Entries Tagged as “General”
iTunes 10.4 Rule Sets
I use a very simple star rating system for tagging my music. I combine it with a more sophisticated smart playlist system using "Sets of Rules" to build more complex playlists.
Sometime around the iTunes 10.4 update Apple removed the sub set rule button from the playlist builder. I freaked out. Probably because I have seen Apple pull the plug on features that I really love. I started to freak out because I was afraid this was one of those features that they killed off.
Fortunately the feature is still there, it's just hidden. I decided to blog about it, simply because I could not find any mention of it myself when I searched for the answer.
In the older versions of iTunes, you added a rule set by clicking the ellipsis button after the plus and minus buttons. In iTunes 10.4 you have to hold the Option key down to change the plus button into the ellipsis button.
→ Respond NowTags: General · Software
IRC Accounts With Adium
When Adium 1.4 was released I got really excited because 1.4 brought with it built in support for IRC. I downloaded the current version immediately and tried to connect to some of my favorite channels only find my self stuck after entering my server information. I would get either a connection error or a chat window with a message of "
Received CTCP 'VERSION' (to YOUR_USERNAME) from Evdrone" I tried running a few commands at this point but was going no where fast.
Turns out the solution is pretty easy, but not very obvious. At least not to me anyway. Unfortunatly the Adium website gives no instruction on how connect, so I thought I would put together a quick guide for accessing IRC with Adium in case others out there are having the same problem.
- Add a New Account to Adium 1.4 or later
- Add your screen name or username
- hostname: irc.servername.com
- Click Ok
- A chat window will appear. (This is the part that confused me.) Don't bother trying to run commands here.
- Instead go to the File Menu, and choose "Join Group Chat"
- Enter #your_channel_name. Click join, now your in.
Screenshots
→ Respond NowTags: General · Software
Showcase of Beautifully Designed Mystery Meat Navigation
I was looking at one of those design showcase sites today, and was surprised to see such a strong resurgence in mystery meat navigation. So I thought I would throw out my own showcase of beautifully designed websites with mystery meat navigation.
Bert Timmermans
Cavica
Got Milk?
Hull Digital – (recently updated to include text)
Harry Ford
Square Girl
The Box
→ Respond NowTags: General · Inspiration · usability
Reconnecting Mac OS X 10.6.3 to Windows Shares
When Apple released their update for 10.6.3 it caused mac's to stop seeing or being able to connect to windows shared drives on the network. If you had a shortcut saved, you could still connect to those windows shares, however if you lost your shortcut—or were starting fresh—it seamed there was nothing you could do.
Previous versions of OS X showed your windows computers in your sidebar listed in the "SHARED" section. But not in 10.6.3. The other method of connecting to shared drives is to go to the "GO" menu and select "Connect to Server" (CMD-K) type in the IP address and hit Connect. For some reason Apple has defaulted the connection type to afp, which is a mac networking protocol. This results in an IP address like afp://192.168.0.10 That will not work for connecting to windows shares.
The solution is simple, change the afp:// protocol to smb:// and life will be good.
→ Respond NowTags: General · Software
Is The Phrase "Apple Killer" the new "Heavy Duty"
In the last few years it seems that every new gadget that is announced gets dubbed an "Apple Killer" of some sort. The Apple Killer rhetoric lasts up until the point when the actual product is released to the public. Then what? Nothing, you never hear about these alleged Apple killers again. Why is this?
I think the answer is simple. They are all trying to be like Apple in some way by coping their formula for success, instead of innovating like Apple. They spend all their resources just trying to catch up, and make a product that can maybe compete on some level. All the products I have seen to date all end up falling short, and not delivering on the promise of great user experience.
In the end, what elevates Apple products to the top of the food chain is great user experience. It's not a laundry list of features, and tech specs. If these other companies are going to create a true "Apple Killer" product, they are going to have to set aside the idea that the only thing people want are more features and better specs, and actually make an innovative product.
Once upon a time, the phrases "Heavy Duty" or "High Quality" meant something. At least it did to me back then. Over time the two phrases have been so badly abused my marketing companies and manufactures, just seeing the words make me instantly think of cheep offshore junk.
Seeing the phrase "Apple Killer" in news headlines today, has the same negative effect. I no longer think, could this be a real threat to Apple? My thoughts are now replaced with, poor guys, just how badly is this product going to fail?
What about you? How do you feel about the phrase "Apple Killer"? does it still mean something to you? Or are you like me in thinking that the phrase is the new "Heavy Duty"
Past Apple Killers. Where Are They Now?
Does anyone remember these past products all touted as being "Apple Killers"? Sure people bought them, and I am sure some of them are actually happy with their purchase. Most of them were only talked about by the buzz engine created by marketing companies, but most of them have already been forgotten or barely considered a reasonable alternative.
iPhone Killers
Palm Pre
T-Mobile G1
BlackBerry 9000
BlackBerry Bold
Garmin Nuvifone
HTC Touch Pro
LG Dare
Samsung Instinct
Samsung Omnia i900
Nokia N96
Apple TV Killers
Archos TV+
Netflix‚ set-top box
Blockbuster‚ set-top box
Asus O!Play
URC PSX-2
Netgear iTV
iPod Killers
Sony Network Walkman
Microsoft Zune
Cowon iAudio
Archos Gmini
PSPgo
Samsung P3
→ Respond NowTags: General · Opinions & Rants
