... or "Why backup up, both often and diversely, is so important."

The Lead-in

If you know Jodie and I, you know we enjoy movies, own quite a few and often fall into the role of being-a-local-BLOCKBUSTER-to-our-friends. It is for those reasons that we use the amazing Delicious Library application that Wil Shipley and his grass-roots team have developed for the Mac. With barcode scanning, Address Book-based check-in/out and a wifi-synced iPhone application, it is way better than any on paper setup we have had in the past.

The only thing missing from Delicious, however, is a way to keep one library in sync between multiple computers ... allowing either Jodie or myself to add, check out or update movie information. Thanks to Dropbox, the "go to" cloud-based backup solution, and a few handy symbolic links, I managed a nice workaround for what Delicious lacks.

The Drama

A couple of days ago, Jodie attempted to opened Delicious Library and add a few new movies, but because of some issue with a broken/corrupt/finicky database file (located in the Application Support directory), the app wouldn't launch without immediately and "unexpectedly" quitting.

The Solution (or so I thought)

Using Dropbox's restore capabilities, I planned to simply push my copy of the library to Jodie's machine and fix the issue ... but like many applications, when Delicious Library initially tried to launch for Jodie, it updated its database files. This update caused Dropbox to see a newer modification date and immediately sync those files to the cloud and in the process, render my copy of the library broken as well.

Even worse, trying to use the "Previous versions" option for the files on Dropbox failed because Delicious' .library files weren't being recognized by the system correctly as storage and were downloading as empty folders instead.

The Failsafe

Thankfully, Jodie and I have both lost enough data in the past to know that backing up to one location/media is not really backing up at all and I was able to successfully restore a previous copy of the library files from a Time Machine backup that had occurred only a few days prior.

It was also comforting to know that if, for some reason or another, one of our Time Machine drives had died, each of our MacBook's has the unobtrusive BackBlaze service running as well. Theirs isn't a perfect solution, but has saved me plenty of times in a pinch.

Just like I tell all of my students, the lesson here is to backup ... everything, often and to as many different media/locations/services as possible. There are never too many options for restoring when you are missing that "one important file".

This afternoon I got a chance to watch Day 2 of Google's IO Developer Event (the Android Keynote, in particular) and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed. Not only was it great to see such a strong commitment from Google toward an open platform that is working to strongly support Flash, but the sheer momentum of their device and user-adoption numbers was enough to have me wondering about Android-based iPhone alternatives (e.g. the sweet looking EVO).

After all was said, done and Vic Gundorta had finished taking stabs at Apple (and I had heard some Mac fanboy responses) , I definitely find myself among those interested to see how Apple responds in a few weeks at WWDC, where we will hopefully see a next-gen iPhone announcement. For now though, enjoy this Google IO wallpaper that I whipped up really quick like, because I love the vibrant simplicity of Google's branding for this event.

I had intended on posting about all of the features I am excited for in the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 software update (of which there are many), but Apple did a nice job of spoiling that with ...

• More reminders of their continued belief that the HTML5 markup language is a direct equivalent to and a capable replacement for Flash, Flex and AIR ... where it definitely is not.
• A re-written development agreement that not only restricts Flash Platform developers from creating for the iPhone and iPad platforms, but also C# and [possibly] JavaScript developers.
• Confirmation of their laughable approach to informing the User of non-support for browser plugins (e.g. hiding it from them).

Sure, a lot of these things present an immediate problem just for what Adobe is moving towards with Flash, but they are also restricting the progress of Internet technologies in general (SilverLight and Unity 3D come to mind). I know Apple still considers the iPhone a "breakthrough Internet device" and really, in comparison to the rest of the current phone market, it is. But with so many competitors so hot on on their heels AND providing an open environment for development, their leading position is going to start slipping.

Plus, with the advent of new devices like the iPad which border on desktop-computing replacements, a restricted Internet is not in anyone's best interest. If I am going to "see the web like never before", I'd rather see ALL of it.

One only has to sit in on my DFP Icon lecture, perused my Flickr uploads tagged osx, or (for you privileged few) use my Mac for a few minutes to realize that I am very particular AND very protective of the way my Finder windows look. I have nice sidebar separators, several essential tool bar application launchers, Windows 7-like window snapping, and a fairly even background image to grid layout ratio ... and that's not even going into all the folder and app icon customization that I do.

Now, once I have a been using a new Mac for a few days and have I become successfully habituated to these preferred settings, it is slightly annoying to exponentially frustrating to have Finder present the file system in different view. Sometimes it is an old "as Icons" view I initially set up but have adjusted slightly and other times he'll switch it up with a complete change to the "as Columns" view, seemingly out of no where.

The Problem

I am probably right in thinking that the original UX pattern assumed by the designers at Apple, from way back in the OS 7 days, was "if the User changes the view, remember it ... forever ... unless they specify otherwise". In the limited scope of a Desktop world where I only have my Music, Movies and Documents folders to interact with, this was probably an okay choice. I, as the User, could essentially "set 'em and forget 'em".

As this is now a much more power and connected Desktop environment that continues to scale, the concept does not ... especially in my own frequent use case of occasionally needing a different view, but not remembering the need to change it back after I am done.

The Ideal Solution

Although this is a seemingly minor issue, finding resolutions for these are what makes the difference between an efficient designer/developer/human being and those that are not (Man, does that sound snooty!). How I would love to see this issue remedied would be with one global setting in the Finder Preferences window that is only temporarily affected by the User's manual change in view.

From the few times I have tested using a Finder-replacement like Path Finder, I have found this to be the default behavior ... but really, should I be forced to use a third-party alternative just to fix what is clearly a broken concept?

Also, this preferred behavior would make much more sense than what the current "Use as Defaults" button (in the 'View Options' panel) does ... apply the settings to any newly created windows, but absolutely nothing to previously-viewed folders.

The Stop Gap

Up until this point, I have suffered through having to manually correcting the settings in the "View Options" window; choosing "Always open in icon view", dragging the icon slider, arranging by "Name", choosing the background image, etc. Yeah ... a really pain.

Just today, I off-handedly tried holding down the Option key when adjusting the settings (a well-known way to 'Reset' the panels for filters, adjustments and such in several of the Adobe apps) and sure enough ... the "Use as Defaults" button updated to read "Restore to Defaults". While that labeling doesn't necessarily make me feel comfortable about pressing it the very first time (it kinda sounds like it is going to perform a Factory Restore on my Finder, right?), it actually did something entirely useful.

"Restore to Defaults" removes any of your previous View settings for that view/window combo and applies the settings you defined when the button read "Define as Defaults". You still will have to manually hold down Option and press that button for any offending windows, but it's still pretty handy, right? Anyways ... that is the end of my rant. Enjoy the find. Now ... Command+Tab back to work, kids.

You may have missed the announcement a few weeks ago, but one of my favorite games, Plants vs. Zombies, from one of my favorite Mac game developers, Pop Cap, has just spouted up on the iPhone. Now you can continue to quell some beautifully illustrated zombie madness on the go!

I know Jodie didn't install this on her iPhone, for fear of losing her life to it ... but I had no such qualms. Parcelling out one or two bite-size pea-shooter and mushroom-filled levels every day works perfect for me. Plus, if you were hesitant about purchasing the $19.95 desktop version (though, it is well worth it), you really can't beat the $2.99 price point for almost an identical game.

Check it out, you're bound to love it, but, of course, it has the same disclaimer as my last recommendation ... it's addictive. The music, the sound effects, the funny flower dossiers ... pretty much all of it. Addictive like yummy brain flesh.

The last couple of weeks I have been going back and forth between Firefox and Safari as my default web browser, trying to appreciate their full-featured nature over the fact that they are both so sluggish in comparison to the lovely Chrome Beta. Thankfully, Google announced support for two of the things that have really kept me from making it my preferred choice ... Extensions and Bookmark Management.

Extensions

Installing extensions through the browser is super-easy, doesn't require a restart and there are plenty to choose from. Here are just a few of the ones I am already finding essential:

• Delicious Tools - Not a direct match to its great Firefox equivalent, but it works nicely for what I need.
• Downloads - Easy access to Chrome's "Downloads" page from a toolbar button.
• Go Extensions - Same deal, but with the Extensions page.
• Google Mail Checker - For those of you still checking Gmail outside of the Mail.app, this extensions offers quick access to your mail and nicely sports notification badges.
• Google Voice - Not only quickly get to your Google Voice account, but you can also initiate a call or send a SMS right from the toolbar.
• Google Wave Notifier - It kinda seems likes some of these should be built right in, huh? Maybe that is what Chrome OS will bring.
• History Button - I'm actually thinking this is one of those extensions that will become obsolete once Chrome goes Release, but for now, it is handy.
• RSS Subscriptions with FEED: Handler Support - RSS feeds are really important to me and this lil' guy is exactly what I needed to get feeds from Chrome to the external aggregator I am partial to right now (Socialite). If all you want to do is add feeds to your iGoogle or Google Reader accounts, there are a few other options.
• Speed Dial - This one is the cherry-on-the-top for me. A start page thumbnail display that is better than the weak Firefox counterpart (Fast Dial), more versatile than the built-in 2-row setup that Chrome provides and it's even similar enough to Safari to appease my visual needs. Seriously ... it is simple, but I am really excited about this extension.
• StumbleUpon - I'm still not sold on the whole SU use case, but since a lot of sites are dropping Digg buttons, I need another easy way to keep track of articles I like.

*Extensions Organization Tip

As of right now, Chrome doesn't take advantage of the typical Command+drag UI convention for re-arranging the icons for extensions in the toolbar, but you can easily get around this by "Enabling" and "Disabling" the extensions in the order you want them to appear.

Bookmarks

Not only does the Bookmark manager work exactly as would you expect for being built on WebKit (including support for dragging bookmarks directly from Safari's 'Bookmarks' window), but Google has also added "Bookmark Syncing" support. This will make it really easy for those of you with multiple machines/devices that want to keep things in sync. I personally keep all but a few essential bookmarks on Delicious, but I still set up the syncing, since it was so easy.

Alright, that's enough talking of Chrome for a bit. We can all go back to eagerly awaiting anything new on Google's OS front. Until then ... if you find any more great extensions, be sure to post links below.

Even though I have no plans of releasing these to the public, I thought you might enjoy seeing this fun little cross-platform project I have been working on. It is really just a fancy list for me to keep handy and remind me of what to work on most days. Not only does it come with a spiffy iPhone version (including a custom iPhone icon, of course), it now has an Adobe AIR version that can be run on a Mac, Windows or Linux system.

The best part? Each deployment pulls from the same HTML source and will a little bit of RegEx magic and JavaScript conditionals, each gets its own look and feel. If you haven't already looked into working with AIR through HTML and JavaScript, it is definitely a lot o' fun. I wasn't really in the mood to set up a site in Dreamweaver or dive into Aptana while working on this, so I took the super nerdy route and did all the AIR debugging and compiling right out of Terminal. Definitely good times.

I don't know about you, but I've had a Google Wave account for more than a few weeks now and I still have yet to figure out what to do with it. I mean, I saw the amazing Developer Preview from the Google I/O event, but without any immediate collaborative needs or really any contacts already using Wave, this fantastic communication tool is just another inbox for me to check on every now and then.

What are you using Wave for? Anything fun or inventive ideas on how to move this intriguing concept into part of a useful workflow? If you happen to be among the few still in need of an invite, I have about 25, so hit me up and I'll send one over.

A little bit of that same Prismacolor Blue, a little black ink, Crayola blue marker and just a smearing dab of 25% grey Prismacolor.

Since my beloved Mighty Mouse has not been functioning as preferred (specifically, the top and side buttons were not being recognized) I have been eagerly anticipating Apple's Fall product update so that I could look into getting whatever the new iteration of the mouse might be. Today Apple announced the new Magic Mouse and while I am very excited to try one out in person, I was less excited about the fact that it is limited to only two buttons and the simplified Preference Pane doesn't look like it would allow for re-mapping of any multi-touch gestures to count as other buttons.

With the sad fact before me that in the near future I might have to settle for a no-more-than-2-button Apple mouse, I decided to give repairing my current mouse's functionality another go. Turns out, simply setting up the buttons in the great USB Overdrive peripheral controller fixes the issue. Nice, huh?

All the unnecessary hatin' that has been happening lately toward the Flash platform has been getting out of hand and definitely on my nerves ... so I have decided to start animating small little nuggets of fun into some of my drawings here on the blog. If you are not among the misinformed and propaganda-gobbling masses, please enjoy! Of course, I am also adding a nice bit of accessibility for all the iPhone users, taking advantage of SWFObject's graceful degradation capabilities.

Since I have absolutely been loving Illustrator's new "blob brush", I decided to spend some time today getting further acquainted with its pre-cursor, the Flash brush. The last minute eye tracking is a bit kludgy, but it will do for this bit of fun. Here's the preliminary attempt:

//TRACKING THE CURSOR, THANKS TO http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/144/tn_14417.html
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE, mouseMove);
function mouseMove(event:MouseEvent):void{
	monsterGuy.eyeLeft.rotation = parent.mouseX/2 -180;
	monsterGuy.eyeRight.rotation = parent.mouseX/2 -180;
}