Enso

Enso is another Quicksilveresque program, and it looks very nice. It's Windows-only at the moment, but a Mac version is planned. It's not free, but if you've tried Launchy and Keybreeze and haven't quite got what you want yet, it might be worth a try.

If this sort of thing leaves you cold, that's probably because you haven't really given it a chance yet. The computer you're sitting at right now is much quicker than you at doing a lot of the tedious, repetitive tasks you find yourself doing over and over again, so using a program like this can save you a lot of time and effort. The difference between, say three seconds and twenty seconds to complete a given action might not seem like a very impressive time saving, but it really adds up when you get in the habit of doing as much as possible this way rather than with your mouse or trackpad.

I urge you to try one of these programs, by which I mean for a week or so, not five minutes. There is a bit of a learning curve involved, but it really is worth it, I promise.


(via Google Operating System)

Browsers

I recommend Firefox to people a lot, but I've been using Opera lately and think it's pretty good. Why not give it a go?

I'm moving

I like Tumblr, the service that has been hosting my attempt at a blog, and I think its simple, stripped-down format is what eased me into getting round to posting every now and then.

But I've decided that it's a bit more stripped-down than I want, and so I'm moving to Blogger. I'll be moving the address (samlewis.co.uk) too, so if you read this by just visiting the page then all that will happen is that you see a slight change. If you subscribe via RSS (and hopefully you do), then you will need to update your subscription to carry on receiving updates.

Top 10 Mac OS X tweaks

A day in the life...

Solar power in Spain

Google search results in two columns...

...with this Greasemonkey script. You'll need to have installed Greasemonkey in Firefox to use this.

A nice time-lapse video...

...here.

iTunes licence agreement

You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles, or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

This is part of the iTunes licence agreement. Really.

The 2007 Reith Lectures have just finished

You can listen to them all here.

The Encyclopedia of Life

This won't be anywhere near complete for a decade or two (if ever), but you can keep an eye on it at eol.org.

Richard Feynman on "the inconceivable nature of nature"

"Do the math(s)"

Google Maps Address Book Plugin

I just used this for the first time in a while and thought that some of you might be missing out.

Of course, some of you will be missing out in a bigger way by not actually having Address Book on your computers because they are not Apples. But there you are.

Spinal Tap...

...are back (in a small way).

Growl notifications for Firefox...

...here. You can get Growl here if you haven't already got it. (Growl is Mac-only.)

Track your deliveries...

...with this Dashboard widget.

Design for the other 90%

Don't forget to look at the pictures too.

www.matthewmahon.com