September 2011
2 posts
2 tags
August 2011
1 post
2 tags
Mobile Safari+Instapaper tip
If you’ve ever been reading a page in Mobile Safari and wished you were reading it in Instapaper instead, this is the quickest way to back that happen: Install the javascript below as a bookmarklet in Safari. Whenever you want to add an article to Instapaper and switch to instapaper all you have to do is hit that bookmarklet up.
...
July 2011
2 posts
3 tags
nvIt -- Chrome and Safari extensions for nvALT
Brett and I just released nvALT 2.1 with a lot of bug fixes, UI improvements, and some new features. Some of my favorite additions:
- TextMate style auto-pairing of matched characters like parenthesis, brackets, and double quotes.
- Shortcut (CMD-Shift-L) for Inserting [[Links]]
Read more about it here. Full release notes here. You can use the in-app update mechanism or download it here.
But...
3 tags
InstapaperIt Safari extension users: if you...
If you updated to Safari 5.1 InstapaperIt might have stop working correctly for you.
When Safari updated to 5.1 it lost some of your extension settings. This includes your Instapaper login credentials you have to enter into InstapaperIt’s preferences.
To fix:
Go to Safari’s Preferences
Click on the Extensions tab,
Click on the InstapaperIt extension.
Re-enter your...
April 2011
2 posts
Threshold: Beta test a beta of a beta →
thresholdapp:
… a partial list of improvements to come:
New and improved Twitter support (including autocompleting @mentions and inline url shortening)
Improved google voice support
Turn contexts off (or back on) to hide them from the UI if you don’t use them
The default context now launches apps, does math, and runs web searches along with the standard filesystem path navigation....
2 tags
nvALT 2.0: two forks, merged...
NVForked updated and is now nvALT, a merger of two forks.
Big update. Huge. Back in January, Scrod released an update the NV that added a host of great features… and broke compatibility with my fork. Since then I’ve been working on updating my fork to add in his changes in the official NV:
Option for horizontal layout with multi-line previews in notes list
Words between [[double-brackets]]...
March 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Put Your Mac's Caps Lock Key to Better Use
After reading about Google’s Cr-48 ChromeOS prototype netbook, I had two immediate reactions: 1. My Mac runs Chrome + 1000s of other applications. Why would I want to reduce that to just Chrome? 2. The Cr-48 has no Caps Lock key. Instead it has a web search key. Slap your left pinky against that key and instead of SCREwiNG with what you’re writing, you get a quick web search box....
December 2010
2 posts
2 tags
Reeder OS X Tip: Set the ESC key to close browser
When you follow an article’s link to its full content, or use Instapaper Mobilizer, or follow a link when reading something in Reeder the application hides its feed list on the left and opens a browser in the right column (where the feed’s article content usually is).
There’s a couple ways to close the browser and return to Reeder’s default view of feed list on the left...
2 tags
Thoughts on Reeder for Mac
Reeder for Mac draft 1 was released last night, and I’ve been testing it out. You can download it here. You can read more about it here. The UI is beautiful and interesting, and Reeder shows a lot of promise. As a long-time NetNewsWire user/fan I have to say this is the first Mac RSS client that has me considering switching in years. That said there are some annoyances with the UI I thought...
November 2010
1 post
2 tags
October 2010
12 posts
3 tags
YouTube5, Chromed
I adapted Connor McKay’s excellent Safari extension, YouTube5 (the website currently is fireballed), which forces YouTube to play videos in HTML5 format, into a Chrome extension.
Get it here.
It’s not quite as useful as the Safari version because, unfortunately, Chrome’s native HTML5 video player does not have fullscreen ability. A workaround is to right-click on the video...
1 tag
NV fork updated: user theme and multi-tagging...
Another update to my fork of NV is available here.
release notes:
The universal build should now be… universal. As far I as I can tell and test this build should work on Leopard or Snow Leopard (and probably Lion :) on intel or PPC processors.
Multi-tagging should now work. There were a lot of bugs with my original implementation. Apologies for that. It should now just work. Select...
1 tag
On its way...
1 tag
NV fork updated: manage tags for multiple notes at...
You can now modify, delete, or add tags to multiple notes at once. This should help organize, and cross-reference notes easier.
You can now select multiple files and use the Tag command from the menu bar, the contextual menu, or cmd-shift-t (as before) and bring up a little HUD that will show any tags the selected files already share (letting you edit or delete that cross-referenced tag), or...
Anonymous asked: I have read over some of your Threshold project.
I may sound dumb saying this, but have you heard of Google Quick Search Box? (http://www.google.com/quicksearchbox/) Wouldn't it be easier (and you'd reach a larger audience by) writing a plugin for it?
I may sound dumb saying this, but have you heard of Google Quick Search Box? (http://www.google.com/quicksearchbox/) Wouldn't it be easier (and you'd reach a larger audience by) writing a plugin for it?
forks and minimalism →
christiantietze:
Note that no one’s forking it to remove features.
I disagree with (a possible, yet implicit conclusion of that) post:
Since we’re dealing with apps which do One Thing Well here, the quoted remark at the very end of that post is equivalent to “look! how they make the program less focused on a single task but make it more complex instead.” Which in my mind basically means...
2 tags
Another update to NV: better readability
Made a dent in my (still growing) to do list. I guess an apology is in order: I was so excited by the initial builds of this fork (getting NV into fullscreen, etc) that I released a little too quick. There were a couple early bugs (already squashed in the last update) and some obvious improvements to build upon and extend. I’m starting to get into those.
I’m really grateful for the...
2 tags
Q&A: mac pc vs. mac intel
Q: I’m still on a mac pc. It appears your new NV is for intel only. Any workarounds?
A: I think you mean PPC vs Intel? Assuming that’s the case, I’m sorry the build doesn’t work for you. I’m pretty new at this (development) and don’t quite get XCode build settings… or something. I’ll try and get a universal build going. It would be good if I had a...
2 tags
NV fork updated and [semi] permanent page for it
Some observant commenters sent in some early bug reports, and I fixed a couple key bugs.
The main one was a bug that kept NV from autosaving your writing when the notes list was collapsed. Also possibly fixed a scrollbar bug for users with small screens. My fork is still hooked up to Scrod’s autoupdate mechanism, so to get the fixed update to my NV for download it here. Then unzip and replace...
4 tags
Notational Velocity forked: Fullscreen mode,...
[Quick 10/22/10 update: there’s now user customizable themes, multiple note tagging, proper support for PPC machines, and more. Read about it here.
The correct version should be: Version 2.0 β3et (6.65) <—I’ll keep this line up to date.]
Like everyone else, I love Notational Velocity*. As part of my effort to teach myself cocoa, I thought I’d dig into Notational...
4 tags
Control your Mac from iOS using Dropbox and...
[day after posting UPDATE: this is just a start. I’m going to start working on a more intuitive way (than having to peck out all kinds of applescript in long hand on an iOS keyboard) to do this, and if anyone else is interested in working on it (probably a folder action script that can read some natural language commands) please email elasticthreads at gmail or twitter @elasticthreads]
So...
September 2010
5 posts
4 tags
One more change to the google voice actions
Apologies users to my Google Voice Quicksilver actions and OS X services:
I found one more bug in the php script and killed it.
Which is good.
Bad news is there’s no way for me to update the copies of the script that are on your computers. You’ll have to do it manually by tracking down a file named “google-voice.php” and deleting it. The next time you run one the...
3 tags
Threshold updated with better Google Voice and...
Read about it here.
7 tags
Update for Google Voice Quicksilver actions and OS...
One of my first posts I released applescript actions for Quicksilver that let you easily send a SMS or initiate a phone call thru Google Voice as well as OS X (10.6 only) services that let you right click on a phone number in any application and do the same.
Sometime in the last week the PHP script I used to work with GVoice broke. I fixed it. If you already use the QS actions and want to get...
InstapaperIt extensions updated
Update your InstapaperIt extension (in Safari’s preferences, extensions tab. Chrome should auto-update if you use that) for improved titling of articles as well as a bug fix.
3 tags
Beautipedia Modified, Chromified
Just published Beautipedia Modified, Chromified — A Chrome extension to restyle Wikipedia, based on the excellent Safari extension(s) by Brendan Clarke and David Jones.
4 tags
Q&A:InstapaperIt-generated Titles
Q: Would it be possible to add a preference to InstapaperIt, which gives saved articles a title generated from the linked page, rather than the text of the link? A lot of times, I use want to read articles later that are linked in-line with text like “here” and other generally bewildering captions when they’re used as titles in Instapaper. Thanks.
A: I’ll work on it....
August 2010
12 posts
2 tags
GoogleVoice Gmail Tip
Google Voice - Gmail integration tip I haven’t heard yet: In Google Voice settings you can now forward calls to Gmail Chat.
2 tags
Chrome Web Apps preview
Chrome 6 (the beta channel) or 7 (the dev channel) let you use the new Google Web Apps. I thought I’d run them down a bit for you. You can see in the screenshot below, I’ve got Apps for Instapaper and GMail installed. What a web app is is still evolving, for now they’re pretty simple; particularly if developed by a 3rd party. If Instapaper wants to develop a web app with offline...
3 tags
Chrome 7 and OS X
If you’re a Google Chrome user, or considering it, on OS X: Go download and try out the dev channel build*. Yesterday the Chrome team updated its dev channel to Chrome 7, which includes big improvements to rendering speed and stability but also, shocker — better integration with OS X. This includes:
The development of a real Applescript dictionary (something Firefox doesn’t...
My crazy darkhorse prediction/dream announcement...
iPod Touch with iPad’s style no-contract 3G data.
3 tags
The InstapaperIt extension for Chrome has been...
Get it here.
It does require Chrome 6, which means you need to be on the beta or dev channels (a stable channel Chrome 6 should be along shortly). It requires Chrome 6 because the newer versions have expanded the extensions API to allow developers to add contextual menu items.
Which means this update for InstapaperIt now matches InstapaperIt for Safari. You can right click on a link and send it...
2 tags
Q&A: How to add current page to Instapaper?
Q: I love InstapaperIt and I was wondering how I could add to Instapaper the current website, which usually doesn’t have a link to itself, which would be redundant.
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
A: Update the InstapaperIt extension by going into Safari’s preferences, the extensions’ tab, and scrolling down to “updates”. I just updated InstapaperIt to...
2 tags
InstapaperIt update
InstapaperIt has been updated to include a toolbar button that you can click to send the current page to Instapaper. You can also now send the current page by right clicking anywhere on that page that’s not a link (otherwise you’ll send that link to Instapaper). The text of the contextual menu item will point this out “Send this Page to Instapaper” vs “Send this Link...
Anonymous asked: How to change the iCal from "home" to another calendar for an event, thanks!
2 tags
A small update
Working at getting Threshold out of beta, but its not quite there yet. Just released a small update today, you can download it here, or “Check for Updates…” from Threshold’s application menu. Or, check out the Threshold tumblr.
I think I fixed a couple ugly bugs and memory leaks. Which should make Threshold even snappier.
The most visible change is how Threshold handles...
In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and...
– David Foster Wallace (via frtyfv)
QandA:Where is Instapaper to read?
Q: Do you realize what idiots you are? You’ve missed the boat on the biggest day in Mac Safari history, the adding of Extensions…why? because it’s not clear how to access and thus see or read the items that have been ‘instapaper saved.’ —- you better go back to first base and get a grip on how the game is played.
A: Instapaper, is a web service(which I am not...
July 2010
4 posts
Another Q&A: Wallpaper
Q: “Hi, may I ask where you got the robocop wallpaper graphic, it’s probably the coolest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Thanks.”
A: I wish I could tell you. I found it while web surfing many months ago and have completely forgotten the site where I got it. There was some cruft around the edges which I photoshopped out and recropped for iPhone. Anyway, I assume you just...
Anonymous asked: hey, like very much the look of Threshold, thnx! How to you add notes to Evernote??
4 tags
YASE (Yet Another Safari Exention)
Apple released Safari 5.0.1 today, enabling extensions and turned on its Extension Gallery. I went to grab its link and tweet it, but I wanted a shorter link, a good link, and easily done. So I wrote another extension to let you quickly make an is.gd shortened link by right-clicking on it and selecting is.gd in the contextual menu, or by shift-clicking on the link.
Too late to make it into the...
3 tags
A status update on my continuing obsession with...
Since getting Instapaper for my iPod Touch, I’ve been loving the ability to add links to my instapaper just by tapping on them, rather than (on my laptop) having to follow a link to its webpage, wait for it to load, and then hit the bookmarklet to send it to IP. So back when Snow Leopard came out I made a Service, and more recently I’ve made extensions for Safari and Chrome, that lets you...
June 2010
4 posts
Anonymous asked: Is the toodledo integration broken? I followed your instructions but I am never prompted for the login information for toodledo
Anonymous asked: I can't seem to get Threshold to work with Toodledo. Otherwise, a great app!
3 tags
Safari Extensions
Instapaper Greystyled and Instapaper Article Tools extensions for Safari 5. It’s a quick implementation, but Apple’s made it pretty easy to turn a userscript into a Safari extension. (How cool is that?). More on the way. More integration into Safari’s UI, perhaps.
If you don’t already know them, they’re userscripts I’ve written. Instapaper Greystyled restyles...
1 tag
iTunes and iPhone OS via the cloud
on the whole, it feels retrograde. It creates an impression that the iPad does not stand on its own. It’s a child that still needs a parent. But it’s not a young child. It’s more like a teenager. It’s close. So close that it feels like it ought to be able to stand on its own. Daring Fireball on the iPad’s USB leash
Just recently, it has been discovered that Apple is interested in...
April 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Some winterboardings...
Some winterboard themes I’ve been working on. They’re both available through modmyi’s repo, which is likely already set up in your cydia:
subtleSwiper themes the “Swipe to Unlock” bar on your lockscreen. Makes it well, subtler. thinner, translucent, etc. Good for showing off a good wallpaper, or if you use something like LockInfo which likes a lot of lockscreen...