I have a bunch of old images I have been trying to load into iPhoto. Now I have spent more time than I should arranging these images into folders based on date, and was dismayed that iPhoto changed that hierarchy when copying the image hierarchy over. Closer inspection of the hierarchy revealed that iPhoto was using the modification date on the image file, and some of the images (either because I had edited the image or rotated it or something) had their modification date changed (duh!), which resulted in iPhoto putting that image in a different folder to what I expected.

I thought about writing a tool to fix the modification dates, but then I came across the shareware tool FileBuddy X (look for it on VersionTracker if link doesn't work).

After downloading and playing with this tool for a while, I found I could open up my images folder containing all my images (I backed up first - be smart!), load the top images folder into FileBuddy, select all, hit "Get Info", change the modification date to the creation date, change all, and then import the images into iPhoto.

Still have to live with the rather terse numbered folders of iPhoto, but at least now my images are arranged with other images taken at the same time, even though I have subsequently edited them.

Here's a way to add a search engine to the search toolbar in internet explorer:
(Notes: Do this with caution! Also you can only do this using the single search engine option; I'm on my way to find a way to do this for multiple search engines.)

1. Download this page: http://ie.search.msn.com/en/srchasst/srchcust.htm

2. Open this in your favorite text editor or html editor

3. Search for the line: <OPTION VALUE="http://www.yahoo.com/search/ie.html">Yahoo

4.Insert above it or anywhere you like this line (I'm adding google):
<OPTION VALUE="http://www.google.com/ie">Google

5. Save the file, and open it in IE.

6. Change the option to use single search engine

7. Find google on the list. If you're having trouble seeing it, try and click on any remnants of the scroll bars to find the list.

8. Open a new window, and then the search tab.

To reset it, just click customize in the search tab the usual way.

[Editor's note: I have not tried this myself, as I haven't used IE in quite a while...]

I just released MacPAR OS X for free download. MacPAR is an OS X user interface for the PAR utility, to easily create PAR archives or to recover missing files in a chain of multipart files (like .001, .002 etc.) by using .PAR files (like .P01, .P02). Nowadays everybody should add PAR files to their uploads of multipart split files on Internet newsgroups. With the PAR utility it is possible to recover any missing part (e.g. that didn't manage to get thru to your news server).

The code for Par has been developed in the Parchive open source project on sourceforge.net. I designed a user-friendly Mac interface for OS 10.1.2 or higher to make working with PAR very easy. This first release limits the creation of archives to batch-file mode only.

The MacPAR OS X project is part of the recently started Mutsu project on sourceforge.net for the development of Applescript Studio programs. Mutsu is a repository for Applescript Studio applications and code snippets, and you also can find MacPAR's source code there.

I hope people will enjoy working with Par as much as I do!
Loek

[Editor's note: I don't do much with usenet groups, but if you do, this PAR solution sounds pretty interesting.]

Normally when I import music into iTunes, the whole system gets rather sluggish which makes it very awkward to work with it the while.

While iTunes needs to be highly prioritized by the system during playback operations to allow for smooth sound performance without any dropouts, there is no need for this during "pure" import-only activity. So I wrote a little script that will reprioritize the iTunes app. While this may result in bad play performance (occasional dropouts -- very rare), this makes background import almost unnoticeable. The whole system runs as smoothly as normal, and the only thing you'll notice is the CD drive running continuously. Here's the script:

  #!/bin/sh
  ps -ax | grep iTunes.app | grep -v grep
  renice 20 -p `ps -ax | grep iTunes.app | grep -v grep | cut -c1-5`

Just put the commands above into a file in your ~/bin directory and chmod +x the file. Whenever you just want to do background import, start iTunes and run the script in Terminal window afterwards. You'll see output like:

  500  ??  S      0:01.90 /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes /Appli
  500: old priority 0, new priority 20

To return iTunes back to original scheduling priority, just close the app and restart it.

I find myself running iTunes almost always at low priority because dropouts are very very rare (I use the "big buffers" setting).

Yesterday, after nearly four years of great service, I retired my Olympus D-500L. Although it worked well for us, it was starting to feel its age, with a maximum resolution of just 1024x768. In addition, it was quite bulky and as a result, sat at home instead of going with us on many trips.

So as I started looking for replacements a couple months ago, portability and higher resolution were two key elements. After a bunch of reading and testing, I thought I had my mind made up. Then iPhoto came out last week. On the iPhoto compatability page is a list of supported cameras, card readers, and printers. When I looked at that page, the camera I was interested in was not listed. Others by the same manufacturer were, but not this model nor even one in the same family.

The camera was supposed to work with Image Capture, though, at least according to the manufacturer's website. So I decided to go ahead and make the purchase, since the camera offered all the features I wanted. If I had to go camera -> Image Capture -> iPhoto, it still wouldn't be too bad. When I took the first test picture and connected the camera, I was very happily surprised when iPhoto launched and correctly identified the camera!

Oh yea ... which camera did I purchase? I picked the Canon S30 PowerShot, a 3-megapixel camera in a very portable body with some nice features and a good price point that has gotten some good reviews. If you're in the market for a digital, I highly recommend a visit to dcresource.com, which features a very thorough collection of reviews and an interactive buyer's guide that's quite good.

In addition, my Epson 890C printer also works just fine through the simplified print dialog in iPhoto, despite it also not being mentioned on the iPhoto page.

Anyone have any other cameras, printers, or card readers not on the list that are also known to work in iPhoto? The PowerShot S30 (and S40, too, I would guess) and the Epson890C are the first two that I can add to the list...

In my never ending quest to replace my other computers I use and make my OSX TiBook more than a cool machine and a full replacement of all my other machines ... I begun replacing my Linux stuff (having completed replacing my PCs). In the process, I found some really good security analysis software for OS X that I thought I would share.

1. MacAnalysis - A really nice shareware security analysis tool that seems to be coming along nicely (IMO worth the $50 fee). It has a plug-in architecture where you can update its database automatically (a must for analysis sofware) and a really nice OS X interface. A little lite on the doc, but seems to be coming along.


2. Nessus - This one requires a little explanation. Nessus is the open source security analysis software IMO. I would not attempt this one unless you are comfortable with the UNIX command line :). Regrettably the old version did not seem to compile on OSX even with XFree and GTK+. However with a little work, I was able to get the latest image from CVS to compile. In order to attempt it, you will need to have a X server (I suggest using fink to get the XFree rootless server), the GTK+ libraries (again, I would use Fink, makes it trivial to do), the OpenSSL libraries (it claims to be able to compile without these - it does - but I wasted most of the part of a day to try and get it to work without these and I couldn't ... save yourself the trouble). Once you have all these pieces, it compiles and works like a charm :) I would also suggest for piece of mind (and eyes) using OroborosX - this software interfaces the XFree windows and the Aqua windows so well that you sometimes forget you're using X software :).

If anyone has any good security analysis software they use on OSX, please let me know :) Always looking to expand.

[Editor's note: Although these programs can most likely be used for bad purposes, they are also important in determining whether your own network is secure or not. As such, I think it's in the general interest to make people aware of these tools. After all, if the Bad Guys know about these programs, wouldn't you like to know what vulnerabilities these progarms find on your own systems in order to close the holes?]

Although there have been previous tips published about speeding up your mouse (one, two), neither solution was perfect. The first tip required replacing an Apple kernel extension; the second didn't change the settings in real time and was often reset arbitrarily.

Ben Hines has just released MouseZoom 2.0, a freeware solution that handles both issues. This system preferences panel installs and removes easily, and (as of version 2.0) the changes made are reflected immediately in the speed of the mouse tracking.

MouseZoom 2.0 is a more flexible solution than replacing the stock Apple mouse driver, as it is very easy to revert to your original setup - just remove the preference pane if you don't want to use it. Thanks to 'greggomer' for telling me about the updated version.

The following Bourne shell script elaborates on some elements used in other people's tips to provide a wakeup service with music and voice. It uses AppleScript to tell iTunes to play a random song of a specified artist.

Read the rest of the article for the script...

[Editor's note: There was a previous thread about iTunes as an alarm clock, but this script is a little more interesting and we have the source now stored on macosxhints, in case the MacNN thread referenced in the prior article goes away at some point...]

I see very often hints requiring changes to system or application preferences from the command line. This may be difficult to some...

This hint is just to remind people of Marcel Bresink's PrefEdit, which makes easy to edit XML-formatted preferences files, including those from Apple. This usefull tool is free and has recently been updated for OS X 10.1.2

[Editor's note: I think PrefEdit has been mentioned in a comment before, but never in a separate hint. It's a great little application which is especially useful for those who don't have PList Editor, which is only installed with the Developer Tools package.]

On my machine, Word, Powerpoint and Excel in Office v.X kept crashing/quitting on launch and even after deleting plists, prefs and identities, they still kept bugging out (strangely, Entourage was fine).

It turned out to be a corrupt font in the OS9 system folder. You can test this by quitting Classic, putting the OS9 font folder in the wastebasket and logging out. When you log back in again, you should be able to launch Word. Now all you have to do is find which font is corrupt before you put the fonts back.

[Editor's note: I believe there are some OS 9 utilities that help find corrupt fonts, but I can't recall any names at the moment ... anyone know of any?]