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Monday, May 13, 2002 |
"We're baaaack!" says Newer Technology
The makers of Mac hardware upgrades and drivers says on its simple Web page that it has new owners and it is back from the dead...[found via MacSlash]
10:32:23 PM 
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RBrowser updated to 3.0.6
RBrowser v3.0.6. - RBrowser (Remote Browser), a graphical FTP/SFTP/SSH client, provides access to files on the local host as well as remote UNIX systems with an easy-to-use graphical interface. AppleScript support is on the "Coming Soon" list, so interested parties may want to let the developer know that AppleScript support is desired. [Release notes] [AppleScript Info]
4:05:52 PM
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VersionTracker adds a subscription service
In the latest example of a Web site trying to make ends meet, VersionTracker has announced a new paid subscription service. The folks who run VersionTracker are not going to start charging to access services that have previously been free, but they are going to offer the new VersionTracker Plus service in addition to advertising-supported services and the already existing VersionTracker Pro service. Check out a MacSlash discussion about the move: VersionTracker Adds Subscription Service [MacSlash]
1:46:31 PM
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A few comments on iPhoto 1.1.1
I took another batch of digital photos for the upcoming Birding Washington book again this weekend, and it gave me my first real chance to work with iPhoto 1.1.1 since the update. While doing so, I made a few observations:
- The rotate icon changing as I depress the Option key, showing which way the image will be rotated, is a nice touch.
- Contextual menu support in iPhoto is horrible. Considering how contextual menus work in other Apple applications and other OS X applications, I figured I could Control-click on an image to do something like make it the desktop background image or maybe to mail the image to a friend, but Control-clicking on an image does nothing at all.
- It appears that iPhoto only supports using a JPEG image as a desktop background photo, even though OS X itself handles TIFF images as background images. Why is this an issue? Well, I shoot images with my Nikon CoolPix 950 at the highest possible resolution, which means that most of the photos in my iPhoto library are TIFF images, and the new ability to make an image from iPhoto my desktop background simply doesn't work on my OS X installation - not unless, I presume, I convert the image to JPEG format first...
The upgrade to iPhoto 1.1.1 went smoothly, but there are definitely a few things that could be addressed to make iPhoto work even better...
12:55:19 PM
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Is 802.11 getting too popular?
802.11 popularity might cause its downfall. Isen notes the following: Hendricks is concerned that as 802.11b gets popular, its very popularity will make it harder to use. The 2.5GHz band [sic: should be 2.4 or 2.45 GHz band] could become so crowded that nobody will want to go there. Densely spaced 802.11b transmitters will make it more difficult for receivers to distinguish desired signals from undesired ones. Hendricks fears that people will respond by trying to amplify (or otherwise boost) the 802.11b signal. Indeed, such hardware hacks already abound. ... Virtually every 802.11b hardware hack is illegal, he says. And this is only part of the destruction-by-popularity story. Other devices [^] like portable phones, Bluetooth devices, and (soon to come) radio-driven lighting [^] operate in the same 2.5GHz [sic] frequency band. [80211b News]
Glenn's onto something here. 802.11 and Bluetooth interfere with each other. I've experienced this interference myself. Also, if you have certain types of portable phones, it can keep your 802.11 from working. And, at the WWW conference last week, I would occassionally accidentally hook up to a "non official" node. Not a big deal, Windows XP makes it pretty easy to switch, but for a newbie type of user, it'd create confusion and cause a visit to the tech support desk at the conference.
What will happen if everyone in the world had several 802.11 devices? How many devices can take the same band? [Robert Scoble: Scobleizer Weblog]
7:49:41 AM
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Your homepage as a public contact card
Useit.Com: Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability. The homepage is your company's face to the world. Increasingly, potential customers will look at your company's online presence before doing business with you -- regardless of whether they plan to close the actual sale online. [Tomalak's Realm]
7:45:45 AM
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If you can't join 'em, beat 'em
Cries to open up IM have quieted. The nature of the instant messaging interoperability debate has shifted and the voices have been tempered--largely due to the successes of AOL's biggest challengers. [CNET News.com]
On a small scale, I see a lot of co-workers and friends using instant messenging clients other than AOL Instant Messenger as well. I still have to use AIM the most of all the IM flavors, but a new job I am working uses Yahoo! Messenger...
7:37:34 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Rob McNair-Huff.
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