Flickr Learned LOLspeak & OS X Screen Captures

Flickr Learned LOLspeak, originally uploaded by smithco.

Flickr greeted me with a boisterous "O HAI" this morning. I laughed out loud.

This also reminded me of a good OS X tip.  Screen captures in OS X are really easy.  ⌘-Shift-3 will drop a PNG-format image file on the desktop for each screen.  ⌘-Shift-4 will give a cross-hair selector to grab a portion of the screen: just select a region and a PNG appears on the desktop.

A Mac Desktop Picture Changer Using Flickr

My recent switch to Mac has so far been nothing but awesome. Generally, Macs are just better at everything. But, there is one application that I miss from the Windows world: a wallpaper changer that uses photos from Flickr. John's Background Switcher did exactly what I wanted, but that only exists on windows.

There is photocast trick over on Mac OS X Hints, but that has the limitation of only using recent photos out of a Flickr stream. I would really like to pull random photos out of my Flickr photostream, just like John's Background Switcher does. I'd also like to have some specific Flickr interaction, like jumping to the displayed photo, or showing the most interesting photos.

Unfortunately, I just can't find a good application on the Mac to do this. Thus, my only solution is to write one! I think that this should be a relatively simple application when it's done; however, discovering the most elegant way to put this together will be a small adventure. It should be fun and a good way to explore some of the principles of Mac development.

We'll all just have to see how this develops.

To keep the information about this project separate from the miscellaneous clutter of this blog, I've started a new blog specifically to journal my progress. You can visit this project journal at http://flickrdesktop.blogspot.com.

Silver Vase Bromeliad

Silver Vase Bromeliad, originally uploaded by smithco.

Aigues-Mortes

IMG_5968, originally uploaded by smithco.

We spent a day in Aigues-Mortes, a little town held inside a medeval ramparts. It just so happened that we arrived on their Férias (bull festival).

See the whole photo set.

Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath, originally uploaded by smithco.

The last day of my holiday was spent up in Cowdenbeath. There's nothing particularly special about Cowdenbeath. It's just a small, industrial town where the mines were closed down some time ago by Margaret Thatcher. But, it is the place the Smiths are from; it was good to see the place and the people who make up a part of my heritage.

View all my photos from Cowdenbeath

Holyrood Abbey

Holyrood Abbey, originally uploaded by smithco.

The next three days of my holiday were seeing the sights and history of Edinburgh. The two highlights there were most definitely Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano that dominates the city's skyline, and Holyrood Palace, the Queen's residence in Edinburgh.

View all my photos from Edinburgh

Whiskey Live!

Whiskey Live!, originally uploaded by smithco.

The first two days of my holiday were in Glasgow. The highlight was the Whiskey Live! show. Unfortunately, I only got one good photo from the show, it's as if my photographic abilities are inversely proportional to my blood-alcohol content.

View all my photos from Glasgow

SCOTTISH NOT BRITISH

SCOTTISH NOT BRITISH, originally uploaded by smithco.

View all the photos from my trip to Scotland in one set