I’ve found some interesting new apps for OSX:
Fugu: After months of looking for a nice, free Secure FTP client [or one that doesn't nag the hell out of you while you're trying it out], Laura linked me to this nice freeware front-end to the SFTP and SCP command-line apps included in OSX.
Celestia: This is a Mac OSX port of Celestia, which is a free real-time planetarium that renders objects in gorgeous 3D. With it, “you can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All travel in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across.”
Stellarium: Another astronomy app that shows an earth-based view of the sky, based on your current latitude/longitude.
Just in case, here’s a list of default passwords.
Problem:
You have over 15,000 mp3s that exist on a remote server, and you want to relocate them to your local machine while keeping your iTunes Library information (mostly) intact.
Solution:
After moving the files to your local machine, iTunes will stubbornly look for them on the remote host. If said host no longer has those files, iTunes will ask to locate each individual file (which is bad.)
Export your iTunes Library from the File..Export menu. I recommend doing this twice, just in case.
Close iTunes, then remove your /Users/username/Music/iTunes 3 Music Library and iTunes Music Library.xml files. [I recommend backing them up, possibly by adding them to a .sit and trashing the originals.]
Bring up the Terminal, and open the exported Library.xml file in vi [or your editor of choice.]
In the Library.xml file, look for a section named “
Perform a “find and replace” in your text editor, changing each instance of “Volumes/mp3″ to the new path, “Volumes/newdrive”. In vi, the command would be
:%s/Volumes\/mp3/Volumes\/newdrive/g
:[command]%[the whole file]s[search and replace][for this][with this]g[every instance on each line].
Note that you have to escape [\] the forward slashes, in vi.
After saving your changes, when you open iTunes you will see that it has been restored to its initial state. From the File menu, select “Import”, and choose your “fixed” Library.xml file.
Go watch a movie for the next hour.
This is a two-step process: iTunes will import the files based on the Library.xml information, and it will re-analyze each file “to determine song volume”. If some songs can’t be found, iTunes will warn you first, then continue on to do the volume analysis.
When this process finally completes, you will be left with a (hopefully) functional iTunes library, complete with star ratings. You should note that “play count” and “play-date” type information will not survive the import.
Operator: “[Apartment complex] Emergency Services, how may I help you?”
Me: “Yeah… I’ve got an emergency.”
Operator: “Ok?”
Me: “Well, the front gate to the apartment complex isn’t working and it’s locked a lot of people out. This happens once a week.”
Operator: “I’ll page someone out right away.”
Me: “That’s not really the emergency.”
Operator: “Oh.. ok?”
Me: “This is kind of embarassing..”
Operator: “Go ahead.. ”
Me: “I just drank a huge bottle of water and .. well.. I really have to pee.”
Operator: “Uhh… ”
Me: “I really have to pee. Like now.”
Operator: “Well, sir, maybe you could wait until the repair person–”
Me: “–No, this is an emergency, which is why I called you.”
Operator: “Oh, well, I –”
Me: “What’s your name?”
Operator: “Uhh it’s Ellen.”
Me: “Ok, good, Ellen, I was wondering if you could recommend any good place for me to go?”
Operator: “Oh no, I don’t think I could –”
Me: “If you thought it’d be ok for me to just go over by this tree here, I could go, and if anyone asked I’d just say that you said it’d be ok.”
Operator: “No, no! I don’t –”
Me: “Ok well what about sorta around the side of the building?”
Operator: “I uhh..”
Me: “Look, Ellen, I’m seriously damaging my bladder here. I’m dying.”
Operator: “I’m terribly–”
Me: “Well since this gate locks up once a week, don’t you guys have a procedure for handling emergencies like this?”
Operator: “Sir, I’m so sorry, but I just..”
Me: [grunting] “Ok I’ve got to go right now!”
I put the cellphone down on the sidewalk, and pour a thin stream of water out of my water bottle onto the pavement.
Operator: “Oh my.. oh, sir.. I –”
Me: “Ok, well, emergency’s over now. Thanks, Ellen. And when the repair guy gets here, see if you can get him to clean up the puddle. Bye!”
If you’re running Mac OS X (Jaguar), click here to access your internal CUPS admin page.
“The Common UNIX Printing System (”CUPS”) is a cross-platform printing solution for all UNIX environments. It is based on the “Internet Printing Protocol” and provides complete printing services to most PostScript and raster printers.”
Looking for some good Sci-Fi/Fantasy reading? Check out The Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy List.
It looks like I have a lot of reading to catch up on.
On his album “American IV: The Man Comes Around”, Johnny Cash covers “Hurt”, from the Nine Inch Nails album “The Downward Spiral”. The video was directed by Mark Romanek, who directed the original NIN video of “Hurt”, as well as “Perfect Drug”. The video can be found on Romanek’s site, along with others.
