MICHAEL PIPOLO  I know this isn't exactly the place to ask questions, but I have not been able to find an answer anywhere. What do the star ratings and numbers under 'sources' in the search field represent? Other than this one nebulous item, this program is self-explanatory.

For example, a file may have 4 stars under 'sources' with a '30' or '40' next to it. Can anyone answer this?  
(Version 0.6.3)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  All I can say is WOW! This new NetNewsWire is insanely fast. There is absolutely zero lag time with most tasks, and this is on my iBook G4 1.33 GHz using Better Battery Life mode.

Kudos to the developers. No bugs for me yet.  
(Version 2.1b17)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  I have liked this program a lot until about version 3.0.17 or 3.0.18. As I believe others have pointed out, I get the component update window EVERY time SD3 starts even after I have done everything it says numerous times. I am now using 3.0.19 and I still get the window consistently.

Since there is no status bar to indicate when SD3 is 'done' updating its components, I just left it running for a couple hours (I know, way overdone) after clicking 'Update' and then relaunched Safari and SD3. No luck in making it go away. This is quite annoying and has caused me to start using Safari's rudimentary download window for most of my downloading.  
(Version 3.0.19)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  First, for the good points. It is amazing how fast this program interacts with iTunes, and in particular, iPhoto. Why Apple cannot make Front Row this snappy is beyond me.

A question though... why don't the songs in iTunes playlists (or even the Library) appear in the order in which they are arranged in iTunes? I don't have shuffle turned on. This is quite odd.

Overall, this looks like a promising product... but there are several things I believe should be changed.

1. Take away the silly sound effects (power off, etc.). Replace the more sedate sound effects (scroll, volume change, etc.) with quiter, less harsh sounds.

2. Make scrolling smoother... more like Front Row.

3. The spotlight texture in the background is not smooth. It looks like it needs a little smoothing in gradient.

4. Is is possible to change the interface with iTunes so that the music does not stop when MediaCentral is quit? Like Front Row, more like a front-end than a standalone app?

5. Stability is really needed. When I quit MC with the Command-Q command, my system hangs with no menubar or dock until I force quit MC with Activity Monitor. This is on a 1.33 GHz iBook with 1 GB of RAM.

6. Remove the long splash screen. This is an annoyance.

7. Finally, remove the background music. I don't think anyone enjoys it.

Thank you, and I hope to see new and improved versions of this in the future.  
(Version 1.2.1)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  I enabled all the waking options you mentioned, and it does wake my iBook (lid closed) from sleep at the specified time. It even plays iTunes for exactly 4 seconds before playback ceases and the iBook goes back to sleep.

I got nearly the same behavior from every other alarm clock application I've tried, sans the 4 second iTunes playback. In other words, this is the only alarm clock I have used (and I have tried quite a few) that was able to make iTunes play AT ALL before the machine went back to sleep. All the others would wake the iBook for... at the most, 5 seconds.

However, I am not sure if 4 seconds is enough to wake up to. This is most likely not as related to Aurora itself as it is to the iBook's insurmountable sleep control.

Thanks for the response though. If you have any further ideas, please let me know.  
(Version 1.1)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  I have only one question about this app....

Will it wake a sleeping iBook with its lid closed and play iTunes? I have tried other alarms, and they only seem to wake the desktop Macs or laptops with open lids.  
(Version 1.1)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  Nice update with some nice features. But one question... the "songs played per day statistic"... songs played per day averaged since when? My copy of iTunes Statistician says 1.05... songs per day when in actuality I listen to more like 20-30 songs per day on average. I have owned my iBook for 7 months.

I do know what this would entail (coding wise)... but how about adding a "top rated albums" statistic that averages the rating for albums (not just singles). That would be interesting to find out. In my case, it would probably be "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings." :-) Great album!

Thanks for the application!  
(Version 1.3)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  Well, as of version 1.0.1 and on of this little program... it works like a charm with no more crashes. Highly recommended.

Simple, yes, but I have often wanted the type of information this little app provides with ease.  
(Version 1.2)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  Very nice screensaver, although currently LotsaWater is better, IMHO due to the fact that LotsaGlass has a somewhat limited range of styles, and therefore becomes kinda boring after a while.

With some programming experience myself, I can't imagine how much time and effort this took to make. Thanks a lot!

P.S. The problem with using this screensaver alongside LotsaWater doesn't seem to be isolated to myself... perhaps a bug fix needed? That's the only reason I have to give it 3 for stability.  
(Version 1.0)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  Yes, indeed.

I had the same problem, only a little worse. When I installed this alongside LotsaWater (another EXCELLENT screensaver) it only activated LotsaWater when in full screen mode.

It finally did start up LotsaGlass and then crashed the machine. Not even CMD-OPTION-Esc worked this time. Thank goodness I didn't have any unsaved work.

After (force) restarting the machine, it worked fine.

Hmmm.  
(Version 1.0)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  Yes, I am running a July, 2005 model iBook with Tiger, Core Image compatibility, etc.

Ah! I deleted the widget and the internet plug-in and reinstalled from scratch. Everything working fine now.

Thanks a lot!  
(Version 1.1)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  This looks like a really cool widget (though I'll have to see about CPU usage). However, I can't get it to work no matter what I do.

I installed the Quartz Composer plugin into both my Internet Plug-ins folder in Library and directly into the widget bundle (I love lamp.wdgt; there was already a copy in there as of v1.1, although named slightly differently than the version I downloaded from the above link), then restarted the machine as a last attempt. Still no lava. It just sits there, pretty as an Apollo spacecraft ready for take-off with no fuel.

I also closed the widget and placed a new instance onto the dashboard. Still no luck. Any ideas on what could be going on with this?

Thanks.  
(Version 1.1)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  If you are speaking of the grayed out window titles in iChat, Address Book, QuickTime, Calculator, MacTheRipper, the Safari Downloads window, etc., then yes... this is the one annoying issue with UNO. I hope it's fixed someday, but it isn't a major problem.

I have tried Iridium as well and UNO stands head and shoulders above it (IMHO). It's just more consistent and Iridium is too close to white. The UNO gradient is simply beautiful.

Now I just wish Apple would hire UNO's developer for the Leopard GUI!!  
(Version 1.2)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  Interstitial:

Good idea about the translation... I will add a note about that to the backside of the widget in the next version. But in the meantime, the translation being used is the King James Version.

Regarding the Proverbs 1:1 issue... yes, it does show just the standard biblical introduction to Proverbs ("The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;") rather than one of the actual snippets of wisdom which come later. I wasn't sure about whether I should remove those verses which were not proverbs per sé or not. It wouldn't be difficult to take them out though, if it was so requested.

Thanks for the reviews and comments, everyone!  
(Version 1.1)

MICHAEL PIPOLO  In response to all the "what is this for" questions...

Basically, all I can see that this does is eliminate two steps in the normal DVD player process, opening DVD Player itself, and then giving the "Open..." command and finding the file.

With this application, all one has to do is either double click on their renamed VIDEO_TS folders to start playing them (QuickTime movie style), or drag a VIDEO_TS folder to the dock icon.

Personally, I won't sacrifice an icon space in my dock for this program, and for as little as I play ripped DVDs, I will skip on it entirely. Not worth the download, and especially not worth one extra item in my Applications folder (still fairly neatly organized after having my iBook for 4 months :) ).  
(Version 1.0)