MacNewsBlog

Well, after moving the server to various machines, I was bound to lose a configuration or three. I didn't notice that my feedburner feed wasn't working until today. *GAH* Well it's back now. Sorry for that! Hope all of you in RSS land will forgive me and my infrequent updates!

Some people like to push the boundaries of what can be sold on eBay. Someone in the UK is selling their Mac Book BOX on eBay and currently as of this writing it's going for $189.19!

I'm assuming this would be valuable for anyone who doesn't have a MacBook Box for later resale but I dunno if I would pay THAT much for just a box. I'd probably just sell my MacBook with some sort of sleeve or wrap it in bubble wrap.

Thanks to Meg Matthews who sent this in.

So I decided to upgrade DBD::MySQL to the latest version, 3.0008 as of this writing. So imagine my surprise when the install didn't work even after following my own instructions here on MacNewsBlog.com!

Well after a few minutes of panic, fearing I had broken my working Movable Type system, I calmed down, realized that I had a backup of the system (please remember to backup everything before doing any sort of updates! I use SuperDuper religiously!) and proceeded to troubleshoot it all.

I had to concentrate on this one because it's kinda complicated... but after a few minutes I figured it out. DBD::MySQL does a series of tests against a database called test when you run MakeFile.pl. I had forgotten that I dumped the test database after installing MySQL5 and running mysql_secure_installation. So all I had to do was create a new test database for DBD::MySQL to run its tests against and give MakeFile.pl the right flags.

Step by Step:
Make your database in MySQL. I usually do the following via the terminal:

mysql -u root -p
then enter your password

type the following commands:

create database blog;
grant all on blog.* to username@localhost identified by “password”;

change username@localhost to whatever your mysql username will be and change password to your password. Then type:
quit

then all you have to do is download the new DBD::Mysql and install using the instructions posted previously here and here and these additional flags:

sudo perl Makefile.PL \
--cflags="-I/usr/local/mysql/include" \
--libs="-L/usr/local/mysql/lib -lmysqlclient -lz -lm" \
--testuser="username" \
--testpassword="password" \
--mysql_config="/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config"

Just replace username and password with whatever your username and password is for your database. Then run make, then make test and if everything checks out okay, run make install.

And that's it!

Aperture: "Insufficient Disk Space" error when importing images
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304566

Aperture: Changes to keyboard shortcuts in version 1.5
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304409

Aperture: Some images duplicated when importing from iPhoto
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302903

Aperture: Some PSD files renamed when updating to Aperture 1.5
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304552

Aperture: Update Vault doesn't work after restoring a vault
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302623

Final Cut Pro 5 may fail to open with 64 or more QuickTime components installed
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304477

Final Cut Pro 5: May drop frames of 1080pA24 media on 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 models
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304565

Final Cut Pro will not open in Curtain Mode under Apple Remote Desktop
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304564

Identifying the ports and controls of iPod models
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303690

iPod shows up in Windows but not in iTunes
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93716

iPod: About the battery charge status icon
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60970

iSync 2.2 or later: Some phones may require a firmware update
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303608

iSync: Editing contact name on Motorola phone may create a duplicate Address Book entry
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303606

Mac OS X 10.4.8: Mac Pro - kernel panic at startup after installing on a RAID volume
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304511

Mac OS X 10.4: Close printer queue window before printing from Classic
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304419

Mac OS X 10.4: Invisible files become visible after NetInstall or restoring from a disk image
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301677

Nike + iPod Voice Kits: Frequently Asked Questions
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304537

Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro: How to open the CD/DVD tray
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304526

Restoring Fifth Generation iPod (iPod with video)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304567

I recall seeing the iPod for the first time and thinking to myself... "what the heck? Why in the world is Apple making an mp3 player?" Little did I know back then huh? Well since then I've owned every single iteration of iPod that has gone on sale. And in case you're wondering, yes I just bought a red nano, but it was for my girlfriend. Honest!

Happy Birthday iPod! Now hurry up and come out with the next version!

Well it had to happen sooner or later right?

My still shiny and not so new MacBook Pro is now obsolete since Apple today released the new MacBook Pro's with Core2Duo processors, Firewire 800 and Dual layer drives! Gah!

Am I bitter? Not in the least! I rarely have buyers remorse when getting an Apple product... the only time I've maybe felt this was buying the iPod+Photo and then a month later seeing the iPod + Video come out. My MacBook Pro still does it's job and its fast enough for me right now. I sure could use the additional 1 gig of memory that the new ones are capable of though! While Dual Layer is nice, the media is still too expensive for my pocketbook especially since I have about 2-3 spools of DVD-R lying around the house.

Congratualtions on catching up with the competition and finally getting out a Core2duo notebook Apple! I'm hoping for an ultraportable soon....

.Mac: What it means when System Status section says "Members cannot access the .Mac Welcome page. It will be restored ASAP."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304558

About the iPod shuffle Reset Utility
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303979

About Xsan 1.4
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303691

Apple has released a new beta of their beloved BootCamp software for all of you who just have to have Windows on your Mac.

From Apple's website:

Boot Camp 1.1.2 beta contains several updates and is intended for all new and previous Boot Camp beta users.

Boot Camp 1.1.2 beta includes:

If you have a Core2Duo MacBook (lucky you) or are thinking about getting one but want more info on them, well you're in luck.

Apple just released the developers notes for these babies.

Have at it:
MacBook 15 inch Core2Duo Developer Notes

MacBook 17 inch Core2Duo Developer Notes

For those of you waiting for those new 2nd Gen iPod Shuffles, you're in luck. They should be in stores by Friday and if you've pre-ordered one, you'll be getting it even sooner!

The new shuffle is so small that it makes me wonder if people will start losing them left and right. I will miss one feature that that the old shuffle had: the ability to easily use it as a flash drive.

Theres a problem with my favorite backup utility, SuperDuper and Intel Macs running 10.4.8.

According to this thread on the ShirtPocket forums SuperDuper will crash due to a bug in 10.4.8 on Intel:

"The problem seems to be with threaded access to window updates; our progress indicator is set to update on its own thread, and the "main thread" updates too. But Core Graphics -- which handles the low level updating -- looks to be having a new problem with locking, and crashes either the main thread or the progress indicator thread when there's contention..."

Well whatadya know? Apple today released iTunes 7.0.2 to compliment the fact that the new shuffle is due to arrive any hour now.

In addition to compatibility with the 2nd gen Shuffle, they also claim to have squashed some bugs with this new version. Download it and try it out!