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Filed under: Software, Productivity, Internet Tools, Mods

On TextMate extras

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Dec 31st, 2006

Like me, there are probably a lot of fresh new TextMate users out there in the audience thanks at least in part to MacHeist, so I thought it would be pertinent to point out a few helpful resources Allan Odgaard (TM's developer) maintains at macromates.com. Of course the searchable mailing list and IRC channel are handy for getting your discussion on, over which TM user Brett Terpstra just shared a WordPress templating bundle he's created - quite possibly a good addition to that theming workflow we just blogged.

Another powerful resource is the TextMate wiki, which houses a plethora of learning tools and resources such as a bundle repository if you're looking for some features or a language not included by default, as well as an RSS feed for bundle changes. Of course, what text app would be complete without user submitted themes? Last on my resource roundup (but by no means the end of what's available) are a few TextMate plugins, including a WebMate plugin that turns TM's Web Preview into a full-fledged WYSIWYG HTML editor based on WebKit.

There's a lot more from where all this came from, so dive in or simply get your feet wet with this swiss army knife of text editors.

Tags: addons, bundles, html, plugins, resources, textmate, themes, wiki, wordpress, wysiwyg

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Blogs

Hawk Wings updates an already massive Mail plugin list

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Sep 26th, 2006

We mention Hawk Wings from time to time here on TUAW, as it's a great blog for all things Mail.app. One handy resource of Tim Gaden's Mail-obsessed blog that not everyone knows about, however, is its ever-growing directory of plugins, in which Tim relentlessly tracks and categorizes all the 3rd party add-ons, scripts, haxies, tweaks and other Mail goodies. The list was recently updated with 10 new entries, ranging from Note to Self (inspired by Leopard's Mail.app Notes feature) and a Return Receipts AppleScript (you know, that feature where you can bug email recipients with a 'yes I read this' dialog) to a Mail to Yojimbo script for those times when the 'print to Yojimbo' service is less than convenient.

Check out the recent update and the full plugin directory for virtually any and every tool you could need to make Mail.app bend to your every whim.

Tags: add-ons, addons, hawk wings, HawkWings, mail, mail.app, plugin, plugins

Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, Internet Tools, Mods

On the Firefox 2.0 beta, extensions and compatibility

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Sep 1st, 2006

If you want to play with the Firefox betas, but don't want to break your existing extensions, there is an add-on available that can bring your existing extensions along for the 2.0 beta ride. Nightly Tester Tools is an add-on (extensions are being rebranded as 'add-ons' in the new Firefox) that brings a number of developer-related features to Firefox, but it does two fantastic things for regular end users like you and I: it can make *most* extensions/add-ons work with versions of Firefox they weren't necessarily meant to, even new ones you want to install.

Long story short: the way I understand it, Firefox add-ons need to specify which version of Firefox they're compatible with, in case there is version-specific code they require to function. Most add-ons, however, don't have that version-specific code, so Nightly Tester Tools (basically speaking) futzes with add-on version lists so (ideally) more recent versions of Firefox - i.e. this shiny new 2.0 release - can use these add-ons just fine. The one catch I've personally run into is that it seems Nightly Tester Tools needs to be installed on a v1.5.x of Firefox in order to be able to work with v2.0 (ironic, isn't it?). I stumbled across this because I recently wiped my MacBook Pro and reinstalled Mac OS X (I needed to start from scratch to get that new version of Vista running on my MBP). Along with this fresh system, I tried installing Nightly Tester Tools into a Firefox 2.0 beta, and it wouldn't budge. Turns out I had to degrade to 1.5.x, install Nightly Tester Tools, then bump up to 2.0, but YMMV.

I need to give a shout out to Download Squad, as it is they who first found this add-on which makes playing with Firefox betas so much sweeter.

Tags: add-ons, addons, beta, compatibility, extensions, firefox, nightly tester tools, NightlyTesterTools

Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, iTunes

Download.com posts list of top iTunes add-ons

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Aug 2nd, 2006


I could've sworn that Download.com got rid of their Mac software section a while ago, but alas: digg submissions never lie. CNET's Download.com has posted a list of top iTunes add-ons for tackling everything from grabbing album art to watching who is listening to which songs from your library. Included in the list is RadioLover which lets you record streaming radio, as well as iPodRip with (thankfully) an accurate explanation as to why its abilities aren't included in iTunes itself. This list actually part of a guide Download.com wrote called iTunes Advanced, which includes some handy tips for things like adding an equalizer column to your list of songs to easily assign custom EQ settings to specific songs, as well as a list of hotkeys for the default iTunes visualization mode.

Seasoned iTunes pros will probably balk at getting iTunes advice from Download.com, but there are probably at least a couple handy tidbits here for just about everyone.

Tags: add-ons, addons, advice, download.com, itunes, plugins, tips, tricks

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Internet Tools

A collection of all available QuickPicks for Backup 3

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jul 16th, 2006

Wishingline, a web design studio, has done .Mac members a favor and collected most of the QuickPicks that are available on the web for Apple's Backup 3. There are quite a few QuickPicks out there for everything from ecto to PDF documents, Photo Booth pictures to Shiira bookmarks, OmniOutliner documents and much, much more. Wishingline went so far as to list a number of the QuickPicks individually, or simply offer an encompassing package of everything they could find (scroll down about midway on the page for these goodies).

The QuickPicks package is offered free from Wishingline, but remember: they didn't have anything to do with creating these (as far as I know); they just tracked them down and zipped them. If you want a QuickPick for one app or another, you should probably consult the app's author or check out these resources for creating your own.

[UPDATE: Scott from Wishingline dropped us a comment to let us know that the QuickPicks linked from Wishingline are, in fact, home grown. Thanks for some rockin' QuickPicks Scott!]

Tags: addon, addons, backup, ecto, PDF, Photo Booth, PhotoBooth, plugin, plugins, quickpick, quickpicks, shiira, software, wishingline

Quicksilver plug-ins for Google Calendar and Gmail

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on May 4th, 2006


While tinkering in Quicksilver's plug-ins panel this morning I came across two new plug-ins that should fit right in with my new Borg Google-infused daily activities: a Gmail Module and a Google Calendar Module. Both are actions that allow you to type in a string of text, then select either of these modules as an action, and off you go.

The Google Calendar module seems to use their Quick Add syntax for adding events. For a quick tutorial on this: invoke Quicksilver and then hit period so you can begin entering plain text. Enter something like "Apple Store Opening Saturday 10 am," then hit tab to move to Quicksilver's second pane to chose an action. If you have the Google Calendar module installed, the action is titled "Google Calendar Event" (using 'gcal' works just fine for me). Hitting enter will send the event, and for bonus points, if you have Growl installed and Quicksilver using it to give notifications, you'll receive a Growl alert upon successful completion.

The Gmail module (pictured) allows you to compose a message (or at least part of one) using the same method as both the Google Calendar and Mail.app compose actions. Once you type some text, tab over to chose the Gmail action, you'll receive a 3rd pane that allows you to specify an Address Book contact to send to. Hitting enter will create a Gmail compose window with all the information you chose from Quicksilver already inserted. Awesome.

Tags: add, addon, addons, Calendar, compose, email, event, events, feature, gCal, gCalendar, Gmail, Google, plug-in, plugin, quick add, QuickAdd, Quicksilver

Filed under: Cool tools, Productivity, Internet Tools

Chax 1.4.1 released

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on May 4th, 2006

One thing I love about Chax, the vital iChat plug-in, is that its developer has been reliably rolling out a good handful of new features and fixes, even with a .0.x update like this one. New features in 1.4.1 include:
  • Growl notifications for when a user comes online, goes offline, goes idle, goes away, and becomes available
  • Options to have the tab window come to the front when receiving a new message
  • Option to disable the close buttons on tabs
  • Option to have the contact lists automatically resize to fit the number of visible contacts
  • Contact list row height will now adjust itself according to the size of a custom font as long as user icons are hidden (the two line view will not resize)
  • Default iChat floating window notifications now work with tabs
  • Clicking on a Growl message notification will bring iChat to the front and select the originating message window
You can check out the full list of new features and bug fixes in Chax's release notes, and grab your own copy from Kent Sutherland's site.

Tags: addon, addons, Chax, features, iChat, plug-in, plugin, tabs

Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Productivity, Internet Tools

Pimp your Camino

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Apr 17th, 2006

Safari isn't the only browser that can pimp it these days, as it looks like Camino has its own custom parts shop now. Pimp My Camino (started by John Hicks; he who set up Pimp my Safari) keeps track of the plugins, addons, haxies and scripts (and more!) for Mozilla's fantastic Camino browser.

I don't know how long Pimp My Camino has been around, but they already have a whole slew of stuff like CamiScript (applescripts for saving sessions, grabbing site feed URLs, etc.) and CamiTools (a feature-packed pref pane), ready and ripe for you to blow an entire afternoon tinkering with.

Tags: addons, blog, browser, Camino, community, extras, Pimp My Camino, PimpMyCamino, plugins, scripts, site

Filed under: Audio, Software, Freeware

Freeverse offers free automation plug-ins for Sound Studio 3

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Feb 28th, 2006

Freeverse has announced a free set of automation plug-ins for Sound Studio 3, their fantastic, easy-to-use audio editing application which we've blogged before. Dubbed "Monbots" (short for Monkey Bots), these are but the first three in what Freeverse promises to be a series of handy automation plug-ins and tools.

The first monbot, Clean & Convert, is an audio scrubber for tidying up any misbehaving or noisy audio. The second, called Mastering Console, offers a set of tools and effects for (you guessed it) mastering audio, while Bookend Audio allows you to easily add intro and outro audio to a file or group of files. A fourth monbot, capable of stitching multiple pieces of audio together into one file, is aptly called Stitch and is listed as coming soon.

It looks like the monbots are free, so all you need is a copy of Sound Studio 3 which sells for a mere $79.95.

Tags: addons, audio, automation, editing, Freeverse, monbot, plug-in, plugin, sound, Sound Studio 3, SoundStudio3

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