Don't buy your iPhone yet

This is why I decided I wouldn't buy an iPhone until I saw exactly what the SDK would be:

iPhone/iPod SDK: Apple to approve, distribute apps, limit add-ons

...No accessory connectivity. Under current plans, SDK developers will be prevented from interfacing directly with Dock Connector-based accessories connected to the iPhone or iPod touch—a decision that we are told could cripple development of new accessories such as physical keyboards, traditional add-ons, and more ambitious, creative accessories such as Delphi’s iPhone car control prototype. One source described this limit as a guarantee that SDK-developed applications would be nearly as limited as current web-based ones, while consuming more of the device’s storage capacity. Yet integrated iPhone or iPod touch features such as the phone, Wi-Fi, and camera will be developer-accessible, certainly permitting development of programs that weren’t possible before. It is presently unclear whether Bluetooth 2.0, which is included in the iPhone but crippled to permit only monaural phone call streaming, will be opened to permit stereo audio streaming and data functionality as well.

Sources told iLounge that the collective impact of Apple’s decisions will be to control and stifle third-party development at a critical juncture in iPhone and iPod history, limiting what could be an open, thriving Mac-like collection of applications and accessories to a smaller, more stagnant iPod-like controlled environment. Consequently, a source suggests, developers who “jailbrake” iPhones and iPods to develop applications will be at an advantage relative to those who use Apple’s official tools...

No keyboard. No GPS. Nasty. All because Apple needs DRM control of movies, and has to block digital outflow by the port. I suspect they'll lockout Bluetooth for the same reason.

I want to see what it will be possible to sync across the dock. If sync is disabled I may decide to wait for the gPhone.

Use your headphones for iPhone calls -- with a Griffin SmartTalk adapter

I figured that when I buy an iPhone I'd also buy a Bose Communicator kit to go with it. Turns out there's a better, cheaper option:

Macworld | Review: iPhone headphone adapters

...The answer is to buy an iPhone headphone adapter, offering an iPhone-compatible mini plug on one end and a button and microphone on the other end, along with a place to plug in whatever headphones (or speakers, or cassette adapters — basically anything with a mini plug) you might have, as well as a clip to attach it to some part of your clothing close enough to your mouth to pick up your end of the conversation...

...The best of the bunch was the Griffin SmartTalk, a real bargain at $20. The SmartTalk’s microphone/clicker module is excellent, a compact block with a small integrated clip. The module was the least obtrusive of the ones I tested, and its button was easy to double-click when I wanted to switch tracks. Its microphone also offered the best sound quality of any of the adapters we tested, providing clear sound with a minimum of noise. The SmartTalk’s cord is wrapped in nylon, which makes it feel a bit classier than the rubber coating on the other adapters.

Besides being half the price of the Bose kit, the SmartTalk works with any headphone set. The Bose kit only works with newer versions of their headphones.

I don't think this would work all that well if the output was going to a car stereo though. Be real tough to avoid feedback with that setup ...

Microsoft Access: Snapshot and Dynaset recordset queries - what the heck are they?

Using Microsoft Access is a bit like being in an Indiana Jones movie. There are dark and mysterious ancient temples to explore, hidden treasures, snakes, spiders and the occasional death dealing trap. The scrolls that would explain everything are all losts in the mists of time, before there was a web.

It keeps me from boredom.

Yesterday a complex and powerful set of nested subqueries began retuning unpredictable results. Yes, I'd again broken Microsoft Access. It seems that Access was getting variable results depending on the sequence of subquery execution, such that it couldn't decide if a value were NULL or not.

So I tried to figure out if setting the sub-query(s) (recordset) to behave as a "Dynaset", "Dynaset (lazy update)" or "Snapshot"  would make any difference.

First, of course, I looked for documentation on what the differences are. It's not in the Access Help files. Google found precious little at first -- one of my page one results was a post I wrote in January 2006!)

This search worked better: recordset, dynaset, snapshot.

From it I got a few references:

O'Reilly Network -- Access Design and Programming Tips

But it is important to remember that DAO (Data Access Object) provides several forms of recordsets: table-type, dynaset, snapshot, and forward-only. The point here is that if a snapshot or forward-only recordset will suit your purposes, you should use it, because it will be more efficient and therefore your code will run more quickly.

Snapshot recordsets are faster to create and to access than dynaset recordsets, but they use more memory because the entire record is stored in memory. The downside is that you cannot update the records in a snapshot recordset.

Forward-only recordsets are like snapshot recordsets, but you can only move forward through the recordset.

Ultimately, the only way to tell whether you will save significant processing time is to try the various suitable recordset types in a given situation. The point here is to not fall into the habit of always creating a table-type or dynaset-type recordset.

and

DAO Object Model The Definitive Reference Chapter 8 Recordsets Collection and Recordset Object

...There are five types of recordsets: Table-type, Dynaset, Snapshot, Forward-only, and Dynamic. (See the Type property section for a discussion of recordset types.) Each Recordset object contains a collection of Fields that represents the fields in the underlying table(s). You can list the field names and values, but you will just get the values in the current record, unless you first go to a particular record. For example, the following code moves to the last record in a recordset and lists the field names and values for that record:...

Recordset Property Summary which shows almost NO difference between Snapshot and Dynaset.

But then we come to the precious table 8-13:

Dynaset: Represents a table or an updatable query. Supports the AddNew, Delete, and Find* methods, but not the Seek method.

Snapshot: A read-only recordset; useful for finding data or printing. Does not allow updating, except in the case of an updatable Snapshot in an ODBCDirect workspace. Supports the Find* methods.

Elsewhere I read

Dynaset:
1. Can be formed by large number of tables resulting in Virtual Tables.
2. Does not store on the Machine but occupy temporary memory that is RAM.
3. The changes made in the database can be reflected in the this.
4. Allows operations like edit and update.

SnapShot:
1. Creates table on the machine and occupies space of the memory.
2. Does not allow edit and update operations.
3. Can be used for small amount of data.

Another source (lost) said a Snapshot is often quite a bit faster in a query than a Dynaset, but the speed requires more memory use.

By extension of the above, I imagine "Dynaset (lazy update)" is an extension of Dynaset with some of the speed of a Snapshot but the possibility of doing updates (delayed or lazily).

So, after all that, did changing some of my subqueries to "Snapshot" fix the problem of the "Schrodinger's Cat" results that were sometimes NULL and sometimes NOT NULL?

Yes, it did. The results were much faster too.

Google Sites versus Google Page Creator

Google Sites was launched today for all Google Apps:

Google Sites Launched

Google finally launched a service that uses JotSpot's technology: Google Sites. The new service is a part of Google Apps and allows you to create web sites collaboratively. 'People can work together on a Site to add file attachments, information from other Google applications (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube and Picasa), and new free-form content. Creating a site together is as easy as editing a document, and you always control who has access, whether it's just yourself, your team, or your whole organization,' explains Google.

Google offers templates, a rich-text editor, 10GB of storage for each Google Apps account and integration with other Google services so you can embed gadgets, calendars, spreadsheets, presentations, photo slideshows and videos. You can invite people to collaborate or just view a site and you can also publish the site so that anyone can view it.

I played with it on my MN Special Hockey Google Apps domain.

Some quick impressions:

1. The basics are very similar to Page Creator (PC), but it has more facilities for collaboration and change tracking. There are more and better editing tools. It's Wiki-influenced but it feels more like a web page authoring environment than a Wiki. I think you can use it for both.
2. I didn't see that file management (attachments) was any better than PC. I hope I'm missing something. File management in PC is awful.
3. It appears to support Safari, PC doesn't.
4. Like PC you can have multiple sites per domain but you have much more control over access and what becomes public.
5. I haven't figured out the Documents integration yet, not sure it's that well integrated.

I think for most sites it will replace Page Creator. There's no migration yet from existing Page Creator sites however, so today you'd have to recreate all PC work in Google Sites. I hope Google will provide some guidance eventually, I won't be moving anything yet.

I'm glad to see a replacement coming from PC, so this one's good news.

Image drag and drop doesn't work any more with FileMaker Pro

I think I used to drag and drop images from the Finder to FileMaker container field. The Help file says it works.

Except it doesn't.

This post is typical:

Nabble - Filemaker Pro - Talk - Drag and Drop to Container Fields: "I have Leopard and FMP 8.5. Is it my system or is it in general that one cannot drag and drop a jpg from the desktop into a container field? I know I can right click on the container field and insert a picture, but is there an easier way?"

I suspect this broke years ago.

Jeez. Sometimes I think I'm the last software user left on earth. Half the stuff I try is either broken or not usable.

Update 2/28/2008: It sort of works in Filemaker/Windows. Instead of displaying an image, however, it displays an icon that when clicked can show an image. So it might be something that worked in an earlier version of Filemaker but broke a version or two ago. I have read that FM's code base is in pretty bad shape -- despite their big Pascal to C migration of a few years back.

Ejecting a stuck CD: when only open firmware works

Apple has no shame.

If Apple had a sense of shame, CDs would not get stuck inside Macs so often. It's been a problem as long as I remember, but it got much worse when Apple eliminated the old paper-clip manual eject method.

My best guess is that there's some cult around software control of hardware that makes it impossible for Apple engineers to implement non-stick CDs.

Recently I ran into a stuck CD/DVD that failed all the steps in this 2004 MacFixIt article on my 10.4.11 iMac. My comments are in square brackets.

Mini-Tutorial: Ejecting media in Mac OS X: Removing 'stuck' CDs/DVDs - MacFixIt

From time-to-time, removable media (including CDs, DVDs and others) can refuse to eject via the normal Mac OS X methods -- pressing the keyboard eject key; using the Command-E keyboard combination; selecting the item in the Finder and clicking the Eject button next to its name; dragging the item to the trash; or pressing the F12 key. [jf: failed, of course]

... The first and simplest method, if you only want to unmount a single volume on the disk, is to use Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities. In Disk Utility, simply select the volume you want to unmount and click Eject. [jf: this usually works, but it failed this time]

... In some cases holding down a connected mouse button at startup will cause a misbehaving optical drive to eject its media. [jf: nope. I have a wireless mouse though, I think this needs a wired mouse. Holding the click key on a MacBook is supposed to work as well]

... If you have a Mac that will not startup properly and has a stuck disc, try booting into Open Firmware by holding down Command, Option, O key and F key during startup. After booting into Open Firmware, type the command eject-cd. [jf: Sort of. "eject-cd" just produced an error message, but "eject cd", after a delay of about 30 seconds, worked.]

Using the Terminal There are two commands that can be used in the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities) which can be used to force disk ejection:

The first command to try is drutil tray eject. Simply type in this command and press return. [jf: Failed.]

The other method takes a little more work but can work in instances where the first method fails.

1. Type the command drutil list into the Terminal and press return ... [jf: Failed. It never returned.]
2. Use the command drutil tray eject 1.
In the above command, the number "1" should be replaced with whatever drive number you obtained in the first step...

Yech. Only the Open Firmware worked in my situation, but I could have tried connecting my original iMac mouse and booting with the button held down.

I think if one lets Disk Utility sit for a half hour or so it can work even in these most severe situations.

So what was the problem?

One lousy fingerprint on the CD. We washed the CD and it worked perfectly.

Apple is shameless.

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