After I had written what was a very rudementary script to solve the problem, I posted it to my blog (the one you’re reading now). Within a couple of hours I had over 500 views to the post, and a few comments. Thanks to everyone who took the time to find me on twitter or post a comment.

One of my commenters was Chris Kalafarski (farski). He had re-written my script using Ruby. This had the advantage of running a little faster than mine, and he iterated on it further by adding a filename parameter, and even a system to use predefined templates for the new files. I gave the script a spin, and was delighted. It was a far better solution to my problem.

So I took the liberty of adding a basic help system and packaging the Alfred script as one you can download and install. If you want you can download the raw Ruby script from Chris’ Github account here, or just download the .alfredextension below.

Many thanks to Chris for making my life easier. Again, I hope this is as useful to you as it is to me.

Download v2.0 (12kb)

How to use the extension

To create new files with a desired name

Simply load the folder you would like the new file to appear in, in the Finder. Then call up Alfred, and type “new “. You can now enter a new filename to be used for your new file. E.g. “index.html”. Your new file will be created in the folder for you instantly.

To add a template

Templates are used for new files of a specific filetype. If for example you want all new HTML files to have a basic HTML structure prefilled, you can add this to your templates directory.

To add a template, you must first create a new template folder inside the extensions folder. To get the extensions folder, right click on the extension name in the Alfred Preferences, and click Show In Finder.

Create the templates folder, and then add your template file inside, using both the name and extension as the filename.

Now when you add a new file to any folder, your template will automatically be used if the filetype matches.

Other things to note

You can create a file, by simply pressing return after typing “new “. This will create an “untitled.txt” file, to be renamed by you later.

Basic help can also be called up using in a growl message, using either ‘help’ or ‘?’ commands. E.g. “new help”.

I am constantly bothered by the lack of a “new file” option in the Mac OS Finder. None of the scripts I found on the web were that great, and they were often quite slow. So I whipped up this little Alfred extension. It creates a new file in the most recent or currently active finder window, and selects it ready to be renamed.

All you have to do is open the folder to use, and call “newfile” in Alfred. Simple!

I’m going to refine it a little more, but for now it does the job just fine. Feel free to download it, and tweak it as you wish. If you do update the script though, please post the changes to the comments so that everyone can make use of them.

Download v1.0 (9.7kb)

However, I’ve just read Victoria Harazim‘s vast back catalogue, she is a budding author and copy writer from Aberdeen; and she’s given me that spark to start writing again.

I’m not quite sure how I’m going to fit this in along with building websites, wanting to build an iPhone app, tinkering with my new Arduino board, practicing for the upcoming 10k run, Refresh Aberdeen, Network, Cubs, and Beavers, as well as anything else I’ve not thought of, but it’ll be fun to try!

So watch this space, I might, one day, have a gripping and imaginative short story for you. In the meantime be sure to read Diamond Tears Victoria’s story available for Amazon Kindle, it’s not super long, and it’s a cracking read.

Our Christmas holidays thereafter consisted of myself trying to resist the urge to sit in front my of my laptop and play, and my brother just loosing himself in the game for what seemed like days at a time.

As a big fan of Sci-Fi, the story line was a huge appeal to me. The game is set in 2027, and mankind has been developing human augmentations. This has divided humanity between people who believe that augmentations are an abomination, and people who believe they are just the next step in our own evolution.

You play as Adam Jenson, and you work for augmentation company Sarif Industries. As you progress though the chapters of the game you choose your own path, deciding whether you want to take moral or imoral approaches to different situations.

You are soon given your own augmentations; allowing you to increase your abilities, improve armour, stealth, health, and so on. You can play using a variety of game styles and skills including hacking, stealth, full combat, and more.

The idea of choosing your own path, and selecting augmentation upgrades gives you a great opportunity for replaying the game later.

That’s all I’m going to give away of the story line; that’s for you to find as you play the game.

The graphics for the game are great and at times quite breathtaking; you can really become immersed a world that seamlessly weaves together The Fifth Element and Blade Runner.

The cut scenes are beautifully rendered, with clever use of lighting to give a sleek, futuristic feel.

Unfortunately there is no multiplayer mode, which is a big shame. Co-op would be a great way to play through this game with a friend!

I would also have liked to see a little more free play. You can choose to complete side missions, but these seem to be less side missions and more part of the story line itself.

I must have played the game for 30-40 hours, and I’ve already bought and started playing The Missing Link (an extra chapter you can download through Steam).

I have yet to play the 2 original games in the series, so I’ll definitely be getting those soon too.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed playing Deus Ex, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys RPGs, Sci-Fi, or just great story lines. Be sure to shop around though, I picked mine up for £12.

Refresh Aberdeen will be an informal place you can come along and enjoy a beer with other people in the industry. Enjoy some friendly banter, learn some new things and generally have a great time.

Our first meet up will be February 8th 2012. It’ll be a chance for everyone to have a beer, decide where Refresh is heading, and what you want to do with other like minded people in Aberdeen.

Every few months we’ll be holding mini conferences, inviting speakers to share with us the greatest new techniques in web design, development and management.

You can find out more at refreshaberdeen.com

It checks for most TLD’s and provides a Growl notification to show availability. Feel free to share it with friends.

Download (13kb)

The first week or two were spent in withdrawal. I was getting nasty headaches everyday at around 2 or 3pm. This was not helped by the bug I had at the time.

In about my third week I was feeling pretty happy with myself, I hadn’t given into temptation and had that “just one cup”. That said I did have a little bit of tiramisu, but with an Italian girlfriend what could I do!

I think it was about three weeks in that I realised I was getting a decent nights sleep. Nodding off shortly after my head hit the pillow, unlike the half an hour or more I would lie awake before that.

My last week was not made any easier by the addition of a new coffee machine for the office. The smell of real, freshly brewed coffee, wafting passed my nose several times a day made things just that little more difficult.

By now I was counting down the days until I could have a drink; looking forward to that inevitable high I was going to get.

When the day finally came (12th October 2011, 14:00) I indulged in the largest Caramel Macchiato that I could get from Starbucks. There was so much caffeine I couldn’t finish it all!

It was certainly an interesting experience and I enjoyed the process of setting myself a challenge. I don’t however intend to give up my coffee full time, but have cut down dramatically.

Things have been a little challenging so far. The trickiest thing has been my “first thing in the morning autopilot coffee making”. Catching myself just after putting the kettle on, and having to resort to a glass of squash, or water instead has been interesting to say the least.

Ever since I gave up the wonderful drug I seem to have been getting headaches in the afternoon. I’m not quite sure if I should put that down to the cold that I’ve had or just to good old fashioned withdrawal symptoms.

Either way, I seem to be doing pretty well. But I can’t wait until the 12th of October, when I can enjoy a hot, smooth, satisfying cup of the wonderful brown stuff. Okay I’m not helping myself now.

Ciao.

Recently I have been drinking more, and more coffee. Between 1 and 2 mugs from a Cafetiere, plus countless instants every day.

I want to see if I can go cold turkey. I also want to see what affect it has on my body. Much to the amusement of Jo and Callum, I expect my usual calm and collected self will become just that little bit more short tempered. (That wall of rainbow happiness might waver temporarily).

So I’ll be sure to post how it’s going, assuming of course I can type whilst enduring “the shakes”.

Wish me luck.

So here we are, if you work in the web industry, you will have realised by now that I am flying in the face of tradition and am using the default theme. I’ll get around to finishing my own site at some point in the future I’m sure, but this will do for now.

I shall look forward to finally having a live blog to post to, but don’t be expecting profound daily articles. My posts are more likely to consist of things I have found littered around the web; cool plugins, random comics and amusing videos.

That’s all I have to say for now, so with a fond farewell and hearty goodbye I say…

Tally ho!

P.s. Thanks to Steve Milne (@stevenmilne) for giving me the kick up the backside I needed to just get on with it and put my blog up.