System extension cannot be used:
I received an error that the CNQL2406_ClassicNotSeize.kext was not installed correctly. Turns out after a bit of internet digging, that the file isn’t even required anymore and was installed with a previous version of OS X to make our Canon Lide 60 scanner work. Would be useful if the dialog box told me that! Quick solution is just to delete the file from the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder.
When connecting an external 1080p monitor (Samsung SyncMaster P2470LHD) via an HDMI cable I was getting an underscan (a black border around the image) on the screen when running Windows 7 in Bootcamp. Since there is no slider to adjust underscan as there is in OS X a different solution was required.
The ATI (now AMD) Catalyst Control Center (CCC) is required to enable the automatic underscan applied to external monitors. Details of how to install the ATI CCC on a MBP running Win 7 in Bootcamp and replace the Apple Video Drivers can be found on the Apple Discussion Forums.
The lastest ATI CCC drivers – http://www2.ati.com/DRIVERS/mobile/11-10_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe
The Swindon Branch of Game is selling OS X Panther 10.3 for £99. Found at the back of the store, not one but three battered boxes. Since OS X 10.7 Lion is due any day for about £20 this doesn’t seem to be flying off the shelves.
Panther arrived in 2003 and was replaced by OS X 10.4 Tiger in April 2005.
The Apple Macbook Pro Early 2011 with Bootcamp 3.2 or Bootcamp 4 will only support installations of Windows 7. Windows Vista, XP or earlier will not install on the laptop.
There is a PDF manual available for installing Windows 7 in Bootcamp on a Mac with OS X Lion.
Apple launched the OS X Mac App Store on 6 Jan 2011. A standalone application that replicates the iTunes App Store (now featuring over 300,000 apps) used for buying Applications for the iPod Touch and the iPhone. The Mac App Store uses an iTunes account (Apple ID) but does not require iTunes to run. There are featured applications, Top Charts and Categories as well as Search to find applications you are looking for.
From a user perspective the applications seem to be reasonably priced and are a one-click install with no unzipping or mounting .dmg files as is usually the case on the Mac. Once apps are purchased from the store an icon appears in the dock at the bottom of the screen and you are ready to use. Upgrades are handled for the user also. For developers they get the same deal as wih the iOS focus app store. Apple take 30% with the developer getting 70%. For this Apple provide the hosting and the developer avoids having to focus on promotion and distribution as would be the case on their own site.
Since Apple provides a level of quality control to all the Apps submitted to the Mac App Store (in the same way as is applied to the iTunes App Store) there is some assurance that the Apps work okay. However, it also means that Apps written using non-standard or a custom API cannot get their App onto the store. Apple have also removed their old software catalogue section from their website which used to showcase applications available from Apple and 3rd parties.
Having initially thought that the idea would not transfer well to a “proper computer”, I have been pleasantly surprised by the Mac App Store. Although on a phone it is more or less essential to click your way round, rather than type URLs or command line instructions, I was not convinced that this reasoning would stand when a full size screen and keyboard were available. Clearly there will be some that will rule out the Mac App Store as stifling their freedom or not allowing a certain piece of software to run. Many will be on Linux already though. I think they will be in the low single percentage points of Mac users who won’t be able to use the Mac App Store for the fast majority of their application purchases. There is still a segment of the population that have yet to embrace computers at all and this kind of development is a step in the right direction to getting computers working more like consumer electronics.
If Apple could lower their prices slightly at the bottom end of their range and Windows doesn’t gain a near identical feature in Windows 8, Macs could see a growth in percentage share over the next year or two.
1Password for Mac is a password management tool. It is also available for PC and iPhone and iPad. There is a trial version that works for 7 days and the full version costs $40. There are free alternatives but the having tried a couple the thing I like best about this product is the option for one-click to open a website and enter the username and password details. I had previously been using Firefox to remember my passwords but the advantages of 1Password are the availability of an iPhone app that can synchronise login details and the ability to secure all the passwords with a strong “master password”.
Having used the product for a week I so far have had few problems with it. I initially imported my stored passwords from Firefox and started to sort through and delete the old passwords and sites that no longer existed! I was surprised to discover that Firefox was remembering 130 passwords for sites on the internet and this didn’t include some that I have stored in my head. 1Password allows auto-filling of passwords in both Safari and Firefox and to cross-browser functionality works well.
My iTunes music library is a visualisation of the continual battle with my ever so possible OCD. For months on end I just ignore problems with the tracks or data held against them. But slowly these things niggle away until I decide that the most important task on planet Earth is to get the files into some semblance of order.
What was bothering me this time was the tracks in random formats that won’t play on Apple TV and hence flag up a warning. After much manual deleting of old tracks I decided to see if there was a way to automate any of this process and came across Doug’s AppleScript for iTunes. AppleScript seems to be well supported by the Mac user community for automating all sorts of task on OS X. I then used one of the scripts to change the capitalisation of some track titles THAT WERE LIKE THIS to Something More Like This (ah, much better).
The AppleScripts, as the name maybe indicates, only work on Apple Mac but there are some alternative solutions for Windows listed on Doug’s AppleScript for iTunes Windows page.
Looking not too dissimilar to Skype and iChat before it, Facetime for Mac is a video calling / conferencing application from Apple. The aim is clearly to get some of the iPhone halo effect to rub off on video calling as Facetime brings nothing new to the party that was first made big, afordable (ie free) and workable by Skype back in 2003. The Facetime for Mac seems to duplicate the functionality of iChat but brings the obvious advantage of being able to connect with those on an iPhone rather than just a Mac (as is the case with iChat). Facetime on an iPhone 4 works only over the Wi-Fi connection and not 3G and the picture quality compared with Skype and iChat seems to be little different.
Currently in Beta for Mac only (requires 10.6 Snow Leopard) you can download Facetime for Mac from Apple.
The Nokia 2730 Classic is a fairly good but unremarkable phone from Nokia. The screen is nice and bright and the menu system isn’t any more complicated than that of other Nokia phones. It doesn’t really do anything fancy and is exactly the sort of phone you might be given by work as a no frills model. Indeed I have just got a Nokia 2730 Classic from work and therefore my key concern is getting my work contacts entered onto my phone.
As work isn’t the kind of place to provide facilities to synchronise your work machine to your work phone I side step the the thumb-aching task of entering them all directly into the phone by adding the details to my MacBook Pro and then using the normally excellent iSync on OS X to add the contacts from OS X Address Book. I say normally excellent as in the case of the very plain and boring and business like Nokia 2730 Classic both Nokia and Apple have decided to ignore providing means of synchronising contacts and calendars.
I feel the blame must mostly lie with Nokia here as apparently plug-ins can be written to add phones to the iSync compatibility list. The Nokia site returns incompatible for iSync and Nokia 2730 Classic. After a quick internet trawl and a slight deviation looking at the 3720 (not the 2730) I came across Webhaven who have written an iSync plug-in for the Nokia 2730 Classic using the iSync Plug-in Maker from Apple. After a small install seems to have my phone recognised and synchronising.
Just before the launch of the new black Apple TV we decided to purchase an Apple (Take Two) MB189LL/A with the version 3 software. This is effectively a cut down Mac Mini running OS X Tiger 10.4 on 256MB of RAM and a Pentium M processor. The Apple TV contains a 160GB hard drive which is available for sorting purchases from the iTunes Store. The device also allows all your media content from your Mac to be synchronised and displayed on the TV without the requirement for having the Mac running or connected to the TV.
The photo sideshow running from photos in iPhoto and playing music from an iTunes Genius mix works particularly well. With a reasonably fast home network movies can by synchronised from your home library and purchases from the iTunes store on either the Apple TV or a Mac are copied across to the other device. There are also TV Shows, Podcasts and an Internet menu option providing YouTube and Internet Radio.
Movies can also be rented in Standard Definition (SD) from £2.49 and some in High Definition (HD) from £3.49 – but a smaller number and bizarrely there is no option to purchase the movies in HD. It should be noted that this HD is what Apple deems it to me. Notably 1280 x 720 resolution. To be honest with a 32″ LCD sitting 3 metres away I can’t tell the difference in the picture quality anyway.
Negative points include a bug which requires the iTunes Password to be typed in repeatedly and an issue with the Internet connection being lost and requiring the Apple TV box to be restarted. This is a hard reset in the strongest sense as it requires the power lead to be pulled out the back and reinserted. It has been difficult to ascertain whether the loss of Internet connection was due to a failure of the Wi-Fi connection or the ADSL as provided by Zen Internet over a BT ADSL Max connection.
The other negative is the high temperature that the unit runs at constantly. It is hot rather than warm to the touch to the point that I have made some small feet from plastic caps to raise the unit above the wooden shelf it sits on to help the unit cool down in operation. This does not appear to solve the situation but may help increase the life of the machine.
The new Apple TV overcomes the second negative issue by reducing the bulk down by 80% into a much smaller unit but with the loss of storage and ability to buy content: streaming is the only show in town. The new Apple TV is in effect an iOS running iPhone without the screen, etc. The expected App Store for the new Apple TV will take the product in a different direction altogether.
