Flock No More and Plans for this Blog

So I used Flock for a day. It was ok, but more of a distraction than anything else. I'm back to using a combo of Safari and Camino. I find that the older I get the more I like simplicity of concept. This brings me to my portfolio. Since I'm not job hunting, my domain is languishing. Today Smashing Magazine has a really great compendium of 50 More Excellent Blog Designs. I love the way many bloggers have created sites that bring together their blog, Flickr stream, Twitter, portfolio, and so on. Such a site would go a long way toward encouraging me to keep my own (currently disparate) sites up to date.

Flock

I'm testing out Flock today as I work. It's an interesting concept that integrates 90% of my non-retail or work-related browsing into the browser itself. A left-hand navbar reveals Facebook and Flickr contacts, e-mail, news feeds, and so on.

So far I like that I can access major features of sites like Flickr, Facebook, and G-Mail in a simplified way without going to those sites. The browser has a friendly feeling to it, though coming from the super-clean Safari it feels a little heavy on the top-level navigations (e.g., tabs take up significantly more space than they probably should). I also wish Flock had more server-side integration. Now that I've set Flock up on my iMac at home, I have to set it up on my work MacBook Pro.

Flock currently doesn't have a mobile browser (that would work with my ever-present iPhone) and using their feed reader won't sync with Google Reader, but these are things that seem to be called for regularly in the Flock Forums, so hopefully we'll see them soon.

I can definitely see myself using Flock regularly. I'm surprised by how pleasant the experience is (I tend toward a less-is-more approach in all things). Perhaps Flock will encourage me to be more active online. For example, its "Blog Post" feature got me to write this.

UPDATE: I ended up not using Flock afterall. The rendering of regular web pages was a bit too slow. Plus, this all-in-one item felt a little too "Swiss Army Knife" for me. I prefer the speed and clean interface of Safari.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Task Paper is for GTD, Grocery Lists, Just About Anything...

I have fallen in love with Task Paper, the little program that could from Hog Bay Software. At first Task Paper a bare-bones program for GTD and list making, seems so acetic as to be useless. When I first scored a copy from MacHeist II, it seemed to pale in comparisson to the more robust software coming from developers like the Omni Group. However, I've found in my computing life that I'm constantly on the look out for things that do what they're supposed to do and do it perfectly (rather than feature hogs like Office and Photoshop). Simplicity reigns as far as I'm concerned and I've found that Task Paper's list keeping is the best. 

What makes Task Paper so great is that I don't have to leave the keyboard to make and edit my lists. Using a very simple syntax, Task Paper sets up robust lists. Everything I need and nothing I don't.

I keep a copy of the program on my home and work computers, a universal "to do" on my iDisk, and I'm able to access my lists at home and work.

Gmail on the iPhone--How to Bypass the Download Lots of Messages Bug

Many people are having problems getting Gmail to work correctly on the iPhone. Part of the problem can be attributed to Gmail use of conversations. That is, when you engage in the back and forth banter that Gmail clusters into a conversation, your sent e-mails automatically appear in the conversations (already marked as read). However, the iPhone doesn't realize they've been read and treats them as new, incoming mail.

Two sizable problems can occur when setting up Gmail with the iPhone: the iPhone downloads hundreds of pieces of mail (everything you've written over the past month) and your sent mail keeps appearing in your iPhone's inbox. Both of these issues have been blogged extensively.

The first problem can be solved by following these steps in order:

(1) First "Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on" in your Gmail settings. Do this before you set up your Gmail account on your iPhone (if you already have your account set up on the phone, delete it in Settings > Mail > Accounts > [your gmail account] > Delete Account) go to your Gmail account and click Settings > Forwarding and POP. If you have POP enabled, disable it now and Save Changes. Return to Forwarding and POP. Now, select "Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on" and Save changes.

(2) Next set up Gmail in your iPhone using Settings instead of Mail. Rather than clicking on the Mail icon to set up Gmail, click on Settings > Mail > Add Account > Gmail and enter your information. Once it has been entered click on your new account in the Accounts section of the Mail setting (it will likely read [username]@gmail.com. Click on Advanced and turn "Use Recent Mode" to Off. It is very important that you turn recent mode off before you click on the Mail icon on your iPhone. This will prevent the iPhone from downloading a full month of e-mail correspondence. If you setup your Gmail from within the Mail application, it will automatically check your e-mail before you have the chance to toggle "Use Recent Mode."

(3) Leave Settings and go to Mail. Your Gmail Mailbox should now only download new messages.

The second problem--receiving copies of your sent mail in your inbox--requires a change to your Gmail account that negates how Gmail organizes conversations. This requires setting up a filter in Gmail that skips the inbox and archives any mail sent from your account. I haven't set this up on my own account, because I like Gmail's handling of conversations, although I'm tempted the more I use my iPhone.

Adobe Lightroom

Now that I've finished my dissertation, I'm able to get back into my hobbies and writing for this site. For a long time I was fiercely coveting Apple Aperture. But the trial was sluggish to the point of unusable on my PowerBook G4 1.67 (despite this being a "supported" configuration). In addition, Aperture has no support for networked drives, which was problematic since all of my media is served off a Mac Mini on my network.

I had tried a very early iteration of Adobe Lightroom, but at the time it wasn't that much better than iPhoto. Enter the newly released Lightroom 1.0. It actually performs pretty well on my PowerBook, even with only 1 GB of RAM (which I need to upgrade one I start working) and referencing my 8,000+ RAW files over a wireless network.

Lightroom has returned the joy of digital photography into my life. I was sitting on a couple hundred holiday photos that I was dreading culling through in iPhoto. Lightroom is a dream for organizing, selecting, and processing photos (even with my less-than-ideal setup). I found the National Association of Photoshop Professional's Lightroom Tutorials to be an outstanding introduction to the software.

Blogging from Contribute

I've set up Contribute CS3 to edit this blog. Contribute was the least exciting component of the Adobe CS3 Web Professional package I purchased with my soon-to-expire student discount. However, I just discovered that I can blog from Contribute and that made the program much more interesting to me. In fact, setting up the software to integrate with Blogspot (aka, Blogger) was as simple as entering my username and password.

In addition to its integration with blogs, Contribute immediately recognized my .Mac connection, where I host the pages of amyscarfone.com. I use Dreamweaver to design and manage that site. When I attempted to make a change via Contribute, the program downloaded the file and my CSS docs. Obviously redundant to the local site I already have on my machine. I'll have to check to see if I can integrate the two. I like the idea of proofing and editing the text of my website with contribute, if only to avoid accidentally touching some code inadvertently.

In memory of our fallen Hokies...

Amazon Unbox for TiVo Review

Amazon and TiVo are offering a $15 credit to TiVo subscribers who register for Amazon's Unbox service for TiVo by April 30th. With my credit, I downloaded Little Miss Sunshine yesterday. Here are my initial thoughts:

1. Selection. The current selection on Amazon is somewhat limited. I hope they will be rolling out additional content soon...especially in rentals.

2. Amazon Interface. The interface on the Amazon detail page is good and easy to use. The browse interface could definitely use some work. Amazon's browse is problematic and needs a major overhaul site-wide. I hope they undertake this soon, if it's not already in the works.

3. Download Speed. The site claims that the downloads take about an hour and it took nearly three hours for the 1hr 45min movie to complete. I have an Apple Extreme network running. Unfortunately, the Linksys USB wireless device I have plugged into my Series 2 TiVo is only 802.11b. Definitely the source of the bottleneck.

4. TiVo Interface. When TiVo is recording from my cable, it displays a red ball. When it is downloading an Unbox selection, the ball is blue. A nice, clean distinction. TiVo gives you plenty of information during the download process and, once complete, alerts you that once you begin playing your rented selection, you will have 24 hours to complete it. All in all, the same excellent service I've come to expect from TiVo.

5. Image Quality. Image quality on the TiVo is excellent. No complaints.

6. Overall Impressions. I really love this service. It is a very convenient (and environmentally friendly) way to watch digital content. Amazon's selection and browse experience could use some work. It would be nice to have the service hooked up to IMDB, so you could download content directly from the IMDB detail page. TiVo has nailed the user interface.

Joy and Rapture

Amazon and Tivo have announced a joint venture. Soon we Tivo owners will be able to download movies from Amazon and watch them on our Tivo boxes. The best part is that the price to rent the movies will be a cool $1.99. Sure beats the pants off of Time Warner's Pay Per View (whose prices start at $3.99 and force you to use their beastly remote).

Moo MiniCards

My department doesn't issue business cards to their PhD students. For the most part, this hasn't been a problem, but sometimes I've wanted some form of card to hand out to friends, colleagues and new acquaintances. Creating a traditional business card a la Staples or Kinkos just seemed like overkill and somewhat silly. Enter Moo MiniCards. These half-size business cards are the perfect 21st-century calling card. As a Flickr member, I was able to have 100 cards printed with my selected photo(s) on the back and personalized content on the front for $19.99. Moo even includes my Flickr icon, a small photo of myself (also used on this blog). Perfect for jogging the memory of someone I meet at, say, a conference who is interested in my research. I elected to distribute four of my photos across the 100-card set. On the front I listed my name, gMail address, and portfolio url. The cards are made of a very thick stock (thicker than traditional business cards) and look great.

A word of caution: Moo's prints run darker than what appears on screen. This is a known issue and many Flickr members have mentioned it. So select your images wisely. Check out what people are doing with their MiniCards in the Moo MiniCards Flickr Pool.

Desktop Transporter...A Dream.

Yesterday I purchased DEVONtechnologies' Desktop Transporter from MacZot. This a a wonderful piece of software. I have two machines: a PowerBook G4 and a MacMini G4. I use the Mini as a media server, organizing all my music, videos, and shared documents on a MiniStack external drive. Typically I sit at my desk and listen to music via the Mini. I have the Mini and my laptop sharing an LCD monitor, Apple Keyboard, and mouse, so I use a ConnectPro KVM switch to toggle between them. (The ConnectPro Master-IT USB is the best KVM switch I've ever used, and I've tried many.) Now that I have Desktop Transporter, I can keep my Mini's desktop open in a window while I write/work all day on the PowerBook. This has been wonderful! I can actually update star ratings and create new playlists in iTunes without physically switching to the Mini. In addition, I was able to monitor an extensive backup of the Mini's data (including feeding it DVD-Rs when prompted) while continuing to work on my PowerBook. A great time saver.

I intend to see how Desktop Transporter works for computers outside my LAN in the near future. I want to install it on my mother's Mini to see if I can truly use it to solve some of her problems remotely. Stay tuned...

Stunt Software Overflow

I received a free copy of Stunt Software's Overflow application and file launcher for voting in the My Dream App Contest. I had read that people were very happy with Overflow, but at $14 I didn't think it would be worth it. I was wrong. I have the little app running on both of my machines right now and I absolutely love it. It's more powerful than I expected and I'm thrilled that I've been able to remove everything from my dock except for the programs I use daily.

Why is Overflow so great? Well aside from the sparse dock, Overflow lets you sort your applications and files into different categories. For example, I now have a category for my design applications that consolidates my Adobe and Macromedia products into one space. Similarly, I have my frequently used system utilities in another category. The folders and projects I'm currently working on are together so I don't have to clutter my desktop with aliases or dig through my documents.

While working, you can bring up Overflow by hitting F1. You can then use the keyboard (or mouse) to navigate your categories and icons. I love it.

News Reporting at Its Finest

Today I encountered the most incredible piece of news reporting I've ever read. It's a "where's Waldo" of human error, glaring ideology, and contradiction that made me laugh out loud. (The original piece will hopefully be corrected for future readers).

Neighbors surprised by alleged 'risky business'
By: Robert Cristo, The Record
10/12/2006

Five individuals were arrested at 1237 Seventh Ave. for allegedly operating a prostitution service dubbed Albany Escorts & Red Hot Desires.
Shaun Rowe, 28, and Kellie Davis were charged with felony promoting prostitution charges.
Also arrested on misdemeanor prostitution charges were: Mary O'Brien, 25, of 23 St. Agnes Lane, Loudonville, and Crystal White, 28, of 13 Oneida Terrace, Albany.
Fernando Osorio was charged with criminal facilitation, a misdemeanor.
An unidentified neighbor's complaint led police investigators to look into whether Davis and Rowe were operating a prostitution service that spanned the Capital District through advertising in Metroland, business cards and setting up a web site.
Police say the website boasted itself as the Capital Region's upscale escort service.
Authorities also allege Davis and Rowe would book customers for dates costing clients anywhere from $150 to $170 for a one-hour session. Undercover officers were able to pose as potential clients by allegedly contacting Davis and setting up an hour long date with two escorts at a cost of $250.
Police say that once O'Brien and White arrived at the meet location, the escorts allegedly agreed to perform sexual acts with the undercover officers.
As a result, both individuals were then taken into custody by police investigators.
Neighbors said they were stunned to find out any kind of illegal activity was going on inside the modest, gray-sided home with a purple front door and Halloween decorations.
"I new a woman lived there...I'd see her working in the yard a lot, but I never saw anything bad going on there," said one neighbor who wished not to be identified.
Others in the sleepy neighborhood, where only the sound of birds chirping, a sporadic dog bark or occasional car passing car by can be heard, also said they were surprised when the police showed up to break up the alleged prostitution ring.
"She recently moved in this summer and did a lot of improvements on the house, so, yeah, I was shocked when the cops came," said another elderly neighbor who did not want to be identified.
Others hanging out having a cigarette across the street outside the Lucky 13 bar on 13th Street laughed and couldn't believe such a thing was allegedly going on in what is family neighborhood filled with mostly well-cared-for homes.
"That's news to me," said bemused man outside the bar, who didn't offer his name. "This is usually a very quite neighborhood.
Davis and White were arraigned in Watervliet City Court and remanded to the Albany County Jail without bail.

In Praise of Staples

I recently had a remarkable shopping experience at Staples. I was interested in a specific printer model, so I called ahead to check if they had the model and if it could print a test page for me to review. Yes on both accounts. When I arrived a helpful sales associated greeted me immediately. He then spent at least half an hour helping me compare my desired model to other, similar models. I purchased a new Samsung CLP-300 to replace an ailing (but trusty) Brother HL-1440. I felt confident in my purchase because Staples gives you 14 days to review the product. (Definitely a treat when purchasing a newly released model.) Mostly I was concerned about print quality (a review of the CLP-300 will appear here after I've had more time to test its features), which hasn't been an issue so far. In fact, the printer is working out well and I've decided to keep it. So I used Staples' Easy Rebates program to claim the $50 discount on the printer. Easy Rebates eliminates the hassle of sending in UPC codes and copies of receipts. Everything was done online. So far, I'm thrilled with Staples' customer-centered approach. I will definitely think of them first for future office-related purchases.

Google Reader: A Vast Improvement

Back in February I wrote a bit about Google's then less-than-stellar Reader. In the seven months that followed Google has made substantial changes to its offering including a new user interface and keyboard short cuts. I'm pleased to report that after using the new Google Reader for a few days I decided to dump NewNewsWire Lite off my computer. Part of the reason I did this is because I'm in favor of keeping web-based content, well, on the web. I like that I can now access my feeds from any computer, just like my e-mail and my calendar. I've become a Google fangirl because the company is constantly innovating and each of these products gets incrementally better almost monthly. Plus, Google listens to its users, which is refreshing. And call me naive, but for some reason I just trust Google to keep my data safe and backed up. Go figure. And go Reader!