NeoOffice: still not using OpenOffice file formats

[Update: this blog posting gives additional perspective.]

I'm interested NeoOffice, but it's worrisome that it still not using native OpenOffice file formats:

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh

NeoOffice 1.2 is an open source, Mac OS X-native version of the OpenOffice.org office suite, which includes Microsoft Office-compatible word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing applications. This release adds the ability to import OpenOffice.org 2.0 documents, use of Apple's Java 1.4.1 and Cocoa APIs (instead of Java 1.3.1 and Carbon), support for printing EPS images, and support for all OpenOffice.org accessibility features, among other changes. NeoOffice is free for Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4.

Since it's Cocoa, do OS X services work? I'll give it a try.

Epson has a 24 photo bulk feeder

Epson briefly sold a scanner with an integrated print feeder. The Amazon reviews were very positive, but it was discontinued. HP made a similar device, which was burned at the stake on Amazon. (HP hates their customers, and they punish them with HP's sheet feeders/shredders.)

Every so often I look to see if anyone has introduced something like this. To my surprise -- I found the Epson - Multi Photo / Business Card Feeder. It replaces the top portions of two of Epson's currently sold scanners (2480 and 2580). It's about $150 or so; oddly it's $175 on Amazon. There are no Amazon reviews of this device, in fact I couldn't find any reviews anywhere.

Is there nobody else with thousands of prints to scan? Something's funny here ...

Update: it looks a lot like the top of their limited edition scanner, the one that got great reviews.

Update 2: Hmm. False alarm. This is indeed the top of the Limited Edition scanner, but the two scanners it is said to work with have been discontinued. So this is not worth buying.

SeaMonkey for OS X: HTML editor?

SeaMonkey is the Mozilla Foundation's version of Netscape: an all in one solution. I'm quite interested in the HTML editor. There's a dearth of end-user wysiwyg html editors for OS X, and this one's free. Comments to come.

OS X Sync software updates

Mactintouch had news of two updates to sync software, a category I'm interested in because of my 10.3.9 iBook.

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh

QuickSync 2.0 is a folder synchronization utility that can work with any device that mounts on the desktop. It includes automatic sync options, scheduling, bidirectional or unidirectional sync, session saves, reports of copied and synced files, and support for FTP, SMB (Samba), and Appletalk shared folders/drives. This release adds a system backup function, copying with admin rights, improved sync and data detection methods, and a redesigned and simplified interface. QuickSync is $19 for Mac OS X.

SyncUpX 1.5.1 is a synchronization utility that provides incremental backups, the ability to back up Smart Folders, and one-click restores, among other features. Backups can be saved to a second hard drive or external drive (including an iPod), and each backup stores its own settings, which can be restored just by selecting the backup folder. Recent changes include extended logging, interface improvements, improved Automator actions, and better error handling. SyncUpX (a Universal Binary) is $20 for Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4.

SyncUpX gains a lot from its clever use of Smart Folder:

freeridecoding.net

You want to backup only the purchased songs out of your iTunes music library? Just create a spotlight search listing all protected AAC files and save it. Now just add this saved search to your backup. This way you can create completely dynamic backup sets really easy.

Microsoft Access: Unable to update a recordset or field value

Microsoft Access is a seriously weird product, but I mostly know my way around the bugs. One of the most annoying bugs/behaviors is when Access decides you can't edit a field in a join. I can find neither rhyme nor reason for why this happens. This note has my entire, painfully acquired, solution set for this problem. It dates from Access 2000, but it remains topical

This recordset is not updateable

Access 2000 and Jet 4.0 changed quite a bit. One problem is that RecordSets that used to be updateable aren't.

As a fix, try changing the value of the query's UniqueRecords property (from yes to no or vice-versa) Q207761 - ACC2000 Changes in Use of DISTINCTROW in Microsoft Access 2000. See also 011217_AccessUpdatesHelpFile.pdf. I had to change the properties for the query to "Dynaset (Inconsistent Updates)", which I fear increases the risk of the Cursor Problem [1]. It's probably better to change the UniqueRecords property to NO.

Sometimes defining relationships in Tools:Relationship will prevent this from happening, especially if one assigns referential integrity and "cascade update related fields". Also look at which "side" of two joined fields appears in the relation, sometimes changing that will fix the problem.

[1] I think this was fixed in Access 2003. In Access 2000 it was possible for edits to be applied to rows removed from the row the UI presented.

Fuzzy Gazetteer: finding places where you don't quite know the name

Does anyone imagine they "know" the web any more?

Fuzzy Gazetteer:

The Fuzzy Gazetteer enables you to find geographic features even when you do not know their exact names.

A list of similar names is returned, web-linked to the JRC Digital Map Archive of the European Commission.

The JRC digital map is yet another wonder. Off to the side there are icons that let you see the image via Google Earth or NASA's image repository. In this case, the map shows a creek in the Congo.

I think I've just had another Cyberpunk moment.

Verify your iPhoto Libraries with iPhoto Library Manager

[Update 2/1/06: I think I found one bug. If there's a name collision between an existing and imported smart album (transformed to non-smart album) the imported album is created with a numeric suffix, but it is empty. Incidentally (not a bug) collisions between keywords are treated as a merge. To be safe, give albums a unique name prior to import.]
[Update 2/3/06: See this before you try anything!

I am a big fan of iPhoto Library Manager. From my post to the Apple Discussion List:

Apple - Support - Discussions - VERIFY your library prior to update: ...

I am a believer. Please, verify your iPhoto library prior to updating. In fact, verify it every few months. I did this with my iPhoto 5 Libraries prior to updating and I'm so happy I'm buying a SECOND license to IPLM just to say thanks. [1]

How do you verify? You register iPhoto Library Manager ($20) and you use it to verify your library.

But, you say, IPLM is just used to manage multiple libraries. There are free apps to do that, iPhoto 6 can handle 250,000 images (given enough machine power), iP6 can option-click load separate Libraries anyway.

All right. Except IPLM is the most perversely unmarketed software in existence. The library manager features are free. They are nice, but not essential.

What you get for $20 is the barely mentioned capability to combine (merge, import) Libraries or portions of Libraries (images and albums) with much of the metadata preserved (titles, comments, keywords(!), ratings, roll data, and album membership).

But, you say, I don't need to merge Libraries. I have one Library, my partner(s) and children use the one Library, I don't have a desktop/laptop Library. Ahh, but you do need to verify.

How do you verify? You tell IPLM to create a new Library and import all the images from your existing Library. You won't KEEP the new Library. You do this to test for problems.

If there are no error messages, no glitches, matching image counts, etc -- you're fine. Otherwise, sort this out BEFORE you update.

I have done this with two libraries of about 3000 images each. In each case IPLM/iPhoto identified ONE corrupted JPEG [2]. I was able to restore from old CD archives.

Now I feel confident in the integrity of my iPhoto Libraries. I will be using IPLM to verify them every few months from now on.

Highly recommended. And no, I'm not associated with them in any way.

[1] In my case I have 3 iP5 Libraries and I want ONE iP6 Library on my iMac -- I decided to do the merge prior to going to iP 6 because IPLM has been used for over a year for iP 5 merges, so it's more tested that way.

[2] What happens is iPhoto reports it couldn't import an image. On examination in an image editor the JPEG is corrupted. When I went to backups and the original Library I confirmed the corruption. Don't try to open these images in iP 5 -- they will cause iP 5 to hang with a spinning pizza of death. Yes, that's very bad programming. Preview manages them properly. In both cases I was able to get an original good image from old CDs and archives -- but I backup more than 99% of the world. I think these images were corrupted by older/flakier versions of OS X and iPhoto. I have a personal evidence-free belief that the pre-journaled OS X file system was not reliable.

Update 2/2/06: When one imports a Library using IPLM iPhoto 5 creates an system folder structure based first on EXIF tags (if available) and secondly on the image file last modified date. These folders are usually invisible to the user. In my case my iPhoto 5 Libraries, when viewed using the Finder prior to import, had a directory structure that mirrored the iPhoto assigned dates of images. They had this structure even though scanned images lacked EXIF headers. After import, the Finder structure mirrored the last modified date of images. This is somewhat curious. Since iPhoto 6 makes the same change when one updates it's kind of unavoidable anyway.