The best feature in Safari 3.1: drag and drop urls

There are a few features of Internet Explorer I really like.

Save as archive for example, which creates a MIME formatted version of a web page in a single .mht file.

Most of all though, I like the drag and drop URLs. Click on a title bar URL, drag it to an edit field, and IE creates a link using the title of the source page.

Every other browser, as best I can recall, simply displays the URL. (I just verified that Firefox 3 just copies the URL.)

Today, on a whim, I tried the drag and drop operation into a Blogger "compose" box. Here's an example of what I got: Gordon's Tech: iTunes library: recreate, move and more.

So Safari has adopted IE's behavior.

Did it always do that? When did this change?

Great improvement. Now if Firefox could only learn this trick ...

iTunes library: recreate, move and more

I've moved my iTunes Library a few times. As far as I can recall, whatever I did worked. I've even moved it from Mac to PC and back again.

Here are the official ways to move and, if necessary, regenerate your iTunes Library:

• How to move your iTunes library
  
• How to re-create your iTunes library
• Moving your iTunes Library via an iPod (new in iTunes 7 - archive)
  

Here are the unofficial ways I've done things like this in years past. I recommend the official route, but if you get stuck these resources might provide ideas:

• Moving iTunes Libraries: the SMB version
  
• Rescuing a wrecked iTunes Library -- one approach
  
• Merging or combining two iTunes libraries
  

If you want to do more with your iTunes Library, consider PowerTunes. I've no personal experience, but I've used iPhoto Library Manager from the same author.

So, lots of options. Which brings me to the inspiration for this post - a completely confused article on Mac OS X Hints. How can it be that genuine OS X geeks don't know to search Apple's knowledge base?

To be fair, I tried a Google search on the topic and the results were pretty bad. Then I tried iTunes Help, and that was useless. Searching Apple's knowledge base worked though. This should really be in Apple's Help file, so I'll give my fellow geeks a bit of slack.

Maybe this post will help Google do a bit better ...

Update 8/16/08: I tried again today, and now Google's search works just fine. Coincidence, I'm sure.

New Blogger bug with attaching labels

There's a brand new Blogger bug with labels.

The drop down for attaching new labels to existing posts shows"Publish" where it should show "create new tag".



The Publish really publishes -- I unwittingly published some old draft posts.

I'm seeing this on only one of my blogs, it was fine on another.

The workaround is to first add the label to one post by editing the post, then apply it to the selected group.

Evernote's import/export test (updated)

[see update - as of Sept 2008 Evernote has reformed]

Palm to iPhone migration is hard. In particular, what do we do with Tasks and Notes?

On the Task side we're waiting to see if either Apple decides to support Tasks (I guess their engineers are too young to have complicated lives), Google adds Tasks and iPhone sync, or OmniFocus supports import/export.

On the Notes side I took a look today at Evernote. Evernote follows the new model of web service, desktop app, phone support, and synchronization.

That's a tough development challenge, but it comes with a great business benefit. If customers don't keep paying, they lose access to their data.

I'm cautiously supportive of this model -- it means good developers can get predictable income without having to constantly obsolete existing software. On the other hand, there's a terribly powerful temptation to never quite build export capabilities. This produces Data Lock (see also: Data Lock search), an outcome that has sustained many a software empire. (To it's credit Google has been recently resistant, but maybe being ad supported and wealthy makes virtue easier ...)

The software as service solution means users need to examine and test export capabilities before they sign up with a service, and to retest regularly as the service evolves. If export starts to fail, bail.

So how does Evernote do?

I created a free account and downloaded the OS X desktop app to find out.

Sure enough, there's no import/export for OS X users. So that's a total fail.

Support has more information ...

Questions and Answers | Evernote Corporation

... Yes, you can import notes into Evernote for Windows in Evernote 2.x database (.enb), Evernote 2.x XML (.enx), and (in a future release) Evernote XML (.enx3) formats using the Note Import menu in Evernote Beta for Windows. There is also a Note Import Wizard menu for importing selected image, text, and HTML files. To get imported databases onto a Mac, first import the database into Evernote Beta for Windows, synchronize with the service, and then synchronize the Mac client with the service...

...you can export one or more notes from a notebook as an HTML formatted document from within Evernote for Windows using the Note > Export... menu. You can also export via e-mail using the Note > Send by Email... menu. This feature may be added to the Mac version in a future release....

That's a total fail, even on the better supported Windows platform. The minimum requirement would be a tab delimited export (this would require some data loss since Evernote attaches binary data) and a comprehensive XML export from the Evernote database.

So Evernote is not an option for my Palm to iPhone conversion, and I'd say it's not an option for anyone on any platform until they demonstrate Data Freedom.

Update: Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, responds in comments. Quote:

Data Freedom is vital to our plans. We're serious about Evernote as an "external brain" and that means users have to have confidence that their memories will always be accessible. Part of that accessibility is making sure that users can import/export Evernote data in standard formats with no restrictions. Our current limitations on import/export capabilities are due to developer resource constraints, not any philosophical or business reasons; we can't afford to do import/export poorly because that could muck with your data and flood our support lines. Doing it well takes time.

We're currently testing a full set of Evernote APIs that will give people a lot of options for getting data in and out. We'll roll these out publicly later in the summer. We'll also be expanding the structured import/export capabilities on the local clients, though I don't have a specific date on that yet. We're doing this because data freedom is good for more than just peace of mind - it'll let us build lots of great functionality that we couldn't accomplish with a "walled garden" approach.

I'm glad you like Evernote enough to try it and I hope you take a look at our import/export capabilities once we launch them.

--
Phil Libin

Ok, I'm impressed. I revised the title of my post to "fails ... for now".

If Evernote really does deliver on their Data Freedom promises, I'll be a happy paying customer.

Update 7/27/08: I'm warming to Evernote as I make my painful adjustment to the iPhone. In fact, I expect to become a paying customer it it continues to work as well as it has today.

Evernote appears on initial iPhone tests to have significant value as a transient repository. I send things there I'll process later, including voice notes that may turn into tasks, notes, etc. Thing's I'd have once scrawled on my Palm screen as "ink" work better as Evernote sound fragments with optional metadata.

As a transient repository data lock is not an issue, and if Phil is able to deliver on his data freedom promises it will have more value. The key for me is that it has real value now.

Update 8/17/08: I find this post from 2005:

Laura
Mar 14, 2005 at 12:09 pm

I, too, was waiting eagerly for the web clipping function to be enabled for Firefox. Wait no longer ..

..Now, I’m waiting (im)patiently for some kind of export feature! Evernote obviously is a database, so I’m thinking an export to a comma-delimited file, or a spreadsheet would be nice.

That was three years ago. Phil Libin has no credibility when he talks about data freedom.

Update 10/3/08: Evernote has reformed, and Phil Libin has credibility again. They have an API and XML import/export. It's not the simple tab delimited format anyone can use, but that format is a poor match for Evernote's data complexity. Full credit for turning the corner!

Update 12/27/09: I took a look at Evernote again. The OS X manual still doesn't reference any import tool other than using Evernote's own XML format.

Apple can't do synchronization - again

In 20 years before the mast I've seen synchronization work effectively in one configuration -- the original Palm and Palm Desktop.

Beyond that, it's been a thrash. I've done thousands of synchronizations, and I count myself fortunate to run into problems only once monthly or so. I know a bit about translation between diverse data models, so I'm a bit sympathetic.

Synchronization is hard. The original Palm team had more than one genius, though they must have left in later years.

Apple doesn't have the knack. They're quite bad at sync ...

TidBITS Macs & Mac OS X: MobileMe Fails to Launch Well, But Finally Launches

... .Mac synchronization has been the bane of my life for years, with it working erratically, duplicating entries, and working magically without intervention for periods of time. During the MobileMe transition, my laptop Address Book locked up, and despite all efforts won't synchronize at all even when it says it has. (I've deleted its data store, reset the sync, and repaired disk permissions.)

My office desktop Mac restored hundreds of deleted entries, many duplicated, which must have been cached at .Mac, even though they were removed. I went through and reculled my contacts. My iPhone, which is now set and apparently working with live sync, appears to have an out-of-date set of contact entries from after the duplicates were added back in and before I culled...

The worst of the hard problems in software development is one that executives think is easy to solve -- because they don't know they don't know. These problems tend to get funded with about 1/10 of the necessary resources.

I think that's what Apple has done with synchronization. Underfunded development by an order of magnitude ...

MobileMe trials require a credit card

I thought I'd take a look, but I'm not ready to provide a credit card ...

MobileMe Signup

....A credit card is required to start your free trial. After your trial ends, your card will be charged an annual subscription fee of $99.00. Don't worry, you can cancel your subscription online at any time during the trial...

Too big a chance I'd forget and be enrolled with whatever test ID I use.

One acceptable reason for this policy would be to reduce spammer abuse.

Using Blogger: Camino in place of Firefox 3

Things were going too well with Blogger. It had been months since a real disaster. Heck, I was even using Blogger in Draft (draft.blogger.com)!

Then, after installing Firefox 3, the wellness resolved ...

Gordon's Tech: Blogger a mess with Firefox 3

... Every other post I've written over the past 3-5 days has had problems with lost line breaks. All my text runs together. It's as though Blogger had broken their age-old management of paragraph breaks. I've tried Safari 3, Firefox 3, ScribeFire, XP, OSX, Blogger-standard and Blogger-in-Draft...

I'm not sure what's going wrong, but on various posts Blogger will abruptly treat the text as though it were true HTML -- instead of treating paragraph breaks as though they included a paragraph tag.

I think the trick is having edited it at one point with Firefox 3 and the Blogger in Draft editor. I think there's some style sheet persistence that's not exposed to the HTML editor. Subsequent editing with FF 3, even when Blogger in Draft is disabled, can trigger the problem.

Once a post gets into this mode, there's no escaping it -- turning off Blogger in Draft or using the HTML editor doesn't fix things.

I've found I can fix the post using either the superb Windows Live Writer (XP only) or Safari 3.

I've disabled the beta/draft version of blogger and returned to regular Blogger. On XP I can avoid this by simply using WLW. On OS X though I don't want to revert to FF 2. Safari 3 doesn't work very well with regular Blogger. So how can I get FF 2 type behavior on OS X?

Easy, use Camino. Works great.

I'll take another look at things in a couple of weeks, but until then I'll stay with Camino for my OS X blogging.

OmniFocus for iPhone and OS X – a webdav odyssey and a really big problem with OmniFocus

(Note: Firefox 2/3/Safari 3/Blogger 2/1/draft is messing up my post formatting big time. I had to open this post in Windows Live Writer (yay!) to repair it. It’s quite an impressive set of bugs we got there!)

This post has more than a couple of updates. It gives a sense of how messy this iPhone transition is going to be.

Briefly, the two immediate problems are that OmniFocus can’t import tab or csv delimited data and iPhone synchronization requires a webdav server. The second is a hassle, the first is a killer.

Here’s how it all evolved.

--

The first post

I’ve been waiting eagerly for OmniFocus desktop/iPhone. It’s a key piece of my struggle to migrate off the Palm platform.

I'm a registered OmniOutliner Pro customer, so I get a good break on the full app price. The iPhone companion is $20. It sounds like there's a way to sync with a LAN WebDav server, I'm looking forward to directions on how to do that.

To learn about OmniFocus desktop and OmniFocus/iPhone you need to first download and test the latest Sneaky Peek Build. Then pay $20 for the iPhone app. The OmniGroup is great about free upgrades, so there's no financial downside to buying both apps now if you're sure they're right for you. I know the OmniGroup will make them work -- they have the talent. I'll have some early impressions in a few days.

The First Update: After checking out the pref files in OF, it's clear you need a real webdav server. Desktop OS X can be hacked to enable Apache's webdav services, but it's too much work for me. I'm shopping around for a nice Java webdav server I can run in my user account, but I think those are oddly hard to find. OS X Server has webdav services enabled, but that's too much trouble too. I probably just need to pay for Mobile.me. I might as well have Apple deduct a monthly stipend directly from my employer ....

Update: Ok, so neither XDrive nor Windows Live Skydrive provide webdav access (box.net might?). Free webdav access is pretty much nonexistent, and even commercial solutions are not common. Resin used to be open source with a good webdav service; whatever the owners may say it feels pretty closed source now.

The W3C has a WebDav server, but it feels dusty and is very XP/Unix centric.

I used to use a WebDav service in the 90s, it really feels like WebDav has slipped away since then. Really, MobileMe might be the only practical WebDav solution outside of OS X Server! Too bad GDrive has gone missing.

So why has WebDav become so unpopular? Too easy to abuse? Insecure? It's not like we see better file sharing services around!

Update: umm ... maybe webdav services with Plone? Here's Apple's download blurb on Plone, but contrary to the description it now downloads an Intel only unified installer version 2.5.

The Plone site (use versiontracker) has a UNIX installer for version 3.1.2, you need to run terminal to install it in your user account. Since I'm only interested for now in supporting webdav sync for the iPhone from my WLAN I installed it as a regular user rather than as a root user service. Be warned, however, after compilation the install is 250MB!

I think this may also not be a fully complaint WEBDAV implementation.

A thread in the OMNI Group Forums mentioned box.net, but that service is blocked by many corporate filtering services (which supports my suspicion that the reason webdav is so hard to find is that webdav services are often used illegally).

“Final” update: Well, I installed Plone into 10.4.11 with the universal UNIX installer and edited the .conf file to enable localhost:1980 webdav services. Incredibly, 10.4.11 finder worked perfectly. Unfortunately OmniFocus didn't. At first it gave a basic can't connect error message, on retry it crashed and I sent the OmniGroup a crash report.

Final update plus: After all of the above, I find in early testing that OmniFocus has basically no data import/export capabilities I can use.

Here's what I read from an OmniGroup Forum post:

1. If your organization has any development capacity, it is not difficult to write a specialised importer using Applescript. This would give you the most efficient workflow.

2. For a quick and dirty solution in the interim, you can use search and replace to convert your CSV text into tab-delimited text, and use Omnioutliner to import that. Omnifocus can import Omnioutliner files.

Hookaayyy. I can hire a developer to write an AppleScript importer to move Outlook tasks into OmiFocus?I don't think so.

So cross out OmniFocus! I'll keep the skeleton of my original post. At least I learned something about webdav services and Plone!

Looks like it will take longer than expected to come up with a good iPhone task management solution...]

Final-Final update plus: Ken Case of OmniFocus replies in comments:

Just thought I'd mention that we're planning to add the ability to import CSV files to OmniFocus, it's just not there yet. (The priority for 1.0 was to get the basic workflow and functionality working, and the priority for the in-progress 1.1 release is synchronization. Hopefully CSV import will make it into 1.2!)By the way, here's a pointer to the best tutorial I've seen on setting up WebDAV on your Mac.

The referenced webdav directions are for 10.5 workstation Apache and are very well laid out. The directions include lines like "be sure to use sudo", so they're not written for most users. Maybe OmniFocus will write a one-click utility to enable Apache WebDav? Lastly, I work in software development, and in my world "hopefully" means -- "if we're visited by space alien coders", but the OmniGroup may operate on a higher plane.

Bottom line: I'm going to be carrying a Palm around for a long time yet.

Uninstalling applications from the iPhone

I’m always curious about how application uninstallation works.

By way of comparison, the Palm never had a proper uninstaller.

I’m surprised I’m saying something good about the phone I’m supposed to buy tomorrow, but this is well thought out.

Syncing Applications from the App Store

… If you delete an Application from your iTunes library, the next time you sync your iPhone or iPod touch with that computer it will be removed from the device. If you delete an application from your device, but not from your iTunes library, it will be synced back to your device the next time your connect to iTunes.

If you normally sync applications to your device from one computer and then connect it to iTunes on another computer, iTunes will not attempt to sync applications from that library. Applications can only be synced from one iTunes library. If you are connected your iPhone or iPod touch to an iTunes library that you don't normally sync with, you can still transfer purchased applications from the device by choosing File > Transfer Purchases in iTunes.

It’s an extension of how music is managed on the iPod.

Remote control of iTunes and AppleTV: will AirTunes return?

Three years ago I fought a bloody battle with AirTunes, OS X 10.3, my AirPort Express, and iTunes remote control.

I lost. The microwave didn’t help …

… The devils of Digital Rights Management, AirTunes fundamental inadequacy, and the lack of a fast-user-switching compatible tool for remote control of iTunes finally defeated me….

… I was streaming some music using AirTunes. A rare event, but I do it on occasion. All was well, until the music vanished. I wondered what was up; then I realized the microwave was running. It's not all that old a model, but it is death to our 802.11b LAN…

Since then I’ve switched to a MacBook and a mixed b/g WLAN, but the MacBook is even more susceptible to microwave interference than the iBook was. (Though we also bought a new microwave, so maybe it’s just leakier than the old one.)

The post still gets read quite a bit, yesterday I corresponded with someone who’s just returned their Bose speakers because AirTunes failed.

Now Apple has, years late, added a remote control feature to the iPhone/iTouch:

Two Apple iPhone apps: Remote Control and Texas Hold'em - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

… 'Remote' [iTunes Store link] and oddly enough it lets you control iTunes on your Mac from your iPhone. You can stop, start, and pause music, and browse your library... all via your iPhone or iPod touch. Remote requires the use of a Wi-Fi network, and is free…

A bit late! This means more will try out AirTunes. I’m wary though. I suspect:

1. It won’t work with background sessions.
2. The AirTunes streaming will still be messed up by microwave use.

It’s not totally hopeless though. I haven’t tested AirTunes with 10.5 or the new AirPort Express. If the remote will communicate with iTunes running in a background user session on a 10.5 machine I might try testing again. The background user problem doesn’t apply to an AppleTV of course.

Update 8/18/08: Son of a gun, it works. It really, really works. I've been controlling my upstairs Library from my iPhone, streaming music to my AirPort express, and listening to speakers in two rooms. Years after the AirTunes hype died off, Apple finally delivered.

There's even intriguing/worrisome support for multiple libraries, which brings me to a comment from someone who's gone another step beyond me (note this only works if you wisely avoid the plague of DRM):

Jan sad ...

It looks like Remote with iPhones/iPod Touch and AirTunes is the solution for for the multi-room audio setup I was waiting for years to come.

I installed several AirPort Express boxes with AirTunes in the rooms and installed 3 users on a mac mini with fast user switching on. All users have their own iTunes setup and have access to a central NAS Server with all the MP3 files. This won´t work with Windows because Windows won´t allow fast user switching running iTunes !

With this setup every family member is able to hear their music independently on different AirTunes outlets. It really works !

Note Jan has one set of files, but 3 libraries. So each user can sync their iPod or iPhone with their own account and save their own Address Book and preferences, but share one set of music. I'm going to do this one day.

iPhone 2.0 pricing explained: two levels of "subsidy"

The new iPhone pricing represents a $360 2 year price increase for contracted non-iPhone AT&T customers compared to the old iPhone pricing.

This is because the old iPhone pricing model was a relatively good deal for contracted AT&T customers. AT&T has brought the iPhone in line Windows smartphones, the BlackBerries, etc.

This hurts. The 16GB model costs $299 for customers without a current AT&T contract, $499 for contracted customers.

Ok, but AT&T also extends the contract of an existing customer when they buy an iPhone. How can they do that if you're not getting some kind of compensatory value?

Well, here's the trick. I bet you were wondering what the "contract-free" $699 iPhone was about. Why would anyone every buy that? Why does that price point exist?

Well, think about it. Remember AT&T is extending your contract. What is it they're giving in return? The answer is $200 off the $699 price. In other words, a second level of subsidy.

AT&T may not intend to sell any phones at the $699 price point, but they need that price point so they can say customers are being compensated for their contract extensions.

Now, what happens when you lose or break your iPhone? Do you have to pay $699, or will AT&T offer you the $499 "subsidized" phone along with a contract extension? Might that depend on how much time you have on your contract?

The old iPhone plan, from a consumer perspective, was vastly better than the new, fully evil, AT&T iPhone plan. The good guys lost.

Sundry iPhone discoveries: none good

AppleInsider summarized 3 reviews.

There's no good news in the bunch; anything good has has been out for a while. My comments in parens.

1. With 3G enabled, the iPhone 3G's battery drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone. (Just as Jobs said a year ago. Many didn't believe power drain would be so bad.)
2. While iPhone Software v2.0 allows for both personal and Exchange email accounts to function simultaneously, synching Exchange calendars and contacts will erase any personal calendars and contacts. (Clearly there's a limit to Apple's genius. I'm definitely disappointed, but not surprised.)
   
3. Old iPod accessories meant to charge over Firewire circuitry (such as a Belkin car kit) don't work; iPhone 3G still only recognizes USB. (I'd never heard of this limitation. Annoying, but it's unlikely ever to change.)
4. The GPS receiver's antenna is too small to replicate turn-by-turn navigation of a full unit. (So the GPS companies should be ok.)
5. Battery replacement will still cost $86. (Still not user replaceable)
   

The worst news, by far, is that Exchange sync wipes personal calendars. In other words, the 2008 iPhone is no better than the 1996 PalmPilot (maybe a bit worse) at managing work and home calendars and contacts.

I will be buying my iPhone in the next week or so. I approach the date like a condemned man!

iPhone apps will not be able to synchronize with the desktop: OmiFocus

I'd asked again, recently, if iPhone apps would be able to synchronize with the desktop.

A month or two ago the Omni Group was writing about OmiFocus as though desktop sync would be possible.

Now they write: 

The Omni Group - OmniFocus for iPhone and iPod touch 

...Synchronized with your Mac via .Mac or WebDAV...

Yech.

Bad, but not surprising. This has been a hole for a long time, so we kind of knew Apple was going to short us on this one.

I assume Apple is guarding the sync conduits to ensure DRM of iPhone media. If so, it's a telling indicator of how DRM requirements will negatively impact iPhone usability.

Oh Android, I really do wish you were providing more competition.

Incidentally, Apple has given its own iPhone applications an enormous competitive advantage. Only they can synchronize with the desktop. So, Apple, any chance you're going to provide a task management tool?

No, I didn't think so.

Yech.

PS. How can Apple claim to be providing Exchange integration if the iPhone can't handle Exchange tasks at all?

What the heck happened to Canon?

As a rank amateur I’ve been asking about what the heck is wrong with Canon since they failed to boost light sensitivity in their low-end dSLRs.

Now the pros are beating on Canon for light sensitivity, auto-focus, and reliability (emphases mine) …

The D3, D700 and Canon - James Duncan Davidson

… I think the very next camera that Canon releases, which better be a 5D replacement at this point, is going to say a lot about how they intend to meet Nikon’s resurgence. If the 5D replacement is just a freshen up of the 30D to 40D variety and which doesn’t meet the challenge that the D700 brings, then Canon will be telegraphing that they’re happy with their market position selling the crap out of the Rebel XSi without worrying about the higher end. On the other hand, if they release a competent contender, then we’ve still got a two horse race.

What will be a competent 5D replacement? At a minimum, it has to have usable ISO 6400 that is as good as ISO 1600 on the current 5D and it has to have pro-level autofocus. I don’t care about more pixels at this point, though I won’t complain about a 16 megapixel sensor. Even with a larger sensor, it is the twin metrics of low to high ISO quality—two more stops at least over the current 5D—and capable autofocus performance that will tell the story. Anything below this threshold will say volumes about the direction in which Canon intends to take the platform…

Sorry James, Canon is in trouble at the low-end too.

Where did they go wrong? To me their biggest issue is sensor light sensitivity. Presumably they can fix the reliability issues, and some of their pro camera are felt to have good autofocus. The sensor though, is a scientific and technical challenge. If they can’t meet that challenge, Nikon will own dSLR business.

It's too late to short Adobe stock: Reader 9

As of today, Adobe's share price hasn't had a big recent drop.

Maybe insiders believe Google or Apple are really going to acquire them, just to get Flash.

Because looking at the latest release Adobe Reader knows Adobe is a disaster today. It's not just me, try Googling on "when did adobe go downhill"?

I'd guess they went off the rails a year or two before my adobe download manager post, so maybe January 2005. It would be interesting to know what happened then. Did some key people vest options and leave? What executive shuffle occurred? 

I won't be installing Adobe Reader 9 anywhere. I removed Adobe products from my OS X machines about a year ago, and life has been quite a bit nicer since. (Sure Adobe's photo editing apps are sweet, but they also show doom. How hard would it be to QA the app as a non-admin user?)

On XP I'm on Adobe Acrobat full (no reader). Eventually the gross security measures will force a reader update, at which point I'll switch to an open source alternative for ISO-standard PDF. I'm sure Microsoft will supply something, they're in far better shape than Adobe.