HOW TO: Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips in Windows XP
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What’s new at Google
I was beginning to wonder what was up with Google since the MSN desktop search was really doing a better job indexing my Outlook mail at work, but then Google Desktop releases a new version and life is back to normal.
I really like what’s been done with the Outlook plugin — you can search from within Outlook now ala MSN — and the results are easier to deal with from within Outlook as well. The Sidebar is also a cool addition and something I am enjoying since installing it today. You can get a quick scan at the basic Portal-type info which is nice. It’s not dependent on the browser so before you tell me this has existed in browser sidebars… there.
Last, Google Labs has released a really nice personalized home page, which is actually a portal.
Podcast AV
I would imagine as this gets easier PodCasting will begin to take a more enhanced form which will only lead to more interesting uses of the technology.
Podcast AV lets you enhance your podcasts by adding links and pictures to them. These podcasts can then be viewed in iTunes 4.9 or on an iPod with a color screen. [Old Jewel Software]
Technorati Tags: Podcasting
I want my RSS TV
This totally kicks… I’ve yet to try this, but if you can pull down the video as an enclosure in RSS, it would be an amazing tracking tool for topics of interest or just video to watch.
San Francisco-based startup Blinkx has announced its multimedia search engine will be able to notify users whenever it indexes content that matches a term the users previously searched for.
The RSS alert system, called SmartFeed, is expected to go live on Blinkx’s Web site on Tuesday. After users enter a search term on Blinkx TV, they will get the option of setting up an RSS alert for it. Blinkx TV delivers the alerts to the user’s Really Simple Syndication aggregator service as text links to the multimedia content.
Users can opt to receive content alerts for any search term from all or some of Blinkx TV’s more than 30 audio and video channels, which include BBC News, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg Television, NBC, MSNBC News, ABC, and ESPN, said Suranga Chandratillake, Blinkx’s co-founder. PCWorld.com
Why I love IE
Actually no I don’t love it… I try not to use it at all, but there are certain work-related tasks that require I do based on certain additional technological pieces also from Redmond… Even then in an almost contained online space things still break.
Server Error in '/' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.
Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a
Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's
Lovely. Too bad this site works less in Firefox.
Plays for (almost) sure
The problem was that even though it had the Plays for Sure logo, it wouldn’t work with subscription content. It only took me a few minutes to figure out why. A closer look at the Plays for Sure logo indicated this device would work with downloaded content but not subscription content. Oops. No biggie. Problem was with me or as we used to say in technical support PEBKAC (problem exists between keyboard and chair). I’m actually in good company, last summer when I was at MSFT, one of the Sr. Execs made the same mistake in front of a whole room of snickering analysts and reporters. [Michael Gartenberg]
Michael Garternberg is a smart guy, but I think he’s being way too forgiving on how things get packaged and sold. The MS Plays for Sure and Music Services in general are too complex. There’s a reason why the iPod / iTunes combo works so well… it just works.
Content is content to an end user and the collective industries need to understand that we consumers (even advanced consumers) would prefer to think less about what it is they have (codec, file format, download or subscription) and more about just enjoying what we are being asked to pay for.
Apple – iTunes – Podcasting
Thoughts on Intel
I’ve been moving at a pretty good personal clip lately and in combination with an exhaustive work schedule have not had a chance to put my thoughts down regarding the move to Intel. In short, I think it rocks!
I bought the previous lines from various keynotes on the benefits of RISC over CISC and saw the bottleneck demonstrations, the burning bunnyman etc. All that was great and yet even with the reality distortion effect in full effect, I was still left wanting more. Clearly my desire was not alone as the Apple shift to Intel hardware will enable a much greater capability within existing hardware and allow for some amazing developments – some that were probably cooking, but on back burner while waiting for IBM.
Intel is about much more than the CPU… If you are just an average joe consumer, you probably have no idea, but Intel has been developing a pretty deep platform strategy that takes the various silicon sets they manufacture and enable things to work together.
The Mobility, Digital Home and Enterprise platforms are all the same places Apple has been sighting and yet been unable to break through from a mass perspective. Windows is clearly a big obstacle to mass adoption, but the hardware is bigger in my view, given the relative eco-system of products that end up getting designed to work together (below the OS level). The work that Intel has championed on the Centrino certification program for example is astonishing. You may recall they were actually quite late to the WiFi game initially, but you only hear about Centrino and Pentium-M today, not really much about Apple’s Airport – other than it’s just in there. Centrino actually goes quite a bit beyond the WiFI and is actually a set of chipsets designed to enable longer power, wireless and multimedia. These are things my Powerbook needs today. Sure it does wireless (B/G) and can handle multimedia (2-channel), but Centrino can actually bang out quite a bit more and can most likely add hours to the life of the system. If Apple offered an Intel based Powerbook today, I would immediately upgrade – well OK perhaps after I settle on the house.
On the Digital Home front, Intel is pushing and pushing hard. The AOpen device, was designed by Intel, yet is being produced by an OEM who has been able to get the benefits of several billion in R&D. That mini-clone device can bang out much more than the current mini can – all thanks to Intel’s thinking. If you combine the Mac OS, some very capable Intel hardware and of course the Apple Magic sauce – product design and marketing – and well, I think the living room will become very enabled. In fact this is the area in which I am most interested in witnessing the change. I like the mini and it can do some nice stuff. Even without an Apple 10 foot UI to make it all slick from the couch, the mini really needs more power for basic media center functions. I want more ports (check), better integrated audio (check) and video (check) and HD capabilities (check!). If this can be done today what can be coming for us within the year?
All in all, I am clearly excited at the prospect of this change. Reports from WWDC are confirming the keynote info on the ease in which applications can be ported. I can’t see the Cringely effect, with Intel acquiring Apple to fully beat the doors off of Microsoft, but I do see a very dynamic partnership. BSD, the core of OSX, has been running on Intel for more than a few years and can apparently run circles around Windows on similar platforms. MacWorld January will certainly bring some very cool announcements – especially keeping the normal Apple delivery schedule in mind to keep things on track per the WWDC Stevenote.
Dear Steve
james duncan davidson has a great piece on the transition to Intel…
Spotlight rocks!
Spotlight is totally cool…
Once it gets an index going it unbelievably quick to track new stuff. As an example, I just emailed a link to someone, invoked spotlight and pasted it in. Spotlight found it right away… Gotta love the integration with Mail. It’s a definite advantage in using Mail vs. Entourage.
Searching for other “stuff” you know you have but not exactly where is also quite nice and seems more well focused than the search we’ve all used previously.
Safari RSS serious annoyance
Safari can’t open the page.
Safari can’t open the page “https://enteryoursitehere.com” because the network connection was reset, which sometimes occurs when the server is busy. You might be able to open the page later.
I am seeing this way too often. Trying to get an eBook, a piece of software and dealing with a credit card.. all today. Firefox does not have any issues with the same sites or pages.
Technorati Tags: Apple, Safari RSS, Tiger
Apple Posts Automator Programming Guide
Apple Developer Connection has posted its Automator Programming Guide. This 84 page tome [pdf] explains everything you always wanted to know about coding Automator Actions (but were afraid to ask). []
Quick thoughts on the Tiger update
So Tiger arrived today from Amazon, a day before they said it would, but clearly after the date I expected based on my pre-order. Anyway… installation was smooth. All told it took about 45 minutes on my Powerbook, which is the only machine I’ve worked on too make sure the kinks don’t plague other people’s worlds here at home.
I definitely had a pretty serious issue which took some time and was frustrating to work out. I’ll explain in case you find the same so you’ll have a way to work around it. I chose to archive and reinstall which I thought would be an easy and safe way to go, leaving a fresh system but maintaining a local inactive copy of my previous system if I needed to look back for something.
Mail was set to launch on startup and that carried forward so when my refreshed system rebooted Mail launched as I expected. For some reason, there was an issue (not surprisingly) with some of the bundles (plugins) I had previously installed and as a result, my accounts could not get online. It took a lot of thought and I even deleted and recreated my main IMAP account in order to try and refresh things but even after that I had nothing. Initially, I was told repeatedly by Mail that ALL my online folders (quite a few) could not be found because they did not exist. I was able to confirm they did exist through both webmail and my Treo so I knew my computer did not do something awful…
I was able to finally get past the warnings about missing folders and look through my accounts, but nothing was showing up in the message pane. Aigh… my heart was definitely sinking but I finally recalled the plugins, and nuked them. When Mail restarted, it began to import my previous messages and accounts into the new application which surprised me as I had not seen that the first time around. This took about 15 minutes but when it was all done, Mail was back to normal.
Now that Mail is back, (or actually there) I have to say I like the new interface. There are some subtle changes to how you view folders and unread messages from main and sub-folders within that I really like. The widget at the bottom is cool and gives you similar access as control-click would if you selected a single account. Spam Sieve is nicely integrated into the menus if you use it rather than having to track it down in the Script menu…. I also like the updated HTML and slide show capabilities if you receive a few images. All in all a nice update. The buttons on the bar are totally revised and I don’t really have any feeling towards them other than they feel less friendly and more computer like. I usually cruise by keyboard when possible so it does not really impact me all that much…
Spotlight seems very cool, though it’s going to take more than a few minutes. I like Dashboard a lot and think I’ll be finding myself there several times daily. Still have yet to open Automator, but am looking forward to playing around.
Still much more to play with as well as machines to deal with… overall now that my Mail issue is cleared I like it a lot! My system feels fresh and seems quite responsive too boot!
AdiumX for Tiger
AdiumX was just updated:
Adium X 0.80, a major update to its multi-protocol instant messaging application. Adium 0.80 brings a completely new status system with available messages and invisibility on supported protocols, built-in secure encrypted messaging via Off-the-Record Messaging, the long-awaited file transfer progress interface, customizable built-in Growl notification system support, blocking, customizable service and status icons, full OS X 10.4 compatibility, and much, much more
“Podfather†gets Sirius
Nice piece in the NYT about Adam Curry’s deal with Sirius… He’ll be hosting a daily 4 hour show on channel 148, Talk Central. The show will have advertising (designed to fit in with the flow) and will be all about Podcasting as you might expect. Adam Curry’s Podshow starts on May 13…
No word on whether you’ll actually be able to download the show. If nothing else, Sirius subscribers can stream if for free online if you are out of reach from your satellite radio.
Technorati Tags: Podcasting, Adam Curry, Radio
DashBoardShare.com
DashBoardShare.com like AutomatorWorld, which I just linked to is a way to share (in this case) Dashboard Widgets.
Automator World
I’m sure there will be others, but this is a great start. It’s always good to see the sharing of this stuff…
Automator World is dedicated the Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) scripting application Automator. Automator World is a clearinghouse of user-contributed Workflows and Actions, as well as Automator information, news and tips.
Tiger Roars! (soon)
Both The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and The New York Times’ David Pogue give Tiger rave reviews, even with the expected minor bits that require a future update. Spotlight and Dashboard earn the greatest attention as you might expect as does the new enhanced iChat AV which includes up to 10 party audio and 3 way video conferencing.
For me, the main draw in addition to the usual bonuses associated with an OS update, is Quicktime 7 with H.264. I am also very pumped to work through Automator. There have been too many times I’ve thought if I could just figure out a way to do that in AppleScript… I think that day is tomorrow.
Actually, having just checked Amazon May 4th. Amazon is really letting me down on the pre-order. I had yet to see any indication of shipment and just checked… what’s the point of pre-ordering?? Argh. I should have just gone with Apple… but that damn rebate got my attention.
Mail Act-On Plugin
Mail Act-On Plugin for Apple Mail.App looks like a great way to manage action with new mail. The author is using it for a GTD system and it looks pretty solid. Have to find some time to play, though at this point, you might want to wait for the official green light with Tiger given it is coming in on Friday.