Google Translate

Google Translate can become very handy for translating short sentences or even web pages from one language to another to get just an idea what the text is about. I haven't been using it much so far, but if I end up finally learning Finnish, I might need it more often to help if I have a hard time understanding an article or some words.

How GTD helps me to tame my bookmarks

Bookmarks have the habit of growing ruthlessly over time. Using GTD to tame my bookmarks results in having different folders reflecting the different states of a "task" or project (which would correspond to a link or a collection of links). Bookmarks are either collected in the "@Inbox" folder if I'm short on time or then are directly processed and put to the appropriate folder as described below:

• @Inbox: When I'm short on time, then new bookmarks land in the "@Inbox" folder, which does not contain any sub-folders. Like with the physical Inbox basket or the email Inbox, I every now and then (best at least once daily) go through the "@Inbox" folder and process the bookmarks in it. If the content can dealt with within 2 minutes I do the appropriate action, then discard or archive the link (see below for folder "Archive"). If it takes more than 2 minutes to deal with the "task, the links will be renamed to reflect the action or topic, then it will be processed GTD like (action, defer, read/review, etc.) and is put inside the appropriate folder as described further below.
• @Action: Links belonging to a project are put inside the @Action folder in a sub-folder with the project's name (1-level hierarchy only). When the project is over, the sub-folder is moved to the @Archive folder (see below) or just deleted if it is not worth keeping. The @Action folder has two fix sub-folders:
• @Blog: Things I read and want to blog about land in this folder.
• @Download: Links to files or other things I want to download at a later time are stored here.
• @Defer: When I collect information about things I might plan to do in the future (for product evaluations for  something I like to buy, travel info about a possible holiday place to visit, etc.) it will be put here inside a sub-folder with the project's name (1-level hierarchy only). In the GTD way, these projects in the future either, become active (moved to @Action), or are archived (moved to Archive), or are just discarded.
• @Read/Review: One-time reading material that I want to read when I have time (e.g. using my iPhone during train travel or in-line waiting) is put into the @Read/Review folder. Material belonging to the same topic is put in an appropriate sub-folder (1-level hierarchy only). After I read the related pages I wither archive them (move to Archive) or discard them.
• Archive: Bookmarks that I want to keep for future reference are saved in the "Archive" folder. If multiple links belong to a project or topic, a sub-folder with the project or topic name is created to host the collection of links. As before, the folder hierarchy is flat (only one sub-folder level allowed), I do not put folders in sub-folders inside the Archive.

To find specific bookmarks later on, I use the search feature of Safari's Bookmarks window, which allows me quickly to find the link I'm looking for. This though makes it mandatory to give the sub-folders (project names) as well as the bookmarks some intelligent names, which makes it easy to find the link or project folder for a certain topic in the future.

Fixing constantly growing OmniFocus database files

I had the problem that my OnmiFocus database file kept on growing and synching with the iPhone got really slow. When my file was around 2.3 MB I started to google around a bit and found a thread about the problem at the Omnigroup forum. The last entry at the time I was reading the whole 8 pages of the thread actually was the one helping me to reduce my file to manageable 540 KB.

What I did:

• Rebuilt my Database selecting File->Rebuild Database
• Selected File->Export (selected "OmniFocus Backup Document" from the drop-down) and saved it to the Desktop
• Selected File->Revert to Database Backup (and used the previously saved backup on the Desktop)
• When OmniFocus asked about using either the local copy or the server copy, I told it to use the local copy)

EOM (End of Message)

Just read at Lifehacker a post about EOM. I guess I will try to use that as well, though when I send such a EOM message the first time to someone, I will put in the body of the message the link to the related WikiPedia article as well as the link to the blog entry at Lifehacker.

How to get rid of menu bar items

If you have some items in the menu bar that you want to get quickly rid of or which can't be disabled anymore in the system or program preferences (e.g. remove bluetooth status when no more bluetooth device is plugged in to the Mac), just cmd-click and hold it, then drag it out of the menu bar.

GTD Workflow Tips

When looking for some GTD related workflow lists I found the GTD Workflow Assessment/Tips Checklist by Matthew Cornell.

Basically he gives a more details to the basic GTD tasks for Collecting, Processing, Organizing, Reviewing and Doing in form of self-proclamations (check the list to see what I mean by that).

It help me at least to look at my GTD based workflow from a new angle, looking at some details that I was not aware before.

Remove all metadata from JPEGs

I was looking for a tool to remove all meta data (including EXIF data) from JPEG files, before I would upload them to Picasa. Unfortunately CocoviewX does only remove some EXIF data, but not all other meta data such as comments, copyright notice, etc. Fortunately jhead, a command line tool for all major operating systems, allows to tune the degree of info removal and has also a nice "remove all" feature.

You can strip all meta info from JPEGs in a folder by using the shell and typing:

jhead -purejpg *.jpg

PS: After downloading jhead from the official website you might need to make it executable (chmod 755 jhead) and move it to a proper location (sudo mv jhead /usr/local/bin).