Here's a quick Automator script to pull all of the image links in the frontmost Safari window into iPhoto. I use this when I stumble across a web page with great photos I want to add to my gallery. Notice that what this script does is download to the desktop and then import to iPhoto. After completion, it deletes the originals from the desktop. This way I am sure to get the full resolution images rather than the lower resolution web thumb nails Technorati Tags: Apple, Automator, iPhoto, Mac, Productivity, Programming, Tip, Trick
Who doesn't love Youtube (this month)? In fact some of the stuff I like so much that I want to keep it permanently on my computer. While there are applications out there like TubeSock, I think the way I do it provides more options. I start by grabbing the flash file from Youtube with the free application PodTube. This little utility grabs the flash movie from the frontmost Safari window and loads it onto the desktop.
My Mac Pro received another 1GB RAM upgrade tonight. That puts it at 3GB total. Apple's Aperture just sucks up the RAM. Especially when dealing with the NEF (RAW) files from the Nikon D80. The extra RAM has made a considerable difference. Aperture is snappier and I can listen to music while I play with my photos. Doing a self-install of the RAM was a snap. Here's the instructions: 1) Power down the Mac Pro 2) Open the side panel 3) Pull out the top RAM riser 4) install two 512K RAM chips (from Apple) 5) Put the memory riser back, close the side panel and power-up Done.
I love the system utility Onyx. I've tried most of the others, including MacJanitor and Cocktail, but Onyx has always done a good job and has a great feel to it. Now I'm aware that most of them are simply running a series of unix maintenance commands to repair permissions, clear cache files and update catalogs. But I still find them easier to use than the Unix commands. I am now an Applejack user.
When Apple bought Coverflow to include in iTunes 7, I was both happy and sad. At first I was happy that iTunes finally had a nice interface for my album art. Sadly, Coverflow was no longer available (or so I thought). Coverflow downloaded album art from Amazon while iTunes uses the iTunes store (makes sense). I have some unusual CD's which iTunes just ignores the cover art for while Coverflow happily found.
Is there really any reason to have so many different media formats? WMV, mpeg4, QT, FLV... the list goes on. While Quicktime handles many of the most popular formats, there are still plenty that it doesn't and that really gets frustrating. Sure, I have VLC running on my Mac Pro, but it is far from a finished product. Why can't Apple just finish the supported format list for Quicktime? I even upgraded to Quicktime Pro to get some extra formats (like Mpeg2).
Simplicity is the Apple way. Sometimes that comes with a shorter feature list. Apple's Mail is a good example. Even your grandmother could use it with little or no help, but that is partly because it has so few features. Just try to get granny to have a go around with MS Entourage. Luckily, there are more than a few Mail users out there that have cobbled together some of the most asked for features in the form of add-ons and Scripts.
Recently, Google labs introduced their new "Code Search" tool. This got me to start looking for similar search engines on the web. One of the nice one's I've used is "Programming is hard" which has some nice formating, but limited languages. While many of the examples are way over my head as a new coder, these snippets have a lot to teach. I't is mind blowing just how efficient an experienced programmer can make a routine.
I came across this Wordpress blog post today. The author breaks down some fundamental guidelines for coding. To summarize: You should take as much care formating code as you would with an essay. This is good advice. I'm still a beginner when it comes to heavy lifting with Objective C, but I have already learned this lesson the hard way. It is much easier to find mistakes when you have the proper punctuation.
The latest revision of Parallels Desktop for the Mac is running butter smooth on my Mac Pro with 2GB of RAM. No hangs or crashes. In fact, right now, I'm using Ecto for Mac to write this post while watching DL.TV Episode 100 and installing software updates on Windows XP. To be more specific, the update is for my Sandisk 4GB flash drive. I can't recommend this drive enough.
