Quiet, you’ll wake the blog.
BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to provide a joint on-demand service
There is Channel 4’s 4oD service, BBC’s iPlayer, now we have plans for a new on-demand service for television.
The BBC is reporting how the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are going to work together to provide a new on-demand service for viewers.
The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to launch a joint on-demand service, which will bring together hundreds of hours of television programmes in one place.
The service is set to go live in 2008 and will offer viewers access to current shows and archive material.
Accessing an Airport Network with a Windows Vista PC
I have written a guide on how to connect a PC running Windows Vista to a Airport wireless network.
Accessing a Airport Network with a Windows Vista Business PC or laptop
This complements other guides I have written on getting Windows PCs onto Airport networks.
Dimmed Icons
So there I was updating my Mac mini (which to be honest has been gathering dust on my desk for a while now, well no screen, no keyboard and mouse, it’s difficult to use…. certainly not easy to switch on and do stuff.
So how do I configure it , well I am currently using VNC/Apple Remote Desktop combination to control it.
On the Mac mini I have configured it through Apple Remote Desktop to allow others to access it.
System Preferences > Sharing
Check the Apple Remote Desktop checkbox and add a password by clicking Access Privileges…
On my other Mac, I don’t have the full version of Apple Remote Desktop, so I am using Chicken of the VNC which is VNC software (you can tell that from the name), and as Apple Remote Desktop is VNC compatible, means I can control my Mac mini from another Mac on my network, and the Mac mini doesn’t need a monitor or a keyboard or even a mouse!
So once I started it, I set about installing updates, it was running 10.4.6, so I upgraded to 10.4.11 (and will probably install Leopard on it, when it arrives this week (oh yes I have finally got round to ordering Leopard, family pack will upgrade the Mac mini first, but will wait on my other Macs until I am happy that all my peripherals and applications are Leopard friendly)).
However I noticed that all my OS X icons in Finder were dimmed or faded and couldn’t understand why, well more importantly I must have done something to it and couldn’t remember what!
Well a quick search on Google found this Apple Discussions thread.
I like to be able to view the normally hidden files and folders. However when this is enabled, the majority of icons show as faded.
Ah well, I must have done something in Terminal to change Finder to view hidden files, but couldn’t remember how I did this, or where I found out to do this.
So back to Google and this revealing MacWorld article.
Using a simple Terminal command, you can work with all the files on your machine from the Finder. Open Terminal, type this command, and press Enter:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
Well this is going to show hidden files, so as you might guess…
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles NO
..will hide hidden files again.
So started Terminal, typed the command and then rebooted the computer to restart Finder and now all my icons can be seen in all their multitechnicolour glory.
So why have I been messing about with upgrading my Mac mini, well I am going to put it under my TV and use it as a media centre.
I have ordered a 15m cat5e cable so I can also place my new 802.11n Airport Extreme under the TV as well, so not only will the Mac mini be connected (by gigabit ethernet on the Airport Extreme and alas 100Mb ethernet on the Mac mini. It should be faster than 802.11g though.
I will also be able to connect my EyeHome to the Airport Extreme by ethernet as well.
Pity it’s an old G4 PPC model, so not only just 100Mb ethernet also no remote!
Well if it works out as I hope and it works well, I will upgrade to a new Intel Mac mini which comes with the Apple remote…
Or get an Apple TV!
Olympus E-510 EVOLT Review
Digital Photography Review has posted a review of the Olympus E-510 EVOLT and the reviewer was very positive about the camera.
I’ve been using the E-510 for an unusually long time – the delay in publishing this review meant I ended up living with it for several months, which allowed me to really get to know it in the same way an owner would. And my overall impression, I have to say, is very positive indeed.
I often think these long term reviews are so much more useful and realistic than someone having the camera for a few days or even a few hours. It’s only after a lot of use that you really get to know the ins and outs, the things that work well and the things which annoy you.
Vista Printing Success
The other day I mentioned I was having issues with printing from a Windows Vista PC to a printer on a Mac (running 10.4).
Well you know what I should read my own guides, specifically the guide on Printing to a printer on a Mac running 10.4.x from a Windows XP PC.
In that guide is the clear statement:
Choose the relevant Printer Driver (or click Have Disk and put in the relevant drivers disk). Note that you should only use the Windows driver if you have a Postscript printer
I forgot that you don’t use the Windows Printer Driver, you need to use a Postscript driver.
This only came to light when I decided to use Bonjour for Windows to install the printer and when it came to choosing the correct printer driver, the Bonjour Printer Wizard only gave me the choice of a generic Postscript printer!
And yes it printed, guide coming soon.
UX1XN Battery Life
The more I use my Sony VAIO UX1XN, the more I like it, however the more I use it the more the limitations of it really start to annoy me.
The main limitation is the battery life which is less than two hours, however that, though annoying in itself, is not the main annoyance. No the main annoyance is the trickle of power the UX1XN uses when it is in standby mode.
If you use hibernation mode then you’re generally okay, if you use standby mode, don’t leave it for a couple of hours, otherwise when you try and use it again, you will find the battery drained.
Safari Memory Hog
Safari (web browser on the Mac) does annoy me now and again by pretending it needs lots and lots of memory which then slows my whole Mac down.
I’ve just had to force quit Safari which was demanding 5.16GB of virtual memory. This was playing havoc with other stuff I was doing on the Mac.
Once I quit Safari, all was fine and everything speeded up.
I am not sure why Safari gets this demanding with memory, but it does happen quite a lot, so every so often I have to quit Safari and restart.
Sharing a Printer
I have been trying to share a printer on my iMac with a Sony VAIO UX1XN running Windows Vista Business Edition (in the main to write a guide for my website).
I was quite impressed by using the Network and Sharing Center (when trying out file sharing which incidently works fine) that Vista recognised the printers attached t0 my iMac.
However printing to the printer results in the print job just disappearing…
I have already configured the printer (it’s a wireless Canon MP600R) so the Vista PC can print direct to the printer, so printing is not an issue. This is much more a theoretical exercise to see if the UX1XN running Windows Vista can print to a shared printer on a Mac.
Initially I thought it might be because I hadn’t actually shared the printer on the Mac, but even doing that didn’t work.
I am not 100% sure of the reasons behind the lack of printing, but I suspect that because it is a wireless printer may be part of the problem.
Next thing to try is a printer connected to the Mac via USB and share that, I am expecting that to work.
802.11n’ised WET54G
I am currently looking for a 802.11n version of the Linksys WET54G which I have been using with my EyeHome.
The Linksys WET54G is an ethernet wireless bridge, basically it enables you to connect (wired) etherent devices to a wireless network.
As you might guess from the name the WET54G is an 802.11g device which has been working okay in conjunction with my EyeHome. However the limitations of the 802.11g wireless network means that I have had some buffering issues with some video files.
I am hoping with an 802.11n network that I will solve these buffering issues and will be able to stream my EyeTV recordings (in the main BBC recordings) smoothly without stuttering.
The problem I have is that Linksys don’t (yet) make an 802.11n version of their WET54G. I am not sure which 802.11n devices do work with Apple’s implementation of 802.11n.
Another 802.11n Airport Extreme as a WDS node for me is not really a solution as WDS effectively halves the wireless bandwidth.
So if you have any suggestions leave me a comment with a recommendation.