July 19, 2003
Why I'm not switching to Safari |
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It’s a little thing but I do it all the time in Mozilla. In Safari, I can’t load a URL by dragging it onto a tab. In Safari I have to either right-click then choose New Tab from the menu or command-click the link, which requires two hands. Then I still have to click on the tab to bring it to the front (there are keyboard commands for tab switching but they’re also two-handers - shift-command-right arrow and left arrow). When I’m done with the page, I have to close the tab because it’s not much good for anything else.
In Mozilla, I can drag a URL onto an existing tab or even drag to a blank part of the tab bar to create a new tab. Since I’m using the mouse for the action, the cursor is already in position to bring the tab to the front, if that's what I want. I don’t need to close the tab again because I can re-use it for a different URL.
Another important factor is I use Windows at work but OS X at home and having the same browser on both is helpful.
In general, Safari is a nice browser. It's fast, seems to render pages well, and I like the Bookmarks interface. I like the "Block pop-up windows" option is right in the Safari menu and has a keyboard command. I always leave mine on but I can imagine people making use of that, possibly on a public computer. I also like being able to access the browser history from a menu in Safari. Mozilla makes you open a History window. Of course Mozilla lets you access your bookmarks from a menu while Safari make you open a window so they're reversed on that point. I've never used SnapBack so I guess it doesn't mean much to me. The Aqua styled web form elements are nice but you still can't use the keyboard to operate them.
July 16, 2003
Aaaaah! Webcam! |
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I just found an open source webcam driver which supports my USB 3com HomeConnect (aka Vicam) in OS X, macam.
I don't care to take pictures of myself but thanks to a QuickTime component, the camera is supposed to work with many webcam apps, including the iChat AV beta (using another bit of software called iChatUSBCam which enables the use of USB cams with it). I'll probably use it when my sweetie goes back to school. I'll hold the cat up to it.
The picture quality isn't great at some resolutions but it's surprisingly good at 640x480 and the framerate is quite good. This picture of my eye is from the webcam but the blue cast to it was an effect I added. The framerate is better than it was using the official Vicam software under OS 9 (it was always good under Windows). Supporting this camera was quite a feat, considering it had to be completely reverse engineered. They even got the little snapshot button on the top to work!
The camera a too bulky to strap to the back of the cat and the USB cable would cramp his style but I hope to use some motion detection + video capture software to get some living room Mutual of Omaha footage while I'm at work.
Spy cams used for animal-eye view |
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This is pretty cool. This video artist has been using tiny cameras in strange places for a while but now he's focusing on putting them on the heads of animals.
CNN: Animal cams offer strange world views
July 11, 2003
Cool FX demo video |
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I guess this wasn't created for anything other than to show how awesome this company's CG-fu is. It depicts a humanoid robot peacekeeper/cop in action in a "developing" nation.
July 08, 2003
OS X command for CPU, RAM info |
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From Terminal, try the command "sysctl hw." You'll get information about your CPU, cache, bus, and RAM. "Sysctl -a" will give you a lot more information but very little will make sense to you.
OS X 10.2 has the command "system_profiler" which is the commandline version of the Apple System Profiler and is, overall, better than the above command. However, one thing system_profiler can't do is tell you have much RAM the Mac has if it'a "pre-New World" Mac such as a beige G3. "Sysctl hw" will make you do the math yourself to convert the RAM figure from bytes to megabytes but its a quick way to find out more about the machine, particularly when used remotely.
July 02, 2003
SMS vis iChat |
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Does your phone use SMS? Apparently you can send messages via iChat or the latest AIM client.