STFU && RTFM

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:
 

1. Release iOS from its iTunes shackles
• Since I first started using iTunes, way back when, it quickly became my default go-to music library and player, pushing WinAmp off my computer for good. I am happy with that choice, though these days most of my music listening no longer happens in iTunes. It happens on my iPhone, and on my suite of Sonos devices at home, and sometimes on Spotify. So what, then, am I on about, you ask? What I am on about, is that if I want to transfer music from my computer to my iPhone, I need to use the same computer that I did the last time I did that, or else I can only add music if I delete my entire library (Yes, I know there are ways to get that content off, but frankly, I shouldn’t have to). Now, there is a very simple and very obvious solution, to which our accounts are already tied: iCloud. Another solution may be to simply allow access to that part of the file system.
2. Give us access to the file system
• Come to think of it, why not give us access to the file system itself, and allow all apps to use it, regardless? OK, I guess you might want to keep the applications store buttoned down, but otherwise, I have never understood the rationale behind not allowing the end user access to the file system.
3. Allow users to set default programs
• For most of my browsing on iPhone and iPad alike, I prefer to use Google Chrome, for several reasons, like user friendliness, a preference for the user experience and the fact that I can log into my account and store my bookmarks across devices. I’ve been using Mailbox for email for a while (more on that in a later post), and I might want to set that as my default mail client. I very rarely use the Videos app, though I do use CineXPlayer quite a bit. The list goes on, and I think it is time to give us the benefit of the doubt.
4. Allow interaction between apps
• One of the main reasons for the success of the various iDevices, is the fact that, since day one, there has been a rich ecosystem of apps. However, the biggest drawback of this ecosystem is the fact that the apps are very limited in what they are able to do with regards to cooperation. Beyond being able to call upon other apps from an app when transferring a file, there is little to no option for interaction.
5. Set any song as my ringtone
• The iPhone is a a direct descendant of the iPod, a music player, and indeed, it features a music player. So, if my phone is a descendant of a music player, and actually features a music player, why can’t I use one of the songs I have on said music player as my ringtone?

 
A few other writers have had a little (or big) something to say about this before the WWDC. Check them out:
 

• Everything Apple Needs to Introduce at WWDC to Appease the Internet
• Skeuomorphism Isn’t iOS’s Biggest Problem
• It’s Time For Apple To Treat Us Like Adults
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 | Posted by razumny | Categories: iPhone OS, Op-Ed | Tagged: iOS 7 |

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:
 

• Open System Preferences
• Open Users & Groups (the first entry on the System line)
• In Finder, find the image you want
• Drag it into the profile picture box

 
Once you’ve done that, you will need to crop it, and then you’re done!

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.

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 commbination Cmd+Shift+G, then enter the path you want, e.g. /var/db/receipts:
 

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:
 

1. Delete FotoStation from the application folder
2. In Finder, click Cmd+Shift+G
3. In the dialog box, enter /var/db/receipts
4. Scroll down until you come to the entries starting with com.fotoware...
5. Delete the files called com.fotoware.pkg.FotoStation7Installer.bom and com.fotoware.pkg.FotoStation7Installer.plist

 

 
That’s it, you are now ready to install the version of FotoStation for which you have a license.
 
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.

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.

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:
 

• Open Sense
• Open the project you want to export
• Click the “Extras” button, then click “Copy project summary to clipboard”
• Paste the resulting export into whatever program you want

 

 
The script shown here, is the most basic program known, a “Hello world!”-program. Here is how the output looks:
 

—————————————————————–
Project name:
—————————————————————–
Stage has 1 stack
—————————————————————–
when_green_flag_clicked
{
pop_up_warning “Hello world!”
stop_script
}

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.

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:
 

1. Open the FotoStation configuration, then go to the Dialog builder (under Metadata)
2. Choose and open the editor you want this to apply to
3. On the left-hand side, under Editor Properties, check the check-box marked Auto-exec Macro, then select the macro you want

 
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.

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.