…you realise just how many mice you have – even a boxed [wikipop search=”Apple Desktop Bus”]ADB [/wikipop] one…
…although you use the Magic Trackpad for everything these days. There are probably a couple more somewhere ;-).
Macs
GameSalad and the iGoD
Note: This will require the GameSalad plugin to be installed to work – and then it is probably only good with Safari on a Mac!
Experimenting with the GameSalad game creation software. It is still a beta version and has crashed my Mac several times – although this is probably largely due to me trying run before I can walk. But it only took a few minutes to cobble together an experimental piece that will become the Intergalactic Goats of Doom (or iGoD 
but may evolve into the Intergalactic Vomiting Vampire Goats of Doom.
Update: This has now moved to here as the plug in continues to cause problems/crashes.
You just click to move the Smiley (or touch when I get it on an iPad) to or from the goat. Why not? The M key kills the backing beat and the S key starts it again.
Me (not) Mobile?
Have just enjoyed the 60 day trial of Mobile Me. Having a house full of Macs which will be joined, I do not doubt, at some time by an iPad all that syncing and sharing stuff is just the job. Mostly I was using the picture gallery which, combined with a dinky WordPress plugin, provided a quick link from here to there.
The trial expired but no payment was charged. Instead an email complaining that something was wrong with my card details…
…which was strange. I checked the details and all seemed, as far as I could see, to be correct but still it was rejected…
…which was strange because the details of the same card are stored at the Apple Store where it is used (far too) frequently…
One of their suggestions was to purchase a box from the Apple Store, have that delivered by snail mail, discard the disc and packaging into the recycle bin, and type in the included activation key. [W:Cloud computing] eh! It’s the future!
In the past I have purchased QuickTime Pro and Aperture activation keys from the Apple Store but alas a Mobile Me activation key is not availabe.
So, for now, I have given up and rolled my own using the Gallery software.. Perhaps not as pretty as Apple’s but it does the job. A bit of PHP in the widgets over there (->) adds an image and a link. A bit of FTP adds a straight through connection.
The email said they would keep the account active until the 12th June which is just after WWDC and some rumours say… that Mobile Me will be free anyway. Hmmm!
iPods iPads ePads (that’s about the size of it)
While Apple makes us wait until the end of April for the iPad it is interesting to compare my original (2005) 1 GB iPod Shuffle and Martine’s new (2009) 8GB iPod Nano.
Mine plays music. Her not very much larger but considerably thinner one plays music… and videos and has a radio and a video camera built in and records audio memos etc. etc..
It was back in 2005 when [W:Saturday Night Live] were predicting that things would become even smaller…
But then we may not bother waiting for the iPad and just go with the ePad instead…
Magic Mice and Menu Bars
Finally caught a Magic Mouse which is as good as anticipated. I did not have a problem with the old [W:Apple Mighty Mouse] although a lot of people complained about them. I have a Logitech wireless mouse that I used with the old Mac but never got around to setting it up with the new Mac – the Mighty Mouse that came with it has done the job.
I did add Magic Prefs but have not really needed the extra pinches or swipes as yet – but will experiment with configuring it for flying X Plane. Magic Prefs added yet another icon to the ever leftward expansion across the menu bar so here is a quick check of what they are (admittedly some could be removed as they are never used and I have no idea why they are there )….
From the left….
-
Magic Prefs – adds extra controls to the Magic Mouse
Spam Sweep – Within minutes of launching the demo Spam vanished… purchased minutes later.
Library Books – Monitirs your library account and reminds you when stuff is due back.
Savvy Clipboard – expands the usefulness of the clipboard.
BwanaDik – any software named after a Zappa song must be good.
Scribblet Рfuss-free aide-m̩moires. Updated to Version 2 today.
Weather Dock – Saves having to look out of the window
Growl – pops up and tells you what you are listening to on Spotify, or when you have email, or when NetNewsWire has just refreshed etc. etc.
Caffeine – Keeps your Mac awake.
iStat Menus – Monitors the system if you enjoy watching that kind of thing. Who doesn’t?
Universal access – some of the other stuff needs some of this stuff to be on so they can do their thing.
AppleScripts – Tweak you Mac to do what you want, when you want, how you want it done.
Bluetooth – Lets Magic Mice talk to Macs
Spaces – multi desktops thingy
Spell Catcher – monitors your typing and corrects your spilling milkshakes.
Time Machine – auto back up and then some.
AirPort – wifi monitor
Date & Time – this is why you buy a Mac
User Account switch – what it says.
SpotLight – search everything everywhere.
The Wonderful, Amazing, Magical iPad
A splendid video that captures the essence of the [W:Reality distortion field] that was the iPad [W:Stevenote]. We have ordered three
Spell catcher: At last the Snow Leopard update
Apple’s Snow Leopard update of Mac OS X was first announced on 9th June 2008. It was released on 28th August 2009. Some companies took a day or two to release an update to their own software so it was better integrated with the new OS. Some took a week or so. Rainmaker released an update to their excellent Spell Catcher X software on 13th January 2010. Is this a record?
All I need now, for a complete set, is FinderPop but I can wait for a full recovery first.
Snow Leopard / Time Capsule Working!
Having added a Time Capsule to the mix of Macs it was somewhat frustrating to find my Snow Leopardified Mac was not working while ye olde iBooks running Leopard were purring away backing up flawlessly. I was stuck in the never ending “Making Backup Disk Available” bit. A seemingly common problem.
But today it started working and I am now backing up with the rest of them. So what changed? It would be nice to think that the return of Steve Jobs had something to do with it. Maybe installing iTunes 9 triggered something. But it was probably dropping the wireless network down to the b/g setting from the b/g/n option that made it happier. The slower setting is strangely the stronger faster setting for me.
Snow Leopard
It is interesting to note the varied experiences with Snow Leopard. For what it is worth my installation time was 43 minutes. A single disc and a couple of clicks affair – if I had a five year old to hand I could have left them to do it without any problems.
I regained nearly 23GB of disc space. Perhaps I should delete some of my accumulated junk and gain even more disc space. The original Leopard screenshot was named “Picture 59” (59! Perhaps I should delete some of my accu… ) but the shiny new one is called “Screen shot 2009-08-29 at 13.41.54”
Although most things seem to work fine I am constantly lost without FinderPop but I suppose the Turly fellow has some kind of an excuse and we can wait a while longer. Meanwhile I dragged my FinderPop Items folder into the Dock so at least some familiar stuff can be quickly found amongst all the clutter. Perhaps I should delete some of my accu…
To make 1Password version 2 work you need to drop Safari down to 32 bit mode from it’s Info pane:
But the Snow Leopard friendly version 3 is currently being tested and should be with us soon.
Another trusty assistant is Spell Catcher which does seem a little tetchy at the moment but I shall follow their advice and see if I can make it a little happier.
The swanky Services looks like it will be quite useful once it is configured for the individual’s needs.
I have not noticed any real problems so far. Even my creaky old PhotoShop 8 (the first CS version) seems to work fine. Things certainly seem snappier. Scrolling through a long list of stuff (Perhaps I should delete some of my accu… ) in a Finder window is notably smooth and fast. Spotify takes a long time to connect but I am not sure if that is a Snow Leopard thing or a Spotify thing.
I did do a full bootable backup of the old Leopard disc before the update so it will be interesting to go back after awhile with Snow Leopard and see just how different it feels.