Time means money for every freelancer

As a freelancer / small business owner time is everything! For a long time, I've been using Kronos to keep track of the jobs I do, the total time and the cost of the job. Kronos is not bad but I've always wanted a way to export my data and change the currency from € to $.

The developers of MAMP have an application the call TimeEdit. Though I've been using MAMP for a while it never occurred to me to try TimeEdit until now.

TimeEdit is great! It helps to streamline my workflow and to be more effective. With TimeEdit I can add clients, and regular tasks and attach my hourly rate to each task. As if that wasn't enough, I can TimeEdit it to my Google Calendar or iCal and once I've completed a task it makes an entry into the calendar.

At the end of each month, I can look at a report showing how many hours I've worked and how much I should have earned. I can also export the data as a Microsoft Excel file.

TimeEdit has tons more features to make job tracking easier. It works on both Windows and Mac OS. I love this application because it doesn't require internet access and the best thing of all is that TimeEdit is FREE.

Which do I prefer, CamTwist or Jing?

I've just finished working on a project and I have to do a series of screencasts for the client, training them how to use the CMS. My wife (business partner) and I have been in discussions about what expenses we can afford this month, a screencast application is not on our priority list. So I started looking for free options. I've used Jing before but didn't like the fact that it only allows me to save the screencasts as flash files (.swf) with the free version. Though US$14 a year is reasonable that's not an option right now. Jing allows me 5mins to record a screencast which you can save to my hard drive or upload to a web server using FTP. I think 5mins is sufficient timing for a screencast but I want to be able to add an intro frame and possible background audio. With this in mind, I went Googling for "free screencast apps for mac" which lead me to CamTwist. The application isn't bad, it just has one hang-up. The video quality is poor. In order to get a better video quality, I have to buy QuickTime Pro for US$29+. The truth is if I had to spend US$29+ for a simple screencast application like iShowU. However, at the end of the day, Jing came out on top. It works best!

I want an iPod Nano...

It's been a long time since I've blogged about any tech stuff. Well my work load has been crazy as of late, I must give God thanks that I have work in this recession time.

'Any-who!' I was finishing up a project and noticed an e-mail in my inbox from Apple. It was about the new iPod nano.

I've wanted an iPod for a while, from the very 1st day I gave away my Sony Walkman, but I just couldn't decide on which one. Primarily because I wanted a portable mp3 player with a radio and iPods didn't have that feature. Well guess what? They do now!

The new iPod nano has a host of kool features including video recording and fm tuner. With the fm tuner you can pause live listening. Yes! Pause live listening...in a developing country like Jamaica a portable radio is a must have. Especially during hurricane season! Not to mention listening to Full House Fridays, with Francois and the gang on FAME FM.

The iPod nano starts at US$149, for the 8GB and goes up to US$179, for the 16GB. That is roughly JM$13,500 and it's worth every penny of it.

I'm definitely gonna get one before the year ends...trus' me!

Get DropBox

My friend and I work in the same field as Graphic / Web Designers and have worked on a few projects together. Our biggest challenge is location. He's located at one end of Jamaica and me at the other, so I'm always looking for ways to improve our virtual work relationship.

Over the years we've used several applications to aid us in our collaboration, BaseCamp (free), YouSendIt, Hamachi along with others. Hamachi was the last one we used and it was a lil difficult to get it to work seemlessly between a Windows Vista Laptop and iMac (running OSX 1.5). Plus there was no official interface for mac users ( I had to type commands in the terminal whenever I wanted to use the application). As a result I went looking for an alternative and I found it - DropBox.

Now dropbox was a term I first heard being used at a advertising agency my wife worked at and was only available to macs. Once all the macs are on the same network users could add files into a default shared folder know as a 'dropbox.' But I came across another DropBox that was available for the specific platforms - Window, Linux & Mac (Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! As the choirs of angels sing and the beam of light shines done upon my ignorance :-) ).

In no time I had DropBox installed on my mac and my friend and I were able to share files, it was sweeeeeeett!

DropBox Features
DropBox initilally gives you 2Gb of storage for free, which you can upgrade if you want. It allows you to see the various versions of a file once changed or updated, restore deleted files, see previes of images and share specific folders with anyone you desire.

The lovely thing about DropBox is that it's linked to a physical folder on your computer, has a web interface to manage your account and shares files over an SSL connection. If you have growl installed on your mac you'll also get a notification everytime I file/folder is updated.

DropBox is a great collaboration tool, you should get it!

Inquisitor for Firefox and IE

Some time I wrote about Inquisitor which at the time was only available to Safari. But now they have released beta version for both Firefox (mac or pc) and Internet Explorer 7. That's awesome.

I use my Firefox browser more than I use Safari and when I installed the plug-in I could tell that Firefox was most disappointed. But now my Firefox rejoices!

Truth is! It's really nice 'eye candy' that functions well. It allows you to choose your preferred search engine - Yahoo or Google, and auto completion for words or phrases. My only regret is that when you use Google as the search engine it cannot do basic mathematics which can be done if you use Firefox without Inquisitor. Apart from that I love it!

If you want to learn more about Inquisitor before installing it you can watch this video.

Joost Away

Joost recently announced that they will be discontinuing their standalone application, for Windows based PCs and Intel Macs, on December 19, 2008. This is a result of their new website - created in October of this year - which provides user with all they need to watch programs on the P2PTV network.

Font Conference

I saw a friend of mine with a link to this YouTube video this morning and thought it was really funny.

Google rolls out themes for Gmail

Today while checking my mail I noticed the interface of my inbox changed so I refreshed thinking it was an error with my browser. Only to see a link, after the page loaded, telling me I can change my theme by going into the settings area. I was blown away.

This new themes feature was released today Nov.19.2008 and Gmail now has 25 themes (Classic, New Blue, Cold Shower, Steel, Minimalist, Green Sky, Bibblegum, Cherry Blossom, Night Shade, Marina, Dusk, Sunset, Silver Lining, Contrast Black, Shiny, Desk, Tree, Summer Ocean, Phantasea, Zoozimps, Candy, Bus Stop, Ninja, Tea & Terminal) excluding the default and you can expect more to come.

Three of the themes were designed by external designers. These are Phantasea Renewal - Matthew Ferreira, Summer Ocean - Jim Honeycutt, and Cherry Blossom - Vania Sofandi. The rest were done internally.

Go ahead and customize your Gmail!

Voice & Video Chat with GoogleTalk

Yesterday, November 11, 2008 Google launched a new feature for Google Talk - Voice & Video conversations. I was elated when I discovered this ant the greatest thing of all is that it's free!

Not all my colleagues have a Skype accounts but a lot of them use Gmail and this new feature with Google Talk will allow us to keep in contact. I also have clients I meet with frequently and this is a way to cut down on my traveling expenses. We can now talk face to face or call each other.

To enable this feature though you have to install a plugin after which you will restart you web browser and should notice a video icon when you login to your Gmail account. Simple start the Voice & Vide conversation by selecting video & more the invite to voice/video chat.

The beauty about this new feature is that it's compliant with internet standards such as XMPP, RTP, and H.264. This means that third-party applications such as iChat can be used to manage and access these new features. Unfortunately there is no version for linux users just yet.



I predict that some where down the line Google will add features that allow users to do presentations and share documents similar to the features of Mac OS X - Leopard, integrating Google Docs.

EverSave or SaveCircle for my Mac?

I like to run a million and one applications on my iMac simultaneously but I always run the risk of one application crashing. In most cases it's Photoshop CS3. Recently I came across two applications that are designed to solve this very issue, EverSave and SaveCircle.

Uncertain which application to choose I decided to run both at different intervals over a 2 week period.

SaveCircle
I started using SaveCircle and I liked the fact that I could set the time intervals for it to save opened documents for specific applications or the frontmost application. Plus it has a nice interface that allows the user quickly turn on or off the application. SaveCircle also allows the user to detach the countdown window and attach it to the font most application.

SaveCircle's interface overall seemed to take up a little too big for the type of application it was and the countdown window was more of a distraction than an asset. I also found my iMac to move a little sluggish when starting the application and when it was saving a document.

EverSave
Initially, I was skeptical about using EverSave but I decided to give it a chance.

Once I launched the application I noticed an icon in my menu bar and I was prompted to set my preferences. Once that was done all I had was just an icon that notified me that saving was enabled. The application gave me the option to save specific applications from my list of approved applications along with the option to save based on a timer or when the application was out of focus.

EverSave also has the functionality to save the position of all your opened windows and applications in the event there is a power outage. I also noticed that EverSave used less resources when starting up or saving a document which was excellent.

Both applications are good however over the 2 weeks I found myself gravitating towards one more - EverSave.

Screenshots



screenshots courtesy of Macxtosh and Apple

New MacBooks

This morning I woke up and decided to check Apple.com only to realize that there is a new MacBook. I was flabbergasted!

The new MacBook now has an aluminum uni-body which makes the machine lighter and more durable. The uni-body houses a LED Display which uses less energy than conventional laptop displays. It's also eco-friendly since they've removed elements that contain PVC, mercury and other poisonous chemicals.

There are a lot of new hardware features such as a Mini Display Port - which allows the MacBook to connect to an external display with less hassle. The track pad is now one big button, made of glass and allows the user to do more gestures than ever before. The NVidia GeForce 9400M graphic processor is 5x faster than those found in the previous versions of the MacBook.

The Mini Display Port comes in handy when the user wants to extend his screen which can be done using another Apple products - the LED Cinema Display (Coming Soon!).

These new MacBooks are running on 2.0GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a hard drive of 250GB or more, starting as low as USD$1299.00.

To see more on the new MacBooks go here

WATCH THE VIDEO

ThinkFree Office - MS Office Knock Off

I was looking for an alternative to Neo Office recently, after getting frustrated with trying to find features similar to Microsoft Office, using the GUI. That was when I discovered ThinkFree Office and I tried a demo version.

ThinkFree has several products but somehow I was drawn to try their Office product, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. When I installed the product I noticed my iMac was moving a little sluggish but I ignored it because I had several adobe photoshop files open. Once the installation was done I launched the application, after closing my photoshop files, and my computer was still sluggish only to be greeted by a screen encouraging me to sign up for an account. I ignored the screen continued but was surprised by what came next, an exact replica of MS Office 2007. I was thoroughly disappointed.

As if that initial disappointment was enough I created a document and tried saving it but was forced to create an account and store the file online. If I wanted to store my files online I would use Google Docs.

Unfortunately, I didn't see the need to have a desktop application that requires me to save my files online and as a result of this, I'm back to Neo Office with plans on getting iWork.

4th Generation iPod Nano

Apple has done it again! As usual Apple throws a curb ball at their competition by tweaking products and making them cheaper. They did just that with the new iPod Nano.

The new iPod Nano (4th Generation) is 0.44 ounces lighter than the previous model, which was a little smaller in dimension. The 3rd & 4th Generation iPod share one thing, screen dimension - 320 x 240, but the 4th Generation doubles the capacity of the previous version 8GB - 16GB and costs only USD$149/199.

Apple ensured that this product fit into the whole idea of thinking green. This new iPod Nano is brominated flame retardant-free, mercury-free, pvc free, has highly recyclable aluminum enclosure and arsenic-free glass

Whats New?
Apple has added a few nifty features like coverflow, closed caption for videos, games, video rotation, genius - a smart playlist creator and a shuffle feature activated by shaking the device.

Take A Tour


The Ad

ScribeFire - Another Great Firefox Addon

So I've always loved Firefox, it's a web designer's dream and now that I've been blogging I've found one more addition to make Firefox that much better - ScribeFire.

With ScribeFire I can blog without having to go to my Blogger home page. It intergrates beautifully with Firefox so I no longer have to bookmark websites before I blog about them I can do it right there.

ScribeFire also allows bloggers to monetize the blog using various ad services such as Google Adsense.

What I also like about ScribeFire is that it gives the user the opportunity to add custom tags and promote your blog on websites like Technorati, Facebook, Del.icio.us and others. All in all, its a really nice addon!

* This post was made with FireScribe

Hamachi - All on 1 Big Network

As a freelance graphic/web designer I have the opportunity to work from home but I also have associates I work with closely on project from remote locations. Therefore I had a challenge, sharing files. With this challenge hovering over my in tray I has a desire to create a secure virtual network like many of those big corporations use as a soulution, for little or no money. So I went searching!

I came across a lot of techie jargon explaining Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and the need to have a VPN Server to facilitate this. Obviously I can't afford a VPN Server so I searched some more and I came across Hamachi, 2Peer, TeamViewer, Leaf and Wippen. Though I found these solutions I still had a problem, only a few had versions for macs, as a result Leaf and Wippen were eliminated.

Out of the 3 remaining solutions I found Hamachi to be the best but with one draw back. I had to install a third party application, Hamachi X, on the mac to manage my networks. I found 2Peer was web based and restricted to e-mail accounts, while TeamViewer was primarily for customer support but Hamachi was ideal.

Hamachi on the mac is designed for those users who don't mind getting their hands a lil dirty - running commands from the terminal. Hamachi has no actual GUI like the pc version but is a powerful tool in the arsenal of those who work from multiple locations, not to mention gamers.

Download Hamachi: Linux | Mac | Windows

Run OS X on your PC

I came across this video today. It is highly recommended that you don't try this but it doesn't hurt knowing ;)



Here are some of the links mentioned in the video:

• OS X 86 Project
• MacDrive
• UltraISO
• Forensic Acquisition Utilities
• WMI Adminstrative Tools

Palringo - Stay connected in or out of office

Palringo is wonderful IM client that allows individuals to stay connected with contacts whether on the pc or on mobile phone. With this one application connecting to any preferred messaging service is a breeze, be it MSN Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger or Google Talk.

The beauty about Palringo is that it works on 3 major operating systems Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It also works on several mobile platforms such as windows mobile, symbian 60 and iphone's osx.

To unleash all the features of Palringo you must first sign up for a Palringo account and in no time you'll be able chat, send photos and even voice clips to indiviuals on your contact lists.

Website: www.palringo.com

Inquisitor for Safari

Searching for things on the internet can be challenging at times except when most appropriate keywords or search terms are used. It would save less time if related search terms would pop-up while typing like in spotlight. Call me lazy!

A few browsers have gone ahead in and added an auto complete or suggestion feature while typing in a search term, leaving Safari behind but along came Inquisitor.

Inquisitor is a nice addition to Safari. Using the Yahoo Boss Platform Inquisitor is fast and supports 9 lanuages including English (Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German). Best of all, Inquisitor is free!

Download: Inquisitor (v 3.2)

Sticky Window - Clutter Free Desktop

Ever had a million windows open and have to sift through in order to find the one you want? Well no there is a solution, Sticky Window!

Sticky Window was initially designed to run on OS X 10.4 (Tiger) but now compatible with 10.5 (Leopard). With Sticky Window you simply drag the window the edge of your screen and it minimizes the window and creates a tab. You can have several tabs in one location that will be displayed once you hover over it.

Designed to use as little of your resources as possible, Sticky Window is the prefect solution for those who seek to be proficient in meeting deadlines and completing projects that require the use of multiple windows. Sticky Window costs only USD$19.95.

website: www.donelleschi.com/stickywindows

Desktopopia - Keep it Fresh! Keep it New!

I like to change my desktop wallpaper fairly often but that means I have to search various websites. Desktopopia solves that problem!

Desktopopia is an application that runs on both windows and mac platforms, allowing access to the desktops in it's database. You can cycle through the various desktop wallpaper manually or automatically. Adding your own feed and rating the desktops is also a feature of Desktopopia.

Download Desktopopia: mac | pc