Scala, Java, Unix, MacOS tutorials (page 359)

iTunes movie/video error FAQ: As I continue to explore the process of creating digital movie files I can play on my iPhone (or iPod), I keep running into an iTunes error message when I try to sync my movie file to my iPhone through iTunes.  Every time I try to sync my movie, iTunes gives me the following error message:

[Your movie] was not copied to the iPhone "Alvin Alexander's iPhone" because it cannot be played on this iPhone.

This iTunes movie sync error message is shown in the following figure:

iPad PDF FAQ: How do I transfer a PDF file onto my iPad, iPhone, or iPod? (Or, "How can I read a PDF on my iPhone, iPad, or iPod?)

Since the iPod, iPhone, and iPad all use the Apple iOS operating system, the process of getting a PDF file onto these devices is identical (or nearly identical) for each device. In this article I'll generally refer to the iPad, as it's actually hard to read most PDF documents on an iPhone of iPod.)

I've created a new diet that helps you lose 40 pounds in eight weeks. It's very simple, only two steps. Step 1: Get gallstones to develop in your gallbladder. They help create a lot of pain and problems in your digestive system, including liver, pancreas, and more. Step 2: Quit eating. Not eating gets rid of most of the pain, and amazingly, is preferable to eating.

Wow, a friend of mine sent me an email yesterday that echoes my sentiments exactly, and he doesn't hold anything back. With his permission, I'm sharing it here:

Man, I'd rather die than create another friggin' web app. I mean, who really gives a crap about web apps? What the **** are these apps doing for the real good of the world? Who cares if you can order a pizza online, or share photos easier than we did 10 years ago? I just don't want to look back on my life and think that I spent it creating friggin' web apps.

It drives me crazy when I have to work at client sites and they have a web proxy like Websense set up that keeps me from doing my job. Don't get me wrong -- a tool like Websense is probably necessary for a lot of reasons, especially in larger organizations -- but on the flip side, a lot of technical blogs that I use as resources end up being blocked by Websense, and that "Blocked by Websense" message drives me nuts.

Java obfuscator/obfuscation FAQ: How can I obfuscate my Java class files so they can't easily be decompiled? (Or, how do I use ProGuard to obfuscate my Java class files?)

As part of my ongoing HAL 9000 voice obsession, I downloaded a bunch of "HAL 9000" sound files last night. But, when you double-click a sound file on Mac OS X, it automatically plays through iTunes, which is good for some things, but bad for what I wanted to do. So, I wrote a quick little "Java sound" program to read the name of a sound file from the command line, and then play the sound file.

iPhone FAQ: I have an iPhone app in a waiting state; how do I get it to finish installing or updating?

Mac hidden window/dialog solution: One of the craziest things I see with the Mac OS X operating system from time to time is a game of "hide and seek" that you can get into with dialog windows in Mac applications. You'll hear people describe this problem something like this: "When I click on my Mac application window (like the main iTunes window), my Mac makes a 'dunk' noise (an error sound), like I'm doing something wrong by trying to click on the window.

I've lived in Alaska on and off for almost a year now, and still haven't seen the Northern Lights, so when I checked the University of Alaska-Fairbanks aurora page and it said the aurora was going to be active the next few nights, well, let's just say that I'm throwing some food, water, and clothes in the car at 8:30 p.m., and heading farther north, in search of clear skies.

Adios, amigos ...

Mac eReader FAQ: What do you know about free Mac e-Reader applications (free Mac eBook readers)?

In the next few weeks I'll be releasing my "Hyde" software application for free. The name "Hyde" comes from the phrase, "Hide Your Desktop", and this simple app does what it says: It hides your desktop and desktop icons, so you don't have to see them any more.

As just one example of how Hyde works, here's an image I just took of my desktop, showing Hyde as the dark area in the background, and the Amazon Kindle e-reader in the foreground:

It may just be me, but since their last change, every time I try to read the Google News web page, it makes my head want to explode. For a company noted for testing over 40 shades of blue, I can't believe this was the best design they could come up with:

(about 1/3 of the Google News web page)

Java image FAQ: How can I place an image in the background of a Java text component, such as creating a background image for a JTextArea, JTextPane, or JEditorPane? (i.e., How do I create a Java background or watermark image.)

Mac batch image resizing and conversion FAQs: How can I batch resize images or batch convert images on Mac OS X?

I was really pleased lately to discover I already had some free Mac batch image processing software already installed on my Mac computers. It turns out that the Mac Automator program from Apple was created with several "workflows" in mind, including several batch image processing workflows. With the Automator you can batch resize images, batch convert images file types, and batch create image thumbnails.

Mac freeware photo editing software FAQ: What free Mac photo editing software (Mac photo editing freeware) is available these days?

If you're looking for "freeware photo editing software", two great free Mac photo editing applications are Gimp and Picasa. I'll take a look at these two free Mac photo editing software applications in this short review, but as an added bonus, even though I say "Mac", both of these applications are available for Windows computers, and possibly Linux as well.

Picasa FAQ: How do I get Picasa to only scan certain folders/directories, and stay out of the rest of my directories?

iPhone copy/paste FAQ - Is there was way to select an entire paragraph on the iPhone (or iPod Touch) when starting a copy and paste process? Copying a paragraph by selecting a word on the iPhone/iPod, and then expanding the selection box is okay, but it's a bit of a slow process.

I've mentioned before that I don't use Firefox on Mac OS X any more because of performance issues. What I forgot is that the combination of Mac OS X, Firefox, and Yahoo Mail also seems to have something of a memory leak. Evidence of this is shown in the figure below:

Sigh ... yet another Toyota recall ... this time Avalon and Lexus models for more steering problems. Amazing they never had to recall the 2006 Toyota RAV4 for our steering column problems. Hopefully one day there will be a RAV4 class-action lawsuit against Toyota, and I'll get my money back.