Butler is here to serve you

There aren’t too many people who would consider Butler (free from ManyTricks Software) a casual-users tool. I’ve known power users who’ve backed away from it dazed and confused. Yes, Butler can be confusing if you want it to do all that it’s capable of doing, but if you just want to add a few menu bar items it’s pretty straight forward. Once you understand the concept, it’s simply a matter of dragging and dropping.

So here’s what this little tutorial will do…show you how to add customizable menu bar items to your Mac so you can have instant access to any of your applications, files, folders, contacts, or songs. It will also give you one click access to quick web searches, iTunes controls, and multiple clipboards. And, of course, it’s free. If it sounds interesting give it a try.

OK, let’s get started.

1.Download the application here, open the Disk Image and Drag Butler to your applications folder. Close the disk image.

2. Open your applications folder and then open Butler (The “About Butler” box opens and asks what you would like to do)

3. Click “Customize My Configuration” (The Configuration screen opens)

4. In the very bottom left of the screen there’s a box with a plus sign next to a triangle – click it and choose “smart item” (a sub menu appears) > choose “Pasteboard” (another sub menu appears) > choose “Recent Pasteboards: Menu” (the folder “recent pasteboards” shows up on the configuration screen under the top grey bar that is titled “Hidden”).

5. Close the “recent pasteboards” triangle, then drag it down into the section with the grey bar titled “Menu Bar (Natural)”. Place it as the bottom item in this section below the “This Mac”, “Bookmarks” and “Web Search” items that are already there.

Now let’s add a menu bar item with your address book.

6. Just repeat steps 4 and 5, but choose “Address Book” as the smart item instead of “Pasteboard”. Make sure when you drag the item from the “Hidden Section” to the “Menu Bar” section that it’s in the top level and not into one of the folders that’s already there. Try dropping it just below the “Web Search” item (which isn’t a folder) if you’re having trouble.

That’s really all there is to adding menu bar items. Now it’s just a matter of customizing the menus exactly how you want them.

these “containers”…

…correspond to these new menu bar items

At this point close Butler’s screen and take a look at your new menus. There should be 5 new icons on your menu bar. 1)The computer icon gives you access to everything on your Mac using sub menus. 2) The blue globe icon gives you access to all your bookmarks from all your browsers. 3) The search box lets you type in text and the results open in your browser. 4) The address book gives you instant access to all the entries already in your address book. And 5) The Clipboard icon gives you access to ALL the recent items you’ve copied via ⌘-C. In other words, your Mac just got unlimited, multiple clipboards which you can view and paste from this drop down menu.

Now lets start to customize these menus so they only show the items you’ll actually use.

Reopen Butler by clicking on the Mac icon in the menu bar and choosing “Butler > Customize”

First close the “Hidden” section so that all we’re looking at is the “Menu Bar (Natural)” section. There are 4 “containers” and 1 “smart item” by itself (the “web Search: Google” item). All you’ve really got to understand is that each top level item in this section is what shows up on the menu bar and the items you put into each “container” are what show up in the corresponding menu bar items.

See how these items in the “This Mac” container…

…show up here in the actual This Mac menu bar item. Simple, right?

[Note: the following steps are for demonstration purposes - if you don't want to move or delete the items I'm referring to, don't...just follow along]

For example, if you’re never going to use the web search menu bar item, just select it in the configuration screen, delete it, and it’s instantly gone from the menu bar. What if you really love all the controls and easy access to your songs that the “Music” container offers (it’s currently one of the items in “This Mac”) and you want to make it it’s own menu bar item…just drag it out of the “This Mac” container and place it right above “This Mac” so it’s now on the main level and it instantly becomes a separate menu bar item.

What about adding items from your computer? Easy, just remember that folders and applications on your computer are referred to as “files” when you’re adding them to the menus. So if you wanted to add your documents folder to one of the menus (or as it’s own menu), you’d just click the plus button on the bottom left, choose “file”, navigate to your documents folder, and then drag it to where ever you want within the configuration screen.

Obviously there’s a lot more you can do in the configuration screen. Whenever you select an item from the left, you can edit some properties of that item on the right. For example, if you select the address book smart item (not the container) we added earlier you’ll see get a mode menu where you can decide if you want all your contacts displayed, or just certain groups. You can also change the icons and assign abbreviations to items…but you might want to hold off on the abbreviations part – that’s where Butler starts to get confusing.

At this point just think about what you want your menus to contain and start experimenting. I use the This Mac menu to list my favorite applications (separated into categories with divider lines), a copy of my documents folder, and quick access to system preferences and the Butler preferences. I’ve deleted everything else that was intitially in this container to make it friendly and uncluttered…it just contains the stuff I use most. I also deleted the Bookmarks and Web Search menus, although the idea of a menu with my 25 favorite bookmarks sounds pretty good, so I think I’ll customize and add that soon. As far as the Address Book and Clipboards menu, I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM. I’m telling you, if you give Butler half a chance, you’ll be a pro in no time and you’ll actually have fun thinking up and configuring new menus. Enjoy!

Choosing iPod Speakers

Well, I’ve almost completed my transition to a completely digital music existence. I’ve got about 80% of my CD’s imported into iTunes and stored on my Western Digital 500GB External Hard Drive. I chose to import them at 320 kbps AAC to keep the sound quality at an acceptable level, while still compressing them enough to fit all 1200 CDs on the drive with plenty of room left over for future additions. And my 30GB 5th Gen iPod is fine for another year or so. With the music and hardware in place and the CDs stored away in a closet, all I need now is the perfect speaker system. Should be simple, right…there are only about a thousand models to choose from.

There are 2 problems with buying a great sounding iPod speaker system. The first is that they fall under the law of diminishing returns. For $200 to $300 you can get a system that sounds pretty good, while double that price range gets you get something that will probably sound better…but not necessarily a lot better. Finding the right combination of price and performance can be tough. The second problem is where do you go to test them? Everybody sells the Bose SoundDock, and the iPod Hi-Hi can be heard at any Apple Store, but the other quality choices are pretty much a hit or miss mail order proposition. Sure, they’re all returnable, but you’ve got to send them back on your dime and hope your return gets credited sooner than later. I guess you just have to do some research, buy from a reputable dealer, and hope for the best.

So I’m done researching and ready to take the plunge in the next week or two. I’m looking for something that sounds good, with enough power to fill a room (but it doesn’t have to shake the walls), and looks good (no boom boxes). Below are the 7 models I’ve narrowed it down to, published in the hope that someone out there will voice an opinion or offer up their experience with any of these. I’m also listing them because a few of them rarely get mentioned, and I think they all deserve consideration if iPod speakers are on your holiday shopping list. The design and features on these vary drastically, and all are extremely well reviewed.

AudioEngine 5’s ($349) Just a pair of powered speakers, but they’re supposed to sound amazing
Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 735i ($299 – but often goes on sale for as low as $169 on the Cambridge website)
Chestnut Hill Sounds George ($499) I don’t think I can justify the price over the similar Cambridge, but that remote is SO COOL.
GenevaLabs Model M ($499) – I really want the Model L with the stand, but at $800 it’s not gonna happen
Tivoli’s RadioCombo ($399 plus $79 for optional subwoofer) I like the look, and I know Tivoli make a nice product, but I’m worried there will be too many damn wires to hide
ZVOX 325 – ($349) Doubles as a surround sound system for a DVD player…might be worth a try
Griffin’s Amplifi 2.1 ($149) – I don’t think this will end up being the winner, but it’s received so many good reviews and you can get one for around $110 at Circuit City

Changing default applications

If you’ve ever double clicked a file and it opened up in a different application than you were expecting, the fix is really simple. Just right click on the file and choose “Get Info” from the menu (or select the file and type ⌘- I). In the info box that opens up, go down to “Open With:” and choose the program you want the file to open in from now on. Done. You can also click the “Change All” button to make every file with that extension open in the new program, if you like.

I know this isn’t really a tip, as it’s info that’s easily found in the Mac Help finder menu, but it’s still a question I get asked a lot by new users so I thought I’d mention it here.

Keyboard or Mouse?

I think Mac users fall into one of two categories…keyboarders or mousers. Keyboarders strive for a higher level of interaction with their Mac. They have reached or are reaching for power-user status. They take pride in knowing that ⌘-SHIFT-I will bring up Mail and email the current webpage link in Safari, while ⌘-SHIFT-L does the same thing in Camino. Mousers, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about obscure keyboard shortcuts. They just want to get the job done without thinking about it. Sure, they think their Mac is cool, but they have no desire to be an expert.

Keyboarders already know all the tools like Quicksilver and KeyCue that will bring them one step closer to disconnecting their mouse for good. Mousers, however, may be interested in a few shareware gems that could make their Mac life even more keyboard free…

QuickAccess CM (free) – The CM stands for Contextual Menu…that menu you get when you right click or Control-Click on something. Like when you Control-Click on the finder and you get the option of creating a new folder or changing your desktop background. With QuickAccess CM, you can add stuff to that menu. Folders or Applications that you want instant access to, for example. You can also set it up to move an item, or an alias of that item, to another location.

Sapiens ($19.95) – This is a new program that brings mouse interaction to another level. When you move your mouse in a circular motion it brings up a graphical representation of applications you might be looking to launch, with the most likely choice right in the center. Click on the one you want and Sapiens fades away and the application starts up. It learns as you go, so it’s guesses of what you’re looking to launch will become more accurate over time. I don’t think I’d ever use it, but it gets 4 stars for being an innovative and graphically interesting new approach to the launcher.

Smart Scroll X ($19) – You know how fast and smooth web pages scroll on the Iphone commercials with just a flick of a finger. Smart Scroll X gives you that effect on your Mac. Grab a page and scroll slowly, or flick the mouse quickly and the page zips all the way to the bottom. It’s very customizable, and works in Web Browsers and most applications.

Butler (free) – Here’s a utility that’s mainly known as a complicated power users tool. It is. BUT, it can also be used to easily add drop down menus of pretty much anything on your Mac to your menubar. Applications, folders, iTunes playlists, contacts, you name it. It also adds multiple clipboards (which can also be accessed from the menubar, as well). It’s really simple to create these menus, but if you’re intimidated by the overall complexity of Butler I’m going to post a step-by-step tutorial later this week on exactly how to set it up. Once you’ve got it up and running, EVERYTHING on your Mac will be just a mouse click away.

25 Freebies

I just put up a list of the 25 freeware programs I find most useful. It’s here…on the newly added “Free Stuff” page of this blog. I’ll be adding to this page over time, as well as adding additional pages with links to stuff like Mac tutorials, Podcasts, and Screencasts. The plan is to have hundreds of properly sorted, easy to find, useful links posted over the coming months. These 25 are the first step…hope you find one or two of the programs helpful.

Organize your music, movies and books

If you’ve got a large collection of books, DVD’s, CD’s or games, you may be in the market for a program to keep track of everything. Delicious Library seems to be the most popular choice, but really it’s just eye candy…painfully slow and inflexible eye candy that simply doesn’t have the features a serious collector needs. Also, it’s been around since 2004 and is still on version 1.X…the company’s blog hasn’t even had a post in over 10 months! Another choice is the Collectorz series of programs which are nice but expensive (plus Mac versions lag way behind the PC versions).

In my opinion the best way to track and organize your collections is Bruji’s Pedia series of applications…CDpedia, DVDpedia, Bookpedia and Gamepedia. I have been using CDPedia for over 2 years and I’m here to tell you it’s fast, full featured and very flexible. In addition, the developers are the most accessible and customer friendly folks I’ve ever dealt with in my 10 years as a Mac owner.

I’ve read complaints that the pedias, because they are priced at $18 each, are more expensive than Delicious Library which is a single program for $40. First of all, do you really need a database for books, movies, CD’s AND games? Personally, I don’t own a single game and don’t have enough books or DVD’s to warrant keeping track of them on my computer, so I’m glad Bruji allows me to just get the program I need for only $18. If you do need the additional programs, they are available at substantial discounts when you buy more than one – $29 for 2, $39 for 3, or $49 for all 4. That’s $49 for all 4 Pedia’s versus $40 for the far inferior Delicious Library or $120 for 3 of the Collectorz programs. There’s no comparison…The Pedia’s are BY FAR the best value.

So why are the Pedias so great? Because they feel like they were designed BY a collector FOR a collector. Take sorting as one small example. Any program lets you click on a column header and sort by artist, but if you want to sort by release date, the artists are then out of order – not with CDPedia, which allows me a secondary sort so my 47 Dylan albums can now be viewed together under Dylan AND alphabetically by title or by release date. It’s a hundred little touches like that which make the pedia’s a joy to use.

Every collection within CDPedia has it’s own custom view, so my collection of live concerts shows completely different info (like venue and recording quality) than my CD collection does. I can bring up the artists websites within CDpedia’s built-in browser. I can include reviews I cut and paste from AMG and Rolling Stone. I can print out a report of my collection which includes only the info I specify…nothing more, nothing less. There are plenty of customizable fields, a variety of viewing templates, and you can use your Apple remote to move through a Cover Flow-like screen of your collection (in case you think you’ll miss the Delicious Library “coolness” factor). There are smart collections, it’s wicked fast no matter how many entries you throw at it, you can export your collection to your iPod or .mac or an excel spreadsheet…and on and on and on. Have a realistic feature request? Submit it and there’s a great chance it will be implemented in a future update…these programs are constantly being developed and improved. Bruji really listens and responds to their customers. In short, the program does everything I want it to – and even though your needs will be very different than mine, it will do everything you want it to.

In over 2 years, CDpedia has never crashed, and it’s feature set has never disappointed me…I can’t recommend it highly enough. I only have experience with CDpedia, but I’ve read lots of similar praise for the other pedias (particularly DVDpedia and Bookpedia). At $18 they’re a steal.

Memory prices dropping

A Macworld post yesterday announced that the price of DRAM memory chips has fallen 25% over the last couple weeks. What this means for the retail end buyer is that a 1GB DDR2 5300 Chip is now selling for $39 or less. That’s the chip used in Intel iMacs, so for $78 you can bump your computer up to 2GB of RAM. Chances are that prices will continue to drop before they go up again, but they’re so low now why not take the plunge and max out your memory. You’ll be able to open more apps at the same time, programs will launch quicker, in fact everything will just be a little zippier. It’s not quite as good as getting a new computer, but there should be a noticeable speed bump and a lot less spinning beach balls.

With Leopard coming out in a few weeks, now’s the perfect time to consider an upgrade. Just go to a memory merchant like Ramjet and choose your Mac from the drop-down menu to see how much it will cost you to take your system to the next level. If you want to shop for price, try Ramseeker.com for a comparison of featured vendors.

Magic, Smagic…Give me Live at the Berkeley Community Theatre, 1973

If you’re a music fan like me, you’ve got to check out Wolfgang’s Vault. It’s an archive of about 700 live shows, heavy on 70’s and 80’s artists, all available to stream in their entirety. There are plenty of classic acts to keep everyone happy like The Allman Brothers, Bowie, Springsteen, CSNY, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones. There’s also a heavy dose of 70’s & 80’s punk/new wave with some early Elvis Costello, Clash, Iggy Pop, The Pretenders, Bondie, Patti Smith and Lou Reed. Plus vintage performances by legends like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. And on and on and on. Some of the shows are available to purchase and download, but most are just there to listen to and enjoy.

I know this isn’t really Mac related, but I can’t image that this site will be up for too much longer with the current paranoid state of the music industry. So go enjoy it while you can…there are some real treasures in this vault.

Quick dictionary and thesaurus access

Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com are really useful sites and the easiest way to access them from your browser is with these free bookmarklets. Just drag the bookmarklet to your browser toolbar and you’ve got instant access to some great reference tools. I have a “reference” folder in my toolbar and placed all three there. When I want to look something up I just click the bookmarklet, a box pops up where I enter the word or subject I’m looking for, and the appropriate page immediately opens. There are specific bookmarklets for Safari, Firefox and Opera, otherwise use the “all browsers” set.

I find this method a lot easier and faster than using widgets or regular bookmarks. Give it a try!

iGTD

There isn’t much I can write about iGTD that hasn’t already been said. It’s a free “Getting Things Done“ To-Do List manager that’s so well designed and feature-packed that it actually helps you get things done.

You can enter new ideas or to-do’s into it with a single keystroke…directly from any application. You can easily link web pages, documents, contacts or emails to any of your tasks. You can add notes, tag items with keywords, assign priorities and due dates, and even sync it with your iPod.

Say you’re browsing the web and suddenly remember you need to mail the electric bill tomorrow. Hit the F7 key, type ”mail electric bill“, hit enter, and immediately go back to what you were reading on the web. Or maybe you received an email saying Bruce Springsteen tickets go on sale on Saturday…just hit the F6 key and type ”buy Bruce tix“…a new task is created with the contents of the email and a link back to it. This is all done without iGTD actually coming to the front and interrupting whatever you were doing – you can trust it’s all being entered into the program for later review.

iGTD can be powerful and complex with contexts and projects and sub-projects, or you can just drop everything into the ”in-box“ to keep a single list of tasks. In other words it can be a really simple but powerful to do list manager, or it can be a full featured and intricate organizational tool…your choice. Download it, spend a little time getting to know the concepts behind it, and start getting more organized today.