Mactracker: a reference source for Mac hardware.

Mactracker - Get info on any Mac

Mactracker provides detailed information on every Apple, Motorola, PowerComputing, and UMAX Mac OS computer ever made, including items such as processor speed, memory, optical drives, graphic cards, supported Mac OS versions, and expansion options. Also included is information on Apple mice, keyboards, displays, printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPod, AirPort Base Stations, Newtons, and Mac OS versions.

via Macintouch. Excessive certainly. Valued, yes.

Allow Safari to handle Google Earth links

This worked for me. I created the file "com.apple.DownloadAssessment.plist" in my personal Library: Google Earth Community: Tip: Auto-open Safari links in Google Earth.

TEAC SR-L200i-W clock radio with iPod integration

After the iH5 debacle this TEAC SR-L200i-W Hi-Fi Radio with iPod Dock is appealing. Alas, I can't find any reviews anywhere. It might be too new a product. I'll need some reviews before I take a chance on in ...

iPod clock radio: iHome iH5

Update: EEAAAGGHHH. After I wrote the note before, I impulsively took a quick look at the Amazon reviews. What a dolt I am. I KNOW that the best sources of product information are the negative reviews on Amazon. (I always sort so the negative reviews come first, I think the positive reviews are often faked.) In a jaw-dropping exhibition of staggering stupidity, the alarm volume cannot be adjusted. It always starts low and scales to maximum. The LCD is bright enough to read by -- at the lowest setting. Thank heavens I was able to cancel my order before it shipped. iLounge gave this a near-top rating. Their credibility is now zero.

--- original comment -----

The iPod has a built-in timer feature, so you can use it with speakers as a clock radio. I wanted a conventional radio though, so I bought the iHome iH5 Clock Radio. It had a good iLounge rating. It's oddly almost alone in its niche. It will be the final resting place for my old troubled 3G iPod and its all-but-dead battery. I'm looking forward to some creative wake up playlists -- some gentle piano followed by increasingly rousing music.

One odd commerce note. I almost bought this directly from the iHome site, along with the remote. Alas, the site didn't support Safari well, which annoyed me. Then they hit me with a $15 shipping charge at the very last minute. I abandoned my cart once click from purchase. I got it for $25 less at Amazon (free shipping).

Review to follow.

A table of link aggregation web sites

Link Aggregator Table

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OS X Preview: EXIF data and warp drive configuration

I'm joking about the warp drive. Preview does bloody everything:

Apple - Pro - Tips - Seeing a Photo’s EXIF Metadata:

Preview can display all this EXIF metadata — you just have to know where to look. To see the EXIF data for the current image, just press Command-I, then click on the Details tab, and if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see a header for EXIF Properties, along with the full scoop on your image.

OS X Tiger can validate fonts!

Who knew? It's built in.

Apple - Pro - Tips - Checking for Bad Fonts:

Anyway, finding out which fonts on your system might be corrupt was no easy task, but in Tiger, it just got a whole lot easier. Here’s how to search for rampant font corruption: Go to your Applications folder and launch Font Book. You can either click directly on any font that you might think is suspect (look to see if the font is sweating), or Command-click on the fonts you want interrogated, then go under Font Book’s File menu and choose Validate Fonts. This brings up a Font Validation window and if your fonts are on the up and up, you’ll get a little round checkbox beside them. If there’s reason to believe something may be wrong, you’ll get a yellow warning icon beside a font. If it’s corrupt, you’ll get a round icon with an X in it, telling you not to use this font. Click the checkbox beside that font, then click the Remove Checked button to remove this font from your system.