Jon Stewart exposes Karl Rove (again).
My Bcc Rant
It’s incredible to me that professionals still don’t understand how to use Bcc. I’ve received several emails with 50 names minimum in the “To” field. Addressed to an active group of leaders within the mortgage industry. To the opportunist, a targeted and valuable list.
Here is what the sender reveals about themselves when doing this. They reveal a lack of understanding around basic email etiquette. It also reveals an unexplainable ignorance to the practice of email harvesting. Snarky marketers love dumping email lists into their contact blasts.
If you are clueless to what I’m talking about, pay attention. You are pissing other people off! It’s sloppy, stop doing it. Rant over.
New Improvements to Gmail - My Contacts
Google has addressed a large shortcoming in its web-based email platform tonight. An update to the Gmail contacts feature is circulating.
The new feature updates the contact functionality. Specifically, My Contacts has changed. It is intended to become the landing page for all ‘real’ contacts in Gmail. The other significant list is the Suggested Contacts group. It consists of anyone that has been emailed and is not in your primary list. Moving contacts between the two lists is much simpler.
This is a signal tighter integration between the iPhone and Gmail is coming. A good sync option (preferably free) between Address Book & Gmail would be helpful. Any suggestions?
Contact management was a weak spot for Gmail. This update indicates that Contact management is getting some Google love. It may even convince a few more disgruntled Exchange refugees to jump the gap and come to the free, virtual, and increasingly robust web-based Gmail platform. Below is a screenshot.
10 Free iPhone Apps - Part 1
- Dial Zero - Quickly dial the customer service numbers of over 600 companies and skip directly to a person. Don’t wait through annoying voice prompts any longer.
- Google Mobile App - Improves search capabilities and integration of Google with your iPhone.
- Jott for iPhone - The ultimate mobile notepad that turns your voice into notes. Capture to-dos, organize into lists, and cross them off with a swipe of your finger.
- Local Picks by TripAdvisor - 410,000 restaurant reviews. Greasy diners, hidden gems, & trendy hot spots.
- Loopt - Turn your iPhone into a social compass by using location technology to connect with friends nearby. Could be very useful at conferences (REBlogWorld perhaps?).
- Midomi - Music application that claims you can hold your iPhone up to a speaker and it will recognize the song for you. Crazy cool!
- Moo - Turns your iPhone into an entertaining device for young children by ‘mooing’ when the phone is flipped.
- MixMeister Scratch - Lets you perform a scratch anywhere over your music tracks. Comes with preset vinyl scratch sounds.
- Remote - Control the music on your computer or Apple TV from your iPhone.
- Talking Spanish Phrasebook - Emergency travel guide to help on those quick jaunts to Mexico.
The iPhone as a Platform
Blackberry excluded, the handset makers are in trouble. Apple is extending its reach into all areas of the mobile social web. The gloves come off tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. Once the dust settles from the 3G release, the focus shifts to the applications being developed for the iPhone. Therein is the key to the iPhone’s potential and I believe, its future dominance.
Applications will propel the iPhone to greater success than its predecessor, the iPod, enjoyed. It isn’t just a phone. It’s a platform.
Time-saving Trick for Faster Podcast Listening
Whether you want to learn spanish, follow NPR, or hear the positions of Barack Obama, podcasts are a great way to learn about a subject quickly. As an information junkie, I employ a little ninja trick when I fall behind on listening to my podcast subscriptions. This post will cover how to create an Applescript so that you can playback podcasts faster.
The first time I saw the Tivo, I was transfixed. Tivo was a game changer. Bloated one hour episodes were magically reduced to 45 minutes of commercial-free programming. Tivo changed the way people watched television. Television addicts rejoiced. It also became a valuable tool for Tivo’s time-deprived customers to skip the fluff. Advertisers were no longer guaranteed eyeballs and as a consequence, traditional ad revenue models began to deteriorate.
The Tivo proved that technology could bring control to our content and allow for its use in more flexible and efficient ways. Alas, this Applescript accomplishes the same thing for podcasts by increasing the speed and reducing the time it takes to digest audio content.
Will I still be able to understand the recording?
Conventional thinking would suggest that speeding up the playback would make the recording sound like this. Surprisingly, that isn’t the case and the quality of the audio is understandable. If you can adapt to the faster pace, this hack is guaranteed to save time.
What are the limitations?
While it may be obvious, Applescripts are only applicable to the Mac OS. Second, if you have iTunes streaming to your stereo, this Applescript utilizes Quicktime and playback will occur over the computer’s default speakers. Finally, this isn’t a solution for the iPod or iPhone. There are extension tweaks for those devices that will allow you to increase playback speed of AAC files, but that’s for another day.
Ok, what’s the hack?
- Goto Finder and open the application “Script Editor” and select New from the File menu.
- Paste the following code into the Script Editor. {Playback speed is controlled in second line from bottom.}
tell application “iTunes”
pause
set my_track to location of current track
set my_seconds to player position
end tell
tell application “QuickTime Player”
open my_track
set my_movie to first document
set ts to time scale of my_movie
set current time of my_movie to my_seconds * ts
set rate of my_movie to 1.4 — starts playing
end tell
- Create a folder called iTunes in your ‘User/Library/Scripts’ folder
- Save the script to the newly created folder
- Launch iTunes, select a podcast, launch the script from your menu bar
- Listen
One more thing to remember. You need to go into the Applescript Utility and make sure “Show Scripts Menu in Menu Bar” is checked. Otherwise, you won’t see the icon in your menu bar. So there you have it. A tech trick from a relative newbie in the world of Applescripts. Enjoy.
P.S. If you have found or written any other good scripts for iTunes or have a better (simpler) way to speed up podcasts, leave a comment!