From TidBITS this week: a review of OfficeTime, another time tracking app for OS X (Windows version in beta). From what the review says, it has more features than our current tracking app, On The Job, including iCal integration, report generation, expense tracking, and flexible category pricing (handy when doing tasks with different hourly rates.) The review was good, so I’m going to try it out for a while.
We went to see the new Harry Potter movie this weekend, and everybody in our party enjoyed it very much. I’m going to have to read all those books after all.
Carbibles.com, a site written by a non-expert in a normal (and UK-based) tone about, well, car stuff. Interesting reading. (via)
I’m doing some research on automating workflows for a client, and I figured I’d need to brush up on my Applescript. Here’s a link to the Applescript Sourcebook, a fantastic collection of tips, tricks, and lists of scriptable applications. Through this page I realized I might be able to use the Automator to build my workflow—something I hadn’t even considered. Automatorworld has a pile of workflows and actions, although it’s weighted towards the Apple-authored applications.
Update: FontDoctor, the app I’m trying to automate, crashes with a -609 error (connection is invalid), even when I use the included scripts.
Update: This error simply means the Applescript can’t run because the application crashes.
The Learn List, a beginning compilation of tutorial resources for apps like Flash, Illustrator, CSS, etc.
Here’s a simple DIY underwater camcorder housing using a surplus ammo box and some high-grade marine sealant. Brilliant.
I just did a major upgrade from 10.3 -> 10.4 for a client, and ran into a problem with two of ten machines: printing from any application crashed the app without getting to the print dialog. This problem affected all user accounts and did not go away after resetting the Printer Setup Utlility (hold down Option while booting, which nukes all saved printers and preferences.) The culprit: bad/old/flaky HP drivers. The solution: delete the “hp” folder in /Library/Printers/ . Go to HP’s site, download the latest drivers (it’ll be one package containing drivers for everything) and install them as instructed. Then go back to the Printer Setup Utility and set up the printers again. (via)
Hmm. Mossberg seems to like the iPhone. The sealed battery kind of worries me, personally. I like the ability to switch between my carrier’s data network and wi-fi. I don’t know if I’d want to pony up $100 for an extra 4 gigs of memory, but having only 4 gigs would probably get crowded pretty quick.
Gizmodo tallied up the total cost of ownership of an iPhone for the two-year minimum plan: $1974.76 for for 450 minutes a month and the 4GB iPhone. Ouch! I’ll have to add up my current phone/plan cost is (it’s only a 1-year) and see what the difference is.
I took a look at Movable Type 4 this afternoon, among other things, and poked around the documentation so far. It looks purty; let’s see if the upgrade is easy, or if it’s as nightmarish as the 3.15-3.2 point release was last year.