layton), and even Deepak Chopra. Unlike US-based shows like that of Jon Stewart, Stroumboulopoulos’ is eager and unironic and often sarcastic with a strong focus on the bizarre but not, importantly, the inane. Interestingly to me, the show somewhat represents the very best features of Canadian identity that I’ve experienced—humble but knowledgable, optimistic but insecure, humorous but realistic.
I don’t know how well this “alt news” show is doing, though I read that it was struggling a few months ago. I wish it very well.
Postscript: Macleans had a good piece about Stroumboulopoulos and his savior-like status at the CBC. Of note, in terms of audience, “the highest proportion are aged 35 to 49,” a demographic I strongly and happily fit.
More Troops, More Toys, Please.
I wake up this morning to read that there is an incredible amount of chatter in the techie “blogosphere” about Apple’s new products. I admit, I’m semi-excited to see what the company has up its sleeve on Tuesday. The company’s home page indicates that it could be a flashlight of some sort or maybe they’re going to resurrect 2001: A Space Odyssey. Apple’s stock has been all over the place but I’m assuming the new iPod phone or iTV machine they’re about to release will be, at the very least, pretty.
At the same time, in the political “blogoshere,” there’s a torrent of speculation about President Bush’s expected “surge” of 30,000 more troops going to Iraq, while Afghanistan is falling apart at the seams. Although the two announcements are not complimentary nor comparable, the conversations, indeed, are.
- Both are conducted largely by men.
- Both are largely based around the Internet because anonymity reigns here.
- Both conversations are based on secreted information and highly-paid public relations officers.
- Both enjoy the privilege of hyperbole, using desire and anxiety to fan the flames.
- Both rely on limited systems of language about technology and not about lives lived.
I’m as curious as the next blogger to hear the news.
MS $uicide.
I know this is the second post about technology in two days. I know.
A friend of mine, RJ, noted to me a fascinating set of articles that could begin with this one Windows DRM is the ‘longest suicide note in history’ at The Register. In a nutshell, Microsoft, in its limited wisdom about young computer users, has decided to build into Vista, its new operating sytem, the most complex and doom-laden digital rights management (DRM) ever devised. The way it was described to me was such that every potential piece of hardware throughout the connectivity chain (USB connections, RAM, everything) has the possibility of being involved with ensuring that digital rights are adhered to by the big movie/music studios.
My quick prediction is that, if true, this spells the end of Microsoft as we know it. Within six months, the company will see a forfeiture of its market share by as much as 10% to one company, Apple Computer. Microsoft will then have to back its DRM out of Vista and produce a more visionary and gentler DRM for its customer base. It’s incredible to me that companies with as many market researchers as Microsoft would choose to deploy a draconian DRM system that goes against the prevailing, lighter-touch sensibilitiy around digital rights that people have come to expect, and demand.