The MacTrack – iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch and Mac News

If, like me, you have some smart playlists lovingly created within iTunes.

Whilst simple to create these smart playlists can be extremely powerful and can dynamically select music tracks (or other content) depending on their pre-set criteria.  By carefully selecting the criteria you can develop playlists that always have relevant and ever changing content, automatically.

Now, suppose you want to create a new Smart Playlist based on an already pre-existing smart list and then make some minor changes to it?  Apart from recreating the entire playlist from scratch again is there a way to help automate this somewhat?

Yes, there is!  Simply:

STEP 1

Select the playlist you want to base your new one on

Go-to the File Menu
Choose Library…
Select Export Playlist…

In the Format drop-down list choose XML
Save the file to your desktop

STEP 2

Next, import the playlist:

Go-to the File Menu
Choose Library…
Select Import Playlist…

Choose the file you exported in step 1.

iTunes will import the playlist’s selection criteria, not the actual tracks, and you can then edit it to make your minor changes and then rename it appropriately.

Note:  If your import result in a standard, plain track listing and not a smart playlist, ensure that in step 1 you have remembered to choose XML in the Format drop-down.  Without this important step it won’t export the selection criteria.

Below are a couple of example Smart Playlists that I use to demonstrate their power, and why you may want to copy one rather than recreating it from scratch:

Emulate Firefox’s type-ahead search in Safari

Fri, Dec 21 2007 at 7:30AM PST • Submitted by johnga1t

As input managers are in danger in Safari 3.0 and later versions, it might be useful to know that a type-ahead search feature that emulates Firefox can be enabled in Safari using a fairly simple hack that involves native OS X tricks.

To do so, quit Safari and go to System Preferences » Keyboard & Mouse » Keyboard Shortcuts. Click the ‘+’ to add a new shortcut, select Safari as the Application, Find… as the Menu Title, and a temporary (and arbitrary) shortcut as Keyboard Shortcut. (Note that this field does not allow a simple entry, such as ‘/’, but instead requires a modifier key like Command or Option.)

Now go to ~/Library/Preferences and edit com.apple.Safari.plist. (You may be able to just double-click and open the plist in Property List Editor if you have Xcode installed.) Find the NSUserKeyEquivalents entry and edit the string entry for Find…, replacing the arbitrary shortcut you entered earlier with /. This will remove the need for a modifier key, and allow / to activate search.

Now relaunch Safari and type /; you should see the Find box appear, emulating the type-ahead search in Firefox.

via macosxhints.com – Emulate Firefox’s type-ahead search in Safari .

Do you find it a chore to delete a message in Gmail?  Or, do you prefer to use the keyboard rather than moving from mouse to keyboard and back again?

I do.

Here is a handy hint to help, I’ve just revolutionised the way I use Gmail with a few simple keystrokes:

Go to Settings
Go to Labs
Activate Keyboard Shortcuts (you may have to click on settings again to refresh)
Choose Keyboard Shortcuts from within Settings
Locate “Move to Trash” and set it to be “-” (a minus sign)
Locate “Mark as Unread” and set it to “§” (or whatever is the key below the Esc key)

Now from your inbox simply hit the minus key to delete the message, or from within a message, hit minus and it’s gone, moved to Trash in easy one step no mouse needed – or of course you can hit ‘y’ to archive it.
When you delete a message whilst reading it your inbox is then re-displayed.

So, I go: enter (to read) “y” or “-” to archive/trash and then enter again to read next one (and repeat).

It’s *so* quick as” -” and enter (on numpad) are co-located – it’s easy.

Use “§” to mark a a message as unread (I do this if I want to revisit the message for actioning as I keep my inbox empty).  I use the § key as it’s a similar location to Esc and I use it to “escape” back to the inbox leaving the message unread.

Of course, if easier, you can choose other keys if you find them more suitable but make sure they aren’t already allocated to another function.

Does your Mac wake-up at the same time each day regardless of the energy saving settings?  Mine did, until I found this fix (below).  The latest Software Update patch also fixes this issue.

Mac OS X 10.5: Computer starts up unexpectedly at the same time each day

* Last Modified: September 15, 2008

* Article: TS1831

Symptoms

In Mac OS X 10.5 through 10.5.4, your Mac may start up unexpectedly each day (at midnight UTC/GMT) even if it is not scheduled to start up in Energy Saver preferences in System Preferences.

The local time when the computer may start up will vary depending on which time zone you are located in and whether or not daylight savings time is being observed. For example: Midnight UTC/GMT may be 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) or 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).

This could happen after upgrading from Mac OS X 10.4 to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.5

Resolution

Download and install Mac OS X 10.5.5 or later.

Additional Information

If you’re not ready to update to Mac OS X 10.5.5 or later, you can use this workaround:

1. Choose Go to Folder from the Finder’s Go menu

2. Type or paste the following, then press Return:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

3. In the SystemConfiguration folder, locate and delete the file named “com.apple.AutoWake.plist”

Your computer should no longer start up at midnight UTC/GMT (unless you later add a scheduled event in Energy Saver preferences).

Tip: If you need to schedule your Mac to sleep, restart, or shut down at a specific time, you should also schedule it to wake or start up at a time when the computer is likely to already be powered on. For example, if you need the computer to shut down every day at 6:00 PM, you could schedule it to wake or start up at 5:55 PM. The computer will not start up at midnight UTC/GMT on any days, as long as it is scheduled to start up or wake at some other time at least one day a week.

Mac OS X 10.5: Computer starts up unexpectedly at the same time each day

Breaking news about Google’s GMail, it’s updates and enhancements can be found at the GMail Blog

If you like to keep your finger on the GMail pulse then this is a great place to start.

Need to rate your iTunes music tracks?  Don’t want to interrupt your current activity by switching to iTunes?  You need I Love Stars

This neat little application sits on the menu bar and allows you to set the iTunes star rating of the track currently playing.  You can do this either by clicking on the appropriate star or, even nicer, the application is mouse scroll-wheel aware so you can simply roll the wheel whilst hovering over the application’s display in the menu bar.

If you right-click on it you can see the current track name and album.

Oh, did I mention?  It’s FREE

Also worth looking at is another, more feature-rich, free application: You Control: iTunes

If you want a quick and simple, no fuss rating tool you be hard pressed to find better than I Love Stars.

This is a tale of a crashed iPod Touch and it’s subsequent painless restore:

A few days ago my iPod Touch (16GB) crashed and went into restore / recovery mode, or perhaps I put it into restore / recovery mode accidentally. At boot-up it showed the restore / recovery screen: a USB cable being plugged into iTunes (see image on the right).

In case you don’t know:

• to quit a hung application you press and hold the home button, for 5 to 10 seconds
• to force a complete device restart you press and hold the lock/unlock button along with the home button for about 5 to 10 seconds

I’d been having a few problems with it, prior to the crash: it wouldn’t stay connected to my home wi-fi network and had started behaving strangely. I forced a device restart (maybe 2 or 3 times) and it then showed the ‘restore-me’ icon (as described above).

Maybe it ‘decided’ it needed a restore (as system problems were apparent) or maybe I didn’t let go of the home button – I was distracted reading a web page at the time about the upcoming Apple event ( New  MacBooks look amazing BTW).

I re-connected it to iTunes which detected an iPod Touch in restore/recovery mode and offered to re-flash/reload the firmware and operating system and I accepted – the firmware and OS were loaded, verified and the iPod Touch rebooted (took about up 30 mins up until the reboot I think).

Read the rest of this entry »

It occurred to me today that many people who are new to Apple Macs, MacBooks, iMacs and the Apple Air may struggle getting their mouse to behave as they wish.  By default the right button/right-click is not configured.  This dates back from when the Apple mouse only had one button.

A two button (usually more) mouse is now a standard feature but the Apple system preferences don’t account for this.

So, to activate your right mouse button so that you can right-click on an item simply go to System Preferences, the icon looks like this:

Click on the Keyboard and Mouse icon:

Read the rest of this entry »

A useful summary, via the Apple support website, of extra features of the Apple Mac OS X’s dock, and modifier keys that help you manipulate it.

Do you wish you could see thumbnail previews of all the tabs you have open in Firefox?  Well now you can with the great Firefox Showcase add-on.

This add-on allows you to display thumbnails of all open tabs in a variety of ways: single window, tab or in a sidebar.

To choose a tab just click on the preview image.  To access the preview thumbnails click on the tab drop-down on the far right of the tab bar.

Try it – you’ll love it!

I’ve been using Parallels desktop for a few weeks now and here are my inital impressions.

From the first moment of loading the install package I’ve been really impressed by Parallels implementation of co-hosting Windows on my Mac. From the beginning of the windows install everything has gone smoothly and without any incidents.

I choose ‘Express Install’, ‘Windows XP‘. I was prompted for my windows license key and install disk (it has to be a Service Pack 2 build – see this page for details on how to upgrade your install disk from SP1 to SP2). Parallels handled the windows install from this point onwards performing a quick and efficicent unattended install of Windows XP (no user intervention needed). After a couple of the windows instance restarts (part of the usual Windows rigmarole) I had a brand new clean windows desktop within a Mac application window.

Interestingly, of the many numerous installs I’ve done of Windows (must be well in excess of 100) this was the fastest and smoothest I’ve ever encountered.

Parallels Desktops allow you to run Windows in 3 modes:

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’d like to keep one particular website separate, in it’s own window and in effect turn it into a mini application then take a look at a free program called Fluid.

Simple to set-up, all that’s required is the web address and you can then create a site specific browser:

Save it on your desktop (or wherever you wish) and you’ve now got an icon for the web site of your choice.

Sometimes is useful to keep sites in their place and locked to one window rather than loosing them in amongst many tabs.  For example, keep eBay, Facebook, or the BBC News web site in their own window allowing them to be located quickly, easily and efficiently.

Perhaps a niche application but a useful one nonetheless.

In my system console log I noticed errors connected with Apple‘s built-in updating routines, and over in Apple’s discussion forum I had a thread describing the problem I was having with the Software Update process. I’m posting details of this issue here in case it proves helpful to others.

Symptoms included errors in the log reading:

• Package Authoring Error: installation-check results requires a message
• JavaScript error “Undefined value” while running “__choice_su_visible”
• __choice_su_visible returned error: Undefined value

At the same time updates that my Mac may have needed were not downloading automatically. It looked like Software Update had failed. Read the rest of this entry »

Occasionally, when using iTunes (if iTunes has previously crashed), I come across a fault: iTunes won’t quit, it just reloads itself each time I try to close it. This issue also prevents my Mac from restarting/rebooting unless I do a quick and dirty cold restart (either using the 10s power button method or dropping to a terminal window and issuing a ‘sudo shutdown -r now‘ terminal command).

Further investigations have discovered that the SRS Labs iWow plug-in (see my previous post) is to blame:

Here is some background

Read the rest of this entry »

If you want to enhance your iTunes audio, for a modest outlay, I thoroughly recommend iWoW by SRS Labs.

This iTunes plug-in gives much deeper and richer bass, and a fully immersive surround sound quality to your music.

At $29.99 it’s worth every cent (or for me in the UK, every penny). Try the free 14 day trial. You’ll never be satisfied with iTunes’ plain vanilla audio again!

The plug-in processes audio in realtime so your actual tracks remain intact and unchanged.

One particularly good feature is it’s Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re interested in learning about UNIX for the Mac OS X, or perhaps you occasionally need to open a terminal window to force a system restart, or maybe to kill a hung process (for example to restart the Dock) then a good place to begin is osxfaq and it’s UNIX tutorials.

Another good website to look at is MacRumors:Guides and it’s Terminal Commands Guide where you can learn about the delights of sudo and killall (for starters).

Remember: Terminal commands have the potential to be very powerful and wide-ranging, please use them with caution.

Web sites often display pop-up windows, or forms, and suppress the location (address) bar so you cannot see where you’ve been routed to, or the full address of the page that has popped up.

Occasionally, you may close the main Safari window by mistake leaving you with only the pop-up window and no obvious way to edit the address, or to enter a new address.

By pressing Command ⌘ + L Safari will re-display the location bar. This is a simple but very handy trick to wrestle back control of your browser. It’s got me out of a fix on many occasions

Ever wondered what Apple’s Time Machine is actually doing?

Here’s a quick tip on how to view the Time Machine logs:

1. Open the Console utility (found in: /Applications/Utilities)
2. If the toolbar is not showing click on the little lozenge shaped button in the very top right of the console utility
3. In the left hand pane ensure ‘All Messages‘ is selected under the section labelled ‘Log Database Queries‘
4. The search field is located in the top right of the toolbar, labelled ‘Filter’. In this field type in ‘backupd‘ (without the quotes)
5. The right hand pane will update as you type finally restricting the log messages to those relating to the process backupd (the Time Machine process).

You’ll see lots of potentially interesting information (depending on your point of view) including pre-backup and post-backup thinning and the amount of space needed etc.

If you are unlucky you may even see some errors

Here’s a sample (edited) of the sort of output you will see (error free):

No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 267.47 GB available
Copied 14399 files (28 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup 2008-05-08-160302: 267.51 GB now available
Deleted backup 2008-05-08-150256: 267.54 GB now available
Deleted backup 2008-05-08-141309: 267.56 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 3 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.

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If you are looking for a great download manager, or a tool that improves your download speeds then take a look at iGetter (available for both Windows and Macs). iGetter integrates with your chosen web browser and takes over the handling of the download task(s).

iGetter allows you to queue up downloads, have multiple downloads running, schedule timed downloads (for example when your ISP has less traffic), resume interrupted/broken downloads (this depends on the website you are downloading from as it’s protocol dependent), and perhaps one of the most important features is iGetter can open many connections to one site, each connection or stream will download a different section of the same file, in most cases this allows for blazingly fast downloads (bandwidth allowing). Read the rest of this entry »

Apple’s Safari web browser is built around the open source web engine called Web Kit. This is developed by the open source community and updated each and every day (and is recompiled nightly).

This ensures that the browser’s ‘engine’ is the most up to date possible, supporting emerging standards and compatibility. Additionally you benefit from faster rendering of pages and their content.

Web kit is available for both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems so the vast majority or users are covered (sorry Linux users!). The Web Kit runs Safari as the front-end application but with Web Kit as the rendering engine running “under the hood”.

To quote the Web Kit site:

WebKit is an open source web browser engine. WebKit is also the name of the Mac OS X system framework version of the engine that’s used by Safari, Dashboard, Mail, and many other OS X applications. WebKit’s HTML and JavaScript code began as a branch of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE. This website is also the home of S60′s S60 WebKit development.

The Web Kit open source home is at webkit.org to download either the Mac OS X or Windows version click on the nightly builds button:

To test your current browser you can run Acid3 Test <- note: this link runs the test. The Acid3 test puts the Read the rest of this entry »