Tim Abbott

ClickToFlash

ClickToFlash is a small plug-in for the Safari browser on the Mac that blocks Flash animations from loading. This not only speeds up web page loading times but also cuts down the work your computer processor and graphics chip have to do running Flash.

You can still view Flash whenever you want just by clicking on the graphic that displays in its place. You can also choose to enable Flash for whole web sites if required.

YouTube clips will play in H.264 video format rather than Flash which is not only better quality but requires less processor power. You can still switch to watching YouTube clips in Flash if you want.

I've installed ClickToFlash and so far it works perfectly. My MB Pro doesn't heat up like it used to when viewing multiple Flash enabled web pages and I can now ignore all sorts of annoying ads. Neat!

Flashblock performs a similar function for Firefox on all platforms.

MacBook sleuth

When a woman in Santa Cruz had her Macbook stolen she enlisted the help of a friend who had a .mac account and a user account on her computer. Using Mac OS X Leopard’s “Back to My Mac” screen sharing feature he has been able to track and identify the thief including taking photos of him using the built in Photo Booth camera. The Police are now on the trail of the thief with a warrant...

You can follow the story on this blog

Links for today - 080312

Here are some links to useful stuff and fun stuff...

First the fun stuff;

Stuff White People Like  Wryly observed commentary on our middle class western lifestyle.
[Thanks Joel]

Useful stuff;

Free Mac Software does exactly what it says. Simon Elliott is a teacher in Cornwall and the brains behind thefreemac

And dafont is a site with nearly 8000 free or nearly free fonts all neatly organised and regularly updated.
[Thanks Tom]

MacBook Pro

It's turned out to be a bit of a technology upgrade week here in the Abbott household, what with the camera and now a new MacBook Pro which arrived on Thursday. However, I only got a chance to unpack it and transfer all my files, applications and settings today. Here it is sitting next to its predecessor, the iBook G3-700 that I bought in October 2002 and which has served me faithfully since then. The new MacBook Pro cost less than the old iBook. Over the years I've kept the iBook up to date and it's running OS 10.4, same as the MacBook Pro so transferring everything across was a doddle. It all just works, and a lot faster!

PC, Mac, Linux

[Hat tip to my son Joel]

Instant messaging for OSX

Adium X, the free instant messaging client for OSX, has just been updated to version 1.0. One of it's strengths is that it connects to virtually any IM service, including big guns MSN and Yahoo. I've been using version 0.89.1 for nearly a year and have always found it to be reliable and easy to use with great features and a neat interface.
If you're already using Adium X you'll probably have been alerted to the update automatically but if you use a Mac and haven't given it a go yet I can thoroughly recommend it.

Apple - welcome to 2007

Macworld today, and three significant products make the light of day, along with a significant announcement. I was going to try not to say anything but...

Top billing, of course, goes to the iPhone - Apple's brilliant harmony of form and function shows up the sadly lacking approach of so many attempting to make a phone a music player, or a PDA a phone, or a phone a kind of cut down PDA (still managing with my Nokia 6680!). The iPhone redefines the standard, though understandably at a price ($499 for the 4GB, $599 for the 8GB).





Next big thing was the TV and media interface, the Apple TV (formerly referred to as iTV). Apple TV will stream media from iTunes, iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on your computer at up to 720p Hi Def and includes a 40GB hard drive. It can sync on demand or automatically, downloading content or playing back content already stored on your computer and it works with both a Mac or a PC. And I think it's very accessibly priced at £199.



But the third product is, for me the dark horse of the pack. The new Airport Extreme is not only a very fast (802:11n) wireless base station, but, via a usb port, can also be used with a usb hard drive as a shared network drive and/or as a usb print server. The device offers configurable security and access levels and it works with Mac's and PC's. At £119 for Airport Extreme, plus c.£120 for a usb hard drive it makes for a great package, and about half the price of Microsoft's proposed 'Home Server 2007'.

Details, blogs, commentary and reviews of these new products are everywhere, but if you want a one-click link try these:
Daniel Eran at Roughly Drafted has articles and pictures about the iPhone, the new Apple TV device and Airport Extreme.
Or check out the Apple site for info about the iPhone, Apple TV and Airport Extreme.

MacBook Pro update soon?

Thinksecret.com, the very unofficial Apple news 'spoiler' site, is citing 'sources' that say a revamped MacBook Pro will come out in the early autumn with a new enclosure to go with the new Merom Core 2 Duo processor. I'm aiming to update my ancient but totally trustworthy iBook G3-700 soon, but I'm hanging on a bit longer...

instant messaging for mac

Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, etc. I've recently started using it in place of MSN Messenger for mac. So far so good. It's neat, easy to configure and works well.
http://www.adiumx.com/index.php