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Archive for April, 2010

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A Browser Bag of Tricks

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Image by Daniel Pouliot via Flickr

While sharing my browser during a DEN webinar last night, I was surprised to see the hot topic of conversation wasn’t the public beta of the new DEN website that I was sharing…. rather it was the various bookmarklets and links that I have saved in my Bookmarks toolbar.

I guess I don’t really think about it much, but that really is a bag of tricks that I depend on daily, and there’s some fantastic tools there that I’ve gathered together over the years. SO, I thought that I’d share a brief glimpse into my ‘dashboard’, the view that surrounds my view, all the toys gadgets and gizmos that customize my browsing experience.

First of all, my browser of choice is still Firefox. I’m on the verge of switching to Chrome, as I think it’s faster and more stable, but for now I like the suite of plugins and utilities that I have set up in Firefox better. Since I often have more than 25 tabs open at a time, real estate is always at a premium. That’s why I go with the Classic Compact Firefox theme. It’s about as small as you can get while still having actual icons for the primary buttons. Clean and minimal, that’s how I like my browser themes. The only plugin I have that adds actual buttons to the browser is Delicious. And to be honest, that can probably go as I don’t use any more functionality than I would out of a bookmarklet. However… My space for bookmarklets is pretty limited as you’ll see shortly.

In the status bar (that bar along the bottom that displays what URL you’re about to click on when you hover over a link), I have five tools. The first is the MeasureIt plugin, which resides in the lower left. This is a simple tool, but I use it almost daily. Click on it and your screen goes grayish. Then, you can draw a box anywhere on your screen and it will tell you how many pixels each side is. Incredibly handy for measuring web elements, pictures, embedded objects and so on. Honestly, it’s pretty darn close to indispensable. On the right hand side I have the Delicious notifiers, and a Google Wave notifier, but to be honest I rarely look at those. They could go away and I wouldn’t notice. I also have an indicator letting me know that Greasemonkey is running, another that I don’t really even ‘see’ anymore. But then we come to the far lower right, which is reserved for something I check nearly every day: Woot Watcher. It displays what the deal of the day is for Woot, and during a Woot Off it displays roughly how many of an item is left before it switches. I’m a big fan of Woot, and yes, I do glance down at that daily.

This brings us to the heart and soul of my web based toolbox: the bookmarklets. For those that don’t know, a bookmarklet is basically a bookmark, but instead of taking you to a favorite web page, it performs a function. I actually wrote a post on bookmarklets a few years ago, but the info looks to still be valid. I have quite a few of them in my browser bar and use most of them pretty regularly. In that they appear in my browser bar, here’s my current list:

  • TinyURL - The mac daddy of URL shorteners. While there’s many that work well, this is my go-to standard. In particular, it’s reliable, simple, and I love that you can customize the shortened URL that you create.
  • URL.ie - Sometimes size matters. In particular for Twitter, you want URL’s as small as possible. They don’t come much smaller than URL.ie. So when even TinyURL is too large, I switch to this one.
  • EDIT any page - This one is interesting and to be honest, really deserves a blog post to itself. Basically it’s a Bookmarklet that makes any page…. editable. Yes, you can just double click on any text and change it to your liking. No, it doesn’t actually change the page, just your view of it. However, it’s incredible for grabbing screenshots for presentations. You can even remove images from the screen if you want! Try it, it’s fun. *disclaimer* I’m not responsible for evil or chaos that you cause with this.
  • X-Ray – This bookmarklet is invaluable for web developers. Click on it, and then click on any element on the page. It will show you detailed information about the element itself, as well as any thematic settings that may be affecting it. Very quick and incredibly powerful.
    Flickr2Facebook - Just a simple exporter that will help you move photos from Flickr to Facebook. Go to a Flickr page, click the bookmarklet, and choose what Facebook album you want it to go into. Easy!
  • Printliminator - This one helps to print nice clean versions of web pages, without the annoying adds and sidebars and such. Just click on the bookmarklet and you can then select any elements you want to remove. Poof, they’re gone. Then just send it to the printer!
  • TBuzz - This serves two purposes. 1) It allows me to tweet about something I’m looking at without leaving the page itself (it even adds in a shortened URL for you) and 2) It shows me any recent tweets that contain links to the same page. That way you can just choose to retweet someone else’s message instead of typing your own if you so choose.
  • KeepVid - This one is my YouTube downloader of choice right now. Go to a YouTube video, click on the bookmarklet, and you’ll have the option to download it. What I like tho is that it provides you the option of saving it in a variety of formats, and often in a variety of sizes. Saves a step or two.
  • Quietube - Ever need to share a YouTube video, but were nervous about what links and related videos might pop up? The Quietube bookmarklet takes that video and displays it on a plain white background. Very neat and clean. Perfect for presentations and staff meetings.

    • Since you can store folders on a Browser bar, I do actually have a couple of those as well. In side I have a slew of websites that I want easy access to. You can even put folders inside folders, to create a nice hierarchy of sites that you want to be able to access quickly. Nothing fancy, but it does work pretty well.

    So that’s my browser bag of tricks. Got any that I’m missing? Or something you think people ought to know about?

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    4/12/2010 26 Comments
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    3 Days with the iPad part deux

    Image representing iPad as depicted in CrunchBase
    Image via CrunchBase

    Well, got a lengthy comment from Russ Goerend regarding my initial thoughts about the iPad. I started replying as a comment… but the comment kept getting longer and longer. SO! A new post it has become.

    Here’s the original comment from Russ:

    Thanks for what feels like a realistic review. Overall, I agree. There seems to be potential for it to be an expensive, big iPod Touch. It is what it is. I’d love to watch a Twins game on it, of course that’s what the big TV is for. Or my laptop.

    (I thought your choice of “boot” when talking about your laptop was interesting, though. Do you really shut down your laptop at home? And why would she have to leave the kitchen to look at your laptop? I have to guess we’re talking about single-digit seconds difference between me opening my Macbook and finding a recipe vs. unlocking the iPad and finding one. Not to mention, what if she wanted to use the recipe? Lay the iPad flat on the counter? I have my MacBook in the kitchen while we make dinner almost every night.)

    I’m sure if I had one around the house it would get used. As someone who doesn’t have $500 of “fun money” to spend, I don’t see myself saving up for it, though. Besides, the only model that interest me is the 3G model (grandparents are each 2+ hours away) so now we’re talking $630 with data on top.

    For me what it lacks — a has been beaten to death — is what really stands out. I have a two-month-old son. When we were visiting my parents this weekend, they asked my opinion on if they should look into an iPad. I asked what they wanted to do with it. First thing out of their mouth was “Skype!”

    Typing on it for a few minutes at the Apple Store, I was instantly shocked that Apple still hasn’t implemented haptic feedback on the keyboard. Maybe it’s coming with OS 4.0, but wow.

    Here’s my real problem: the iPad represents everything that’s gone wrong with Apple. It is the ultimate closed device. It’s “computer sized” (compared to the iPhone) and yet it is both literally and figuratively closed. There is no sense of ownership. I get to use what Apple permits on the only hardware Apple permits. It reminds me of how schools have gotten into the mess we’re currently in: close the classroom door, now open your brains, kids, while I fill you up with what I deem relevant.

    I went into the Apple Store with my wife and son tonight and caught myself about 10 seconds after picking up an iPad with my mouth agape. Then I tried moving around the icons. The Apple Store had locked that down. I tried typing. Without feedback it wasn’t enjoyable. It’s not that it wasn’t doable, it wasn’t magical or astonishing or whatever Steve wanted it to be. It was frustrating. I opened up Pages so I could type and couldn’t figure out how to do anything to the document besides look at it. Turns out, I was in landscape and you can only edit in portrait. First time I’ve had to ask for help with an Apple product in my life — and I’ve been a geek since I was running Number Munchers on our IIgs when I was 6.

    I’m sad. As someone who is still running a 1,1 MacBook and sold the Wii I stayed overnight in an Iowa December to get to buy a first generation iPhone for $400, I’m sad. The iPad is really disappointing to me. It’s a tiny evolution, but the culture around Jobs has allowed it to be the front runner in conversations it should not be in. The iPad in education? It’s a textbook! The iPad to replace my laptop? Give me a break!

    And here goes my response:

    1) Thanks for taking the time to chime in. There’s nothing cut and dry about this, and these discussions help refine my own thoughts on the topic.

    2) re: Booting and the kitchen: We have our laptops in the living room. If I wanted to show her something, I’d call her over because I hate walking around with an open laptop. I wasn’t sharing that as an example of why one might NEED an iPad, rather a way that it’s already changing the way I use a computer and interact with it. This IS something that is truly portable, and usable while standing. Significant? Maybe not. But I thought it was worth mentioning.

    3) Haptic response: I go back and forth on this. I tried it for the iPhone and didn’t like it. Wound up turning it off. While typing felt unnatural at first, as I got towards the end of the blog post I was feeling pretty good. We talk a lot about learning and unlearning, maybe it’s just a matter of getting used to a new format. I would say it’s impossible to tell based just on 5-10 minutes of testing, and difficult to determine even after 30 minutes. Will let you know after a few weeks.

    4) Re: Cost. Personally, I’m giving it a test drive. I figure I can buy one, try it out, and if it’s a keeper great. If it isn’t, Apple devices retain their value incredibly well. I can likely re-sell it on eBay for just a small loss. But consider this: you’re looking at it as a 500 dollar toy, not a computing device. This is a new niche. I’m just about of the opinion that this will be my home computer. I’ll have a cheap media server somewhere in the house (mine cost $300) and then use this as my daily device away from work. Is it as powerful as a computer? No. But it also does some things better. This isn’t a decision to be made solely on cost. Heck, what is? It’s about what it does.

    5) And speaking of… You’re lamenting the closed community. Yes it is… sort of. There are over 3,000 apps for the iPad already, and that number will top 10,000 within a month (more likely a week). That’s an awfully big closed community. And yes, there are some things that it won’t do, but there are also a LOT of things that it will. To call it a textbook is the only thing you said that I think is absolutely ridiculous. It allows you to interact with content in a more direct way than any computing device prior. And in part, that’s due to it being closed down. Believe me, I prefer open communities. My iPhone is jailbroken and I’ll likely jailbreak the iPad too. But when I compare the iPhone experience to the Android experience, there’s no question. The iPhone is cleaner, simpler, more elegant and accessible to the average user. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s something Apple figured out a long time ago. Sometimes it’s worth it to give up a few features to make it a better overall experience.

    To close this response-turned-blog-post, the key to the iPad is the same as the iPhone: the Apps. In the end, the real innovation behind the iPhone was giving a simple seamless way for people to access, browse and install applications. And despite the restrictions, the things people have come up with are nothing short of amazing. The same thing will happen with the iPad. Until Saturday, developers couldn’t hold it in their hand. They couldn’t see/feel what the experience was with it. Now they can and the developers will be going crazy turning ideas into reality. And in the end, that’s what is going to turn the iPad into a success. And that success will lead more people to develop innovative programs for the iPad.

    Believe me, I can critique it just as much as anyone. The fact that I can’t use Prezi on it, or Polleverywhere, or Glogster with it drives me crazy. But when weighed on the scale against all the things it CAN do and will be able to do in the near future… well, it’s not even a fair fight. Yes, it’s Apple bullying people around. But people will comply. It’s just too big a market for them not to. it’s unfortunate for those developers that have committed to technologies like Flash, but if they want to be in the game they’ll have to play ball. And from the consumer perspective, the net result is a clean, positive experience.

    So forgive the rant here. And if any of you disagree, please feel free to chime in. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. But as skeptical as I was (and still am in some ways), I think the iPad is here for the long haul.

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    4/6/2010 5 Comments
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    3 days with the iPad

    Well, it has now been two full days with the iPad and I figured I ought summarize some of my thoughts about it so far. I ought to preface his by saying that I had/have a healthy degree of skepticism regarding the device. I’m no Fanboy when it comes to Apple. I have a great appreciation for what they’ve accomplished, but I held off for years before switching to the iPhone. While I do have a MacBook, i still work primarily on a PC. And I have to admit, the list of things the iPad doesn’t do had me grinding my teeth.

    And yet, I still wound up outside an Apple store at 6 am saturday morning with four other die hard Apple fans, watching dozens of Apple store employees prepare for heat seemed to be he event of the century. This was my first time coming out for an apple launch, and it was quite a spectacle. Screaming,cheering, high fives galore… And that was all from store employees! Starbucks came out and made up free coffee and passed out snacks. All in all, it really was quite a good time, if a bit overdone.

    And after hours of waiting, I finally got the box in my hands, drove it home and ripped it open. A mixed blessing, it came with a full charge, but had to be connected to iTunes before it would work. So…….. if someone wanted this to be their one and only device, they need a friend with iTunes to activate it for them. Strange. It also started loading up all my iPhone apps, and I have quite a few. So despite the full charge, it was still about half an hour before I could play with it (which is freaking forever in ‘geek with a new toy’ time).

    When I first got it fired up and running…. I have to admit i was a .title disappointed. ‘big iTouch’ kept going through my head. And while it’s nice to be able to runthe iodine apps, that double size thing is mostly annoying. However, I did discover something interesting pretty quick. The keyboard on the double size iPhone apps is easier to use than either of the iPad keyboards. Why? Because it sits closer to the ,idle of the screen. The iPad keyboards sit so low that it’s uncomfortable to hold it up and thumb type. Much more comfortable with the keyboard closer to the ,idle. That being said, I still deleted most of my native iPhone apps. It’s such a beautiful device, it seemed a shame to use those blocky, pixelly apps.

    Anyway, as I was saying, I was disappointed at first. But an hour or so later, I needed to show my wife a recipe. So I grabbed the ipad and had it up in a second and was showing it to her in the kitchen. That was kind of nice. Much more convenient than booting up the laptop and calling her over. Not much, but that was the first lightbulb going on.

    Later I gave it to Aiden to see what he would think of it. I was expecting some kind of wow moment, and I really didn’t get it. He just grabbed hold of it and knew exactly what to do. He flipped through the pages of apps and loaded up a game. When he got bored, he exited out and fired up the Toy Story interactive book and proceeded to watch the entire thing. The ,sot fascinating thing about it was just how intuitive it was for him. No instruction necessary, he knew just what to do. In some sense, that actually was kind of magical. It’s a new niche built on a familiar platform. He was careful, respectful and left much smaller fingerprints than mine.

    I really started to see the potential when I brought it over to a friend’s house to watch the final four. I put it in the ,idle of the coffee table and just left it there to see how it would get used. And it got used constantly. People used it to look up sports facts, the Hawkeye football schedule, camp sites for a summer trip, the calendar to plan the same trip, the Lollapalooza lineup, to watch letterman use the iPad on YouTube, to check out a recipe, look up photos and who know what else. All I know is that it was used constantly. Yes, at first because it was a new gadget, but then because it was… Simple. Easy. Convenient. Intuitive. Accessible. And that’s when I started to really see where this thing is going. It’s a social machine because it CAN be. Try huddling sound an iPhone and having three people watch a video. Or passing an open laptop around a sofa. Can it be done? Sure! But this just does it… better.

    Since then, I’ve used it for two more days and a good part has bee setting it up. Syncing calendars, getting email accounts up, installing apps, loading music and movies and so on. But I’ve also read stories to Aiden on it and started reading my own book as well. I’ve done more Thant my fair share of web surfing on it, which is quite simply a pleasure. I’ve read and sent emails, as well as done some actual work on it. And right now, I’m typing this post on it. It’s lying din in the sofa and I’m doing the fastest two finger typing i’ve ever done. I could do it faster with a real keyboard, but I wanted to try this out. And it ain’t too bad,

    So what’s the verdict? I dunno. I can’t recommend someone buy it especially in place of a different device. But k can tell you I don’t regret the decision so far. And i can also say that while the apps are good so far, most were designed off a simulator. I’m confident they’ll get a lot better now that people can develop with production models. And as we saw witness the iPhone, the hardware was a good start, but it was the apps that really made the device. And this will be a dream of a platform to develop for.

    So as of now, I’m satisfied with the experience as it is, and I see big potential for it. A s for it’s implications for education, I think the verdict is distill out. It really ain’t a cheap device, and the question is whether the benefits will justify the cost. Believe me, I’ll be coming back to that.

    All things in time. As of the first three days, it may not be as magical as Jobs claimed… but i don’t think that’s a bad thing. Some times the best magic is the kind that’s simply invisible.

    4/5/2010 9 Comments