jhogervorst

Open link in non-default browser using Alfred (four extensions)

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:33:25 +0200

Because @f5point6’s snippet to open links in a non-default browser was just a shell command, I created four Alfred extensions which you can use to open a link from Alfred in a (non-default) browser on your Mac.

Keywords

gc for Chrome
ff for Firefox
op for Opera
saf for Safari

Usage

Enter one of the keywords and press return to open the browser. For example, entering “gc” and pressing return opens Google Chrome.

Or, enter one of the keywords, followed by a space and a link (typed or pasted) and press return to open the link in the browser. For example, entering “ff http://ebay.com” and pressing return opens eBay in Firefox.

Download

You can download all four extensions easily within a ZIP file. Do you just need one or two? That’s OK as well: Chrome; Firefox; Opera; or Safari.

Redundant Storage using Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive (like RAID1)

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:59:00 +0200

Google just released it’s long-awaited Google Drive, a cloud storage service just like Dropbox. Microsoft already offers SkyDrive, a similar service that’s part of Windows Live. How awesome would it be to combine these three services - or two of three, if you prefer — to create redundant cloud storage for yourself — just like RAID1?

The Mac applications of Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive create a folder in your home folder where they keep your files and watch for changes, respectively ~/Dropbox/, ~/Google Drive/ and ~/SkyDrive/. In all applications you can choose in which folder the content folder is created, but you can’t choose a custom name. This forces us into using a creative solution …

Content Folders Inside Each-other

The easiest solution is placing the content folders inside each other. If you choose to place Dropbox in your home folder, you should place Google Drive in Dropbox’ folder and SkyDrive in Google Drive’s folder (or some other way around) — e.g., creating ~/Dropbox/Google Drive/SkyDrive/. This can be done in the initial set-up and in the application preferences of both Dropbox and SkyDrive and only in the initial set-up of Google Drive.

This set-up is easy, even without much computer knowledge you should be able to use it. Furthermore it doesn’t rely on technical tricks, so the chance it might be blocked by Dropbox/Google/Microsoft in the future is very small.

Symbolic Links

The solution provided before is easy, but not very elegant. A better way would be using a symbolic link: “a special type of file that contains a reference to another file or folder” (Wikipedia). This means you have one folder in your home folder in which you store your files, and several references to this folder to trick Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive into syncing the folder.

Unfortunately SkyDrive doesn’t accept symbolic links, so we have to use SkyDrive’s folder as the main folder. Google Drive doesn’t like symbolic links as well, but as soon as you rename it’s folder you get asked where you moved the folder to. This means you can rename Google Drive’s folder.

To make a double-redundant folder using Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive, follow these steps:

Download Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive and copy the applications to your applications folder.
Open Google Drive. Log on to your Google Account and accept the standard configuration. Google Drive will create a folder ~/Google Drive/. Quit the Google Drive application.
Open Finder and go to your home folder. Rename the Google Drive folder to SkyDrive.
Open Google Drive again. The application will warn you that the folder is gone (since you renamed it). You can manually locate the folder, just choose the ~/SkyDrive/ folder, because that was the ~/Google Drive/ folder before the renaming.
Open SkyDrive. Log on to your Windows Live ID. SkyDrive will notice that the folder ~/SkyDrive/ already exists, you have to choose that it’s OK to use that location.
Open Dropbox. Log on to your Dropbox account and accept the standard configuration. Dropbox will create a folder ~/Dropbox/. Quit the Dropbox application.
Open your terminal and enter the following command:
ln -s ~/SkyDrive/ ~/Dropbox
This command creates a virtual directory ~/Dropbox/ that links to the existing real directory ~/SkyDrive/.
Open Dropbox again. It’ll now think that ~/SkyDrive/ is it’s folder, thanks yo the symbolic link.
Now all three applications will sync the ~/SkyDrive/ folder on your Mac. The folder is now double redundant!

"Stel je nou maar eens voor dat het niet hypothetisch zou zijn."

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:43:46 +0100

“Stel je nou maar eens voor dat het niet hypothetisch zou zijn.”

- Hans Teeuwen

Mijn nieuwste project: Touch-Glove.nl

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:12:54 +0100

Mijn nieuwste project: Touch-Glove.nl:

Touch-Glove.nl verkoopt touchscreen-handschoenen voor je smartphone en tablet.

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:19:35 +0200

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

- Henry Ford

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:47:11 +0200

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

- Thomas Paine

"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons..."

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:42:42 +0200

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”

- Aldous Huxley

"Alleen ga je sneller. Samen kom je verder."

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:57:42 +0200

“Alleen ga je sneller. Samen kom je verder.”

- Afrikaans spreekwoord

"Let me ask you something. Why are you alive? (…) You exist to continue your existence...."

Sat, 01 May 2010 20:38:00 +0200

“Let me ask you something. Why are you alive? (…) You exist to continue your existence. What’s the point?”

- Mary (Equilibrium)

"We asked for cash, not for ash!"

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:59:28 +0200

“We asked for cash, not for ash!”

Decode HTML entities in Objective-C (decodeHTMLEntities)

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:42:40 +0200

I needed a simple way to decode HTML entities in an Objective-C project. After googling for a few minutes, I decided to make my own thingy. It took some time to copy and paste all the entities, so I’d like to share it with everyone to save others some work!

decodeHTMLEntities:

"You know, it’s true, when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort..."

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:59:42 +0200

“You know, it’s true, when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical.”

- Jonathan Ive

"We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:59:41 +0200

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

- Albert Einstein

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:59:42 +0200

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”

- Albert Einstein

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:59:41 +0200

“The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.”

- Joseph Stalin

"Silence is a true friend who never betrays."

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:59:51 +0200

“Silence is a true friend who never betrays.”

- Confucius

"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it."

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:59:52 +0200

“Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.”

- Albert Einstein

"Retro is eigenlijk altijd in."

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:59:50 +0200

“Retro is eigenlijk altijd in.”

- docent

"Reality is almost always wrong."

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:59:49 +0200

“Reality is almost always wrong.”

- dr. Gregory House

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:59:58 +0200

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

- Albert Einstein