Spark and GrowlTunes

When I got the new computer, it came with OS X 10.4. This gave me an opportunity to dally with Quicksilver, a keyboard-based program launcher. This is a grass-roots effort to build a better mousetrap than ObDev's LaunchBar. Some nice features, but ultimately, it proved too flaky for regular use. When I switched back to the tried and true, however, I found myself missing some of Quicksilver's features. Notably, the iTunes Growl notifications and system-wide keyboard shortcuts.

GrowlTunes was an obvious replacement for the first. The hotkey situation was little stickier, due to the fuzzy language needed to describe what the app does. Eventually I came across Spark, which—while poorly described and poorly documented—provides exactly what I need. The configuration app, called Spark, allows you to associate a function (such as Advance Track in iTunes) with a keyboard shortcut (cmd-F3). The Spark Daemon, which runs as a hidden process viewable in the Activity Monitor, handles the actual dispatching of the commands. And with that, I can now put my Mac to sleep with Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Take that, Windows users!