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I struggle keeping tiny pieces of information together on my Mac. Stuff that I want to keep, but not stuff that is useful in my everyday workflow. I’ve been using Evernote since it was first introduced. In my opinion this is the coolest Web 2.0 software ever. It works on the Mac and iPhone (also Windows and Windows Mobile—if you are into that kinda thing). Evernote is a super-advanced notebook. You can use it to keep track of your notes and web clippings just like other notebook software. The coolness enters when you upload a photo with text. It can be text in a nice font, handwriting or scribbles on a paper. Evernote scrubs your uploaded text and makes it completely searchable! You can access your notes through the client software or through your webbrowser. Evernote has become my collection box for all things! Try out their generous free account and save your notes forever!

I found a great idea at Productivity 501. Anytime I can streamline my life I go for it. The idea is to create a template folder for clients. Since I do graphic design and photography this is a perfect fit for me. I did not want a folder called “z_template” sitting around my computer so I brought in Automator to help.

1. Read the post on folder templates at Productivity 501 to give you some background. Download the example Automator workflow.

2. New Folder. Customize your subfolders in each New Folder section. I chose to use “_Billing”, “_Contracts”, _Notes, “_Material”, and “_Wrap Up”. Subfolders will initially be created on your Desktop.

3. Get Specified Finder Items. Choose paths to each of your subfolders.

4. New Dated Folder. In this section create a destination for your new client folders. The workflow’s default is the Desktop. On my computer I have it set to my Projects folder.

5. Go to the File menu and save your workflow as a Plug-in or an Application.

When you run the workflow it will create a folder in your specified destination (point #4) with all your specified subfolders (point#2). The template folder will be made with the current date and titled “ProjectName” but you will have the option to change “ProjectName” when you run the workflow. Get the workflow download from Dropio. Hope this helps. Please leave a comment if you have suggestions to make this better or you encounter any problems. Peace.

The good folks at MacApper gave me a free license to GarageSale for simply leaving a comment. GarageSale is a beautiful Mac program for selling stuff on Ebay. If you are looking to purchase a branding iron I have one for sale. Thanks to MacApper and to the GarageSale team!

I can’t believe TBS is still in the dark ages! In this age of the internet everything should be accessible to everyone. The TBS site is not requiring Windows Media Player to watch videos. They are actually requiring Microsoft Windows to view videos. As a Mac guy this drives me crazy! I am still one of those die-hards who refuses to touch anything that is tainted with MS Windows. Do I have the ability to install Windows on my Intel Mac? —yes. Will I ever install Windows on my Mac? — NO! So much for FrankTV. I’m sticking with Youtube. TBS needs to take a clue from Hulu (instead of driving people to use Bittorrent)!

My wife has a Dell Inspiron 2650 that’s about to go to computer heaven (of course with it being a Dell it is probably going the other direction). That is until I completely wiped off every trace of Windows and installed Ubuntu Linux. As a brand new Linux user this was quite a chore. Although the install was easy, the rest of the OS was not. Ubuntu did not correctly set up the laptop screen. So after hours of twiddling (more…)