Garage Sale

剛入手了一台LaCie 500GB FW+USB HD，作為Mac機的備份，所以原有的三台250GB硬盤便開始「雞肋化」。趁它們未完全變成雞肋之前，是時候變賣以彌補傾家盪產購入LaCie的損失。

Western Digital 250GB (3.5", ATA100, 2MB Cache) HK$250+ SOLD
Maxtor 250GB (3.5", ATA133, 8MB Cache) HK$250+ SOLD
Buffalo LinkStation 250GB HK$400+ SOLD

還有一台 Buffalo LinkStation 250GB，當我完成資料備份之後，亦都會放賣，因為它的系統和Mac不太夾，處理中文檔名總是問題多多，但LinkStation的功能比USB Drive更強大，賣貴一點也是無可厚非的。

以三台250換一台500，應該是除笨有精的，尤其是對應了這兩年的方針：簡化管理。只是那台500因為給MAC做備份，必需format成Mac OS Extended格式，只可以在MAC上跑了，不可以用在XP上。

By the way, why should we have a backup drive? Watch this video and learn about the importance of backup, from LiveVault site: www.backuptrauma.com/video/default2.aspx.

Outdated GMail UI

I ain't sure if GMail is out of its beta or not yet. I just found an inconsistency on their interface, or just an outdated line.

When you empty the trash, you will saw "No conversations in the Trash. Who needs to delete when you have over 2000 MB of storage?!". Up to today, my mailbox is already 6253 MB. Larger than my first laptop's harddisk (6.4GB). Obviously, the "2000" is not updated for quite a period of time. But that line was cleverly written to avoid this issue. It uses the word "over". But I bet it would be better to update it to "5000" to further emphasis their large mailbox, as nowadays, Hotmail and Yahoo also offer 2GB e-mail for free.

整合的威力

Mac OS自帶了Address Book和Mail並一堆常用的應用功能，所以Apple可以自誇它的電腦是即買即用，明顯Vista也在這個進程吧（是在努力地抄吧？）。但一直並沒有太在意各程式之間的整合相連性，直到最近把contact輸入Adress Book時才發現，Mail自動辨認電郵地址，並顯示已存的thumbnail，如遇上朋友的新地址（標籤裡會顯示電郵地址），可以control+click補充至已有的contact裡，而thumbnail亦會即時顯示出來。

原本打算cap幾張圖，不過為免肖像權之類問題，還是算了。

OS X Maintenance

Here is a few link about maintenance of OS X and Leopard's tips:

• Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
• Does Mac OS X need a disk defragmenter/optimizer?
• Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, 2nd Edition
• Leopard Tricks Tips and Tools

These are, sometimes, commonly quoted by Mac users on discussion group.

Note: Until now, iDefrag cannot run within Leopard. It will, however, work on Leopard harddisk IF and ONLY IF boot and run from the bootable CD/DVD created by Coriolis CDMaker. User will able to download a trimmed down version of Tiger, even their OS is Leopard.

Best solution to run Windows on Mac?

Which is the best solution to run Windows on a Mac (Intel) machine, BootCamp, Parallels or VMware Fusion? Check this out:

Virtualization Benchmarking - How do Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and VMware Fusion stack up? by MacTech Labs.

Displaying Lyrics from iTunes

Note: this short tutorial only apply to Mac OS X.

Rumor said that iTunes 8 will support lyrics display during playback. But when will it be available and how will lyrics be displayed? Meanwhile, here is my quick solution to have your lyrics display on screen. And by the mean of "your lyrics", I mean not only the lyrics found by googling but also those already wrote into the files and those cannot be found by Utamap, MetroLyrics, Sing365.com or whatever database used by the lyrics application.

Requirement:
- Apple iTunes 7
- TunesTEXT

Some people recommended pearLyrics but I don't. Although it has both Widgets and standalone app version, it cannot read from my files and use my lyrics. Also, it search on every song, even the song is already searched for. Taking extra and unnecessary resource is a con, and not able to find/display lyrics for Asian songs is another con. So, I suggest TunesTEXT.

Installing and using TunesTEXT is extremely straight forward. So I don't bother write up a tutorial about it. You should also found no problem with English songs. If it found the missing lyrics for you, it will save for you automatically (if Perferences > Embed Lyrics in Music Files is checked). Otherwise, click on the "i", paste your own lyrics and click Save. You might notice a short delay in playback, depending on your ID3 tag has or not has enough space for your lyrics. Lyrics also appears in iTunes immediately. Here is a good database for Chinese songs: Sina Music. Yes, you need to search for every song manually. If you have any automatic solution, please let me know.

However, if you find using Dashboard troublesome, you should get Widgets Preference Pane. It allows you to move any Widgets onto your desktop (and then disable the Dashboard to save memory). I found their zip file corrupted so you might need to google another location to download. I'm using an old version: v1.0. Its file for Intel is claimed to be "untested". But I got no problems so far.

Spams in Yahoo Messenger

一直以來都很少用Yahoo Messenger，不過Adium可以登入各種IM系統，就順手加進去。每隔一些日子，才偶然登入一次，每次都會出現這種情況，就和Spam Mail一樣的多，令人討厭。為何Yahoo Messenger不能阻隔這類Spam Messages呢？

看來，是時侯終結這個帳戶了。

Double Backup

打從換MAC開始，就決定要減少硬盤、電腦的數目，尤其是使用過虛擬電腦後，更加認同只要一台電腦就足夠了；若需要Windows系統的話，就在MAC裡虛擬出來吧。故此，訂購這台iMac時已經補錢升級硬盤至500GB（當時主流還是160GB或少量250GB吧）。

礙於我還初次接觸Mac OS，在資料轉移方面還是花了很長的時間，大概、一年有多了吧。其實是沒有那個閑去弄。其間把一大堆files周圍移動，而舊的P4電腦裡那250GB硬盤又要封存，即使還有一台250GB USB硬盤和一台250GB LAN硬盤，其實可用的空間還不是很多（就是嘛，明明加起多有1.25TB的，還是有點足襟見肘）。

趁著假期，終於把大部份的檔案都移到iMac裡，把P4的硬盤也改成USB硬盤之後，兩台USB硬盤都拿來做備份，一台跑iBackup，另一台跑Time Machine。其實會否有點過火呢？有點怕死的感覺。

How Addicted to Apple Are You?

Oh, I'm 56% addicted to Apple! (only??)

56%How Addicted to Apple Are You?

100% Free Dating at JustSayHi.com

No more Mac vs Windows

An article from the blog of Don McAllisters (founder of ScreenCasts Online) - "I’ve Given Up Arguing with Windows Users Too!". Hey, Don McAllisters, you are great! After switching to Mac...

* I enjoy using a computer again
* I don’t worry too much about virus and malware attacks (without being too blase)
* I don’t have any performance issues
* Mac software is plentiful, beautiful, well designed and incredibly inexpensive.
* There’s no problems sharing files with Windows users.
* I can run Windows if I really want too (but don’t)

I can't agree no more!

Running the latest Mac OS X (Leopard) on my 1 year old machine (C2D 2GHz, 2GB DDR2) is a lot of pleasure than with the latest Windows OS, which you get pressure. At least, no performance issue make you feel you are enjoying what you paid for (and won't hearing the computer screaming for hardware upgrade, which eventually will be more than purchasing a XP professional license).

Is there any disadvantage on Apple's computer? Yes. The Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse! They drain new battery within 3 months. And my keyboard just stop functioning in the middle of this post. Now, I've to use the compact, unfamiliar Logitech NetPlay Keyboard, which not give me typo but wrong action (such as suddenly deleted my text or do a forward delete when I try to press arrow-up key).

Buy Mac advice (if you prefer wireless):

1. go with the wired keyboard and mouse. this is the backup solution for your wireless kb ms. check out Logitech's wireless mouse and keyboard for Mac (approx. HK$650), OR try other cheaper PC keyboard and mouse but you less able to take advance of Mac's shortcut keys.

alternatively,

2. go with Apple's wireless keyboard and mouse. buy a lot of rechargeable battery and to be expect that they will die in 1 or 2 year. you won't able to fully drain the battery before you need to replace/recharge them.

GovWiFi

The Government is going to install Wi-Fi facilities for public access in their premises. Details here.

Speech Toggle

Speech Command on Mac can be handy (or should I say handless?), sometime. I always use the command such as "Switch to iTunes", "Next", "Switch to Firefox", "Start screen saver" (I need to stress on the word "screen" to make this one work). But I found the Firefox are not responding to the command well. Anyway.

Since some might concern that turning on and off the Speech is troublesome on Mac (method 1, open System Preference and open Speech; method 2, use Spotlight and type Spe to get to Speech). So, some nice guy had wrote a little program and give us a handy shortcut to toggle the speech: Speech Toggle. For more details, please check out the product page.

Nevertheless, the Speech Recognition is not always fully working well, sometime, or you would like to customize more action for that 'stupid half-deaf Mac'. Then you'd like to read this: Hack Attack: Make your Mac's Speech Recognition work for you.

PSP + Belkin N Wireless Router

Two months ago, I purchased a Belkin N Wireless Router (F5D8233-4), after my second Linksys router (WRT54G) stop working properly. Belkin's life-time warranty won over the single year warranty Linksys offers. That's why I switched to Belkin when both my previous routers died in their third year.

The router and its settings look great for a-little-bit-serious users. May be advanced users would prefer Linksys, which they can flash it with hacked firmware. I just want stable and ease to use. The settings page look great but help was not enough (still better than Linksys' help page). Setup is no difficulties. I've connected my IBM T42, iMac and PS3 over Wi-Fi. My friends' laptop also on the MAC address filter list too (yes, on top of the WPA, MAC filter is another good way to protect the network). My PDA and PSP, however, are not able to connect. Both of them are 802.11b. My PSP can't even discover the router, even it is just 2 feet away.

Before I'm about to flash the N Wireless Router to latest firmware (v1.00.10), I gave a last shot. Following are my original wireless settings (firmware 1.00.07):

Wireless Channel = 6
Extension Channel = 2
Wireless Mode = 802.11b&802.11g&802.11n
Bandwidth = 20MHz/40MHz
Broadcast SSID = Yes
Protected Mode = ON
802.11e/WMM Qos = ON

By try-and-error, I found a working wireless settings:

Wireless Channel = 6
Extension Channel = disabled
Wireless Mode = 802.11b&802.11g&802.11n
Bandwidth = 20MHz
Broadcast SSID = Yes
Protected Mode = ON
802.11e/WMM Qos = OFF

Although my PSP is slow, it is now connected to Internet. I should try my PDA later.

死吧，WGA!

"Microsoft kills Windows Genuine Advantage" - MacWorld UK (src: http://www.macworld.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?email&entryid=300&blogid=2)

"And I think it’s no coincidence that none of them are made by Apple." - Mark Hattersley

看後，令人拍案叫絕！大快人心！

Mac OS萬歲！Linux萬歲！Karena萬歲！收工。

ScreenCastsOnline

20% off at ScreenCastsOnline, with the coupon code from MacSanta. Availability subjects to change.

Besides MacWorld.com, ScreenCastsOnline (SCO) is my second favorite Podcasts. Its tutorial-like, step-by-step videos show you lots of good thing in the Mac. The initial membership cost USD 45 for 6 months. With the discount above, it's only $36 (that's why I joined membership today).

During the membership period, you can access not only latest video but all of them since 2005, in multiple resolutions, including HD and iPod. Note that those videos for iPod, in 320x240, can be played directly on PSP without converting. Still not sure about other resolutions yet.

If you would like to learn more about Mac, and have a PSP around for watching video on the road and has some spare money to spend during this Christmas holiday, you may consider subscribing the SCO. It just cost you a little bit cheaper than an XBOX 360 game (or a lot cheaper than a PS3 title). Alternatively, you can subscribe SCO free version via iTunes. No cost at all but some videos are exclusive for members. Not to mention that not HD in free version (except a few sponsored episodes).