Software

(Not) Mac Apps

by

These days some of the software produced for Macs seems to lack the very Mac-ness that makes a Mac a Mac – the attention to detail, the delight of discovery. Some would argue that Apple itself is as guilty as anyone here – although the cursor for the iPad suggest they still get it mostly right. The article today by Brent Simmons highlights some common problems. I have left reviews on the Mac’s App Store along the lines of – nice idea but it is a pity it is not a Mac app. To their credit some developers have taken steps to rectify the problems when they are pointed out – If I close a window it does not mean I want to quit the app. Etc. Etc.

Yadit #100DaysToOffload

Resolving Liquid and Hyperwords errors – com.hyperwords.liquidwordsfree

by

Even on a Mac things can go awry. The nifty Liquid app was spewing out errors in the Console…

com.apple.xpc.launchd: (com.hyperwords.liquidwordsfree) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

Console errors

Others have observed that just deleting the Liquid app will not remove the errors. You will need to dig a little deeper and delete…

com.hyperwords.liquidwordsfree from the Containers folder in your Library

~/Library/Containers

com.hyperwords.liquidwordsfree.plist from the Preferences folder in your Library

~/Library/Preferences

com.hyperwords.liquidwordsfree from the system’s…

/private/var/folders/vx/qbl8t4dn1dsbjqc4_67vymg80000gn

(that last bit may be different for you).

If you have trouble finding these folders the nifty PopClip app can, once you have selected the text, offer you a folder icon that will take you straight to the desired location.

Alternatively the nifty Hazel app will find all those extraneous files, when you have moved the main app to the Trash, and ask if you want to delete those too.

Once it is all cleared out a fresh install from the App Store and all is well again.

Today’s secret word is Nifty.

Then It Bash Me…. HTML Porn Arched In Their Heads.

by

Not sure which was the more surprising; that someone should charge for an app to Learn HTML (presumably for people who are unable to type HTML Tutorial into Google) or that it should only be available to adults because of its…

Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity, Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor, Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence, Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

But never mind all that nonsense we have the spam comment of the day to entice us:

There be obliged be a through for my kids to practice at familiar with what they learn in class. Then it bash me – songs!! Come down with a refrain common hoop-shaped and arched in their heads and they’ll not in a million years forget detract a ado for each of my English games, using (Insert link to your product here) merely the idiolect used in distinction! This is the first it! How are you?

Twinkle Twinkle Magic Trackpad

by

The Trackpad Magic app lets you play various instruments with the Magic Trackpad or MacBook’s Trackpad. It also features a variety of graphical effects and several [wikipop]musical scales[/wikipop]. Pressing the T key shows a grid to aid note finding. Pressing the I key cycles through the scales. The Doe Ray Me scale puts the G in the middle of the trackpad. With the C on the left edge you can pick your way through [wikipop]Twinkle Twinkle Little Star[/wikipop]. Turning off the grid and doing it blindfolded in the dark earns extra points 😉

UnMac Apps from the Mac App Store

by

Mac users have come to expect a certain standard and consistency from their software. OK we can tolerate the non-standard interface once in a while but some things are just assumed. Until today’s launch of the Mac App store. What we have are a lot of ports from the iPad/iPhone school of app development with no consideration for, or perhaps even an understanding of, how such apps will be used and be expected to work on a Mac. Sadly these are supposed to have been vetted by Apple before being allowed into the store. With no demo/trial versions available from the store you do not know what you are getting until you already have it. So please can we have apps that…

…ask if you want to save your unsaved work when you Quit them?

…have an Edit menu and an Undo?

…comply with click and drag norms instead of leaping back several decades with a click, move and click again interface? These probably worked fine with a couple of fingers on a touch screen but not so good on a Mac – even with a Magic Track Pad.

…accept images dragged into them rather than having to Open them from the File menu?

…give us a clue what we are supposed to do? There is a Help menu on the Mac. I posted instructions for PinBall HD this afternoon… A couple of hours later it had been well used…

It also seems a bit hit and miss which apps are marked as installed. Those you acquire through the App Store are but those from other sources are not; yet some of my Apple apps are marked as installed Aperture, Garageband etc. although not from the App Store while others are not iWorks etc. If we are going for seamless updating surely all installed applications should be noted and updated as and when.

Update:
It seems software purchased directly from Apple through an Apple account is recognised as installed by the App Store; if purchased elsewhere it is not recognised.

Me (not) Mobile?

by

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!

Magic Mice and Menu Bars

by

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 😉 )….
menu bar

From the left….