Last week’s post was dedicated to a look at what I think Apple should have done in iOS 7. Now for a look at what exites me about iOS 7:
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Blog
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What I like about iOS 7
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What Apple should have changed in iOS 7
With last week’s iteration of Apple’s WWDC, they announced a new version of their mobile device OS, iOS 7, with the focus being on a major redesign, and a move away from skeuomorphism. Now, sure, the redesign looks nifty and all, but you know what? I was pretty happy with the old skeuomorphic design. Changing it, well, I could take it or leave it, really. There are other, more nuts and bolts things that need to change if iOS is to stand a chance in the future. Here’s what I want, in order of priority:
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How to: Set any picture as your profile picture on Mac OS
For the longest time, I had been annoyed that I was unable to set a custom image as my profile image in Mac OS X. After all, it’s my machine, and it’s a fairly basic function; I should be able to simply browse to it. As it turns out, you can’t simply browse to it. You are left with two choices: Use one of the default images, or drag and drop an image into the image box in Users & Groups. Here’s how:
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Clearing FotoStation Quick Search history
FotoStation stores all searches made in Quick Search, displaying previous searches when a new search is made. You may, however, want to clear this history. This is done differently on the Windows and Mac versions.
On the Windows version, open the File menu, choose Preferences, then Clear quick search history.
On the Mac version, click on the arrow next to the magnifying glass in the Quick Search field and choose Clear.
Caveat lector: I used to work with support at FotoWare. This blog is my own space, I am not paid to write it. I write about FotoWare and FotoWare products because I believe in them. -
Access hidden folders on Mac OS X
As of Mac OS X Lion, Apple made a number of changes to the visibility of various folders, most notably the /Library folder.
For a number of troubleshooting tasks, you may need to access these folders, and luckily, there is a fairly simple way of achieving this. Simply use the hotkey commbinationCmd+Shift+G, then enter the path you want, e.g./var/db/receipts:
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Downgrading to a previous version of FotoStation
As a FotoWare Customer Support Engineer, one of the issues I see on a somewhat regular basis, is that users have installed the most recent version of FotoStation, without having a valid license for that version. Simply put, if so, they will not be able to run FotoStation. On Windows, you simply uninstall the new version, install the version for which you have a license, and, as they say, Bob’s your uncle. On a Mac, however, you need to also remove the .bom and .plist files before you can install the version. Here’s how:
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Sense: Referencing files from wherever you want
In Sense, you can reference a list to control what your program does. By default, the [line X from_file “file.txt”] references the Sense project folder, but it can reference one of many locations. How this works differs on Windows and Mac, but the approach is much the same.
The way you do it, as you can see in the screenshot above, is that you simply enter the path you want to reference. On Windows, that would look like this:c:\result.txt, while on Mac OS X, it would look like this:/Users/Example/Desktop/Sources/results.txt. Keep in mind that you can address any mounted share on either platform. -
Exporting Sense scripts as clear text
As part of my studies, I have been “programming” in Sense, a version of Scratch, the graphic programming environment developed at MIT. The programs developed in Sense are stored as .sb-files. Now, the problem is that these files are only readable by the program that made them (and Sense programs are apparently not readable by Scratch). The problem this poses is that I can’t be assured of being able to read the files when, at some point in the future, I might want to.
Luckily, Sense, and presumably Scratch, too, has an export facility, allowing you to export the program you’ve made to clear text. Here’s how:
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Color Factory estimates the time left to process the files in queue
Curious how much longer you can expect to wait before Color Factory has finished processing your files? If you go to the Operations Center, you will see a monitor, telling you the estimated queue time remaining:
Keep in mind, though, that this is only an estimate of the time remaining to process what is currently in the queue. If you have channels that output to the input folders of other channels, you can expect the time displayed to be wrong.
Caveat lector: I used to work with support at FotoWare. This blog is my own space, I am not paid to write it. I write about FotoWare and FotoWare products because I believe in them. -
Applying a metadata macro when saving metadata
Did you know that you can apply a metadata macro when closing the metadata editor?
FotoStation’s metadata editor can automatically apply a metadata macro after adding metadata to a file. Here is how you activate that option:
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Copyright, copyleft and copywrong: the way forward
A while back, I wrote a post about how the term intellectual property theft lacks semantic foundation, and argued that no such thing actually exists. Instead, I pointed out that the correct term would be intellectual property infringement. Part of the problem, when talking about intellectual property, is that, depending on where you are, different rules exist. While that in and of itself would not necessarily be a problem, I feel it is a problem when laws in one country are changed for the sole reason of harmonisation with those of another country.
Norway, where I live, has a copyright time of the creator’s lifetime plus seventy years. It used to be fifty years, but that was changed to conform with US copyright law. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem, if it didn’t serve to hinder the spread of Norwegian culture. The way this happens is insidious and not a little nasty, and it happens the most with books. A lesser known author has a book published, which sells moderately well; enough so that he earns some money, but not enough so that the publisher wants to reprint it.
A few years pass, and interest wanes. The book is out of print, and the publisher doesn’t want to risk the cost of another edition. The author, relatively unknown as he is, does not have the clout to push the publishing house to reprint. Fast forward to the author’s death: The book is still out of print, and interest is at an all-time low, with the result that a reprint is out of the question, even if the publishing house was interested.. Fast forward another seventy years, and interest is now relatively non-existent.
Here we come to the heart of the matter: Interest is not non-existent based on the quality of the work. It is non-existent because no-one knows the book was written in the first place. I see this as a grave threat to all culture, and in particular that culture which is so tied up in the language.
In the title of this post, I mentioned a way forward. Here it is: Instead of making still stricter copyright laws, make them less strict. Make it lifetime plus, oh, I don’t know, say twenty-five years. That’s the legal side of things. However, the author can also do something here. When publishing a work, do so under a Creative Commons license. Share the work.
I can, of course, see the counter argument from the publishing house, which goes something like “What? Are you crazy? How are we to earn our money?” It’s a fair question, but the answer is as simple as I think it is obvious: When writing a contract with an author; all rights of publishing usually (in Norway, at any rate) revert to them ten years after the last edition was published. At that point, the publishing house is out of the picture, and the author is left with a choice: Cling to the right granted by law, or offer the work up to the public at large.
I’m not saying it’s a perfect solution. I’m not saying it wouldn’t lose you money. It isn’t and it might. However, if you turn it to your advantage, it might not. By giving away one book when publishing another, you can hook readers in, get them interested, and, in effect, sell more books.
There are no simple solutions. This is one suggestion. Whatever you do; make a conscious choice, and do what feels right.