I'm Moving

After much deliberation I am moving to a new blogging platform. This site will remain up until I can move all my archives over. Please head on over for the new posts! :-)

GZD

http://geekzendaddyreviews.wordpress.com

AppZapper

I install a lot of stuff. I am always looking for better tools and toys to use. Since I come from the Windows world I am used to having an uninstall process for most everything. Now, while that process was often painful, it was there.

When I moved to the Mac world I made a bad assumption. Since installing on a Mac is usually drag and drop an icon, I assumed that uninstalling was the same way. As I discovered recently when you delete an app from your Applications folder lots of things are left behind. All this leftover stuff won't necessarily have any affect on your system, but it does steal hard drive space away from you.

I tried a few uninstall solutions out there and basically they all worked, but I wasn't sold on any until I found AppZapper. AppZapper is easy to use, just like installing, to uninstall anything you just drop it's icon onto the AppZapper icon or window as shown below.
AppZapper opens up and tells you everything that is associated with the app, where it's located and lets you deselect portions of the list.
So far I have not deselected any items when I have used the program, but I am sure it will happen eventually. After my 5 free zaps were up I was so pleased with the experience that I bought the app for $12.95. It's a small price to pay for the ease of use and peace of mind that things are not gumming up my system.

http://www.appzapper.com/

Clocky - The alarm clock that runs away

Ohhhhh you evil evil thing! Go to Clocky.net to read more about the runaway clock!


Clocky® (patent pending) is an alarm clock that runs away and hides if you don't get out of bed on time. When the alarm sounds you can snooze one time. If you still don't wake up, Clocky will jump off of the bedside table, and wheel away, mindlessly bumping into objects until he finds a spot to rest. You'll have to get up and out of bed to silence his alarm. Clocky will find new spots everyday, kind of like a hide-and-seek game.

Clocky alarm clocks were designed to reinterpret the common alarm clock into something that is not stressful and obnoxious but amusing and a better fit between humans and technology.

アップル - Macをはじめよう - New Get a Mac Ad's

Wow, this is too cool!  The Apple "Get a Mac" ads are now on in Japan.  Of course they are in Japanese, but the cool thing is they are almost perfect recreations down to the light piano music and a Japanese slacker guy.  Aaaahhhhhh cool :-)

http://www.apple.com/jp/getamac/ads/

Great intro to OS X video

Recently I came across a great video via http://www.digg.com. I can't embed google video for some reason, so the link is below. Here is the description in the authors own words..


"This is a demonstration of what the Mac OS can do, particularly if you are a new user to the Mac or if you've never had one and are wondering what it can do for you or if it is something you would like to try." - Seanadb - http://www.beggs.ca/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1189432741672174507&q=macos+x+demo

Quickies :-)

No, not that kind, get your mind out of the gutter :-) I a few pieces of software that I have used recently and they all work really well. But as one trick ponies, I am going to put them in one post as I have not been able to post on a regular schedule lately and I don't want to forget to tell you about them. So, with out further adieu ...

Spirited Away : Since I am always juggling lots of programs at one time, I fill my launcher bar up fast. Well, Spirited Away helps this. The program checks my minimized programs for use and if I haven't used them in a while it hides them making more room.... sweet :-)

Menu Shade : Menu Shade is pretty cool to get a clean desktop. It takes the bar at the top of the Mac screen and changes the color and sets a transparency level as well. The bar becomes full visible when you hover the pointer over it. This is good for taking screen shots or just for admiring your wallpaper in a more pristine environment :-)

Desktopple : Desktopple is a screenshoters best friend. This one trick pony hides everything on your desktop to take clean shots. This is great when you need takes shots for a work presentation but don't want them to see your Star Wars icons or funky wallpaper. This program will also hide everything before you hook up to a projector and show your prospects too much :-)

Dead.licious : If your like me you have a lot of bookmarks. In fact last time I checked I have over 1000 up at del.icio.us. Do I have the time to check them all for dead links? Heck no! Well, Dead.licious takes care of that for me now. Oh, and surprisingly on my last check, 1300 and all still good. Wow! lol

Tadpole... iPod protection for toddlers

Recently I came across the Tadpole by Ifrogz. This is very cool as I have always been afraid to give my son my iPod to use, but am torn since I am not a real fan of toddler type music :-) I was going to get my son one of the Fisher Price tape players but then realized.... we don't own tapes, lol, plus I really dread audio tape being strung all over the apartment. Alas, anything I give him needs to be digital.

The Tadpole has large handles making it easy for kids to hold, tons of silicone for the inevitable drops and a hard screen cover to protect the screen from markers and gouges from other toys in the area.



This comes out in November and I will be getting one very shortly after that to let the little one test :-) I'll let you know how it goes and if I need to replace my iPod or not. Cross your fingers!

Amnesty Generator

Since I was going into widget stuff last week I have decided to do one more.... the last for a while ;-) Soooo you can't find a Dashboard widget that you like. It happens. you pop over to you Google personalised home page and see that cool too and say to yourself, "gee I wish I could always have this available without a browser." Tadaaaa a problem that needs an answer. In walks Amnesty Generator and says, "heck I can do that.", and it does.

Amnesty takes any Google widget and makes it a Dashboard widget very quickly. I made 5 widgets and put them on my dashboard in less than 5 min. Pretty cool.

Here is a screenshot of the creation screen that I used to make one of my new widgets.



This program is very easy to use and works very well. It comes highly recommended for when you want a little cross-platform widget action :-)

George Foreman USB iGrill- SSSwwwweeeeeettttt!!!!!

My newest find on ThinkGeek.  I love their stuff! 

 

Main Description

Price: $99.99 Availability: [ info ] In Stock Quantity: Buy this and earn 475 Geek Points! [ what's this? ] Be the first to send us an action shot of this item! Zoom Cooking For The Web Set The low-fat, high-bandwidth solution to your networked cooking needs is finally here. The George Foreman USB iGrill conveniently connects to your home or office PC using USB 2.0 technology, and provides a sophisticated web-based cooking interface. Download recipes, enter in the type of food, weight and desired degree of doneness, and the iGrill handles the rest. Did you know that a medium rare 1/4 lb. hamburger made from 80% lean beef takes 1 minute and 45 seconds less cook time than an identical patty made from 95% lean prime Black Angus? The iGrill does. As your meal cooks, the subtle glow from under the unit increases brightness and pulses faster until your meal is perfectly done. Running late at work? Need to get dinner on the table? It is easy to warm up the iGrill from any internet connection. With a little advance planning, your meal can be ready when you get home! Using the USB current to directly charge high voltage capacitors, the iGrill does not require any additional power supply, making it perfect for dorm or office cooking.

InsomniaX - The Missing Mac App

Did you know you can close the lid of your Mac laptop without it going to sleep? This is cool, well OK not so much cool and very 1999 (on Windows). This was one of the things I missed when I stopped using my old NEC laptop and started using my iBook. If it does exist in OS X, I have never figured out how to do it. This is a great tool, go get it! LINK




From the site.....

Version: 0.3

Description:
It always has been a missing feature: disabling the sleep mode on a Apple Laptop. Who does not want to use it as a big juke-box or go warwalking. The best looking server ever, especially at about one inch height. This small utility is what you will want, this small utility acts as a wrapper to the Insomnia kernel extension.

Perian for Quicktime

Perian is a great set of plug-ins. This was a gem of a find. I use Democracy Player to watch a lot of TV and vlogs. I really disliked the fact that on 3 or 4 out of 10 shows I would have to jump out of DP and launch VLC to watch the video. Well, after installing this last week, that number has dropped down to 2 out of 10. Not perfect, but better :-) Apparently DP likes it too since they are going to bundle it in there next version.



perian logo">

Perian is a free plugin that enables QuickTime to play almost every popular video format.

Download Perian 0.5

Note: Perian requires 10.4.7. If you have problems mounting the download, make sure that it is a .dmg and not a .dmg.bz.

With Perian installed, any OS X application that uses QuickTime can now use these additional media types:

• Divx, XviD, FLV, AVI
• MS-MPEG4 v1, MS-MPEG4 v2, MS-MPEG4 v3, DivX 3.11 alpha, 3ivX, Sorenson H.263, Flash Screen Video, Truemotion VP6
• These formats when they are inside an AVI:
  h.264, mpeg4, AAC, AC3 Audio, and VBR MP3.

Letterman's Review

OK, well not quite what manufacturers want to see.... but this is great!

Quickie Review - Locker Widget 1.1

Quickie Review - Bluecouch Software - Locker Widget 1.1

Locker widget has one purpose. When you double click it it locks your Mac. This may seem silly, but it really is useful for when you have to go grab that latte refill at Starbucks and leave you iBook on the table or when your in the library and have to go 20 feet away to get that next reference book. Simple, elegant, free and most import it's a universal binary so it will run on the older Power PC systems and on the new Intel versions of the Macs. Go grab it!

From the web page....

Locker is a Dashboard widget. It has a very simple and limited usage: When you double click it, it will lock your computer. You will end up at login window, just as if you had used the fast user switching menu item.

Apple Battery Recall

Looks like this list was updated. Everybody.... go check em again :-)

LINK at Apple.com

Battery Exchange Program iBook G4 and PowerBook G4

Apple has determined that certain lithium-ion batteries containing cells manufactured by Sony Corporation of Japan pose a safety risk that may result in overheating under rare circumstances.

The affected batteries were sold worldwide from October 2003 through August 2006 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4.

Apple is voluntarily recalling the affected batteries and has initiated a worldwide exchange program to provide eligible customers with a new replacement battery, free of charge. This program is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and other international safety authorities.

Identifying your battery

Please use the chart below to identify the battery model and serial numbers that apply to your iBook or PowerBook. If the first 5 digits of your battery’s 12-digit serial number fall within the noted ranges, please order a replacement battery immediately.

To view the model and serial numbers labeled on the bottom of the battery, you must remove the battery from the computer. The battery serial number is printed in black or dark grey lettering beneath a barcode. See photos below.

Computer model	Battery model number	Battery serial number range
12-inch iBook G4	A1061	ZZ338 - ZZ427 3K429 - 3K611 6C519 - 6C552 ending with S9WA, S9WC or S9WD
12-inch PowerBook G4	A1079	ZZ411 - ZZ427 3K428 - 3K611
15-inch PowerBook G4	A1078 and A1148	3K425 - 3K601 6N530 - 6N551 ending with THTA, THTB, or THTC 6N601 ending with THTC

Click the images for a larger view.

Widget Dilemma - Part II

Here is a great posting / set of directions to get widgets on your desktop for free.  This doesn't create a new program, but it temporarily moves them from the Dashboard layer to the desktop.  It's pretty cool and works very well.  From Ask Dave Taylor I present to you the solution.....

It's not only possible, but it's pretty easy and darn fun! Here's what you need to do...

First, open up Terminal (Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal) and type in the following, exactly as you see here:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

You can just copy and paste from this Web page if you're concerned that you might type in something incorrectly, of course.

You'll get another regular system prompt within Terminal if it works, there's no other output to the defaults program.

Now log out of your account by choosing Apple --> Log Out, and log in again (You need to restart Dashboard).

Ready for the fun now? Press f12 to bring Dashboard up, then drag one of your Dashboard widgets around. While you're still dragging it around (that's critical: keep that mouse button down!) press f12 again.

Poof! Your Dashboard vanishes, but the widget's still visible. Move it to where-ever you want on your screen and it's there, running, fully functional, without the rest of Dashboard around!

The whole article can be accessed here... LINK  I thank Dave for a great how-to tutorial....

Widget Dilemma

Widgets are cool. Widgets are fun.  One problem, when you use them you loose track of everything else on your Mac because those cool widgets live on another layer.  Why?  I dunno but it's a pain I tell ya :-)  The Dashboard, area where the widgets live, might as well be on another machine for all the convience of working with it :-)  So, I went a questing again for something to fix the problem.  I found two good solutions, one for $9.95 and one for free.  They are different approaches but both get the job done.  In this post I will talk about Amnesty Singles.

Amnesty Singles is a drag-and-drop utility to convert widgets into small stand alone applications.  The created applications give you the options on size and refresh rate.  The refresh is very important as many widgets rely on constantly updated data to perform there tasks.



I tried this out on several widgets and all worked flawlessly.  I was very pleased with response time and I will be registering this software soon as it is well worth the $10 for the ability to run with out using Dashboard.

Flash Bags - USB flash drive with a twist

I would love to test these in person, but I have not found a US distributor.  Perhaps they will show up on Ebay :-)  I found a blurb about these drives on Boing Boing.  The drives inflate as you add information to them to give you there status at a glance instead of checking through My Computer in Windows or More Info on a Mac.  Kinda cool.  Go check em out!

	flashbag USB Flash Drives with micro pump

Blog News

Namaste!

Well, as I alluded to in a previous post I have indeed split the blog again.  We now offically have the "GeekZenDaddy Network" :-D  Going forward I will be posting Buddhist and Zen items here.  I am doing this to make my life and my readers lives easier.  So, head on over if you want to see, it is up and running.  In fact, I already have 8 or 9 posts over there to get the ball rolling :-)

Yours,

GeekZenDaddy

Spambox.us

Hello everyone! Today I have quickie review of Spambox.us which I just heard about the other day. Spambox.us is a website that allows you to setup a "fake" email address for a specified time from 30 minutes up to year. Once a mail is sent to the "fake" address it is forwarded to you real email address. This is great for places that you have to sign up for to access, after all BugMeNot will not work for everything :-)


Here is a real example from my own life. My wife and I had a disagreement about who the band playing in a TV commercial was. So I found this great site and sure enough they had the answer for us. Oh, yeah, and as expected..... she was right :-) BugMeNot did not work for the forums in which the answer was, so I had to register. If I had known about this site at the time, this is what I would have used.

Last.FM - Not ready for prime time

I use Last.FM at work on my Windows PC. It works great. Basicly Last.FM is a service a lot like Pandora in which you set up sreaming radio staions and they provide links to buy the music that you like. The largest difference between them is the implamentation. Pandora uses a java applet on a webpage and Last.FM requires you to install a player.



The mandatory player is very buggy on OS X at this point. I tried setup on a Mac Mini (non-intel) and on my G4 iBook. In addition I had a friend attempt the same setup on his Intel based iMac. On bot the Mini and iMac the installs went as planned with no errors. However when we attempted to run the program it would launch and the shut down with no errors at all. I was not even able to install Last.FM on my iBook at all.



We tried installing from a clean boot with nothing else running and rebooting after install to see if the program would run. No success. At the moment it looks like Last.FM is not ready yet. I will report my findings to there tech support and see if we can make it work. I will update this review as new information becomes available.

It's Sept. 11th

Bow your heads and remember the event that changed America forever. Hold no malice since hatred only creates more hatred but remember.

SnapNDrag - Screen Capture

Since I have started to even consider doing a reviews blog I have seen the need for a good screen capture tool. I have been playing with the Mac print screen key combo, but it is awkward and does not give me any control on what to capture or when by using a timed shot. I came across SnapNDrag via Google search. It looked simple, flexable and fast... just what I needed. This software delivers just what it says. I dropped the file into my Apps folder was up and running in about 30 seconds. There is a setup feature, but it's really not needed. This program just works. Just click and drag as the below image shows. There is support for multiple file formats PNG, TIFF & JPEG are included.

SnapNDrag is designed to be simple and intuitive. There are four buttons on the left side of the window. The buttons correspond to these four modes of capture: Selection - lets you select an area to capture Window - lets you select a window to capture Screen - capture the entire screen Timed - capture the entire screen after a delay

The above picture and verbage is from their website. After using this for two weeks doing hundreds of sample screen caps, I give this package 5 out of 5, honestly there is no way to improve. If they add more into it the program would slow down or become more difficult to use. Truly a great program and I highly recommend that you go to Yellowmug and get a copy for yourself!

Cool Meditation Software for the Mac OS

Meditation Timer

After questing around the web to find a meditation tool to help me in my sitting I discovered there aren't many out the for the Mac. I came across Meditation Timer at the Mac Update site. It looked like it would do the trick so I gave it a whirl.

I have been using the software for about a month and a half and it works great. Basically its a simple countdown timer with a few extras. The software allows you to set a delay before start, a gong or bell noise at specified intervals. You can use your own sounds in mp3 format from your personal collection or from sound repositories on the web. Here is how from the included help file....

Adding Sound Files:
You can add your own sound files easily by adding an MP3 to the resources folder. Right click meditation timer, select "Show Package Contents", and open the 'Contents/Resources' folder. Drop MP3s here and Meditation Timer will automatically detect them.

The coolest feature is that you can export your sessions to iTunes. That means you can drop the mp3 on your iPod and sit in a park or anywhere else without the need to take your Mac with you :-) I have tried this at work using my headphones during lunch. The headphones distract me but the feature is great if you have a small set of portable speakers to plug into your iPod.

This program has become a part of my daily meditation sits due to the KISS factor. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The only thing I thing would add to improve the program is bundling mp3 importation into the program. If you meditate give this a try, I feel you will be very happy with it.

Welcome Everyone!

Welcome one and all to my new review blog. I split this off of my main blog because I would like to do a lot more reviews of software and gadgets but felt that the audience who wants that does not want to see my opinion on the latest Paris "Squinty" Hilton scandal. (BTW - busted for DUI last night) You can always hit up my other blog for that kind of stuff at GeekZenDaddy :-) And now..... on with the show!