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."
Friday, September 09, 2005
Thursday, September 08, 2005
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
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:
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!
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!
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