Hardly Anything New

From a home user’s perspective, Messenger 7 has nearly nothing new to offer in comparison to the older version. Mac users are still limited to plain old chatting (still no video), and none of those “bells and whistles” that are available on Windows Live Messenger. This means, you should not expect support for shared folders, nudging, handwriting, winks, etc.

The look and feel of the new client is similar to the old offering. A lot of chrome with an oversized Send button:

However, those who use this client in an enterprise environment will notice new features such as multi-party audio and video conferencing. Although it is a new offering, I’ve yet to come across a workplace which actually has Office Communications Server 2007 running for this.

It Feels Bulky

Personally, I prefer to use Adium as my chat client of choice on the Mac. Although it too is limited to just text-chatting, it is customizable in nearly every aspect of the program, and I can choose to make it minimalist as I like since my laptop display does not have that much real-estate to begin with.

I also love the tabbing offered by Adium which allows me to concern myself with just one window when running multiple conversations. Tabbing is yet to be seen in Messenger for Mac.

The alerts from Messenger 7 are also proprietary, not utilizing the “standard” Growl notification service.

It Could Be Better In The Future

I’ve read a few comments that the Mac BU at Microsoft did not pursue adding in all the features offered by the current Windows Live Messenger because all its underlying technology was going to be transitioned to newer stuff. If you thought that it was odd that video and audio conferencing was only supported for enterprise environments, you’re not alone. It’s likely that the technology utilized for that is newer and will probably be supported for Windows Live Messenger and Messenger for Mac home users in the future. However for now, Mac users will probably stick with the alternative clients which do a better job.

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One little pain for me was not being able to access my workstation during a meeting. Sure, a lot of the work we do is web-based, but there are still windows-only desktop applications which are handy to have open in front of your eyes. One of these applications allows us to access a centralized database of all the projects that are going on and what status they are at. And although I could have booted into XP on my MBP, my work would still be sitting on my desktop, plus I don’t really feel like spending hours hunting for these applications again off the network drives. For a while, our team had the luxury of having a team member that had a windows laptop as their workstation, but they’ve transitioned off so we would start to miss checking the status on our projects.

Then I came along Microsoft’s Remote Desktop client for the Mac while reading up on Office 2008 at Microsoft’s Mactopia site. It got released under the radar since the new client is still in beta, but it works.

I’d like to report that it is very smooth and snappy. I’ve used a lot of remote desktop clients, especially while I was working as IT support, and this client works great on my MBP. The interface is very similar to the way Remote Desktop works on Windows, so switchers should feel right at home.

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It was unfortunate that their backup utility started to break. Prior to the utility being pulled, my automated backups were no longer occurring and initiating a manual backup sometimes would not work. I wanted to upgrade my WordPress install urgently, so I investigated other methods of backing up; rsync and mysqldump. After getting these processes to work, I joined them up with the best way to automate them; cron jobs.

“rsync + cron = rule”

As I was twittering my investigations of automating my backups, I got a reply saying that rsync is “the cat’s ass“…and it really is. Since setting it up, I always have a current copy of what is on my host (even from the root level!) backed up on my local hard drive. Even the data backup utility by mediatemple couldn’t touch how awesome this was.

rsync is really the way to go when cloning your stuff on the web as it doesn’t backup from scratch. Instead, rsync synchronizes the destination with the source and does so in a smart manner only replacing/copying files that are new or different, and by doing so, it saves a lot of time.

How to setup rsync + cron

Note: the following tutorial is applies to Mac OS X 10.5 and is for advanced users. It also requires some knowledge with the terminal. If you don’t understand any of the steps, feel free to leave a question in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer it.

1. The first step you’ll need to take is enabling ssh access on your grid-server. You can find out how to do this on Media Temple’s Knowledgebase.
2. Once you can successfully ssh into your grid-server, open up your favorite text editor and type in the following lines:
   #!/bin/bash
   rsync -aze ssh serveradmin%domain.com@s99999.gridserver.com:/home/99999/ [insert destination path]

   Obviously you need to do some editing so that it works with your account…

   • Replace the domain.com with your primary grid-server domain
   • Replace the two instances of 99999 with your gridserver account number
   • Insert a destination path in place of [insert destination path]. An example of a destination path is:
     /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/samlu/Backups/new
3. Save this file as something to the effect of: name.command
   This will save it as a script which should automatically open in the terminal and execute the rsync command.
4. Try running this file, if you get prompted to enter your account password, it means you’ve definitely entered the first part correctly. Enter your password and wait. If you get the message [Process Completed] with no major errors, it probably means everything worked out great. Navigate to the destination path you set and if it looks like a mirror of your grid-server, everything did work.
   

   At this point, we have rsync working, so now we will get the other part working; automating it through a cron job.

5. To automate this through a cron job, we will need to create a file which will be our crontab (short for cron table). This file is essentially the schedule that the cron process refers to on what tasks to do (feel free to refer to this article if you’d like more info).

   To make setting up this file easier, download this file which will act as your template for your crontab.

6. After downloading the sample crontab in the previous step, open the file (sample-crontab) in your favorite text editor. When it’s open, you should see the following lines:
   #min    hour        mday    month       wday   command
   #!/bin/sh
   00      15    *   *  * open /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/samlu/Backups/mt.command

   The way this is actually set up is like a table. Disregarding the second line, you will notice that the first column will be the minute, followed by the hour, day, month, weekday, and command. Currently, the job I have scheduled runs at 3:00pm every day and it opens up my script mt.command.

   For simplicity’s sake, what you want to change here is the path to your script (remember, it is an absolute path so you will need to start from /Volumes like I did). If you’d like to change the frequency and/or time this job runs, please refer to the article I linked to earlier.

7. If you haven’t already, move this sample-crontab file into your home folder (the same location your terminal defaults to when you open it).
8. Now we will “register” this schedule to the cron process. Open up a new terminal window and since this file should be in your home folder, just type the following command:
   crontab sample-crontab

   Now the job should be scheduled and at 3:00pm everyday a terminal will open up asking you for your grid-server account password so that you can establish the SSH connection.

Ending Notes

If all went without a hitch, all the files on your grid-server will now be automatically backed up! There is one thing to note here though; if you have any databases setup, they are not yet being backed up only with what we set up here. Stay tuned for the next part of this tutorial when I outline how to automate mySQL database backups on the server side and then will be included as part of your rsync backups.

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A few days after installing Leopard, I looked into ways to make the menubar solid again. I found one program, but I did not like the method in which it made the menubar solid. OpaqueMenuBar basically took your current wallpaper, painted a white stripe on the top and replaced it for your desktop background. Not a bad idea, but it required refreshing which became annoying, and would mess up the aspect ratio of the wallpaper because it turns out it didn’t overlay the white stripe, but made your wallpaper shorter and added the white bar at the top. I didn’t really like the method OpaqueMenuBar took, so I just lived with the transparent menubar for a while.

Then came along an actual fix by Steve Miner. This fix isn’t for the lighthearted though as it directly modifies a system file. To make your menubar opaque, all you need to do is run the following command in terminal:

[Warning: Not entering the entire command can be dangerous. We are editing a sensitive system file which can possibly cause your mac not to boot up afterwards if you screw this up.]

It will ask you for your administrator password since you are editing a system file. If you choose to play along and enter your password, restart, and you should see your menubar with a solid background.

Unfortunately, what this fix does though is make the menubar background a solid white. Apparently the subtle gradient is gone, but Many Tricks has created an app that adds a gradient to the menubar and even allows you to control the colors of the gradients. Add this app to your login items and you’ll never have to worry about this again.

Update: I’ve found out that the ’1′ at the end of that command above controls the color of the menubar. Entering the following will make the menubar a nice grey which is pretty close to the average shade of the menubar from Tiger

And a preview of the result:

You can also try entering other values between 0 and 1 to see the different results. However do be careful that you don’t omit with any other part of the command. I’ve learnt that this is a very sensitive file in that if you delete it, your mac will not boot up anymore! The plus about going this route is that you no longer need the app which overlays the gradient over your menubar.

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In Tiger, you were limited to one space unless you downloaded Virtue Desktops. It worked really well, but I didn’t find a real need for it because I already got used to hiding windows and using Exposé when I had a bunch open.

With it integrated natively into Leopard, I figured I might as well take advantage of it. Spaces is nearly the same as Virtue Desktops. However, now that it’s system integrated, moving windows from one space to another feels better. To move windows from one space to the other in Virtue Desktop, you could see all your spaces laid out in a HUD with outlines of the different windows in each space. Spaces in Leopard takes this further by displaying thumbnails instead of just outlines, similar to Exposé.

Currently, I have 4 spaces set up which was the default number. I don’t see a need for any more although I really only use 3 spaces actively; one for Mail and iCal, the second for iTunes, and the third for browsing. When doing actual work, the roles of these spaces do change (eg. I’ll use Photoshop in the empty space, maybe use TextMate in the iTunes space, etc). It’s nice to switch between tasks quicker now with Spaces, I’m not sure how I neglected Virtue Desktops in the first place.

Since introducing Spaces into my workflow, it took a while to kick the habit of actively hiding windows when I did not need them (especially for iTunes, and Mail). However, I realized it was more efficient to just leave them open and just switch to that space when I wanted to flip to the next song or view my mail. I could do this all from the keyboard too which is nice.

In Virtue Desktops, there was a feature to “stickify” applications so that they’re available in all spaces, I’m glad this feature is also available in Spaces in Leopard as I like to keep Adium accessible since it would be annoying to have to switch to another space just to reply to an IM, and it doesn’t take up too much real estate.

Have you utilized Spaces yet? How do you have them set up?

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Unfortunately, the browser was unstable when browsing certain sites, so I wanted to revert back to the version 2. Apple cleverly bundled an uninstaller with the Safari 3 beta download, so reverting back should have been a cinch right? Maybe if you are lucky.

If you’ve reverted back to version 2 and found Safari constantly crashing seconds upon loading, it is likely not because you didn’t successfully “revert”. It could possibly be an input manager which you added prior to installing Safari 3 beta. An example of an input manager is Piclens, which I advocated. (Note: it’s possible that installing the newer version of Piclens may actually fix the problem. If it does, please leave a comment on your experience)

How do I get rid of said input managers?

If you’ve fallen for one of those mac shareware bundles, you may already have AppZapper installed. It’s easy to remove input managers through AppZapper; simply expand the menu to the point shown below, and cautiously remove input managers you suspect could be the culprit. (I found that Piclens was the culprit for me)

If you do not have AppZapper, not to worry, you can still remove input managers the old fashioned way. Just open up Finder and navigate to the following path:

Hopefully after removing an input manager or two, Safari 2 should be working a-ok.

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PDFs are the common denominator

My scenario yesterday required me to fax two hard copy documents which were signed by myself and my witness. This required scanning the document, so if you don’t need to scan anything or if you already have your document in PDF format, feel free to skip this section.

When I scanned in my documents, I used my scanner the PC which saved it in PNG format. To continue, we’ll need to convert this to a PDF in order to make the fax as organized as possible or else it can possibly turn out out of order on the receiving end.

To convert something to a PDF, try to print the document. In the print dialog, you should see a PDF button like the one below:

As shown in the screenshot, the option you’ll want to go with is Save as PDF. Save the PDF in a location you’ll remember and all in one directory.

One fax is better than multiple faxes

Next, we’ll want to merge multiple documents into one so that the receiving end doesn’t end up with a bunch of unordered faxes which may even be interrupted by another incoming one. Since I scanned in two documents, I still ended up with two PDF files after converting them. If you have a multi-page PDF that is ready for faxing, feel free to skip this step.

To merge PDFs, I used Automator. Below I’ve included an Automator action which I’ve already made. Upon running it, it will ask for the PDF files you’d like to merge. Select the files (Note: You will only be able to select multiple files from one directory. If they are scattered, move them into one directory) and it will open up the merged PDF in Preview.

Once the merged PDF opens in Preview be sure not to close it, you can choose to save it, but if you’re not a pack rat, move onto the next step.

Let’s fax that PDF in a few clicks

Now it’s time to fax this puppy! With your PDF open in Preview, proceed as if you were going to print it. In the print dialog, you should see that same PDF button from step 1. Click on it and you should see the option to Fax the PDF from the contextual menu:

Next you will see the dialog to configure your settings for faxing:

Here’s a breakdown of what these fields are:

• To: Enter the fax number you are sending to here (without area code)
• Dialing Prefix: Enter the area code of the corresponding fax number here
• Modem: Select your dial-up modem. Pre Intel-era Macs should have internal modems built in.
• Presets: If you want to save/load your settings for this dialog…
• Fax Cover Page – This section will send a cover page preceding your fax. It’s a good idea to send a cover page to help separate your fax from other incoming faxes.

Once you’re done filling out those fields, plug your Mac into a telephone jack, click Fax, and you’re done!

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Ever since I got my iMac, I have not been using my iBook that much. I’ve only used it when I’m on the go, or if I ever want to do some coding or surf the internet from the comfort of the sofa. Even then, those occurrences don’t happen that often during the summer. However, now that I’ve found out about teleport, I can use my iBook alongside my iMac to take on minor tasks so that I can alleviate some system resources on my iMac.

Installation is simple and I was able to control my iBook from my iMac’s mouse and keyboard within a couple of minutes. All that is required is to install teleport on both machines, open up the required ports if you’re running a firewall, then activate it. Below is a demonstration video of how useful this application really is.

Besides being able to control multiple Macs at once, teleport also allows you to drag & drop files between machines. There is also an encryption feature for obvious security reasons, but I don’t think I will personally be needing it, as consent must be given before you can link up two machines with teleport.

For those who would like to try this on other machines with different operating systems, I’ve learnt that Synergy has the same functionality and is also cross platform, but I chose to try out teleport instead as setup for Synergy doesn’t look as simple.

You can download a preview release of teleport at abyssoft’s website.

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1. ColourMod Dashboard Widget
   

   The ColourMod Dashboard Widget has really been a time-saver for me. It’s purpose is to replace that time consuming task of opening up Photoshop just to use the colour selector to find values of a colour (hex, rgb, etc.)
   As you can see, it provides all the information about a colour which you can select straight from the widget. It’s great for when making stylesheets, and the cost is even better, it’s free.

2. Vanillasoap’s Capture Widget
   

   Vanillasoap’s Capture Widget is the most convenient screenshot capture utility I’ve ever come across. It’s small, which makes it non-intrusive. A good thing when taking screen captures. This widget is also quite functional, it can take a capture of the entire screen, a window, a selection, and you can also toggle whether to capture the Dashboard or your desktop. It also saves these screenshots in a variety of formats. Also another free widget which is being hosted here as Vanillasoap’s site is under construction.

3. Photo Drop
   

   If there ever was a super-widget, this would be it. Photo Drop can prepare images for you with a number of effects at your fingertips in a matter of seconds. It can also crop and resize images simply and easily. I encourage you to head on over to their website to see the different effects it is capable of, and view both of their demonstration videos on how it can be used alongside the Transmit widget for quick upload of images prepared by Photo Drop. In fact, all the images you see here in this post was prepared by Photo Drop. A really cool widget with a lot of functionality. Also a freebie.

Are there any other extremely useful widgets that have found a permanent home on your Dashboard?

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PicLens

I first stumbled upon PicLens while harmlessly browsing through the Safari extensions available at PimpMySafari.com. Their website described PicLens as a plug-in which was capable of:

• Viewing photos in full screen with a single click
• Glide between photos from within full screen mode
• Play a slideshow of image search results and photo albums
• Browse online photos with your Apple® remote

Now the nicest thing any author of a browser extension can do is also make it simple to remove, just in case it isn’t your cup of tea. Cooliris, Inc. the authors of PicLens, made removal simple so I felt absolutely no harm in trying this plug-in out.

After I finished installing the plug-in, browsing photos on the sites which support PicLens has been really nice. I’ve found myself utilizing this plug-in most for viewing photos in full-screen, especially in Flickr where being able to view the details on a high-resolution photo is a treat.

The way PicLens has also been designed to integrate with Safari makes it such a cinch to use as well. It integrates into your browsing experience by overlaying a simple little button on the bottom left of a thumbnail when you hover your mouse on it.

PicLens overlays a tiny button in the left

To view the photo in full-screen, simply click on that button, and in Mac-like fashion, your screen zooms into the photo and the full-screen interface of PicLens.

PicLens allows you to view photos on the web in full screen

The full-screen interface is similar to the how iPhoto works in full-screen, and it works well. Big playback buttons are located in the bottom left to control your slideshow and you are free to skip to another photo in the thumbnails laid out in the row below. To go back to your browser, just click on the ‘X’ in the top left corner.

I’ve been using PicLens for over a month now and being one of the few extensions of its kind, especially for Safari, it’s a keeper.

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