As for Chrome itself, it’s a really nice browser. Google has an uncanny knack for building applications which are fast, light, and smart. The search/address field is a very well done. Type whatever you want in there and get a list of likely matches. If nothing fits, hit return and go search for it. When you start using it, you wonder why this wasn’t the way it was at first.

Being able to turn any tab into a launchable desktop application is also great. It means I can now retire Prism from my Windows machine as Chrome does a better job - especially on GMail, Google Docs, and so on - go figure.

The minimalist interface gets in the way in some cases - like trying to figure out how to manage bookmarks. And if you’re used to the features you can end up with in Firefox once you load up all your add-ons, Chrome may be a downer. Because it does what it does - it does it fast and reliably, but that’s all it does.

But that isn’t bad. Use Firefox when you need your add-ons for downloading video or inserting BB-codes into message boards. Use Chrome for your web applications where you want them launched fast and you don’t need anything else getting in the way.

The one huge, huge problem with Chrome … it’s Windows only. Of course, this makes sense given the market share of That Platform. But still. The ‘Net runs on Linux and most of the best design work is done on the Mac. The opinion-makers don’t like on Windows 24×7. I’m sure Google will correct this.

In summary, Chrome is the ideal browser for accessing web-based applications (version control, project management, email, billing systems, and so on). It’s worth a shot and, while it may not take market share away from Internet Explorer, every user who can be lured away from it can be considered a “win” for web designers.

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If you’re doing code development on a Mac, especially if you’re bouncing onto your web server a lot, there are a lot of little commands and passwords that you need to keep track of. SSH passwords, SVN passwords and accounts, commands for SVN, Rails, Apache, mysql, etc. This is on top of the snippets of text for running the Mac itself and all the various signatures, quotations, recipes, contact information and other endless pieces of data you not only need to store, but be able to quickly retrieve but paste quickly into a browser, email, or shell window.

Enter “ShoveBox“, a great little menubar utility which keeps all this stuff close at hand. There are a lot of clipboard managers, but ShoveBox’s “Organize” window makes the difference. It allows all the clipping to be organized and colorized any way you like. This makes it real easy to track down that Subversion command for creating a branch you only use once or twice in six months - and then just drag-paste it into your terminal window.

Also, unlike many pure clipboard applications, ShoveBox allows you to create blank notes and put whatever you want in them. This is very useful when the text you want to paste is a combination of things - maybe some subversion commands follows by some Ruby on Rails commands - or maybe a signature for a BBS with contact information and a whitty quote.

Twenty-five dollars may seem a little steep for something like this, but the aggrivation it can save over the course of a few months is worth it. And there’s always the chance to get it at a bargain on one of the many Mac software daily sales.

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Enter MyInfo 3, written by independant developer Milenix Software in Bulgaria.

This is one of the most solid pieces of software you will find. It does one thing and it does it exceptionally. You can quickly put together outlines of all kinds of data - passwords, serial numbers, project notes, web sites you’ve visited, the structure of your next novel … just about anything.

A couple of things stand out about My Info. One is the speed. While Outlook can take 20 seconds or more to launch and initialize all its various components, My Info is running in a couple of seconds. And it minimizes to the system tray when not in use, where it consumes very little memory. This is a pretty important feature as when you need to get at that snippet of information, or save one, you do not want to be waiting for the application to launch.

My Info supports having multiple documents open at once, something a lot of bookmark managers do not. It also supports a pretty robust editing mode allowing you to save just about any kind of content into an outline. Another nice touch is that the user can select what look&feel to display - Windows XP, Office XP, and a couple more. This follows one of the edicts for user interface design that I have always found to be true: "When in doubt, make it a user option."

The only shortcomings to My Info are the ability to import and export data. It would be nice to be able to transfer .CSV with Excel. But the uitility of MyInfo more than outweighs the need to transfer data stored in it to some other application. The price is right at only $50. Unlike many other PIM’s, this is one which will soon become indispensible.

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