If JavaScript has suddenly stopped working - or is working only sporadically - in your Apple Safari browser, even though you have it enabled in your Safari Preferences, I might be able to you……..after spending weeks trying to figure this one out I stumbled across a solution quite by accident.

I have the Debug menu enabled (if you do it appears in your menu bar after the Help menu item, if you don’t have it read on for an explanation of what it is and does below), and had the option to “Log Javascript Exceptions” enabled from the Debug menu. This can be a handy feature if you’re trying to diagnose your own JavaScript, but watch out! If your Log File (the JavaScript Console) gets full it runs out of “memory”, even though you may have plenty of free system memory……..this is what happened to me. Once it’s full and can’t log any more exceptions, JavaScript just stops working.

In order to correct this you need to first turn OFF the option to Log JavaScript Exceptions, then choose to Show [the] JavaScript Console window. Be patient! There could be hundreds of thousands of exceptions to load - I had nearly a million. Yes, that sounds like a huge number. It is. I had turned on Logging many many months ago, and then just forgot about it. You’d be surprised how many sites use JavaScript and that have tiny bugs in their code that cause exceptions - these get logged. The more you surf the web, the more JavaScript exceptions that will get logged.

You’ll notice a small button in the bottom left corner of the JavaScript Console window that says “Clear”. Click on it. You may have to repeat the procedure several times, as the Console will clear what it was able to load from the Log File, and then load up some more. Once your Log File is completely clear you can close the Console, and voila! Safari should now execute JavaScript as it should.

As an alternative you can manually delete entries using a text editor, but you cannot delete the Log File itself. Depending on your versions of Mac OS X and Safari, you might find this log file in different places - I found mine at: Macintosh HD/Library/Logs/Console/501/console.log. If you use a utility such as Cocktail to automatically delete Log Files you should be okay, but be sure to check your log files periodically to be sure they are staying cleaned up.

Once you have your Log File cleaned up, I recommend only using the Log JavaScript Exceptions feature when you need it to debug your own script, then keep it turned off when not in use. And definitely you should routinely clean up the Log File.

If you’re not familiar with the Debug Menu, it’s a hidden feature of Safari that opens up a large number of Advanced User/Developer functions (in addition the the logging already mentioned), such as the ability to change the browser’s User Agent, Showing the DOM Tree and View Tree, opening the current page in one of your other installed browsers, and much more. The Debug Menu is not for casual users, but if you can make use of these features, all it takes is a single command line in Terminal to add the Debug Menu to Safari. First, be SURE Safari is NOT running, then open Terminal and type:

% defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

That’s all there is. If you ever want it gone, just retype the same line with a 0 in place of the 1.

I hope you’ve found this helpful! Let me know if you’ve come up with a different solution - I’d love to know about it.

Please Rate this Post:

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

So today I was called on to fix a a paper jam problem…….being the professional tech person that I am, I was able to fix it quickly…..it just takes a bit of kitten-know-how.

Please Rate this Post:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Yes that’s Million as in $25 Million smackeroos.

Okay to understand it helps to read this item from the Globe and Mail online column, but basically the story goes like this:

Young hotshot tech-genius unlocks an Apple iPhone by performing a 2-hour, fairly complex and highly technical hardware and software modification, and is now using it on T-Mobile, instead of AT&T. Cool.

AND he was smart enough to buy TWO iPhones, unlock them both, and sell the second one on eBay. Even cooler.

But - according to the story - the bidding was (as of posting date) at somewhere north of $25 million dollars for the unlocked Apple iPhone.

Now to be fair, I’m preeety sure that some of the bids that are in excess of, oh lets say a few thousand dollars, simply MUST be fake bids, but come on people! Let’s do the math here. You can cancel your T-Mobile contract, pay their exhorbitant cancellation fee, buy a new iPhone, and sign up for AT&T’s Top of the Line contract and all for WAAAYY less than $25 million dollars???? To top it off, this guy is very kindly and generously giving away his instructions on how to do it yourself for FREE people - did you get that? FREE - you could buy several phones and try unlocking your own for WAAAYY less than $25 million dollars!

Okay so even taking into account the novelty factor that spurs collectors to get into a crazed bidding frenzy to “be the first to own an unlocked Apple iPhone” - is it really worth $25 million dollars?

What am I missing here?

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

I received an email from a friend who is new to Macs, and he asked me for my opinion on using Parallels virtualization software to run Windows on a Mac (which doesn’t require rebooting) versus Boot Camp, which does.

I wasn’t able to give him an opinion, because I won’t put the Windows OS on any of my Macs (however, in case you’re interested, here is a very well written review of Parallels from MacWorld magazine), but I thought the question would make an interesting topic to write about. Of the 6 or 7 other Mac users I know, only 2 run Windows on their Macs, both using Parallels.

My day job is web design and development, as well as some general [Windows] tech support for other members of my team. In general I have not run into any software needs that were not fully met with applications available for the Mac, with only ONE exception - a superb auto-responder application from Xtreeme.com that we love SO much we call it “Otto”. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of made-for-Mac auto responder programs, Xtreeme does not have a Mac version, so Otto lives all by himself on a Windows PC that sits in the corner of my office. We have coffee together every morning. Otto runs so well and reliably that he stays behind when I travel, just keeps chugging along all “mr. dependable”-like, and keeps an eye on things for me too.

My point, however, is that I don’t need Windows for anything (aside from Otto), so I don’t use it. Oh sure I have a few PCs around, running various Windows OS’ and versions of IE, that I test my web designs on, but none run any mission critical apps (just Otto). So even though I think the concept of both Boot Camp and Parallels is a great one, I choose not to run Windows on my Mac.

I’m curious to know how other Mac users feel about running Windows using either Parallels or Boot Camp……….do you or don’t you? And why? And if you do, how do they work for you?

 Loading ...

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

This wonderful computer alarm clock works SO well that I never use my old bedside alarm clock anymore - it’s been so long that I can’t even remember the last time that I did….

Embraceware has created a sophisticated, yet resource-light alarm clock program that has all the wonderful features and flexibility of software that is ten times as expensive, and put it all together in a gorgeous looking little package.

Awaken uses your own iTunes Library (with the ability to choose specific Playlists on a per-alarm basis) and has a built-in backup sound set in case there’s a problem with iTunes, as well as support for Podcasts. And it works with the Apple Remote, which you can program to either “stop” or “snooze” the Alarm when it goes off, turn the volume up or down, etc. VERY handy indeed! But my favorite feature is the “fade in” so that the volume goes up over a period of time (in my case I have it set to several minutes) so that I’m never “jarred” awake, but I use a high-energy playlist (same one I do my power-walking to) so that after a few more minutes I’m very motivated to get up.

It also has an “egg timer” (countdown) function for those one-time things you don’t want to forget (like cookies in the oven) and a “sleep timer”, so that you can gently drift off to sleep to your favorite tunes or a Podcast, knowing it will shut itself off at your predetermined time.

Using Awaken in Full Screen Mode makes it easy to see your Alarm from across a room, and lets you take advantage of iTunes Cover Art and Visualizations.

This is just an all around terrific Mac alarm clock program, and you just cannot beat it for the price ($8.95). It gets 5 Paws from me!

Rating:

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Browsed through all the hundreds of themes found at the WordPress Theme Viewer and didn’t see exactly what you want? Don’t have the programming skills to write your own theme from scratch? Don’t worry - you’re not out of luck!. All you need is a good comfort level with HTML (or using a WYSIWIG tool like Dreamweaver), a familiarity with how stylesheets work (CSS), and the ability to read through PHP code and figure out where various sections begin and end. Armed with that and my advice below you can learn to customize an existing theme to your liking You don’t need to actually know how to write PHP or any scripting at all.

Note: If you really aren’t comfortable with HTML, CSS, or reading PHP, find the theme that comes closest to what you really want, and contact the Theme Author - a great many of them will gladly customize a new theme for you, although they will likely charge a small amount for the work. But if you’re ready to try this on your own, read on………….

There are a number of themes written especially for this purpose, like the terrific themes at PlainText.org, or even the two that come with the standard WordPress installation, Default and Classic. You can also customize any of the themes you find at the WP Theme Viewer, but if you’re planning on offering it to others, be sure to give the original theme author credit.

If this is your first attempt, then I think it’s easiest if you start with a very simple, minimally styled theme, at least until you’re comfortable with the process, because it’s easier to add tags and styles as you go along than it is to hunt down a lot of little hidden styles to change them (by hidden I don’t mean invisible, but those that are nested several layers deep into a tag). Keep it simple until you have a few mods under your belt, then try tackling something that starts out with a lot more styling. And again, I can’t stress enough that while it’s totally okay to modify anyone else’s theme for your own personal use, if you’re offering up your modified version, please don’t remove the original author’s credits - just add in your own.

The most important factor is to start with a theme that is structurally as close to what you want as is possible. Do you want something with 2 columns or 3 columns? Or just a single column? Where do you want your sidebar column(s) - left or right of your post column? Do you want the whole page to be fluid (to stretch or shrink as your site visitor adjusts their browser window) or a fixed width? Do you want your page navigation along the top or in a sidebar? Although these features and more can be changed with simple modifications, it’s best to start with something as close to what you want to wind up with, so that you can keep the customization as easy as possible.

Once you’ve found your “starting” theme and downloaded it, keep a backed-up copy of the unmodified theme somewhere handy, so that you won’t have to find it again and re-download it in case you want to start over. Then go ahead and upload your “working files” to your WordPress Themes folder (wp-content > themes) and choose it under the Presentation option on your Admin menu. Make sure you have 2 or 3 posts, even if they are just Lorem Ipsum for the time being, so that you’ll be able to view a single post page, as well as your index (home) page with a couple of posts. Create a couple of comments for each post as well.

It’s also a good idea to create your own “Sandbox” for playing in as you’re testing your style changes, to minimize hits on your bandwidth. The first step in making a Sandbox is to make a slight modification to each of your .php files in your Theme’s folder - index.php, single.php, page.php, comments.php, etc on through the list, - to add in a commented line at the end of each that indicates that you’ve reached the end of that page….something like this:

Some well-written themes, like the ones at PlainText.org, already have these tags. Next, upload those modified .php files and then view your blog’s home page in any browser. Click on whatever your browser’s option is to view the source code (in Firefox it’s “View > Page Source”) and then “File > Save As” and give it a name like “testindex.html” and store it with your new theme’s working files. Then click on one of your posts to get to a Single Post page, and repeat that procedure, and do the same for a Category page and an Archive page. That’s enough to get you started.

Next open your new “test” pages in your HTML editor, and look for the new comment tags you added - this will tell you where each part of that page comes from, so that if you make any structural changes (like moving a section for your “recent posts” above or below a section for your “categories” or “archives”, or moving the post’s meta information above or below the post entry) you can recreate those same structural changes in the actual .php files that they belong it.

Look for the line near the top that links the page to your stylesheet (in all themes it should be called “styles.css”) and change whatever is there to link directly to your styles.css file in your working folder, instead of the version on your server. This will allow you to view changes you make to your styles.css file directly in the Test page you’re working with, instead of having to upload your styles.css file with every change and refresh your live version of the page.

If this is at all confusing, take a look at this page from Lorelle On WordPress about Building A Sandbox - Lorelle is a bona fide WordPress guru and her blog offers a wealth of WordPress advice and tutorials.

Open your stylesheet and read all the way through it so you get a feel for how it is organized. Often you’ll find a number of entries that refer to the same class or id, as theme authors sometimes like to group elements by what they are styling - typography (font sizes and colors) may be separate from structure (attributes like margins, padding, height and width). The first thing you’ll note is a dozen or so lines at the top that are commented out and are the theme information - name, author, description, etc. DON’T REMOVE THESE LINES or you will “break” the theme. These lines are required by WordPress. Please leave them as they are unless you are completely changing the look of the theme, and it’s only for personal use, in which case you can modify them with your own information, but they must be structurally intact for your theme to work.

Now you’re ready to start changing styles. Look very carefully at your testindex.html file, and look for the “id=” and “class=” part of the tags that make up each section - you’ll find the matching words in your style.css file. I generally like to start at the top and work my way down. Take a look at the “body” tag in your stylesheet - it should have some basic styling - maybe for the overall page fonts and whether your page is centered, etc. Is the font the size, type, and color you want? If not try changing it, save your stylesheet, and refresh your test page to see your new choices. Don’t like the background picture or color of the header (sometimes also called banner)? Look for that tag in the stylesheet and change the background to your own picture or color (just be sure to check the height and width as well so that it fits your new photo if you’re using one).

Work your way down through each of the elements (classes, tags, and id’s) in your stylesheet - leave what is okay and change what you need to. Note that some of the elements don’t appear on your index (home) page - they may be used on other pages, such as single post pages (where comments would appear), so you’ll also want to open and look at the test pages you made of a single post, category, and archive.

Test each and every change you make by refreshing your test page in your browser, so that if you don’t like the way a change looks, you can change it back easily, without having to figure out which change it was.

BE SURE TO MAKE FREQUENT BACK UPS of your changes if you like where it’s going - that way if you take a wrong turn you won’t have to start over from scratch if you can’t figure out what got messed up.

Once you have everything looking exactly as you like it in your test pages, upload your new stylesheet and overwrite the original one. Be sure that if you’ve moved any structural pieces around in your test pages, you also modify the .php files that contain those structures, and upload those as well. If you’ve been careful and done everything correctly, your WordPress Blog now has your own custom theme. Congratulations!

If you are much more code savvy, and would like to tackle writing your own themes from scratch, WordPress has some great tutorials to help you get started.

Good luck and happy theming!

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Although I was one of those in line on June 29th to get an iPhone, I held out until late July to get a case for it. Not because I was lazy or didn’t care about protecting my iPhone, but because I really, really, wanted an iSkin Revo.

I did a lot of online research, both in the weeks leading up to, and following, my iPhone purchase, and looked at a lot of different iPhone cases. There is a very wide range of styles to choose from offered by a lot of different manufacturers - some relatively inexpensive (under $10) some quite a bit more. I spent $40 plus shipping on my new iSkin Revo, which is near the upper end of the spectrum, but not the most expensive I looked at.

I’ve had the new case on my iPhone for about a week now, and I can tell you honestly that I love it. It’s made of a very durable rubber that has a nice, rugged feel to it. I’ve owned other cases before, for old cell phones, and none of them lasted long. Leather, neoprene, and vinyl all get dirty quickly, the silicone ones got torn, and the plastic shield type would simply crack and break apart. And I’m not particularly rough on my phones, honest!

But the Revo feels solid, and is easy to clean if it ever does get dirty. It comes with two terrific features - first, a clear plastic top cover that lifts off and attaches easily to the back when you’re using the phone (the way a pen cap attaches to the bottom of the pen when you’re writing). Several other cases I looked at that had face plates had them permanently attached to the top or side, which looks like it would get in the way when I’m talking on the phone. I like that iSkin put some thought into this and built it so that the face plate is out of the way when I’m actually using the iPhone. The second really nifty feature is a thin anti-glare “privacy guard” film that attaches easily (and without adhesive) to the glass front plate of the iPhone. It doesn’t interfere at all with any of the operation of the phone, but does cut down dramatically on any glare from overhead lights or the sun if you’re outdoors. And it also provides you with some screen privacy by making it difficult to read the screen from an angle, so you don’t have to share what you’re doing or viewing with someone sitting next to you. Very nice.

All in all it’s a great case, and well worth the price and wait.

For more information visit their website at http://www.iskin.com/. Note: This is not a paid review, I was not given the Revo case for free, and I am not affiliated with iSkin in any way. Just a happy customer!

Please Rate this Post:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

One of my favorite time-wasters has made its way to the iPhone - Bejeweled! The Bejeweled Game for iPhone is a free web browser app, not a download, and it’s as beautiful as its big brother that lives on your computer.

As if it’s not bad enough that I can listen to music and watch TV shows and movies on my iPhone, now I can play one of my favorite games too. I’ll never get anything done again when I’m away from my office! And it will be even harder to pay attention during boring meetings from now on.

The real beauty of this version of the famous Bejeweled game (besides being free!) is that it uses very little bandwidth, so it plays nicely on the EDGE network as well as Wi-Fi.

Here’s the link - you can try it from any browser, and add it to your iPhone’s bookmarks: http://static.popcap.com/iphone/ - but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Author’s Edit: If you’ve upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) be sure to read my updated post on this topic explaining how you can now use Preview to combine and re-order the pages of PDF files. If you’re still on Tiger (or Panther or Jaguar), read on….

So you have two or more PDF files and want to combine them into one? I had just the same problem this morning (note the use of past tense)…..I’d scanned in a four-page Word Doc so that I could save it as a PDF and then email it to a colleague. But my scan software kept opening each page separately and I didn’t really want to send 4 separate PDFs to my associate - that just seemed unprofessional, especially coming from an alleged geek (me).

Yes, of course I could have printed it as a PDF thanks to the Mac’s build in printing options, but I needed to sign this document first and I’m not very satisfied with the various methods of electronic signatures - this needed a good old-fashioned pen-on-paper signature.

After spending a good deal of time trying everything I could using both Preview and Adobe Reader without success, and some time searching the internet, I finally stumbled across a solution SO perfect I just had to share it with others - a fabulous bit of freeware called Combine PDFs 2.1 from MonkeyBread Software.

It’s very simple to use - just drag and drop your PDFs into it’s main window, reorder them if you’d like, give the new file a Title, and click on “Merge PDFs” - very easy, very zippy.

Note that it doesn’t seem to do any compression while it’s merging your PDFs, so if you start with large files, you’ll wind up with a huge one. PDF compression software does exist (such as PDF Shrink) but is not free, and in my experience offers mixed results - sometimes the savings in file size is not worth the loss in quality. In my particular case, file size is not an issue as both my intended recipient and I have high-speed access, so I was thrilled that Combine PDFs did exactly what I wanted it to, and did it quickly.

As with most freeware, way down at the bottom of the developer’s page there is a Donate link - I always encourage others to throw a few dollars (or in this case euros) to the developer when you find software that you like and find useful, and I always do myself. The generosity of users is what keeps software developers writing these wonderful utilities and sharing them for free with the rest of us.

Please Rate this Post:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

($10 shareware with free trial) I absolutely love this reminder program! It doesn’t replace iCal for me - I still use iCal for a wide variety of events, appointments, and dates for which I need a reminder, but 2Remember fills the gap left for those myriad of non-recurring, small tasks for which I may not want to open iCal, navigate to the right date, modify my event or to-do, etc…..and I have so very many of these types of tasks that if I tried to put them all into iCal it could quickly get bloated. 2Remember is light on resources, unobtrusive, and easy to use. I set up whatever it is I need to be reminded about, then delete it when it’s finished its job.

The task list can be “docked” to any edge of your screen, where it slides away like a drawer when not active. Adding and deleting tasks is quick, simple, and highly intuitive, so that you don’t really even need it’s built-in instructions or help files. You can choose to set an alarm or not, and when the alarm pops up, you can make use of it’s “snooze” function if you need more time

Amongst its many neat features are the buttons along the top of each “reminder” you set up - to better define what your task is - such as a phone call to be made, email to be written, an order you want to place from a website, etc. I use this regularly to keep track of vitamins I want to reorder as I get low on them, but I try to only order once a month or so to save on shipping, instead of just ordering each type as I run out. So I set my reminder alarm for a month or so ahead, and just keep adding to my list until the alarm goes off, at which point I go to the website and place my order.

I use 2Remember to help me remember to call my doctor or hair stylist when I need an appointment, then when I make the appointment I put it in iCal.

The only thing that keeps this terrific reminder program from getting a “5 out of 5 Paws” rating from me is minor - I would like a little more flexibility and options from the Preferences - such at the choice of using sounds other than the Beep to signal an alarm, and some additional Snooze options beyond the built-in choices, which top out at 8 hours (maybe a 1 day, 1 week, 1 month option?). Otherwise it’s a beautiful, lightweight reminder application that I’m really glad I found.

Rating:

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

In the past week four different people asked me if I *still* like my iPhone after using it for a month, so I decided it was time to post my 30-day update. Also coming up this week - reviews of several Mac utilities so stay tuned!

On to my iPhone Review - and the short answer is “YES!” - I still love my iPhone. It is by far the best cell phone I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned many over the years since they were the size of bricks.

To be honest I haven’t done any mods or hacks, even though since the iPhone’s launch a large number of 3rd party applications have been developed (check out BarCamp), and even a great hack called iFunTastic that, amongst other things, allows you to add custom iPhone ringtones (but note that it only works on Intel Macs, not the PowerPC Macs). Sadly I still have two PPC Macs, and no plans to upgrade soon, so I’ll have to wait in iFunTastic to come out with a PPC version. However, I do know several people who have used it and are very happy with the results. But remember, YMMV!

SO for the time being my iPhone is still in it’s pristine, un-modded condition and I couldn’t be happier with how it operates. I find the text messaging to be SO much easier than my old RAZR, and I no longer miss calls because I was listening to my iPod (yes, it really used to happen). The other day I was kept waiting at my doctor’s office (nearly 40 minutes), which in the past would have my blood boiling……but instead of thumbing through 10-year old copies of National Geographic or Highlights, I just pulled out my iPhone and watched the pilot episode of one of the 5 or 6 TV shows I downloaded to it. Pure bliss!

But by far the most noticeable aspect is the sound quality - all of my calls just simply have better audio quality. Both what I hear and what the other person I’m speaking to hears is just better, and doesn’t sound like we’re on a cell phone. A terrifically important improvement since most of the calls I take are business related.

Because it’s so easy to use, with its touch-interface, I find that I actually use it much more than other web-enabled phones I’ve owned in the past. Yes it’s true that the EDGE connection is not fast, but it does a fine job, and most of the places I find myself in have Wi-Fi so it’s rarely an inconvenience. I travel frequently so I have Boingo account, giving me nationwide access to a large quantity of hotspots.

That’s all for now! Oh and I’m looking for a good home for my old (pink) iPod Mini, if anyone is interested in it, the adoption fees are very reasonable!

Please Rate this Post:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...