MacWorld iPhoto tips - pretty good

iPhoto doesn't get that much attention these days -- though heaven knows it's not feature complete (Library merge anyone?). So we don't see as many iPhoto tips as we used to.

This is a one I didn't know:

Macworld | Master your image library

...you can assign keywords—and even create new ones—without displaying the Keywords pane. The secret is to choose View: Keywords, and then click in the blank area beneath a photo’s thumbnail. (If you’ve also chosen to display photo names or ratings, click beneath the name or rating.) Now start typing. If you start to type an existing keyword, iPhoto offers to complete it for you; press the return key to accept iPhoto’s suggestion. If you type a new keyword, iPhoto adds it to your list of keywords and assigns it to the photo...

Dang, that's good. The article is well worth a read.

Google opening up GrandCentral

I've had a GrandCentral number for a year or two, but I've had trouble making it work for me. The real value proposition is for the many people who's corporate cell phone is their only phone. They give friends and family the GrandCentral number, and don't with a corporate phone used for personal business. You give friends and family the GrandCentral number, and just switch it when your job changes.

Google's slowly opening GrandCentral to new subscribers:

Blogger Buzz: GrandCentral: receive calls and post voicemail with your blog

...With GrandCentral, a free service from Google, you can receive phone calls and post voicemails right on your blog. Though GrandCentral is currently in a private beta test, bloggers can skip the wait and get a free account immediately...

Anyone with a Gmail account can get a Google blog in an instant, so the service is now open for new customers.

I'll have to see if they've done anything to make it work for me. I expect the kids will get GrandCentral numbers eventually.

MacBook screen alignment: Apple doesn't do hinges

Hinges are not sexy.

Maybe that's why Apple laptop hinges are so problematic.

My iBook hinge died slowly and painfully at about age 3 -- pretty much everyone's did. The iBook lives in the kitchen now, with a scrawled above the display warning "do not close!".

I recall similar problems going back eons, though my PowerBook 165 hinges seemed to last.

Recently my 2-3 yo MacBook screen has been drifting out of alignment with the base. It's off enough that when the machine is closed there's enough angulation to produce a 2-3 mm overhang at the margins. I'm not alone, this post shows a picture of the same problem.

It's worrisome given the iBook history.

I haven't found any fixes yet. There are two screws by the hinges. I tightened them up and I imagined the alignment improved, but for all I know the screws are cosmetic (Apple does that).

Dell messes up a lot of things, but they do have nice hinges ...

Update 6/23: Recently I spotted one of our kids shutting the MacBook with the power cord trapped between screen and base. It's a tough, thin cord, just the right location and shape to twist the hinges. The cord it twisty, and it's not hard to get it trapped. A quick hard lid closing on the tough cord would warp the hinges. I suspect this could be a contributing factor ...

Obnoxious old Epson Scan bug: EPSON Scan cannot be started

I've just installed an Epson Perfection V700 scanner with Epson Scan software dated Jan 2008.

It has the same bug referenced on Macintouch 3 years ago:

Macintouch - Multifunction Peripherals: Epson

Feb. 16, 2005, Julian Hearne
... the Epson Scan software for the CX5400 is not compatible with OS 10.3.7’s Fast User Switching! It works fine in an Admin account, but if you switch to another user account it creates an error message dialog box in the middle of the users desktop stating “EPSON Scan cannot be started . ---”. You can dismiss the message but each time you switch to another users account, except Admin, the message reappears...
Epson Tech Support says it’s a known issue and kind of blamed it on OS X...

Dave Robertson
I have reported a similar problem [as Julian Hearne] to Epson Support. Using Fast User Switching on an eMac (10.3.x) with an Epson CX5300 results in the continual appearance of a dialog saying "EPSON Scan cannot be started."

The dialog cannot be dismissed or clicked on in any way and it floats above all other applications. The only way to clear it is to run the "Activity Monitor" application and quit the "Twainbridge" process.

I found a 2004 Epson document saying Epson Scan is not compatible with Fast User Switching.

Happily a single chance hit gave me the clue -- the real problem is Epson Scanner Monitor and Fast-User Switching. That led me to a post by some obscure geek quoting Macintouch:

... Someone on August 10 mentioned that they were having problems with the Epson Scanner software on their G5. I had this issue as well; however, I removed the Epson Scanner Monitor startup item from my login profile.

This is used to allow the user to press the hotkey buttons on the Epson scanner; however, it's not necessary to use the scanner. Anytime I want to do a scan, I either open up the Epson scan software (which should be possible through Photoshop as well) manually then do my scanning. No more monitoring software eating up CPU cycles...

Oh ... wait, the above Macintouch quote is from a post I wrote in 2005.

Sigh.

Well, this time I couldn't find Epson Scanner Monitor in any of my Login Items [1]. It was running though, I could find the process with Activity Monitor.

I killed the process and deleted Epson Scanner Monitor.

The problem appears to have gone away.

So now the front button scan doesn't work, but that's no big deal. I never use those buttons anyway, this is a photo scanner not a document scanner.

So now the mystery is how Epson can manage to be so #$$@ $%%!@% incompetent? (Alas, the answer is that they don't have to be really competent, they only need be better than Canon.)

See also a 2004 post of mine on why device drivers suck.

[1] There's a design flaw in 10.4. Non-admin users can't see their Login Items, but admin users can't see other user Login items either.

Update 2/24/2008: Ok, Epson is only #$$@$ incompetent -- because Apple is even more incompetent. Last time I looked Apple made the iPod, OS X and the iMac, but if you use 'Fast User Switching' with an attached iPod you end up with a "this iPod is corrupted" message. I suspect either Apple fundamentally messed up Fast User Switching with 10.4 or they just don't care.

Epson still rates as "#$$@$ incompetent" because there are so many easy things they could have done besides trying to work around Apple's bad design. Here are 3 of them, it's easy to imagine more:

1. Document the problem and the fix in online FAQ and a readme file.
2. Detect Fast User Switching, deactivate Espon Scanner Monitor and inform the user.
   
3. Provide an easy way to uninstall or deactivate Epson Scanner Monitor...

Hmm. Maybe malevolent as well as incompetent ...

Giving Apple feedback

I'm surprised the feedback email address works. I'd like everyone on earth to email Apple now and ask for a Library merge feature for iPhoto.

TidBITS - Leopard 10.5.2: TidBITS Complains, Apple Listens, Sort Of

...If you have an ADC account (anyone can get one, they're free), you
can submit bugs via Apple's BugReporter.
http://developer.apple.com/products/online.html
http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/

Alternately, I have been told many, many, many times by Apple folks
that mailto: feedback AT apple.com DOES work, all the email IS read by
humans, and that customer voice DOES matter...
-Andrew

Here's the dedicated iPhoto feedback form in case you'd like to vote for Library merge ...

MacBook kb update: related to an odd login problem?

There's an Apple firmware fix out for the MacBook:

MacBook and MacBookPro get keyboard update - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

...Today Apple released a keyboard update for both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro notebooks. In regular Apple style, their release notes are not extremely profuse, 'This MacBook and MacBook Pro firmware update addresses an issue where the first key press may be ignored if the computer has been sitting idle. It also addresses some other issues....

Periodically, when I wake my sleeping MacBook, it accepts a single keystroke in the login pw dialog then stops responding. I close the lid to put it back to sleep, open it, and all is fine.

I'll see if this fix makes this problem go away.

Last whines of the RAZR - it's not easy to clean it out

This past week Facebook was fronting for the Hotel California (You can checkout, but you can never leave...). Years ago I had a similar experience with trying to eliminate a Microsoft Passport account -- later Microsoft cleared that up.

It's no surprise. I've been in the startup gig. "Erase customer data" is the sort of thing that never gets beyond "priority C" -- but funding ends mid-way through the "A list". Facebook is unusually bad, but not qualitatively different.

On the other hand, there's the Motorola RAZR from Hell. There's no easy way to leave that sucker!

I did it anyway.

I'd replaced the Sprint V3M RAZR with a low cost AT&T Nokia (better phone too) enroute to iPhone 2.0. It's about twelve months old and in surprisingly good shape -- so I wanted to get the phone to someone who'd really use it. Any money for me would be nice.

I probably paid $150 to $200 less than a year ago, Second Rotation offered me $50 (shipping included). Motorola phones depreciate fast. The price/hassle ratio was good enough for me, so I accepted the offer. I rounded up all the gear, including tracking down the original 64MB MicroSD card.

Then I had to erase my tracks a bit. I'm not worried about someone plumbing the on-phone memory, I just didn't want my contact list available. Turns out Motorola never bothered to provide a complete phone clean-up utility.

Here's what I had to do:

1. I tried calling with the phone and got a reassuring "not activated" message.
2. From the manual I learned of the Security Menu options to remove contacts and "reset" the phone. I needed to know the security code to do this, but I'd never set one up. Turns out the Sprint guy set one up on purchase. Maybe they told me then what it was, but I don't recall it. Happily they followed the convention described in the manual -- the security code was the last four digits of my phone number. Now I know to set one up early.
3. I formatted the Micro-SD card from my desktop (FAT).
4. I found an option to completely clear my call log.
5. I had do do a few other manual content cleanups.

I'll miss my RAZR. It gave me something I could really rale against.

10.5.2 fixes AppleWorks and more

Although 10.5.2 isn't ready for me, it seems that Leopard really has emerged from beta. A commenter to a GT post of mine tells us that 10.5.2 restores a lot of applications that died under 10.5 (but not, of course, Classic).

Gordon's Tech (comments): Leopard breaks AppleWords, what about Classic

After leopard 10.5.2 and graphics update AppleWorks not only works but works better. As do all the apps I had pulled off as not working under leopard. AOL, which crashed under Leopard now works ...

So 10.5.2 is the real 10.5.0. That means we have two more updates before it's truly solid, and that people who need to get work done might consider 10.5.3.

iPhoto Library Manager merge testing

I did some testing of iPhoto Library Manager's Library merge abilities using two test Libraries. My test Libraries included:

1. video in both
2. edit of a few images (see if import both original and current)
3. comments, keywords (overlapping and distinct), titles
4. event comments
5. album comments
6. album name collision: smart and dumb
7. keywords
8. ratings
9. events

iPhoto was inexplicably crashy, pre-merge -- when I was creating the test Libraries. Otherwise the merge went as expected. All of the above metadata, including both "Current" and "Original" images and video were all imported. As expected the following data was lost:

Smart albums (become dumb albums)
Books
Calendars
Slideshows
Web galleries (these will be turned into photocasts in the merged library)

In terms of metadata preservation this is significantly better than Aperture merger, but I've only tested on small Libraries. I expect to have some real world tests in a week or two.

I am disappointed that Apple's never provide a Library merge tool

iPhoto why so suddenly crash?

Did some recent software update break iPhoto completely? What gives?

I've been doing some testing of iPhoto Library Manager merge functions using two small 20 image test Libraries. These are both new, very generic Libraries. I've crashed iPhoto at least six times doing basic manipulations of these test images. I'm not talking merges, I mean editing album names, adding comments, etc.

Weird.

Update 2/18/08: If this turns out to be a persistent problem on 10.4 but not 10.5, the suspicious among us will start suspiciousing ....

OS X 10.5.2 breaks sync services again: new upgrade rule

One of the benefits of reading the Spanning Sync blog is that it's the "canary in the coal mine". Apple routinely breaks everything, but the company seems to have special hatred for synchronization functions.

So it's not surprising that 10.5.2 fixes some sync services bugs, only to introduce new bugs:

Spanning Sync Blog: Mac OS X 10.5.2 Fixes Some Bugs, Introduces Others

This week Apple released Mac OS X Update 10.5.2, and while it fixes the notorious Leopard iCal bug present in 10.5 and 10.5.1, it introduces another bug with identical symptoms, plus others:

• Synchronized events are not reflected in iCal
• Endless sync conflicts when syncing with .Mac
• Duplicate calendars

Our Mac software architect Larry Hendricks has posted a comprehensive discussion of the new problems caused by 10.5.2 and their solutions to the Spanning Sync Google Group.

Apple is aware of these issues, which affect not only Spanning Sync but also applications like Plaxo, Entourage, BusySync, and .Mac itself, and is reportedly working on fixes.

Lots of problems.

Synchronization is very hard to do right, and quite easy to screw up. Apple's been doing the latter, so I'm guessing they've got their "A team" working somewhere else.

I've long said I won't go to "Leopard" until 10.5.3, but now I'm adding a new rule: 10.5.3 or later with Spanning Sync blessings.

Aperture 2: consolidating two iPhoto Libraries

I have several iPhoto Libraries. In theory they can be consolidated with iPhoto Library Manager (which I've registered) or one of several potentially risky techniques, but my tests a few years ago did not go well.

Apple's answer to this problem is "buy Aperture". Since I'm testing Aperture 2.0 prior to purchase I tried merging two libraries "by reference":

Macworld | From iPhoto to Aperture

... When importing pictures, Aperture can copy images into its library, thus creating duplicates of each picture, or it can reference, or point to, the existing files in your iPhoto Library folder. Although you’ll save disk space by referencing your iPhoto files, you’ll lose out on a key advantage of using Aperture: its Vault feature won’t back up referenced files (see “Why Move to Aperture?”).

If you’d like to try out Aperture but aren’t ready to import your images into the program, consider using referenced files as a trial run. When you import images from iPhoto, go to the Store Files pop-up menu in Aperture’s Import pane and select In Their Current Location. If you later decide that you want to use Aperture as your main photo-management tool, you can import the original files from iPhoto by selecting File: Consolidate Masters....

I imported two iPhoto Libraries into a single Aperture Library this way. Each became a project.

The first thing I checked was whether the image counts matched up. There were 2071 + 1772 = 3843 images in my two imported Libraries; but this is the count of "current" images. It doesn't count the originals of any edited images.

Aperture imports an original and "current' image as a stack, so each image is counted. I typed opt-; to collapse all stacks and, happily, my image count then matched the iPhoto total.

So that was nice! Those Libraries didn't have Videos however, and we know Aperture can't handle video files. So we'll see how that goes.

The images keep their titles, comments, ratings and keywords. Smart albums (annoyingly) become "dumb" albums. Much worse -- comments on Rolls, Albums (Collections) and Events are completely lost. Aperture can't handle metadata at that level.

Slideshows and photo books, as well as videos, can't make the move either.

That's a lot of lost metadata...

Update 2/17/2008: I added a third iPhoto Library of 8,000 items, again by reference. This killed Aperture. I got an endless SPOD (spinning pizza of death) when I tried to browse the complete image collection. I had to kill Aperture.

Scott Gruby likes BusySync: Google to iCal synchronization

Scott's an independent Mac developer, so I pay attention to his recommendations ...

Scott Gruby’s Blog » Blog Archive » Simple Google to Mac syncing

... I’ve been longing to easily sync my calendar with Google so that my wife and I can keep our calendars in order. I just started using BusySync from BusyMac. Previously I was using another product, but lately it just seemed to take hours to sync and it bogged down my system. I’ve known the BusyMac folks for years and they used to write Palm software. So far, it works extremely well. Make a change on either side and within 5 minutes, the other side gets the update....

This might work for us, but what I really want is a very high quality Outlook to Google solution. When I last looked I couldn't find the quality I needed (it's a very hard problem).

Google desktop email uploader

I'd have to upgrade to Google Apps premier for this:

Official Google Data APIs Blog: Upload your old email with the Google Email Uploader open source tool

...We're now happy to share the Google Email Uploader with you. It's both a .NET reference implementation of an Email Migration API client, as well as an Apache 2.0 licensed open source project to be extended to upload any type of email archive you have lying around. The Google Email Uploader is available for Google Apps Premier and Education edition users."

So I could put my old Eudora archives online, then use IMAP to bring them to my local Mac ...

A fix to the application dictionary problem and a word annoyance

I know Word 2003 as only a charter member of the death-to-Word club can. Even so, I was reminded to change two things when reading O'Reilly Media's Word Annoyances (ends at Word 2003).

First I removed the default Word custom.dic file and created my own (jfaughnan.dic) file in a folder I backup and control. So no more lost dictionary when I change machines. I then created a Google Apps document [1][2] to hold a copy of the dictionary. I will periodically merge [4] that with my other application specific dictionaries -- which are particularly important on handheld devices [3]. Imperfect, but good enough.

Then I finally paid attention to the Word settings for "smart" [5] Edit and cut/paste, turning off most of the default behaviors.

So I recommend the book (though it doesn't include Word 2007), but I don't agree with their recommendation to use Styles for everything. That's what every book on Word says, and they're all wrong. Styles are too broken to seriously contemplate unless you're a technical writer [6] [7].

--

[1] Incredibly annoying pink color scheme today. I wish Google spent less time being cute and more time fixing their #@$!$ buggy products (such as their custom search widget, which is broken as of this morning).

[2] Ironically Google Docs has its OWN dictionary, so the text file shows a spelling error indicator for every entry! There's no way to edit that dictionary. One day perhaps.

[3] In the long forgotten glory days Palm had a great auto-complete tool with a custom dictionary. Emily's BlackBerry has one too - very important for word completion.

[4] Copy/paste to TextPad, sort and delete dupes, copy/paste back.

[5] aka "Stupid"

[6] Most of them hate Word even more than I do.

[7] Word 2007 includes a complete do-over of Styles but it requires a (funny that) new file format that's incompatible with everything in the megaverse.