Aint that special

I use a lot of Applescript when I use my Mac. I’ve learned quite a bit about the language over the years. Needless to say that it makes me a little snobby about using Automator. For the most part, I hate automator because it is so limited. What it has is pretty much all you get to do. However, once in awhile I gain an added appreciation for its simplicity. Here is an Automator “script” that takes a screenshot and then places the screen shot in my blog photos library within iPhoto. I’m sure if I worked long enough I could have come up with an Applescript to do it, but Automator allowed me to do it in about 10 seconds of work. Here it is (and yes, I used this automator “script” to take the screenshot)

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, OSX, Programming, Automator, Software

Along with that dejavu firmware update, I also received notice that my favorite RSS reader Vienna has been updated to Version 2.1.0.2105. There’s no mention of the new features in this release and I haven’t played with it enough to figure it out yet. I’m sure it is just one step closer to being perfect. Free or not, this application is really starting to ROCK!

Update:

What’s New: Version 2.1.0.2105:

+ Add Blog With feature.
+ Fix bug where mouse was tracking wrong browser tab.
+ Fix bug: searching in ‘any’ smart folders wasn’t done
correctly.
+ Updated all localisation except Traditional Chinese.
+ Added Brazilian Portuguese localisation (thanks to Helvécio
Mafra).
+ Change URL with feed:// to http:// during refresh.
+ Fix bug with expanding file:// path.
+ Compare article titles case insensitively when looking for
updates.
+ Fix warning message for missing style.
+ Add hidden preference to disable checking for updated
articles.
+ After clicking link in article pane to open in foreground
of external browser, return focus to article list.
+ Fix bug in date parser.
+ If there are no connection errors during refresh, then set
the subscription’s last update date even if there is no
data. Could be http 304, for example.
+ Added Korean localisation (thanks to Lee Seung Koo).
+ Add AppleScript command for emptying trash.
+ “Text contains” in smart folders now matches partial words.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, OSX, Software

Apple’s been working away patching the Mac Pro firm ware again. I just installed the firmware patch they had from earlier this week and now today I get this:

I’m not sure what these provide yet. Here is what the installer says:
“The SMC Firmware Update adjusts fan behavior in the Mac Pro. The updater application will be installed in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Please follow the instructions in the updater application to complete the process”.

The security update seems to be for the airport, which I never installed.

Update: This appears to be the same update from earlier in the week. The strange thing is that I already applied that update and received the comforting message telling me my Mac Pro firmware was up to date. This one, however, was applied without having to hold down the power button on the front. It was a smooth auto install. So maybe they are slightly different. I don’t care enough to check and my machine is running exactly the same anyway.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Hardware, Mac, OSX, Security