Tips & Tricks
Is After Effects Gobbling Up Your Hard Drive?
I recently discovered that After Effects (CS3) wasn’t deleting it’s Media Cache files when I quit the application. The folder had swelled to 6.19 GB.
I’m not sure if this is a bug in CS3, or if all versions of AE suffered from this problem. But, if you’re an After Effects user you may want to make sure you haven’t (unnecessarily) lost some drive space. On a Mac, the folder is located at ~/Library/Caches/Adobe/After Effects CS3/Media Cache Files. You can either manually toss the content of the folder, or you can open AE on go to the Memory & Cache preferences and click, Clean Database & Cache.
Free CSS Layout Templates
If you do any sort of web development, you may find these CSS Layouts handy. They appear to be free for personal and commercial use.
via CSS Beauty
How to upgrade your music to 256 kbps DRM-Free versions in iTunes
Earlier today Apple announced that they’re removing Digital Rights Management (DRM) from music bought through the iTunes music store. They also announced that you could upgrade your previously purchased music from the old standard (128 kbps protected file) to the new format (256 kbps DRM Free) for $0.30 per song on individual tracks or 30% of the current album price on full albums, but it’s not immediately apparent on how you go about doing that.
It’s actually very easy… simply open iTunes and select the iTunes Store in the sidebar (on the left). On the store home page, look in the upper right, under QUICK LINKS, for “Upgrade my Library”. Clicking that will take you to a summary page of what it would cost to upgrade everything you’ve bought. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged unless you click the “Buy” button on that summery screen.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any way of upgrading individual tracks or albums… it’s either everything you’ve bought, or nothing. Also, since the entire catalogue offered through iTunes hasn’t been upgraded to the new format yet, not everything will be available. In my own tests, only about half of what I’ve bought is available for upgrade. Apple should have everything updated by the end of March, 2009.
Personally, I’m bummed about the all or nothing approach Apple has taken. I really don’t want to upgrade everything I’ve bought.
UPDATE (1/07/2009): Macworld has posted much more information about this.
Don’t change your Mighty Mouse batteries before you have to
If you use an Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse, you’ve probably seen this battery warning at some point. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a little premature in when it tells you to change batteries. I sometimes get 2-3 weeks of additional use after I get the warning before the batteries actually die. And that’s using my mouse all day, every day.
Ignore the warning. Don’t change the batteries until they actually die.
iPhone copy/paste between Safari and Mail with pastebud
Starting tomorrow (12/12) we’ll be able to copy and paste text on the iPhone between Safari and Mail, or between 2 web pages. And, it doesn’t require any software to be installed, or the iPhone to be tampered with.
It works by using 2 Javascript bookmarklets provided by pastebud. There’s a video of it in action over on Gizmodo (fyi… the video won’t play for me in Safari, I had to use Firefox).
All in all it looks pretty cool. I can’t wait to try it out. It is sad though that Apple hasn’t provided this ability long ago. Who knows, maybe it will be announced at Macworld in January.
via The Apple Blog
UPDATE (12/12/2008): The service went online today, and apparently there’s some concerns about security. use at your own risk.
Simulate different films and cameras on your iPhone, with CameraBag
I’ve been using the iPhone application, CameraBag, for a while now and I’m really happy with it. It’s a must-have application that actually makes the crappy little camera in the iPhone usable. And, it’s only $2.99!
From the developers…
After years of making quality 3D modeling software, we at Nevercenter are branching out to our friends in 2D! Dramatically and easily enhance photos from your built-in iPhone camera or iPhone/iPod Touch photo library using CameraBag’s advanced filters that emulate several different camera and film styles, giving your photos an old-school, cinematic appeal. Photography is all about mood, and using the right camera can turn a throwaway photo into an all-time favorite.
CameraBag is simple and intuitive, with a minimal interface. Just take a new photo or choose one from your library, swipe between camera styles, and save any you like. If you want more control, an options panel is available for camera behavior, image size, cropping and border effects, and more.
The cameras included in CameraBag:
- “Helga” – A square-format toy camera feel with washed-out highlights and old-school vignetting.
- “1974″ – This is your father’s camera. Faded, tinted, and hip.
- “Lolo” – Shoot from the hip and take life as it comes with vibrant, colorful shots.
- “Cinema” – Dramatic, moody, wide-screen stills from the movie of your life.
- “1962″ – Dynamic black and whites from the photojournalists of a bygone era.
- “Ansel” – Smooth gradation from black to white.
- “Infrared” – Simulation of the popular landscape photography technique.
The image above used the “Helga” effect. It has no other processing done to it other than what CameraBag did. Immediately after I took this photo, I was shin-deep in water. My back was up against the cliff, so I had nowhere to go. I did learn that my shoes are surprisingly waterproof.
Here’s one more taken that day that I liked.
Barf Bag iPhone Mount
Filed under, why didn’t I think of that… Here’s a great little lesson in making do with what you have. It’s a fully adjustable iPhone/iPod mount using nothing more than an airsick bag and the seat-back tray. Perfect for your next flight.
I like this way better than my iCup.
via iPhone Central
Force Safari to open targeted links in a new tab, instead of a new window
There is one feature in Firefox that I’ve always wished Safari had. The ability to always force targeted links (those that would normally open a new browser window) to open a new tab.
For example, if you’re viewing this in Safari and you click this link, it will open a new browser window taking you to Google. I would rather it open in a new tab instead. You can temporarily do this on a link-by-link basis by holding down the Command key when clicking the link, but I want it to work that way all the time.
Fortunately, this feature is already built into Safari (at least on the Mac), but it’s turned off by default. In order to turn it on, all you need to do is paste the following command in to the Terminal (quit Safari first):
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true
That’s it. Safari should now open all links that would have opened a new window, in a new tab instead. If you want to turn this feature off, paste the same command, but replace the word “true” with “false”.
Thank you Roger Johansson!
Expandrive for $19.95 at Maczot
Today only (12/03/08), Maczot is selling Expandrive for $19.95. That’s 50% off the regular price of $39.95. if you’re unfamiliar with Expandrive, it’s a great little Mac app that allows you to mount remote servers on your desktop as if they were local drives. It’s extremely handy. I occasionally still bust out Transmit, my ftp application of choice, but more often than not I just mount the server with Expandrive.
I’ve never used it, but the company also makes SftpDrive, a similar product for Windows. It’s not on sale, but you Windows users may find it helpful.
2 days only: Microsoft Office 2008 Mac Special Media Edition for $130
For 2 days only Microsoft is dropping the price of Office 2008 Special Media Edition (Mac) by 70%. It normally retails for $499.95, but you can get it for $129.99 from Amazon on 11/27 and 11/28.
I’m actually going to take advantage of this offer, even though I don’t normally use Office on the Mac. For my own documents I use Apple’s iWork. It has everything I need, and it’s much easier to use. For client-work, I must use Office 2007 under Windows, because I need documents to open exactly the same (or as close as possible) on my client’s machine as they do on mine. Although iWork can read/write office documents, formatting isn’t held very well when going between applications (iWork to Office or Office to iWork). Unfortunately, even when going from Office Mac to Office PC (or back), formatting isn’t held exactly. Some slight differences can occur, but they are far less than using iWork. That being said, there are times in my workflow when it would be more convenient to use Office under the Mac OS, and the steep discount makes it a more reasonable option.
As I mentioned, you can get the Media Edition of Office 2008 Mac (full) for $129.99, but if you own Office 2004 Mac, you can get the upgrade for $109.99 (normally $299.95). If you don’t need everything that’s included in the Media Edition, you might want to consider buying the Home and Student Edition. It normally sells for $149.95, but you can get it now for $109.99. I’m not sure if that price is under this same 2-day promotion, or if Amazon always has a discount on that package.
Here’s what the Media Edition has that the Home & Student Edition doesn’t:
- Microsoft® Expression® Media
- Microsoft Exchange Server Support
- Automator Actions for Workflows in Microsoft Office
- Upgrade pricing (Home Edition has no upgrade price)
Via TUAW | More info on Information Week
UPDATE: In just the time it took me to write this post, the price of the full version jumped from $139 to $169.99. Looks like pricing is in flux. Best Buy has the full version for $149. The online Apple Store is down in preparation for Black Friday, but it should be $149 there too.
UPDATE #2: It’s Friday morning and the price of the full version from Amazon has dropped to $129.99. Grab it while you can.
UPDATE #3: The 2-day sale is over, but Amazon still has the full version for $159.99. That’s over $300 off of the retail price. Not sure how long this sale will last.
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