This is how it should work!

I am subscribed to the Red Sweater Blog because the author is an Apple Developer, just as I am. Recently he acquired the wonderful MarsEdit RSS publishing software, which I used until I switched to the geekier TextMate.

Lo and Behold, MarsEdit has an update, life is good and in the process, he mentions his other software, FlexTime. So I take a peek and $19 later, I own it, because:

• The price is very affordable. I love <= $20 utilities (That is why BetterHTMLExport Standard Edition is still $20)

• It fit a task I needed today - I just replaced my $800 Mirra chair with a $45 inflatable ball to strengthen my back, but I need to switch every 30 mins. So now I have a “Routine” that every 30 mins speaks to me saying “Go sit in your chair” or “Go sit on your ball” hehe.

• Its cool software! The dude even added a feature to export your Routine to an audio file, which you can sync to itunes. So lets say you were doing yoga, you could have a routine that said “Time for exercise 1″ and then in 30 seconds “time for exercise 2″ etc, etc. Have that recorded to your iPod and then take it to the mat, literally. Very nice.

I love small Mac developers. Way to go, Red Sweater!

I am going to start producing short screencasts (A term I first saw on the TextMate site) with video tips and tricks.

The first screencast shows how to use the Omniweb form field editor!

Watch

MailTags was updated to 2.0b8 today and wow it is fast!

What is MailTags? MailTags is a bundle extension for Mail.app that lets you:

• Add any number of keywords to mail
• Add a project tag to mail
• Add todo events to mail, complete with alarms. This integrates with iCal
• Add notes to mail

And much more. Why is this cool? Have you ever made folders in mail like:

• My Project
  • Web Stuff
  • Money Stuff
  • Documentation Stuff
  • Bugs
    • Bugs with UI
    • Bugs with Feature Foo

If you have, you may also have many mail rules to try and file all of this mail. This form of categorization, which we’ve used since 1984 and the consumer advent of folders on the Macintosh 128K, is a simple form of embedded keywords. Each folder name is a keyword, and the hierarchy denotes projects or parents.

With MailTags, you can create a Project Tag named “My Project” and assign all emails with that project. You can then search for that project and have simple categorization. Need more? Add keywords! Add a “Web” keyword, or a “Money” keyword, or if you have money coming in from ads on your website, add both the “Web” and “Money” keywords!

MailTags also lets you search for keywords using the simple mail search box. If that is not enough power, you can make a Mail Smart Mailbox. MailTags extends the Smart Mailbox criteria to allow you to search for Project “My Project” AND keywords “Money” and “Web” Very nice!

This is a great little utility and now with IMAP support, it may become a essential tool to my daily mail usage.

I often want to password lock my screen, but not log out. OK, I can set the security preferences to lock the screen when the screen saver kicks in, but I don’t want to do that every time the screen saver kicks in.

Thanks to FourOhFour on #macintosh, I have a solution.

Open Keychain Access, open Preferences and check “Show Status in Menu”

You’ll now have a little lock icon in the menu which you can select “Lock Screen” from!

Perfect.

Updated: I have added a screencast to show how to set this up. Watch

A very nice font named DejaVu is available and the Monospaced version is a very nice looking font.

Thanks to Mike at SHO Parts NW I have new NAPA tie rod ends and 4 new Bosch O2 sensors.

Now to run a tank in town and see how, if at all, the mileage changes. The car seems to idle smoother, but that could be just me

The new tie rod ends have a grease nipple so now that can be repacked whenever I have the alignment done.

I also headed over to Schucks and picked up some Silver Star headlamps from Sylvania which are a very bright white (not that awful blue). The ultras (normally $50 a pair) are on sale through the 18th: $10 instant rebate and $10 mail in rebate.

Finally I picked up a paint pen matched to my car’s color and will fix up the key scratches I have had for a couple of years.

Here is a tip to easily double, if not triple your Mail.app speed!

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