Chuck Grimmett

Archives

Tag: Mac OS X

  • Cleaning up your Mac with Hazel

    Today I learned how to clean up my Mac with Hazel

    Hazel

    Hazel is a preference pane-based application that helps you automate organization on your Mac.

    Within a few hours of using Hazel, I was able to clean out my 1000+ file Downloads folder, tame my unruly Desktop, get rid of all the trash that accumulated in my home folder, and organize my stashes of client files. I also set up rules for the future that will keep these places neat and orderly.

    The next step is to turn my gaze on my photo library to create one master repository.

    Tools and guides

    The best tools/guides on Hazel right now are:

  • Converting an Aperture Library to Lightroom

    I have multiple old Aperture photo libraries that I can’t really use anymore. Aperture doesn’t run on El Capitan and I don’t have any system that it can run on. I’ve been using Adobe Lightroom for the past four years anyway. So I did some research into options into how I can retrieve my photos.

    Opening the package

    The great thing about Aperture was that it always kept the master images and applied edits on the fly. So I knew that I could get the master images out of Aperture. The way you can get to them is right-clicking on the library file and selecting “Show Package Contents.” Then you can take the masters folder and copy it out of the library.

    Plugin from Adobe

    Adobe also has a plugin to copy over images and metadataArchived Link.

    Preserving your edits?

    Unfortunately I haven’t found a way to also preserve/move/translate edits made in Aperture to Lightroom. If you know a way, let me know!

  • Day 90 – Anti-Productivity Apps

    ,

    Yesterday I wrote about my 6 favorite productivity apps. I thought it only appropriate that today I write about the opposite: anti-productivity apps. These are things that help me waste time (like I need a lot of help doing that…) while I am supposed to be doing work. I am not a huge gamer, but I like to play some small games when I am killing time. Here are the three applications (besides my internet browser) that I most often find lowering my productivity.

    NetNewsWire (freeware)

    NetNewsWire by NetGator

    When I actually need to get work done, the first application I close is my feed reader, NetNewsWire. It is a feed aggregator made by NewsGator. That is just tech jargon for a program that pulls updates from websites you subscribe to and displays them all in one place. You can look at all of your favorite news sites, blogs, webcomics, photo journals, etc. without opening up a formal web browser. I currently subscribe to 59 feeds, but that changes weekly depending on new sites I find and if I get bored with something I am subscribed to.

    By the way, NewsGator makes great free readers for Windows and mobile operating systems, too!

    Solitaire XL (freeware, 10.3 and up)

    Solitaire XL by Lavacat

    Solitaire XL is made by Lavacat Software. For those of you who have switched over to a Mac from Windows, you probably miss playing solitaire to kill time. There are no solitaire applications pre-installed in OS X, so multiple developers wrote freeware solitaire apps to fill this void. I think Lavacat’s UI design is the best of all solitaire apps for OS X I have seen. I don’t play it often, but I put it in this list for those of you who miss playing solitaire and want a version for OS X, but didn’t know it until you read this. (Say’s law!)

    Enigmo 2 ($19.95)

    Enigmo 2 by Pangea

    “Enigmo 2 is a 3D puzzle game where you construct mechanisms to direct lasers, plasma, and water to toggle switches, deactivate force-fields, and eventually get them to their final destination.” It is built by Pangea Software and really appeals to people who like geometry and angles. I enjoy the challenge of constructing ways to direct water, plasma, and lasers through obstacles and to their destinations in a certain amount of time.