July 10, 2008
April 13, 2004
Spike
Holy Carpel Tunnel Syndrome Batman!
Sometime back, I was in a chat room talking to Cory, Mike and Sukhanov about a piece of software that would allow one to share clipboards from different computers running different OS'es. Suggestions of using p2p were brought up, but still nothing. Every clipboard sharing app I've found for Windows or OS X has been restricted to that OS. Until now.
The Authors at Porchdog Software have come up with such a solution and they've named it Spike. Spike runs on Windows and OS X, and I'm guessing because those 2 OS'es are the only ones that do ZeroConf (or Rendezvous to you Mac folks) out of the box. I've been trying it for about an hour now, and I'm very impressed so far.
Another concern is privacy. What if you don't want your office crew to see what kind of stuff you are putting on your clipboard (just a thought, don't watch animal porn at work)? You can set a security password so that others don't view your clipboard contents without your permission. Right now, I have noticed one bug with that feature. If a user is already logged on to your clipboard without the password, and you suddenly set one, or change your password. The server does not do a force-reboot to clients that are connected to the server.
Jasmeet: can you help me test something out? I might have discovered a bug
Da James: ok
Jasmeet: say you're desktop is running it and so is your laptop
Da James: k
Jasmeet: have your laptop monitoring the desktop's clipboard
Da James: k
Jasmeet: and then, set a password on the desktop's spike
Jasmeet: and copy something
Jasmeet: see if the changes show up on the laptop
Da James: still does.
Jasmeet: is it just me, or is that bad?
Da James: yes and no.
Jasmeet: explain please?
Da James: yes cause changing the permissions should disallow them
Da James: but since they're already connected the only way to change it would for the client side to check to see if its allowed every time it updates.
Da James: and that would be extra overhead.
Da James: if they made the server force restart after changing a password that would be a good way
Jasmeet: I'm thinking of another method, but I'm not sure if it applies here
Jasmeet: have authorized users
Da James: thats too much work.
Da James: thats out of the zeroconf spec i think.
Jasmeet: how so? if its zeroconf, you can see the users, and add them if you want to share your clipboard with them,
Da James: it might say something about being single password.
Da James: like if you broadcast it should be password only or something.
Da James: i think the userlist thing is just overkill and its an admin nightmare
Da James: which is what this app was meant to FIGHT in the first place
Jasmeet: you might be right there
Jasmeet: simplicity is the key here
Jasmeet: I just think it would be nice if you could kick someone off your clipboard whenever you need too
Jasmeet: and invite them
Jasmeet: and I figure with the live updating of the password, that could be the key
Jasmeet: no pun intended
Da James brought up a good concern, which was flooding an office LAN with too much data. Say for example you copied an entire directory of MP3's (10 and above) for the sole purpose of moving it to another directory. If you have an office LAN of about 10 or more computers, this could be very bad. Fortunately Spike doesn't download anything to your computer, until you actually request for it by copying it to your own clipboard. Nice move guys!
A special thanks to Da James for helping me test the fuck out of Spike.
March 26, 2004
QuickSilver
The rave today on the web, especially those who have weblogs and use Macs is Quicksilver.
Quicksilver is an evolving structure for manipulating any form of data. The current modules include a launcher, a clipboard recorder, and a shelf.
Heard of LaunchBar? Its an app that works like a 'command-line' in OS X. Basically, all you have to do is type the first few letters of an app, an mp3, or bookmark, it looks for it, and all you have to do is hit enter, and its launched.
LaunchBar is a great app, worth the $20. Normally, I would recommend it to anyone. But lets face facts. You broke the bank getting your Apple machine. Even getting an $20 app is asking way too much, especially if you're a college student who could eat 2 meals for that price right?
Quicksilver does the same thing LaunchBar does. But for a fraction of the price. How much? Nothing. Its free, and best of all Open Source.
But its also better in so many ways. You have 3 separate views for typing a command. Whether its a menu (looks almost like LaunchBar), Window, or a Bezel. Very slick options here folks.
But that's not it! Quicksilver has a PasteBoard Option! Basically, anything you copy, will be kept in the pasteboard, so you've solved the problem of multiple copies and pastings! I've tried it out, and its most excellent!
Quicksilver also comes with a with a Shelf option. Need a file for something else later, but don't wanna navigate several folders to get to it? Drag it into shelf, and call on it when you need it.
If I'm still not convincing you, lemme tell you a little bit more. Quicksilver is FAST. its a lot faster than LaunchBar. Honestly. Its also got a kickass way of navigating your Hard Drive with the Browser option. All you have to do is hit the hot key, press slash and you can navigate your hard drive like the column view in OS X.
And you know what, when you have an program or file selected, you don't have to necessarily open it if you don't want too. Say you wanted to open a JPEG image, but not with the default assigned Photoshop. Hit the right key, and it gives you more option of what to do with the selected file.
Look folks, if I can be as excited to blog this app the minute its makes itself known on the web, you need it. Dan, Nat, Neek, download today!.
And remember, Quicksilver is not only free like air, its open source too!
In case you're interested, here's a link on making it run faster and Todd Dominey's Review.
Here's another great review of QuickSilver from Submit Response. He puts everything into perspective, stuff that got me way too excited to type out a really good reason for getting Quicksilver =)