Automator action downloads from Apple

Apple - Mac OS X Downloads - Automator Actions

I haven't figured out what Automator is good for (I'm warming to Spotlight though) -- but this page might have enough actions to make it useful!

Portraits and prints update via Macintouch -- direct access to iPhoto images

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh: "Portraits & Prints 2.1 can import, adjust, catalog, and print digital images, with captions, support for email and online printing, and integrated template downloads. This release adds direct access to iPhoto images, an editable Photo Information panel, support for iPhoto information in templates, a new Collage set of templates, and other changes. Portraits & Prints is $30 ($50 for the Pro Edition) for Mac OS X 10.2.8 and up."

Interesting ebook from 'take control' series on network security

Take Control of Your Wi-Fi Security

I've been interested in this topic lately. I think I'll buy this one. (PDF, $10). From an email:

... The wireless network security audit is, in fact, the last major section of the ebook, ...discussing common ways of restricting wireless network access that are akin to those bathroom door locks that can be picked with a paperclip ... show you how to encrypt your data in transit to protect it from prying eyes anywhere, which is particularly helpful when you're using insecure hot spots while traveling. Glenn also wrote a great section on securing small office wireless networks, complete with details on choosing VPN hardware and software, and on setting up 802.1X for secure Wi-Fi logins.

You can read more about the ebook, download a free 31-page sample, and place an order at:

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/wifi-security.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0023-TCANNOUNCE>

We also just released the 1.2 update to "Take Control of Your AirPort Network," Glenn Fleishman's 161-page ebook about setting up, extending the range of, maintaining, and troubleshooting wireless networks with a focus on Apple's AirPort networking gear.... can save $2.50 by buying with "Take Control of Your Wi-Fi Security."

iTunes 5 - don't upgrade

I noted a Gordon's Tech: iTunes 5.0 Windows bug on import? glitch on a test install and decided to stick with 4.9 on my main library. Sounds like that was wise. Hold off on iTunes 5.0 for now.

Jon Udell scores a half-hour technical interview with Gates

I haven't listened to it, but I'll add it to my iPod sometime. Udell is brilliant, and the topics of the interview are not the usual pablum. I'd like here Gates answers.

Jon Udell: An interview with Bill Gates from PDC 2005: "Today's half-hour podcast is an interview with Bill Gates, following a morning of keynotes at the PDC. Topics of discussion include:

* The relationship of Office 12 to Vista and .NET
* How the .NET CLR and runtime will become widespread
* High-level semantics: CLR objects or XML?
* LINQ, or language-integrated query, Anders Hejlsberg's long-term ambition now coming to fruition
* The RSS data web, notification, SOAP/REST synergy, enterprise syndication
* WPF/E, aka Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere, aka portable Avalon
* Why, given the downleveling of the original Longhorn 'pillars' to XP, enterprises would still want to upgrade to Vista."

My favorite Nano review -- the register

Apple iPod Nano | The Register

Why it probably makes sense to buy the 2GB model:

The Nano ships in two capacities, 2GB and 4GB. I went for the 2GB because 4GB isn't anywhere near enough for me to store all my music, and besides that's what my 20GB iPod is for - so my rationale is that you might as well save 40 [pounds], since you're going to have to pick and choose your tracks no matter which capacity you go with. Apple reckons that the 2GB Nano will store 500 songs, with the 4GB holding 1000. Of course, how much you actually get onto any device depends on the bit rate at which you encode your music and the codec you use. Like all iPods, the Nano supports two codecs AAC, MP3, AIFF, WAV, Apple Lossless and Audible.

Alas, we're on the zero gadget growth rule at our house. In order to buy the Nano, we have to find something to get rid of. That's not as easy as it sounds -- I don't have any gadgets that I don't rely on. I'm not ready to give up a digital camera in order to add a Nano.

Kitchen and small book case speakers

Monitor Audio USA :: As close as it gets.

Now if only I could find a compact receiver to go with them!

Turn your $3000 laptop into a $100 audio recorder

Via MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh.

I actually like this sort of application. It's on my list to try.

Recorder.xhead 4.0 is an audio recorder and player intended primarily for voice recording. It supports major audio formats (including AIFF, AAC, MP3, and WAV) and can record from any internal or external sound input device including a built-in internal microphone, iSight camera microphone, digital video camera microphone, or bluetooth headset. This release adds vox recording, which monitors the input source, activates recording when the input volume reaches a specified level, and stops recording once the audio level drops below a specified threshold. It also adds automatic saves at specified intervals, FTP upload, pitch control on playback, and support for RSS and for iTunes Store tags to publish podcasts. Recorder.xhead is $10 for Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.4."

Nisus Writer Express - a real alternative to Word on the Mac?

Nisus Writer Express Features

One feature caught my eye: "Inheritable Character, Paragraph, and Note Styles".

I like Pages and this sounds good too. So two Word alternatives. I want to test the two out with my wife.

Update 9/9: The main thing Emily needs is something that handles Word documents seamlessly. Pages doesn't do the trick because it translates first to pages, then you have to export. Too confusing. AbiWord is another option; it uses its own file format (which I hope/pray is the OpenOffice format) but if you open a Word document it saves and edits as Word.

I'm not sure what Nisus does here but I think Pages may not work for Emily.

Update 9/10/05: AbiWord worked pretty well, but I'm very impressed with Nisus writer. Default format is RTF, but if you open a Word document it saves it as word. Good trial policy but you can't print without a watermark on the last page. Nice outliner styles, even though it's not really an outliner. Much as a like much of Pages I don't like yet another file format. Apple hasn't made it an open spec as far as I know.

On reflection I'm thinking Nisus might be ahead of AbiWord. Interestingly the two share some code, I think they use the same open source code for word document management.

Mac OS X: How to remove and recreate an inaccessible keychain

Solving keychain problems in OS X.

Mac OS X: How to remove and recreate an inaccessible keychain: "Mac OS X: How to remove and recreate an inaccessible keychain"

Mac OS X: How to recover a home folder

Mac OS X: How to recover a home folder (directory)

Via Macintouch. What to do when you archive someone's home directory and want to restore it afterwords.

iTunes 5.0 Windows bug on import?

I tested out 5.0 on my PC (haven't touched my operational iTunes library yet). I cleaned out the old library and dropped a folder of 3086 songs on it.

It failed to correctly attach the metadata (artist, album) for about 8 of them. In iTunes 4.x the same files show correct metadata.

I've not seen this problem on prior versions of iTunes/PC. I'll hold off on updating my main iTunes setup (Mac) for a while.

Hotel blogger: you can check in, but you can never leave ...

I created a new blogger account to help debug problems I'm having with Blogger. The new account had the same bugs. Once I was done testing I wanted to delete the account and free up the user name.

Can't be done.

From Blogger, there's no exit:

Blogger Help : How do I cancel my account?: "How do I cancel my account?

We do not currently have a way for users to delete their own accounts...

OS X Chess.app -- is it easier in Tiger than Panther -- or does it learn?

OS X includes a pretty darned impressive chess game game. The marble skin in Tiger gives the clearest pieces.

I'm no chess player, and my 8 yo is even worse, so we play it in 'fastest' (dumbest mode). Only it seems to behave differently in Tiger and Panther.

On my G3 iBook running Panther it tends to beat us fairly handily -- even in 'fastest' mode and even when we cheat and 'take back' dumb moves. On my far more powerful G5 iMac, however, I can beat it fairly easily in that mode.

So what's the story?

Does it learn? (God, I hope not.) Is there a bug in the 10.3.9 version so it behaves as though it were in mid-range smarts? Did Apple dumb it down for Tiger (thank you)? I'm curious.

Update 9/14/05: I'm convinced there are a few bugs. I think in 10.3.9 the prefs don't always work -- sometimes Chess.app works at its default setting despite what the gui shows. In 10.4.2 Chess.app at its lowest setting is very beatable (it looks one move ahead, so it will quickly trade a pawn for a queen). On the other hand in 10.4.2 we saved a game with a bishop that couldn't be moved. He was stuck!

The sad story of Palm Desktop -- OS X version

I use Missing Sync on my OS X machine and sync my wife's Palm to Apple's (feeble) calendaring and contact applications. Even ePocrates works, thanks to the bundled AvantGo conduit. So I'm far away from Palm Desktop for OS X. Still, I think it's worth mentioning just how bad this software is.

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh

Art McGee raised a red flag about more file-permission abuse by bad installers:

I have just examined the contents of the Palm Desktop 4.2.1 Revision C package installer, and I have come to the conclusion that either PalmOne is intentionally trying to damage our computers, or the software is a trojan horse that someone uploaded in place of the real software.

After the program files are installed, the installer runs a shell script called "postflight" that attempts to "fix" any permissions issues which may prevent the program from running properly. Unfortunately, the script violates the most basic programming principle in the universe - thou shalt not alter the files of programs other than thyself - and it does it so blatantly that I can only assume malicious intent. At the end of the script, it runs a final set of commands to change permissions (The "$2" variable is replaced at runtime by "/"):..

While any bad changes to the "/", "/Applications", or "/Library" directories can be easily fixed by repairing permissions or issuing another single command, the most OUTRAGEOUS and potentially damaging change is the last one:

sudo chmod -R 775 "$2Library/Application Support"
sudo chown -R :admin "$2Library/Application Support"

The "/Library/Application Support" directory is where many programs place critical system-wide configuration and program files that are referenced on an as-needed basis. This is a directory whose permissions should NEVER be changed or altered, lest you end up breaking many of your installed apps. In particular, all sorts of system-level programs such as Anti-Virus and Disk Utilities place parts of themselves there, and any changes to their permissions will prevent them from loading at boot time. Even more dangerous, some programs place symbolic links from that directory to "/System/Library", and running a chmod command that recursively drills down that directory could end up completely trashing your entire system...

Art is apoplectic, but those who've followed Palm's swan dive into misery [1] know that that their "doers and visionaries" abandoned ship long ago. They're running on fumes now.

Things are no better on the XP platform. It's been about 5 years since Microsoft implemented a user-specific security model, and Palm still expects all conduits to be shared and all user accounts to be in a single directory.

Palm is a dead company. Shame.

[1] Matched only by Intuit, which lately claims it will fix US healthcare. Perhaps they follow the philosophy of bringing on the apocalypse to accelerate change.