I’m a Facebook fanatic. I joined immediately after they opened to the public. In the beginning, there wasn’t much to talk about. None of my friends had joined and there really wasn’t that much I could do there. But since then, the buzz has caught my friends’ attention and Facebook’s extendibility has grown consistently, giving me a lot to play with.
Since I’ve been catching myself updating both Facebook and Twitter separately, I figured I should revisit my workflow and see if I can tweak my current level of automation.
It wasn’t difficult. I just added a couple lines of code to iQuickTwitter and now I can update Twitter, Facebook, iChat, and Skype with a single command. If you dig it, be my friend and let me know.
Graham English @ Facebook
Graham English @ Twitter
Click here to open the script in Script Editor.
If all you want is to update Facebook with Quicksilver, try this:
Click here to open the script in Script Editor.
If you try to please everyone, somebody is not going to like it.
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(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...My New Method Of Automated Journaling
June 11, 2007
0 Comments
I’ve been hacking this auto-journal script for a while and I’ve recently settled on using a local install of WordPress combined with AppleScript and Quicksilver. It’s really pretty easy.
Follow MacZealots’ tutorial on Installing WordPress on Tiger. If you have any trouble along the way, you might need to check out Mac OS X Server 10.4.4: Improvements to Apache/PHP/MySQL interaction. Now you’ve got a local install of WordPress that you can dress up.
Now you’ll want to save this applescript as a ‘Stay Open’ application and set your options. If you want Growl support to work, you’ll either need to save it with the name “WordPress Journal” or modify the Growl tell in the script. I have it set to ask me what I’m doing every 15 minutes during regular work hours and every 30 minutes thereafter.
There may be times when you don’t want to use the automatic functions but you would still like to send something to your journal. For this, I’ve also created a Quicksilver action. Save this applescript in your Quicksilver actions folder. Again, if you want Growl support, save it with the name “WordPress Blog” or modify the Growl tell in the script. Now all you do is call Quicksilver, enter text mode and type your journal entry, tab over and type as much of “WordPress Blog” as you need, and hit Return.
Of course, you could use a remote version of WordPress if you don’t like the idea of installing it locally. But for privacy, it’s probably best to keep it on your own machine.
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.
– Charlie McCarthy
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...GTD: What Are You Doing Right Now Redux
April 20, 2007
4 Comments
My previous attempt at a time-tracking script worked well for a while. But I wanted something that was self-contained so I could share it with my friends and coworkers. I also wanted to cut down on key strokes.
Since my internet connection has been intermittent the past couple of days and I couldn’t get much work done, I decided to switch gears and see what I could put together. Plus, I’ve been wanting an excuse to dig into Applescript more. This is my new and improved journalling script.
What is it and what does it do?
- Journal is an Applescript application designed to log your activity or act as a time-centric journal.
- This journal script uses one timed repeat variable between the hours of 9 to 5 PM (Option 1), and another the rest of the time (Option 2), using your system clock. I use these options to slow the journal updates after my regular work hours are over.
- It creates a folder on your startup disk called ‘Daily Journal’ and creates a date-stamped journal entry as a text file.
- Every X minutes (depending on the variables you set), a dialog opens asking you what you are doing. Type, and hit Enter.
- A time-stamped journal entry is appended to the daily journal entry text file.
- In the dialog box, you also have the option to open the journal file or cancel.
Benefits of using this application:
- It automates your time-tracking. Use it for billing, accountability, journalling, etc.
- It reminds you to get back to work if you’re still reading Digg.
- It gives you the big picture view of your activities for the day.
- It brings you back to the present moment, good for self-awareness.
- It’s downright simple.
- You could force your employees to use it and micro-manage their every movement.
How to use:
- Download the application and unzip.
- Double click the app or set as a login item. You can copy it to your ‘Applications’ folder or run it from anywhere.
- Default options are:
Option 1 startTime = 9 (9 AM)
Option 1 endTime = 17 (5 PM)
Option 1 timeOption1 = (15 * 60) — repeats every 15 minutes
Option 2 timeOption2 = (60 * 60) — repeats every hour
Modify to your preferences. - When the dialog box opens, type whatever you want and hit Enter.
Tips and Pointers:
- If you want to edit any of the variables, open Journal.app from within the Script Editor and set your options.
- Choosing ‘Open Journal’ will override the ability to add an entry to the journal. For this reason, I’ve included a raw, single-instance version of the journal script to run manually from the finder, script menu, or by a keyboard shortcut or Quicksilver action. Using this version will pull up the dialog window so you can add something to your journal in between scheduled entries or open the journal. If you don’t like the automatic interruptions of the app version, use this script instead.
- The Journal is a stay open app. I’m not sure why, but choosing ‘Quit Journal’ (Cmd+Q) doesn’t quit the program. The problem isn’t that it hangs. You can see in ‘Activity Monitor’ that it remains responsive. Until I figure out why, I either let it close when I shut down or I force quit.
- If you don’t respond to a dialog before the script repeats, you’ll get an ‘AppleEvent timed out’ error. So it’s a good practice to quit the Journal if you’re leaving your computer for any amount of time that’s longer than the next repeat. The other thing you can do is make the repeat time longer and just plan on typing more in each individual entry.
- If you want to go beyond just the concrete level of your moment-to-moment activities, the NLP Neurological Levels can give your journal entries some depth. You can note your current environment, your current and previous behaviors, what skills you are using, the beliefs you are operating under, what kind of person you are being, and who else might be involved. It’s good motivation and can help you remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Future plans:
- Add idle or pause controls.
- Add ability to set variables in a run dialog.
- Twitter integration.
I hope you enjoy using Journal as much as I enjoyed creating it.
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...I’m into systems. I love figuring out how to get from point A to point B and then optimizing the process as efficiently as possible. Better yet, I love being able to turn a system on and not have to think about it again.
This is one of those systems. I’m an entrepreneur. I don’t have a boss telling me what to do. It’s easy to start my day, turn on iTunes, and get lost for an hour or two tweaking my Mac or my GTD system while I drink a pot of coffee. This system is a helpful nudge to get back to work.
What is it and what does it do?
- It’s an Apple Automator application designed to log your activity.
- When you first open it, it asks you to set a loop duration. Default is 30 minutes.
- It gets a specified finder item. In this case, a text file, and opens it with the default application. Mine is TextMate.
- It puts the current date and time on the clipboard.
- With the date and time on the clipboard, you can move the cursor to the bottom or top of the page, whichever you prefer, paste the date and start typing.
Benefits of using this application:
- It’s a time tracker, for billing, accountability, etc.
- It’s a reminder to get back to work if you’ve been slacking.
- It gives you a picture of what you’ve been doing for the day.
- It’s a journal. You don’t have to be so concrete, as in, I’m sending email. You could write about what you’ve just learned or hope to learn, how you’re feeling, or any other fluffy thing that journals are good for.
I use it as a combination of all of these. It keeps me on task. It reminds me to reflect. It gives me a place to collect thoughts. And it really helps me to get things done.
Preparation:
- Create a text file named ‘What I’m Doing Now.txt’ and save it in ~/Library/Favorites/
How to use:
- Download the application and unzip.
- Double click the app or set as a login item.
- Default loop time is 30 minutes (1800 seconds). Modify to your preferences.
- The text file you created during the preparation will open in your default text editor.
- Move your cursor where you want it, paste the date and time that’s already on your clipboard (Ctrl + V), and then type what you are doing.
Tips:
- If you want to edit any of the variables, ctrl click on the app and choose ‘Show Package Contents’. The workflow is located in the ‘Resources’ folder and named ‘What I’m Doing Right Now.workflow’. If you want to change the default loop time, open the scripts folder and edit ‘main.scpt’ in Script Editor. The second line, ‘current_idle’ is the delay in seconds before the workflow runs.
- It helps me to think about the NLP Neurological Levels when I log what I’m doing. I will note my current environment, my current and previous behaviors, what skills I’m using, the beliefs I’m operating under, what kind of person I’m being, and who else is involved. It’s good motivation and helps me remember why I’m doing what I’m doing.
- This is not a replacement for Twitter. What this can do, however, is help you to differentiate what your Twitter followers need to know about your moment-to-moment activities.
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...
When I read that you could use Quicksilver with Twitter, I felt as excited as Jack Bauer in an interrogation room full of terror suspects. It all started with Twitter Fan Wiki. And then I lost myself in hours of troubleshooting as I tried to force hack after hack to work the way I wanted them to. As these things are, it wasn’t nearly as hard in the end as all the work that led up to the final result.
The first AppleScript I found for the job was here. But as best as I can tell, the Keychain Access was a major bottleneck. Then I found an option that uses the Twitter Rubygem, but you’ve got to be pretty serious to install Rubygems on your Mac. I couldn’t make it happen. I’m not that serious. Then I found another way to avoid Keychain scripting, but it was still too geeky for me to get working with my limited know-how. I even found iChat support and word count with Growl notification.
I was about to give up. But I said I would give myself the length of the entire Purple Rain album to make it happen. (I hadn’t listened to it in a long time and it was my favorite album as a dirty minded pubescent teen. He said “masturbating!”) About an hour of pop/funk later, this is what I had hacked together.
Features:
- Counts characters and notifies you by Growl if you exceed 140.
- Notifies you by Growl when your tweet is sent.
- Twitter username/password is hard coded to avoid Keychain Access and reduce delays.
- Checks to see if iChat is running and then sets your status message as the current tweet.
- Checks to see if Skype is running and then sets your mood text message as the current tweet. Note: If you want to integrate Skype mood text updates, open the script in Script Editor and uncomment (remove “–”) the Skype tell.
- Growl will use the icon of Twitterific if installed.
How to install:
- Download the script, unzip, and put it here:
~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/Actions - Using Script Editor, modify these lines of the script to your Twitter username and password:
set twitter_key_account to "your@email.com"
set twitter_key_pass to "your_password" - Restart Quicksilver.
How to use:
- Invoke Quicksilver.
- Enter text mode (hit period) and type your message.
- Tab to the Action Pane and type “Tweet” (or as much of the word as you need).
- Enter.
I hope you find this script useful. I’m no programmer, so I can’t support it. If you have addons or variations, please post them. Don’t forget to add me to your Twitter friends list. And thanks to all the coders that came before me and made this possible.
Update 4-21-07: Integrated Skype mood text updates as an option. See instructions for details.
Update 8-11-07: Integrated Facebook updates as an option. See this post: Update Twitter, Facebook, iChat, Adium, And Skype With Quicksilver
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...