My EtherealMind» osx

Important to Get Data Out and Well as In

Greg Ferro — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:54:56 +0000

A look at a key feature of my favourite anything box - exporting and why I don't use Evernote.

OSX: SmartSleep App Review

Greg Ferro — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:57:55 +0000

Quick review of one of my favourite system tool for the Mac - SmartSleep

Change Dock Animation on OSX

Greg Ferro — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:56:14 +0000

Remove Dock Animation Completely defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0;killall Dock Reset Dock Animation defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier;killall Dock Set an Ultra-Fast Dock Hide & Display Animation defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.12;killall Dock Apply commands in a terminal window etc etc. Posts Related to this ArticleOSX: Three Ways to Kill or Force Quit System [...]

OSX-RCDefault App – Editing the Default Application

Greg Ferro — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:00:59 +0000

As part of the writing workflow, I have several text editors for editing raw text when I'm writing in Markdown. I also use different outlining apps which use OPML formatted files (mostly Mind Node, Tree or Scrivener) - OPML is useful for transferring outlines between applications. This means that I need to keep changing the default application setting on OSX. This is not easy with standard OSX ( or maybe not at all).

Bonjour, Zeroconf, Rendezvous – Why Three Names for the Same Thing ?

Greg Ferro — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:16:44 +0000

I've been researching Bonjour networking as used by Apple for Airplay and AirPrint technologies. Bonjour allows for auto configuration and auto discovery of network services and devices. Apple iPad and iPhones will be part of the corporate network in the near future and people will want to use the AirPlay feature for screen displays and AirPrint for printing - you will need to know what it is.

My Knowledge Management Process With PDF Files – Part 2

Greg Ferro — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:00:09 +0000

I've been asked a few times about how I organise my PDF files and keep track of documents. This post looks at my workflow for capturing, storing, tagging and organising my Knowledge Management system. This is Part 2

My Knowledge Management Process With PDF Files – Part 1

Greg Ferro — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:35:51 +0000

A few times I've mentioned about how I manage collections of PDF documents, Text files and the accreted detritus of a Network Engineer. Since a number of people have asked me to talk in more detail about how I organise this and what methods I use, here is some rough description of how I perform knowledge management.

Using TextExpander to Type Faster

Greg Ferro — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:19:27 +0000

Seen some people talking about using TextExpander - here is one way that I use it.

OSX:Creating a DuckDuckGo Search From Launch Bar

Greg Ferro — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:18:56 +0000

Tip on configuring LaunchBar to add DuckDuckGo to your search templates. Because DuckDuckGo is better than Google search for me.

Rant: Screen Reading – Comparing Windows and MAC

Greg Ferro — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:13:20 +0000

In the last couple of years, I find that I rarely use physical books to read something new. I recently started a new role that requires me to use a Windows 7 laptop and I'm finding it unreadable. Either there is something wrong with Windows or Apple have done something exceptional with screen displays.

Productive Mac Software Bundle – Recommended

Greg Ferro — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:58:00 +0000

Some tips on a Mac Bundle

Network Diagrams: OmniGraffle Tip – Merging Shapes

Greg Ferro — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:04:09 +0000

In OmniGraffle, you often want to merge shapes together to create a single object, but you don't want to lose resolution and you want them to scale properly. Grouping doesn't help, but this does.

iTerm 2- Top Tab Tip – Show the Profile Name

Greg Ferro — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:43:15 +0000

Quick tip on configuring iTerm 2 to show the profile names in Tabs - because it annoyed me.

Internets of Interest:18 Aug 2011

bookmarks — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:24:10 +0000

Collection of useful, relevant or inane places on the the Internets for 18 Aug 2011:

OSX: Resize Multiple Font Sizes at Once

Greg Ferro — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:30:58 +0000

Resizing all selected text with different sizes byt he same amount. A tip for OSX users.

OSX: Shortcuts for Subnet Masks With TextExpander

Greg Ferro — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:46:26 +0000

I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing speed and accuracy. One way is to use specific keyboard shortcuts for tasks that are repetitive and prone to inaccuracy. So, using Cmd-C / Cmd-V for for Copy and Paste makes a whole load of good sense as it's faster & more accurate than using the mouse to click through multiple menus, and put the cursor where it needs to be. However, keyboard shortcuts are kind of limited. A more flexible approach is to use a program that can substitute short sets of text into much longer pieces. To do this, I use a program called TextExpander to keep a library of 'snippets' for expansion into a range of useful actions. For example, I have a text snippet etmd and whenever I type these four letters, it is automatically expanded to EtherealMind. The possibilities are endless, and I'm hoping to share a few different ideas and get feedback from you to help me build my collection of useful shortcuts.

OSX: Three Ways to Kill or Force Quit System Processes and Programs

Greg Ferro — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 11:23:50 +0000

Very occasionally I need to restart a process in OSX. Here some basic suggestions.

Bluetooth Hangs in OSX 10.6.6

Greg Ferro — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:06:48 +0000

Occasionally my Bluetooth gets all wrong. Here is quick and brutal fix for bluetooth hangs on OS X.

How to Disable Caps Lock in OSX

Greg Ferro — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:25:12 +0000

Ever wanted to disable the Caps Lock key in OSX. I do.

A Better Technique for Blogging and Writing – Markdown

Greg Ferro — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:40:15 +0000

This post looks at my favourite method for generating HTML for blogging using a combination of MultiMarkdown and NValt.

Uninstalling Flash on Mac OSX for Security

Greg Ferro — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:49:08 +0000

Adobe Flash has another zero day exploit and then I saw this post about removing Flash completely. Here how to do it and survive without Flash.

OSX: Disable Skype Splash Screen on Mac OSX

Greg Ferro — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:15:07 +0000

How to disable the loathsome splash screen when Skype starts

Mental Case on the iPad : Memorising and Refreshing Information

Greg Ferro — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:22:41 +0000

Mental Case for the iPad was released today, and I am well impressed. Looks great, feels great and improves my revision time.

OSX: Mac OSX Screencasts – Tips and Learning

Greg Ferro — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:15:26 +0000

Short note to share websites which offer very good quality Screencasts on Mac OSX and software. One free, and other for not much money.

OSX: SuperDuper – The Other Backup Software

Greg Ferro — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:50:21 +0000

SuperDuper is the other backup program for OSX. It's has one killer feature that Time Machine lacks.