Garrick van Buren

If you happen to have an HP TouchPad you’ve probably noticed there aren’t a lot of compelling native apps. Additionally, HP (like Apple) does a pretty good job of shipping the device with applications that will cover 60% of everyone’s needs.

In the case of the TouchPad, it shipped with; Adobe Reader, Amazon Kindle, calculator app, calendar ap, photo & video app, music app (with native streaming), messaging app, map app, an office suite, a nice email client, and a decent web browser. To round it out, I installed the WordPress app, WebOnEx, and PreWare.

By far, the most useful app isn’t an app. It’s a feature of WebOS – ‘Just Type’ – the empty text field that’s always awaiting your next query. It’s like OS X’s Spotlight – or my preferred Quicksilver – turned into a primary focus of the OS.

Like Quicksilver on the laptop – I use it to initiate web searches or launch specific documents. For web searches – WebOS is smart enough to provide you with a list of search vendors/types (Google, Maps, Wikipedia, Amazon, sites you’ve visited). I’ve changed my default to DuckDuckGo.

Either way – all of these searches open in the same browser. A Webkit-based browser that; supports tabs, bookmarking, and can send links to email. While it doesn’t support @font-face and gets confused by some complex javascript – I can do my banking, check email, shop Amazon, and catch up on my favorite sites amazingly comfortably.

Which brings me back to HP’s App Store. No – there isn’t the selection that’s in the Apple or Android stores. And that’s a reminder that you don’t need an app – just a decent browser.

And that you should be working.

With the Focused MacBook Air project a success, I’ve turned my attention to the MacBook Pro.

With the kind of jet-engine-esque noises the MacBook Pro was making, I was convinced the hard drive was going. Turns out it was just a bad fan. Unfortunately, this meant I actually had to deal with the overfull hard drive.

I picked up a $80 Western Digital 1TB Elements USB drive from Target^[1]. Cloned the MacBook Pro hard drive, then wiped it clean, and did a fresh install of OS X Lion.

When the install was complete – I followed the Focused MacBook Air checklist on the primary account.

If you’re going to Focus your MacBook * – don’t use the Migration Assistant – it’ll just pull over all your distractions. Clone your drive and get familiar with rsync.

Then, I created a second account – and named it: 'Mail, Calendar, Chat' dedicated to the communications apps that I’ve quarantined from the primary account (and the MacBook Air).

I’ve also kept the date/time indicator in the menu bar – I’ve found it handy when coordinating appointments and deadlines.

Sometimes, work on the Focused side needs to be emailed or send over a chat. To accommodate this, I’ve connected the Focused & Communications sides with a alias folder (‘Common’) on their respective Desktops ^[2].

Drop something in that folder on one side, and it’s available on the other.

Clean, easy, focused.

Yes – this setup means to check email, or whathaveyou, I need to sign-into a different account. That’s a pretty good deterrent to being distracted by mail or Hacker News while I’m waiting for a long process to finish.

1. I like Western Digital’s Elements series – they’re good enough to work reliably and cheap enough that you can buy a couple at a time just to make sure.

2. Mac OS X Hints – 10.5: Share any files between users on the same Mac

“What we didn’t have was an affordable, one-day, painless, no-brainer conference. So registration was surprisingly slow. And we just didn’t get enough people to make it work.” – Joel Spolsky

Conferences – professional, or otherwise – are funny beasts.

  Taking days away from the day job
+ paying hundreds (if not thousands) in entrance fees
+ sitting in a chair
+ watching PowerPoint slides.


I’m not crazy about any of those attributes by themselves – together, they make a frightening combination.

Within the past 5 years, I’ve “organized” two conferences (and many smaller events) – PodcampMN & FontConf.
In both cases; the venue was donated, entry fee was $0, they were 1 day affairs, sessions were determined led by participants, and the larger goal was to make the event I would attend.

With that in mind:

• At PodcampMN – beer was donated by Flat Earth Brewing.
• At FontConf – I picked up the tab for coffee from The Roastery (cause there’s good coffee)

All said and done – I think they turned out quite well

One of the promises of software, especially internet-based software, is that, with a little elbow grease, you can make the thing you would use.

Then, at least, there’s 1 happier person in the world.

While I’ve actively avoided most of the new features and functionality in OS X Lion as part of my Focused MacBook Air effort I’m a huge fan of the 2-finger swipe between pages.

Right now, I see it as the only part of Apple’s Bring-iOS-to-MacOS UI effort that feels natural, comfortable, and OMG-WHY-DIDN’T-THEY-DO-THIS-SOONER!

Not having it in the Finder, Mail, and on all my other Macs feels as un-natural as not having Quicksilver installed. And I’ve only had it for 10 days.

I’ve been looking for a local source for honey. A place that really makes me feel good about the honey and the business.

Just up the street in New Brighton, the Krosch family is in their third year of beekeeping. Backyard beekeeping within the city limits.

Simply fantastic.

Tonight, I stopped by to pick up 10lbs of Ruby’s Bottled Sunshine in preparation for this autumn’s cyser and braggot experiments.

Brandon expects to harvest 300lbs this year, so they’ve probably got some for you.

They’re also this week’s front page story in the St. Anthony Bulletin.

What do robots do when not our bidding?

Discuss all the things we talk about when we think no one’s listening; god, unicorns, and our failing memories.

Earlier this spring, I picked up a used electric lawn mower. After performing marvelously for most of the summer – it died.

Batteries no longer held a charge. Dead.

Not that unusual in this household.

The batteries in the 2 Dell Mini laptops in the house also, after 2 years, can’t hold a charge. Which, if memory serves, is about when the batteries in my Apple laptops also went out. Maybe sooner.

I called up the manufacturer – who said the batteries could only be purchased through them or Home Depot. Only Home Depot.

The Home Depot down the street from me had no lawnmower batteries on the shelf. Not even for this year’s mowers. Nothing. HomeDepot.com had something they said would work – but it nothing like the dead batteries.

I called up Batteries Plus – and they were more than happy to help. It was pretty remarkable to see how effortlessly they found and installed the replacement batteries.

We finished mowing the lawn. Yet today – the new batteries were dead – despite being charged over night.

I opened up the hood to find a wire dangling disconnected.

After a quick search online – I found the wiring diagram for this specific mower and it’s now charging in the garage.

So, no, I’m not worried about HP no longer making hardware devices. The TouchPad is the best tablet I’ve worked with in 10 years. And there’s a thriving internet community around it.

Plus, at least HP is saying upfront they’re divesting themselves from hardware. Unlike many other manufacturers and retailers that just act like their products don’t exist once they leave the shelves.