Neil Boyd

What are you looking for?

Found Positives

• Shows nice big images of the found files or the ability to play the music or video found in the preview window.
• Found is easy to use.
• It finds files quickly.
• Found gives a lot of different files for one simple search term which can be very useful for discovering lost files.

Found Negatives

• Update: Command-Return reveals local files in the Finder (untried because I found out after uninstalling). Does not ‘Reveal in Finder’ so cannot open the folder where the file is stored. This is very frustrating as this is often the result I want, to find the folder in which the item is stored. It shows a truncated file path under the file snippet but this is not always enough to manually navigate to the file.
• Cannot specify a date period to search.
• With a lot of found results, it is difficult to filter them.
• Only finds attachments from email. It doesn’t give results from email subject nor message content.

• Found runs several background processes. One of these FileIsFound constantly uses upwards of 950MB of real memory and initially regularly ran at 35%+ of %CPU which made my iMac fans blow.

Q2 Internet Radio

DAB Radio

1. Sign into Shortmail website

1. Click Sign In button and enter details

2. Go to Settings

1. Click the gear symbol

3. Connect Shortmail to Evernote

1. Click Connect your Evernote Account

4. Sign in to Evernote

5. Allow Account Access to Evernote

1. Click Authorize

6. Settings - Shortmail

How to allow Google Docs Chrome app offline, view only access to Google Drive documents.

1. Go to Google Drive

1. In Google Chrome: Click Drive

2. Set up Docs Offline

1. Click the Gear symbol
2. Click Set up Docs offline

3. Allow Offline Docs

1. Click Allow offline docs
2. Because I already had the Google Docs Chrome Store app installed, I had no Step 2 otherwise you are taken to the Chrome Store to install the app.

4. That’s it

5. To get to Docs Offline

1. Click the Google Docs app icon on a New Tab

6. Google Docs Offline

1. Click a document name to view it

7. View Only - Google Docs

Visual reminder of the steps taken to upgrade the firmware on the FujiFilm FinePix X100 camera.

1. Go to the FujiFilm Download Drivers and Software web page

2. Agree to the License Agreement

1. Format an unused SD card (any size > 32MB)
2. Fully charge X100 battery
3. Copy firmware update to SD card
4. Do the firmware upgrade
5. Reformat SD card

3. Download Firmware File

1. Click to download the FPUPDATE.DAT file.

4. Format an SD card in Camera

1. On the X100: Format an unused SD card.
   This will be used to transfer the downloaded firmware update file from the computer to the camera.

5. Copy Firmware Upgrade to SD card

6. Check Firmware Version on Camera

1. Insert the SD card into the X100
2. Press on hold down the [DISP BACK] button
3. Turn on the X100
4. If the Version installed is the same as the Upgrade then turn the camera off and remove the SD card.
5. Press the [MENU OK] button

7. Firmware Upgrade OK

1. Press the Left of the Dial to move the selection from Cancel to OK
2. Press the [MENU OK] button

8. Warning Before Upgrade

• Do not open the battery whilst the upgrade is happening
• Do not turn the camera off whilst the upgrade is happening

1. Press the [MENU OK] button

9. Progress of Firmware Processing

10. Firmware Upgrade Complete

1. Turn off the X100.

11. Reset Language

1. On turning the X100 on again after the firmware upgrade, the camera language must be set.

12. Reset Date and Time

1. The date and time must also be set.

13. Reset of Custom Settings

14. Recheck Firmware Version

1. Recheck the Firmware upgrade is correct, press [DISP BACK] button and turn on camera then turn off.
2. Reformat the SD card in the camera again to clean it up.

I was asked how I embedded a Tweet. I used the Embed this Tweet feature from the Twitter.com website.

1. On Twitter site: Open Tweet

Announcement: Calepin is closing in 90 days. Consider moving to @scriptogram Thanks for the ride. Sorry I couldn't maintain it.
— Calepin (@calepinapp) April 17, 2012

These are the steps I took to opt-in to the new beta by Google to report your Google Account Activity. I happened to see the option whilst looking for something else. I don’t know what is being said about it but having opted in I can see a security advantage of quickly being able to see where your account has been accessed from and that is reassuring and worthwhile.

1. Google User

1. Click the user avatar in top right of browser window
2. Click Account settings

1. Click Products

1. Click Go to Account Activity

1. Click the Opt in button

Created in Airplane Mode with Manual Sync turned off to see what happens. Byword caches documents that have been viewed but doesn’t cache everything like Elements does. The disadvantage of what Elements does, in my experience, is that syncing can fail, saving can fail and documents can be corrupted. So I prefer what Byword does for offline work. I just need to cache (view) the documents before I go.

Another app I use has a similar offline technique but Textforce says if a file is ‘cached’, ‘uncached’ or has had a ‘remote change’. Byword uses a more subtle (impossible to see) little symbol to the right of the filename in the file list, cloud symbol = in the cloud, device symbol = cached on device.

The minimal Markdown text editor market is well an truly saturated. Not only is it saturated but a lot of that saturation is by very good apps.

This has been written using Byword on the iPad available in the iTunes App Store. It is a Plus app and so will also installed on an iPhone or iPod all for the single purchase price. It connects with iCloud or Dropbox. I’ve connected it with the Dropbox/App/ folder. By default, this creates a Byword folder inside Dropbox/App/. Setting it up was no problem but how to change the Dropbox source/save folder is not so obvious. At the bottom left of the file list is a little cloud icon.

I have been able to add an iCloud Mail account to the Apple Mail.app on OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. I added it as an IMAP account. The key is to get the right Incoming (Step 5) and Outgoing (Step 6) mail servers which are different from the default MobileMe servers. (Click the images to see them full size.)

Sadly, this does not work not work for an @mac.com email address. Email sent to an @mac.com version of the email address will bounce on the sender. It only works for the @me.com version of the email address. I have tried setting up the IMAP server with both 'imap.mail.mac.com' and 'mail.mac.com' but neither work. In effect, Apple has deleted my @mac email address that I have used for over 10 years.

1. Launch Apple Mail.app

1. In Mail: Click Mail > Preferences…
2. Click the Accounts tab
3. Click the + button

1. Enter the Name, Email and Password for the iCloud account to be added
2. Click Create

1. The Checking login stage took an age for me. Just wait.

1. There is a warning that the logging in has failed.
2. Click Continue

1. Account Type: IMAP
2. Description: what ever is meaningful. This is the name that will appear in the list of email accounts in Mail.
3. Incoming Mail Server: imap.mail.me.com
4. The User Name and Password will be filled in automatically using the data entered in Step 2.
5. Click Continue

1. Description: Enter what ever is meaningful.
2. Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.mail.me.com
3. I chose to Check - Use only this server
4. By default these should be set automatically. Make sure Use Authentication is Checked. The User Name and Password are what were used in Step 2.
5. Click Continue

1. See that everything looks correct and click Create

I happen to get both the US and UK emails from Apple about their latest promotion. Usually the mailshots about new products are virtually the same except for the price being in dollars or sterling. I notice with the latest one for the new iPad that there are two differences:

1. The US use ultrafast where as the UK use a slightly slower, hyphenated ultra-fast.
2. The US use a geeky acronym for the type of ultrafast connection where as the UK stick with the simpler ultra-fast wireless.

To see hidden files or folders in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (I don’t have Lion so I don’t know if it still works) from the Open or Save dialog within an application:

1. Click File > Open or File > Save then press Command Shift . to reveal all hidden folders and files.
2. Press same combination to hide them again.
   

I have had a spate of very spammy-looking Twitter account following me. Whilst the names are always different the avatar photo ID is not.

Since version 15 update to Google Chrome I have been having problems with web pages freezing and needing to be killed.

Google Chrome for Mac (16.0.912.75)

1. Chrome Web Store
2. Blogger
3. Picasa
4. Gmail
5. YouTube
6. Picnik
7. Scratchpad
8. Google Books
9. Google Docs
10. Google Maps
11. Google News
12. Google Reader
13. Box
14. Clock
15. (Kindle) Cloud Reader
16. Evernote Web
17. HootSuite
18. Pixlr-o-matic
19. Prezi
20. QuietWrite
21. 20 Things I Learned…

1. 1Password
2. AVG Mobilation
3. bitly
4. Blogger Dynamic Views (Google)
5. (Evernote) Clearly
6. Clock
7. Create Link
8. Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (Google)
9. Email this page (Google)
10. Embedly
11. Evernote Web Clipper
12. FastestTube
13. Google Dictionary
14. Google Quick Scroll
15. Google Tasks
16. Google Translate
17. Greplin
18. Native URL Shortener
19. Paste to YoruFukurou
20. Picasa Uploader
21. Picnik Extension
22. Pixlr Grabber
23. Postponer Adder
24. Postponer Manager
25. RSS Subscription (Google)
26. Scratchpad
27. Screen Capture (Google)
28. Search by Image (Google)
29. Tab Menu
30. TinEye Reverse Image Search

Chromebook Google Chrome 16.0.912.75

1. Chrome Web Store
2. Blogger
3. Picasa
4. Gmail
5. YouTube
6. Picnik
7. File Manager
8. Scratchpad
9. Google Books
10. Google Calender
11. Google Docs
12. Google Maps
13. Google News
14. Google Reader
15. Box
16. Clock
17. Evernote Web
18. Pixlr-o-matic
19. HootSuite
20. Prezi
21. QuietWrite
22. Google Talk Launcher
23. 20 Things I Learned…
24. Entanglement

1. AVG Mobilation
2. bitly
3. Blogger Dynamic Views (Google)
4. (Evernote) Clearly
5. Clock
6. Create Link
7. Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (Google)
8. Email this page (Google)
9. Evernote Web Clipper
10. FastestTube
11. Google Dictionary
12. Google Quick Scroll
13. Google Tasks
14. Google Translate
15. Greplin
16. Native URL Shortener
17. Picasa Uploader
18. Picnik Extension
19. Pixlr Grabber
20. Postponer Adder
21. Postponer Manager
22. RSS Subscription (Google)
23. Scratchpad
24. Screen Capture (Google)
25. Search by Image (Google)
26. Tab Menu
27. TinEye Reverse Image Search

1. Download PNGOUT
2. Open: ImageOptim > Preferences… > PNGOUT
   
   
3. Type the PNGOUT path as: /usr/bin/pngout
4. Alteratively: It is possible to browse to the hidden folder in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Click Browse button (shown in step 2) then press Command Shift . to reveal all hidden folders and files. Press same combination to hide them again. In this case, it’s as easy to type the path.
   
   
5. Add the PNGOUT file into the /usr/bin/ folder. This is the method I used to add PNGOUT to /usr/bin/
6. Authenticate the move of PNGOUT to bin
   
   


I wondered how to reveal and open a hidden folder in OS X. There are applications that will show and navigate hidden folders, for example FolkLift. I know that the Finder can work with hidden folders once they have been made visible without the need for any other app. I knew that the folder I wanted was /usr/bin/. I used this method to reveal the folder:

1. In a browser (I used Google Chrome) enter web address of: file:///usr/
   
   
2. Drag the link to bin/ onto the Desktop
   
   
3. Double-click the file location icon
   
   
4. Finder opens the bin folder as a visible folder so that I can drag-and-drop files into it
   
   

With the demise on MobileMe, its web sites and easy blog hosting and publishing using iWeb, a vacuum has been created for easy blog writing and publishing. Saving plain text files to a Dropbox folder doesn’t get much easier for creating a blog post. This appears to be the route take by three different sites, with the option to add formatting to the text using Markdown notation to make text bold, italic, add links, lists and pictures.

Instapaper iOS app has made a right mess of the pages forwarded to Evernote - not including the web page link and doubling up all pictures. It's a pain of an app. Following on from my Trust concept, Instapaper is an app to drop. Also all the links I sent to Pinboard bounced and were lost. Pig-boo.

With Pinboard, I think the password had been changed again by me after the connection was originally made between Instapaper and Pinboard, during the period I stopped using Instapaper. Rather than on my return to Instapaper, the app saying, "Oi, I can't connect to Pinboard, reconnect me", Instapaper carried on as if everything was OK. Leaving me to discover that the load of deleted article that I had bookmarked to Pinboard before deleting, have not been bookmarked. Leaving me with no record of the notes and tags I gave each article after reading it. Leaving me reminding myself never to use the Instapaper again.

A couple of thinks have happened that have made me re-look at the concept of Trust as a guiding knife as to whether to keep or kill a project. Kill being a metaphysical use of the word. Project being any object, application or work.

Can I rely on a thing? Can I Trust it? If yes, keep it. If no, get rid.

Let's try to make this a solid year of progress.