You take a great shot but there is something in the image that you dont want. You could try and crop around the object or preferably you would use a content aware fill function to remove it.

Of course you can use Photoshop to manipulate the image, but it is expensive and likely overkill for the needs of most users. On the Mac there are a number of cheaper alternatives that provide the same functionality.

As a test I have used the same image (randomly sourced from Flickr) and run it through Inpaint - $4.99, Snapheal - $9.99 & Pixelmator - $29.99. I removed a seagull, the number 4 from the boat registration and the rope.

Source

For the purposes of the experiment I just painted over the objects at the normal size using the basic settings of the functions, better results may be achievable if you were to zoom in, change brush sizes etc.

Overall the results were pretty good. Inpaint had the best result – especially with the removal of the rope, followed by Snapheal and Pixelmator. I have found no app is consistently the best as the results differ depending on the image used and the objects removed.

Inpaint is limited in its functionality, Snapheal has basic editing  features while Pixelmator is a full image editing package. Pixelmator would be the choice if limited to choosing only 1 app but given their low prices you could buy them all and still have plenty of $ in your pocket compared to buying Photoshop.

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Now that you have all of your important documents scanned and filed it is easy to find them via a spotlight keyword search. But what about when you are away from  home?

I store copies of my files on DropBox but there is no content search option. To access a file I need to know it’s location and filename. The ability to enter keyword searches  as per spotlight is missing. I tried alternate ways via PogoPlug and Tonido but they are also limited in content file searches. I can use a VPN app such as Parallels of Logmein but that is  a clumsy way to obtain the information I need.

The only viable solution I have found is Presence (formerly called FarFinder). After installing the server software on your Mac you can then remote access your files via either a web interface, iPhone or iPad app.

Apart from being able to view your files via the file manager you can also run spotlight like keyword searches to locate the document that you are after. The searches will break down the results by a number of different categories including  PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, contacts and web history. The only type that it is missing is email messages. Search results can be viewed, emailed or downloaded to your remote device then opened in another app.

Presence is not a one trick pony as it has a number of other functions such as uploading and downloading of files to your remote device, enabling file sharing and taking photos via your isight camera remotely.

This app is definitely recommended  for all paperless office aficionados.

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the understatement: Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support.

A great article highlighting the confusion and chaos that is Android.

wannabgeek - Irrelevant views of a grumpy old man who has been traversing the net since the days of pico and vi

This video gives a great insight into the man that I admired so much.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

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With all the great features that OSX Lion brought it seems to have broken a few of the Automator Workflows that I use.

In the  process I described previously I ran a workflow that would strip the path out of a renamed PDF. I have had to change that process so that Hazel renames the file based on the source folder name. This means that instead of a folder structure such as Banking-Bank-Account I now use Banking-Bank-Bank Account.

Its only a minor change to the process and Hazel makes it easy as the previous rules pick up the change of folder name automatically.

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Its’s early days but the advantages Google+ has over Facebook bodes a warning for Zuckerberg.

Google+ has all of the main features of Facebook but it is contains it in a nice clean interface. Its Circles feature runs rings 8-) around the sharing and privacy settings that Facebook offers.

A big plus the abscence of all of the advertising and add-ons that plague Facebook. How long this will last will be interesting to see.

While it is still in its infancy give it 6 months and it will be a serious contender as the social network of choice.

There is already a Google+ app available for the iPhone , though it is not working correctly with the IOS5 beta.

A quick way to convert is obviously to get all of your friends to switch over. To make it easier the following instructions to make a csv file of all your Facebook friends email addresses. You can then import that file into Google+ and it will enable you to invite them to join you in the fun.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpdgM7lM60o

If you would like an invite to Google+ drop me a line.

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Spent the best part of Sunday afternoon backing up and restoring a friends computer after they had managed to corrupt the Vista install (for the third time). The machine is a HP 17″ laptop with TV tuner built in. A nice piece of hardware, shame about the OS. When questioning what applications they wanted reinstalled it turned out they generally only used the browser and occasionally Word.

I offered the advice that they really don’t need such a machine and suggested that next time they look at getting an iPad which would definitely suit their limited IT skills in regards to maintenance. I let them have a go with my iPad 2 and within a few minutes there was another IOS convert in the world. Their only question was the compatibility with Word docs as they would occasionally need to review or edit work documents at home.

To verify the usefulness of the iPad as a desktop replacement I created an Excel spreadsheet, Word Document and Powerpoint Presentation. The idea being to see how well they kept their format and features in IOS and the effect on the documents when exporting back to the MS Office applications.

• Excel spreadsheet includes a graphic file, command buttons linked to VBA macros  and IF , Vlookup, IsError, Count and Sum statements. I also included a linked chart.
• Word document includes a watermark, graphic files and a table with shading.
• Powerpoint presentation is a simple two page file with graphic and text transitions.

Below are images of the files. They links above are to the original documents if you would like to test them yourself.

Being a IOS app junkie I own the iWorks Suite (Numbers, Keynote & Pages), Documents To Go Premium and Quickoffice Pro HD. I opened the documents in each of the apps and made some changes to the spreadsheet and document file and reviewed the presentation.

I then emailed the files back to my computer and opened them up in Microsoft Office to see what effect the IOS apps had on the files formatting.

Here are the results;

iWorks

The spreadsheet displayed fairly accurately with only the addition of some grid lines. All formulas worked fine. The Command buttons did not display but this was expected as VBA is not supported under IOS. The chart’s style was changed but updated correctly.

The presentation displayed and worked as per the original Powepoint, including the transitions.

The Word document was  close to perfect with the exception being the cutting off of the watermark.

All files has fonts replaced due to the limitations in the iWorks app.

The major issue when the files were emailed back to my iMac was that Numbers had stripped out the VBA code entirely. It also kept the cell lines that were present on the iPad and centering of text was removed. The worksheet had been renamed.

The presentation was basically unchanged from the original Powerpoint.

The word document still had the cutoff watermark.

Quickoffice Pro HD

The spreadsheet had all of the grid lines displayed. Line height was reduced to a common size causing the title to be displayed incorrectly. The VBA buttons did not display. The chart and the graphic were missing in action. All of the formulas worked fine.

The presentation reverted to a static display of the slides, no animation were shown.

The document lost the watermark and graphics. The return address was aligned to the left rather than the right. The table did not display all of the borders.

On opening the spreadsheet on the iMac it looked close to the original Excel file apart from some formatting differences with the chart. The VBA buttons and macros were intact and worked fine.

The presentation displayed and played as per the original.

The document looked pretty much identical to the original.

Documents To Go Premium

The gridlines were displayed on the spreadsheet. The graphic and chart were not diplayed. The VBA buttons were missing. All formulas worked.

The presentation only displayed static pages, no animations. The pages were not fully displayed.

Document text lost some alignment. No watermark or graphics were displayed. Cell shading was lost.

Back to the iMac and the spreadsheet displayed close to the original file, including the chart formating. VBA macros worked fine.

The presentation was pretty much identical to the original.

The document had no obvious issues.

Conclusion

On the iPad my preference is to use Apple’s iWorks suite. They are typical for Apple, being well designed and elegant to use. Unfortunately if you are required to share Microsoft Office files the changes made to Excel and Word files will likely cause issues. For Powerpoint users though Keynotes is mandatory given its ability to play presentations, both on-screen and external monitors.

Of the two other apps reviewed my user preference is for Quickoffice Pro HD but, presumably due to their long history in offering PDA office suites, it is Dataviz’s Documents To Go Premium that will cause minimal issues when sharing office documents with Microsoft Office suite users.

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Unlike Box.net and Evernote Dropbox does not currently allow you to email a files to your account.

There is at least one service that providers this functionality but I prefer not to involve third parties with my data where I can avoid it.

Credit must go to the person who wrote this script (can’t seem to find where I found it) but with some slight modifications I can now send a file to Dropbox by emailing it to a nominated personal email account.

In Mail I have a rule that runs for on a particular account that will call this script when a new message arrives. The script will save a copy of any attachments to my local Dropbox folder (in this case a called Attachments), within seconds the file will be synced to my online Dropbox account. This enables me then to open the file from one of my IOS apps.

Simple but very effective. Here is the code;

**********

using terms from application “Mail”

on perform mail action with messages theMessages for rule theRule

tell application “Mail”

repeat with oneMessage in theMessages

set {mail attachment:theAttachments} to oneMessage

repeat with oneAttachment in mail attachments of oneMessage

save oneAttachment in (“(your Hard Drive name):Users:(your user name):Dropbox:Attachments”;) & (name of oneAttachment)

end repeat

end repeat

end tell

end perform mail action with messages

end using terms from

wannabgeek - Irrelevant views of a grumpy old man who has been traversing the net since the days of pico and vi

As a convert to the principles of a paperless office I have designed, revised and scrapped a number of attempts in my search for the perfect routine.

Previously I utilised OpenMeta Tags to assist in renaming and filing of documents but ultimately I found that it was just another added process that did not return any real benefit.

I prefer to use a hierarchical file structure to store my documents which coupled with content and file name searches via spotlight are sufficient for file retrieval process.

My process for the conversion of documents starts with the sorting of the paper documents into 3 piles;

• Single sided
• Double sided, and
• Multi page

I have profiles setup in ScanSnap Manager that correspond making it a quick exercise to scan the documents, which I generally let build up and process weekly. I use the OCR function, restricted to the first page as that will generally capture the relevant information to assist in file retrieval. The files are all saved to a folder called Intray.

I utilise Hazel rules that will move the files to the appropriate folder under a main folder called Filing Cabinet. The rule searches for content that is particular to regular bills and documents eg supplier name or account number. I find that I can generally automatically file about 75% of the documents that I scan.

I have another Hazel rule that processes all files under the Filing Cabinet folder. First I rename the file to ‘-’, then I rename it to the file path – e.g. /users/(user name)/documents/Filing Cabinet/Category/Supplier Name ( I can have as many levels as I want, on some categories I add another directory indicating the financial year).

I then rename the file to ‘date created – name #.pdf’. The date format I use is yymmdd as this makes it possible to sort in date order by file name. I add the # as a unique identifier for those circumstances where multiple documents from the same supplier are processed on the same day.

I then use an Automator workflow to remove the leading part of the filename so that the file is renamed as yymmdd – Category/Supplier Name/#.pdf.

I then run another workflow that removes the ‘/’ characters so the final name is yymmdd – category supplier #.pdf

The final function is to add the Spotlight Comment ‘Filed‘ as the Filing Cabinet rule will ignore documents with that comment, this allows for manual naming of documents if a more descriptive title is required.

For those files that I acquire from other sources, primarily online or emails, I have an Action Wizard setup in Adobe Acrobat that will OCR all selected files. This will then trigger the Hazel rule in the Intray and start the filing process.

For the remaining files that are not automatically filed I just need to drag to the appropriate folder under Filing Cabinet and the renaming function kicks in and does its magic.

Typically I am still tinkering with this routine, but with 75% of my scans being filed and renamed without any interaction from me I am pretty pleased.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAgsn0crCmc

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Squirrel is the first app that I bought after switching from Windows so I have a bit of a soft spot for it. Other than nostalgia its design and functionality have kept it as my app of choice for recording financial transactions.

The developer, Axel Péju, won an Apple Design award while the software was early in its development. Progress has been a little slow but the only major functionality still required is the ability to split transactions. The companion iPhone app works great and I have never had any synchronisation issues.

It’s interface demonstrates apple design principles at it’s best. It is elegant, functional and easy to use.

I tried  Money3 but had continual synchronization issues between the main program and the iPhone app which caused major corruption of the data files. It didn’t help that the iPhone app was so ugly, though it may have improved since.

MoneyWell is a good alternative to Squirrel with a great interface but it is let down by limited reporting.

iBank tries too hard resulting in a clumsy interface. Reporting was let down by the failure to correctly display split transactions.

There are a number of other software packages available but they are all lacking in someway. Its a sad fact but there is no complete finance software package available for the Mac. By the time that Squirrel version 1 gets released it may well be the first software that could take that title.

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