February 2012
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Formatting phone numbers right from the clipboard using sed
So, I needed a quick way to format several phone numbers in a series of web fields where import/export wasn’t really a viable option.
One of the great things about OS X and it’s Unix-y underpinnings is that I was able to cobble together a single command line like this to run a regex right on the clipboard contents… Basically pull it in, pipe it through sed, and then push it back onto the clipboard.
'pbpaste | sed e ‘s/[\+1( -.]*\([0-9][0-9][0-9]\)[) -.]*\([0-9][0-9][0-9]\)[ .]*\([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]\)/+1 (\1) \2-\3/’ | pbcopySo CMD+A/CMD+C, run script, CMD+V, done.
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These iOS vs Android Flame Wars Have to Stop
Jordan Crook, TechCrunch:
But what’s happening with iOS vs. Android is different. Instead of seeing an epic clash between two companies, or watching a customers-vs.-company saga unfold, we’re seeing customers in Group A join sides with Company A, while Group B joins sides with Company B. Apple and Google are supposed to hate each other, but just because we use their products doesn’t mean we need to hurl hateful, meatless comments at each other.
The problem is that those who would debate mobile platforms in this manner are basically stuck in the myopic, Microsoftian attitude that “there can be only one.”
I have an iPhone 4S and a Galaxy Nexus (as well as an iPad, Kindle Fire, and some other stuff not worth mentioning). I can see the appeal of both Android and iOS platforms — they each have their strengths and weaknesses and are actually so fundamentally different that in reality they cater to entirely different kinds of people.
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Contact and Calendar apps in Mountain Lion
Looking at the new Contacts and Calendars apps in Mountain Lion, it seems that Apple has taken a step back from its previous UI mistakes in Lion. Contacts is back to a nice, three-pane view, and the “Calendars” button in Calendar (nee iCal) now opens a left-side panel rather than a pop-over.
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iMessage Notification Control
With the new Messages app for Mac out in beta now, the next thing Apple is going to need to do is add some more control over notifications on the iOS side. As much as I’d like to replace some of my group iChat use with iMessages instead, having my iOS devices fire off notifications every few seconds is going to get real old, real fast.
In the very least there needs to be an option to mute notifications from specific conversations.