Tim Child

So here are my most used OS X applications of the year, in no particular order:

* Spotify. This is just an excellent music application, the speed with which the streams start is simply amazing and I don’t find that I get that many adverts in the way of the vast array of songs on offer.

* Textmate. I probably use this more than any other application on the Mac, for me hands down the best text editor that I have ever used and I find more and more features in it everyday.

* NetNewsWire Pro. Having all my RSS feeds in one place is really just what I need. Must remember to integrate it with FriendFeed.

* Adium. Always there, some times a pain with XMMP but otherwise just awesome.

* Python 2.5. Best scripting language by far, but then I am biased.

All free (I did buy a license for NetNewsWire but you no longer have to) apart from TextMate which is more than worth the price.

Facebook is The Borg: “

Much of the activity that used to happen out in the wild unfettered Net, over email, open (XMPP-based) IM and blog posts is now happening inside the Facebook silo. It is AOL 2.0.

I avoid the place, but that’s getting harder. On this current visit I see 7 friend suggestions, 273 friend requests, 6 event invitations, 5 good karma from debo requests, 1 good karma request, 220 other requests, 4 new updates, 235 items in my inbox, 7 pokes and 522 friends to start with.

Okay, I just said yes to several friend requests, congratulated a friend on his new twins, and started chatting in FB for the first time.

To FB’s credit, it’s working on a Jabber/XMPP interface, so you can chat to FB-based friends through any client that talks XMPP. That’s cool, but The Borg still grows.

I also notice that FB now has a tiny pale gray thumbs-up and thumbs-down for its advertising. When I click on the down thumb (which I always do — I haven’t yet seen a relevant ad), it just says ‘Loading…’ in a big box that won’t go away.

So I just punched out. I suspect I’ll be doing less of that.

”

(Via The Doc Searls Weblog.)

Well not really, but every year I do some maintenance to make sure whatever I am using is up to date and fresh and this includes installing the latest versions and services packs to everything including:

* VLC
* Microsoft Office 2008
* skype

skype 2.8 Beta is the one that I am looking forward to using, included in the new features is screen sharing – which apparently works across different operating systems, which should prove really handy for debugging and helping my parents with their PC from my Mac. Not sure about the new design of the chat window though, those icons don’t seem as smooth as their previous versions:

I have also cleaned out a lot of files, and Time Machine backups to make sure that I am only backing up the content that really matters to me. Deleting backups is as simple as going into time machine, going to the backup window that you wish to delete and from the gears menu choosing “Delete backup”.

I will deleting hidden backup files was as easy.

Now I am just waiting for my body to adjust to daylight again!

So its 2009, and it came around all too quickly. I can see from MarsEdit that the amount of posts that I have put on this blog is quite down from a couple of years ago, which is testament to how busy I have been.

For the Christmas period I tried to step away from my computer a bit and calm down, and the other period I was in Karlstad enjoying the festivities and doing a small amount of work and reading the great RESTful Web Services book.

But soon its back to work, and so back to computers, renovating the apartment (soon it will be done!) and back to everything else that makes up my day.

I have been thinking about what I New Years resolutions I should do and I have so far only come up with the following:

• Give up Snus
• Post more on this blog
• Create something of value
• Become more self sufficient
• Try not to kill every plant I ever get
• Increase my fitness

Of course, I could probably do all of these, but with such goals is it just setting myself up for failure, so what can I do towards them and why am I doing them (if you wonder why I am posting this then these posts often serve as a reminder to myself of what I should be concentrating on and as a diary for the future).

1. Why do I want to give up snus – its messing with my gums and together we spend 29000Kr a year on it. I think thats reason enough, rather than just doing it.

2. Post more on this blog – it serves me in many ways, and more often than not I post for myself to remind me of what I am doing rather than keeping a diary. Its not hard to do, I just have to remember to do it!

3. Create something of value – this could be the hardest if I wasn’t already started on this. I feel I really am doing so at work with the redesign that I am working on, and in my personal life I am probably adding value, but there is much more planned for this year.

4. Become more self sufficient – This is a very open goal that encompasses much, such as being more energy sufficient, growing my own herbs, not spending 500Kr every day in the supermarket on rubbish, cleaning green and many more improvements to my living style. I should make a list on this one!

5. Try not to kill every plant I get – Well I am quite bad at understanding the needs of a plant, and so I need to find out more about that. Perhaps it will even be enjoyable?

6. Get fitter. My fitness level is quite poor even though my body is perhaps in the best shape its been in for many years. I have a skiing trip planned this year and that is an excellent goal for getting fitter.

So thats it. 2009 a year of none resolute improvements.