tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71331362012-02-16T22:16:45.641-05:00A collection of technology thoughts, commentary, reviews, and other ramblings ...Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-65747308085427002612012-02-03T08:57:00.000-05:002012-02-03T08:57:23.016-05:00

A longtime MacSurfer reader from Adelaide, South Australia, sent in the following tidbit to MacSurfer on Thursday: "Apple Australia is considering opening their first UberStore in the state. Redevelopment of a large site in Rundle Mall, the prime retail area of Adelaide's CBD, means that a suitable location has opened up for an Apple Store. Overheard two days ago was a conversation between a

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-90577772438291430042009-04-28T13:19:00.003-04:002009-04-28T13:38:03.336-04:00

I have been holding out hope that Mozilla would, by now, have gotten its act together in fixing AppleScript for Firefox 3.0.x, and now up thru 3.5b.Unfortunately not the case.Things are a little different with the nightly builds; however, but still not up to snuff.The newest 3.5 beta release falls prey to the already documented (here, here, and here) AppleScript bugs introduced with 3.0. The

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-40329937308260606072008-12-09T10:31:00.003-05:002008-12-09T10:45:36.803-05:00

I've been messing around with the different alphas and betas of Firefox, including FF3.1b2 released yesterday.Sorry to announce that Mozilla still has not fixed it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please refer to my previous posts where I detailed the problems here and here.This extends all the way to the Minefield nightly builds, and Shiretoko builds as well.Mozilla - PLEASE - fix

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-51578099551653229242008-07-21T12:49:00.006-04:002008-07-21T17:09:55.649-04:00

It is disappointing, the hassles facing MobileMe users, and I'm sure the team(s) within Apple are pulling their collective hair out trying to find resolution. And I'm sure Steve and the management team are not a little bit irked that this persists in the face of today's earnings report. There will be some shareholder angst to be sure.On a smaller scale, back in my days as an IT Manager, I recall

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-57952081440855212062008-07-16T13:14:00.003-04:002008-07-16T14:30:00.835-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been an iTools/.Mac/MobileMe user since it was a free service. It has taken me, I guess, 8 years to come to the conclusion that it no longer meets my needs, therefore, it no longer justifies $110/yr.Some of you reading this will undoubtedly disagree finding MobileMe meets your needs and then some. That is great and I'm glad it works for you. For me the cost

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-72055254361637285102008-07-12T13:42:00.003-04:002008-07-12T23:05:53.657-04:00

Caveat: as for a lot of computing, preferences are entirely subjective. These are my opinions based on how I use iCal, Google Calendar. Your MO may be quite different from mine. That's okee-day. I happen to know there's a lot of folks pondering whether to keep paying the fee for MobileMe, or jump ship to free resources. Perhaps we can help each other out with some sage advice.------I've had

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-3549128551113552802008-06-04T13:10:00.011-04:002008-06-04T14:53:11.309-04:00

I've got a confession to make. Safari 3.1.1 is a really good browser.Mozilla is losing me over this AppleScript issue with Firefox 3.0. Sure I use FF3 from time to time, but not for MacSurfer work or general browsing any more, unless I'm on my XP box, that is.In my previous post back in March, I placed Safari 3.0 at the bottom of my browser list and for good reason, 3.0 was not a good browser,

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-30846878979085752162008-03-14T14:56:00.007-04:002008-04-30T23:37:55.171-04:00

First off, I have to acknowledge that I should probably file a bug report, or something with Mozilla on this. But to be honest, I'm not sure it would do any good as there are so many outstanding AppleScript/Firefox bug reports out there. Shame on me for that attitude, but if you look at the bug reports you'll see enough unassigned, unfixed, unattended reports to take the wind out of your

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-58544641458959764612008-02-29T10:50:00.015-05:002008-02-29T22:54:22.554-05:00

Rather than update my previous entry on this topic I decided to write a new one since much has changed.First I'd like to acknowledge Lisa Thompson for her AppleScript expertise, and code contributions. I have adjusted my scripts to use some of her ideas, with permission. As well, Lisa has some excellent AppleScripts for Camino, including her own rendition of the scripts you'll find here. While

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-26753306972795786502008-02-18T06:27:00.008-05:002008-02-19T11:09:46.474-05:00

Firefox has been my browser of choice for many reasons. First up on the list would be add-ons. I run several extensions, but my favorite - by far - is Tab Mix Plus. It allows you to freeze a tab preventing it's accidental closure. If you happen to close a tab and want to reopen it, you can - complete with the tabs history in tact.But Firefox has its own quibbles. Tab Mix Plus can slow things

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-84129852229268068692007-11-08T16:08:00.000-05:002008-12-10T11:14:37.273-05:00

In Tiger (and prior iterations if memory serves) we had the ability to play Audio/Visual material within the Finder - MP3s, movie files, etc.There was the customary QuickTime bar with the volume slider on the left, next the play/pause button as the graphic shows.But Apple has decided in their infinite wisdom to take that away from us in Leopard.Here's a screen shot of a generic MP3 preview in

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-60485440906181874462007-11-07T11:27:00.000-05:002007-11-07T13:07:36.111-05:00

Quick Look is somewhat of a mixed "blessing" in Leopard.Some items are simply too small or small enough to be an eye-strain - such as Word, Excel, documents, etc.I was viewing a PDF and on a whim decided to try "Command +" and voi la, the text size increased accordingly."Command -" will decrease it.Unfortunately I've not found this to work with anything else.As well, I cannot do a Quick Look of

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-2827321764465798482007-11-01T16:36:00.000-04:002007-11-01T17:55:19.186-04:00

UPDATE: It occurred to me that I had installed TypeIt4Me 3.2 this morning ... I feel like a jerk, but perhaps my faux pa will help someone else. A new feature in TypeIt4Me is "No DOuble CAps". Of course I assumed this was after an expansion, not in the typing of the expansion. Alas, it is in the typing, thus it has fuddled up CAPS in every app. Until I turned it off.So this entry has turned

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-11907721852276755272007-03-26T10:30:00.000-04:002008-12-10T11:14:39.190-05:00

SteerMouse is an alternative, fully-customizable application/driver for your USB or Bluetooth mouse.Price: $20 shareware, 30 days to tryI'm using SteerMouse with a Logitech VX Revolution.The included software with the Logitech VX Rev., is a joke. Logitech should be ashamed to put out such a second-rate app with such good mice. They should fix their software or consider bundling SteerMouse with

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1167859820216999412007-01-03T16:30:00.000-05:002007-01-03T16:30:20.423-05:00

Macworld 2007 is coming next week. Steve Jobs is slated to give keynote on the 9th. Going to be a humdinger if Apple's site is to be believed.I am ready. Wow me, Apple. Go beyond the press hype. I hope you've sowed some disinformation out there that sounds incredible, but pales to what you'll actually unveil. Why misinformation? So I'm not depressed when the press once again over-hypes the

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1154543877522916072006-08-12T12:19:00.000-04:002006-08-12T15:16:13.756-04:00

Quick Overview:Logitech V400 "Notebook" mouseDual Laser technology for more accuracy on more surfaces5 buttons: Right/Left, Scroll wheel button, Back/Forward button(s)Small 2.4GHz dongle, stores in mouse, also shuts mouse off when insertedAssuming that the best techno-devices are the latest and greatest, then in the world of computer mice, laser mice would be kings.Logitech is long a leader in

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1116955373016890852005-05-24T13:22:00.000-04:002005-05-24T14:37:32.103-04:00

Yesterday I opined that the Apple-Intel news was (is) a smokescreen to cover for the sexual discrimination suit. One commenter agreed, but further stated the news is a cover up for the bad news in general - and that certainly has merit.Looking at the continuing saga of comments both mainstream press and bloggers are putting forth, I'm seeing a general direction that, while pro/con, is mostly con

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1116856780104733312005-05-23T10:10:00.000-04:002005-05-23T10:11:20.360-04:00

Well this news has the press in a tizzy:WSJ: "Apple Explores Use Of Chips From Intel For Macintosh Line" -- "The computer maker has been in talks that could lead to a decision soon to use Intel Corp. chips in its Macintosh computer line, industry executives say, a prospect that may shake up the world of computers and software." Quote via MacSurfer's Headline News.I couldn't help but wonder why

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1113932627295911442005-04-19T12:50:00.000-04:002005-04-19T16:46:01.383-04:00

Safari 1.3 is a new Safari. Very new. It has broken a lot of my scripts, or at least the content of the scripts as it seems that the new engine is not a slight difference from the old engine.First the good stuff.Speed. Huge improvement. I've not run benchmarks, but perception is that it is faster. On "old" problem sites like "http://www.chron.com" it no longer chokes. Safari 1.3 vs. Camino

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1111018869629292632005-03-17T07:20:00.000-05:002005-03-16T19:21:09.636-05:00

Skeptically, carefully and with reservation I stepped into the fray that is Camino. Actually, this is my second time giving it a try. But this time, I've been pounding on it, and wow, is it fast! A reader of one of my previous posts also suggested I try Camino. And try I have.Camino is an open source, gecko-based browser, which, according to the material on their web site, more closely

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1110255308743755882005-03-08T07:38:00.000-05:002005-03-07T23:15:50.530-05:00

I've been in the market for a TV Tuner for my computer - either an internal PCI card for my Dell tower, or an external USB 2 model for the Mac.Today I picked up the Hauppauge! WinTV Pro PCI card from CompUSA -- for $19.99 after instant rebate! Doggone! I've seen nothing come even remotely close on the Mac side of the universe in terms of price. A PCI card is definitely going to be cheaper than

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1109979034561859572005-03-04T18:14:00.000-05:002005-03-04T18:30:34.566-05:00

I probably shouldn't have let things get this far ... but then, what am I to do? :-)First a plea to Apple to fix Safari's pop-up blocking feature ASAP. I truly hope they see this nonsense as a hot issue. I rely on Safari everyday for the hundreds of sites I visit for my job, I feel like I'm using Internet Explorer (for Windows) again.Which brings up an interesting point. If you're running XP SP2

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1106510499460417772005-01-23T15:01:00.000-05:002005-01-23T15:01:39.460-05:00

I can't say how much I was looking forward to an updated and improved version of iPhoto. V.4 was getting very tiresome to me. But before I go any further, I need to lay out for you my system specs as my comments will need to be taken in light of them.17" PowerBook @ 1.33GHz :: 1GB RAM :: 80GB Fujitsu HD (standard), over 40 GB free spaceOS X 10.3.7, optimized weekly using Cocktail and/or Disk

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1104291708885281502004-12-28T21:58:00.000-05:002004-12-28T22:41:48.886-05:00

iPhoto used to wow me, but I'm becoming, forgive the expression, disenfranchised, with it. Before you comment that I'm nuts or too plain picky or that I might as well swith to a Windows PC, hear me out. :-) My first mistake might have been using iPhoto Buddy and segmenting my library into 7 libraries. That was with iPhoto 2. Things worked well with the exception of slowness (and the fix-it

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1103558264177736482004-12-20T10:40:00.000-05:002004-12-20T10:57:44.176-05:00

I use iTunes almost daily - for the obvious listening to tunes, talk radio broadcasts and spoken-word ... audio. I've created a smart playlist for a particlular set of spoken-word audio that I've recently begun adding to my library. While listening yesterday I was taken aback to hear the next chapter start before the last sentence was read of the previous chapter. Realizing what was going on ,

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1103492105767877772004-12-19T15:49:00.000-05:002004-12-19T16:52:53.906-05:00

BBedit 8: text/HTML/XML, etc., editor By: Bare Bones Software Type of review: minor, general comments, praise, criticism, no deep bone crushing code stuff. --- I've spent a lot of time, nearly every day over the last year +, in one text editing program or another on the Mac, and some of the time on XP. I'm not sure that there is one editor to rule them all, but if I could combine two of them,

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1096998817646996702004-10-05T13:16:00.000-04:002004-10-05T14:31:48.693-04:00

Firefox is an excellent browser. On Windows. It is a very good browser on the Mac. In my book, Excellent = top notch, very good=really likable, but needing work. I think Firefox is more stable, faster, and less buggy on Windows than on OS X. Granted, we're not talking identical machines. Nope. My Dell is a 866MHz Pentium III, 512MB RAM, 30 Gig HD. My Mac is a 17" 1.33GHz PowerBook, 1Gig

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1094151410918221202004-09-02T12:58:00.000-04:002004-09-02T15:19:02.773-04:00

Today Microsoft released Windows Media Player 10 (WiMP 10) in addition to it's new MSN music service. It is obvious that Microsoft wants to own and be king of whatever market it enters. Just scan the press today and they (MS) make no bones about the fact that they aim to compete heavily, if not crush, Apple's iTunes Music Store (iTMS). I'm finding myself fatigued in my wish that Microsoft

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1094073083656606512004-09-01T16:35:00.000-04:002004-09-01T17:11:23.656-04:00

You know, I ask myself, why even bother replying to Mr. J. C. Dvorak? I mean, go and read his article at CBS MarketWatch. He talks about how Apple is starting to believe their own press in regard to the iPod ... sounds like John's starting to beleive that he's a really good tech writer. I mean, come on, CBS is publishing his stuff. Glad it is filed under "John Dvorak's Second Opinion." I

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1093988193146192812004-08-31T17:12:00.000-04:002004-08-31T17:36:33.146-04:00

Well, the "hurricane" of the Keynote came and went. Cleanup ensues. I was a little shocked, to be honest, not a lot shocked, a little. I assumed that the "all in the monitor" rumors had some truth to them. I feel like I shouldn't be shocked at all, but I am. First the exterior. It is neat. But I like the sunflower iMac the best as of this point. The big white space at the base of the

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1093829142429044482004-08-29T20:33:00.000-04:002004-08-29T21:25:42.430-04:00

Hurricane season. Us East-coasters just love it (tongue firmly planted in cheek). Knowing a hurricane is coming is one thing. The anticipation of *where* it will hit is entirely different. God must get a lot of 911 prayers during this time. We're watching Francis right now. It is in the mid-Atlantic region heading toward the Caribbean, and it is a deadly category 4 to boot. Over on

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1093450480353265712004-08-25T14:00:00.000-04:002004-08-25T14:06:18.886-04:00

I became a Mac user after many years of supporting Windows (and DOS) for different companies. I used to sum up my job saying that Bill Gates paid my salary (to support his products). Windows has always been a "green" machine for IT techs. A lucrative field to work in. Windows = Money. What drove me to the Mac is an all-too-familiar experience. Others share a similar story: "It just works",

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1093041793820327792004-08-20T18:08:00.000-04:002004-08-20T18:48:18.346-04:00

Networking both of my printers (Epson Stylus C82 and Apple LaserWriter 360 Select) has been something I've wanted to do for years. Finally, CompUSA put the D-Link DP-301P+ Print Server on sale last weekend. I picked it up and here are my thoughts about it. This model is for parallel printers - plugs into the parallel port and sticks out the back (or side, depending on where your port is) about

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1093033926880099182004-08-20T16:15:00.000-04:002004-08-20T18:45:08.416-04:00

Came across this utility a while back via MacSurfer and I've just gotta say that it has made my Mac computing experience *that* much better. MacBidouille (French Mac enthusiasts "Hard Mac") happens to be running a little blurb on it today which prompted me to offer up my thoughts and ramblings on it. Raging Menace's SideTrack. Here's a snippet from their page: SideTrack is a replacement driver

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1093032530635085802004-08-20T16:05:00.000-04:002004-08-20T16:09:55.316-04:00

Came across this link over at svenrox's blog. Clicked it and took the test. Here's my personality. Kinda blew me away. Thought for sure I'd be Mac OS. Which OS are You? Life is full of surprises. Click the graphic to take your test.

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1092947067684390412004-08-19T16:45:00.000-04:002004-08-19T16:58:01.533-04:00

Charles Moore over at Applelinks posted a little blurb/review on Netscape 7.2. I read it with interest as I'm always looking for a better browser. Currently I use Safari. Occasionally I launch Firefox, but it really - REALLY - took a turn for the worse with the 0.9.x release(s). Toyed with OmniWeb, Shiira, et al. Though they are cousins to Safari, they're just not up to snuff. I have

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1090347860495765402004-07-20T14:24:00.000-04:002004-07-20T14:30:14.253-04:00

With interest, I've been following the saga of the supposed leak from Newsweek to the unveiling on Monday of Apple's new iPod 4G. A nice piece of gadgetry, for sure. Some day, when I've got a spare $400, I'll buy one. I do want one, but it is a luxury only, not a necessity. Steve Jobs is something of a genius-visionary. I've been quite impressed with his saavy since he came back to Apple in

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133136.post-1085695414006309272004-05-27T21:02:00.000-04:002004-05-27T19:44:08.550-04:00

While browsing Paul Thurrott's SuperSite, I couldn't help but browse his Longhorn Prototypes Gallery. Being somewhat of a technology buff, this was a natural bunny trail I had to walk down. I've been a Windows user longer than I've been a Mac user albeit, I'm far more the Mac user now than I am the Windows user. How time changes things. I like pictures. I like pictures of up and coming

Darren Mahaffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03703005345579411495noreply@blogger.com6