Konfabulator vs Dashboard

Check out this remix of the "controversy" surrounding Dashboard and Konfabulator. Interesting take on things, though a bit too dismissive. "Peanut gallery"? I mean, come on. Here's why I don't like Apple's Dashboard move in relation to Konfabulator. Apple has for years complained about or pointed to the way that Windoze copies the Mac. Everybody in the Mac community complains whenever a new iMac-like PeeCee comes out, or another iPod want-to-be hits the market. It is most evident in their banner at WWDC, proclaiming 'Redmond, start your photocopiers,' which Arlo Rose remixes as "Cupertino, start your photocopiers!' on the Konfabulator home page. What the above linked rant largely overlooks and dismisses in Apple's actions is not only the hypocrisy that "Cupertino, start your photocopiers!" so ironically and clearly points out, but the design of it. Not the code design, but the look. Apple computers has a large stake in the design industry and lots of people who work in design like the look and feel of Apple not just for the Macintosh platform and the technological ease of it all, but because of the look and feel of the products. Who knows more about design and can better support design than someone who exhibits fantastic design? Now, with that in mind, hold a screenshot of Dashboard up against a screenshot of Konfabulator and tell me that they are not knowingly ripping off Konfab's design. Sure, the code is accomplished in entirely different ways and implemented differently, but on the surface it is a rip off. Just as Windoze remixes of Mac technologies are rip offs even though the code is entirely different. What makes it even more obvious is the way that the Apple press surrounding Dashboard's release is totally gunning for Konfabulator's current user base. Why call them widgets to the public when the developer documentation is different? Why say they are java-based (something Konfabulator is known for) and then have a Safari developer provide his clarification later? They want Konfab's customers, and it is obvious, and it is backfiring a bit on them. Sure, everybody copies everybody, but when it is big guys squashing little guys and in such an obvious play (all the time claiming that they love the little guys), it sucks. Bad move, Apple.

Frozen Bubble for your 3650...

Russell Beattie makes a good find for Symbian 60 users in the form of a nice free game for your 3650: Frozen Bubble. Unfortunately, Russ forgot the link, but a quick Google search turned up this. Pretty cool.

Hey, C.K., where you been all day?

Installing XP in VPC 6. Talk about slowing down your workflow.... ugh...

Get your Keynote here...

If you are interested, Apple has posted the Keynote. Watch it, and then go ahead and buy a better Dashboard replacement today!

Update from Talking Panda

I received a nice reply from Bob Ippolito, the developer behind Talking Panda:

CK, All of your existing Notes are stored in a numbered Notes backup folder on your iPod. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations of the iPod (there are scalability and nesting level issues), we made the decision to "take over" the Notes reader rather than attempt to integrate with existing notes. As you can see, we've made a special notice on our page hoping to make this decision more clear due to your input. We'll definitely be talking to Apple about upgrading the iPod firmware to better support our application in the future, but this is the "state of the art" as far as the iPod goes. I apologize for the response latency today, but I (the developer responsible for the installer) am currently attending WWDC and do not have constant internet access while sessions are going on. Bob Ippolito Talking Panda

Hopefully, Apple will continue to expand the possibilities of the Notes function on the iPod. Thanks, Bob!

Flash Lite for the 3650?

Macromedia has announced Flash Lite for Mobile Phones, but I can't find any info on whether it will be available for the 3650. The Nokia link takes you to a developer page discussing the Communicator 9200. Hazy. Try again later.

Save the iPod

Just received the following email:

Hey CK,

This is a pretty important story. There's a bill up right now that could mean serious legal troubles for future iPods, so we just launched savetheipod.com. It would be awesome if you could post about it to your iPod blog.

Thanks a ton for your time,
Holmes


A new Senate bill (S. 2560 - "The INDUCE Act") would make businesses liable for customers who use their product to make unauthorized copies. Legal experts say this bill would give the big record companies grounds to sue Apple for selling the Apple iPod. People need to act right now to save the iPod:

www.savetheipod.com

Today, activists from freeculture.org will be on the ground at WWDC in San Francisco passing out "Save the iPod" stickers. But we need everyone to get involved. At savetheipod.com you can fax your senator, and send op-ed letters to local papers. Do it now!

Apple computer gave the major record labels the iTunes Music Store, quite possibly their best chance for survival on the internet. You'd think they would be gratetful. But now the major labels, along with Hollywood, are pushing for legislation that would give them the power to bully hardware manufacturers and software designers. The major labels say the law is aimed at p2p companies, but the legal language they're pushing is much broader than that.

The labels have not promised that they won't sue hardware manufacturers. Two decades ago, Hollywood sued Sony for making the Betamax VCR, and the INDUCE Act would make lawsuits like that possible again. This threat needs to be taken seriously.

Read more at: savetheipod.com

For legal information on how this new bill threatens Apple and the iPod see the EFF: http://www.eff.org/IP/Apple_Complaint.php

Usually, I would file this under "The Sky is Falling," but the way things have been going politically as of late, I fear that Chicken Little may be right.... *x-posted on my iPod blog...

WARNING: Don't install Talking Panda... [UPDATE]

Alright, I just had a bad experience. This post over at Gizmodo pointed me to Talking Panda, a really cool language guide complete with audio built for the iPod's Notes feature. The problem? Well, installing the guide erased ALL OF MY NOTES without any warning or indication that it would, replacing my entire Notes folder with the Japanese demo. Supremely uncool. Here's the email I just sent them regarding this issue:

Hiya, I just downloaded the demo of your Japanese book and was going to recommend it to my readers, because it really is a great idea. However, the installer to your program just erased all the Notes I had stored in my Notes folder on my iPod which really really sucks. You should probably fix it so that the book installs in a folder inside the Notes folder rather than simply replacing everything inside the Notes folder. Otherwise, it will make it extremely impractical and hazardous for many users. Let me know when you've fixed this error. --C.K.

If you never use your Notes folder, though, go check it out. UPDATE: Okay, I discovered thanks to comments here that there was actually a backup folder of my Notes made on the iPod during installation. However, I have not heard back from the developers and there is no documentation of this backup in the form of a read me or on their website (only evidently in the installer itself, which I clicked thru). So, at the least, better documentation is needed. BUT, this still cripples my iPod's Notes functionality when on the go. I can either have Talking Panda, or I can have my Notes. I suppose I could drag the backed up Notes over to the Notes folder and have them all mixed up with Talking Panda, but that is extremely messy. I hope they revise the software so that it installs in a folder inside the Notes folder rather than becoming a Notes folder hog, as it currently is.

But can I watch TV on it....

The new Apple displays are pretty and all, wall-mountable too, but all I really want to know is if I can watch TV on it. Please tell me someone is developing a box that can make one of these puppies my sleek, aluminum TV!

WWDC 2004 Announcements... Not so live coverage...

I'm in a chat, and reading the live coverage via MacMerc, MacCentral, MacRumors, and trying to get Think Secret to load. Looks like MacRumors is the only site with auto-reload of their pages (although only every 3 minutes), so I am spending more time there. Here's what's happened so far:

• New all aluminum 23" display, new 30" display, new 20" display ($1,299); all with DVI connections, two USB 2.0 ports and 2 Firewire ports (ADC connection is gone! YES!)
• Fully 64-bit Tiger coming in "first half of 2005" with iTunes-like search-ability, calling it "Spotlight." Translation of "first half": a year from today (my guess).
• New Safari RSS reader, which is searchable (cool!).
• Core Image/ Video—processes in graphics processor (GPU), not the CPU.
• New .mac stuff—Sync multiple macs, new control panel.
• Dashboard—"exposé for widgets"; so they're screwing over the Konfabulator guys? That sucks... pics; see here for more on why Apple sometimes sucks like all the other big companies pushing people around...
• Automater—visual scripting (applescript 4 dummies); here's a pic somebody posted in the chat...
• iChat will handle multiple AV chats simultaneously; 10 audio, 3 video (and lots of spinning beachballs of death, I would imagine...)

And it is over. That was anti-climactic. And no free downloads available today. AND they totally screwed over the Konfabulator team. Bad karma, Apple. Bad show.

Remember all those cracks about the 3650's keypad...

Remember all those cracks about the 3650's keypad looking like birth-control pills? Well, it looks like, for men at least, there is a chance that the 3650 could possibly maybe serve as a very sad and permanent type of birth-control.

Quicksilver update...

New version of Quicksilver has just been released. It is free and very useful. Check it out.

OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 for Mac OS X (X11)

Ready to kick Micro$oft to the curb? Here's some good news: OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 for Mac OS X (X11) has just been released:

If you are willing to use an X11-based product, this version is now stable enough for day-to-day use as your primary office productivity suite. If you're unfamiliar with the X11 windowing system or require tight integration with the Mac OS X font, imaging, and/or user experience, wait for the native Quartz or Aqua version currently in development.

Lock and load... UPDATE: Holy multiple crashes, Batman! The installer just failed on me in 3 different attempts with a kernel protection failure. (!!!) UPDATE: FAQs are wonderful things. Following the instructions here, I created a new user, installed from that user, logged out, logged back in and now Ooo is in the house. Looks nice. Although for some reason, italics aren't WYSYWIGing the way they should (although according to the document properties, the text is italicized).

What is needed in a Bluetooth Phone

This is brilliant:

Bluetooth for normal phones
I am spending a lot more time on the telephone these days. Having a decent phone headset makes that a workable situation. I'd love to escape from my wired headset to an unwired headset. So the ideal situation seems like a Bluetooth headset that I can use with a regular (POTS/landline) phone, my cell phone, and my Powerbook (VOIP/iChat). The cell phone and Powerbook are covered, but the POTS part isn't. ... [Ted Leung on the air]

Totally THE product that is needed right now, and that I've been wanting for a while now. I've often thought that the one big shortcoming to cellphones has always been that they don't share your regular number, and that you cannot put them in a cradle when you get home which automatically switches that number back to your home lines. Now, with VOIP this switch needs the added ability to work over the computer's connection rather than over the phone line or the cellular connection whenever necessary. A bluetooth headset that connects to all three services with some nicely scripted number forwarding is the current reachable and very functional solution. I'm still waiting for that fully integrated communications device that the NASA guys hinted at when they did a presentation at the World's Fair in Tennessee when I was a kid....

Gmail to...

This is a cool little app: Gmailto:

Redirect any mailto: link on the web to your Gmail account. Download Gmailto, move it anywhere, open Mail.app's preferences and select «Gmailto (1)» as your «Default Email Reader» from the «General» section. Be well.

All web action all the time...

Plantronics M3000 Bluetooth Headset for your 3650

Wright This Way reviews the Plantronics M3000 for those of you still searching for a bluetooth headset for your 3650.

Vonage on your 12-inch...

Good news. Macminute notes that Vonage has released an OS X compatible and capable softphone. Now all I have to do is get a Vonage account set up, so I can start making and receiving phone calls from anywhere I have a live internet connection.

Presidential Candidate Ringtones for your 3650...

This is pretty cool: engadget has ringtones featuring the voices of John Kerry, George W. Bush, and Ralph Nader in mp3, WAV, and Ogg formats. To play on your 3650, download your ringtone of choice in WAV format and then simply use bluetooth file exchange to send it to your phone. It will open up when you receive the message. Choose Options-->Save to actually save the file to your 3650, then to save space on your phone delete the original message it came with. Menu-->Profiles and select the new WAV file as your ringtone. An interesting aside here: as someone who is at least partially interested in rhetoric, I have to make some observations. First, engadget's politics are evident though disguised. They do not come out and say that they are for one candidate or the other, however, when you click on the link to the actual ringtones, you are presented with the three candidates in a non-alphabetical order: Kerry, Bush, and Nader. This tells me that engadget wants Kerry to win and is afraid enough of the Nader vote that they put him last. Either that, or they arranged them according to the current polls. The other interesting bit occurs when you listen to the recordings:

1. Kerry's ringtone is very straightforward: "I'm John Kerry and I approve this message." Quick and confident.
2. Bush's message is typical Bush: "I'm George W. Bush. *slight pause* and I approve this message" with gentle, I would guess grassroots patriotic music in the background, a light horn and gently-picked guitar, very typical of the smoke and mirrors posturing behind which he has been hiding most of his horrible agenda for the past 4 years.
3. Nader's ringtone is sort of sad: "I'm Ralph Nader, running for President, and I approve this message." It is sad when a candidate has to remind you and anyone near you of who he is and why his voice is your current ringtone.

For the curious among you, my politics aren't really pro any of these guys. However, my politics are strongly anti-Bush. He's destroying our economy, intruding upon our rights as citizens, recklessly risking American lives, making the world a much less safe place, feeding the hatred against us worldwide, and turning this great nation into a farce and a hypocrisy. He needs to be removed from office, impeached for lying to the American people and for breaking multiple treaties, his administration needs to be investigated and brought up on charges for unlawfully withholding information, and a whole list of other things that I won't go into here. This isn't a political blog. Sorry if you are a regular reader and this doesn't settle well with you. It doesn't settle well with me either and that's why I had to say it. //rant off Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

FIXED IT!!!!

HA HA HA HA!!! And without help from anyone! No idea how it worked though. This is what I did: I decided to try my scripts to see if they worked, since they run over the same connection on which iSync rides. They did work. So I ran them and disconnected, ran and disconnected a few times. Then I tried iSync with the same no luck luck. Then I ran my scripts again, tried to run the sync while I had an active connection with the phone via my scripts. Failed of course. Ran the kill scripts and then tried iSync again. This time it gave a DIFFERENT error, saying that my firewall 3004 bluetooth port was blocked (even though it wasn't). This gave me an odd hope, so I re-installed iSync for about the 7th time since this all started, logged out, logged back in and BOOM it suddenly, miraculously worked again. No idea why. What the hell?! Although now for some reason, the little bluetooth menu status bar says I am connected even when I am not. Irritating, but at least iSync is working again...

3650 and 12-inch no longer sync...

This is really starting to ruin my week. Anyway, I posted this to the Apple Discussion Boards in the hopes someone has a solution for me (since Apple evidently doesn't). I'm offering a Gmail invite to anyone with a solution that works... short of blowing away everything and reinstalling Panther.

iSync still broken with the new 3650

Well, it wasn't the phone, as I received the new 3650 today and it still won't sync. Same error. Grrr... Looks like it's time to take this to one of the so-called Apple Geniuses and see what they say.

Maybe it isn't the iSync...

I think my 3650 may be dying. I decided to try to reset the phone to see if that would fix my problems, but none of the lock codes that are supposed to work with the phone are working. I called AT&T Wireless, my provider, and they went through the steps with me and they think it is a failing phone as well. This makes some sense, as the phone has been powering down of its own accord for the past two weeks intermittently on a full battery. So, I was on hold for a while after they transfered me to their replacement department and they will be issuing me a refurbished phone to replace my current phone, which should arrive in a day or two. Hopefully, iSync will work with the new 3650.

Contacting Apple...

I just went to Apple's iSync Feedback page and sent them the following:

I'm getting a "Symbian.conduit may not be installed properly" error every time I try to sync with my Nokia 3650. The problem randomly started this weekend after months of working without a problem. I haven't installed anything new on my phone or my computer. I've tried repairing permissions, re-installing iSync, re-installing the Bluetooth update, re-installing Mac OS 10.3.4 Combo Updater, erasing the symbian.conduit plist in case of corrupt preferences, and a dozen other things that should have fixed this problem but haven't. Any ideas?

This was after going through their entire support page for iSync and finding no answers to my problem. After clicking submit, I receive the following:

Dear Customer: Thank you for your feedback regarding iSync. We cannot respond to you personally, but please know that your message has been received and will be reviewed by the iSync Feedback Team. If we need to follow up with you on your ideas for improving iSync, we will contact you directly. If you wrote to us for technical support with iSync, we need to inform you that the Feedback Team cannot address these types of queries. For available support options, please visit the iSync support page. We appreciate your assistance in making iSync better. iSync Feedback Team Apple

So, does this mean I'm out of luck?! What kind of circular methodology of slack-ass support is this? I really hope I get a reply with some sort of solution. Soon.

Email about Gmail...

I received an email today from Matt:

I saw on your weblog about your ordeal with gmail support. I can't even find the email of their support. I have been having all kinds of weird problems, but I can't tell them about them. I don't really understand the purpose of beta testing if users can't report bugs. Anyway, could you let me know what their email is? Thanks, Matt

For other Gmailers among you who agree with Matt's observations and would like some clearer answers, here's the 411: The way you are supposed to correspond with them is to go here: http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/request.py While there, you ask your question, which most likely won't be in their FAQ, and then the next page has a form you can fill to correspond with them. After I did that, I received an obtuse reply a week later from this address: gmail-support@google.com So you might be able to skip ahead and email there with your multiple complaints. Someone might want to mention how bass ackwards their support area is.

Broken iSync

Ok, this is really starting to drive me nuts: I've done everything I can think of to rectify this problem, including reinstalling the Combo Update, un-installing and reinstalling iSync, installing the last Bluetooth update, running Cocktail, repairing permissions, forcing re-prebinding. Nothing is working. Anybody have any ideas?

SubEthaEdit 2.0.1

Updated SubEthaEdit 2.0.1 is now available courtesy of the Coding Monkeys. As of late, SubEthaEdit has become my default text editor. It rules. Check it out.

gCount

gCount is:

...a menubar item that will display the number of unread messages in the inbox of a recently popular email service. It currently requires OSX 10.3 or later, though that may change.

Check it out.

Symbian.conduit not properly installed...

Well, carp! iSync decided to stop working for me over the weekend. Or at least, syncing to my 3650 stopped working. I keep getting a "Symbian.conduit may not be properly installed" error on each sync. I tried reinstalling iSync with no luck. Going to try running the 10.3.4 Combo Updater and see if that fixes it. If not, I'll have to deal with Apple Support. In other news, I got to play with my friend Tim's P900 on Saturday night. Really really cool phone. Now I know what Rael was raving about when he got his. It was kind of sad though, as Tim had NO idea about bluetooth or that he could use iSync to sync it with his iMac. He was amazed when I started sending him video files and my vcard across the dinner table via bluetooth. His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "How'd you do that?! That is soooo cool!" I'm starting to think it might be getting close to time to migrate to another phone. The dilemma then becomes: keep 3650 and a 12-inch, or migrate to another site? Hmmm...

Remote Desktop 2

Remote Desktop 2 was released today. I need it.

Now THAT's a bluetooth headset!

File this under coolest thing ever.

Gmail, DRM, and other cool catch-up items...

I was rather busy this weekend, stranded out on Long Island, accessing the web through my future father-in-law's Gateway computer (yuck!), with little time to blog. I kept a list of interesting links that I wanted to blog about, but the energy to write about them has left me since I first saw them all, so here's a brief list with short comments as to why I think the links are interesting:

• Some interesting tidbits in the battle against DRM: BeastieBoys discussion thread about how anti-consumer and anti-fan the DRM on their new album is proving to be; /. reports that Velvet Revolver's DRM protected disc has topped the charts and the idiots in the music industry translate the sales as signs that consumers approve of DRm, when all it really points to is that Velvet Revolver is about the coolest thing since G n' R for the obvious reasons; Cory Doctorow gave another excellent discussion about why DRM is bad, this time to Micro$oft peeps, and Kottke made an audio version of it for listening to on your iPod / 12-inch...
• Here's a few cool apps that I need to check out. This one, in particular, may be the solution to getting Vonage working nicely in my apartment (or at least provide the necessary incentive to make me do it).
• File these bits under Cool and Good to Know: Cool & Good to Know.
• And if you wondering if it were possible to import your email into Gmail, it is, and here's how you do it on OS X. Also, check out these Gmail bit from /.
• Winer remixed.

I think that is all. If I find more scraps from the weekend, I'll post later...

6 Gmail invites up for grabs... [GONE]

First 6 people to comment to this entry get Gmail invites. Include your name and email in a non-bot friendly way (i.e. my email is c k s 3 NO SPAM at mac dot com minus the NO SPAM). Happy Father's Day everybody! UPDATE: Even though there are already 6 comments there is still one invite left, as one person double posted! Get it quick! UPDATE: done.

Charge iPod from sleeping 12-inch...

Nice hint from O'Grady's Powerpage about how to charge your iPod from your sleeping 12-inch. Who knew?!

Want a Gmail account?

I will give exactly ONE Gmail invitation away to whoever is able to send me a disk image from which they successfully flashed the BIOS on their modded X-Box with Executioner Lite + chip. I will send the invitation after I have successfully flashed the BIOS on my X-box and all is working nicely. If you are interested, leave your contact info (email) in the comments to this post and I will contact you to arrange the exchange...

Grrr... Totally off-topic...

Feds: Your local coffee shop a potential haven for terrorists. I mean, come on. EVERYWHERE IS A POTENTIAL HAVEN! It doesn't mean we throw all our rights out the window. //rant off

Make your own Pirate Radio Station with your iPod...THE PUMP UP THE VOLUME WAY!!!

Remember this post the other day lamenting how limited the pirate-radio-iPod-functionality was? Well, here's a pro version.

Dear Blogger, Please learn from Winer's mistakes...

Oh, man. This sucks. Here's a snippet:

"I can't afford to host these sites," Winer wrote. "I don't want to start a site-hosting business. These are firm, non-negotiable statements." Some bloggers contacted for comments for this story said they didn't want to make disparaging comments about Winer's actions, for fear he wouldn't provide them copies of their blogs. "People have been really afraid to discuss this," said a New York blogger who asked that his name be withheld. "There's a lot of concern that any nasty comments will result in Dave not getting around to making a copy of your blog. I think a lot of the politeness and 'We love you, Dave!' sentiments that you're seeing in some Web posts is just pure paranoia."

I used to have a Radio Userland blog called Sample the Web, and I launched the first version of my iPod blog alongside the purchase of my first iPod via Radio. I also ran a site called Kopfschmerzen for a while that is still up over at Manilasites, but which I've switched to editors only. I think these bloggers are up a creek right now and their paranoia is warranted. In my very minimal experience with Winer, which amounts to one disagreement (non-heated) over a topic in the blogosphere that we both blogged and which he eventually edited out of his site (it was a very silly nothing of an argument that I am sure he doesn't remember, as I only vaguely remember it having to do with schools and an article that we had polar opposite readings on), one time when he noticed my iPod blog, pronouncing it "good," and then from reading Scripting News, which I gave up because of the very attitude that we see in these current actions. I'm not saying Winer is a bad guy or that he would intentionally want to harm anyone; I mean I really don't know the guy; however, he is often publicly sulky and angry on his blog when people don't agree with him. He's done phenomenal things for the computing industry and for the internet community that we should all thank him for, but in part due to his success, there seems to be an attitude that he knows the way things should be done. Look over his struggle with the rise of Atom to see how angry he gets about it, because it isn't following the path that he set forth. But the internet isn't an information superhighway. That's the old school's mangled and wrong-minded metaphor. It's a chaotic virus of information. A positive virus, I think, but not nearly as neatly structured and following any set of rules that anyone, like Winer, would try to enforce on it. His actions of giving no warning before shutting all this down are very in line with his "this is the way it has to be done" attitude. But it doesn't have to be done that way. And in this case, it shouldn't have been done this way. He has negatively affected a lot of people's lives with this no-forewarning type of action. In any case, I am writing all this in the hopes that someone at Blogger and Blogspot will see this post and make a mental note to give a little warning should they decide to shut down the free. This may just be another blog taking up space on your servers to you (as evidently all the blogs on Winer's servers were to him), but it is a little bit of my sweat and tears and malaise and joy that I don't want to suddenly disappear without me having a chance to move it without interruption somewhere else. Thanks! For more on this, see here and here UPDATE: And also here. 'Nother Update: Read this. A very good take on it. However, as much as it is Userland's fault for ditching them to Winer in the first place, it's still Winer's fault for taking it on when he clearly can't handle it, and then again his fault when he didn't give any heads up that he couldn't handle it until he already flipped the switch.

Explicit To The 5 Boroughs missing...

Ok. I want to buy the Beastie Boys' new album, To The 5 Boroughs from the iTMS. However, they only have the Clean version available (and who wants a clean Beastie Boys album?!). I can see the Explicit version but every time I try to buy it I get the following error: Grrr... Update: looks like they removed a song from the listing. I just downloaded the songs one by one and then purchased the missing track from the clean version of the album. grrr... ps—this post is number 666 on this site. eep!

NEW PIXIES SONG!!!

BAM THWOK The Pixies rule. That is all.

Make your own Pirate Radio Station with your iPod...

Engadget's How-To Tuesday covers How to Make your own Pirate Radio Station with an iPod. I don't really see how this differs from the Mister Radio I had as a kid. I was looking for more of a Pump Up The Volume type of way...

Gmail observations...

I've been using Gmail for quite some time now on the side and there are some things I am really starting to like about it. For example, I like the Gmail 'conversation' format of stringing together emails that are replies to one another. Has the effect of a time-delayed chat, or a not-so-instant-message session. The filters are really just plain old email rules, but I like the implementation of them and the use of labels. The ads are for the most part non-intrusive, text-only deals. I've actually found myself, horror of horrors, clicking on one or two of them. Also, the slight paranoia that someone or some computer is crawling every email that I write makes me re-read all the email I compose and mind my Ps and Qs a little more than usual (which I think is something that the world of email needs). Positive effects of Foucault's panopticon in effect, yo! I also like the lack of spam, but I think that has more to do with me not publicizing my current address than it has anything to do with Gmail's spam filters, which I found to be seriously flawed in my previous Gmail account (only catching the most obvious spam and / or randomly blocking legitimate messages), which I posted publicly both on /. and here. Things I don't like / Wish-list of things Gmail needs:

• I have to hit refresh constantly in Safari, as the Gmail java interface seems to freeze on "Loading..." if I simply click on the Inbox link.
• No IMAP or POP support yet.
• Limited actions you can perform with checked email via the More Actions... drop-down menu. For example, I would really like to be able to select multiple messages and forward them to other email accounts for offline backup, since downloading via POP isn't provided.
• Lacks any user-end email backup system. That 1GB of space is nice to have offsite, protected by Google's professional servers and backup systems, however, it doesn't change the fact that all that email is mine, I am a hoarder who likes to hoard things, and I want to be able to store all that email on my medium of choice at my end of things.
• I want to be able to sync my Gmail address book with my OS X Address Book and my .mac account.
• Better documentation and support.
• Needs to work on my 3650.

Agree / Disagree? Let me know. Also, the first person to comment on this entry that they want an invite to Gmail gets it. Make sure you include your email and name. Feel free to disguise the email with the regular NOSPAM at dot etc type of blockers.

More privacy concerns over Gmail...

From El Reg:

Fundamentally, we should treat automated searches of contents as what they are: tools used by humans to find out more about what humans are doing, and provide that information to other humans. At least until the computers take over.

So, if you are concerned be concerned. If you realize that privacy is an illusion of the bourgeoisie, and that security is a myth used to control people through fear, then move along. Nothing to see here.

Worm Alert for your 3650

Right now it is just a proof of concept, but the Register reports on this new Symbian OS worm that transfers itself via bluetooth:

The virus transfers itself as an SIS (Symbian OS distribution file) but is disguised as a Caribe Security Manager utility. It uses Bluetooth technology to find another Symbian phone and forwards itself on. The worm has no malicious payload but will display the message "Caribe" if launched.

No reason to panic though, as you still need to accept the message and accept to install the code for it to work. Just default to your tried and true policy with email: don't open attachments.

Gmail Browser...

This weekend I started tinkering with an idea I had to build a browser specific to using Google's new Gmail service. I thought I'd post about the idea here, in hopes that someone with more advanced Cocoa coding skills than my rather pathetic ones would beat me to the punch or offer some helpful hints / advice. Right now, I have a very crummy version of my Gmail Browser pieced together, which is basically little more than a browser based on Apple's webkit that I put together with these instructions and some tinkering to get everything to automatically link to Gmail's main page. As it develops, I would like it to become more of a Gmail specific client, and less of a bare-bones browser, where all of the program's integrated preferences and options integrate with the online functionality of Gmail. Has anybody seen any Gmail developer docs floating around the 'net? In any case, if I ever get it up to any sort of state where it would be more useful to launch it instead of running Gmail straight from Safari, I'll release it here.

Bluetooth to Internet Utility...

Cool app I tripped across this weekend, Bluetooth to Internet Utility, which I need to actually download and play around with for a while. It's geared to those of you wanting to share your Mac's internet connection over bluetooth with other Macs, but it could quite possibly work like my Share2Blue2th scripts, and if they found a way of consistently doing that without using mrouter, which is a finicky little bit of code at best, then it might be a better product than Share2Blue2th capable of handling sharing your computer's internet connection out to your bluetooth capable whatever more consistently. I'll give it a test run and report back.

Beastie Boys EMI Become(s) DRM crazed...

This anti-DRM rant from BoingBoing is so good that I am quoting the entire post:

New Beasties disc has DRM -- Fight! For your right! To cooo-oopy!
The Beastie Boys' new CD, To the Five Boroughs, has DRM on it that prevents you from ripping it or making a copy for your car. I got the MP3s last week -- it's a great album -- and was going to buy the CD while I'm in the US this week, but now I think I'll just erase the MP3s and not bother. If the Beasties wanna treat me like a crook, I don't want to be their customer.

Note that the only thing that this DRM is doing here is pissing off the honest fans who want open CDs; the DRM on the CD didn't stop my source from making me a set of MP3s. In other words, if you plan on listening to the new disc on your iPod or laptop, you're better off downloading a copy made by a cracker and posted on Kazaa -- if you buy it in a shop, you're going to have to go through the lawbreaking rigamarole of breaking the DRM yourself.

I always hear record execs whining that they "can't compete with free" -- but maybe the real competitive disadvantage is that they're selling a product that's less useful than the one being served up on P2P nets. Link (Thanks, Jon!) [Boing Boing Blog]

This sucks. The Beasties are one of my favorite groups. Ever. Between this move and Radiohead refusing to release their album on iTMS (not b/c of DRM) but because they don't want people to be able to buy individual songs as the whole album as a piece of art is supposed to be listened to together, or some such b.s.; it is sad to see all my music heroes making bad choices that seem totally anti-customer and very much in line with the RIAA. UPDATE: More from Boing Boing on this:

Update: Ian sez, "Hi, I'm not sure who posted re: Beastie Boys copy protection, but I just spoke with Mike D and their management and they wanted me to pass along that a) This is all territories except the US and UK -- US and UK discs do not have this protection on them; b) All EMI CDs are treated this way, theirs isn't receiving special treatment; c) They would have preferred not to have the copy protection, but weren't allowed to differ from EMI policy."

Well, that's better news at least. Too bad the Beastie's can't have their own label separate from all this...

Safari failing to find sites before reload...

MacFixIt currently has a report on Safari taking two attempts to connect to certain sites and provides some possible solutions. They also point to an Apple KBArticle that puts forth possible reasons for the problem and a list of solutions that don't seem to work for most people. MacFixIt also notes an Apple Discussion Board post that offers a step by step solution involving setting up a local DNS server. However, I just wanted to weigh in and point out that I have been having this problem on my 12-inch since 10.3.3, but ONLY when I have more than one Network port open or my Network location set to Automatic. If I manually select the location which is only my home airport connection or my work LAN connection, then the error never shows up. Any debuggers at Apple might want to examine this...

Solutions to AppArchServerThread Error

Thanks to Anthony, who in the comments to the previous post points to this solution to the AppArchServerThread error. Also, thanks to Neil, who mentions that this solution doesn't always work, and certain programs like GoBoy and Psiloc Screen Saver can cause the error to rear its ugly head.

AppArchServerThread Error Raises its Ugly Head

I just received an email from the proud new owner of a 3650, asking if I knew anything about our old nemesis, the AppArchServerThread Closed! Error. So, I referred him to the archives, but then I thought, "I don't think I've synced since the 10.3.4 update. Let me give it a shot." And sure enough, AppArchServerThread error is back. Grrr... In any case, I am fiddling with it to see if I can get it to go away. Will post results here.

Anybody having problems with Share2Blue2th since 10.3.4?

I'm getting some intermittent errors, but my 3650 has been on the fritz recently (suddenly turning itself off and the like), so I am not sure if it is just my long-in-the-tooth and often abused cellphone, or problems since 10.3.4. Any input?

Good to know...

Some quick instructions if iTunes is not managing to play your legally purchased songs. Also, Gizmodo has a good rant about this.

Mac OS X Spoken Interface Preview...

So, yesterday, I received an invitation from Apple to participate in the Mac OS X Spoken Interface Preview. Exciting, no? Well, here's the big ole scary catch:

IMPORTANT! You cannot remove the spoken interface preview software after you install it. To restore your computer to its original condition, you must completely erase the contents of your computer's hard disk and then reinstall Mac OS X and any additional software or files. Please consider this carefully before installing this software.

Does this mean that I am not going to try it out? No. It means I have to wait until I have a nice afternoon to spare, at which point I will run Carbon Copy Cloner to backup my entire hard drive, then install and try out Spoken Interface Preview and play with it thoroughly before booting from my external FW drive and re-imaging my entire machine back to the pre-installation-of-Spoken-Interface-Preview state (unless of course I really really like it).

iTunes 4.6 (8.4MB)

iTunes 4.6 (8.4MB):

iTunes 4.6 includes support for playing your music wirelessly using AirPort Express with AirTunes. It also includes a number of other minor enhancements.

Lock and load...

New G5 towers...

New G5 Towers. h00t!

Gmail team's poor support...

I decided to declare the experiment to fill my Gmail account that I have been running here a failure, however, the damage has been done, and my Gmail account gets lots of spam. So, I wrote to Gmail support:

Hiya, I decided to beta test this account by publicizing it on my site and begging people to spam me to see if I could get anywhere near the 1GB limit. No luck, as I am only at 187MBs. Failed experiment, but now I'm on tons of spam lists and everybody keeps messaging me for an invite. Can I erase this account and set up another? Please contact me at my other email: [yada yada yada] Thank you. --C.K. (http://3650anda12inch.blogspot.com)

Pretty clear, no? I want to delete my gmail account and start up another and I need to know how. Yes. No. Here's the idiotic reply I just received from the Gmail team:

Hello, Thank you for your message. As stated in the Gmail Program Policies, each user is allowed to open one Gmail account. If you would like to read more of our policies, please visit: http://www.google.com/gmail/help/program_policies.html. Should you choose to open an additional Gmail account, we ask that you delete your original account. Sincerely, The Gmail Team

Hmmm... This doesn't answer the questions in my original email. So I replied just now with the following:

Ok. Well, could you try answering my question this time? I wrote asking if there was a way for me to delete my current gmail address and set up a new one. Could you please tell me how? Replying that I should delete my current account if I set up another doesn't answer my question at all and borders on insulting, as it is clear that you didn't bother to read my original message. I look forward to hearing from you. --C.K.

Grrr... UPDATE: I figured out how to delete the Gmail account and I had some invites left and re-invited myself to set up a new account. ALSO: Don't ask me for invites. They are all being given to friends... NEW UPDATE: I received a new email from Gmail support today, which still only halfway addressed my question:

Hello, Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, you cannot change your username at this time. We thank you for your patience and understanding during this limited test of Gmail. Sincerely, The Gmail Team

Grrr...

More on Airport Express... it DOES serve as a wireless bridge!!!

Ok. Check this out:

If you're using AirPort Express as a base station, you'd plug your Internet connection into it via its included Ethernet port. But if your main base station is an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express, you can also use the AirPort Express as a wireless bridge -- just plug it in somewhere else in your house, and attach any Ethernet-based device to it. That device will now be on your network, even though it's nowhere near the rest of your stuff.

This is from Jason Snell at Macworld, with the added note at the bottom:

(Updated 6/7 at 1:09 PM PT: Added information about the Wireless Bridge capabilities, per Greg Joswiak.)

So despite the information on the tech specs page for Apple, it looks like it WILL work as a wireless-to-wired bridge, as opposed to just a wireless-to-wireless as I disappointedly thought. Cool. That sells it for me. I'm getting one... UPDATE: Just took the time to read the comments on the article and another reader questions the wireless-to-wired claim made by Snell that seems to go against what the specs page says. Snell replies:

That "claim" comes straight from Apple VP Greg Joswiak, so if you want to complain, complain to Apple. Joswiak says that it _will_ work as a wireless bridge to Ethernet if it's connected to another AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express. If it's some other sort of base station, then no. The definition of "WAN" versus "LAN" ports is pretty hazy. People are being very literal with those definitions, but it's not necessarily so cut and dried. For example, the original graphite AirPort Base Stations only had one Ethernet port, but they supported both WAN and LAN connections over the same port. You could (and in fact I still do!) route Internet traffic and local DHCP/NAT LAN traffic via the same hub attached by the same cable.

Coolness. 'Nother Update: This from Jeremy in the comments of my earlier post:

Also if you look closely at the callouts on the product image on Apple's website you can see that the ethernet port on the Airport Express is an:

"Intelligent port for connecting to DSL or cable modems or a local area network"

The configuration specs table further down on the page contradicts this but I think it is meant to demonstrate that the Airport Express only has one ethernet port as opposed to the Airport Extreme base station which has two.

Thanks for the info, Jeremy!

Shiira Day: The Report

Shiira is a great web-browser. It is insanely fast. Faster than Firefox. I like it better than Firefox. The tabs can be dragged for quick and easy reordering of open web pages, and in addition to the familiar x to close a tab, there is a + after the last tab that you can click to add a new tab. All my Safari bookmarks were automatically imported into Shiira, and the optional sidebar for bookmarks and history is a nice navigation feature that doesn't get in the way of what you are currently browsing the way that Safari's bookmarks pane does. Unfortunately, there are two fatal flaws that currently prevent me from switching over to Shiira: 1. No option to open links from other applications in a new tab in the current window. 2. No PithHelmet support for ad-blocking. If number one is fixed, I might be persuaded to overlook number 2.

Security Update 2004-06-07 (1.3MB)

Security Update 2004-06-07 (1.3MB) is available via Software Update now:

Security Update 2004-06-07 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:

• DiskImages
• LaunchServices
• Safari
• Terminal

Mac OS X will now present an approval alert when an application is to be run for the first time either by opening a document or clicking on a URL related to the application. For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798

Restart required. Lock and load...

Get on the Airport Express...

Apple today announced the Airport Express:

Featuring AirTunes for playing your iTunes music wirelessly on your home stereo or powered speakers, AirPort Express brings not only the Internet but your music to wherever in your home you like to enjoy them most — whether you use a Mac or Windows PC. Unmatched in its ease of use, it delivers data rates up to 54 megabits per second, fits in the palm of your hand so you can take it wherever you go — and it costs just $129.

Coooooooool! I need to call the White Plains Apple Store and see if they have these in stock already. I want to see one... It looks like it can function as a wireless bridge. I wonder if it can function as a wireless ethernet bridge to connect my wired XBOX to my Airport network... hmm... UPDATE: Okay, after doing some digging, I discovered a few things. First, it is not miraculously already available at the Apple Store. Secondly, while it does function as both a wired-to-wireless access point and as a wireless-to-wireless bridge, it does not appear to support wireless-to-wired networking, which is really a shame, as that would make it effectively live up to its one product does it all type of hype. Oh, and it is Mac and PC compatable. If anyone at Apple is reading this, I just want to mention that, yes, I instantly love this little portable Airport Express, and I will most likely end up buying one; however, if you want to make this product extremely over-appealing to everyone who has a Powerbook, make it work as a wireless-to-wired bridge, and then add a built-in power adapter compatable with your entire existing line of portables (iPod, iBook, and Powerbook); this would make it one of the most versatile and powerful products of the year.

A Bluetooth Keyboard for both your 3650 and your 12-inch...

Want a Bluetooth keyboard that will work with both your Symbian OS-based Nokia 3650 and your 12" Powerbook? Look no further: The Stowaway Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard is available for pre-order for $149.99. I need to get my hands on one of these for review...

Walmart Apex AD1110W Plays Quicktime...

Lance writes in with this useful bit of info for you show archivists out there wanting to put everything you record with your ReplayTV onto something that is friendly to both your Mac and your DVD player:

This weekend I was at my wife's parents house, and my brother in law has one of those cheap Apex DVD players, the $40 Walmart ones. Well, he had told me before that he could burn a CD with a Quicktime, and it would recognize the file and play it, so this weekend we tried and Replay file copied straight using DV Archive. It was a low quality 30 minute... The file was about 450 MB so it fit nicely on a CD. Put the CD in, the player loaded it up to a file menu, selected the file and it was playing on the DVD player. You have all the same controls as the DVD would, fast forward, pause slow-mo, etc. So instead of converting those files to DVD, which can take a couple of hours, just back them up to CD, buy the cheapest DVD player and play them when you want. The only thing I haven't tried is files backed up on a DVD-R (for those shows over 30 minutes), but I am going to test that pretty soon. The model number on his player is AD1110W, and I am not positive whether other models work. I know these DVD players are supposed to be crap, but I don't know of any other player that can pull this off.

Coolness! Now, to find a Walmart...

Shiira Day—Monday, June 7th

I am officially proclaiming today, Monday, June 7th, Shiira day here at 3650 and a 12-inch, as I will install and use Shiira as my default web-browser for the rest of the day, immediately after posting this post via Safari. From the Shiira site:

Shiira is a web browser based on Web Kit and written in Cocoa. The goal of the Shiira Project is to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari. All source code used in this software is publicly available.

Comparison's throughout the day. Wrap up at the end (unless I absolutely hate it and switch back to my beloved Safari early in the day...)

So, your 12-inch ate your favorite DVD?

Fortunately, MacFixIt has the info on how to get that disk that isn't ejecting to eject. I particularly like the part where the guy/gal says, "The casing is bent in front of the superdrive but that happened ages ago and it was working fine." I'm sure the bent casing has nothing to do with it.

PithHelmet Update...

PithHelmet, the best ad-blocker and internet filter for Safari, has been updated. This is one of my favorite programs, as its positive effects are always present, yet its presence is never felt. Most non-intrusive piece of code ever. Get your copy today!

Flahing the X-Box BIOS a no-go....

So, last night, I actually had a nightmare about trying to create the disk to flash the BIOS on my X-BOX via my Mac. In other words, I am giving up. One of my friends is going to get me a copy of the disk he used and I am going to do it that way. If I ever figure out a way to do it solely via the Mac, I'll post it here. w0rd. Stay tuned for info on how it works with my Mac network...

MonoDevelop on OS X

Brian Jepson has posted a rough sketch of how to get MonoDevelop up and running on OSX via fink. Now, if I can just remember what MonoDevelop-dependent program I wanted to port to OS X several months ago, this'll be great!

Airport Extreme Driver 3.4.2

Run Software Update now for Airport Extreme Driver 3.4.2 (752KB):

This software update provides improved AirPort Extreme wireless networking software and is recommended for all customers with an AirPort Extreme enabled computer. New AirPort Extreme Features Enhanced networking reliability during certain memory intensive operations.

Sounds like Apple may be fixing the 1GB of RAM / Airport conflict. Cool. UPDATE: MacFixIt reports that my guess was in fact correct, and that this update fixes the 1GB of RAM /Airport conflict. But, why doesn't Apple just say that and own up to the problem? *cough* Excuse me!

Mac OS X Panther Hacks: Beta Hacks...

I was looking over at O'Reilly to find out if there was a publication date set for Mac OS X Panther Hacks, and noticed that they had some Beta Hacks from the book available with the caveat:

Beta excerpts may contain errors such as broken links, missing images, empty tables, and incomplete code.

But, in any case, three of the hacks I wrote for the book are available as betas and 10 total betas are available. I wrote Beta Hack 8: Incorporate Services into Your Workflow, Beta Hack 28: Browse Different, and Beta Hack 55: Share Your Mac's Net Connection with a Bluetooth Phone, which provides the behind-the-scenes story of the birth of my Share2Blue2th scripts. All the beta hacks are available in pdf format. Take a look, and if you like what you see (you will) go ahead and pre-order your copy of Mac OS X Panther Hacks today! ;-)

Gmail now supports Safari!

This post itself is evidence of Gmail now supporting Safari, as I am sending the post via my Gmail account in Safari. h00t!

The Great Slowdown...

This hasn't happened too often, but as of late, I've had two really horrible freezes on my 12-inch. This is how it goes: both times, I've been running a lot of processes simultaneously, including a few processor hogs like Micro$oft Word and video encoding stuff. Anyway, things move slower, as they should, during these times, but twice now this has led to no beach-ball-of-death or error, but instead into a real slow down that turns into a complete freeze with nothing responding save the mouse. I can whip the pointer all over the screen but to no effect. And it just stays like that. Forever. (Forever = time it takes before my impatience forces me to force a reboot / about 10 minutes). I checked the logs and there doesn't seem to be any discernible reason for it. Grrr...

Possible way to make Share2Blue2th work with 6600

Oooooooh, this looks interesting. Found the link over at The Tao of Mac. It seems to be a way of setting up a default access point on the 6600 that is your BlueTooth connection. Somebody with a 6600, give this a shot in combination with my scripts and tell me how it goes. (a hopeful) h00t!

1GB RAM / Airport Conflict and Apple's Big Hush Policy...

Check this out:

The reason behind AirPort Extreme problems with more than 1GB of RAM
For the past few weeks we have been covering an issue where having more than 1GB of RAM in a Mac or PowerBook with an AirPort Extreme card could result in wireless network slowdowns and disconnects (see reports 1, 2 and 3), especially during periods of heavy network transfers. The only reliable solution that has appeared so far is removing RAM to reduce the total installed RAM. It now appears that there is a specific reason this bug only affects those computers with more than 1GB of RAM and AirPort Extreme cards. A posting on the PowerList PowerBook mailing list from a reputable source states: "Only 30 of the 32 address lines were connected. That's 1 GB. If the AirPort Extreme tries to access (DMA) higher addresses, it fails and shuts down and you get no notice and no way to remedy it other than switching to ethernet or restarting. "I've been on ethernet for 8 months now." This appears to be internal knowledge at Apple, though no word on a AirPort Extreme firmware upgrade or other fix has emerged. Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com. [MacFixIt]

I'm getting really tired of hearing that Apple is aware of issues that they seemingly just sit on. *ahem* Dear Apple, We'd appreciate it if you would fix this problem as well as the gaping security holes in OS X. While you are at it, it would be great if you could eliminate the major production flaws, like the spotty screens on the 15" Powerbooks and the warping cases on the first gen 12-inchers that you ignored our complaints about, waiting for the next production run to correct the errors. We, as your customers, would really love it if you would stop treating these issues as if they don't exist, quietly correcting them whenever you darn well feel like it, while ignoring, endangering, and infuriating us in the meantime. Sincerely, Your Loyal Customers (ie, The Reason You are Still Around: I know you tend to think the reason is b/c of the iPod, but there's a huge gap of time between 1984 and the 21st Century launch of the iPod when the only thing keeping you going was us.)

Code Exchange for you Apple Scripters...

macscripter now has Code Exchange where you can post code and swap ideas for your AppleScripts. Nice!

HTML version of Gmail...

Engadget notes that upcoming features of Gmail will be an HTML version of the service, which means that your Gig of email will be available via both Safari on your 12-inch and via your 3650. Coolness. btw, I am liking the Gmail account that I haven't posted. It is at zero spam. The other account, which I have posted multiple times on here to test the spam, is soaking in about 180MB of crap email with not much of a discernible pattern to the spam filtering...

Session #47: Flash BIOS Blues*

X-Box update: I have the chip installed. Cromwell boots fine. Unfortunately, every attempt so far to burn a CD-RW with the necessary BIOS update to get EvolutionX running on the box has failed. There is a near total lack of information on how to do this via a Mac. A couple of times, I thought I translated the PeeCee procedure to the Mac correctly and when the disk mounted on the X-Box, it looked like it was going to work, but then just froze. Soon, I'm going to break down and just do it all via a PeeCee, but, really, this should be possible with a Mac, and if I can figure it out, I'll post a full tutorial. *title for this post inspired by Cowboy Bebop...