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Monday 20 October 2008

Grabbing clean screenshots...

The ability to capture on the mac is really, really easy. Using 'Grab' or the key-combos to capture a screen/area has been thought about and implemented in an excellent way (the joy of working with OS X).


However, there are some nifty utilities out there that can assist even more. One of which is called 'paparazzi'. This little gem will allow you to specify a webpage, an image size and then when you set it to work will produce a lovely screen grab (minus the browser window etc.) for you to use. 

It's really simple and handy when you want to grab and archive/use pages from websites.

The only issue I have found so far is that it will not render any embedded flash in the page.  

Sunday 19 October 2008

Déjà Lew

It's Déjà vu time for Lewis Hamilton. Just as happened last year, he goes into the final race of the season (Brazil), in two weeks time, leading the championship by 7 points.

Hamilton can now win the title in any of the following ways...

- Finishes 5th or higher, regardless of where Massa finishes (including Massa winning)
- Finishes 7th or higher if Massa finishes 2nd
- Finishes anywhere ahead of Massa
- Massa fails to finish in the top 2

In Formula One, if the points are equal at the end of the season, a 'count-back' is performed. The driver with the most wins would be champion. If the number of wins are tied, then the driver with the most 2nd place finishes would be champion, etc.

The only way the points can be tied this year is if Massa wins and Hamilton is 6th in Brazil. If that were to happen, Massa would be champion because he would have 6 wins to Hamilton's 5.

Here's the positions that Hamilton and Massa have finished in, so far:



Remember that Kimi Räikkönen won the title from Hamilton last year in exactly the same circumstances in the final race.

Lewis, please don't do anything stupid this time mate! We're backing ya to bring it home! Let them Ferrari's go, and probably Alonso as well - sit nicely in 4th and stay out of trouble. Come on Lewis!

Thursday 16 October 2008

Who's to blame? You decide.



Formula One Management have released footage of the incidents involving Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Sébastien Bourdais from the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji last weekend.

Lewis was penalised for his first corner move, being judged to have blocked Kimi Raikkonen and prevented him making the corner. Massa was penalised for driving off the track and spinning Lewis as he came back on and Bourdais was penalised for spinning Massa going into the first corner as Massa attempted to get round the outside as Bourdais came out of the pits.

For what it's worth, here's my two (three) cents...

1. Not sure. Lewis was locked up and made it impossible for Raikkonen to make the turn, but 'similar' incidents happen at the start of virtually every race, in virtually every category. Lewis was undoubtably stupid, and by being locked up did impede Raikkonen, but where do you draw the line, especially for first turn incidents where everyone is trying to get the upper hand?

2. Correct call. Massa went wide, went completely off track and hit Lewis, who was taking the correct racing line.

3. You are joking, right? What was Bourdais supposed to do? The rules are pretty simple, you are supposed to stay on the race track and he was right on the inside, it was up to Massa to take a different line or not attempt the move. They were racing for position and Bourdais had every right to stick to the inside. Had the roles been reversed, there is no way that Massa would have been penalised for doing the same to Bourdais.

Monday 13 October 2008

Glims



I have been playing with Glims for Safari from machangout. This is a 'plugin' for safari that adds a whole host of useful features to increase your browsing pleasure and productivity.

Upon download and installation it adds an additional preference tab to the standard safari one where you can configure various options. Currently I'm running with the defaults.



Glims will add thumbnail images on your tabs (which change to an X on mouse over), and a useful max-window option from the safari window (very useful!).


The built in search window in safari gets SAYT (Search as you type) with icons, a handy feature.


Google (and yahoo) search results now also come with handy thumbnail previews which makes choosing the right page often much quicker.


Time will tell if this plugin continues to impress me (and maintains performance), but for now.... I love it.

Saturday 11 October 2008

Mad Man

Ladies and gentleman, this is Chris 'jumping' out of a plane. Madman!

"I never did not though go and push him though, innit"



Apple and their spell check

Spell checking across any application in OS X is implemented by the OS. That in itself is a fabulous feature, but have you ever thought to wonder about what is in that dictionary?

Apple products (and others) are in there.

Create your email, TextMate file, iWork document etc. and enter your favoured Apple product name.... no 'that isn't a word' here mate. iTunes, iPhone, iPod, MacBook, iMac, iLife, iBlah *, iWork, and even YouTube are all validly spelt words. Isn't that good thinking?


* iBlah is a bad word, with a red line under it to tell me I was wrong when I typed that.

Friday 10 October 2008

Happy


We like it when people are happy. We like it when people who use our apps are happy.

We like these reviews (and there are many, many more like these!)....

Thanks all for the great feedback. New version coming soon with some amusingly unique features.

Also, lookout for the wonderful utopia Solitaire....








Tuesday 7 October 2008

Di Resta gets McLaren test

Paul Di Resta has shown some exceptional talent in the DTM over the last two seasons, and has been rewarded with four days testing in the McLaren F1 car. He has single-seater experience from Formula Renault and F3 Euroseries, and If Paul can show his pace and make a transition into F1 then we may have a potential future world champion here.

Go Paul!

From Autosport:

The McLaren Mercedes team will run British driver Paul di Resta during four days of testing later in October.

The 22-year-old Scot, currently in second place in the DTM standings, will take to the Silverstone circuit today and tomorrow and again on October 20-21.

McLaren are bringing di Resta in as part of the Young Driver programme that allows teams to carry out further testing during the season without the burdens of mileage and tyre restrictions.

The 2005 McLaren Autosport BRDC award winner is currently racing for Mercedes-Benz in the DTM.

Liquid Lush

What a great idea - so simple and yet so useful. Wow.


Yep, that is Liquid Mongoose. If you have not seen it, or tried it then head on over to their site and start creating.
Home users, businesses etc. could all make use of the service.  Designers can design for it and CD/DVD racks all around the world can slim down.

Hoorah for Liquid.

Monday 6 October 2008

Shut up moaning!

An astonishing load of of whining and whinging from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo! Put them toys back in that pram young man, or no sweaties for you, and you just wait until your father gets home!

The Singapore Grand Prix received rave reviews. It's an F1 street circuit so there was never going to be loads of great overtaking, although come to think of it, even with Spa and Monza, the overtaking is more than somewhat limited these days.

Di Montezemolo has launched a scathing and very childish attack on the Singapore Grand Prix, suggesting the track "should be in a circus" and describing the event as "humiliating for F1". What? The only thing humiliating about the entire weekend was Ferrari and their complete inability to get a little green light to come on at the right time without sending half a refueling rig down the pitlane. Oh, how the McLaren boys laughed!

"The tracks too bumpy!" cried Di Montezemolo. "I'm telling my mum about you!".

Get a grip man, I know it's hard for the little F1 darlings when they can't race on a snooker table surface, but really, I don't remember seeing too many drivers hitting the walls because the bumps were too much for them (although Kimi did, of course).

Singapore was a wonderful event, superbly organised and held in an environment second to none. F1 cars racing at night, racing under the city traffic, pure bliss. What an event for the local residents - F1 on your doorstep! At night! The turn out was good, the safety cars made for a fascinating race, we got another season winner in Alonso, a career best 2nd place for Rosberg and a fine 3rd for Lewis. What more does Mr Di Montezemolo want? Apart from something red on the podium, maybe? Oh, that's it, isn't it? I just worked out why he's acting like a 3 year old.

I feel sorry for Massa though. He's lost a title chance because of Ferrari's stupid pit light system. But, they won't be using it again - if they don't pull it themselves, the FIA will now after this latest shambles.

Luca - stop spouting such a load of old tosh and grow up!

Ferrari furious over Singapore GP

UPDATE:

Bernie (via an Autosport article) responds.

Ferrari use a lights system instead of the traditional "lollipop", and Ecclestone suggested the team should try to simplify things.

"If I wanted to be a smart-arse, I'd have devised a system so that the light goes green to release the driver at the same time as the coupling hose comes off the car," Ecclestone added.

"If it's a matter of turning a switch, which I am led to believe is how it works, then why not stick with the 'lollipop' man of old? Why do you want to have some other piece of technology that can go wrong? It's over the top."


Well said Bernie. Spot on, you tell 'em.

Friday 3 October 2008

Track that Mac

I was going over 'what if' scenarios the other day, and one of them happened to be 'what if my laptop got stolen'.


Mostly, there is nothing you can do other than ensure you have good passwords and great backups. However, you can install some software that 'might' help you locate your machine should it fall into the wrong hands.

There are lots of services out there that offer machine tracking and the ability to locate it once stolen. I came across Adeona which is free and open-source. I like that.
It comes in two flavours for mac; One with camera enabled, and one without. I opted for the first.

Installation was a breeze and it outputs an encrypted file that you store somewhere safe (not on your machine!). It will then periodically sign in and take a picture (the green light does briefly fire up, but it is very brief).  This data gets stored on secure servers and is encrypted to keep you safe.

I attempted the retrieve by running their software and supplied it my special 'OST' file. It went away and recovered the data including a mug shot of me, the IPs (Local and WAN) along with network information (it picked up the names of my routers etc.). 

Now this isn't necessarily going to help if your laptop is stolen. Many people may re-install the OS, or the tech savy may check for software like this before launching onto the internet. However, for free, surely it's worth it - just for the 'what if it actually works!' scenario.


 
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