Archive for September, 2007
« Previous EntriesHide Desktop Mess with AppleScript
Sunday, September 30th, 2007When I want to concentrate on a computing task, I often invoke the Finder’s “hide others” command by Command-Option-clicking on an icon in the Dock. But my screen is so big and my desktop so cluttered that merely hiding the other applications is hardly restful.
In less time that it would take to clean up the piles of icons on my desktop, I whipped up this AppleScript and mapped it to a function key. It grabs the path of the frontmost application, launches Katsura Shareware’s free Screenshot Helper — hiding everything on the desktop — and then switches back to the original app.
(*
db Hide-the-Desktop
By David Battino, Batmosphere.com, 2007-09-30
This script hides the desktop and then switches back to the previous app.
Requires Screenshot Helper, free at www.katsurashareware.com.
*)
set front_app to (path to frontmost application as Unicode text)
tell application "Screenshot Helper"
activate
end tell
tell application front_app
activate
end tell
Hopefully your virtual desktop is tidier than mine, but you may still find the “do something and then switch back” routine helpful.
Katsura Screenshot Helper covers your messy desktop with a pure color or photo.
My 1st Generation Mac mini Bit the Dust: Now What? Hmm…
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
My 2.5 year old 1st generation G4 1.42GHz Mac mini (and the first Mac I ever bought) bit the dust. I’m pretty sure it is either a system board or power supply problem (betting on the power supply being the problem). Although I thought about it at the time of purchase, I decided not to get AppleCare for a desktop Mac mini even though I told myself it is really a notebook without a battery. So, now what to do with it? Everything is backed to to an external hard drive. So, data loss is not a major issue. ifixit.com has how-to guides for everything but the power supply. So, I’m guessing it may be a difficult part to find. If it is just a power supply issue, I’m tempted to try to stick it in a bigger case of some kind and use whatever power supply will work with it (regardless of size). Any leads on that idea?
The next decision is what to replace it with. The new iMacs look great. But, I really really hate the idea of all-in-one computers (with the exception of notebooks of course). The Mac Pro is way too expensive. And, the Mac mini? Well, that first one went bye-bye in under three years and appears difficult for my less than nimble fingers to repair (compared to regular ol’ non-Apple large PCs which are easy to open up and replace components). The various Mac rumor sites have been talking about a sub-notebook sized device being introduced in October. That sounds pretty interesting. But, all I really need is a small iTunes box with a browser and email client (the Mac mini is perfect for that). I just took a look a the 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini. But, do I really want another hard to repair box? Actually yes, but… 
Well, time to look around the house for a putty knife I guess. Might have a little project for it this weekend.
FFOSS (Freeware/Free & Open Source Software) Friday
Friday, September 28th, 2007A Human Side of Alice 3D: Dr. Randy Pausch
Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:49:23
I’ve mentioned the Alice 2.0 3D graphics app from Carnegie Mellon University whose purpose to introduce programming to kids and college students here before. Since I don’t want to write a maudlin blog entry, I’ll just say that the article linked below from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is about one of the people who helped start the Alice project.
CMU professor gives his last lesson on life
National Do Not Call Registry (US Only)
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:46:25
This is a little off the beaten path and US-centric. But, I thought it was important enough to merit blog space (and typing time). The US National Do Not Call Registry began in June 2003. If you signed up then, the 5-year registration period will end for you mid-2008 unless you re-register at…
You can read about this in the Yahoo! News AP article Do Not Call listings aren’t forever.
Apache httpd 2.2.6 Web Server
Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:59:05
Apache httpd 2.2.6 and the legacy version 2.0.61 web server were released earlier this week. I installed the Linux version and don’t have plans to install it under Windows or Mac OS X. So, if anyone does, please chime in to let us know how your installation went on those platforms. Installing it from source on Linux went smoothly as usual.
Animoto: Mini Video Maker
Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:02:18
Google Presentation
Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:14:08
Google Presentation launched as part of Google Docs this evening. You can find it listed under the New menu list of the main Docs page. It can import Microsoft PowerPoint slidedecks (older PPT format, not the new PPTX 2007 format). However, it does not export to PowerPoint file format. It can, however, save a ZIP file to your local drive containing an HTML slideshow.
OpenOffice.org 2.3.0
Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:53:08
OpenOffice.org 2.3.0 was released. I didn’t see anything earthshakingly new in the release notes. And, it still doesn’t have a native Mac OS X version. I wish OpenOffice would work with the NeoOffice project to get an official Mac OS X release available.
Scripts to create encrypted backups to online services
Friday, September 28th, 2007I’ve been testing mozy.com for online backups, but they charge after you go over 2GB of data, and their Mac client is still in beta and not quite stable. Then I read about using a dreamhost account for storage, which interested me as I have a dreamhost account with 200GB+ of available storage. The guide I linked to above was published by Michael Lee, and the method he suggests uses rsync, which does incremental backups so it only backs up changed files. But unfortunately, it stores your data as is, which could be potentially read by anyone if they manage to get access to your dreamhost account.
A better solution is to use an open source package called duplicity, which uses librsync for incremental backups as well, but also uses gpg to encrypt your data. It…
Notify yourself periodically using Growl
Friday, September 28th, 2007You can use Growl to create your own notifications, assuming you’ve installed the included growlnotify extra (installation instructions). Here is an example of how to notify yourself every 10 minutes about something useful like “dont forget to drink something.” Open Terminal and if your shell is the bash shell, then run the following command at the prompt:
for ((i=0; i<1000; i++)); do sleep 600s && growlnotify \
-s -m "dont forget to drink"; doneThis will remind you every 10 minutes to go get a drink.
[robg adds: To kill the command, just hit Control-C. You can change the delay, the message, the loop length, etc.]
A fix for keychain locking issues with SSHKeychain
Friday, September 28th, 2007I recently went through an episode where every time I turned around, my keychain would lock, and I would have to enter my password to several stacked-up “want to use my keychain” boxes. I ran Keychain First Aid (in the Keychain Access menu in Keychain Access), and nothing was wrong with the keychain. I also fiddled with all of the various options for when to lock the keychain, and nothing helped.
I searched here and everywhere, but couldn’t find a clue as to the problem. But, after the umpteenth session of googling, I came across a brief mention that SSHKeyChain, a great little program that I use and love, might lock the keychain by default every time the screen saver activates.
I looked through the SSHKeyChain preferences, and eventually, I discovered that if you go to the Security tab and select “Use custom security settings,” a bunch of additional options show up, including an “On screensaver” menu that allows you to spe…
Apple bricks iPhones, even unhacked ones (and nikeja)
Friday, September 28th, 2007It’s a phony Friday’s IT Blogwatch: in which Apple’s update is disabling iPhones, left right and center. Not to mention IKEA’s new range of Ninja weaponry…
Gregg Keizer unlocks the news:
The iPhone firmware update released Thursday by Apple Inc. has disabled unlocked iPhones and wiped clean any evidence of unauthorized third-party applications … Apple [had] warned customers that unlocked iPhones might be crippled, or "bricked" by the new upgrade … it appears the company made good on its promise.
…
iPhoneSIMFree, a group of unnamed developers who created the first commercial unlock hack, confirmed the bricking … The 1.1.1 update also disables third-party applications installed on the iPhone using the popular Installer.app hack … [as well as] non-iTunes ringtones, also added to iPhones using end-around software.
PDO iPhone TopSkin guards buttons
Thursday, September 27th, 2007PDO is taking pre-orders for its newest iPhone case, the TopSkin. Unlike most cases, the TopSkin do…
10.4: Use Automator to create standardized screen grabs
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
One of my sites required that I supply it images that were all the exact same size: 100 pixels by 100 pixels. After twiddling around with various Photoshop actions, robg suggested that I use Automator. This was a great suggestion in theory, but quickly posed some problems when trying to accomplish my task with only the actions Apple supplied.
The solution:
Using the following tools and some help from robg, I managed to put together a nice little workflow that would allow me to grab a partial screen shot at any size and ratio, save the image to a folder, resize the image to 100 pixels on the largest side of the image, and finally, pad the shorter size of the image up to 100 pixels with white space. Using these tools, you can easily pad the image to any size, and select the background colour you w…
Use AmazonMP3 to find iTunes album art
Thursday, September 27th, 2007I just checked out the new AmazonMP3 site to see what all the hype is about. Since I already have an existing Amazon account, it started to recommend music to me. Turns out that most of the recommendations were albums that I already have, ripped long before the days of including album art.
Since iTunes’ “Download album art” feature is terribly hit or miss, I’ve tried to complete my library manually. I was delighted to discover that AmazonMP3 is easier to search than the corresponding Amazon CD stores, and the artwork on the site is higher quality than the CD store! Combined with the recommendation aspect, I’m able to quickly retrieve and add art for lots of artists in my Library. Thanks Amazon!
Tunewear readies ICEWEAR iPhone case
Thursday, September 27th, 2007Accessory maker Tunewear has announced a new case, the ICEWEAR iPhone. The case is made of transluc…
Apple Newton, take 2?
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007I had to rub my eyes when I saw this item from Techmeme, and Apple Insider: Up next for Apple: the return of the Newton.
That’s right, the Newton. Apple’s 90’s-era PDA that ranks up there with other consumer technology failures like the IBM PC Jr. and Beenz.
Here’s the scoop on the supposed plans for a next-generation Apple PDA:
… It appears that Jobs and Co. never gave up hope, and instead returned to the drawing board. For the past 18 months, well-respected sources tell AppleInsider, a small team of Apple engineers have been at it again, this time tapping the company’s revolutionary multi-touch technology as a foundation.
Another piece of information worth mentioning is that this PDA will supposedly use an embedded version of OS X 10.5 Leopard.
And I don’t buy any of it, unless the device is actually a next-generation iPhone or iPod that incorporates touch technology.
It’s not that I don’t believe in Apple, or PDAs. I own an iMac, an iPod, and I have been using PDAs for nearly ten years.
But people don’t need PDAs anymore. They need mobile phones that have PDA capabilities, including an integrated address book, email, and calendar functionality. Smart phones like the Treo and iPhone already have these features and have been hits with consumers. Apple knows this, and surely wants to stay a million miles away from any comparisons with the Newton.
So while I’ll be ready to ditch my Zire next year, the chances of me replacing it with a Newton II are nil. As long as I can get an affordable device that lets me sync with my desktop, save all of my existing contacts and address book data, make phone calls, and maybe even listen to music, I’ll go with that option.
And that means I’ll probably be getting an iPhone.
Related Discussion:
Radioshift networking tips
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007So far, I’m pretty much enamored of Rogue Amoeba’s new Radioshift application. If you haven’t tried it yet, it allows you to easily listen to, and record, radio shows from around the world. It makes automatically recording new episodes of a show, or “subscribing,” as simple as TiVo does for television programs.
I think Radioshift would be a wonderful addition to my home, and I want to run it on the Mac that I already use for home automation. However, Radioshift isn’t really optimized for use in a “server” situation. That’s understandable, but it hasn’t stopped me from tying to bend it to my will anyway. Here’s are notes on my progress so far:
• I love that Radioshift uses a background process for recording shows that you’ve subscribed to. This means that you don’t have to leave the app running all of the time. You can use the sound files directly, without opening Radioshift, too. You’ll find your recorded shows in the ~/Music/Radioshift/ folder.
• I want to listen to my recorded shows using another computer, because the home automation Mac is tucked away in a corner and I rarely use it directly. Radioshift doesn’t have any built-in support for sharing, but I can load the above-mentioned files into QuickTime Player (or similar) after mounting the server’s drive. The bonus prize for doing this is that QuickTime Player allows you to fast forward during playback, to skip commercials, which is a feature that Radioshift currently lacks.
• If you don’t care about skipping commercials, just use the Finder’s built-in ability to play QuickTime files, as shown below. Very handy!
• Radioshift does, apparently, have the ability to add recordings to your iTunes Library. This means you could use iTunes sharing to listen to the shows on other computers. However, this doesn’t work for me. First, I haven’t been able to get Radioshift to successfully add a recording to iTunes. But even if it did, it’s a manual process (Radioshift doesn’t do it automatically) and I don’t want to keep iTunes running on my home automation Mac.
Although parts of this feel a little awkward, so far I’ve found it worth doing. I hope that as Radioshift continues to evolve the process will get easier. If you have tips to share, please feel free to chime in.
Meet the identity-theft perps
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007Ever wondered what kind of guy gets involved in an identity-theft ring? Meet Jonathan Lee Riches, currently spending eight years as a guest of the South Carolina penal system after getting entangled with the Wrong Kind Of People.
Mr. Riches is spending his copious leisure time filing lawsuits that really defy description. His latest claims that Steve Jobs is employing OJ Simpson as a hitman and has taken possession of a number of food blenders acquired by the former football star. (Yes, you read that right, assuming there’s a right way TO read it.) Princess Diana, the United Auto Workers, "radio wave warping" and Dolly the cloned sheep also make cameo appearances.
Growl - An event notification system
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
The macosxhints Rating:
[Score: 9 out of 10]
- Product page
- Price: Free - open source
Growl is a system-wide notification system — it sits there silently in the background, watching any number of things, waiting for an event to occur. When an event occurs, Growl then notifies you via a customizable pop-up window, which appears and then vanishes after a set amount of time. And just what is an event? An event is something that a supported application tells Growl about. For instance, in Transmit, when an upload complete, Transmit will inform Growl of that fact, and Growl will then show an “upload complete” window. There are a large number of programs that include native Growl support; in addition to Transmit, the list includes Skype, Adium, Colloquy, …
Solution Submitted for the notMac Challenge
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007Nearly a year ago, I posted about the notMac Challenge, an effort to come up with a replacement for .Mac. Just recently, I received some encouraging news that I wanted to share with you:
Several months ago I started the notMac Challenge to generate incentive for a developer to create an easy-to-use replacement for Apple’s dotMac service. Thanks to the generosity of people from around the world, the prize grew to a value of $7,836, and as a result, I’m very happy to announce that Ben Spink has submitted a solution.
Contributors to the notMac Challenge have been testing the submission for the last couple of weeks and after a few minor tweaks, it appears to be functioning well. During the final week of evaluation, I’d like to invite everyone to download Ben’s solution, try it out and post their feedback on the notMac Challenge forums.
You can visit the main page and navigate to the forums, or go directly to the discussion thread that includes Ben Spink’s solution.
Although the notMac forums would be the most appropriate place for technical feedback related to the product itself, feel free to post any other thoughts below.
Using locale in PHP on OS X
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007I was looking around, trying to find out how to get locale to work in PHP on OS X. After some searching, I found the solution and wanted to share this to save you some work. In Linux, one can do this:
setlocale(LC_ALL, 'nb_NO');echo strftime(" %A %e %B %Y ");To get it work in PHP on OS X, you must write it like this:
// set date format to Norwegian:setlocale (LC_TIME, "no_NO.UTF-8");// output the dategmstrftime('%A %e %B %Y, %H:%M');locale is probably not in your profile path, so you have to look in the locale folder to find your language:
$ ls /usr/share/localeThere you can find the languages you can use; some languages have different locale versions. Note that the encoding of the page must correspond to the locale you are using. That is, if you use no_NO.UTF-8, then you must have in your head:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"&...Amazon’s MP3 Store Fails To Suck
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007Perhaps having learned from the Amazon Unbox fiasco, the new Amazon MP3 Downloads Store fails to suck. Frankly, there is a lot to like here, and it might be the first viable iTunes competitor.
Not that Apple should be concerned, I think, but more on that in a minute.
The store’s songs are MP3’s with no DRM, encoded at 256 kbps (actually, it’s VBR, so your bitrate may vary slightly). The key consequence, and the reason that this store may succeed, is that these files work on iPods, as opposed to all the WMA-based predecessors that required Windows and players other than the iPod (you know, the ones that make up the 20% or so of the MP3 player market that isn’t iPods).
Amazon’s not the first, of course. EMusic has been doing a subscription-based MP3 service for a while, and I’ve bought MP3’s from smaller services like Snocap (they work with video game music stars OneUp Studios, for example). But Amazon has two million songs, and at a nice high bitrate, with prices significantly lower than iTunes Plus.
Speaking of pricing, one objection I do have is that if you want to get the discount for buying the whole album, you have to use 1-Click and install the Amazon MP3 Downloader, which is only available for Mac and Windows. That means Linux users will have to pay more to download each track individually, but then again, they’ve been largely cut out of music downloads thusfar, so it’s still a win for them. And I’d still prefer to work with a shopping cart than the pushy 1-Click, but whatever, if that’s how Amazon feels they have to be…
Here’s a peek at the downloader app:
When you get the downloader, it tests things by buying you a song of its choice for free. No, I wouldn’t ordinarily have been shopping for The Apples In Stereo, but it could have been worse (it could have been The Eagles). By default, the downloader puts files into an “Amazon MP3″ folder in your Music folder. If, like me, you’ve moved your iTunes library to another drive or partition, change this in the preferences before you do your first download. In another interesting default, the downloader automatically adds your purchases to your iTunes library.
Overall, it’s a very nice service, and puts up a serious challenge to iTunes. Should Apple be scared? I doubt it. The iTunes store has always been only marginally profitable — all Apple’s power and money comes from the iPod. This store is just another way to get content into your iPod, and if anything, making it cheaper and easier to feed your iPod may make users even more enthusiastic about feeding their iPods. Sure, being MP3 makes it easier to migrate off iPod someday, but after all these years, we have yet to see rival hardware manufacturers make even a small dent in the iPod’s popularity, so as long as Apple keeps putting out great iPods, they’ve got nothing to be afraid of.
Now if Amazon would only do this with video…
Apple and iPhone unlocking groups detail positions
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of worldwide product marketing, defended Apple’s announcement that unlocking an iPhone may meet with disastrous results after installing iPhone updates expected later this week. Schiller, speaking in an AP interview, also implied the actions are not malicious, saying that the statement was not about “…proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked,” and that it is “…unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software…”
Meanwhile, both commercial and open source groups that have developed unlocking techniques referred to Apple’s statements appear to view the announcement as a scare tactic. John McLaughlin of Uniquephones.com, which produces a commercial unlock tool, is also quoted in the AP interview. McLaughlin states that he believes the actions of Uniquephones.com’s iPhoneSIMFree can be easily reversed to a functional and locked state.
Fix broken SSH Public Key Authentication
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007Ever since I learned of SSH, I have wanted to set it up so that I could automatically run remote commands (like rsync) on the other Macs on our home network. The proper way to do this, of course, is with passphrase-free public key authentication. But try as I might, I simply could not convince SSH to use public key authentication! Eventually I discovered the reason in an obscure mailing list: If permissions are set incorrectly on the home directory, SSH will refuse perfectly good authentication keys.
The solution: Open Terminal and type chmod g-w ~/.
SSH is now entirely happy to authenticate using keys.
[robg adds: Running Disk Utility’s permissions repair should also fix home folder permissions, though I’m not 100% positive about that.]
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