Archive for April, 2008

Psystar … I Don’t Care!

Published at April 30, 2008 in rant. 2 Comments
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Things have been a little crazy lately in the day job so I’ve not had much time to keep up on Mac news. Tonight I decided to take catch up with my RSS feed and was surprised to see so many posts and articles concerning Psystar’s Apple clones. Apparently a few of them are in the wild and everyone seems very excited about it. I must admit, I’m baffled.

So it is great that folks have gone commercial with the hackintosh concept but I can’t understand why anyone would want to buy one. They may be slightly cheaper but then again, they may also just turn into a brick with the next software update. Furthermore, they really aren’t that much cheaper. I remember back to 1987 when getting a new Mac and printer would run you about four thousand dollars minimum. Back then a hackintosh would have had a toehold. But these days Apple’s prices are not that bad. On the low end, a Mac Mini is very affordable. On the other end there really isn’t that much difference (either in hardware or price) between a MacBook Pro and a Dell XPS which can cost up to $4300.

Call me a fan boy but I’m sticking with Apple hardware. I’ve got 20 years of trench warfare experience on the PC side fighting hardware, software, and operating systems made by different people with no intention of cooperating. To the arguable extent you are paying a premium for Apple products, you get it back in saved time almost immediately. With Apple’s current pricing, I will be very surprised if any of these commercial clones get any traction.

Review iWeb Buddy

Published at April 29, 2008 in Reviews and iweb. 0 Comments
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When it comes to web development, I’m hardly a power user and I’ve found iWeb to be just fine for most of the web based projects I’m involved with. That being said, there are a few features I do miss in iWeb 08. Zarra Studios comes to the rescue with its $25 add-on for iWeb called iWeb Buddy. Put simply, iWeb Buddy picks up the slack for iWeb.

First, it allows you to manage multiple domains. While iWeb natively supports multiple sites, it does not allow you to separate these sites into multiple domains. iWeb Buddy makes it easy to manage my family site (which publishes through .mac) and some other business sites that are published elsewhere.

Another shortcoming in iWeb is web statistics. Using iWeb Buddy you can enable statistics tracking such as Google Analytics or Mint. iWeb Buddy puts the necessary scripts in and gives you access to all of those great statistics so you can figure out exactly how many people from all over the world are reading your site. As an aside, macsparky.com is huge in Fiji. Go figure.

iWeb Buddy also gives a boost to RSS support. It allows you to get that RSS button off the top of the page and place it where your readers are more likely to notice it and it also allows you to tie your feed into statistical tracking services, like Feed Burner. Finally, you can make your iWeb site friendly to social bookmarking services such as Digg and del.icio.us. You simply click a preference and iWeb Buddy does the rest.

iWeb Buddy is designed around iLife 08 and a license will cost $25. I know some of the functions in iWeb Buddy can be found in other applications. A few of them are even free. However, the benefit of iWeb Buddy is in the combination of these tools all in one place and ease of application. If you are looking to upgrade your iWeb site, iWeb Buddy should scratch the itch. You can find it at zarrastudios.com.

Two Words: Buy AppleCare

Published at April 25, 2008 in applecare. 8 Comments
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About six years ago, before there was such a thing as a “Geek Squad”, I had an extended warranty on an HP computer I bought at a big box retailer. The sound card started failing so I turned it in. It took me three months and the exhaustion of my entire collection of colorful epitaphs to get it back and and it was still broken. I finally fixed it myself and swore never to buy another extended warranty in my lifetime.

Well times change and if you have a lick of common sense, you eventually find yourself replacing your PC with a new Mac and (if you are like me) you probably get intoxicated by all the Apple Store karma and go ahead and purchase AppleCare despite the fact a not so small part of you is screaming “No, No, No … for the love of Pete No!”

Well fast forward to the last few months and Apple was finally presented with an opportunity to prove the value of AppleCare or validate my more cynical side. I’ve been dealing with a recurring problem with my USB port on my MacBook Pro. It just seems to have a mind of its own and with increasing frequency has been kicking off printers and USB drives. Most notably it garbles up recorded audio which can be extremely frustrating. As a result, it has been in and out of the Apple store several times.

During this period the Apple Genius gang has replaced the logic board (twice) the i/o board as well as a few other parts. I think they even put in fresh cheese for that little mouse on the wheel. To rule out software being the cause, I even did a complete rebuild of the hard drive.

Despite all these valiant efforts, the USB port still keeps on failing. This morning the Irvine Store Genius crew officially declared it a lost cause. For the first time in many years, I felt bad about the death of my computer. With my PCs it usually felt like a relief when the computer finally died. Almost like it had been put out of its misery and was now in a better place where there were no such things as autoexec.bat files and viruses. With my MacBook Pro, I felt like Elliott as they were wheeling in the crash cart on E.T. and declaring him dead. That MacBook Pro represented my return to the fold. It marked the end of my PC purgatory.

Of course, on the other hand this means AppleCare is springing to give me a new MacBook Pro. The new machine is faster than the old machine in just about every way. I went ahead and paid for an upgraded screen and processor, (the LED on the MacBook Air has spoiled me forever) so it will be a week until I have the new machine. It is a good thing I seem to have the setup process figured out.

Getting to the point of this post (there is a point) I must say that AppleCare is a “must buy.” The Apple folks really tried hard to fix my machine and you could tell how frustrated they were that their fixes were not sticking. You hear so many bad stories about computer tech guys. I found the complete opposite to be true at the Irvine Apple Store. Those guys were working hard on the problem and calling me regularly with status updates. They understood how much I rely on my computer and acted accordingly. You really couldn’t ask for better customer service.

Great Link - Apple Pro Tips Archive

Published at April 24, 2008 in Tips. 1 Comment
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A good friend sent me this link to Apple’s own Pro Tips Archive. This is the veritable mother-lode of OS X tips handy for veterans and switchers alike.

Rebuilding Your Mac from the Ground Up

Published at April 23, 2008 in Tips. 3 Comments
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Since posting about the fact that I was rebuilding my Mac, I’ve received a lot of emails from readers curious about how I did it. I’m actually surprised about the number of questions on this subject so I thought I’d explain the steps I took in a bit more detail for rebuilding your Mac from ground zero:

1. Clone the Drive.

I use SuperDuper but CarbonCopyCloner also works. No matter what, have at least one clone before you push the button to erase and install. This way you’ve always got the old system available once you start the process of rebuilding. This also gives you the option to simply copy over your old data to the fresh OS X install. That process only takes a few hours and usually is good enough to fix most problems but this post is about starting from zero so I’ll push forward.

2. Keep Your Passwords and Licenses Close By

There are a lot of ways to save your passwords. Some folks use Yojimbo, others use Excel sheets and some of the smarter ones just keep a text file or a mail archive. I do it through 1Password which is great for the rebuild because it is all in the keychain.

3. Erase and Install Leopard

Get the new operating system installed and run the software update utility. It probably will need to run a few times before everything is square but before long you’ll have a very clean copy of OS X on your Mac.

4. Load the Stuff that Pays the Bills

In my case that is Microsoft Office, iWork, and the Omni Applications. Once again there will be a series of software updates.

5. Load the Stuff that Makes You Smile

Just the essential fun stuff. One of the points here is not to go crazy. So for me the photo and music software got loaded along with the stuff required for me keep MacSparky running.

6. Get Productive

There are a few applications that just make everything easier. In my case that is Text Expander, Quicksilver, Default Folder X and a few other gems.

7. Load the stuff that Keeps Your Mac Running

I put on the essential utilities like MainMenu, OnyX and other things geek.

8. Sync It Up

For me this was SugarSync and .Mac Sync getting everything sorted out.

9. Stop

The key for me on a rebuild is not to go crazy. Put on the essentials and make everything else earn its way back onto your drive. I view it as audition time for my applications. You’ll be surprised how many applications don’t make the cut and you will quickly realize what the silent heroes are.

Finally, I would recommend you only do a ground zero build up when you absolutely have to. All of those little tweaks that you’ve spent years making will be gone and you really will spend a lot of time getting it back. I have had some hardware issues that required this rebuild and while it really isn’t that hard, it can be a pain.

What did I miss? Sound off in the comments.

Playing with HDR

Published at April 23, 2008 in hdr and photography. 4 Comments

Lately I’ve been trying out some new photographic techniques. One of them is HDR (High Dynamic Range photography) As I understand it, this is usually accomplished by combining multiple exposures at different stops and digitally combining the best parts. This allows you to get details in both shadows and bright spots. It is becoming much more common as you see these fantastic skyline pictures showing up all over the internet. For my first attempt I cheated a little bit. I took a single shot and adjusted the exposure in Aperture to make a high, medium, and low exposure version. I then exported the versions and did the HDR work on those three versions.

The original shot …

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After HDR adjustments …

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It certainly fixed the trees in the shadows but I actually prefer the non-HDR shot. This is probably due to operator error more than anything else. If things go according to plan, I am going to Hawaii this summer and I definitely want to get this figured out before that happens.

Text Expander Releases Version 2.1

Published at April 22, 2008 in textexpander. 1 Comment
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Text Expander is one of my favorite applications. I use text snippets for everything from email to legal briefs to applescript code. If you do any sort of repetitive text entry, you owe it to yourself to give Text Expander a try.

The new version 2.1 includes several improvements. According to the developer version 2.1 adds the following:

- Allows single character abbreviations
- Improves performance and reliability for fast typists
- Remembers open groups in Preference pane
- Preserves format when creating snippets from selection or Clipboard
- Fixes problem expanding when there are multiple nested snippets
- Minor fixes and improvements

I’m most interested in increased reliability for fast typists. Occasionally, Text Expander stumbles when I type too fast which can be frustrating. I’m interested in what the users are using Text Expander or any of the other text snippet applications for. Sound off in the comments.

New iCal Enhancement: Today

Published at April 22, 2008 in iCal and today. 1 Comment
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Second Gear released a new application called “Today”. This one is for those iCal users envious of the Entourage “My Day” application bar. For comparison you can see the similarities below:

Entourage My Day

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Today

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I have limited experience with both applications but as an initial opinion, I think Today looks better but Entourage is more functional. I’d like to see Second Gear get Today off my dock and into the menu bar.  It would be nice if I checked the preferences closer before complaining about a missing feature that is actually there.  Furthermore, rather than scrolling side to side, I’d prefer you to be able to wheel down to subsequent days like we do on our iPhones. Regardless, I seriously doubt many people are going to choose a side in the Entourage vs iCal/Mail debate simply based on the daily summary application. I’m just glad the iCal folks who are looking for this now have an option. I may do a more in depth review later but for now, you can download a free trial of Today from the developer and a license runs $15.

Rebuilding the MacBook Pro

Published at April 20, 2008 in Hardware. 5 Comments

For a variety of reasons I’ve decided to take my MacBook Pro to ground zero.  This morning I pushed the button on the OS X install disk and today I’ve been re-loading the essentials.  I keep a lot of applications on this machine.  I am, however, only going to load the applications I actually use as I rebuild it.  That is right.  My applications are on notice.  They are going to have to *earn* their way back.

It will be interesting to see just how bloated my applications folder becomes in a few months.  Stay tuned.

MacSparky One Year Blogaversary

Published at April 17, 2008 in MacSparky. 7 Comments
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It was a year ago that I had this crazy idea to start a Mac blog and posted my first entry to MacSparky in all of its iWeb splendor. Since that time, the site has moved to wordpress, and now its own server. There are some interesting stats for the first year.

* Roughly 80,000 hits;
* 384 Posts;
* Over 500 Comments.

It really is amazing considering that I only had 300 hits in the first two months and now it is extremely rare for me to get less than 300 hits in a single day. In the overall scheme of the Interweb, I’m barely a blip on the radar but I still can’t help but be impressed.

Now all those clicks really are amazing but by far the best part of MacSparky has been all of the new friendships I’ve made. Between readers, other bloggers and podcasters, developers and other folks in the Mac-o-sphere, I’ve made countless new friends and shared many laughs and good times. I’ll never forget that first day at MacWorld when some random stranger looked at my pass and his face lit up and he shook my hand, “Hey Macsparky! I read you all the time.” My ego was so inflated, it took considerable effort to get my head through the Moskone Center doors.

So it has already been a year and I look forward to many more. For me, the blogging, podcasting, and screencasting has been a great way to unwind from the day job and truly a joy. Thank you all for reading, watching, teasing, laughing, and joining in the first year of MacSparkky.

MacUpdate Bundle

Published at April 16, 2008 in macupdate. 1 Comment
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While I wasn’t too excited about the latest MacHeist, I did buy the newly released MacUpdate bundle. I was already planning on buying MenuCalendarClock and Leap (reviewed here) and Hazel (reviewed here). If they unlock Parallels it will be icing on the cake. It runs for another 12 days. I’m wondering how many of these applications will release fee based “updates” soon after it ends. The Parallels folks told me at Macworld they are trying for one major update a year and they are about due. Either way, if you are going to buy the MacUpdate bundle and want to help pay for the site costs, buy through the affiliate banner on the left and I’ll get $3 of the purchase.

OS X Keyboard Shortcut to Add Link to Email

Published at April 15, 2008 in Tips. 9 Comments
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Having conquered the issue of printing to PDF with a keyboard shortcut, I decided to take on another little thing that frustrates me constantly. I often send links to friends and readers. In Mail.App, in order to get the “insert link” box you have to click the mouse three times.

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Edit –> Link –> Add.

When you are in the middle of typing an email, this is a pain.

Once again, the Keyboard system preference pane to the rescue. Here are the steps…

1. Add a Keyboard Shortcut for Mail

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2. Insert the Menu Title “Add…” Once again, for the ellipsis, make sure to use the key combination “option” + semicolon (;). I have no idea why this is so but don’t argue with results.

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3. Type in your keyboard shortcut. I’m using shift + control + L

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That is it. Next time you find yourself writing an email and want to add a link just type in your shortcut and forget about the mouse. Up pops the link window.

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About Mac Clones

Published at April 14, 2008 in hackintosh. 5 Comments
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In what can only be interpreted as another sign of gaining market share, the movement to hack OS X onto PC boxes has gone commercial. Psystar promises to sell its “Open Computer” (earlier today it was “Open Mac” but I suspect some lawyers caused that to change) with better hardware at a cheaper price than Apple and even a version with OS X pre-installed.

To be honest, the idea of hacking OS X onto a windows box has about as much appeal to me as eating caviar in an outhouse. The reason I like the Apple echosystem is because it IS an echosystem where everything works together. Spending countless hours trying to keep OS X running on a machine it is not supposed to work on defeats the purpose. Psystar even explains that updates aren’t certain on their Mac clone.

From Psystar’s site ….

Can I run updates on my Open Computer?
The answer is yes and no. No because there are some updates that are decidedly non-safe. Yes because most updates are not non-safe.

What the writer lacks in grammar skills are more than made up for in creativity*

I understand how some argue that Apple shouldn’t keep OS X as an Apple hardware exclusive but after being stuck driving a PC for many years I say keep it locked down with padlocks and thick chains. I have my doubts whether Psystar will be allowed to stay in the Hacintosh business very long but it certainly will be interesting to see how it all develops.

*Credit for finding this gem actually goes to John Gruber.

Review - Big Bang Brain Games

Published at April 12, 2008 in Reviews, big bang brain games and freeverse. 1 Comment
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I’m what you would call an “old school” gamer which means while I’m generally cannon fodder in Halo, put me on a 25 year old stand-up Tempest game and watch out! So I’ll admit I’m not the most up to date gamer out there but I’m also a parent. When I saw Freeverse’s Big Bang Brain Games I was immediately interested. This looked like something that would be fun for my family to do together.

So we installed Big Bang Brain Games on the iMac and took a crack at it. This software actually includes six games. They are all rendered with 3-D Graphics and have a whimsical sense of humor.

Sudoku is … well … Sudoko. It has over 50,000 puzzles included from “Easy Breazy” to “Diabolical.” I wanted to show my 11 year old some of my Sudoku strategies. Well that was my plan but before long she was showing pity and helping me out.

There is also a MineSweeper clone called NovaSweeper and one called Echo that reminds me of a game I used to play as a kid called Simon. You have these four colored spheres. Each emits a tone in sequence and you have to repeat them. As you get better, the spheres start spinning.

Remembrance gives you a deck of cards with various symbols behind them. You have to flip the cards and look for matches. I used to play this game as a kid with a deck of cards and we called it “concentration.” When I played this game with my kids in Big Bang Brain Games, my six year old beat me. Are we starting to see a trend here?

I thought Reaction was the most innovative game. You have a board full of molecules. The goal is to pop as many as possible with the fewest clicks. If you get it just right you create a chain reaction that clears the whole board. This was much more satisfying to me than it probably should have.

My favorite game, however, was Fallacy, which is a logic based riddle game where an argument is placed on the screen and you have to choose how it logically fails with choices such as “Hasty Generalization”, “Appeal to Fear”, and the “Gambler’s Fallacy.” Well I finally thought I had a game where I could win and then my wife showed up and beat me like an old rug. So I guess it really is back to Tempest for me.

The games tracks your “Brain Usage” which I found a bit intimidating and for those of you who like to brag, it can upload a page of your scores to .Mac. The 3D graphics are very attractive for what are, essentially, 2D games and the dialogue is fun and family friendly. You can download a free trial at freeverse.com. Check it out with your kids but prepare for humiliation.

The New MacHeist

Published at April 12, 2008 in macheist. 5 Comments
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This time MacHeist has changed its business plan. For $49 you get Awaken, Cha-Ching, CoverSutra, DevonThink Personal, iClip, Overflow, Wallet, WriteRoom, XSlimmer, Enigmo, Budgom 2, and Nanosaur 2. They plan to release a boxed version at some point. Gone is the tiered system where more purchases gets more software. Also gone is a really stellar title to suck me in. (Last time it was Pixelmator). There are a few of the applications that seem interesting to me (WriteRoom and iClip) but I must admit I’m feeling a bit underwhelmed with this MacHeist outing. I’m not sure if I’ll bite this time around.

MacSparky Flickr

Published at April 12, 2008 in flickr and photography. 0 Comments
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Some of you may remember earlier this year when the California wildfires nearly took MacSparky headquarters. Well I’ve been hiking up into the hills and taking pictures. It is amazing how fast nature takes over. I’m thinking I’ll print a few of these for my office but not sure yet. Let me know what you think.

Scripting for Lawyers

Published at April 11, 2008 in Links and applescript. 3 Comments
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Today I stumbled upon a site that seems custom built for me. Larry Staton, a Charlotte attorney, has built a site all about automating your Mac for legal work called, appropriately, Scripting for Lawyers. The site has lots of interesting tips and tricks and most of it can apply to anybody interested in automating their Mac so head on over and check it out.

MacSparky Music - Ruby, My Dear

Published at April 10, 2008 in MacSparky Music. 1 Comment
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It has been awhile since I posted any music so I thought I’d add another Thelonious Monk song to the mix. “Ruby, My Dear” is one of my favorite songs to play when I need to unwind. I really like the harmonics at the end that mix tension with resolution. It just seems right. I recorded this in one take. I hope you enjoy.

Download “Ruby, My Dear”

Logic Board #3

Published at April 10, 2008 in Genius Bar and Hardware. 7 Comments
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My MacBook Pro is at the Apple Store getting its third logic board and, strangely, I’m okay with that. I first noticed a problem with the right USB port dropping off when accessing a USB Drive or recording. After some diagnosis at the Apple Store, they figured the logic board needed to be replaced. So I turned it in and a few days later got the cal to pick it up.

When I showed up, a very nice Apple Genius explained the new board had a small defect for the onboard battery (the one that keeps time when you shut it down). They had already ordered a replacement but told me to take the Mac home until the new one showed up. Sure enough, they now have the replacement board and are setting things right. This was a great consumer experience. Not because the board was wrong but because they cared enough to figure that out and get the situation resolved even before I knew about it.

As an aside, if you ever get a new logic board, make sure to de-authorize your iTunes account before the replacement. The logic board has the serial number on it so to the rest of the world it is like you got a new computer. It looks like I’m also going to need to restart the Time Machine.

Revisiting Microsoft Word

Published at April 9, 2008 in Word. 2 Comments
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I have not always been kind to Microsoft Word on the Mac. Put simply, Office 2004, was a slug on intel Macs. It was slow to load, slow to type, and clunky. It was also a resource hog since its not inconsiderable code had to be ground through Rosetta. I simply found it easier to use other applications.

It has occurred to me recently that this has changed. I’ve been using Office 2008 for a few months and have found it serves an important role in my day job once again. A lot of the work I do is collaborative. I write agreements and contracts all the time and, sadly, I can count the number of Macs on the other end of that process on one hand. So it is a given that I’m dealing with Microsoft Word on the other side of the table just about every time.

Word 2008 cures a lot of its predecessor’s sins. It loads pretty snappy and doesn’t get in your way when typing. I think the Microsoft Mac:BU has also made some significant strides in making it feel . . . well . . . more Mac-like. I met several of the Office developers at Macworld and a lot of those guys really “get it” with the Mac experience. For me, it was real eye opening. Microsoft Word is legendary for having every imaginable feature. The Microsoft Mac engineers had to retain all of that stuff and still make a pleasant to use Mac application. That is not exactly easy. Nevertheless, they did a good job of containing it all.

Most importantly for me however is compatibility. Microsoft Word on the Mac is rock-solid compatible with that “other operating system.” I can send complicated pleadings and forms and nobody ever knows they were made on my Mac. While Pages can do the same for simple documents, on more complex documents, things break down.*

Another thing I like about Word is the way it has embraced automation. Built in automator scripts and plenty of Applescript support make Word an attractive option for me on a lot of my transactional forms. I already blogged this once but plan on following up on this in the future.

So without really thinking about it, I’ve found myself going directly to Microsoft Word increasingly often. Put simply, Word is back on the team.

* This doesn’t mean Pages is out of the rotation. It also certainly doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped using my “precious” Scrivener. When it comes to detailed research or long documents, you’d have to pry Scrivener off my my cold, dead hard drive.