Sloppy bug in OS X Stickies

This is embarrassing.

Create a sticky with large font size. Type 3 words. Leave the cursor following the last word. Print. The printed output truncates the last word.

That's sloppy.

Update 1/1/07: My 76 yo mother pointed out that she discovered the bug and should be credited on the report.

Mac 101: Apple documents OS X for everyone

Recently I did quite a bit of work to configure a Mac Mini for my mother. I don't know yet how it will turn out, but I've got quite a bit to post about the experience (including a mini-intro manual and configuration directions).

I ended up thinking OS X 10.4, though at least as usable as XP, is not as easy to configure for a novice as Windows 95 was, much less pre-Switcher Mac Classic or MacOS 9 Simple Finder. More about this later, but suffice to say computers today are built for experts. I also was struck by how pathetic the out-of-box OS X documentation is. Have you ever looked at the 'Tiger' PDF? Very weak.

So it's noteworthy that Apple is expanding their Mac 101 site. Their slowly building the documentation, even if it's not on the machines they sell. The discussion of Expose had a few things I didn't know (in bold). Time to force some old tricks on an old dog (me)...

Mac 101: Expos�

# When you want to drag something from a Finder window into a folder on your Desktop but can't see that folder, start dragging the item, press F11 to hide all windows, and drop the item in the folder.
# If you need to drag a file from one window to another, start dragging the item, press F9 to see all windows, drag the item over the target window until the window becomes active, or press F9 again, and drop in your item
# When you need to access something on your Desktop, press F11 to hide all windows for an unobstructed view.
# If you need to copy elements between two windows in the same application, start dragging the item you wish to copy, press F10 to display all open windows for that application, drag the item over the target window until it becomes active or press F10 again, and drop it.

I read some of the others. Did you know you can drag a photo into the edit box for the login picture and make that the login picture?! Apple desperately needs better help/documentation integration.

It's good stuff, but it's still way too esoteric for novice users.

Migrating mail from Outlook Express to OS X Mail.app: Using Eudora

I've read lots of articles on how to migrate mail from Outlook Express to Mail.app. Many confuse Outlook and Outlook Express (completely different products, can't imagine how the confusion arises :-).

This is the one I like best: Mail.app - Importing from Outlook and Outlook Express.

Use Eudora Windows to get the job mostly done, then Eudora Mailbox cleaner to finish the task.

1. To properly import all messages, attachments, and address book entries, the files copied from the Windows computer must be arranged in a specific manor.
2. Create a new folder and call it "Eudora Folder". The Desktop is a good place to create the folder.
3. Inside this folder, create three more folders named "Mail Folder", "Attachments Folder", and "Parts Folder".
4. Move the "Microsoft Outlook.fol" or "Outlook Express.fol" folder into the "Mail Folder".
5. Move the contents of the "attach" folder into "Attachments Folder".
6. Move the contents of the "Embedded" folder into "Parts Folder".
7. Move the "Nickname" folder into "Eudora Folder".
8. Make sure Mail.app is not running, then drag the "Eudora Folder" and drop it on the Eudora Mailbox Cleaner icon.
9. Leave all the boxes checked and click OK. (Filters will not be imported because Eudora cannot import the original filters from Outlook or Outlook Express.)

Blip.tv vs. YouTube

I use Google Video for our family videos, but DI suggests I should check out blip.tv: 10 Reasons Why Blip.tv is Better Than Youtube for Uploading & Sharing Videos on the Web - Digital Inspiration - Amit Agarwal.

Cooler Master NOTEPAL Aluminum Laptop Cooler

Cooler Master NOTEPAL Aluminum Laptop Cooler -Silver

Read about this on Macintouch, apparently it's a good fit for a MacBook. There's a widescreen version too. Reviews, as always, are helpful.

iPod shuffle 1st gen: wipe and reset

Apple - Support - Downloads - iPod shuffle Reset Utility 1.0.1 for Mac

I suspect it might be worth doing this for all 1st gen shuffles. Apple wouldn't have bothered releasing this unless there were some significantly hard to fix firmware problems.

Macintouch reviews online backup for Mac

Backup: Online Backup Services: Backjack is a favorite. Great review. Online backup is the way of the future, but obsessives like me won't rely on it yet. For now I see online backup as an alternative to rotating a hard drive offsite.

So I'd recommend local backup to a big hard drive (or NAS), use an online photo service that will mail a DVD (SmugMug for example), burn photos periodically to DVDs and consider using an online backup service as an alternative to rotating the onsite drive backup offsite.

The cost of backup is very large. Backjack will charge around $1000 a year for a large backup store (!), but that cost may be exceeded by the hassle of dealing with flaky backup software, etc. It's not a good situation now, and everyone is waiting to see if Google will help us out.