Some documentation for Superego (and a new beta)
Jul/03/2013 12:35 AM Archiviato in:SuperEgo
New beta here, the version number is 0.4.1 (53).
What Superego is and why you should use it.
Superego helps you understand what you do when you are sitting at your computer. It tracks the application you're using and the related documents and reports back time spent on any document.
It is designed and intended for personal use, like the "real" Super-ego: "[a] special psychical agency which performs the task of seeing that narcissistic satisfaction from the ego ideal is ensured ... what we call our 'conscience'" as Freud said. A mean to improve ourselves by understanding what we do.
Application and documents can be linked in "Lists". A list links applications and document for easier classification. For example you can compile a list of all documents open in safari (pages, in this case) that have "twitter" in the name and any document open in Twitterrific for Mac and on the native Mac twitter client to track all the time you spent (waste?) on twitter. Similarly you could track time really spent on your projects just by creating a list with the related applications documents.
Lists can be exported and imported and shared between users and computers.
Best of all: Superego is different from other "time trackers" in that it never tell anyone what you're doing. There is no magic server or database somewhere, no "phone home", no "adaptive device support", no key logger, no information leaking. Superego is a fully sandboxed application and cannot track what you're writing. Heck, it cannot even make a network call. Your data is yours. No one but you can track yourself.
How to use it:
Start it and it will start tracking your application usage. Feel free to quit the application window and use the status menu (the one with the clenched fist) to control the app. You can also reopen the main application window from there.
You can always start and stop the data grabbing with the menu (or the main window) when you're doing things you don't want to track (or it's a time you don't want to track).
Edit lists will start the list editing.
Import and export are, well, import and export. Simply point the right file.
Delete does what it says. Beware that there is no undo!
Add and edit with respectively add a new list or edit the selected one.
On the List Editor you'll see the list of Elements the list will use. An Element is basically an application and a document pattern for the application. In other words, say: Microsoft Word and all the documents containing the words "free thought". A blank doc pattern means: all the documents opened in this application.
If you add an element it will start the add element box.
Name is the name of the element (it is descriptive only, use anything you'll remember).
Bundle ID is the bundle id of the application. In other words, the application identifier. Don't worry, it will be easy to find it.
Document pattern is a list of words that have to be present in the document title. If blank means: any document.
The "matching documents" table will show all the documents matching the bundle id and the patter. At the very start because both bundle id and doc pattern are empty, all the document the superego knows about are shown.
To easily start double click on a relevant document in the list to "init" the element.
Let's say you want to make a list element matching any New York Times page (so to understand how much time you read the New Your Times online). Before starting the editing you have to open one or more pages from the NYT in your browser (I am assuming safari, here).
Scroll the "Matching Documents" table to find a New York Times page and double click on it. The Bundle ID and the document pattern will be autoloaded with the Safari bundle ID (that's com.apple.Safari) and the page title. The Matching documents will show only the just selected title.
Now cancel the words from the Document Pattern until the bare minimum to identify the site will remain. In this case leave only NYTimes in the document pattern field. The "Matching Document" table will show all the pages you read in the NYT.
To make the same for Pages' document, just select a Pages document from the list on a new element list, the bundle ID will be, in this case, com.apple.iWork.Pages. Filter the document via the document patterns to match what you are looking to track.
You can find some exported lists here for you to study and/or modify. To import simply download them and use the "import" button in the Lists Window to add them to your list or double click on it from your download location, the list will be automatically loaded.
Reporting is available via both "application report" (based on the applications, independently from lists) and via the "Lists report" (that will show the list and the list elements). Both reports are configurable in time frame to be shown. On the Lists Report, you can double click on each "list Element" to show the documents that matched that list element (useful also for debugging the lists).
Currently there is no way to export the data for further analysis, but the option will be added as soon as possible.
What Superego is and why you should use it.
Superego helps you understand what you do when you are sitting at your computer. It tracks the application you're using and the related documents and reports back time spent on any document.
It is designed and intended for personal use, like the "real" Super-ego: "[a] special psychical agency which performs the task of seeing that narcissistic satisfaction from the ego ideal is ensured ... what we call our 'conscience'" as Freud said. A mean to improve ourselves by understanding what we do.
Application and documents can be linked in "Lists". A list links applications and document for easier classification. For example you can compile a list of all documents open in safari (pages, in this case) that have "twitter" in the name and any document open in Twitterrific for Mac and on the native Mac twitter client to track all the time you spent (waste?) on twitter. Similarly you could track time really spent on your projects just by creating a list with the related applications documents.
Lists can be exported and imported and shared between users and computers.
Best of all: Superego is different from other "time trackers" in that it never tell anyone what you're doing. There is no magic server or database somewhere, no "phone home", no "adaptive device support", no key logger, no information leaking. Superego is a fully sandboxed application and cannot track what you're writing. Heck, it cannot even make a network call. Your data is yours. No one but you can track yourself.
How to use it:
Start it and it will start tracking your application usage. Feel free to quit the application window and use the status menu (the one with the clenched fist) to control the app. You can also reopen the main application window from there.
You can always start and stop the data grabbing with the menu (or the main window) when you're doing things you don't want to track (or it's a time you don't want to track).
Edit lists will start the list editing.
Import and export are, well, import and export. Simply point the right file.
Delete does what it says. Beware that there is no undo!
Add and edit with respectively add a new list or edit the selected one.
On the List Editor you'll see the list of Elements the list will use. An Element is basically an application and a document pattern for the application. In other words, say: Microsoft Word and all the documents containing the words "free thought". A blank doc pattern means: all the documents opened in this application.
If you add an element it will start the add element box.
Name is the name of the element (it is descriptive only, use anything you'll remember).
Bundle ID is the bundle id of the application. In other words, the application identifier. Don't worry, it will be easy to find it.
Document pattern is a list of words that have to be present in the document title. If blank means: any document.
The "matching documents" table will show all the documents matching the bundle id and the patter. At the very start because both bundle id and doc pattern are empty, all the document the superego knows about are shown.
To easily start double click on a relevant document in the list to "init" the element.
Let's say you want to make a list element matching any New York Times page (so to understand how much time you read the New Your Times online). Before starting the editing you have to open one or more pages from the NYT in your browser (I am assuming safari, here).
Scroll the "Matching Documents" table to find a New York Times page and double click on it. The Bundle ID and the document pattern will be autoloaded with the Safari bundle ID (that's com.apple.Safari) and the page title. The Matching documents will show only the just selected title.
Now cancel the words from the Document Pattern until the bare minimum to identify the site will remain. In this case leave only NYTimes in the document pattern field. The "Matching Document" table will show all the pages you read in the NYT.
To make the same for Pages' document, just select a Pages document from the list on a new element list, the bundle ID will be, in this case, com.apple.iWork.Pages. Filter the document via the document patterns to match what you are looking to track.
You can find some exported lists here for you to study and/or modify. To import simply download them and use the "import" button in the Lists Window to add them to your list or double click on it from your download location, the list will be automatically loaded.
Reporting is available via both "application report" (based on the applications, independently from lists) and via the "Lists report" (that will show the list and the list elements). Both reports are configurable in time frame to be shown. On the Lists Report, you can double click on each "list Element" to show the documents that matched that list element (useful also for debugging the lists).
Currently there is no way to export the data for further analysis, but the option will be added as soon as possible.
Last beta for Radio Paradise for OS X
Jun/18/2013 02:33 PM Archiviato in:Radio Paradise for OS X
A new beta of the Radio Paradise OS X client is now available. Changes are mostly cosmetics: new menu item; an improved Main UI; some small fixes here and there. I’ll send the program to Apple for publishing it into the Mac App Store later today.
As usual, the source is available on GitHub. If you want to test it, grab it from here, unpack the zip and copy the application to the /Applications folder (not strictly needed, you can run it from everywhere).
As usual, the source is available on GitHub. If you want to test it, grab it from here, unpack the zip and copy the application to the /Applications folder (not strictly needed, you can run it from everywhere).
SuperEgo third beta
Jun/18/2013 12:46 AM Archiviato in:SuperEgo
A new beta for SuperEgo is available with many improvements.
The app have now lists, aggregates of application and documents based on document patterns. I hope the list creation API is easy enough to understand just by testing with it, but it definitely needs some documentation work. List are useful for reporting and for alarms (i.e.: you can setup a list to warn you after n minutes of using documents in the list.
The application still need some improvement but, basically, it’s mostly ok (I hope).
You can grab the beta here, the version number is 0.3(45).
Feedback is always appreciated at my email/twitter/phone/whatever, make me know how you’re using it!
The app have now lists, aggregates of application and documents based on document patterns. I hope the list creation API is easy enough to understand just by testing with it, but it definitely needs some documentation work. List are useful for reporting and for alarms (i.e.: you can setup a list to warn you after n minutes of using documents in the list.
The application still need some improvement but, basically, it’s mostly ok (I hope).
You can grab the beta here, the version number is 0.3(45).
Feedback is always appreciated at my email/twitter/phone/whatever, make me know how you’re using it!
SuperEgo Second Beta
Jun/04/2013 11:49 PM Archiviato in:SuperEgo
A new beta is available for superego. Now it’s a menu application (less intrusive). Reporting has filtering by date.
You can grab the beta here, the version number is 0.2(19). Feedback is always appreciated at my email/twitter/phone/whatever.
You can grab the beta here, the version number is 0.2(19). Feedback is always appreciated at my email/twitter/phone/whatever.
New beta for Radio Paradise for OS X
Jun/02/2013 11:21 AM Archiviato in:Radio Paradise for OS X
After some hours of weekend work, there is a new beta (version number is 0.6) of Radio Paradise for OS X. The application is now a menu bar application, runs completely from the menu bar (no icon, no UI needed). I’m still not so happy for the buttons but for the rest it is quite usable.
As usual, the source is available on GitHub. If you want to test it, grab it from here, unpack the zip and copy the application to the /Applications folder (not strictly needed, you can run it from everywhere).
As usual, the source is available on GitHub. If you want to test it, grab it from here, unpack the zip and copy the application to the /Applications folder (not strictly needed, you can run it from everywhere).