3 posts tagged “efficiency”
It has been a while since my last post. I have been working on a personal blog and website for my fiance and I. I intend to create a new blog to post my reviews and opinions about products, hardware, software, apps, news, web development, and whatever else I feel like writing about. I will also likely offer screen capture tutorials on everything from photoshop to shake to Flash to OSX. I have registered a few URLs. I just need to pick one and pay for a hosting package somewhere. Anyways, lets get to the subject at hand.
I have known about IMAP-IDLE for sometime now but it wasn't until recently that I installed this nifty little plugin. IMAP-IDLE version 1.06 is a plugin for Apple Mail in OS X 10.4.2 and higher developed by Michael Rothwell.
But what does this gem do you ask? Well, IMAP-IDLE provides IDLE support for IMAP accounts in Mail.app. But what does that mean? A simplified way of explaining it is that any new mail received by the mail server will be immediately delivered to your inbox, rather than waiting for your email client to ping the server every X number of minutes.
So why would I want this? Well you might not. If you find yourself continually distracted by email, RSS feeds, and the thingamablob, this may not be good for you. I myself started using this plugin when testing a PHP mail script on one of my websites. With this plugin the mail would simply arrive in my inbox rather than having to press command-shift-N.
Anyways, I have been using this plugin for almost two months now and I have not had a single problem. This build appears to work flawlessly. The only drawback (if there are any) are that this plugin will not work if your mail server does not support the IDLE command. Also there is no UI at this time but the README file that comes with the plugin clearly explains how to install via the command line.
In the end, if you feel that you need your email immediately download IMAP-IDLE. Now!
I just recently watched the latest installment of MacBreak over at the TWIT network. The topic of discussion was a nifty little app called Text Expander. I have downloaded the trial version and played around with it for a few hours now.
I have been delightfully surprised. This little app is sure to boost productivity and efficiency. After installing text expander I immediately added their autocorrect plugin. This feature is quite helpful when typing in TextEdit, Apple Mail, or whatever, but is still quite limited. It currently contains approximately 100 auto corrrections, though it is only version 1.1.
In effort to see how robust this app is, I went to Photoshop/Image Ready and prepared an animated gif signature and inserted it into a new snippet. I fired up mail, typed in my snippet, and instantly my signature was inserted into my message. I then emailed my message to myself, and sure enough, the gif animated as expected and my lengthy signature appeared without a hitch.
At first glance, this app appears to worth its weight in gold. The Macbreak episode was not the first time I have heard positive reviews of this program but I had been skeptical about the $29.99 price tag. After a little use, I am quite sure that when the 30 day trial period ends I will be registering my copy. You may download Text Expander from smileonmymac.
I thought I would make a quick post about my two favorite efficiency apps for OS X. These two apps save me so much time in my day to day computing that I don't know what I would do without them. So without out further ado here they are!
1. QUICKSILVER: This ever-famous extensible interface for streamlining your work with applications, contacts, music, and other data. Quicksilver is what spotlight should be. Although I don't think of it as a complete replacement of spotlight it is pretty close. Quicksilver can be a little tricky to get the hang of, but once you do you will find that its power is impressive. With just a few key strokes you can find a file, compress it, attach it to an email message, and send it out. A mastery of this app can skyrocket your productivity.
2. SPARK: Is a very powerful and easy to use shortcut manager. You can program hotkeys to launch apps, documents, and folders, execute scripts, control iTunes and much more. I find this application particularly useful to navigate to directories deep within your HD seamlessly. It allows you to get where you need to go quickly without cluttering your desktop or dock.
I truly believe that these two apps make a great difference in my productivity (especially directory navigation). I encourage anyone to check these apps out. The best part of course is that they are both absolutely free (although the Spark developer will accept donations) ! To visit the developers' website click on the links above.
