A View on View :: Mac Woes

About me

Mark Evans

the blog - examines the world of telecom and technology from a distinctly Canadian perspective.

the person - lives in Toronto, CA with his wife and three children, and works as director of community with PlanetEye Inc.

Contact me

http://www.thegoodblogs.com

Main Page » Apple

Previous:	Who's a Journalist?
Next:	Focus on The Real Issues, Mr. G8

Mac Woes

by Mark Evans on Mon 29 May 2006 11:16 AM EDT | Permanent Link

I'm trying out a beautiful, new MacBook (black) - thin, lightweight, nice screen. It's frustrating, however, that I can't use many of my favourites applications such as FeedDemon, Google Talk and Roboform.

Posted to:

Apple

Comments

Post a comment

Re: Mac Woes

by Dan Sinai on Mon 29 May 2006 11:21 AM EDT | Permanent Link

Mark.....I use iChat as my google talk client....works great...configuration is here:

http://www.google.com/support/talk/bin/answer.py?answer=24076

Re: Mac Woes

by Ben Wong on Mon 29 May 2006 12:26 PM EDT | Permanent Link

There is NetNewsWire for RSS feeds.
Adium for MSN, Jabber (Google Talk), ICQ, AIM, etc. etc. IM'ing
There's a few things for Roboform, but I haven't tested them out much. Blog if you find something of similar functionality that works out for you.

Re: Mac Woes

by bsharwood on Mon 29 May 2006 01:04 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Was going to echo exactly the above. NetNewsWire is my favourite RSS feed right now, and googletalk seems to work fine on my mac. There's a few Firefox and Safari plug-ins for Roboform too.

Re: Mac Woes

by Andy Abramson on Mon 29 May 2006 02:44 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I got my Black Book also (Om will be jealous I suspect) but when did Google Talk come out as an App, or are you saying in the browser?

Andy

Re: Re: Mac Woes

by Mark Evans on Mon 29 May 2006 02:48 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

as far as i can tell, google talk (http://www.google.com/talk/) is only available to windows users (XP, 2000).

Re: Mac Woes

by Larry Borsato on Mon 29 May 2006 04:21 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

You'll want NetNewsWire for feeds (though there are free ones that are just as good), Adium for chat (it does GoogleTalk and everything else), and Keychain (standard on Macs) will handle the Roboform tasks just fine.

Re: Mac Woes

by Larry Borsato on Mon 29 May 2006 04:22 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

You'll also find that Camino runs much better that Firefox. At least pre-Firefox 2.0 anyway. I can also recommend some other stuff you might like to have if need be.

Re: Re: Mac Woes

by Mark Evans on Mon 29 May 2006 04:34 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

thanks for the roadmap! cheers, mark

Re: Re: Re: Mac Woes

by Tyler on Mon 29 May 2006 05:24 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Hey Mark, just looking at the comment on this post and was wondering: Is Web 2.0 going to get anywhere beyond the techheads? I mean, I bet 95 per cent of Web users haven't a clue how RSS feed works, let alone what they do. These are all cool apps, but from my experiences they're not always easy for the average computer user to use. Might make a good discussion for the next Mesh.

Re: Mac Woes

by David Crow on Tue 30 May 2006 12:09 PM EDT | Permanent Link

Ben and Larry identify the key candidates Adium, NetNewsWire and Camino for a better faster experince. Don't forget to check out Quicksilver and TextWrangler.

There are a few lists of must have apps:

10 apps every new mac user should download
Brad Choate's OS X software inventory no guarrantee that these apps are Universal Binaries

Re: Mac Woes

by gfox on Tue 30 May 2006 02:29 PM EDT | Permanent Link

You're kidding right? Why would you expect them to work? It is a different OS. Would you expect your win32 apps to run under linux?

To me this is like saying "I picked up a betamax tape at a yard sale, and I'm upset since it won't play in my VHS player".

Re: Mac Woes

by Roustem Karimov on Sat 03 Jun 2006 10:43 PM EDT | Permanent Link

Mark,

Regarding RoboForm -- we just released an updated version of 1Passwd (http://1passwd.com). This version is integrated with Safari and Firefox and it can import roboform passcards.

Re: Re: Mac Woes

by Mark Evans on Mon 05 Jun 2006 10:52 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

great. i'll check it out.

mark

Trackbacks

TrackBack URL:
http://evans.blogware.com/blog/_trackback/1992113

Weblogs that reference this article:

adult baby tv
Weblog:	adult baby tv
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Wed Aug 29 11:39:00 EDT 2007

adult channel free tv
Weblog:	adult channel free tv
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Thu Aug 30 10:36:00 EDT 2007

adult direct tv
Weblog:	adult direct tv
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Thu Aug 30 12:09:00 EDT 2007

adult hidden cam
Weblog:	adult hidden cam
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Mon Sep 03 14:02:00 EDT 2007

adult cams
Weblog:	adult cams
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Mon Sep 03 14:04:00 EDT 2007

adult channel free online tv
Weblog:	adult channel free online tv
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Mon Sep 03 14:45:00 EDT 2007

adult free online tv
Weblog:	adult free online tv
Excerpt:	Mac Woes
Posted:	Mon Sep 03 16:23:00 EDT 2007

Alarm.
Weblog:	Alarm.
Excerpt:	Alarm.
Posted:	Tue May 20 01:36:00 EDT 2008

Ephedra solaray.
Weblog:	Ephedra is it legal.
Excerpt:	Where do i buy diet fuel containing ephedra. Ephedra products for sale. Colorado ephedra attorney. Buy ephedra online. Ephedra.
Posted:	Sat Oct 18 05:12:00 EDT 2008

Difference between effexor and effexor xr.
Weblog:	Side effects of effexor xr.
Excerpt:	Effexor xr 37.5. Effexor. Effexor and pregnancy. Effexor and weight gain. Effexor for generalized anxiety disorder.
Posted:	Sun May 10 19:17:00 EDT 2009

Vibramycin.
Weblog:	Vibramycin.
Excerpt:	Vibramycin.
Posted:	Sun May 17 01:42:00 EDT 2009

Zocor.
Weblog:	3d models of zocor.
Excerpt:	Zocor vs crostor. Zocor side effects headache cranial. Will zocor unblock arteries. Zocor.
Posted:	Mon May 18 21:47:00 EDT 2009

Buy adderall onlie.
Weblog:	Buy adderall onlie.
Excerpt:	Buy adderall onlie.
Posted:	Thu Sep 24 05:52:00 EDT 2009

No quarter is max boot using oxycontin.
Weblog:	Stop using oxycontin.
Excerpt:	Oxycontin pill. Oxycontin withdrawal home remedies. Oxycontin drug abuse. Oxycontin. Oxycontin dose.
Posted:	Mon Oct 05 03:52:00 EDT 2009

Post comment:

	Receive comment notifications for this article
Subject:
Comment:

Comment verification:

Please enter the text you see inside the graphic to post your comment:

You are not currently logged in. If you would like your user information to be displayed with your comment, please enter your login information below.

Username:
Password:

If you would like to post contact information on your comment, please enter your information into the optional fields below:

Contact information:

Name:
URL:		example: http://yourdomain.com
Email:

Please note: email will not be displayed on the site, only for the blog owner. If logged in, URL will only be used.

My blog has moved. Check out the new Mark Evans. It's on Wordpress and part of my mini-blog empire that also includes All About Nortel You can subscribe to Mark Evans Tech by clicking on the RSS symbol above.

Check Out These Blogs

Alan Gahtan

All Nortel, All the Time

Andy Abramson

Blackberry Cool

Blog of VoIP Blogs

Blogola

Blog on Blogs

Boris Mann

Clean Break

I, Cringely

iForward

IP Democracy

James Enck

Jeff Pulver

Jon Arnold

Larry Borsato

Live Digitally

Mark Cuban

Mark Goldberg

Mathew Ingram

Michael Mcderment

Michael Parekh

Michael Urlocker

Mip's Scan

Om Malik

Rich Tehrani

Rick Segal

Robert Thompson's Golf Blog

Rob Hyndman

Silicon Beat

Skype Journal

Solomon's VOIP World

Stowe Boyd

Stuart MacDonald

Tom Raftery

Traffick.com

Tris Hussey

VoIP Central

VoIP Lowdown

VoIP Now

VoIP Wiki

Voxilla

Search

Login

User name:
Password:

Remember me

Create an Account

Why Create A Reader Account?

http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=9LGTGZE3BX8ICWL1KC2Q&feed=1

AD_FILENAME = $file_path; $this->AD_SERVER = "http://ads.ztmc.net/"; $this->AD_SERVER_FILE = "network/"; $this->AD_SERVER_OPTIONS = "?a=a"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_TYPE = "P"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_MAJOR = "1"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_MINOR = "2"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_REVISION = '$LastChangedRevision: 127 $'; } function setFileName($file_path) { $this->AD_FILENAME = $file_path; } function ad_network() { return $this->DisplayAdRow($this->RetrieveAdArray($this->AD_FILENAME)); } function ad_script_version() { return $this->AD_SCRIPT_TYPE . "." . $this->AD_SCRIPT_MAJOR .".". $this->AD_SCRIPT_MINOR .".". $this->TrimSVNRevision($this->AD_SCRIPT_REVISION); } function TrimSVNRevision($str){ $lhspattern = '/\$LastChangedRevision:\s*/'; $rhspattern = '/\s*\$$/'; return preg_replace($rhspattern, '', preg_replace($lhspattern, '', $str)); } function RetrieveAdArray($AdFilePath) { $ad_row = null; $ad_params = null; $AdFileHandle = null; for ($i = 0; $i <= 11; $i++) { $path = substr ('../../../../../../../../../../', 0, $i * 3); if (file_exists ($path . $AdFilePath)) { $AdFilePath = $path . $AdFilePath; break; } } $ad_params = $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); $fileDate = $ad_params["AD_FILEDATE"]; $refreshDelay = intval($ad_params["AD_REFRESHDELAY"]); if(!is_string($fileDate) || !is_int($refreshDelay) || (strtotime($fileDate) + $refreshDelay < time())) { $ad_params = $this->GetNewAdFile($AdFilePath); } $rotateDate = $ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"]; $rotateDelay = intval($ad_params["AD_ROTATEDELAY"]); if(!is_string($rotateDate) || !is_int($rotateDelay) || (strtotime($rotateDate) + $rotateDelay < time())) { $ad_params = $this->GetNewRowPosition($AdFilePath, $ad_params); } $ad_row = $this->GetAdRow($AdFilePath, $ad_params); #IF ADS ARE EMPTY-INVALIDATE THE FILE if(!is_array($ad_row) || count($ad_row) == 0) { $this->InvalidateAdFile($AdFilePath); } return $ad_row; } #Description: # Invalidates the ad file, forces reload during next refresh #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile #Returns Array of parameters function InvalidateAdFile($AdFilePath) { echo("Empty or InValid Ad file
\n"); $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, array()); } #Description: # Retrieves script data #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile #Returns Array of parameters function GetParameters($AdFilePath) { $ad_return = null; $ad_param_names = array( "AD_VERSION", #File version - major.minor.revision "AD_FILEDATE", #Date last updated "AD_REFRESHDELAY", #Minimum amount of time before requesting new ad set "AD_ROTATEDATE", #Date last rotated "AD_ROTATEDELAY", #Minimum amount of time before ad rotation "AD_ROWCOUNT", #Number of rows "AD_COLUMNCOUNT", #Number of columns per ad per row "AD_ROWPOSITION", #Current advertisement row ); $count = count($ad_param_names); $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'r') or die ("Unable to open file "); $ad_params = fgetcsv($file, 1024); fclose($file); if(count($ad_params) >= $count) { #IF COMPATIBLE_VERSION TRIM ANY EXCESS PARAMETERS $ad_params = array_slice($ad_params, 0, $count); } else { $ad_params = array(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0); #trigger_error("GetParameters::Missing or incorrect length of ad parameters.", E_USER_WARNING); #echo "ERROR GetParameters:". print_r($ad_params,true)."
\n"; } $ad_return = array_combine($ad_param_names, $ad_params); return $ad_return; } #Description: # Retrieves row of advertisements based on row position #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile # ARRAY $ad_params - Position of row to retrieve #Returns [Array] of ad information function GetAdRow($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { $iPos = 0; $ad_row = array(); #Writes new position AND new rotatetime $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'r') or die("Unable to open file"); while(!feof($file) && $iPos < $ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"]) { fgetcsv($file, 1024); $iPos++; } $ad_row = fgetcsv($file, 1024); fclose($file); #TODO: Improve to return Array of Arrays with LABELS $ad_row_names = array( "URL", #Link URL "TEXT" #Display Text ); #Split into array of arrays if(is_array($ad_row) && $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"] > 0 && $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"] < count($ad_row)) return array_chunk($ad_row, $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"]); else return ""; } #Description: # Retrieves new row position, Updates AdFileHandle #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile # ARRAY $ad_params - Array of adfile parameters #Returns [Array] of adfile parameters function GetNewRowPosition($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { $new_ad_params = $this->_newRowPosition($ad_params); $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $new_ad_params); return $new_ad_params; } function _updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { //Read contents in to buffer array $lines = file($AdFilePath); #Writes new position AND new rotatetime $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'w') or die("Unable to write file"); if(flock($file, LOCK_EX)) { //Write first line fputcsv($file, $ad_params); //Write remaining contents for ($i=1; $i current position $numRows = $ad_params["AD_ROWCOUNT"]; $oldPos = $ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"]; $newPos = $oldPos; while($newPos == $oldPos) $newPos = rand(1, $numRows); $new_ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"] = $newPos; $new_ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"] = gmstrftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ"); return $new_ad_params; } #Description: # Convert ads to string #Parameters: # ARRAY $ad_row - Array of AD arrays #Returns String of ads function DisplayAdRow($ad_row) { $ad_text = ""; $ad_separator = " - "; $ad_target = "_self"; if(!is_array($ad_row)) return ""; foreach($ad_row as $item) { $ad_text .= "".trim($item[0])."".$ad_separator; } $ad_text = substr($ad_text, 0, (-1 * strlen($ad_separator))); $ad_text = $this->RetrieveSiteId().$ad_text; return $ad_text; } function RetrieveSiteId() { $id = "0"; $flag = ""; if (!isset($_SERVER) && isset($HTTP_SERVER_VARS)) { $_SERVER = &$HTTP_SERVER_VARS; $flag = "H"; } if(isset($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != false && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != 0 && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != -1 ) { $id = ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']); $flag .= "S"; } else if(isset($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != false && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != 0 && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != -1 ) { $id = ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']); $flag .= "L"; } else { $id = "0"; $flag .= "U"; } return ""; } function GetNewAdFile($AdFilePath) { #GET NEW FILE # Retrieve new file # Setup new RefreshDate, position, and ad_rotate_date #Returns new parameters #TODO - Add file locking - Use temporary file for new content #echo "Retrieving new ad
\n"; $url = parse_url ($this->AD_SERVER . $this->AD_SERVER_FILE . $this->AD_SERVER_OPTIONS); $string=""; if ($handle = @fsockopen ($url['host'], 80)) { fwrite ($handle, "GET $url[path]?$url[query] HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: $url[host]\r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n"); while (!feof($handle)) { $string .= @fread($handle, 40960); } fclose($handle); #Strip HTTP Header $needle = "\r\n\r\n"; $pos = strpos($string, $needle); $string = substr($string, $pos+strlen($needle), strlen($string)); #Write Contents to file #TODO - Add special lock file if($file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'wt')) { if(flock($file, LOCK_EX)) { fwrite($file, $string); flock($file, LOCK_UN); } else { echo("Unable to acquire lock to $AdFilePath"); } fclose($file); } else { echo("Unable to open $AdFilePath for writing"); } } else { #echo "Unable to connect to $url[host]
\n"; #File retrieval failed - exiting function pass back old values. return $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); } #TODO - Replace with file retrieval $ad_params = $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); $new_ad_params = $this->_newRowPosition($ad_params); #TODO - Add SlidingExpiration for REFRESH Dates that dont change # Example: REFRESH DATE permanently affixed to 2 days prior, every 30sec refresh will attempt a new page download # Temp Solution is to UPDATE FILE_DATE with AD_ROTATE_DATE $new_ad_params["AD_FILEDATE"] = $new_ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"]; #echo "Writing new ad
\n"; $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $new_ad_params); #echo "Returning updated parameters
\n"; return $new_ad_params; } } /** BEGIN Backwards Compatibility Routines */ if (! function_exists('array_combine')) { function array_combine($keys, $values) { foreach($keys as $key) $out[$key] = array_shift($values); return $out; } } if (!function_exists('fputcsv')) { function fputcsv($filePointer, $dataArray, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { // Write a line to a file // $filePointer = the file resource to write to // $dataArray = the data to write out // $delimeter = the field separator // Build the string $string = ""; // No leading delimiter $writeDelimiter = FALSE; foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) { // Replaces a double quote with two double quotes $dataElement=str_replace("\"", "\"\"", $dataElement); // Adds a delimiter before each field (except the first) if($writeDelimiter) $string .= $delimiter; // Encloses each field with $enclosure and adds it to the string $string .= $enclosure . $dataElement . $enclosure; // Delimiters are used every time except the first. $writeDelimiter = TRUE; } // end foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) // Append new line $string .= "\n"; // Write the string to the file return fwrite($filePointer,$string); } } if (!function_exists('fgetcsv')) { #TODO - Remove or ??? #Originally built to handle PHP4 style of fgetcsv $CSVstruct = array('Sep' => ','); function fgetcsv($handle, $length=1024, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { $rows = ParseCSVStream(fgets($handle),"\n",false); return $rows[0]; } } // append a CSV row containing data converted from source array $data. Actual conversion is done by ExCSVRowWalker() function AppendCSVRow($data) { global $CSVstruct; array_walk($data,'ExCSVRowWalker'.($CSVstruct['OutEOL']=="\n"?'N':'')); $CSVstruct['File'] .= implode($CSVstruct['Sep'],$data).$CSVstruct['OutEOL']; } // returns an array of rows (each row being an array of columns) with parsed data. Returns false when conversion fails. Auto-detects Win/Mac/*nix newline characters, which are converted all to the sequence specified (defaults to $CSVstruct['OutEOL']) for your convenience. function ParseCSVStream($data, $newline="\n", $associative=true) { global $CSVstruct; $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\r","\n",str_replace("\r\n","\n",$data)); if ($newline!="\n") $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\n",$newline,$CSVstruct['File']); $CSVstruct['OutEOL'] = $newline; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = 0; $CSVstruct['Error'] = false; $CSVstruct['EOF'] = false; $res = array(); if ($associative) { $titles = ParseCSVRow(); while (($row = ParseCSVRow())!==false) { $newa = array(); //possible optimization: might use array_combine() - requires PHP 5 for ($col = 0; $col0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',str_replace($CSVstruct['OutEOL'],"\n",$item)).'"'; } function ExCSVRowWalkerN(&$item) { if (!is_numeric($item)&&(strlen($item)>0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',$item).'"'; } // read next line from buffer. function RowInput() { global $CSVstruct; if ($CSVstruct['EOF']) { return ""; } else { $pos = strpos($CSVstruct['File'], $CSVstruct['OutEOL'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); if ($pos===false) { $CSVstruct['EOF'] = true; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); } else { $pos1 = $CSVstruct['Seek']; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = $pos+1; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$pos1,$pos-$pos1); }; }; } /** Initialize ad_network variable */ $ad_logic = new ad_logic($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); $ad_network = $ad_logic->ad_network($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); ?>