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User "sjk" Profile
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About sjk
Posts:212
Last Login:3 Nov 2007 18:53
Recent Downloads:
  1. iBackupSafari
  2. Growl
  3. CopyPaste Pro
  4. Easy iWeb Publisher
  5. Data Rescue II
  6. Easy iWeb Publisher
  7. OpenThesaurus German Dictionary Plugin
Software Wish List:
Members can add software listings on MacUpdate to their wish list for others to view for software gift ideas
User Reviews
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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Jun 2008 02:58

The developer stated a purpose for it and people with little technical savvy might appreciate it.

Surely it could be smaller, and not have separate English and Netherlands versions.

I'd prefer to use rooSwitch (Lite), a more generalized app that can "backup/restore" Safari and other apps with different profiles and is only a 1.7MB download.

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Jun 2008 00:35

The Bookmarks Bar is identical on whichever system I copy ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist to. It shows up both under the toolbar and as a Bookmarks Bar collection, as expected. Ever since Safari's existed I've been copying my designated master Bookmarks.plist file to different systems and it's always worked that way. I wouldn't still be doing it if it behaved differently.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Jun 2008 18:13

> Not everybody wants to go into his System folder...

~/Library/Safari isn't the System folder (i.e. /System).

> The fact that this restores the bookmarks bar menu is all the reason to use this. Simply backing up your book marks list does not do this.

Whenever I've copied ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist to a different system the Bookmarks Bar is always preserved.

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Type: Comments
Date: 18 Jun 2008 19:39

This and the previous version of GrowlSafari haven't worked for me on 10.4.11. Haven't tried on Leopard yet.

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Type: Comments
Date: 17 Jun 2008 19:15

Okie dokie. If it really bothers them they can do something about it.

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Type: Comments
Date: 17 Jun 2008 14:37

This is a development build, downloadable from under the Latest Binary Build section of kismacng - Trac which says:

DO NOT POST THESE FILES ON MACUPDATE, VERSIONTRACKER, ETC!

[that's a repeat of my comment for v272, which MU apparently deleted for some reason]

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Type: Comments
Date: 11 Jun 2008 21:01

And most, if not all, of what's listed as new in 4.0b1 was already in the final 3.x version.

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 7 Jun 2008 13:56

Try the forum for support:

http://forums.cocoaforge.com/viewforum.php?f=6

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Type: Comments
Date: 1 Jun 2008 23:39

> Neither SafariStand nor Safari 3 can automatically save/load browser windows when quitting and restarting Safari.

SafariStand will if "Restore Method At Launch: Automatically Reopen Last Session (Safari)" is set under its General preferences. I prefer using "Show Restore Last Workspace Window (Stand)" to delay automatic reloading until I'm ready, e.g. to quickly browse other pages right after launching.

> I also keep Saft around for the ADD BOOKMARK HERE menu item added to every folder in the Bookmarks Bar.

I'm not saving bookmarks in Safari frequently enough anymore for that to have value. Nowadays most of my newer ones end up in WebnoteHappy, and a bunch of older ones are archived in DEVONthink Pro. Most of the oldest are still in Safari, originally imported from IE, long overdue for archival/deletion.

> For ad blocking, I've always used PithHelmet. It's still the best.

Totally agree; browsing without PH can be a hideous. Unfortunately I've never gotten machete scripts working with Safari 3; do you have that problem? Would also be nice to quell the image animations again; none of the Safari ad blockers I'm aware do it with Safari 3.

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 May 2008 13:48

All those features you mentioned are freely available in Safari 3 or with SafariStand.

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 May 2008 19:59

What a daft comment. Some of us consciously prefer Safari to Firefox; read http://daringfireball.net/2008/04/firefox_3_safari_3 for some reasons why.

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Type: Comments
Date: 16 May 2008 01:05

That worked -- thanks. I'd only tried removing the .cpgz extension after Archive Utility had extracted that file.

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Type: Comments
Date: 16 May 2008 01:04

That worked -- thanks. I'd only tried removing the .cpgz extension after Archive Utility had extracted that file.

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Type: Comments
Date: 15 May 2008 18:08

Archive appears to be damaged. Archive Utility extracts a .cpgz file. bunzip2 extracts a .dmg with a "trailing garbage after EOF ignored" warning; opening it won't find a filesystem.

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Type: Comments
Date: 15 May 2008 18:08

Archive appears to be damaged. Archive Utility extracts a .cpgz file. bunzip2 extracts a .dmg with a "trailing garbage after EOF ignored" warning; opening it won't find a filesystem.

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Type: Comments
Date: 24 Apr 2008 22:43

> Leo 10.5.2

FYI: The name Leo comes from the Latin form of the Greek leon, which means lion.

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Type: Comments
Date: 1 Apr 2008 00:45

Appreciated your comments, Sherman. Sounds like Outspring is currently more in a potential than reality stage of development. It'll be interesting to see if it survives the teething stage or becomes another unsuccessful attempt to satisfy the desire for a seriously professional OS X mail client.

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Type: Comments
Date: 18 Mar 2008 19:22

The "Animate images" option and machete scripts are two PH features that don't work with Safari 3.

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Type: Comments
Date: 10 Mar 2008 14:17

Apparently nothing different:

% strings MacOS/DNS\ Flusher | fgrep cache

/usr/bin/dscacheutil

-flushcache

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Feb 2008 23:50

Time Machine and SuperDuper! can both use all available space on a volume until it's full and they handle that condition differently. TM automatically deletes older backups to make room for newer ones; SD! overflows and errors (AFAIK). TM currently isn't intended to share its volume so there's no way to allocate how much space it'll use (AFAIK), which would help for more peaceful coexist with SD! on a single volume. Even if SD! had allocation limits that wouldn't stop TM from consuming space until full.

I can understand reasons to support TM and SD! on a single volume but I'll avoid that configuration after upgrading to Leopard. I'd rather "waste" some space using multiple volumes than tempt unpredictable and unreliable backups if they're competing for it on a single volume.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Feb 2008 21:09

Maybe Bookit can be more affordable than Bookdog because it does less?

Couldn't agree more about Bookdog's UI, though. That can happen when a hardware engineer designs software. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Feb 2008 15:56

This question might be better asked and answered in detail on the Shirt Pocket forum than here.

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Type: Comments
Date: 4 Feb 2008 15:09

Works well but updates (including 8.4.56/57) sometimes break CanoScan LiDE 50 support.

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Type: Comments
Date: 4 Feb 2008 15:04

SplashID Desktop languished too long on OS X. Even though v4 was announced last July (but remains unavailable even though the press release claims "later in 2007").

Unfortunately, with ~700 records in my SID database a full transition to 1P is impractical without field mappings during import being better preserved automatically. The SID categories to 1P Wallet types are a lesser issue. And SID for Palm OS is a superior reader (I don't need to modify entries on my TX). Being able to export a CSV from 1P that could import reasonably well with SID Desktop then synch with the TX might be an acceptable workaround even with that SID dependency.

Depending on how it's implemented with OS X browsers, one feature in SID 4 Desktop that could give 1P some competition:

• Web Auto-Fill, simplifying data entry of user names and passwords in SplashID by using a web browser to go directly to a site and retrieving the username and password to auto-fill in the record.

However, I haven't noticed any SID support for the iPhone which is one of 1P's strengths.

Anyway, this reply is already too long and any serious discussion belongs on the AWS forum.

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Type: Comments
Date: 4 Feb 2008 14:17

A Keynote presentation player for Windows could be a trojan horse in PowerPoint camps. Excellent idea; let's encourage Apple to implement it.

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Type: Comments
Date: 4 Feb 2008 14:00

Maybe they could consider a non-continuous runtime trial period for MacJournal, similar to what DEVONtechnologies' products offer.

I've often wished other companies did that because it's a more accurate and less stressful way to help determine how well I'll (dis)like using a product over an extended period of time, before making a purchasing decision. N-day trials can make me feel like being forced to make up my mind before I'm ready to. It's been many months since first trying DEVONagent, I'll occasionally launch it to test things, and the 150 hour trial period has remained active. I much prefer that subtle way of being encouraged to buy it, which I probably will once I can better afford to. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 27 Jan 2008 16:02

>It took me a few posts, but I learned to ignore kknopp a while ago.

After my brief interaction with kknopp in the other comment thread, and seeing some of his other feedback, that may be sane advice for me to heed. :)

In general, I've learned the futility of expecting effective communication with everyone.

Oh, PTHPasteboard (PRO) - great product. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 27 Jan 2008 15:37

Still running Tiger so I can't try PV2 yet, but a big advantage over SS (which I'm using) seems to be letting you change the volume of different audio devices instead of just selecting them. I've never found a convenient way to independently change volumes of internal/external audio output devices on Tiger.

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Type: Comments
Date: 27 Jan 2008 15:23

No reason to argue about Paul's responsive fix of the bug I reported. :)

Btw, glad to have purchased a PRO license for filters and pasteboard synching, plus help support a dedicated Mac developer.

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Type: Comments
Date: 24 Jan 2008 16:06

4.3.1 definitely fixes the problem I reported regardless if you continue to stubbornly deny it.

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Type: Comments
Date: 22 Jan 2008 13:08

Your reply makes no sense, kknopp. This update has *exactly* to do with the crash I reported and Espiridion wasn't having any.

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 21 Jan 2008 19:42

Got this response/workaround from Paul (developer):

Its a Tiger problem I'm looking into, for now you can fix it by Launching System Preferences and unsubscribing from any network pasteboards. You can then re-subscribe to them and everything should be fine.

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Type: Comments
Date: 21 Jan 2008 14:33

Maybe the reason is because browsers have fewer problems downloading zip than dmg files?

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Type: Comments
Date: 21 Jan 2008 14:28

4.3 consistently crashes shortly after launching on my iMac G5. Anyone else using a PPC Mac having this problem?

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Type: Comments
Date: 20 Jan 2008 04:25

3.0 supports Growl indirectly with trigger scripts. Visit Elgato's forum for more info.

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 11 Jan 2008 15:02

Screenflick is another choice, though $10 more expensive than Screenium and iShowU.

Hoping someone will write a worthwhile comparison review of these screen/video capture products.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Dec 2007 15:14

Mail Act-On for Leopard

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Type: Comments
Date: 27 Dec 2007 16:25

Yep, or a *much* smaller AppleScript than this 9.6MB(!) app would do the trick.

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Type: Comments
Date: 16 Dec 2007 14:34

Any idea why 2.2.0.49 isn't available directly from Flip4Mac's site (not that I can find anyway)? The main download page still mentions and links to 2.2.0.39 (beta) for Leopard. Only mention of it seems to be this forum news item:

Flip4Mac Beta 2.2.0.49 is out. Beta 2.2.0.39 users please update. - 12/14/2007 11:48 AM

Flip4Mac Public Beta 2.2.0.49 is out. If you've had issues with 2.2.0.39 please update and check those issues you've previously reported and let us know the results.

… but there's no link for it. Strange.

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Type: Comments
Date: 3 Dec 2007 19:50

I have an idea why PH doesn't work if Safari's been moved but instead of speculating here (since I'm not going to test my theory) I'll suggest you ask the developer for a definitive reason).

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Type: Comments
Date: 3 Dec 2007 16:33

Certain apps still want to be left where they're originally installed and moving them can cause trouble. That's easily avoided by (for example) creating aliases to desired apps in some other folder and organizing those instead.

Years ago I considered organizing /Applications into subfolders, then quickly realized I didn't have any *good* reasons for doing that and am relieved I didn't/don't waste time with it.

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Type: Comments
Date: 2 Dec 2007 03:58

I have a few Smart Folders in Tiger's Finder sidebar so that's not a new feature in Leopard.

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Type: Comments
Date: 2 Dec 2007 03:54

Anyone else notice that machete scripts aren't working with PH on 10.4.11?

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Nov 2007 17:37

These forums threads might answer some of your questions about NNW upgrades:

http://forum.newsgator.com/Topic30442-9-1.aspx

http://forum.newsgator.com/Topic33324-9-1.aspx

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Nov 2007 17:23

Yeah, lack of Safari support killed my interest in Splunk.

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Nov 2007 17:12

Any idea what launches Google Updater? I can't find any startup for it in the normal places (launchd, SystemStartup, Login Items). Shame on Google for installing this without warning and making its launching so stealthy.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Nov 2007 12:50

I've already commented on my results of checking this unofficial download.

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 23 Nov 2007 00:16

The PH version downloadable from here should be the same 2.8-79 version I downloaded directly from the developer's site, but I haven't actually checked.

I removed the leading '5' from MaxBundleVersion and MinBundleVersion value in both Info.plist files.

See bedouin's more recent comment on the main page about an unofficial version you can download that contains the Info.plist-modified PithHelmet.bundle and a README.txt explaining how to install it.

And you might want to install SIMBL-0.8.2 first; it's available as a separate download here. That's what I did.

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Type: Comments
Date: 21 Nov 2007 00:13

I've confirmed that the only difference between the PithHelmet.bundle that and the official version is the modified Info.plist file. So, it's a safe and easy way to install 2.8-79 on 10.4.11.

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Type: Comments
Date: 20 Nov 2007 23:49

Aside from the machete script lossage and maybe a few other minor anomalies PH 2.8-79 is working fine with 10.4.11 on both my iMac G5 and wife's eMac. Only one Safari crash for me so far, which was triggered by moving thumbnails in SafariStand's sidebar.

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Type: Comments
Date: 20 Nov 2007 16:41

Followup looks good to me where it's positioned in the menu with other single word items.

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Type: Comments
Date: 20 Nov 2007 14:53

Looks like basic Unix ls command output, which doesn't seem particularly useful for printing without at least sizes and dates.

If I wanted to print a flat view of a folder from the GUI I'd just drag it in a Camino window to get a listing that includes generic icons, sizes, dates in addition to file/folder names. That works in at least Firefox, too. Not Safari because its windows aren't drop targets for folders.

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Nov 2007 18:50

PH 2.8 is a Leopard-only package, but can be extracted/installed using Pacifist as I mentioned in an earlier previous post.

One problem is machete scripts aren't working, which I discovered when )#$@# "hidden" accesskeys on certain forums started interfering with standard Cocoa text keybindings again. Whose foolish decision was it to use the same unconfigurable Control- prefix for both of those? A fix for PH machete just for that one problem can't come too soon!

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Nov 2007 18:33

There are valid reasons why developers may choose not to support *new* software on older OS releases or older hardware. Bento was released after (and for) Leopard so there's really no obligation for FileMaker to support it on Tiger and earlier.

Count me as someone who's not going to whine about not being able to run Leopard/Intel-only software on my PPC systems. It's not like the software I'm currently satisfied using has suddenly stopped working!

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 19 Nov 2007 17:38

/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/PithHelmet.bundle/Contents/Resources/Info.plist

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 19 Nov 2007 15:05

PH 2.8 (extracted/installed with Pacifist) doesn't have that problem and seems stable with Safari 3 on 10.4.11 though I haven't fully tested my custom rules. "Start Stress Test" (found under the Debug menu) ran for awhile without any crashes.

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Type: Comments
Date: 18 Nov 2007 21:33

Supposedly "Open in Tabs" will usually crash Safari 3 with PH 2.7 on 10.4.11. Have you tested that?

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 16 Nov 2007 21:27

More Info link here is outdated; looks like it should resolve to www.gooddoug.org (currently down) instead of www.gooddoug.com.

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Type: Comments
Date: 14 Nov 2007 01:34

Yep, Spaces is begging for an option to disable auto-switching that allows explicit control over when space switching occurs. Complex usage can easily demand too much conscious attention and effort trying to anticipate its seemingly unpredictable (at times) switching (mis)behavior.

Right now I'm running VirtueDesktops on Tiger without any annoyingly interfering auto-switching enabled, which makes Command-Tab and Dock simply bring the selected application to the foreground whether or not it has any associated windows in the current space. Overall it's more manageable and tolerable for me that way, even with other bugs/quirks related to switching and keeping multiple for different apps where they belong.

So, personally, the combination of space auto-switching with bugs and/or poor design choices may be acceptable for simple, casual usage but it definitely makes an unpleasant long-term usage experience. YMMV. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 12 Nov 2007 20:32

The version of Emacs bundled with OS X only runs in shell (Terminal) windows, not as a GUI app.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Nov 2007 18:57

Even without using other features FolderGlance is a more convenient hierarchical folder browser for me than the folders-in-an-overcrowded-Dock (pre-Leopard) method. Glad I won't be missing the latter when I eventually upgrade to Leopard.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Nov 2007 18:47

Apparently that 'More' folder in the menu something new in Finder contextual menus on Leopard? Is there anything in it besides FolderGlance items?

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Nov 2007 04:29

I'm not running 10.5 or Spaces yet so here's my hunch based on PB's behavior with VirtueDesktops on 10.4:

The pasteboard window will show up on any Spaces workspace it's "launched" on but disappears when switching to a different workspace.

Maybe Jens24 wants the pasteboard to be sticky when switching between Spaces workspaces? Would enabling the Always Show Window preference cause it to behave that way?

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Type: Comments
Date: 6 Nov 2007 16:49

Yeah, I wonder how this small app (44K download) is supposed to work. Maybe I'll check out the source code with svn later.

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Type: Comments
Date: 3 Nov 2007 18:58

Is harshly ranting your opinions about this product's pricing really a way to make a convincing argument?

Are you an independent Mac developer?

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Type: Comments
Date: 30 Oct 2007 20:09

Re: Developers of 1Password are very responsible but are not very quick to actually fix things.

So, AWS is not very quick to actually fix things in the near-daily 1P updates since Leopard was released?

Seems like you haven't considered they're not giving as much priority as you want to *your* problems because they're plenty busy fixing other ones.

I think they do an above average job of at least acknowledging reported issues, which is more than I can say for a lot of other OS X developers.

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Oct 2007 00:14

You're welcome.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 21:12

Same reaction here. :)

Unless I'm missing something this widget gets my vote as one of the most useless ones I've seen yet. Maybe some people are actually using OS X primarily from Dashboard instead of the traditional Desktop environment?

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 20:46

Maybe I've misunderstood your comments, and I've only used Spaces a bit during Friday's Leopard launch at an Apple Store, but anyway …

You can drag application windows between different Spaces workspaces and they seem to stay where you leave them (better than VirtueDesktops) but the workspace auto-switching when an app becomes active can be annoyingly interfering. And you can assign apps, but specific windows, to specific workspaces in the Spaces pane of System Preferences.

I'm sure certain apps will get updates to be more Spaces-aware. And let's encourage Apple to keep fixing/developing Spaces, too. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 20:31

Workaround: click the More Info link here to get to the Apple Backup information/download page.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 20:28

From the developer's site (via the More Info link here):

"Version 3 is for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) only."

In general, for anyone not running 10.5 I'd recommend checking developer sites of software that's been updated since 10.5's official release to make sure it's still compatible with pre-10.5 OS X since the info on MacUpdate might not be accurate.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 20:15

The Leo prefix for the product name reminds me more of a future OS X Lion release more than Leopard. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 20:10

Relaunch System Preferences after updating and PTHPasteboard's About tab will display the correct version#. Other PrefPanes usually behave similarly when updated, displaying the original instead of the updated version until SP is relaunched.

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Type: Comments
Date: 28 Oct 2007 00:39

Thanks for the explanation. I totally agree about the issues with using Spotlight comments, which was the main reason behind my asking because (unfortunately) most file tagging apps seem to rely on them. I'm curious how Leap's tag database handles certain situations but that's more detail than I want to get into here.

PS: I was slow to acknowledge your reply because it's been stuck in NetNewsWire tab backlog that I'm finally getting around to cleaning up today. Then maybe I'll have time to give Leap a try and answer some of my own questions about it. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 24 Oct 2007 03:37

Thanks for the response and explanation.

I'm most curious how Screencast (btw, poor product name choice, IMO) compares with iShowU because Snapz Pro X is beyond by current budget/needs. Kind of wish I'd bought iShowU earlier even if Screencast ends up being a superior product because now I'm tempted to wait longer and see how they both evolve and compete with each other. I want a more compelling reason to pay $10 more for Screencast than just betting on its potential to eventually be a better choice for me than iShowU would be right now. From your comments (including the steep price remark) it sounds like I may not find that reason with Screencast v1.0 though I'll test it anyway and make up my own mind.

Unless it's free it's getting harder to find any product reviews/comments where someone doesn't eventually diss the pricing. ;)

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 Oct 2007 18:12

So, what "similar utilities" are you comparing Screencast to?

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 Oct 2007 15:41

Price ($29) is steep compared to… $69 for Snapz Pro X (with move capture)? Sure, iShowU is $20 but the $10 difference doesn't make Screencast seem "steep" in comparison.

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 Oct 2007 14:56

2.0 will be a "paid upgrade" … for at least as much as it costs for the Leopard upgrade required to run it.

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Oct 2007 20:57

Many people will strongly disagree with you that RSS feeds have "always belonged" in Mail. One reason is that with certain feeds it's convenient to open individual items in new tabs/windows when you're already in Safari. MacUpdate happens to be a good example for that usage style: view its RSS feed in a Safari window and open a bunch of specific product items of interest in background tabs for later browsing.

There are plenty of valid reasons for using different methods to access RSS/Atom feeds, which I already do now with Safari and NetNewsWire and will extend that to include Mail in 10.5.

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Oct 2007 20:42

Yep, nowadays it's rare to find any developer still distributing products with SIT/SITX archives since Apple stopped bundling StuffIt Expander with OS X. Hey, but at least this least this is free. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 17 Oct 2007 16:33

Anyone know if Leap stores file tags as Spotlight comments or extended attributes or …?

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Type: Comments
Date: 9 Oct 2007 16:29

I agree with trail walker about apps in this category being ownership-centric. For example, I'd prefer a database that made it convenient to keep track of DVD rentals (including wish lists) instead of just the relatively few I own. Heck, why not also track movies that you're seen or may want to see in theaters, too?

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Type: Comments
Date: 1 Oct 2007 05:09

Like with DEVONthink, there's more to DEVONagent than might be apparent with brief, casual testing. The DEVONagent Video Tutorials in the DEVONacademy can be a useful for getting some familiarity with the product.

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Type: Comments
Date: 27 Sep 2007 01:30

Hazel could be a worthwhile purchase even if it's only helpful for automating tedious Desktop decluttering.

The limitations of a single Desktop can be frustrating. I'd really like multiple virtual desktop layers where the location of items could be preserved more easily than using folders, kind of like what Conjure is attempting. But that's another story …

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Type: Comments
Date: 25 Sep 2007 14:54

Thanks for the explanation. Useful to know that it intercepts the regular Forward command while it's running.

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Type: Comments
Date: 25 Sep 2007 02:06

Might be useful, though I won't trust running an undocumented 0.1 app that doesn't have a developer site or contact info.

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Type: Comments
Date: 24 Sep 2007 18:20

FYI: Editing is disabled when the "Keep Player Windows On Top" option in the View menu is enabled.

Still disappointed by total lack of EPG saved search capability; even a simple toolbar search history would be helpful.

And Elgato still hasn't been able to get TitanTV/Decisionmark to fix the incomplete EPG download problem that I reported two months ago.

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Sep 2007 01:18

@vvarp, Re: SpotMeta integration. Since I can't figure out how to embed the correct URL here, search for the "Full support for xattr tagging" topic on the Synthesis Studios forum if you're interested.

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Type: Comments
Date: 14 Sep 2007 14:49

Since updating to 0.8.2 I've noticed this console message (with typo):

2007-09-05 19:24:40.548 SSHKeychain[20474] Buggy password in keycahin workaround

No errors when running Keychain First Aid in Keychain Access.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Sep 2007 18:57

Thanks for the encouragement.

Yep, I've put in considerable hours dealing with v3 issues in a variety of ways, as my many NewsGator forum posts since v3 was released will show.

Glad to hear v3's been relatively trouble-free for you. I seem to have a knack for finding issues that may only affect or matter to a relatively small number of users. :)

Next thing I'm going to do is test the HTML Archive feature now that I better understand how that's intended to work. If it's a success then I can reduce significant backlog on some busy feeds by lowering their persistence values. Running a leaner v3 will reduce its memory usage and possibly improve stability. Hopefully the memory leak fixes in b17 (which I'll launch soon) make it tolerable again for my cleanup project; b15/b16 were unusable.

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Type: Comments
Date: 6 Sep 2007 17:28

Both problems still exists in v1.3.

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Type: Comments
Date: 6 Sep 2007 17:19

How does SpoofMAC compare with MAC Address Changer (free)?

With all the recent releases of this kind of app it's beginning to look like everyone's been assigned the same school project. :)

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Type: Review
Date: 6 Sep 2007 15:58
Features:4 Stars
Ease of Use:4 Stars
Value:2 Stars
Stability:1 Star

Disclaimer: In the followup comments I'm aware that my NNW usage and experience is atypical compared with people who are satisfied with v3.

I've been using NNW since v1 and consider it the premier product in its class for OS X, at least for the usage style where performance unacceptably suffers with other products. But so far v3 (which I'm rating here) has been a disappointment compared to previous versions. It took several betas after the initial v3 release for NNW to be usable *at all* again. Worst. Upgrade. Ever.

Quite a few things, from simple to serious, that worked fine in v2 were (and remain) broken in v3. Numerous bugs reported on the NewsGator forum aren't getting fixed (if acknowledged), while new features are added to current 3.1 betas (sometimes with bugs that remain unfixed in subsequent betas). Noticing attention given to cosmetic features (e.g. new icons) ahead of fixing relatively important bugs adds to the frustration.

My impression is that NewsGator is understaffed to properly support this product as well as it has been in the past, at least for the customer minority I'm in. The unpredictability of bug/feature priorities has made it difficult to foresee if/when the product will regain its previously trusted reliability. I rarely relied on support with v2 (more feature requests than bug reports); now I've got an unwanted dependency on support with v3.

When using v3 is relatively trouble-free experience then I'd recommend it, but not to anyone who'd encounter problems like I've had.

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Type: Comments
Date: 6 Sep 2007 14:29

Re: I would recommend using MacTheRipper (v3 in the wild …

What do you mean by "in the wild"? MTR v3 is still in beta and you need to make a donation to get a legitimate download URL .

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 30 Aug 2007 17:22

Following up to blueser's comment, iPhoto 7.0.2 now displays this console warning when launched:

2007-08-30 11:02:38.314 iPhoto[6969] Not a valid plugin: /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/PlugIns/PicasaWebAlbums.iPhotoExporter

And the plugin's tab is no longer available in the Export Photos window.

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Type: Comments
Date: 30 Aug 2007 01:02

Thanks for posting that information, which at least acknowledges the heavy processor usage with a workaround. I'll try getting more info re: memory usage on the forum (again).

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Aug 2007 18:48

Does Popcorn 3 consume large amounts of virtual memory "swap space" (like Toast 7 & 8) when multiplexing EyeTV 200 recordings (Long Play (DVD 180 min) quality) that's never reclaimed by the system?

On my freshly restarted iMac G5 (2GB) and eMac (1.5GB) the number of swapfiles in /var/vm *always* increases from 1 to 3 or 4 during multiplexing and Menu Meters reports a relatively high amount of "total swap space" has been used, even when no other applications (other than system daemons) are running at the time. There are other ways both Toast and Popcorn can trigger these symptoms.

In general, overall system performance significantly suffers for extended periods of time while Toast 8 and Popcorn 2 run long tasks, often making it intolerable to use other apps. Restarting or, to some degree, at least a logout/login is required after using Toast or Popcorn for my systems to regain normal performance. I wouldn't mind if processing took longer if it prevented them from bringing my systems to their knees so easily.

Having to dedicate systems for what's essentially standalone usage of these Roxio apps is unacceptable, made worse by never getting support acknowledgment of this resource-consuming misbehavior being a problem whenever I've reported it.

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Type: Comments
Date: 29 Aug 2007 00:11

Re: Really Menuola is just an application with a single letter for the app name, and no menus – correct?

And surely it can be done with something smaller than a 5.9MB(!) download.

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Type: Comments
Date: 24 Aug 2007 20:38

0.8.2 installed and runs fine for me, though the installer package has a hidden .gdb_history file that was dropped in /Applications.

Related side-topic annoyance: Among other things, the often-too-dumb Apple Installer begs for the ability to let experienced users deselect unwanted files they want to exclude during installation, like that unnecessary .gdb_history the SSHKeychain developer accidentally included in the package. Yes, I know about Pacifist though Installer needn't obsolete it simply to give a bit more control over developer mistakes.

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 Aug 2007 18:32

Re: import from Toast

My understanding is that it still only works with audio, not video (e.g. EyeHome data).

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 Aug 2007 17:38

Re: And yet it continues to lack a feature I really like, the ability to open windows created by a single given application in various desktops and to accurately remember and maintain the position of those windows on the desktop where the user wants them.

Indeed! That capability eludes every OS X vdm I've tried …

CodeTek VDP came closest but wasn't flawless. VirtueDesktops (which I'm currently using) seems to "insist" (i.e. "work best when") all windows for an app resides on the same vd, with the workaround of making any window(s) sticky on *all* desktops. I don't know what Spaces will (dis)allow though from the preview video it appears possible to move windows to different vd's and have them remain there. In VirtueD they'll "snap back" to the vd an app is bound to. I explained that more clearly and thoroughly on the forum, with suggested improvements that were never implemented.

One things that can be tricky is how to determine which vd new windows and dialogs should open on. For instance, if an iChat buddy list is on a unsticky, non-active vd should a new chat request dialog appear on the active vd or the one where the iChat buddy list lives?

I haven't tried YC:D for awhile so there could be personally useful improvements I'm unaware of, though at this point I'm not going to switch from VirtueD before trying Spaces.

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Type: Comments
Date: 23 Aug 2007 16:56

I have a significant number of URL bookmarks that make no sense to save as web archives, especially when they're littered with ad content.

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Type: Comments
Date: 8 Aug 2007 14:13

> … dragging images to the desktop

Thanks for reminding me DC is responsible for that. It's the only reason I need to keep using DC until generic Safari does the same thing (if ever).

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Aug 2007 15:20

If Safari 3 saves download URLs both as "Where from" (kMDItemWhereFroms) metadata *and* as Spotlight comments then can anyone think of a reason to still use DownloadComment? Since it's an Input Manager it'll probably not work with Leopard anyway.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Aug 2007 15:15

> the rabbit's out of the hat!

Yep.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Aug 2007 00:05

Even Safari 2 already adds that "Where from" (kMDItemWhereFroms) Spotlight metadata without using DownloadComment, but I don't know if Safari 3 adds the download URL to Spotlight comments without DownloadComment (Safari 2 doesn't).

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Type: Comments
Date: 6 Aug 2007 14:38

> With Apple's Numbers just weeks away […]

Apple has made no public announcement of that product so it's only a rumor (maybe based at least on the trademark registration?) unless you're privy to information that's intended to be kept private.

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Type: Comments
Date: 6 Aug 2007 14:22

Felix01: I agree with you even if paying for software doesn't guarantee its continued development. CodeTek VirtualDesktop Pro is the best and only example of Mac software I've purchased that I can remember becoming abandonware, unusable after upgrading to OS X 10.4. SplashID appeared on its way to gaining that status though SplashData recently released v4, with the Mac desktop version available later this year (presumably after 10.5 is released).

Anyway, I'd have no hesitation purchasing any C-Command Software products. If they seem a bit pricey it's important to realize the level and quality of support from Michael Tsai that's included.

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Type: Hint/Tip
Date: 6 Aug 2007 13:52

Currently (as of 2.4.11) only the Value can be modified, not the Field Name. Check the AWS Forum for some discussion about that topic.

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Type: Comments
Date: 22 Jul 2007 19:36

Thanks for the comments, Robert. It's some of the "little things" like you mentioned that make Firefox awkwardly uncomfortable for me to use on OS X. It's not well integrated with the system and extensions can often make it seem inconsistent even with itself.

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Type: Comments
Date: 20 Jul 2007 12:04

Excuse me, do you judge people's comments/questions without understanding them? I'm well aware what site this is and, AFAIK (I didn't bother looking for actual stats, wherever they are), IE6 *for Windows* is still the dominant browser, period. I only mentioned that to formulate a sincere ("genuinely curious") question about the relevance/importance of Acid2 on *any* platform, not instigate a platform-specific browser comparison argument.

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Jul 2007 14:29

He didn't say G5 PowerBook. :D

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Jul 2007 14:27

I'm genuinely curious how much it really matters in "practical" terms that a browser passes Acid2. AFAIK IE6 is still the dominant browser and that it doesn't pass Acid2 doesn't seem an important issue for most of its user base.

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Type: Comments
Date: 19 Jul 2007 14:12

I'm not sure exactly what iFreeMem does but have noticed that certain Spotlight searches (a single character seems particularly effective) will trigger the mds background process to run for a bit and usually reallocate as much of Inactive memory as possible to Free. And running a SuperDuper! backup has a similar Inactive-to-Free memory reallocation side effect.

What I *really* want is some way to clean up after misbehaving apps that consume large amounts of virtual memory swap space that's never reclaimed after they've quit. A blatant example of this symptom is easily reproduced when Toast multiplexes EyeTV recordings while a few other commonly used apps are running. The number of swapfiles can increase from 2 to 6 on my 2GB iMac G5 as swap space usage jumps from a couple hundred MB to over 1.5GB and system performance significantly deteriorates. After Toast quits (when it doesn't fail with malloc errors first) swap space usage remains high and the system is still sluggishly crippled, requiring a logout or restart to get back to normal.

A similar "vm blowout" scenario can occur infrequently with certain other app usage combinations, but it's unavoidable during Toast's EyeTV multiplexing unless it's being run basically standalone (which is highly impractical). And Roxio remains uninterested in finding/fixing the problem, at most blaming OS X memory management.

If there were an acceptable workaround for that kind of memory usage snafu to save time and hassle of unwanted logouts and restarts (which really shouldn't be necessary) I'd seriously consider paying for it. Certain Unix-based systems are better than OS X at being temporarily brought to their knees by rogue memory usage, yet still be able to recover and run normally again after any offending processes are killed or stop running.

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Type: Comments
Date: 18 Jul 2007 22:33

PS: Just after my last post I noticed your comments @ scobleizer.com/2007/06/27/firefox-on-macs-giving-people-fits after going there via Roustem's link on the AWS (1Passwd) forum. Small and fast world. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 18 Jul 2007 22:23

The way you replied to the quote sounded a bit like what Josh Aas said he was addressing was the main (or only) current complaint.

Anyway… everyone can agree there are multiple complaints about FF with differing opinions about their importance and priority to fix (if ever).

I like your tractor vs. Ferrari analogy. :)

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Type: Comments
Date: 18 Jul 2007 15:04

Re: This isn't the main (or only) current complaint.

Who's claiming or implying that it is? A "long-running major complaint" (the quote your reply started off responding to) doesn't mean that it's "the main (or only) current complaint.

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Type: Comments
Date: 5 Jul 2007 00:54

Seems to be working well with NetNewsWire so far. Thanks, Steven!

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Type: Comments
Date: 4 Jul 2007 23:33

Toast 8 *still* has some serious memory management issues that are trivial to reproduce (e.g. multiplexing EyeTV recordings). I've reported this to Roxio for years (with explicit details) and they've never done anything to fix it, much less even acknowledged the problem exists.

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Type: Comments
Date: 16 Jun 2007 19:12

Anyone know why the "Mac OS X 10.4, (PowerPC, 64-bit)" downloads are still only 5.0.27?

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Type: Comments
Date: 14 Jun 2007 17:10

Possible replacement for old SplashID desktop app if data could be accurately and reliably synched with or exported to PalmOS, if 1Passwd doesn't get there first.

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Type: Troubleshooting
Date: 7 Jun 2007 15:49

Error with 2.1:

2007-06-07 09:48:55 -1000: There was an error retrieving the XML data from Twitter. The error message is "can’t find host".

Deleting preferences didn't help. 2.0 works fine.

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Type: Comments
Date: 7 Jun 2007 13:32

"…and I need to go lie down"

Have you recovered yet? :-)

Thanks for the good laugh.

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Type: Hint/Tip