I use Textmate as my favorite editor, especially when I’m working on a Symfony project. Recently though I decided to switch to integrating the Symfony installation as an external dependancy to my project. This had some major advantages but one very big disadvantage.

When I want to open a file in the project that I have open, I just type Command-T for “Go to File..” and start typing the file name (very much like Spotlight). When I added Symfony as a dependancy this added quite a few more files to my project, which made the search dead slow and returning numerous useless results.

So I decided to do a quick search on how to exclude folders from this search and found it. In the project’s side panel, select the root of the folder structure. Then press the I in the right-bottom corner. This opens an information window in which we edit the folder pattern to add an extra exclude. For Symfony I decided to exclude the “vendor” folder so I added a “|vendor” after the “|CVS”. Be sure to save the project afterwards or all settings are lost.

You can do the same in the general advanced settings of Textmate but keep in mind that any existing projects need to be updated manually to include this new pattern.

So I have been playing with the iPhone 2.0 firmware update all afternoon today because the iphone-dev team finally managed to release a 20 compatible version of their Pwnage tool.

As a added bonus I was therefore able to play with all the applications in the Appstore. I only tried free ones until now but I think they were pretty impressive. Here is a quick write up of what i think were the most interesting free applications.

Truly Useful Applications

Google Mobile App is a little tool that works a lot like the Google Suggestions website but then in an app. it saves you the time from having to load various google pages before you found the link you were actually looking for. On a mobile device, the less work you need to do the better.

Remote is an app build by Apple themselves and it just rocks. it allows you to control any iTunes or AppleTV on your wifi network from your iPhone. I already used it to control my podcasts from the couch. The only thing that is missing is a little button to make stuff go fullscreen on your Mac.

Pocketpedia does for Amazon what the Google Mobile App does for the generic internet. It allows you to quickly search in Amazon and then browse details, covers, etc.

Utilities

Shazam is a small and handy app that can tell you what song it is hearing. Handy for when you are in an elevator wondering where you know that music from.

Last.fm has released their scrobbler and radio stations app for the iPhone. Listen to your Last.fm recommendations or neighboring tracks. Handy for when you got bored with the 4, 8, or 16GB of music on your iPhone.

WritingPad is a little tool that allows you to write notes and emails using an alternative input method where you “draw” the words by just flowing from character to character on the keyboard. I must admit it results to way faster writing.

Talking Italian Phrasebook allows me to expand my Italian vocabulary with audio examples and text. Handy for those holidays in Rome.

Twitterific is our favorite desktop Twitter client brought to the iPhone. I would rather have used Twinkle but somehow the Twinkle in the Appstore seems to be way different in functionality and stability than it was as a illegal third party app.

Evernote has released an iPhone client for their Evernote service. I hadn’t used the desktop/web app yet but i think this will be one f my new favorite apps. Just make note of anything and instant sync it across all your devices.

Truphone is VOIP alternative to your standard way of making calls. It could be really useful for international calls but I haven’t tested the reliability or costs yet.

AIM is the AOL instant messenger brought to the iPhone. Although still on my phone I doubt it to be that useful in the end. 

Games

Cube Runner is very simple game where you have to dodge the cubes using the internal accelerometer. Quite fun but I don’t think it will last.

Tap Tap Revenge is for the iPhone what Guitar Hero, Singstar, and many of those other games are for the mature gaming platforms. You beat the screen, and shake the phone on the beat of the music and score points. Loads of fun!

PhoneSaber is basically what it says it is. it gives you a lightsaber on the phone that makes noises when you shake the phone. I just kept it on my phone for my nephew who will love it.

Spinner is one off many maze games that uses the accelerometer, but this one makes it a bit more enjoyable than most others. In this one you don’t control the speed of the arrow that has to reach its goal, but you turn the screen 360 degrees to move the walls around the arrow. Very much entertaining.

I have recently fallen in love with 1Password to solve loads of my password issues. The product has been out their for a while already, but some things recently changed that make this the perfect product for me. The goal of 1Password is to help you remember your logins for websites under 1 password, including helping you create new accounts on sites by letting you define certain identities (introduction video).

All of this feels a lot like what OpenID providers like to solve, and I honestly still love OpenID when possible, but for me the reason to use 1Password comes from a totally different direction: the iPhone. Entering login forms with your extra secure password on the iPhone can be an pain in the ass, so in comes 1Password that allows you to securely sync your login forms to a bookmarklet on your iPhone. Then, on the iPhone you simply go to a login form, run the bookmarklet, enter your PIN and login with the account you select.

1Password is only $34.95 and definitely worth the money for people who have either an iPhone, or any other reason why they can’t remember their passwords.

It’s been a while since I did an Appdate, but here is number 11.

Today’s pick is called NicePlayer and it is as they say themselves “Quite simply, the nicest media player for Mac”. In the backend NicePlayer uses Quicktime and all available components to playback media, but in the frontend there is a major difference.

The frontend look is very fresh and exactly what I needed. First of, the entire app can be made to “float on top” which is a major issue if you like to watch video on your 13-inch MacBook while doing some other work. Quicktime doesn’t support this and that has bugged the hell out of me for years.

But even then, if you manage to get Quicktime to float on top with some third party plugin, you’re still stuck with that bulky Quicktime interface. The NicePlayer interface though, is border-less, buttonless, and therefore only uses the minimal screen estate needed for playback. The look is a lot like those embedabble flash players you find on video sites like Vimeo, but instead it is an actual desktop app.

NicePlayer is open source, free as in beer, and only 2.8mb to download. And with joy I can say that it is my new default media player.