BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft to remove Sony CD codeI ran SONY, I'd fire the head of SONY music. Then I'd publicly engage the Electronic Frontier Foundation to rewrite the EULA and SONY's DRM policies.
...Microsoft's decision to label the XCP system spyware was revealed on the corporate blog maintained by the software maker's anti-malware team.
... Writing in the blog, Jason Garms, one of the senior managers in the anti-malware team, said the XCP software qualified as spyware under the "objective criteria" Microsoft uses to assess potentially malicious programs.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Microsoft declares SONY is a malware vendor
SONY's covert software installation hacks Microsoft XP and creates a big security hole. I wondered how long it would take Microsoft to declare war:
Firefox 1.5 RC2 - very nice on OS X
I read recently that there are about 83 browser variants on OS X. Of these the ones I've used are Safari, Firefox, OmniWeb, Camino and Opera.
Each has strengths. OmniWeb is the only browser to seriously think about the problems with the page/tab UI -- but they went wrong putting the tab/page icons on the left side (one of my machines is an iBook -- horizontal space is at a premium). Camino has an elegant UI and the Mozilla engine, but no Google toolbar. Safari is the prettiest and does the best job with printing and fonts. (Open source products tend to be weak at printing, probably because true geeks never print.) Safari has also always felt pretty fast.
Mozilla Firefox 1.5 RC-2 (Development Information) is a very impressive contender. I use it more and more. It's very fast, faster than Safari on my G3 iBook. The Firefox Google toolbar doesn't work with it yet, but I'm sure it will once 1.5 is officially released. It works with Blogger (Blogger support for Safari is infuriating and abysmal) and at most every site I use (not, however, the AMEX credit card site -- Firefox 1.0 did work there -- I've submitted that as a problem).
Firefox 1.0 was good on OS X, but 1.5 is truly remarkable. It's not as pretty as Camino or Safari, but increasingly it's my preferred browser. Safari is getting relegated to printing tasks.
Each has strengths. OmniWeb is the only browser to seriously think about the problems with the page/tab UI -- but they went wrong putting the tab/page icons on the left side (one of my machines is an iBook -- horizontal space is at a premium). Camino has an elegant UI and the Mozilla engine, but no Google toolbar. Safari is the prettiest and does the best job with printing and fonts. (Open source products tend to be weak at printing, probably because true geeks never print.) Safari has also always felt pretty fast.
Mozilla Firefox 1.5 RC-2 (Development Information) is a very impressive contender. I use it more and more. It's very fast, faster than Safari on my G3 iBook. The Firefox Google toolbar doesn't work with it yet, but I'm sure it will once 1.5 is officially released. It works with Blogger (Blogger support for Safari is infuriating and abysmal) and at most every site I use (not, however, the AMEX credit card site -- Firefox 1.0 did work there -- I've submitted that as a problem).
Firefox 1.0 was good on OS X, but 1.5 is truly remarkable. It's not as pretty as Camino or Safari, but increasingly it's my preferred browser. Safari is getting relegated to printing tasks.
OS X Automator: two Neuberg articles
Matt Neuberg has two complementary articles out on Automator:
Automator, it turns out, is basically a visual form of the UNIX (and DOS) "pipe", a channel from one piece of code to another. It does do intelligent type transformations -- that's not easy! It's not a true workflow application (yet); there are no branches or loops. It is clearly influenced by the past decade of workflow application development. AppleScript codes can serve as Automator elements. I don't know if one can "compile" an Automator sequence into a single standalone block.
- MacDevCenter.com: Write Your Own Automator Actions
- Macworld: Secrets: Take Control of Customizing Tiger: Automator
(excerpt from the $5 ebook -- link at end of article)
Automator, it turns out, is basically a visual form of the UNIX (and DOS) "pipe", a channel from one piece of code to another. It does do intelligent type transformations -- that's not easy! It's not a true workflow application (yet); there are no branches or loops. It is clearly influenced by the past decade of workflow application development. AppleScript codes can serve as Automator elements. I don't know if one can "compile" an Automator sequence into a single standalone block.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
The ultimate Nano case
The case I want appears to have gone lost somewhere in China (never in stock).So, in the spirit of something, I went the baggy route. Cheap, disposeable, portective, easy to operate the Nano. Poke a hole for the earphones.
OS X address book data model
I've got addresses everywhere. It's a mess. They're on my XP box, my Mac, my phone, my PDA, Outlook at work - all different sets, all different views.
I figured I could at least fix the phone -- a Palm OS (Samsung i500) that uses OS X sync services (Tiger) and MissingSync 5.0 to sync with my address book (and boy, is OS X sync ugly). All I needed was some documentation on what field names OS X Address Book expects on tab delimited imports.
Errrkkk. This is not documented!! I played around with various approaches and became increasingly aware just how complex the OS X Address book data model is. The best I could do at this draft was to create a really complex template, fill the slots, export to VCARD, and inspect in TextWrangler. Below is what I got. Sigh.
I need another angle on this!
I need to think about this a bit. It would be nice if Apple documented some of this stuff, but documentation is not their strong suit.
I figured I could at least fix the phone -- a Palm OS (Samsung i500) that uses OS X sync services (Tiger) and MissingSync 5.0 to sync with my address book (and boy, is OS X sync ugly). All I needed was some documentation on what field names OS X Address Book expects on tab delimited imports.
Errrkkk. This is not documented!! I played around with various approaches and became increasingly aware just how complex the OS X Address book data model is. The best I could do at this draft was to create a really complex template, fill the slots, export to VCARD, and inspect in TextWrangler. Below is what I got. Sigh.
I need another angle on this!
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Faughnan;John;Gordon;Dr;I
FN:Dr John Gordon Faughnan I
NICKNAME:jfaughnan
X-MAIDENNAME:Faughnan
X-PHONETIC-FIRST-NAME:Jon
X-PHONETIC-MIDDLE-NAME:Gordun
X-PHONETIC-LAST-NAME:Fawnun
ORG:MegaCorp;Cosmos
TITLE:Emperor
EMAIL;type=INTERNET;type=WORK;type=pref:jfaughnan@spamcop.net
EMAIL;type=INTERNET;type=HOME:jfaughnan@spamcop.net
item1.EMAIL;type=INTERNET:jfaughnan@spamcop.net
item1.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
TEL;type=WORK;type=pref:111-111-1111
TEL;type=CELL:111-111-1111
TEL;type=HOME:111-111-1111
TEL;type=MAIN:111-111-1111
TEL;type=HOME;type=FAX:111-111-1111
TEL;type=WORK;type=FAX:111-111-1111
TEL;type=PAGER:111-111-1111
item2.TEL:111-111-1111
item2.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item3.ADR;type=WORK;type=pref:;;111 Erewon;Saint Paul;MN;11111-1111;USA
item3.X-ABADR:us
item4.ADR;type=HOME:;;111 Erewon;Saint Paul;MN;11111-1111;
item4.X-ABADR:us
item5.ADR;type=HOME:;;111 Erewon;Montreal;Quebec;A1H 1A1;Canada
item5.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item5.X-ABADR:ca
item6.ADR;type=HOME:;;111 Erewon;what;what;what;Portugal
item6.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item6.X-ABADR:pt
item7.ADR;type=HOME:;;111 Erewon;Escanaba;MI;49829;USA
item7.X-ABLabel:SecretBase
item7.X-ABADR:us
item8.URL;type=pref:http\://www.faughnan.com
item8.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
URL;type=HOME:http\://www.faughnan.com
URL;type=WORK:http\://www.faughnan.com
item9.URL:http\://www.faughnan.com
item9.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
BDAY;value=date:2001-01-01
X-AIM;type=WORK;type=pref:jfaughnan
X-JABBER;type=HOME;type=pref:jfaughnan
item10.X-MSN;type=pref:jfaughnan
item10.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
X-YAHOO;type=HOME;type=pref:jfaughnan
X-ICQ;type=WORK;type=pref:jfaughnan
item11.X-ABDATE;type=pref:2001-01-01
item11.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item12.X-ABRELATEDNAMES;type=pref:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item12.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item13.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item13.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item14.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item14.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item15.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item15.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item16.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item16.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item17.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item17.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item18.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item18.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item19.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item19.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item20.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item20.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item21.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item21.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item22.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item22.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
item23.X-ABRELATEDNAMES:Molly Thunderpaws Squirrelbane
item23.X-ABLabel:_$!!$_
X-ABUID:29F3A180-BE1E-478D-B82F-B6A820F5BAB3\:ABPerson
END:VCARD I need to think about this a bit. It would be nice if Apple documented some of this stuff, but documentation is not their strong suit.
Recording Skype calls on GarageBand with LineIn and SoundFlower (Mac)
360east | Ahmad Humeid: Recording Skype calls on GarageBand with LineIn and SoundFlower (Mac)
I've been trying to get this to work with Audio Hijack. So far I get one side of the conversation.
I've been trying to get this to work with Audio Hijack. So far I get one side of the conversation.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Recording Skype calls over OS X with Audio Hijack Pro
I will try this for a work meeting Skype recording this Monday coming. Report to follow. Note -- I will be recording with permission.
Rogue Amoeba - Audio Hijack Pro for Mac OS X - FeaturesUpdate 11/14: Groan. A debacle all around. In no particular order:
Podcasting is the newest fad to hit the internet, and Audio Hijack Pro will help you get in on it. A podcast is simply a radio program you create and post online. Once you do this, people around the globe can download your show and have a listen. Thousands of people are creating their own shows and tens of thousands of listeners are tuning in.
With Audio Hijack Pro, you can rapidly create your own programs and then share them with the world. From simple microphone recording to much more complex shows containing music clips, multiple hosts, and even voice chat (from applications like Skype or iChat), Audio Hijack Pro is the perfect way to create your podcasts. Download Audio Hijack Pro and see the 'Recording Podcasts' page in the manual (under the Help menu), then get podcasting!
- My Logitech USB (or OS X) headset has an odd bug. When you first plug it in, the headphone doesn't play any sound. You have to go into sound preferences and click mute on and off again. This bug caused about a 30-60 of wasted debugging time.
- Audio Hijack doesn't record Skype, only AudioHijack Pro.
This not specifically documented anywhere and it doesn't appear on the product comparison list. You must infer the lack of support by the absence of a specific mention of iChat or Skype.[correction 11/16: This is in fact the last row on the comparison table. Unless it was just added I missed it. So my main complaint about AH is unjustified.] I bought AH then bought AHP. Same total cost as they credit the AH purchase, but I probably wouldn't have bothered with all this for the $32 cost of AHP. AH support felt this really wasn't an issue. - AHP's documentation on how to do this is inconsistent (documented twice, somewhat differently) and incorrect (tells you to start Skype first, which is wrong unless you have installed an optional framework I prefer to avoid, one version of the documentation doesn't mention you have to monitor output ...).
- Even if it did work, the procedure for doing this in AHP is complex and trouble prone for most of us.
- Finally, and most painfully, when I got this to work I ran into two problems with Skype. I couldn't use the toll free number (Skype has an odd area code) and when I dialed the toll number the AT&T conferencing system didn't recognize the key tones Skype generates.
- At one point in my testing either Skype or Audio Hijack crashed OS X hard. Completely dead. No response to anything. I had to power cycle.
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