Solving the iMac Night Light Problem: My latest measure

The G5 iMac screen cannot be turned off without putting the machine to sleep. My automated backups don't work when the machine is asleep. The light from the iMac, even at the lowest brightness session, illuminates my daughter's room. We can't shut the door because the air conditioner is in the computer room.

A conundrum. Others have variations of this.

One approach is to use a single black pixel as a screen saver, then tile it (Mac OSX Hints). I like my photo screensaver though, and switching screensavers night and day is a nuisance. Brightness Control is great, but the screen is not all that dark, and I think when the screensaver (photo show) turns on BC turns off.

Now I'm using Basic Black 2.0 (donationware, but I don't do PayPal. Wish Google Checkout did person-to-person payment). Of course that has the same issues as the single pixel problem. Except it occurred to me that I could make it the screensaver on the child account, and switching users is easy. So that's the compromise for the moment ...

Apple should have done something about this (hmpphh), but doubt they'll bother with it for their older machines.

Update 8/11/2007: Dockables screen sleep puts my iMac screen to sleep! I didn't think that was possible.

Update 5/22/2009: In 10.5 (Leopard) Apple added an undocumented screen off shortcut key.

Call to Mac attack: Safari support on Star Tribune news site

It's killing Safari! If you like that browser, help with ... Mac Attack the Minneapolis Star Tribune!

What Is a Wiki? Wiki 101

An O'Reilly article does a nice job laying out the Wiki world:
O'Reilly Network: What Is a Wiki (and How to Use One for Your Projects). I haven't figured out a use for a Wiki in my world, but I'll study the article and see what I can learn. ( I love Wikipedia, but I don't write for it.)

The VCamNow toy video camera works with OS X

I put an SD card (1GB, $30, ridiculous price drops in the past year) into my son's neglected VCamNow (sold via Target and Amazon). Then I put it in "play" mode and connected it to my iMac.

I was pleased to discover that the camera mounted and I could edit the jpg photos and AVI movies in iPhoto and iMovie. My son was delighted and the camera is now quite popular.

I noted my discovery in an Amazon review, then decided to ask Google if anyone else had noticed this. Not many it turned out, but one kindred spirit made the same discovery last December. Now there are two postings, so anyone who cares will find the answer to their worries.

My unsuspecting collaborator notes the bundled software (PC only) is quite horrid, but the software is not needed on XP anyway. There's no Mac software, so one must make do with iMovie and iPhoto :-). He notes the Mattel Vidster (not as good) also works with OS X.

Update 9/16/06: I think for this to work you have to first play a piece of one of the movies, and it may only work if you use the internal memory card to store data on. I think playing a part of one movie in the camera causes it to build a file system of some sort. Otherwise when you mount the camera the folder is empty. Also, here's info on the AVI format..

Update 10/15/06: iPhoto 6 will mount the VCamNow and import the videos.

Bloglines: claim a feed and give Freedback

Bloglines, my preferred RSS reader, is showing new vigor. They've added the ability for feed owners to manage how Bloglines manages the feed: Bloglines | Change Profile.

They've also added a way to provide feedback to them from a blog, which I'll use to tell them that the 'Change Profile' tool didn't recognize any of my Blogspot blogs -- and I read them all via Bloglines.

The trick for the feedbak is that I include the phrase bloglines freedbacking in this post. Their search engine looks for this and flags the post as feedback.

OS X context menu has slideshow option

I really need to read my darned context menus. There's an option to start a slideshow I'd never noticed.

Automator: a real use - automate scan/print

At last, a use for Automator!

ReelSmart.com: OS X Tip #94: Your Mac as a Color Copy Machine

I might conceivably use this one. I have a Brother MFC I like, but it's gray scale. I'd set this to use my ink jet instead.