Mac Stuff

Transitioning from iView Media Pro to iTunes 6 (iLife 06)

I've been getting frustrated with iView Media Pro for quite a while now. My initial years of extolling iView's great features have been followed more recently with serious speed problems and frustrations over their more recent upgrade pricing policies. So, I decided I would give iPhoto another shot with the new version 6 (iWork '06) version.

The first significant discovery for me was the fact that iPhoto 6 allows you to import photos without copying them into you iPhoto library—so you don't have to compromise the way you store your photos. When you import a photo iPhoto creates an alias to the original and then makes a local thumbnail.

My next discovery (which won't be new to anyone who's familiar with iPhoto) is the ease with which you can create a backup onto CD. You just select you're photo's, click burn, and it creates a CD which, when mounted, appears as an album in iPhoto. The pictures retain the keywords you gave them, and also retain their originals if you edited them in iPhoto, though you have to copy the pictures into your working library to use the 'revert to original command'.

Unfortunately, the backup CD doesn't appear to retain a copy of the albums that pictures were sorted into at the time you backed up - so you can't sort pictures into albums as a mechanism for providing metadata.

Also, there's no clear way of retaining a local copy of thumbnails of backed up CDs to make it easier to find pictures that are archived away. Indeed, I discovered that iPhoto doesn't really cope very well with importing images (without copying) from removable media. If you try to view the images, iPhoto asks you to insert the media they were on, but doesn't tell you anything about the media - like the CD name.

So, although it may appear that I've found a lot of problems with iPhoto, I'm actually much happier with it than with iView. It is working reliably, the interface is very consistent and effective, and, well… it's just nice.

Finally, I noticed Keyword Assistant that looks like it will be useful once it's upgrade for iPhoto 6.

Update: Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX Paper Scanner

After many discussions leading from my review of the ScanSnap fi-5110EOX in April of this year, it seems like it's time to sum up some of the updates.

The most significant update is that Fujitsu have announced the fi-5110EOXM - a white Macintosh compatible version of the scanner. At last there is official support for the Mac.

But what if you've already purchased an fi-5110EOX or EOX2?

Well, in a similar pattern to before, you can now download the latest Mac driver for all of these models including the new model from the Japanese web site: http://scansnap.fujitsu.com/jp/downloads/mac.html. It's called SnapScan_V10L13.dmg.

Then, once you've installed that, with the very kind help of rm, there is an English localisation that can be downloaded from this discussion thread: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=32046&page=3&pp=20.

• Download these zip files and copy them into the ScanSnap directory created when installing the driver.
• Then open the Terminal application and change directory to the ScanSnap directory. The easiest way to do this is to enter the command "cd " (that's with a space after it - and please don't enter the quotes!), then drag the SnapScan directory (folder) from the Finder over the Terminal window and release. This will paste the path name into the terminal and you can then press Return in the Terminal window.
• Finally, enter "unzip ScanSnap13-English1.zip && unzip ScanSnap13-English2.zip" (don't enter the quotes and press Return at the end). If all goes well you're done and you can delete the two zip files. Just double click on the SnapScan Manager and smile! Thank you rm - whoever you are!

Exporting TV to DVD with EyeTV and Toast

I've just made one of those little discoveries that I probably should have known if I'd read a manual, but which I'd failed to notice and has caused me a considerable amount of unnecessary activity.

When I want to take a television programme recorded with EyeTV and record it onto a DVD the normal process I go through is:

1. Set it to record (by one means or another).
2. Come back later and edit out the extra bits at the start and the end (and the adverts if it's not BBC).
3. Press the compress button - compressing takes quite a while.
4. Come back later and export to Toast.
5. Come back later and drag onto Toast and burn, which itself goes through some lengthy multiplexing process before actually writing the data.

Aparently, if I upgrade to Toast 7, then step 4 is unnecessary, and hopefully, but I can't find any info anywhere to find out, step 5 is quicker.

But what I hadn't realised is that I don't have to do step 3. The compressing to disk part is totally unnecessary. As long as you mark the edit points, the export to Toast function function will only export the bits you need.

That's it!

Educational software for the Mac

As my son's 3rd birthday approaches I think it's about time I got round to finding some educational software for the Mac that he can use, both for his general educational development and for familiarising him with computers. Most people who know me will probably be shocked and surprised to realised that he hasn't got to use a computer yet!

Well, here's my first scan at what I could find.

1. The learning company [1] is a US company that appears to be well established with some well reviewed software. The web site is divided by age, subject or brand and when you get to the individual titles it indicates whether it works on Mac and whether it works directly on Mac OS X or on Classic.
2. SuperKids [2] — an educational software review site which appears to be independent, but it's always hard to know for sure!
3. Amazon.co.uk [3] — I underestimated how well Amazon caters for the Mac users looking for educational software. Go to the front page, click on the "software" category (currently a bar on the left), then click "Education & Reference", then click "Macintosh Education & Reference", finally you get to choose software categorised by age/stage, brands and subjects. This looks like it's going to be one of my first points of call from now on.
4. Learning & Teaching Scotland [4] and The National Grid for Learning Scotland [5] are, as I understand it, supposed to be the official government funded gateway to educational resources in Scotland for teachers and parents. When I looked for software for pre-school, all I could find were three titles produced by Learning & Teaching Scotland themselves which were (unsurprisingly) well reviewed. Perhaps I'm missing something here. If you can find anything more useful on this site, please let me know!
5. National Grid for Learning [6] — given the limited differences between early years education in Scotland and England I decided that I should probably look at the (English) National Grid for Learning site for a wider range of software options. Amazingly, I haven't been able to find any software at all, indeed when I look at their extensive index pages the word "software" doesn't appear anywhere! However, when I seached with the word "software" in their freetext search facility I was pointed to…
6. Becta Educational Software Database [7] — listed on the National Grid for Learning as a resource for software for pre-school to further education, and also listed as being for 16+ only(!), this site is a bit more promising. It lets you search by subject, keywords, age, platform (but doesn't distinguish between Classic and Mac OS X) and by format (e.g. Floppy, CD-ROM, Download, etc.). Maybe I'm unlucky but there appeared to be broken links to most of the software I was interested in, and when the link did work the Becta site had set it up so that the web site appeared in a new window without a URL entry bar and buttons which made navigating the linked sites very awkward. Can I ask why!
7. SETT exhibitors [8] - I resorted to asking someone I know very well for some advice and they also suggested that I look up the exhibitors at the SETT conference and follow their web pages for information. I've not had time to do that yet, but it should provide up to date links to educational software providers relevant to Scotland.

So, there we go. That's where I've got so far. Currently, in review, I think the amazon site is probably the most practical starting point.

[1] http://www.learningcompany.com/
[2] http://www.superkids.com/
[3] http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1067898/
[4] http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/
[5] http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ngflscotland/
[6] http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/
[7] http://besd.becta.org.uk/
[8] http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sett/exhibition/exhibitordetails.asp

Desktop Manager - an alternative virtual desktop application

I've been a long time user of CodeTek Virtual Desktop [1]—a very useful application if you find yourself constantly switching between applications and trying to manage a collection of open windows, but the current version has problems with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", so after a little searching I've run across Desktop Manager [2].

Desktop Manager isn't as feature laden as CodeTek Virtual Desktop: it doesn't allow you to automatically open certain applications on pre-specified desktops or allow certain applications to always display regardless of the desktop you're working on. However, it does allow a number of named desktops with hotkeys to switch between them and even some nice visual effects to indicate the switch and to display the desktop name on the desktop background.

There are three key features of Desktop Manager that appeal to me: firstly, it works with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"; secondly, it is open source with evidence of active development, so I can easily install it at work without having to manage the complications of trying to arrange purchase orders from unknown suppliers, etc; finally, it works as a simple application, not requiring any complicated or concerning installation of extensions or frameworks.

Let me know what you think.

[1] http://www.codetek.com/ctvd/
[2] http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/

Review: Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX Paper Scanner

After many years trying to find a Mac compatible paper scanner suitable for archiving my daily in-tray of paperwork, I think I have at last found the solution. Surprisingly, the solution is not Mac compatible, or is it?

The Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX [1] is currently only advertised as PC compatible, and there are apparently no drivers for the Mac other than those provided by a third party in the software package ScanTango [2] which adds quite a bit to the cost of the device. But I discovered a discussion about some Japanese language drivers [3] under beta testing for Mac OS X. If you understand Japanese, your well on your way. If you don't you can either take some advice on a MacOSXHints Forum [4]; or you can look at the screen shots from the user manual which comes with the scanner because the Mac screens coincide almost identically with the PC ones; or for the adventurous, like I was, you can open up the Japanese application and use the Apple developer tool—Interface Builder—and a web based Japanese to English translation tool to convert the dialogs and menus to English.

Once I'd got passed the language barrier, I could try out the software, and in summary I was very impressed.

But before I say anything more I should say that my use of this device is quite specific. I'm basically looking for a device that lets me scan in masses of sheets of paper (single and double sided) into 300dpi black and white PDF documents that I can archive away for as long as I need to. I don't need to scan the text into a machine readable form. I just need to be able to locate and review the document when I need to, and the locating part of that is down to my organisation and naming of the files. That out of the way, my comments…

Installation is really easy, you just drag the application where you need it. No installation procedures, no drivers, no restarts, great.

The basic idea is that you run the application, set your preferences for scanning, then let it sit in the background and await you pressing the Scan button on the front of the scanner. When you do that, it automatically scans the document and saves it where you have pre-specified, or launches an application with the scanned document. The document is scanned single or double sided in one pass, and the software automatically rotates the document image to align it, compensates for the colour of the paper, and throws away blank pages (e.g. the back side of single sided pages when scanning in double sided mode). The documents are automatically saved in PDF file format and are effectively compressed to your preferences. Very unlike any Hewlett-Packard scanner software I've used in the past—but that's a topic for another post altogether!

Scanning speed. Well it's as fast as it says it will be, which to me seems amazingly fast and much better than any HP Scanners I've seen that quote one speed and do something quite different. Whoops, I wasn't going to rant about HP here!

So, what can I say. This scanner is brilliant. But it does beg an interesting question… why on earth haven't Fujitsu released the drivers (even labelled as beta) in English. I managed to localise the Japanese driver in a few hours. It's not perfect, but it wasn't hard. If they are concerned that it is beta quality all I can say is that they have a completely different view of beta from HP. If this was an HP Mac driver it would be called platinum coated production release.

Please note, however, if you're looking for a flatbed scanner, or looking to scan into various image file formats, or looking to use the scanner directly from a graphics package, the Fujitsu drivers will not meet your requirements and this probably isn't the product for you.

Update

Click below to download a simple patch file I've produced that converts the currently available Japanese beta to a rough and ready English version.

ScanSnap Manager English Localiser-1.zip

[1] http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/v3__product.asp?pid=380&inf=dsc&wg=11
[2] http://www.scantango.com/
[3] http://scansnap.fujitsu.com/jp/download/mac.html
[4] http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=32046&page=1&pp=20&highlight=fujitsu

300 free truetype fonts

This collection of 300 free fonts [1] looks a little too good to be true, but I haven't found a catch! They should work on Mac or PC

[1] http://www.goodfonts.org/index.html

Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" has just been announced

The long awaited Mac OS X update to version 10.4, branded "Tiger", has just been announced. It isn't listed yet on the Apple UK web site but I'm confident that it will be soon and will appear here [1]. It's already listed for pre-order on the Apple UK Store [2] for shipment by 29 April.

I've used a pre-release of Tiger for some time and I can confidently recommend it, but if you've only just bought your Macintosh you'll probably be understandably reluctant to fork out £89 for it. Unfortunately they haven't back-dated the "up-to-date" offer, so you're only entitled to a 'free' update if you purchased your machine on or after today (12 April 2005).

If you're a multi-Mac family then don't miss the Mac OS X Tiger Family Pack option which gives you a license to install it in up to 5 household computers for £139.

[1] http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/
[2] http://www.apple.com/ukstore/

Options: ADSL Provider, Freedom2Surf

Trying to choose an ADSL provider? Whilst I can't recommend freedom2surf [1] from first-hand knowledge, I know of one Mac user who has been happily using them as their broadband ADSL provider in Edinburgh, and they are currently offering fairly competitive rates.

They also have an option for ordering the service with an Ethernet modem or a Wifi (wireless modem). See my previous entry [2] on why USB doesn't tend to be a good idea.

[1] http://www.freedom2surf.com/
[2] http://www.typingahead.com/macstuff/2005/04/adsl_modems_rou.html

ADSL Modems / Routers - choose Ethernet rather than USB

Whenever using ADSL on a Mac I strongly recommend buying an Ethernet ADSL modem/router rather than a USB ADSL modem (which is often the default option).

USB ADSL modems require drivers to be installed on your machine and some of them are not very reliable. If your supplier disappears of the planet and you upgrade your version of Mac OS you may find yourself high and dry. You may also find that software that expects an ethernet connection at system start up may be unable to detect the connection until later and may not be entirely happy about that!

Ethernet ADSL Modems (which are also usually Ethernet switches and firewalls) allow you to connect your Mac through the built in ethernet port and require absolutely no software installation on your machine. The one-off process of setting up the ADSL modem may still be tricky, but it will be the same process whether you are a PC user or a Mac user so technical support will be as helpful to you as to anyone else! (Or at least they should be!) Other benefits of ethernet ADSL Modem/Router/Switches is that they tend to provide at least four ethernet ports so you can attach up to four machines at the same time, and they also have software which tends to act as an additional firewall to protect your machine(s) from attack.

Wireless is also a very good option and Mac's work well with wireless (as long as you're model is one with Wireless installed or installable). Wireless ADSL Routers tend to have all the benefits of the ethernet ones plus wireless.