my2cents

Looking for a way to modify the default printer presets i.e. the presets called “Standard” in OS X I came across a Mac OS X Hints article that talks about the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.custompresets.plist file.

However, what I found way more interesting is that apparently OS X provides a web interface for CUPS at http://localhost:631/ for the locally installed printers.

Through that interface you can nicely modify the default printer presets. Just go to http://localhost:631/printers/ -> choose your printer -> select Set Default Options in the second drop-down. You’ll be asked for an administrator’s username/password to save the changes. No surprise there.

By default if a folder in Apple iPhoto contains albums and you delete the folder, the photos in its contained albums will be deleted with it. There’s a warning dialog about this but there’s no option for you to tell iPhoto to get rid off the folder but keep the albums.

To achieve this you need to drag the album from the folder you want to delete to the top level ‘Photos’ folder. iPhoto will move the album from your folder to the top level ‘Albums’ section. Repeat this for each album in the folder. Once it’s empty you can safely get rid of it.

In contrast, if you delete an album that is not inside a custom folder the warning dialog tells you that the album will be removed but not the photos.

After upgrading my Mac mini from Leopard to Snow Leopard it did no longer wake from sleep when I sent the magic wake-on-lan package. So, I checked the network and energy settings and noticed that Snow Leopard’s new Wake-On-Demand (WOD ?) feature was disabled. I didn’t change that and started to wonder why WOL didn’t work.

Internet search lead to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3774 in which Apple explains that “for some earlier Macs this option must be enabled [manually]“. What I didn’t immediately grasp is that WOD is a full replacement for WOL. I was initially reluctant to enable this option because I don’t want WOD (don’t have the necessary AirPort Extreme anyway) but only WOL. However, even after going through the article this didn’t become apparent. One must guess or assume…

What further clarified the situation was an ars technica article about “The sleeping Mac dilemma”.

So, to cut a long story short. Snow Leopard’s WOD falls back to WOL mode if it can’t find the necessary infrastructure (AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule) and therefore you need to enable WOD if you want WOL. Logical, isn’t it?

Just discovered a wonderful tutorial over at iClarified how to sync my iPhone with multiple computers. I was quite surprised to learn that I get a “An iPhone can be synced with only one iTunes Library at a time” warning message when I attempted that. I was surprised because this works just fine with the iPod touch.

I’ve spent hours searching for an in-ear headset for the iPhone 3G S that suits my needs. I just might have reached the light at the end of the tunnel…

The initial priorities were good sound quality and noise cancelling.

I first looked into the V-MODA Vibe  Duo and Vibe II models, but the reviews I found at Amazon and on apple.com made me take them off my list. What one reads very often: bass with these models is overly prominent, the weight may be a problem (metal instead of plastic), might break quickly due to low production quality. The have a stunningly cool design, though.

Then I looked into the Etymotic hf2. All the reviews rate this headset as top notch. They come at a price that makes you swallow  hard but apparently the outstanding sound quality makes it well worth it. However, what irritates me a bit is that the mic and music control device (also to start/end a call) dangles freely somewhere below your mouth on the side. I doesn’t look comfortable and since the control device is quite big it doesn’t “feel” natural. I would intuitively expect that one controls the device somewhere around your chest or belly.

At the same time I also had the Sennheiser MM50 and the Ultimate Ears super.fi 4vi as hot candidates on my list. The UEs are pretty cool because the mic and the music control device are placed separately from each other on the cable. The mic is next to your mouth and the other “box” is a lot further down. That’s very logical. Its benefits seem so obvious that I ask myself why other models are not like that.

With the hf2 still being my top candiate I suddenly realized that neither of the models I had evaluated so far supported volume control, voice control and VoiceOver. While voice control and VoiceOver are no real requirements for me, volume control certainly is – it’s a must. Mind you, these features are only supported by the iPhone 3G S and the newer iPods: Nano 4th generation, touch 2nd gen, shuffle 3rd gen.

So far, I only found two in-ear headset that support the new features, the Apple buds at $80 and the Klipsch Image S4i at $100. Klipsch what? At least here in Switzerland this brand is a no-name, never heard of it. The reviews and ratings, however, praise them through the roof wherever you look. Close to 100% all the time. Impressive.

Instead of just buying them, I sent out an email to Sennheiser, Ultimate Ears and Etymotic asking about their plans to release a headset that supports volume control. Stay tuned.

Update

Both Sennheiser and Etymotic replied telling me that they didn’t know about plans to release a headset with volume control.

Update II

I learned that a friend of mine actually knows Klipsch (yes. he lives in Switzerland, too ). So, I guess it was foolish to claim that Klipsch was a no-name here. On the other hand, that friend is an audiophile and very much into Hi-Fi…

When I came back from vacation I noticed the Apple remote was not working anymore with my Mac mini. Pressing the “menu” button did not trigger Front Row anymore.

I checked the remote itself against the Macbook to rule out low battery or the like – it worked. Hence, the problem had to be the mini. An article in the Apple support forum suggested resetting PRAM and NVRAM as described in article HT1379. I did and it helped.

A brother printer hooked up to my AirPort Express base station was not recognized by the AirPort – so it seemed.  The respective dialog in the AirPort Utility said: “USB Printer: None”.

I spent quite some time trying to find out what the problem was. It turned out that the dialog simply didn’t tell the truth. The “AirPort” dialog (left most in the menu) did indeed list the printer correctly:

After I found that bug setting up the printer both in OS X and Windows XP was a breeze. In OS X you go to System Preferences -> Printer / Fax -> + sign -> choose “Default” in the top connection-type menu. OS X will then try to locate the printer with Bonjour and populate the add-dialog with proper values. For Windows you need to install Bonjour from the CD that came with your AirPort Express base station.

With Apple Remote for iPhone and iPod Touch you control iTunes on a remote computer.

What I only recently found out is that Apple Remote acts as a Wake-On-LAN (WOL) client. At least it does that in my environment. My Mac Mini wakes up from sleep when I start Apple Remote on the iPod Touch and have it try to connect to iTunes on the Mac Mini.

I find this a little odd because none of the articles I found (App Store and apple.com) mention this feature. Of course I’m happy about it nonetheless.

My small home network consists of a Windows XP PC, a MacBook with OS X Leopard, and a Mac Mini with OS X Leopard. Several networking issues kept bugging me:

1. the XP PC sees the Mac Mini in the network neighborhood but can’t access its shares, mapping those shares only works if the Mac Mini is addressed by its name instead of its name
2. the XP PC doesn’t see the MacBook at all, neither by name nor by IP
3. both Macs can list the PCs shares, but connecting to them results in the errors “no direct map for 32 bit server error (0xc0000205)” and “broken pipe” in the OS X console
4. both Macs cannot connect to the PC using its name, but only by using <name>.local

The first issue was solved by updating the Mac Mini (and the MacBook for that matter) to the latest Leopard version 10.5.6. However, this didn’t help with any of the other issues.

Issue number 3 was solved with the help of a geekstogo.com article. In the XP registry I needed to add the IRPStackSize parameter to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters and set its value to 18 (decimal) according to this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285089.

Issue number 2 was related to a fu… up “WINS” configuration on the MacBook. When I checked whether the workgroup name in the WINS tab in System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced was set correctly it was empty. So, I tried to enter the same name as on the PC and on the Mac Mini, but the change would never get persisted i.e. remembered. I did as adviced in http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6198136 and now the MacBook appears correctly in the XP network neighborhood. However, its shares still could not be accessed. So, I checked System Preferences -> Firewall and realized that I had checked ‘Allow only essential services’ instead of ‘Set access for specific services and applications’. Issue 2 solved.

At this point I discovered the great article ‘Explanation of Leopard NetBIOS (Windows Sharing) Wackyness With Solutions’. It’s got extensive explanations and good tips.

And…while reading it, time passed…more time passed…and all of a sudden my XP system showed up in the Finder with its real name i.e. there was no need to address it with <name>.local. Issue 4 solved.

Here’s another OS X Tiger to Leopard upgrade issue…

From time to time while on the road (in the train rather…) I connect to the Internet through my Nokia mobile phone hooked up to the MacBook via Bluetooth. This stopped working with Leopard. The phone icon in the menu bar showed “Connecting” for a few seconds and switched to “Disconnecting” immediately afterwards. The Console listed as error: MPPE required, but MS-CHAP[v2] auth not performed.

A Google search directed me to a Mac OS X Hints article that explains that you needed to change CCPEnabled from 1 to 0 in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist – and restart the system, that’s important.