Ubersicht is an OS X utility that allows you to display dynamic (or static) content on your desktop. In the screenshot below I have some static content for a color palette and Git commit standards; all text being selectable. Possibly more interesting though are the other widgets that are always changing. Take the two Strava widgets at the bottom of the screen. One widget allows me to quickly see how my 2016 cycling compares to 2015 and the other just displays some key data from the current year.

I wanted to create an encrypted disk image for my 2012 Tax Return documents, but unfortunately Disk Utility, which comes with OSX, does not allow image sizes (that are encrypted and journal HFS+) less than 10.5 MB. This seemed strange, so I looked for the command line equivalent. With the help of this article I came up with this: hdiutil create -encryption -size 5m -volname 2012Taxes 2012Taxes.dmg -srcfolder ~/Desktop/foo/ -fs HFS+J 5M = disk image size (5 MB) 2012Taxes = disk image name when mounted 2012Taxes.

My MacBook Pro is setup with two user accounts: one for personal and one for work. This is certainly not my setup of choice, but if I want to use my own MBP (which is retina) at work then I have to abide by this rule. Anyway, this setup caused an issue when I went to do something that required Homebrew. After a little research and testing Leif Hanack had the best answer.

ImageOptim is a fantastic utility to reduce the size of your images without impacting image quality1. I use it both for my web and iOS work, but it was not until today that I made it even better. My Old Workflow Save whatever image I was working on to some folder Open ImageOptim Drag the image onto ImageOptim canvas ImageOptim does its work I move the optimized image to its final destination My New Workflow Save whatever image I was working on to an “optimize” folder Hazel automatically moves to an “optimized” folder Hazel automatically kicks off ImageOptim and it optimizes the image I move the optimized image to its final destination My responsibilities went from four steps to two; a 50% reduction.

If you are lucky enough to be in the market for a new notebook, Apple just made your choice a lot more difficult. Last year I gave up my MacBook Pro and switched to the MacBook Air and have not regretted it one bit. I use my Air primarily for photography1 but from time-to-time I do use Final Cut Pro X to create small family videos. I still use a MacBook Pro for work which is a major bummer because it really isn’t any faster but feels like a giant brick.

This has to be the best tip I have found sound far in 2012: How to find the hidden files on Mac OS X The Mac OS X operating system hides important system files to protect your computer. This is a measure meant to prevent you from modifying files that shouldn’t be modified, or deleting files that your computer needs to run correctly. Occasionally, you may need to find a file that Mac OS X hides.

My post, Final Cut Pro X on a MacBook Air, has received a surprising amount of traffic. So I thought I would provide a brief follow-up that covers why I purchased FCP X and how it has been performing on my MacBook Air. FCP X vs. iMovie Like I mentioned before, I am no videographer and I probably have no real reason to spend $300 on video editing software. iMovie is incredibly simple to use and can make great videos fast, but it seemed hard to do simple tasks I wanted to do and lacked features I was after.

When it comes to video editing I am a complete novice. A few supporting facts: I have been a Vimeo Plus member since November 2007 yet I have only posted 65 videos. All have been posted with the simplest of tools: iMovie, iMovie for iOS, Vimeo for iOS, etc. I purchased Final Cut Pro X on July 2 and today was the first time I used it. Today I used about 0.

In March this year I once again changed blog engines I was using. I switched to Jekyll after reviewing all the usual (and unusual) suspects. I describe most of my reasons1 in my post, Text File Revolution so I won’t rehash again, however, I did want to write a little tutorial on how to get Jekyll up and running on your Mac2. Pre-Requisite: XCode The easiest way to get a hold of XCode is to download from the Mac App Store.

In my previous post, Apps I will install on New MacBook Air, I highlight the apps that I intended on installing on my new MacBook Air. It has now been 30 days since I first laid hands on the new system, so what better time to report what I REALLY installed. Before Dropbox it could take a couple of days to get a new computer set up with all of your goodies.

In a previous post, What Would You Buy First?, I highlight the apps I would buy first if I had to start all over today. In this post I will outline the apps I will be installing on a new MacBook Air that arrives today. One data point to note: I am cutting my drive space in half (to 256GB), so this list may be slightly different if it were a new iMac.