So naturally, I wanted to search Amazon to find a probe thermometer to purchase. Ferris suggested that I should buy a probe thermometer. Last week I was reading Tim Ferris's The 4 Hour Chef, in my Kindle app on my Mac, which I always keep in full-screen mode so I can read without distractions.
So what? Well, it can do a few other things too. Ok, so Alfred is great for emailing files. Of course, this quick comparison doesn't even consider how all of the other options that Alfred presents along the way, or all of the other services that Alfred could plug into along the way instead of email - that's right, Alfred is an open platform that other apps can plug into, so you can use Alfred with your favorite services to expedite almost any workflow on your computer. Given that I type over 100 WPM, I see a 90% time reduction = 1 order of magnitude. That's a 33% reduction in steps, but probably an 80% reduction in actual time. Specify recipient (after this, your mail application opens up with a new compose window with the recipient, file, and subject already set) Navigate to file (this may be many clicks)ĥ. In order to find out, lets conduct a an objective comparison between a purely mouse driven approach, and an Alfred driven approach.Ģ. Doesn't sound very special, right? Well, maybe it is. If you select email, Alfred prompts you for a contact's name, and when you press Enter, Alfred opens a new compose window in your default mail program with the recipient specified, file attached, and subject inserted. If you want to open the file in a new Finder Window, press Enter, or if you want to email the file, press the Right Arrow key and you're presented with a few actions you can perform on the file, including email. Just type "find " then the file you're searching for. Well, let's say you want to find a file, buried deep in your folders and email it. When you launch Alfred, you get this simple search box. Both of these keys occupy prime real estate on the keyboard, so I disabled Apple's Spotlight search and mapped Alfred to CMD+Space. By default, OSX uses CMD+Space to invoke Spotlight. What does it do? How does it function?Īt any point in time, you can invoke Alfred by pressing a user-programmable keyboard shortcut. So let's start with the basics of Alfred. This is particularly ironic given that Google is the mother of all search companies.
#DASHEXPANDER WINDOWS#
Even Google's desktop search for Windows is lacking in comparison. Both Microsoft's and Apple's built in search functions pale in comparison to Alfred. It's everything that the built-in search function on modern OSes should be.
#DASHEXPANDER SOFTWARE#
Alfred: Command line > software UIĪlfred is Spotlight++. Each of these apps optimizes its UI mechanism to the point of perfection. This post will focus on Alfred, and my next post on BetterTouchTool. Alfred and BetterTouchTool are apps for OSX that extend the functionality of the keyboard and mouse tremendously. Thus, we're left with 2 forms of physical interaction. Sure, there are ancillary ways to interact like the webcam and microphone, but would you really say that your primary form of interaction with your computer is your webcam? Or microphone? Exactly. PCs have 2 physical forms of user interface - the keyboard and the mouse/trackpad.
#DASHEXPANDER PC#
You only interact with a PC in 2 fundamental ways The third post will discuss the intermingling of these apps and possibilites for future UI improvements. The first 2 posts are an will lay out use cases that demonstrate why the Apple + Alfred + BetterTouchTool trifecta is the perfect UI in the desktop/laptop environment. The post will focus on the keyboard, the second on the mouse/trackpad, and the third on the future of UIs. This blog post is the first in a 3-part post. But if I'm not restricted to a binary response, then I choose Apple + Alfred + BetterTouchTool. If the only choices to the question above are Microsoft and Apple, then I choose Apple in a heartbeat. Who creates the best UI in the desktop/laptop environment, Microsoft or Apple? Most people who know me would say that I would say Apple, given my self-proclaimed "Apple enthusiast" (not fanboy) status.
#DASHEXPANDER MAC#
One of the center pieces of the age-old Mac vs PC debate has been about UI.
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