http://michael-mccracken.net/wp this is a weblog. Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:42:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Daniel Jalkut just [wrote about][dj] a desktop bookmarking app called [Pukka][pk], which despite being apparently nice enough to warrant a positive review, was simple enough that Leo Laporte wasn't comfortable just saying it cost $15. I felt like adding to the discussion after a few commenters described the app as ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2008/03/27/two-hours/ From Flying Meat, [VoodooPad](http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad) 3.5 is out. ([release notes here](http://www.flyingmeat.com/fs/flystashweb.cgi/2dc35f78-ac3e-01dc-01d4-c0cbe4c4bd91)). It's a solid update, including welcome image-editor integration and more. I thought I'd point out my favorite feature in the release notes: “You can now edit pages and sort the results in the search window (woo!).” I like this because it matches a kind ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2008/02/11/voodoopad-35/ I've been hacking around with [PyObjC](http://pyobjc.sf.net), the Python-ObjC/Cocoa bridge recently, and it's quickly becoming my favorite way to write Cocoa apps. It's really natural to mix Python idioms with Cocoa objects. The latest version of PyObjC is 2.0, it's installed by default on OS X 10.5, and XCode now includes templates ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2008/02/01/pyobjc-notes/ I've been looking around for some more detailed information about the "Site Reliability Engineering" positions at Google. Apparently the role is a real mix of very large-scale system administration, planning and automation. I've collected some links to public info about the job. The Google channel has [a promotional video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y31STIrwtlk) from one engineer about ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2008/01/13/what-is-site-reliability-engineering-at-google/ [Damon Cortesi](http://twitter.com/dacort) just shared a handy script for grabbing your tweets and compiling some stats about when you post to twitter and who you reply to. His script generates a list of numbers and included a Numbers template to paste them into. Since I don't have Numbers, I've modified [his script](http://dcortesi.com/2007/12/27/twitter-stats/) ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2008/01/02/twitter-stats-in-svg-using-gnuplot/ My favorite apps, the ones that slip easily into everyday use and stick there, just start with plain text and add some extra sauce. [VoodooPad](http://voodoopad.com) is a great example, and Hog Bay Software's new app [TaskPaper](http://hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper) is, too. I've used both [kgtd](http://kinkless.com/kgtd) and [iGTD](http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/), and played around with a few others. ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2007/11/01/taskpaper-adds-just-enough-to-stick/ Anything worth writing is worth re-writing. This applies to code as well as prose. I give paper sections and important emails a while to sit after I write them, and they always benefit from another look with fresh eyes. I think that doing this with code is worth thinking about. Once you ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2007/10/09/the-editing-pass/ I started this post more than a year ago. Not much has changed, and it's time to just let it out. Uninvited dialogs popping to the front or stealing keyboard focus in OS X have been giving me **that Windows feeling** lately. It was part of the old Mac OS's comfortable ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2007/09/04/that-windows-feeling/ The amazing Christiaan Hofman has released another nice update to [Skim](http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/), the great PDF reader that is quite literally my dream reader app. As usual, there are detailed and complete [release notes](http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?group_id=192583&release_id=535138), and I'd like to call attention to my favorite new feature, because I use it all the time, and ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2007/08/31/skim-07/ I watched Merlin Mann's [Google Tech Talk about processing email](http://www.43folders.com/2007/07/25/merlins-inbox-zero-talk/) yesterday, and even though I'd followed his posts on [Inbox Zero](http://inboxzero.com) when they came out, it's good to get a reminder, and Merlin's an entertaining speaker - I recommend you watch it. He talks about strategies for keeping an empty inbox ... http://michael-mccracken.net/wp/2007/07/26/processing-email/