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Spotlaser: Reinterface with Spotlight
Several folks in our most recent Ask TUAW post were complaining about Spotlight's interface, so it's rather serendipitous that today I ran across Spotlaser. This app provides a much more useful search interface to Spotlight by making it easier both to run searches by allowing boolean operators (e.g. AND, OR, NOT), wildcards, and more. And even better, the results are displayed as a Smart Folder in a Finder window (above) rather than Spotlight's default, hard-to-use list. For those of you fed up with trying to use Spotlight, give Spotlaser a whirl and see if it makes your searching go better.Spotlaser is a free download, but the developer requests donations.[Via MacApper]
Ask TUAW: Cookies, Mail.app vs Outlook, Party Shuffle and more
We got a lot of great questions following last week's Ask TUAW. This means, unfortunately, we won't be able to address all of them this week, but we still have managed answers for several more than usual. This week we'll be tackling questions about Mail.app, cookies in Safari, iTunes, Spotlight, and more. As always, please leave your own comments, and ask more questions for next week either in the comments to this post or using the tip form. Now let's turn to this week's questions.
TUAW Tip: force Spotlight to re-index some apps
I recently was fortunate enough to upgrade to a MacBook Pro, which means my wife can now get her mobile on with a MacBook. After I moved everything over and got to work with the new machine, I noticed some strangeness with Spotlight and Yojimbo: apparently, thanks to some quirk of bits and bytes, Apple's fancy schmancy search wasn't bringing up any of my Yojimbo items. After requesting some support from Bare Bones Software, a most useful employee of theirs shared a handy trick that forced Spotlight to re-index my items. It worked like a charm, and it was simple to pull off.If you have a 3rd party app that isn't behaving well with Spotlight, you could try surfing to ~/Library/Caches/Metadata. This is where apps, especially database-driven ones that want to be indexed by Spotlight, place cache data in order to make it into search results. For me, simply quitting Yojimbo, tossing out the Yojimbo folder sitting inside that Metadata folder and restarting Yojimbo forced Spotlight to get to work. The little magnifying glass began flowing on and off, and my Yojimbo items were soon appearing in my Spotlight search results just as they should.Now I don't know if this is the end-all solution to Spotlight indexing issues like this. I only know it worked for me, and judging from the emails that occasionally bounce over the Yojimbo mailing list, I'm not the only one who's ever tangled with Spotlight's indexing quirks. I hope this tip can help you unravel any Spotlight searching issues of your own.
NetNewsWire style: FeedLight
These NetNewsWire styles just keep getting better, especially since this one is designed for both NetNewsWire and Vienna. Not long ago I found a couple of really slick NNW styles, one of them taking a crack at a Spotlight look + headline wrapping, and now Brent Simmons via the Ranchero blog has highlighted FeedLight, a style based heavily on Mac OS X's Spotlight searchbar. While it bears resemblance to other Tiger styles available (including NNW's own built-in style), I really enjoy FeedLight's approach of displaying all the important data like a properly wrapping headline, feed, date and author in a concise, static top bar that remains in place (only on NNW, not Vienna) even as you scroll through a long article. Of course, the fact that it comes in two sexy gradient-ific versions, one for Aqua and another for Graphite, doesn't hurt either. All FeedLight styles and versions are available from Alex at BrokenLogic.
NetNewsWire styles: Reflex and Spotlight+wrap
It's been a couple of months since I switched from NetNewsWire to Google Reader, but I am happy to announce that I saw the light and have returned to greener pastures. While Google Reader is still roughly 3000 times as functional as NewsGator Online, I simply could no longer resist the torture of no search (in a Google product, no less), and no support for authenticated feeds. Aside from those two setbacks, however, I still recommend gReader as the best web-based reader that is easily head and shoulders above the rest.Since I'm back to NetNewsWire though, I have once again gone kookoo for styles and have come across two that impressed me quite a bit. First up is Reflex for NetNewsWire from Oliver Boermans (pictured above), which is the most functional and optimized style I have ever seen, and has quite possibly usurped my previous favorite: Tiger style by Jon Hicks (sorry Jon!).First, Reflex offers a two column design by default (which can be slimmed to one if/when you prefer) that places metadata (author, blog, date, categories, etc.) in a non-scrolling column on the right of the post body. This is really handy if you don't want to keep scrolling up and down posts just to snag all the info you might need to, say, write about the post or the site you're referencing. Speaking of scrolling, Reflex will fade in a slick overlay headline at the top of the post if - and only if - you wind up having to scroll down so far as to knock the post's headline above the fold. Last but not least, Reflex offers two color styles (white/black) and layouts (single or double column) via a button at the top right of the reading pane.This most excellent Reflex style can be had from Oliver's blog, and I'd like to tip my hat to the man himself for his fantastic work.The second style hails from Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch, of Mac OS X development and C4 fame. Jon's Spotlight+wrap style is a modification of NetNewsWire 2.0's built-in Spotlight style in the name of functionality. First, and most noticeably, he added a wrap to the headline so long'uns will display in their entirety. The other big change is that he borrowed from Takaaki Kato's Samurai Style and eliminated the Feedburner footer that's catching on with so many bloggers these days (the ugly 'digg this, del.icio.us that' standard links appearing in many RSS feeds). Jon also mentions some stylistic battles he had to wage, but at the end of it all is a very functional improvement to a beloved default NNW style. You can grab Spotlight+wrap from Jon Rentzsch's blog.[via Ranchero's blog]
TUAW Tip: Quickly reveal enclosing folders in Spotlight
I don't know whether it's just me, but the one thing that I've always felt was lacking from Spotlight was the ability to quickly and easily reveal the enclosing folder for search results. It was never a major problem, but on the rare occasion when I do use Spotlight, I often seem to need to see the search result's containing folder. Earlier I was looking up a rogue "mds" process which was hogging 60% of my MacBook's CPU when I came across an article on Macintouch, with this little tidbit at the end from Chong-Yee."Apple's "Spotlight Tips" page is good, but doesn't include the following tip I discovered. If you want to reveal a file in its enclosing folder from the drop down Spotlight results list, hold down the Command key and click the result."This is probably something I should have discovered on my own anyway (holding down Command during any action in OS X usually reveals some kind of useful alternative action), but because the problem wasn't so annoying that I felt the need to research it (hence my accidental discovery) I never thought to try. Usually I'd click "show all", and then right click the item and press "reveal in Finder". That usually took a few seconds -- now the process takes less than a single second.This personal example reminds me of Steve Garfield's entertaining interview with David Pogue (seriously, check out the bit at the end where David sings and plays the piano) where he talks about cool shortcuts that developers put into their work which, for whatever reason, don't make their way in the official documentation.
Mockup of tagging in OS X
As WWDC draws near Mac geeks' thoughts turn to what new features will greet the Faithful in Leopard. Now, Mac users don't just stop at thinking about what they want to see, they create mockups. Matt Jalbert would like to see tagging implemented in the Finder and has created the mockup to the right. He would like to see tags auto-generated by the Finder and Spotlight integration (i.e. when you click on the tag 'bridge' it does a search of all other files tagged in the same way).Some people are already taking advantage of Spotlight to create tagging functionality, but it would be nice to see in the OS (if you're into tagging that is).
BlogZot: HoudahSpot
Spotlight is great, but its interface leaves one wanting. Its difficult to specify location, file type, date modified, and other types of file data without going out of your way to learn spotlight commands. HoudahSpot introduces a whole new way to interact with spotlight. Upon opening the program, one is greeted with an interface not dissimilar to the PathFinder search dialog, allowing users to choose where, for what file types and dates modified, as well as multiple other variables, to search. MacZot is doing another one of their BlogZot promotions for this product, in which every blog post advertising the event takes $0.05 off the price, until HoudahSpot is free. Only 5000 licenses of HoudahSpot are available, so get your posts in soon.
Productivity on OS X
Paul Stamatiou is more productive on a Mac. Why? The combination of Exposé, Quicksilver, and Spotlight. These three things taken together really make the Mac a powerhouse of productivity (and I should know since I use the very same tools, though I tend not to need Spotlight that much. I'm just that good).Now, I spend a fair amount of time using Windows and it isn't an awful experience (Windows is good for some things), however, whenever I am on my Mac I feel like I'm getting more done.So, TUAW readers, share your productivity hints in the comments so that we can all become dynamos of productive power!
Omni Group introduces OmniDazzle - "mesmerizing mouse movements"
After weeks of ambiguous hints and torturous teasing, The Omni Group has unveiled their newest product, and it definitely isn't a Sweedish meatball maker. Introducing: OmniDazzle, a "set of fun and useful enhancements that help you track the location of your mouse pointer and provide options for highlighting certain areas of your screen". Basically, it's like one of those mouse-trailing toys tools with some actually useful goodness baked in. For example, OmniDazzle can place a spotlight on your mouse, dimming the background and helping you or your audience focus on what's important. It offers other interesting tools for pinpointing your mouse and even drawing on screen for those times when crayons just won't do. In fact, there's a lot of quirky (and handy) stuff OmniDazzle is capable of, so why not check it out while it's in beta?
Will Australia get the first look at Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard?
Tim Gaden (of Hawk Wings fame) has written an interesting article for his 'day job' column at APC Magazine about the possibility of our friends down under getting a first peek at Apple's forthcoming update to Mac OS X, 10.5 Leopard. Apparently, Apple has sent emails stating that they will be previewing the August WWDC during special seminars in Australian capitals during the month of June - nearly two months before the real WWDC takes the stage.If this is true, it would be great to hear real details of what Leopard is going to bring, as opposed to mere rumors of a re-built and Spotlight-dependent Finder, Windows virtualization and resolution independence. Here's hoping our Australian neighbors can't keep secrets very well.
Charlotte, Spotlight for the Web
If you like Spotlight, and you like searching the web then have I got the app for you! Charlotte, which bills itself as Spotlight for the Web, is a desktop application that let's you search Yahoo! with a very Spotlightesque interface. Best of all it is free!Charlotte is available now and requires OS X 10.4.
Google Importer - search Google with Spotlight
Google Importer is a Spotlight plug-in that can add a Google search to the list of results Spotlight returns. It is installed as a System Preferences pane with options to adjust how many results are gathered from Google, whether to show a link to an actual Google results page, and how many seconds to wait after the last key is typed to begin searching Google. Note: that last option only adjusts how long Spotlight waits to search Google, not the rest of your computer like many users have been asking for.I haven't tinkered around with this, but it sounds like a nice idea as long as it doesn't hang the Spotlight search too much. Google Importer is donationware and available from Caffeinated Cocoa Software.
Metadata and Spotlight equals filing system
Lifehacker shows us how we can just dump all our files into the 'Documents' folder and still find things very quickly. What sort of black magic do you have to use? Why, just a little Spotlight and some 'tagging.' You tag your files by inserting relevant information into the comments section of each file (if you do a 'Get Info' on a file that you have on your desktop, or anywhere else, you'll notice that there is a comments section). Now, it wouldn't be cool if you had to do this manually, but read the article and you will find out a few tips to make tagging easy as pie. Mmm, metadata pie.
Pocketlight brings (some) Spotlight to Panther
If you're still using Panther for one reason or another but drool when you hear the word 'Spotlight,' an app by the name of Pocketlight can bring a little bit of Tiger to your Panther. Pocketlight isn't nearly as all-encompassing as Spotlight, but it can search Mail.app mailboxes, iCal events, Address Book contacts and files in a specified folder. In an odd turn of events, Pocketlight is only available for Mac OS X 10.3; not 10.4.Pocketlight is free, but the author states that it isn't going to be updated or enhanced from here on out, so grab it while you can.[via Hawk Wings]
The Office upgrade ate two Address Books, or: why I don't touch Microsoft products
So y'know that Office update that came out a few days ago? The one that Spotlight-ified Entourage and added syncing abilities with iCal and Address Book? Yea um, it ate not only my Address Book but my fiancé's which I was subscribed to through .Mac.Syncing setup is brainless and painless - there's a new preference section in Entourage in which you can individually enable syncing with iCal, Address Book and/or Notes through .Mac. Simple enough. A little while after I checked those options, the .Mac syncing engine offered a dialog asking if I would like to merge items between Entourage and Apple's apps, or if I would like to overwrite Entourage. I chose to overwrite, since I didn't have info in Entourage's database and I was simply curious about the app.Somehow, some way, even though I told the engine to overwrite Entourage, my Address Book magically increased to 499 contacts after the first sync operation. Maybe it picked up all those extra friends from MySpace or something during the sync, because last I checked I only had 326 contacts in Address Book. Upon investigation, some of my contacts had split into separate cards, with information either duplicated or obliterated. Even better: I am subscribed to my fiancé's Address Book (with editing rights) through .Mac, as we're helping to keep each other's contacts up to date in preparation for sending out invitations. The Entourage sync not only mangled a seemingly random collection of her contacts, but it blew away all of her groups.Now before you fire off a snarling comment: yes, we have backups. I've turned into quite the backup nazi - but this post is more of a complaint and a warning about this new Entourage feature. Who knows if the mishap was the result of a .Mac syncing error or bug, but - call me biased if you gotta - I have a sneaking suspicion this had to do with an Office update that wasn't quite finished. I've never had an issue syncing anything else through .Mac, and that includes a lot of 3rd party stuff like Yojimbo, SOHO Notes and Transmit favorites.So, boys and girls, the moral of the story is a classic: back your stuff up - and often (sub-moral: don't trust Microsoft, even if it is software from their Mac Business Unit).
MoRU - what Spotlight should be?
Rob Griffiths over at MacOSXHints has discovered MoRU, an app that builds upon the power of Spotlight with its offering of far more customizable search queries. Instead of searching for everything across your entire Mac with Spotlight, consider how much handier it would be to say: "show me these specific kind of files, with exactly X in their name, made between this year and that year." If this concept seems a little strange, check out Rob's post for a couple real-world examples of when a blind search across everything on your machine becomes less productive than Apple advertises.MoRU is shareware that costs $10. If you're as unhappy with Spotlight's blind, system-wide search as Rob, it sounds like MoRU is definitely worth taking for a spin.
Entourage will receive Spotlight and iSync support by March
Good news for you Entourage users: included in Microsoft's 5-year Office promise announcement was that, with the March update to Office, you will soon be able to search your Entourage emails through the beauty of Spotlight.Keeping the surprises rolling, for all you PDA sync-happy folk out there, Microsoft will also build support for iSync right into Entourage, meaning that devices compatible Sync Services will natively be able to sync with Entourage. Unfortunately, I'm *pretty* sure this ironically excludes PocketPC's, but I could be wrong. You can read more about the announcements and new features at Microsoft's PressPass announcement.At any rate, I think these major new features and updates ought to squash any doubt of Microsoft's commitment to Office on OS X.[via Hawk Wings]
Is Spotlight spying on you?
I'm not sure what the Mac Observer's John Kheit has on his hard drives, and I am not sure I want to know. He seems a little too worried about the metadata that built in OS search tools like Spotlight, or its Windows counterpart, are storing as a matter of course.All kidding aside, the fact that many more files are now storing metadata is something every computer user should be aware of to avoid many issues. Give John's column a read and then become paranoid about what your files know about you.
Spotlight University
Ahh, Spotlight. Another in the fine list of Mac OS X features that people seem to love or hate (Sherlock anyone?). I am a Spotlight booster and I'm not afraid to say it. I was just extolling the virtues of Spotlight to a co-worker when they asked, 'What's so grrreat about Tiger anyway?' (see what I did there? Tiger, and Tony the Tiger? Nevermind.)I'm not the only one that loves it, and to prove it take look at Spotlight University. An entire blog devoted to the little search application that could, what more could you ask for?The best part? If you eschew the Finder and only use Spotlight they want you!
