Keynote Free Stuff

My friend and MacSparky reader Marie pointed me to Jumsoft's free "Jam" download of Keynote 3d images. Several of them are useful for presentation work and definitely worth the download. Check it out. As a little Keynote tip, I actually keep a separate folder called "Keynote Source Documents" where I have slides and presentation with re-usable resources. If you haven't done something like this yourself, this is the perfect place to start.

Creative Withdrawal

Between the slow death of my MacBook Pro and waiting for the new one to show up, I've been without a "fun" machine now for about a month. It is the computer equivalent of the doldrums. This combined with an overdose of dragon slaying at the day job has left MacSparky, as of late, a very dull boy. I have to admit it is dragging me down a bit. I miss playing with all the great creative stuff and plunking away in Logic. The loss of the MacBook Pro has also put the screencast production schedule on hiatus. I'm crossing my fingers that the new one will show up tomorrow. It would be really nice to get it set up over the weekend. Stay tuned.

Psystar ... I Don't Care!

Things have been a little crazy lately in the day job so I've not had much time to keep up on Mac news. Tonight I decided to take catch up with my RSS feed and was surprised to see so many posts and articles concerning Psystar's Apple clones. Apparently a few of them are in the wild and everyone seems very excited about it. I must admit, I'm baffled.

So it is great that folks have gone commercial with the hackintosh concept but I can't understand why anyone would want to buy one. They may be slightly cheaper but then again, they may also just turn into a brick with the next software update. Furthermore, they really aren't that much cheaper. I remember back to 1987 when getting a new Mac and printer would run you about four thousand dollars minimum. Back then a hackintosh would have had a toehold. But these days Apple's prices are not that bad. On the low end, a Mac Mini is very affordable. On the other end there really isn't that much difference (either in hardware or price) between a MacBook Pro and a Dell XPS which can cost up to $4300.

Call me a fan boy but I'm sticking with Apple hardware. I've got 20 years of trench warfare experience on the PC side fighting hardware, software, and operating systems made by different people with no intention of cooperating. To the arguable extent you are paying a premium for Apple products, you get it back in saved time almost immediately. With Apple's current pricing, I will be very surprised if any of these commercial clones get any traction.

Review iWeb Buddy

When it comes to web development, I’m hardly a power user and I’ve found iWeb to be just fine for most of the web based projects I’m involved with. That being said, there are a few features I do miss in iWeb 08. Zarra Studios comes to the rescue with its $25 add-on for iWeb called iWeb Buddy. Put simply, iWeb Buddy picks up the slack for iWeb.

First, it allows you to manage multiple domains. While iWeb natively supports multiple sites, it does not allow you to separate these sites into multiple domains. iWeb Buddy makes it easy to manage my family site (which publishes through .mac) and some other business sites that are published elsewhere.

Another shortcoming in iWeb is web statistics. Using iWeb Buddy you can enable statistics tracking such as Google Analytics or Mint. iWeb Buddy puts the necessary scripts in and gives you access to all of those great statistics so you can figure out exactly how many people from all over the world are reading your site. As an aside, macsparky.com is huge in Fiji. Go figure.

iWeb Buddy also gives a boost to RSS support. It allows you to get that RSS button off the top of the page and place it where your readers are more likely to notice it and it also allows you to tie your feed into statistical tracking services, like Feed Burner. Finally, you can make your iWeb site friendly to social bookmarking services such as Digg and del.icio.us. You simply click a preference and iWeb Buddy does the rest.

iWeb Buddy is designed around iLife 08 and a license will cost $25. I know some of the functions in iWeb Buddy can be found in other applications. A few of them are even free. However, the benefit of iWeb Buddy is in the combination of these tools all in one place and ease of application. If you are looking to upgrade your iWeb site, iWeb Buddy should scratch the itch. You can find it at zarrastudios.com.

Two Words: Buy AppleCare

About six years ago, before there was such a thing as a "Geek Squad", I had an extended warranty on an HP computer I bought at a big box retailer. The sound card started failing so I turned it in. It took me three months and the exhaustion of my entire collection of colorful epitaphs to get it back and and it was still broken. I finally fixed it myself and swore never to buy another extended warranty in my lifetime.

Well times change and if you have a lick of common sense, you eventually find yourself replacing your PC with a new Mac and (if you are like me) you probably get intoxicated by all the Apple Store karma and go ahead and purchase AppleCare despite the fact a not so small part of you is screaming "No, No, No ... for the love of Pete No!"

Well fast forward to the last few months and Apple was finally presented with an opportunity to prove the value of AppleCare or validate my more cynical side. I've been dealing with a recurring problem with my USB port on my MacBook Pro. It just seems to have a mind of its own and with increasing frequency has been kicking off printers and USB drives. Most notably it garbles up recorded audio which can be extremely frustrating. As a result, it has been in and out of the Apple store several times.

During this period the Apple Genius gang has replaced the logic board (twice) the i/o board as well as a few other parts. I think they even put in fresh cheese for that little mouse on the wheel. To rule out software being the cause, I even did a complete rebuild of the hard drive.

Despite all these valiant efforts, the USB port still keeps on failing. This morning the Irvine Store Genius crew officially declared it a lost cause. For the first time in many years, I felt bad about the death of my computer. With my PCs it usually felt like a relief when the computer finally died. Almost like it had been put out of its misery and was now in a better place where there were no such things as autoexec.bat files and viruses. With my MacBook Pro, I felt like Elliott as they were wheeling in the crash cart on E.T. and declaring him dead. That MacBook Pro represented my return to the fold. It marked the end of my PC purgatory.

Of course, on the other hand this means AppleCare is springing to give me a new MacBook Pro. The new machine is faster than the old machine in just about every way. I went ahead and paid for an upgraded screen and processor, (the LED on the MacBook Air has spoiled me forever) so it will be a week until I have the new machine. It is a good thing I seem to have the setup process figured out.

Getting to the point of this post (there is a point) I must say that AppleCare is a "must buy." The Apple folks really tried hard to fix my machine and you could tell how frustrated they were that their fixes were not sticking. You hear so many bad stories about computer tech guys. I found the complete opposite to be true at the Irvine Apple Store. Those guys were working hard on the problem and calling me regularly with status updates. They understood how much I rely on my computer and acted accordingly. You really couldn't ask for better customer service.

Great Link - Apple Pro Tips Archive

A good friend sent me this link to Apple's own Pro Tips Archive. This is the veritable mother-lode of OS X tips handy for veterans and switchers alike.

Rebuilding Your Mac from the Ground Up

Since posting about the fact that I was rebuilding my Mac, I've received a lot of emails from readers curious about how I did it. I'm actually surprised about the number of questions on this subject so I thought I'd explain the steps I took in a bit more detail for rebuilding your Mac from ground zero:

1. Clone the Drive.

I use SuperDuper but CarbonCopyCloner also works. No matter what, have at least one clone before you push the button to erase and install. This way you've always got the old system available once you start the process of rebuilding. This also gives you the option to simply copy over your old data to the fresh OS X install. That process only takes a few hours and usually is good enough to fix most problems but this post is about starting from zero so I'll push forward.

2. Keep Your Passwords and Licenses Close By

There are a lot of ways to save your passwords. Some folks use Yojimbo, others use Excel sheets and some of the smarter ones just keep a text file or a mail archive. I do it through 1Password which is great for the rebuild because it is all in the keychain.

3. Erase and Install Leopard

Get the new operating system installed and run the software update utility. It probably will need to run a few times before everything is square but before long you'll have a very clean copy of OS X on your Mac.

4. Load the Stuff that Pays the Bills

In my case that is Microsoft Office, iWork, and the Omni Applications. Once again there will be a series of software updates.

5. Load the Stuff that Makes You Smile

Just the essential fun stuff. One of the points here is not to go crazy. So for me the photo and music software got loaded along with the stuff required for me keep MacSparky running.

6. Get Productive

There are a few applications that just make everything easier. In my case that is Text Expander, Quicksilver, Default Folder X and a few other gems.

7. Load the stuff that Keeps Your Mac Running

I put on the essential utilities like MainMenu, OnyX and other things geek.

8. Sync It Up

For me this was SugarSync and .Mac Sync getting everything sorted out.

9. Stop

The key for me on a rebuild is not to go crazy. Put on the essentials and make everything else earn its way back onto your drive. I view it as audition time for my applications. You'll be surprised how many applications don't make the cut and you will quickly realize what the silent heroes are.

Finally, I would recommend you only do a ground zero build up when you absolutely have to. All of those little tweaks that you've spent years making will be gone and you really will spend a lot of time getting it back. I have had some hardware issues that required this rebuild and while it really isn't that hard, it can be a pain.

What did I miss? Sound off in the comments.

Playing with HDR

Lately I've been trying out some new photographic techniques. One of them is HDR (High Dynamic Range photography) As I understand it, this is usually accomplished by combining multiple exposures at different stops and digitally combining the best parts. This allows you to get details in both shadows and bright spots. It is becoming much more common as you see these fantastic skyline pictures showing up all over the internet. For my first attempt I cheated a little bit. I took a single shot and adjusted the exposure in Aperture to make a high, medium, and low exposure version. I then exported the versions and did the HDR work on those three versions.

The original shot ...

After HDR adjustments ...

It certainly fixed the trees in the shadows but I actually prefer the non-HDR shot. This is probably due to operator error more than anything else. If things go according to plan, I am going to Hawaii this summer and I definitely want to get this figured out before that happens.

Text Expander Releases Version 2.1

Text Expander is one of my favorite applications. I use text snippets for everything from email to legal briefs to applescript code. If you do any sort of repetitive text entry, you owe it to yourself to give Text Expander a try.

The new version 2.1 includes several improvements. According to the developer version 2.1 adds the following:

- Allows single character abbreviations
- Improves performance and reliability for fast typists
- Remembers open groups in Preference pane
- Preserves format when creating snippets from selection or Clipboard
- Fixes problem expanding when there are multiple nested snippets
- Minor fixes and improvements

I'm most interested in increased reliability for fast typists. Occasionally, Text Expander stumbles when I type too fast which can be frustrating. I'm interested in what the users are using Text Expander or any of the other text snippet applications for. Sound off in the comments.

New iCal Enhancement: Today

Second Gear released a new application called "Today". This one is for those iCal users envious of the Entourage "My Day" application bar. For comparison you can see the similarities below:

Entourage My Day

Today

I have limited experience with both applications but as an initial opinion, I think Today looks better but Entourage is more functional. I'd like to see Second Gear get Today off my dock and into the menu bar.  It would be nice if I checked the preferences closer before complaining about a missing feature that is actually there.  Furthermore, rather than scrolling side to side, I'd prefer you to be able to wheel down to subsequent days like we do on our iPhones. Regardless, I seriously doubt many people are going to choose a side in the Entourage vs iCal/Mail debate simply based on the daily summary application. I'm just glad the iCal folks who are looking for this now have an option. I may do a more in depth review later but for now, you can download a free trial of Today from the developer and a license runs $15.