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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Is After Effects Gobbling Up Your Hard Drive?

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

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Free CSS Layout Templates

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

How to upgrade your music to 256 kbps DRM-Free versions in iTunes

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Don’t change your Mighty Mouse batteries before you have to

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

iPhone copy/paste between Safari and Mail with pastebud

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Simulate different films and cameras on your iPhone, with CameraBag

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

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Barf Bag iPhone Mount

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!

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Force Safari to open targeted links in a new tab, instead of a new window

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Expandrive for $19.95 at Maczot

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

2 days only: Microsoft Office 2008 Mac Special Media Edition for $130

I haven’t tried this myself, but it looks pretty easy.

meta cafe link | via DF

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera

If you follow many of the Apple sites out there you’ve probably already heard of the MacHeist Software Bundle. If you haven’t, it’s an awesome set of 12 Mac applications that you can get for just $49. To buy the apps individually you would pay $428.65. It really is an amazing deal.

Even if you only want one or two of the applications, the bundle can totally save you some cash. For instance, the app I wanted the most was Snapz Pro. It normally sells for $69. So, even if I don’t use any of the other apps I’ve saved $20.

The promotion is for a limited time. As of the time of this post it’s only going for another 5 days and 10 hours. If my math is correct, that would mean they’ll stop selling it sometime next Wednesday (1.23.08).

For any of these applications that you either already own or just don’t need, the MacHeist people give you the ability to “gift” the applications. At the time of purchase you can register each app to yourself, or to someone else, by entering their name and email address. I already own a few of these, so this was a great option for me.

One other awesome thing about MacHeist is they give 25% of what they make to charity. They’ve already raised over $200,000. They have a list you can choose from when you buy the bundle, or you can have them automatically split it between all the charities. You can see the list on the bottom right of the home page.

I think MacHeist is awesome, and I was going to help promote it no matter what, but as it turns out they’ve introduced a referral program. If you use my link to buy the bundle, they’ll send a couple more apps my way for free. So, if you’re planning on buying the bundle, please use the links in this post. :)

UPDATE (1.22.08): The bundle is now up to 14 Mac apps, bringing the value to just shy of $500. The promotion ends tomorrow so don’t miss out!

MacHeist Software Bundle

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Over $400 in Mac Software for $49

SRG Clean Archives
This is a great plugin for making a more useful archives page. The default archive format for the theme I’m using just had links to the past months and categories. It wasn’t very useful. Now it has each post listed in chronological order. The plugin also has some spiffy Moo Effects built in, but I chose not to use those.

Sideblog
This plugin allows you to add Asides to your blog. I’m calling them Quickies. Asides (or Quickies) are things you want to link to or write about but don’t necessarily warrant a full-blown post. I’m still working out some formatting issues, but you can find the new Quickies in the sidebar. If you subscribe to the feed, the quickies will come in with all the standard posts. One nice thing about this plugin over some other methods for adding asides is it doesn’t limit the number of standard posts that get displayed on the page. All asides also get archived along with all the standard posts.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Some Upgrades for One Digital Life

I’m not sure how long they’ve been doing this, but I just noticed that Apple offers one to one training at their retail stores.

The program costs $99 per year. For that price you can book one personal training session per week for the entire year.

It actually looks like a pretty good program for anyone new to the Mac, or for people who want to go beyond the basics. They will work at your speed, and offer training on everything from getting started to using Apple’s pro-level apps.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

One to One Training At Apple Retail Stores

• QuickBooks users be cautious of recent update
• Update on the QuickBooks situation via Intuit

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.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

QuickBooks is deleting desktop files

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.

via Ajaxian

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Plan your next website with WriteMaps

If you’d like to go to the Macworld Expo in January, it’s not too late to get free (exhibit only) passes. Your Mac Life has you covered with a special code until December 14th.

[ LINK ]

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Free Passes to Macworld Expo 2008

For me, QuickLook is one of the killer new features in Leopard. QuickLook allows you to select any file (or folder) in the finder, hit the space bar, and get a usable preview of that file without opening it.

I think QuickLook is pretty awesome right out of the box, but today it got a whole lot more useful, thanks to Japanese developer, Taiyo.

Taiyo developed a free QuickLook plugin that allows you to view the contents of a zip archive, instead of just the icon (the default behavior for zip files in QuickLook).

I’ve always been annoyed that in the default installation of OSX, there is no way of seeing what’s in a zip without extracting everything. That’s just stupid! I’ve tried other shareware apps that claim the ability to browse zip archives without opening them, but they either didn’t work, or didn’t work very well. Thank you Taiyo!

One note… I’ve read that for some people the plugin kicked in immediately after installation. I personally needed to logout for it to start working. You could also just force-quite the finder.

Taiyo also developed a QuickLook plugin for folders, which shows the contents of folders, instead of their icon. If you spend most of you time in either list or icon view, this could be very handy too.

via TUAW

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Look inside zip archives with QuickLook

I’m a full-time freelancer and keeping track of my billable hours is an important task. Under Mac OSX 10.4, Tiger, I used a nifty little widget called, The Daily Grind. I really liked it a lot, but I’ve had some problems with Dashboard since upgrading to Leopard. So, I had to find an alternative. I dug through quite a lot of freeware and shareware timers and project management apps. I had a hard time finding something that was just right. Either they did too little, or way too much. Then, I found Timeous.

Timeous is actually a very simple application, but it makes keeping track of your time on multiple jobs a snap. You basically create a tab for each project, or task. You then just stop and start the timers as you work. Timeous logs each start and stop of each project’s timer, and keeps a running total of the time you’ve spent on that job. You can also enter an hourly dollar amount for each tab, and Timeous automatically calculates what you’ve made so far.

Once you finish your project, Timeous can export the logs as a text file, so you ‘ll always have a record.

Timeous is a Universal Binary so it works on both Intel and PPC Macs. The site doesn’t specifically mention Leopard, but the only problem I’ve had is when I re-order the tabs (via drag-and-drop), they revert back to their original order when I quite and relaunch the app.

One feature that I really like is Timous’s icon changes when the timer is running. It’s a small feature, but it’s very handy because you don’t need to keep The app visible to know the timer is running. you can just look in your dock.

If you looking for an application that can track your expenses, generate invoices, etc… keep looking. But, if all you need is a basic multi-timer app with a few extras, I highly recommend Timeous. You can’t beat the price… it’s FREE!

Oh, and if you’re into developing Mac software, the developer of Timeous, Kevin Wojniak, has made the source code available. Thanks Kevin!

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Freeware Pic: “Timeous” – Excellent Project Timer

The built-in calendar widget that comes with Mac OSX 10.5, Leopard, sports a new events pane. Simply drag the calendar widget to you desktop, click the large day number to bring out the month view, click the number again to bring out a pane listing the events for that day. Clicking on an event opens it in iCal.

via MacOSXHints

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Leopard Tip: iCal Widget gets new feature

Read the full Story on MacWorld

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

New Trojan Horse targets Mac users

I used to sync my iPhoto library with my iPod, but I gave that up because I needed the space on my iPod for music and videos. Even though I haven’t synced my photos in months, I recently realized I had almost 8GB of valuable hard drive space being eaten up by an unused thumbnail cache.

Apparently these caches are created when you sync you photos to your iPod, but when I turned off that feature, iTunes, or iPhoto, or the OS never deleted the cache.

If you previously used this feature, but now you don’t, you may want to make sure you don’t have gigs of space going to waste. The folder is located in ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/(name of iPod) Cache.

FYI… I’m currently using Tiger and iPhoto ‘06. I don’t know if this tip holds up under Leopard, or iPhoto ‘08.

I found this wasted space via the excellent freeware tool, WhatSize. It’s a handy little app that can tell you the size of all the files / folders on your drive. It’s great for locating missing drive space.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Reclaiming drive space from iPhoto / iPod

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Apps that don’t work with Leopard

As I mentioned, I’m upgrading my new Macbook Pro from 2GB to 4GB of RAM. Apple wants $700. I bought this 4GB upgrade kit from OWC for $167.99. This memory exceeds Apple/Intel specifications, and comes with a lifetime warranty. And, they will give me a $30 rebate if I send them the RAM that came pre-installed. I’ve bought RAM from OWC before, and never had any problems with it.

This same RAM works in the new iMacs as well. OWC also offers RAM for just about every other Mac, so I would check them out no matter what model you’re buying.

UPDATE (12/08/2008): See this post for updated information on 3rd party RAM and Apple’s new Aluminum Macbook and Macbook Pros.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Save over $500 on Macbook Pro RAM

If you’ve ever had to do product mockups you know it can sometimes be a real bitch to find / create the right container image as the base for your design, not to mention the time it takes to mask-off the individual surfaces to apply your mock label.

That’s where LiveSurface can save the day. It’s a high-res, layered Photoshop image library, complete with masks, alpha channels, and embedded 3-D surfaces. The library includes product containers, common items, and scenes (signs, billboards, etc…).

The images aren’t free, but they are very reasonable. The box above will cost U.S. $29 for a high-res print file, or $14 for an image suitable for web or on-screen presentations.

If you go to the site and enter your email address, you can get this box image as a free sample. It comes with a demo movie giving a brief overview.

via Core77

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Easy Product Mockups with LiveSurface Image Library

It doesn’t happen all that often, but from time to time I’ve had to make light rays for a design I’m working on. They aren’t terribly difficult to make manually, but Matt, of MacFanatic.net found these great Photoshop brushes that do it lickity-split. They’re called, “Rising Sun”, and they’re free. Thanks, Matt.

Oh, and if you’re curious about what kind of project that these may come in handy for, here’s a promotional card I did a couple years back.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Free ‘Rising Sun’ Photoshop brushes

Want to structure your Wordpress site to be less like a traditional blog, and more like an online magazine? Darren Hoyt has you covered with a nice little tutorial on reformatting your Wordpress pages.

via Quality Peoples

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Tutorial: Magazine layouts with Wordpress

XRAY is a super handy little bookmarklet that allows you to reveal the formatting of web page elements just by clicking around the page.

I’ve only used it with Safari, but since it’s just a bit of javascript, it should work with all modern browsers, on both platforms.

UPDATE: One of the XRAY developers left a comment saying that it doesn’t quite work in IE or Opera yet, but he’s working on it and should have a version soon. Thanks for the update, John.

via SimpleBits

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Peek into page formatting with XRAY

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Google, Feedburner, and Free Stuff

For several weeks after my hand surgery, I was unable to use a mouse. Luckily, I did find that I could use a trackball. I chose this Logitech model. You move the cursor with your thumb, and click with your first two fingers. I’ve also seen versions that are the opposite… you move the cursor with your fingers, and click with your thumb.

I personally prefer a mouse, and I’ve switched back now that I’m able to use one again, but if you ever find yourself with a hand injury, one of these may mean the difference between being able to work, or not.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Mouse alternative for an injured hand

via Ajaxian

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

LightWindow – a Lightbox for Everything

The NY Times has published an awesome, interactive guide for determining the financial benefits of buying, or renting a home. Basically, you put in all the relevant information, and it can give you costs for each year you are in the house, and at what point it becomes better to have bought, over renting. Of course, the numbers it gives are based on averages. It may not reflect costs specific to your area, but it’s still a good data point.

In order to access the guide, you’ll need to sign up for a NY Times account. It’s free, and only takes a minute. It’s time well spent if you’re thinking about moving.

via Vestal Design

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Is it better to buy, or rent?

For the previous post, I needed to take a screen capture of the OS X app switcher. There’s just one problem, with the app switcher active, the OS won’t let you activate a screen capture via the keyboard shortcut.

Luckily, Apple gives us a built-in workaround for this, in the form of, Grab. Grab is a handy little application located in your Utilities folder. In addition to giving us the same type of screen captures available via the keyboard shortcuts, it also gives us the option for a “Timed Screen”. Basically, 10 seconds after you click go, Grab will capture your screen. It works a little differently than the keyboard shortcuts, as Grab brings up the capture in its own window, and you have the option to save it as a file, or copy/paste it into another app.

You probably won’t need this functionality very often, but when you do, it’s nice to know it’s there. It also comes in handy if you can’t remember all the variations of the keyboard shortcuts.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

QuickTip: Timed Screenshots with ‘Grab’

Most Mac users know that holding the keyboard combination of Command (Apple Key) + Tab will cycle through running applications. But, you may not know that holding Command + ~ will cycle through them in the opposite direction (you have to call up the switcher with Command + Tab first). This comes in very handy if you pass by the app you want. You don’t have to go all the way around again, just switch to the ~ key to go back. Command + Shift + Tab has the same effect, but I find the ~ key more convenient.

A couple of other useful tips for the app switcher are…

• If you want to open a file with something other than it’s default app, you can start dragging the file in the finder, hit Command + Tab to call up the switcher, and then drop the file on the app you want to open it with.
• If you want to quit multiple apps, hit Command + Tab to call up the switcher, cycle through the apps, and hit “q” when the app you want to quit is hi-lighted (while continuing to hold Command).
• When the switcher is active, you can also just click an app with your mouse to make it come to the front.

Oh, and if you really want to take command of the app switcher (no pun intended), have a look at Witch (Free). It’s like the built in app switcher, but it also lists every open window, making switching that much faster.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Quicktip: cycle through apps in both directions

Is the floor behind your desk a giant tangled mess that you try to pretend doesn’t exists? If so, you may want to check out this awesome DIY step-by-step tutorial on how to tame that tangled beast.

via Core77

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Cleaning up your cables

I really am amazed at the power of some of today’s online tools. Picnik is a perfect example. It’s an online photo editor that is completely free to use.

Picnik covers all the photo-editing basics. You select an image from you local drive (or a website), and then you can rotate, crop, color correct, add borders and special effects, etc…. When you’re done, you can save it back to your drive, post it directly to your flickr or Picasa account, email it, or print it… all from within your browser. It really is amazing.

Since I have Photoshop, I don’t normally have a big need for Picnik, but it’s perfect for budding photographers who haven’t yet invested in software, or for anyone who finds themselves in need of an editor while they are using someone else’s computer.

via photojojo

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Picnik is the best online photo editor I’ve seen