Mac backup software: SuperDuper wins again

A reader of this blog kindly directed me to a review of Mac backup software's ability to capture and restore metadata. SuperDuper did well, Retrospect and most other products did poorly. He didn't evaluate Apple's own tool - Backup.app.

A lot of work went into this article. Greatly appreciated.

OS X desktop pictures: the black and white selection

There are lots of OS X Desktop pictures out there, but my new favorites are the black and white images bundled with 10.4. Most images make it hard to find my icons, so I've generally stayed with the system default. The black and white images are far more interesting, let color icons stand out very well. Practical and attractive.

WikiMapia: better when Google owns it

WikiMapia takes a Wiki approach to map annotation. Unsurprisingly, since this a neat idea, their server is now a cooling puddle of molten metal.

Hopefully Google will take it over.

Using iWeb on more than one Mac

Tech note: Using iWeb on more than one Mac

Move Users/username/Library/Application Support/iWeb/domain.sites to a share drive.

Changing workgroups for an OS X client

It's amazing what you can find in OS X Help files -- now that they actually work:

Changing the workgroup for your Mac

If your Mac and Windows computers are in the same workgroup and on the same local network or subnetwork, it’s easier to connect to the Mac from the Windows computer. When the Mac belongs to the same workgroup as the Windows computer, its name appears in the Workgroup Computers panel of My Network Places.

“WORKGROUP” is the default Windows workgroup name for Mac OS X. Using Directory Access, you can change the workgroup name on the Mac to match a workgroup name you are already using.

Open Directory Access (in Applications/Utilities).

If necessary, click the lock icon and type the name and password for an administrator user on your computer.

Double-click SMB/CIFS in the list and type the new workgroup name in the dialog, then click OK.

Some of this might be new in 10.4. I wish I'd noticed earlier. I'll post an update on all the effects.

Update 1/1/2010: In 10.6 Directory Access is no more. This control is now an advanced option in the Network Preference Pane. Open the Pane, click the Advanced button, then go to WINS to specify a Workgroup name.

When I did this in 10.6.2 I could select from a drop down, but my choice didn't "stick". I had to type it in.

Why a Mac is really far faster than a PC - irregardless of published test results

PCs pay a heavy performance tax in the real world that doesn't show up in testing.

When a PC is tested, there's no antiviral software running. Same thing for a Mac.

When I use my PC, I run Norton AntiVirus. My Mac runs bare.

How big is the hit? A backup running in XP is twice as fast with NAV disabled as when it's enabled. Twice. That's one heck of a performance penalty. I have to remember to disable NAV when I'm doing disk intensive tasks. Very annoying.

Galerie and other Better HTML Export replacements

I made extensive use of Better HTML Export to create albums from iPhoto 2 to 5. Around iPhoto 5 or so the developer sold the product and I heard no more of it. I visited the new site, but it didn't give me a warm feeling. Since BHTML Export inserted itself deep into iPhoto I needed that warm feeling prior to installation. I'm not sure it was every updated for iPhoto 6.

It turns out the reason that BHTML has been forgotten is that there were over 3 replacements. Apple made the Web export function in iPhoto 6 a bit better. Apple added iWeb integration -- an entirely new approach to the web publishing problem -- albeit a solution that at first was very .Mac centric and managed only a single site. (Only recently has iWeb become friendlier to non .Mac sites and supported multiple sites.) Utilities like PictureSync and better Web sites ( still like SmugMug) provided yet more options.

The last and best replacement, however, is Galerie. I'd looked at this years ago and I didn't like it then, but it's great now. It's free (too bad really, I prefer to see this work be compensated), works well with iPhoto 6, has lovely templates and doesn't require any intrusive plug-ins. As noted in Macintouch recently:

Galerie 5.3 works with iPhoto, iView MediaPro, Extensis Portfolio, or GraphicConverter to export photos to web pages. It supports EXIF data in web pages, picture quality selection, visitor feedback, HTML templates, watermarks, and text in generated pictures, among other features. This release is a Universal Binary and adds compatibility with iPhoto 6, an option to add a link to a photo to show its position on a Google map and satellite view (if GPS data are embedded in the file's EXIF data or by manually entering the position in a command in the photo comment), workarounds for some AppleScript problems, and other changes. Galerie is free for Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.4.

So there you go. BHTML Export was good in its day and I was happy to have paid for it, but it has been replaced. The annoying part of this story is that it's not always easy to discover replacements when favored software is sunset. In this case, as in others, versiontracker comments on the dormant BHTML Export page reminded me of Galerie.

BTW, Galerie's popup's lack scrollbars. Here's how to add them (thanks Ronald P.R.):

You can edit the used template to get scrollbars in the popup windows.

1. If the template contains a file "javascriptpopupwindow.txt", you can open it in a text editor (like TextEdit), do a find-replace, replacing "scrollbars=0,resizable=0" by "scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes" (both without the quotation marks) and save the file.

2. If the template does not contain a file "javascriptpopupwindow.txt", you can open the Galerie application package (using the contextual menu in the Finder) and navigate to Galerie/Contents/Resources/, where you will find a file "javascriptopenpopupdefault.txt". Make a copy of that file (do not remove the original from the application!), rename it "javascriptpopupwindow.txt", make the same change to it as described above and add the file to the template.