Filed under: Software, Blogging, Internet Tools
Tumblr now has Dashboard widgets, Quicksilver add-on
Tumblr is a unique new tumblelog service that employs a KISS philosophy: offering a very streamlined, one-column layout and a clever bookmarklet that is smart about what you're trying to share on your Tumblr blog. While the minimalist templates can be edited by hand to include just about anything you want, Tumblr's concept is to be a sort of blogging scrapbook; a place to toss all those unique things you find across the web that might not fit at any of your other blogging venues, or that you simply don't have much to say about. Take a look at the Tumblr Radar to get an idea of how others are using the service. Now that introductions are out of the way, a recent update to Tumblr, as well as a how-to post from our sister Download Squad blog, has highlighted some Mac OS X-specific features that should make it even easier for Mac users to jump into the service.
First, Alex Hung (Windows developer for ecto, by the way) wrote up a great how-to at Download Squad that explores the construction of a Tumblr Dashboard widget with Apple's Dashcode. A DLS reader was even inspired enough to go through with it, creating theTumblr Widget that is hosted on Google Code. This widget also became one of two that Tumblr just highlighted in a recent blog post, with the other being more of a basic test widget that Tumblr cooked up themselves.
The second Mac Tumblr tool is an AppleScript for Quicksilver by Andrew Lilja. Andrew provides the AppleScript code and instructions for some unique syntax you can use to specify things like titles, quotes and links for your Tumblr posts, all from Quicksilver's handy UI.
It's great to see these kinds of tools appear for Tumblr, as it makes an already simple service even easier to use.
We sure have gone kookoo for iPod syncing lately - what with tips and scripts for syncing 
A while ago I had to help the 
It's been a while since I've paid attention to Automator actions, and I'm beginning to realize that I never quite worked them into my daily habits. Since I'm making more of a conscious effort to fit some handy actions into my workflow, I stumbled across 
Sometimes randomly rotating your desktop wallpaper through the Desktop System Preferences pane is just a little overkill. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a simple drag-and-drop Automator action for setting your own wallpaper whenever your heart desired a change of pace? Then why not use 
Location Switch is an Automator action that adds some painfully missing features to Mac OS X's built-in Locations option (y'know, that feature you never touch in the Apple menu?). Location Switch can a whole host of application preferences and settings based on which location you chose, such as sound volume, SMTP servers, default printer, etc. Before you use it, however, the action requires some customization on your part, so check out the accompanying ReadMe file for instructions, and open the action in Automator to give it your personal touch.
In my newsreader today I saw an 'iPhoto Action Pack' from Automator World that adds a handy action for workflows involving iPhoto: "Find iPhoto Item Path". While debating whether that was TUAW-worthy, my newsreader became bombarded with more headlines like System Action Pack, TextEdit Action Pack, Preview Action Pack... until I finally decided to post a roundup to cover them all in one fell swoop. So here you go kids, a whole batch of Automator Actions that add some missing abilities to everyone's favorite (or the only?) OS automation utiliity:
I need to make more of a habit of rooting around in Quicksilver's plugin pane, as I almost always find stellar new tools each and every time I open it. This time around I stumbled on a Yojimbo plugin for Quicksilver that seems to do a better job of adding items to the Yojimbo database than the bookmarklets that BareBones added themselves in the latest 
You could also file this under "fantastic
Automator actions that Apple should've advertised when Tiger was being released."
I haven't tested
this yet, but 
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
