Category Archives: Software Review

Subler: An iTunes Metadata Editing Utility

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The Apple TV is more than just a hobby to me. When I purchased the device earlier this year I began converting my DVD library for use on the Apple TV.

As I began to import movies I found myself searching Google for poster artwork, as well manually selecting the movie genre. Unlike imported music, iTunes has a hard time importing movie art. Additionally, I wanted to include each movie’s description, but there wasn’t an easy way to find this information.

In the July 10th issue of MacLife I came across the Google utility Subler. Once downloaded simply drag the converted file onto the Subler icon. Alternatively, add Subler to the Application folder on OS X and open files from the menu bar.  Next click the search button and search for the movie. After deciding on the description and artwork click save.

The results of each search may vary depending on the movie. Once completed import the movie into iTunes and the saved information will appear once synced with your Apple TV, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch device.

A Day with iOS 4

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I have not received an iPhone 4, but I was able to download iOS 4 on June 21st. It took 20 min to download, install and sync. Others reported different download and install times. It depended on how the download was started and the amount of applications that need to sync.

It took a while to get use to using, but iOS 4 is done very well. Below is a hands on video that can explain the features much better than I can. My favorite parts to the new OS include the following:

  • Digital zoom with the Camera, being able to zoom in was certainly missing.  Now can we get some better focus.
  • Separating my apps into folders and reducing my pages to 2 is great.  It will take a bit of getting use to now that they are in folders.
  • The new iPod controls with the swipe is great as you can lock the screen position.  Being able to keep the iPod in one position while I drive makes me a better driver.

I used my 3GS with iOS 4 today at work, and despite my best efforts to conserve energy, I was down to 68% by the end of my 8 to 5 shift. My use consisted of checking RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Mail, and iPod. The iPod ran most of the day, but I made a few phone calls. The battery life, or lack there of, is not a deal breaker for the new OS.  Being asked every time I first use an app if I want to allow location based service is wearing on me.   Of course many of my apps are not fully ready for multitasking. I can’t wait for the Slacker App to have multitasking.

For a free upgrade I am very happy with the new OS, but battery life may force my hand to buy a Mophie Juice Pack. In the end depending on your iPhone or iPod Touch or how you use your device your milage may vary.  Enjoy!

Stop External Drives from Spinning Down

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I recently purchased a G-S350SUAB external hard drive enclosure from our local Boise, ID Apple reseller. I purchased a Seagate 1TB Internal Hard Drive, model #ST310005N1A1AS-RK to insert into the enclosure.

I connected the drive via the Firewire 800 cable to my 24” iMac (early 2009) running OS 10.6.3 and formatted it to a Mac OS Extended with Journaling per the PDF instructions that came with the enclosure.

All went well, however the drive continues to spin down, then immediately spin back up and repeats this process when the screen on the iMac goes black or what I refer to as in activity. Eventually the iMac will go to sleep, but upon waking the computer the drive will not spin back up causing me eventually to do a hard shutdown of the computer.

To correct this I first attemted to go to the Energy Saver preference pane in System Preferences and uncheck the “Put Drives to Sleep” option under both the Power and UPS sections. This did not correct the problem.

I then went to the Terminal and completed a sudo pmset command to set the disksleep timer to 0, thus disabling the drives function to spin down. Unfortunately, this only worked for the internal drive and a USB drive connected.

I hunted high and low for a solution to my problem, when I came across an applet called Keep Drive Spinning 1.1. As the summary notates:

“This applet simply creates a launch agent that tells OS X to touch a hidden file on the selected drive once every minute so that the drive stays awake.”

Upon running this script I set the external drive to touch the hidden file every 30 seconds. Running it any longer did not correct the problem. This applet continues to run even after a reboot or restart.

As for the drive, it works well and houses my Home Directory.  The Firewire 800 connection much faster than the USB 2.0 connection I used in attempting to house the Home Directory on an exteral drive.  The Seagage drive is very quiet.

The one negative besides the drive spining off and on is the Blue LED light indicating the drive is powered.  I would prefer not to have this or have it located in the back.  Of couse this is only an issue when I am encoding something during the night.   Since that is on the rarest of occasions I believe I can live with it.

It should be noted I have sent an email to Macally technical support and hope to update this post with their response.

Update:  I took the enclosure back to the local Apple Reseller and spoke to the owner regarding the issue I was having.  As he put it “you have gone to way too much trouble, it sounds like the power supply in the enclosure has gone bad”  So I purchased another enclosure and it did the trick.  I will be taking the broken enclosure back for a full refund.

Software Review: Better Touch, Making the Magic Mouse Magical

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Upon purchasing Apple’s Magic Mouse one will notice that the middle trackball is missing. Upon updating to the Magic Mouse Software, either for Leopard or Snow Leopard, one will notice there a few options to make up for the missing functionality of a standard mouse, after downloading Better Touch one has limitless options at ones finger tips.

Remember that missing middle trackball from the Apple Mouse (formally known as the Mighty Mouse, Ya I don’t know why Apple thought they could use that name either) after installing Better Touch your worries float away.

With Better Touch I use the 3 Finger Click to reveal my desktop and the the 2 Finger Swipe to get to the dashboard.   With Better Touch I am able to the same things with a Apple Mouse and more.  Better yet if you touchpad on a Mac Laptop you can apply gestures as well.  The best thing, the application is free, download here.