Mac@Work : The Ultimate Business Machine

The
Ultimate
Business Machine

Technology, business
and innovation.

And, not least, about
the Mac.

Weblog • Archive • Cutedge

by: Bernard Teo

Wed 12 Mar 2003

'Secret' Screen Shots

Category : Technology/screencapture.txt

Just want to capture this before I forget. Typing Shift-Command 3 will capture the whole Mac screen into a preview file. Shift-Command 4 gives you cross-hairs to define the area of the screen that you want to capture.

But what's cool is hitting the space bar after Shift-Command 4. With this, you get a camera you can use to hover over a window, menu, or even the dock that you want to capture. Clicking the camera will capture just the window, say. No need now to go into Photoshop to crop out the window from the rest of the image. A great time saver. (Attribution : ClubMac).

Posted at 2:20AM UTC | permalink

Tue 11 Mar 2003

Java 1.4.1

Category : Technology/Java141.txt

This has finally been released. Though it won't mean much (yet) to regular Mac users, this is an important milestone. It's important that Apple has kept its promise to keep OS X level with Sun on Java releases - it feels better to work with someone who pulls his own weight. Apple's developers have kept on improving OS X. It's probably the most exciting platform to work on now.

The Java side of Applet support appears to be in place, but I still can't get into the DBS site. It may need an update to Safari.

Posted at 2:06AM UTC | permalink

Mon 10 Mar 2003

Debugging AppleScript Studio

Category : Technology/applescriptdebugger.txt

Very soon now, I'll be able to release a tool that will let people turn on their built-in mail server in the most Mac-like way I can think of - just by clicking a button. But I'm experimenting further with AppleScript Studio because it's got a lot more use going for it - AppleScript, the sheer fun of using Interface Builder, and the ability to do Unix-level things - this is a potent combination. There's nothing quite like this anywhere else. Even a bug in the AppleScript debugger (it's simply not functioning) hasn't dampened my enthusiasm.

Posted at 7:39AM UTC | permalink

Sun 09 Mar 2003

Hello Siva

Category : Commentary/siva.txt

I was showing Siva my set up and enjoying it. I was showing him how easy it is to update a weblog. I'm linking to his home page. He writes well. It'll be great if he has a weblog. Remember, bloggers use Macs.

Posted at 3:49AM UTC | permalink

Fri 07 Mar 2003

AppleScript Studio and the Unix Shell

Category : Technology/applescriptstudio.txt

The first time I set up OS X's mail server, it took me a whole evening. I've done it about four times in all, so far, and each time I'm getting faster. Now I think it's possible to write an installer that will do it in two minutes. But I'm trying to avoid having the user edit SendMail's config files by hand. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong here.

I'm experimenting with using AppleScript Studio to create an interface to collect the necessary configuration parameters from the user, e.g., the domain name and the name of the user who will be the postmaster. The hard part was the writing of the Unix shell script to do all the installation and that is mostly done. Now I just have to link the two together. Then I'll have a totally Mac-like SendMail installer. Mail services in under two minutes.

AppleScript Studio is proving to be really fun. I can see a lot of use for this, e.g., installing an accounting system written in Cocoa that needs to link to a MySQL backend. You can drive things at the Unix level invisibly while keeping the why/are/we/back/in/dos people happy.

Posted at 12:32PM UTC | permalink

Mail Server

Category : Technology/mailsetback.txt

I pulled back the notes I released yesterday about installing OS X's built-in Mail Server. I found two problems. I had a folder containing SendMail config files and a pre-compiled POP server binary. I found that it is possible for Stuffit to mess up file permissions. On OS X, one should create Stuffit X archives to make sure the permissions are not screwed. Second, just learnt something more about SendMail. I wanted to make the installation so Mac-like - like double-click and the mail server is all set up in one minute.

Will have to work harder.

Posted at 5:29AM UTC | permalink

Tue 04 Mar 2003

When Next We Rendezvous

Category : Technology/rendezvous.txt

For some Mac users, the command line certainly looks evil - /why/are/we/back/in/dos as someone puts it. But we have the best of both worlds. With BBEdit, I can do this from the command line :

[iBook:~] bbedit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

It'll allow BBEdit to open a file that is normally hidden. This is the Apache Config file. It contains things that look like gibberish. But, with BBEdit, we're now in familiar Mac-like territory. I do a Search for "RegisterUserSite", and make the following changes :

# RegisterUserSite all-users
# RegisterDefaultSite
RegisterResource "The Ultimate Business Machine (Mirror)" /roadstead/weblog/

i.e., comment out the first two lines but add a third. What that does is to tell the Apache web server to list "The Ultimate Business Machine (Mirror)" in Safari's Rendezvous menu.

Now when I next meet with people, I can have a local copy of this weblog show up in everybody's Rendezvous menu in Safari, even if we have no Internet access. Neat.

Rendezvous Menu in Safari

(Credit : James Duncan Davidson's Weblog for this tip.)

Posted at 6:16AM UTC | permalink

Page Sender

Category : Technology/pageSender.txt

While writing the previous weblog, I had a mail delivered from my server. It contained a fax in pdf format. Someone had faxed me something and my server took it and mailed it where I can pick it up. It's so convenient.

I had forgotten to include PageSender in the "Using Macs in Businesses" scenario. It works a lot more reliably than FaxSTF. And it's a lot better designed. This is another great productivity tool. I'll have to update that article.

Posted at 1:50AM UTC | permalink

Mon 03 Mar 2003

Luca - The Romance of Double-Entry Bookkeeping

Category : Commentary/luca.txt

I had been thinking about a name for an accounting system we had developed. While reading "Jamming" by John Kao, I came across Luca Pacioli, a lesser-known Renaissance figure who used the newly-invented printing press to popularise double-entry bookkeeping.

A quick search through Google turned up fascinating pieces about the man himself, The Romance of Double-Entry Bookkeeping, and a very interesting article called Accounting for Knowledge Management, from which I quote :

The task of the accounting profession, in relation to intangible assets and knowledge-based enterprise, is less about counting than it is about giving an account - telling the story of both tangible and intangible assets in meaningful ways, for both managers and markets.

"Telling the story of the figures in meaningful ways". So, Luca is it.

Posted at 9:04AM UTC | permalink

Fri 28 Feb 2003

How Businesses Could Use Macs

Category : Commentary/UseMacs.txt

A Mac Business Toolbox simply lists the tools available on OS X. But it may not have quite succeeded in showing how they can all come together to work for the good of a business. So I've tried again - this time through depicting a scenario in which each of the tools could be brought into play. Maybe this will do better.

Posted at 12:44PM UTC | permalink

Thu 27 Feb 2003

Are developers coming back to the Mac in droves?

Category : Commentary/developerdroves.txt

Back in the Amelio days, you're always reading about how developers are leaving the Mac platform like rats from a sinking ship. How about the reverse - when developers come back in droves? That somehow doesn't seem equally newsworthy. But the signs are there.

James Duncan Davidson reports on the audience interest after his talk at the Austin, Texas, Lone Star Software Symposium :

"The using Mac OS X talk went over well - it always does and I have so much fun when I give this talk. I had a good share of the total attendance of the symposium, people asked great questions, and the crowd left visibly more enthusiastic about the Mac as a platform than they were when they walked in.

"The subjects that really caught everybody's attention were Rendezvous and Cocoa. Programmers that grew up with Java and Windows development tools always drop their jaw when you show them the quick and efficient Interface Builder style of development. And they always ask the questions that I asked when I first played with IB: "Why hasn't any Java IDE or toolkit done the same kind of thing? Why wasn't Swing designed so that it would complement being developed using such a tool? Especially given that the concepts have been around for so long!""

Why, indeed? But the smart ones won't wait. Look for gems at Version Tracker (and laugh at the duds at Perversion Tracker).

Developer interest drives innovation and makes the platform as useful as it's ever going to be. This is a good thing.

Posted at 6:28AM UTC | permalink

Zen and the Art of Weblog Maintenance

Category : Commentary/zen.txt

I don't know who reads this weblog. But I'm doing this as much for myself, as for others.

I think more people should try writing weblogs. It shouldn't be self-indulgent but should at least contain things that are worth people's time reading. You'll need discipline to keep to a subject matter. But that will enforce clarity in thinking. If, by writing a weblog one learns to think clearly, that will be its own reward.

Now, it's so hard to chase those ideas before they disappear, the last thing I want is to let technology get in my face. Once I'm done, a quick

rsync -tvr -e ssh /path/to/weblog/docs user@domain:/path/to/weblog

(triggered from BBEdit's menu) is all I need to get this on the weblog.

Looks ugly, but it keeps the weblog on the "real" server synchronised with the copy I have when I'm not on-line.

Reminds me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You can find beauty in technology.

Posted at 5:02AM UTC | permalink