New icons on your mac

I have a number of folders that I put down on my dock. Applications, utilities, downloads, my programming software, my photography software, games, and so on. The generic blue folder icons all look pretty much the same, so I thought I'd liven them up and make them easier to distinguish. A clone trooper for the games. A camera lens for the photography stuff. Etc.

So how did I do that? Here's how: First, I found some icons I liked. There are tons of nifty icons at InterfaceLIFT. Download the ones you like; put them somewhere accessible. Second, find the folder whose icon you want to replace. For example, use finder to navigate to your downloads folder. Third, get info on that folder (use command-i or select "get info" from the file menu of the finder). Move the info window to one side. Fourth, find the icon you want to use. Get info on the icon file. Fifth, with the two info windows side-by-side, select the icon you want to copy (the icon in the upper left corner), copy it, and then in folder window select the icon you want to replace, and paste. The generic blue icon should be replaced by the snazzy new one. Spiffy.



Let me know if that works for you.

Zinni Optical

Someone recommended that we try out Zinni Optical, an online store where you can get glasses for $12.95. He was happy with his glasses, so we decided to try Zinni. We ordered one pair of glasses for Ann as a test. When they came in, we were a bit unhappy. Although the lenses were fine, the arms (the part that connects the lenses to your ears) were really flimsy and cheap. Because of the price, we decided to order more glasses for the family, but we paid really close attention to the pictures and only got glasses with thicker arms. It didn't help, they were flimsy as well.

So, would I recommend buying glasses from Zinni? Maybe. If you wanted a second pair cheap, an emergency backup or a pair to leave at the office, sure, that would work. But as a wear-them-everyday-all-around pair? Nope. I guess the old saying is applicable: You get what you pay for.

Mac case made with Legos

I love my iMac. I love Legos. What could be better than a Mac computer case built with Legos? Watch the time-release video some folks made of building a Mac case with Legos.

Dropbox: File sharing done right

We have 2 computers in our house, and often my wife and I need to share files back and forth or use the same file on different computers. We could mail each other. Or we could use a USB key. Or we could log into the other computer. These work, but they're cumbersome. Dropbox works better.

It's a fairly new file sharing software that I recently installed on both our computers. When I put a file in the dropbox folder on my iMac, it shows up near instantly in the dropbox folder on my wife's PC. And when I edit it on her computer, it gets updated back on my iMac as well. Nothing to it. There's also a web interface, should I need to access these files online or share them with someone else, and version control, should I delete or overwrite a file accidentally.

I like. Give dropbox a try.

New iTunes Visualizer

Ok, normally I don't care anything about visualizers for my music. They're boring. They're dumb. Whatever. But I gotta say that Magnetosphere in the new iTunes is pretty cool. It's like a concert light show smashed into some fireworks. Pretty cool. You get the visualizer free with you get the latest version of iTunes. Or if you just want to get a taste, you can watch a demo of it on Vimeo. (Uh, the song is in Spanish, and no, I don't know what she's saying. I hope it's not bad.)

ChronoSync

Recently I mentioned that I was looking for some good software to backup my iMac to my networked hard drive. After looking through a list of available solutions, I finally found one that seems to work: ChronoSync. It does everything I need: one-way synchronized backup, automatic scheduling, error logging, and automatic mounting of the network drive. It even sends me an email when there's an error!

You can download a trial version from Econ's website, but the trial version is really annoying. It displays a splash screen that requires you to click on it, and it only lets you make one backup before having to restart the program. This made it impossible to adequately test it out. Fortunately, Econ allows you to request a temporary license; I did, and now I can test it fully functional for 30 days. So far, so good. Barring something unexpected, I'm going to be buying this backup software.

Photos: Jacen's new glasses

Well, not only does Emmy need glasses, so does Jacen. We found this out when he was trying to sing in church and had a hard time reading the words on the screen. So we got him a pair, and he looks sharp in them. I wanted to take some pictures, so this seemed like a good time to try out my new camera lens, so off we went. I hope you enjoy them.

Backup Software for the Mac

Yes, I know Leopard comes with Time Machine. And yes, I got Time Machine working with my Time Capsule. So I have a painless backup system. But honestly, I don't like it. Two reasons: 1) It fills up the whole stinking drive (almost). Time Machine just keeps mindlessly making copies of all my files until it fills up the hard drive in Time Capsule. If Time Capsule had a preference that said, "Only use up ___ GB of space," I could be happy with this. But no such option exists. 2) It's not recoverable from another computer. Suppose my iMac goes up in flames. I'd really like to recover my files using my PC. That means my files need to be saved simply as files, not as some strange binary format.

So, I need another backup program, something for my Mac like Second Copy on my PC. I don't know what I'm going to use, but I found this nifty page listing tons of options. I'm gonna start trying them out. Let me know if you have one you use.

Book: Secrets of the Vine

I recently finished Bruce Wilkinson's "Secrets of the Vine." Normally I don't pop-Christianity books, but a friend gave me this book a while back, so I wanted to read it. I suppose I would say this book is ok; there's nothing really wrong with it, but I don't perceive it to be an amazingly helpful book, its popularity notwithstanding. I suppose if I knew a new believer who was beginning to be lulled into thinking that Christianity is a religion, that it is all about doing certain things to win favor with God, then I might recommend the book to him as a reminder that Christianity is a relationship, a relationship with Jesus. The secrets of the book are, of course, not secrets, as the author himself notes; rather, they are principles for living the Christian life. If I have an objection to the book, it would the sensationalistic writing style. From the back cover: "Do you want to experience the joy of making maximum impact for God?...You'll learn three surprising secrets that will open your eyes to your unrealized potential in Him." Not really my style. Like I said, the book is ok.

Inductive Bible Study: Jude 1-2

When it comes to personal Bible study, I'm convinced there's no better method than the inductive Bible study method. It saturates you in the text and lets the text speak for itself. To this end, I have previously created inductive Bible study tutorials, which I have posted on the tutorials page of our web site. Many people, however, learn best by example, so Ann and I are in the process of supplementing the tutorial by posting the results of our own inductive Bible study using the book of Jude. First you read how to study in the tutorial, and then see what it actually looks like. We hope you find this helpful; you can see our work on the tutorials page.

Be fluid

Fluid is a simple application for the Mac that takes a web site and makes it appear to be a standalone application. It allows me to take my favorite web apps, such as GMail and Blogger, and add an icon for them in the icon bar and run them without first opening my web browser. Give fluid a try.

However, to get the most out of Fluid you need to utilize one important preference. Go to preferences, click advanced, and check "allow browsing to any URL." Many of the web apps I use require me to login. If you don't allow Fluid to go to a different URL, some apps will switch to a web browser to login, which defeats the whole purpose.

Book: Bradley

Bradley, by Alan Axelrod, is about Omar Bradley, a 5-star general and one of the top American commanders involved in liberating Europe during WW2. The book is a good read. It's style is pretty relaxed and lightweight (<200 pages), not bogging the reader down with too many details. If you're a history or military buff, this will be a quick read. Most of the book (naturally) focuses on Bradley's various military assignments, though there is some information on his personal life. The most interesting part for me was his interaction with other top military generals; I was surprised to read how often Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery, and Bradley disagreed with each other and even disrespected and disobeyed each other. I recommend this biography.

Photo: Getting ready for the garage sale

We had a big garage sale set for today, and everyone chipped in to help. Jacen and I spent some time cutting wood for the garage sale signs.

The only place we advertised was on Craigslist. I was shocked at how many people came out! We had a steady stream all morning long. In fact, we sold more than half our stuff, including the lava lamp! We had a great time.

Photos: Emmy has glasses

A few weeks back Ann took Emmy to the eye doctor and found out (much to our surprise) that she needed glasses. So we got a pair, and I finally got around to taking a few close-ups of Emmy so you can see her new look.

Book: David Crockett - Hero of the Common Man

As the name suggests, this book is a biography of Davy Crockett. The book is a light read; the pace moves quickly, and I finished it in a few hours. It was a good book, very enjoyable. Skip the introduction, as the author gives away the ending of the book. I recommend this book to you.