Set QuickTime Player icons for non-standard file types
I found this great QuickTime component package callled Perian that includes codecs for pretty much everything VLC does, thus making it possible to use QuickTime Player for all my media. The problem with Perian is that files with extensions like MKV or DIVX aren't given a preview or icon, even though they open nicely from the Finder. The solution is to add those extensions to QuikTime's plist, which will associate a nice QuickTime 'Movie' icon for such files. Here's how: In the Applications folder, Control-click on QuickTime Player and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Open the Contents folder, and then open Info.plist in a pure text editor of your choosing. Press Command-F and find the string Movie-Quicktime. Now add the wanted extensions to the array of strings above the line you found. For example, I added mkv in the following example: <array> <string&g...
published on Tuesday, the 2. December 2008, macosxhints
Sailing Media Sync 1.0.2 adds G1, Xperia X1 support
Sailing Software has posted v1.0.2 of Sailing Media Sync, its phone synchronization software for Macs. The app syncs non-iPhone devices with iTunes, loading them with the music, playlists and podcasts a user chooses from. Files also retain any playcount information, which can influence future shuffling preferences....
published on Tuesday, the 25. November 2008, macintosh-news-network
Callpod adds Drone USB stereo Bluetooth adapter
Callpod has introduced the Drone, a plug-and-play USB to Bluetooth 2.0 adapter. The Class 1 output is claimed to offer a range of up to 100-meters. If a user is listening to music when a VoIP call comes in, Drone will automatically switch to voice communication. The device supports A2DP and AVRCP profiles, allowing music from a variety of audio sources such as CDs, iTunes, or Windows Media Player...
published on Wednesday, the 12. November 2008, macintosh-news-network
Final version of CleanApp 3.0 ships
Drawing its public beta period to a close, Synium has released the final version of CleanApp 3.0, its combination uninstaller and system maintenance tool. The software attempts to purge a Mac of all the files associated with a given app, including the caches and .plists that are missed when simply trashing a program. Users can additionally archive apps that may be needed later....
published on Friday, the 7. November 2008, macintosh-news-network
Print to iPod/iPhone touch via FileMagnet and Automator
A while back, this tip appeared, which I really appreciated a lot -- it made it possible for me to turn my mobile phone into a "digital paper." I use this hint daily for flight tickets, shopping lists, important emails, etc. on my mobile phone. Recently I got an iPod Touch / iPhone. Today I also got the $6 program FileMagnet for my iPod Touch. This program allows me to do wireless transfer of files to my iPod Touch (or iPhone) and view files on my iPod Touch (or iPhone) -- amazing! This was just what I needed to turn the iPod touch into my digital paper. Alas, it involves a number of steps to get a print of a complicated webpage onto the iPod. Consider my electronic flight ticket that I've just bought: First I need to print this one as a PDF from the web page where it's generated, then I need to locate the PDF, then I have to dr...
published on Wednesday, the 29. October 2008, macosxhints
Keep auto-timeout Transmit connections alive
I use a shared host which unfortunately, due to circumstances outside my control, terminates my Transmit FTP/SQL sessions after 15 minutes of idleness. Good for processor cycles, poor for my sanity, especially during intensive coding/research sessions. After gleaning the internet for a solution and finding none which worked, I decided to whip up my own. Copy and paste the following code into Script Editor, and save it as an application with the 'stay open' option checked:repeat tell application "Transmit" tell document 1 tell current session refresh list their stuff files end tell end tell end tell delay (60)end repeatIf anyone wants to follow up this with a touch of AppleScript that cycles through every connection, that would be great. This is my first AppleScript project, so woot for me!
published on Thursday, the 23. October 2008, macosxhints
Batch convert Word files to PDFs via Pages
This recent hint on automating print to PDF via Pages and AppleScript gave me the impetus to write an AppleScript for batch converting Word (or any other files that Pages can open) to PDF files (or any format that Pages can export to). Here's the script:(* Drag and drop batch conversion of Word docs to PDF files using Pages*)on open filist repeat with lvar in filist tell application "Finder" set thename to name of lvar end tell set nuname to text 1 thru text item -5 of thename tell application "Pages" activate set filname to (path to desktop folder as text) & nuname & ".pdf" ...
published on Monday, the 20. October 2008, macosxhints
emailNewFilesList2 1.2
Use an iCal recurring event to trigger the app. It is commented so that you can tailor it to your specific situation. The script will look for files that have been added or modified in the specified period of time that meet other criteria (size, type, etc), and email them in a list form. It checks new folders and subfolders, so all that you have to specify is the primary folder. This allows it to run without the constant maintenance required by using folder actions as a solution. We use Entourage, but it should be fairly easy to change to your email client.
published on Monday, the 13. October 2008, scriptbuilders
Kenbushi 7.5 media jukebox adds language support
Lava Software has the latest version of its media jukebox software, Kenbushi 7.5, which now supports multiple languages including Dutch, French, German, Spanish, and Chinese. The application allows users to organize large libraries and automatically chooses the bundled VLC player or Quicktime to play files. Kenbushi loads English or non-English file paths from the playlists onto MP3 players, phone...
published on Monday, the 29. September 2008, macintosh-news-network
Dupin 1.4 supports Genius playlists, more preferences
Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes has released Dupin 1.4, the latest version of its iTunes duplicate file manager. Genius playlists are now recognized, and a "Refresh Playlist Popup" toolbar button and menu option. Users can choose to limit the number of duplicates that are detecting during each session, or toggle between deleting files or moving them to trash. A date formatting issue has been fixed,...
published on Wednesday, the 24. September 2008, macintosh-news-network