43 Folders

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Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

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”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

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Amazon launches sale of DRM-free MP3s

Daring Fireball: The Amazon MP3 Store and Amazon MP3 Downloader

Given the Amazon MP3 Store’s audio quality, prices, and user experience, I can’t see why anyone would buy DRM-restricted music from iTunes that’s available from Amazon. And given that Amazon is quite a bit cheaper than iTunes Plus, you might as well check Amazon first. I plan to.

I'm with Gruber -- this is a welcome and fan-friendly addition to the marketplace. And, frankly, I'm glad there's finally somebody out there who can really give Apple some competition in this area.

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Google releases iPhone-friendly gCal

Updates from Google Docs and Google Calendar

Whoa, check this out:

The Google Calendar team, along with the mobile team, released an upgrade to the Calendar interface on the iPhone. It is now tailored for the iPhone, and you can now see your different calendars in distinctive colors. You can see the new Calendar interface by going to http://calendar.google.com on your iPhone browser.

As an iPhone user and recent convert to gCal: Daddy like.

TOPICS: Apple, gCal, Google, iPhone

Jeff Bigler's "tact filter" theory

Drawing by lonelysandwich
drawing by lonelysandwich

Tact Filters

In 1996, Jeff Bigler observed that there appeared to be a "tact filter" that was operated in different directions by "nerds" versus "normal people:"

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MBW 58; Pick of the week is Acorn

MacBreak Weekly 58: Repeal the Nerd Tax

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Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsay, and Chris Breen

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Chris reviews the new iPods, screen issues with the Touch, and the trouble with ringtones...

Here's a direct MP3 download of MBW 58.

Oh, brother, I was totally high on cold medicine when we did this episode. But, not so high that I couldn't recommend Flying Meat's amazing new Acorn, a stripped-down, and very inexpensive graphics app. It's one my favorite Mac programs of the year.

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Clever "Real Life Quicksilver" video

Very fun video by Matt McInerney -- what it would be like if Quicksilver came to life outside your Mac. I sure like it better than living in a YouTube thread.



Quicksilver in Real Life from Matt McInerney on Vimeo.

[via: tumbl.us]

Humane mouse catcher; Smarter RSS; Fanboy? Me?; Color namer; HTML greys; Better 404s; Hilarious ecards

  • Chris Glass’s humane mouse entrap-i-natorHow to catch a mouse without a mousetrap - 43f’s designer, Chris Glass, shares his humane mouse mojo. “Set the fella loose at least a mile away from your abode. Postnote: It worked within the hour.”
  • notes on ‘dancing monkey rss reader’ - “I would like an RSS reader with a button that says 'Gimme 5' and it loads only five posts people with similar subscriptions are reading within the last 24 hours.” I want something kinda related for email — show me exactly 5 messages that need a response (then, let me get back to work)
  • Daring Fireball on switcher-come-latelies - “There’s a whole class of recent switchers who define ‘Apple fanboy’ as ‘anyone who’s been an enthusiastic Mac user since before I switched to the Mac.’”
  • Name that ColorName that Color - Chirag Mehta : chir.ag - “Being a typical guy, I have no clue what the colors Lavender and Mauve look like. You can show me Indigo and I won’t know if it’s more like Violet or Purple. So I made this little app where you can create a color on the screen (or copy-paste CSS hex# color) and find out the name of the closest matching color.”
  • greys : Java Glossary - Me? I love me some greys, and I like seeing them all at once with their hex codes. Handy.
  • A List Apart: Articles: The Perfect 404 - Seems like a smarter person than me could make a pretty nice “similar to what you searched for” using Drupal and Views Fast Search. Sounds like a job for the Lazy Web. Any takers?
  • someecards.com - “When you care enough to hit ‘send.’” Hilarious ecards, nearly all in terrible taste, and outfitted with awful Reagan-era clip art. Pure gold.
TOPICS: Daily Links
 
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Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »