Two questions (Quicksilver and Expresscard related)

[mysterui]

1) I keep hearing about how Quicksilver is so useful and almost required for any real Mac user, but after playing around with for a little bit, I don't see it. It doesn't find songs that I have, and it seems like Spotlight works just fine. Am I missing something here?

2) I have a $5 rebate from Amazon, and I figured the best way to use it would be to fill my Expresscard slot. What would be the best use for it. Media reader? USB ports?

Thanks in advance

 

[72930]

1) The iTunes plug-in. Quicksilver is all about the plugins, they make it so flexible you can do almost anything with the program. I call Quicksilver with CMD+Space, and QuicksilveriTunes with CMD+Up arrow. I have included a picture of my iTunes search/control preferences. Choose 'Plug-ins' in the QS preference box to add plug ins. There are some great ones.

Here are the plug-ins I have for Quicksilver:

 

[polycat33]

I love the ability to control iTunes using Quicksilver from any application. I have mine set to that I can change the song forward or backward, as well as pause and play, using option + command + arrow keys.

There are quite a lot of useful functions, I think. I don't know most of them, but here's a user guide someone wrote up that explains a lot of the great uses:

http://mysite.verizon.net/hmelman/Quicksilver.pdf

I've only read a bit into it but one of them is emailing. You can start an email really easily in quicksilver by bringing it up and starting to type an address book contact, then "compose email" and then enter and it'll bring up an email to them in mail.app. You can also do it by starting with compose mail to... (or something like that) and then pick the person. You can also pull up a file, then type "email to" and then pick the person and it'll bring up an email with the item already attached. You can also get those emails with attachments to send automatically without you typing in it, and it will list the attachment as the subject and describe the attachment in the body. So you say you're going to send a friend something and then you can do it like THAT with quicksilver without touching your mouse. That's all I've learned so far from that pdf, however I'm only a few pages in so there seems to be a LOT more to discover.

I strongly suggest you download it and look over it. It's kinda a big file, but that just means it's packed full of good info.

 

[NoBob]

I decided to give it try today because I was looking for a better clipboard. In fact I uninstalled it because I was getting frustrated with it. Couldn't work out how to get the clipboard to show up, but after removing it I missed not being able to call up any app not in the dock with just a couple of clicks. Found the clipboard answer over at the blacktree forum.

Then you find out about radial action menus that you can have pop up around your mouse cursor. You can search for a contact in your address book and email them a document in a few clicks.

It has its faults. If I want to use the Open With command, it doesn't always throw up the app you want to open it with, so you have to navigate to it, but overall it's great, and I've only just started using it. (If someone knows how to modify the apps listed when using the Open With command, that would be great.)

 

[gordyc44]

Memory card reader

Hi Mysterui,

I'm about to order myself a 17" MBP and have been getting some other bits and pieces to go with it - one of them is a media reader - this is the best one I found:

APIOTEK - 18 in 1 Express Card Adapter (EC-0004)Compliant with the new
34/54 interface, this is the world's first 18-in-1 card reader adapter!
Supports multiple flash cards (click picture for more information), and no drivers required!
Quantity : 1
Price : US$28.95

Purchased it from YourMacStore.com. I needed definite support for MemoryStick Duo - this has it, as well as nearly everything else (no Compact Flash - too big for the ExpressCard slot!), and it's very cheap too. Haven't tried it yet but it got good reviews everywhere. Don't know if Amazon have it though...

Good luck!