MacSwitched

Python and Mac OS

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:26:00 +0000

While reading the excellent book "Programming Collective Intelligence", I got interested to learn Python again. I did some googling and found that the Python interpreter comes with Mac OS X. I tried typing "python" on the terminal window and sure enough, I got the prompt. Only, my version is 2.5.

I went to the Python website to download the upgrade, installed the upgrade and ... nothing seemed to have happened. When I call the interpreter, I still get version 2.5 (it should have been at least version 3. I did some investigating again and found Python installed at /usr/local/bin. Moreover, I found the two versions installed: python2.5 and python3.1.

Typing "python3" on the prompt got me the updated version!

Connecting Mac OS X to a Windows Printer

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:10:00 +0000

Here is how to connect Mac OS X (Tiger 10.4 or Leopard 10.5) to a printer that is attached to a Windows computer on a Windows network.

Scenario: You've got an existing network setup that includes a printer attached to a computer in a Windows network.

Preparation:

Your printer must already be shared on the Windows network.
Also find out the printer's shared name, the name of the computer that is on the Windows network, and the printer brand and model.
Be ready with your printer drivers for Mac. If you don't have them, try googling keywords like "Mac OS X printer driver for [insert brand and model here]" or "PPD drivers for [brand and model].
If the printer driver is not available, read number 5, below.

1. Install the printer drivers on your Mac.

2. Click the Apple icon and go to System Preferences > Print and Fax.

3. Under the printer list, look for the button with the plus sign and click that. This will pop up the Add printer dialog box.

4. Click IP Printer.

5. Fill the boxes using the following specs. In the items below, the values in bold represent sample names. Substitute your own computer names and printer names.

Protocol: Line Printer Daemon - LPD
Address: MyComputer
[Note: Do not add slashes. Just put the computer name. You may also use the IP address of the shared computer, but this is not recommended, specially if you use dynamic hosting or DHCP.]

Queue: MyPrinter
[Note: This is the shared name of your printer. You should find this in your Windows computer by looking at the properties of your shared printer]

Name: [The system will automatically fill this in.]

Location: Optional

Print Using: [This is where you enter your select your printer's model number. If you installed the driver beforehand, you should see it in the list. If the drivers are not available, try using Generic Postscript Printer].

6. Close and try to test print.

If this does not work out, you may try to install Gutenprint (just google it).

Print Photos Directly from iPhone/iPod Touch

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:32:00 +0000

If you have an iPhone or have photos in iPod Touch, you can now print directly to a printer by using an App from HP.

Excerpt from NYT:

After installing the app on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you can output 4-by-6-inch photos on H.P. printers connected to a Wi-Fi network in one step.

Read full story here.

Back to Firefox for Mac (or Firefox vs. Safari)

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:47:00 +0000

Okay, I got frustrated with Safari, so I switched to Firefox. Here's why.

Gmail just got slower and slower in Safari as Google added more features to it. Since I use Gmail heavily, I needed to solve this problem. I found a solution here but in the course of looking for a workaround, I started using FF again and the FF habit came back.

Anyway. I was a heavy FF user (something carried over from my Windoze days), testing the Safari waters slowly. When Safari 3 came out, I was impressed. Safari loaded faster than FF.

However, I noticed that in the long run, Safari slowed down in some websites I used heavily (like the BBC website), while FF performed well.

So now I'm waiting for Safari to catch up. I like Safari because it has better bookmarking features, allows private browsing and has generally a simpler and easier to use interface. But if it continues to drag my surfing down, then FF is just a click away.

Pastebud: Simple Copy-Paste Solution for iPhone/iPod Touch

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Found this while surfing for the latest updates on the iPod Touch.

"pastebud enables round-trip copy and paste on your iPhone or iPod Touch, between the two applications that matter the most: Mail and Safari. And through a clever combination of web services and bookmarklets, it does it without requiring a jailbreak or App Store download."

No jailbreak, no app download. pastebud has its limitations, but it serves simple copy-paste needs. When oh when will Apple give us true inter-app copy-pasting?

For instructions on how to use it, visit pastebud.com.

Turning Your iPod Touch into a Phone

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:28:00 +0000

I always thought this was technically possible. Use your iPod Touch to make phone calls via the internet (with a mic attachment, of course). So I raved at the news that Truphone, a free app!, can do just that.

Here's an excerpt from their website:

The new Truphone for the iPod Touch application works on the 2nd generation iPod Touch and enables you to make free calls to other Truphone or Google Talk users, and cheap international calls to landlines and mobiles, from any Wi-Fi zone, using your iPod Touch's internet connection and a headphone with mic, or mic adapter.

Only problem is that I've got a first gen iPod Touch. But if you've got a second gen iPod touch, go ahead, read the full story.

Better Google in iPhone/iPod Touch

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:09:00 +0000

I've been using the iPod Touch to browse Gmail and Google Calendar, so I don't know why I missed this important new feature.

Google has an improved version available for the iPod Touch/iPhone.

And you can get it up and running just by using the iPod/iPhone Safari browser to visit Google.com. Log in and click Gmail or any of the default apps available. And voila! Better Google for mobile gadgets. .Full story here.

Fixing Slow Gmail in Safari, Mac OSX

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:05:00 +0000

At times, Gmail has been taking the longest time to send my mail messages. It does not matter whether the mail has a heavy file with it or a short note. It just slows down. And this occurs both in Safari and Firefox.

After doing some googling, I found this fix. Apparently, the slowness is happening because of Gmail 2.0's interface. Solution? Just use the old Gmail 1.0 interface by typing this link instead: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1

So if you're having a slow Gmail connection on your Mac, try this!

Using iPod Touch as iTunes Remote

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:27:00 +0000

Thanks to iPod Software 2.0, I can do more with my iPod Touch. One neat way is to use my iPod Touch as a remote.
Make sure you have Software 2.0 installed in your iPod Touch and your iTunes playlists shared.

To share your iTunes playlist:

Click on iTunes Preferences.
Click the Sharing icon.
Check "Share my library on my local network".
Click OK.

Next, download Remote from the App Store:

In iTunes, go to the App Store (click Applications and click "Get more applications" in the lower right of the iTunes window).
Look for the app called "Remote" and download it.
Install in your iPod Touch.

Now go to your iPod Touch and tap on Remote. Follow the easy instructions in your iPod Touch. Once you're connected, you'll see the playlists shared in your computer. You can browse and play any of the songs available.

iPod Touch Karaoke

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Add lyrics to your songs and display them in iPod Touch.

I discovered this by accident, while updating the album covers of my collection. To add song lyrics, go to iTunes. Click a song and then press Command-i (get info). Click the "Lyrics" tab and paste the song lyrics there. Sync with your iPod Touch.

Now listen to the song in iPod Touch. While the song is playing, tap the screen. The lyrics will now be displayed in scrollable format.

I get my song lyrics by browsing on the web and copy-pasting.

Frustrated with Apple, Jailbroke my iPod Touch

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:13:00 +0000

Alright, I confess. After ruminating about it for some time, I finally decided to Jailbreak my iPod Touch. What were my reasons?

First and foremost: I wanted to install free applications from the App Store but the iTunes Music Store (ITMS) would not let me. Why?

Because, being a Philippine resident, I did not have a payment method with a "US funding source" as ITMS put it. I had credit cards, I had PayPal.

I needed a US-based account in order to buy and install the 2.0 Software Update (aka App 2.0). I was willing to buy, but it was a Catch-22. I could not install even the free apps if I did not buy App 2.0. But I could not buy App 2.0 because Apple would not let me.

For about a week, I surfed the web to find the best way to Jailbreak the iPod Touch (IPT). I considered ZiPhone, but it was too controversial. So I chose Pwnage Tool.

One thing I dislike about these tools -- the documentation is not well written. If you miss as step, it could really mess up your gadget. Which is what happened to me. For three days, I tried to make Pwnage Tool work on my IPT. I kept repeating the steps. Something was obviously missing from the documentation.

I did some tweaking and tweaking and finally, on the night of the third day, I Jailbroke my iPod. Now I can run the free apps and I even have Mail, Notes and Maps.

I was delightfully amazed at how easy I was able to set up my Gmail with Mail. "Set up" is probably not the right word here. All I did was enter my Gmail account and password and the iPod did the rest!

I just wish that Google Maps will open its road directions for community collaboration. We still don't have driving directions for the country. Starting with the busiest cities and provinces will be a big help!

My next task: should I now use the IPT as a PDA? Or do I continue using my DIY datebook? I downloaded some simple but useful list apps for the IPT (current fave: Zenbe). Zenbe is easy to manage and can sync with a web-based manager.

But right now, the atom-based datebook is winning. I can access it quickly, easily revise contents, and it does not run out of batteries :).

If I switch to the IPT for setting my appointments and tasks, I would have to buy a car charger and/or a wall-socket charger. The ones from Apple are pricey. I saw some better priced alternatives in the local store and am considering getting them instead. Any suggestions?

How to "Turn Off" Autospell in iPod/iPhone

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:53:00 +0000

Scenario: You're using iPod Touch or iPhone to type non-English messages, OR you like using SMS shortcuts (like "wer r u?") and you find the Autospell feature annoying.

Right now, there is no way to turn off Autospell, but there's a workaround.

Workaround: Use an International Keyboard.

Go to iPod/iPhone Settings > Keyboard > International Keyboards and turn on one of the other non-English keyboards (mine is set on Spanish). Then, when you use the virtual keyboard, you can switch to the Spanish keyboard, which will pretty much let you type whatever you wish to type. To switch to the Spanish keyboard, press the globe icon near 123 and the dot "." key.

A Pesky Java Error: NoClassDefFoundError

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:39:00 +0000

I've been studying Java through a couple of excellent books, one of them being Thinking in Java (3rd Edition) by Bruce Eckel.

Eckel introduced his own unit testing classes in his sample code. He called the automated testing "SimpleTest". My problem was that the sample Java applications could not find the SimpleTest classes, no matter how hard I tried to configure my environment.

Here was the error I kept getting at run time:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError

Solution:
The final solution turned out to be in Eckel's documentation all along, at http://mindview.net/Books/TIJ/. Here's what he said:

Set your CLASSPATH variable to include "." (the current directory) and the code directory.

I had already set my CLASSPATH to include the code directory, but I somehow missed the one about the dot "." so after I tried adding "." in the CLASSPATH and it worked! (For instructions, see below).

Additional information:

To work around the problem, I commented out all references to SimpleTest. And this allowed me to compile and run the sample code. But then I started aiming for test-driven programming, which made me more interested at making SimpleTest work. I read and re-read Eckel's documentation until I finally noticed the instructions about adding the "." to CLASSPATH.

How to set CLASSPATH in Mac OS X

Use a text editor like TextWrangler, which can open hidden files. Navigate to your home directory "~/"and look for a file called .bash_profile. If none, create the file and save it with that file name (no extensions). The file should contain the following line:

export CLASSPATH="/Users/myhome/Development/tij/:."

Explanation:

"/Users/myhome/Development/tij" is where my Thinking in Java sample code is saved.
The colon ":" is the separator. You can add additional CLASSPATH variables by separating them with a colon.
Note the dot "." after the semicolon. This is what I kept missing as I read and reread Eckel's documentation. After I added the dot, everything worked!

Alternatives to changing CLASSPATH in bash

Other programmers advise that it's better to just set the CLASSPATH from the command line, eg, by invoking:

java -classpath

However, this is also tricky, so I prefer to set my CLASSPATH from the environment variables of Mac OS X.

Links:

MacSwitched Podcast 1

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:58:00 +0000

This is the first MacSwitched Podcast, hosted by Data and BenC.

The MacSwitched Podcast is for users who just switched to the Mac or those planning to switch. We also put useful tips for those who have been using the Mac for some time now.

This first episode talks about the perceived cost of switching to a Mac and why most of this is an "illusion". BenC and Data discuss several cost factors that, when you look at it from the big picture, actually make the Mac a better investment than PCs and Windows: the real productivity boost you get with Macs, the bundled software, superior hardware, the high resale value and the fact that it just works and makes life easier for us.

MacSwitched Podcast 1: MP3 Version. This is the pure audio version, for all other media players.

Download MacSwitched Episode 1 - Enhanced Version: contains chapters and clickable links. For iPod Touch, iPhones and iTunes.

If you have comments, amplifications and suggestions, please post them here (macswitched.blogspot.com).

UPDATES

March 4, 2008

MacSwitched Podcast submitted to iTunes for approval (fingers crossed).
Famous TV and movie personality will be next MacSwitched guest. (Details later).
MacSwitched downloads go over 130 (clap-clap!).

MacSwitched Podcast, featured in The After Mac

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:35:00 +0000

The first episode of the MacSwitched Podcast has been featured in The After Mac, a blog about Mac news and happenings. The After Mac is maintained by Juan Magdaraog and has given us several useful tips to improve the podcast. Read The After Mac story.

Salamat po!

MacSwitched Downloads Are Up!

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:21:00 +0000

I'm pleased to announce that downloads of the MacSwitched Podcast are steadily increasing. At first I was worried that no one will listen to us and all our efforts would be for naught. But the stats are heartening :)

If you haven't listened to the podcast, you can still catch it at http://macswitched.blogspot.com. It's only about 20 minutes -- a quick download. You'll learn tips and tricks on using the Mac, and understand issues about switching to the Mac (you'd be surprised that most of the thing you knew, like cost, are mostly myths).

How to Right Click and Ctrl-C in a Mac

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:36:00 +0000

Switching from Windows to Mac has its jarring moments. Among the first things that will jolt you are the lack of a second mouse button on the Macbook touchpad and the Apple mice; and the fact that Ctrl-C does not copy anything in a Mac. (You probably found this blog entry looking for a way to do a right-click, right?)

So let me give the emergency relief to you and write other useful tips after.

To do a right-click: Press and hold down the ctrl key and then click the mouse or touchpad button.
Alternately, you may also right-click using the multi-touch trackpad. First, position the pointer over the link or button you wish to right-click. Press the trackpad with your index finger. While holding the first finger down, tap another finger on the the track pad (try your middle finger). This will generate a right-click. BUT you need to activate this feature. Open System Preferences > Trackpad. In Trackpad Gestures, check the box for "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click."
The equivalent of a Ctrl-C in a Mac is Command-C (or Cmd-C for short). The command key, by the way, is that key with the Apple icon and the strange square with four outward loops (⌘).
Bear in mind that most "Ctrl" shortcuts on Windows can be substituted with the "Cmd" key. Example, Ctrl-V in Windows (shortcut for paste) is Cmd-V in Mac.

Switching to a Mac requires some patience at the start. After all, some things you do in Windows are done differently in a Mac. And although at first you may get frustrated with this "cultural change", you'll realize that tasks in Mac are actually simpler than in Windows. Plus Mac does not let you do some Windows commands simply to protect you from hurting yourself :). (More on this in future posts).

Coming up next:

Top 5 things you need to do after you've switched from Windows to Mac.

Celebrities and Geeks: Mac Switch Podcast

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:54:00 +0000

Podcast update. We have started looking for geeks and celebrities who we can invite to speak about why they love using the Mac. Our friend Ian has already suggested two celebs. We know another famous personality who's very busy but who we may be able to pull for a short Skype call. We also have several hardcore programmers who can talk about how the Mac OS helps them do better coding, and friends in the media who use Macs to produce videos.

For now, we won't tell you who these are, so we won't jinx the invitiations :)

Abangan!

Podcasting thru GarageBand (Now Testing)

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:34:00 +0000

In preparation for the upcoming podcasts, I'm now playing around with GarageBand. I'm checking out the loops, songs and stingers that are available to GarageBand, looking for upbeat music to use as theme. Will also be checking out the different vocal effects we can use to create impressive results. So far the best introductory link to the topic of podcasting is: http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/.

Tasks:

~~Get a good mic.~~

~~Discover best volume settings for podcasting.~~

~~Find theme music.~~

~~Test voice effects for Podcast ID.~~

~~Write cue cards/topic outline.~~

~~Do a test podcast.~~

~~Find a free host and upload.~~

~~Publish in Blogger.~~

~~Announce podcast!~~

Stay tuned!

Coming Soon: Podcasts

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:41:00 +0000

Data and I are getting ready to do podcasts. We're going to start with something called MacSwitched, which is a podcast for Mac switchers, Mac users and iPodders. If you're planning to switch to a Mac, this podcast is for you too! We'll feature news, tips, tricks and tsismis (local gossip) for Mac users!

Just visit http://macswitched.blogspot.com by next week! I'll be announcing the first episode when it's released. Abangan!

Forcing Spotlight to Reindex My Drive

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:35:00 +0000

After upgrading my hard disk, I discovered that Spotlight (Mac's search tool) could not locate most of my files. I knew the files were still in my disk, but they would only show up in Spotlight after I opened the files.

I figured that Spotlight needed to reindex my folders, so I did a little googling and found a good solution.

Open System Preferences (Click the Apple logo > System Preferences). Click Spotlight, then Privacy. Open Finder and navigate to the /Documents folder. Drag the Documents folder into the Privacy list. Then remove it (highlight it and click the minus sign under the box). This will cause Spotlight to reindex that folder. You can even drag the whole disk into the Privacy list.

If you have an external drive, you may ask Spotlight to index it through this way too.

(Important: don't drag the Documents folder icon in the sidebar of Finder or you'll remove that icon).

For a geekier way to do this (read: via command line), read this link.

Keynote: Turn off Spell Check; Unusual Uses for Keynote

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:29:00 +0000

To turn off auto-spell check in Keynote, just go to Edit > Spelling and uncheck "Check spelling as you type".

Why would I want to turn this off? I use Keynote to quickly make graphics for blogs, websites and even for my presentations and reports. I draw or compose the image in Keynote and use Keynote's handy effects (shadows, reflections, etc). Then I take a screen capture of it (using Cmd-Shift-4) and use the file!

Anyway, sometimes I use proper nouns, brand names and non-English words. Auto-spell checker underlines these in red. Since I don't want this to show up in the final graphic, I turn off the spell checker.

That's two tips in one blog entry! :)

Inject a little humor in your life: watch Mac ads

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:36:00 +0000

When I bought my Macbook, a friend quipped that it was the start of my life as a Mac junkie -- a life that included endless boasting about owning a Mac, surfing about things Mac, and buying gadgets and peripherals that perpetuate the Mac lifestyle.

Was he right!

Anyway, as I settled into the Mac lifestyle, I discovered the Mac ads in the Apple website. They poke fun at PC and Windows users, which naturally irks the aforesaid people and elicits a knowing chuckle and elbowing among Mac users. Watch the videos here to see why.

Why I am not buying Macbook Air

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:03:00 +0000

The Macbook Air makes me and my wife drool. It's thin, lightweight and most probably going to make life easier for me, an aging writer/consultant and as the ads show, it fits right inside a Manila envelope!

But my wife and I decided to postpone getting one until they resolve some of the issues we have against it:

Too expensive for the features it has. The Macbook Air (MBA) costs about $1,800 but is a lower cousin of the Macbook.
It only has a maximum of 80gb hard disk space. Adding an external drive will cost an extra $1,000.
It does not have an ethernet port so you'll have to rely mostly on WiFi. To be fair, both the office and our home are now using WiFi. And when we go out, we almost always never use ethernet cables any more. But sometimes, connecting two computers via ethernet is still faster than via WiFi.
Its battery is not replaceable. (It appears that you can have the battery replaced for another $1,000).
It appears that it does not have Firewire yet.

And there you have it.

We'll wait for release 3 or 4 before we get this one. The Macbook Air is probably ideal for those who travel a lot and do not really need a powerful computer (in terms of speed and disk space) because all they need is to do word processing. Right now, we are gunning for an iMac or a Macbook Pro. :)

That Controversial iPod Touch Software Upgrade

macswitched@gmail.com (Ruben and Data Canlas) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:39:00 +0000

I recently got Firmware 1.1.3 for my iPod Touch. So far, the only noticeable difference was a change in the appearance of the dock and some enhancements to the icons.

I was excited to learn that 5 new apps were available for the iPod Touch, notably Mail, Maps and Notes -- previously available only to the iPhone. I really wanted to have these in my iPod Touch. I resisted having to Jailbreak the iPod to install these apps and more. And I waited exactly for the software upgrade.

Only to be disappointed later to learn that the software upgrade wasn't free. In the US it cost $20. Outside, plus taxes, it could cost more.

I made some mental calculations, knowing that the peso had gained against the dollar. The cost would not even reach P1,000 so I started to make a purchase through the iTunes Music Store (ITMS).

But that only dissappointed me more -- since I'm registered in the Philippines, I could not buy anything from ITMS. I would have to get iTunes gift cards and redeem them in order to buy the software upgrade.

As I surfed the web for workarounds, it became obvious that many people were displeased that the iPod software upgrade was not for free. And I got to thinking, they do have a point, actually. Why?

My 16gb iPod Touch cost as much as the 8gb iPhone ($299). The iPod does not have all the apps available to iPhone. You may argue that the extra gigabytes make up for it, but if you consider the other features of the iPhone -- a camera, Bluetooth, and yes, a cell phone -- you begin to see that the iPod deserves more.

So I checked out the petition (Read the TUAW article) but I did not sign because I was unhappy with the wording of the petition itself. Instead, I simply sent a complaint through Apple's website by email and through the forums.