Apps in My Toolbox (Updated)

These are applications I use every day (outside Xcode).

1Password- This should have been the first on the list. With a strong vault password, it makes creating and keeping secure passwords and information so easy that you are stupid not to have it on every machine. The iOS integration is kinda a pain, but perhaps Extensions will make that better. This is the second install on any machine I setup (usually because my software licenses are in it. :-)

Autodesk Fusion 360: I love this app, and this is the app that I'm doing my YouTube tutorials in. This 3D modeling app is the first that made it intuitive for design for me. I've made many things that I've had 3D printed using Fusion. It is just an amazingly simple App to use. I've had only limited success with SketchUp. But this is truly a groundbreaking application. And free to makers. FYI, the version on the Mac App Store is out of date. Get the version from Autodesk.

Simplify3D: Quite simply put there is no better slicer for 3D printing that Simply3D. It's not cheap ($150), but it pays for itself by not wasting filament and time. I highly recommend it.

Grammarly: I no longer have an editor, so I've become more and more reliant on the free version of Grammarly. I'd be happy to upgrade, but there is no reasonably priced way to do that. $30/month is the cost of a monthly license for Illustrator. And the early cost, is $99, $85 if you're a student. So I'm unsure what do do. It works in text fields in browsers but not in this particular one. So I'll have to copy and paste and then redo the links. Plus the "Premium" errors always leave me wondering what I've screwed up. I wish the native version didn't seem to be just a web view.

OmniOutliner: This is a no-brainer. I've been using this for years and it gets better and better. I'm currently using it to write scripts in for my Fusion 360 steps. The only problem (and it isn't in OOO) is that the teleprompter I use on the iPad doesn't support the export files formats. But I love this app.

Spotlight: Since the mid-90s on my NeXT I used LaunchBar every single day. It was the first thing I installed on every new machine. And I still love it. But about a month ago I figured I'd try Spotlight. And it doesn't everything I need. That isn't to say that LaunchBar doesn't, but it does so much more than I need. so for the moment, it's Spotlight for me.

ScreenFlow- When I updated the list I completely forgot about ScreenFlow. I use it all the time for demonstrating bugs, or how to do something. And with my Fusion 360 YouTube videos about to launch it's absolutely a necessity. Hands down the best screen video capture application.

After Effects: I've been working on some YouTube tutorials (CAD, not programming). And I've found that making motion graphics is very easy in After Effects. It takes a bit of a learning curve, and I wouldn't want to do with without the Motion 2 plugin ($35) but it's something that I use at least every other day.

Premier Pro: Again, with my YouTube videos, I'm using Premier Pro. I find it much easier to use than Final Cut, and it imports the After Effects Live Effects easily.

Illustrator: Yes, I use Illustrator several days a week. No, not for work. Mostly for either designing things for being cut by Ponoko with a laser (Anyone willing to give me a Trotec laser for all my work on Stepwise?), but also for general drawing. And it is made far easier to use with the Astute Graphics plugins.However, I can't recommend the Astute Plugins. They have a very small window for upgrades, and even then they are overpriced. So I'm stuck with an older version that doesn't do what I need. And I don't use them enough to be worth the price of buying a brand new version. e

Monospace: I've been trying to find a great screen shot app for a long time. And the closest I've found is Monosnap. The thing that it lacks, is the ability to export to Photos.

TwitterBot - I have yet to find a Twitter client that I'm happy with. TwitterBot is good on Mac OS X, but on iOS I use Twitterific. I find that Twitterbot is hard to find conversations in. For a good Twitter client, I want a standard OS X UI. Search of my Twitter stream, conversations, easy access to the profile of the poster, easy to block, easy to subscribe, spell checking, auto URL shortening, easy picture integration, movies and sounds, easy muting by hashtag, and the ability to mute retweets of certain people (Twitterific on iOS has this). Smart Folders for following certain topics (Tweetbot has this), easy access to a "new tweet" button. But I've not found anything yet. And no sponsored content (Neither TwitterBox or Twitteriffic make me see those!)

Hazel - Still on the list after all these years! I'm all about Hazel, largely because I never have to think about it. She works tirelessly to move my downloads from Thingiverse to the folder that gets backed up. She moves my files I download from the repository at work into my work directory. She cleans up the detritus left by apps I delete. And so much more. She’s always in the background doing what I need to be done, but I never, ever think about her. Sorry, Hazel.

Dropbox- I use it. But it is a necessity for some things to sync. Bottom line, I don’t trust it. And it does funky Finder hacks. I can't wait for iCloud Drive.

Carbon Copy Cloner: This is an absolute must own. It makes it way to clone a drive, something you should do often, and have multiple drives to save them on.

Number One Apps on My Want List

These are apps that I'd love to see but haven't found yet:

• A great Twitter client (see above)
• A good blog editor (just re-found MarsEdit, I think this may be solved. Although I’d love a link button in the toolbar)

• A good WYSIWYG XML Editor. Xmplify is great, but not sure it can do WYSIWYG. I need to spend more time on it. Now that I'm no longer at Apple, I severely miss the internal XML editor.

  So what are your favorite apps? Feel free to tweet me at [@sanguish] to let me know.

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Playing Prototype, The Passing, and Crackdown

Having finished Bioshock 2 numerous times, my sons and I moved on to replacing Crackdown. For his birthday Simon got an Xbox. This was largely so we could play multi-player games within the house without having to enter the Xbox-live ghetto. I don't want to play with the type of folks I've run into in that environment. Crackdown 2 was a hoot. And we replayed that over and over. And that was one of the ones that we got two copies of (dirt cheap) and enjoyed rocket tag. Absolutely great game, can't wait for Crackdown 2 now that it has been put on the radar. Simon persuaded me to pick up Prototype . And wow, this is a great game. Even on easy it's hard as hell in many cases. But it's loads of fun. Some of the missions take too long to complete in one sitting, but there isn't a choice. And while that's annoying, aside from that, great older game. And last but not least "The Passing". The Passing is a downloadable extension to Left for Dead 2. This was a good extension, you get to meet the survivors from the first game. I was a bit disappointed in this extension. I think this was because my kids played it first (my 7 year old finished it before anyone) and so everyone knew what was going on before I did. But still, good extension. I'm not a big fan of the multiplayer (even systemlink) but, single player is a good solution, so I'm happy. Simon got the summer bundle, so I'm going to have to steal Forza and give it a try. BTW, Xbox finally supports saving your profile and games onto USB flash drives, about time. My machine has a hard drive. But it's my second machine, and absolutely no saves get put on the hard drive.

Testing out MarsEdit 3

Daniel Jalkut is hopefully someone I can consider as a friend. For several years now I've complained to him about the lack of editing in WYSIWYG mode in MarsEdit.

Well, MarsEdit 3 has it. And it's good. Damn good.

First, I'm very picky about my HTML. I expect it to be able to validate. Even if it isn't always the case with the software that comes with the software, I expect a third party application to do better. MarsEdit 3 does that, in spades.

So far, I'm fairly pleased with the HTML that it is generating. In fact I'm very pleased.

Now, to bug Daniel... where is the iPad version? :-)

Oh, one more thing to mention. It required no effort to setup with Squarespace. I launched the app, entered the URL and blog name, then then the user name and password. That was it. Totally kick ass. If you blog, buy it today.

Posting Article Links (like Stepwise News)

While Stepwise is dead, I still collect the links in my custom application I used to update Stepwise. I couldn't tell you why exactly I do this, but I do.

It seems like posting these here could be useful to people, but there can be days where there is nothing, and days where there are half a dozen. Plus, I don't want to do this manually (I don't mind pushing a button and generating the HTML and pasting it in, but retyping is out.) So, any ideas would be appreciated. I could publish it as a separate RSS feed, but that requires work on my part. I don't want to fiddle with this stuff.

Something like SquareSpace (and other blogging software I've tried before it) hasn't really got a great solution to posting many links to individual articles without comment. So, I'm asking you folks.

BTW, here is a screen capture of the app I wrote to maintain the links. I'd simply drag a URL from the web, and it would figure out the title and the site it comes from. Way better than writing HTML. Writing validating XML spoils you, big time.

EventBox + Realmac Software = Socialite

So, the cat is out of the bag (and may have been for a while now).

Realmac Software, creators of LittleSnapper and RapidWeaver, have taken over development of EventBox, and renamed it Socialite.

I've written before how much I liked EventBox, so the fact that I like Socialite is no big surprise. Making custom smart folders alone is the winner for me. This is 1.0 and if you bought EventBox you'll get a key to Socialite.

So, it's Tweetie on the iPhone (amazing features) and Socialite on the desktop.

Mind you, the Twitter client arena is so active right now, this could change pretty quickly.

Try Socialite. See if it's for you. The Realmac guys are great, friendly, and really responsive. Another model Mac developer.

Home Automation with Insteon

One of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder issues is light switches. So I’ve been making heavy issue of remote home automation issues for years. In the last few years, I’ve dropped X10 and moved to Smarthome’s Insteon system. 

Compared to X10, Insteon is a dream. It works fairly well, pretty reliable, and a modern system. Plus the in-wall units look really good.

But (by default) to program switches with lights, you have to hold down switches, then run to another switch and press it, and then back and forth. It’s hard to get right, and in some cases I’ve never gotten right. Plus, it requires hitting light switches, rather than the controllers I have tucked away (including my iPhone).

I recently added the device they have that connects Insteon to an ethernet network. It displays a web interface, limited likely by the device limitations itself). But, while I can turn on and off light switches and such with my phone, I still need to run around and hit switches (shudder) to set it up. This makes no sense because each device has an ID that is similar to a MAC address. Why I can’t just enter these is a mystery.

Automating the Automation

I’ve been looking at solutions that allow you to do the scene creation (programming switches) without the undependable clicking and running method. Also, the ability to backup the setup in the case of loss would be great.

Smarthome sells a PC package that will do that would do what I want, but I don’t own a PC, or a copy of Windows. And, I think, you need a dedicated PC.

Perceptive Automation has a package called Indigo Pro that seems like it would do the same thing. I’ve had trouble groking their website. If you have experience with the product, I’d love some feedback. But this would also require a Mac that is on all the time, at least for some features. But it’s a native Mac package, and supporting one of our own would be awesome.

Smarthome also sells the ISY-99i Home Automation Controller. This seems to be a unit that does what both, through a web interface, but effectively acts as the computer as well as the controller. The UI seems very basic, whereas both the others are applications.

Why Bring This Up?

I’d like to hear from people who are using Indigo Pro, and the ISY-99i for creating scenes, and linking switches with plugs. My criteria is:

• Dead simple to link a switch to a LampLinc or related plugin item
• Dead simple to backup the network settings
• No running from switch to control
• Definitely needs iPhone integration

I already have the Insteon 2414u controller. So hooking up to the machine is simple. I know Indigo has a trial version, but I’m still looking for opinions.

So, hit me up on Twitter (@sanguish) or via the contact page.

Quick Followup

I sent a query to Perceptive Automation about some features of their product (I'm not ready to summarize the issues yet).

I got a detailed response about their product the next day (Thanksgiving in the US). That was an absolutely excellent response in my opinion.

LaunchBar and ScreenCasts Online

I have to admit, I know there is a small war between LaunchBar and QuickSilver users.

I've always been a LaunchBar user, for 10 years now. That's a long time, going back to their product on the NeXT. The thing is, I've always used it almost exclusively for launching applications. Current version is LaunchBar 5.

Recently, ScreenCasts Online has had two shows on using LaunchBar more completely, and I have to say I'm stunned at what it's capable of. Launching of course, searching, calculator, running Applescripts, navigating the Finder, navigating AddressBook. Loads more. Can't wait to watch the second episode when it comes out this week.

LaunchBar is definitely on of my top 10 apps, and one of the first that gets installed on a new machine. Ironically, my wife hates it. To each their own.

Speaking of ScreenCasts online. This is one of the few shows that got me watching video Podcasts. The production values are excellent. And it covers loads of apps. Some are interesting, some aren't. This is actually useful, because Don's reviews and demos have both encouraged me to buy some applications (for example, 1Password) and discouraged purchasing others that I didn't feel would fill my needs.

I also learned a bunch about the new iMovie from the series. Heck, I already had that, just didn't know what I was doing with it. Bonus.

He does a free show once a month that you can see, to check and see if it's to your liking. I'm about 70% liking the episodes. But well worth the subscription.

And no, neither LaunchBar or ScreenCast Online asked me to pimp them. I just felt like it.

Update: Watched Part 2 of the ScreenCast Online LaunchBar episode tonight. Much more in depth, but there could easily be a 3rd. Nice job Don!

Squarespace iTunes App available

The Squarespace iTunes app is available in the AppStore (free), and let me say. Wow, this is an awesome app.

Go and download the Squarespace iTunes App. Now.

It lets you manage your posts (edit, delete, view) and create posts. Categories and tags are supported, and you can even take and attach pictures.

Perhaps the most important functiontality? Statistics. It tells you view Page Views for the week, Subscribers for the week, Searches and Referrers.

It supports multiple accounts, so you can monitor multiple sites.

Truly amazing. Excellent job, and I say that both as a customer of Squarespace and an iPhone app lover.

Twitter Clients: Still EventBox and Tweetie 2 for Me

Just a quick followup to my Twitter client article.

Desktop

It’s been a couple of months, and EventBox is still the application that I depend on for my desktop Twitter needs. It’s changing names to Socialiteapp soon and other changes are in the works.

Feature wise, I especially find the Smart Folder capability handy. In the normal mode I can subscribe to people I’m interested in, but the people that I really want to track I can create a Smart Folder for (one click) and always see their tweets.

I’ve also begun using some of it’s features for other social networks. It works with Flickr, so I am notified when my friends are uploading pics and I can also use it to upload my own pictures.

Still haven’t messed with the Feeds, Google Reader, Digg, Facebook, Identi.ca, Redit and OneRiot capabilities.

iPhone

On the iPhone, there are a huge number of clients and Tweetie (Atebits) is my bird. It works well, the UI is snappy, and I love some of the changes in 2.0. Unlike the millionaire child stars, I don’t think the $2.99 price for 2.0 was unreasonable at all.

I can see a few places where workflow could be simpler (especially with a single account), but overall, I’m happy with it. I would like the dark look back again though.

Event Box. A desktop Twitter client

I wrote this entry about wishing for better Address Book integration with Twitter clients, and sent out a tweet with the entry link. I check Twitter a bit later and see this...

They've already got some quick integration with Address Book, with a screencast (that gives some insight into my lousy mood of late). Still.

The responsiveness of the EventBox developers bodes well for an excellent desktop Twitter client.

Update: Turns out that EventBox also supports autocompletion of Twitter names! Type @ and optionally some letters, then hit escape. Nice. And also supports conversation tracking, smart folders, Facebook, RSS Feeds... I love this program.

A Wish for Better Twitter and Address Book Integration

There are people I follow on Twitter that I know in real life (most of them in fact). And there are times when I'd like to be able to directly contact them in response to a tweet, but in a longer format.

There is no way to do that right now. We need better integration with Address Book. I'm hoping that -a promising new Twitter desktop client for Mac OS X- will provide something like this.

What I'd propose is that Desktop Twitter clients allow you to add a new URL field to an address book entry, with the custom label "Twitter" (as shown in the image below). That URL would point to your Twitter profile page, such as http://www.twitter.com/sanguish.

Clients could easily pull up the names of all the people you know who use twitter and (with permission) add them to your stream.

Alternatively, as you follow people, you could relate their Twitter names to their address book. This would give you the option of always showing their real name, emailing them directly, always showing a picture you have set, etc.

It combines Twitter and your own personal list of Address Book people in a more complete way.

If nothing else, I've started adding this information to my own address book with the hope that someone might just might adopt it.