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Algorithm-Free Listening for Music Lovers

How to Optimize Your Settings in Paper by Facebook→

Facebook’s new Paper app is the best excuse yet to ditch the social network’s older offering. But while the re-imagined mobile experience adds beautiful fullscreen images and new, intuitive swipes to the mix, it also comes with a few limitations. So before you banish that blue and white standby to the netherworld of discarded apps, you probably want to make a few quick changes.

Roberto Baldwin for Wired writes about how toggling a few switches can make Paper by Facebook better and turn off some annoyances, like videos that automatically play.

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Collect and Share GIFs In Dropbox with GIFwrapped

GIFwrapped

GIFwrapped

GIFwrapped, developed by Daniel Farrelly and brought to my attention by Casey Liss, is making me reconsider how I organize my collection of reaction GIFs.

Until today, I’ve stored my GIFs in Evernote, using tags to group them together and search to filter results. Just a few days ago, I noted that the improved note editor in Evernote for iOS makes for smoother GIF animations, but the sharing aspect remains one of my system’s shortcomings – when I want to get a GIF out of Evernote and send it to someone else, I have to upload it somewhere else. Evernote works as a GIF archiving tool, but it’s not optimized for it. Read more

Apple References In Futurama and The Simpsons→

With a combined 33 seasons between them, both Futurama and The Simpsons are awash with references to Apple. Some of these references take the form of biting commentary while others are much more subtle.

In compiling this list, I was lucky enough to chat with famed Simpsons writer Bill Oakley (seasons 4-8) and talented Simpsons director David Silverman (seasons 1-present). They were both gracious and kind enough to answer many-a-question and provide me (and you) with some behind-the-scenes information about the “how and why” behind some of the Apple references you’ll find sprinkled throughout this post.

Great work by Yoni Heisler at TUAW. #4 is a classic.

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TAKE ACTION - Action Menu Generator For Launch Center Pro→

Nice work (and great name) by Jeff Mueller: starting from my idea for an action menu for Safari in Launch Center Pro, he made a web app to simplify the process of assembling the bookmarklet. You can choose from a set of emojis for icons, select one of the built-in actions (so you don’t have to write URL schemes), and hit Create Menu to generate a menu. It’s very simple and much better than writing code manually.

I hope that Jeff will add more app actions and emojis soon. Check it out here.

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Evernote for Mac Gets Descriptive Search With Natural Language Support

Evernote for mac

Evernote for mac

With an update released today, Evernote is bringing descriptive, natural language-based search to its Mac client. The feature, which can be activated from Evernote’s search bar, aims at making it easier to find specific notes using a natural input system for note names and content, as well as more advanced filters for date, location, device, and attachments.

Descriptive search is, essentially, a refined interface for Evernote’s existing search system, which has long enabled users to find notes by combining tokens in the search menu. Instead of clicking to choose search options and combine them, you can now type commands such as “notes created this month” or “notes with images and created this year” and Evernote will display a suggestion based on matching search results for your account. Read more