Fujitsu ScanSnap

MacWorld loves the Fujitsu ScanSnap.

It really does sound like a great product. Fujitsu has long been a dominant player in the low end of the document scanner marketplace (low end in this market was $1000 and up -- please don't mention HP's combo shred and scan devices to me), now they've taken their expertise down below $400. (That price includes the full version of Acrobat 7.)

Years ago I kludged together a scan to pdf solution for a software product I worked on. It didn't get to market, but it was the right way to go. Now ScanSnap and others are doing it right. Adobe has had a great solution for document scanning, but they've been reluctant to cannibalize their high end sales. I hope we'll see more of that at the low end.

It's all about the paper feeder. Fujitsu knows how to do this. I've seen their real SOHO scanner ($1000) scan in a thick plastic card. Very nice device.

Mac NoteTaker for PalmOS with TextMate

This came across a list for missing sync, an app that lets me use our old CLIEs on the iMac. Missing Sync is a great application, but it's desktop companion to the PalmOS Notes/Memos is really weak. This alternative to the Memo Pad has its own OSX conduit and desktop app...

From: Mark H. Subject: [missing-sync-palmos-talk]
Re: DayNotez or alternate journaling application with Desktop component?

I too am a DayNotez fan who would love to see a Mac desktop (or better still a conduit to one of the many excellent Mac journalling applications).

However, I've recently started experimenting with something else. I've been using Mac NoteTaker (Palm application and conduit) with TextMate (rather excellent text editor). [jf: TextWrangler is superb and free]

NoteTaker provides a hierarchical organisation of text notes on the Palm which are two-way-sync'd via a conduit to an identical hierarchy of folders and text files on the Mac. So it's extremely flexible. And it's free :-)

You can browse the notes on the Mac using Finder and edit them using any text editor such as TextEdit. However, I've found TextMate to be rather excellent for the task. Drop the NoteTaker folder onto TextMate's icon and it will produce a single window which has a side draw which shows the folder structure (see the screen shot on MacroMate's home page). TextMate calls this a project and you can save the project to open later, so I have a "NoteTaker" project on my desktop. TextMate contains some great text editing features which are handy for note taking / journalling, including spell-checking, templates and indent/outdent, bookmarks and clipboard history. It's also massively scriptable.

Sandvox and the return of end-user web site authoring

[Updated with review results.]

This is like watching the return of the dead. In the 90s there were many quite good end-user tools for web site creation. The only survivor of those glory days is FrontPage, and it's been horribly transmogrified into some zombie child of Microsoft Office.

Now, suddenly, this niche is coming back to life, at least in the OS X world. Karelia, a respected Mac software firm, has a beta of Sandvox. Ok, so it's probably not the document-oriented content-management-lite database-free static-output product with drag and drop link creation and dynamic link maintenance that I want, but any life in this domain is encouraging.

See also some prior posts of mine:

Content Management Systems
nVU and RapidWeaver: a lament (See also Tim's comments, though I think he missed my point about document-centric and end-user oriented).

Update 9/14: That was fast. My minimal requirements are the ability to select text and drag and drop it between pages. That should create a link and a bookmark. Moving pages in the development environment should update links (ie. indirection implemented). Creating links should allow one to select from available pages and bookmarks. Sandvox failed all these tests. Reviewing the forums it's pretty raw -- probably rushed out due to iWeb. I'll look at it again in six months.

It is pretty though.

Update 7/3/11: Tried again. Failed again.

OS X VNC has been updated

I tried the VNC server built into Tiger. It blew up every OS X VNC client I could find (there aren't many -- XP VNC clients are far better).

Fast User Switching and big displays are very hard on VNC. I wish Apple would do something at the Quartz layer.

I'm told this VNC server software is a much better option. I'm going to try again and I'll report back here:

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh:

OSXvnc 1.7 is an open source VNC server that provides remote access (with Rendezvous support) to the GUI, keyboard, and mouse using any VNC client. This release is now a full Universal Binary for improved Intel performance and adds a backward compatibility mode for older protocol versions, a flag to disable the screen saver while clients are connected, the ability to add as many listening hosts as you want directly from the GUI, and a number of bug fixes. OSXvnc is free for Mac OS X. [Source is available on SourceForge.]"

The critical item here in this release is full multi-user support and their specification of recommended clients.

Update 1/10/06: in preliminary testing using a Windows client on a fast network this is FAR better than anything else I've tried. The connection from the windows client did not survive a FUS session swap, but it was easy to restore to the background session. Amazing to see that actually work. I may have my long missed remote control for iTunes.

Update 1/10/06b: Not as good with Chicken of the VNC. Whereas the Windows VNC client supported screen scaling, Chicken doesn't. Less useful since my iMac display is so large. Works, albeit slowly on a G3 client.

Wonders of competition: Adobe Lightroom vs. Aperture

Adobe was neglecting OS X recently. Their software had become very XP focused.

But now both Microsoft (Vista photo management) and Apple (Aperture) are gunning for them. Astoundingly, Adobe, long known for their arrogance and dislike of customers, has launched an open beta of an Aperture rival: Adobe Labs - Project: Lightroom.

It looks like it came with their Macromedia acquisition. I'll wait to hear from more adventurous folks. I enjoyed the marketing blurb, emphases mine:

Adobe today responded to Aperture with a free beta-test version of Lightroom, an open-architecture application for professional photographers:

Adobe Lightroom Beta is the efficient new way for professional photographers to import, select, develop, and showcase large volumes of digital images. So you can spend less time sorting and refining photographs, and more time actually shooting them. Its clean, elegant interface literally steps out of the way and lets you quickly view and work with the images you shot today, as well as the thousands of images that you will shoot over the course of your career. Because no two photographers work alike, Adobe Lightroom adapts to your workflow, not the other way around.

Lightroom Beta lets you view, zoom in, and compare photographs quickly and easily. Precise, photography-specific adjustments allow you to fine tune your images while maintaining the highest level of image quality from capture through output. And best of all, it runs on most commonly used computers, even notebook computers used on location. Initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. [...]

Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4.3, 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 768 MB RAM and a 1024x768 resolution screen. Regular updates to the software will be posted on the site, feedback will be collected and the final product is expected to be introduced in late 2006. Further details around pricing, system requirements and availability have yet to be determined.

Heh, heh, heh. Open architecture. Runs on legacy hardware. Adapts to "your" workflow. Nice slapshots at Aperture.

Even commie socialists like me have to love capitalism when there's real competition. Heck, back when IE had competition it was a great piece of software ...

Update: Derrick Storry has a characteristically enthusiastic pre-Review of Lightroom up. You can manage photos in the Lightroom database or externally. No mention of iPhoto importing! I suspect folks with a large iPhoto investment will be swayed by the import abilities of Aperture. The ability to manage images in the external database will make it tempting to try this in parallel to iPhoto, but there'd be a high probability of messing up iPhoto.

Update: And here's a very extensive review and TOW has a series of links, including an excellent one outlining the story of Aperture. It's got quite a history behind it. This should be a really great fight, but if Adobe really wants to get down and diry they need to add an iPhoto import utility.

Update: It's only an 4.3 MB download?! Huh? It installed fine as non-admin. As an experiment I tried importing a smallish iPhoto library folder. It quietly died. Oh well, more testing to come.

Review: garment bags for commuting bikes

For years I've had a fairly popular Commuting/Touring Bike page on my site. It's old and changes little, but bike touring in 2006 is not all that different from touring in 1986. So the page still works.

Today I received a submission for the page. It's very detailed, so I'll excerpt only a portion of it. I'd like to be able to link to the full article however. This blog is just the vehicle. Here's the article from Thom B of Chicago:

Well, I bought a 2004 Jamis Ventura (touring road bike), which is quite a bit lighter than my Jamis Aragon (cross/hybrid). I turned the Aragon into an Xtracycle, which does not have a rack and so cannot fit either bag anymore.

I ended up using the twowheelgear bag exclusively on the Ventura and tried listing the Jandd garment bag on craigslist. (Didn't get a response yet, I guess I should relist. Putting it up in the middle of November probably wasn't very timely.) There are some things I'd change about the twowheelgear bag but just the basic design alone does it for me.

I don't like the way the Jandd bag only hangs off of one side, and folds the clothes right in half. The Jandd will keep a few items 'pressed' (a suit, shirt, pants, etc) but does not easily accomodate a full load of shirts from the cleaners. The twowheelgear's way of distributing the weight of the clothes over both sides of the rack also reduces the 'fold' in them. There are good straps for securing them inside.

It's about half of the cost of the Jandd. (Remember the twowheelgear is sold in canadian dollars.)

I took the twowheelgear bag on an MS 150 ride and did the century loop both days (200 miles!) and no problems. Its many pouches and smart organization kept all my tools, spare tubes/tires, changes of clothes, sunscreen/bugspray, etc. easily accessible.

There is an angled hook design where the bag attaches to the rack that just slightly slants it backwards at the bottom. I have big feet and my heels don't catch on the bag. I used to always catch my heels on the Jandd grocery panniers.

The straps that hold the bag onto the bike rack don't have enough velcro on them, IMO - we ended up removing their velcro strips and putting longer ones on so that it would have that much more sticking power (call me paranoid).

Similarly, the two-strap system sometimes comes apart and you have to re-thread one strap through a 'D-ring' on each side to reconnect it. Not the end of the world, just a little annoying. I have some ideas for the company that I may send them, a way to prevent that from happening on a future revision of the product.

I wish that the bag itself was just the teensiest big wider and longer - sometimes I feel like the shirttails get a little folded over, but nobody ever sees those.

There is a curly strap loop hanging off of one side of the bag. Presumably this is to hang the bag lengthwise, eg on a hook when I get to work to keep the clothes straight. Sometimes that loop taps the spokes. Little worrisome, but doesn't happen that often.

I don't want the shoulder strap hanging off while I ride, so I detach it. Then the plastic buckle taps the part of the rack which angles up nearest the seatpost. Not tragic, just annoying. It makes me think something is broken.

The Jandd bag is made with more heavy-duty materials and zippers. Though it might force twowheelgear to raise prices slightly, it would be worth it for them to do so (IMO) because they could be more competitive on quality.

I also like the Jandd's bright yellow waterproof cover. I'm thinking about wintertime and how all that wet snow & ick has affected the twowheelgear. The bottom can get pretty crusted with dirt and salt residue. In fairness, I just have the rack on my road bike (yeah yeah, cardinal sin) and no fender, so there's that to consider.

As it is, I leave my clean clothes in dry cleaning bags when I bring them in. I've never had an issue with clothes getting ruined by water/muck soaking through, etc. There are thin plastic panels inside of the twowheelgear bag, between the 'bottom' (when putting shirts in) and the 'inside' (sides closest to the wheel when attached), and they keep things ridgid. The zipper on the twowheelgear bag sometimes catches on the dry cleaning bags but by 'leading' the zipper with my fingers, I can usually prevent that from happening.

I like the way the Jandd bag attaches to the rack, those little 'underhook' devices with elastic (held in place by a small cross-strap) and the 'spring clip' device which secures the strap attached to the clip that pulls down against the top of the rack, holding the two in opposition. It holds well, but is harder to take off and put on.

Rebates and why I won't buy from Brother

Update 1/11/06: The rebate showed up today, 12 weeks after I sent it in. So it was 50% past its deadline but it did appear. I also found the rebate company had quite a good web site (though it didn't match to my rebate, probably due to a data entry error) and very good phone service (which did locate my rebate and told me it had been mailed out). So I'm annoyed, but no longer angry.

I bought myself a Brother MFC-7820N multi-function device about 10 weeks ago. It's got some bugs, but on the whole I'm very pleased with it.

Even so, I won't buy from Brother again.

Why?

It came with a $50 rebate. I don't make buying decisions based on rebates, but this was enough money it was worth submitting. After 8 weeks I wrote the rebate site asking what had happened. No response. Now it's been 10 weeks. I don't have time to pursue this further.

I'm human though. And humans, as we know, are programmed to punish cheaters. It's a large part of what has made us a successful intensely social species. Brother cheated. Logically, since the device is worth more to me than what I paid for it, I should still recommend buying it. In this case though, I'll go with my biological imperative.

I won't buy from Brother again. Cheaters.