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How I Migrated My Mac Life Into the Cloud

Patrick Hunt — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:37:15 +0000

Toward the end of 2009, I began to notice that my computing needs had changed quite a bit. I’d begun to do a lot more heavy duty work in video, requiring Final Cut Studio and a large screen for editing, so I purchased a 24″ iMac for the office. At the same time, I had been traveling for business much less than before, and began to grow weary of toting my laptop (a rev A MacBook Air) back-and-forth each day. I decided a new strategy was in order and determined that I could make my life much easier if I could just leave my laptop at home on most days. Then I’d be able to carry it only when needed it for a local presentation, traveling, or if I knew I’d be mobile for a good part of the day. Subsequently, I’ve ordered an iPad, and hope it can replace my laptop in many cases.

As I tend to work at home during early mornings and evenings, the biggest challenge in this new strategy quickly became how to keep files and app data in sync across the two computers. Now, to be fair, I didn’t approach this in any strategic way, but over the ensuing few months, I have migrated much of my Mac life into the cloud (for those interested in cloud computing or data centers, check out our Structure 10 conference in June). Here are a few of the key ways I made this happen.

Mailplane + Gmail

I have several email accounts for various projects and my personal needs, and they are all either Gmail or Google Apps accounts. Previously, I set them all up as IMAP accounts and used Mail.app as a client. Even though I accessed most accounts on a daily basis, Mail.app — despite its superior UI — quickly became an untenable solution. True, I can sync accounts, rules and other data using MobileMe, but I noticed some inconsistencies in the way messages were displaying, and I was using precious disk space on duplicate mailbox files, caches, and temporary files.

Mailplane is the perfect solution for me. As a direct view of the Gmail web interface, Mailplane ensures that there aren’t any inconsistencies. And nothing gets stored locally unless I choose to download it. Like Mail, I can easily switch between accounts, and I also have direct, integrated access with Address Book.

MobileMe for Address Book and Bookmark Syncing

Speaking of Address Book, Google’s contact manager is pretty weak, and despite integration with Gmail, I am not ready to turn my contacts over to Google’s less than desirable product. So I keep Apple’s Address Book as my primary contact manager, and sync it across MobileMe among my Macs and the iPhone. Syncing only certain contacts with others — my wife, for example, for our shared social contacts — is the next step for me. I am also using MobileMe to synchronize Safari bookmarks. Having the same bookmarks across devices has proven to be a lifesaver from time-to-time.

Google Calendar (including Mobile Sync) + Fluid for Calendars

As I described earlier, I have several Gmail and Google Apps accounts. With Mailplane, you get to see a list of accounts in a sidebar, and easily switch among them without having to enter your username and password each time. I’ve even combined some accounts by using one to send and receive mail from another, and deleting the account in Mailplane. To my knowledge, there isn’t a similar solution for Google Calendar. So I’ve set all my calendars to be shared with my primary account, then used Fluid to create an app-specific browser for the consolidated Google Calendar. As a result, I have one calendar app that displays all my various calendars but allows me to keep them separate (different colors, turn on/off, etc.).

SugarSync for File Synchronization

I have longed for Mac OS X features that allow file and folder-level synchronization across computers, to no avail. Many in the Mac community swear by DropBox, but I chose SugarSync for a couple of reasons. First, with SugarSync, you can add any file or folder on a computer to your sync profile, regardless of where that file lives. At least when I looked at it previously, DropBox required you to set up a special sync folder and move your files there, forcing me to reorganize my files, not something I wanted to do. And there’s always price: SugarSync is $5/month less than DropBox at the 100GB storage level. I now often save a file on my office computer as I’m leaving the office, then open it at home with those changes reflected.

Google Docs for Collaboration

More and more, I find myself working with others on projects that require collaborative editing. Google Docs is a great solution, as it allows multiple people to access and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The user interface and available styles aren’t exactly aesthetically pleasing, but Google Docs works really well. Google recently added the ability to entire folders, not just documents, which made it even more valuable to me and my collaborators.

OmniFocus and Evernote

I’ve got a lot going on (probably too much), and I’ve started and stopped using various task management applications multiple times. I love Things, but I can’t live without hierarchical organization of my information and the Wi-fi based syncing with iPhone is tedious. I also really dig The Hit List, but after many months Potion Factory is still taking pre-orders and hasn’t released an iPhone app. I’m worried that it has stalled. I keep returning to OmniFocus from The Omni Group, which has some powerful organization and management capabilities, and also syncs perfectly among Macs and the iPhone. Lastly, I’ve recently rediscovered Evernote, whose web-based syncing has proven effortless and reliable (more on Evernote in a future post).

My Mac Life in the Cloud

I haven’t yet bothered syncing media, as I tend to simply use my iPhone for music, photos and more when I’m away from home. In the meantime, it seems like I can be anywhere and have access to all the files and data I need.

So, how are you keeping multiple devices in sync and using the cloud to make your life easier and more efficient?

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Report: How Mobile Cloud Computing Will Change Tech

Quick Look: Creating and Using Site Specific Browsers

Alfredo Padilla — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:30:51 +0000

The advent of the cloud over the past few years has meant that a lot of the tasks that we were used to doing on our Mac have now moved to the web. This brings with it a host of issues, from data ownership to reliability of services (see recent Sidekick fiasco) and whether the web can deliver a Mac-like experience.

Putting all that aside, however, a more mundane problem is managing all of those sites and getting to them quickly and easily. Individual apps conveniently come with their own icon on your dock, web apps do not, forcing you to dig through the myriad of open tabs in your browser to find the app you need.If you’ve truly made the jump to cloud computing there is, thankfully, a better way: site specific browsers (SSBs). The basic idea is simple: Create a separate web browser, complete with its own icon on the dock, to browse to a single site. We’ve covered an excellent example of a site specific browser here on TAB in the past, Mailplane, which is used to access Gmail’s online interface.

The beauty of an SSB is not only do you get the bonus of neatly having your own icon for a single web application, but it also allows that site to integrate with OS X more completely. For example you can have things like address book access and dock badges, all things that Mailplane does for Gmail.

That’s great if you use Gmail, but what about all the other great web-based applications out there? Although there are not specific SSBs for things like Twitter, Google Calendar, Remember The Milk and other web services, there are two different programs that will let you take any web site and turn it into a site specific browser: Fluid and Prism. The major difference between the two is that Fluid uses Webkit to power its SSBs, while Prism uses the Gecko browser base that runs Firefox.

Aside from these underlying technologies, the two programs offer remarkably similar functionality. Simply enter a web address, choose an icon (or just use the site favicon), and voila, a new program based on that site will be created for you. What’s more, each browser can accept various scripts to add functionality like a dock icon and even Growl notifications. You can even make an SSB your default email or RSS program.

In many ways SSBs may represent the future of computing. Just look at Google’s upcoming Chrome OS, where the browser is the operating system. In such a situation it makes no sense to continue using the outdated system of web pages and browser bookmarks. When a website is a program unto itself you can argue that it deserves to be treated as one at the operating system level.

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3 Clever Little Mac Apps for Web Workers

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:00:50 +0000

Sometimes doing things via web apps is great. Everything is in one place: your browser. Even so, sometimes having everything in one place isn’t ideal. A browser crash could kill all of your work, not just one component, and it can be harder to keep your focus appropriately segmented if your tools are all mashed together. Here are a few great Mac applications that give you access to your web apps, but do so in nice, native software packages.

Propane

It’s a fine way to power a BBQ, but it’s also more than that. Propane is a new piece of beta software that does what I previously did using a Fluid browser instance. Specifically, it runs Campfire-based chatrooms, which are a popular tool for people who need to collaborate in real-time with a distributed team. I use Campfire rooms to coordinate with other writers at various blog sites where time and scheduling is a primary concern, but that’s just one possible use.

Like with a Fluid instance, Propane provides Campfire with the bare minimum of browser chrome, so that it does in fact look like a native OS X app. It also provides some nice bells and whistles that allow you to customize the how and why of notification sounds and messages, including Growl notifications. There’s also great tools for better file sharing, including automatic source detection when you drag content (text and images) from a Safari window into your active chatroom in Propane.

Mailplane

I’m not actively trying to rhyme these app names, it’s just working out that way. Gmail is great, and Mail.app is nice enough, but I’d rather not use the two together if possible. I love Gmail’s web interface, but I’m not crazy about trying to manage my email activities in a browser window. Maybe that makes me old school, but I grew up on Outlook, and old habits die hard.

Mailplane delivers all the Gmail interface goodness with a nice, native app wrapper. Basically it, like Propane, is just a browser instance with some additional features specific to the web app in question that makes it easier to use. It’s those features that make the app worthwhile, though. Mailplane takes advantage of Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts to allow you to view and create new messages, reply, attach media, and more using convenient buttons located along the top of the app window. It also badges the app icon in your dock with the number of unread emails, and can notify you of new mail using sound and Growl.

Those with Google Apps and multiple accounts are also in luck, because it supports easy account switching and storage. There’s also an option to display an icon in the menu bar, including new mail count. You can try it out for free for a month, but it is a paid program, and will set you back $24.95 if you do decide to purchase.

Gdocsuploader

This is less an app and more of a handy little applet, but the single, focused service it provides is incredibly useful: a simple drag-and-drop interface for uploading documents to Google Docs. It may not seem like much, but it saves a lot of steps vs. the traditional method, which can quickly add up if you do most of your document editing in Google Docs, like I do.

All you have to do to use it is keep the app icon in your dock, and then drag any document onto the icon to upload it. It’ll prompt you once for your Google name and password, and afterward it’ll just work. If you prefer, opening the app will automatically take you to a file browser for selecting a file to upload manually.

None of the above apps does anything that you can’t do using the web, but they do offer time-saving and usability enhancements that you won’t necessarily get using only the corresponding app for each in a normal browser window. Just because web apps are often convenient and user-friendly doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be more so with a more solid connection to your desktop.

Have any tips on how to make web apps more native? Share them in the comments.

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Mailplane: If Gmail and OS X Had a Love Child

Lisa Hoover — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:00:46 +0000

I’ve been a hardcore Gmail user since the early days, when beta really meant the email service was in its infancy. It’s perfect for managing my email but there are two big things Gmail can’t do that seriously hinder my daily workflow: There’s no easy way to switch between Gmail accounts, and no way to drag and drop a attachments into emails.

To get around these two issues, I use Mailplane. It’s a fantastic application that replicates the Gmail interface right on your desktop and integrates so well with your Mac that you’ll never want to access Gmail from the web again.

Mailplane runs on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, and requires 15 MB of hard disk space. It takes all of about two minutes to install and configure, depending on how many Gmail accounts you’d like it to access. Once you provide your Gmail login information — it’s stored locally, and safely, on your machine — a screen opens that looks exactly like the Gmail interface you’re used to, but with an additional toolbar at the top to let you access Mac-specific functions.

Keyboard shortcuts still work, as do the Gmail option buttons (Archive, Report Spam, Delete, etc.).

The Toolbar

Mailplane’s toolbar adds additional, if redundant, New, Reply, Forward, Send, and Discard buttons. I don’t use those, but the five other buttons on this toolbar make Mailplane worth every MB of disk space it uses.

Screenshot – While composing an email, click Screenshot and choose which onscreen image you want to capture: a window, a particular screen, or a specific selection. You can also opt to hide Mailplane while capturing your screenshot. Once snapped, the .png will be automatically attached to your email.

Email – This button accesses your Mac’s Address Book so you can easily look up contacts while crafting an email. Or, simply click Email, choose a contact, and begin typing a new message.

Media – This is my favorite feature of Mailplane. Click this button to access all media files stored on your computer. Find files by name, or by their thumbnail image. Select your file, decide what size you want it to be (small for a faster download, medium, or large for better quality), and the file is automatically attached to your outgoing email.

Download – Click on Download to reveal in Finder any attachments you’ve received via email. Any photos or .zip files you receive are automatically opened in iPhoto.

Accounts – Use this button to access all of your Gmail or Google Apps for domain accounts via fast-switching. Since Mailplane keeps you logged in to all of your Gmail accounts until you say otherwise, simply click the button to open a drawer on right side of the window for a list of all accounts and how many unread emails are in each inbox.

Additional Goodies

If Mailplane’s extended Gmail functionality ended there, it would still be well worth the download. It still has a whole lot more to offer, though. If you leave Mailplane in your dock, you can just drag and drop any file right onto the icon and a blank email opens with the file already attached. You can also get notified of new mail via a sound, a numeric display on the dock’s icon, or directly through the Growl notification system.

There’s even a really cool plugin that lets you email pictures right from iPhoto with a single click, and OmniFocus users will love the plugin that integrates Mailplane with the popular task manager.

I’ve been an avid user of Mailplane for a long time and have had no serious issues with stability, hanging, or freezing. The app does hang on occasion, but it typically occurs when I’m asking it to do too much — like compose a new email while attaching a large file to another.

Mailplane’s developer is very responsive and usually answers emails within a day or so. For a really rapid response for support or questions, the forums are an excellent place to start.

Gmail is nearly perfect these days, especially with all the tweaks and new features they’ve been rolling out lately. I used to use Gmail via Mail.app and POP because I wanted to access my mail offline and have an email client that’s tightly integrated with my OS. Now that Gmail is available offline, Mailplane is a perfect way for me to access my accounts any time I want without jumping through POP mail hoops or giving up Mac integration.

Mailplane has a 30-day trial period before registration is required. A single license costs $24.95, but you can license up to 5 additional Macs with the Family Option for $15 more. Quantity and educational discounts are also available.

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Mailplane 2 Beta is Available

Jethro Jones — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:00:31 +0000

For those of you who don’t know, Mailplane is an application that combines the best of two worlds: Gmail and your Mac. Mailplane is essentially Mail.app for your Gmail account. It allows all of the functionality of regular Gmail, but adds a lot to make life easier.

You can compose, save and send email like in a regular browser, but application buttons allow you to compose, send, browse, reply, forward, and Mailplane even includes all of Gmail’s shortcuts. Sending pictures is way faster with drag-and-drop functionality and a media browser. Mailplane also incorporates your contacts from Address Book, which makes sending group emails a piece of cake. The difference between Mailplane and a regular desktop mail client is that Mailplane doesn’t download all your emails, it leaves them on Gmail’s servers.

If Gmail’s settings aren’t optimized for Mailplane, it will let you know, and then take you to the settings page that will enable the feature that you don’t have turned on, in my case, it took me to the Gmail shortcuts settings page.

Uncomplex gmbh added more than 30 improvements to the program. Here are the highlights:

Auto-completion for adding and removing labels
Hide the Spam count and invitation boxes in the sidebar (nice touch, removes an annoying bold spam folder and invites box)
OmniFocus “clipping” integration (plugin links OmniFocus task to your conversation)
Do Not Disturb mode keeps Mailplane from interrupting your intense GTD time (when you turn off this mode, you are notified with Growl, sounds, and message counts)
Copy and paste images and files from Finder to Mailplane.

Current users of Mailplane 1 will be upgraded to Mailplane 2 for free (very gentlemanly of them, don’t you think?), otherwise it is only $24.95. Mailplane works on Tiger and Leopard.

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