Curiouser and Curiouser! on productivity-applications http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic productivity-applications Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Seeking opinions: IdeaFisher & Project Kickstart Tue, 23 Mar 2004 21:01:12 +0000 <p>Has anyone out there used <a href="http://store.ideafishing.com/index.html">IdeaFisher</a>? I'm doing a lot of marketing and idea-centric work at the moment. I saw a quick demo of it in action today and i'm pretty tempted. However i've been here before, so I'm keen to see if anyone else has a read on it.</p> <p>Also <a href="http://www.projectkickstart.com/">Project Kickstart</a> looks like a pretty cool tool for someone like me who needs project discipline but finds that MS Project frightens me more than it assists me. Anyone have any views?</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002019.html Enterprise Instant Messenger real Tue, 30 Mar 2004 06:48:18 +0100 <blockquote><a href="http://www.corante.com/getreal/archives/002719.html">New Osterman Survey Shows Enterprise IM Use Growing</a>. A recent survey my Osetrman Research shows continued acceptance of instant messaging inthe enterprise, according to Demir Barlas at Line56.com. "With a sample space of 195 employees, the survey found that 44 percent are currently using IM "for business applications,"... [<a href="http://www.corante.com/getreal/">Get Real</a>]</blockquote> <p>An interesting and encouraging sign.</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002030.html A time for great applications Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:29:37 +0000 <p>Getting the Powerbook has had a strange impact on my life. Beyond the obvious - that the Powerbook is a great computer and that MacOSX is light <em>decades</em> ahead of Windows in terms stability, usability, and bliss - I was never a Windows or Unix evangelist. I have become a Mac evangelist (I think my CEO is on the ropes, I see an IMac in his future).</p> <p>Part of this is the quality of some of the applications for this platform. The Way of the Mac seems to extend out to Mac developers.</p> <p><a href="http://macromates.com/blog/archives/2006/01/06/textmate-15/">TextMate hits version 1.5 today</a> and is the best editor I have used since Brief (anyone remember that). It's got warts and flaws and it's not all it will be given another 12 months of work, but it's a hugely productive text editing machine that has, alongside Ruby, made coding a pleasure for me again.</p> <p>Then there is <a href="http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/">QuickSilver</a> which, since it was introduced to me (by <a href="http://www.theobviousblog.net/blog/">the SuperNode</a>?) has relegated the dock to being a distant memory. Now with the newly released v3744 I can get application menus within QuickSilver. If you've never experienced QuickSilver then you don't know what you're missing and with this new ability it's simply amazing.</p> <p>A year ago I was fed up with computers, writing software, bugs, crashes, stupid applications. Today I find my interest in development rekindled, bugs rare, crashes rarer and seeing my MacTop come to life still - 5 months later - brings a smile to my face (esp. since it comes to life in about 1.5 seconds!)</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00003150.html Taming QuickSilver Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:18:34 +0000 <p>Alcor's excellent tool <a href="http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/">QuickSilver</a> has become the constant companion to my PowerBook. If I could keep only one (among the many excellent tools I've discovered since becoming a Switcher) it would be QuickSilver.</p> <p>One thing that was bugging me though. When I'd use the phrase 'it' it would bring up iTunes as the first choice when 99% of the time I'd be wanting iTerm instead. The worst part is that I've gotten so automatic in my use of QS that I would hit 'it' + <CR> confirming for QS that I did want iTunes and hence making the problem worse.</p> <p>Yesterday one of the kind denizens of FreeNodes #quicksilver told me how to get around this and it's a handy trick to know. When you use your trigger to bring up the app selector bezel (I use Cmd+Enter which on the PowerBook keyboard is the two keys to the right of the spacebar) and type your phrase, e.g. 'it', you then press the down arrow to drop down the menu of choices and, from there (not the bezel), right click the application you <em>don't want</em>.</p> <p>In that menu will be an option "Decrease Score" which when you select it should descrease the weight of the association between 'it' and iTunes. In my case it allows iTerm to beat iTunes and now iTerm is the default choice and I am happy.</p> <p>QuickSilver truly is an outstanding tool and it has many tricks to teach me yet!</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00003198.html