Interrupt19

10 Ways to Royally Screw Up Your Mac

David Balogh — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:00:16 +0000

Photo courtesy of Apple
We’ve all heard the story of how Macs are so great and they never have problems, then its a shock when something bad happens. With all the tips, tricks, and recommendations out there on what you should do with your Mac, today we’re going to focus on what you should not do.

The following list is ten different ways you can royally screw up your Mac, assuring yourself of problems. Here’s what not to do:

Mess with the SyncServices folder:

I’ll admit to being curious about this mysterious folder but anything that Apple recommends that you stay away from “as if it were a swarm of bees”, is enough for me to keep out of it. If you do mess with it, it can cause “unexpected issues”.

Enable Root:

Root, aka the “Super User”, is disabled by default in OS X. Keep it this way unless you know what you are doing. Root is the gateway into OS X’s UNIX internals and messing around in there is a good way to mess up your system. Also, as a security measure, OS X can’t be rooted if Root is disabled. Honestly, if you have administrator privileges, you will never need to be Root, ever.

Fiddle with Permissions:

OS X’s UNIX background means that each file and folder is given an owner, group and permissions for each. Before Leopard, unexpected problems would pop up if your permissions got screwed up. With Leopard, OS X is even more particular about file permissions. The wrong setting could break your system or cause erratic behavior.

If you suspect your file permissions are messed up, you can Repair Permissions in Disk Utility. However, this will only fix settings according to an application’s installer receipt. If you mess something up and OS X doesn’t have a receipt, it won’t fix it.

Run Without the Battery:

Some people like to take the battery out when running on A/C power especially if they are concerned about battery life. However, according to Apple, OS X will reduce processor speed when running without a battery installed. While this won’t technically screw up your Mac - it will make it run horridly.

Filling Up Your Hard Drive Until it Only Has a Few GB Free:

Sometimes we’re tempted to use as much space as our Hard Drive has. What will really mess your Mac up is that OS X uses free hard drive space for Virtual Memory. Virtual Memory or Swap Space is a trick that operating systems use to get away with not having enough memory for an application, or to free up memory space for other, higher priority applications. If you use up your Hard Drive until there’s not much free space left, OS X’s virtual memory (and automatic defragmenting) will suffer and it will slow your system down. Keep at least 5-10GB free unless your drive is tiny.

Installing Random Codecs:

You may think that OS X is virus free - It’s not. The viruses that are out there for OS X will trick you into installing them by masquerading as a video codec. Once installed, these viruses behave just like those in Windows - they can redirect your browser to phishing sites, log keystrokes and open back doors into your system.

Always obey this rule - Install Perian and if it still doesn’t play in Quicktime, VLC or MPlayer - toss the video in the trash.

Leaving Applications Open for Days / Weeks:

Applications aren’t written perfectly and after running for a period of time they begin to grow in memory and slow down, behave erratically and can even crash on you while you are in the middle of something extremely important. OS X doesn’t make it easy by not quitting the program when you click the little red button in the top left. You think you closed the application, but you didn’t - you just closed the file. Always look in the dock and if you see a black triangle under it’s icon (in Tiger and before) or a little blue circle (in Leopard) that means the application is still running. To stop the application - click on it’s dock icon, click on it’s name in the menu bar and choose Quit from the drop down menu.

Cleaning the Screen with Cleaning Chemicals:

Windex, Dry erase cleaner, anything with Ammonia or Alcohol should never be used to clean the LCD screen of a MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac or Cinema Display. The coating on these displays may look like glass, but it’s really a special plastic treated with coatings. The chemicals in cleaners will eat away at these plastics reducing the sharpness of your display and causing cloudiness. Apple recommends a gentle rub using a microfiber cloth. If it’s a stubborn mark, water is all that should be used.

Letting the Battery Drain Completely:

Once you drain the battery of a Lithium Polymer battery inside a MacBook or MacBook Pro until it’s totally dead, the battery never holds a charge again. You now have to spend $100 on a new one. Also, draining the battery down past 20% stresses the battery and reduces its lifespan.

To avoid this, get your laptop on a charger once the battery gets around 20-30% and if you are going to leave the laptop alone for an extended period of time (like on vacation), shut it down. You know the laptop is just sleeping and not actually shut down if there is a little light on towards the front side of the laptop. If you aren’t sure, always look for that light.

Using a Laptop on a Soft, Insulating Surface Like a Pillow or Blanket:

Using your laptop on a soft, insulating surface such as a pillow or blanket is dangerous for your laptop. These soft, cushiony materials will block critical vents on your laptop. When these vents are blocked, the laptop will overheat. If it overheats to the point of shutdown, you are risking damage. Use a nice laptop tray instead.

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How to use an Xbox 360 Controller in OS X

David Balogh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:00:44 +0000

Photo courtesy of kss_cville

One of the advantages of the gaming experience on consoles (XBox, Playstation, etc) is the special controller. Ever wish you could use a real controller when gaming on your Mac? As long as the game supports joysticks, its possible to use Microsoft’s XBox 360 USB controllers with OS X.

In order to get the XBox 360 controller working, you will need a driver program. Fortunately, there are two open source drivers for this. Both Tattiebogle’s Xbox HID Driver and the SourceForge Project XHD are low level drivers for the Xbox 360 controller.

Note: Unfortunately, the release dates and change logs for both are a bit out of date which means that development has stalled. Whether it works or not is entirely up to the game.

How to get it working:

I’m going to recommend Tattiebogle’s XBox 360 driver because it’s release date is the latest but both are probably quite similar.

- Download the Xbox HID Driver for OS X by Tattiebogle.
- Run the Installer.
- Restart your computer.

The driver should then recognize your XBox controller just like OS X recognizes a mouse. With a joystick enabled game, you’ll be up and running. According to the Tattiebogle’s website this driver should also work with Rockband, Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution controllers.

For a non joystick enabled game, you can try GamePad Companion however that application also seems a bit old and may not work properly with later versions of OS X.

Remember that compatibility is solely dependent on the game. Some may not work, while others will.

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Learn to DJ with OS X - Freeware / Shareware for the Beginning DJ

David Balogh — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:00:19 +0000

Photo courtesy of Jesus Presley

Ever dream about making professional quality DJ mixes at home, without having to buy all that expensive DJ equipment? Years ago, this wasn’t possible but now it is, with the same Mac you use every day. While learning and mastering the art of DJing is a completely different subject, requiring practice and patience, with the following programs you will have the tools you’ll need to learn.

Freeware / Shareware for the Beginning DJ:

For the beginning DJ, I recommend learning the concepts before getting into the advanced features that the professional packages offer. I also recommend something either very cheap or free. The following applications will allow you to learn the concepts of mixing and beat matching, without spending a ton of money.

Algoriddim’s djay:

Algoriddim’s shareware djay is a simple, easy and inexpensive way to learn DJing. It’s interface mimics two turntables and a mixer. Scratching is supported via the trackpad / mouse. It’s even multi gesture enabled. It seamlessly integrates with your iTunes library so you can forget about learning what a pain carrying crates of records is!

In addition to the scratching and mixing, what makes djay great for you is the following features that a real DJ needs:

- Pre-Cue Channel: With an external audio interface or USB headphones, you can monitor and set up mixes before they go over the main speakers.

- Live Microphone: Do voice-overs or have someone else sing / rhyme over your music.

- Real-Time Sampler: You can record sound clips and play them over a mix or loop beats.

While djay is a great application, it’s not free. I’d download the demo and see how you like it before paying for it.

More Info: Algoriddim’s website.

Native Instruments - Beatport Sync:

NI’s Beatport Sync is another free DJ platform. What makes Beatport Sync great is that it’s built on the actual Traktor engine, giving you a good idea of how the more professional Traktor works. In practice, after using Traktor, it is a serious step down.

What makes Beatport Sync great for the beginning DJ is the simplistic approach to a professional DJ engine. Setting up mixes is exactly like Traktor, just without the cool features.

Notable features include:

- Supported Audio Formats: In addition to the formats iTunes can use, it supports Ogg Vorbis and FLAC.
It does not support DRM songs from the iTunes Music Store.

- High Quality Audio: When you get into time-stretching (Speeding up / slowing down) songs, a high quality engine really matters. NI’s one of the best in this field.

Overall, it’s free so its worth taking a look. Personally, I think it’s way too cut down to do anything more than frustrate a beginning DJ. Auto Mix features are nice, but learning to push a button isn’t what you want.

More Info: Native Instruments website.

Open Source - Mixxx:

The open source community’s Mixxx is an application created by DJs, for DJs. This is a huge plus because in addition to being free, the DJs and enthusiasts who’ve spent time creating this application know what features are needed and what features aren’t. While it’s missing the automatic “robo-mix” features, it’s the best software out there to learn what digital DJing is all about. While you can’t use the trackpad / mouse to scratch, an experienced DJ would know that that’s not really the best way to scratch anyway.

Why Mixxx is the best software for a beginning DJ:

- Professional level Application: This isn’t a cut down version of a more expensive product, missing things you will want after a few weeks.

- Cue channel support: Mixxx allows you to listen and cue mixes before they go out over the speakers. A must for a working DJ.

- Vinyl Support: No, you can’t scratch with the mouse but you can use Mixxx with turntables and timecoded vinyl to scratch like a real DJ.

- Hardware Support: You can use separate DJ MIDI controllers / mixers with Mixxx to control it like a DJ rig.

- Mix Recording: Record your mixes and listen back later.

- Audio Quality: High quality audio engine written by DJs, for DJs, you can put on a set with this software.

For a beginning DJ who really aspires to becoming a professional, Mixxx is the application for you. Some of it’s advanced features may even have you using it years later as a professional. Personally, I’d love to see an included sampler / looping mechanism but in all honesty, if you want to learn DJing, use Mixxx.

More Info: www.mixxx.org

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Buying the right Mac for your needs

David Balogh — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:49 +0000

Photo courtesy of DeclanTM

Looking to buy a new Mac? Buying a new computer is a major purchase. With Macintosh, you are looking to spend around $1,000 (at least). With that kind of expense, its important to make sure you buy the right Mac. There are many factors to consider in choosing the right Mac for you so that you will be happy with it for the next three to four years.

Let’s look at some of these variables and a few other tips to make the most out of purchasing your new Mac.

Portable or Permanent?

Before we get into anything technical, ask yourself where you will want to use your Mac? Do you want the portability of a laptop or do you prefer the larger screen and power of an iMac? While an iMac can be semi-portable - its not that cumbersome if you are moving, its not something you want to drag down to the local café.

Personally, I used to prefer a desktop. In the last few years, laptops have gained in power to the point where its really not a huge difference (depending on your needs). So for me, portability is more important than a large screen and stronger processor.

So, first off - do you need your new Mac to be portable (MacBook / MacBookPro) or will it be permanently on a desk? (iMac)

Note: I am not going to include the Mac Pro in this article as the Mac Pro is a specialized desktop for high-end audio / video / graphics / scientific applications. If you are not a professional in these fields, it is way more than you need. For the price of one Mac Pro and the Display to go with it, you can buy two iMacs. (or three MacBooks).

How much Mac do you need?

Some people will just buy the most expensive one because they can - but do you need the extra horsepower of a $3,700 Mac Pro with display just to check email? Others will buy the cheapest Mac Mini and wonder why they have such a hard time editing video.

So, what will you do with your Mac? Are you planning to just write papers with Microsoft Office, check emails and browse the web? Are you a musician, planning to create music with programs like Logic, Cubase or Digital Performer? Do you design with Adobe Creative Suite? Or are you looking for something to edit video with, whether its a full-on feature presentation with Final Cut Pro or just birthday parties with iMovie?

Most people are going to want something in the middle - where its internet usage / email / documents most of the time with the occasional iMovie editing / Garageband / Videogaming fun. However if you are into things like music, design and video - you’re going to need something extra.

How long do you want your Mac to last?

In addition to usage, you must consider the technology of the future - How long do you want to use your Mac before it becomes totally obsolete? While you can’t stop progress, you can set yourself up for the day when your new Mac isn’t so new anymore. The best way to do this is by avoiding the cheapest machine you can find. Memory, processor speed and expandability (USB/FireWire ports) are important here.

Typically your computer should last anywhere from 3-5 years depending on how you use it.

Which one to choose?

Typically, Apple will have three options: The lowest price which is also the least powerful, the middle price and the most expensive which is the high-end model. This varies by product line - the MacBook Pro’s most expensive model is also larger. The iMacs as well have larger models available. As far as the larger screen size of a MacBook Pro or iMac, it’s a luxury unless you are doing design / video / audio work where having a large screen is a huge advantage.

Processor speed roughly translates into how quick the Mac will complete a process such as rendering video, applying filters in Photoshop and how many tracks / instruments you can run in an audio sequencer. More is always better, but sometimes it’s not cost effective. In addition, the cheaper models of MacBook may or may not include a DVD burning SuperDrive. With the latest models of MacBook, there is no FireWire - if you need FireWire, you will have to look at the MacBook Pro.

Memory (RAM) and Hard Drive space are also very important. Skimping on RAM results in your computer becoming slower in a few years as applications become larger and larger. As of right now, you want at least 2GB.

Don’t believe what anyone at an Apple Store says - Apple RAM and Hard Drive upgrades are obscenely overpriced. You can find quality RAM from brand names like Crucial and Kingston for much less than Apple charges. RAM and Hard Drive space can always be upgraded very easily by you either right away or later on. The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros are amazingly simple to upgrade. So save about $100 by getting memory from somewhere else and installing it yourself.

Note: If you are buying an iMac, you can not upgrade RAM / Hard Drives without a very difficult and not recommended take apart. Get the extra RAM now. Hard Drive space can always be supplemented with an external drive.

The latest feature for MacBooks is the separate graphics chipsets by NVIDIA. A separate chipset for graphics is always better than on-board video. The deletion of FireWire is annoying for some but you can live without it.

My Recommendations:

So, which one should you choose? Well, did you need a laptop or an iMac? Are you heavily into doing audio / video / graphics work or just want to dabble here and there? Do you have many FireWire devices? Is extra the screen resolution (not size) important for you?

My recommendations are the following:

Laptops:
- For an average user - The mid-level MacBook.
- For an average professional (w/o FireWire needs) - The high-end MacBook.
- For a working professional - Unless you need the 17″ display, the Mid Level 15″ MacBook Pro.

iMacs:
- For an average user - The low end 20″ model with a 2GB upgrade.
- For an average professional - The high end 20″ model with a 4GB upgrade.
- For a working professional - The 24″ high end iMac with a 4GB RAM upgrade.

Note: I don’t recommend the MacBook Air. It’s a niche product with a hefty price tag. Yes I know the MacBook Air is thin, light, and cool but its really not cost effective at all.

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Why is Updating your Mac so Important?

David Balogh — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:00:14 +0000

Photo courtesy of OS X

If you haven’t noticed, this week both Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox were updated. Just last month, Apple released their seventh security update of the year. Java was updated in September and rumor has it that Leopard will be updated to 10.5.6 very soon.

Have you ever wondered why updating your Mac and its applications was important? Did you ever ask yourself, “Why should I care”?

The Importance of Updating OS X - Correcting their mistakes:

As great and wonderful as OS X is, its not perfect. Sometimes the software engineers at Apple make mistakes. Often these mistakes are caught before the system is released to the public. With a large project like OS X, sometimes these mistakes slip through the cracks, only to be found out later by an unsuspecting user.

Rather than just leaving the system broken, Apple works hard to fix these errors. When they have them repaired, the next step is to make sure your Mac gets fixed. Apple fixes your OS X system through Software Update.

The Importance of Updating OS X - Keeping you safe:

Let’s face it, the internet is not a safe place. Clicking on the wrong email, opening the wrong program, watching the wrong video, visiting the wrong website, and sometimes visiting the right website that has been tainted all could lead your Mac into trouble.

While OS X is not as heavily targeted as a Windows system, the ability is still there. What this means is that both Windows and OS X have security holes (called vulnerabilities) that can be taken advantage of to install all sorts of nasty things onto your system.

Sure, you can fool yourself into thinking there’s never been a virus for OS X and Apple is wonderfully safe - until OS X reaches a large enough user base to make it worth a malicious organization’s time. Put it this way, if the people who create viruses, spyware, trojans, keyloggers and botnets focused on OS X instead of Windows, it would be the other way around - where Windows would be the “safer” OS.

How do you protect OS X from all this nastiness? Software Update!

Apple engineers will find out about weaknesses in OS X and work on fixing them. Sometimes they are quick, and other times, well let’s just say we’re lucky OS X isn’t heavily targeted. When they do have a fix for OS X, it is released as a Security Update.

How important are they? Extremely. Since January 1st, there’s been seven of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s one more before the year ends, about six weeks from now.

In addition to OS X, it is important to know that other Applications like Firefox, Flashplayer, Microsoft Office, Quicktime and Adobe’s Acrobat Reader all have security problems as well. You fix them the same way, by updating them.

The Importance of Updating OS X - Adding new features:

Lastly, Apple doesn’t just fix problems and security weaknesses in updates. Sometimes they even add in a new feature or two for OS X. Other applications do the same as well. For example, Apple will add new drivers for newer printers via Software Update. Whenever Apple adds a new feature to the iTunes Store, you can be sure iTunes will be updated to take advantage of this. Also, many updates address performance issues which will improve the speed of both the general experience of OS X and specific programs.

The Painless Way to Keep OS X Updated:

There is a simple way to keep OS X up to date without driving you crazy and without having to think about it. Just set Software Update to automatically check and download updates in the background.

To set up Software Update:

- Go to System Preferences.
- Choose Software Update.
- Check the checkbox next to “Check for updates”.
- Select “Monthly” in the drop down box.
- Check the checkbox next to “Download important updates automatically”.

You can set Software Update to check every week if you like and you can always click on the “Check Now” button to check whenever you want.

Updating other Applications:

Other Applications have their own updaters, be sure to look in their preferences and turn them on. Here are some common updaters:

Firefox and Thunderbird:
- Go to the Firefox Preferences Menu.
- Click on the Advanced Tab.
- Click on the Update Tab.
- Make sure the “Automatically check for updates” checkboxes are checked.
- Check the “Automatically download and install” checkbox.

Microsoft Office has its own updater program that will handle updates. To activate it:
- Open a program such as Word
- Choose “Check for Updates” under the Help menu.
- Click the “Automatically” button.
- Change the “Weekly” drop down menu to “Monthly”.

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Macs in the Enterprise - Get that Cisco VPN Client Working!

David Balogh — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:00:38 +0000

Photo courtesy of base2wave

With the rise of telecommuting, connecting to your workplace’s network requires a VPN connection. In most cases it means using the Cisco VPN client. Cisco has an OS X version of their client, but typical of a big company targeting the enterprise, they treat OS X like the forgotten stepchild and their client works horrendously.

So, how do you fix the CIsco VPN client and get it to work properly?

Cisco VPN Client Compatibility:

According to Cisco’s website, their VPN client doesn’t support 10.5 Leopard. As Macs have been shipping for over a year now with Leopard only hardware, this will result in the Cisco VPN client behaving erratically. According to my research, the latest client as of this writing is 4.9.01 (0100), released almost a year ago. Perhaps a new version is in the works, but do you really have time to wait?

Common Problems with the Cisco VPN Client:

Random Kernal Panics, connections failing without warning, connections being refused, problems with other protocols, and applications (AFP/SMB File Shares), a clunky interface and other random unwanted behaviors are common to the OS X Cisco VPN client.

Although the random Kernal Panics and dropped connections aren’t easily fixed, let’s look at what troubleshooting / fixes we can do for common problems.

Refusing to connect - Error 51

Occasionally this annoying error pops up. To solve this:
- Open Terminal
- Type: sudo SystemStarter restart CiscoVPN
- Enter your password. (You will have to be an administrator to do this).

Another solution, is:
- Open Terminal
- Type: sudo ifconfig fw0 down

If all else fails, reboot the computer. That should kick it into working. Although the Error 51 is known to chronically reappear.

Refusing to connect - Unable to bind to IKE port:

To solve this error:
- Close VPN Client.
- Open Terminal
- Change directory to /etc/CiscoSystemsVPNClient/Profiles
- Use your favorite text editor to open the profile.
- Add the following line:

UseLegacyIKEPort=0

Unable to connect on a Verizon Network:

When using Cisco’s VPN client with Verizon’s network, there’s a known bug that causes it to ignore the MTU value. This will stop your VPN from connecting. To solve this:

- Open System Preferences and choose Network.
- Unlock the padlock if necessary by entering an administrator password.
- If you are connecting wirelessly, choose Airport.
- If you are connecting with a wire, choose Ethernet.
- Click on the Advanced button toward the bottom.
- Click the Ethernet tab towards the top-right.
- Change the MTU to 1400.

Note: When you change the MTU for the Ethernet (wired) adapter, it will stay changed, even after you restart the computer. If you change the MTU for the Airport, it will not.

Other Alternatives:

After spending more time fixing your Cisco VPN client or rebooting your computer because the connection doesn’t work, you may want to consider an alternative to Cisco’s VPN client. Fortunately, there are alternatives out there that have been built for OS X. While you would think an industry leading company would have built something for OS X that works as solidly as their networking gear, I guess it takes a small independent developer to actually deliver.

Have a look at the highly recommended Shimo by Fabian Jäger. It requires that the Cisco client is installed to VPN over a Cisco connection but it also supports many other formats including the newer Cisco AnyConnect protocol and LogMeIn’s Hamachi.

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Time Machine Hiccups - What To Do When Time Machine Goes Wrong

David Balogh — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:00:26 +0000

Photo courtesy of OS X

Time Machine is a really wonderful backup system for personal use. It takes all the pain out of backing up and remembering to backup. As great as it is, Time Machine can give you a headache when it doesn’t work right. Here are some common Time Machine ailments, and what to do to fix them:

Stop the “Do you want Time Machine to Use this disk?” prompt:

If you use multiple external drives, then you understand the major annoyance this can be. So, here’s how you turn it off!

- Open Terminal
- If you have not set up Time Machine, type the following:

defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool YES
- If you have set up Time Machine, type the following:

defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool YES
If you want the prompt back, re-enter the commands in Terminal but change YES to NO.

Changing the Time Machine backup interval:

By default, Time Machine is set to run a backup once per hour. If you want to change this, there are two ways:

1. If you are an advanced user:
- Navigate to: /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/
- Open com.apple.backupd-auto.plist in a Text Edit.
- Change the following key:

StartInterval 3600

Note: The interval is set in seconds (3600 seconds = 1 hour). For best results, make sure you calculate this properly.

2. If you are a normal user:

- Download and Install Time Machine Scheduler by Stefan Klieme.

Past backups don’t appear in the time travel window:

Time Machine won’t see past backups if your computer’s name includes certain characters. While Apple doesn’t specify which characters, we can probably assume they mean characters such as ” ! @ # $ % & ^ { | } and ?. You can change your Mac’s computer name in System Preferences by clicking on the “Sharing” button.

Time machine stops backing up after 10GB:

Some external hard drives ship with a PC partition type, called Master Boot Record (MBR). Time Machine needs one of the Apple Partition Types. You will have to repartition your external drive to GUID if you have an Intel Mac or Apple Partition Map if you have an older PPC Mac.

To repartition:

- Run Disk Utility (It’s in the Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder).
- Choose the Partition tab.
- Click on “Options…”
- Choose GUID for Intel Macs, Apple Partition Map for PPC Macs.
- Click OK.
- Click Apply to erase the disk.

After you are done repartitioning, add the disk again to Time Machine and it should happily back up more than 10GB.

Note: Repartitioning will erase everything on your external drive. Make sure you’ve backed up anything important before you do this.

Time Machine is “Preparing…” for quite a long time:

In order for Time Machine to function properly, keep track of your files and the changes to those files, Time Machine needs to build an inventory or catalog of them. If something goes bonkers with that catalog file or Time Machine loses track of the changes to your files, it has to rebuild its inventory. When this happens, it will sit there, “Preparing…” for a few minutes. (Possibly more than a few if you’ve got a ton of files). This is normal - just let it run and when it’s finished, Time Machine will function properly.

Time machine doesn’t back up to Airport disks:

According to Apple, Time Machine doesn’t support this. Probably because no one would buy their Time Capsule if it did. You can get around this nonsense by using iTimeMachine by Xiotios Software.

“The backup volume could not be found”:

If your external drive has a “sleep” function where it spins down the drive after a certain amount of inactivity, it may not wake up for a Time Machine backup. If this is the case, disable the sleep mode on the drive. If you are unable to disable sleep, just eject the drive, unplug it and plug it back in. Then manually kick off a TIme Machine backup.

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Books to Go: Reading eBooks on the iPhone/iPod Touch

David Balogh — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:00:18 +0000

Photo courtesy of Johan Larsson

When most people think of eBooks, they think of something that’s just never going to catch on. Like the electric car, solar energy, and other “radical” ideas, people think that because something is so different than normal, it won’t work. However, given the chance - eBooks are both cheaper and more convenient. The eBook format itself isn’t what stops everyone, it’s the reader you use (or think you have to use).

When it comes to eBooks, the Kindle is great but let’s focus on another great eBook reading platform - the iPhone / iPod Touch

eBooks on the iPhone / iPod Touch:

Now that you’re used to reading email, websites and games on the iPhone, you’ve become accustomed to it’s screen size. In landscape mode, It’s actually a good size to read with. For those who think the screen is too small and the text will be even smaller, the multi-touch zoom function is perfect.

Like music, with eBooks there’s a huge mess of formats such as PDF, CHM, LIT, PBD, DjVu and on and on. What to do? Depending on the format, there are certain readers that can handle each. Other formats unfortunately don’t have a reader that can handle them, yet. If this is the case for some of the eBooks you want to read, just use OS X’s print to PDF function to convert the eBook to PDF format. Unfortunately you will loose any chapter formatting so if it is a large eBook, break it down into a PDF of each chapter.

Note: In my experience, I’d heavily recommend breaking down large PDFs into more useable sections / chapters. It’s easier to read and in the case of a PDF with a large filesize, it’s easier for the iPhone / iPod Touch to deal with. While you will lose any chapter / section formatting if you convert via Print to PDF, you make it back with a PDF of each chapter / section.

Reading Software for the iPhone / iPod Touch:

There’s a few different Apps out there that handle eBook reading. Some are free, others aren’t. Here’s my review of the one’s I’ve used.

Air Sharing ($):

Air Sharing really is a great App from the App Store. Transferring files is incredibly easy, it works in landscape mode and it handles PDFs, Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, Text Files and Power Points. The price is reasonable and it works like a charm. However, it does not have any ability to store bookmarks. This is huge for me when it comes to technical documents - I don’t want to flip back 300 pages if I need to look something up. Another annoyance is the lack of a “Go to Page:” box. I’d love to be able to jump exactly to a page without scrolling or hitting the next page key 90 times.

Readdle Docs ($):

Readdle Docs is also a recommended reader. It also handles Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDFs, Apple iWork files and text documents, all supported in landscape mode. Big features of Readdle Docs include the ability to store multiple bookmarks for one document, and menu bar hiding in both normal and landscape mode for increased viewing area. Unfortunately, the downside of Readdle Docs is getting your documents into it. You must sign up for a free account, upload to a server and then download it into Readdle Docs.

Note: If you are skilled enough to jailbreak your iPhone / iPod Touch and know how to use a FTP program, you can also get your documents into Readdle Docs this way.

Like Air Sharing, Readdle Docs doesn’t have a “Go to Page:” box and as the most expensive reader out there (by far), there’s no excuse for it not to have this feature.

Text Guru ($):

Text Guru is more of a text editing program for coding on the go than a reader, however it will read text files, Office documents and PDFs. A big bonus for Text Guru is Cut/Copy/Paste. Transferring files in is similar to Air Sharing, you run a program on your desktop / laptop (The Text Guru File Server) which sends / receives files with your iPhone / iPod Touch. I like Text Guru, it’s quick and simple but its really a text editor, not a reader.

Stanza (Free):

Stanza is a free reader that can handle almost every file format you can throw at it. HTML, PDF, Word Documents, RTF files, unprotected Amazon Kindle format, LIT, MOBI, Palm documents, it does them all. Transferring files onto your iPhone / iPod Touch can be done with the free Stanza Desktop application. You can also choose different layouts to suit your personal reading style. However, it only does text. So if you are reading something with heavy illustrations / diagrams like a text book, Stanza isn’t the reader for you. Since it’s free and you can use it to open those hard to handle formats, download it.

eReader (Free):

eReader is also a free text based reader which supports PDB and PRC format eBooks. It also supports bookmarks and it allows you to highlight text. Getting files onto eReader can be done by enabling file sharing on your desktop/laptop and a quick upload. Honestly, Stanza does all this and more so unless you want to purchase and download eBooks from Fictionwise, just use Stanza.

Docs (Cydia):

Docs, is available through Cydia if you have a jailbroken iPhone / iPod Touch. It supports PDF and Microsoft Office documents. I found Docs to be very similar to Text Guru and it’s quite the useful program. However, there is a banner advertisement at the bottom taking up valuable reading space. This banner is ridiculously annoying. Trying to disable the ad via editing your hostsfile renders the app useless. Advertisements have their place and I encourage support of independent developers like BigBoss, although advertisements that get in the way of usability are pretty damn annoying. Oh, and Docs doesn’t do landscape mode - another big minus.

My Recommendation:

Personally I really found Readdle Docs to be my favorite. However, this is purely because of its bookmarking functions. I also found it to be extremely over-priced when compared to its competitors. For the extra $10 it costs compared to Text Guru and Air Sharing, it better have a Go to Page function. (Unfortunately, it doesn’t.)

Other than that minor wish of mine, Readdle Docs is really the best reader for me but I encourage you to try the free Apps and decide for yourself on the paid ones. Air Sharing is just as good, the main difference is the bookmarking ability.

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Three High Quality, OS X Friendly Photo Printers for a Reasonable Price

David Balogh — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:00:35 +0000

Photo courtesy of Amazon

Shopping for a photo printer is tough. You want something that prints decent photos, in a reasonable time, without costing you a fortune in ink, all for one low price. You may be tempted by the free printer that comes with a new computer or the $29 special at the corner big-box store. In the long run, those printers are hardly a bargain.

I’ve researched three quality photo printers that deliver high quality photos, have reasonable ink costs and won’t break the bank.

The three printers that I researched aren’t the cheapest. With printers, I whole heartedly believe that you get what you pay for. Print quality, durability, price of ink and ink usage are heavily factored into my decision to buy a printer. I’d be much happier to spend around $100 - $150 on a printer that uses half the ink at a cheaper cartridge price than the cheap-o $39 special.

While these three printers are only recommendations, I would have to strongly suggest that you look at brands that have a history of quality printers, low ink prices and good OS X support. My favorites are Canon and HP.

Canon Pixma iP4500:

The Canon Pixma iP4500 will print “near-lab-quality” photos, has a 5 color ink system and prints up to 9600 x 2400 resolution. It can handle various paper sizes and with PictBridge technology, you can print directly from your camera.

Sounds good, but let’s look at ink costs. I will use both Staples and Amazon as a guide since they are nationwide and their prices are similar.

Ink costs for the iP4500 range from around $14-15 for each color cartridge, the black being $1-$2 cheaper, to $13 each for a 4/pack. The fifth cartridge (second, pigment black) runs close to $17 at Staples, $15 at Amazon.

Drivers work well in OS X, without installing crap-ware and non-essential background processes/daemons.

HP Photosmart D7260:

The HP Photosmart D7260
also prints “near-lab-quality” prints, has a resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi and can print directly from your camera’s memory card - without the computer. It also prints 34 pages per minute. It’s fast, although print quality (dpi) is half of what the Canon iP4500 could do.

The HP Photosmart D7260’s ink costs are a whopping $10 per color cartridge, with the black going for $19 at Staples. The downside is there’s five color cartridges but if you combine them into a 5-pack, the cost is around $45. Not bad at all. According to some reviews at Amazon, the ink doesn’t last very long.

The driver issue with HP’s in OS X is a bit interesting. On one hand, OS X includes a generous portion of HP drivers, built-in. On the other hand, if you install from the CD, you risk getting a bunch of useless software also installed.

OS X includes the HP Photosmart D7600 series drivers. Don’t install from the HP CD unless you like crap-ware. If you don’t have it, download the HP Printer Driver 1.1.1 directly from Apple.

Canon Pixma iP2600:

The Canon Pixma iP2600 is the cheapest of the bunch, more than half the price of both the HP D7260 and the Pixma iP4500. It prints at 4800 x 1200 like the HP but at about 17 pages per minute. While it may seem “lower class” due to it’s price and lack of printing directly from camera / memory card, it’s a solid printer for half the price. If you want a cheap solution that gives you quality prints, I’d consider the iP2600.

Ink costs for the iP2600 are reasonable for a cheap printer. While it uses one cartridge only for color, instead of the more efficient separate cartridges, it still only costs around $20 at Staples ($17 at Amazon). Black runs about $16.

The Bottom Line:

While the Canon Pixma iP2600 is the cheapest, with ink cost factored in it can cost more in the long run. Especially with the inefficient 3 color cartridge. If you run out of yellow for example, you can’t just replace the yellow - you have to replace the entire cartridge, wasting the remaining cyan and magenta.

The HP Photosmart D7260 would be a step-up except it’s actually more expensive than the iP4500, with half the quality and a couple complaints about heavy ink usage. Although faster, I’d prefer to wait the extra 5 seconds for a quality that’s twice as good. If it were me, I’d buy the Canon Pixma iP4500 and enjoy high quality prints for a reasonable price.

Disclaimer: I’ve had a Canon Pixma ip4200 for three years now and with light to moderate use, only had to replace the color inks twice and the black inks three times. It has never given me a problem and prints wonderfully. At work, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with many different models of HP printers. With HP it really depends on the model - some are great and some aren’t. I’ve also had three or four different models of Epson printers and they have done nothing but waste ink which was very expensive to buy and fall apart on me. I refuse to buy or recommend anything by Epson. Sorry.

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The Easiest and Best way to Sync your Google Calendar with iCal, for Free

David Balogh — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:00:30 +0000

Photo courtesy of Mess of Pottage

Google Calendar is one of the best calendaring solutions I’ve found simply because it handles three things - SMS alerts, its portable and it’s free. iCal is a great front-end calendar that many enjoy using although it has limitations. Sure, you can use Mobile Me, for a price. However, with Google Calendar as a back-end you can go anywhere and be alerted along the way for free.

So, how exactly do you connect your Google Calendar with iCal?

Before This Summer:

Before this summer, you needed either some sort of hack, or a third party solution. Some of these solutions weren’t free, some didn’t fully work and some of them required your personal calendar to be stored on their servers. (As well as Google’s)

That all changed when Google enabled CalDAV support. Now, here’s all you have to do:

Sync Google Calendar with iCal:

1. Open iCal and open the Preferences dialogue.

2. Click on the Accounts Tab.

3. Click the plus sign to create a new account.

4. Enter the following into the fields:
- Description: This is the Title for your CalDav Account
- Username: Enter your Google account’s email. For this tutorial, I’ll use example@gmail.com.
- Password: The password for your Google Account.

5. Click the triangle to open up the Server Options.

6. Enter the following into the Account URL field:
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/(Google Calendar Email Address)/user

Note: You must enter “https://” in the URL field. If you enter “http://” it will not work.

7. Click add and wait a few minutes while the first sync takes place.

That’s it. Your Google Calendar and iCal will sync every 15 minutes by default. You can change this in the Preferences under the Accounts Tab if you like. Also, you may press Command+R to manually sync the calendars.

Additional Alarm Information:

One of the biggest disappointments for me of other solutions was that they never got the alarms right in Google Calendar. As I said at the beginning of this tutorial, SMS alerts is a major reason for using Google Calendar as my back-end solution. Syncing iCal with Google Calendar in this manner FINALLY gets it right!

Here’s the iCal alarm codes and their Google Calendar translations:

- None in iCal = None in Google Calendar.
- Message in iCal = Pop-Up in Google Calendar.
- Message with Sound in iCal = SMS in Google Calendar.
- Email in iCal = Email in Google Calendar.
- Open File in iCal = Default Alarm in Google Calendar.
- Run Script in iCal = Default Alarm in Google Calendar.

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