Useful contextual menus for images

There's a boat-load of technologies in OS X that I rarely ever touch beyond the basics and contextual menus are one of those (services would be another; I think that I've never used the Services... menu). However in the past couple of weeks I've found two contextual menus that I really like, both of which operate on images.

The Dimensionizer
The Dimensionizer is a contextual menu plugin for Mac OS X that allows you to discover the dimensions (height and width) of virtually any image with a single click.

Icon2Image
Icon2Image is a contextual menu plug-in that you use to convert file, folder and disk icons into images. Any image format supported by your installed version of Quicktime is available for conversion. Standard formats include include JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PICT etc.

Maybe I'll even get me one of those fancy two-button mice if this contextual menu thing takes off.

Getting Mom a Mac Mini

Tim Bray has posted a summary of his experience helping his mom switch to a Mac and promises future updates. The most interesting critique for me was of the Safari search bar, which he calls "a disaster."

Flash "performance"

I'm only using a lowly 867MHz Powerbook here, but nonetheless I think that a Flash ad embedded in a web page sitting in the background shouldn't be using 65% of my CPU. That's just insane. Before I get into a full-fledged rant about this, I just wanted a reality check: it's not just me, right? When you load several web pages with Flash ads on them, what do you see for CPU usage? (I'm focusing on ads here because that's when this drain is really annoying -- I should be able to leave a page open without it bringing my machine to a crawl. When watching Flash movies or whatever, I care less because I'm not trying to do anything else at the same time.)

Docs for Cyberduck

David Kocher is looking for help writing documentation for his Cyberduck FTP/SFTP client. If you like the idea of contributing to an open source Mac application but aren't a programmer, here's your chance.

Troubleshooting tips, rant

Over on my blog I started out innocently posting a link to the very good Quick Checks and Fixes page from DoctorMac Direct -- but the post quickly devolved into a rant about superstitious PRAM zapping rituals. If you just want the useful info, stick to the first link!

Transmit 3.2.1

I grew up on command line FTP clients so I still have a hard time getting my head around the fact that Transmit is the best FTP client I've ever used, bar none. It's the interface, you see. Even after two years of Transmit usage I still can't help but think... candy-coated. However that doesn't change the fact that when I need to FTP something my fingers automatically fire up Transmit. Today they released version 3.2.1 which, for a point-point release, has a hell of a lot in it:

Added ability to set permissions recursively for items in a folder via Get Info
Added French, German, and Chinese localizations
The Queue now displays per-item feedback when transferring the contents of folders
Fixed issue with SFTP not automatically reconnecting after a disconnect
Fixed potential connection failures with Secure WebDAV
Fixed a curious per-file upload stall with certain FTP servers, making uploads much faster
Fixed a potential issue where the "maximum queue connection" setting was being ignored
Fixed a crash with WebDAV uploads and incorrect file encoding
Fixed a problem with connecting to SFTP servers with changed host keys
Improved Transmit's "passive mode" fallback to better detect when passive is necessary
Directory parser now trims trailing slashes from folders
Improved element focus when using the Sidebar
Local path defaults to your My Stuff location when adding a Favorite
Improved the speed when using "Use Queue for All Transfers"
Tabs will now properly appear if a Transmit window fills a screen
Custom file permissions are now displayed in Their Stuff after an upload
Time/date stamps are now maintained when downloading folders.
Automator uploads will no longer hang if "Use Queue for All Transfers" is turned on
Added capability for sending raw FTP commands in TLS/SSL mode
Fixed a problem where a synchronization with umlauts (and other characterse) would not work
Doing "Get Info" on multiple files with the same permissions now shows permissions
Using "Go To" on a Novell server now properly refreshes the file listing
Fixed a potentially serious issue with recursive deletes being interrupted mid-delete
Display sleeping is no longer blocked while a transfer is in progress.
Fixed a problem with editing files with incorrect text encoding.
File selections are now always properly maintained when reloading listings
Directory caches now more reliably clear on disconnect
Spring loaded folders now work properly when dragging from column to list view
Mirror synchronizations now work more reliably when excluding certain file types
Directory listings no longer appear blank under certain specific circumstances
Improved support for Sun Solaris 7 (Japanese, EUC)
Removed 'FEAT' check to improve compatibility with certain servers
Widget: Added support for high-bit characters in volume/path names
Widget: Improved timeout problem with large file transfers
Widget: Fixed a problem where "\" could not be used in a username with Japanese
Widget: Now shows 'Username' instead of 'Path' on the front if the path is blank
Lots of additional polishing

Dragging URLs in Safari

DrunkenBatman off-handedly writes in Of URLwell for Mac OS X:

It's not as though I wasn't aware of being able to drag a URL from the address bar to a folder in the bookmarks bar...

Damn. I'm certainly glad he knew because I had absolutely no idea! That's some pretty sweet UI-ness.

Backup Bug

I was trying to backup my iPhoto library (~10GB) to DVD using Backup 2.0.2. It kept failing no matter what kind of media (DVD-R/DVD+R) I used. So I fired off an email to .mac support and sure enough, there is a bug.

We have identified an issue with Backup 2.0.2 and burning to multiple DVDs. This issue may cause verification of the DVD burn to fail, resulting in the message that you receive in Backup.

So in the meantime, is there anything that could fill the gap? And by "gap" I mean an easy interface to backup and restore a large chuck of data to and from multiple DVDs.

Mighty Mouse

Don't tell Steve Jobs, but Apple is now selling a two button mouse.