No 269, August 2006 - ACT Apple Users Group

www.actapple.org.au
ACT Apple Users Group Inc.
P O Box 1231
Canberra ACT 2601
No 269, August 2006
This Month at Hughes Baptist Church Hall:
Photoshop Retouching and
Artistry with
Stephen Holmes
Genealogy with
David Rymer
OK! Is that clear?
1
Hughes Baptist Church Hall
Groom Street
Hughes
Please leave access to the
Entrance free for those who are
bringing equipment.
If coming by bus,
Routes 20, 34 or 83 from Woden
or Civic will get you there.
Tuesday, 8 August 2006
– Main Hall –
7:30-8:25 pm - Peter Holmes talks about Photoshop Retouching and Artistry
8:35-9:30 pm - David Rymer talks Genealogy - Processes not Programs.
– Seminar Room –
7:30-8:25 pm - Trevor Drover does Mac Basics
8:35-9:30 pm - Working with the Finder and System Preferences
(speaker TBA)
– Back Room –
7:30 - 8:30 pm
Membership renewals, help desk
Sunday, 12 August
Committee Meeting – 11 am – Weston Club (fmrly Royals)
Tuesday, 22 August
Chez George’s (email George at <[email protected]> - places are lim-
Tuesday, 5 September
Newsletter Stuffing – 5.15 pm – Weston Club (fmrly Royals)
ited.
2
Contents
President’s Desktop
A Word from the Editor
Training with ACTApple
Notice of AGM and Nomination Form
ACTApple OSX CD Contents List
Random Bytes
Out to Launchd
The Mystery of the Burnt Thighs
The Mystery of the Recalcitrant Photoshop Files
Unintelligible Garbage is Your Friend
Making Presentations OmniDazzling
Special Offer to Members
Ivan’s WordCross
Technical Assistance
4
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5
6
7
8
11
12
13
14
14
15
16
About our Cover Photo
Photo taken by a friend in a hotel lift in China. I think it means to say:
Dear Guest
To avoid the possibility of falling please hold on to the rail. Stand behind the yellow line. Old
people, children and pregnant women should be especially careful and are advised to hold on to
someone else for fear of accident.
Thank you for your cooperation.
As I said in the last issue I love quaint notices and this one is right up there with the best of the ones
on show on the web. Do a Google search (I still can’t bring myself to use Google as a verb) on “japlish”
and you will get some 75,000 hits. If you do it on “Engrish” Google reports over 2 million pages. All of
which is a fascinating way to waste time (as though you needed another one).
And in case anyone thinks I’m being unkind to our Asian neighbours, please understand that I am
fully conscious of what I might produce if I attempted to compose a sign in Chinese using a dictionary.
For free “Technical Assistance” after hours (6pm to 9pm) the following have volunteered their services:Trevor Drover
6241 7558 Hardware, OS X, OS 9 and earlier
Clive Huggan
6247 0672 MS Word
Steve Neilsen
6295 7379 Filemaker, Printers
Ann Tündern-Smith
6285 2995 Excel, Genealogy, Photoshop
In the daytime you can call George the Help Desk 6247 0051 between 10 am and 4 pm.
As we are not computer professionals, our expertise is limited. If your Mac requires professional service, you can
take it to the Apple Center (6257 0808), on the ANU Campus, or to Mac1 (6280 0808), 178 Gladstone St Fyshwick.
For professional on-site service call Pat “themacguy” Kelly on 0412 910 968.
Contact numbers for various aspects of committee business are shown on the last page.
ACTApple Answering Machine 6288 4428
Please call Committee members and helpers between 6 pm and 9 pm only.
3
President’s Desktop
The front seat or the back seat?
As you now know our AGM is next month. I’ll be taking
the opportunity presented by our usually large AGM attendance
to discuss options for providing training within the group. I urge
you to have a look at our advertisement in this newsletter and
consider what can be done. If you can’t make it on the night I’d
welcome your thoughts via email or in person.
Nomination forms are now in circulation and of course if
you need a hand drop me a line and I’ll get it sorted for you. As
expected we’ll gleefully continue to ask for others to join us on
the committee.
However there is, I believe, a natural state for entities such
as our user group and that state is determined by the level of involvement the membership chooses to have. Perhaps sustainable
growth in a volunteer group is a function of member involvement, and not solely cost-effectiveness (which I’m given to understand we provide very well). I would argue that’s it’s incorrect
for a president to push growth further than the membership want,
and that they mostly demonstrate their wishes via involvement.
So how would this translate for the coming year? Simple.
If the membership doesn’t feel the need to involve itself in the
provision of the services, then perhaps the services are excessive.
Our newsletter, presentation nights, the DPSIG, help facilities and
the proposed training venture are all things which are candidates
to be scaled back or dropped altogether. The role for a president
then would become one of assessing what to shrink or grow and
providing suitable sponsorship for ventures based on the goals of
the group and the needs of it’s members.
To keep ACTApple flexible I would have no discomfort
changing services and fees to keep the balance our group desires.
Otherwise the group risks committees that get over-loaded, which
means stressed and de-motivated. That can translate into poor attitudes, and once that happens the president has failed and the
group will fail. Dreaming up more services then assuming they’re
wanted is a recipe for this failure.
But don’t feel set-upon, we know not all members can contribute. 10 years ago I (and of course my partner) had young children and that was that. Real life forces itself as a priority so let’s
recognise that and stay with reality for the moment. But we have
over 230 members. If you, as a member forking out a fee, are
capable and able to participate and you think ACTApple is a worthy venture then you should try to the find a way. Otherwise it’s
equally important that you communicate your views or they are
unlikely to be considered when I open debates with the committee.
Apple ‘spyware’
Some of you may have noticed in the past few weeks several discussions about a recent update to OS-X which included
the ability for the system to connect to Apple in the background
and check that your widgets were the latest versions. It’s certainly
rattled the cage of a few people. In our newsletter and through
our email group we’ve been advising people to consider ‘watcher’
programs such as the excellent “Little Snitch”, which stops every
attempt to connect from your computer to the outside world until
you give explicit permission.
When issues like this come up and you’re uncomfortable that
you may not be fully aware of what’s happening on your computer, remember you can always raise the questions with your
user group cohorts. This shared knowledge capability is the most
powerful part of ACTApple, particularly with the rapid change of
technology, so make sure you get your money’s worth.
Cheers,
Frank Pope
[email protected]
A Word from the Editor
Well here we are again. I sometimes feel myself slipping into “Two Ronnies” mode here - you know the line - “In
a packed programme tonight we meet a man....”
which is to the effect that publications like ours are welcome
to reprint/redistribute providing acknowledgement is made.
Most other publications (either in print or on the web) are
It is an up and down sort of month. On the one hand jealous of their copyright. This means that when I’m pushFrank was both prompt and frugal in his Desktop thus leav- ing to get the issue finished before the practical deadline set
ing me room here. But on the other my regulars were suf- by the printer I don’t have time to write begging emails to
fering from writer’s block, leading me to a heavy dredging publishers asking for permissions.
effort in TidBits. I even contemplated inflicting a piece writSo we have a couple of imaginative pieces from Adam
ten by myself but then decided there wasn’t room and I had Engst - one on a software problem, the other on a hardware
to put in the Special Offer ad anyway.
problem facing people with Intel MacBooks; Matt Neuberg
It might be worth mentioning here that the reason Tid- on the kerfuffle about Apple inserting a “phone home” bizzo
Bits turns up more often than other sources iin these pages in OS X 10.4.7; a good piece on practical encryption for anyis because it subscribes to the Creative Commons principle one with a notebook who is likely to leave it on a bus or a
plane by Derek K Miller; and a little note on OmniDazzle by
Glenn Fleishman.
Then of course we have the indispensible Random
Bytes and Ivan’s WordCross and George has also included
the contents list for the OS X CD. And please have a look
at the offer on page 17 and the request for input on training
on page 4.
Heavy hint: The AGM notice and nomination form
are on page 5.
Well that’s it from me for another month. For the next
issue I will, with a bit of luck, have completed the piece on
note-keeping software that I started for this issue.
4
Training With ACTApple
ACTApple members have been requesting training programs since before IBM said ‘personal computers will never catch on!’ Well for years the committee haven’t done anything,
but we HAVE been listening :) In fairness it takes two to train, and we could only ever find trainees. So what’s changed? Not much, but it is something that we would like to try to fix. The
committee has looked at two options and would like to raise the issue with you, as a member, to find the most beneficial way forward.
Requirement
As we understand it club members desire the following:
✬ Individual lessons on specific computer programs
✬ Low cost. Then a bit lower again.
✬ Able to use their own machines if they wish
✬ Tutoring (as opposed to lecturing)
✬ Not to have to travel at night, especially in winter
Additionally the committee has the following requirements
✬ To be able to choose to train, but not be forced to ‘fill the void’
✬ To not see a drain on club funds
Option 2 – Barter system to buy/sell training hours
Option 1 – Classroom style
training at Hughes Church
Overview: Saturday morning 10am in a class on 6 to
10 people using either their own or ACTApple
computers in a minimum 2 hour class on a specific topic.
Overview: Members advertise/answer training requests on an internetbased ACTApple database. 1 hour of training given can then be
used to buy 1 hour of training from another member. Each member will have an individual balance. A limit will be kept on how
many hours can be accrued/owed.
Expected trainee cost: $30 per hour
Expected trainee cost: free
Cons: needs a trainer, costs for facilities
Cons: will need a volunteer administrator, possible for people to abuse
the system
Pros: Earns money for ACTApple, small classes mean
higher quality training, excellent value for trainees, demand driven, would be ok to bring own
machine
Pros: No money needed, recognises that everyone knows something
that can be useful to other members, one-on-one training, possibly
no increased committee workload, training in the home
The next step
The committee would like to raise this question at the AGM in September. In the leadup to that discussion I would welcome
any comments you have about the above options, other options we haven’t thought of, or general thoughts about the need for
training within ACTApple. Please send all comments to [email protected] or feel free to call me at 6161 3309.
5
YY/MM
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General
Nominations for Committee positions are
Meeting of the ACT Apple Users Group Inc. will be sought. Additional forms will be available at the
held on Tuesday, 12 September 2006, from 7.30 to July and August Presentation Nights, or may be ob8.00 pm, at the Hughes Baptist Church Hall, Groom tained from the President or the Secretary.
Street, Hughes.
Nominations may be posted to ACT Apple,
BOX 1231 GPO Canberra, 2601, or delivered by
hand, but must in any case be in the hands of the
Secretary, Mr Trevor Drover, by 7.30 on Tuesday, 5
September 2006.
Frank Pope, President
Nomination for Committee - 2006/07
Membership No.
Full Name
Expires
YY/MM
I wish to nominate for the following positions on the committee of the ACT Apple Users Group Inc. *
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
OrdinaryCommittee Member
Member’s Signature
*You may nominate for more than one position, but can hold only one position
Full Name
Membership No.
Full Name
Expires
/ /2006
Membership No.
Expires
We the undersigned support the above nomination*
*The nomination must be signed by two currently financial members of the ACT Apple Users Group Inc.
Member’s Signature
/ /2006
Member’s Signature
YY/MM
/ /2006
6
ACTApple OS X Collection – June ’06
The ACTApple OS X Collection CD contains a selection of
Apple software updates and Shareware/Freeware programs
for OS X running on PowerPC and Intel Macs. On the
PowerPC CD some items have a Panther and a Tiger version,
whilst the Intel CD has the 10.4.7 Combo Intel Update in
place of the 10.3.9 and 10.4.7 Combo PPC Updates. Make
sure you get the right CD for your version of Mac OS X and
Mac. Copies are available at the Help Desk on Presentation
Nights for $10 or $12 posted by mail.
Item
Notes
GarageBand 3.0.2
gc59ub.dmg
Graphic Converter
HoudahSpot 1.2.dmg
iCalEvents.wdgt.zip
iCalibrate_v1.2.zip
Colour calibration utility
iClipLite v1.2.zip
Multiple clipboard Widget
iDVD 6.02 dmg
iGetter2.5 En.dmg
Assists with downloading from the
Web
install_flash_player_osx.dmg
Item
Notes
Invisible Finder.zip
Finds invisible files
iPhoto Buddy 1.2.4.dmg
Makes multiple iPhoto
AdbeRdr70_enu_full.dmg
Adobe PDF reader
libraries
AppleWorks Enhancement Pack.zip
iPhoto604Update.dmg
iPhoto 6 Update
AppleWorks6.2.9Updater.smi
iphotodiet.dmg
Removes duplicate files from iPhoto
appzapper.dmg
Application un-install utility
iPhotoLibraryManager.dmg Makes multiple iPhoto
audacity-macosx-1.2.3.dmg
Audio
libraries
Audio Recorder 2.2.zip
iTunes605.dmg
burnz.dmg
CD burning utility
J2SE50Release4.dmg
Java Update
Camino-1.0.2dmg
Browser
JumpCut 0.6.tgz
Text only multiple clipboard
CDFinder 4.3.2.zip
Cocktail 2.3.dmg
Maintenance utility – Jaguar/Panther keyboardhints.pdf
keycue1.0b2.dmg
Keyboard shortcuts
CocktailTE.dmg
Maintenance utility – Tiger
LaserLight2.0.2.dmg
Spotlight enhancement
coconutBattery 2.5 zip
Battery monitor
LineIn.dmg
Sound utility
DiscBlaze6.dmg
CD burning utility
LittleSnitch_1.2.2.dmg
Monitors applications’ calls
DiskCatalogMaker26.dmg
home
DownloadDeputy5.dmg
Assists
Macaroni-2.0.6.dmg
Automatic cron utility
with downloading from the Web
MacJanitor_1.2.1.dmg
Manual cron utility
DropCompress.zip
Creates TAR archive
MacOSXUpdateCombo10.3.9.dmg
Includes
EasyEnvelopes.zip Single envelope addressing Widget
Panther Security Updates to date
EasyFind.dmg
MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.7PPC.dmg
Includes Tiger
Emailchemy.dmg
E-mail box converter
Security Updates to date
EudoraMailboxCleaner.dmg
MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.7Intel.dmg
Intel version
Firefox 1.5.0.2.dmg
Browser
Mactracker403.dmg
Who’s Who for Macs
FirstPage.app.zip
Simple layout application
Mail Siphon II US.zip
Read mail on
Flash Player 6 OSX.zip
server before downloading it
Flip4Mac WMV 2.0.1.dmg
Plays WMP movies in
Memtest411.dmg
RAM tester
QuickTime
MenuCalendar-1.7.2.dmg
Calendar sits in Menu bar
FolderLister Lists contents of a folder in the Finder
MouseLocator.dmg
Cursor visibility aid
Front Row Update 1.2.2.dmg
Item
Notes
OneFingerSnap.dmg Right-click with one-button mouse
OnyX_153.dmg
Maintenance utility – Jaguar &
Panther
OnyX.dmg
Maintenance utility – Tiger
Order Prints.pkg
Lets you order prints from iPhoto
Pacifist_2.0.dmg
Application Installer Package
extractor
pcr301.dmg Print Center Repair – Jaguar & Panther
pdf-plugin-222.dmg Let’s you open PDFs in browser
PDFshrink31.dmg
PDF compression
Perfboard.img
Graphic activity monitor
PickChar English.zip
Free character insertion
utility
PopCharX30-Install.dmg
Character insertion utility
prefcheck232.zip
Identifies orphan Preferences
printwindow.dmg
Prints contents of Finder window
psr422PE.dmg
Printer Set-up Repair – Panther
psr504TE.dmg
Printer Set-up Repair – Tiger
Psst.zip
Silences start-up sound – v. good for laptops
pt.dmg
Checks Preferences for corruption
QuickTimeInstallerX.dmg Installs QuickTime 7.04
Quitling 2.0.zip
Quit all applications
REALSound Folder.zip
Sound extractor
safari_enhancer.dmg
SafariUpdate-2.0.1.dmg
Shockwave_Installer_Slim.dmg
Skype 1.4.0.35.dmg
Internet telephone utility
SnapnDrag.dmg
Dock substitute
SolitaireTillDawnX1.4.5.dmg
sound_studio_224.zip
Audio recording utility
SoundSource.dmg
Menu bar sound source controller
SpamSieve-2.4.3.dmg
SPAM stopper
Spotless11.dmg
Spotlight controller
stickywindows.dmg Turns Finder Windows into tabs
stuffit_exp_10_x_install.dmg
SuperCal_1.1.4.dmg
Colour calibration utility
SuperDuper!.dmg
Bootable backup utility
SwitchBack.dmg
File synchronisation utility
TAR 2.0.dmg
Creates TAR archives
7
Item
Notes
textsoap4.dmg
“Cleans up” text
TextWrangler_2.1.dmg
Formerly BBEdit Lite
ThumbnailPro1.1.1.dmg
Icon builder
TigerLaunch.dmg
Supplementary Dock utility
TrimTheFat.zip
Removes X-86/PPC code from
Universal Binaries
UnPlugged.dmg
Warns you when your power
cord is disconnected
usb-overdrive-x-1045.dmg
General purpose USB
driver
vuesca83.dmg
Scanning utility
vuestart.pdf
VueScan How-to
wClock-3.0.dmg
Menu bar clock and calendar
Google Calendar
I consider iCal to be one of
the most useful accessories
that came with OS
X, but then, apart
from my involvement with ACTApple, I don’t have any need to share my
calendar with anybody – family is different,
w e
use the kitchen calendar for “shared” events.
For those that have found sharing event information using iCal unsatisfactory (read “too much like hard work”!), maybe Google’s Calendar
(http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/overview.html, free) may be what
they were looking for?
My Calendar
I know – iPhoto has a perfectly good calendar making facility,
but have you tried to print the result on your inkjet printer? Well, that’s
where MyCalendar (http://www.mycalendarsoftware.com/dabpages/MyCalendar.htm, $US40) comes in. You can not only create a calendar that will
display on screen, but you can actually print it as well.
eMac Repair Extension Program
The eMac Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues
applies to
eMac computers that exhibit a certain video or power-related issue as
a result of a specific component failure. These computers were sold between approximately April 2004 and June 2005. Affected systems have
scrambled or distorted video, no video or no power, and serial numbers
where the first five digits fall between G8412xxxxxx - G8520xxxxxx,
(http://www.apple.com/support/emac/repairextensionprogram/)
CAT HAIKU
The food in my bowl
Is old, and more to the point
Contains no tuna.
Tiny can, dumped in
Plastic bowl. Presentation,
One star; service, none.
There’s no dignity
In being sick--which is why
I don’t tell you where
From: http://www.fanciers.com/haiku.shtml
YM412xxxxxx - YM520xxxxxx, or VM440xxxxxx - VM516xxxxxx.
If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) determines
that your eMac computer is eligible as part of the program, the repair
will be covered by Apple for up to three years from the original date of
purchase even if your eMac is out of warranty. This is a worldwide Apple program.
Apple Updates
As a general rule you can depend on Software Update (providing
you haven’t switched it off) to advise you that a software update from
Apple is available. One trick many users don’t know is that you can tell
Software Update that you’re not interested in getting updates for certain
software – e.g., I don’t have an iPod, so I’m not interested in being told
that iPod software has been updated. Next time you have Software Update open, remove the tick against whatever software update you are not
interested in. Now high-light the software update’s name in the Software
Update window, go to Update on the Menu bar and click on Ignore Update.
If you have more than one Mac in the house, downloading the same
update several times can be both a pain in the butt and expensive. There
are two solutions here. The first involves using Software Update itself
– click on the name of the Update you are interested in, and again go to
Update on the Menu bar, but this time click on Install and Keep Package.
Software Update will install the item on the Mac you’re currently using,
but, in addition, it will stash a copy of the Update in your HD/Library/
Packages folder.
Or, you can do what I do – let Software Update (or Random Bytes!)
alert you to the fact that there is an update you might like to have, then go
to http://www.info.apple.com/support/downloads.html and locate the Update
you need. The advantage is that you get a .dmg (e.g. iPhoto604Update.
dmg) file that you can stash away in a place of your choosing (e.g. Archive?).
Anyway – to Updates. Apple have released a small (only 35MB!)
update to iPhoto 6. Not sure what it does for me – I don’t use Greeting
Cards or Postcard templates for any purpose, but, you never know …
Apple have also released iTunes 6.0.5, which lets you sync your iPod
with your Nike running shoes, but also includes a security fix, necessary
if you’re into downloading AAC files into your iTunes. And, just as you
thought that your troubles with QuickTime – particularly if you are using
an Intel Mac – were over, Apple goes and releases another QuickTime
“Update”. This time it’s to fix some problems with previewing stuff in
iDVD. This one’s a bit obscure – there’s a Firmware Update for the 17”
Powerbook Pro at http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookpro17in
chsmcfirmwareupdate.html.
I’ve been hearing about the Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update for about
four weeks or more, as Apple progressively released test versions into
the wild. This update somehow reminds me of the Mac OS X 10.3.7
Update, which cleaned up a lot of loose ends in Panther, much as this
one appears to be doing in Tiger. You can find all the detail at http://www.
info.apple.com/kbnum/n303771, but it can be summarized as a series of
minor tweaks to pretty well every aspect of what came with the original
installation. One thing is for sure, the audio performance has been significantly improved – I’ve had to turn my external speakers down even
further!
Depending on which version of the Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update you
need (want?), the download ranges from 217MB for the 10.4.7 Intel
Combo version, 145Mb for the PPC Combo version to 131MB for the
Intel or a mere 64MB for the PPC delta version. Note that the delta ver-
8
sion will only work if you are updating from 10.4.6, otherwise you might
get “You cannot install Mac OS X Update (Power PC/Intel) on this volume. This volume does not meet the requirements of this update.” Be
prepared for the dual boot that came to us courtesy of the Mac OS X
10.4.6 Update and that the re-start may take quite some time, dependant
on the Mac’s processor speed.
However, DropCopy only works with Macs – as far as I can tell.
If you want to move files to Windoze PCs you need CrystalFire Wormhole (http://www.crystalfiresw.com/products/wormhole.html, $US15 per
computer, $US50 for a ten PC licence). Except that it works in a mixed
environment there is no real visual difference between DropCopy and
Wormhole.
As usual, I will have the PPC Combo version on the Help Desk
iBook. I have, in the past, begged and pleaded for some generous soul
who has an Intel Mac to assist me by downloading the Intel Updates
.dmg files and putting them onto the Help Desk iBook for the benefit
of those members who might baulk at downloading such huge files. Finally, rather than waiting for a miracle, I downloaded the 10.4.7 Intel
Combo myself, meaning that both are now available from the Help Desk
iBook.
All the above though depend on you having a network – generally
Ethernet, though Airport will do. But what if you don’t have a network?
Simple enough. You can connect two Macs with a Firewire cable (you
can pick one up for about $5 at Dick Smith’s, or you can borrow mine,
I have several that I cart around), and restart the Mac that you want to
copy the files from in Target Disk Mode by holding down the T key when
the Mac restarts. Very shortly after it has started up you’ll see the famous
yellow Firewire Y on its screen, and its disk icon will have shown up on
the “other” Mac. You can now move files back and forth with impunity
– though I have found that it is usually a good idea to run Repair Permissions on the Mac that you were transferring the files to.
Finally, for the benefit of those who haven’t got a Memory Stick
yet, or forgot to bring it along to the meeting, I have prepared two new
ACTApple OS X Collection CDs – one for PPC Macs and one for Intel
Macs. And they still cost ten bucks, twelve if you want me to post one
to you.
Moving Files
If and when I have to move files from one of my Macs to another,
I usually do it through the “sneaker net” using a Memory Stick. It means
that I have to go over to the other Mac only once to switch it on and
copy the files into their final location. That, of course, assumes that both
Macs have USB. If not, I fall back onto my trusty SCSI Zip drive for
the non-USB Mac and, of course, a USB Zip drive for the “other” Mac.
However, if you have a network of Macs that are being actually used you
might find that there are better ways of moving files than the venerable
“sneaker net”.
If you’re a masochist you can enable File Sharing in System Preferences >Sharing. As far as I’m concerned, having to remember passwords
and such for the rare occasion where I do move files from one Mac to
the other is too much like hard work. Another way is to use iChat in
text mode – though this requires that the person at the other end also
has iChat switched on. Simply drag the file you want to transfer into the
iChat text box – and let the mug at the other end sort out where to put
it. The beauty of the iChat approach is that it will work over the Internet
as well.
Then there is DropCopy (http://10base-t.com/#dropcopy, free for up
to three Macs, $US25 for networks). It puts a dark circle icon on your
desktop (at a location selected by you – I have mine in the bottom right
hand corner of my screen. When you drag a file over the DropCopy icon
you are told what other Macs with DropCopy active are on-line. Select
the one you want to send the file to, and it will end up on the recipient Mac’s desktop. And DropCopy takes care of the Firewall setting for
you.
Sorting Safari Bookmarks
I prefer the way the Finder presents me with a list of files//folders –
in alphabetical order. And the one place where I would really appreciate
seeing my stuff in that order is within Safari’s Bookmarks folders. Which
is why I was most interested in a tip by Rob Griffiths in MacWorld. To
sort your bookmark folders you apparently have to do it manually, but to
sort the bookmarks within folders is easy. Open the folder you want to
sort in Safari’s Bookmarks. Drag the folder out of the Collection column
in Safari to the desktop, open it in List view, close it and drag it back
into the open folder. Safari will treat this now sorted folder as a new subfolder. Drag the new subfolder into the Collections column, put it where
you find it convenient and delete the original folder. Trouble is though
that next time you add a bookmark to that folder Safari will put it at the
bottom of the list – still, it’s better than sorting the stuff manually.
Address Book Widget
The Address Book widget comes as part of Tiger – and is actually
one of the more useful widgets around. To install it, launch Dashboard
and click on the Address Book widget in the Dashboard bar. What comes
up is a small window where you can enter the name of the person you’re
looking for, and, like Searchlight, the Address Book widget will generate
a list of possible matches. Click on the name you were looking for, and
whatever you have for that person in the Address Book is displayed. As
Dénes Bogsányi points out, if you click once on the phone number, and
an enlarged version appears – big enough, in my case, to see it clearly
from across the room. OK – now click on the address, and a map showing the location – you can enlarge it to the point where you have the
equivalent of a street directory entry – comes up.
I’ve known all along that I had the Address Book widget in my
Dashboard, but it wasn’t until I saw Dénes’ tip that I started to actually
investigate it. Which makes me wonder how many other little tricks like
that are known to you, which the rest of us don’t know about?
LargeType
Cold Pizza Software have extended the facility to enlarge text to
work from within most applications – pity it doesn’t work in M$ Office. Go to http://www.coldpizzasoftware.com/largetype/ and get it for free
– or better still, sling the author a few bucks so that he can get some hot
pizza!.
Erasing a Re-writable CD/DVD
Beats me why, considering that the re-writable CD/DVD usually
costs four or five times as much as the once–only type, anybody would
want to use them, so here’s hoping that those who haven’t yet rung the
Help Desk asking how to erase them might read this. To erase a re-writable CD/DVD insert it into your Mac’s CD/DVD drive. If there is anything on it you want to keep, copy those files/folders to your HD. Now
go to Applications >Utilities >Disk Utility, select the CD/DVD in the left
hand column and click on the Erase in the middle panel. You’ll find that
Quick Erase is ticked by default. Click on the Erase button in the bottom
right hand corner. Now go and collect your PhD in Rocket Science.
Routine System Maintenance
I know that for many fellow members (and others!) the term Routine System Maintenance is something they prefer to avoid as long as
possible, because it’s so “complex”! Well, Randy Singer has made it
about as simple as possible to understand OS X System maintenance and
run it with his excellent Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance web site
at http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html. And it’s free – except that Randy
actually expects you to read what he has written and take notice. The
methods and tools Randy recommends are aimed at the average Mac
user, and I can vouch from personal experience that they work.
OnyX 1.7.1
Even if all you use your Mac for is to surf the web, the occasional
e-mail and the even more occasional word processing, the chances are
that, just like your car, it can do with a spot of maintenance. For my
money OnyX (http://www.titanium.free.fr/index.html, free) is the best utility
around for such maintenance. And when you use your Mac as intensively
as I do, it gets difficult to live without it.
AppleJack
One of the easiest to use and quickest ways of getting a troublesome Mac to respond is to boot into Single User mode (restart holding
down Cmd-S) and type in /sbin/fsck –yf at the # prompt. This command
runs the Mac’s Disk Repair utility, and it will either allow you to restart
normally, tell you that it found, and repaired, some problems (at which
point you should run that command again until it reports that your disk
appears to be OK), or tell you that your hard disk is “stuffed”. If you’re
9
uncomfortable using command line instructions, the options are to use
the Startup CD/DVD that came with your Mac, select Disk Utility once
the CD/DVD has loaded and run Repair Disk. That’s if you can remember where you stashed away that CD/DVD. The last alternative is to use
AppleJack (http://applejack.sourceforge.net/, free), which not only lets you
run Disk Repair without having to use command line instructions or to
use the Startup CD/DVD, but also provides a whole swag of other useful
cleaning routines that you can run. However, you should note that for
AppleJack to work you have to have had it installed before your disk
started to give you trouble.
Burn
It is possible to burn CDs/DVDs from within quite a number of
Mac applications, however sometimes you may decide that it’s a damn
nuisance to have to open an application (such as iDVD for example)
simply to burn a file. This is where Burn (http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/,
free) comes in handy. Unfortunately it requires Tiger to work, but at that
price …
Toast 7
Roxio have released an update to Toast 7 (http://www.roxio.com/en/
support/toast/software_updatesv7.jhtml, free), which now is a Universal Bianry. I consider Toast to be the easiest to use and best all round software
for burning CDs and/or DVDs. Of particular interest is that this update
also includes and update to CD Spin Doctor, my favourite LP to CD
recording software. There’s only one fly in the ointment – the download
is a mere 80MB!
Third Time Lucky?
Microsoft has updated its Office 2004 for Mac release with an
11.2.5
update
(http://www.microsoft.com/mac/autoupdate/description/
auoffice20041125en.htm) that’s also available for download using the AutoUpdate feature of Office. The new version improves security in Office
2004 and Excel 2004 – specifically the update corrects a problem that
allows an attacker to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory
with malicious code. Also improved in this patch is Entourage 2004.
Calendar events no longer display the warning “Events and computer
time zones do not match” when opened. The update also includes improvements made in previous releases. And so that those of you who
have been too mingy to update from Office X don’t feel left out, Microsoft have released an update for Office X as well – a mere 38MB.
I don’t use Entourage nor Powerpoint – in fact all I have actually installed on my iMac are Word, Excel and the other bumph that M$ insists
I have to have on board to let these two run happily. I didn’t bother with
the last update (on the principle of letting sleeping dogs lie) and I think I
might similarly hold off on the 11.2.5 Update until further notice.
Opera 9
Way back in the nineties a sudden explosion of web browsers hit us
– some suggest that it was in response to the utterly pedestrian offerings
that were available back then. One of these was Opera, which I recall
impressed me – not particularly favourably – as having probably the
most Windoze like GUI of any browser, even Internet Exploder 5. Well
the crew at Opera have released Opera 9 (http://www.opera.com/, free).
Whatever else they might have improved, the GUI is still as awful as
ever, even worse than Firefox.
Camino 1.02
Must be a coincidence, but the day after the release of Opera 9 the
crew at Camino (http://www.caminobrowser.org/, free) released a security
update to what is my second favourite browser. Because Camino automatically imports Safari’s bookmarks, I find that switching between
the two browsers is as easy as falling off a log. And it has a really nice
GUI!
Safari Enhancer
I like Safari as it is, but… For the benefit of those who feel that
certain features in Safari are less than ideal, Safari Enhancer (http://www.
celestialfrontiers.com/safari_enhancer.php, free) may well be the answer.
Note that you need to download the correct version of Safari Enhancer
for your version of Safari.
Imagebuddy
I consider that good quality photo printing paper is, at about $2.00
a sheet, expensive. If I’m going to use such paper I want to use all of a
sheet, without wasting any (if I can help it!). This is easy under iPhoto 5
or better, but if you haven’t got iPhoto 5 (or even if you have!) I would
strongly recommend you have a look at Imagebuddy (http://www.kepmad.
com/, $US19.00).
MacFamilyTree
This is for the genealogists amongst us – MacFamilyTree 4 (http://
www.onlymac.de/html/stammbaum4en.html, $US49, $US20 for the update).
I have never used it myself, so my comments are based on looking at
what it offers, and what it does offer seems to pretty well cover all the
bases, and, unlike with creating your own database, here all the design
work has been done for you. I wonder if somebody in ACTApple who
actually has used MacFamilyTree would like to tell the rest of us about
it?
HoudahSpot
I mentioned this little Spotlight utility two months ago. It adds several layers of functionality to Spotlight. Fairly obviously the developer
has not been sitting on his/her hands, as HoudahSpot 1.2.2 (http://www.
houdah.com/houdahSpot/, $US 14.95) demonstrates. If you’ve already
tried HoudahSpot you might like to update your copy, if not, why not
find out what Spotlight ought to be like (and – maybe – even will be like
in Leopard?).
SoundStudio
Audiophiles unite – Freeverse have released yet another iteration
of SoundStudio (http://www.freeverse.com/soundstudio/, $US79.95). For
the benefit of the Great Unwashed, if you’re at all serious about recording sound using your Mac, without first getting a PhD in Astrophysics,
you can’t go past SoundStudio. The current version works on Intel Macs,
meaning you need 10.4 or better.
Final Vinyl
I have a rather large record collection that I have been transcribing
– gradually – to CD. I started out using the Griffin iMic and Final Vinyl,
but then I acquired Toast 6 and with it came CD Spin Doctor. Both offer
different ways of actually processing the recording, for me the advantage
of CD Spin Doctor is that I can transfer the finished result to CD without
having to switch applications. Final Vinyl (http://www.griffintechnology.
com/support/imic/, free) has now been updated to version 2.1 for Macs
running Tiger – and any resemblance to the “old” Final Vinyl seems to
be limited to the name. I would recommend you download the manual as
well – things have changed enough to make it worth it.
TextWrangler
Anyone who was familiar with BBEdit Lite will immediately recognise TextWrangler (http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/,
free). The latest update includes a number of “fixes” and minor refinements.
Mariner
Many years back I was forced by the vagaries of Excel 3 to find
an alternative. ClarisWorks was simply not powerful enough for what I
needed to do, and I tried Mariner Calc. It did everything that I had been
using Excel for, except that it didn’t crash at the critical moment. Unfortunately that copy of Mariner Calc was bought by my office, and stayed
on the office Mac when I left. I have since then several times looked at
both Mariner Write and Mariner Calc as alternatives to M$ Office. If
you’d rather not have any M$ stuff on your Mac, you might well consider going to http://www.marinersoftware.com/sitepage.php?page=20 and
having a good look at what’s offered.
PopChar X
As far as I am concerned, PopChar X (http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharx/, $US29.99) is one of those “must have” utilities. The ver-
sion I’m currently using places a small P in the top left corner of the
screen. Click on it and it displays all the available characters for the
font you’re currently using. Click on one of these characters and it gets
inserted at the cursor. Need a special character – no problem, simply
scroll down through the list of fonts until you find one that includes these
special characters. The latest release is not only a Universal Binary, but
it also has had some tidying up applied to it, making it even more userfriendly than before. Highly recommended.
10
Flash Player 9
Adobe have released Flash Player 9 (http://www.adobe.com/products/
flashplayer/, free) for PowerPCs. Essentially Flash Player is an interactive
plugin that works with most browsers. A beta version for Intel Macs has
also been released.
iScroll 2
iScroll 2 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/iscroll2/, free) is a modified
version of Apple’s trackpad device driver that allows for two-finger
scrolling on most Aluminum PowerBook and G4 iBook models introduced before 2005.
iSeek
If you’re one of those who deplored the demise of Sherlock (the
search utility, Watson, not your pipe smoking mate!) will probably find
Ambrosia’s iSeek (http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/iseek/, $US15) a
worthy replacement, letting you really open up the information resources
available on the Internet. It comes with a number of such resources preloaded, but includes a facility to add to that list.
iPiece
iPiece (http://www.oldjewelsoftware.com/products/iPiece/, $US9.95)
introduces a magnifying glass controlled by your cursor. Click on the
iPiece icon in the Menu bar to enlarge an area around (actually, it’s a
square) the cursor, click again to shut the magnification off. Why not
download the trial version and see if it’s worth it to you?
3D Galaxy
If you thought that Google Earth was a time waster, then you won’t
want to even consider looking at PlanetQuest (http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.
gov/SIMGuide2Galaxy_launch_page.html), NASA’s 3D representation of
our galaxy.
Aquazone
And now for something fishy – Allume Systems have produced this
humungous screensaver (http://www.allume.com/mac/aquazone/) that replicates a fish tank. You can pick your fish – anything from a shark down to
a jelly fish – and a suitable environment. Apparently the fish move quite
realistically. Why apparently? Well, at $US25 I haven’t felt like trying it
out. And, in case you’re wondering, yes, it’s a Universal Binary.
Spam Filters
One of the main reasons I don’t watch TV are the incessant ads.
One of the main reasons I prefer Mail is that it has built in an adequate
Spam filter – if you don’t get too much e-mail! If you get loads of it like
I do, you really need something more. I use Michael Tsai’s SpamSieve
(http://c-command.com/spamsieve/, $US25 – recently updated to version
2.4.4). I’ve had it running now for years, and it has “learned” my views
on what constitutes Spam to the point where I can safely delete, without
reading, any messages it identifies as Spam. And you get a thirty day free
trial so that you can be sure you like it.
Recently I have come across SpamSweep (http://www.bainsware.
com/spamsweep/, $US25), which claims to do the same thing as SpamSieve, except that you get only a fortnight to test it. I grant that SpamSweep’s GUI gives you more options than SpamSieve – though I have
my reservations about this – but otherwise there appears little reason for
me to switch.
Eudora
A lot of people have had a lot of problems with Eudora and OS X in
recent times – in most instances I have recommended they switch to Mail
or Thunderbird as two free alternatives. I was therefore most interested
to see that Eudora had recently been updated for both the Mac (to version 6.2) and for Windoze (to version 7). The new Mac version includes
direct access to the Address Book, but there is no mention as to whether
Eudora has adopted the standard mailbox used by most modern e-mail
clients. If you’re interested, go to http://www.eudora.com/email/features/index.html and have a look for yourself.
8
Out to Launchd
by Matt Neuburg <[email protected]>
Anyone who has ever run Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder)
and chosen Administrator Processes from the pop-up menu is aware that
a Mac OS X computer is actually a hotbed of little programs that start
automatically and whose purposes are probably unclear to most users.
This is not usually a source of concern; most of these programs were put
there by Apple and are part of Mac OS X. Ignorance is Bliss, and Big
Brother Knows Best.
Recently, though, a new and unknown process, “dashboardadvisor”, has been making an occasional appearance on the Activity Monitor
scene. What’s more, users of Objective Development’s Little Snitch utility, which intercepts outgoing network connections, were alerted to the
fact that such a connection was precisely what this process, each time it
runs, was attempting to form (under the name “dashboardadvisoryd”). It
was connecting with a server at apple.com. Your computer, in popular
parlance, was “phoning home!” This discovery cued the usual spate of
reactionary and indiscriminate Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt: Big Brother, so far from Knowing Best, was apparently Watching You. What was
the process doing? Counting Mac OS X users? Reporting your name and
address? Stealing your password?
<http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/>
Let’s put the matter in perspective. What’s wrong with a program
making an outgoing network connection? That is precisely the job of
your Web browser and your email client; you’re more likely to be troubled when it doesn’t do it. But in that case, in some sense, you initiated
the connection, and in some sense you can “see” the connection as it
happens (by means of a progress indicator, for example). An automatically launched, background-only task that “phones home,” on the other
hand, is an invisible program secretly sending an invisible message. And
this, after all, really is how spammers and hackers learn your secret information or attack servers from the machines of innocent, unsuspecting
users.
But this process, you happen to know, is not the work of a spammer or a hacker. It is part of Mac OS X; in particular, it was introduced
into the Dock application as part of the recent upgrade to Mac OS X
10.4.7. Apple made no secret of it; they announced that “you can now
verify whether or not a Dashboard widget you downloaded is the same
version as a widget featured on www.apple.com before installing it.”
Furthermore, interception of the actual network “conversation” initiated
by the process in question (easily performed with Stairways Software’s
Interarchy) shows no information is being transmitted; rather, some information is being requested and received. It’s exactly like what happens
when the Software Update window suddenly appears unbidden on your
computer and announces that “New software is available for your computer.” How do you think Software Update knows this? It’s because an
invisible background process initiated an invisible network connection
to Apple’s server, and information was requested and received.
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303771>
<http://www.interarchy.com/>
Still, there is one tiny but arguably crucial difference between the
behavior of Software Update and that of “dashboardadvisory”: Software
Update gives you a way to turn off its automatic behavior (through the
Software Update pane of System Preferences). The advertised behavior
of the Dashboard check is that “you can now verify,” whereas the reality
turns out to be that “your computer is going to check in periodically with
Apple whether you like it or not.” That difference is enough to raise the
hackles of many users, including me. Apple might have elected to use
any of several nicer ways to implement this, and didn’t.
<http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/153/apple-phones-home-too>
<http://www.rentzsch.com/macosx/applePhonesHomeTwo>
So, even though this feature is probably benign, one can’t help imagining a silent mass protest in which every Mac OS X user would assert
freedom of choice by turning it off, notwithstanding Apple’s failure to
11
provide an on-off switch. And this, it turns out, is not difficult to do. The
process in question is triggered through a file located in /System/Library/
LaunchDaemons/ (the file is called com.apple.dashboard.advisory.fetch.
plist). Files in this folder are actually commands to a kind of ultimate
background process called launchd, whose job is basically to launch
other processes. These commands are just text files, and therefore they
can be edited. And there’s a wonderful freeware program, Peter Borg’s
Lingon, that allows you to do just that, very easily.
<http://developer.apple.com/macosx/launchd.html>
<http://lingon.sourceforge.net/>
So, if you’d like to participate in the protest, here’s what to do:
1. Download and run Lingon.
2. Switch to the “System Daemons” pane (you’ll have to supply administrator authorization).
3. Find and select the line whose Label is “com.apple.dashboard.advisory.fetch”.
4. Click the Unload button in the toolbar.
That’s it! The plist file will have a Disabled key written into it,
and the Dashboard advisory process will, I believe, never again be run
automatically through launchd. Of course, it’s possible that you’ve now
opened your computer to a new risk, where you might download a malicious Dashboard widget masquerading as a legitimate one; but my favored solution to that, given its annoying implementation and inherent
insecurity, is not to use Dashboard at all.
<http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2006/07/did_apple_reinvent_the_antivir.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08088>
Reprinted from TidBits No 837, 10 July 2006
The Mystery of the Burnt Thighs
by Adam C. Engst <[email protected]>
[The film noir music rises as the scene fades in again on
a 1950’s-style office, the glow of twin LCDs illuminating
the back of a man staring out the window. His voice is
low and harsh.harsh]
People don’t come to me for comfort, they come to have their problems fixed. Quietly, if possible. Loudly, if not. Usually I can oblige, but
sometimes a case is too big even for me. That’s what happened last week
when I returned to my office after a stakeout to find not one, but two guys
sitting in my waiting room.
It was hot, the air conditioning has been on the fritz since 1987, and
both were wearing shorts and, judging from the bags at their feet, both
were packing heat. One had a bandage on his leg. They looked uncomfortable and clearly didn’t know each other.
I pointed at the guy closer to the door, and motioned him to come
into my office. Once we were seated on opposite sides of my battered
desk, he launched into his tale of woe. He was Arlo Rose, a programmer,
working on Konfabulator. I’d heard of his work - Konfabulator displayed
tiny programs called widgets on the Mac, and he’d been the first on the
block to do it. A nice living - all legal like - but then Apple took over his
turf and told him to take a powder. He did, and ran right to another of the
big bosses in town - Yahoo.
<http://widgets.yahoo.com/>
But he was here on personal business. He had fallen asleep coding
Konfabulator, and woken up to burned thighs. He leaned over to pull
something out of his bag to show me, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
When he came up with his heat, he was staring into mine - a Colt pistol I
keep in the top drawer for such situations. His heat wasn’t a firearm, but
a MacBook Pro, so I lowered my piece. He hadn’t been expecting the
pistol, and it rattled him.
It turned out his MacBook Pro was running hot. Really hot. Hot
enough to burn both his thighs and an expensive coffee table. He wanted
to know why, and if he was being set up by Apple because of some harsh
words that had gone down during the Konfabulator deal. It was a good
question, and one I didn’t know the answer to, so I told him to leave the
MacBook Pro and come back the next day.
After seeing him out, I showed the second guy in. I figured it would
be the usual - help ironing out a misunderstanding with a bookie, whatever. He introduced himself as Christian Heurich: a photographer, and a
good one, to judge from the images I found while doing a background
check.
<http://www.heurich.com/>
But unlike most photographers who come into my office, his problem had nothing to do with dames. He too had fallen asleep while working on his MacBook Pro - when he leaned over to get it to show me, I
merely kept my finger on the trigger inside my desk drawer. And whereas
Arlo had suffered only a mild burn, Christian had some nerve damage in
his left leg as a result of tackling liposarcoma 18 years ago, so he hadn’t
noticed the heat until he’d suffered a second degree burn.
Now I was intrigued. It’s not often I get two cases in one day, much
less two identical problems. I told Christian to come back in a day too,
and then sat down to think.
Laptops have gotten hotter over the years, as the manufacturers
pack more and more power into their CPUs. A call to a doctor friend
turned up the painful tale of a 50-year-old scientist who had managed
to burn his privates with only an hour usage, fully dressed (or so he
claimed). I winced at the thought and took a swig from the bottle in my
desk. Forewarned is forearmed.
<http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/hotlaptops.html>
Arlo had said something about CPU usage being out of control, so
I started to poke around. Indeed, his MacBook Pro was using 50 to 60
percent of its dual CPUs while idling. Why? I racked my brain, staring
out my window at the darkening night, and as the streetlight across the
street winked on, it came to me. Spotlight. A good technology in theory,
though it’s never found anything for me that I couldn’t find myself faster.
Perhaps I just know where to look. But Spotlight works by sneaking
around in the background, reading everything it can find, and that can
chew CPU for no apparent reason.
Unfortunately, checking Activity Monitor for Spotlight’s prints the mds and mdimport processes - revealed little. It might have been
there, but it wasn’t the cause right now. I turned back to the window and
stared down at the drunks on the sidewalk. My office isn’t in the best part
of town. OK, it’s not even in a decent part of town. But sometimes you
have to be near the lowlifes to find out what’s going on.
I stepped out for a bit of air that wasn’t necessarily fresh, particularly as I passed a guy who’d been a whiz kid before he got strung out
on World of Warcraft. Now he bummed money until he had enough to
get a few hours in a dive Internet cafe. Swore he’d find some treasure
and then be able to sell it on the eBay black market to set himself up
again. I passed him a few bucks and asked what the word on the street
was. He looked up at me, looked back down, and in a low voice fingered
Windows File Sharing.
I should have known. Windows File Sharing is how Apple made
Macs play nice with Windows-based networks, and you have to know
how those Apple guys must have hated being forced to write code to
work with Windows. Perhaps it was spite, but more likely they were just
12
doing the minimum. Back at the office, I turned off Windows File Sharing on Arlo’s MacBook Pro, the CPU usage dropped, and after a bit, it
was noticeably cooler, though still hotter than the Roxy on a Saturday
night.
That night I went trolling for info. Sources confirmed that lots of
MacBook Pro owners were having similar problems, though few had the
burns that Arlo and Christian experienced. When pressed for details, a
number of people said they’d returned their MacBook Pros to Apple for
repair. Sometimes they came back with little change, other times they
ran a bit cooler, though still uncomfortably warm. Thermal grease was
blamed in some cases, motherboards were replaced, serial numbers were
reset. An SMC firmware update helped some users.
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.
jspa?threadID=491878>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookprosm
cfirmwareupdate.html>
I began to smell a rat. The natives were restless, and Apple was
backpedaling on using the MacBook Pro or other notebook computer on
your lap. Indeed, the only instance of “laptop” in the Apple Knowledgebase referred to Windows laptops. Was Apple pretending that laptops
couldn’t be used safely on laps? Some problems were just stupid, like
the MacBook (not Pro) overheating because a piece of plastic had been
left in at the factory.
<http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=1879
00365>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30612>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303848>
Despite the talk, people were making do. I learned about a couple
of utilities called CoreDuoTemp and Temperature Monitor that would
report on the internal temperatures of the MacBook Pro. Others recommended the CoolPad from Road Tools to get the MacBook Pro off the
lap.
<http://macbricol.free.fr/coreduotemp/>
<http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html>
<http://www.roadtools.com/>
The next day, I returned Arlo’s MacBook Pro, now running a bit
cooler, and recommended that both he and Christian keep their MacBook Pros off their laps. I told them everything I’d learned, but I didn’t
have the answers they wanted. Apple clearly knew about the problem,
and was working on fixing it, but true to form was keeping quiet. They
couldn’t pay me enough to try to pry information out of Apple. People
have disappeared doing that.
In the end, I gave them the name of a reporter I knew at the local paper. Maybe it would make a story, and maybe Apple would take
notice. But more likely Apple would never admit to the problem and it
would eventually disappear, buried in the desert along with the news of
exploding batteries, Power Macs that sounded like wind tunnels, and
other missteps. It’s an ugly business sometimes, and sometimes good
people get hurt. Arlo and Christian got hurt, but they’ll heal.
And me, I’ve seen it all, so nothing hurts me any more.
Reprinted from TidBits No. 836, 3 July 2006
eee
The Mystery of the Recalcitrant Photoshop
Files
by Adam C. Engst <[email protected]>
[Cue film noir music and fade in on a 1950’s-style office, the illumination from twin LCDs reflected in the perspiration of a man’s brow.
When he speaks, his voice is rough with fatigue and frustration.]
On Sunday, everything was working fine. On Monday - I hate
Mondays - double-clicking a Photoshop file in the Finder would launch
Photoshop, but wouldn’t open the file. Dragging the file to Photoshop’s
Dock icon or Finder icon had equally little effect. But opening files from
within Photoshop continued to work properly. Peeved by Photoshop’s
hesitation to open files from the Finder, I stuffed my iPod in my pocket
and set out to investigate.
First I turned to “Ted Landau’s Mac OS X Help Line, Tiger Edition”, a 1,200-page tome that has answers to most Macintosh troubleshooting problems. The hard part is asking the beefy book the right
question. I was lucky. My first query struck paydirt. I knew the Finder
relied on Launch Services to connect documents with their applications.
Pressed, the fat volume produced the info I needed - the whereabouts of
the Launch Services plist and easily corrupted cache file.
I found them, one lounging in my user’s Preferences folder, the
other hiding out in the shadows of the Library’s Cache folder. Neither
would divulge the information I was looking for, even after I explained
just how unnecessary they were to my continued happiness. So I drove
them to the city dump and told them disappear. I knew there would be
another plist and cache file ready to take over as soon as I returned to the
city. Perhaps I could lean on the new guys.
Unfortunately, the lowlifes who took over Launch Services were
clueless. I was back to square one, and the Photoshop documents still
weren’t opening from the Finder. It was time to hit the streets and talk
to my informants. A few days and a lot of beers later, I finally found a
mole inside Adobe willing to talk... for a price. A high price. I bought
him another beer and described my visit to the city dump. He talked. The
problem was a missing person - the Adobe Unit Types file. It belonged in
the Library’s ScriptingAdditions folder, but it was AWOL.
<http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/329996.html>
I slid a few more bucks to my stool pigeon, who told me where to
find the pasty-faced Adobe Unit Types file. A case surrounding a panicking Mac OS X 10.4.6 had blown up in my face a few weeks earlier, and
I’d had to call in some reinforcements to smooth things over with an
Archive & Install. My assistants are normally thorough, but Adobe Unit
Types had managed to avoid their sweep and was sitting pretty, drinking
whiskey by the pool in the Previous System/Library/ScriptingAdditions
folder. I paid him a call, and my suave manner, backed up by the bulge in
my jacket pocket, convinced him to return to his post. He wasn’t happy
about it, but when I next double-clicked a Photoshop file, it opened as it
should in Photoshop.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08501>
The week was almost over, the mystery was solved, the case was
closed, and I could finally get back to editing my graphics.
Reprinted from TidBits No 835, 26 June 2006
d
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321334299/
tidbitselectro00/ref%3Dnosim/>
13
Unintelligible Garbage Is Your Friend
by Derek K. Miller <[email protected]>
I’m getting tired of reading frequent news stories about laptop
computers lost, stolen, or left in the back seats of cabs by company or
government employees, supposedly exposing untold thousands of social
security numbers, insurance records, or other sensitive, private information to identity thieves and other miscreants. What those news reports
usually fail to mention is whether the missing data files were securely
encrypted.
Not for the Truly Paranoid -- This system isn’t perfect. Paranoid
users would point out that AES-128 encryption isn’t the strongest available, would recommend other solutions such as PGP or GPG, and they
probably know of other flaws in my process that could expose your secrets to truly determined, crafty, and well-equipped adversaries - maybe.
For an introduction to more aggressive encryption techniques, I recommend two recent podcasts (one video, one audio) from host Leo Laporte,
at MacBreak and Security Now!
<http://www.pgpi.org/>
<http://www.gnupg.org/>
<http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/15/news/companies/aig_
<http://twit.tv/mb10>
theft/>
Making Your Private Data Useless (Except to You) -- Encryption <http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-041.htm>
is a mathematical method of scrambling information - one the United
States government once tried to classify as a non-exportable munition
- so that it can only be unscrambled with the correct password. The best
encryption methods make it essentially impossible to decrypt data without that password, no matter what trickery or brute-force methods are
applied.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Cryptography>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=01581>
If your Mac stores files you’d rather keep from prying eyes - and
chances are it does contain financial or medical records, credit card information, highly personal email, and so on - it’s not hard to encrypt that
data to protect it when you’re logged out or away from your computer.
Without the right password, encrypted data is unintelligible digital garbage, so even if someone were to remove your hard disk or copy all your
files elsewhere, your protected information would be useless to them.
Better a Safe than a Vault -- Apple includes a feature built into
Mac OS X 10.3 and later, known as FileVault, that encrypts your entire
home folder. But most experts agree that FileVault is overkill, because
of performance issues, the risk of data loss, backup problems, and other
reasons that Adam explained in his recent appearance on the MacNotables podcast:
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/filevault/>
<http://www.macnotables.com/archives/2006/655.html>
If Apple’s tool won’t do, what’s the alternative? It turns out you
can easily use Disk Utility to create an encrypted disk image that behaves just like - and, importantly, can be backed up just like - a regular
Mac folder. You can even set it to open automatically (with a password)
whenever you restart or log in to your Mac. Then you can protect only
those files you really need to, while leaving
Encrypt that Data -- Let’s return to the back seats of those taxicabs. If the nabbed social security numbers and insurance records were
encrypted, as they should be, it’s not much of a news story, because
thieves can’t get at them. And if they aren’t, the recalcitrant employees
(or the IT staff who provided their laptops) should be fired. Laptops are
lost and stolen, but there’s no excuse for private information to live on
them unencrypted.
For most Mac users, an encrypted disk image is secure enough that
if you lose your new black MacBook, your despair is lessened slightly,
knowing that lurking inside its stealthy case is a once-classified munition
keeping your private files out of the wrong hands.
[Derek K. Miller is Communications Manager for Navarik, an Internet software company in Vancouver, Canada. By night, he wears a wig
and plays drums in a classic rock cover band, and is also the co-host of
the Inside Home Recording podcast. His blog, like his youngest daughter, is six years old in 2006.]
<http://www.navarik.com/>
<http://www.insidehomerecording.com/>
<http://www.penmachine.com/>
Reprinted from TidBits
ent
Making Presentations OmniDazzling
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>
In my many years of creating presentations for lectures and conferences, I’ve always hit a snag when trying to highlight information while
giving the presentation. At some points, I’ve tried to use the crummy
tools in PowerPoint that let you sketch a little or highlight something, but
often that resulted in me interrupting a presentation and then needing to
restart it. Keynote offers a nice build system, which I’ve used to create
objects that are hidden but appear in sequence to identify specific parts
on a slide. It’s all a little wonky, though.
OmniDazzle from The Omni Group offers a nice alternative that
has a lot in common with cursor-finding programs, but includes features
that have specific utility in presenting information to an audience, whether using a presentation deck or just showing text you want to pick apart.
<http://www.omnigroup.com/ applications/ omnidazzle/>
OmniDazzle is a mouse-dropping program, if I can be coarse; the
application has several methods of leaving traces or producing behavior
based on mouse position or dragging. Some of these are the equivalent of
Edward Tufte’s “chart junk” definition: They don’t improve communication and can impair it. (Think about 3D transitions in presentations and
3D pie charts in print, to note two horrible examples.)
<http://www.edwardtufte.com/>
But several of OmniDazzle’s tracking tools are useful whether presenting or just trying to find the cursor on a giant display, the company’s
ostensible motivation for developing this application in the first place.
The tools generally dim the rest of the screen while highlighting a particular area. Flashlight puts a circular focus around the mouse as it moves
about. Focal Point highlights the current window with options to flip
between an area in the window and the entire window. Scribble lets you
draw in one of four colors on screen. Cutout allows you to draw circles,
ellipses, and rectangles additively to highlight parts of the screen. Zoom
increases magnification on a selection you make.
I can’t speak as highly about Sonar, Waves, or Comic, which are
just silly proof-of-concept plug-ins, but Pixie Dust makes me laugh. A
little work and it can be turned into a great April Fool’s Day joke that
hides the application and takes over the mouse droppings.
The interface for previewing the tools and configuring their options
is just flipping weird and awesome. The top of the window is a series of
3D rectangles with foreshortening and reflection. The current selection
is labeled and highlighted in the foreground, parallel to the screen. Make
changes to the settings for that tool, and the changes appear immediately
in the preview.
The triggers for tools include Key, Button, and Shake. Key allows
14
keystroke assignment, while Button lets you choose a particular mouse
button. Shake is a hilarious and useful tool for presentation. “Shake” the
mouse, moving it back and forth rapidly, and the tool activates; you set
how many shakes are necessary to activate the tool, as well as the deactivation period.
No two tools can be active at once, and you can’t rotate among
tools from the keyboard. In a future version, I expect you could assign
different keystrokes to invoke different tools, or use a command to exchange the active tool.
The software is timer-ware: you can use it for an hour at a time
without having purchased a license, but must quit and relaunch the program when the time is up. A $15 license eliminates that restriction.
Reprinted from TidBits No. 834 19 June 2006
SPECIAL OFFER
We have had an offer of a free introductory subscription to the Education Technology Guide for any of our members who may be interested. To the editor’s
untutored eye it looks as though it could have a lot to offer to teachers and education administrators.
If you are interested please send me an email headed “Education Technology
Guide” with your name and postal address <[email protected]>.
Deadline is Saturday, 12 August.
15
ACROSS
1. Covers everything
7. Girl sounds like the “football” of Italy
9. Time table
1O. Westward, ...!
11. Mythical sea monster
12. French eye
14. Roman..., Ethiop..., Pers..., Croat..., Eston...
15. Multiply x & y together +
18. lndonesian money
20. Miss West
21. Himalayan monarchy
DOWN
1. Not a cat: has 8 ‘arms’
2. Pre-1918 car
3. S. American city, popularly ‘
4. A bitter plant
5. To be sung
6. Stationed at
8. Greek letter, looks like X.
13. Lethal Dose
16. How many noses have you?
17. Miss Thurman
19. Your local doctor
IVAN’S
WORDCROSS
1
2
3
7
8
9
10
4
5
11
12
13
15
6
14
16
17
18
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JULY WORDCROSS SOLUTION
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16
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