If anyone would like to have it before 1.4.6, just drop me a message and I’ll send it to you.

[tags]ichat, chax[/tags]

I have created a small Applescript which uses the shell “utility” fortune to display some wisdom in the everyday work. From the man page for fortune: «fortune – print a random, hopefully interesting, adage». The following script lets the user loop through random quotes and smart little notes and gives the option to send it to the clipboard:

[code]
repeat
set f_text to (do shell script "/usr/local/bin/fortune -s -n 80
/usr/local/share/fortunes/computers")
display dialog ¬
f_text with icon 1 ¬
with title ¬
"Send Fortune to Clipboard?" buttons {"Cancel", "Next", "OK"} ¬
default button "Next"
if button returned of result is "Cancel" then
display dialog "Cancel"
exit repeat
else if button returned of result is "Next" then
else
set the clipboard to f_text
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
[/code]
*(set f_text to (do shell script “/usr/local/bin/fortune -s -n 80 /usr/local/share/fortunes/computers”) should be one the same line)*

As you can see, I have specified some options for the fortune command. The following bit specifies that the length of the fortunes should not be more than 80 characters:
[code]
-s -n 80
[/code]

-s can be replaced for -l to specify a minimum length instead. The path which I set at the end is the path to computer related cookies.

It is also possible to use this Applescript to set new status/mood messages in iChat/Skype (and possibly other IM applications too, but I have only tested on these). To do this, replace the line which says “set the clipboard to f_text” to:
[code]
tell application "iChat"
set the status message to f_text
end tell
tell application "Skype"
send command "SET PROFILE MOOD_TEXT" & f_text
end tell
[/code]

[tags]applescript, fortune, ichat, skype[/tags]

The weird issue here is that I was allowed to delete the existing app by dragging it to the Trash, and then copy the new one to the application folder. Since my current account was not allowed to replace it, why was I allowed to delete it?

[tags]macosx, permissions[/tags]

TextMate’s rise to fame has been swift. It’s been hailed as the best text editor for Mac OS X by developers the world over. We’ll be contemplating why people love it and more importantly if it really deserves the praise.

If you’re on Mac OS X and do a lot of text editing (html, css, javascript, php, latex, plain tex, etc), I’ll recommend you to check out this editor.

From their website:

AppZapper is for people who want to confidently try new apps while knowing they can uninstall them easily. Drag one or more unwanted apps onto AppZapper and watch as it finds all the extra files and lets you delete them with a single click. A slick safety system remembers which apps you want to keep safe, and the log tracks all the files you’ve zapped. In one Zap you’ll understand it. In two you’ll fall in love. Within the five free Zaps, you’ll know you need to add AppZapper to your arsenal. Go ahead — try five free zaps and see AppZapper in action now.

I highly recommend this useful goodie, and macZOT.com is currently running an offer for this utility. The price will go down $0.05 for each blog entry about it, so if you blog – read this!

Full changelog listed in the complete post

Update: Oops, the 1.7 release was uploaded with my internal debug mode on. This is fixed in 1.7.1, which is uploaded now.

Full changelog:
v1.7.1:

• Fixed: 1.7 was released with my debug modus on

v1.7:

• Fixed: Widget stretching could go bananas sometimes. Set to fixed distance instead of calculated from the number of days in the forecast data (seems to be bound to four days anyway )

v1.7b5:

• Altered the display/positioning of rain/snow in the forecasts

v1.7b4:

• Added: Display of amount of rain/snow in the forecasts for the next few days.

v1.7b3:

• Fixed: viewing forecasts late in the evening messed up the forecast for the next days

v1.7b2:

• Support for ambiguous placenames. Shows a list of places to select from.
• Checks placename on enter/return in search field
• Further code cleanup

v1.7b1:

• Changed site to collect data from. Was (Storm.no) – Is (http://www.aftenposten.no/vaer)
• Changed from textual display of weather forecast to icon based
• Cleaned up some code (more to do)
• Support for longer forecasts.

Download from the development page!

One question which have popped up more than once is the availability of video support between MSN and iChat (via Jabber). As most Mac/iChat users know, iChat provides a great interface for video chat between iChat users (although it is not very tolerant when it comes to bandwidth issues, as far as I have seen). Although iChat has support for video, this support works only between iChat clients due to the way the video streams are sent.

There are some ongoing work in the Jabber community to come up with a way to send video streams between Jabber clients, but this does unfortunately not help that much (since both MSN and iChat uses their own approaches).

There are some other clients/networks which provides this functionality, but I haven’t tested them. The reason for this is that I do not want to have several clients running. Currently I have two, iChat and Skype, and I do not want more clients than this running.
My best bet when it comes to hassle free videoconference between Mac and Windows users is to wait for Skype to finally launch their 2.0 version of the Skype client. This is scheduled to happen in this quarter (April-May-June), and I hope they make this happen.

Update: I have now merged all updates of the beta release to a single blog post.

Changelog:
v1.7b5:

• Altered the display/positioning of rain/snow in the forecasts

v1.7b4:

• Added: Display of amount of rain/snow in the forecasts for the next few days.

v1.7b3:

• Fixed: viewing forecasts late in the evening messed up the forecast for the next days

v1.7b2:

• Support for ambiguous placenames. Shows a list of places to select from.
• Checks placename on enter/return in search field
• Further code cleanup

v1.7b1:

• Changed site to collect data from. Was (Storm.no) – Is (http://www.aftenposten.no/vaer)
• Changed from textual display of weather forecast to icon based
• Cleaned up some code (more to do)
• Support for longer forecasts.

Download from the development page!

I have spent quite some time with it today, and the progress are good. I’m done with the collection of data, but there are quite some graphical adjustments to do.