Google Sites versus Google Page Creator

Google Sites was launched today for all Google Apps:

Google Sites Launched

Google finally launched a service that uses JotSpot's technology: Google Sites. The new service is a part of Google Apps and allows you to create web sites collaboratively. 'People can work together on a Site to add file attachments, information from other Google applications (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube and Picasa), and new free-form content. Creating a site together is as easy as editing a document, and you always control who has access, whether it's just yourself, your team, or your whole organization,' explains Google.

Google offers templates, a rich-text editor, 10GB of storage for each Google Apps account and integration with other Google services so you can embed gadgets, calendars, spreadsheets, presentations, photo slideshows and videos. You can invite people to collaborate or just view a site and you can also publish the site so that anyone can view it.

I played with it on my MN Special Hockey Google Apps domain.

Some quick impressions:

1. The basics are very similar to Page Creator (PC), but it has more facilities for collaboration and change tracking. There are more and better editing tools. It's Wiki-influenced but it feels more like a web page authoring environment than a Wiki. I think you can use it for both.
2. I didn't see that file management (attachments) was any better than PC. I hope I'm missing something. File management in PC is awful.
3. It appears to support Safari, PC doesn't.
4. Like PC you can have multiple sites per domain but you have much more control over access and what becomes public.
5. I haven't figured out the Documents integration yet, not sure it's that well integrated.

I think for most sites it will replace Page Creator. There's no migration yet from existing Page Creator sites however, so today you'd have to recreate all PC work in Google Sites. I hope Google will provide some guidance eventually, I won't be moving anything yet.

I'm glad to see a replacement coming from PC, so this one's good news.

Image drag and drop doesn't work any more with FileMaker Pro

I think I used to drag and drop images from the Finder to FileMaker container field. The Help file says it works.

Except it doesn't.

This post is typical:

Nabble - Filemaker Pro - Talk - Drag and Drop to Container Fields: "I have Leopard and FMP 8.5. Is it my system or is it in general that one cannot drag and drop a jpg from the desktop into a container field? I know I can right click on the container field and insert a picture, but is there an easier way?"

I suspect this broke years ago.

Jeez. Sometimes I think I'm the last software user left on earth. Half the stuff I try is either broken or not usable.

Update 2/28/2008: It sort of works in Filemaker/Windows. Instead of displaying an image, however, it displays an icon that when clicked can show an image. So it might be something that worked in an earlier version of Filemaker but broke a version or two ago. I have read that FM's code base is in pretty bad shape -- despite their big Pascal to C migration of a few years back.

Ejecting a stuck CD: when only open firmware works

Apple has no shame.

If Apple had a sense of shame, CDs would not get stuck inside Macs so often. It's been a problem as long as I remember, but it got much worse when Apple eliminated the old paper-clip manual eject method.

My best guess is that there's some cult around software control of hardware that makes it impossible for Apple engineers to implement non-stick CDs.

Recently I ran into a stuck CD/DVD that failed all the steps in this 2004 MacFixIt article on my 10.4.11 iMac. My comments are in square brackets.

Mini-Tutorial: Ejecting media in Mac OS X: Removing 'stuck' CDs/DVDs - MacFixIt

From time-to-time, removable media (including CDs, DVDs and others) can refuse to eject via the normal Mac OS X methods -- pressing the keyboard eject key; using the Command-E keyboard combination; selecting the item in the Finder and clicking the Eject button next to its name; dragging the item to the trash; or pressing the F12 key. [jf: failed, of course]

... The first and simplest method, if you only want to unmount a single volume on the disk, is to use Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities. In Disk Utility, simply select the volume you want to unmount and click Eject. [jf: this usually works, but it failed this time]

... In some cases holding down a connected mouse button at startup will cause a misbehaving optical drive to eject its media. [jf: nope. I have a wireless mouse though, I think this needs a wired mouse. Holding the click key on a MacBook is supposed to work as well]

... If you have a Mac that will not startup properly and has a stuck disc, try booting into Open Firmware by holding down Command, Option, O key and F key during startup. After booting into Open Firmware, type the command eject-cd. [jf: Sort of. "eject-cd" just produced an error message, but "eject cd", after a delay of about 30 seconds, worked.]

Using the Terminal There are two commands that can be used in the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities) which can be used to force disk ejection:

The first command to try is drutil tray eject. Simply type in this command and press return. [jf: Failed.]

The other method takes a little more work but can work in instances where the first method fails.

1. Type the command drutil list into the Terminal and press return ... [jf: Failed. It never returned.]
2. Use the command drutil tray eject 1.
In the above command, the number "1" should be replaced with whatever drive number you obtained in the first step...

Yech. Only the Open Firmware worked in my situation, but I could have tried connecting my original iMac mouse and booting with the button held down.

I think if one lets Disk Utility sit for a half hour or so it can work even in these most severe situations.

So what was the problem?

One lousy fingerprint on the CD. We washed the CD and it worked perfectly.

Apple is shameless.

MacWorld iPhoto tips - pretty good

iPhoto doesn't get that much attention these days -- though heaven knows it's not feature complete (Library merge anyone?). So we don't see as many iPhoto tips as we used to.

This is a one I didn't know:

Macworld | Master your image library

...you can assign keywords—and even create new ones—without displaying the Keywords pane. The secret is to choose View: Keywords, and then click in the blank area beneath a photo’s thumbnail. (If you’ve also chosen to display photo names or ratings, click beneath the name or rating.) Now start typing. If you start to type an existing keyword, iPhoto offers to complete it for you; press the return key to accept iPhoto’s suggestion. If you type a new keyword, iPhoto adds it to your list of keywords and assigns it to the photo...

Dang, that's good. The article is well worth a read.

Google opening up GrandCentral

I've had a GrandCentral number for a year or two, but I've had trouble making it work for me. The real value proposition is for the many people who's corporate cell phone is their only phone. They give friends and family the GrandCentral number, and don't with a corporate phone used for personal business. You give friends and family the GrandCentral number, and just switch it when your job changes.

Google's slowly opening GrandCentral to new subscribers:

Blogger Buzz: GrandCentral: receive calls and post voicemail with your blog

...With GrandCentral, a free service from Google, you can receive phone calls and post voicemails right on your blog. Though GrandCentral is currently in a private beta test, bloggers can skip the wait and get a free account immediately...

Anyone with a Gmail account can get a Google blog in an instant, so the service is now open for new customers.

I'll have to see if they've done anything to make it work for me. I expect the kids will get GrandCentral numbers eventually.

MacBook screen alignment: Apple doesn't do hinges

Hinges are not sexy.

Maybe that's why Apple laptop hinges are so problematic.

My iBook hinge died slowly and painfully at about age 3 -- pretty much everyone's did. The iBook lives in the kitchen now, with a scrawled above the display warning "do not close!".

I recall similar problems going back eons, though my PowerBook 165 hinges seemed to last.

Recently my 2-3 yo MacBook screen has been drifting out of alignment with the base. It's off enough that when the machine is closed there's enough angulation to produce a 2-3 mm overhang at the margins. I'm not alone, this post shows a picture of the same problem.

It's worrisome given the iBook history.

I haven't found any fixes yet. There are two screws by the hinges. I tightened them up and I imagined the alignment improved, but for all I know the screws are cosmetic (Apple does that).

Dell messes up a lot of things, but they do have nice hinges ...

Update 6/23: Recently I spotted one of our kids shutting the MacBook with the power cord trapped between screen and base. It's a tough, thin cord, just the right location and shape to twist the hinges. The cord it twisty, and it's not hard to get it trapped. A quick hard lid closing on the tough cord would warp the hinges. I suspect this could be a contributing factor ...

Obnoxious old Epson Scan bug: EPSON Scan cannot be started

I've just installed an Epson Perfection V700 scanner with Epson Scan software dated Jan 2008.

It has the same bug referenced on Macintouch 3 years ago:

Macintouch - Multifunction Peripherals: Epson

Feb. 16, 2005, Julian Hearne
... the Epson Scan software for the CX5400 is not compatible with OS 10.3.7’s Fast User Switching! It works fine in an Admin account, but if you switch to another user account it creates an error message dialog box in the middle of the users desktop stating “EPSON Scan cannot be started . ---”. You can dismiss the message but each time you switch to another users account, except Admin, the message reappears...
Epson Tech Support says it’s a known issue and kind of blamed it on OS X...

Dave Robertson
I have reported a similar problem [as Julian Hearne] to Epson Support. Using Fast User Switching on an eMac (10.3.x) with an Epson CX5300 results in the continual appearance of a dialog saying "EPSON Scan cannot be started."

The dialog cannot be dismissed or clicked on in any way and it floats above all other applications. The only way to clear it is to run the "Activity Monitor" application and quit the "Twainbridge" process.

I found a 2004 Epson document saying Epson Scan is not compatible with Fast User Switching.

Happily a single chance hit gave me the clue -- the real problem is Epson Scanner Monitor and Fast-User Switching. That led me to a post by some obscure geek quoting Macintouch:

... Someone on August 10 mentioned that they were having problems with the Epson Scanner software on their G5. I had this issue as well; however, I removed the Epson Scanner Monitor startup item from my login profile.

This is used to allow the user to press the hotkey buttons on the Epson scanner; however, it's not necessary to use the scanner. Anytime I want to do a scan, I either open up the Epson scan software (which should be possible through Photoshop as well) manually then do my scanning. No more monitoring software eating up CPU cycles...

Oh ... wait, the above Macintouch quote is from a post I wrote in 2005.

Sigh.

Well, this time I couldn't find Epson Scanner Monitor in any of my Login Items [1]. It was running though, I could find the process with Activity Monitor.

I killed the process and deleted Epson Scanner Monitor.

The problem appears to have gone away.

So now the front button scan doesn't work, but that's no big deal. I never use those buttons anyway, this is a photo scanner not a document scanner.

So now the mystery is how Epson can manage to be so #$$@ $%%!@% incompetent? (Alas, the answer is that they don't have to be really competent, they only need be better than Canon.)

See also a 2004 post of mine on why device drivers suck.

[1] There's a design flaw in 10.4. Non-admin users can't see their Login Items, but admin users can't see other user Login items either.

Update 2/24/2008: Ok, Epson is only #$$@$ incompetent -- because Apple is even more incompetent. Last time I looked Apple made the iPod, OS X and the iMac, but if you use 'Fast User Switching' with an attached iPod you end up with a "this iPod is corrupted" message. I suspect either Apple fundamentally messed up Fast User Switching with 10.4 or they just don't care.

Epson still rates as "#$$@$ incompetent" because there are so many easy things they could have done besides trying to work around Apple's bad design. Here are 3 of them, it's easy to imagine more:

1. Document the problem and the fix in online FAQ and a readme file.
2. Detect Fast User Switching, deactivate Espon Scanner Monitor and inform the user.
   
3. Provide an easy way to uninstall or deactivate Epson Scanner Monitor...

Hmm. Maybe malevolent as well as incompetent ...