Rebuilding the MacBook Pro

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.

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MacSparky One Year Blogaversary

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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.

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OS X Keyboard Shortcut to Add Link to Email

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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

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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.

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Review – Big Bang Brain Games

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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.

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The New MacHeist

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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.

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Logic Board #3

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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.

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