Applescript to Browse Full Screen

I'm dipping my toe into code lately. I'm playing primarily in Automator and Applescript but also recently ordered a visual C book. Regardless, I found an excellent script at the Apple web site that allows you to put your finder window in full screen mode and hide the dock. This is really nice for cover-flow browsing. Check it out.

Review - SageTV Media Center

As our computers get more powerful and our entertainment media gets more digital there is a natural progression to computers serving as our media hub. I think we are in the very begining stages of this shift but there is no shortage of products available to accomplish this. One such product is SageTV’s media center.

SageTV is a computer-centric solution for digital PVR solutions. It has versions for Windows, Linux, and OS X. The Mac install process is quick and painless walking you through a series of menu options to configure the various options available to you. You can pull media from your drive, the internet or a TV signal if you have one going into your Mac.

Once you have everything set up you are free to go on a content preference rampage. Telling your Mac what to record and when. The software can also make suggestions to you. Searching by category I found several interesting shows that I didn’t even know exist.

In addition to regular television programming, you can access google video and your own media. Like any DVR, it also gives you the ability to play, fast-forward, or pause when life gets in the way or you just want to get past the commercials.

I thought the personal media features were nice allowing me to put together slideshows of photos and some of my favorite John Coletrane music. SageTV brings it all together in a pleasant user interface.

SageTV isn’t content to just sit on your computer though. It easily converts your media to AppleTV and iPod formats. Also, using the the additional Placeshifter software you can watch your programming across the network or across the country. Using a high speed internet connection you can watch your access your stored media from just about anywhere.

One note to be wary of is hard drive space. Downloading video media takes a lot of hard drive space. The program has some built in preferences that allows you to limit the space but it is amazing how quickly you can fill up your drive. If you get serious about a Mac based home media center you probably need to get get some large hard drives.

The point that strikes me after using SageTV is just how easy it is to coordinate media on your computer. In addition to the home media center crowd, I think the SageTV software is also good for people like college students who don’t have much room for a TV and routinely watch television on their Macs. It essentially gives you TIVO style functionality along with several more bells and whistles. I think it is also good for road warriors. If you set it up right and have a high speed internet connection you can phone home and plug into your recording library from a hotel.

You can pick up SageTV and Placeholder together for $99 at SageTV.com. For an additional $100 you can also get the MyTVPVR device to get a TV signal into your Mac.

Leopard's Spotlight Calculator

One of the nice little features in Leopard that I'm finding myself using more than I thought I would is the Spotlight calculator. Just activate Spotlight (Command+Space) and start typing in your equation. The answer is pops right up. No dashboard or loading of the calculator application. Give it a try.

Ninja Writing

Believe it or not, I spend a lot of time thinking about writing. Now I know if you are a regular reader of MacSparky you may chortle but this blog is where I let my hair down a bit. When writing for clients and guys wearing black robes I am always very careful. You only have so much time and attention from your reader and people's lives depend on me laying out their position favorably and quickly before I lose my reader.

There is a joke in the legal profession. "The difference between a good brief and a bad brief is about ten pages." This doesn't mean ten more pages. It means ten less pages. I like to finish my legal briefs about three days before they are due. I then spend the next several days stopping every once in awhile and hacking at it with my red pen. The brief never gets longer during this three day period. It usually gets much shorter. Just today I was paring down one of my briefs and came to a line comparing the other side's position to Alice falling down the rabbit hole. While that seemed rather brilliant while I dictated it a few nights ago, today it looked cheap, contrived, and unprofessional. Scratch.

So there you have it:
1. Give it some time;
2. Don't take ownership in every word;
3. Hack away.

There is a point to this post. Honestly.

Today I came across a post at DailyWritingTips.com called "Is There Really Room for Error in Writing?". It is another fine post and I think Michael really nailed it when he explained:

As a writer, you have a limited arsenal. A sentence can only hold so many words before your reader loses track of what you’re saying. The English language only has so many synonyms that your reader understands, which limits the vocabulary you can use. So a writer has to squeeze all his or her meaning into a small space. There is little room for error.

Go read the article here. If you also "think" about writing, add DailyWritingTips.com to your RSS feed. It is well worth it.

Looking at the Mac Firewall

For better or for worse, when it comes to internet security, I'm a novice. I know enough to secure my data. Indeed, since I carry around client data I keep everything locked up tight in an encrypted sparse image as I demonstrated in screencast #__. But in terms of people getting into my system via internet sniffing I know very little. Since some internet security specialists are raising alarm bells over the fact the Mac Firewall is defaulted in the "off" position, I spent a little time reading up on things last night. Apple goes to some length explaining the Leopard firewall right here.

There seem to be two camps on this issue. One group of experts say that the sky is falling and you should never ever turn your Mac on without the firewall enabled. Another group says you probably don't need your firewall so long as you are behind a decent router. Among those in the second category are Steve Stanger and John Foster (at least I think it was John .. sometimes it is hard to figure out exactly who is talking on MacBreak Tech). Steve actually explained that there are some times when a Firewall is a very good thing. He used a hotel network as an example, but explained that when you are sitting at home or work behind your router, it really doesn't make much difference. I trust John and Steve and decided I'm not going to get overly excited about this. I'll probably turn it on when I'm not at work or home but otherwise I'll leave it off. To each his own but that is me. I live dangerously. You'll have to excuse me now. I plan to go run with scissors.

Hacking Quicksilver

This week Quicksilver went open-source which is leading lots of folks to think it will be getting more development attention. That being said, I found an older post on Hawkwings detailing how to tweek the Quicksilver interface. I'm not sure if this is interesting to anyone else, but I sure dig it. Check it out.

Keep Your Applications Up to Date with AppFresh

As the Leopard application upgrades roll in I've been increasingly using a great little application to keep all of my applications up to date. It is called AppFresh and you can download it right here.

AppFresh helps you to keep all applications (third-party and Apple), widgets, preference panes and application plugins on your Mac up to date, from one place. It works by checking the excellent iusethis.com database for new versions and lets you download and install available updates easily. Check it out.

Scriviner Gets New Spots

Scrivener is one of my favorite Mac applications. I hesitate to call it a word processor because it is really more of writing tool than a simple word processor. One of these days I'm going to give it the review attention it really deserves. Nevertheless, today I'll just report it has been updated for Leopard and looks great. Check it out.

Mac Touch Tablet?

CNET UK is reporting that someone at ASUS (the guys who manufacture MacBooks) is manufacturing a new Mac Touch tablet-style computer. You never know if these rumors are true but this one makes a certain amount of sense. My guess is that if one exists, we'll be seeing it at MacWorld. Stay tuned.

MacSparky Invades MacWorld 2008

My assimilation as a Mac Geek is complete. We have some relatives in the Bay Area we've been meaning to visit for a few years so we decided to go up the week of MacWorld. I don't think I'll be buying a ticket for the Keynote ($300!) but definitely haunting the expo floor and sharing my experiences with the MacSparky gang.

I'm going to stay at the Hotel Milano using the deal Dave Hamilton put together over at TheMacObserver. If you are attending, let me know and we can meet up.