Cool Daily Links
- SearchMe.com :: Google search meets Apple’s “Cover Flow” for the web. Smells hot to me.Â
- iPhone SDK Gets Interface Builder :: Now it’s actually fun to learn about native iPhone application development.
- Upcoming Free iPhone Development Webcast
- Monoprice.com :: You need to buy your random cables from these folks. I started using them last year and couldn’t be more pleased with the price and quality of the CAT 6, DVI and FireWire cables. Shipping isn’t free, but it’s reasonable, and if you wait until you have $100 in needs before placing an order, well worth it.
Tags: apple, daily, iphone, news, retail
. 27 Mar 08 | Uncategorized | Comments (0)
Redmine w/OS X OpenLDAP, Parallels Server and JumpBox
OpenRain used a slew of crappy Trac sites for issue tracking until we switched to Redmine several days ago. The decision came because..
- Redmine can authenticate off LDAP with trivial configuration.
- Redmine has multi-project support out-of-the-box.
- Redmine has some nifty Gantt chart and calendaring schwag and is generally better.
- Parallels Server (for OS X) is finally available.
- JumpBox has a beta Redmine VM image available.
If you’ve got an existing LDAP infrastructure, the whole shebang shouldn’t take more than an hour or two to set up.
- Install Parallels Server on your OS X Leopard server.
- Download the Redmine JumpBox. Generate a new MAC address and boot it. Do the one-page configuration thingy in your browser.
- Log into Redmine and create a new “Authentication Mode” set to LDAP. If you’re using the default OpenLDAP schema that ships with Leopard server, enter the attributes like so..
- All your users should now be able to log into your Redmine JumpBox using their LDAP credentials! You’ll have to set up your projects, ACLs etc. within Redmine, but that’s some pretty hot shizzle to get running in such a small timeframe.
Mad props to Redmine, Parallels, JumpBox and Apple for further simplifying my business.
Tags: apple, jumpbox, leopard, linux, openldap, osx, parallels, redmine, virtualization
. 11 Mar 08 | Computer | Comment (1)
Debugging JavaScript With Safari
I usually use FireBug and other FireFox-based tools for troubleshooting JavaScript issues, but never found a solid way to approach it in Safari, my primary browser. It turns out that the nightly builds of WebKit (Safari’s core) also come with a great utility called Drosera.app, which allows you to attach to a running WebKit process and get funky with a JavaScript console.
w00t l00ps! 
Tags: apple, debugging, drosera, firefox, javascript, mac, osx, rails, ror, ruby, safari, webkit
. 06 Mar 08 | Computer | Comments (0)
Mac Users: Buy This Now
https://www.macheist.com/buy/invite/94211
The latest MacHeist bundle: $50 for 12 apps, the most notable being Pixelmator, CSSEdit and Snapz Pro X. I picked up the 3-pack bundle for $100 and a total of 36 license key. 4 days left. w00ties!
Tags: apple, command, mac, macheist, news, opinion
. 19 Jan 08 | Computer | Comments (0)
Writing Good Error Messages
I received this little note from my Mac today.
This made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside despite the interruption of my work because it satisfies my general criteria for displaying error messages to users.
- A graphical severity indicator is given so I know whether or not to care.
- It provides a succinct, human-readable desciption of the issue. (No “ERROR CODE: 23DD8″ crap which is meaningless to the user.)
- An immediate, resolvable course of action is given to the user. Providing this makes the user feel empowered and accomplished for acting. Neglecting this makes the user concerned and irritated.
- A description of future symptoms is given for when/if the user does not take the suggested course of action. This gives the user reason to do what you’re asking.
- It shut up about the issue when I clicked OK and let the failure happen like it told me it would. When I noticed my mouse wasn’t responding I immediately remembered why.
The dialog is in stark contrast to this nifty gem constantly pooping out of my Solaris kernel..
“Pin widgit 27 is EAPD capable.”
WTF??? What the heck is a “pin widgit” and why do I care if it’s “EAPD capable”? Is this even a bad thing? Do I need to do something here? What happens if I ignore this, which I most definitely will since I have clue what it’s talking about? Why does it tell me this every time I start the machine?
Criteria failure on all counts. Bad computer!
Tags: apple, mac, methodology, osx, solaris, usability
. 10 Jan 08 | Computer | Comments (0)