TidBITS#630/13-May-02
=====================
iPhoto 1.1.1 is out, so if you're a user, make sure to read on
for Adam's detailed examination of the major changes in Apple's
popular photo management software. Then he and Jeff Carlson
report on their experiences with a number of Kensington goodies,
including mice, trackballs, and other Mac and Palm accessories.
In the news this week, we cover the Apple Design Awards and
look at the results of last week's poll on Mac OS X use among
TidBITS readers.
Topics:
MailBITS/13-May-02
Do More with iPhoto 1.1.1
Goodies from Kensington
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MailBITS/13-May-02
------------------
**Apple Names 2002 Design Award Winners** -- Capping off this
year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple named the winners
of its Apple Design Awards, highlighting Mac OS X software in six
categories. The Best New Mac OS X Product title went to Toon Boom
Studio 1.1, a tool for creating 2D animations. Karelia Software's
Watson 1.5 was honored as Most Innovative Mac OS X Product, though
the real testament to its innovation may prove to be Apple's WWDC
demonstration of Sherlock 3, which looks to be a Watson clone (see
"Jaguar: Mac OS X Prepares to Pounce" in TidBITS-629_). The Omni
Group's OmniGraffle 2.0, a diagramming and charting application,
garnered two awards: Best Mac OS X User Experience and Best Mac OS
X Technology Adoption. In the category of Best Mac OS X Open
Source Port, Richard Koch's TeXShop 1.19 was honored for its
capability to display scientific and technical documents created
in TeX format. And in the final category, Dan Schimpf won Best Mac
OS X Student Product with MacJournal 2.1, a program for storing
and organizing notes, diaries, and other text snippets. We applaud
each of the winners (plus the runners-up, which are listed at
Apple's Web site), and also Apple for bringing attention to
innovative software, even when it doesn't come from large
companies. [JLC]
<http://www.toonboomstudio.com/>
<http://www.karelia.com/watson/?src=_tb>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06816>
<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/>
<http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/texshop.html>
<http://homepage.mac.com/dschimpf/>
<http://developer.apple.com/designawards/winners.html>
**Poll Results: Are You X'd Out?** In some ways, the responses to
last week's poll asking how much of the time your primary Mac
spends booted into Mac OS X were not surprising. Of over 2,700
responses, 47 percent of respondents said they run Mac OS X
exclusively and 30 percent never run Mac OS X at all. Clearly
TidBITS readers, and particularly those who respond to polls, are
notably more likely to have upgraded to Mac OS X than your average
Macintosh user. If you add in those who have made the jump to Mac
OS X but don't use the new operating system exclusively, 65
percent say they spend more than half their time in Mac OS X,
and 35 percent say they spend less than half their time in
Mac OS X. To my mind, these numbers help confirm our decision
to continue migrating our content toward Mac OS X-specific topics,
with a focus on helping those who have either just upgraded or
who are considering the upgrade. That said, our mission statement
has always been to write about those topics that interest us,
and we have wide-ranging interests. [ACE]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbpoll=75>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06816>
Do More with iPhoto 1.1.1
-------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Apple last week released the long-awaited iPhoto 1.1.1, the first
update to the company's popular photo management and sharing
software (see "iPhoto Joins the iFold" in TidBITS-611_). A 1.1
release appeared briefly the previous week but was pulled almost
immediately, likely for quality control reasons.
<http://www.apple.com/iphoto/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06683>
Diving into iPhoto 1.1.1 shows that Apple has made numerous
extremely welcome changes, though most are relatively minor
tweaks, not radical new approaches. The changes apply primarily
to importing photos into iPhoto, editing them, finding them,
and sharing them in new ways.
**Downloading and Installing** -- For some reason, a number of
people seem to be getting interrupted downloads of the 25.2 MB
iPhoto disk image - if you have trouble mounting the disk image
after downloading, check to make sure you got it all.
iPhoto 1.1.1 does modify the format of your iPhoto Library such
that you cannot switch back to iPhoto 1.0 after you've updated.
Depending on the size of your library the conversion may take a
while, but it needs to be done only once. I strongly recommend
that you make a backup of your entire iPhoto Library folder
before installing and launching iPhoto 1.1.1 for the first time.
I experienced no trouble installing over iPhoto 1.0, but some
people have reported problems. If you're concerned, or if your
initial installation doesn't work, use Sherlock to search for
"iphoto" and delete iPhoto 1.0, its preferences file, and the
cache folder before installing. That search won't find the
BookService, HomePageService, and PrintsService files that live
in /System/Library/Services, but you can't delete those without
changing their privileges anyway (those files are necessary for
the Order Book, Order Prints, and HomePage buttons in the share
pane).
**Easier Immigration** -- An immediate criticism of iPhoto 1.0 was
that when you imported your existing photo collection, any work
you'd put into naming photos in the Finder and organizing them
into folders was lost when iPhoto renamed the files and
reorganized them into its chronological hierarchy. No longer:
iPhoto 1.1.1 retains your file names and instead of creating a
single film roll for the entire import, creates a new film roll
for each folder, naming the film roll for the folder. (That in
itself is a welcome change from 1.0, where film rolls were merely
numbered and dated - you can also rename film rolls and change
their dates manually.)
iPhoto is less concerned about the location of its iPhoto Library
folder as well. That folder can now live anywhere - in a shared
folder on a Mac or on a server - as long as you put an alias
called "iPhoto Library" to it in your Pictures folder. This should
let multiple users share iPhoto Library folders much more easily
than in the past. It also simplifies working with multiple iPhoto
Library folders (which you might want to do to keep collections of
photos separate from one another), but that activity is still made
easier by a free tool like iPhoto Library Manager or iPhoto
Librarian (both of which seem to work with iPhoto 1.1.1, despite
not having been updated for it specifically).
<http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster/iphotolibrarymanager.html>
<http://homepage.mac.com/scrufmeister/iPhotoLibrarian.html>
People were also frustrated that you could create albums only
within iPhoto. Now, if you drag one or more images, or a folder of
images, into an empty spot in iPhoto's album pane, iPhoto imports
the images into your photo library and creates a new album for you
with the imported images. Unfortunately, if you have enough albums
to cause iPhoto to show a scroll bar in the album pane, there's no
empty space left as a drag destination. If you instead drag images
into an existing album, iPhoto imports them and adds them to that
album. Speaking of albums, you can now rearrange them in the album
pane by dragging them to the desired location.
iPhoto now retains EXIF information associated with each image by
the camera, and it can also display that information. It's unclear
if this will play a role in improving the quality of ordered
prints.
Finally, for those people with Kodak Photo CDs, if you insert the
CD into your Mac, switch to iPhoto, switch to import mode, and
then click the Import button in the import pane, iPhoto will
import the images directly from the Photo CD without you having
to find and import them manually.
**iPhoto Gets Brighter** -- Apple intentionally kept iPhoto 1.0's
editing capabilities minimal because image editing is one of those
tasks that's difficult for people who aren't fluent with graphics
programs. Plus, you could always set iPhoto to open images for
editing in another application, such as Caffeinesoft's brilliant
PixelNhance. I had high hopes that Apple would license
PixelNhance's code and add it to the next version of iPhoto.
That hasn't happened yet, since the only addition to iPhoto 1.1.1
are simple sliders for adjusting the brightness and contrast of
images. They work, but PixelNhance's approach of letting you drag
a divider bar across your image to see how a change affects the
image in an interactive before/after preview remains better than
anything I've seen. PixelNhance's interface is so effective that
I recommend every iPhoto user - heck, everyone with a digital
camera who's not a Photoshop wizard - download the free
PixelNhance and use it for editing photos.
<http://www.caffeinesoft.com/products/pnh/>
The only other visible change to iPhoto's editing tools is the
removal of the redundant Rotate button in the edit pane. Since
there's a Rotate button always available underneath the album
pane, removing the extra one in the edit pane makes good sense.
Speaking of rotating, although holding down Option still reverses
the direction of the rotation, you can now change the default
direction in iPhoto's preferences. Interestingly, in a
statistically insignificant survey controlled for camera type
(the extremely cute Canon PowerShot S100), both Jeff Carlson and
I rotate the camera clockwise for portrait shots, whereas our
wives both rotate the camera counter-clockwise. I'll bet there's
some grant money for someone to investigate that gender-related
phenomenon.
Editing photos in a separate window in iPhoto 1.0 was possible
but annoying, since it always opened the window with the editing
toolbar closed. iPhoto 1.1.1 fixes that minor stupidity - the
editing toolbar is now open by default. Finally, Apple seems to
have improved the results from using iPhoto's red-eye reduction
tool.
**Text in a Graphic World** -- As much as it makes sense to browse
photos graphically, textual descriptions are also important.
iPhoto 1.0 let you add titles, comments, and keywords, but the
process was tedious. Now, since iPhoto retains filenames on import
(even the numeric ones that cameras automatically create), you
can use a hierarchical menu in the Edit menu to set the title to
Empty, Roll Info, File Name, or Date/Time. You can of course still
type your own titles, but beware, since if you type a title, then
set the title to any of the previously mentioned settings, your
title disappears for good. Editing titles still requires you
work in the info pane - you can't edit the title itself underneath
the photo.
Also new is an option in iPhoto's preferences to replace the
keyword buttons of the organize pane with a large text field for
entering comments. It's exactly the same comments field as was
available in the info pane by clicking the Info button, but now
it's short and wide as opposed to being tall and thin.
Unfortunately, both areas remain terrible text-editing
environments. No scroll bars appear when the text doesn't fit
vertically, you can't necessarily use the mouse or arrow keys
to scroll through all your text in the info pane, and the new
comments field in the organize pane doesn't wrap long lines of
text (you have to drag the cursor or arrow to the right to see
more).
The saving grace of the new comments field is that you can flip
the Assign/Search toggle to Search and enter text you want to
find in photo titles, file names, keywords, or comments. iPhoto
responds by restricting the visible photos to only those that
match your search criteria. It's useful, but it's too bad Apple
chose such an awkward interface - if you normally leave the
organize pane showing the keyword buttons, performing a text
search requires a trip to the preferences. The feature feels
tacked on - hopefully Apple will revisit this interface in
iPhoto's next major update.
**Share and Share Alike** -- iPhoto's share pane receives three
new and utterly self-explanatory buttons: Mail, Desktop, and
Screen Saver.
No more do you have to fuss to use your images with Mac OS X's
Slide Show screen saver. Just click the Screen Saver button in
iPhoto, select an album, and click OK.
Setting the Desktop picture is even easier; select a photo and
click the Desktop button. Unfortunately for those of us with two
monitors, iPhoto can set the Desktop picture only on the main
monitor.
Sending an email message with selected photos is also easy. Select
some photos and click the Mail button to cause iPhoto to create
a new message using Apple's Mail program containing the selected
images, along with their titles and comments. It also resizes the
photos if you desire, which is a good idea most of the time to
reduce the size of the message.
The obvious problem with the Mail button is that it works only
with Apple's anemic Mail program, and not with your default email
program. However, thanks to some clever sleuthing and coding by
Simon Jacquier, with a little encouragement from me, there's an
alternative: iPhoto Mail Patcher. The trick is that iPhoto,
despite falling into the embarrassing category of high-profile
Apple programs that don't support AppleScript, has a script inside
it that communicates with Mail. Simon wrote some new AppleScript
scripts that work with Eudora, Mailsmith, PowerMail, and QuickMail
Pro, and then created an installer that replaces both the script
and the Mail icon appropriately. If you're an AppleScript guru and
have ideas for improving the scripts or adding support for other
email programs, send me the AppleScript snippets and I'll forward
them on to Simon.
<http://homepage.mac.com/jacksim/software/imp.html>
Finally, for those who hate wasting expensive inkjet paper, iPhoto
1.1.1 lets you put two photos on a page when printing at either
4" x 6" or 5" x 7". Plus, there's a checkbox in the Contact Sheet
style to save paper - it reduces the margins and space between
images.
**Left Wanting More?** iPhoto 1.1.1 is a good, solid upgrade, and
I recommend that anyone using iPhoto upgrade. Many of the changes
are minor usability tweaks that add up to a much improved user
experience, and the new features add much needed capabilities.
That said, some changes, such as the search capabilities, the
connection with Mail in favor of the default email program, and
the new brightness and contrast controls, simply aren't
impressive. Other features, such as AppleScript support and basic
color correction controls, remain external to iPhoto. And perhaps
most concerning, iPhoto 1.1.1's performance doesn't seem to have
improved much, if at all.
The question, then, is what iPhoto's developers have up their
sleeves for iPhoto 2.0. Despite the many enhancements and fixes
in 1.1.1, there's still lots of room for Apple to improve iPhoto,
even while keeping the program easy to use for those of us who
never otherwise work with images.
Goodies from Kensington
-----------------------
by Jeff Carlson and Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
One of the perks of being a computer journalist is that every so
often products arrive on the doorstep to test - some we rip open
and start using immediately, others elicit yawns and never even
make it out of their shrink wrap. A recent crop of goodies from
Kensington piqued our interest, though, and we found some products
worth checking out, along with a couple that didn't make the cut.
**PocketMouse Pro** -- Jeff here. My main computer is a PowerBook
G4, which goes with me almost everywhere. When I'm at home or at
my office, I connect a mouse and an external keyboard; at other
times, I use the PowerBook's built-in keyboard and trackpad.
However, I can't use the trackpad over long periods of time,
especially with mouse-intensive programs like Adobe GoLive or
Photoshop. In those situations (such as a recent unexpected six-
hour stint at a Starbucks), a mouse becomes a necessity, and my
mouse of choice has become Kensington's $40 PocketMouse Pro.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_mic_d1453.html>
I'd swear that the PocketMouse Pro was designed specifically with
me in mind. It's smaller than most mice, measuring 4.375 inches
long, 2.25 inches wide, and 1.5 inches tall, which sits well amid
the nest of cables in my bag. I've also been told by people with
smaller hands that it's a more comfortable fit than some larger
mice. The mouse is optical, so it needs no mousepad and there's
no trackball to clean. And, it sports two buttons and a scroll
wheel - I started using a two-button mouse in 1995, and will
never go back to a one-button mouse. You define the button
actions with Kensington's versatile MouseWorks software (under
both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X).
<http://www.kensington.com/support/sup_1170.html>
So far, I've described a typical optical mouse, albeit a small
one. (A number of other smaller mouse models have been mentioned
in TidBITS Talk; use the link below to read the discussion
thread.) But what makes people's eyes light up is the PocketMouse
Pro's 30-inch retractable USB cable. Push a silver button, and a
panel in the left side opens to reveal a standard USB connector
attached to a thin, coiled cable. When you extend it, the cord
slips into a groove at the front so you can close the panel (which
would otherwise lift the edge of the mouse off the table). Giving
the cord a small tug releases the catch to retract the cable, much
like how many vacuum cleaners retract their cords. I'm almost
embarrassed that this one trick makes such a difference, but
eliminating even one cable from my disorganized bag is an
improvement. More importantly, it shows that the mouse's
architects kept users like me in mind when designing it.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1566>
I have two minor complaints with the PocketMouse Pro. Because the
cord spends most of the time wrapped around the coiling mechanism,
it has a natural curl that can get in the way when I'm using the
mouse. And, the optical sensor, which has generally been
excellent, sometimes skips momentarily when used on grainy,
reflective wood, such as is found in Starbucks stores near me.
**Optical Elite Mouse** -- I could use the PocketMouse Pro at home
or at the office, but I don't want to unpack it each time I change
locations, and I don't know if its small size would bother my
larger fingers over time. For years I've used a simple two-button
desktop mouse with a scroll wheel (and spent years cleaning its
rollers), so for a change Kensington let me test the Optical Elite
mouse.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_mic_d1463.html>
This $30 mouse is a bit larger than my old two-button Kensington
Mouse-in-a-Box/Scroll unit, which I find more comfortable to hold.
The sides slope inward slightly, providing a more comfortable
resting place for my thumb, and the EasyGrip coating surrounding
the bottom half of the mouse offers a soft, rubbery surface.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_mic_d1020.html>
In addition to two large buttons at the front, the Optical Elite
includes two smaller buttons, located on the left and right sides.
They're small enough that you won't press them accidentally, but
because they're placed high on the mouse's middle arch, I find
that I use only the one nearest my thumb. I need to lift my ring
finger to reach the other button, which I find awkward. However,
although you can set up actions for each button, including
chording combinations that involve multiple simultaneous clicks,
I find myself using the same three actions most of the time:
single click (left button), double click (right button), and
Control- click (smaller left button).
**Slim MicroSaver Notebook Security Cable** -- If you spend more
than a few hours working on a PowerBook or iBook in a cafe while
drinking coffee or tea, at some point you may need to visit the
bathroom - what do you do with your laptop? The sight of an
unattended PowerBook can be a highly tempting target for thieves
(it doesn't help that Apple's portables are so striking - a rare
drawback to the company's attractive designs). A simple, effective
solution is to use a Kensington notebook security cable.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_c1133.html>
As a PowerBook G4 owner, I tried the Slim MicroSaver Notebook
Security Cable, which is a plastic-coated metal cable with a loop
at one end and a keyed lock at the other. The lock fits into the
rectangular security slot that has been built into PowerBooks
since the earliest models. To use the cable, you simply wrap it
around a secure table leg, bring the lock end through the loop,
then attach the lock to the laptop. (Some tables don't have secure
legs, so I often snake the cable through the back of a chair and
a handle on my computer bag.)
The slim model has been designed specifically for thinner laptops,
such as the PowerBook G4, which means the lock has a smaller
diameter to avoid lifting the computer off the table at an angle.
Although I never had trouble using an older security cable with
my PowerBook G4, I appreciate the Slim MicroSaver's rubber bumper
that protects my PowerBook's titanium finish from the metal of
the lock's head. As another nice addition, the $45 Slim MicroSaver
comes with a velcro strap to make it easier to wrap the cable when
it's stored in your bag or case; again, reducing cable clutter
is an important consideration for me.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_sec_d1433.html>
**PDA Protector for the Palm** -- The last product Kensington let
me try out was its PDA Protector for the Palm, which holds a
Palm V or Palm m500-series handheld. The title is more than just
marketing alliteration: made of aluminum, this case envelops the
handheld in a protective shell.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_mob_d1442.html>
The clamshell design hinges at the top (yep, just like a Star Trek
communicator). Inside, the case is covered in black felt-like
material that holds the handheld in place; the case design and the
felt eliminate the need for a stabilizing rail or velcro strips to
secure the organizer, as with other PDA cases. However, the bottom
lip of the case covers the serial port, so you must remove the
handheld to synchronize it with your computer.
Everything about the construction of the PDA Protector exudes high
quality: the top and bottom pieces fit together smooth and solid,
and a small magnet keeps the lid shut. The aluminum is solid and
sturdy.
Surprisingly, this last point soured me on the PDA Protector.
Because the sturdiness comes at the cost of extra bulk and weight,
I found myself not wanting to carry my handheld while it was in
the case. I liked knowing my Palm was protected when it was in the
PDA Protector, but I was disappointed that I rarely carried it
outside my bag (and thus didn't use it). If you're more concerned
with protecting your Palm, this may not be an issue, but it made
me go back to the remnants of my original flipcover, which doesn't
significantly affect the Palm's thin size.
I'm also curious about how well the inside coating stands up to
repeated insertions and removals of the handheld: although my unit
offered a snug fit, the model on display at Kensington's Macworld
Expo booth was worn and almost slippery from repeated use.
The $30 PDA Protector comes in color combinations of
Platinum/Silver and Blue-Ice/Silver for Palm, and is also
available in Graphite/Silver for the Handspring Visor.
**Turbo Mouse Pro** -- Adam here. In part because of my addiction
to multiple monitors, I've relied for years on Kensington
trackballs to move my cursor across my expansive desktop. I
started with a two-button Turbo Mouse, moved up to a four-button
Turbo Mouse four or five years later when the first one started
to have some problems, and recently switched to the $110 USB Turbo
Mouse Pro to eliminate the need for an ADB-to-USB converter. I've
handled Kensington's other trackballs during these years, and I've
tried trackballs from other manufacturers, but nothing competes
with the basic design and solidity of the Turbo Mouse.
<http://www.kensington.com/products/pro_mic_d1399.html>
The latest Turbo Mouse Pro retains the solid feel and usability of
previous versions, though I use few of its capabilities. With the
original two-button Turbo Mouse, I relied heavily on both buttons,
and when the time came to switch to the four-button Turbo Mouse,
I had trouble using the top two buttons. They were just a little
too far out of reach, and since I could configure the function of
the right button differently for different applications, I seldom
needed even one more button. That problem is even more pronounced
in the Turbo Mouse Pro, which adds a scroll wheel and six small
buttons across the top for launching applications or visiting Web
pages. Since those buttons are even further out of reach for me,
I've never used them at all. I thought I might like the scroll
wheel in particular, but the combination of its location and a
fairly rough mechanism (I also have a Microsoft optical mouse
that has a far smoother scroll wheel) has prevented that.
These criticisms undoubtedly stem largely from the way I position
my hand, with the tip of my index finger on the top of the ball,
my thumb on the left button, my ring finger on the right button,
and the heel of my hand on a pad in front of the trackball. That
position worked perfectly with the two-button Turbo Mouse, but I
think Kensington intends users to position their hands much higher
on the Turbo Mouse, bringing the scroll wheel and top buttons
into reach. After so many years, I don't know if I'll be able to
retrain myself, but those people who are new to trackballs may be
able to use it as intended.
Even though I don't take full advantage of all the available
buttons, Kensington's MouseWorks software lets me tweak the
buttons I do use. For Mac OS X, the beta of MouseWorks 2.0 was
essential, since the initial release couldn't restrict button
definitions to specific applications. That limited me for a week
or so after I first upgraded to Mac OS X; once I was able to
upgrade to the 2.0 beta, I could once again click the right
mouse button to double-click in the Finder, go back a page in
Internet Explorer, Command-double-click on URLs in Nisus Writer,
and Command-click on URLs in Eudora. If you're using a Kensington
mouse or trackball, I'd definitely recommend MouseWorks 2.0, even
though it's still in beta.
<http://www.kensington.com/support/sup_1357.html>
**FlyLight** -- The last of the goodies from Kensington I've used
is the $20 FlyLight, a tremendously simple gadget that plugs into
your USB port and offers an LED flashlight on a 15-inch wire you
can contort into almost any shape you desire. It's small and
simple, and although I don't generally use it, I did find it
useful on one late night plane trip when it wasn't appropriate
to use the overhead light.
<http://www.maccessories.com/products/pro_mob_d1032.html>
The FlyLight's simplicity is both its strength and its weakness.
It would be nice if it had a switch, so you could leave it plugged
in without the light on. That's especially true because it stays
on when plugged into PowerBooks and iBooks that are sleeping -
apparently power to the USB ports shuts off only when the machine
is shut down, something that seldom happens with portables. It
would be even more fun, though probably no more useful, if you
could control the light via software, turning it on and off, and
perhaps even making it flash in patterns. And if it were linked
to an iTunes visualizer, it would be truly useless - sounds like
a project for the hack contest at MacHack!
<http://www.machack.com/>
$$
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