Finer Things in Mac

Tips for changing brightness on MacBook, external displays

chartier — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:08:46 -0500

Changing the brightness with Macbook keyboard always changes the laptop display. External keyboard always changes external display (if attached). Ctrl + brightness key inverts the behavior for both external and internal.

[Thanks Beh!]

how do you change address book font

chartier — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:44:38 -0500

I wish I had better news for you, but you can’t anymore. There used to be a font option under Preferences > General, but Apple removed it some time ago.

Tweetbot for Mac is filled—literally—to the brim (HAHA GET IT...

chartier — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:34:29 -0500

Tweetbot for Mac is filled—literally—to the brim (HAHA GET IT THE ICON IS A DUCK) with power user-y Twitter features, yet it still manages to look this good.

Exhibit # 73: multi-column (and window) mode.

Messages for Mac + App.net + hackathon = a great new ad-free...

chartier — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:45:16 -0600

Messages for Mac + App.net + hackathon = a great new ad-free private messaging service right on your Mac with all the polish you’d expect.

Bonus points: this ain’t your typical hack-y setup: it’s built with the plugin API Apple provides and supports.

App Exposé (System Preferences > Trackpad > More Gestures)...

chartier — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:59:39 -0600

App Exposé - Byword

App Exposé - Pages

App Exposé (System Preferences > Trackpad > More Gestures) is a great way to view all the open windows in the current app. Turns out it’s also an easy and quick way to view a visual list of your most recently opened documents.

When you change your alarm time in Fantastical for Mac (as well...

chartier — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:23:34 -0600

When you change your alarm time in Fantastical for Mac (as well as Fantastical for iPhone), a truly fantastic replacement for Apple’s calendar app, it sweats the details between whether an alarm is ‘1 hour’ or ‘2 hours’ before an event.

You can get Fantastical in the Mac App Store and App Store

If you plug your iPhone or iPad into iTunes and mouse over the...

chartier — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:54:37 -0600

Because knowledge is power!

Don't judge me

If you plug your iPhone or iPad into iTunes and mouse over the colored storage bar at the bottom of the device details page, you’ll see more information about what and how much stuff is on your device.

Pixelmator has a great way to get a live preview of what effects...

chartier — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:21:35 -0600

Pixelmator has a great way to get a live preview of what effects can do before you start messing with them.

You can pick up Pixelmator in the Mac App Store.

Creating a location-based task in Apple’s maps makes no...

chartier — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:47:33 -0600

Creating a location-based task in Apple’s maps makes no sense to me. You have to either be in the location for which you want a reminder, or you have to manually type in the location’s address. There’s no way to, say, look up a restaurant your friend recommended and set a reminder for the next time you get near it.

Fortunately, I found a way to do this with Localscope, a great iPhone app that lets you see Flickr photos, Wikipedia articles, Yelp listings, and probably a dozen more services plotted out on a map. It’s really, really useful.

No fancy drag and drop upload interface? No problem. Safari can...

chartier — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:58:00 -0600

No fancy drag and drop upload interface? No problem. Safari can drag and drop to upload just about any file.

Exporting Images With Usuable Names From Evernote — pxldot

chartier — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:10:31 -0600

Exporting Images With Usuable Names From Evernote — pxldot:

Evernote is a great tool, but its export features leave quite a bit to be desired, especially when it comes to attachments like images.

In the face of this adversity, what does an enterprising user like Chris Suave do? Why, write an AppleScript, of course.

via MacStories

About Finer Things in Tech v2.5 These sites and their...

chartier — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:14:38 -0600

About Finer Things in Tech v2.5

These sites and their individual sections—Mac, iOS, PC, Web—have been through some pretty big changes over the last couple years, but especially the last few months. I figured it was time to round up the latest in a single post, including some big additions I have coming up. Yes, I’m considering an Android section, but I’m also looking for new, creative ways to support not just my work, but give something back to all you wonderful readers who contribute posts.

Bonus points: each top-level Finer Things in Tech section has its own Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feed, so you can follow them how you like. Want another options? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Sloppy desktop habits? Too many GIFs laying around in...

chartier — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:16:23 -0600

Sloppy desktop habits? Too many GIFs laying around in ~/Pictures? Select a bunch of files and throw them in a new folder with two clicks.

Hide the Finder’s sidebar, toolbar, or both

chartier — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:14:26 -0600

Hide the Finder’s sidebar, toolbar, or both

Paste Safari Link In MarsEdit - Red Sweater Blog

chartier — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:35:32 -0600

Paste Safari Link In MarsEdit - Red Sweater Blog:

Know what’s cool? A MarsEdit shortcut for quickly pasting your clipboard’s URL into a blog post.

Know what’s cooler? An AppleScript, whipped together by MarsEdit’s own developer in response to a customer, that can insert the URL of the current Safari tab and use the webpage’s name as the linked text.

Get to all your Mail drafts quickly with a shortcut If you save...

chartier — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:57:45 -0600

Get to all your Mail drafts quickly with a shortcut

If you save a lot of drafts in Mail, and especially if you have multiple accounts, you don’t have to go digging for your account’s Drafts mailbox to start editing again.

Sticky Notifications plays well with OS X, nerds A handy $3...

chartier — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:37:51 -0600

Sticky Notifications plays well with OS X, nerds

A handy $3 utility for creating simple, visual alerts has a system-wide shortcut, Automator support, and even a URL scheme if you really want to start cooking with apps like Alfred and LaunchBar.

MarsEdit takes the pain out of pasting links Especially handy...

chartier — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:18:00 -0600

MarsEdit takes the pain out of pasting links

Especially handy since MarsEdit works with a bunch of services like Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger.

OS X Mountain Lion shares to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr with...

chartier — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:12:47 -0600

OS X Mountain Lion shares to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr with style

iTunes 11: Drag a song, album in the new album view to show...

chartier — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 10:22:39 -0600

iTunes 11: Drag a song, album in the new album view to show playlists, devices

This makes it easy to stick with the new album view but still use drag-and-drop to organize your media and take some of it with you.