Reluctant Geek

I came across an article at TUAW that has a link to a great tutorial, and a couple freeware tools, for slimming down Windows installs in order to make them open faster and run applications more efficiently within the context of a virtual machine.  Specific examples that come to mind include someone like me, who runs Windows XP both via Boot Camp and Parallels on my Mac, someone who uses VMWare, or even someone with a PC who just wants a more efficient, lighter weight Windows.

A day will come soon when I won't have to develop with Windows anymore, and won't be buried under schoolwork.  When that happens, I'll have both the reasons and the time to try this, and I'll be coming back to this article for the tips and tools. 

If any of you have had any experience with this in the meantime, let me know if you've seen significant performance gains after going through this.  Is it worth it?

The article can be found here.

Kent • Mac, Boot Camp, Maintenance, Windows Leave a comment

A while back, I posted a few links to some Automator and AppleScript tutorials for users of Mac OS X. While I continue to think these tools are pretty neat, I have yet to really come across a need that makes me sit back, sweat on my brow, and think to myself, "Why can't I write an Automator workflow to do this?" I have created one lone workflow that I actually use quite a bit, which opens a bunch of Word files, along with Firefox and my school's VPN program, all with one click, thus cutting down the time it takes to prepare the workspace for my research project from endless minutes to a few seconds. Neat.

There are cooler things to do with Automator and AppleScript. I came across an article at TUAW by the same guy who wrote the previous tutorials, which shows you how to control your computer by sending it an email. This article assumes, of course, that you have a Mac at home that is currently on, you use Apple's Mail application - and it's running, you're sitting someplace else that gives you access to email, and that you suddenly decide that you just can't wait to turn your home Mac off right now. I'm only half kidding. There are probably people out there that have that problem. If you're one of them, this post is just what you've been waiting for.

If nothing else, it's definitely a creative use for Mac OS X's built-in automating tools. The article can be found here.

Kent • Mac, AppleScript, Automator 2 comments

Adobe has just released Photoshop Express as a Beta. For now, it is a web based application that not only provides very basic photo editing and enhancing abilities, but also 2 GB of storage for your photos.

In order to take it for a test drive, I signed up for an account, and posted some pictures from our San Francisco trip in 2007. Overall, it looks like it has some potential. Anyone who uses services such as Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook, or Picasa (which I reviewed earlier) should at least take a look at this.

Some pros and cons I initially found after a quick test drive:

=> Read more!

Kent • Web, Productivity 5 comments

How many Mac users find themselves doing the same task over and over in apps like iPhoto, Mail, or Finder and has thought to themselves, "I wish I could just tell the Mac how to do this, and let it do it"? For anyone who has thought that, the good news is that Mac OS X comes with AppleScript and Automator, a built-in automation language and visual automation tool, respectively.

Over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a guy by the name of Cory Bohon has started posting very simple tutorials on learning AppleScript, and the Automator, sort of a drag-and-drop analogy to AppleScript. For anyone interested in beginning to automate their Mac, here is a list of some of his most recent posts on the subject:

• Automation on the Mac
• Mac Automation: Automator for Leopard
• Mac Automation: Holiday Photos
• AppleScript: The Script Editor
• AppleScript: Finder Commands

Kent • Mac, AppleScript, Automator 3 comments

The sister of a friend of mine recently bought a MacBook - her first Mac after years of toiling on a PC. As a fellow recent Mac convert, my congratulations goes out to her. My congratulations, and also my most sincere dumbfounded shock and irritation. I still shake my head in awe, and curse under my breath every time I think about what she did next.

She plunked down $399 for a copy of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac. $399! I tried to stop her. I pleaded with her not to do it.

=> Read more!

Kent • Mac, Productivity, Windows 8 comments

UPDATE December 16: I noticed the link in this article was broken and fixed it. Oops!

As an occasional programmer, one of the most irritating things to discover is that a function that I've spent days on, and ended up with 250 lines of code to perform, could have been done in five minutes with 3 lines of code. I hate discovering that! Nevertheless, I begrudgingly accept that it was a good learning experience, and at least I'll know in the future.

Such was the case with a post that I had been writing on and off for the last couple of weeks concerning making a bakup of your Boot Camp Windows XP installation on your Mac. I had an entire tutorial typed up, lots of cool pictures to add, and just had to make a few more additions before it was ready to publish.

Then I came across a short discussion that explained a much simpler way to do the same thing.

ARGH! So much easier! No screwing around in Windows, itself! Why didn't I find this before?!? I spent two weeks working on a complicated post, and put off writing any more Geek Doses until I was done (which I'm sure all of my faithful readers [both of them] missed terribly), and I could have spent five minutes linking to that article.

Hmmph. Oh well. At least I'll know in the future...

So, without further ado (or whining and moaning), here is a very useful discussion that explains how to back up an image of your Boot Camp Windows partition all from the comfort and safety of Mac OS X.

Hopefully someone besides me (and the folks in the discussion) get some use out of this. I wish I had found this before I had to reinstall Windows XP from scratch again.

Kent • Mac, Boot Camp, Maintenance, Windows 1 comment

And, now, fellow tech enthusiasts, let us wile away another brief moment of life and wires together as we...

Eh, whatever. Here's some more posts for you:

1. I posted on my own blog the problems I had quitting Vonage. I saw today that I'm not the only one that had this problem. After reading it, I have the sudden urge to check my bank statement...
2. Does anybody use those wireless music broadcasting systems that let you stream your computer music to your home stereo? Here's a notice about a Logitech system for $40. If you want one, this seems like a pretty good deal. I personally just plug my speakers into my computer, but that's just me.
3. Microsoft has already released their next Zune line. This post talks to Microsoft about it, who apparently is okay with a "fail fast" approach.
4. Sure, "androids" are well known for their roles in Star Wars, but do you know what "Android" is? Hint: What does Android and Google have in common? Answer: Read this.
5. There are actually Mac users out there who have yet to upgrade to Leopard. Whoa. That's bizarre. Yeah, I know there are actually some legitimate reasons out there to wait. Here, however, are a few more reasons not to.

That is all. Tune in next time. Same bat channel.

Kent • News 2 comments