Macs

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. ...

.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.) ...

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. ...

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. ...

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: ...

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.) ...

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 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.

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.

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.