Dec 11
Ignore the specs, the price and focus on what you really need your Mac to do.
Dec 06
Automator is a powerful but confusing tool. Generally speaking Automator isn’t going to be much use to you unless you have something you need to do over and over again. If you haven’t used Automator much you’ll run into the first common problem of automation. Which is by the time you figure out the automation you could be done with the task if you did it yourself. But this is more of a lack of knowledge problem. You have to be familiar with what Automator can do before Automator can do for you.
There are 262 or so actions built in depending on what you have installed. iWork 08 installs a bunch on its own for example. Automation tasks can be sorted by Task or by Application. Some tasks are listed in Other.
I learned some new things about my apps. For example in the Contacts app you can add fields. I dididn’t know that you could. Like b-day. URL. Maiden name (seems to take you back to a time when you’d slay the dragon by saying that).
One confusing thing about automator is that there often is no last step. Like Save for example. An output of a module is always the last step. You can see the results using the View Results module or in Leopard click on the Results button to see what happened.
When making a Automation that starts with the Finder you need to always start with “Get Selected Finder Items”. Without this step what you drag and drop to your Automator app will get ignored.
An interesting app is one called Do It. But it turns out you don’t need to download it to make it. All you have to do is add a “New iCal Events” to a workflow then in the Options box click the “Show this action when the workflow runs.” Turns out there are lots of automation actions that could be made using this option.
After you make a “app” make it look unique by changing it’s icon. Click on the automation then press Command - I for Get Info. Click the icon then paste to change icon. You will have to get a new icon from someplace like IconFactory first.
Some practice Automations that you can make are:
1. Make is a Renamer. Make start with “get selected finder items”
2. Make a resizer
3. Make a recorder
4. Make a PDF contact sheet
Note: the example Automator actions for the above will be posted by Dec 10th. In the meantime try to make them yourself.
Apple has a large number of pre-made Automator actions that you can download for free. Here’s the link.
Nov 29
For about a $100 you can upgrade your Mac to make it seem like it’s new. Some upgrades are as simple as plugging in a new device. Others require a bit more work.
keyboard typing utility
Matias Keyboard
This keyboard uses the same key switches as the old Apple battle ship keyboard. Remember that thing? It’s big, heavy and nearly indestructible.
iMate ADB to USB
If you want to use one of those old behemoth with your new Mac with this converter.
Frog Pad
What is the sound of one handed typing? It’s much louder then one handed clapping. This is just one solution for small, portable, go almost anywhere keyboards.
Logitech MX 1000 Pro mouse
We like Logitech rodents. Whether corded, uncorded, simple 2 button or more complex multi button. Just about any mouse will work with a Mac without a driver.
SideWinder game mouse from Microsoft. You can add up to 30 grams of additional weight.
USB Overdrive
This incredible tool allows you to make all kinds of normally unusable USB devices work with your Mac. The Nostromo N52 for example really rocks in combination.
A Wacom Tablet but even better is a Cintiq is a great thing for cartoonists, drawers, and Photoshop drivers.
Cotour Design Shuttle Pro is a must have device for editors of video and sound.
Go to TechShop when visiting Menlo Park.
Pandora Jam fixes the huge problem accidently closing a Safari window that stops the rocking.
Nov 14
CocoaTech PathFinder manages files, shows more info, has tabs and best of all shows the files path. [More notes go here...]
Link: CocoaTech PathFinder
Nov 14
Nov 08
One feature that Leopard killed was rounded corners on the display. Roundyness is a left over from the old days of CRT. Unlike a green phospher 80×24 character the corners of the bezel made the 512×342 bitmap look wrong. Obviously a pointy corner next to a soft curve looks a lot like a circle in a box. Rounded corners made the Mac 128K very stylish. Yet it was an often unnoticed feature. Later when flat screens came in vogue in the middle 90’s the CRT often had a squared bezel. But the Mac didn’t follow that design keeping it like it always was.
It was likely a focus group of Windows notebook users that brought the corners up as a potentionial problem. Like somehow a display that is 1440×900 somehow isn’t really that big because its missing 6 pixels per corner. That some frivolous class action suit would be brought against Apple for falsely advertising screen size. Morons. The corner isn’t used for anything except as a target so who cares.
So this little app called Displaperture brings roundy corners back to Leopard. You’d think, “what’s the big deal about the corners” until you run it and see that yes indeed it fixes a problem that you didn’t even know was a problem until seeing the problem corrected. It’s the little things like roundy corners that make a Mac a Mac.
Oct 31
Originally I wanted to talk about Leopard from a tech point of view covering overlooked features. And after working on an outline for that all day I’ve decided that I’d rather do something else. That is that Leopard will have the same effect that the Macintosh 128 had on computing. It’s a bold thesis. In looking at these features I’ve come to the conclusion that Leopard positions the Mac in a way that radically changes the way that I will work with people.
Paradigm shift for Files
unix is all about file names
OS as we know it have been defined by this
Mac Finder added icons for file types
Type and Creator made app and files work better.
OS 9 could have little tiny previews but were largely worthless
Cover Flow means I can search visually NOT by name.
Quick View for just about anything means just about anything will just show up.
Click the file, press Space.
Add in Sticky Views for a Finder window and it’s very powerful
for example having the Pictures folder always in Cover Flow mode.
Finding is different because of Quick View
searching for “Logo” discussion
found a document that I thought I’d lost discussion
was browsing I saw something that looked like something I’d lost
it was named untited3
User based app building
Smart Folders
a different view of data.
they were there in Tiger but Smart Folders run MUCH faster now.
Web data can be a Dashboard
Find something on the web.
Select it.
There it is.
Automator
FAR better ability to automate.
DashCode - not beta anymore! Awesome way to make a Dashboard.
make something in 10 minutes!
Quartz Extreme.
Programming without programming.
Lots of other dev tools ready to go.
Dictionary is the wrong name based on what it does.
It should be called Reference because that’s what it does.
the speed is stunning.
how long will it be before other “libraries” are hooked to this?
urban dictionary for example
or can they be.
Unification of Content
Photo Browser in Mail
Email / Contacts
incoming data
Events
Work space is different once again with Spaces
If Exposé didn’t change the way you work then Spaces will
Spaces built in does more then extend the screen.
Back to My Mac
The reason to have dotMac.
iChat Theater
Sure there are all kinds of solutions for screen sharing but this one is amazing.
Reach out and help somebody.
Being able to screen share into anyone’s screen is a revolution
as long as you have the right router.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars
http://www.macworld.com/2007/10/reviews/leopard_review/index.php
http://www.macworld.com/2007/10/features/leopard_pricing/index.php
http://www.thinkmac.co.uk/blog/2007/10/leopard-stupidity.html
http://mattgemmell.com/2007/10/28/get-rid-of-your-code-with-leopard
MacBreak Weekly 64… http://www.twit.tv/mbw64 goes feature for feature.
Oct 30
UPDATE!
Dell has posted for real drivers for 10.4 and 10.5 for this printer. You can download them by clicking this link: 1320c Macintosh Driver.zip
This is now the OFFICIAL way to make this printer work. If you do not want to use the Dell Drivers for whatever reason(?) the “hack method” below continues to work.
To talk to a networked Dell 1320c Color Laser Printer using OS X 10.4 follow these steps.
Download the driver for the DocuPrint C525 from here: http://www.fujixerox.com.au/support/drivers/307
Double click the icon to install after it downloads. When the install is finished you can delete the installer.
From the Apple menu open System Preferences and select Print & Fax.
Click the + to add a printer.
Select IP Printer.
Select for the Protocol: Line Printer Daemon - LPD
Type the IP address: 192.168.1.177 or whatever it happens to be assigned on your network. You may need a Windows machine to configure an IP address OR you can look at your routers DHCP table for where it was assigned. After you know this you can actually log into the printer from your web browser to change any settings.
Name the printer “color laser” or whatever you’d like it to be.
For Print Using select: FX
Next select FX DocumPrint C525 A-AP v1.2 in the box below.
On the next screen you must select 250 Sheet Feeder is as an option. Otherwise it will only manual feed.
Click Ok.
Print something.
Paper Source is not automatically selected on this printer. It won’t print unless you set it. This is found in the printer options called Printer Features. The paper should menu should be set to Auto or 250 Sheet Feeder.
Do a Save As… for the Printer Profile. So you don’t have to check this every time the set that Profile as the Default.
The steps for OS X 10.5 are nearly the same. The difference is that you don’t have to download the driver from the website.
NOTE:
There is NO way to set the main paper tray so it is remembered. You have to do it manually each time or make a Setting that you select before printing. See the screen shots below.
Oct 25
A box showed up early. A flip of a coin decides that I’m not backing anything up before upgrading. Smart that coin.
2:34 installer started. 5 clicks to make it go.
2:40 I get bored. Cleaning the desk seems like a good idea.
3:10 42 minutes remain.
3:26 Finished. Liars.
3:27 installation log saved. for MacBreak Tech geekery.
3:27 rebooted!
3:28 Apple. Spinner. Blue screen.
3:31 Typing my password.
3:40 Desktop! What took you so long?
3:41 It’s bugging about Time Machine right off.
Playing with Spaces first. You have to turn on the feature in the System Preferences before Control <– –> will work. So here’s the rad thing about it. If you made a habit out of Command-Tab to switch between apps, doing that will automatically switch you to the Space that the open app is in. OMFG is that coooooool. Sorry to sound like a 12 year old textr but dang.
Finder. Dude. No, seriously. Dude!
Automator. The roboto is all changed around. Not sorted by App anymore. This makes so much more sense.
I’m back in the Finder and I notice that lots of things that I hadn’t noticed before because they all have previews on them. Dude.
Text Edit. You have to turn Grammar on to get it to check for sentence fragments. That’s good news because I can deal with knowing my mispeelings with a red underline but I don’t care about my fragments.
Speaking of words open the Dictionary, type ‘Hypercard’ and click on Apple. Then click on Wikipedia. Now type ‘dude’ and see 35 entries found for “dude.” Dude!
Back in the Finder. Turn on Show Path Bar in the view menu. I like that but I don’t think its going to be always on. Command-Y is going to be my new best friend. Why? Quick Look.
Select All. Start Speaking. It’s Bruce. I change to Alex in the System Preferences. Um. I <em>never</em> want to type that again. Shudder. Select All again and Start Speaking. I think I like Bruce better.
Cover Flow in the Finder is going to ruin marriages.
More as I know it.
