Sporadic Musing

Hidden Gems - Overlooked Lion Features

With the newest incarnation of Mac OSX Lion out in the wild, hundreds of new features have been improved, added and tweaked to make the best OS possible on the Mac. Most of you will be aware of the major features. Autosave and Versions, Mail, Mission Control, Launchpad and so forth but many of the tweaks are hidden away. I'll be uncovering these smaller, but no less significant tweaks and bringing them to light here.

Autocorrect

iOS paved the way for super intuitive autocorrection and Lion has brought it to the desktop. When typing a word that you may have misspelled, Lion will display a very familiar popover. Keep typing and the word will be instantly replaced with the correction, a small blue underline will show that a correction was made. Backspacing will display a revert popover and you can use key down to select and enter to revert.

More Voices

Lion comes packed with just shy of 100 new voices of varying dialects, accents and languages. Many of these are uncannily (and rather unnervingly) human. My personal favourite is the British 'Daniel' voice. They can be individually downloaded and clock in at around 300-600mb depending on the language.

A Fresh Lick Of Paint

Buttons, menus, iconography and even transitions have been upgraded to create a streamlined experience. The icons are generally greyscale to match the iTunes look, and everything has a much more bouncy feel about it. Scrolling past the top or bottom of most pages will spring the view, similar to that of iOS.

The animations for resizing the window (always a confusing aspect of the Mac) have been changed to show exactly what is being moved. Interestingly, holding ⌥ while clicking the + resize button will resize all windows of that application with a smoothed out animation.

Also, the Character Viewer has a new look.

Quick Definitions

Quick definitions have been around for a while. Hovering over a word in most applications and pressing the combination of ctrl-⌘-D would popup a basic definition viewer. This combination still works, and a new shortcut of triple tapping three fingers over a word will show a fancy definition, thesaurus and wikipedia combined popover. The very first item in the context menu, 'Look Up' will also show the information box.

Deleting Apps From Launchpad

Launchpad gives a new home to you applications. Reminiscent of the iOS home screen, the Launchpad even contains the signature 'wiggle mode'. Hold down application icon (or hold the ⌥ key) to invoke it. You can then click a little X mark to delete applications. (Note: I couldn't get the screen grabber to work properly in Launchpad.)

New Folders

You can now create new folders by using either a dedicated 'New Folder' button in the menubar, or by selecting the items and clicking 'New Folder with Selection' from the context menu (ctrl-⌘-N).

Move Item Here (Cut and Paste)

New to Lion is a much requested feature. The ability to cut and paste files and folders from one location to another. To do so, hold down the ⌥ key when pasting. The context menu item will change to 'Move Item Here'. When clicked, this will delete the original file while pasting it in the new location. Essentially, cut and paste.

Copy/Duplicate Item Exactly

Not exactly sure what this does, but it requires admin permissions. Once an item has been copied, right click and hold down shift+⌥. Similarly, there is a 'Duplicate File Exactly' when holding the same keys down and right clicking a file.

Multiple File Undos

From what I can remember, when deleting files it was only possible to go back one undo. That is, you could only un-delete files for the most recent deletion. Now it's possible to continue un-deleting multiple files.

Labels From The Menu Bar

You can now change a files label through the menu bar. It's an addition button so you'll need to right click the menu bar, click 'Customize Toolbar…' and drag the red roundrect button onto the menu bar.

Arrange By And New Views

A new Finder mode called 'Arrange By' organises a Finder view by splitting the list into categories. This is similar to the Windows 7 method of organisation. For example, arranging by file type while using Icon view will introduce a new Icon/Cover Flow combination mode.

An oddity occurs when organising by file type in list mode and expanding a folder with the right arrow. It opens the folder in the same view, with icons that look like folders representing file types. These can be expanded in the same view but not opened in a new window. I think it's an overlooked bug that should be fixed in a future update.

(The red icons are actual folders, the ones without a colour are semi-folders that shouldn't act as folders. This error will show when trying to open these semi-folders.

Changing Safari Full Screen Width

You can change the width of Safari when in full screen mode by grabbing the sides and dragging. Useful if the page doesn't look right in the full width. The setting persists only in the changed tab. This doesn't work for pages that aren't designed to display under certain conditions.

A video can be seen below.

(download)

Add To iTunes As A Spoken Track

After selecting text, a new context menu appears that allows you to 'convert' the selected text directly to a narration and import it into iTunes automatically.

A windows appears where you can select the voice, name and location.

Animated GIFs in Spotlight

Lion can now display (and play) animated GIFs directly in the Spotlight. It used to be that an application enhancer was required for such a feature. Unfortunately, Preview still can't play GIFs, for that you can use Xee.

The Library Is Hidden

The user library is now a hidden folder, with access only available through the menu, To find it, do the following. Hold ⌥ while the Finder 'Go' menu is open.

Quick Look In Stacks

Stacks now supports Quick Looking into files by pressing Spacebar while on a hovering over a file or folder.

Quit And Discard Windows

When quitting applications, Lion will automatically save the windows and positions, restoring them on application restart. To completely discard all windows and positions hold down ⌥ when quitting.

Changes To Exposé

With Mission Control combining Exposé, Spaces and Dashboard, the old application window Exposé has been changed slightly. The new default shortcut is fn-F10 (F10 by itself is mute). This new version combines minimised windows with recent files.

Here's an example with Preview. At the top we can see open files and below, recently opened files. The lower section uses Cover Flow animations.

Automatic Application Quitting

Applications will now automatically quit when all windows have been closed and the user switches to another application. I've tested this feature with TextEdit and Preview but it doesn't work with TextMate or Twitter For Mac (the application stays open even after switching).

Change Cursor Size

I can't remember if this was a feature before, but it's now possible to change the size of the cursor for ease of viewing. In System Preferences, Universal Access, Mouse & Trackpad and the scroller is at the bottom.

Here's a video. (The cursor size change is quite abrupt in the video, it's much smoother live.)

(download)

I will add to this list as more features become discovered.

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Review: Byword

Simple text editors are nothing new to the Mac (TextEdit, the default text editor is a testament to this), but for a purely distraction-free writing experience nothing compares to Byword. From the developers at metaclassy comes a beautiful designed editor, clearly inspired from the shift towards simplicity and user friendliness has made the iPhone and iPad industry leading designs.

The premise is simple, you need to put text to the page and nothing else. To do that you need isolation from everything else. Byword runs fullscreen by default, dimming it's two button interface (a search and a fullscreen toggle) to provide you with only the words and the paper. Running in a window removes little from the experience, with no toolbars to take up valuable screen space. To make the experience that much better, Byword uses the beautiful Cochin font family which compliments the simplicity perfectly. You can of course edit this, as well as a few other text options in the settings if required.

One of the most inspired features is an iOS popover that you can toggle when selecting words, this appears when in rich text mode and allows you to change the basic style of the text without having an additional menu at the top. Saving space and only appearing when you need it. You can also use the myriad of keyboard shortcuts to change any feature of the text without using the mouse at all.

Another distraction remover is the focus feature that automatically dims text that is outside of the range selected, this can be anywhere from the same line to the entire paragraph, allowing you to focus only on the writing.

Search is as simple as it gets. Press the shortcut (or click the button), type and you're done. Replacing couldn't be easier, simply select replace in the context menu, type what you need to replace and what with and once again, you're done.

However, there are a few flaws that come into play when using Byword. One of which is the focus mode becoming deactivated when moving the mouse, and the entire text coming into focus and going back out immediately. This is extremely prevalent with accidental presses of the trackpad and can be become distracting. Also, although the iOS style popover is a great addition it provides no easy use with the keyboard, forcing you to go back to the mouse in a primarily keyboard focused application.

Even with these small annoyances, Byword is an excellent tool for writers and bloggers that can't seem to help being distracted.

Byword is available now for $2.99, rising in price $1 every 3 days. So if you are thinking of buying, act fast before the offer ends.

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Holy Paladin Spell Changes In Cataclysm

Holy Paladins have changed a lot in post Cataclysm. Although I've only started with some of the changes I'll try and outline the most fundamentally different spells and abilities.

Major Changes

Holy Shock

Although Holy Shock has been in the game for some time, it's become the new semi-base spell in Cataclysm. You want to use it whenever it's off cooldown. The heal itself isn't that large but it's main purpose is to generate Holy Power (more on that in a minute) and to proc Infusion of Light (again, I'll explain this further on).

Flash of Light

Before Cataclysm, Flash of Light was a main heal for many instances. This is in no way the case anymore. Taking up 27% of base mana, it should only be used as an emergency heal. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to go OOM very, very fast.

Holy Light

Holy Light is the new base spell, it's much more mana efficient and it's unlikely you'll go OOM when using it. With a longer cast time FoL it's important to remember that you need to be much more pro-active when using it as you can easily overheal otherwise.

Holy Power

Holy Power is a whole new resource now available to Paladins of any talent spec. With a maximum of three Holy Power and an exponential increase in healing or damage when using HP spells, it should only be consumed when at full. The best way to generate HP for a Holy Paladin is to cast Holy Shock, or certain healing spells (Flash of Light or Tower of Radiance) on whoever has the Beacon of Light. Once at the total Holy Power you have a few options available that will use no mana.

Word of Glory

A simple one target heal that consumes all Holy Power.

Light of Dawn

A new AOE heal that will consume all Holy Power. Light of Dawn will heal 5 (or 6 with talents) damaged allies in a frontal cone. An extremely unique spell that can be used when no one in particular needs the major heals. Move behind the rest of your group before using it.

New Stuff

Mastery

Mastery is a new trainable passive skill that will allow certain spells to perform certain actions. For Holy Paladins this adds a nice absorb shield to the target of any direct heal. This is initially at 10% and can be increased with mastery ratings that can be found on certain weapons.

Divine Light

A nice big heal that can be used as an alternate to Holy Light. If placed on the main tank, it can generate a Holy Power with the right talents. Used for period of high damage.

Infusion of Light

Infusion of Light can proc from Holy Shock, reducing the spell cast time of Holy Light and Divine Light to about 1 second. This lasts for 12 seconds so you can wait for the opportunity to use it. I'd recommend using Divine Light on the Beacon to gain a quick Holy Power.

Seal of the Insight

This seal will deal a small amount of damage, but more importantly it will return 15% of base mana when judged. You should judge the enemy as often as you can to regain as much mana as possible.

Blessing of Kings

Blessing of Kings increases Strength, Agility, Stamina and Intellect by 5% and resistance increase. You may note this does not stack with the druid's Mark of Wild, as such you should only cast this if a druid is not in the group.

Blessing of Might

Increases attack power and mana regen. Most people would prefer Blessing of Kings, but with a druid and Mark of Wild in the group it's sensible to use this.

Protector of the Innocent

This talent will heal yourself for 4k after you heal anybody else. A must have.

Guardian of the Ancient Kings

Now THIS is a cool ability. When used a wicked looking guardian will appear next to the Paladin and will duplicate whatever heals you do to the player you healed as well as 10% or the heal to nearby targets.

Minor Changes

Cleanse

This spell will now work on people with no debuff so watch out for that! With the right talents this can also remove a magic effect.

Resistance Aura

As opposed to the individual auras for different spell damage, Resistance Aura rolls them into one. A nice change.

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That's the roundup of the main changes to the spells and abilities. If you have anything to add, please do in the comments below!

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Add A FaceTime Shortcut To A Contact

Now the FaceTime for Mac has been released, you can assign a contact a FaceTime shortcut that whenever you click it, opens that number or email in the FaceTime application. To add such a shortcut you need to add a facetime://xxx link to a new field in the Address Book. This can be a bit difficult so here's a small tutorial.

1. Open the Address Book.

2. Find the contact, and add a URL to them.

3. Change the URL name to FaceTime.

4. Add the links. Remember to start them with facetime://. This can be either the phone number or email address assigned to the recipient.

5. Thats it! Just exit the edit mode and test them.

The link will open the FaceTime application (if you have it installed) with the required information, but will require you to press the FaceTime button to initiate the call.

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Tips For Scanning Your Life's Photos

Printed photographs are a great way to show friends and family memories of the past. There's nothing quite like passing around photos and reminiscing with children or elders of the snapshots of times gone by. However, with the move to portable, experience devices such as the iPad, it makes sense to immortalise these memories into a digital format.

A few months ago I took it upon myself to start of project of scanning and digitalising over 800 photos spanning 30 years of our family. This proves a brilliant opportunity to gain a better perspective on my (as well as my parent's) upbringing and really helped to get the family together. Here's a few pointers to anyone out there that wants to embark on the same journey.

Prepare

One of the main goals was to digitalise every photo we had. This turned out to be whole bags full. So make sure you are certain you've found all of the photos, whether these are in the attic, under the stairs, or wherever you keep them. Combine them all to allow yourself time to get through them.

Likewise, make sure you do have adequate time. This will most likely take a full day to complete, possibly two for work that needs to be done on the computer afterwards. Make these days free from all other activities to ensure you don't get distracted by anything else and leave photos lying around the place.

Organisation

From different events, sizes and just making sure we knew which ones we had already scanned, make sure you have a method that suits you. Mine was to first organise them by size (as to why will become obvious in the next section), and then by whether I'd scanned them or not. By taking roughly 20 at a time and keeping neat piles vastly helped getting through them.

Know You Scanner

To make sure you optimise the amount of scanning space that your scanner can do at once, take a few practice scans. For example, on my own there's a faulty line that runs down the side of the scanning bed. Unfortunately, I only noticed this half way through causing many of the scans to be effectively ruined. Use practice scans to find and avoid any of these zones.

As I mentioned before, by organising by size you can place your photos easily on the screen knowing exactly how many can fit at once and to keep a time estimate of how long to completion.

Listen to the scanner to realise when it has completed scanning and when the scanner is simply sending the image and returning the scan light to the beginning. This way you can the time to replace the photos with new ones without harming anything, saving you a lot of time.

Speed

Scanning hundreds or possibly thousands of photos can immediately appear a massive time sink. However, with a few key concepts you can speed this up dramatically. These include:

DPI - The DPI a scanner setting that determines how large (and therefore longer to scan and longer transfer) the scan will be. Print DPI is 300, which should be the default setting. You can safely turn this down to 150 without losing any noticeable detail.

Ethernet - More than likely you have your scanner set up over WiFi. The speed of transferring images is much slower and less effective this way. It's much faster to set up an ethernet or USB connection direct from the printer to the scanner. Use whatever method you originally set the scanner with but this time with the WiFi turned off and wires plugged in.

Photo Swapping - Mentioned earlier, you can use the time that the scanner is 'pulling back' the scanning light (it only scans one way) to replace the photos on the glass with new ones ready to scan again. This allows a continual scanning process.

Software - I used the Mac HP scanning software that has a single button to scan with virtually no bells or whistles. By using the simplest scanning software that works you can quickly get through the stack without pushing a lot of buttons.

Press, scan, replace, repeat - By getting into a rhythm of how the scanning process works, you can easily keep create a continual stream that maximises productivity of the scanning.

Post Processing

With the batches of photos scanned into the computer, you may notice that many are rotated the wrong way, are glaringly dark or have rips that weren't obvious in the physical version. To amend this, we have to split the batched images into their separate individual photos and fix any graphical errors.

For the software on this part I used the Mac program Pixelmator and the built in Preview for smaller corrections. However, you can just as easily use any image manipulation program such as Photoshop.

For the most part, you will have to split the images (assuming you put more that one on the scanner at a time) into the component photos. Just crop, rotate and save into a format you are comfortable with.

Again, get into a rhythm of splitting and saving every photo with some sort of naming convention (e.g. increasing numbers). You can go over the bad ones separately at a later time.

Other Hints and Tips

Avoid looking at the photos. I know this may seem anti intuitive to not look at the photos, but I found that I could be too easily distracted by them or would purposefully skip ones that put me in a negative light. By sorting them upside down, you can simply scan them all in and then look at them later when you have more time.

Transfer any notes. If like myself, you have dates or other information written on the back of your photos, make sure to transfer them across. Whether this is the folder name for multiple images or each name with a different note. This really helps to keep a grip on the what's what.

Share them! Once completed, feel free to share them with any friends or relatives that you may not have seen in a while or who've moved away. A shared memory can be a great way to reconnect with old friends or family members. Of course, if you don't want that one image of you sitting in the bathtub when you were three circulating the internet, you should share with caution.

Storage. Now that you have all of the physical photos together, it would be a good time to find a permanent home for them where they won't get lost, damaged or forgotten.

With these useful suggestions, I hope you get the most out importing all of your photos into the digital world. If you have any pointers of your own, do post in the comments below.

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Back to the Mac Speculation

On the 20th October Apple is set to announce a return to the Mac OSX after a hiatus of working on the iOS devices. WIth the tagline 'Back to the Mac' and a picture of a Lion behind, speculation has arisen over what could be introduced into the Mac ecosystem. Here's a couple of my own speculations with an explanation of my decision on each. You may note I haven't included a 'Definitely' or 'Not' category as obviously nobody knows what defiantly will be or will not be announced.

Likely

FaceTime iChat incorporation

The open standard of FaceTime that was most recently introduced into the iPod Touch has the highest likely hood of being incorporated into iChat, Apple's (rather neglected) chatting application. With the front facing camera built into every Mac available it only makes sense that this will be a feature to finally tie the mobile and desktop video chatting experience. It would use an email address similar to that of the iPod Touch that can be 'called' directly from any FaceTime enabled device.

A New UI

Snow Leopard, for all intents and purposes, was an 'under the hood' upgrade with minimal changes to the user interface. One of which was the use of black on the stacks feature and context menus in the dock. I believe this was Apple testing the water for a new change without completely revamping everything. The black of the context menu (with semi transparent white borders) is in stark contrast to the white of everywhere else. A rumour of a 'Marble' UI has been floating around for a while and I think this event will be where Apple finally show this new interface.

Further integration with iOS devices

Although the 'Back to the Mac' headline strongly indicates that the conference will be solely focused on the Mac, it isn't without reason that Apple will incorporate iOS within. For example, over the air syncing for files, music, photos could be a new built in feature of the operating system without having to open iTunes. This is similar to the iDisk feature, a place to put your files and for them to automatically sync over. Similarly, an AirPlay feature could be in the works to allow 'pushing' of videos, music and presentations straight from your device.

iLife and iWork '11

Recently, there's been much indication of a new iWork (the Microsoft Office of the Mac world) and iLife (the fun stuff) on the horizon. This would be a welcome upgrade, with the current version being at '09, and could introduce some of those over the air features I was mentioning earlier.

MacBook Air Upgrade

The MacBook Air has been waiting for a long overdue upgrade. Possibly for cheaper and smaller chips, better batteries or who knows. The brushed aluminium razor thin logo that can be seen in the press picture suggests hardware. What's interesting is that the logo is spinning, teasing what's on the other side. Wishful thinking tells me it could be a touchscreen, possibly making both top and bottom halves of the MBA touch interface to enable two interfaces. Again, pure speculation and most unlikely. This would probably be the 'and one more thing' that will be at the end of the main announcement.

Under the Hood

As always the bug fixes, stability improvements and extra security will always be introduced that these events. Although Snow Leopard was the main hidden improvements upgrade, bugs and other improvements are always welcome.

The Final Release of OSX

The status of the Lion being the 'king of the cats' indicates that this will be the final (and most advanced) of the OSX's. With OSXI, OS11, xOS or whatever Apple comes up with to replace it being next in the Mac's software cycle. Someone mentioned constellations in the 11 build which sounds like a pretty cool idea.

Something Magical…

One of the biggest features of the iPhone 4 was the retina display. If you look at what people's predictions where before hand there were practically none for a higher resolution display, because people simply didn't know they wanted one. Likewise, I think Apple will release a certain something completely out of left field that will be 'that thing' that has to be introduced in all other devices. We'll have to wait and see just what that turns out to be.

Unlikely

Other MacBook/iMac/Apple TV/iPhone Chat

Other that the obligatory 'we sold X amount of units' I don't think Apple will talk about or introduce anything further than the MacBook Air. From what little information we have, nothing has pointed to anything else being released.

Another Touch Screen Device

WIth the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad taking the forefront of touch screens I don't think it likely that Apple will introduce yet another device that requires touch, especially with the focus being on Macs and Apple's (completely reasonable) stance on keeping touch away from it.

IOS Apps to the Desktop

As mentioned before, although it likely that some sort of iOS to iMac integration could come I don't think it will be in the way of bringing the whole app ecosystem to the Mac. Although this would drive sales of apps, the technology of the iPhone simply doesn't work with the Macs. Although, this doesn't completely rule out an 'App Store for Macs'.

Retina Display

The retina display for the iPod and iPhone were capable due to the smaller amount required for each device, therefore not having high cost associations. The benefit of having retina on the Mac would be far less at a much higher price point.

What are your predictions for this week's Apple event and what do you think will be the 'And one more thing…'?

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Editing Smart Folder Criteria

Let's say you have a smart folder set up that searches for all documents that have been edited in the last 2 days. Now, if you save this smart folder somewhere and wish to edit the criteria later on (to search images as well, for example) it's not immediately obvious how to do so. However, this is a very simple procedure.

First, open up your smart folder.

Next, click the 'Actions' cog in the toolbar.

Finally, the 'Show Search Criteria' option at the bottom will open up the same criteria selection that you originally used.

You can edit this and view the results in real time.

If you exit the window after making changes, Finder will prompt for a save.

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iPhone 4 Wallpaper Template

The iPhone 4's retina display makes it a real beauty to display great looking artwork on you lockscreen. Unfortunately, it can be a pain to find images that are set out in a way that allows the focus to shine through the middle as opposed to slider or clock bars.

Using Teeham+Lax's iPhone 4 Template, I've isolated the lockscreen and created a simple template for creating your own lockscreen backgrounds. These files were created in Adobe Photoshop but can be used with Pixelmator if you so wish.

Without iPhone (2.5MB)

You can use this PSD to create the locksreen with only the screen showing.

With iPhone (15.2MB)

This one will display the iPhone as well as a nice background to get a better perspective of the wallpaper.

With both of these templates, replace the layer (not the layer folder) named wallpaper and you will be able to view what your wallpaper will look like on your device.

Enjoy!

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Useful iTunes Smart Playlists

iTunes is a great way to organise and store your movies, TV shows and music. The iTunes playlists offer an extensive range of sorting methods that can be used to find music that you wouldn't otherwise listen to. Or, if you wish, sort the wheat from the chaff and find your favourite songs from potentially thousands.

Criteria
Criteria is what the smart playlist sorts for. This can include Artist, Album, Song Name or even Beats per Minute and the amount of times you've skipped the song.
Smart Playlists
In short, a smart playlist is an automated list of songs that are created using various criteria. To get to the creation screen, click File -> 'New Smart Playlist'. Or by ALT (SHIFT on PC) -Clicking the small + at the bottom left.

Here's a few smart playlists that can used to help organise your music that little bit better.

No Rating

Rating allow you to easily remember what songs you like and what songs you dislike, we will be using rating in further playlists.
By creating a playlist that has no rating, you can see what songs you have left to rate. This is an easy way to quickly go through and rate them all. By keeping them to music this stops any videos or podcasts that don't really require ratings. You can remove this criteria if you wish to rate those as well.

Extra: By utilising the 'Live updating' we can use a menubar app such as I Love Stars to rate your songs and automatically move onto the next song in the playlist allowing for rapid ratings. I would recommend not looking at the song information when rating your songs to avoid artist discrimination and only focus on the music.

High Rating

Using the rating system, we can create a 'these are great songs' playlist. Good for just listening through when want some good music on but don't know what song.

Top 25 Most Played

I believe this is enabled by default but is still a great one to have around. You can change the 'Limit to' value to create a Top 10 or Top 40.

Recently Played

Again, this may be enables by default but is another great one for referencing what you've been playing. You can add 'Media Kind' 'is' 'Music' to have only music in the list.

Recently Added

Similar to the last one, this will display all media other than podcasts added in the last two weeks. Great for going through those new songs.

Not Played Podcasts

One for the podcasts junkies out there. This will show all podcasts that haven't been played in a random order.

No Artwork

The OCD amongst you will appreciate every song having album art. This will display only songs that does not have art for you to fill in. It also removes the Voice Memos from showing up.

Golden Oldies

This will display all songs that are over 3 stars that hasn't been played in the last month. A great way to find songs you never knew you had.

Do you have any favourite ways of organising your media? Post in the comments below!

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Create a Digital Time Capsule

With my birthday coming up I thought I'd do something a bit different. I'm going to give myself a present from the past , but it's going to arrive a decade too late.

By utilising a bunch of online tools and tricks, it's possible to create an online time capsule that you can open in a decade to see what you were like, what the world was like and see how it all turned out.

To start, we need some digital stuff to put in our time capsule. Some suggestions would be a video diary of your day, some pictures (these can include the days news, family members, any pets, your room/house), information about you (current bank balance, number of songs on your iPod, your most prized possessions) and even some music. I'll put other suggestions at the bottom of the page as well. Collect these files on you PC and stick them in a folder.

To keep the metaphor, the capsule itself is going to be a .zip or .rar file with all this stuff inside. To make sure we don't open it earlier we add a very complicated, and therefore hard to remember, password. Make this as complicated as you possibly can, no words or phrases just a random selection (although write it down for use in a minute). To do this you can follow this tutorial for Mac, or use 7-zip for PC.

Once you have your capsule we need a place to put it. For that we use any email address that you want, this can be gmail, yahoo, msn, anywhere. If you are worried that the service might not be available in the future, choose two or three. Create your email accounts and again use a randomly generated password and write it down. Once you're done, head on over to futureme and write yourself a letter addressed to your real email address not the ones you just created. This will contain instructions for what to do, including your password for both the email and time box but don't make it obvious that your password is in there for security reasons. Send it away and wait for it to arrive!

Now email the capsule to your future address. I would recommend deleting any record you make of your future passwords in case you get curious.

The benefit of this method is that you can continue to send memorable stuff to your future addresses and only collect it on the date specified via futureme. If however, you are worried that the futureme site won't be available in the future you could keep a copy of the passwords in an email hidden away, maybe encode them in rot13 to make it extra effort to stop yourself opening them until the designated date. This relies on you having the same email addresses for the entire time, which is somewhat unlikely, so make sure to migrate anything you do to any new addresses.

For those that feel a decade is a bit too long, you could create staggered points in time. Maybe a small 1 year one with a list of to-dos that you wish to accomplish by then and a few images of yourself followed by a bigger 5 year one.

Some more suggestions;

Pictures of your clothes, your room, your best piece of technology, a write up of the best tech available, some music, the top 10 music/movies, list of things to accomplish, a list of friends contact information, a couple of internet memes, a list of sites you frequent regularly.

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Sporadic Musing

Sites I Like

Tags

Archive

Hidden Gems - Overlooked Lion Features

Review: Byword

Holy Paladin Spell Changes In Cataclysm

Add A FaceTime Shortcut To A Contact

Tips For Scanning Your Life's Photos

Back to the Mac Speculation

Editing Smart Folder Criteria

iPhone 4 Wallpaper Template

Useful iTunes Smart Playlists

Create a Digital Time Capsule