Tag: Software
Yoink makes it easy to move files around on the Mac
A review of @eternalstorms OS X application, Yoink.
The Yoink app is an OS X masOS) app that simplifies and improves drag-and-drop between windows, apps, spaces and fullscreen apps. Yoink was written by independent software developer Matthias Gansrigler who lives in Vienna, Austria.
Once installed, when I start dragging files in Finder or content from an application, Yoink fades in a tiny window either at the edge of my screen or adjacent to the mouse cursor. I can then drop content onto the window where it will sit until I drag it somewhere else. Having the Yoink window appear right next to the cursor makes dragging to it is easier.
Once the files are in Yoink, I use the mouse to comfortably navigate to the destination of the files --either in Finder or another application -- and then continue the drag from the app's window. If the destination is on the same storage volume as the original, the file is moved; if the destination is on a different volume, the file is copied. This mimics the behaviours that users expect from Finder.
Yoink accepts any file from Finder and app content from almost any Cocoa app -- JPEG from Safari or the file system, PDF, etc.
So I can move or copy files to a different folder or hard drive on my Mac or collect images from a website or text snippets from documents before I move them to the desired destination.
Stacks
When multiple files are dragged to Yoink, they’re combined into a something the developer calls a "Stack". This makes dragging them out together very easy. Stacks can be split up, so individual files are can be dragged as well.
Customize
I set up Yoink to ignore apps where I don’t need it. I have customised where and when the app window will appear to make it fit my workflow and daily routines. For instance, I configured the app not to show up at my screen’s edge, but directly at my mouse cursor, making moving large numbers of image files easier.
App name: Yoink app
Category: Utilities
Version: 3.2
Supported devices: OS X Lion 10.7.3 or newer required
Cost: $6.99
Developer and operator: Matthias Gansrigler, © 2016, Eternal Storms Software
Google Photos -- Meh
I was a Picasa user for a while some time ago but decided that Flickr was better for my needs. Back then I used Google+ to upload and share images with other Google+ users. I still do. Google announced the new Google Photos as both a web service and an app at Google I/O. I was sceptical but decided to give it a try on my iPhone.
Google Photos can back up all the images in your iPhone's photo library. Just like Flickr, Google provides a desktop up-loader. There are two backup options that vary by upload size. Original is a full resolution backup of your iPhone images. The storage space used counts against your Google storage quota. I had that turned on initially but quickly realized my error when I got a message that my 15 GB of FREE Google storage was filled. I deleted the images and set my upload size to high quality. That let's Google make decisions about how to compress my images and cut the use of storage. This option provides me with free unlimited storage. The downside is that I have no control over the quality of my images. I am at the mercy of Google's algorithm.
Once you start syncing your images, changes you make to your images will sync as well. Changes you make to your photos, like editing and deleting, will happen on every device that syncs to your Google Photos library including across your desktop and iOS photo libraries. Be careful with the last one. Deleting an image from Google Photos will delete it from your iOS library.
Brian Young wrote an article for Petapixel comparing the compression quality of JPEGmini to that of Google Photos. His results were mixed. Don't depend on Google Photos as a backup option. Uploaded images are limited to 16MP. Use it for its intended purpose. Uploading images for social sharing.
Overall, I think Google and JPEGmini both have impressive algorithms. Google’s beats JPEGmini in compression some of the time, but it looks like there are still some kinks to work out to prevent aberrations and other artifacts.
Flickr gives me 1TB of storage and doesn't limit the size of the images or the quality. I have 49MP images on Flickr. I haven't noticed any compression artifacts after uploading JPG images. One great feature of Flickr is that I can embed images into any web site including sharing to Facebook, Twitter etc. I'm not sure you can do that with Google Photos.
I started this blog post to review the feature of Google Photos and I realized that they were all underwhelming. Meh! All of what Google Photos offers, I can do with Flickr while enjoying better image quality and sharing options.
