Category Archives: Macintosh

File “Created Date” Under OS X — Harder Than You Think

A client had an OS X server with tens of thousands of files in a directory tree, and wanted to move some of them based on their creation date. I put together a Python script that worked perfectly on my test system, but failed in production. (I put in a “–dryrun” option, so no harm [...]

Correction to Ubuntu Geek’s “How To Check Your External IP Address From The Command Line”

I follow the Ubuntu Geek blog, and have found some very useful tips there. However, there’s a problem with their latest tip, “Howto Check you (sic) external IP Address from the command line.”
Some background: There’s a very useful website located at whatismyip.com, which reports the IP you used to connect to the site. If you’re [...]

Essential OS X Applications

I’ll now be working from home two days a week, and took a work iMac home with me. (Doing coding on my 12″ iBook would be too painful to contemplate.)
So last night, and this morning, I did a complete, from-scratch build out on this iMac. I’ve been building up a list of the software I [...]

Dive Into Idiocy

Mark Pilgrim nails the whole iPhone unlocking/bricking brouhaha:
I don’t understand this continuing obsession with buying things that you need to break before they do what you want. It’s not just the iPhone; people did the exact same thing with the AppleTV too… I thought the big draw for Apple hardware was that “It Just [...]

My Workflow: TextMate, Subversion, and Python

I’m focusing in on some very important parts of my workflow. Version control is Subversion. I’m most of the way through the book on it.
Text editing is TextMate. I was trying to use vim, because it’s one editor I can use both on my OS X desktop and SSH’d across the network to linux boxes. [...]

How To Install Subversion in OS X

The folks behind Subversion don’t produce an OS X binary, so they link to a third party who produced one. Unfortunately, the current regular version is 1.4.3, and the latest OS X binary is 1.3.
I found a different binary at Martin Ott’s site. I have no idea why his site isn’t linked from Subversion’s, but [...]

Becoming A Code Ninja

It’s time to become a code ninja.
I’ve been looking at the long list of technologies I need to master for work. (And quickly!) I’ve also been looking at the even longer list of technologies I’m interested in and would like to study in depth.
Clearly, I can’t do it all. Not immediately, at least. (And certainly [...]

How To Handle E-Mail And Voicemail Properly

From 1999, but still very good advice. Via 43Folders, with a summary.

I’ve Been Putting Off Reading Procrastination.doc…

I downloaded a file called procrastination.doc from 43folders or Lifehacker or one of the other personal productivity sites I follow. It’s been sitting on my desktop since the beginning of April, and I’ve been meaning to read it.
Somehow I found that funny. I just printed it out. We’ll see.
(Turns out it WAS from Lifehacker.)

BrowseBack Impresses

So I’ve been playing with BrowseBack lately, and I’m pretty impressed. It’s a Macintosh product that keeps a running watch on what web pages you visit (you can exclude pages like webmail, your online banking sites, etc.) in a permanent archive on your computer. (You can set it to take up as much or little [...]