that canadian girl

It may be Easter weekend here in the UK, but for me, Friday is Just Another Work Day™. The best feeling however, is the one that accompanies ticking stuff off my immense task list, which is made easier by everyone else being on holiday.

I’ve mentioned a few of my Getting Things Done tools in the past, like the “Everyday…” list of rules to respect when working from home, which include setting three most important tasks, creating blocks of time without distraction and taking a lunch break at a reasonable time. Ok, I’ve not exactly excelled at following them but they’re good reminders nonetheless.

I’ve flirted with just about every web app or task-list software out there, having bought more than I like to admit. Lately, I’d been using Things by Cultured Code but didn’t feel 100% happy with it. In the latest round of Macheist, I acquired The Hit List which Josh Clark described as “a grown up version of Things.”

Totally fell in love with The Hit List for its ease of use, nested lists and simple tagging. Mainly the nested lists though, as that was sorely missing from Things. Plus it’s even prettier.

To show how I use it, I’ve taken a few screenshots…

“Today” view

The most practical view of it when glancing at it to see what task is going to jump at my throat if I don’t do it immediately.

Single-list view

When working on a specific client’s projects for a day, I’ll focus on their list, keeping everyone else out of view.

“Waiting For” view

I have a notoriously bad memory, so when I email someone who assign a task to a teammate who I’ll need to chase up later, I create a list item with the tag @wf (Waiting For). It then becomes easy to quickly scan the smart folder of answers I’m waiting for.

You can find all three on Flickr here.

It’s a painlessly easy to use piece of software, makes for a great braindumping ground for projects. It even makes a satisfying little noise when I tick a task as completed.

I continue to use Basecamp for shared projects, but nothing on the web yet has the convenience and ease of desktop software drag & drop, offline use & speed, so until that point, solo project lists will continue to live in The Hit List.

Getting a new Mac is a great experience; Apple have worked for many years to make the unboxing experience memorable and special. People talk about it, document it in photos or in video. But what happens when you’ve had it for a few weeks, months or years? It gets scratched, damaged or dirty. That “yummy new shiny machine” feeling disappears.

So why bother caring for your aluminium MacBook Pro? If you want to sell it after a year or two to upgrade to a newer model, having a clean and scratch-free laptop allows you to sell it for a bit more (money you can then put towards your new model!) Meanwhile, if you choose to keep it, you can show up to a meeting with a beautiful and fresh-looking computer.

These top tips to keep your Mac from showing age are guaranteed to work an awful lot better than anti-ageing creams!

1. Protect the case

Whichever way you do it, protecting your metal case from scuffs and damage is a great way to keep it from looking rough in the future.

I originally covered mine in stickers to differentiate it from all the other MacBook Pros in the office, using stickers I was given from Digg, Lolcode, Soma FM, Laughing Squid and many more.

Do the same to show some personality or, if you want to be more graceful, you can use one of the many amazing skins now available online:

• Hokusai’s wave (17″)
• Gorgeous colourful bookshelf (15″)
• MC Escher’s drawings (15″)
• Never Mind by Stella im Hultberg (15″)
• Black & White Swan by Si Scott

Alternatively, at least be sensible enough to use a laptop sleeve like the Black LaRobe sleeve to keep it protected when you’re carrying it around.

2. Fix your mistakes

Put tons of stickers on your aluminium MacBook Pro case and changed your mind about them?

In my case, I had to hand the laptop back at work. Everyone sniggered it would look like hell after I destickered it. But fear not, you can very easily remove stickers from the aluminium laptop case with a small dose of WD-40 and a bit of patience.

First, peel off the vinyl stickers that come off in a single piece; they’re the ones that feel rubbery and shiny. Then peel off what you can of the top layer of the paper stickers. These will leave a white paper layer or at least some sticky glue on the laptop. That’s when you get the WD-40 out; close the laptop lid first, spray WD-40 lightly on a white kitchen roll. Rub it in gently onto the paper or sticker glue area and let it “soak” slightly. Once the WD-40 works its magic, it should be very easy to rub off the sticker glue off. Buff the laptop cover gently with a soft cloth when you’re done to bring it back to its original shine!

[If you're worried that you might do damage, start with a small area of the laptop on the underside of it to check that it won't stain or discolour it. This tip worked wonders for me, but comes with no guarantee. If you've done weird stuff to your laptop beforehand, don't hold me responsible!]

3. Take care of your screen

Aside from the obvious care tips like not stabbing your screen with pens and dirty fingers, the best way to keep your screen, glossy or matte, in good condition is to give it a light clean every so often.

As much as possible, I try to use the cloth that came with my latest pair of glasses and warm breath, but to remove oily marks, the best product (and afaik only one endorsed by Apple) is the iKlear screen cleaning spray.

Follow the instructions and be gentle. You need to stare at that screen for days on end, so best take care of it!

4. Don’t squeeze me too tight

I’ve recently noticed a rising number of people who treat their laptops like they’re made out of steel armour plating. It’s still a fairly fragile construction, even the fancy latest unibody machines, so throwing it into a backpack or piling books on top of it can quite easily damage the screen!

5. Get AppleCare

This one is a question of personal preference, but ever since I’ve started buying Macs for myself, I’ve insisted on having AppleCare – Apple’s own protection plan, which covers you for much of the likely problems

It doesn’t replace being careful (eg. dropping your laptop or spilling beer into it won’t get it replaced) but will cover you for most hardware issues. As far as I’m concerned, if your computer ever leaves your desk, it’s worth having insurance on it.

Just be smart!

If you want to have a throw-into-a-bag-and-go laptop, get an ASUS Eee PC or similar netbook, Hackintosh it if you must. Or use the tips above to keep your aluminium MacBook Pro in the best condition possible to resell later!

Jane Dallaway suggested that I write about apps that help me get things done. As a Mac user, I love to try out new applications written by smaller developers, so I thought I’d share the list of everything I use regularly, so go have a look at my profile on IUseThis.

I’ll go in more details on best GTD tools in the near future, for tonight, I’m just checking in and sharing this with you!

While we’re on the topic, I thought I’d flag up a GREAT deal on MacHeist. Ten apps for $49 is simply fantastic, especially since 25% goes directly to charity. If you’re a Mac user, I highly recommend having a look at this offer before it runs out!

This is just a quick little heads-up for my fellow Mac users, Give Good Food to Your Mac is giving some big discounts, varying from 30% if you buy 3 apps to 70% if you buy ten.

None of the apps were particularly interesting to me, since I’m already pretty well equipped, but you’ll find the fabulous PixelMator, the popular Money and the useful CCSEdit apps, so it’s probably worth having a poke at the site if you’re new to Mac and need to equip yourself for cheap.

A week ago, Leopard, the latest version of OS X, the Apple Mac operating system, was released. I already thought that the rate at which my friends and acquaintances were deserting Windows for Mac was high back when Vista came out, warts and all. I knew nothing. It’s less of a trickle nowadays, and more of a thundering tsunami wave heading Mac’s way!

Since I haven’t had the opportunity to really sit down with these friends lately, I thought the least I could do as a faithful disciple of Apple was to share my list of top 10 useful applications, which I consider to be must-haves when using a Mac. They vary between productivity apps, cool alternatives to overpriced professional products like Adobe’s and just outright fun stuff.

1. Quicksilver: No Mac is complete without Quicksilver, in my opinion. The main feature I use is the quick launcher – create your own keyboard shortcut from which you can call up any application or file without going into the app folder. Leopard’s Spotlight can now do that, but if you’re patient with Quicksilver, you’ll realise it does a whole lot more than just quicklaunch…
2. Skitch: Hands down THE best quick-fix image resizer, editor and uploader. Completely intuitive to use, you’ll get from zero to LOLCat in 4 seconds!
3. Pixelmator: For slightly fancier image editing than what Skitch allows, Pixelmator might be the perfect solution for those of us who get a rash from using Photoshop. It’s $59 for a license but it’ll probably do everything you and I need.
4. Adium: Stick MSN Messenger, GTalk, ICQ, Yahoo! Chat and whatever else tickles your fancy from a single client. Less clutter is good.
5. Flickr uploader: Pretty straightforward app – put pictures in, tag images, upload to Flickr. Simple, quick, fuss-free. Oh and free too.
6. Parallels: This is a necessity more than anything, but Parallels allows those new to Mac to still access their Windows apps, and gives web designers/developers a way to check their sites in Internet Exploder.
7. TaskPaper, OmniOutliner Pro, OmniFocus: I know I’m cheating here, but I didn’t want to drag on too much about GTD and productivity apps, because they’re not to everyone’s taste. However, if you’re looking for a friendly OS X GTD app, try one of the above, ranging from utterly simple – TaskPaper – to complex and complete with OmniOutliner and OmniFocus. TaskPaper certainly does the job for me, with contexts, projects and archiving of done items. Simple and practical. Have a play and let me know what you think!
8. Unison: If you need a Usenet reader, Unison does the job wonderfully well. Produced by the great team at Panic, it’s priced at $24.95, but comes with a 15 day trial.
9. Coda: I don’t personally use this one, but seems to come as a consensus from most web developers I know who are Mac users. Another Panic app, it’s priced at $79 and probably also comes with a trial period.
10. iStat Menus: If you’re keen to know how much memory is being used, how much network activity you’re racking up, etc, you’ll like this app. You can put the most essential pieces of info directly in your toolbar, editing settings from within the Systems Preferences. iStat Menus is donationware.
11. Bonus! Activity Monitor: Now this one might seem strange, seeing as it’s a utility that is already part of OS X, as opposed to a 3rd party download. However, too few people are aware that the tool is there. When your machine whirs itself into a frenzy and you can’t work out why, open Activity Monitor – or leave it running in the background as I often do – and find out which application is guilty. If you use Firefox, it’ll often be the guilty party, I warn you.

Right well, this should get Tom and Darla started, shouldn’t it?

[Update 07/11/07: Andrew pointed out that Chris Pirillo totally outdid me with his post of Top 100 mac apps.]

I’m an Apple addict, there’s no denying it. Twenty years of using Macs and still going strong. And usually, I couldn’t be happier with what I buy and have rarely had any problems.

But on Tuesday, when you looked at me, all you could see was a sad Mac face, because my white MacBook was cracked where my right wrist sits on the top deck and clearly needed to be fixed. I read about others with the same problem, thinking my laptop was over a year old and no longer under warranty, I started to think of how expensive or lengthy the replacement process might get.

Thankfully, Andrew snapped me back into reality by saying our laptops still were under warranty. So I promptly called Apple Customer Care to arrange a repair under warranty. The first call didn’t sound too promising – I went through to an Indian (?) call centre where the quality of the phone line was so poor and crackly, I had to shout my MacBook’s serial number six times, with Andrew giggling increasingly with every “E for Echo, L for Lima!”

I ended up calling it quits and calling the Bluewater shopping centre’s Apple store directly to ask whether they’d have the part in stock if I came by on Saturday. No promises were made regarding stock, but by Thursday morning 9:01am, I had a Genius Bar appointment booked for this morning.

Showed up at the store before opening, spoke to a really nice guy who took my laptop in, saying it could be a few days, even up to 10 days, if they didn’t have the part in stock. Feeling slightly distressed and anxious, I left the store.

We shopped a little, we watched Yo Sushi chefs work like ants on preparing for lunchtime, and then we ate a few plates of sushi each. Still feeling bummed out about leaving my laptop behind, we popped by Virgin Megastore, thinking we might find a suitable movie for the evening. (Random trivia: I nearly bought Breakfast at Tiffany’s for a fiver, I’ve yet to see that movie, you know… Celia would kill me if she knew!)

While in the store, my phone rang, but I didn’t recognise the number and let it go to answerphone. Promptly checked the voicemail – while thinking I really need SpinVox voicemail-to-SMS – and nearly choked. It was the girl from Apple telling me my laptop was ready!! We nearly ran back to the store to get it, then went home feeling wholly satisfied with our day.

One morning is all it took for my MacBook to get sorted out! They not only replaced the plastic trim around the keyboard, but also replaced the entire keyboard and trackpad, as it comes out as one piece. Andrew reckons they’ve also changed the screen surround but I’m less convinced.

It cost us a morning’s trip to Bluewater, but would have been £142 out of warranty. You know what, I think I’m going to get extended warranty for it. My laptop’s far too important to be allowed to go wrong ever.

So thanks Bluewater Apple store, your speedy, quality work is appreciated!

Both Andrew and I are used to having friends, acquaintances and outright strangers asking us for advice on buying their next computer. However, in recent months, I’ve been amazed at the sheer volume of people who have been asking whether they should switch to Mac.

In many cases, the answer is an easy one: “Most definitely! Get your skates on, let’s go buy one now!” But despite the fact that I have Apple juice running in my veins and that if you gave me open heart surgery, I most likely have a Mac Mini instead of a heart, I still strongly believe that Mac isn’t for everyone. In some conditions, OS X just isn’t right.

So here are the questions I think anyone on the fence about switching to Mac should ask themselves before giving Steve Jobs their credit card details…

1. Do I use any particular Windows-only software on a regular basis?

• If your answer is yes, then look into Mac alternatives. The best solution isn’t always necessarily an OS X port of your fave Windows apps. In fact, it most likely isn’t. There are tons of great Mac apps out there.
• Can’t find an alternative? You can always run the app in BootCamp or Parallels on your Mac, and this will suit almost anyone.
• Still not sold on this solution? Then this is where you should probably stick to Windoze.
• Don’t need any Windows software? Attaboy!

2. Do I have anything to worry about compatibility-wise?

In 99% of cases, no you don’t. However, if you use very specialised software, again, do your homework before the Big Move.

3. Will it take me time to get used to the difference in user interface?

Yes, it will. There’s no way around it.

It takes some time to get used to a new way of doing things. You’ll need to think differently, far beyond simply going to the other corner of Firefox to close a window. Shortcuts are different. The way installs and uninstalls are handled is different. Using the hardware itself is different: For example, with a Mac laptop, you’ll hardly ever need to turn it off, as shutting the lid sends it to sleep so comfortably that I only turned mine off once since Christmas, and rebooted a handful of times for updates.

You’ll also need to get used to… things just… working! Plug a peripheral in and it works. Add a printer to the network and there it is. Your stress levels will definitely go down.

It’s a complete mentality shift and it will take time to adapt. So give yourself time, have patience and be ready to relearn. Once you get up to speed, you WILL love it, I promise!

This is one of many reasons that, for example, we didn’t encourage Andrew’s parents to move to Mac. Their use of computers is pretty simple: browsing, email, photo management. They know their way around these features in Windows. There was simply no benefit in shifting them into a whole new environment.

4. Will it cost me a lot more than a Windows machine?

Actually, it probably won’t. Sure you can buy Dell’s loss leader at £395 and be sorted for a few years. But if you need to spec up your Windows machine to a similar level to what’s the bare minimum offered on Mac, you’ll find that the prices are similar.

This can be argued, and I’m sure my smart ass friends will come disagree with me on this point, but as far as personal research goes, that’s my observation.

5. Will I get special treatment and a secret handshake?

No. That’s fanboy nonsense.

Ten years ago, meeting another Mac user was a revelation and a bit of a dirty secret. I certainly didn’t know any other Mac users my age. They were all middle aged men, usually my dad or grandpa’s acquaintances.

Today, well… Show up at a conference and count the laptops. Odds are a vast number of them will be Macs. In fact, somewhere between 15 and 20% of all laptops bought in the US since March are Macs. It doesn’t get a second look anymore, and in a way that’s good.

Hopefully that’ll send the fanboys away to play with a different new shiny toy. Hopefully…

6. Am I doing it just because all the other cool kids are doing it?

Yes? Then piss off, I have no interest in giving you support.

In summary, Macs are probably a good solution for Chantal, a graduating student who’s living space is limited and who wants a fast, reliable machine. It’s also a great solution for my dad who’s still living in the 90’s using OS 9.2 (that’s a hint, dad! ) but it might not be the best solution for, say, my sis-in-law Lisa who just wants a bog-basic laptop to use a couple of times a week to check email.

To each their own, pick whatever you feel most comfortable with!

One last piece of advice. Oi! Here! Pay attention or it’ll cost you!

The new OS X operating system, called Leopard, is coming out within the next three or four weeks, so my advice is to wait until it comes out to buy a new Mac, to ensure you get the latest OS.

[Update: Leopard came out in late October, and it's fantastic. So go ahead and upgrade now if you're ready!]

The “Summary” feature of OS X really is like a work of voodoo. To use it, highlight some text in your favourite Cocoa app, like Mail, Safari or Camino, then go into the application’s Services menu and choose a level of summarisation (between 1 and 100% of original text length). In a few cases, the summarisation was eerily accurate and I don’t think I would’ve done any better.

This service receives little fanfare and is certainly one I’ll use more when I come across very long articles where I need to get the gist of it but haven’t got time to read it all at that very moment (where it makes its way into my del.icio.us bookmarks… and probably never gets read completely, hrmm)

So that’s my tip for the day!