I’ve finally moved my main blog from scruf.us to blog.scrufus.com. Previous entries from scrufus.net have also been imported into this one. After a month or two, I’ll probably drop the redirects from scruf.us to blog.scrufus.com so I can start using scruf.us for my little web ideas and experiments.
I’ve also gotten myself a Linode box to play around with since I’ve decided to wean away from using just PHP. Right now, I’ve set up nginx as the main web server since it seems to be the best one to use for my purposes. The setup should let me easily play interchangeably with PHP, Python (Django) and Ruby (Rails).
I’m hoping to document here the things I learn from all the playing around since I intend to have this blog focus more on my thoughts about software, development and technology. Personal and non-techie posts for the most part would go to my tumblog if you’re into that sort of thing. Finally, follow me on Twitter if you like.
Published on
2010-01-17 in
General.
Finally, got to register scrufus.com after waiting year after year (since 2004) for the previous owner not to renew it since it was never really used. However, I’m still undecided on what to do with it. I might move this blog to blog.scrufus.com and just use this domain (scruf.us) for a personal url shortening service or to host other web apps. We’ll see.
After a couple of weeks of using the Magic Mouse, it’s safe to say that I like it a lot. It took some getting used to since the form factor is a lot different from most of the mice I’ve used. But, once I got comfortable with holding it, it became a joy to use. It glides really well and tracking is consistent across different surfaces I use it on. The scrolling experience is the killer feature for me. Momentum scrolling works really well when going through long lines of code or navigating through Photoshop files or the Finder. It even lets you scroll sideways through a very long url if you’re trying to just modify part of it while testing something. Unlike other users, I’m not bothered by the right click probably due to the fact that it seems to be the same action when using an index-finger-controlled trackball. I’m also not missing the middle click since being a keyboard person, my left hand is usually on the keyboard, ready to press a key for opening a new tab or launching Exposé. It’s probably the best mouse I’ve had since the Logitech VX Nano.
(Another plus I think for me is it somehow helps in making me keep a better posture. It is quite difficult to use when in the full-on slouching position.)
After upgrading to Snow Leopard, I’ve decided to look for an alternative for Quicksilver since it really started being flaky and unstable (even with the latest builds). Upon reading articles on The Setup, I’ve found that people either use Quicksilver or LaunchBar as application launchers. And so I decided to try LaunchBar for at least a week to see if it would fit my workflow.
First thing I liked is how responsive LaunchBar is and that it doesn’t consume too much screen real estate. Another plus is the drag and drop functionality which saves me time when I want to open files in a specific application or move them to another folder. It’s also a joy how accessible and discoverable all the other actions are (which were probably present in Quicksilver but I never got to use). Customizing searching and indexing seems to be a bit more straightforward. Also, I’m starting to warm up having access to recent clipboard history which really helps a lot when moving code around. LaunchBar has pretty much been helping me make certain things I do very often a lot faster (like send files to BetterZip for zipping with a password, move files to the Dropbox Public folder, find files in a specific folder). So after about three weeks, I decided to fork the € 24.00 (well € 19.20 since I got a 20% discount code) and I’m really happy about the purchase.
JungleDisk comes out with a new pricing structure and updates their software to 3.0. Everything now looks very Rackspace, which recently became their parent company.
Following are some notable parts of the release:
- JungleDisk drives can now act as a native disk as opposed to WebDAV
- Backup Vaults (stores filesystem metadata, specially beneficial for Mac users)
- Folder sync (this I have to try and see if it works as well as Dropbox)
- A new web interface
I’ve tried it on a Windows machine and it seems to be a lot more fluid compared to before. Haven’t really been using it for backup as I’ve been relying more on Backblaze, Time Machine plus occasional Super Duper cloning.
One thing that hasn’t changed though is it seems they still process payments only via Amazon Payments.
A pre-release version of Flash Player 10.1 is now available. Hopefully it does lower CPU usage on Macs as mentioned. I guess I’ll just install it then see how things go.
(via TUAW)
Right now there are lots of ways to share stuff with people on the computer. There’s IM, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, plus online services like Dropbox, MobileMe, TinyGrab, etc. However, I still think email is the easiest and simplest way to send someone something to be viewed using a computer.
ClickToFlash is a Safari/WebKit plugin that enables you to well Click to enable Flash. Really makes using Safari a more enjoyable experience. It’s a bonus that you can view and download QuickTime format videos from YouTube.
Being a web developer, I work with quite a number of web browsers. It’s been a challenging task trying to load links directly on the browser I want without having to copy a link first somewhere then paste that link on the browser I wanted it to open in.
Choosy does a wonderful job of opening links the way I want them opened. The default behavior is that it lets you choose which browser to open any link your’re trying to launch. But the real beauty is the wide variety of customizations you can do. Behavior can be modified based on several conditions like the following:
- web address (eg. all links that start with http://www.grabup.com opens in WebKit)
- the application where the link is being opened from (eg. all links from Tweetie open in WebKit)
- number of running browsers (eg. if 2 browsers are open then open link in Firefox)
- the modifier key you’re pressing (eg. Command-Shift-Click can automatically open links in Firefox)
Plus, a whole lot of other combinations. Still exploring the other customizations but this will definitely improve my workflow.
