With all the iPhone junk out there I was wondering when wordpress would have a portable entry client. MTedit has one and that was available from day 1.
But I’m swamped with social apps right now – it’s like the tower of Babel – emphasis on the babble. Maybe I can integrate all the SOapps here. Hmmmm.
Author Archives: owlgarden
this space that space
XO Key Commands
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the Ctrl key has a solid diamond on it
the Alt key has an open diamond on it
the Esc key has a white × inside a black circle
the Tab key has double arrows on it
the Tilde key has a tilde on it
the Frame key has an open rectangle on it
the F1 key is the same as the Neighborhood view key
the F2 key is the same as the Group view key
the F3 key is the same as the Home view key
the F4 key is the same as the Activity view key
the Delete key is the same as Fn-Erase.
the Page Up key is the same as Fn-up-arrow
the Page Down key is the same as Fn-down-arrow
the Home key is the same as Fn-left-arrow
the End key is the same as Fn-right-arrow
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Keystroke Description
Alt-Tab Ctrl-Tab Cycle forward through running activities
Shift-Alt-Tab Shift-Ctrl-Tab Cycle backward through running activities
Ctrl-Tilde (See discussion) Cycle forward through running instances of the current activity
Shift-Ctrl-Tilde Cycle backward through running instances of the current activity
Ctrl-c Copy to clipboard
Ctrl-v Paste from clipboard
Ctrl-x Cut (and copy to clipboard)
Ctrl-a Select all (current input/dialog/text box )
Ctrl-q Quit activity
Ctrl-Esc Quit activity
Alt-Enter Toggle full-screen mode
Alt-Space Toggle tray visibility (works in Browse but not in Record)
Ctrl-u View source in Browse (opens copy of source in Write)
Fn-Space View source (system wide, although not enabled in all applications yet)
Ctrl-Alt-Erase Restart Sugar
Alt-1 Screen capture saved to Journal
Ctrl-Alt-F1 Console 1
Ctrl-Alt-F2 Console 2
Ctrl-Alt-F3 X Windows
Esc-Frame-RightArrow-Fn (the four corners keys on the keyboard)
Recalibrate touchpad (AKA Four finger salute); Fn should be pressed last.
Fn-UpArrow Page Up
Fn-DownArrow Page Down
Fn-LeftArrow Home
Fn-RightArrow End
Ctrl-BrightnessDown Backlight off black & white mode
Ctrl-BrightnessUp Full brightness color mode
Ctrl-VolumeDown Mute
Ctrl-VolumeUp Full volume
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Browser Stuff
If you’re using a Mighty Mouse you may want to be careful about that scroll ball- the horizontal scroll is page back/forward when used to view a page. I switched mine out for a Kensington rf Mouse with scroll wheel and it works pretty well. I actually bought it because it was orange colored.
Use the space bar to scroll a full page and the up/down keys to scroll slowly.
Backspace does NOT run back to the last page viewed, and bookmarking is scant at best (save stuff to the journal if you need to) Of course this will keep the kids out of much of the internet’s “funky” side- but I’m not sure if that is good or bad.
I think actually it would be better to have a full out version of Seamonkey (formerly the full version of Mozilla) available to users. I kow Firefox/Opera is available but
the advantage of having Web/Mail/Composer in one place might be useful.
This Browser crashes especially while trying to switch from one Richly endowed page to the next.
Forget reading mail on .Mac. Flash will load but it is oh so not pretty, and higher demanding video crashes stalls or sputters.
So keep it simple on this browser. Newpapers and Google searches and of course the OLPC wiki work fine.
New Category – XO Hints
Hi folks –
I added a new category dedicated to my personal journey with the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop.
My experience/advice/hints and associated tidbits of information are derived from
a background of attempting to manage *nix operating systems and applications.
(BSD Unix/Apple mainly with a smattering of Ubuntu and a kickstart from having an
opportunity to work at MIT for 10 years from 1987-1996.)
I have an G1G1 XO laptop and after spending a couple months with it, I thought I’d post some hints about using it- what i like or don’t like about it and just some general thoughts about computing in general that specifically relate to this interesting and controversial topic.
I’m not sure if I’ll just simply add stuff here or create a new section, but I suppose I can do whatever I like since I am the MASTER of MY DOMAIN.
XO UnBoxed
XO XO XO
Hugs and Kisses, Everyone!
No no no no no no…this isn’t about hugs and kisses.. although what a nice sentiment.
I’m talking about the XO laptop. 
I’m waiting for this box to show up with a lovely little green laptop inside , which kind of replaces the 12″ G4 that I sold off last year, and though for my purposes- the iphone does what I needed a laptop for, i’m looking forward to a device as small and useful as the EMATE 
The eMate was a Newton in “user friendly clothing”. Without an XO on hand to accurately talk about the experience, I can talk about the emate since I used one as a laptop from 1996-1999. It was quite a wonderful device. In an era of 10bt ethernet getting upgraded to 100bt- the emate had two pcmcia ports which allowed dialup and networked capabilities with a Farallon card. It also used IR (like a Newton) to print to particular IR laser printers. And the software set was awesome, a text editor, spreadsheet, calendar, addressbook and draw program. Tons of Newton Games (i liked startrek the best) and user friendlyness, Very good handwriting recognition (but it had a keyboard) and tons of battery life. It had a web browser and AppleSpeech – so it could announce
meetings! But -in retrospect- the coolest part was the development environment. I’m not a programmer but anyone who
opened up the Newton Dev kit and read through the process would get a great running start at object oriented development.
Persistent memory, Soups, and GUI all integrated to make a foundation for programming a Newton easy- and understandable from a non programmers perspective.
I know the XO will have various environments for programming. It’s not meant to be an “adult” laptop but i can see the adoption coming once these things (and especially Mesh Networking) become sociable. Social websites, like MySpace and FaceBook, LinkedIn and etc etc. could get a meaningful extension once collaboration via Mesh becomes commonplace (indeed the computer revolution is turning the corner on the MY COMPUTER generation- we’ll be using MY NETWORK instead-
the extensible computing ENVIRONMENT)
So even though the XO is primarily an education device- i think we’ll see it extend beyond that- not in commercial capacity (leave that to Intel) – but in a social capacity- a geek toy for kids- that will ultimately, not necessarily, be used
to extend the network of the world.
Leopard Prowling
The Fed-Ex guy showed up with my copy of Leopard yesterday morning, so of course, I immediately popped it into my iMac and began the upgrade. Now, as a guy who upgrades computers for a living, I should have run a backup, but I’m kinda out of extra disk space-my
important mail is on .Mac, iTunes music is on completely different computer (and mirrored nightly), and I have archives of photos and
docs which are safely backed up elsewhere on the aforementioned disks (in various forms). So I booted into the installer/ran Disk repair
(which didn’t need any repair) and Permissions repair (twice-just to be sure) and then went into the installer selecting “Archive and Install” So I’d have a nice fresh system and all my stuff put back in.
Well, about t-10 minutes, the installer balked on Epson printer drivers and gave me the instruction to run the install again. Rats! I thought. So I went back to the installer selected the Archive and Install again- but went under options and turned off all the printers except Canon and Gutenberg (and turned off the language translations-this is about a gig of files you don’t want if you use your mac in one language) And reinstalled. Of course it finished up- and rebooted….and when it booted up-
TA DA – A brand new OS, but the archive/reinstall was bungled and my typical user account was vacant. A quick looksee in the disk hierarchy showed a previous systems folder with TWO archived systems – one from the first attempt- and one from the second.
To make a long story short…I immediately made an Admin/support account- logged out of my (empty) user account/deleted it and then moved my old user folder to the new Users folder
Recreating the account it asked me if I wanted to reimport a user folder with the same name. So i did.
Indeed, this is what I wanted to do- however- I have about 30 gig of Samples and plug-ins I use regularly and these are not stored in the User account but in the Library folders. Also-none of my old apps made it. (200 +)
After logging out and back in…I went to Applications/Utilities and found the Migration Assistant. I ran that- but here’s the rub- I had
-48.6 gig of space to move the stuff to. After deleting some unnecessary folders (like the second installs’ archived system folder and a temp folder of pkgs.left nakedly outside the Previous folders) I did what I do for a lot of folks- upgrade my Library and Applications by hand.
This involves a lot of password invoking drag and drops and reading the “do you want to replace the file” notices very carefully-
you don’t want to update a Leopardy new file with a Tigery old one. I had to wait till I got home from the days work (picking up some repaired guitar amps from Stan, checking on iPhoto printing with a customer, and fixing a FW issue in windows and protools.)
I’ve done it by hand many many times for lots of folks- and myself before- but I will say that this went pretty well since there’s a lot of potential to lose key settings and files if they aren’t put back in the right place. Apple systems are very very sensitive to having the hierarchy having the right permissions for Users, Applications and Libraries talk to each other. Changing things like folder names/ Hard disk names after an install can blow up everything if you change the wrong thing (and even if you move stuff ever so slightly) so you have to be careful doing this. Folder by Folder- compare and think what is being added/replaced or
So now I have a working system- but it did take quite a chunk of time (about 1.5 hours for the install/reinstall of the OS) and then another 3-4 hours of moving testing and checking serial numbers of my pro apps to make sure they worked.
After moving some types of files it’s helpful to reboot every now and then to make sure they take correctly.
Considering I used to install Unix stuff by hand using nothing but a terminal…this is still a much better way ( i know some geeks would have resorted to the terminal to fix this bad install) then what used to pass for a failed installation routine.
Good Bad Scorecard:
Apple installer – bad- for the bad epsondriver issue- turn off unneccessary items like printers and languages you don’t need.
Reinstall – bad -for not recognizing an archived system already there. (i know why- it should have just skipped the driver install if it was bad)
Leopard in general- Good- easy to drag and drop- friendly to files moving into the “upper” hierarchies
The Dock- Bad- i turned the shelf off. I can’t get to all my apps- My Gumby app folder icon is now an alias, the fan is stupid.
Speed- Good – Leopard is snappy
DRM- Go Away-Playlist
The battle is on. This playlist represent a conglomeration of current events that seem to point toward a DRM free world.
But what will that mean? Bands put out their own releases for free and folks can share the music? Vendors like Apple and Amazon and Universal sign exclusives with folks who release stuff you can’t get for free and without restriction? Private networks usurp public networks to create “local” file sharing peers? New music excluded from being “used” in internet radio?
Artists make less money than ever? Will the RIAA dissolve into a muddy toxic puddle of self-implosion?
Think and then think again.
1) Radiohead releases “pay what you will” album.
2) RIAA gets a big win against p2p filesharer.
3) Amazon mp3 download store selling DRM-free music at “lower than iTunes” prices.
4) Apple iTunes store lowers some prices on DRM-free higher bit-rate music.
7) Internet Radio under seige- will it all be Creative Commons licensed music?
8) The iPod evolves into a more than a portible music device. Who can compete with that?
All of these issues add up to one big competitive mess in the music business. Hopefully nobody will try to license brainwaves
anytime soon.
By the way -all the music at MY music site is free: theIntensions
Just one more thing…..
I’ve had a few days with an iPhone and I’m very impressed with the form factor and the interface, not so impressed with ATT’s service options, a skinny features set, and so I have to list what I hope will show up in a subsequent system update.
Let me backtrack a bit and explain that I was a devout Newton user for much the 90’s. I used an eMate
ultimately (I had also used an MP, an MP100, and a 130) which had extraordinary battery life, serial and printer access,
a pcmia slot and very efficient software/developer tools and a devout community behind all of it.
I totally understood why Apple dropped the Newton in shoring up the product line and killing a huge drain on resources on an elite sort of tool, but it was an awesome device that incorporated a lot of what is present in the iPhone, although the iPhone is truly in the “baby” stages of functionality.
The Newton did a cool thing where if you filled in some information you could get access to that information in another application easily.
Data, such as contact information, was saved in a “soup” and you could draw from that “soup”
in any application that need it. So if you needed to use an address in a letter, and that address was in you
address book, you had immediate access to it- you could even drag and drop it in (the clipboard in the Newton allowed you to “dock” text strings and drop them anywhere).
You’ll notice the lack of “save” buttons in the iPhone. This is a result of persistent memory,caching and (hopefully) smartgarbage collection.On the iPhone there’s this Notes application, but it’s really not what people expect to have to Jot things down. It’s just kind of lame function wise. You can’t even print from it. WTF?
Besides, the Landscape keyboard thing is NOT pervasive on the iPhone and I would list that as the number one
future feature implementation.
I’ve already sent feedback to Apple about features to be implemented so I’ll list them here and add a few more
suggestions:
I’m hoping a software update is forthcoming.
I’d like to see:
Ipod music manual management, drag and drop
The iPod on the iPhone doees not behave like an iPod. It should. This is not a “little brother” like the shuffle,
It should be a full featured ipod.
Better Dock connector support
(my monster cable will only charge but not route audio
through the connector..as does my 3 g ipod) I should be able to play this iPod through my computer and my
monster ipod adapter.
Some software tools for the camera pre-photo capture.
The camera is nice, but it would be better if you could dabble with exposure controls a bit. Since there’s no flash,
this would help in the available light situations.
A widget manager for new software, and a way to turn off software I don’t want.
Uh SMS? I’d rather have ichat….can’t I just get rid of it?
Newton Style Speech and Text tools….
I want Victoria or Fred to read me my calendar. Drag and Drop clipboard and selection. A better keyboard or
incorporate configurable gestures.
Other Stuff
File management. Bluetooth Sync. Disk mounting. Network browsing, Printing, Flash support, RSS support.
I’ll add more as I think of them…
This is an OSX based machine, so I would think Pages and Keynote (maybe mini versions of such) would find their way
here…
-that’s all for now-
owl
2683 items found for apple iphone in Cell Phone
With the Boston Stores sold out of iPhones by July 4th, I took a look at the scammers on craigslist selling
4 gig units for 600 or 700 dollars (delivered):
“Have extra unopened 8GB iPhone I bought for my twin sister who no longer wants it. I went to the Apple store yesterday and they said the 8GBs are sold out so don’t wait and get it ASAP. Can meet you in Watertown or Harvard Square.”
And Ebay’s listings are mind boggling….this certainly reminds me of a Christmas Season when I worked at Bradlee’s (now Target in Watertown) and all world was needing,wanting despairing for that Ugly Cabbage Patch
Doll for little Judy. I remember the store had a shipment of like one box. (10?20? but only 5 were put out
by the staff, the Manager and the Department managers scooped up the rest before they hit the floors)
Meanwhile, in the holiday rush people were offering gobs of $$ to have these horrid things by Xmas.
At least the iPhone doesn’t come with a Birth Certificate and Adoption record…
The big blog spiel right now (folks who really want one, but their store is sold out….) is the ultimate put-down
for Apple: “I’m waiting for version 2″ . Will there even be a Version 2? Hmmm. Methinks the geek/goon speculation index is being influence by the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. I suppose the next version will have a 32 gigabyte sshd, a pedometer, A tachyon particle analyzer, Mammography sensor and Cigarette Smoker detector.
I’m sheepishly on the fence about the iPhone, yes i want one, no I don’t want to spend the money.
FYI, remember today’s iPhone is tomorrow’s pet rock.
Just to put in another good word about the defunct Newton. I did email on it, I had terminal services on it, I had a web Browser on it. Data was pervasive as were some fundamental apps (like address book). But even better was when i started it thing up it would tell me :” July 5th 2007, No meetings today, no events today”
This is something today’s iPhone doesn’t do (maybe in a software rev…) This was 10 years ago!
jeez…..