Play music without adding to iTunes Library

Macworld: Mac OS X Hints: Listen without adding to library in iTunes

Make sure you can see the iTunes window, specifically the Source column, along with the song you wish to listen to. Hold down the Option key and drag the song file into an empty spot in the Source column. iTunes will create a new playlist containing the dragged song, but it will not add it to the library. When you’re done listening, just delete the playlist. The original file will be untouched, and once the playlist entry is gone, iTunes will no longer be aware of the song, either.

OS X as OS/2: XP API in 10.5?

Will history repeat? IBM had the right to use the Windows API in the 1990s. That's why OS/2 could, really, "run Windows better than Windows". Alas, Microsoft did things with their source code and API to break OS/2's version of the API.

Cringely claims Apple has the same API rights that IBM once had, and that this time will be different:

PBS | I, Cringely . April 20, 2006 - Native Speaker

... I believe that Apple will offer Windows Vista as an option for those big customers who demand it, but I also believe that Apple will offer in OS X 10.5 the ability to run native Windows XP applications with no copy of XP installed on the machine at all. This will be accomplished not by using compatibility middleware like Wine, but rather by Apple implementing the Windows API directly in OS X 10.5.

Huh?

Wine is great, but it is also a moving target subject to Microsoft meddling. If Wine gets too good, Microsoft can "accidentally" break it at will. But Microsoft can't afford to do that with its own Windows API. The courts will no longer allow checking for a different underlying OS as Redmond did back in the days of DR-DOS. Besides, unless we are strictly talking about Microsoft apps, there isn't even much code involved here that Microsoft CAN meddle in. The wonder is, of course, that Apple could even dare to do such a thing?

Oh they can dare. Not only that, this is one dare Apple can probably get away with.

Remember Steve Jobs' first days back at Apple in 1997 as Interim-CEO-for-Life? Trying to save the company, Steve got Bill Gates to invest $150 million in Apple and promise to keep Mac Office going for a few more years in exchange for a five-year patent cross-licensing agreement? The idea in everyone's mind, of course, was that Microsoft would grab lots of Apple technology, which they probably did, and it quite specifically ended an Apple patent infringement suit against Microsoft. But I'm told that the exchange wasn't totally one-way, that Apple, in turn, got some legal right to the Windows API.

That agreement ran for five years, from August, 1997 to August 2002. Even though it has since expired, the rights it conferred at the time still lie with the respective companies. Whatever Microsoft grabbed from Apple they can still use, they just aren't able to grab anything developed since August 2002. Same for Apple using Microsoft technology like that in Office X. But Windows XP shipped October 25, 2001: 10 months before the agreement expired.

I'm told Apple has long had this running in the Cupertino lab -- Intel Macs running OS X while mixing Apple and XP applications. This is not a guess or a rumor, this something that has been demonstrated and observed by people who have since reported to me.

Think of the implications. A souped-up OS X kernel with native Windows API support and the prospect of mixing and matching Windows and Mac applications would be, for many users, the best of both worlds. There would be no copy of Windows XP to buy, no large overhead of emulation or compatibility middleware, no chance for Microsoft to accidentally screw things up, substantially better security, and no need to even take a chance on Windows Vista.

It would be great to have this functionality. I suspect Microsoft could still break support however, probably with an XP service pack. The DRM features they'll eventually require for Office won't be compatible with XP, and Apple won't have the Vista API. At most it's a transitional solution, though it might be a winner for a year or two.

Cringely also claims that 10.5 won't run on PowerPC CPUs due to kernel swap. Alas, I can believe that. Apple can be very cruel about obsoleting hardware; that's their perverse incentive. (Microsoft's perverse incentive is to break file formats -- of the two I actually prefer Apple's behavior). Maybe they'll give PowerPC users a coupon!

Update 4/22: Gruber politely and convincingly tears up this column. So, virtualization yes, but not likely API integration. Kernel change maybe, but probably not until 10.6.

Keylock and usability in the Palm Tungsten

My Tungsten E2 was dead in the water. It wouldn't respond to any keypresses or gestures. I figured either a disastrous hardware failure or a glitch with some of the old odd software I rely on. I was ready to try a hard reset. To do that one must press and hold the power switch -- a switch I rarely touch because it's known to fail in the T/E2.

That brought up the keylock warning dialog. Keylock had accidentally engaged, that's why nothing worked. I had only to press and hold the powerswitch to get the dialog to disable it. Press and hold turns it on.

Fascinating! Is it really a usability flaw, or more a side-effect of my use of the command buttons rather than the power switch to turn on my Palm? (I do that to avoid wear on the fragile on/off button.)

I've now disabled keylock so it never activates. It was previously set to manual activation.

Update 4/22: On reflection, I think it's a usability bug. With keylock on pressing the power button gives the message that it's on. However, pressing the other buttons that start the PDA do not produce this message. With keylock on, pressing any button that would normally power up the PDA should produce the same keylock notification message.

World's best USB drive enclosure?

I bought this USB enclosure for my work backup drive about a year ago. Not only has it worked perfectly, it's quiet, fan cooled, has a perfect rating from over 280 geeky NewEgg buyers and is still sold:

AMS VENUS DS-2316B2BK Black External Enclosure - Retail at Newegg.com

It may just be the perfect USB drive enclosure. I'm buying two more to support my home backup.

Update 6/1/06: Never fails.

I write something nice about a device and it shows some warts. See the fan update to an earlier post.

Update 9/1/06: No spin down.

This is the killer requirement, but almost all USB enclosures have this problem. Dan's Data tells us that spindown is essential for the survival of consumer hard drives. I have my laptop set to spindown drives after about 15 minutes of non-use, but I don't think the drive ever spins down in this Venus enclosure.

In summary, requirements for an ideal USB/firewire enclosure:

• drive spindown
• extraordinary passive cooling (not sure this is possible)
• high quality large circumference very quiet fan that's easy to replace (if not passive cooling)
• well designed wall wart (I prefer the ones where the transformer is a foot or so from the plug)

I'm still looking, but maybe the Network Storage (NAS) devices will be the real answer.

Update 11/16/08: This is the same drive family as reviewed in 2004 by Dan's Data. I'm looking at this because my backups have exceeded the capacity of the drives in these enclosures. So I'm looking for 1TB drives but, for the sake of convenience, will probably buy then bundled with an enclosure. Now if I could find an enclosure that spins down the drive ...

Greenspun dSLR recommendations

Phil Greenspun's recommendation for an average family photographer:

Canon EOS Digital SLR System

* Canon Digital Rebel XT (Black), $690
* Sigma 30/1.4, $400, for high quality indoor photos without flash and general photography
* Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, $690, for travel
* Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM, $670 for sports (equivalent to 300mm on a full-frame camera), or possibly a telephoto zoom (Canon doesn't make any good telephoto zoom lenses designed specifically for the small-sensor cameras, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, $590 is probably the best match)

Personally I'd go for the crummy bundled zoom package, the very inexpensive 50 mm Canon, the very nice Sigma 30 and a decent flash. I'd hardly ever use the zoom, and often switch the 30 and the 50.

MacInTouch: Bonjour for Windows

I've used Bonjour for Windows to locate a few network resources. Worked well, it's a good addition to an XP machine living in an OS X environment.

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh

Apple released Bonjour for Windows 1.0.3, noting that the update 'is recommended for all Bonjour users to improve usability and compatibility. This update also improves start up performance of Bonjour on Windows platforms.'

Drag-and-drop disk image creation

Disk images are wonderful. This is elegant ...

Macworld: Mac OS X Hints: Drag-and-drop disk image creation

... Just drag your folder onto the Disk Utility application icon—whether that’s in the Dock, the Sidebar, the Toolbar, or just in the Finder itself. Disk Utility will launch, displaying the image creation dialog. Set the type of image you’d like to create, and whether you’d like to encrypt it, and you’re set.