TidBITS Issue #805

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

Mellel 2.0 Ships

Mellel 2.0 Ships -- The Israeli company RedleX has released Mellel 2.0, a significant upgrade to their word processor with a slew of new features aimed largely at working with long and complex documentsShow full article

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

DealBITS Drawing: Sunatori.com Pen

by Adam C. Engst

And now for something completely different! Long-time TidBITS reader Simon Sunatori recently contacted us about doing a DealBITS drawing for a new pen he'd invented and patented, and while it wasn't Mac-related (other than coming in colors reminiscent of the original iPod mini), I was sufficiently intrigued to check it outShow full article

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

Apple Fixes Panther-to-Tiger AirPort Upgrade Problems

by Glenn Fleishman

I've been asking Apple for a couple of months to let me talk to engineers or product managers about the problem I wrote about recently (see "Adding Tiger's AirPort Preferred Network List" in TidBITS-794 and "Tiger Still Resists Showing Preferred Networks" in TidBITS-795). In brief, some users who upgraded from Panther to Tiger did not see the Preferred Networks list in the AirPort tab of the Network preference paneShow full article

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

Cell and Dial-Up Modem Updates

by Glenn Fleishman

If there's any question that TidBITS readers are {handsome|beautiful} and read what we write thoroughly, my mailbox from the latest issue is proof positive! Several folks wrote in to correct a few errors in my two modem pieces in last week's issue: one on Apple's dial-up USB modem; the other on the array of PC Card EVDO (high-speed cellular data) modems (see "Null Modem: Dial-Up for Macs?" and "Sprint Nextel Data Service Could Help Traveling Mac Users" in TidBITS-804). Apple USB Modem -- When I first wrote about the Apple USB Modem, it was available only as a build-to-order option with the new iMac G5 (iSight)Show full article

Hide full article

If there's any question that TidBITS readers are {handsome|beautiful} and read what we write thoroughly, my mailbox from the latest issue is proof positive! Several folks wrote in to correct a few errors in my two modem pieces in last week's issue: one on Apple's dial-up USB modem; the other on the array of PC Card EVDO (high-speed cellular data) modems (see "Null Modem: Dial-Up for Macs?" and "Sprint Nextel Data Service Could Help Traveling Mac Users" in TidBITS-804).

<http://db.tidbits.com/article/08316>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/08320>

Apple USB Modem -- When I first wrote about the Apple USB Modem, it was available only as a build-to-order option with the new iMac G5 (iSight). Somewhere in the interval, Apple added the modem to its regular store as a stand-alone purchase. (There's no way to link to the item, and Apple's link on the iMac G5 page simply redirects to the store home page.) Apple now describes the Apple USB Modem as an option for the Mac mini and Power Mac G5 (both of which list an internal modem as a build-to-order item), as well as the iMac G5.

Doug Noble wrote in with two bits of wisdom about the utility of a modem: his cable broadband service went out for two weeks following Hurricane Katrina and then again ever since Hurricane Wilma touched down. He owned no dial-up modem, so he resorted to an old AirPort Base Station that contains a built-in modem.

He also pointed out that faxing requires a dial-up modem; a host of electronic faxing services exist, but for occasional use, a $50 modem can be more cost-effective than recurring monthly or per page charges.

Cellular EVDO -- On the cellular EVDO front, it's a little more complicated. I failed to mention the only third-party application designed to work with an array of cellular and Wi-Fi devices: Smith Micro's QuickLink Mobile for Mac OS X.

<http://www.smithmicro.com/default.tpl? sku=QLMMAKEE&group=product_full>

A reader who has worked in the field noted that Verizon Wireless offers direct support for the Kyocera KPC650 PC Card. This fact confused me, because when I went to Verizon Wireless's site, that card isn't listed as an option with their best plan, and they don't make the software or support obvious. With help from him and Brian Dipert, who provided links, I found out why the information is so hidden. (Brian has written extensively about cell data speeds and support at his EDN site, by the way.)

<http://www.edn.com/blog/400000040/post/ 1410001541.html>

Verizon Wireless no longer promotes this Mac-supported card on the main page of their BroadbandAccess area, but it is available. If you navigate to the BroadbandAccess service at Verizon Wireless's Web site and walk through signing up for a plan, they offer their branded PC 5740 card for $100 when you sign up for a two-year contract. The KPC650 is $180 under the same terms and third on the list. Mac users who want official support should pay the extra money. Consult Smith Micro's support list for other options, too.

<http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/ controller?item=phoneFirst& amp;action=preZip& amp;featureGroup=BroadbandAccess>

Now where can you find the software? Nowhere so obvious as searching on "Macintosh" or "Mac OS X." Even Google didn't find it. But if you follow the links to download software on the Verizon Wireless page, as Brian suggested, you find a list of PC Cards with two columns: one with a Windows logo, the other with an old Mac OS logo.

<http://vzw.smithmicro.com/download/default2.tpl>

Amazingly, the software isn't even on Verizon's site, which makes the entire process even more confusing. I'm reminded of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy bit at the beginning where Arthur Dent complains that the planning documents were in a locked file cabinet in an unlit basement in a disused lavatory labeled "Beware of the Tiger." (Beware Tiger, indeed!)

Finally, my industry-connected reader emphasized the fact that Verizon Wireless disables Bluetooth dial-up networking (DUN) support in its phones. I noted this in my article in passing, but it's worth repeating that you can't work around a lack of PC Card driver support by using a Verizon Wireless phone in tethered mode with EVDO. (I was able to get one of Verizon Wireless's advanced phones to make 1xRTT or about-dial-up-modem-speed calls over Bluetooth, however.)

Terms of Servitude -- And post-penultimately, let me note that some hilarious reading may be found in Verizon Wireless's terms of service for using BroadbandAccess, its EVDO service.

<http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/promotion/ controller?promotionType=miniPac& amp;action=miniStart>

After stating what the service may be used for - "Internet," not "Web," browsing, email, and intranet applications - they go on to state:

"Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. "

Why do I find this amusing? Because so many folks have been telling me for the last year that EVDO will replace Wi-Fi even though it's a bit slower because each user gets a dedicated data stream at a given speed. Two fallacies there.

First, Wi-Fi is a choice: Once you have Wi-Fi, you can use hundreds or thousands of different networks. If you find one network has policies you don't like or not enough speed, you switch. This could mean moving from one coffeeshop to another, or switching from T-Mobile HotSpot to SBC FreedomLink for national access. The terms of service for Wi-Fi hotspots can be restrictive, but I haven't seen any that disallow video, streaming, VoIP, and other common applications.

Second, the cellular modems have to backhaul data from central points: the cellular towers on which the EVDO or HSDPA equipment lives. I have been told by several folks in the industry in the last couple of months that the backhaul from even many of the urban cell towers isn't enough to handle lots of 3G cell users. Part of the billions of dollars being put into 3G is upgrading that infrastructure, not just putting up new base stations to handle customers. That's one reason Verizon Wireless and others have to restrict what kinds of services are used.

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

Audio File Concatenation: Driven to Distraction by DRM

by Adam C. Engst

As I wrote in "iPods Defeating Insomnia" in TidBITS-768, Tonya and I like to listen to audio books on our iPod to help us fall asleep at nightShow full article

Hide full article

As I wrote in "iPods Defeating Insomnia" in TidBITS-768, Tonya and I like to listen to audio books on our iPod to help us fall asleep at night. After about seven months, we moved on from Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" to his "In a Sunburned Country" (all about Australia, one of our favorite countries), which we purchased from Audible.com via the iTunes Music Store. Whereas I was able to download the first audio book in three 6-hour chunks, this one came in five 2.5-hour files, and figuring out which file you're in can be a bit annoying, even if you give them shorter names that display the part number up front. If I was dealing with cassette tapes or even CDs, I'd just grin and bear it, but these files are pure bits - surely I should be able to join them together into a single big file? It wasn't quite that easy, as it turned out.

<http://db.tidbits.com/article/08004>

All Together Now -- iTunes has a Join CD Tracks command, but when I selected the five tracks in iTunes and looked in the Advanced menu, Join CD Tracks was grayed out. Apparently, its name is quite accurate; it works only on tracks on an actual CD, not those that already exist in your iTunes Library or even as AIFF files on disk. I briefly considered burning audio CDs of the book files, but since each file was about 150 minutes, it didn't seem worth the effort to figure out how to burn 70-minute CDs, and even if I did, I couldn't see how I'd be able to join tracks from multiple CDs. Drat!

Next, I turned to the wonderful Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes site, which seemingly has a script for every problem in iTunes. It didn't disappoint, turning up Join Together, which promises to concatenate AAC files. It needs QuickTime Pro 7.0.1, but I could get that if necessary. Unfortunately, disappointment reappeared quickly when I read the release notes, which commented that the script wouldn't work with protected AAC files. Curses!

<http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ scripts07.php?page=1#jointogether>

Perplexed, I asked some friends about the problem. One of them had just stumbled across a beta of iTunesJoin, which sounded as though it would do exactly what I needed. My glee was short-lived though, as I read through the program's description. Although iTunesJoin (which is actually a collection of AppleScript scripts) can join AAC files for use on the iPod, and it can even join protected AAC files (by merging them into a QuickTime movie), the two capabilities are mutually exclusive and a file of joined protected AAC files can't be played on the iPod. Strike three!

<http://www.3am.pair.com/iTunesJoin.html>

Now I was annoyed, and it was all the fault of Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) code, which wasn't seeming at all fair, and it certainly wasn't playing nice. So I decided that if Apple was going to treat me like a criminal, I'd do my best to live up to it by employing JHymn, a tool that is undoubtedly in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because it enables you to remove the FairPlay DRM restrictions with no loss of quality. Since my goal is purely to turn five files into one for my own private use, I wasn't particularly concerned with JHymn's legality, but as it turned out, iTunes 6.0 made some changes to FairPlay that prevent JHymn from working, so it wasn't an option for me anyway. Foiled again!

<http://www.hymn-project.org/>
<http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/>

The entire situation was starting to get personal. I don't want to concatenate all that many files, but once I'd hit upon joined tracks as a way to make the iPod easier to use at night when I'm tired and nearsightedly trying to navigate the iPod's interface, I felt certain that it had to be possible. That's when I remembered Rogue Amoeba's excellent Audio Hijack Pro, which can record anything you can hear to a new file. There might be a loss of quality, but since my original files contained merely Bill Bryson's voice, dynamic range wasn't an issue.

<http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/>

First, I created a temporary playlist of the five audiobook tracks, sorted by name so they were in order. Next, I made sure that iTunes wouldn't be shuffling the tracks, or repeating them after it finished the first play-through, and I verified that each track would start playing at the beginning. In Audio Hijack Pro, I selected iTunes, set the format to AAC at 32 Kbps mono, and clicked the Record button before switching back to iTunes and starting it playing. And then, because it was 7 PM at night, I hit the Mute button on my keyboard so we didn't have to listen to Bill Bryson's voice from my office all night long, and left Audio Hijack Pro to listen to, and record, 11 hours and 54 minutes of audio to a completely new file. By the time I sat down at my Mac the next morning, I had the single file I wanted.

This solution was by no means elegant, but it worked, and for the limited number of times I expect to use it, playing an entire audio book in real time overnight isn't particularly onerous. Thanks to the Rogue Amoeba folks for making this possible!

Drat that DRM! Situations like this show why DRM solutions are inherently problematic. If the end result of a set of digital steps is something that you can see or hear, there's always a point at which it can be copied with sufficient application of desire and equipment. But what's most annoying is that I didn't want to do anything that any normal person would consider illegal or even unethical. Creating a copy for personal use wouldn't likely run afoul of copyright law, and the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 nominally allows "noncommercial use by a consumer of such a device or medium for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings." But all of this is trumped by the DMCA, which makes it illegal to circumvent DRM restrictions, whether or not the proposed use would be considered fair use under copyright law. (See "Why DRM Offends the Sensibilities" in TidBITS-769 and "The Evil That Is the DMCA" in TidBITS-656 for more.)

<http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ 92chap10.html#1008>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/08013>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/06997>

And so, once again, a perfectly reasonable and legal activity, and one that should have been a matter of a few moments' work, is rendered clumsy and obtuse by DRM. Thanks, Apple! FairPlay didn't stop me from making my iPod easier to use with content I purchased from the iTunes Music Store, but it sure wasted a lot of my time, and I'm annoyed enough to post the result of my concatenation efforts to the peer-to-peer file sharing networks. I would never do such a thing, of course, since that would violate the intent of copyright law, and very few people - myself included - have any beef with the intent of copyright. But until sanity prevails and DRM doesn't involve vast collateral damage to pre-existing rights and common sense, I'm going to be buying more from venues that don't employ DRM, which, I fear, will mean fewer purchases from the iTunes Music Store.

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

Take Control News/14-Nov-05

by Adam C. Engst

"Take Control of Digital TV" Released -- Although many of us know a fair amount about Macintosh hardware, delving into the world of digital television is a humbling experience - it involves a baffling array of buzzwords and acronyms, and that's before you get into deciding between direct view and projection TVs and trying to tease out the relevant differences between LCD, plasma, DLP, and CRT-based setsShow full article

Hide full article

"Take Control of Digital TV" Released -- Although many of us know a fair amount about Macintosh hardware, delving into the world of digital television is a humbling experience - it involves a baffling array of buzzwords and acronyms, and that's before you get into deciding between direct view and projection TVs and trying to tease out the relevant differences between LCD, plasma, DLP, and CRT-based sets. If, like us, you're considering purchasing a digital TV this holiday season, or if you already own a digital TV but worry that it might not be positioned or adjusted properly for optimal viewing, you can find friendly guidance in our latest ebook, "Take Control of Digital TV."

In this ebook, Seattle journalist and TV maven Clark Humphrey explains the jargon, compares all the different display technologies, and helps you find the right digital TV for your budget, living space, and media viewing habits. You'll also learn how to position a large-screen TV for optimal viewing, arrange and connect external speakers, adjust the display for the best possible image quality, and add extras such as a digital video recorder or video game console. Clark rounds out his advice with suggestions of where to find digital programming, a hand-picked list of Web resources, and an extensive glossary you can use to decipher otherwise-impenetrable spec sheets.

Tonya and I are due to buy a new TV sometime soon - we're still watching a 20-inch set that we bought when we got married in 1991. Armed with the knowledge we've picked up from reading this ebook, I'm sure we'll be able to buy the right TV more quickly and for less money. Do note that this ebook covers digital TV from the North American perspective; standards and formats differ in other parts of the world.

You can read more about Clark's ebook, download a free 23-page excerpt, and place an order at:

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/digital-tv.html ?14!pt=TRK-0027-TB805-TCNEWS>

Oodles of Suggestions Open for Voting -- Frankly, I'm overwhelmed. I never expected our readers to suggest so many interesting topics for us to consider covering in Take Control ebooks, and the suggestions continue to roll in. We received so many, in fact, that I had to break up the main suggestions page so voters weren't faced with a huge list all at once. My categories are intentionally imprecise - they're designed merely to slice the initial list into four roughly equivalent chunks.

Now that we're past the early rush, please come and vote on the titles you would buy today if they existed so we can make sure to work on the topics that garner the most interest. Don't worry if you voted when the list was much smaller and can't remember your votes; our system automatically ignores duplicates. That said, if there are titles you'd particularly like to see, feel free to lobby discussion groups and mailing lists to vote as well; as long as the votes are sincere, there's nothing wrong with stuffing the ballot box.

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/suggest.html>

A Slew of Reviews -- Reviews of Take Control ebooks have been rolling in hot and heavy of late, so here's a quick roundup. I apologize in advance if I'm tooting our own horn a bit here, but it's so nice to see others understand what we're trying to achieve with Take Control. Thanks for all the kind words, folks, and if anyone is interested in reviewing a Take Control ebook, let us know which book you'd like to review and for what site or publication.

My favorite review of late comes from Barry Campbell, posted on Blogcritics.org and enrevanche. I can't help but feel kindly toward someone who describes me and Glenn as "two guys with enormous geek credibility," and compliments our writing with quotes like, "The book is a marvel of excellent technical writing for a general audience, and I say this as a technical writer of some 20 years experience".

<http://enrevanche.blogspot.com/2005/10/review- take-control-of-your-wi-fi.html>
<http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/15/ 212036.php>

Barry isn't alone in saying nice things, though, and Seth at MacMove published another morale-boosting article that does a wonderful job of articulating our goals with Take Control.

<http://www.macmove.com/mm/archives/macmove- recommends/mm-recs-take-control>

Kudos to Steve Sande for the positive review his "Take Control of Your iPod: Beyond the Music" received from MacNN's Ilene Hoffman, who calls it "an amazing buy." We were particularly happy to hear her comment that she's not normally a fan of reading books on screen, "but this one was definitely painless and didn't tire out my eyes." That's what 14 point Georgia will do for you, and since it's a PDF, you can increase the effective font size even more if you like.

<http://reviews.macnn.com/review.php?id=139>

Another good review - again of "Take Control of Your Wi-Fi Security" - came from David Weeks of MyMac.com, who notes that if you use a Wi-Fi equipped laptop or run a Wi-Fi network at home, "you absolutely need to read this book," and if you run a business Wi-Fi network, "you absolutely POSITIVELY need to read this book." (He used the caps, not us.) We also appreciated comments like "the TidBITS folks have evolved a near-perfect format for their publications... the user interface adheres to Take Control guidelines, the layout is always logical, and you can navigate easily from section to section."

<http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=2124>

Back in September, David published an even-more-glowing review of Kirk McElhearn's "Take Control of Customizing Microsoft Office," which he rated a 5 out of 5. Accurately calling it a "tightly focused explanation of one of Microsoft Office's most powerful, yet most obscure features: how to customize your work environment," David goes on to say that Kirk's ebook is "the best coverage I've seen on this narrow subject, period." He also appreciates how we released a 1.0.1 update within 10 days of initial publication - free updates are a boon for everyone, since we all benefit from ebooks having the most accurate information.

<http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=2086>

Last, but by no means least, Mark Sealey included our "Take Control of Tiger" collection and "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups" in his "Tiger By the Book: A Mac OS X Book Review" for Think Secret. About Joe Kissell's "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups" (which has a significant update coming soon, by the way), Mark writes, "This is an inexpensive, attractive, and exhaustive resource, kept up-to-date by virtue of its electronic format and made accessible to everyone. And everyone should buy it and act on it, unless their data is entirely dispensable. Highly recommended." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

<http://www.thinksecret.com/reviews/ tigerbooks.html>

14 Nov 2005 | Print

|

Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/14-Nov-05

by TidBITS Staff

The first link for each thread description points to the traditional TidBITS Talk interface; the second link points to the same discussion on our Web Crossing server, which provides a different look and which may be faster. Course Scheduling Software -- A reader looking for software suggestions finds lots of possible solutionsShow full article

Most Popular Articles

Recent TidBITS Talk Discussions

TidBITS#805/14-Nov-05

Mellel 2.0 Ships

DealBITS Drawing: Sunatori.com Pen

Apple Fixes Panther-to-Tiger AirPort Upgrade Problems

Cell and Dial-Up Modem Updates

Audio File Concatenation: Driven to Distraction by DRM

Take Control News/14-Nov-05

Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/14-Nov-05