Well I recently came across an application called Espresso. It’s in public beta right now, but so far, I am very impressed. The software is so simple and intuitive. I don’t know if you could technically call it an IDE, but it sure covers most of the features I use most of the time. It feels like TextMate, only simpler, with a bunch of integrated features like FTP, code completion, syntax highlighting, outline view, file search, live preview…the list goes on. My personal favorite is the “Publish” feature. This is like a mix of FTP and Subversion, making it possible to “synchronize” your local changes with the current state of your remote files. Again, this feature is so intuitive. It made it really easy to see which files I had changed, and allows me upload all my changes in a single click.

Another cool feature, is the ability to add extensions. These extensions are called Sugars (which you add to your Espresso. Clever, eh?). I can’t wait to see what sorts of Sugars are in the works!

I would definitely recommend checking out Espresso. Especially if you’re getting started with PHP programming, or want to get better at building websites. This may become a valuable tool that will help you learn faster and get things done easier.

Update: Espresso 1.0 has just been released!

A KVM switch would be perfect for this situation. The problem is, I can’t find one that will do the job. After making a trip to Fry’s Electronics, finding out there is a major difference between DVI-D and DVI-I, and making a second trip to Fry’s, I finally settled on the IOGEAR GCS932U MiniView Micro DVI-D KVM switch. Its actually a great little device. It looks cool and works well. No software to install, no AC adapter to crowd your already crowded power strip, and coming in at under $100, it’s probably the best DVI KVM switch you can find.

Now I’ve connected my KVM switch to my computers, with my laptop sitting on my desk to the left, my Cinema Display in the center, and my other monitor on the right. It looks like I’m running triple display! I had to start my laptop with the KVM switched to the laptop until it was fully booted up for it to detect it as a second display. Now all I have to do is press the button, and it successfully switches my Cinema Display from Mac to Linux and back again.

However, there’s one caviat that bothers me a little bit. When I switch from Mac to Linux, the Mac wants to detect displays and refresh itself. The problem is that it never successfully does so. You can tell that it’s trying. I wish there was a way that you could turn off automatically detecting displays. I haven’t found a solution yet, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. The whole point of using the KVM switch is that you are temporarily “disconnecting” the monitor and “connecting” it to the other, and in a second or two, I will be coming back to the display settings that I had before.

Even with this one little hiccup, the IOGEAR GCS932U MiniView Micro DVI-D KVM switch is a great product, and I recommend it above all the other ones that caused me so much frustration.