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Filed under: Software, Friday Favorite

Friday Favorite: Scrivener


Not long after I bought my first personal Mac in late 2004, I stumbled across an article that mentioned Ulysses, a text editor geared toward creative writers -- essentially the marriage between a word processor and project management software. It allows you to have all documents within a writing project at your grasp. As a journalist and author, Ulysses was a dream come true, but expensive. Costing more than $100 at the time, it didn't fit into a journalist's salary.

I wound up using CopyWrite for a time and was fairly satisfied with it until I read in a forum that people were having luck with a program which, at the time, was called Scrivener Gold. I gave the free beta a try and was blown away by the program's potential. When the full-fledged release of Scrivener came out in early 2007, I bought a license as a birthday gift for myself.

Scrivener pulls all the things needed for a complete writing project -- be it writing a script, novel, research paper or newspaper/blog articles -- together in one location and has so many features that even after nearly three years of use, I don't think I've fully explored all that it has to offer. I recently started work on writing my first graphic novel, and have really gotten the chance to flex Scrivener's muscles.

Continue readingFriday Favorite: Scrivener

Filed under: WWDC, TUAW Business, Developer

TUAW at WWDC 2009: We want to hear from you

It's that time of year again. In the US, schools are emptying, weather is heating up and all sorts of developers are readying to wend their way to San Francisco for Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC.

Sure, the noncoding masses are expecting a hardware announcement (new iPhone, anyone?), but developers are really salivating over improvements to OS X in the upcoming Snow Leopard (10.6) release, and iPhone OS 3.0. After all, with great hardware comes awesome software. Apple might even have some surprises in store for us.

TUAW will be at WWDC during the week, and if you're a developer for iPhone or the Mac, we want to talk to you! Be sure to polish your elevator pitch, as we'd like to shoot as many demos as possible. Plus, we're attending the Parallels party (RSVP here), the iPhone Launch Party and maybe a few others, so there will be plenty of chances for your shot at fame. If you'd like to get in touch with us before the event, you can email us at wwdc at tuaw (dot com). See you in San Francisco! You can also join us online and on the phone during Sunday night's talkcast, where we'll be talking about the final round of preconference rumors and expected announcements.

For those you not attending, stay tuned to TUAW as we liveblog the keynote, dig into the announcements, and show the newest of the new apps being demoed at the event.

Filed under: OS, Software

Rock your clipboard with CopyPaste Pro

Described as "Time Machine for the clipboard," CopyPastePro takes your Mac's clipboard way beyond simple temporary storage.

There's a multiple clipboard option of course, but CopyPaste Pro also lets you edit the contents of a given clipboard (or "clips" as they call them) with its built-in word processor, create an archive of previous clips and even review clips via a "clip browser," which resembles Mac OS X's application switcher.

If you're one of those users who just can't live with the standard Mac OS clipboard, check out CopyPaste Pro.

CopyPaste Pro requires Mac OS X version 10.4.x or 10.5.x. For a short time, users of CopyPaste can upgrade to CopyPaste Pro for $20US. On May 12th, the price will go up to $30US.

Filed under: Leopard

Leopard makes an Amazon appearance



Apple's next-gen OS, Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, is expected to ship in Spring '07. This is not a secret. But somehow we feel better when Amazon confirms it for us. As Nelson pointed out in the iWork '07 on Amazon comments, they are already listing Leopard with a note that says "Scheduled to ship in spring 2007."

Amazon is conveniently offering to email you when it's available for purchase. I guess Mac lovers who plan to be in hibernation for the next 3 months might need that.

Thanks Sean and Nelson!

Filed under: OS, How-tos, Tips and tricks

All the cool things your Mac can do

I know your Mac is really cool, and you know it's really cool, but do all of your friends (especially those using Windows)? One of the things I really enjoy is gloating showing off some of my Mac's more interesting tricks, a job made easier by this cool list at Silver Mac. They describe one of my favorite tricks right off the bat: If you highlight at word in any cocoa app (like Safari) and hit Command-Control-D, a small window will appear with the dictionary definition and part of speech of that particular word. Move the cursor from word to word, and see their respective definitions.

The article also describes how to invert your screen's colors, create a quick text clipping and more. Check it out, and really "wow" your friends.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Apple

Life changing software

James Fee has posted about software that changed his life, and it struck me as a very powerful idea. Can a bucket of bits and bytes really change anyone's life? The more I thought about it, the more I knew it was true. Software can change lives, it has certainly changed mine.

Back to James for a moment. He lists the following software as life changing (for him):
  • Hypercard
  • ArcInfo
  • BBEdit
  • Freehand
  • ArcView
Not too shabby. This, of course, got me thinking about the software that has had an impact on my life. Mac OS 8.6 sprung immediately to mind. That's what my first Mac ran, and it was the first time that I felt like I was working with a computer instead of at a computer (a subtle, but telling difference). 8.6 was my entrance into the Cult of Mac and now look at me! I'm a titan of the Mac web and I have owned more Mac gear should be allowable by law.

So, dear readers, has any software changed your life?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

I can't use a Mac unless...

I set up a lot of out-of-the-box Macs at work. If I'm getting them ready for life as a general workstation machine, I just give them my usual run through. However, If I'm lucky enough to be working on a machine that I'm going to be using, I can get everything set up the way I like it. In short, I can't use a Mac unless...

  • All Finder windows are set to column view. Seriously, icon and list view are just infuriating to me at this point. I don't know how I used list view so happily for all those years with the "classic Mac OS."
  • The desktop bears only one single icon. That icon is the hard drive. I cannot understand people whose desktops are so littered with icons that the desktop picture is barely visible. I don't know how they find anything, or even focus on the screen. I'd need a Ritalin smoothie to use that machine.
  • The Dock is transparent and borderless. I started using TransparentDock a while ago, and now the sight of a white Dock just irks me. Speaking of the dock...
  • The hard drive and Applications folder are in the Dock. But that's a given, right?
  • Quicksilver is installed. That's right, I can't use a Mac that doesn't have Quicksilver installed. I find myself hitting Command-space on other machines all the time, as it's ingrained in my muscle memory at this point. I can hit Command-space-m- (for Mail) Return without even thinking about it.
  • I have a two button mouse. Just try it for a week, you'll never go back.

So, there you have it. What's your list?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends

Mac OS on Intel in 1992...almost

intel_chipI found this article on LowEndMac.com today describing the porting of the Mac OS to Intel hardware that almost took place in 1992. This was the post-Steve Apple (also known as The Dark Days when Apple was in the business of making beige paper weights), and Novell had made a deal with then-Apple CEO John Sculley which would get this transition in motion. Code named "Star Trek," the project was halted almost as quickly as it started when Michael Spindler replaced John Sculley as Apple CEO and nixed it.

Of course, this has me thinking: What could have been?  Apple as strictly a software company? For me, one of the selling points of a Mac is the fact that Apple makes both the hardware and the software. I've seen enough of my friends fighting with this driver or that driver while installing Windows from scratch to know what a benefit this is. I've often said that being ousted from Apple was the best thing (professionally) to happen to Steve Jobs...and Apple. So, what do you think? Where would we as Mac users be if Star Trek had taken flight in the early 90's? Personally, I shudder at the thought.

Tip of the Day

Holding the Command key (aka the Apple key) and pressing Tab will cycle through your open applications. It's easier to Cmd-Tab if you are Copy (Cmd-C) and Pasting (Cmd-V) to and from various applications.


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