monday 07 may 2007
Dear All -
As always, a warm welcome to new readers of this newsletter, going out to well over 400 people now around the globe - most of you are clients - thank you.
The Mac Doctor is now well into his fifth year of operation, so it's time for a holiday! Please note that I will be away from Mac Doctor Towers from friday 18 may until tuesday 29 may 2007, inclusive. Please don't have any disasters during that time!
And no, you haven't missed one, there was no Newsletter in April.
Important updates from Apple:
Security updates have been released for OS X 10.4 and 10.3.
Remember, you should be running - OS X 10.2.8; or 10.3.9; or 10.4.9 - update you machine using Software Update (in System Preferences if on 10.2; in the blue Apple menu if on 10.3 and 10.4).
If you are running System 9 and your work is important to you - please plan your move to OS X. Your machine is unlikely to last forever, and the current Apple Macintosh computers (Intel-based) do NOT run Classic (System 9 inside OS X). You are in a cul-de-sac in computing terms, and approaching the end of the "sac").
"Leopard" OS X 10.5 is now scheduled for release in the autumn (due to programming effort being taken away from the team and applied to the iPhone team (it self due for release in june in the US)).
Here's today's bit of technical talk:
Internet addresses - a semi-formal explanation
There are two main forms of addresses on the internet - addresses to SEND something (eg email), and address to GET something (eg a web page).
Addresses to SEND an email are of the form: @
The can be anything - usually a name "hugh", or "sales", or "jemima.smith". Note it can have a full-stop, or a dash or an under_score, but it cannot have spaces, apostrophes, colons, or commas in it.
The part will always have at least one full-stop in it. It can have more. The last bit of the address will be one of about 220 codes. The common ones are the 192 (or so) country codes (eg. .uk, .fr, .us, .ca, .ws, .tv (UK, France, USA, Canada, (Western) Samoa, Tuvalu), or 19 (today) generic top-level domains - such as .com, .net, .name, .coop, .biz.)
Addresses to GET something, typically websites, are part of a wider address space for all sorts of things (resources) on the internet. The most common is a website page, but other things include files, and other more abstract things (like collections of resources, people, places, etc)
Website addresses fully look like this: http://domain
where domain can be ANY of the following: example.com, www.example.com, example.com/first_page, or even user:pass@example.com:992/animal/bird?species=seagull#wings
The "http://" bit tells a program what protocol to use to access the resource (in this case HTML - the language of webpages). (Examples of other protocols are "ftp://" for file transfer; "afp://" for AppleTalk file transfers).
Note that email addresses and the first part of web addresses are case insensitive - it makes no difference to type Hugh.Browton@themacdoc, or hugh.browton@THEMACDOC, or huGh.bROwton@ThEMaCDoc; it's all the same. Using lowercase makes it clear that it is an email address or website and not something else. Note that capitalisation DOES matter after the first / of a webaddress. So www.themacdoc.co.uk/Firstpage points to different place from www.themacdoc.co.uk/firstpage
Some interesting programs
Find any verse in the Bible
http://www.biblewidget.com/
Periscope
Freeverse today announced Periscope 1.0, a new low-cost webcam application for Mac OS X. Designed for simplicity, the new software allows users to easily configure the Mac's built-in iSight to document a day, protect a home, or keep an eye on the kids. It brings together Apple's hardware, software and services such as .Mac, AppleScript, the iSight, Mail, iPhoto, and even the Apple Remote, to create a new tool for security or just for fun. Users can configure Periscope to monitor a room and email a picture when it detects motion or sound. Or they can configure Periscope to take a photo every half-hour and upload it to a .Mac webpage, Flickr account or FTP site -- easily allowing users to create a time-lapse movie. Periscope is a Universal application and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. It is priced at $30.
Quandir releases Daydreamer 2.1 webcam capture utility
April 24 - 12:21 EDT Quandir Solutions today announced the release of Daydreamer 2.1, a new version of the company's webcam capture utility software that enables webcam users to take pictures of current conditions at specific locations and then post them to the Web at regular intervals. "Daydreamer 2.1 expands on the picture-saving feature introduced in Daydreamer 2.0 by allowing users to save all downloaded pictures, not only the latest," says Don Carlile, founder and president of Quandir Solutions. "Version 2.1 also fixes several bugs, avoiding corrupted movies and improving handling of URLs that have non-standard characters." Daydreamer 2.1 requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later, and retails for US$20. [ Email this story ]
For those of you using CDs to back-up the following might be of interest.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29489
Oh, and speaking of back-ups.....
Yet again a machine (only 18 month's old) came in with a request to recover files from the hard disk, which subsequently failed during its time in the workshop. The client had no back-up of his work, and his final thesis was due in in 5-days' time. This is the second time this has happened - REMEMBER - it's not IF your hard disk will fail, it's WHEN your hard disk will fail. I was able to recover a handful of files - taking a few hours of computer time, and the disk had to be sent away to a data recovery copany - the bill will probably be in the range of £500 to £1000.
If your work/data/information/pictures on your computer are important to you - ensure that you have an active back-up regime.
Laptop batteries - again!:
If you have a recent MacBook, or MacBook Pro - please read this.
Apple in a recent official statement admitted that some batteries used in its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks may have performance issues. The Cupertino-based company was quick to point out that these issues do not present any kind of safety risk, and immediately provided a software update to improve battery performance for all MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks purchased between February 2006 and April 2007. Apple recommends all customers who purchased MacBooks, MacBook Pros, or extra batteries between those dates run the update, and has promised to replace any battery sold between the above dates that still displays specific symptoms after the software update is properly installed.
"Apple has recently discovered that some batteries used in its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks may have battery performance issues. Apple is offering a software update that is designed to improve battery performance.
The battery update is available immediately via Software Update or downloadable here.
Note: The factors causing the performance issues do not present a safety risk. You may continue to use your current battery.
This battery update should be run on all MacBook and MacBook Pro computers and extra batteries that were purchased between February 2006 and April 2007.
If, after you have installed the battery update, your battery has any of the symptoms listed below, please make a reservation to bring your computer with its battery to your local Apple Retail Store, or contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), or call your local Apple Support Contact Center.
If Apple or an AASP determines that your battery is eligible for replacement, you will receive a new battery, free of charge, even if your MacBook or MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
For MacBook and MacBook Pro systems with Intel Core Duo processors, this program extends repair coverage on the battery for up to two years from the date of purchase of the computer.
Identifying an affected battery
Affected batteries will have one or more of the following symptoms:
* Battery is not recognized causing an "X" to appear in the battery icon in the Finder menu bar.
* Battery will not charge when computer is plugged into AC power.
* Battery exhibits low charge capacity/runtime when using a fully charged battery with a battery cycle count (as shown in System Profiler) of less than 300.
* Battery pack is visibly deformed.
OK, that's it for the moment. Any questions - let me know!
Best wishes to you all, and thanks for being Mac users
hugh