OS X modifier keys: organized by key type

Another list of Apple's modifier key combinations, this one organized by key: A long list of modifier key tricks

It's not that long really, and must be quite incomplete. On the other hand, cmd-click-dock item to show in Finder was new to me. I'll keep it around.

How does one really hack a system?

CH reviews a book that categorizes software errors: Coding Horror: Sins of Software Security. He then provides a count of how often each has been exploited (over 3,000 times for buffer overflows). If you know a bit of C programming, then it's all very readable and it makes clear why so much software is so vulnerable. Ahh, if only we'd never left Pascal ...

iStock Photo: $2 to $4 per image

I read about iStockphoto.com in an article about globalization and crowdsourcing. These inexpensive photos look like they'd be great for desktop backgrounds (I use black and white images with limited white areas for my wallpaper so I can see icons) or presentations. Sure, you can find photos for free using Google, Flickr, etc -- but these are pretty nice quality. Might be worth a few dollars to save search time.

Ports: a handy reference for firewall work

"Well Known" TCP and UDP Ports Used By Apple Software Products lists the port, protocol and service. A handy reference, even if it's dated in places (Retrospect is no longer Dantz).

WordPress: the blogging platform of the moment

I've suffered with Blogger for years, while competitors waxed and waned. Blogger is getting more tolerable, but WordPress is the fashionable place these days. I opened an account and played with it a bit. It doesn't have much more Safari support than Blogger, but it's a strong competitor for Firefox clients and I think it has a more stable API than Blogger. I was very impressed by the import/export facilities, WordPress is not afraid to let their customers free.

I'll keep playing with it, though if Blogger improves their BlogThis! client I'll probably stay with Blogger.

Blogger BlogThis!: Drag and drop URLs

This works in the Firefox rich text field that one sees when using BlogThis! in rich-text mode:

1. View a page in Firefox
2. Click on icon displayed next to URL in the url field.
3. Drag and drop into the editing area. A link appears.

It would, of course, be better if the URL was assigned given the page title [1], but I can live with this. I've not seen it mentioned anywhere, though it's a hard topic to search on. I'm sure it's a general property of the Firefox rich text editor. It's a significant time saver.

Incidentally, Blogger 2.0 with Firefox's [2] impressive integrated spell-checking is a qualitative improvement on Blogger 1.0. I've been reluctant to declare that since I've been burned so often by Blogger! Alas, BlogThis! is still stuck in the dark ages; it doesn't support tags. I've got my fingers crossed for BlogThis! 2.0 sometime soon.

[1] Internet Explorer may use the page title, Microsoft Live Writer uses the page title as does old FrontPage 98 (which I still use - it was a good application then).
[2] Don't even think of using Safari.

iWorks MIA: OpenOffice and NeoOffice

It's been years since AppleWorks was retired, but there's still no full replacement. Apple's 10.5 delay bodes poorly for anything soon.

Time to look again at NeoOffice and OpenOffice.

NeoOffice is now on version 2.1. It's still Java based, but it has an Aqua UI and doesn't require X11. NeoOffice has been ailing ever since Apple deprecated Java as a development environment, but the small team of international volunteers is still working on it. I'll test it out, being sure to install the most recent patches. It now comes with an app that installs support for Spotlight search of OpenOffice document formats.

OpenOffice 2.2 is still dependent on X11, so it's not a consideration for our home. However, there's a tentative date for a true OS X version: Digg - Timetable Announced For Native Aqua OpenOffice - Public Release in May

OpenOffice has a very well done Wiki on the Aqua (not Cocoa!) project, including minutes from the March 30th meeting. It's encouraging news, suggesting there might be something we'd use ready for late summer. I wouldn't consider replacing Nisus Writer Express, which has been excellent (Nisus Writer Pro is in beta now), but a decent Excel clone and PowerPoint reader would be very helpful. Note that "Aqua" doesn't mean OpenOffice will become a full fledged Cocoa application with services integration, system spell checking, etc. It won't show off the (aging) advantages of OS X as well as NWE or even iWorks.