eugene gordin

People sometimes ask me how I find out about new versions of the software I use. Since I use a Mac, there are several options such as MacUpdate, Version Tracker, and different Mac blogs. However, the best one isn’t any of those, its a site called I Use This.

I Use This is a very unique approach to software management, because it adds an element of social networking to it. Basically, when you create a (free) account, you go through the VERY comprehensive IUseThis application directory and select the software you use. To speed up this process, you can browse the list of applications by their popularity, and then search for the ones you didn’t necessarily find in the list. For an example, you can check out my IUseThis profile, here. You can even add friends, and browse the apps they use to see if there’s any new apps you don’t have.

That’s great Eugene, very nifty, but how do I get updates on the software I use? Well, once you create an account, and pick the software you use, IUseThis automatically generates an RSS feed for you that you can subscribe to, issuing a new post to you when there’s an update for one of the the apps on your list (see my post on RSS if you don’t know about it). Very cool. But it doesn’t just stop there, you can also subscribe to any member’s feed, so you can get updates even when you don’t have an account.

Although IUseThis is currently for Mac only, they are reportedly working on a Windows side, so stay tuned. Either way, check IUseThis out, and stay in the know!

Also, as a sidenote:

I wish I had a cool total number of posts posted to tell you about. I wish I had done this post a while ago, considering the anniversary is almost over. But, nonetheless, June marks the one year anniversary of Interesting Finds, and I am pleased to offer more than 50 posts (58 to date!) with tips for Mac, Windows, and everything in between. Hope you’ve enjoyed it, and as always, I’m always happy to receive feedback!

I’m pretty anal about my stuff. Ask my friends, they’ll undoubtedly agree, I like to keep a clean house. Therefore, just as I like my room clean, I like my computer clean too, especially when it comes to my desktop.

As announced at WWDC, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will include a “new” desktop feature called Stacks, which basically allows you to quickly access your downloads folder in a Apple-esque, beautiful way. The reason I have the word new in quotes is because this feature is technically available right now in OSX 10.4 Tiger, albeit not as pretty. I used to use this method to access my Applications, before I realized that Quicksilver blew this method out of the water.

Currently however, most people’s download folder (on a Mac) is their desktop, which tends to lead to uncurtailed clutter, only justified by easy access to the files you just downloaded. Stacks (in Leopard), and moving your downloads folder to somewhere other than the desktop and using the folder method (in Tiger, mentioned above) can help clean up this clutter, but both don’t quite solve the problem.

In fact, both methods move your downloads away from your desktop, like throwing all of your clothes in your closet and shutting the door, merely hiding the problem instead of fixing it. That’s where Hazel steps in, cleaning up your closet folders based on whatever criteria you want. Let me give an example:

Since I read a lot of music blogs, I often find myself downloading single mp3s here and there that I find in posts. These files then sit in my downloads folder until I drag them into iTunes into my Music To Explore playlist. However, with Hazel, I can automate this action, telling Hazel to monitor my Downloads folder for mp3 files, and, when it finds some, to add them to my Music To Explore playlist and then delete the files from my Downloads folder. This is all done VERY simply with Hazel’s straightforward interface, and rules can be created to do all kinds of interesting things. I quote from TUAW:

“Hazel can automatically import image files into iPhoto, music into iTunes, add Spotlight comments, organize files into folders and even subfolders, add Finder color labels to files, run AppleScripts and so much more. Hazel can even manage your Trash for you by setting a specific time frame after which older (but not all) files should be deleted, or even a size limit that the Trash should be kept under (say, 2 GB). All this is done completely and transparently in the background, allowing you to get things done while Hazel works its magic.”

Hazel is a very cool program, and can help remove the clutter on your Mac, regardless of where the clutter is. Check it out at Noodlesoft, its got a free demo version on the site and the program is only $16. If you have any questions on how to set up Hazel, leave me a message and I’ll gladly help you out!

I’m a big fan of tabbed browsing with Firefox. I pretty much open every new link in a new tab, and click most links while holding CMD – or ctrl for you PC folk – (which opens the link in a new tab while keeping the current tab in focus. However, switching or cycling through tabs was not as simple as I had hoped. Since I really like the way Adium switches through tabs (CMD + right arrow or left arrow), I found a way to recreate this shortcut with Firefox. The method is a little hairy, so if you like the way you interact with Firefox’s tabs just fine, don’t worry about applying this little customization. Otherwise, read on!

In order to do this, you install a Firefox extension called Keyconfig. Once installed, go to Tools –>Keyconfig–> Add a new key. In this window, name your new key whatever you like (I called mine Switch Tab Left and Switch Tab Right). For Switch Tab Right, replace the part that says /* Code */ with: gBrowser.mTabContainer.advanceSelectedTab(1,true); Then click OK, and in the boxto the left of the Apply button, click once and then press the shortcut on your keyboard that you want to map to switch to the tab to the right (I used CMD+right arrow). Then click apply. If you get an error about the shortcut you chose already being used, look at the list and see what action is using it, and if its not important to you, just disable it by clicking Disable. Repeat this process for Switch Tab Left, this time replacing /* Code */ with gBrowser.mTabContainer.advanceSelectedTab(-1,true); and mapping the shortcut to the combination that you want for switching to the tab to the left (I used CMD+left arrow).

Keyconfig is a great little tool that adds just that little bit of flexibility. Check it out if you’re interested in changing some things about Firefox.

With the release of Parallels 2.5 (and 3.0 now for that matter), I found myself in need of icons to replace the ugly Windows ones that would pop up in my dock when I ran a windows program. So I searched the regular places for icons, but often found images (jpeg, png, gif) not icons that I liked.

Therefore, on my search for a program that would convert images to icons, I happened upon FastIcns, a program that lets you drag image files into it and it will automatically let you save it as an icon of all kinds of sizes (even 512×512 for Leopard Support!). The cool thing about the program (other than the simplicity of it all), is its interface.

Once you run the program, it opens a revolving cube that you can drag images to from Finder. It’s by no means a necessary feature, but a unique interface that made me appreciate independent Mac developers, yet again.

Once you dragged an image file to the cube, double click on the cube itself to save the image as an icon. I choose the “Resource Fork” filetype and install the icon using the “Get Info” method using Macworld’s simple instructions:

1. In the Finder, select the file or folder whose icon you’d like to use.
2. Hit Command-I (File: Get Info).
3. Click on the small icon image at the top left of the Get Info window.
4. Hit Command-C (Edit: Copy).
5. Close the Get Info window.
6. In the Finder, select the destination file or folder for the custom icon.
7. Hit Command-I to open the selection’s Get Info window.
8. Click the small icon image at the top left of the Get Info window.
9. Hit Command-V (Edit: Paste) to paste the custom icon.
10. Close the Get Info window.

Try FastIcns out for yourself, its really quite simple and a great little too (and free to boot!). Check out the program and let me know what you think!

Have you ever copied something from one place, intending to paste it somewhere else but you never actually pasted it? Later you realize that you have since copied something else to your clipboard, and that first clipping is now gone? I do it all the time. I just forget that I wanted to paste that paragraph or message, and move on to copying other things.

Well, luckily our good (and extremely helpful) friend Quicksilver has the perfect solution for this – the clipboard module. Basically, once you install it, it keeps track of the last 50 or 100 items on your clipboard, and allows you to easily access and paste them, even after you copied something else. To try it out:

1. Open your Quicksilver preferences
2. Click on the Plug-ins button in the toolbar
3. Click on the All Plug-ins section in the left column
4. Look for and check the box next to the Clipboard Module (this should install it)
5. Once installed, click on the Preferences button in the toolbar
6. Click Clipboard in the left column
7. Check the capture history box
8. Choose how many clipboard items you want Quicksilver to keep track of
9. Check the Hide after pasting button (optional)
10. Close the preferences window

You’re all done. Now when you want to see your clipboard, open Quicksilver like you normally would and press Apple+L. You should now see a clickable list of what’s on your clipboard. Just click on the item you want and Quicksilver will not only put the item at the top of the list, but also paste the item in whatever field you have clicked at the time.

Its a very simple, smart solution for a common problem. Try it out and let me know if its helpful!