Favorite OSX Applications
Here are a few of my favorite Mac applications. These are mostly generic applications useful to most people using a Mac. I do of course have plenty of task-specific and domain-specific applications I use, but those are a topic for a later post.
Clipboard (cut-and-paste) history
There are many applications that do this, or do this as part of doing all kinds of other application-launching tasks, but this simple utility is the one I’ve used forever. I cannot imagine how people use Macs (or any computer) without a clipboard history.
Online backup
This is a straightforward and reliable backup tool that let’s use use backends like Amazon and Google for data storage.
Sure, I have a nice little Time Capsule for local backups, but repeat after me “It’s not backed up until it’s offsite”. And using something like Amazon’s Glacier storage means it can be economical to back up large data sets.
Retina Mac Display Resolution Setting
Yes, the Settings app lets you set display resolutions, but with nowhere near the level of control that this utility provides.
Disk Usage
If you want to see what is using up space on your disk, this tool is a beautiful way to do it!
Disk Cloning
So there are really three pillars that make up a comprehensive backup strategy.
- Local and very frequent – Time Capsule
- Offsite – Arq
- Local and immediate restoration – Carbon Copy Cloner
Carbon Copy Cloner is the tool to use for making a bootable backup, or when migrating to a new hard drive.
If you are in a situation where waiting to restore from a Time Capsule, or offline, would result in excessive downtime, a CCC backup is the fastest way to get things working again.
Monitor Everything
When you want to go many many steps beyond Apple’s Activity Monitor, iStat Menus is there.
Incredible detail and monitoring of your network connection, voltages, temperatures, memory, CPU and more.
Maybe it’s just my love of gauges and dials, but I really like knowing whats going on inside the shiny box.
Other Tools
In no particular order, here are a few other tools that I find useful, but not everyone will:
- Simplenote by Automattic
- The Unarchiver by Dag Agren
- Transmit by Panic
- VLC
Embedded Development – The Hobby Edition
Ok, so here are pictures of embedded controllers and such. Just a snapshot of my hobby embedded environment.
Not shown is my workbench, which gets set up and taken down on the kitchen table as needed. (apartment living!)
This includes soldering station, digital oscilloscope, and tools.
The table top near the desk:
Spark Core, RaspBerryPi, Arduino and so forth. Plus an old-time iPod!
The RaspberryPi runs the home automation system, and is connected to an XBee used for communication with various peripherals. The Arduino is one of those, in development. The Spark Core is my development core, with others already in use around the house.
Drawer #1:
Arduino stuff, XBee modules, and various shields and parts from Adafruit.
Drawer #2:
RaspberryPi and Spark Core. Power supplies, and a fairly ancient Radio Shack multimeter.
E-Books Update for Early 2014
Just wanted to give an update on my slow but steady transition to E-Books – a process that took on new urgency when we went from suburban life to apartment renters in downtown San Diego.
As someone who has spent a lifetime collecting, reading, and cherishing physical books, this has been a challenging journey. As the technology gets better, it has become easier though.
With my latest acquisition of the new Nook Glowlight (the one released at the end of 2013, not to be confused with the Nook SimpleTouch Glowlight which was its predecessor) this transition has become even easier to accept.
In the beginning, E-Books were read either on a Mac or PC, and the mobile hardware was pretty clunky. Today we have Retina iPads and very nice E-Ink readers. My latest Nook is E-Ink, and although my original Nook was also, this one is miles ahead.
It’s actually getting to the point where in many ways I’m preferring reading on my Nook versus a physical hardcover. Sure, this was always the case when portability was the main factor. “Hey, I can take ten novels with me on the plane, and it takes up less space and weight than one hardcover!”
But now I’m finding that the technology has improved to the point where even when the weight and size isn’t an issue, the experience is as good or better.
What factors are bringing about this change? Here they are, in no particular order.
- Incredible reductions in size and weight. My new Nook weighs about the same as a moderate paperback, and about half of what a really think paperback weighs.
- Higher resolution screen. It’s getting pretty close (~210dpi) to printed resolution. Close enough that it’s not obvious that it’s an electronic page rather than a paper one.
- Frontlight for reading in the dark. The new Glowlight is pretty good, with only some mild darkening at the very top of the page. Fantastic for low-light situations. And since it’s front-light versus back-light like an iPad etc. it should have less of the sleep-impacting effects that have been reported for LCD displays.
- No page-flip “flash” that previous generations of E-Ink typical had.
And then there’s the other factors that have been present for a while: The ability to carry hundreds of books, weeks of battery life, and (if reading a book purchased from Barnes & Noble) the ability to read those books on my iPhone or iPad with my place in the book being synced between the devices. Oh, and not having to try and hold a book open when eating lunch etc. is pretty nice as well.
I’m not ready to abandon my physical books just yet – nothing is going to replace that experience. But for my general reading, I think I’m about at the point where I no longer see switching to E-Books as a necessary compromise to accommodate our new less-burdened lifestyle, but as a pretty nice way to enjoy reading.
Nest acquisition by Google
On Facebook, a friend asked about my take on the Nest acquisition by Google that was recently announced.
(I’ve given Nest thermostats and Smoke Alarms as gifts, and have a Smoke Alarm myself. I’d have a thermostat if we weren’t apartment dwellers at this time.)
Here’s the answer I gave:
Unhappy. While I’m aware of all the positives (e.g. deep pockets to allow expansion of the Nest product line and protection against some of the patent issues they are threatened with), I really don’t trust Google anymore.
Nest has given assurances that the customer data won’t be shared, but that policy is subject to change down the road. Google made similar assurances regarding YouTube and those have weakened over time.
I’m trying not to be too paranoid, and I’m not suggesting that anyone throw away their Nest devices just yet, but I’m definitely concerned.
Really wish it had been Apple. Sure, they want all my money but they get it in an upfront fashion, not by advertising or selling my data.
Oh, I should add that on the bright side, this may kick off the overarching privacy discussions that need to take place as we head further down the “Internet of Things” road.
In an ideal world, the result of the acquisition will be Google realizing that they need to make some serious promises/safeguards regarding privacy for Nest if they expect it to remain a viable product line.
In the non-ideal world they just go ahead and be evil, counting on the sales to people who don’t know or don’t care about the privacy concerns. Sigh.
iPad mini – Retina musings
When the iPad mini was released, I bought one to see just how that size would work. I really liked it, to the point where I regretted getting just the 16G wifi- only model. I also missed the Retina display of my full-sized iPad. My plan was to grab a Retina mini when they release today, but since Apple made the full-sized iPad so much lighter and a bit smaller (but same screen size), my decision became a lot harder.
And then, to further complicate things, I happened to see the latest Nook e-reader at Barnes & Noble last night, and was impressed by both it’s extremely light weight, its small size, and the nice illuminated screen. (I’ve always been a fan of e-ink)
So now I’m contemplating just sticking with my full-sized 3rd gen iPad, perhaps getting rid of the iPad mini, and grabbing a new e-ink reader to fill the “just reading a book” niche.
(Yes, I still have my original Nook, but it’s about the size and weight of the iPad mini, so it hasn’t gotten much use lately.)
Interesting Websites May-2013
This is a collection of interesting and useful websites for iOS development, as well as some more general technical stuff.
General
Apiary
If you deal with REST APIs, this is some pretty neat stuff:
http://apiary.io
Quandl
Tons of numerical datasets. Not sure what I’m going to do with this, but I feel like I should come up with something:
http://www.quandl.com
Xcode Tools
XCode Package Manager
An easy way to manage adding packages that modify and improve Xcode.
http://mneorr.github.io/Alcatraz/
Snippet Editing
This is a nice tool to let you edit your Xcode snippets.
http://cocoaholic.com/snippet_edit/
Appledoc
If you are looking to document some Objective-C classes or frameworks you’ve created, this is a very easy way to generate documentation that looks like Apple’s. This tool can also create documents that will integrate nicely with Xcode as well.
http://gentlebytes.com/appledoc/
Objective-C
Objective-C Features
Wondering when a certain feature was available in Objective-C? Wonder no more!
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#releasenotes/ObjectiveC/ObjCAvailabilityIndex/index.html
Classes, Frameworks, and Libraries
Networking
This makes networking so much easier it has to be see to be believed. There are many large and serious iOS apps and products that make use of this class!
https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFNetworking
Core Data
https://github.com/magicalpanda/MagicalRecord
Handy Classes
This is a collection of very handy-looking classes for iOS development.
http://sstoolk.it
Sliding side-panels
https://github.com/ktatroe/sidepanel-ios
JKFiltering
Filter arrays with blocks
https://github.com/jklaiho/JKLFiltering
Numeric Entry
https://github.com/benzado/HSNumericField
iPad Mini
The iPad mini is an experiment – wifi only and just 16G, so not planned to replace my “big” iPad.
May put the Nook into the museum though (or limited to use on the beach where sun makes LCDs a poor choice).
The mini is thinner and lighter than the Nook and just slightly larger width and height. And iBooks is way nicer than the somewhat limited Nook software.
The new Lightning connector is very slick – easy to connect and feels a little less fragile than the complicated 30-pin connector of yore. Yes, it’s a pain to have to (slowly) transition all of my cables and devices, but the 30-pin connector had a good run.
The display is certainly less crisp than the Retina display on my full-size iPad, but it’s not bad, just not as good. If you’ve never spent time using a Retina iPad, it will look great, as the dpi is actually better than that of the non-Retina iPads.
