Category: Uncategorized

iPhone time off by an hour

When I sync my calendar to my iPhone, the times that go on my iPhone calendar always appear an hour later.

I had this problem myself. You have to turn off “Time Zone Support” in Settings -> General -> Date & Time. Then, you likely will have to reset the phone’s caledndar information, which is done in the left column of iTunes: Click on your iPhone under Devices, then click the Info tab in the main window. Scroll all the way down to the Advanced section. Under “Replace information on this iPhone:” click the checkbox by “Calendars”. Then click the Sync button.

Eliminate the annoying vibrating clock in iCal

Everytime I do an update to OS X, I have to run these commands in Terminal, because the animated alarm clock in iCal is just obnoxious. (It also pulls precious CPU cycles.)

Taken from this hint at macosxhints.com
cd /Applications/iCal.app/Contents/Resources/iCal\ Helper.app/Contents/Resources/

sudo cp -p alarmclock.mov alarmclock-mov.BAC

sudo echo “” >alarmclock.mov

cd /Applications/iCal.app/Contents/Resources

sudo cp -p alarmclock.mov alarmclock-mov.BAC

sudo echo “” >alarmclock.mov

Why are my safari fonts all whacked?

Try turning off Suitcase or whatever font management you use, and reload the page. Then, if that works, reopen Suitcase and start disabling fonts. There may be a font, such as Helvetica Fractions, that is confusing Safari.

If that doesn’t work, you might need to scout ~/Library/Fonts for unnecessary stuff, or clean your “font caches,” either manually, or with a tool like Maintenance.

Eliminate the annoying vibrating clock in iCal

Everytime I do an update to OS X, I have to run these commands in Terminal, because the animated alarm clock in iCal is just obnoxious. (It also pulls precious CPU cycles.)

Taken from this hint at macosxhints.com, these are instructions for 10.4 Tiger:

cd /Applications/iCal.app/Contents/Resources/iCal Helper.app/Contents/Resources/

sudo cp -p alarmclock.mov alarmclock-mov.BAC

sudo echo "" >alarmclock.mov

cd /Applications/iCal.app/Contents/Resources

sudo cp -p alarmclock.mov alarmclock-mov.BAC

sudo echo "" >alarmclock.mov

UPDATE: I posted instructions for 10.5 here at macosxhints.com.

Why are my safari fonts all whacked?

Try turning off Suitcase or whatever font management you use, and reload the page. Then, if that works, reopen Suitcase and start disabling fonts. There may be a font, such as Helvetica Fractions, that is confusing Safari.

If that doesn’t work, you might need to scout ~/Library/Fonts for unnecessary stuff, or clean your “font caches,” either manually, or with a tool like Maintenance.

Security cables

A little while back, the offices of two of my clients got broken into, only a couple of days apart. The similarities were weird! Both doctors’ offices, and both got 2 iMacs ripped off from the front desk.

This started to read like a Dickens novel: In one office, we had daily backups running to a server, and that office ran out the next day and got new machines (ultimately reimbursed by insurance). We restored from their backups, and they were back in business. In the other office, they had ignored warnings about backing up, and they had to re-input months of data. Some files, including pictures, could never be reproduced.

But in both cases, the entire situation could have been averted if security cables had been attached to the machines in the first place. Almost any computer — certainly any Mac — and many peripherals such as external hard drives come with little holes in the chassis that accommodate a security lock standardized by the peripheral manufacturer Kensington. Several companies make cables that fit into these holes, and are locked by key or combination.

It is nearly impossible to force the lock out of the hole without ruining the computer’s case (and thus its resale value), and most would-be burlgars don’t carry the bolt cutters necessary to sever the cables.

Here are some Amazon links to cables by Kensington and Targus. I bought a couple of each, and they’re fine. Be careful, as this one by Belkin (a company I usually like a lot for its quality and lifetime warranties) doesn’t fit some locks.

All of my home Macs, and their backup drives, are now locked down to their furniture, and I have a cable with me always for my laptop, in case I need to walk away from it in a busy environment.

Happy — and secure — computing!

Leap on Leopard?

Even if you have already bought Leopard, or are considering running out this week, please read the following! I promise it will save you time, effort, and headache.

I’m not going to give a review of the system. You can read a really good, thorough one by Ars Technica here. (Ars’ review of 10.4 Tiger was invaluable back in 2005.) What I do want to do here is give you a few quick pointers for upgrading.

This has been a few weeks in coming, but it has been nice finally to get my hands properly dirty in OS X 10.5 “Leopard”. I’ve been needing to see whether I should recommend the upgrade now, or wait until Apple released a major revision with some bug fixes. Now that update 10.5.1 for PowerPC and Intel has been released, I’m ready to say that anyone who is interested — AND whose Mac is NOT in a heavy-workload production environment — should go ahead and grab the next big cat, according to the following:

  1. Have a newer computer. Regardless of Apple’s minimum system requirements, as of this writing I probably won’t recommend installing Leopard on a G4 Mac unless I had a super-good reason, or the machine was a spare toy and I wanted a sandbox.
    G5 and Intel Macs are totally Leopard-happy.
  2. Have at least 2GB memory (RAM). Again, ignore Apple’s specs. G5s and Intel Macs are RAM hungry, and Leopard is too, moreso than Tiger. Note that Apple now sells consumer-level machines with 1GB RAM, and MacBook Pros start at 2GB. That tells us that 1GB is barely adequate for a new system, and 2GB is OK for surfing, emailing, and a little photo work. Anything heavier requires 4GB. (All new Macs like their RAM in even numbers, so avoid 3Gb if your Mac can hold more.) See my previous blog posts here and here for more on this, including where to buy RAM.
  3. Have a good, complete backup. If you don’t have a complete clone of your hard drive before the Leopard install, you’re inviting a world of pain. If something goes wrong during the upgrade — say, the power goes out, or you trip on the cord — your Mac good wind up a paperweight until you finish the installation or restore from the backup.
  4. ARCHIVE AND INSTALL! If you’ve followed the above guidelines, then this is the last step. Insert the Leopard disk (which you bought cheaper from Amazon or someplace, right?), and reboot your Mac holding down the “C” key to make it boot from the DVD. Go through the intro screens until you get to pane where you choose the volume to install on. There, look at the bottom of the window, and click on the Options button. Choose the “Archive and Install” option, leaving on “Preserve Users and Network Settings”.
    Better instructions and Apple’s thoughts on this subject can be found here and here.

That’s it. Click through the subsequent windows to finish the installation, reboot, and you’re soaking in OS X 10.5! Do make sure to run Software Update to grab 10.5.1.

Now, the finer points: As is always the case with the latest Mac OS, Leopard is certainly the best, most secure, and most advanced operating system on the planet. But like any operating system, it ain’t perfect by a long shot. Many programs are yet to be 10.5-compatible — including, just for one example, Acrobat 8 — and if you rely on the Classic environment for OS 9 apps, Leopard will leave you in the cold.

As I mentioned above, if your Mac is expected to be reliable in a production environment, I won’t recommend Leopard until at least version 10.5.2 or 10.5.3. Read up on the applications you use, and keep checking with the developers to see if they have released a compatibility update.

Finally, for what it’s worth, I myself am not putting 10.5 on my 12″ G4 PowerBook. It only has 1.25GB RAM (I can’t give it more), and it has been slowing down of late. A purchase of a new Mac with 4GB RAM and Leopard pre-installed is coming up for me in the next couple of weeks. I am, however, upgrading my Mac mini home media server to OS X Server 10.5 probably this weekend.

Security cables

A little while back, the offices of two of my clients got broken into, only a couple of days apart. The similarities were weird! Both doctors’ offices, and both got 2 iMacs ripped off from the front desk.

This started to read like a Dickens novel: In one office, we had daily backups running to a server, and that office ran out the next day and got new machines (ultimately reimbursed by insurance). We restored from their backups, and they were back in business. In the other office, they had ignored warnings about backing up, and they had to re-input months of data. Some files, including pictures, could never be reproduced.

But in both cases, the entire situation could have been averted if security cables had been attached to the machines in the first place. Almost any computer — certainly any Mac — and many peripherals such as external hard drives come with little holes in the chassis that accommodate a security lock standardized by the peripheral manufacturer Kensington. Several companies make cables that fit into these holes, and are locked by key or combination.

It is nearly impossible to force the lock out of the hole without ruining the computer’s case (and thus its resale value), and most would-be burlgars don’t carry the bolt cutters necessary to sever the cables.

Here are some Amazon links to cables by Kensington and Targus. I bought a couple of each, and they’re fine. Be careful, as this one by Belkin (a company I usually like a lot for its quality and lifetime warranties) doesn’t fit some locks.

All of my home Macs, and their backup drives, are now locked down to their furniture, and I have a cable with me always for my laptop, in case I need to walk away from it in a busy environment.

Happy — and secure — computing!

Leap on Leopard?

Even if you have already bought Leopard, or are considering running out this week, please read the following! I promise it will save you time, effort, and headache.

I’m not going to give a review of the system. You can read a really good, thorough one by Ars Technica here. (Ars’ review of 10.4 Tiger was invaluable back in 2005.) What I do want to do here is give you a few quick pointers for upgrading.

This has been a few weeks in coming, but it has been nice finally to get my hands properly dirty in OS X 10.5 “Leopard”. I’ve been needing to see whether I should recommend the upgrade now, or wait until Apple released a major revision with some bug fixes. Now that update 10.5.1 for PowerPC and Intel has been released, I’m ready to say that anyone who is interested — AND whose Mac is NOT in a heavy-workload production environment — should go ahead and grab the next big cat, according to the following:

  1. Have a newer computer. Regardless of Apple’s minimum system requirements, as of this writing I probably won’t recommend installing Leopard on a G4 Mac unless I had a super-good reason, or the machine was a spare toy and I wanted a sandbox.
    G5 and Intel Macs are totally Leopard-happy.

  2. Have at least 2GB memory (RAM). Again, ignore Apple’s specs. G5s and Intel Macs are RAM hungry, and Leopard is too, moreso than Tiger. Note that Apple now sells consumer-level machines with 1GB RAM, and MacBook Pros start at 2GB. That tells us that 1GB is barely adequate for a new system, and 2GB is OK for surfing, emailing, and a little photo work. Anything heavier requires 4GB. (All new Macs like their RAM in even numbers, so avoid 3Gb if your Mac can hold more.) See my previous blog posts here and here for more on this, including where to buy RAM.
  3. Have a good, complete backup. If you don’t have a complete clone of your hard drive before the Leopard install, you’re inviting a world of pain. If something goes wrong during the upgrade — say, the power goes out, or you trip on the cord — your Mac good wind up a paperweight until you finish the installation or restore from the backup.
  4. ARCHIVE AND INSTALL! If you’ve followed the above guidelines, then this is the last step. Insert the Leopard disk (which you bought cheaper from Amazon or someplace, right?), and reboot your Mac holding down the “C” key to make it boot from the DVD. Go through the intro screens until you get to pane where you choose the volume to install on. There, look at the bottom of the window, and click on the Options button. Choose the “Archive and Install” option, leaving on “Preserve Users and Network Settings”.
    Better instructions and Apple’s thoughts on this subject can be found here and here.

That’s it. Click through the subsequent windows to finish the installation, reboot, and you’re soaking in OS X 10.5! Do make sure to run Software Update to grab 10.5.1.

Now, the finer points: As is always the case with the latest Mac OS, Leopard is certainly the best, most secure, and most advanced operating system on the planet. But like any operating system, it ain’t perfect by a long shot. Many programs are yet to be 10.5-compatible — including, just for one example, Acrobat 8 — and if you rely on the Classic environment for OS 9 apps, Leopard will leave you in the cold.

As I mentioned above, if your Mac is expected to be reliable in a production environment, I won’t recommend Leopard until at least version 10.5.2 or 10.5.3. Read up on the applications you use, and keep checking with the developers to see if they have released a compatibility update.

Finally, for what it’s worth, I myself am not putting 10.5 on my 12″ G4 PowerBook. It only has 1.25GB RAM (I can’t give it more), and it has been slowing down of late. A purchase of a new Mac with 4GB RAM and Leopard pre-installed is coming up for me in the next couple of weeks. I am, however, upgrading my Mac mini home media server to OS X Server 10.5 probably this weekend.

End User: Goodbye, Operator

Published in San Antonio Current, October 13, 2007. This was my last column.

Many users miss technology that’s right under their fingers. While everybody “gets” the internet, and cell phones, and even GPS navigation for their car (those who can afford it), there’s a whole slew of people who have never sent or received a text message.

So I just had to write this. For anyone still dialing 411 on their phone — and getting charged up the kazoo — or calling movie theaters to get showtimes, or even leaving short voicemails that have to be listened to and dealt with and deleted, listen up:

Text is now a verb.

Got text? I have a couple of friends who don’t have text messaging on their mobile plan. They get charged even if they unwittingly receive a message. Do yourself a favor and call your mobile provider. Like, yesterday.

The thing is, text is civilized. It’s quick. It’s efficient. It promotes good manners. It can even be hot if you do it right.

If you don’t yet know how to send a text message, I promise you it’s built into your phone. Look for the “messages” menu or something like it. Some phones call it by its proper name, SMS, which stands for “short message service.” SMS is a protocol built into all modern cell-phone networks, though it can also be used from some websites or to send an email.

Hey, for kicks, try that last bit. Send a text message to your own email. Then you’ll know your phone’s email address. That could come in handy.

Now the part where I save you time and money: Send the word “help” (no quotes) to the number 46645. That’s GOOGLE, and the great Goog in the sky will send you back a short set of instructions for using its SMS-based info service. If you send “m 78229” you’ll get movie showtimes in your area. “W 78204” will get you the weather. “Pizza 78209” is a beautiful thing. And by the way, if you first send “location 78209,” well by gum, you won’t have to type your zip code each time. Killer.

Now I blow your mind: “2*8” will return “16” and if you send “15 miles in kilometers” you’ll see “24.14016 kilometers,” which, by the way, works in a Google search, too.

“T” is for “translate.” I sent “t por supuesto from spanish to english” (caps unnecessary), and within seconds got “by all means.”

I update my Twitter feed by text. I can send “dinner with Michael 7pm tomorrow” to 48638 (GVENT) and it will add that event to my Google calendar, which in turn synchronizes via Plaxo and fairly quickly makes its way to my phone.

Finally, this tip isn’t about messaging, but you should call 800-466-4411 right now. That’s 800-GOOG-411. Free information, powered by Google. No ads, yet. Speak clearly, and Google’s friendly robot will connect you to the business of your choice.

So may I request that the phone company not send the big yellow book to my house anymore? I’m covered. •