AdBlock

Safari AdBlock: block ads in Safari.

Does exactly what it says on the tin. I’ve been using it for a few months now and it’s pretty good. If you’re on Snow Leopard you’ll need to run Safari in 32-bit mode although the author is working on an alternative solution.

UPDATE: Even better, try ClickToFlash — replaces every instance on Flash on a webpage with a simple box. To load the Flash, click the box. It’ll even play YouTube videos as H.264 instead of Flash — lovely! I love this plugin — I don’t even bother installed AdBlock anymore. ClickToFlash is awesome.

The Strange Case of iTunes Application Updates

iTunes has been behaving strangely lately. It consistently shows that there are 2 updates for my applications yet when I click ’show available updates’ I get the message that there are none. Something is clearly broken.

This is quite a common problem (a Google search will tell you that) and there are a variety of documented ‘fixes’, with some seeming to work for some yet not others. The issue seems to centre around some apps that think they have an update when they don’t (at least that’s my layman understanding — the problem may be with iTunes itself).

I decided to try and hunt out the problem myself. To alleviate this issue previously I would just trash the iTunes preferences which would solve the issue but would then require me to reset all my preferences in iTunes (obviously).

So yesterday I went through a more radical yet methodical approach. It seems a bit laborious but it did flush out those apps that were causing the issue.

1. Quit iTunes
2. Make a copy of the ‘Mobile Applications’ directory within your iTunes music library (backup, backup, backup!)
3. Launch iTunes
4. Delete all apps by selecting all and hitting Apple-delete
5. When asked select ‘Move to trash’ to move all the app files to the trash
6. Quit iTunes
7. Navigate to the apps directory within your music library folder (usually ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications)
8. Ensure that iTunes has indeed removed all the applications (I found that despite selecting ‘Move to trash’ there were still quite a few applications in there, some of them very old that I never used and thought I had deleted months ago)
9. If there are any remaining apps, move them to the trash
10. Breathe a sigh of relief that you followed step 2 and made a copy of your Mobile Applications folder. You did do this, didn’t you?
11. Double click an app in your backed up ‘Mobile Applications’ folder to add it to your iTunes library (this should make a copy in your music library folder)
12. iTunes should launch (if not running already) and the app should appear in the Applications pane
13. Click ‘Check for updates’ at the bottom of the Applications pane
14. If the app is up to date iTunes should tell you that there are no updates for any apps
15. Repeat steps 11-14 for all apps (told you it was laborious!)
16. You should find an app or two that, when you click ‘Check for updates’, tell you that there’s an update available. Remove this app from iTunes (you still have a copy of it on your desktop, right?)
17. Once you’ve gone through all your apps you should identified the wonky apps — they’re the ones that think they have an update
18. Download these apps again from the iTunes Store (if they’re paid apps you won’t get charged again)
19. All should be well within iTunes. You should now have all your applications back in iTunes and behaving properly. You can delete the copy of Mobile Applications you made in step 2. Backup your data.

I don’t know what the reason is but some of my apps thought they had an update when they didn’t and this is what was screwing things up. Going through the steps above identifies these apps and lets you download the most recent version.

(Disclaimer: perform these steps at your own risk. I take no responsibility whatsoever for any situation arising if you decide to follow these steps. Backing up your data regularly is always a good idea.)

Calaboration Sets Up Your Google Calendars in iCal for You

Google calendars now support the CalDAV protocol (which iCal also does) so you can now view & edit your Google calendars using iCal.

They’ve even created a nifty tool to make it simple called Calaboration.

And there was you thinking it was a typo in the title…

UPDATE: “Calaboration is no longer the recommended method of setting up Google Calendar calendar in iCal. Instead, use these instructions.”

Replacing JungleDisk’s Menubar Icon

I’ve created an alternative to JungleDisk’s menubar icon. I wanted something that was less visually noisy than the default icon.

To use this icon:

1. Download ‘alternate_JD_icon.png’
2. Quit JungleDisk (if it’s running)
3. Navigate to where JungleDisk is installed (usually ‘Applications’)
4. Right-click on the JungleDisk app and select ‘Show Package Contents’
5. Navigate to ‘Contents/Resources’
6. Rename ‘MacStatusItemIcon.png’ to ‘MacStatusItemIconOld.png’ (this is the default icon, we’re renaming it in case you ever want to revert back to it)
7. Copy ‘alternate_JD_icon.png’ from wherever you downloaded it to the ‘Contents/Resources’ folder
8. Rename ‘alternate_JD_icon.png’ to ‘MacStatusItemIcon.png’
9. Launch JungleDisk

If you have chosen to view the icon in the menubar (as opposed to the dock) you’ll see the new icon.

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: use this icon at your own risk. I take no responsibility whatsoever for any situation arising if you decide to use it.)

960 Grid System

The 960 Grid System:

The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem.

Free Vector World Maps Collection

Free Vector World Maps Collection is a collection of free world maps in vector format.

Nice.

Lovely Big OS X Icons

Lovely big OS X icons:

No more pleasure in small 128 x 128 pixels icons? Here’s the adults.  Lots of Mac OS X icons in much higher resolution.

(OK, that’s a Google translation of the page. My German isn’t that good!)