streamline/online

Update: Instant Podcast

2010-01-11T18:34:51Z

With Snow Leopard came an updated Automator, and along with it, and updated version of my Instant Podcast workflow. I made several changes to incorporate new actions, and the results are improved. Here's a rundown:

The first action grabs the URL for the page you wish to convert. The page needs to have an RSS feed, so blogs usually work best. As tribute to Andy Ihnatko, who sent me along this road, I've used his URL for my example.

The next steps grab the RSS feed and the text from the feed articles, respectively. Sites that publish only article excerpts, in lieu of full text feeds, are of less value IMHO. I want to hear the entire postings, but then again, I'm an unabridged sort of guy.

The next step is vital, but I can't find a way to make it happen using Apple-only actions. The BBEdit concatenate action takes all of the articles and combines them into one long string of text. Without this, the workflow generates a series of individual MP3s, one for each article. If you can find a method of resolving this problem using no-cost tools, please share.

The rest of the workflow is straightforward and similar to the previous incarnation. The text is converted to an audio file. (I wish I could listen to Andy's postings in Cepstral's William voice, but the current version is incompatible with Snow Leopard. Until a fix arrives, Alex will have to do.) The date and time of conversion is added to the file name for future reference, audio is encoded to MP3 to save space, the original audio file deleted, and the MP3 is imported into iTunes and added to to appropriate playlist for syncing.

The updated workflow is available here.

iPhone Apps

2010-01-10T17:52:00Z

I've been using an iPhone for several months now. As you may recall, I wrote briefly on what an iPhone would need to provide before I'd consider a purchase and monthly bill. The decision was made for me when I was promoted at work and provided an iPhone at no cost. Here are the apps I'm using to increase my productivity.

Calendar, Mail, Maps -- As might be expected, I use these default iPhone apps more than any of the others. MoblieMe syncing keeps both my iPhone and iMac up-to-date, almost in real time.

CarbonFin Outliner -- For quick and dirty list creation, this is my favorite iPhone app. Sometimes a comprehensive task management system (see OmniFocus, below) is just too cumbersome--your Christmas or grocery shopping lists, for example. CarbonFin Outliner syncs with the company's free online web application, so your lists are also available on any Internet-connected desktop machine.

Delicious Bookmarks Pro -- Bookmarks Pro accesses your del.icio.us account on your iPhone. You can browse your bookmarks by tags, and even identify favorite tags. Adding and tagging new bookmarks is a breeze, even from the iPhone OS version of Safari (using a bookmarklet). I'm hoping for an update that will include tag bundles, which would make this a truly killer app.

Dropbox -- No need to remember my USB thumbdrive or to constantly email files to myself with this free service. Dropbox keeps a folder on my home computer, work computer, and iPhone all in perfect sync. Files are also accessible from any computer via the web app.

Evernote -- I'm testing the free version of Evernote as my "Everything Bucket." Using the service, I can access my notes from desktop applications, an iPhone app, and a web browser. I haven't used it quite enough to make it especially effective, however. Perhaps as I integrate it more into my daily routines, it will become invaluable. Of course, it would be nice if the most recent version of the iPhone app didn't crash most every time I use it.

NetNewsWire -- Like everyone else in the tech world who doesn't sit at a computer all day, I am struggling to make an RSS reader a useful part of my life. The common problem is that an aggregator doesn't provide any guidance on which feeds and articles are most valuable. This means, without fail, I have thousands of unread RSS items at all times. More on this rant some other day, however. I use NetNewsWire because it syncs with my Google Reader account and has a free Mac desktop application with a nice interface.

OmniFocus -- A GTD task management system. It syncs with the Mac desktop application in various ways. I use OmniFocus for all of my work and personal projects. It is robust and feature-rich. As iPhone apps go, it is quite expensive ($20) and worth every penny if you are responsible for many un- or inter-related projects.

Stanza -- A reader app with direct access to more than 100,000 books, some free and some for purchase. The look and feel can be altered significantly to a reader's preference. Bookmark and annotation functions are available to the reader. Dictionary entries for individual words are just a few finger taps away. Search functionality is also included.

Wapedia -- A clean and simple Wikipedia front end. Free.

I really thought I would miss having a laptop, but the iPhone is an outstanding substitute. I occasionally miss having my laptop (for instance, when I'd like to do some organization using a Mac-only app like Notebook while at work), and will probably buy a replacement eventually. For now, however, I am getting by quite well using the desktop-iPhone combo.

Recommended: Dropbox

2010-01-09T23:20:28Z

Dropbox has become my replacement for USB thumb drives. It functions in the cloud, but unlike the iDisk and other remote storage technologies. Instead of mounting a drive to hold your files, you download and install a small application. The application places a folder on your desktop, the contents of which are synced to online storage automatically. Once installed on multiple computers and devices (e.g., the iPhone), you always have your updated files at hand. And when you're on someone else's computer, you can access your files via a web interface. It's slick, and it's free. You pay for extra storage space over the first 2GB.

Recovering Hard Drive Data

2010-01-09T01:29:43Z

It was a lovely August morning when my TiBook went bye-bye forever.

I was busy prepping for a presentation when my laptop, which had been a semi-reliable friend for more than six years, shuffled off this mortal coil without even requesting last rites. I'm no newbie when it comes to assisting electronics as they limp along toward their graves (my graduate assistantship was in electronic music, for goodness sake), so you can take my word for it when I say there was no hope. None that would have made fiscal sense when compared with a new computer purchase, I mean.

And so I immediately slid over to the Apple web store and purchased a new 24" iMac. It arrived a few days later. (And it is, without a doubt, a beauty. Particularly when compared with my "veteran" laptop.) Alas, as I was cleaning my desk for its arrival, I made perhaps the most boneheaded move of my life: I picked up the 500GB G-Drive that held my file backups without first powering it down. Yep, you guessed it. The bad boy kicked like a handgun as the heads slammed into the spinning platters. Double-oops.

As you might imagine, I was concerned. I did have one ray of hope, however. I was fairly certain the TiBook failure was an electronics issue and not another catastrophic hard drive failure. I crossed my fingers that I might coax the old laptop drive contents onto my new desktop machine. Luckily, I turned out to be right.

I hopped over to Best Buy and purchased a Rocketfish 2.5" drive enclosure. Well, purchased isn't honestly the correct term. Instead, I utilized what we Once Upon A Time--in a former life as a Radio Shack employee nearly twenty years ago--termed a "30-day free rental." (If you can't deduce how this might work, shoot me an email.) The Rocketfish worked like a charm, and all my files were safely on the new machine. Replacing the guts in the G-Drive and my new backup strategy are topics for another day, however.

I'm torn over what I should do with the TiBook's carcass. This is the first time I've ever replaced a dead Mac; all my other purchases were upgrades. I had planned to set up all my old computers--from my Atari 800XL to the TiBook--in the Hobby Room of our new home. I'm certain I can get my old LCIII (I'd like to use her as a central system for my model railroad) and PowerMac 5200 (perhaps for HyperCard programming and use as a household X10 system) humming again, but the TiBook seems beyond hope. For now, she's tucked away in my laptop bag, until I buy her replacement.

Alex Payne is Off His Rocker

2009-02-10T15:32:50Z

From al3x.net:

The Mac software ecosystem faces a plague. A plague of Everything Buckets. Indulge me.

If you search for “productivity” or “organization” software for the Mac, you’ll find variations on a particular type of application. These applications claim to be “your outboard brain” or “your digital filing cabinet” or similar. They go by many names: Yojimbo, Together, ShoveBox, Evernote, DEVONthink. There may be differences in their implementation and appearance, but these applications are all of the same sinister ilk. They are Everything Buckets.

Alex Payne is off his rocker. "Everything Buckets"—a simply dreadful misnomer, by the way, that would make a marvelous title for an Oprah's Book Club selection—can be fantastic productivity tools. In fact, I use three of the five he mentions in the quote above: Shovebox as a virtual GTD Inbox; Yojimbo to store notes that then sync with my Treo; and DEVONthink as a storehouse for research projects, PDF software manuals, etc. I also use Circus Ponies Notebook as a centralized app to store my career-related brain books and to organize information for my writing projects.

Of course, I might be biased. After all, I'm pretty sure I coded the very first Mac "Everything Bucket": the packrat.

Instant Podcast

2008-02-18T00:42:37Z

Despite the lack of activity here, quite a bit has been going on with respect to my technology goals. Several detailed posts—on applications, web apps, and syncing, among other topics—are forthcoming. But now, a fun diversion.

Knowing there are many ways I could streamline my productivity at the computer, I recently purchased books on AppleScript and Automator. Back in the day, I learned AppleScript in conjunction with the HyperCard development I was doing. The many demands life seems to throw put the kibosh on programming—I haven't developed much of anything since Apple killed off HyperCard half a decade ago—and any AppleScript proficiency I had acquired quietly slipped out my ear.

As I was browsing at the public library this week, I grabbed Andy Ihnatko's "The Mac OS X Tiger Book" and placed it into my stack for checkout. I wasn't certain why I'd picked the book up, other than the fact that I've enjoyed Andy's commentary for many years and wondered why I've never read a book he authored. After some casual browsing, I stumbled across chapter 17 and realized why the fates had compelled me to grab the book. Andy's exuberant cheering of these built-in tech marvels set me to work.

I had struggled with Automator when I first purchased Tiger last year, and quickly gave up. Without the benefit of documentation, the software seemed limited. I am glad Ihnatko's ringing endorsement convinced me to take another look. This morning, I developed several useful workflows, one of which I find amazingly cool and will describe here.

Instant Podcast
Most of my favorite news sites and blog authors don't create podcasts. This means I have to spend time reading these web pages (when I should probably being doing other work). Enter the Instant Podcast workflow (click the thumbnail for a full-size image).

This little marvel hits your favorite web site (Step 1) and grabs the text from the page (Step 2). It then converts the text to audio using Mac OS Text-to-Speech (Step 3 - I've selected Victoria, but choose your preferred voice). Steps 4 and 5 append the date and time to the file name, just so we're clear as to when this recording was made. The workflow finishes up by using iTunes to convert the raw audio file to MP3 (Step 6 - Using MP3 compression will save considerable drive space over the original recording's AIFF format) and adds it to a playlist I've created just for these files. The workflow even cleans up after itself, deleting the original audio file it created.

I plan to use several copies of this workflow, each creating an audio version of a different site. And because Automator workflows can call and execute their brethren, I can create a master workflow that will run each of these in sequence, then can either add the new files to my docked iPod (via Automator's Add Songs to iPod action) or just update the iPod outright. This master can be saved as an iCal plug-in and set to execute each day at some ungodly hour (say 4:00 AM). Fresh content for my drive to and from work every single day... and increased productivity once I'm there. My boss and I could both be happier.

The workflow should be easy to recreate, but I've still decided to link to a downloadable version, if you're especially lazy. You'll still need to make some modifications of course: inserting your URL of choice, selecting a base file name, deciding on date and time formats, and choosing a playlist for the new audio files.

iPhone Update

2007-07-17T02:20:32Z

So, based on all I've deduced, a review of what the iPhone has and what it needs before I will make a purchase (see my previous posting for more details):

Needs
True 3G technology (e.g., UMTS) -- Not yet, perhaps next generation?
Vibration for ringing and alerts -- Yes, confirmed with docs.
A user-removable/replaceable battery -- No, and that may be a deal-breaker.
Increased memory capacity -- 8MB is still the max. This will likely change with 2nd gen.
Seamless syncing of to-do lists, along with the ability to add new items -- No, a definite deal-breaker.
Seamless calendar syncing with iCal, along with the ability to add new events -- Yes, confirmed with docs.
Chat software (preferably multi-client, like Adium) -- Not yet, but will have to be added with user demands so high.
Voice memo recording application -- Unknown, but seems unlikely.
Alarms (one time and repeating) -- Yes, confirmed with docs.

Wants
Four+ megapixel camera -- No, but user demand is high and negative comments on photo quality are everywhere.
Video chat -- Honestly, this seems impractical with the current camera position.
Support for streaming (e.g., internet radio and video) via wifi -- YouTube and Safari seem robust, but essentially unknown.
On-screen notation with handwriting recognition -- No, but not that important to me.
Bluetooth compatibility -- Works with standard Bluetooth headsets, but otherwise unknown.
FM radio -- Don't know if iPod FM Radio headphones are compatible or not.
Timer and stopwatch applications -- Yes, confirmed with docs.

So, things are not so grim as I had suspected, but Apple still has a way to go.

New Backup Plans

2007-04-30T19:32:50Z

Well, the recent hard drive debacle forced me to reevaluate my backup strategies. I have developed a three-phase plan. Two are off-the-shelf Backup 3.1.1 plans, and I created the third from scratch.

Plan One: Personal Data & Settings
This daily plan works in two stages. It backs up my Address Book, iCal calendars, Keychain, Safari settings, and application preferences to two locations: first to my iDisk, then to my local Firewire drive. The backups are scheduled 30 minutes apart, though each only takes a few minutes, max. The purpose(s) of this plan are (a) to keep vital settings in multiple locations, and (b) to keep the number of archived files low for quick recovery in the event of file corruption or accidental deletion.

Plan Two: Home Folder
As you may recall from the previous entry, the loss of my Home folder was the most catastrophic aspect of the event. Innumerable documents and all the associated man-hours were lost. This daily backup will hopefully prevent any such future tragedy. Some of this is overkill, in that many of the files archived in Plan One will be copied again, but this is meant to be a comprehensive backup for a simple, one-step restore of my Home folder, should the situation arise.

Plan Three: Weekly Comprehensive: Users, Applications, Library
This is the plan I attempted to create last Saturday. This weekly archive will contain the bulk of my hard drive (minus System files) in case of severe catastrophe.

Let me hear feedback, if you have any.

Simplification? No way, Jose.

2007-04-30T15:55:20Z

Well, this weekend was certainly a mess. I am not even certain where to begin.

The hard drive on my laptop--which is my primary computer--had been acting suspicious since I upgraded to Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) a while back. The SBOD would start as the drive went through repeated and rapid chug-chug-chug-chug-pause cycles for up to several minutes. The computer was unusable during this time. The Activity Monitor provided absolutely no clues. Occasionally, I would have to force the Mac to shut down by holding the power button for several seconds. I didn't know what was going on; it was an intermittent, new, and extremely frustrating problem.

I considered the following possibilities:

(1) I had acquired some sort of mal-ware without my knowledge (this seemed highly improbable);
(2) Some new third-party app or extension was poorly written or too drive-dependent (this also seemed unlikely, as I was disabling software left and right with no improvement);
(3) Something--software or the new OS--was wonking up the drive on a regular basis (verifying the disk, repairing permissions, and clearing the cache files regularly seemed to help things);
(4) The new OS implemented more background processes that required intensive hard drive access (for all I knew, Spotlight was busy indexing files, or virtual memory was swapping scratch files, or... you get the idea);
(5) There was a hardware problem (which I was very reluctant to admit, since I had just replaced the laptop's hard drive about two years ago).

I had been investigating possibilities with little success (see 3, above) when the annoyance caused me to do more searching Saturday morning. Unhappily, I discovered the problem was symptomatic of a disk that is developing bad sectors. I read lengthy trouble-shooting documents and decided to implement a cure, of sorts:

(1) I used Backup to (I believed) transfer all of my apps, library items, and user folders over to the 0.5TB G-Drive I added to my system a while back (nearly half a million files, so this was no short task);
(2) I attempted to erase the drive and Zero Out All Data on the drive.

Both of these were catastrophic. Erasing the drive did not work. Disk Utility estimated 16 minutes to completely zero out the entire 40GB drive, but apparently wasn't anticipating all the bad sectors. From what I had read, when erasing a drive with bad sectors in this manner, Disk Utility is supposed to mark the bad sectors as unusable, allowing the remainder of the disk to function as normal. However, I left the computer to this task all night and by morning (more than ten hours after I had started the process), Disk Utility still had not made it through half the disk.

It was at this point that I decided the drive was a lost cause and needed to be replaced. No problem; I ran over to Best Buy, grabbed a new 80GB drive for just under $100, popped it in, and set Backup to restoring my files.

Oops, Backup didn't copy my entire Home folder. What makes the matter worse is that I specifically checked after Saturday's backup to confirm all the files I had intended to transfer were copied into the archive. But there it was, staring me in the face: the applications were there, my son's directory was there, but my entire Home directory was missing from the list of files. I rightly began to panic. Then it occurred to me that I could probably salvage some of these files from the other backup plans I had been running. So I started restoring, plan by plan.

When all was said and done, I managed to recover (probably) about half of my files. You see, Backup has this odd scheme for selecting what will be archived. For example, you can select the packet titled (something to the effect of) "Back up all Keynote presentations." I assume Backup scans the entire drive for Keynote files, then archives them. As a result, I have some complete folders saved (folders that I had specifically marked for backup), and all the files of a certain type (for instance, all my Word documents). But many things were never backed up at all, apparently.

To compound the issue, Backup apparently hadn't run a scheduled nightly/weekly back up of my files since a month ago. This one still has me scratching my head. Of course, when I purchased the new drive and installed the new OS, I also installed a new version of Backup, so I will assume the new plans I've created will run as scheduled. For now.

Anyway, all of this basically boils down to the fact that I have lost innumerable files (many of which I certainly won't realize have been lost until I need them and go looking) totaling perhaps hundreds of man-hours of work. Currently, I am most angry over the loss of my new web site design, which I had hand-coded in HTML and CSS but not yet copied to my server. Poof. Gone. Am I kidding myself believing that anyone's life can actually be made simpler by use of technology?

Will an iPhone help meet my goals?

2007-02-04T17:13:19Z

Along with the rest of the world, the iPhone has me intrigued. At first glance, it has real potential to simplify my life. It would reduce the number of gadgets I need to carry around; currently, I take my cell phone, iPod, and PDA with me to work every single day. (And don't bother telling me this is supposed to be a phone, not a PDA. Apple is positioning this device as a competitor to other smartphones, all of which are used like PDAs by most businesspeople I've ever seen.) Because a life goal is simplification, this could be a real joy, if it lives up to the promise.

However, I've decided that--if they hope to get my cell phone budget--Apple will need to beef up the phone's hardware and the included applications. I won't be buying an iPhone until they include all of my needs, as listed below. This means (barring any surprises with the June 2007 release), I won't be buying the phone until its second or third iteration in 2008 or 2009; you'll see why when you read the list. If Apple were to throw in a few of my wants (below the needs), they will get my money even sooner.

Needs--Apple must provide these
True 3G technology (e.g., UMTS)
What good is having Safari if we must wait for downloads at 56k modem speeds? The current incarnation of the web is designed for broadband, not dialup. My current cell phone has EDGE and, even with images turned off, web browsing is infuriating--hence, impossible.

Vibration for ringing and alerts
I spend my days in meetings and other quiet environments; as such, my phone's ringer is hardly ever on. Come to think of it, I can't even tell you what my ringtone is. I need a vibrating phone, which was mentioned neither in the keynote nor on Apple's website.

A user-removable/replaceable battery
I am not paying Apple $99 to replace my battery, a la the iPods. 'Nuff said.

Increased memory capacity
True, the 4/8GB models are leaps and bounds over all cell phones available now. The problem with this argument is that those phones also aren't designed to be video iPods. Flash memory improves daily. Apple needs to ship 16/32GB models as quickly as possible.

Seamless syncing of to-do lists, along with the ability to add new items
On viewing Apple's web site, I don't see an icon for a to-do list/tasks application. As has been mentioned previously on this blog, lists are how I get things done.

Seamless calendar syncing with iCal, along with the ability to add new events to any calendar
I see an icon for a calendar application on the phone, but the iCal standard is terribly limited. I need multipoint access to all my calendars, not simple "subscription" services. If I can't add new events to each calendar from all my devices (as well as from my web-based calendars), usability is severely impaired.

Chat software (preferably multi-client, like Adium)
iChat-like SMS is all well and good, but I also need chat functionality. Apple certainly has made a mess of things in forging all these disparate alliances: iChat linked with AOL, Safari/iPhone maps linked to Google, iPhone email linked to Yahoo. Now is the time to capitalize on these alliances and move ahead with enhanced, less proprietary integration. For example, Safari's search box should be usable with any service of choice (a la Firefox). An iPhone (and honestly, OS X) chat client compatible with all the available formats is required.

Voice memo recording application
I drive very long distances (14+ hours) several times per month. There is little to do during this time besides think. And I do. A lot. I often scribble notes on paper as I drive 83mph down the interstate. I would prefer something less idiotic.

Alarms (one time and repeating)
These should transfer when doing my daily iCal sync to alert me of upcoming appointments. Additionally, setting new alarms should be simple; I need a reliable alarm clock when I am on the road, for example.

Wants--Apple should strongly consider these
Four+ megapixel camera
After all, we're Mac users. We expect more than what the other guys provide.

Video chat
Speaking of the built-in camera, it may as well be linked into the Adium-like chat software.

Support for streaming (e.g., internet radio and video) via wifi
And by the way, the included wifi should be the new 802.11n standard. Anything less is a step backward.

On-screen notation with handwriting recognition
After all, the Newton had this ages ago. (Also, see the PDA disclaimer, above.)

Bluetooth compatibility
Not just for the headset and syncing with a Mac, but for portable keyboards, the ability to use it as a remote, etc. Trick it out.

FM radio
My Sony Ericsson cell phone provides this, and at much less than a $600 price tag. Since the iPhone provides iPod functionality, this seems like a reasonable extension.

Timer and stopwatch applications
I need these occasionally, and it's nice to have them on-hand. Again, my current cell phone provides these, so I am sure they would be no big deal for Apple.

USPS

2007-02-02T04:06:10Z

The United States Postal Service is terrible. They do not simplify your life. Not even a little. Just thought I'd mention this.

Several Updates

2007-01-20T15:59:29Z

G-Drive
I am so far satisfied with my 500GB drive purchase. My iTunes library, weekly backups, and assorted large files (installer disk images, primarily) are safely tucked away on the corner of my desk. This has freed a sizable chunk of my laptop hard drive, improving performance (things were too tight before, and the computer would spin its wheels as it choked to swap memory for scratch files, etc.).

New Airport Extreme
My next technology purchase will most likely be the new Apple Airport Extreme base station, due out next month:

(A) My old wireless router went FUBAR several months ago, so I've been using wired Ethernet with my laptop. Not so bad for now, but I plan on adding another laptop and a desktop computer to my home network soon, which will require a new high-performance wireless router. With the new "802.11n" standard, this base station should keep our household happy bandwidth-wise for several years.

(B) The new base station can manage any attached hard drive via USB 2.0 and use it like network attached storage (NAS). This means I will be able to plug my new G-Drive into the router and access it from any computer on the network. The new base station can even auto-mount the drives in the Finder (regular NAS can't manage this). At first I was hesitant because of the "USB" connection. Some review of the stats, however, revealed that USB 2.0 is actually faster than the FireWire 400 connection I am currently using.

OS X Update
I finally bit the bullet and purchased a copy of OS X Tiger (at a steep education discount). I know, I know--Leopard is supposed to come along any day now. The problem is, Apple hasn't been releasing any details on the new operating system lately; the pundits say this means it won't be ready for its anticipated summer 2007 release. Add to this my reluctance to ever add a "new" operating system until its been tested by the masses (and appropriate patches applied), and I figure I won't be moving to OS 10.5 for at least 18 to 24 months.

So, I am now running OS 10.4.8 and loving it thus far. Spotlight and all of the associated "smart" objects alone (folders, lists, mailboxes) make it worth the purchase price. And with the convenience of Safari RSS, perhaps I can finally put away Firefox for good--I know everyone swears it's faster, but Safari has always been snappier on my laptop. Dashboard is eye candy, but I haven't found any real need for it yet; perhaps it will grow on me.

Scrivener and SOHO Notes
Be sure to check out these promising organizational apps. Scrivener is a tool for writers, a place to organize your project, including your text and all the assorted reference materials you need. SOHO Notes is a data collection utility for keeping all of your information in a single searchable database. Now that we have Spotlight, I would imagine most say "why bother?", but I am a fan of collection apps. Perhaps it's simple nostalgia, as I am often reminded of the packrat, my own app which was apparently very much ahead of its time.

More Storage Space

2007-01-06T23:57:34Z

I've taken a step with respect to my limited local hard drive space and back up woes by purchasing and installing a new 500GB FireWire G-Drive. The drive is very quiet and half the size of a large Kleenex box--good news for my desk space. I've set the laptop to back up my person documents to the drive once per week, and to back up my most important files each day to my iDisk space.

The best thing, in my opinion, is that I have off-loaded my entire iTunes library to the drive, freeing up about 15GB of the laptop's 40GB drive. This means I can no longer listen to my iTunes music on the laptop when untethered from the drive, but isn't that why I have my iPod anyway? Now I have more than enough space to rip my entire CD collection and sell the discs on half.com, using the money to pay some bills.

For a while, I had been considering Network Attached Storage (NAS) in lieu of a FireWire or USB drive. However, I decided against it because (a) I am not in a mixed-use environment, and any future sharing of the drive can be accomplished via Mac OS X's built-in mechanisms; (b) I don't currently need any media streaming or other similar exoticisms, as none of my other entertainment devices are up to the task; (c) research led me to believe that the configuration of NAS seems more complex than a true plug-and-play drive; and (d) mounting an NAS server sounds hit-and-miss at best (depending on manufacturer), and I wanted something that would mount seamlessly to allow for automated backups.

Lists and storage space

2006-12-18T18:44:16Z

I've been busily creating to-do lists since my third year at Kent State, when it became obvious there is a better way to live than worrying if you are forgetting something every moment of the day. Once I decided to make the slow shift to being As Paperless As Possible, I searched for ways to keep my lists on my computers and PDA. After trying several possible solutions, I finally settled on a great piece of software called OmniOutliner and used it religiously for a few years. It became impractical over time, however, because one soon learns that--despite owning a laptop and a PDA--you are sometimes on the road with neither and need access to your lists. Additionally, OmniOutliner doesn't sync with PDAs, limiting its usefulness to only when near the computer.

I began using Backpack as a web-based alternative and have been keeping my lists there for a year and a half. Over time, using Backpack created a shift in my overall thinking: if I am going to house all this data in a digital format, why in God's name would I want to bind it to my laptop drive that (a) is too small to hold everything; (b) can only be one place at a time, perhaps a place where you are not when you need the info most; and (c) is guaranteed to fail at the most inopportune time? (I've lived through a few hard drive crashes. One was especially bad--a physical crash of the drive--and the data has been lost forever. I am notoriously bad about backups; that is, I don't do any.)

The answer became obvious: I am paying out the wazoo for unlimited high-speed internet access, so I may as well put it to good use by storing all this vital information off-site. There are benefits to this strategy. First, hard drive space offered by these companies typically exceed what is available on my physical laptop drive (within limits, of course). Second, we assume such companies make routine backups of your data, increasing the safety factor over my less rigorous methods. Additionally, with free high-speed access available many places in even smaller cities, your data is never too far away.

For a short time, I used a paid Backpack account to begin storing this data remotely. Recently, however, I have decided that making monthly payments seemed silly when I could house the data on the iPower server I use to host my various web sites. I installed MediaWiki, the same software used by Wikipedia. This will be the storehouse for all of my text and image files. I wondered briefly if I could also use this remote storage space as a place to back up all my other files. However, Mac OS X has trouble natively and transparently connecting to remote servers using FTP. Even when you are able to make the connection, the drive space is read only, which makes backing up to the server space an impossibility. If anyone has suggestions on this, I'd love to hear it.

Why this blog?

2006-12-18T18:16:13Z

Several years ago, I decided go digital. My dream looked something like this: Every letter/email I write, every lesson I plan, every resource I need for teaching or any of my many pet projects would be locked away on my laptop's hard drive. These files would be organized in such a manner that they could be located and recalled nearly instantaneously. Files would be cross-referenced by category (using aliases/shortcuts, etc.) and possible usage. Papers I had on-hand that were not yet on the computer would be scanned in and stored as either an image or OCRed and converted to RTF files. This data could then be accessed for use at home, the office, or in my classroom.

Over time, I've realized this is an impossibility in our society as it currently exists for a multitude of reasons. First of all, we are not even close to the paperless society that was promised us years ago—at work last year, for example, our faculty printed more than 2.5 million pages using our three copy machines. (Management was none too pleased when reporting that this is more than the local Kinko's does in a year on ten self-serve copiers.) I am flooded with paper at work, and so the dream of the paperless office is much more the vision than the reality. So, I've modified my original goal and am working to be As Paperless As Possible (APAP). More on this to come.

Add to this the inherent technology problems associated with my visions. Storage space, for one. Although hard drive sizes are increasing rapidly, I was naive to believe even for a moment that storing all this info would be possible on any factory-issued drive. My laptop is now essentially pinned at its 40GB limit, and I have but a fraction of the information I would like to store on the drive. It's all the digital media that clogs thing, of course. My iTunes music library alone accounts for something like 14GB of this used space, and I don't have anywhere close to my entire CD library stored digitally. As above, more on my plans for overcoming this little obstacle soon.

Another issue is the organizational structure itself. How was the data to be stored? As individual files in category folders, indexed for searching? In one of the many storage database apps (that followed my own effort, the packrat, I might add) on the market? (I have purchased more than one, only to have them essentially unused.) In some other manner? Honestly, sorting all those files, cross-referencing them, adding keywords, etc. is a much larger undertaking than I had originally imagined. Hell, I routinely save downloaded files to the desktop until it is practically covered, then "organize" the problem by creating a new folder ("Untitled Folder 17") and dragging them all into it. I still don't have it figured out, and this is one point of the blog: "talking" out loud and sorting through things as I go.

I added a wiki to my website this weekend. Why not post and organize these thoughts there? I considered it. However, I decided that the blog is a more appropriate forum. The wiki is locked to public access, and this seems like a project that at least might be of interest to others. Additionally, I would love to hear comment from others who have taken on similar challenges, with success or no. The only way to get such feedback is to offer my story up to the public for review. Thanks for stopping by.