“David and Katie are joined by Eddie Smith of Practically Efficient to discuss all that is awesome about Dropbox. The trio discuss how to use Dropbox to share files across multiple computers and iDevices as well as dive into geekier uses for the service.”
Mac Power Users is one of the few podcasts I can listen to. And I love me some DropBox.
A few of you started talking about Vim again recently and it made me want to clean up my own neglected configuration. There went my Saturday, but it was worth it. I’m still in love with Vim, and I thought I’d share some of the highlights from this latest round.
Recommended Plugins
After much mucking about with my .vimrc file, I’ve gotten it to a state I’m fairly happy with. I deleted years of cruft and only left in the things I really use, plus a few nice additions discovered while Googling about.
" My current .vimrc file
" Jack Baty
" jack@jackbaty.com
" Twitter: @jackbaty
" Environment {
set nocompatible " We don't want vi compatibility.
filetype off " off until after pathogen runs
call pathogen#runtime_append_all_bundles() " easy plugin bundling
" }
" General and UI {
filetype plugin indent on
syntax on
set modelines=0 " I don't use modelines
set encoding=utf-8
colorscheme solarized " http://ethanschoonover.com/solarized
set background=dark
set scrolloff=3 " keep at least 3 lines visible around cursor
set nu " Line numbers on
set autoindent " indent stays same as last line
set showmode " so we know which mode we're in
set showcmd " so we can see what we're doing
set hidden " don't ask me to save all the time
set wildmenu " much better filename completion
set wildmode=list:longest
set visualbell " don't beep
set novisualbell " don't blink
set noerrorbells " no noise please
set cursorline " highlight current line
set ttyfast " better scrolling
set ruler " handy information about line, etc at bottom
set backspace=indent,eol,start
set laststatus=2 " always show status line.
set ignorecase " case-insensitive search...
set smartcase " ...unless there's some uppercase present
set gdefault " default to /g flag during substitutions
set incsearch " incremental search as you type
set showmatch " indicate matching brackets and parens
set hlsearch " highlight search hits
set textwidth=79 " wrap width
set colorcolumn=85 " indicate where I should stop typing
set timeoutlen=250 " Time to wait after ESC (default causes an annoying delay)
" }
" Formatting and behavior {
set ts=4 " Tabs are 4 spaces
set bs=4 " Backspace over everything in insert mode
set shiftwidth=4 " Tabs under smart indent
set expandtab
set formatoptions=tcqr
set cindent
set smarttab " better tab behavior
set confirm " easier confirmation
set lines=50 columns=100
set grepprg=grep\ -nH\ $*
set backupdir=~/.bak,.,~ " Keep all backups in ~/.bak
set directory=~/.bak,.,~
" }
" Mappings and Shortcuts {
let mapleader="," " no one uses / do they?
nnoremap ; :
" new split (vertical)
nnoremap <leader>W :%s/\s\+$//<cr>:let @/=''<cr>
" hard wrap
nnoremap Q gqip
nnoremap <leader>md :set filetype=markdown<cr>
inoremap jj <esc> " instead of escape
"nice split window stuff
nnoremap <leader>w <c-w>v<c-w>l
nnoremap <c-h> <c-w>h
nnoremap <c-j> <c-w>j
nnoremap <c-k> <c-w>k
nnoremap <c-l> <c-w>l
nmap <silent> ,/ :nohlsearch<cr>
:nmap <leader>Pm :PreviewMarkdown<cr>
map <f2> :NERDTreeToggle<cr>
" Quickly edit/reload the vimrc file
nmap <silent> <leader>ev :e $MYVIMRC<cr>
nmap <silent> <leader>sv :so $MYVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader><space> :noh<cr>
" change to current directory
cmap cd. lcd %:p:h
" }
au! BufNewFile,BufRead *.txt set filetype=markdown " text files are markdown
" Plugins {
" NERDTree {
let NERDTreeKeepTreeInNewTab=1
}
" }
The combination of installing new plugins, tweaking .vimrc, and using latest MacVim has reminded me how great text editing can be. I’ve retained the muscle memory from using Vim for years, which really helps. I enjoy using BBEdit, but some power editing in Vim makes me feel extra nerdy - in a good way.
Update: I just discovered that QuickCursor works with MacVim as well, which is totally handy.
Chuck Leavell and Carlton Owen
“Notice: It’s OK to print this email. Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of Americans. Working forests are good for the environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. Thanks to improved forest management, we have more trees in America today than we had 100 years ago”
I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but I’d still rather see this in an email signature than either a silly, unenforceable privacy statement or the too-green-by-a-notch “please don’t print this” notice.
Not being very good at drawing used to prevent me from trying. That doesn’t bother me so much these days. Now it’s just fun. Difficult, but fun.
Day One is a recent entry in the personal journaling camp. It’s simple, looks great, and doesn’t try to do everything. What it does do is encourage you to write. It does this by being beautiful, making everything easy, and by displaying regular reminders. At first I found the reminders that pop up from the menu bar to be a nuisance. Eventually, I started typing a quick sentence or two each time and that has led to writing a greater number of entries than I would if left to my own devices. If you don’t like the reminders, you can turn them off. Same with the “inspirational” quotes feature. I can live without those.
I’ve found that I’m using Day One like a personal Twitter. That is, most entries happen throughout the day in short bursts. This is the opposite of how I use my beloved paper journal. With that, I sit down deliberately and write for longer periods a few times a week. So there’s no danger of abandoning paper altogether, but with Day One I can supplement it nicely.
I’ve been using Day One every day for 32 days and have written entries on all but 4 of them. I’d say it’s working. The first release does not include search or export–both critical features for me–and both are slated for inclusion “over the next several months,” so I’ll be sticking with it.
There is also a version for the iPhone. I don’t like writing on the iPhone, but with easy-as-pie DropBox integration, I use it anyway.
If you’re a fan of Journler or current Momento for iPhone user, Day One might be a little light on features for you. For those of us just wanting to simply and easily jot a few daily notes, Day One is close to perfect.
I’ll pass on investing in your idea to create a better stylus for the iPad, thanks. Stylus input on iPads will always suck. –me, on twitter
As you can tell from my tweet above, I’ve dismissed the idea of using a stylus on my iPad. Writing notes during meetings was my justification for buying the iPad in the first place. Doesn’t work. Probably never will. I’ve tried every app, stylus, and method I could find and they all suck. Writing with a stylus on the iPad doesn’t feel like writing at all. It’s more like using an awkward crayon without the fun smell. So for meeting notes, it was back to a pen and notebook^notebook.
When everyone started chatting about the Cosmonaut Kickstarter Project from the Glif guys, I grunted my standard dismissive grunt and ignored them.
But I’ve been thinking about it. I think they’re on to something with the whole fidelity mismatch thing. Doodling on the iPad using a finger and something like Draft or Penultimate works pretty well, and the Cosmonaut is designed to make that better rather than trying to improve regular note-taking.
I may have been wrong to dismiss this new stylus so quickly.
I went a little nuts while testing the update to Silver Efex Pro. Not really necessary, since the shot was black and white to begin with (Delta 3200.)
The porcelain mannequin with shattered skin fears attack. The eager pack lift up their pitchers – they carry all they lack. The liquid has congealed, which has seeped out through the crack, And the tickler takes his stickleback.
What the hell? The whole record is like that. And by that I mean awesome!
I pull The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway off the shelf a few times every year. I then stop everything I’m doing, and listen to it from start to finish. That’s kind of the whole point of a concept album, but this one is so very good it’s hard not to. Peter Gabriel left after this album, and Genesis became something else. “Lamb” is the best thing they’ve ever done.
Brett Terpstra shares a handy tool for downloading collections of his TextExpander^textexpander snippets. The page lets you select a group of custom snippets, choose a shortcut prefix, and download a .textexpander file based on your options, ready to import into TextExpander.
Try it at http://brettterpstra.com/share/te-snippets/
I already maintain a large collection of custom snippets, but these sets include some great additions. TextExpander is one of those rare utilities that saves me more time than it takes to configure.
“Truly, it is made of unicorns”
Jon Hicks seems to like his MacBook Air quite a lot. He should, the Air is the greatest computer ever made by man. I’m fortunate enough to also use a 27” iMac and late model 15” MacBook Pro. If forced to keep just one machine, I’d gladly choose the 11” Air. It’s tiny, fast, and beautiful to the eye and the touch.
The MacBook Air is one of those rare things that feels perfect in almost^1 every way.