Mac
Lorem Scriptsum
Whenever I need to generate filler text, I've been using MacLorem. It's a handy little app, it's freeware, and it can generate text in Hawai'ian, which amuses me to no end. It generates text in other "dead" languages, though being a "dead language" is hardly the case with Hawai'ian. If you're looking for one less program in your Applications folder, however, you should check out Steve Wheeler's Lorem Scriptsum, an AppleScript that will generate the Lorem Ipsum dummy text and place it in the Clipboard for your use. I'm going to have to give this a try... [Via MacInTouch iWork Reader Report.]
Seeking VNC help
I've been futzing around with OSXvnc on my Cube and Chicken of the VNC on my PowerBook, and I cannot get the latter to connect to the former. Is anyone out there using this combination, and can offer guidance? Or recommend a different VNC client?
What would we do without stock analysts?
Today's MDJ provides good background information on Apple's quarterly financial conference call coming later this afternoon. Matt & Company's analysis of the stock "analyst" situation is spot on:
If Apple beats its own estimates by 10%, those results are merely "in line with analyst expectations." If Apple's estimates were spot on, then the company didn't live up to those "analyst expectations." In a sane world, the market would punish the analysts for missing their forecast, but that's not where we live. The analysts would blame Apple, not themselves, and issue feverish research notes accusing the company of "underperforming" and "bursting its bubble." The stock price, in turn, would summarily fall. [Emphasis added. --R] So like many segments of our society, the "analysts" will play the blame game if Apple's figures don't match up with theirs. It's not their fault their projections were wrong; it's Apple's fault for failing to meet the analysts' expectations, even if Apple's figures fall in line with Apple's projections. Much like how a certain Mr. O'Grady and other rumor-mongers blame Apple when new product specifications fail to match up to their caffeine-driven imaginations. MDJ's taking-to-task of the anaylsts continues: Still, one shouldn't ignore the possibility that Apple will post a solid quarter that looks "bad" simply because it doesn't meet the fantasies of analysts who are busily inventing video iPods, media servers, and Apple-branded cell phones in their feverish little heads. The exuberance has placed Apple in the uncomfortable position of needing to beat its own guidance by 10% or more just to keep up with expectations. UPDATE, 7:55 PM: It's all moot, at least this time, as Apple blows away everyone's projections. [Via Matt D..]
Layers?
In what yours truly believes is a huge branding mistake, Mac Design is changing it's name to Layers. Ick. Publisher Scott Kelby reasons:
The magazine has grown, changed, and evolved so much over the past few years that the word "design" doesn't really explain all that we are anymore. If you've read us for any length time, you know we're also a magazine for digital photographers, with digital photography news, tips, tutorials, and camera and printer reviews in every issue. Plus, from the very beginning, we've been the only Mac magazine to have an entire section dedicated to digital video editing. But we found that most photographers and video editors didn't really know that because they don't generally reach for a magazine that has the word "Design" in big letters on the cover. I'm not sure how changing the name to Layers is going to draw the digital photography/video crowd that isn't already reading the publication. I know about the use of layers in Adobe products. That doesn't change the fact that it's a pretty stupid name for a magazine that already has a great, all-encompassing name. This will not have an effect on the fact that I am a reader and subscriber. I just think it's a bad name. [Via Macsimum News.]
Six Apart-GoLive intergration
Adobe GoLive CS2 is going to have integrated tools from Six Apart for MovableType and TypePad users. Maybe this will be a way to speed up generation of new site looks.
ATPM 11.04
The April issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available. Ellyn looks at the ongoing Apple trade secret lawsuits, which Wes covers as well. His Bloggable column is chock-full this month, as March was chock-full of Apple- and Macintosh-related news and bloggings. Yours truly is even quoted in the column, for which I am humbled and grateful. Paul takes another lap around the Internet, bringing back sightings of baby naming, credit reports, Canadian flag proposals, and ad blockers. Oh, and "three dozen kinds of fried dough." Ellyn has this month's Pod People, and discusses the use of digital music vis-a-vis le iPod for exercise purposes. Ted starts a new chapter of ATPO, with a look at the history of outline exchange and XML. Reader David Blumenstein shares his first Macworld Expo experience, and Scott Chitwood checks in with customizing your Mac with desktop pictures. Ever the mad scientist of multimedia experimentation, Sylvester shares some tips for your next multimedia project. The Ellyn Ritterskamp issue continues with her review of the iPod Shuffle, while our Mr. Lawson looks at three backpacks from Axio and the iLite. Marcus J. Albers reviews the latest king of Tetris games for the Mac. Cortland deals with designer networking, and the iTrolls ask "What's In A Name?". Frisky Freeware notes Firefox's kissing cousin, the Thunderbird e-mail client. Finally, Eric was kind enough to offer up desktop pictures from his trip to Arizona last year. This issue marks a milestone for ATPM. This e-zine has now been continuously published for 10 years. I am happy to say that I have been involved with the publication in one aspect or another for nearly seven of those ten. Since leaving college, this is the longest relationship I have had with anything or anyone other than my marriage to my wonderful wife. This publication has given me an outlet for writing. It has given me my best friend in the virtual world, and other close pals as well. The staff--all volunteers--approach the work as professionally as they would if this were a monthly print magazine that actually paid them. It's a top-notch crew that I am thankful to be a part of. I'm looking forward to the next 10 years.
More on the Apple trade secret cases
If you're not subscribing to MDJ or MWJ, you're missing out on what is the very best and most comprehensive coverage of the ongoing Apple trade secret lawsuits. Matt Deatherage has worked to the point of failing health to deliver a knock-out of an issue this past Sunday that features the most intensive news of the cases I've seen. Matt & Co. deliver brilliant point after brilliant point, with so many good ones, I'd have to reprint the entire article to get them all in. There is one example on why these cases are important for businesses, and why this is not about the political right to free speech as set forth in the First Amendment.
How many people would have looked twice at the original iMac if its Bondi Blue design had leaked out two months in advance, and competitors had already released similar-looking PCs? Apple actually introduced the machine at an event that everyone thought was for some of O'Grady's long-rumored PowerBooks, and it was - plus "one more thing." It's said that only about 30 people within Apple knew what the machine looked like or that it would be announced that May day in 1998, and the press coverage conveyed the shock at Apple's bold move.
The iMac's design influenced everything from rival PCs to peripherals to pencil sharpeners, but because Apple kept its work secret until it was ready, all those products were rightly seen as iMac copycats. If Think Secret had leaked the iMac like it did the Mac Mini, would the world have seen those products are iMac knock-offs - or seen the iMac, the original idea that was stolen and released prematurely, as "just part of a trend?" That sums it up. If the latter had happened, would Apple have recovered as quickly from its doldrums as it did? Would it have recovered at all? One could make the argument that the success of the iMac fueled the development of iTunes, the iTunes Music Store, and the iPod. Without the runaway success of the iMac, Apple as we know it today might not exist at all. That success could have been placed in serious jeopardy with rumors of the new machine leaking out. If you could spend your money on only one Macintosh publication, I would recommend MDJ or MWJ. (I have no affiliation with these publications, or their parent company, GCSF, Inc., other than as a satisfied subsriber.)
Installing BT module in G5
Going thru a backlog of RSS reading, I came across this post on installing the Bluetooth module in a Power Macintosh G5. One of my duties in the former job was performing this precise installation for part of a Genius Bar Apple Store client project. I did something on the order of 70 of these...well, a lot. It is not fun, and I have average-sized hands. I cannot imagine the pain a pair-of-meathooks-wielding tech must have to endure.
Pimp My Safari
Jon Hicks has set up the definitive Safari extensibility site. I say that only because no one else has, so as the first, Jon gets the honor of "definitive." I prefer my Safari to be as stable as possible, so the only extensibility I've engaged in is the use of Safari Enhancer and SafariSource. Your mileage may vary. [Via TUAW.]
Camino's new digs
Mozilla offspring Camino has a new site. I like the new look, and downloaded the latest nightly build. Maybe it will be more stable on my system than 0.8.2. I really want to use Camino more, as I feel it's faster than Safari on my systems, but it doesn't seem as stable when it comes to running out of real RAM and having to subsist on virtual memory. [Via DF via Daniel Bogan.] UPDATE, 10:30 PM CST: After downloading and installing the latest nightly build, I happened across the site again, and was greeted with this banner near the top of the main page:
Fun, fun, fun! UPDATE 2, 11:30 PM CST: You can find all of Camino's keyboard shortcuts on one handy page. And its hidden preferences, too.
Windows: The Bloated Cow
I understand that the code name for the next version of Windows is "Longhorn." Note: this is not an improvement over "Whistler." All I can say is that they must not have longhorns in Redmond. I went to high school and college in Texas where longhorns were a regular feature of the landscape.
Let's start with the fact that a longhorn is a cow. Is that really the image you want people to connect with the newest version of Windows? What were you guys thinking!
But that's not all. A longhorn has one distinctive feature that separates it from all other cattle—its long horns. On a Web page called Longhorn Country, the author, a longhorn expert, writes:
There was probably no meaner creature in Texas than a Longhorn bull. The slightest provocation would turn him into an aggressive and dangerous enemy. The bull’s horns usually measured six feet or less from tip-to-tip, but could measure over eight feet long. In addition, the sharpness of horns of any length, the speed and muscle power of the bull, and the ease with which he could be aroused and enraged, made him a dangerous and uncontrollable animal.
Sadly, some would say that this aptly describes what Windows has become. A bloated cow that, when provoked, can become "dangerous and uncontrollable."
On the Apple lawsuits
I have refrained thus far from commenting on the lawsuits by Apple against Think Secret, PowerPage, and Apple Insider, none of whom I will dignify with a link. There are others who are doing a far better job of shedding the real light on this issue, in that is has nothing to do with the First Amendment. Notably, John Gruber and Jeff Harrell have gotten it right. Think Secret, PowerPage, and Apple Insider should have to reveal their "sources," and they should suffer some form of punishment. I don't think hefty fines or jail time is necessary, but something punitive enough to ensure they will discontinue this nonsense, because it is hurting Apple. My disdain for Jason O'Grady's rumor-mongering goes way back, and my thoughts then still hold true now. By combining real facts leaked by insiders and NDA-holders with utter speculation, these rumor-mongers set up false expectations for unannounced Apple products. This leads consumers, as well as Wall Street "analysts", to be disappointed when the real product is announced, and downplay the significance of the product because it is not exactly what the rumor-mongers said it was going to be. These sites are hurting Apple by revealing sensitive and private corporate information, and it has to stop.
Tiger RSS screensaver
I'm sorry, but you just won't see something so insanely, wicked cool as this on Windows.
Being hijacked
I am not referring to an airline hijacking. Michael informed me this morning that our host for ATPM told him we went over our bandwidth limit for the month of February by 17 GB. After further investigation, we learned that most of this extra bandwidth is going toward serving up various JPEGS to other sites. In other words, rather than downloading the desktop pictures we offer to our readers each month, and hosting it on their own server, people are linking directly to the file on our server for display on their sites. They are hijacking these images, and our bandwidth. This is nothing new. It's just never happened on such a large scale before with any site I've been involved in. People, this is not cool. First off, those desktop pictures are the copyrighted property of a photographer or artist who graciously donated their use to ATPM, and subsequently to our readers, as desktop pictures. This means if you want to use said picture on your web site, or any other medium, you should be contacting that photographer or artist for permission. Second, if said photographer or artist grants you permission for usage, you then host the picture on your own site. To link to the picture directly on ATPM means you are stealing our bandwidth, and driving up our costs. We are not a for-profit publication. Our staff is all-volunteer, from the top down. Any moneys generated from ads and sponsorships goes in to our hosting costs, and after ten consecutive years of publication, those costs can be considerable. Thus, bandwidth is not something we can afford to give away, and certainly not at the rate of an extra 17 GB every month. If you are one of the many persons out there linking directly to one of our pictures, please stop. You are violating legitimate copyright and stealing bandwidth from a group of people who do something each month out of love and joy.
ATPM 11.03
The March issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your viewing pleasure. Ellyn opens with a look at a life in--or on, rather--Jeopardy, and Wes's Bloggable delves in to the issue of Napster's resurgence, as well as noting other happenings in the Macosphere. Lee weighs in with the second edition of Pod People, and reader David Blumenstein shares his switching story. Ted wraps up his look at outlining task managers, a favorite mini-series of mine, though I'm not sure if I'm any closer to selecting any sort of app to help me in this arena than I was when he started writing it. Marcus J. Albers offers some hints and tips toward getting the most out of OS X. Andrew reviews the addictive Apeiron, and Chris Lawson examines the Cobra.XM from BOOQ. Michael runs LaunchBar 4 through its paces. While LaunchBar has long been a staple in my computing toolbox, I do have my eye on Quicksilver. I actually learned something new from Michael's review, and I'm pleased to see that like a fine wine, LaunchBar is getting better with age. Conversely, Chris was rather disappointed with PolyRingtone Converter, in his words, "a good idea ruined by a horrible interface and poor features." Finally, Eric puts WireTap Pro through the wringer to test its audio-capturing capabilities. A new chapter begins in the Cortland saga, and Frisky Freeware notes my favorite IRC client, Conversation. Lee has generously donated some inspiring cloud photos for the desktop pictures section this month. (My favorite is "clouds-6.jpg".) Yours truly was supposed to have a book review in this issue, but writer's block and a sick toddler this past week foiled my attempts at finishing it. (Hey, don't laugh about the writer's block; I don't want my review to be a simple regurgitation of the table of contents.) Look for it, and other awesome stuff from the staff, next month.
Mapping the tax man
Since Google Maps now works in Safari, and I had to get our property taxes paid today, I thought I would give the new service a whirl. I prefer it to the other map sites, since the interface is contained inside a single browser window. It's also fast compared to the other sites; it's snappiness reminded me of using Gmail, which is the fastest web-based e-mail system I've ever used.
And the winner of my almost twenty bucks is...
Last night, my Movable Type installation decided it wanted to keep me from further posting on any of my blogs. This wasn't simply an authentication error with my login and password. Something in MT's lib directory wasn't playing nice, and I kept getting this error: MT/App/CMS.pm did not return a true value at /www/retrophisch/public/movabletype/mt.cgi line 21. Now I had been considering upgrading to Transmit 3, since as a registered user of version 2.x, I could do so for $17.95. Or I could, as a registered user of version 4.x, upgrade to Interarchy 7 for $19. This really wasn't a fair contest, as I was using Interarchy 7.3.1 and the last 2.x version of Transmit, 2.6.2, not the new version 3. For whatever reason, whenever I SFTPed in to my domain with Transmit, the transfer mode always turned to Auto, with no way to turn this off so I could transfer in ASCII, or Text, mode. Interarchy saved the day. It reuploaded MT's lib directory from the local installation copy I had, preserving permissions, etc. And while they're so similiar, I'm not sure there's much of a differece, but I like Interarchy's "Edit in BBEdit" implementation better than Transmit 2's. Transmit's a great app, don't get me wrong, but this time around, my money went to Interarchy.
iScrolling
I just installed the temporary version of Daniel Becker's iScroll2 on my 12-inch PowerBook G4 1 GHz. I'm loving it. Provided it proves stable, I'll load the permanent version. It's certainly worth checking out for pre-2005 PowerBook owners.
In my right mind
So I've been thinking about Daniel Pink's article, "Revenge of the Right Brain", over the past couple of days, and it's amazing how much my own feelings toward a future career mirror his piece. One would have to consult my parents as to when I may have first exhibited artistic sensibilities, but as I grew up, I was very fond of writing, drawing, and music. I was always doodling, tracing, sketching. Making up stories, or just bits of stories. In seventh grade, I started playing the clarinet in band, was quickly moved to the bass clarinet by Mr. Dawson, our fantastic teacher-director, and continued all the way through high school. I did not attempt to gain a music scholarship to LSU; I had a partial academic scholarship, and the Air Force wanted to pay the rest of my way, so long as I was willing to be an electrical engineer. By the end of my freshman year, my Air Force scholarship was gone. My grades tanked, and they yanked it. I was not a party animal, I did not go hog-wild upon becoming a college student. I simply goofed off. Looking back, maybe there was a subconscious effort on my part to sabotage my academic and future professional careers. I was a right-brain person, suddenly thrust in to a left-brain world. No longer burdened with studies related to engineering, I remained in Air Force ROTC, and switched majors: criminal justice. When LSU's Criminal Justice department was terminated as a separate division the following year, swallowed by the larger Sociology department, I was forced to change majors again. Not particularly interested in a sociology degree, I opted instead for political science, a decidedly more right-brained course of study. I minored in history. I excelled in English classes, testing out of Freshman English 101, or whatever it's technically called. The large part of my professional career since college, however, once again led me in to left-brain land. I have been involved with computer technology, troubleshooting, and support, for over a dozen years. When I was laid off in October of 2003, I was both devastated and optimistic. My son was only two months old, and I was looking forward to spending a lot of time with him, which has been great. Perhaps this was the opportunity to move in to a new field as well. I have not kept completely out of the right-brain sphere these past twelve years, however. I began volunteering as a copy editor with ATPM in the summer of 1998, and began writing the occasional review or opinion piece shorly thereafter. Today, I'm the Managing Editor, and quite happy to work with the fine staff of our little publication, all of whom do what they do because we enjoy the Macintosh platform. I also believe a goodly number of the staffers are like myself, and enjoy having this right-brain outlet, compared with the left-brain professions they may be involved with. This blog, like its predecessor, is nothing more than an outlet for those right-brain skills yearning for exercise. Which brings us back to Pink's article, in which he hypothesizes that the coming "age" will be devoted to more right-brain activities, as opposed to where we currently are now, and have been, where more left-brain occupations have reigned supreme. I'm all for it. I feel as though I have a couple of books in me, and I love the editing thing. Just ask some of my online friends and acquaintances how many times I've annoyed them over misspellings and other grammatical gaffes on their blogs. Likewise, they are quick to point out my own brain burps, in large part because they know I care about such things. (Though with Lawson, I suspect it's just out of spite.) There is a part of me which has enjoyed my past dozen years in the tech field, and I would heartily welcome another job in that arena. Yet another part of me yearns for something different, something more right-brained, and this is reflected in some of my Monster search agents. In the mean time, I'll concentrate on editing, writing, digital photography, and most of all, being a dad.