sayzlim.net

I can see most of the people spend most of their time on Facebook. Perhaps you are also one of the people who are currently logged in Facebook.

I was addicted to Facebook. I use “addicted” because I had the urge to log into Facebook whether I was busy or free. You know there is nothing new or interesting in there, but you will at least take a peek at your Facebook stream, expecting something. Something you don’t know.

Occasionally, you will play some games if you’re not a hardcore gamers. Some people can play the Facebook games to a certain degrees which is unbelievable.

What happen if I take away this piece of puzzle from my life? What if I quit Facebook for real?

It has been almost a year I quit from Facebook. I was very curious how the decision will create impact in my life and my habits. The first thing you will experience after quitting Facebook is the gap in your time. You realize that you have more time than you need. The problem is how to fill the gap with other activities.

Back then, I was busy with my final project in college. I could dedicate all my time to do the project while taking a part time job. The time given to me let me have more time to contemplate about my life.

I can focus on the people during meets. I use this phone since the time I quit Facebook. Without being connected online, I can actually connect with the people I interact. You can give your full attention without being distracted. By not playing with my gadget while talking, it actually shows how you care the people you talk too.

Is quitting Facebook a wise decision? No, not really. But I’m sure it helps me to realize what I have and do with my life.

Do I need to quit Facebook? It is up to you. If Facebook is helping you getting things done and improvise your life, stick with it, by all means. Life is about making decision and moving onward with it.

There is one app with interface that I love to hate. The precious app that I run all the time to play music known as iTunes is the app with most modification in term of interface. The icon doesn’t match my taste and the user interface is too boring for daily use.

So I search for modification for the user interface and find this one particular sophisticated mod.

As you can see from the screenshots above, the icons are more simple without the border. It gives the embedded texture while keeping the interface clean from distraction.

Another important mod for this theme is the redesigned scrollbar for the list items. The scrollbar is similar to the scrollbar in iOS devices which feature a nice dark line.

While this theme is very well made, I can’t say it doesn’t come with bugs. If you turn on the iTunes sidebar, it actually use the default system scrollbar which doesn’t match well with the whole theme. However, it won’t be a problem if you don’t use the sidebar regularly like me.

I’m going to post a step by step installation instruction here while keeping your iTunes safe from broken theme.

There are several things you need to keep in notes before proceeding to installation process:

• Make sure you have the latest iTunes or at least iTunes 10.2.1
• The theme might overlap with your other mod. So make sure you have the installation for other mod to ensure everything back to normal.
• Make sure the iTunes is not running.

1. Download the latest iTunes mnml by Joagil from his deviantart page.

   

2. Follow the instruction on his page or simply follow mine. Find the iTunes app and right click the icon to show the package contents as shown in the screenshot.

3. Navigate through to the folder called “Resources” and find a file called “iTunes.rsrc”.

   

4. The “iTunes.rsrc” is the file that you’re going to replace later with your downloaded mod. Backup this file by copy it and paste to your defined location. To simplify, I usually backup the original file within the package by pasting it along with other folders inside contents like the screenshot.

5. Once you’re done with the backup, you can copy the mod “iTunes.rsrc” file you downloaded earlier from deviantart and overwrite the file inside the “Resources” folder.

If you want to restore your iTunes interface to the original one, you can easily do it by replacing the “iTunes.rsrc” file with the backup you did earlier.

You can always ask me question if you encounter any problems using the contact form at the sidebar or simply say hi. I hope you enjoy this mod.

One app that turn the your Mac alive is Growl. Growl has been around since the age of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. It provides Mac OS X with notification system for apps that support it. It is easy and simple to use. It is unlikely to find a Mac without Growl installed these days.

The things I love from Growl is the style system where we can customize and change the notification appearance. Designers are crafting beautiful styles and combine it with Mac OS X beautiful user interface.

These are the styles I handpicked and personally recommend. Not many styles make it into this post since I choose only 4 styles.

The best style ever made for Growl crafted by Rogie. Hud style uses the well polished combination of colors and achieve nice contrast between text and background. The reflection adds the depth that makes this style my favorite.

Simple yet elegant. Mono style is carefully crafted by Christoper Lobay. The first sight of it reminds you of Hud style, but it is totally different with the line and less reflection. I’m sure some of you will prefer this over the Hud style.

MonoMini style is the mini version of Mono edited by Sturdy of DeviantArt. It is small but prevails the elegance found in Mono style.

Palmstyle is the current active style on my lovely MacBook White. Samm, the active member of MacThemes, crafts this style based on Mono style mentioned. Palmstyle gives the feeling of solidness with the lines and shadow. It is consisted of two styles, animated and static. I personally prefer the static style.

If you see any Growl styles that you think should be listed here, send me an email by using the contact on the left or tell me on Twitter at @sayzlim.

Burning data CD on Mac OSX doesn’t require third party application and can be done easily. The built in ability to burn data CD can be accessed by right clicking on the files or folders.

You can select multiples folders to burn them into disc or you can put the folders you want to burn into one folder and burn the selected folder. The latter will not create root folder. Instead, it will only burn the folders and files within it.

One particular genre of apps that been bothering me is the huge release of to-do apps for either Mac or iOS. First, let’s define the basic concept of to-do apps. A full fledged to-do apps should have these features.

• You add tasks
• You complete tasks
• You archive/delete tasks

No matter how many features you add to your to-do list apps, these are the core elements for to-do apps. So, why do they even bother to release to-do apps one after another?

This is why developers will spend their time writing an apps. There is market where people buy. There are always people who focus more on apps rather than getting things done. We’re all same, when there is new apps, we want to try it. Purchasing productivity apps like to-do apps can create an illusion of how productive we are for several days. Worst: you create list and never complete it.

Things get solved when we focus on solution. You don’t need to-do apps to get things done. Get things done by getting them done (better if you get them done earlier). I’m not saying that to-do apps are useless in helping you getting things done, but I have my own tiny apps.

My most favorite tool is when it can deal the file one by one in .txt types. Every system support this format. Taking it to the oldest computer machine still let you view and edit it.

I use Notational Velocity (syncing via SimpleNote) and create a file with name “Todo” to add tasks. You can also use TextEdit to create a text file and name it “Todo” (or anything you like - be creative). When I have tasks to get done, I fill it by firing up the apps.

I usually break down the goal into small task. For example:

Set a deadline if the tasks need to be organized to fit your schedule. Long term goal requires more steps to complete, but you can make it fun by implementing game system into it. Be creative with the words you choose because your motivation to complete a goal depends on it.