One of my News Years Resolutions is to keep in more regular contact with friends. One way I decided to do that was to stay logged into a chat client. It’s not for meaningful discussions, but just for the occasional, Hi there kind of thing.
I’m using Google Talk, via iChat. The big problem I’ve had so far is the connection continually gets dropped, and I can’t figure out why. I can’t seem to stay logged in more than about 1/2 hour.
Has anyone else had this problem with Google Talk / iChat?
If you’re a fan of Lost, you’re probably anxiously awaiting the 4th season which starts January 31st, 2008. Until then you can get a glimpse into what awaits the passengers of Oceanic flight 815 with this teaser trailer.
If you run Mac OSX 10.4 or 10.5 you can countdown to the premier with this 4th season widget.
Apparently, if you run an updater to QuickBooks, that may or may not have been released by Intuit, all the files and folders on your desktop may be erased.
In addition to the fixes mentioned on TUAW, you could also use an application like Little Snitch to block QuickBooks from connecting to the internet.
Whenever I start a new website, one of the first tasks to be done is to create a flowchart, often referred to as a sitemap. A flowchart (or sitemap) outlines the navigation through the entire site, so I know how many pages I’ll be building and what pages link to what other pages.
I’ve tried various tools over the years for building flowcharts. The one I’ve used the longest is, Inspiration. Although it’s not specifically tailored for web designers, it actually does a very good job, and is relatively inexpensive ($69).
One problem with using a tool like Inspiration, is none of my clients use it. The only way to review and revise my flowchart is to export a PDF, email it to my client, discuss it over the phone, and then make any revisions we come up with. It’s not uncommon for this process to go through several rounds before we get the final version. It can be very time consuming.
I recently came across an excellent alternative to this process. It’s called WriteMaps. WriteMaps is a free online sitemap creation and collaboration tool. It’s only been recently released as a 1.0 product, but it’s looking pretty sweet!
WriteMaps is extremely easy to use to quickly generate your sitemap. Once complete, you can send a link to your client allowing them to view and edit the sitemap, significantly cutting down the time it takes to hammer out the final version. As a bonus, once you finish building the actual site, you can export your WriteMaps sitemap as a Google sitemap (XML) file.
WriteMaps is the brain child of Boston-based graphic designer, Scott Jehl. Frustrated with the cost and/or limitations of other sitemap creation software, Scott decided to make his own. And, he’s nice enough to share it with all of us. Thanks Scott, you rock!
While WriteMaps is free, Scott does accept donations to cover hosting costs, etc… If you find it useful, consider slipping Scott a few bucks via the donations link on the site.
I woke up this morning and found that I couldn’t post anything to my Wordpress blogs. Neither MarsEdit or the web interface worked. I kept getting a 403 error.
As it turns out, the problem wasn’t with Wordpress or MarsEdit. It was with the Wordpress plugin, Bad Behavior.
Bad Behavior was updated two days ago, to v2.0.11, to fix the problem. You’ll want to grab the update ASAP if you’re a Bad Behavior user. [ full details ]
Yesterday I mentioned the website, MacSanta, which offers 20% discounts on Mac software during the month of December. I don’t normally talk about the same service two days in a row, but one of the apps featured today really cought my eye. It’s called, Remote Buddy.
Remote Buddy tremendously enhances the capabilities of your Apple Remote. Here’s a blurb from their site:
“Remote Buddy turns the remote control in your hands into a key to your entire system. No matter, whether you want to control applications and presentations, browse and playback your music and video collection, watch TV with EyeTV, browse the web or your filesystem, make the globe turn in Google™ Earth, enter a text, move the mouse, play games or maybe just change the brightness of your screen - you can do this all with Remote Buddy! And so much more!”
One thing that isn’t mentioned in that blurb, is the fact that Remote Buddy now comes with a component called, Remote Buddy’s AJAX Remote, which allows you to use your iPhone or iPod Touch to control your Mac.
I haven’t really had the time to play with Remote Buddy yet, but it looks totally cool!
Remote Buddy normally runs 19.99 € (about $29 US). Today only you can use the coupon code from MacSanta to get 20% off. If you miss the sale today, you can still get 10% off until December 24th by using the coupon code listed in MacSanta’s Extended Deals section.
There are a couple of cool software titles on sale today. The first is Periscope. It’s an application that adds all kinds of cool functionality to your Mac’s built-in iSight (or other webcam). Among other things, you can set your camera to automatically take pictures when it detects motion or sound, or on a timed interval. Then, Periscope can automatically upload the image to your .Mac account, or ftp server. It can even email the photos.
I’ve only just played with Periscope a little, but it looks pretty cool. Periscope normally runs US $39.95, but you can get it today only for US $19.95 through Maczot.
If you’re unfamiliar with Maczot, they run 1-day only sales on individual software titles, year round.
The next app on sale today is MarsEdit. MarsEdit is a desktop blogging application that works with many blogging platforms. It’s my personal blogging app of choice. I use it to maintain all of my Wordpress blogs. In fact, I’m typing this post in it right now.
MarsEdit normally runs US $29.95. You can get 20% off today only through MacSanta.
If you’re unfamiliar with MacSanta, they run 1-day only 20% off sales on groups of software from about the beginning of December through December 24th. The day after an item is featured on their 1-day sale, it moves into their extended deals section where you get 10% off until December 24th. There are already quite a few apps in their extended delas section that I have my eye on.
Call me crazy, but going all the way back to OSX 10.0 I’ve never used Apple’s Dock as an application launcher. I don’t keep my applications in it at all. I only use the Dock to show me what applications are running. Even pre OSX I’ve always used Dragthing, the king of all application launchers, to launch my apps.
I’ll probably always use Dragthing, partially because it does so much more than just launch applications, but recently I gave another application launcher, Trampoline, a try. I have to say… I’m really diggin’ it.
Dragthing is excellent for giving me access to every single application I own. Which is nice because I hate going into my applications folder. Trampoline’s approach is more about giving you quick access to your most used apps.
You basically put your most used apps (or documents) into Trampoline, and then with a quick key-command (option + space by default), you can bring up a circular launcher wherever your mouse is on screen. Just click the desired app, Trampoline disappears, and your application is launched. Although I have all the same apps in Dragthing, I do sometimes find it much handier to just call them up through Trampoline.
Trampoline isn’t free, but you can download and run it in demo mode without any restrictions. A license will cost you US $19.95, which is pretty reasonable for something you’ll use everyday.
Apple has found a defect in the new ultra-compact USB power adapter that ships with 3G iPhones. They're offering free exchanges starting 10/10/2008. LINK
Macworld San Francisco 2009 will be held on January 5th-9th. You can get free Exhibit-Only passes when registering if you use promo code, MKA31884, before 9/26/2008.
Yay! Adobe released Lightroom 2 this morning. I'm a big fan of Lightroom and this version offers some welcome enhancements. An upgrade will cost you $99. Regular price is still $299.
If you want a guided tour, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has produced a whole series of videos outlining the new features. You can see them here.
