Tech Talk

A few months ago I was working on a small project to create a MacFUSE file system for Xdrive. Then the news came that AOL was shutting down Xdrive and over night my project became worthless. I had wasted countless hours building a nice Open XDrive Cocoa framework that was used to build the MacFUSE file system. I had built and tested a UI to authenticate a user and mount multiple Xdrives. I had tested that it worked on Tiger and Leopard. And, I had it localized in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian.

I let this project sit on the shelf and did not touch it. Then, the other day I tried it out and it still worked. I was surprised how easy it was to use and I felt sad that it was never finished.

Today, I decided to release this project, a MacFUSE file system for Xdrive that runs on Mac OS X. Even though it is not fully complete, I know it works fairly well. I would like others to have a chance to try it out.

First, download and install MacFUSE. Then, download XDriveFS and un-archive the file. You can then run the extracted XDriveFS application file.

Give it a try and let me know if it works for you.

Larry Aasen

Thanks to the authors of winandmac.com for their report on BlackBerry Media Sync software for the  Mac. It is not available yet but you can sign up for the announcement on the BlackBerry website here:http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/media/macsignup.jsp

One of the nice features of the Buddy List® is placing your buddies into groups for better organization. The default set of groups include AIM Bots, Buddies, Family, Co-Workers, Recent Buddies, and Offline. You can also create new groups to better categorize your buddies.

The order of the groups in your Buddy List can also be changed. However, the Recent Buddies and Offline groups will always remain at the bottom of your Buddy List.

To move a group in the Buddy List, just drag the group row to a new position. You can do this by clicking on the group row and holding down the mouse button as you move the cursor. As you move the cursor below other groups in the list, you will see a blue line indicating a valid drop zone. The cursor must be moved over the triangle disclosure buttons in order for the blue line to appear. When the blue line is in the location where you want to place the group, release the mouse button. The group row will then be moved to the new location.

This may seem a little tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will find that moving groups is very easy.

The default for AIM for Mac, your buddies in the Buddy List are displayed in groups, with the last one being the Offline Buddy group. You will initially see all of your offline buddies in the Offline group, and when they come online, they will be moved to their pre-assigned online group.

You can hide the Offline group by clicking on the View menu and selecting Offline Buddies > Do Not Show. Then, your Offline group will disappear.

You can also show your offline buddies within each of the groups by clicking on the View menu and selecting Offline Buddies > Show in Groups. You will still not have an Offline group and all of your offline buddies will be displayed.

Experiment with these offline settings to find the display the suits you the best. To find more configuration options for the Buddy List, look in the application preferences.

Good news! AIM for Mac beta 1 has been released.

AIM for Mac continues our commitment to the growing Mac market by delivering a new AIM experience that’s built from the ground up for the Mac platform. AIM for Mac is one of the most requested applications from our users, and the “buzz” has been increasing with the successful launch of AIM for iPhone™.

AIM for Mac is available on AOL Beta Central.

Here are a few of the advantages AIM for Mac offers:

• AIM Experience: Users can customize their AIM for Mac experience with AIM Expressions - Change your AIM sounds, wallpaper, emoticon set or Buddy Icon.
• Favorite AIM Features: AIM File Transfer, Tabbed IM conversations, friendly names, AIM Groups, AIM Blast groups are supported.
• Easy Access to Mail: With a single click, you can view your mail in AOL or AIM webmail.
• Speed: Download, install and launch AIM for Mac in seconds.

Thank you for trying AIM for Mac; we appreciate your participation. Please be sure to send us your bug reports and feedback. You can also drop in the AIM for Mac message boards to see what other users are saying.

I just purchased the Digital Concepts SD USB card reader and found it to work nicely on my iMac. I used it to copy photos from my Canon PowerShot SD1000 digital camera to iPhoto. There is no setup required and it comes with a USB extender cable for hard to reach connections. I bought it from Radio Shack for $9.99 and it came with a $5 rebate, which reduced the final price to $4.99. That is a great deal for a card reader since the iMac did not come with one.

I just ordered a new iMac today and I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. This is the new iMac that Steve Jobs talked about at the company’s special event in Cupertino, CA on August 7, 2007. I cannot wait to get my hands on the new keyboard and see that 20 inch widescreen display.

I just installed the PC Remote from Streamzap and it works fine. However, it would not work using the drivers that came on the installation CD. The IR receiver would not work and was not recognized by the PC. The PCRemote.exe file that came on the CD that installs the drivers was version 2.7.0.0 and would not work on my Dell D610 Laptop running Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2. I went to the Streamzap website and downloaded the latest driver which was 2.9.6.0. After installing that driver, the PC was able to recognize the IR receiver and everything else worked fine. I think this PC Remote was a good buy and don’t expect to have any more problems.

If you are looking for a good utility for burning ISO images to DVD, you should try ImgBurn from Lightning UK. It installs quickly and easily, and is free. I used version 2.1.0.0 and was very happy with the results. I was able to begin burning my first ISO image within minutes. Please check this out and if you like it consider making a donation. Its easy to donate as little or as much as you want using PayPal.

Just a quick note to let you know that 1and1.com (1&1 Internet) does not support Ruby on Rails at this time.