Flip4Mac WMV: Play WMP audio in QuickTime

Now that Microsoft has discontinued WMP support on OS X this is the only option: Products - Flip4Mac WMV.

It's free, but there are problems at the moment with recent Mac updates. I'd wait a week or two.

I suspect Microsoft's WMP discontinuation was based on DRM fights and issues.

Mac OS X VoiceOver

Apple - Mac OS X - VoiceOver is a reasonably complex set of capabilities. I found it poking around the utilities folder. It can read the interface or text.

I need to play with this more. I know a few people it might be useful for.

For example:

To read the character where the VoiceOver cursor is focused, press Control-Option-C. Press C two times to hear the character spoken phonetically. Then press Control-Option-Shift-Right Arrow or Left Arrow to move the VoiceOver cursor to the next or previous character and read it.

To read a word at a time, press Control-Option-W. Press W two times to hear the word spelled, and three times to hear it spelled phonetically. Then press Control-Option-Left Arrow or Right Arrow to read the previous or next word.

To read a line at a time, press Control-Option-L. Then press Control-Option-Up Arrow or Down Arrow to read the previous or next lines.

To read a sentence at a time, press Control-Option-S. Then press Control-Option-Page Up or Page Down to read the previous or next sentence.

To read a paragraph at a time, press Control-Option-P. Then press Control-Option-Shift-Page Up or Page Down to read the previous or next paragraph.

It's not trivial to figure out, but with practice it makes sense. In VoiceOver mode there's a black selection box that appears over the part of the screen that's being inspected. It didn't work in a Firefox window, but it worked in TextEdit. I suspect it only works with Cocoa applications.

I wonder how it compares to commercial Windows screen readers.

OS X Digital Color Meter

Aperture tricks is mandatory reading for anyone using Apple's photo management app. This tip points out an OS X utility that could be used in iPhoto too.

Aperture Tricks: Aperture Trick#20 READING RGB VALUES IN APERTURE:

... Go to your Utilities folder and open DigitalColor Meter. It's a slick
little app included with Mac OS X. In its preferences, set the
magnification factor to 8X, and check the box next to 'Float window
above other apps.' Move the diameter of the meter (called Aperture
Size) to its smallest setting. "

Update 1/12/06: It turns out DigitalColor Meter has a help file. Here's one topic:

Copying a color into an HTML or graphics document

You can use DigitalColor Meter to copy the color value of any pixel on your display into an HTML or graphics document. For example, you may want a background color on an HTML page to match a color in a graphic that overlays it.

Open DigitalColor Meter, located in /Applications/Utilities.

From the pop-up menu, choose the type of color value that matches what you need in your document. For example, if you want to use a color in an HTML page, set the type of color value to RGB As Hex Value, 8-bit.

Drag the Aperture Size slider to the desired size. Reduce the aperture size until you can accurately pick a single color without including other colors. If more than one color is within the aperture, the color value of the pixels will be averaged.

Point to the color that you want to copy, then press Shift-Command-C to copy the color values of the pixels.

Open your document and set the insertion point where you want to place the color value, then choose Edit > Paste.

To hold the current color as you move the pointer, press Shift-Command-H. Press Shift-Command-H again to release the hold. You can also use the arrow keys to move the aperture in single-pixel increments.

You can also use the preferences to tell DCM to display your mouse pointer coordinates; they update as you move across the screen. Version 3.4. Where the heck did this little thing come from? It feels like a labor of love. I'll use it with iPhoto starting now!

Selected iPhoto 6 tech notes

This query may display up to 250 or so iPhoto tech notes -- or it might not!

• Gordon's Tech: iPhoto 6: tech notes

It took a lot of retries, changing number displayed, etc, to finally browse the entire collection. I think Apple's servers are still updating.

• What's new: not Library merging, alas! At least, not documented. I just can't understand why this doesn't make the list.
• You still can't add shared photos to a Library
• There's an option to save edited RAW images as 16 bit TIFF
• You can create and edit rolls, I don't know if that moves files around one's hard drive.
• iPhoto is not Aperture -- one note says it really works best with JPEG images
• Control key lets you compare image to original
• There's a 'create library' menu item.
• Advanced options: don't import images to library when adding, you can assign a color profile on import to a particular image
  

I am beginning to think that Apple considers "library merge" to be a hard cutoff between iPhoto and Aperture. If you need to manipulate multiple Libraries, you need Aperture. Absurd. I have no other explanation for why this is not supported however.

China conquers bloglines

My bloglines feed now thinks I read Mandarin Chinese. Has China quietly acquired them?

I suspect it will be fixed shortly ...

iPhoto 6: tech notes

[There's something odd going on with this Apple search, sometimes when I run it I get nothing of interest. It's as though Apple is just now propagating these files across their servers.]

Apple - Support - Search Results - iPhoto 6

Lots of tech notes.

I would NOT touch iPhoto 6 for at least a month. It's a really big update. Apple's big updates, at least of their consumer software, tend to have hideous bugs.

Apple is a bleeding edge kind of company, and early adopters should think of themselves as major blood donors. Of course I do appreciate the sacrifice of my friends who forge ahead ...

Sound splitter with volume control

SmartShare - Griffin Technology

I want one.