Giveaway: Celebrate the Powerpack’s 1st birthday with a silly hat picture!

A lot can happen in a year. 12 months ago, we introduced the Powerpack as a very useful add-on to the free version of Alfred. The first Powerpack release had three main features: File System navigation, Result actions and basic control of iTunes with the initial Mini Player.

Since then, the Powerpack has grown and grown, adding significant functionality with every release and over 12 major features. Have a peek at the change log to see just how much has changed. And there’s still so much more to come!

Celebrating with a giveaway

To celebrate the Powerpack’s 1st birthday, we’ve decided to have fun and give away a few treats – seeing as we can’t send you all cake in the post. The winners will receive Alfred goodies and a Powerpack license (or an upgrade to Mega Supporter for existing users).

Andrew Jack and Vero in silly hats

How to enter? Here’s the fun part:

To enter this giveaway you’ll need to show us your style. The sillier the better, we think, and the winners will be chosen based on their originality so get creative!

1. Take a picture of you wearing a silly hat, 2. Tweet the following message:

Wear a #sillyhat & join the @alfredapp giveaway fun: http://bit.ly/sillyhat – here is my hat…

If you are logged into the Twitter website,
use this button to tweet: Click to tweet

Don’t forget to add the #sillyhat hashtag and your picture to your tweet, as this is how we’ll find your tweets! For example, here is my tweet:

Wear a #sillyhat and join the @alfredapp giveaway fun! http://bit.ly/sillyhat – here is my hat http://yfrog.com/hstgz9j

You only have 3 days to enter this giveaway so don’t delay! We will post the winners on Friday 26th August 2011. The competition is now closed and we’ve announced the winners below. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Announcing the winners

We’ve absolutely LOVED every contribution; from the traditional to the quirky. We’ve laughed our heads off at some of the more… original ones! And finally, we’ve picked five winners.

The winners will get each a Powerpack or upgrade to Mega Supporter, as well as some Alfred goodies in the mail.

As we truly believe that it isn’t about winning, but about taking part, as your mum told you after the school football game, we’re giving everyone who participated a 25% discount on their very own Powerpack/upgrade. Simply email us with a link to your #sillyhat tweet and we’ll issue a manual discounted invoice for you :)

Without further ado, here are our five winners:

Silbert, for his magnificent top hat and magnifying glass (and smurf)

Casey Crowdis for… wearing a dog on his head

Christine for her tasty watermelon hat

Steven Pilkington for the rather awesome Sonic the Hedgehog hat

Scott Is Loud, who happily wears a colander on his head (and is also Canadian, woot!)

Alfred Extensions: The best scripts (so far!)

With Alfred 0.9.9 out for general release, we’re excited to share some of the best Alfred Powerpack extensions that we’ve seen so far.

These scripts have been created by Alfred users and are supported by their respective creators. Where possible, we’ve included a link to their Twitter account or website.

If you’ve created a useful extensions yourself, send us a link on Twitter and we’ll add the best ones to an upcoming Extensions page.

Tip: Don’t forget that once you’ve created an extension, you can right-click it in the sidebar to export it and share with friends!

SHELL SCRIPTS

Create a Symbolic Link [link] by @jdfwarrior
Result action that creates a symbolic link to the selected item

Down For Everyone or Just Me? [link] by @jdfwarrior
Checks downforeveryoneorjustme.com to determine if a site is down

Facebook Status (requires FBCMD) [link] by @jdfwarrior
Updates your Facebook status

eBay Checker [link] by @jdfwarrior
Provides item information from eBay

Flush DNS [link] by @jdfwarrior
Flushes your DNS cache

Lipsum Text [link] by @jdfwarrior
Retrieves lipsum text from Lipsum.com and copies it to your clipboard automatically

Local Weather Conditions [link] by @jdfwarrior
Displays local weather conditions via Growl. Get your weather location ID from weather.com or Gtwthr.com (setup page). Need metric units? In the script, change METRIC=false, to METRIC=true

Create DMG [link] by @jdfwarrior
Result action that creates a DMG image from the selected folder

Package Tracker [link] by @jdfwarrior
Tracks packages via packagetrackr.com and displays information via Growl

Get External IP Address [link] by @jdfwarrior
Retrieves your external ip address, copies it to the clipboard, and displays it via Growl

Zip Folder [link] by @jdfwarrior
Result action that creates a zip file from the selected item and places it on the desktop.
UPDATED: Now has ability to create archives with folders with spaces in the name. Long explanation of why it didn’t work. It’s fixed now.

Fantastical [link] by @jdfwarrior
Applescript that lets you quickly pass new events into Fantastical

Add a task to Remember the Milk
http://ruk.ca/content/alfred-remember-milk

Turn on/off Airport (by Andy Jeffries)
networksetup -setairportpower en1 on
networksetup -setairportpower en1 off
Use the ‘BSD device name’ from the ‘Network’ section of the System Information app instead of en1.

Tweet without a Twitter client
http://blog.daviscabral.com.br/post/5622626401/how-to-tweet-from-alfredapp

Changing network location
http://jamesoff.net/site/2011/06/09/alfred-script-to-change-network-location-in-os-x/

Open URLs in non-default browser window
http://snipt.org/xvmi Credit @f5point6

Get public IP address and copy to clipboard (by Joseph Flasher)
curl —silent http://checkip.dyndns.org | grep -Eo ‘([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}’ | bcopy

Create and open a new file with your Default text editor (by Roger Byrne)
touch /Users/rogermbyrne/Dropbox/Writer/{query}.txt; open /Users/rogermbyrne/Dropbox/Writer/{query}.txt

Lots more cool scripts by Don Southard:
http://www.dirtdon.com/?p=886

including:

  • Convert image to another format
  • Share your current song from iTunes or Ecoute
  • Create tasks in OmniFocus with Natural Language
  • Set Wallpaper from Alfred action menu
  • Start a screencast from Alfred
  • Use Alfred for Window Management
  • Upload Picture to Picasa
  • Create custom Bit.ly shortened URL
  • Upload file to Amazon S3
  • Convert video to AppleTV format
  • Create a CloudApp bookmark from Clipboard
  • Shorten a URL with Goo.gl and more

Full list of very useful extension scripts created by @jdfwarrior
http://jdfwarrior.tumblr.com/post/7380798414

APPLESCRIPTS

Spotify AppleScripts by Robin Enhorn
http://www.2shared.com/file/lgQFbHdq/Spotify_Applescripts.html

Evernote search
http://www.thoughtasylum.com/blog/2011/7/8/search-evernote-from-alfred-again.html

Adding notes to Evernote
http://www.ryoku.org/2011/07/creating-notes-in-evernote-with-alfred/

Switching VPN (by @johanbakken)
http://chopapp.com/#5sqsf2oe

Set your Adium status by @simonbs
http://bit.ly/nV4K4L

Create a task in Things by @preppeller
Andrew’s Tumblr post on Things

More coming soon

We’ll soon create a page where the best extensions of each type will be available for you to browse. In the meantime, link to your own extensions in the comments and we’ll be happy to include the best ones in our future extensions pages!

Alfred 0.9.9 Brings Extensions & New Free Theme!

Have you dreamed of extending the scope of what our handy little Alfred can do for you?

The just-released Alfred 0.9.9 allows you to access even more of your Mac’s capabilities in an easy-to-use environment with the new Extensions tab. Haven’t got it yet? Check for updates in Alfred’s preferences to get this latest version.

Powerpack users now have the option to:

  • create their own Command Line Scripts (with Growl output)
  • launch AppleScripts (with parameters) with a keyword
  • run Automator workflows
  • build advanced Search Filters
  • create keywords for files and file groups

Extensions can be easily installed just by double-clicking on the exported file or dragging them to the Extensions home below. Have a look at the new Extensions page and the first examples by some of our users.

Alfred ExtensionsIn addition, Alfred 0.9.9 brings many more improvements:

  • NEW FREE THEME: Lion-based theme available both to free and Powerpack users
  • Improvements on many Lion quirks
  • Growl Support for output from extensions and more
  • Global Hotkey usage added to statistics graph
  • Address Book Contact’s Notes now visible in Contact Card viewer
  • Improved Knowledge Sorting to better account for extensions [and web searches]
  • Added ‘Get Info’ action for files
  • Make emailing attachments work with Sparrow Lite.app
  • Improved accuracy for spell and define keywords
  • Ability to use Open Meta tags when creating search filters & extensions
For a full list of improvements and bug fixes, have a look at the Alfred Changelog. And don’t forget that the next release will be 1.0… so grab your Powerpack now to take advantage of the pre-1.0 price!

Alfred Productivity Tips: Tweaking your search results to show just what you want

Lego knight in shining armourWe all use our Macs slightly differently, squirrelling files away in all sorts of obscure locations with, sometimes, less than helpful names or folder organisation.

This is where Alfred comes in, like a knight in shining armour against the mountains of files on your Mac. Below are a few ways to tweak your settings to ensure Alfred is ready to serve YOU.

Setting your default results

If you’re looking at your Default Results preference pane and thinking “What is she on about? Searching couldn’t be simpler!” And you know what? You’d be half-right. The default settings for Alfred will suit a good portion of users straight out of the box, allowing you to find the bulk of the files you need.

However, if you need him to tend to your every need, you can tweak the settings to reflect this. To create as little noise as possible, choose only the file types you really want to see every time you search, e.g. Applications, Folders and Contacts.

Don’t check every box unless you want every document, text file and image for “Spot the dog” every time you start typing “spo…” to launch Spotify.

The default search limits your results to 9 items to be as fast as possible. Want more results? Want a broader search? Keep on reading!

Widening your search scope

By default, the search scope covers the locations where Mac files are usually stored, such as your home folder, Applications folder, etc. However, if you store your files elsewhere, you’ll want to use the + button to add the additional paths you need Alfred to include in default searches.

Searching all file types

Now you really are looking for every file and folder relating to Spot the dog, no matter what the file is. You want all those cute doggy photos, videos and stories and you want them NOW!

Hot tip:

Listen carefully. This is one of the Alfred search gems you’ll never want to forget once you’ve used it…

  • Use “find” to reveal a file in Finder
  • Use “open” (or hit the spacebar) to open a file
  • Use “in” to search for the content of files

Search for Spot the dog

Like so, with a single tap of the spacebar or the “open” keyword, you can expand the scope of your search without cluttering your everyday search results.

Still need to refine the contents of this broad search? Go to the Features > File Search > Exclusions & Scope tab in the preferences to select the file types you want Alfred to show you. I always hide emails, calendar items and browser history, for example, as I have so many unnecessary noisy results in there.

When using any of the 3 file search keywords, Alfred shows 20 results by default but this can be expanded to 40 in the preferences. Handy!

Working with external drives

You’ve probably worked out by now that Alfred’s a rather accommodating chap and that he’ll do everything he can to help you.

He’ll be happy to include external volumes in your searches, on two conditions. First, Spotlight must have the drive indexed for search and, secondly, the scope in File Search > Exclusions & Scope must be set to include Everything.

A few more handy tips for fussy naming

Not happy calling a file by its name? Be Alfred’s guest and give the file a nickname.

Using Spotlight Comments, you can assign short names or nicknames to applications or files.

For example, I use a developer app called “Instruments” to test Alfred for Memory Leaks, but when it’s my own memory that starts leaking, I can’t remember the app’s name. For this reason, it now has a Spotlight Comment for “leaks”, ensuring I find it every time. Go ahead and do the same with your own apps!

Leaks instruments

In the case of apps, you can also turn on fuzzy matching in the Alfred’s Applications preferences, allowing you to use a partial match (e.g. “gc” for Google Chrome) without setting a Spotlight Comment. With Anchored turned on, Alfred will only search from the first character of every word, while turning it off will go more freestyle by showing any fuzzy match.

Hot tip:

Use Spotlight Comments to assign a short name or nickname to a file, or turn on fuzzy matching in the Applications preferences to match on the fly.

What to do if Alfred can’t find what you want

Alfred relies on your OS X metadata being healthy. This metadata is maintained by Spotlight and, on very rare occasions, can get out of date or corrupted. We’ve outlined easy diagnostics steps to follow if this happens.

Want more Alfred tips? Next time, we’ll look at the iTunes Mini Player to add a bit of music to your day!

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out Anna’s Alfred Tips blog, filled with more tricks and tips for using Alfred than you can dream of!

[Image credit: Knight in shining armor by Pascal]

Alfred 0.9 brings Global Hotkeys, Terminal commands and Sync

Alfred’s version 0.9 has been released now so to get it straightaway, go into Updates in the Alfred Preferences and click “Check now”. This is one of the most significant releases, bringing you many new features and improvements and really expanding the scope of what’s possible to do with Alfred. Have a look!

New: Global Hotkeys

Quick and easy access is at the core of Alfred’s philosophy which is why we’re very happy to have added Global Hotkeys. This Powerpack feature allows you to create custom global shortcuts for your most used applications, files and scripts. Once you set the hotkey, you’ll have single-hotkey access and a good feeling about all the time you get to save.

New: Custom Terminal Commands

For the advanced Mac users among you, Alfred’s Powerpack now also brings much improved Terminal/Shell integration and the ability to create custom commands that work right inside Alfred. You can easily run your scripts with keywords and arguments, either via opening up a Terminal/iTerm window or even silently behind the scenes. Here’s an example of a script allowing integration with the popular task manager Things on Andrew’s tumblr.

With this feature you’ll also be able to add custom shell actions to the Actions panel inside Alfred, extending the scope of how you can work with your files and apps.

Google Shorten URL command

New: Preference Syncing

Are you using multiple Macs and want to keep Alfred synchronised across your machines? With the Powerpack, syncing your most important preferences and thus keeping your snippets, scripts, custom searches and themes synchronised and ready to be used whichever Mac you’re using is easy and quick.

We recommend using Dropbox, but any cloud-synching service with a locally synced folder can be used.

New: Hide/Quit/Force Quit

With these new System commands, you can now easily hide, quit or force quit applications currently running on your Mac.

New: iTunes DJ

Experience the full power of iTunes DJ and play or add to your playlists, making you the life of the party. It’s a great way to pre-select songs to be played and allows you to compile your own ‘music queue’. Don’t forget to turn this Powerpack feature on in Alfred’s preferences.

And so much more…

The 0.9 release brings over 80 improvements, new additions, bug fixes and a complete overhaul of how Preferences are presented.

Amongst other things, you’ll now be able to drag files right from Alfred onto other applications, add icons to your custom searches, customise some of the keyboard functionality in File Navigation and Result Actions or have a peak at how much of your Alfred usage is spent using the iTunes Mini Player or the Clipboard Viewer.

Here’s a video walkthrough of the new 0.9 features:

Alfred 0.9 Walkthrough from Alfred App on Vimeo.

The full (and it’s certainly long) list of what’s new is in our changelog so go have a look.

Tempted by all the new Powerpack features? The list of advanced features available to you grows with every release so why not grab your Powerpack now? :)

Giveaway: Share your Alfred tips [updated with winners]

As you might know, about 3 months ago I started Alfred Tips tumblr which now houses over 50 tips and tricks, helping you make the most of the many, both free and Powerpack features that Alfred offers.

There are tips for beginners as well as advanced users, ranging from descriptions of how to launch multiple apps and files at the same time, tips showing the possibilities of custom search uses or even mini-tutorials explaining how to teach Alfred to behave just as you want him to.

Now it’s your turn!

What is your tip or trick for how to make the most of Alfred? Is there one thing that makes you incredibly productive? Is there a feature you can’t imagine not having anymore? Have you found a neat little way to do something that used to take you lots of time?

Share your own Alfred tip in the comments below for a chance to be one of the 5 randomly selected entries that will receive a gift pack of the lovely and gorgeous Field Notes notebooks. Or do it just for the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes once you’ve realised that your tip may be helping thousands of Alfred users.

Submission time has ended, thank you all for participating!

For a taste of what some of the best tips were, we particularly liked the following one by Molo One:

Turn Aiport on or off in four keystrokes (or less) using the new “silent” terminal mode [PP]:
1| Create two shortcuts : aion & aiof
2| Define aion as : networksetup -setairportpower on (for Leopard) / networksetup -setairportpower AirPort on (for Snow Leopard)
3| Define aiof as : networksetup -setairportpower off (for Leopard) / networksetup -setairportpower AirPort off (for Snow Leopard)
4| Check the “Silent” checkbox.

The 5 random winners of a Field Notes pack or beautiful Alfred schwag are:

Congratulations! We’ll be emailing you shortly with more information.

We’ll close the comments in 24 hours, so be quick! You have until 4pm UK time (11am EST/8am PST) on Tuesday 10th May to submit your tip. We’ll then post the names of the randomly selected winners as an update to this blog post.

I’ll be looking forward to reading your tips!

Anna (@annamanasova)

Alfred Productivity Tips: Using custom searches

Lego Ninjas are awesomeFancy becoming a productivity ninja with Alfred? Some might say that calling yourself a “ninja” is cliché but the ninja is efficient, stealthy and a master of his tools, just as you can be with Alfred. Besides, I’ve been gagging for an excuse to post this awesome Lego ninja picture so bear with me, alright? ;)

To help you discover some of the more advanced features, I’ve put together this mini series to introduce some of the power user functionality you may not have used before.

First, use the web searches

Before jumping into Custom Searches, have a look at the dozens of web searches in the preferences. We’ve included a stack of standard searches you’re likely to want to use. Simply type the keyword followed by your search term.

YouTube search in Alfred

Create your own custom web searches

There are no doubt websites you want to search that we haven’t included. In that case, it’s time to create your own! The key to creating custom web search is to work out the search URL for that site. Simply do a search and replace the search term with {query} like so:

http://www.netflix.com/Search?v1={query}

You can then use the searches to do super useful stuff:

  • Search Apple Developer documentation: http://developer.apple.com/search/index.php?Search={query}
  • Track packages from various shipping companies: See Alfred Tips for multiple query options
  • Search Ruby on Rails API: http://apidock.com/rails/search?query={query}

And much more…

Searching apps on your Mac

There’s more than one flavour of custom searches; you can also create them for applications on your Mac. Not all apps offer an application URI so it’s worth digging around or asking the developer. Here are a few of our favourite ones:

  • Spotify: spotify:search:{query}
  • App Store:  itunes://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?term={query}
  • Facetime: facetime://{query}

A custom search without a query

Did you know that your custom “searches” can in fact not be searches at all? Launch any website with a custom keyword by saving it in Alfred’s custom searches.

  • I keep my stress levels low with the “lolz” keyword: http://icanhascheezburger.com/?random
  • And read my favourite daily web comic with a “qc” custom search: http://questionablecontent.net

Check out Anna’s Tumblr for regular tips on using Alfred and discover many more custom search ideas on Alfred fan Olivier Guerriat’s alfredtips.com.

Share your searches

As Jack Johnson says, “it’s always more fun to share with everyone…” so swap custom searches with friends. Use the copy icon to copy the custom search query and click on any special URL starting with alfredapp:// to import one to your own custom searches.

Sharing your custom searches

Chime in in the comments if you’ve become a black belt of productivity and want to share your own tips. We’ll feature some of the best ones in future posts!

Next time: Tweaking your search results to show just what you want

Alfred & QuickCal: Lightning fast calendar entries [20 License Giveaway]

Update: Due to the popularity, we now have 20 licenses in total up for grabs! Keep the funny calendar entries coming! :)

There are certain matches that are made in heaven; peanut butter & jelly, sunny days and weekends or Andrew and his new iPad 2.

Another great match made recently is Alfred and QuickCal. Created by Jim Boutcher of Smelly Puppy, QuickCal is an app that allows you to use plain text to create events and todos on any of your iCal calendars.

The two have now come together to make it even easier to add events to your calendar with an Alfred custom search. Just click here to import the custom search and say “Oh yes!” to add it to Alfred.

Quickcal logo

To use it, grab QuickCal in the Mac App Store for a mere $1.99 or £1.19. It’s a real bargain. However, if the price of a slice of pizza is too much for your pocket right now, Jim kindly donated 10 QuickCal licenses for us to give away.

QuickCal giveaway

Win one of ten licenses for QuickCal for Mac by entering in the giveaway below!

To participate: In the comments below, post the first calendar appointment you would make with QuickCal. Tomorrow, we’ll pick the ten best and funniest entries.

For example:

pick up Steve’s 37 black turtlenecks from drycleaner Fri 4pm

You have until 4pm UK time (11am EST/8am PST) on Thursday 7th April to post your entry. The competition is now closed – we will be announcing the winners shortly. Ensure you leave a valid email address so that we can contact you if you win. (Bonus points if your entry makes Andrew spit out his Diet Coke!)

The Winners

Congratulations to Matthew Callier for the entry that was unanimously voted as the funniest, most Diet-Coke-spitting entry:

Remember to put on pants before making QuickCal license acceptance speech video.

The other winners are:

  • John Davis
  • Bernhard Mäser
  • Daniel
  • Brian
  • Joe Wanja
  • Kumail Rizvi’s monkey
  • Greg Miles
  • Alexander de Haas
  • Ben S
  • Mashi
  • Paul
  • Florian Taltavull
  • Giles Butler
  • Michael Raphael
  • Patrick Tulskie
  • Kiero
  • Atlas Wegman, the walrus keeper
  • Luke
  • Stephanie

All winners will receive an email with their unique redeem code today :) Thanks to everyone who took part and submitted their entries!

Alfred in Technicolour: Your best colour themes

Since we launched the colour theming for Alfred, you’ve been creating a wide variety of beautiful, interesting and, in some cases, downright bizarre colour themes. It was tricky, but we picked a few of our favourite themes that you’ve submitted or shared.

To install: You need the Powerpack to use custom themes. Click on any of the themes’ screenshots to install them on your Mac.

Your favourite websites

Daring Fireball by @GrandLarceny

Facebook

Mac Appstorm by @vero

MacGeneration by MacGeneration

Your favourite sports teams

Boston Bruins by @drossignol10

Toronto Raptors by @drossignol10

Los Angeles Lakers by @drossignol10

More great themes

Homebrew by @elliotlevin

Go in peace, Quicksilver by @ivanneto

Tron by @drossignol10

Cool Green by @peter_woodworth

Blue Light by @drossignol10

Rockslide by @maxsteenbergen

Want to contribute your own? Leave a comment with a link to it (Pass it through tinyurl.com first, as WordPress disallows the alfredapp:// URI) or submit it to alfredtips.com, a site by Alfred fan Olivier Guerriat.

What are the best themes you’ve seen? …Or the worst ones? ;)

Sneak peek: “Neighbours” feature for Alfred 0.9

This was a parody post for April 1st. Unfortunately, Universal Powerline Cloud™ technology which allows for effortless and security free connection to your neighbours networks doesn’t exist :)

Over the past few weeks, Andrew has been working on a new feature for version 0.9 which we’ve kept under wraps until now. This feature will make Alfred the most useful app in your household; it will help you communicate effectively with your community and influence what happens behind closed doors. Alfred will be more powerful than ever before.

So without further ado, here’s a sneak peak of “Neighbours”, the greatest feature for Alfred yet:

“Neighbours” feature

Neighbours feature

With the new “Neighbours” feature, no house will ever be an island again. Just use the keyword “neighbour”* inside the main Alfred window and choose from the available list of neighbourhood computers.

Neighbours feature

Once you’ve chosen a computer to connect to, use Alfred with the keywords and shortcuts that you’re used to. Alfred will help you quickly find documents on your neighbour’s Mac or PC. Check out Jimmy’s latest school report card, connect to their music library, or copy over the files you have been chatting about.

Security & hassle free

Because we are using new Universal Powerline Cloud™ technology, Alfred will be able to effortlessly connect to your neighbours networks and computers without having the hassle of authentication. Even better, Alfred doesn’t need to be running on their computer (Mac or PC) to be able to browse and search their files.

It’s convenient and fast and you’ll never have to wait for your neighbour to take the time to send the files over! Just pop into Alfred, quickly identify the file you want, maybe take a peek at what they have been up to over the past few days and you are done, without them even having to know.

We give you Alfred Neighbours – Bringing you and your neighbours much closer together.

* As Alfred is a true English butler, you are required to spell it “neighbour”. No alternative keyword will be accepted.

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