Saturday, December 28, 2013

Into the Fast Lane with Synapse

One of the differences between average users and “power” users is efficiency. Power users are concerned not just with getting a task done but also with getting it done with as little effort as possible in the shortest amount of time. One way that advanced users often speed up their work is with automation. Synapse puts the pedal to the metal a different way: reducing the need to switch between the keyboard and the mouse.

Unless you are using KDE or some type of minimalist desktop, you have a wonderful piece of search technology called Zeitgeist working behind the scenes. Zeitgeist is a framework which works a bit like a butler, observing which files you open and which programs you run most. It does not, however, spy on you or what is in your documents. Instead, Synapse gives you a way to search this information to open a document, run a program, and much more.

Reasons for Distrust: Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, FBI / NSA

It is common for a network or server administrator to talk about 'reducing the attack surface.' To use a house metaphor, it's ha...