Then I remembered that I shut down before I did one of those important things. I powered up again and got it done. It only took a minute because booting is painless & fast, so I could quickly do just one more thing.

That’s the part I’d never do with my work machine. Undergo the 5 minute long boot process to capture a thought or complete a 90 second task.

How much do “I’d never do that with my work machine” items cost us?

Time to change my work machine so that it supports my work and getting one more thing done, instead of discouraging it.

I don’t know any of the designers/developers, but thought it was interesting enough to look into. Maybe you’ll want one or know someone who wants to order a few as holiday gifts. Take a look quick, as funding closes September 8, 2011.

I’ll admit that I’m finding it nearly a necessity to start with the git command line so that I better understand the underlying concepts. Sometimes the best way to learn a technology is to dig a few holes and struggle back out. Likewise, it seems like there are some edge cases and corners with version control systems that require the command line (and StackOverflow.com and Google and nerves of steel). Meanwhile, I’m tracking a few tools for the Mac to increase my productivity with git for routine things.

My Favorites
The most promising apps for me are SourceTree and Tower (naturally the most expensive ones too). Tower has some nicer overall polish, but SourceTree has a views I like better and seems to regularly improve with use (and across releases).

I’m on Day 6 of a  30 day trial of Tower and like that it supports git and svn, integrates with many other client tools (e.g., with Coda, Kaleidoscope TextMate, etc.) and is super easy to configure for either GitHub or Beanstalk back-end repositories. With SourceTree, I’m understanding git better and seeing things more clearly, but missing some of the polish back-end integration seen in Tower.

Git Client Apps for Mac OS X
Here’s a run down of some options and links for those on the Mac App Store. There is a good response by Mason on StackOverflow that runs down pros and cons of a few of these tools. I too didn’t care much for the cross-platform-y compromises of SmartGit, but some may like it. Here what I consider some Mac OS X contenders:

• GitX [Free - under GPL v2 License]
  Project started in 2008, nice history/log view that you can use interactively, good video demos .
• Sprout [Mac App Store $28.99 during 15% off sale on now]
  Single window view supports multiple git repositories
• Gitbox [Mac App Store $39.99]
  Single window view supports multiple git repositories. Developer web site offers download of Free trial version that supports up to 3 repositories.
• Gitti [currently beta is free]
  Some nice hints and warnings. Still beta, but looks promising.
• SourceTree [Mac App Store $59.99]
  Very powerful views- File status shows you at a glance what has been changed or not (or is missing), Log view is a wonderful way to show branches, commits, who did the commit and highlight the file diffs. Cloning from remote works with ssh URL or http/https. Developer web site offers download of Free 21-day trial version.
• Tower [developer site $59]
  Really nice integration with both GitHub and Beanstalk. Easily create local repository or a new repository hosted on Beanstalk or GitHub. Cloning from remote works with ssh URL or http/https. App icon in dock shows badge with number of changed files in active repository. Developer web site offers download of Free 30-day trial version that works with up to 3 repositories concurrently.

For a git UI client, I may end-up sticking with GitX for a while though, because it is free. If I can justify the expense, I’ll likely go with SourceTree or Tower, depending on CFO approval and/or any pricing specials. My next post will address git and svn viewers on iOS for the iPhone and iPad.

This is a follow-up to an earlier post on the fyi Bookmarklet. This version is optimized for iOS, and the iPad specifically. It makes it very easy to share a snippet of a web page and the URL by email.

Compared to the built-in iOS Mobile Safari action “Mail Link to this Page,” the fyiPad Bookmarklet adds the capability to automatically insert selected text from the page, without having to paste anything.

Unlike the Firefox fyi Bookmarklet, this bookmarklet can not be triggered by typing  a keyword. The install is slightly different because of Mobile Safari restrictions on adding javascript: bookmarks (bookmarklets).

Install:

Use Mobile Safari to visit the fyiPad setup page and follow the instructions on that page to save and edit the bookmark. You will likely want to rename the bookmark. On my iPad the bookmark is named “fyi” just like on my desktop Firefox browser. It is saved in the “Bookmarks Bar” folder.

Tip: For greater convenience on iPad, use the “Settings” app to choose “Safari” settings and set “Always Show Bookmarks Bar” to ON. Usage:

Activate the “fyiPad” bookmarklet by using the bookmark menu, or by tapping the bookmark in your Bookmark Bar.

This opens a new email with the page title in the email subject. The email body contains the page title and URL. If any text on the page is selected, then the selected text is also included in the body.

Requirements:

• iOS 3.2.1 or higher and Mobile Safari

Version History:

Version 1.0 (April 6, 2011) newer versions available on Github

Known Issues:

Tested on iPad with iOS 4.3.1. Likely to work on iPhone.

No way to activate by typing a keyword. No way to pre-populate the new email with a recipient address.

License:

MIT

Source:

Source on Github

Please use comments here or Github to report bugs or provide feedback. Thanks.

Here is a table I’ve I made of the various sizes needed for iPhone, iPad, Universal iOS, AIR 2.5 for desktop and AIR for Android. Hopefully this will be helpful for others, too.

HTML5 Manifest Generator for TextMate

To install the bundle- just download, unzip, and double-click. TextMate will open and install the bundle as “Mobilemind” with a command, “Generate Manifest”. Usage is as you would expect in TextMate. Feel free to move it to a more appropriate bundle grouping, like say HTML.

HTML5 Manifest Generator A ‘Shebang’ menu Filter for TextWrangler

To install the Shebang (Shell) menu item- first download, then unzip the shell script. Finally, move the script file into the directory:

~/Library/Application Support/TextWrangler/Unix Support/Unix Filters

Then make sure the script is executable by doing the following in Terminal:

chmod 755 "$HOME/Library/Application Support/TextWrangler/Unix Support/Unix Filters/Manifest Generator"

Then to use it the first time TextWrangler:

• Open the HTML file that you want to use as the basis for generating a manifest
• In TextWrangler, hold down the Cmd key while you use the “!#” (Shebang) menu to select the sub-menu “Unix Filters” and choose ‘Manifest Generator‘.
• In the dialog box set the “Filter Options” as follows; Output STDERR to: New Window Output STDOUT: Windows used for STDERR
• Then click the button “Run” to execute the filter command.

The options should “stick” for next time you run the Filter.

If you want to use it as a raw shell command, I’d recommend copying the file “Manifest Generator” to “manifest-gen” and putting the copy in the directory “/usr/local/bin“. That will save you typing lots of quotes and/or long paths.

Generates a default HTML5 ‘cache manifest’ file from HTML input.

The manifest includes items referenced by HTML tags with attributes for href, longdesc, and src. The items are sorted with duplicates removed.

The manifest excludes items that specify a protocol scheme, i.e. non-relative URLs.

To install the plugin- just download, unzip, and double-click. Coda will open and install the plugin.

HTML5 Manifest Generator

To use, open an HTML file and use the Coda Plugins menu to select Manifest Generator. The command will open a new document with a sample manifest. Remember to save the file and add the manifest attribute to the <html> tag of the main HTML file. See Mark Pilgrim’s excellent book for details.

Given sufficient interest I can also make the bare command/shell script of the command available for download. It works on a named file or you can pipe in standard input.

First lesson— update PhoneGap early and often. Learn to use git, learn how to use PhoneGap utils to update existing projects and check PhoneGap documentation. It has changed dramatically since last March when I first experimented with it, especially on the Eclipse + Android SDK side. I went down quite a few dead-end paths based on old assumptions and some seemingly helpful blog posts I found from last summer. Please apply my lesson and double check the docs if any of my “tips” below don’t seem to work for you.

Second lesson– Make sure the user you are signed in as has administrative permissions. If you’re unsure, launch the Settings application, look in the System category and open the settings panel for Accounts. Make sure the box is checked for “Allow user to administer this computer”. Don’t worry, you can turn it off after you’ve done the setup. As a little security step, I rarely run as Admin on my own computer.

Basic Setup
Git- Your installation will begin by getting git if you don’t already have it. On Mac the easiest way is to download and run the installer from:
https://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/

PhoneGap Repositories- Next, I cloned some repositories from the phonegap repository on github to my Mac Home directory. With git already installed this is as easy as starting Terminal.app and immediately entering:

git clone https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-iphone.git

git clone https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-android.git

Those two commands will copy down the latest PhoneGap iPhone and Android frameworks, respectively. Note: As a convenience, we’re getting the iPhone repo while we’re at it, even though it won’t be used in this post. Watch for a future post on “PhoneGap for iPhone – Basic Xcode Setup.”

Environment variables for paths- Since Terminal is running, we’ll skip ahead and add some path information to the shell environment. These updates are only needed for the Android and PhoneGap-Android toolchain. Again, in Terminal, enter:

open .profile

In the resulting editor window, add the following lines to the .profile file.

# add Android_Home for Eclipse builds
export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/android-sdk-mac_86
# add tools directory for shell access to SDK tools
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools

# add PhoneGap bin for shell access to PhoneGap tools
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/phonegap-android/bin

Save the .profile file. Close the editor. Quit Terminal. [Really do quit Terminal, because that will help ensure the .profile changes are applied when we get to testing things below.

Android SDK for Mac- Download the Android SDK for Mac from here:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/

Unzip the downloaded archive and move the whole android-sdk-mac_86 folder to your home folder. There should now be a folder named android-sdk-mac_86 at the root level of your home folder. [There are more Android SDK setup instructions found at http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html if you need them.]

Test your basic PhoneGap setup- We can test the basics now, without even installing Eclipse and the ADT (Android Developer Tools) Plugin or using Xcode.

First we’ll test the PhoneGap Android command tools by creating mysample as a sample project. Open the Terminal again. Enter:

droidgap gen mysample

NOTE: Don’t get fancy and use a different name for testing. I found out the hard way that you’ll get ruby script errors if the name includes a hyphen. I suspect spaces and other special characters may also wreak havoc with PhoneGap ruby scripts.

It will take a minute to do its work. If all worked well, it should have made a new sub-directory named mysample inside of your Home directory. Verify this by looking in Finder or typing ls in Terminal and looking for mysample in the list of files.

Debugging PhoneGap Android command tools- If it didn’t work, then some likely possibilities are that something got copied to the wrong place or an environment variable (a path) was set wrong. Make sure your Home folder contains the following folders:

android-sdk-mac_86
phonegap-android
phonegap-iphone

Check your paths by examining the current value environment variables. To do this, enter the following in Terminal:

set

Scan the output and make sure the line with PATH= includes something like:
/Users/yourUserName/phonegap-android/bin

Edit .profile again or move folders if necessary. Quit Terminal, re-open it and try again. That’s about the best help I can offer, other than the PhoneGap Android docs.

Test your basic Android SDK setup- Now we can try the Android SDK. Again, in Terminal, enter:

android

If all goes well in a few moments you should see a window that looks like the small thumbnail below, and you can continue on to Install Android SDK Packages.

Debugging Android SDK Basic Setup- You should know the drill by now; check the folder structure and names and check the environment variables. In this case the key folder is android-sdk-mac_86 and the corresponding environment variable is ANDROID_HOME which should contain something like:
/Users/yourUserName/android-sdk-mac_86

Install Android SDK Packages- In the Android SDK and AVD Manager Window (shown above), scan the list in the left column and select Available packages. Check the box next to Android Repository and also check the box next to Third party Add-ons.

At this point, I was tempted to be conservative and download the bare minimum. It turns out better if you just downloading everything. That way you can easily publish for a broad range of Android devices by having the most basic and the most current APIs available.

With everything checked, click on the button for Install Selected. It may take awhile.

If you’ve got this far you’ve got all the basics and are ready to proceed to Eclipse or get started with PhoneGap for iPhone with Xcode. Both of those are separate posts though.

If you want to jump ahead, you can make use of the Android Developers Installing the SDK instructions. That will help you with installing Eclipse and the ADT (Android Developer Tools) for Eclipse.

Keep in mind that you have already completed their steps #2 (Downloading SDK) and #4 (Adding Platforms and Other Components).

Finder Droplets for Coda, git, TextMate, Xcode, and Terminal

Having these utilities in the Finder Toolbar utilities gives quick access in Terminal to any directory I can see from Finder. They also let you easily use a specific editor to open one or more files. This is very handy if the default association isn’t convenient for the task at hand— especially so if there are multiple files involved.

The handiest of these utilities has been OpenTerminal. I am going to describe that second because the Shiny Droplets utilities have much better set-up instructions.

Shiny Droplets
What can I say? They are good. They are open source. The 52 second demo/how-to video explains it all. Apps like Expresso, BBEdit and others are supported as well as my favs– Coda and TextMate. Go get the Shiny Droplets now, watch the video, install and come back for more.

http://blog.shinyfrog.net/2008/06/07/finder-droplets-mac-editors/

Open Terminal
Same concept, with detailed instructions in a PDF instead of a video. I copied Open Terminal to the same folder as Shiny Droplets. Once added to the Toolbar of your Finder window, simply click the Open Terminal icon. Bam! You are there, without doing a bunch of cd ~/Documents/folder/subfolder/sub-subfolder typing. Go get it and be sure to read the PDF.

http://homepage.mac.com/thomasw/OpenTerminal/

Open in Git GUI
Last, but not least is a droplet to open the Git GUI for the current folder in Finder (or the dropped item). You can get it here:
https://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/wiki/OpenInGitGui

If you prefer GitX then you might try a similar droplet;
https://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/wiki/OpenInGitX

That’s it. Enjoy.

These tips allow you to easily open a file or files (or a whole directory in the case of TextMate awesomeness).  To open an html file in the current directory from the shell prompt becomes as easy as:

coda index.html
or
mate index.html

Opening all the HTML files (Coda) or all the editable files (TextMate) becomes:

coda .
or
mate .

How-to:

1- Open Terminal
2- In terminal, enter: open .profile
3- Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following lines of code

# TextMate
# set path and simple shell function
export TEXTMATE_PATH=/Applications/TextMate.app/Contents/Resources/mate
mate () {
    $TEXTMATE_PATH $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6
}
# svn for TextMate (default editor, end-of-line types)
export EDITOR="$TEXTMATE_PATH -w"
export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8

# Coda
# set path
export CODA_PATH=/Applications/Coda.app
# function roughly like 'mate .' by expanding '.' to '*.htm*'
coda () {
if [[ "." == $1 ]]
then
    open -a $CODA_PATH *.htm*
else
    open -a $CODA_PATH $1 $2 $3
fi
}

4- Save .profile
5- Quit Terminal
6- Restart Terminal and try one of the new functions

Obviously you must have TextMate and Coda installed for this to work. Likewise, there are more robust ways to achieve this. However, I like using shell functions in .profile, so that I have only one place to look for customizations when migrating to a new Mac.

More robust implementation approaches can be found for each command at:
Coda: https://github.com/egonSchiele/Command-Line-Coda
TextMate: http://blog.macromates.com/2005/textmate-shell-utility-tmmate/

My next tips will be some über-handy apps for Finder, allowing you to easily open the Terminal with the current Finder window as the working directory or to easily drag-and-drop to open files in a preferred editor.

The most recent releases are a very significant update. The utilities are written in HTML5 and leverage HTML5 input types for data entry. This means you can use the Email/Login version and get the email-friendly version of the Touch keyboard. Similarly, the Telephone version pops-up the numeric keypad.

Likewise, the generated bookmarklets are HTML5-savvy; when selected they “paste” their designated text into the first email form field or telephone number field found on a page (and do so in a clever way that works well with older HTML too).

Here they are with as a hyperlink and a full URL:

• Generic “Make Pastelet” utility- http://mobilemind.net/___
• Email/Login Pastelet- http://mobilemind.net/email
• Telephone Pastelet- http://mobilemind.net/tel

All of the iOS pages look a lot like the older version(s),

but they do a lot more.

There is still a desktop version that also works with Internet Explorer- http://mobilemind.net/iphone

For basic information, see my original post, Paste (Frequently-used) Text into Web Forms on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

PRO TIPS:

• The generic Make Pastelet Utility is the one to use if you’re unsure; it has the widest compatibility and lets you confirm the “paste” as it steps through the fields.
• The Email/Login Pastelet is the one I use most. It works great for Gmail and other services where your email address is your user ID, and doesn’t require the extra step of a confirmation. It also works great with non-email user IDs on services like Remember The Milk and many others.
• Use copy and paste with the “Your Pastelet” text box to streamline updates or changes to existing Pastelets. Start like you’re making a brand new pastelet. Next, select and copy the contents of the “Your Pastelet“ text box to the clipboard. Then use Bookmarks to edit an existing Pastelet. Simply select the old URL and paste over it. Voilá, an updated Pastelet! Streamlined with no need to create a new bookmark, save, re-open/edit, drag across that long text string and finally delete the prefix.
• Desktop browsers let you more quickly create a slew of Pastelets, if you already sync the browser with Mobile Safari via iTunes. Just use your desktop browser to visit Email/Login Pastelet or Telephone Pastelet. Make a pastelet and simply drag the “Pastelet as link” hyperlink to your bookmark bar. Ta-da, a bookmarklet without the editing fuss. Make a bunch and then sync. You can easily fine-tune them on the device using the previous copy & paste tip.

Watch for more updates on bookmarklets and some updates on travel applications soon.

My key travel apps for iPhone (prices as of July 3, 2009):

1. TravelTracker with TripIt $7.99If you take more than 6 trips a year get this app and sign up for TripIt service on the web. TravelTracker shines over the free TripIt app because it keeps past trips and has many more features. Silverware is a good company and this is a good app. Loved the previous TravelTracker incarnations on the Newton & the Palm, and I got it on iPhone as soon as it came out as a new-from-ground-up, smarter app. I’d hold off on getting the “Pro” version for now though… there are some iPhone 3.0 issues to sort out. In a few weeks I will be upgrading to TravelTracker Pro though, so I can get live flight status plus download and upload to TripIt. Update: A new version of TravelTracker posted to the App Store today—July 3, 2009.
2. TripIt for iPhone FreeHuh? You just said TravelTracker. I use both. The TripIt app is less cluttered and faster— for the current trip, but I can not easily forward an itinerary or do many other things that TravelTracker does so well. I use TripIt for quick access to info on the current trip, like hitting the rental car info with my big fat thumb as I dash away from baggage claim.
3. The Weather Channel FreeAs National Geographic puts it:
   

   [The Weather Channel app] gets the nod for customization and the ability to check out conditions in multiple locations at a glance.

4. AroundMe FreeI admit it, Starbucks pwns me. AroundMe helps me quickly find that essential latte, or a local equivalent and other conveniences (ATM/bank, restaurant, pharmacy, retailer). I’ve tried coffee-specific apps and a few brand-name bank/retailer/restaurant finders. This particular app works well and seems current most places I go, and does away with having a slew of category/vendor-specifc apps.
5. Currency FreeFantastic currency converter that auto-updates exchange rates. Shows a purchase amount in multiple currencies of your choice at the same time. Easily switch from entering in one currency to entering in another. Very helpful on my trip to Singapore when trying to figure out what $5 USD was in SGD or what $900 SGD is in USD (answer: 1 nice watch).
6. Taxi Magic FreeGreat app for getting a taxi when you aren’t in an urban center or near a taxi stand. It electronically hails a taxi and sends your current location to your choice of cab companies. You can even create an account & use it to pay for the ride, without using cash or credit in the cab. Cities supported include: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, LA, Minneapolis, Nashville, NYC, the OC, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, Dan Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington DC.
7. Urban Spoon FreeThe best way to break the logjam of “I dunno, where do you want to go.” Also nice to find something interesting & local instead of the shopping mall-perimeter chain restaurant defaults.

Then there are the airline superstars of iPhone web app-friendliness. The standout here is JetBlue, who has a very useful and colorful web app. Honorable mention to Southwest Airlines, who made great use of the very cool iUI iPhone templates found on Google Code.

To make the most of any of the web apps below, just visit the URL on your iPhone and then bookmark with the “Add to Home Screen” option.

Great iPhone web apps from airlines to add to your iPhone homescreen (actual iPhone/Touch home screen icons shown):

• JetBlue mobile http://mobile.jetblue.com/
• American Airlines mobile http://mobile.aa.com/
• Delta mobile http://mobile.delta.com/
• Southwest mobile http://mobile.southwest.com/

I heard back from @Alaska Airlines on twitter that Alaska is working on it. Go Alaska! No word from United Airlines on when http://ua.flightlookup.com will become more iPhone-aware. Sadly, the very-cool, but Flash-dependent site of Virgin America doesn’t make the iPhone cut either (as of July 3, 2009). Btw, lots of airlines are on twitter, as I found out working on @AICC followers.

A Few Extra Travel-related Apps
Rounding-out my travel page I have Aeroguide Lite (Free) to recognize things like that rare Ilyushin Il-62 I once saw over SFO (an Il-62 looks like MD-80/DC-9 with 4 engines or a Vickers VC10).

Other miscellanneous items on the page include: Gas Cubby ($9.99) for recording and charting the MPG, etc. of my own car; FedEx Mobile (Free) for help with shipping; and Google Earth (Free) for miscellaneous mapping and geographical visualization.

The National Geographic Adventure List
To get more detailed information on their picks, please see Travel Tech: Top 20 iPhone Travel Apps from National Geographic Adventure. I’ve add my opinions to their list below where I had feelings one way or the other. For reference, here is their list:

1. Next Flight $2.99
2. Urban Spoon Free
3. HearPlanet reg $5.99 (on sale for $1.99 on July 3, 2009)
4. Air Sharing $4.99(Nix I say, get FTP On the Go)
5. Tweetie $2.99 (Nice, but nix say I. Get free TweetDeck or Twittelator Pro for $4.99, or both as I did)
6. IAmHere $0.99
7. World Customs $0.99
8. Wi-Fi Finder Free
9. The Weather Channel Free
10. Google Earth Free
11. Packing $1.99 (on sale for $0.99 on July 3, 2009. This one *I* might try)
12. Room Free
13. FlightTrack Pro $9.99 (Nix, I say, get TravelTracker w/TripIt)
14. Lonely Planet Phrasebook $9.99
15. Skype Free (I totally agree here–a very popular app, 4M downloads & estimated to be on 10%+ of iPhones)
16. WriteRoom $4.99
17. (Amazon) Kindle for iPhone Free (I totally agree here too)
18. Cheap Gas Free
19. Babelingo $3.99 (on sale for $1.99 on July 3, 2009)
20. Where Free