Macs on Godlike Nerd

My horribly incomplete backup plan

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:42:22 +0000

It’s been a long time since I took a hard look at my backup situation, but a series of blog posts in my reader has caused some naval gazing.

A long time ago in a computer far far away

My backup plan was once dead simple. I used CCC or Super Duper to create a clone of my boot drive whenever I thought of it. Sometimes I was good and did it weekly, sometimes I went months without.

It's Macworld Damnit

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:09:12 +0000

Something has been building steadily for a couple weeks now and I just can’t contain it anymore. After countless hours of reading though, the rage within me has reached the spilling level. I read nearly every Mac website I can find (via RSS). I can give non-Mac news sources a pass on this, but the rest of you should hang your heads in shame.

Macworld, as in Macworld Magazine and Macworld Expo, is spelled as I have it. Macworld Expo is like Mecca, but for Mac users. It’s the ultimate event in the Mac universe. Given that fact, why is it so god damned hard to spell it right?

Boot Camp without All the Pushups

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 22:30:53 +0000

If you keep your eye on Macs, you probably already know about Boot Camp. It’s a bit of a surprise, but I suspect it was done so that users choosing to run Windows can do so in a safer manner with proper drivers. The drivers included with the new software are the key part of this announcement.

Hacking the firmware to coerce a Mac into booting Windows took a little while, but it wasn’t really all that complicated. However, putting money into a development staff for Windows drivers is quite an expensive proposition and it goes to show Apple’s commitment to leverage the move to x86 to their full benefit. They can easily scoop up fence sitters that afraid of losing the ability to run Windows.

Post Macworld Roundup

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:49:09 +0000

Back in December, I made some predictions.

The quick recap is, I was completely right about the Powerbook (though I didn’t see the moronic name change coming). I didn’t see the iMac coming. The Mac mini rumor was nice, but ultimately, it wasn’t in the cards. My hope clouded my judgment.

iLife ‘06 and iWork ‘06: Yawn. Again.

I’m surprised at the complete lack of information about Leopard. The prospect of getting surprised is actually exciting. Apple may just sit on the features until after Vista appears. That might slow Microsoft just a bit.

Rosetta is Not All That and a Bag of Chips

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:11:35 +0000

Macworld’s lab tests of the new intel iMac confirm what I’ve been telling people since the Intel transition was announced.

I can summarize the results pretty quickly. Considering that the Intel processor in the new iMac is a dual core, the speed isn’t really that much better. In fact, taking that into account, it’s slower. Also, Rosetta isn’t the panacea that everyone bought into. I knew it wouldn’t be. It doesn’t work with anything that requires precise timing and it’s slow. Slow.

Macworld Expo San Francisco

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 18:54:12 +0000

Love to see your comments about MacWorld 2006 on your blog, if you have any. This year will be my first as an attendee, and I plan on drinking Steve’s Kool-Aid all week. Even sadder, I’m looking forward to it a little bit more than Christmas…..not sure what that says about me.

So, if you have predictions, comments, hopes or desires you want to see happen that week, I think you have enough geeks that would enjoy hearing your perspective.

The New G5s Can't Use Standard Airport Express Cards

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 21:57:44 +0000

Maybe I’m just behind the times or didn’t read the news stories about the dual core G5s intently enough. Apple is using combination Airport Express/Bluetooth 2.0 cards in G5s now instead of the Airport Express cards used in all other Macs.

From the Apple KB:

Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers are designed to work with a combination AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card, which combines AirPort and Bluetooth wireless technologies on one card. Please note that other versions of AirPort cards cannot be used with Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers. Although the connector on the computer’s logic board will fit an AirPort Extreme card, it is meant for the AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card only. Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) computers will not recognize an AirPort Extreme card if you attempt to install one.

Puking on Prefs

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 18:06:05 +0000

I’ve been trying to get keychain syncing to work between my two Macs. You’d think that the login keychains would sync (especially since .Mac syncing is supposedly enabled), but they don’t. I decided to make a new keychain and try to get it to work.

I start using the Reset function to try to force synchronization. And for those interested, no, I still haven’t had any success getting keychain syncing to work. It’s way too hard to get working.

Acronym Soup: LRS

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 02:18:19 +0000

Ever since Woot sent me a Motorola WA840G by mistake, it’s been augmenting my parent’s wired network as a wireless access point. It’s been working great for their needs (connecting my old Pismo via its Airport card).

When I got home today for a Thanksgiving stay, I decided I’d update the firmware on all their network devices. The old Linksys router’s firmware hasn’t been updated in quite a while. That’s fine because the thing is rock solid. The Motorola access point had a new version with many new features, so I updated it.

Why I Can't Commit

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 16:01:06 +0000

John Gruber recently wrote about why going to a single computer (a Powerbook) is going to work for him in Full Metal Jacket. Naturally, his new philosophy reflects his personal needs. He does take a look at the opposite viewpoint using a single example (Jonathan Rentzsch), but his needs are overly specialized and overly rare. There are many more reasons one would want two machines.

Tether

To start, the big assumption for this article is that the user wants or needs a laptop. The reasons are fairly unimportant. I personally started with a laptop because I wanted mobility.

Remote Control Your Mac

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 21:58:19 +0000

There have been times that I wanted to remote control someone’s Mac. In particular, a friend of my brother that went to my school used to need the occasional help. VNC was a huge help in those situations. Unfortunately, getting the VNC server configured was a hassle, required third party software, and ended up taking more time than the actual troubleshooting.

That’s why I was thrilled to find out that there is now a VNC built into Mac OS X. I know it’s in Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), but I’m not sure about earlier versions. You’ll need to poke holes in your firewall if you’re using a router or a software firewall that isn’t the one built into Mac OS X.

Mac OS X 10.4.3 and a Long Overdue Powerbook/mac Overview

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 20:43:24 +0000

All right, so Apple released Mac OS X 10.4.3. There were a huge number of improvements. The most notable of which Safari passing the Acid2 Test (even though this was attainable before the update by using your own custom WebKit), homepage URLs in the Address Book are synchronized, iChat sessions over .Mac names can be encrypted, and Disk Utility can verify the boot volume.

We saw a new round of Powerbooks that were pretty unexciting without a processor improvement. The screen resolutions were enhanced and DDR2 was added, but only for the 15″ and 17″ models. The 12″ model was completely passed over. The message is clear, nothing big is coming in the Powerbooks until they go Intel.

The Powermacs got a boost with DDR2 RAM (which they can actually utilize). They also got dual core processors which only really benefit the high end model, the only one retaining two processors. However, the clock speed dropped to 2.5 GHz instead of 2.7 GHz processors. They were also outfitted with dual gigabit ethernet ports. AGP and PCI-X were dropped in favor of PCI Express. They also introduced a Quadro FX 4500 (be prepared to mortgage your home).

iPod Video and new iMac Thoughts

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:27:34 +0000

We didn’t see Powerbook, Powermac, and Mac mini revisions like most level headed analysts thought. Macrumors’ Buyer’s Guide still has the bright red “Don’t Buy” description next to the Powerbooks. The typical cycle is 185 days, and we’re now 255 in. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them next revised in January as the first Intel Macs (as they stand to benefit the most, being stuck with maxed out G4s).

Instead, the long-awaited video iPod arrived, the iMac got revised (in a rather interesting way), and the eMac has returned to its proper status as an education product.

I Need More Power Scotty!

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:24:44 +0000

My brother called me today, slightly frantic, but calmed. His iMac G4 wouldn’t start up. Normally, I’d recommend zapping the PRAM, resetting the Open Firmware, things like that.

The problem was, he couldn’t do those things. It wouldn’t boot at all. There wasn’t even a chime. The computer was absolutely dead silent.

Little did I realize that the flat panel iMacs also had the PMU (Power Management Unit) like my Powermac and Powerbook had. Apple even has instructions.

NetNewsWire Acquired by NewsGator

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 15:05:37 +0000

To be fair, I didn’t use NewsGator until this morning when I heard rumors of this move on the NetNewsWire mailing list. I’ve always been a Bloglines fan myself. However, the NNW/Bloglines synchonization left a lot to be desired, mostly due to deficiencies in Bloglines’s API.

Now that NewsGator has acquired NetNewsWire, it looks like I may finally get the cross-computer, cross-platform syncing I’ve been craving (much like what IMAP does for my email). It also looks like I’ll get access to FeedDemon, which was also acquired.

Security Update 2005-008

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:42:54 +0000

First, Security Update 2005-08 fixes the so-called Safari Image of Doom. Can we all move on now? Thanks.

That’s fixed by:

ImageIO

CVE-ID: CAN-2005-2747

Available for: Mac OS X v10.4.2, Mac OS X Server v10.4.2

Impact: Viewing a maliciously-crafted GIF image may result in arbitrary code execution.

Description: By carefully crafting a corrupt GIF image, an attacker can trigger a buffer overflow in ImageIO which may result in arbitrary code execution. Several components of Mac OS X utilize ImageIO including WebCore and Safari. This update addresses the issue by performing additional validation of images.

.Mac Upgrade

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 08:35:30 +0000

Apple bumped .Mac’s storage to 1 GB (1024 MB for those wondering if they’d correctly count). They also released Backup 3.

I’ve been keeping my email allotment steady at 100 MB, but that’s been feeling a bit constricting, especially when Gmail is now allowing more that 2.5 GB and my web host gives me 5 GB. However, I really like using Apple’s Mail.app (Gmail does have POP, but that’s not adequate because I can’t do server side email management that way) and my web host’s webmail package, SquirrelMail, isn’t all that bad, it’s just not all that good, or at least not as good as .Mac.

Doing It the Hard Way

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 22:17:49 +0000

A more common question on the Macworld Forums is about using a Mac as a wireless base station. I’ve done it several times and at one point, it was a cost saving thing to do. That was back when Airport Base Stations cost $300 and WiFi wasn’t a household name. I freaked out my friends by surfing the net wirelessly.

Things are different now. In a pinch, using Internet Sharing to facilitate the use of a Mac as a base station is a good idea. However, using it as a long term solution isn’t. Apple hasn’t really dropped pricing on its base stations much however, causing many Mac users to think that it is a cost effective solution. Really, $129 for an Airport Express is a bit excessive. The Airport Express Base Station has even less value per dollar for consumers at $199.

Safari 2.0.1 and 1.3.1 Released

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:03:18 +0000

This is standard update fare. Fire up software update or download the updates from Apple (1.3.1 and 2.0.1).

Apple’s documentation is pretty light on what’s changed.

Safari version 2.0.1/1.3.1 for Mac OS X Tiger/Panther improves website compatibility, application stability and support for 3rd party web applications.

It sounds like WebKit might have been updated (perhaps to include Acid test compatibility). It could also be that minor parts of the interface were amended, but I didn’t find any such changes. If you use Saft, you’re going to have to update that too.

D-Link DCM-202 and Firmware How-To

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:55:57 +0000

Because I’m a cheap bastard, I decided to buy my cable modem instead of rent or buy from Comcast.

Review

It’s hard to review a cable modem really. Sites like CNet can do group comparisons, but I have neither the cash nor the time to do a full comparison like that. I can use it for a bit to see if I need to reset it and what kinds of speeds I can get.

Mega Man Redux

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:51:57 +0000

Any good child of the eighties played the original Nintendo and loved it. They loved every cartridge blowing, standing two inches from the TV playing Duckhunt, square, blister causing controller minute of it. Mega Man was a rocking game during that time. It was so popular that he was a character on the awesome Saturday morning cartoon, Captain N.

Do you remember that high quality, 8-bit saturating effect when you started a level? You can see that all the time, even without playing the game, with the amazing MegaManEffect. You’ll have chills when you see the graphics and hear the sounds, or maybe that’s just me.

DRM, Yes, No, Maybe?

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 23:46:30 +0000

Well, after some fairly convincing evidence earlier in the week that the Macintel developer kits use DRM, followed by some vehement opposition and angst to the idea, sites are now feeling confident enough to proclaim no DRM (and again and again).

Controlled Bloom

My head is spinning. Let’s slow it down. First, what is using DRM in the new Apple Intels?

We’ve discovered that Rosetta uses TCPA/TPM DRM. Some parts of the GUI like ATSServer are still not native to x86 – meaning that Rosetta is required by the GUI, which in turn requires TPM.

Mighty Mouse Saves the Day

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 03:35:18 +0000

I’m not as surprised as much as I would have been prior to the Macintel announcement, but I still didn’t expect to see this happen. Apple is making a multi-button mouse with a scroll interface, the Mighty Mouse [Amazon link]. It doesn’t look to be a wheel, but a little nub. Apple’s site mentions rolling though.

Mighty Mouse offers 360-degree scrolling capability, thanks to its Scroll Ball, perfectly positioned to roll smoothly under just one finger.

I’ll need to get one for myself to play with (because I doubt I’ll like it more than my Logitech MX1000) so I can figure it out. Is it a mini trackball? A nub? Please let it not be a nub. My finger hurts just think about them.

What’s really interesting is that it’s not a generic three-button mouse. Apple seems to have jumped headfirst by including side buttons, which act as a fourth button. At $50, it has the same suggested retail price as a Logitech MX518 but will likely stay at that price unlike the Logitech, which can be had for $40 right now.

At any rate, this is likely to satisfy many people that have been crying for years for an Apple branded multi-button mouse. The downsides are the price, no fancy optics, and lack of a bluetooth version (big boo for that one). Hopefully Apple will start offering an option to switch out the regular mouse for this on new systems (for a discounted price of $20 or so) or even be so bold as to make it the standard mouse for Powermacs, leaving the single button for the iMacs and eMacs.

Update: It even makes noises when scrolling. Cute!

Update 2: Amazon has it available for pre-order.

OS X Intel Uses DRM

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 08:09:07 +0000

Found via Slashdot, Apple is using DRM to keep parts of the OS from working on unauthorized computers. The Slashdot story includes links to a wiki on x86 Mac OS X, which in turn pulls its information about the TCPA/TPM DRM from this FAQ.

The problem is that the site is titled Against TCPA (which is also their domain name). It’s not exactly an unbiased source, to say the least. I want to find a slightly less paranoid breakdown of the technology.

New iBooks and Mac minis

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:14:31 +0000

Apple released new iBooks and Mac minis. All in all, the updates were really minor. The good news is that all Mac models now sport at least 512 MB of RAM. That’s pretty much the whole of the update for the minis.

The iBooks on the other hand, have been bumped to 1.33 GHz and 1.42 GHz. They’ve also moved up to Radeon 9550s in lieu of Radeon 9200s. Oddly enough, the 14″ also gained 9 MHz for its bus apparently. This is the only Mac I’ve read of ever to have a 142 MHz bus. That might be the only thing to make this round of revisions memorable.

Konfabulating Your Life with Yahoo!

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 21:24:53 +0000

Along the lines of their other recent moves, like buying Flickr, Yahoo! has acquired Konfabulator. Longtime Mac fans should recognize the product and its author, Arlo Rose, for his role in creating Kaleidoscope. Recent Mac fans should recognize the debacle surrounding Apple’s creation of Dashboard.

This brings the immediate benefit of making Konfabulator free. Previously, the framework itself cost $20 to register. When comparing Konfabulator to Dashboard, the price difference (Dashboard being free with Tiger) gave Dashboard the edge. Yahoo! effecting this price change will have a dramatic effect upon its market share. Mac users will feel free to compare it directly to Dashboard without feeling obligation. As for Windows users, the new Yahoo! association should bring lots of attention. Those two effects should stimulate Widget developers into developing for Konfabulator again. That’s a good thing because as I write this, there is still no working package tracker. Very lame.

iPhoto 5.0.3 Released

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 09:41:15 +0000

Apple released the iPhoto 5.0.3 update yesterday. Normally, iApp updates aren’t particularly exciting. In fact, the details are excruciatingly boring.

Here are the changes according to Apple:

On Tiger, images are no longer color-shifted after editing (Mac OS X 10.4.2 update required)

Book layouts will not change when moving an image on a page

An issue was addressed that caused some book orders to be cancelled

Smart Albums will display correctly in other iLife applications

Normally, I’d ignore this and just install it, but the first bullet is the interesting one. It fixes a problem that has rather profound effects. Generally, it’s referred to as the iPhoto color shifting bug. The linked article is probably the best documentation of the bug I’ve seen (complete with animation). At any rate, it means I can start editing photos again.

Mac OS X 10.4.2 Released

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:55:34 +0000

I’ve already updated all the Macs in the house with no ill effects. The most visual difference is the addition of a Widget Manager (for those afraid to fiddle around in their Library/Widgets folder).

Apple has posted a knowledge-base article (#301722), as well as a delta updater and a combo updater. The changes as described by Apple, are as follows.

The update mentions improved Safari scroll speed, so I expected that it was a recent WebKit build (with Acid2 test compatibility). Unfortunately, it seems that this hasn’t gone mainstream yet, so reliance on NightShift, SafariOnAcid, or your own builds will have to continue.

Roll Your Own Safari

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 15:12:13 +0000

Apple opened up a public CVS repository for WebKit, it made it possible to get the latest source, compile, and run it yourself. They even broke the steps to do so into easily digested step-by-step instructions. All one need do is get source and compile it.

You need to make sure that you have XCode installed and be comfortable with running Terminal commands. You don’t need to really understand them, just be able to type them in. If you’d like to avoid all that, there is a shortcut. Boyd Waters has put together and updated version of WebKit in an easy to use container called SafariOnAcid. The name is an homage to the fact that using the updated code, the Acid2 test passes. It’s worth checking out not only for standards compliance, but speed.

Your Mac Jerks

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 23:57:25 +0000

I’ve been subscribed to Your Mac Life‘s podcast for some time now. I subscribed a long time back before I knew what to subscribe to. Basically, there was a single show, which was a rant by Shawn. It was all right.

Now, after I noticed that another show never made it self available, I did a little digging and found out that they didn’t because they made all their money on Audible, charging just about $4 a show, or $45 for a year’s subscription. Saying that he didn’t want to change their business model is a fine justification. That’s cool.

Safari Stand, a New Toy

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 16:21:51 +0000

I revisited PimpMySafari and one of the three must have utilities was Safari Stand. I wasn’t sure I would be impressed and I’m always afraid of slowing down Safari with more stuff. I’ve been keeping it pretty lean with just PithHelmet and AcidSearch.

So far, I like what it brings to the table. It has a lot of neat features, like adding keyword searching, auto download window closing, and my personal favorite, source editing. You can visit a web page, tweak the source code and see the result of your change right in the Safari window.

I've Switched

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:56:21 +0000

Not from Mac to Windows, or vice versa, but rather in a more important way. I’ve switched from the fabulous LaunchBar to the very new and slick Quicksilver. Between those two and Butler, if they’re mentioned in the same breath to a large crowd, you can expect some blood to be spilled. You’d see a religious war that would rival the Mac OS X text editor war (BBEdit vs. SubEthaEdit vs. TextMate etc.).

Fast Enough

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 11:08:46 +0000

This is a strange predicament that I’ve been placed in. Normally, I agree with what most Mac pundits say. However, many of them are being over-confident and taking Steve’s word for gospel. They’re not doing any analysis or technical reviews of the transition. Rather, they believe the marketing hype otherwise known as a keynote.

One of the primary concerns was the ability to run PowerPC software. This was addressed with a slick piece of software called Rosetta. Slick though it may be, it’s still emulation. In other words, it’s slow. To put that concern to rest, Steve told us it was fast enough. Fast enough? What kind of vague bullshit is that? I can let that go because, as I said before, keynotes are marketing hype. What’s sickening is the way in which evangelists are parroting this as if it was the result of some kind of scientific study.

Security Update 2005-006 Released

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 20:59:28 +0000

Apple released Security Update 2005-006. I’m not going to do my breakdown this time as I’m pretty busy. However, Apple’s notes should be fairy self-explanatory.

The Waiting Game

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 09:58:43 +0000

It’s not often that I can find fault with John Gruber of Daring Fireball. However, I think he may be downplaying some things in his latest entry Bombs Away. Considering all computer users are always looking towards their next purchase, the issue of when to buy is always paramount. He said:

This transition period is going to be hard on Apple, not hard on Mac users. If you?ve just purchased a machine recently, or need to buy one soon, you?re no worse off than you would have been if Apple had remained committed to producing new PowerPC hardware ? today?s machines would have been obsoleted by even-better machines next year no matter what processors they contained. And no one is abandoning PowerPC software development. I see no reason to expect Intel-only Mac software in the near future. Universal Binaries take full advantage of both Intel and PowerPC Macs. That?s worth repeating: Universal Binaries take full advantage of both Intel and PowerPC Macs.

Rosetta is not a Magic Cure-All, or the Death of Classic

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 09:29:17 +0000

One of the more overlooked aspects of the transition from PowerPC to Intel x86 CPUs is the effect it will have on the software you can run. I’ll be discussing this move and my take on it in a later article, but I think a subset of the transition strategy needs highlighting first.

You Won’t Feel a Thing

Steve made the transition sound utterly painless. According to him, developers will have to do little more than recompile their cocoa software. But what about existing software? Rosetta is the answer proclaimed Steve. Processor emulation will make it all better. Now, for the time being, I’m willing to ignore the ~~inevitable~~ confirmed speed cost, but what about compatibility and functionality? The keynote seems to make it seem like all your old software will just work. Well, I wasn’t buying that, My suspicion was rewarded when I read Apple’s document on Universal Binaries.

Intel Chip Monday

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 22:25:01 +0000

Well, I’m sure most everyone has read the CNet story on Apple switching Macs to Intel, the Wall Street Journal story, the Inquirer version, the Yahoo/AP version, or even the New York Times version.

The number of sources coming forward to confidently say that they are has turned even ardent disbelievers in the rumor, such as John Gruber, the other way (or maybe not). I’m personally in the “I think this is a load of crap” camp.

Growl 0.7 and the Endless Loop

Fri, 27 May 2005 21:28:57 +0000

Growl is an awesome piece of freeware that supplies a universal event notification system. Sounds complicated, but basically, it gives applications alternate ways to tell you things.

One of the new features in the 0.7 version is the ability to send these events to networked computers via Bon Jour. For example, let’s say you have a downloading application that issues events upon completion. However, you kicked that download off at your desktop and you want to use your laptop. You don’t want to babysit your desktop to know when it reached completion.

Safari RSS Autodiscovery Sucks

Thu, 19 May 2005 22:25:29 +0000

I added my Feedburner feed to the site’s header to make it more easily accessible to users. Firefox users get to see the entire list of feeds. Safari users are less blessed. They can only click the singular RSS button in the location bar.

According to Apple, Safari uses the Atom Feed Autodiscovery standard.

When Safari displays a web page, Safari RSS looks in the HEAD element for a LINK tag that points to an Atom or RSS feed. The schema for these links is fairly standard and is supported by most news readers. It is described on page 40 of O’Reilly’s Content Syndication With RSS, and in Mark Pilgrim’s draft document on Atom Feed Autodiscovery.

Mac OS X 10.4.1 Released

Tue, 17 May 2005 07:14:48 +0000

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.4.1, the first update to Tiger.

In addition to the improvements below, Apple has fixed the Widget exploit that had so many panties in a twist. In fact, they implmented the fix exactly as I would have, by adding a confirmation dialog when downloading.

Want a Jabber Screenname?

Fri, 13 May 2005 18:14:49 +0000

Tiger users can user Jabber usernames with iChat AV 3.0. What’s the point of that? Well, AOL can’t listen in on you for one. Second, it’s decentralized. Should AOL go belly up, we’d all be fairly screwed. With Jabber, a single service provider can go down or disappear and everyone else can keep jabbering.

Jabber also allows for chat gateways. For example, you can talk to MSN users through it. Melvin Rivera has written an excellent tutorial to get this set up.

Widget Panic

Wed, 11 May 2005 13:48:08 +0000

No doubt by now you’ve heard about the Widget security issue. Thankfully, most of the Mac news sites have been fairly even-handed in their reporting. This hasn’t stopped from others on the net from proclaiming this the end of Mac security and that it’s no better than Windows (lots of hyperbole, not much substance). I’ve seen bits and pieces of information on this, but nothing that totally consolidates it yet. The MacCentral article linked probably has the best overview, but I’d like to break it down a little differently.

Spotlight

Sun, 08 May 2005 00:11:13 +0000

The first of my series of posts on Tiger’s new features finally begins tonight with Spotlight. This post is somewhat long because of the pictures that I decided to include. As such, most of the article is in the extended section. At the same time, those pictures actually make it fun to read even for the not so geeky, so definitely take a look.

Screenshot Format Default Changed

Thu, 05 May 2005 07:32:29 +0000

When I took a screenshot of Safari’s contextual menu last night, I expected that it would be output as a PDF (the default format in Panther). I also wanted to take the opportunity to try out the Flickr upload widget that I mentioned before (which is terribly slick). I wasn’t sure that Flickr supported PDF, so I thought I’d have to convert the screenshot file. Much to my surprise, it was formatted as a PNG file. With that, I just went ahead and uploaded it (and it seems to have worked perfectly).

Minor Safari 2.0 Observation

Wed, 04 May 2005 21:38:46 +0000

I don’t think I’m the only one using a Mac that has become really accustomed to using context menus. Until I started using gestures to operate my web browser, I would regularly use the context menu to move back (because clicking the back button is really inconvenient).

Safari continually jerked me around by being the only browser that didn’t have back and forward options. It’s one of the most common functions. This finally changed in Tiger and Safari 2.0.

Tiger Installed

Tue, 03 May 2005 09:35:12 +0000

I’ve got Mac OS X Tiger installed on the 12″ Powerbook and the MDD G4 Powermac. Let me tell you, it’s awesome. It’s fast and even more multitasking capable (if that’s even really possible). I have a few quick thoughts this morning. I’ll have a much more complete analysis of Spotlight tonight.

Spotlight may be more like LaunchBar than I originally thought. It served as a decent replacement until I got LaunchBar installed. However, it isn’t quite the same because it groups by kind and it doesn’t indicate location. That’s bad because when I do a search for a certain application, Spotlight is currently bringing up duplicates that exist on my Panther backup.

Tiger… Monday?

Mon, 02 May 2005 10:21:27 +0000

Okay, so the title for this entry would have been much cooler if Tiger were arriving tomorrow. Tiger Tuesday! I could have had fame and fortune. Instead, I’ll have Tiger one day earlier and be a nobody.

Anyway, posting won’t be on the agenda tonight. I hope to cover one Tiger feature a day. The order I cover those features is still up in there air though. Any of you out there interested in seeing my take on a particular feature first, please leave a comment. I plan on taking a lot of screenshots because no one can get enough.

Tiger Frustration Alleviation

Sat, 30 Apr 2005 13:36:41 +0000

My sadness quickly turned into rage last night because I wouldn’t have my toy this weekend. I read at several places, including Macworld’s forums that if you didn’t get your copy of Tiger on time, you could call Apple to get one of three things for free.

iLife ‘05
iWork
$30 Apple Store coupon

Finding this out, I called up and they promptly offered me iLife ‘05. I didn’t hear him offer the other two options, but personally, I didn’t care as that was what I wanted anyway.

SIMBL Plugin Followup

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 06:56:21 +0000

When Safari 1.3 came out, several plugins broke and were quickly fixed again. That’s cool, but both the PithHelmet and AcidSearch plugin updates were a bit rushed (and with good reason because they were high in demand).

For AcidSearch the bug was mostly harmless. When a channel was dragged around in the configuration window, it got turned into a folder. Oops. The author quickly issued an update.

However, PithHelmet had a more serious problem. Attempting to set the display of a page element to none after probing the dimensions of that object caused Safari to crash. Mike Solomon has a much better writeup for those technically inclined. Basically what this meant for an end user was that Safari crashed… a lot. It bit me with one site in particular. He issued an update which no longer crashes Safari, but unfortunately doesn’t collapse a lot of blocked elements either (which was one of my main beefs with how OmniWeb handles ad-blocking). It doesn’t happen all the time though, so it’s not going to force me into using Camino or Firefox (for now), but it’s a silly bug that hopefully will get fixed.

Xbench Disk Comparison

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 17:52:59 +0000

Using Xbench, I compared the three disks attached to my Powermac.

First, I have the stock drive, a Deskstar 120GXP (80 GB).

Disk Test   100.77  
    Sequential  103.00  
        Uncached Write  90.65   37.79 MB/sec [4K blocks]
        Uncached Write  90.87   37.21 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Uncached Read   170.74  27.03 MB/sec [4K blocks]
        Uncached Read   91.39   36.93 MB/sec [256K blocks]
    Random  98.64   
        Uncached Write  101.96  1.53 MB/sec [4K blocks]
        Uncached Write  100.45  22.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Uncached Read   95.93   0.63 MB/sec [4K blocks]
        Uncached Read   96.47   19.85 MB/sec [256K blocks]

The next drive is a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 (200GB) in an OWC Firewire enclosure.

Safari 1.3 and SIMBL Plugins

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 16:08:47 +0000

Upon launching Safari 1.3 for the first time, I got a notification that the version of PithHelmet I was using wasn’t tested with Safari 1.3, so it would be disabled. Safari then promptly crashed.

Well, that indicated one of three things.

PithHelmet wasn’t actually disabling itself and crashing Safari.
Something else was killing Safari.
I had a botched install.

The third option was very unpleasant. I knew PithHelmet was a SIMBL plugin, so I went to where my SIMBL plugins are kept. This is at “/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/”. I noticed that not only PithHelmet, but AcidSearch was in there. Just to be sure, I moved both out onto the desktop and started Safari. It launched perfectly. Now, considering that PithHelmet said it was disabling itself and AcidSearch made no such claims, I figured PithHelmet might be safe to put back (though there wasn’t much point in doing so). I quit Safari, replaced PithHelmet, and started Safari again. It worked.

Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update Released

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 14:29:32 +0000

Apple has released the 10.3.9 update for Mac OS X.

Here are the changes.

Stickies

Addresses an issue in which Stickies could unexpectedly quit when creating a new note.

Addresses an issue in which new Stickies are invisible.

Stickies windows can now be minimized (an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.4 through 10.3.8).

Safari

Accessing certain websites, such as msnbc.com, mail.yahoo.com, ticketmaster.com, and others, no longer displays a “bad server response” alert that could occur in Safari.

Addresses an issue in which “safe downloads” files are not automatically opened after downloading.

SSL webpages (pages with URLs that start with “https://”) load faster in Safari.

Adds some important Verisign root certificates to Safari, allowing you to connect to certain secure websites that you might not have been able to surf before.

Adds other trusted root certificates to Safari, such as VISA and RSA.

Finder

Tiger Release Date Announced

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 09:23:18 +0000

Imagine my surprise when I read of the Tiger release announcement (April 29th) showed up in Bloglines (which I’m only using instead of NetNewsWire because I’m at work). It was almost anticlimactic. Months and months of anticipation built to a single moment when I read that it was (nearly) here and I let out a soft oh.

As usual, MacCentral has done a nice writeup. I’m sure every other Mac news site will have a piece on it, so stop by then if you’ve got some weird aversion to MacCentral.

Why isn't My Internet Working?

Tue, 05 Apr 2005 20:43:51 +0000

I recently got asked a question via email. I thought I’d share my answer.

My problem is in the WiFi category. I have AirPort turned on, and around the corner from where I live is a Starbucks, as well as other apartments that have WiFi, so I get a few connections here and there. Among these are the connections, “default” and “linksys”. I don’t know which one is Starbucks, but I assume “linksys” as I get the strongest connection. “Default” only gives me 3 bars, but it spastically goes to 1 or none every few minutes, which results in me being disconnected from iChat very often.

No Tiger on Friday

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 07:55:54 +0000

Maybe it was an April Fool’s joke on Think Secret’s part. Maybe they were trying to set up a legal defense that they guess a lot (and are wrong). Maybe a delay was introduced. Who knows? At any rate, there was no Tiger announcement which would have made all the wakka-wakka gags almost bareable. Now my problem is that without Tiger as a new toy coming soon, I’m starting to eye a new SATA boot drive (a 300 GB drive). Keep me from spending money Apple!

Tiger Tomorrow?

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 15:10:52 +0000

It’s been rather quiet on the Mac front. Well, that’s not entirely true, we have the continuing saga of Apple versus the rumor sites. Very little has been decided in the courts, but that hasn’t stopped the Mac community at large from giving their fifteen cents. Unfortunately, the battles being waged are being clumped into one, making the debate wandering and unfocused. We have one group shouting “This is a freedom of speech issue!” while the other says (quite accurately) “This particular decision is not.” A pissing contest ensues.

Security Update 2005-003 Released

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:23:23 +0000

Apple has released yet another security update. Fire up Software Update.

Here’s what’s updated, followed by my explanation:

AFP Server

Available for: Mac OS X v10.3.8, Mac OS X Server v10.3.8

CVE-ID: CAN-2005-0340

Impact: A specially crafted packet can cause a Denial of Service against the AFP Server.

Description: A specially crafted packet will terminate the operation of the AFP Server due to an incorrect memory reference.

Basically, if you use Apple File Sharing, someone can knock down the program serving the files. This is more of a pain in the ass than a security risk.

More Lazy Journalism at LowEndMac

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:16:25 +0000

It may start to look like I have a personal jihad against the fine folks at LowEndMac, but I really don’t. I enjoy a lot of their content. Their archived Mac technical information is pretty good. Well, it used to be. It’s now filled with missing files (Error 404 abound!) and all attempts to notify them seem to be directed into /dev/null (or “sent into the void” for my less geeky readers). Some of their articles are interesting and inspiring.

Radeon 9800 Pro Ordered

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 22:36:38 +0000

After spending a lot time surfing the net looking for the best upgrade for my Powermac, I decided on an ATi Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition video card. It’s the best video that will ever work in my Dual 1 GHz G4 Powermac. I know you’re all very excited for me.

What’s even better about it, is that it will likely correct the KotOR problems I was having. There was an update that was supposed to correct it, but I was too disheartened to try it again. Besides, I barely have time for anything lately. I haven’t even been playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Brain Dead Cheerleading

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 05:23:50 +0000

Don’t you just hate it when supposed “authorities” on computing can’t get their facts straight?

Why yes, yes I do Dan Knight of Low End Mac. That’s why I’m taking you to task for ‘Creaky Operating Systems’ Good Enough for Millions. There were some mistakes in the original Washington Post article, but “correcting” them with more mistakes is plain irresponsible and loses you all credibility. Then again, Dan also wrote Apple does us a favor by not shipping a better mouse, so perhaps credibility isn’t on his agenda.

Security Update 2005-002

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 05:35:09 +0000

Apple’s sticking with the new security update naming convention. Security Update 2005-002 is primarily a Java fix.

According to Apple:

Security Update 2005-002

Available for: Java 1.4.2

CVE-ID: CAN-2004-1029

Impact: Updates Java to address an issue where an untrusted applet could gain elevated privileges and potentially execute arbitrary code.

Description: A vulnerability in the Java Plug-in may allow an untrusted applet to escalate privileges, through JavaScript calling into Java code, including reading and writing files with the privileges of the user running the applet. Releases prior to Java 1.4.2 on Mac OS X are not affected by this vulnerability. Further information is available in Document ID 57591 from Sun.

USB Overdrive Update Coming

Sun, 20 Feb 2005 00:22:22 +0000

As Logitech provides rather piss poor drivers for their mice, I’ve been using USB Overdrive. It’s a great product, but it lacks support for the MX1000’s horizontal scrolling features. No one had heard from the author since some time in 2003 (when the last version had been released). I tried writing to him, but like many others, got no response.

Good news for those that have been waiting (for side scrolling and Bluetooth support): he is still very much working on USB Overdrive and it shouldn’t be too long before a new version is released. He wrote the below on Versiontracker:

Mac OS X 10.3.8 Update

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 08:30:00 +0000

The Mac OS X 10.3.8 update is out and ready for consumption. You know the drill, fire up software update, download the delta updater, or the combo updater. The delta updater weighs in at 27.7 MB and the combo is a hefty 103 MB. Software update will deliver a variable size updater dependent upon the machine you are running.

Update Details

Addresses an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.7 in which iChat, Mail, or other network-based applications could take a long time to open.
Addresses an issue in which a computer wouldn’t always restart automatically after a power failure, even when the Energy Saver preference option “Restart automatically after a power failure” was selected.
Improves the performance of Blizzard World of Warcraft’s “Full Screen Glow” video feature.
Improves DVD Player compatibility when playing a movie (using certain ATI Radeon cards) to an external widescreen TV with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Resolves an issue in which a “flicker” could be seen when navigating DVD menus in DVD Player on certain PowerBook G4 computers.
Addresses an issue in which a PowerBook G4 computer would, on rare occasion, wake from sleep with a black screen and not respond to any keyboard, mouse, or trackpad input.
Addresses “jumping cursor” issues that might occur when using your portable computer’s trackpad with your thumb, side of thumb, or a “flat” finger.
Resolves an issue on certain Power Mac G5 computers where a fan cycles erratically at unexpected times, such as when Seti@home software is running.
Speeds up Address Book and Mail LDAP lookups that are performed by a Cisco DistributedDirector DNS server.
Addresses an issue that could prevent clients using the Active Directory plugin from binding to their Active Directory server.

Observations

Mail.app seemed to load much faster for me, as was described above. I suspect that the difference lies in using a non-blocking network call. The rest largely don’t affect me, especially because I don’t have a “flat” finger.

CNET G5 Powerbook Article

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 10:49:13 +0000

I thought I’d link the CNET article on G5 Powerbooks as David Becker was kind enough to email me and ask my opinions. Unfortunately, it seems that they couldn’t use any of my ramblings, but I thought it might be of interest to publish what I wrote, considering my rather short, lackluster writeup on the new Powerbooks.

David sent me the below email with questions.

Hi–my name is Dave Becker, and I’m a reporter for CNET News.com. Saw your bloggings on matters Mac and hoped you might be willing to offer your comments on possible/planned G5 PowerBooks.

New Powerbooks Today

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:52:37 +0000

After a little hiatus this weekend, I’m back. So is Apple with exciting news. They’ve updated their Powerbook line of computers. Don’t get too excited though, they’re still G4s. However, it’s a nice solid revision. The bus speed is the same, but there’s a whole host of new statistics.

For the 17″:

1.67 GHz G4
512 MB RAM
100 GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (128 MB) dual-link DVI
$2,699

For the 15″:

PC Keyboards, the Mac mini, and You

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 12:24:05 +0000

The Mac mini has spurred large amounts of interest in the PC community. With the mini’s lack of a bundled keyboard and mouse, the natural question becomes “Can I use my existing mouse and keyboard with the Mac mini?” Given that they are USB, the answer is yes. For mice, this is largely trivial. Just plug it in and use it. Optionally install drivers if it’s a Logitech or Microsoft product.

Mac OS X Security Update 2005-001

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 10:13:24 +0000

Apple has released the 2005-001 Security Update for Mac OS X. This update fixes several important vulnerabilities.

at Commands

The at commands (at, atrm, batch, atq, and atrun) allow a user to specify commands be run at a later time. That’s not the inherint bad thing. Being able to schedule things on a whim without using cron is good because it’s a one time deal. Want to run permissions repair in an hour while you’re on lunch, but afraid you’ll forget to initiate it later? Use the at command.

Overlooking TextWrangler

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 10:59:08 +0000

It’s tough for Mac software and hardware developers to make announcements at events like Macworld Expos. The all encompassing Stevenote will always overshadow them. Some of the more overlooked announcements this year are:

Elgato and ATi teaming up for the EyeTV Wonder: Finally a lag-free external TV device for Mac. People can finally play their Playstation 2 and other consoles on their iMac (or any USB 2.0 capable Mac). While I can’t live without my original USB EyeTV, the lag made it useless for much other than TV watching (or maybe VHS tape digitizing). This is huge. Imagine a Mac mini coupled with a nice LCD monitor, one of these bad boys, and your game console of choice. You have a tiny, modular media center.
Elgato EyeTV 500 adds digital cable support: My primary concern about moving up to digital cable when I finally get my own place (damn down payment takes too long to build up) was that I couldn’t use my EyeTV to record the enhanced content and in order to enjoy it, I’d either have to actually be watching when the show was on (god forbid) or shell out the money for the cable company’s DVR. That’s no longer a concern. Unencrypted digital cable stations can be watched and recorded with this. Cool!
Elgato intros EyeConnect streaming software: Last Elgato plug, I swear. This software lets you use standard UPnP AV hardware devices to view your content. You can watch your movies, listen to your music, look at your pictures, EyeTV recordings, whatever! Elgato already has their Eyehome product to fill this niche, but now you can get or use your existing device (such as D-Link’s) to look at this media on your TV.
MacMice intros lots of new products: This infamous company seems to have finally come into its own. They now offer such distinctive products as a bluetooth trackball.
MacBU reaffirms Mac support: Mostly expected, but it’s still good to hear.
Griffin shows BlueTrip, Filewave: iPod music streamed via Bluetooth to your home stereo? How cool. Is it $150 worth of cool? I don’t think so.

However, that all pales in comparison to Bare Bones software‘s announcement.

How much RAM?

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 22:33:40 +0000

Michael wrote to me:

Any idea how OSX runs on the 256 MB of ram model? I’ve heard arguments go both ways. What about Panther?

Michael is of course asking about the new Mac mini. He’s considering one as he describes in his blog entry:

I’m seriously considering purchasing the new Mac-Mini. Ultimately I am in Apple’s target demographic of devout PC users who are considering in dabbling in Macs but are standoffish about the price of Macs.

Expo Product Thoughts

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:16:31 +0000

I’m going to review the new Apple product announcements inwhat I consider increasing importance.

iLife ‘05

To me, this is pretty incremental. I don’t use anything in iLife (sans the free iTunes and iPhoto). Garageband fans will be overjoyed with a full 8 tracks to manipulate. At $79, I’m not sure I’ll be getting it though. I don’t need the new version of iPhoto that badly.

iWork

Apple finally tried to update AppleWorks for the new millenium with iWork ($79). Apparently though, they only had two tickets for the trip, taking along a word processor (Pages) and a slideshow app (Keynote). Spreadsheets and database manipulation were sadly left at the station with their heads hanging dejectedly. Pages looks really cool, like a publishing application more than a wordprocessor. However, if I’m going to have an office suite, I want a speadsheet application. End of story.

Expo Announcements

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:47:38 +0000

New from the expo:

The other announcements aren’t terribly exciting and the lack of a Tiger release date was disappointing. More tonight.

Can you feel it?

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 08:18:47 +0000

The Macworld Expo San Francisco keynote is less than 4 hours away. The whole Mac community is waiting with baited breath. Personally, I want to find out more about Tiger. In particular, a release date more specific than “first half of 2005” and hopefully sooner rather than later.

We also get to find out which rumors were worth something. The current most popular rumors are:

iWork Apple’s new office suite
flash-based iPod
headless iMac the $500 Mac
Mac OS X Tiger info and release date
Powerbook updates with slightly faster processors

I still don’t get the head-popping excitement being generated by the flash-based iPod. Shortly after the keynote is done, I’ll do a quick summary. Later tonight, I’ll do my little rant on what all the news will mean for the future.

Fix Slow Stuffit Startups

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 08:48:42 +0000

This weekend, I was downloading some software that was compressed. I have those files automatically open with Stuffit Expander (as is the default on most setups). I noticed though that Stuffit Expander was bouncing over and over… and over… and over again. I assumed it had hung, force quit, and tried opening it again. Same thing occurred. I tried reinstalling Stuffit. It kept doing it. I left it going for a while and eventually it started. I thought that was mighty strange. I was starting to get worried that it was particular to my Powerbook and that I’d have to think about reinstalling the OS.

A Bluetooth Trackball

Fri, 07 Jan 2005 11:40:03 +0000

The infamous company MacMice has announced a new product called “The Ball”. I’ll admit, it sounds a little dirty to me (and would probably illicit a snicker or two from less mature audiences).

It follows its brother product, “The Mouse”, not in nomenclature, but in appearance. It’ll fit in with your other Mac peripherals. What makes this trackball cool though is the fact that it’s Bluetooth. In fact, it’s the first Bluetooth trackball I’ve ever seen. That alone makes it pretty cool. However, I’m not sure that it’s $90 worth of cool. I never really understood the practicality of wireless trackballs either, so this isn’t something I’m likely to get.

An Old Truncation Issue Lives On

Tue, 04 Jan 2005 13:23:57 +0000

The stability and speed of Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) built a strong userbase that continues to this day (even with 10.4 Tiger right around the corner). It haunts developers, keeping them from using neat tools like Cocoa bindings which are present in Panther but not Jaguar. It also haunts its users with old issues that many of us have simply forgotten.

A poster in the Macworld forums recently posted that he mistyped his password and much to his surprise, it was accepted and login continued like normal. Disturbing, no? Even more troubling was that not all passwords were accepted either. This problem was a result of an old authentication mechanism, which used at maximum, 8 characters. But OS X (and more importantly, Keychain) supported longer passwords. The (rather half-assed) solution was to simply truncate the password for comparison. In other words, if my password was areallylongpassword, then only areallyl was necessary for login. Additionally, input passwords were also truncated (therefore making this normally completely transparent for the user). That meant you could tack on extra chracters and it would be acceptable. So, all of the following would work:

When in Doubt, Go with the Old Favorites

Tue, 04 Jan 2005 09:07:21 +0000

As we draw close to Macworld Expo San Francisco, the number of rumors generally increases. The reason is multiple fold. First, supposedly more leaks happen closer to the expo. Second, people’s desire for rumors increases exponentially. Finally, it’s a quick and easy way to draw traffic as a Mac based website. Yes, I’m a traffic whore too, so let’s review

Flash-based iPod

For almost as long as the iPod has been around, this has been the popular rumor. And why not? It seems like a natural progression. Flash memory based MP3 players tend to be smaller and cheaper than hard drive based players. The ridiculous, respect-less rumor wells throw caution to the wind, ignoring hard real analysis (done by such people as John Gruber). It combines tiny size (as if the iPod mini’s compact flash hard drive is bloating it terribly and flash memory is that much small) and low costs (as flash memory is so cheap, still hundreds of dollars for any significant size) to make for a some people’s wet dreams. Ignore the fact that the iPod’s main attraction is having your entire music collection in your pocket. We’ve got a rumor to foist upon the public and get attention. To make the situation worse, iPod sites such as iPodlounge are encouraging the rumor with iPod flash Concepts contest. Dangle some expensive headphones in front of work starved artists and watch as you get hundreds of designs that are either physically impossible or hopelessly stupid. Yeesh.

Adobe PDF Plugin Comes to Mac

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 15:12:17 +0000

Probably one of the most frustrating aspects of moving from Mac OS 9 or Windows to Mac OS X was the lack of a PDF browser plugin. It can be almost maddening in academic environments such as U-Mass as most assignments and documents aren’t published in HTML. They’re published in PDF because of the guaranteed formatting and handling of special symbols (such as the formulas that plague a young computer scientist).

Making Safari Livable Post Firefox

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:45:17 +0000

I’m indecisive about my browser on my Macs (the choice is easy for PCs, Firefox all the way). Pre Safari and Firefox, the choice was easy. Camino (formerly Chimera) was the end all for Mac browsers. Now my choice switches between Firefox and Safari. Firefox is fast most of the time, but after some use seems to slow down. Safari is fairly fast, but tends to have pregnant pauses when connecting to servers (or at least this is what the status bar tells me).

KOTOR Performance Problem Update

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:42:02 +0000

To follow up on my old post, Brad Oliver has posted a new beta build of the Knights of the Old Republic game. Of particular note is that even in its current rough form, users with Radeon 8500, 9000 or 9200 cards will see double framerates. However, in some cases, this is doubling 2-3 frames per second to 6-7 FPS. I’ll probably just keep playing with my Powerbook, although the initial problems have left such a bad taste in my mouth that I haven’t returned to the game since discovering that fact.

Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update Released

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 17:03:55 +0000

Fire up software update or download the delta or combo installers. The enhancements, straight from Apple are:

Applications

Allows TextEdit to open certain RTF documents that previously wouldn’t open, resulting in a “TextEdit Open Failed. Couldn’t open file” alert.
Resolves an issue in which Safari, Mail, and other networking applications that use DNS lookups could experience intermittent connectivity issues with Security Update 2004-09-30 and Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later installed.
Addresses an issue with Blizzard World of Warcraft in which the game’s frame rate could drop considerably when in “Ghost mode,” if the computer uses an nVidia graphics card.
Resolves an issue in which enabling Vertex Shaders in World of Warcraft could lead to unexpected graphics issues when using an nVidia graphics card.
Addresses an issue with World of Warcraft in which incorrect colors or unexpectedly flashing objects could appear when using an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card, making gameplay difficult.
Improves compatibility for Pacific Tech’s Graphing Calculator 3.5—some 3D surfaces might not render in Mac OS X 10.3.6.

Other

Addresses an issue in which a brief “flash of lines” may appear on the screen when waking the computer from sleep after the “Flurry” Screen Saver has run, if the computer uses an ATI Radeon 8500, 9000, 9200, 9600, or M9 graphics chip.
Improves compatibility for FireWire-based audio interfaces, including the Edirol FA-101 FireWire audio interface.
Enables E*TRADE PDF account statements to be viewed in Preview.
An Apple Cinema 22″ ADC display, when connected to certain PowerBook computers, no longer shows random “stuttering” or other graphics anomalies in the Finder and DVD Player.
Addresses an issue in which shadowed text in a PDF file may print differently than it appears on the screen when printing to a raster printer.
Filenames longer than 31 characters are no longer shortened when the file is saved on a server via Apple File Sharing.
Resolves an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.6 in which some FireWire hard drives would not appear (“mount”) on the desktop.
Addresses an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.6 in which DVD Player might not open on some Power Mac G4 computers that use an ATI Radeon 9800 AGP video card.
Resolves an issue that prevented printing to some Windows-based print servers.

Myth and Reality: 32-bit Bus on Single Processor G5s

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 12:10:00 +0000

Sometimes a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. It gives someone the ability to make a bogus assertion about something while sounding somewhat authoritative. Even worse, it makes laypeople think the entirely wrong thing about a subject that has lots of subtlety. The nightly news does this every night, breaking complex issues down into sound bites.

The technology news is no better, saying things that are outright wrong in order to break it down for their readership. An example of this was the reporting on the latest G5 model, a single 1.8 GHz tower. Macworld reported that this model has a 32-bit bus instead of 64-bit like its brethren.

December Security Update

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:11:55 +0000

Apple has released a security update for both Panther and Jaguar. You can get it at the download section of their site or by using Software Update. It weighed in at 12.7 MB coming in through mine.

As always, Maccentral has an excellent writeup.

You've Got the iTunes Music Store, Now Stop Protesting

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 09:54:00 +0000

It’s amazing what some people will do for their iCrack. Ever since Apple announced the availability of the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) in Canada, those crazy canucks have been going crazy waiting for it.

In fact, they’ve been protesting as Bush came to town. While the mainstream media has been widely reporting that this is due to policy concerning Iraq, this is entirely wrong. Such immature angst could not be explained by anything but concerns about the iTMS being available late. It even looked like it would be late, but everyone’s favorite computer company made sure that the delay was minimal, delivering on its promise last night, a mere day late.

Keyspan's Remote Control for Airport Express: Not Quite

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 11:02:43 +0000

From a Keyspan Press Release for its Keyspan Express Remote:

Keyspan, America’s number 1 brand of USB connectivity products, announced that its new USB infrared remote control includes support for Apple’s groundbreaking Airport Express.

I don’t have an Airport Express, but nonetheless, this sounds compelling. Perhaps the most heavily wanted feature as part of the Airport Express and Airtunes was the inclusion of a remote (and apparently being able to walk around with your laptop doesn’t count). I still maintain that Apple didn’t do this because it would destroy the absolute simplicity of the current design and require expensive modifications to it.

Mac OS X 10.3.6 Released

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:05:15 +0000

Apple released Mac OS X 10.3.6 just a little while ago. Fire up Software Update or visit the technote page for the update, which includes links to Combo and Delta updaters. Below are the enhancements listed by Apple.

Internet and .Mac

Resovles an issue in which Safari might not load webpages correctly when the hard drive name included a non-ASCII character such as a symbol, diacritical, or two-byte character.
Safari no longer times out after 60 seconds when attempting to connect to a webpage or to submit form data. With this update, Safari will keep trying indefinitely (or until you cancel the attempt).
With this update, a synchronized iDisk correctly resizes .Mac storage after its allocation changes.
Addresses a kernel panic issue that could occur when using an external, wireless USB broadband modem with Mac OS X 10.3.5.

Networking

Improves AFP service performance.
Addresses a situation in which a file name change that occured on a server while a client was running Terminal resulted in the client Terminal’s failure to recognize the change.
Addresses an issue that could prevent login via a network user account.
Resolves an issue for Mac OS X 10.3.5 in which, sometimes, network-based applications could not open an application from an automounted AFP volume, such as /Network/Applications/.
SMB/CIFS servers in /Network no longer suddenly disappear and reappear after the network changes.

Applications

Addresses an issue that could occur when using some scholastic information management applications with Mac OS X 10.3.5; this alert could appear: “Another module has ‘locked’ the MS Tx file. You will gain access when their task is completed.”
Addresses an issue in which “zooming” in Halo 1.0.5 could lead to blurry video when using certain Nvidia video cards.
Many calculating and conversion features within Calculator are improved by this update.
Addresses an issue in which TextEdit could unexpectedly quit when changing text from Euphermia regular to italic.
Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.3.5 in which Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 could unexpectedly quit.

Other

Improves ColorSync calibrating for Apple Cinema HD Display (23-inch DVI) displays.
Resolves an issue in which the display could sometimes remain dark when waking from display sleep (the mouse pointer might appear, but normal function could not be restored) if using Screen Saver password on a portable computer.
Adds WMC connectivity capability for Nokia 7610 phones.
Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.3.5 in which some glyph fonts, certain “Expert” or “dingbat” fonts, would no longer appear in some applications.
Resolves a situation in which incorrect characters could show up for some fonts.
Addresses some issues that could cause Classic to unexpectedly quit when starting up.
This update makes it easier to scroll through a long list of user names in the login window.
Includes recent Security Updates.

Using NetNewsWire to monitor for Opener

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:05:46 +0000

The most significant Mac news lately was the discovery of the Opener malware. Antivirus makers scrambled to protect against this “virus” which as I said, isn’t really a virus. It’s malware showing what one can do once they’ve compromised a machine.

I was reading the Cult of Mac Blog and they had an entry about a novel idea. Use NetNewsWire‘s new ability to read scripts as feeds to make a feed that will notify you upon new items being added to the /System/Library/Startup Items folder.

Opener Malware: The Straight Deal

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 17:23:38 +0000

After days of reporting about this story, I’m still rather disappointed by the coverage. Most writers have been pouring out pages of worthless hyperbole. Of most note and worthy of the most criticism are Cnet with Mac users face rare threat and ZDnet with Destructive OS X malware spies on Apple users. Leave sensationalism to the tabloids, boys.

Let’s get down to what Opener, or as Sophos calls it, SH/Renepo-A, is. First notice that Sophos reversed its name. Clever. Anyway, as linked to from the MacInTouch article, the script itself can be viewed at the Macintosh Underground Forum. The current latest version known is 2.3.8. Let’s lay out exactly what it does:

Shapeshifter: It's Magic

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:12:38 +0000

To be honest, I don’t use Shapeshifter, but I figure some of you might might be interested in a theme system for OS X. Especially recent converts, like you Katie (I did it again). Unsanity does some great work with their haxies, despite what anyone says. I’m a big fan of FruitMenu personally.

The reason I mainly bring it up is that the image in a recent blog entry changes (you have to force the image to reload by holding shift and clicking the reload button). So far it just changes color, but who knows what tomorrow will bring! Besides, maybe the new 2.0 version will have features that will draw me in.

Jef Raskin: Not a Guy You Invite to Parties

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 15:54:45 +0000

In a recent story at Macminute Jef Raskin pans Mac OS X: Unfortunately, the Mac is now a mess. It seems that Jef is now suffering from crotchity-old-man syndrome.

The Guardian article is full of vague criticisms of both the current state of the Mac and computers in general.

There has been immense progress, primarily in the richness of applications. But all this power is lost on many people, and impedes the utility of it for the rest, because of the unnecessary complexity of using computers. The quest for CPU power has been largely defeated by bloated software in applications and operating systems. Some programs I wrote in Basic on an Apple II ran faster than when written in a modern language on a G4 Dual-processor Mac with hardware 1,000 times sharper.

Important Mac Security Advisory

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 12:12:13 +0000

A nasty little script has appeared on someone’s machine. I suggest reading the entire page about it, though some sections are a little more technical than others.

This script does not exploit a known security hole in OS X. Rather, it does things that are all possible as an administrator and should be taken more as a warning about being careful about what you download and install. Not downloading software from services like LimeWire would be a good start. This is essentially a Trojan horse attack (like the Microsoft Office Installer Trojan). However, it’s more insidious in that its effects are not immediately visible, opting instead to facilitate things like allowing remote control and indentity theft.

Adium 0.7 Ready for General Consumption

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 19:13:59 +0000

I’ve been a big fan of Adium for some time now (ever since its very first release so long ago). It was the first and only Instant Message client to properly use the dock. With a quick glance, you could tell who just signed on or off, who was messaging. Because it was in the dock, you didn’t need to switch out of your current application to see notifications. The effect was also minimal, causing little distraction or taking up any screen space.

Alas, it was not without its failings, most prominently its lack of file transfer support and the ability to read away messages. The latter was nearly impossible to go without. It was an unfortunate side effect of the protocol being used. I was forced to move to iChat until this was addressed.

That brings us to Adium 2 (whose current number is less than 1, which I agree is confusing in many ways). Adam Iser, the author of the original program, made Adium into a Sourceforge project. This doesn’t work for all projects, as some just get neglected. However, after a slow start, their team started making headway, allowing users to download and compile their own copy off the development CVS. They now churn out regular milestone builds like any good open source project.

The most recent milestone (0.7) which is available at their website has some impressive features and though they may not agree, I think is ready for primetime and general use. The level of customization is unparalleled in any other product and save for audio/video and file transfers, is feature complete.

To go along with this customization, Adium has an excellent “Xtras” site to host them all. I personally have my own preferences, which I will post screenshots of once I get home.

These customizations include: * Dock Icons * Emoticons (Smileys) * Contact (Buddy) List Styles * Message View (Chat Window) Styles * Sound Sets * Of course, AppleScripts

Adium isn’t just an AOL Instant Message client either. It also supports: * MSN Messenger * Yahoo Messenger * Jabber (which according to rumor will be added to iChat) * Gadu-Gadu * Rendezvous * .Mac * and more

It also supports plugins, including one for the previously mentioned Growl. The possibilities are truly endless.

Honestly, this is the single project I’d like most to get involved with if I could only motivate myself enough to get Cocoa and Objective-C down pat.

Keep reading for pictures.

Apple Releases New iBooks

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:23:32 +0000

I know you’re all very excited boys and girls. Apple has bumped their iBook computers.

We now have: * A 1.2GHz 12″ iBook with 30GB hard drive and a combo drive * A 1.33GHz 14″ iBook with 60GB hard drive and your choice of combo or super drive

All three models sport: * 512KB of Level 2 Cache * 133MHz system bus * 256MB of PC2100 RAM built-in (with a single slot free, allowing for 1.25GB total) * ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 with 32MB of SDRAM * One Firewire 400 port * Two USB 2.0 ports * Video mirroring (no spanning) * V.92 56Kbps modem * 10/100Base-T Ethernet port * Airport Extreme on all models * Optional Bluetooth * Display supporting 1024×768 resolution

Mac OS X Power Tools

Thu, 07 Oct 2004 21:26:11 +0000

Thanks to my continued participation in Macworld’s Forums, I’ve gotten to know some of the Macworld writers. One of them is, of course, Dan Frakes.

He’s done me the favor of sending me a copy of his latest book, Mac OS X Power Tools. It arrived in the mail to today. The sheer size of it surprised me, but I am no less determined to read it cover to cover.

Once I do, you can look forward to a thorough review.

.Mac Now Sports 250 MB of Goodness

Wed, 29 Sep 2004 21:52:29 +0000

After months of being derided for a relatively small amount of space (100 MB of iDisk space, 15 MB of mail space), Apple has finally bumped up the space for .Mac to 250 MB combined (which you can allocate in any way you see fit).

I’ve been waiting for this for some time now. I use a .Mac address as my main one and some other services for other stuff. The main reason for this was that 15 MB wasn’t enough to keep all my mail for all time on the server. As a result, I use Gmail for all my mailing lists. Now I can rethink this and maybe use one address for everything.

The Next Great Mac Software

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 21:52:36 +0000

While it has mostly gone unnoticed until this point, Growl is some of the coolest new software around. It doesn’t do much on its own right now, but it won’t be long before lots of your software utilizes it.

Growl provides a notification system for all your applications. All a developer need do is send notifications to it. Current applications that you can use with it are:

Adium
Fire
iTunes
Mail
gCount
…and more

Growl has been around for a little, but only recently was a build offered to the public. Some warnings need be said. gCount will need an update to use the newly released build. You’ll need a version of Adium 0.7 (currently in beta).

MarsEdit and NetNewsWire 2.0 Public Betas

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 21:27:47 +0000

For some time now, I’ve been using MarsEdit to post to my weblog. It’s the standalone version of the blog editing capabilities that were part of NetNewsWire (Pro). I didn’t get to talk about this because it was private. With the now public beta releases I am freed of that obligation.

You can see more information on Brent Simmon’s Blog (which should be part of your RSS subscriptions by now). Simply said, it’s pure perfection. You can use it with any of a number of blogging software packages. This includes:

Software Piracy: Fighting Back

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 17:00:02 +0000

The Unsanity blog recently featured an entry on a shareware author that took a slightly more aggressive stance on software piracy.

Slightly might be the wrong adverb for this case as the mechanism employed had the ability to wipe out the offending user’s entire home directory. The author reportedly decided this was too harsh and removed the code a few hours later.

Why do I bring this up? Well, Unsanity wanted to keep quiet what the product and who the author was, but Slashdot ran a story today revealing the identity. The cat is out of the bag, as they say.

Watson Updates TV Pane and Restores EyeTV Functionality

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:38:29 +0000

I recently criticized Watson for removing EyeTV functionality from Watson’s TV Pane. Dan Wood has restored this and the iCal functionality (with caveats). I must applaud him for this. I think most Watson users would have taken the TV pane as was and thought nothing more of it. It’s great to see such dedication.

G5 iMacs Arrive

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:51:58 +0000

After a long iMac-less summer, Apple has announced the new iMacs with full specs and pictures.

I’d list them here, but I figure there’s not much point. You can all read. Of note is the fact that the iMacs are using a system bus that is a third of the processor speed. This is a first for G5’s, but probably won’t have a large effect upon performance. They’ve also adopted a new form factor that has essentially moved the entire guts of the machine into the LCD frame. This begs the question, why couldn’t they make a G5 Powerbook again? I won’t go off on a rant about misplaced priorities at Apple again. I’m sure that can come back another day.

HP Begins Selling the iPod

Mon, 30 Aug 2004 09:02:15 +0000

Months after the announcement that they would do so, HP has begun selling the iPod. Different faceplates can be gotten through HP (thought I believe they are actually sticker; I couldn’t get a picture of them because I refused to wade through their flash based iPod site).

This is a win-win situation for Apple and HP. Apple spreads its market dominence while increasing public visibility. HP gets to sell an existing product (meaning no reasearch and development costs) that’s already dominating the market. This allows them to sell the iPod at lower prices as well as bundle it with their own systems.

MacCentral Undergoes Re-Design

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 17:16:00 +0000

As probably nearly all readers of this site know, I am a volunteer moderator over at Macworld’s Forums. Macworld recently revamped their website and accompanying website, MacCentral, which a new design. It’s a radical change for sure, but uses CSS heavily to improve portability and loading speed.

It has also moved Macworld’s news site into the main site and pointed the comment system for those stories into Macworld’s existing forums. This had couple changes that went along with it. The first being that existing MacCentral users had to get new usernames at Macworld’s forums (resulting in 0 post counts). It also meant that existing discussions were in a different forum system.

From MacCentral: .Mac users get Virex 7.5

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 22:07:43 +0000

.Mac users get Virex 7.5: “Following McAfee Inc.’s July announcement that its Macintosh anti-virus software utility Virex would be updated to version 7.5 and released in August, the new version of the software is now available for download for subscribers of Apple’s .Mac online service. .Mac has offered previous versions of Virex as part of its basic service. Virex 7.5 incorporates new features including a background scanner, an “active” scanner that maintains connections to the local network and the Internet, new tracking and reporting capabilities, a schedule editor that lets you automate scans and updates and more.” (Via MacCentral.)

Omniweb Tabs, It's a Love/Hate Thing

Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:34:01 +0000

Many Mac users are familiar with Omniweb, the web browser. When I first started using OS X, Omniweb was the best game in town. Looking back, that was a rather sad state of affairs, but then again, Mac OS X 10.0 was pretty sad in terms of software support.

Soon Mozilla’s browser started shaping up as it approached 1.0. IE got a little better when it hit 5.2. Then Apple released Safari. We finally had a full array of viable alternatives. Mozilla lured me away from Omniweb’s substandard javascript support. Apple lured me away from Mozilla’s non-standard interface.

Perl and Shell Scripting: More than just for geeks

Fri, 20 Aug 2004 22:10:37 +0000

My work requires me to work on a Unix box for a good part of my time. For some of you, that may sound daunting, hard, or archaic, but really it isn’t. It sure beats trying to develop things on Windows every hour of every day.

It actually makes working with others exceedingly easy. We all look at essentially the same filesystem thanks to the wonders of NFS. One can log into another machine if their machine is loaded, or even into much larger computers that have no physical terminal. Very handy.

Rant: How do I do this? X does it.

Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:51:59 +0000

A large part of my time is spent reading and responding to posts at Macworld’s Forums. I enjoy learning new things, helping others, and generally raising the level of knowledge. It’s all very fulfilling.

All except a few select kinds of posts. Some of my personal pet peeves are fairly evident, cross-posting, repeatedly posting “It’s not working” and nothing else, calling a (forward) slash a backslash, etc.

Much less evident and I don’t mention because most people would interpret it incorrectly. That is the fabled “Windows does this” line. To give a little perspective, let me give an example:

From iPodlounge: Backstage: 42% report 4G iPod audio problems

Wed, 18 Aug 2004 23:42:31 +0000

Backstage: 42% report 4G iPod audio problems: “Exclusively for Backstage readers: This is an advance version of a news story that will appear on the main iPodlounge web site tomorrow morning. Having problems with your fourth-generation (4G) iPod? You’re not alone. Three weeks after the release of Apple’s newest iPods, iPodlounge readers have reported that approximately 42% of their 4G units have manifested an audio defect identified by iPodlounge, while others have complained of receiving soiled or physically damaged hardware….” (Via iPodlounge.)

When a “Grass Roots Movement” Goes Horribly Wrong

Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:21:31 +0000

Apple news lately has been dominated by recent interactions with Real and in particular, concerning their new Harmony technology (note: that link won’t work on a Mac) which threatens to penetrate the “closed” iPod (one can read more at Daring Fireball as to why calling the iPod closed is silly).

Up until this point, Apple and Real have sounded like two playground kids arguing over who is the “doody-head”.

Real: I’m going to play on the iPod.
Apple: No, you’re not.
Real: Yes, I am. You’re a jerk.
Apple: Am not.
Real: Are too.
Apple: Not.
Real: Too.
Repeat as necessary.

Up until this point, this has just been a lot of posturing done through press releases.

Apple Update Frenzy and Verizon Can Lick My Nuts

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 18:53:18 +0000

Apple has not only released an OS update for Panther and a security update for Jaguar, but they’ve also included several other key updates:

iPhoto 2.0.1
Java 1.4.2 Update 1
iSync 1.5

I don’t feel like linking them up, so hit Software Update or your favorite software update site (like Versiontracker).

iSync 1.5 brings support for new devices, including the Motorola V710 (Verizon’s first Bluetooth phone). The bad news is that Verizon will be crippling the V710 to promote sales in their own ring-tone service. That means that syncing will take place over a USB cable only. While this is better than nothing, it means I’ll either be waiting to see if a Nokia Bluetooth phone will grace Verizon’s lineup with fully functional Bluetooth or get a cheaper Motorola with USB syncing (like the V60s). It’s disappointing to say the least.

Obligatory OS X 10.3.5 Update Notice

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 23:00:16 +0000

You know the deal. Hit up Software Update.

More information is available here.

For those of you using 10.2 or want to stick with 10.3.4, Apple has also issued security updates, available here.

Archiving Your IMAP Mail using Mail.app

Sat, 07 Aug 2004 17:58:18 +0000

I’ve gotten into a habit of periodically reducing the number of emails I keep on the server with my IMAP addresses because, unfortunately, I don’t have a huge amount of space with them.

This is a relatively simple task. You create a local email folder (in the “On My Mac” section) and drag all your messages there. This will create a .mbox file (a very standard format) in ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes.

Take those files and back them up to a stable medium like CDs and you’re done. It’s quick and easy. Entourage does have the advantage of allowing you to drag straight from its windows to somewhere in the Finder, but I find this one extra step insignificant.

Apple posts iPhoto 4.0.3 update

Fri, 06 Aug 2004 08:36:55 +0000

Apple posts iPhoto 4.0.3 update

Following a short lived release of iPhoto 4.0.2 (which was posted and then revoked a few short hours later), Apple has released iPhoto 4.0.3. The difference? No one knows but Apple, which is becoming a very strong trend.

Most users are assuming that it has something to do with extended start up and shut down times associated with the previous update, but in typical Apple style, this new update’s notes exactly match those of the old one. Is it so terrible to admit a mistake and delineate what has changed? If they truly are the same, why not use the same version number?

From MacMinute: Linux on the Rise

Thu, 05 Aug 2004 09:47:14 +0000

Linux on the Rise

Macminute has a couple stories on Linux in relation to Macs.

The first is that Linux has surpassed the Mac as the second most prevalent desktop OS. It’s not entirely surprising as Linux combines the low price of x86 hardware, the low cost of the Linux OS, and the hard stability and functionality of a *nix operating system. It’s ideal for many corporate and software development settings. Despite looking like a loss for Apple, this is actually a win. Increased use of Linux will lead to the necessity of all businesses needing a cross-platform solution. It will also decrease the amount of web pages that are Windows IE only as more and more customers will not have that as an option. Additionally, most software being developed for Linux is also being made available for OS X through the terminal and X11. This is a major win for Apple.

.Mac Mail Aliases

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 08:46:42 +0000

Most .Mac users may not have noticed, but mail aliases are available for use through .Mac’s webmail interface. You choose another email address (_yourchoice_@mac.com) and all mail to that address goes to your existing account.

The primary purpose for this feature is fairly obvious. It allows you to have “throw away” addresses to use in situations in which you don’t trust the entity you are giving your email to. If you begin to receive a lot of spam through that address, you simply disable it. Other services have had this for a while, but it’s a welcome addition to .Mac’s existing tools. .Mac’s web-mail also color codes incoming email according to the alias address they came in through (very nice). It’s finally being exposed by websites like MacFixit. I actually discovered this gem several weeks back and never thought to tell anyone about it. .Mac’s documentation actually makes no reference to it.

From Maccentral: Apple versus RealNetworks: A lawyer's perspective

Tue, 03 Aug 2004 13:49:17 +0000

Apple versus RealNetworks: A lawyer’s perspective

My interpretation of this whole situation? Apple should let Real do whatever it is planning, but use of those files will be completely unsupported by Apple. Users are on their own if they decide to use them (or Real can do the support work). Additionally, Apple doesn’t make any guarantees about future firmware working, so if the files stop playing, Apple can say “Talk to Real”.

Netscape: Back from the Dead

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 10:36:10 +0000

Netscape fans will be thrilled to hear that reports of Netscape’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Netscape 7.2 will be making its debut very soon as reported by MacMinute.

From what I had read earlier, this new version will be based on Mozilla 1.7, which is one of Mozilla’s most stable releases. In fact, I believe that was their priority issue for that milestone.

This doesn’t affect me so much as I use Safari on my Macs and Firefox on my work computer. It is a good thing for those that refuse to use anything but the big two (Internet Explorer and Netscape). It also means that modern Mozilla-based executables will begin gracing corporate desktops again as well (again, because support is generally restricted to the big two).

Get Well Steve!

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 10:24:36 +0000

As reported on every single Mac news site under the sun, Steve Jobs has undergone surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer. I wish him a complete and speedy recovery.

You can read more about it at Maccentral.

eBay Fraud in All Its Hilarity

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 00:06:25 +0000

I can’t say too much about the two following links as they are fairly self-explanatory.

I will say that they are worth the extremely long read.

By reading these stories you can also figure out common scammer tactics on eBay. Any experienced eBayer will already know all the do’s and don’ts, but it’s still worth the read.

Without further ado, they are:

The Sal Wise Fraud

P-P-P-Powerbook

An Email Client without IMAP?

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:50:53 +0000

It’s hard to believe that in this day and age that any email client doesn’t support IMAP. For those of you who already know what IMAP is, you can skip down to the next paragraph. IMAP is a mail protocol, like POP, only more powerful. The POP protocol, while ubiquitous. is very simple. It stores messages on the server in a simple queue that one downloads and deletes from the server one at a time. That mail is then stored locally on your computer, accessible no where but that server. While this may work fine for many people, it’s limitations are impossible to ignore for power users. With IMAP, the messages are stored permanently on the server, including a complete directory structure to file messages. This allows one to access their mail at any time, load only messages you want to see instead of having to download them all, and allows mail providers to place a web interface on your mail.

New iPods, No New Menu for You!

Tue, 20 Jul 2004 08:31:58 +0000

Apple released new iPods officially yesterday. New features include multiple on-the-go playlists, the ability to delete songs from those playlists, a revised menu including a “Music” entry as will as shuffle within easy access.

Apple also released a firmware update for all iPods, or so it would seem at first. They actually did not release an update for any iPod other than the new ones.

This has actually left existing users out in the cold. I can understand if certain features simply weren’t possible with existing iPod hardware (the ability to slow or speed up Audible content), but shifting access to the shuffle function into the main menu should be brain dead easy. It’s already implemented and in place on existing iPods, all that remains for Apple is to implant a menu item to access that call.

New iPods Monday

Sun, 18 Jul 2004 01:23:40 +0000

From MacMinute, Newsweek has the new iPod on its cover. Other new sites are saying that Monday will bring the formal announcement on the net.

New features include a clickable scroll-wheel (a la iPod Mini) and smaller size (physically, not storage). It looks to be a rather incremental upgrade.

This is the second time Apple has made public new announcements in a major magazine before announcing them otherwise. The first time was of course when the iMac G4 graced the cover of Time magazine. It was in fact possible to find out about the new iMac in Time before reading it on the net (other than through sites that basically referenced the article in Time).

G5 iMacs in September

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 09:11:30 +0000

Apple announced during a coneference call, that G5 iMacs are on the way. Here’s my spin:

Apple must make the G5 iMac an entirely new form factor. I’m not talking about simply changing how it looks. It has stop being an all-in-one with little upgrade possibilities. The best form factor I think they could adopt would be that of the late G4 Cube. Putting the G4 Cube’s failings aside, I believe we can all agree that it had a large target audience. Those that want moderate expandability, flexibility as far as the display goes, and an inexpensive price. We all know that the G4 Cube’s failing was its price. Nothing else was wrong with the machine. Most of its customers were happy with the level of performance and expandability (the lack of PCI ports, etc. was not troublesome). In fact, many people were crying for a headless iMac. This I can go along with.

End of the Week Spectacular

Fri, 09 Jul 2004 09:49:40 +0000

The weekend is a few scant hours away, as is yet another Red Sox game. I must be setting some kind of record here. I’ve gone for over two decades without going to a Red Sox game while living in Massachusetts, and now I’m going to at least three this year. The season isn’t even half over yet.

My Macally BTMouseJr is on its way finally. I’ve been waiting with baited breath for it, obsessively checking my order status over at Page Computers *ding*. It has since gone to backorder status there, so it appears that this mouse is in high demand. Now I can shift my attention to UPS and their web based package tracking system.

Pith Helmet 2.0 Beta

Fri, 02 Jul 2004 08:53:50 +0000

Due to using a Windows XP based computer at work, I have become very familiar with Firefox. By far, one of its vest features is an extension for it called “Ad Block.” This sweet little add-on lets you quickly and easily block ads or other content. It’s completely intuitive. Right click on something and it will give you an option to “Block Image” or “Block iFrame” dependent upon what the ad is contained within. It will then allow you to edit the URL to replace sections that are variable with an asterisk (*). Quick, easy, effective, and has a hugely significant effect upon load time.

A Trip to the Dentist (or, a Mouse of a Different Color)

Thu, 01 Jul 2004 11:00:33 +0000

Bluetooth is still considered a hot technology and was meant as a cure all for wireless peripherals (such as Palm Pilots, mice, keyboards). Once Bluetooth hit the streets, we were supposed to see all kinds of new products, virtually eliminating products based on other wireless standards.

That didn’t quite happen. Apple released their Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but again, the one button mouse hinders its utility for many users (including myself). Logitech released the MX900, Microsoft released a Bluetooth version of their venerable Intellimouse Explorer, and Belkin released one as well. However, Logitech’s lacks drivers for Mac OS X, making all but the main three buttons useless (at least until the next version of USB Overdrive is released, which promises Bluetooth support), the same goes for Microsoft’s (but add the fact it uses the old form factor without the tilt-wheel, it doesn’t compare with the RF version), and Belkin’s, well, it doesn’t need drivers, but it chews through batteries from what I’ve read in reviews.

Mac OS X Tiger and Other Mac News

Mon, 28 Jun 2004 18:05:28 +0000

The first and most major news of this fine Monday is Apple’s preview of the next revision of Mac OS X, code-named Tiger. Apple’s introduced some very provocative new features, all of which are documented (albeit informally) at their Tiger preview site.

The first feature to catch my eye was Spotlight. Based upon Apple’s new Metadata-based search technology, Spotlight brings live search to not just the file system or Mail atomically, it allows for system wide searching of many services including Mail’s messages, contacts, calendar entries, the filesystem, etc. all at the same time. Very cool. However, following a disturbing trend that Apple is perpetuating, Spotlight also very closely resembles one of my favorite pieces of software, LaunchBar. Live searching across multiple data types is what LaunchBar excels at (especially the upcoming 4.0 version which has many, many file types and databases integrated into its own search engine).

No Glove, No Love, Part 2 (or I Need a Seatbelt)

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 09:51:15 +0000

You’re all very tired of hearing about my latest purchase. Well, I have a nice L.L. Bean briefcase-like laptop bag that I’ve been using for about 4 years now. It’s a great bag. It served me well all through college. What made it even better was that it’s computer compartment fit my old Powerbook (the Pismo) perfectly. It was tight and snug in its padded compartment. It even had it’s own sleeve type thing that fit it.

No Glove, No Love

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 11:09:23 +0000

Now that I’ve had my Pismo for 4 years, I’ve noticed some marks on the screen that aren’t oils or dirt. They’re scuff marks from my keyboard rubbing up against the screen. This has gotten exponentially worse since I actually started carrying my laptop to class with me (mostly because of the prevalence of wireless Internet available at U-Mass).

It’s such a widespread problem that companies started selling screen protectors. This includes Other World Computing, Radtech, Shaggymac, Acme Made, and Marware. I know there are even more than that, but I didn’t feel like writing out URLs all day.

EyeTV and TitanTV

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 09:58:57 +0000

For my last birthday, I got an EyeTV from Elgato Systems. For those of you not familiar with the product, it’s essentially a TiVo type device for one’s computer. You can record TV shows to watch later, watch live TV (with a small time delay for encoding), and pause live TV (the feature I use most by far).

In order to efficiently use the EyeTV, it’s necessary to have access to some type of TV guide in your computer that allows for channel selection and selection of shows to be recorded. Elgato provided this with an account at TitanTV. This had two limitations: it’s a web based interface and you had to use IE with it. Both of which are something I’m not interested in.

Countdown to a New Powerbook (8 days)

Thu, 10 Jun 2004 22:50:13 +0000

After four great years with my Pismo, it’s time I moved on. I’ve been putting off replacing it because it’s no longer my primary computer (not since I bought a Powermac MDD a couple years back). Being a college student, beer soaked up most of my free funds and as such, a new Powerbook wasn’t a reality until now (with my fabulous software engineering job, take that outsourcing!).

Well, I’ve decided that portability is the way to go. The new Powerbook 12″ looks to be a good move up from a 500 MHz G3 to a 1.33 GHz G4 (which is faster than both of the 1 GHz processors in my Powermac). With the better video card, better optical drive, Airport card, etc., it should keep me entertained (at least for 2 years). I know I’m probably buying the last Powerbook G4, but that’s ok. I made my peace with getting the last Powerbook G3 and next to last Powermac G4.

New G5s = Whining?

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 10:56:54 +0000

I’ve been interested in Macs since early in my teens years while I played with my family’s Quadra 660av. I had to be satisfied with that for many years with the only major upgrade that I could get my father to go along with being a fancy new 56k modem (back when the two standards were duking it out). I was happy with that even though I watched the PowerPCs come out and climb to the hundreds of MHz. This is going to date me, but today’s teens have no respect or perception of reality. They even make me ashamed to be associated with them.

The Second Mac OS X “Trojan”

Wed, 12 May 2004 21:17:09 +0000

According to Maccentral, Intego is warning about another “trojan” virus for OS X. I use that in quotes because although it may match the technical definition, it’s hardly a threat, nor is it the result of some kind of security hole.

As others have said this is a “social engineering exploit”, preying on the stupidity of computer users. This Applescript is simply disguised with a custom icon, causing users to trust that it’s a Microsoft Office 2004 installer.