X-Box Modded...

So, my chip came in the other day and following these instructions, I was able to get it working after about an hour and a half of "not quite, move it a little that way, nope too far...GRRR." I nearly threw the whole thing out the window at one point, as the first time I actually got the green light on the chip to come on without the FRAG error, I tried to tighten the chip down just a hair, and it was that exact moment that the thread in the board decided to strip. Really really infuriating. In any case, after several curses aimed at various pagan gods and a hurried digging through my toolbox, I was able to locate another screw of only slightly wider girth than the one which had stripped the thread, and got everything screwed in place nicely, plugged everything back together and enjoyed the warm glow of the Cromwell boot screen. Ahhhhh! Now, if I could just figure out with my Mac how to correctly make the iso disk to flash the ROM (all the tutorials I am finding online are aimed at PeeCee), I'll be set...

NeoOffice®/J 0.8.3 released...

NeoOffice®/J 0.8.3, the Java OS X port of OOo, has just been released. It's still just a prototype with all the warnings and disclaimers you'd expect, but it also happens to be one of the best free Micro$oft Office replacements out there. Don't bother with the download page. Just launch your Terminal and type the following (all in one line):

/usr/bin/curl -C - -O http://www.planamesa.org/neojava/downloads/NeoOfficeJ-0.8.3.dmg

This will download it directly to your home folder. If it fails, just re-execute the command to continue the download from where it left off. w0rd...

Missed this: OS X 10.3.4 supports Bluetooth caller ID

This is cool:

OS X update has Bluetooth caller ID
Gadget Lab's Brian Lam sez: "I noticed that you covered bluephonemenu in the past, so figured I'd drop a line about the new os x panther update. I was just reading the update details and saw this :

"Dialog windows for incoming phone calls and SMS messages for a paired Bluetooth phone now appear in the foreground." [Boing Boing Blog]

Nice to know...

Programming in Cocoa...

As my summer hobby to keep my over-active self entertained, I decided to move beyond my very intermediate to laughable coding skills by attempting to learn Cocoa. I just received Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X: 2nd Edition by Aaron Hillegass (a day early, too!) from Amazon. I ordered it at the recommendation of some friends and will be going through the book and the tutorials this summer to see if I can make a few things I've been wanting for OS X. I'll let you know how it goes and post anything useful I make here.

I want VoIP!

Well, I decided a while back that I would prefer to have VoIP service at around $35 a month, rather than my old skool landline. I even had the Cablevision folks come out to my house to set up a VoIP service that would work with my current cable internet and which would be capable of hooking into the current phone lines in my home, so that I could use all of my current phones in place. Only thing is that when the guys arrived, they informed me that despite my conversation with the rep on the phone and despite everything on the Cablevision website stating that the Home Connection kit could make such a thing possible, it really wasn't possible. So I said no thanks, because I really didn't want a single cordless phone sitting in the far corner of my apartment right next to my Airport Base Station, causing all kinds of interference. Aggravating to say the least. So, yesterday, I look at Vonage and see that in their FAQ, there is a mention of an unsupported hack that would make it work. Unfortunately, when I took a good look around my apartment, it became very apparent to me that the phone line comes in on one side, and the cable line comes in on the opposite side, and there is no convenient spot where I could make the two meet without running an insane ammount of ugly telephone line. Grrr...

10.3.4

For the brazen among you who hate to wait, run Software Update now for OS X 10.3.4 update (41MB; restart required):

The 10.3.4 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users. Key enhancements include: improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS), PPTP, and wireless networks improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers improved disc burning and recording functionality iPods connected via USB 2.0 are now recognized by iTunes and iSync additional FireWire audio and USB device compatibility updated Address Book, Mail, Safari, Stickies, and QuickTime applications improved compatibility for third party applications previous standalone security updates For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n25764

Lock and load...

USB Flash Drive and OS X 10.2 Incompatibility?

Anybody out there have any experience with this problem? One of my coworkers has a USB Flash Drive that she uses at home with her OS 9.2 Mac, but when she brought it to work the other day and tried to plug it in to her OS X 10.2 iMac, she received the "unrecognized disk. format?" error. So, she brought it down to me, I plugged it into my 10.3 running 12-inch and G5 and it worked fine on both of them, so I was able to email her the files, but I still don't know why she was having the error on the iMac in her office running Jaguar. Any ideas?

Re-resurrecting my iPod Blog...

I just wanted to mention to everyone that I've started posting semi-regularly to my iPod blog again. When I first (re)launched the site on Blogger, I was hoping that the other contributors that I recruited would post more regularly than me, as I am honestly more interested in this site than that one (nudge nudge guys!). Unfortunately, that has not been happening, so I started posting things that I think iPod bloggable, rather than just thinking to myself, "I hope Jason, Erik, or Jay sees this and posts about it..." (*AHEM*). Any other bloggers out there who are iPodders and interested in contributing to my iPod blog, contact me.

I'm mentioned on Apartment Therapy today...

This post has nothing to do with Macs, and is only slightly related to my 3650, as the pictures linked to were taken with the 3650, but in any case, Apartment Therapy posted an email I sent to them praising their site (it's become one of my favorite daily reads) and mentioning the Flor area carpet that Kristin and I installed in our dining room a few weeks ago. Check it out.

Poopli: ReplayTV Filesharing...

If you have a ReplayTV, but you forgot to record the finale of The Swan [I can't believe the plastic looking one won . . . wait, they were all plastic looking!], you can always post a request for it on Poopli: the ReplayTV Sharing Server. From Poopli's about page:

Basically this site is a place where fellow replay users can post shows in an orderly fashion and get notified via email when the show request has been responded to. The only reason I collect name, password, and email data is so that the system can notify you of requests, errors in requests, and completed requests.

Considering our current anti-filesharing political climate, I would imagine that eventually someone will try to squash this network (didn't this used to be a built-in feature of the Replays that bullying squashed?), but the question is: why? If I miss a show, and X happens to record it and sends it to me, I get that show with all the commercials that paid for its original broadcast, just as I would have if I had recorded it myself, so what's the big deal. In any case, I am going to have to check this out and report back on my experiences with the service. Pretty cool. Thanks to Lance for pointing this out. Thanks, Lance!

More bad laws?

Well, we've all been living under the stupid tyranny of the so-called Patriot Act for several years now. Now on a lower tier of bad laws, they are trying to pass the Pirate Act. Grrr...

Inquisitor

Check this out:

Applications/Inquisitor

Inquisitor is a Cocoa interface to Google that displays results as you type...[The Tao of Mac]

Pretty cool little find. Here's the direct link to Inquisitor. Download it and check it out. It is small enough to run just to the right of your main Safari window on the 12-inch and it is hella cool.

Modding an X-Box in a Mostly Mac Environment: Preface...

I've had an X-Box for a little over a year now, and while from time to time I'll pop in Matrix Revolutions, for the most part I do most of my gaming on my GBA SP and the PS2. The X-Box has become our DVD player for the bedroom. For some time now, I've thought about modding my X-Box, and now that I have a ReplayTV, there's more reason to do so, as I could share shows I've recorded on the ReplayTV to the X-box with my Mac as a go-between. After taking the time to actually read why the X-box modded can become the ultimate multimedia center, I decided to take the plunge. I ordered a no-need-to-solder mod chip today and will blog the experience of setting up a modded X-box from a Mac here as the learning begins and the drama unfolds. Stay tuned...

Engadget points to MobileBurn Bluetooth Headset round-up...

Check it out:

Bluetooth headset roundup

MobileBurn has a roundup of four different new Bluetooth cellphone headsets, the Motorola HS810, Tekkeon’s ezTalker, the Plantronics M3500, and Tekram’s TM-312. They actually like the Motorola best, though they seem to feel comfortable recommending any of them.

[engadget.com]

I have yet to see a clear leader in the world of bluetooth headsets rise to the fore. Most of them have pros and cons that make it a matter of which works best and is suited most to your taste and needs. If somebody comes out with a stylishly small and not very visually distracting bluetooth headset that also performs for 10 plus hours with several days of stand by charge, that one is going to be the winner. Right now it is a trade off between form and function.

How to make your own ring-tones for your 3650

Engadget has another pt's "How-To" Tuesday post up, this time talking about how to make your own ring-tones. Unfortunately, the method he chooses is overly PeeCee friendly, inconvenient for Mac users, costs money, and is way more convoluted than it needs to be for us 3650 users. To make your own ring-tone for your 3650, follow these steps: 1. Using any freeware Mac program capable of doing so, convert your the mp3 or sound file you want to make into your ring-tone into WAV format (you can export to WAV with Quicktime Pro). 2. Edit the file in GarageBand or Audacity. 3. Transfer the newly created ring-tone to your 3650 via Bluetooth File Exchange. 4. Using Fexplorer (available for free here) on your 3650, locate one of the /sound/digital/ folders on your phone and move the file into that folder. 5. Navigate to Menu-->Profiles, Select the Profile you want to add your new Ring-Tone to, and choose Options-->Customize. Click on the highlighted Ringing Tone, and a list of available ringtones should pop-up, including any files you have placed in /sounds/digital/. 6. Choose your WAV file and you're done. For a quicker, more ghetto approach, simply navigate to Menu-->Extras and either compose your own midi masterpiece in Composer, or use the built in Recorder to simply record the portion of your favorite song playing in iTunes through the 3650's internal mic. All recordings made with either of these two little extra programs are available as ring-tones. Have fun.

Will Blog for Food...

Well, not for food, but for money. And not so much money (I have a job and money) as debt relief and expense relief. Free (high speed) internet. Free software. Free hardware. Just a little cushion... I just read the new Wired and there is an article on Nick Denton's blogs and on blogs as money-making ventures. I'd like to see a blog model succeed away from advertizing. I don't know if that is possible. Yet. I know there is value in this. In what I do here with this blog. I know this primarily because of emails from readers. I also know there is value in the connections that have been formed and the doors that have been opened to me due to this blog. People I used to read (and still read) now read me, and I am often surprised by the "Oh, you write 3650 and a 12-inch" response of sudden recognition in correspondence. This is largely a hobby for me, but my family, coworkers, peers, my boss, and even some of the people that I support as an IT guy all know about it and I think are impressed by it somehow, in some way. I sometimes wonder if the people from my life as a Graduate Student in English resent it or see it as a misstep. A move away from the fold. In any case, if anyone starting any money-making blogs out there likes what they read here, I just wanted to mention that I am available for hire. I'm not quitting any day job just yet, I'm not abandoning my studies, but I'll write and write and write, and if you're willing to fund that writing, we'll see where it takes us...

Cocktail 3.4.7

New Cocktail Version 3.4.7:

Changes and enhancements in Cocktail 3.4.7: added possibility to store password in Keychain, the position of the windows is now saved, addresses an issue in which users may have to reenter registration information, other minor fixes and improvements.

I highly recommend periodical running of Cocktail to keep your 12-inch in tip-top shape.

Daring Fireball on Prevention...

Check this out:

This page is intended to serve as a consolidated, comprehensive, and to-the-point list of instructions for closing all known URI-related vulnerabilities affecting Mac OS X. If new information or exploits are identified, I plan to revise this document in-place.

I think everyone would be better served by following these instructions, than by using the scripts I slapped together earlier.

Unlock your 3650...

If you have a branded 3650, here's a Popular Science article that should help in unlocking it, so you can take it with you when you switch your cellular carrier.

help vulnerability fixer

I whipped up a small Apple Script app for myself, that simply turns on and off the preference within Help Viewer that allows it to automatically launch external scripts and which has been causing such a fuss as being a gaping security hole in OS X (even though I don't know of any real world exploits of this vulnerability that are in existence). In any case, all the scripts do is take the following command line code and wrap it in a script:

sudo defaults write '/System/Library/CoreServices/Help Viewer.app/Contents/Info' NSAppleScriptEnabled -bool 'no'

Choosing OFF runs the above command, whereas choosing ON runs the same command with 'yes' substituted for 'no.' Boringly simple. Got the info from MacFixIt Here's the link to the unsupported, freeware script helpvulnerabilityfixer (36KB). Just listed on VersionTracker.

Not Buying Path Finder...

Well, despite my previous hopes and thoughts about Path Finder, I do not think I will be purchasing the application. It can be a little sluggish at times, counter-intuitive, and I cannot seem to avoid launching the Finder when using it. If we could totally replace the Finder with it, I might be inclined to think differently, as I do really like the Terminal pane of each Path Finder window, but as is, I have to pass.

Security Update 2004-05-24 available now from the FUTURE!

Apple seems to have either released this early or misnamed it (perhaps this has something to do with it), but here's a long awaited fix for the nasty Help vulnerability in OS X discovered earlier this week:

Security Update 2004-05-24 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:

• HelpViewer

Software Update. Lock and Load.

The Frogtalk

Engadget reports on the FrogTalk , a new Wireless Bluetooth Headset designed by FrogPad. Looks like a cross between the Jabra FreeSpeak and the Halo, with standby times close to the Halo's and talk times closer to the Jabrawith performance times closer to the Halo's. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on one of these, so that I can provide you with a three way comparison between the Jabra, the Halo, and the FrogTalk. Unfortunately, its price-tag is quite a bit more than the price of its competitors, running at a suggested $200 while in pre-order phase. (You could nearly buy a Jabra and a Halo at that price!)

Speed up Safari

Check this out:

Speed up Safari
Adjust Safari's prefs via the terminal line to speed it up. [MacDevCenter]

The short of it: Close Safari, Launch the Terminal and type: defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25 Hit enter. Relaunch Safari and zoom! Click through several links and notice the snappy speed increase. Nice!

CocoaTech's Path Finder

Last night, I happened to catch Leo Laporte's segment on The ScreenSavers about CocoaTech's Path Finder, which I was surprised to find that I had never heard of before. I decided to check it out, and so far I like it. It's a Finder substitute with lots of extra features. Here's a blurb from CocoaTech's website:

Path Finder fills the gap between Apple's Finder and the command line environment by integrating many different features usually found in external applications into a single, powerful interface. Path Finder aspires to be the missing "Pro" version of Apple's Finder, in the same way that Final Cut Pro is the pro version of iMovie. If you have ever wished that you could quickly view, edit, and manipulate many different file types without having to launch another application, or wanted to access the command line from within your file browsing environment, Path Finder is for you! It can do these and much more.

Some things, like the Trash on the Desktop, are nice little bits of eye-candy reminiscent of OS 9 days (and there have been other programs that do this). Other things, like the ability to navigate to any folder and then open a little Terminal drawer below that window, working in the current directory, are amazingly cool and useful. So far I am really digging this software. I'm going to give it the full test before I plunk down $34 for it, but right now it's on my list of future purchases. Really cool. Check it out.

GarageBand 1.1 hidden feature: SoundFont/DLS Support

MacJams has the scoop on some undocumented features of the recent GarageBand 1.1 update. Most notably there is now support for using:

...SoundFont and DLS sound banks as Software Instruments. There are many nice free sound banks available on the web. You can also create your own sound banks using my favorite Mac sound bank editor, PolyPhontics. Cool!

Check the link for full instructions on how to install SoundFonts.

Technovia's look at PlayFair and the iPod lock-in

This is an extremely smart evaluation of the Apple versus PlayFair / Hymn situation. Check it out.

Native OS X Diablo II installer...

Coolness. My favorite online game now has an OS X Native Installer! File this under, ain't it about time!

Modded 12-inch Color Apple Logo Mod...

Remember my previous post about Jim Younkin modding his 12-inch's Apple Logo into an old school rainbow-colored Apple? Well, Jim decided to mod his mod and announced it today on the 12inchPowerbooks Yahoo! Group. He moved the colors behind the white plastic, resulting in a stealth-mode version of the mod that really shows up when the screen is on, but otherwise remains subdued. Pretty cool. Even cooler, he posted a more detailed walk through of the step by step involved in taking off the casing to make the mod. Uber-cool. Check it out.

Panther 12-inch FireWire I/O broken!

Holy crab-cakes! Check out this post over at O'Grady's:

After wasting hundreds of hours on trying to get my new 17" 1.33 GHz PowerBook G4 to capture DV without UNANNOUNCED DROPPED FRAMES, Apple Tech Support finally figured out/confessed that the FireWire I/O component of the Panther OS software does not work on any PowerBooks shipping with Panther. That means that thousands of PowerBooks that Apple has sold, and is selling right now, DO NOT DELIVER WHAT APPLE PROMISES. I've spent thousands of dollars on an editing system that does not do what Apple says it would do.

I haven't had time to do any video editing since I upgraded to Panther (my DV cam is actually currently lent out to a friend), but this just plain SUCKS. I hope Apple addresses this issue soon (i.e., before I start working on that documentary I've been talking about putting together for years...)

Big Bang Chess

Freeverse has just released Big Bang Chess, which is available for free download. I'm a huge chess nut (I think I have 5 different books on advanced chess strategies in my library), and when I don't rush I'm a pretty good intermediate level player. This means that none of my nearby friends who I see on a regular basis want to play me, because I tend to destroy them, and all the over the net methods that long distance friends and I have utilized in the past have been clunky and ugly, notation only, and tend to detract from the coolness of holding the nicely weighted wooden piece in your hand and plunking it down, pronouncing 'Check!' boldly, and striking your hand down on the clock. This free software, however, is not only a beautiful little program, but it also is integrated with Apple's iApps:

Fully Integrated With OS X iChat--Share Big Bang Chess with your friends easily over iChat. Invite them to a game with a single click. It's that simple. iTunes--BBC provides access to all of your playlists from within the game, so you can specify the music you'd like to listen to while playing. BBC will mute the provided music if you start playing iTunes - it's one smart game. Address Book--BBC, with your permission, shares information about you like your iChat name and email address from your address book with the people you play with. It also dynamically creates new address book entries so you can keep track of your opponents over time. Mail.app--BBC has fully featured Play-By-Email functionality. You just play your turn, enter comments, click send, and a new email with the game attached is ready to go. Perfect for when you want to play someone who can't always be around for a full network game. If you use Entourage or Eudora, don't worry - we've got you covered too. Rendezvous--Big Bang Chess fully supports Rendevous from a "Network" link right on the main window. There is no simpler way to get a local game going in your office, home or school.

Now if I can just persuade all my favorite opponents to switch to Mac / upgrade from OS 9 to OS X...

Aw, shucks! TB Gmail a mere bug...

According to Wired, Google confirmed yesterday that the sudden boost from 1GB to 1 Terabyte of email space on my (and many other accounts) is simply a bug and not the real deal. In any case, there are still some bargains to be made if you have a few of the sparse 1GB accounts lying around cluttering up the place...

Take a look at your 12-inch's disk fragmentation...

This from /. :

Measuring Fragmentation in HFS+
keyblob8K writes "Amit Singh takes a look at fragmentation in HFS+. The author provides numbers from his experiments on several HFS+ disks, and more ... [Slashdot]

There's actually a link to the actual program itself, in case you are interested in examining the fragmentation of your 12-inch's HFS+ disk...

Two Useful Resources for Fighting Spam

If you have $5 to spare, Joe Kissell has just released Take Control of Spam with Apple Mail, a pdf ebook on the topic. For those of you who, like me, like free: Check out the MacDevCenter articles "The Fight Against Spam" Part 1 and Part 2 by François Joseph de Kermadec.

Codes for Nokia Handsets

Over at MobileWhack, Rael points out a useful link to those ever-difficult-to-find codes for your Nokia.

2 interesting bits from BoingBoing...

BoingBoing reports on a court case where SMS messages were recovered from a SIM card, so if you are planning any crimes with your 3650, make sure you don't SMS any incriminating bits. Also, on the lighter side of life, you can always attach your 3650 to this hands-free panda rather than going the whole wireless Bluetooth headset route.

Konfabulator Update...

There's a new update available for Konfabulator. If you don't know, Konfabulator is a nice little piece of shareware that runs hybrid javascript and xml widgets. Currently, I have two widgets running on my 12-inch: one the weather program that sits in the bottom right corner of my screen complete with a collapsable 4 day forecast. The other is a countdown that tells me that I have only 170 day, a handful of hours, a spattering of minutes, and a few fleeting seconds until my life as a 'free man' ends (in other words, it is counting down to my wedding).

Test Drive M$ Office 2004 for Mac

For those of you interested in doing so, a Test drive of Office 2004 is available for download from Micro$oft. Before doing so, you might want to pop on over to MacFixIt and read some of the issues that have been coming up for those 'fortunate' few, who have already been playing with Office 2004 for over a week.

1 Terabyte of Gmail!!!

According to Gizmodo, some Gmail users have received a boost from their paltry 1GB of email space to a mind-numbing TERABYTE of space. So I decided to check out my two accounts. The new one that I invited myself to join, and whose email address I have kept private is still weighing in at 1GB of space; however, the original email address that I posted here, begging people to populate it with email, trying to break the 1GB bank, but which only got up to about 180MB has now suddenly been promoted to a TERABYTE of space. Anybody want to redouble their efforts and try to fill that up?! cksampleiii@gmail.com

Ted Landau Invisible Files Tutorial

Ted Landau of MacFixIt fame has posted a tutorial on all those invisible files in OS X. Check it out.

Your 12-inch as an iMac...

Check it:

Lapvantage stand now goes better with PowerBooks
The Plasticsmith Inc. has introduced a new Lapvantage laptop stand that is molded in grey to complement Apple's PowerBook line, according to the company. Black and white models of the height-adjustable laptop stand are already available. The Lapvantage stands are available for US$59.95. Silicone feet and cord clips are included; other accessories are also available. [MacCentral]

Hovers your 12-inch as if it is the 12-inch screen to an iMac for those of you 12-inchers who want a simulated desktop experience when not traveling.

Detailed Walk-Thru of using Hymn on both Mac and PC

Thanks to Phillip Torrone for this detailed how-to article on using Hymn to strip DRM from iTMS tracks. It's a very well-written and thorough article complete with screenshots for both Mac and PC and a discussion of the history behind Hymn. Nicest post to come out of engadget yet.

Amazon.com Associate: Support this site...

Hi, everybody. Rather than nag you with lots and lots of ads or making pleas on a regular basis for contributions, I decided to set myself up as an Amazon.com Associate. If you read this site regularly, find what I say useful or entertaining, have just tried out and enjoy my Share2Blue2th scripts, shop regularly at Amazon, are considering shopping at Amazon for the first time, hate PayPal and want to donate money to me but not via PayPal, and/or any combination of these responses, I would greatly appreciate it if you would think of me and use the link in this post and in the sidebar to do your shopping at Amazon and to help out my bank account. As regular readers know, I despise lots of ads and any sort of regular requests for money. I put a lot of effort into this site because I enjoy it, and because, honestly, I am a bit obsessed with blogging. Nevertheless, a little side money coming in from this site wouldn't be a bad thing. ;-) I will never mention this again besides this one post, although from now on I will be linking to all Amazon.com purchasable items mentioned on this site through my Associate account. Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

More evidence that the Music Industry is run by suicidal morons...

El Reg has the scoop on continued pressure coming from the Music Industry to raise iTMS prices. Dear Music Industry, Please wake up and stop overcharging for your services. Stop flatly treating your entire customer base as adversaries and criminals. The majority of us want to pay you for the songs we love. But if you charge more than they are worth, we will just wait till they come on on the radio or on MTV or until they are streamed over the internet, and we will do the same thing that we have been doing for years with cassette tapes. This isn't and shouldn't be illegal, because not only is any broadcast of the music already paid for through broadcast licensing, but the music is an advertisement for itself, for the artist, and for the artist's other songs. The more we hear it, the more we want to buy it. But the more you try to bully us into paying more than we should for a product and the more you try to criminalize us and infringe upon our fair use rights, the more we are going to rebel and the more money you are going to lose. Sincerely, A longtime supporter of your products.

Wired on semacode...

Wired's Chris Ulbrich writes Camera Phones Link World to Web, a more detailed article about semacode than the little blurbs that have been popping up on everyone's blogs (including this one) recently. Rael gets quoted in the articles outtro. Check it out.

New .mac update...

MacMerc is reporting:

.Mac members will find a new layout to the .Mac section of Apple's web site as well as new web publishing options, iCards with Address Book integration and Free Norton Parental Control with a Symantec Discount.

So, I decided to go check it out. Indeed, things look a little bit different. The .mac welcome page even notes:

Now use HomePage in Windows, too: You can create and edit your web pages using Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.

So, now there is Windoze support in .mac. I have no problems with this and think it is a good move on Apple's part. I do, however, have continued problems with the performance and lack of consistency I receive from the .mac service, and I am concerned that in the .mac web-services arena, Apple is becoming much too much like all the things that I dislike about Windoze, namely the continued bloat of buggy code with more and more ugly hacks to keep all the new features working sort of half-ass with the great new features that are supposed to distract everyone from the bugs. I also wonder somewhat at the "Free" Norton Parental Control "with a Symantec Discount;" smells like a you pay up front and then get a rebate type of deal, and a deal from a company who has recently announced that they are intending to drop Mac support from their flagship program, Norton Utilities. Fishy all around...

GarageBand Update 1.1

Run Software Update now to get GarageBand Update 1.1 (37.2MB):

GarageBand 1.1 addresses isolated performance and stability issues, allows per-track Echo settings similar to other effects, supports loop libraries in other disk locations, supports importing unprotected AAC audio files in addition to AIF and MP3 files, and addresses issues with ReWire support, moving GarageBand songs between different computers, Help support, fixing the timing of individual notes (as well as entire regions), and dragging entire tracks in the timeline.

Lock and load.

SubEthaEdit 2.0

The Coding Monkeys just released SubEthaEdit 2.0. The previous version of the software had just recently become my text editor of choice. It's a really great product that is free for Non-Commercial use, and otherwise $35. Check it out.

DIY Bluetooth RC Car...

Check this out:

DIY remote controlled Bluetooth carForget Sony Ericsson’s Bluetooth toy car, and check out this DIY guide for turning any regular remote controlled car into Bluetooth car that you can control from your cellphone, PDA, or laptop. [Via Blueserker]

[engadget.com]

Pretty cool.

Totally Off-topic anti-Troy Rant...

If you have any love for Western Civilization and the foundational Ur-texts that create our combined heritage, you should shun the movie Troy. WARNING: THIS RANT INCLUDES SPOILERS. I went to see it on Saturday night and the liberties it takes with the stories from the Iliad and the Aeneid border on blasphemy as far as I am concerned. I would think in a time of real warfare, we would want to focus on the tragedy of one of the longest and greatest wars of ancient times, but instead the makers of Troy decided to condense the Trojan War into a little over a week long battle. The great battle between Ajax and Hector in which Hector kills Ajax happens on day 3 and therefore is robbed of all its power, as it is supposed to be in something like the 5th year and a great blow in this tragic ongoing war. They make Agamemnon a complete villain, which makes all the other Greek kings (including the great and clever Odysseus) look like fools for following him, they kill off Menelaus (who according to the real story is supposed to return home with Helen, live a long life and when they die they both go to the Elysian Fields together). Also, near the end they have the slave girl, Birseus (sp?) kill Agamemnon off while Troy is being sacked. Agamemnon dies at Troy!!! What happened to returning home with Cassandra and the whole Clytemnestra jealousy/murder deal? No explanation was given of the mythology behind Achilles, so when he is shot in the ankle by Paris, one uneducated sob sitting nearby exclaimed "Why'd he shoot him in the ankle?!" If this movie does at all well in the theaters, literature teachers are going to be battling its misperception for years to come... In other news, the fight scenes were cool and Brad Pitt gets naked.

Color Apple Logo Modded 12-inch with Step-by-Step Picture Walk-Thru...

This is the coolest. Jim Younkin, founder of the 12inchPowerbooks Yahoo! Group made an announcement that he has successfully completed the mod to his 12-inch that he pointed out the other day. Instead of going for just a regular color replacement, Jim brought back the rainbow Apple color logo from the pre-OS X days and did a very nice job of it with a complete step-by-step picture gallery documenting the process. Really nice!

Modding your 12-inch...

Saw this over at the 12inchPowerbooks Yahoo! Group. This guy has modded his 12-inch Powerbook to change the color of the glowing Apple insignia on the back of the display. I wonder if I could do this in a nice Scottish plaid...

Gmail SPAM?

So, I received the following email from the Gmail team:

Dear Beta Tester, We are glad to bring you some new features to enhance your beta testing experience here at Gmail. Some of these features include:

Checking your e-mail via telephone, anywhere in the world. �A simple, easy to use spam manager where you can filter almost any kind of unwanted e-mail. �Ability to create unlimited invite codes for all of your friends, so that they may too experience the wide range of diversity of Gmail.

We are proud to announce that all of these features are now available to current beta testers. Unfortunately, we will not be offering these services to members that receive an invitation from this special service. You can activate these features anytime by visiting http://activate.gmail.com/ We encourage you to send your feedback, suggestions and questions to us. But mostly, we hope you'll enjoy experimenting with Google's approach to email. Speedy Delivery, The Gmail Team

Now, not only does the url listed in the email not work, but it is actually a redirect to http://www.googie-mail.com/, which makes me think that the entire email was either sent out prematurely, or that it isn't from the Gmail team at all, but instead is a spam hoax. Also, I received this email in only one of the two gmail accounts I have. One is the widely publicized one that I have everyone spamming (still only at 180MBs), and the other is for my own personal use, has only received 3 emails and one of them is this possible piece of spam. Anybody with any light to shed on this?

MacMerc on .mac Spam-filtering

MacMerc points to some informative bits about how .mac spam-filtering works. I have to say though, as a .mac user, that it doesn't work wonderfully. A slight chunk of legitimate email always gets flagged as junk, so I always have to look through the spam before deleting things, or running the REBODE scripts on them.

Disappearing Airport Connections...

MacFixIt is reporting on dropped Airport signals on machines with more than 1GB of RAM. While the problem may be more common when there is more memory available, I have experienced it with my 12-inch with only 384MB of RAM. From what I have witnessed, it would appear to be a glitch with Network settings, where if you have more than one connection listed in your network ports, or if you have the Location set to Automatic with one set to Airport and the other to Ethernet, it will randomly not connect, trying to use the other connection which isn't available. This has been a recurring problem for me since the 10.3.3 Update. As a result, I no longer switch networks with ease, by setting up multiple locations and leaving the computer set to automatic. Instead, I must manually switch between the locations. This issue and iChat randomly disconnecting and/or giving me a "too much data has been sent" error every so often since its update out of beta are my two large gripes about the OS right now.

VGAtor for your 12-inch...

If you have one of the early model 12-inchers, which lack DVI out, having merely a VGA option to support an external monitor, and you have $299 to spare, you can now purchase Dr. Bott's VGAtor. I have one 12-inch with built-in DVI support and one without, so it is nice to know that this is now possible, should we want to get a 23" flat-screen external display for our apartment. Unfortunately, for that to happen both the screeen and the VGAtor will have to drop in price. Word.

Note to Self:

Although it would appear to be acceptable to close your 12-inch, putting it to sleep, while a terminal session is open and running ffmpeg to convert muxed MPEG-2 files to MPEG-4 files with mp3 audio, please remember to refrain from doing so when you have FOUR shells open, two of which are encoding video and two of which are compiling programs. Bad idea...

Editing MPEG-2 files in OS X

So, I am trying to find a neat and easy way to edit the MPEG-2 files from my ReplayTV, so I can cut out commercials nicely for burning to DVD. Quicktime will play MPEG-2 files, but will not let you edit them (which is a real pain in the ass, btw). I can demux the files, separating the audio and video into separate tracks and then convert it into QuickTime and edit that file, but that takes lots of seemingly unnecessary processing, considering that the resulting edited file has to be re-encoded to MPEG for burning to a playable DVD. I can follow this tutorial on using the ReplayTV 5K Tools to set everything up, but for some reason I cannot get the timecodes right for editing the files. It's really not intuitive to have to use the Terminal to edit video. So, I then found Avidemux and spent a lot of time fiddling with DarwinPorts to help me port it to OS X. I was successful, but unfortunately, for whatever reasons, the audio doesn't work (and this seems to be noted in the Avidemux discussion forums for OS X). However, the time-code presented by Avidemux would seem to be the right format for using to determine where to add the cuts using the ReplayTV 5K Tools, if I can only figure out how to edit the ndx and etv files properly. Grrrr.... This thread looks promising, but I have no idea how I would go about getting a license to the Japanese only Capty MPEG Edit (nor do I really want a Japanese only program on my system). Right now I am running Goppler to see how it compares to the ReplayTV 5K Tools. It's taking a bit longer, but if it makes both the video and audio recognizable by Avidemux, we might have something... I really wish Apple would make QuickTime fully MPEG-2 capable (I used to be able to edit these files in the pre-OS X days, so I don't really know why that functionality disappeared). My brother edits these files on his PC with no difficulty whatsoever...

Added a new RSS feed...

It's really just a translation of the atom feed, but you will find an RSS 2.0 feed to the right. (Also, since the layout of the site has changed, please note that all messages stating "to the left" before today really meant stage left so they're on the rig—no, wait... where'd I put that...).

playfair becomes hymn

Check this out:

hymn
playfair has been renamed to hymn (hear your music anywhere) and is back online with the legal backing of FSF India. It has been updated with the latest FairPlay code from VideoLAN. [So sue me]

Bye bye, DRM!

posting via email

I'm just testing to see what happens when I use this publish via email feature. http://3650anda12inch.blogspot.com --- "We greet you, friends of earth, who are still in the body. Mind C.K. doesn't pile it on." —James Joyce, Ulysses ,12.362-63

New Template...

Hola. Since Blogger went to all the trouble to make their stuff compliant, I thought I'd smack one of the new templates on the place. Whatayathink? There should be a comment section, too (assuming it started working). Oh, yes, and I also got rid of the makeshift RSS feed. This site is now Atom only. Complain and I might change it...

Bluetooth Security

Evidently, people are starting to become concerned about bluetooth security. I think that for the most part this is an over-reaction.

This warping thing (revisited)...

Over at the 12inchPowerbooks Yahoo! Group, there is a new user who has been hit by the same warping 12-inch problems from which my first first gen 12-inch was suffering. At the time, I promptly stormed into the White Plains Apple Store and demanded they replace it, which they did after about 3 hours of arguing (!). In any case, it looks like Apple UK is stonewalling any repairs on this 12-inch, blaming their continued and inexcusable production flaws on "user error." Grrr... Class action, anyone? Petition of complaint?

Extreme Tech Reviews Gmail

Extreme Tech reviews Gmail. Check it out.

DIY Powerbook Repair...

PB FixIT release several free guides to repairing older model Powerbooks (up to the Titaniums), but, alas, no 12-inch DIY repair guide yet...

New Blogger Interface...

So, they rolled out a new design at Blogger. What's really cool is that this version would appear to be fully Safari compatible. Cool.

Spam from Myself...

Now, I am pissed off. Today, I received some spam and the masked address from which it was sent was my own. Grrr....

Apple Denies iTMS hike (h00t!)

Good on Apple:

Apple denies price increase for iTunes Music Store—Apple on Friday denied a report in the New York Post that it plans to raise the prices of some tracks on its iTunes Music Store to US$1.25 a song. "The rumors aren't true," Natalie Sequeira, an Apple's spokeswoman, told CBS Marketwatch. "We have multi-year agreements with the record labels and our price remains 99 cents a track." [from MacMinute]

That's a relief. I wasn't looking forward to pulling the old crew together, strapping on the wooden peg, and heading out to sea. Especially, with those pesky sharks out in the waters these days.

I h8 the Music Industry

This just sucks. Nothing has ever made me want to become a music pirate more than this. Bastards.

Doubt my scripts will make TechTV now...

A while back, my scripts were up to be mentioned on TechTV's Call for Help. However, now it looks like that in all probability won't be happening. Thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes to all the TechTV staffers who are now confronted with finding a new job in today's climate.

Dumbest KBarticle ever...

This KBarticle entitled "There are marks at the base of my PowerBook's display screen" is the most daft KBarticle I've ever read. Here's the part that really rubs me wrong (the description):

Because of the PowerBook computer's slim profile and light weight, there may be small vertical marks on its display where the edge of the keycaps touch the glass that covers the display.

GLASS?! Is this soft squishy stuff really glass?

semacode

Everybody is blogging this, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. Check out semacode. There's a Symbian 60 version that will work with the 3650. Picture phone + semacode + semacode-generated barcode = real-world hyperlinks. I need to figure out how to make one for this site and build it into my business card.

The O.C. Chart...

Okay, first let me say that this post has nothing whatsoever to do with 12-inch Powerbooks, Macs, or Nokia 3650s. That being said, I couldn't resist sharing this with the world:
O.C. Chart—Click to make bigger... My future sister-in-law, Mags, constructed this very detailed chart / map / diagram of the different connections and relationships that have materialized during the first season of the O.C., complete with a key at the bottom right corner. It is surprisingly accurate and detailed for something that she put together while sitting in a class that she found uninteresting.

Non-mounting Firewire Drives

MacFixIt is discussing recent problems with FireWire drives not mounting and a slew of different options to fix it. I had this problem the other day with the G5 at work, and it seemed to be a faulty permission setting in the drivers for the firewire interface (which had entirely disappeared from System Profiler). Running Disk Utility's Repair Permissions several times in a row fixes the problem (and from there you can also see which file it is that is causing the problem as it will most likely be the only one that is repaired the second time you run the fix).

Hackers will always break DRM

Nice Register write up about why DRM will never work. A good example: VLC already works with the new DRM.

iTMS Extractor

Check out iTMS Extractor from isophonic software. It'll let you save music videos and movie trailers from the iTunes Music Store to your 12-inch.

Idiots.

Idiots.

15-inch complaints against Apple...

Check this out:

Apple deleting criticism on 15" PowerBook issue
Thomas sez, "I'm in the market for a new laptop, and was just about to buy one when I saw your story from earlier in the week about the 15" display problems. So I said as much in Apple's display forum, and they squashed my post."

Your post titled "Won't buy until they own up. Anyone else?" has been removed from Apple Discussions.

Link [Boing Boing Blog]

This happened with me when I posted about my wobbly 1st generation 12-inch ordeals on the Apple forums. I wonder if there is anyway to join forces in a complaint. All the 15-inchers with their messed up screens and all the 12-inchers with all their wobbly framed Powerbooks. It would be nice if Apple actually had some sort of quality control built in to the manufacturing line for their current (and future) portables.

mReplay

If all you want to do is download your shows from your ReplayTV, then you should check out mReplay. It doesn't offer the advanced features of DVArchive (serving shows to your ReplayTV from your Mac, scheduling recordings, etc.), but it does a nice quick job of downloading shows to your 12-inch and in a nice Mac-like GUI, as opposed to the clunky cross-platform, Java-look of DVArchive.

Security Update 2004-05-03

Run Software Update now for Security Update 2004-05-03 (4.2MB):

Security Update 2004-05-03 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components: AFP Server CoreFoundation IPSec

Virtual Pets on your 12-inch...

If you are a fan of virtual pets, you will probably get a kick out of Fish. It's still really buggy, but pretty cool. You can make your own virtual fish tank to carry around on your 12-inch.

PlayFair to Return...

Check this story out. Evidently, PlayFair will return.

ReplayTV and a 12-inch

I've had the ReplayTV that I got open-box from BestBuy for a week now and I am loving it. The universal remote that I bought to work with it (that's why it was only $50; no IR Blaster and no remote) actually works well and controls all my AV units, which is a first. I ordered a replacement IR Blaster for $10 online; it should get here on Wednesday, but I already found another IR Blaster in my BBOW (big box of wires), so I'll probably either just keep it as a backup or sell it on ebay. For now, I'm paying the monthly ReplayTV, but as soon as I get some money together, I'll go ahead and spring for the lifetime activation. Anyway, for close to the same price of the regular ReplayTV, I got a remote control, the unit, an IR BLaster, and a D-Link wireless ethernet bridge that I used to connect the ReplayTV to my home network. I also have DVArchive on my 12-inch, so at any time, I can launch DVArchive and pick the shows that the ReplayTV has recorded to download to my 12-inch for portable viewing (with the Quicktime MPEG-2 Decoder installed). Nice. I've also been able to follow this tutorial to convert the files to DVD (although I used Sizzle to create the disk image and Disk Utility to burn the disk). Now, I am trying to figure out the best way to convert the large MPEG-2 files into 3ivx / DivX (as any attempt to do so through Quicktime results in lost sound). I just finished demuxing a test file with bbDEMUX, and I will attempt to convert the audio with mAC3dec and the video with DiVA to get two files that I can then combine in Quicktime. If anyone out there has any pointers, shoot me an email.