Sorely needed

iCal sorely needs journaling capability. The iCalendar standard allows it (i.e., VJOURNAL), but iCal does not seem to support it. Or am I missing something? I'm not trying to keep a daily diary or blog, but how I long to record miscellaneous once-in-a-while events such as when I changed the pool filter or when I fertilized the yard, or painted the kitchen, etc. I could add these items as an appointment with a specific time, or call it an all-day event, but that is just a work-around for a limitation that really shouldn't exist.
There are 3rd-party apps like MacJournal or viJournal, but that is like using a rifle to kill a fly. Besides, do these apps integrate with iCal so my journal events will sync with my iPhone's calendar? I could even live with the ability to drag Notes (from the Apple Mail app) onto an iCal date to accomplish the record-keeping I desire, but, alas, that doesn't work, either...
I sure hope the next O/S upgrade will include journaling capabilities in iCal. Until then, any ideas on how I can do this aside from spending 40 bucks for non-Apple software??

I have a new subtopic: what is very much needed in iCal is an easier way of entering the time of an appointment. Does Apple realize how long it takes to click with your mouse on the time dropdown box? This works much much better in google calendar, where you just can click, enter an appointment and anywhere in this line you mention a time (like 14.00), then the appointment immediately becomes an appointment from 14.00 - 15.00. I hope this very easy to make function will be integrated soon!! I hope somebody useful will read this! Thank you!
Jazz

Similar Messages

Missing features - sorely needed

Things I am finding painful with iWeb...
1. Cannot modify the templates and save the changes. Sure you can change a font, fontsize on a page, but I want (a) to apply the change globally to ALL pages and (b) make the change stick in the template. The idea of having to go and apply these changes page by page manually is moronic.
Likewise if I want to put a link (icon) to a home page on every other page I have to do this manually page by page, it would make far more sense to be able to put this on the template and have it applied to ALL pages of that type.
2. Needs more/new templates and kept somewhere as files (/Library/... is the obvious place) we can manage them, like iWork does. The notion that they are embedded deep within iWeb itself is a really crappy idea.
3. Put these together ad we need to the ability to create our own templates and save them in iWeb. Pretty obvious omission, really...
4. Need to be able to save the site(s) as a file/folder somewhere where you can get at them as separate documents. Yes I know where iWeb keps things (having hunted around) but the way its done is clearly designed to defeat anyone wanting to transfer the entire site like a document to a CD-ROM
5. It uploads, but it won't download. For example if you work on 2 macs you cannot transfer the iWeb data to the second mac and edit there.
6. It uploads - and erases what was there before. For example - create a site on one mac with iWeb and upload. Now switch to another mac and create create another site (this mac knows nothing about the first site published already). When the second one is uploaded the first one is deleted. yeah... right... someone shoot the idiot that dreamed this up.

It sounds like your needs really required a different kind of program. Luckily there are lots of them out there.
4. Need to be able to save the site(s) as a
file/folder somewhere where you can get at them as
separate documents. Yes I know where iWeb keps things
(having hunted around) but the way its done is
clearly designed to defeat anyone wanting to transfer
the entire site like a document to a CD-ROM
I don't understand what you are saying here. iWeb can publish a site to a folder anywhere you want. You can view them fine, you just can't edit them (a separate issue).
5. It uploads, but it won't download. For example if
you work on 2 macs you cannot transfer the iWeb data
to the second mac and edit there.
In iWeb you can do this by transferring the Domain file. A useful trick for this can be found here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1525121#1525121
6. It uploads - and erases what was there before. For
example - create a site on one mac with iWeb and
upload. Now switch to another mac and create create
another site (this mac knows nothing about the first
site published already). When the second one is
uploaded the first one is deleted.
Is that true even when you use the Inspector to give the second site a different name than the first one?

Unix command sorely needed

Hi
Our tmp file was rammed up to 98% early this morning and I was called to deal with it.
I needed to see the largest files then decide if we could eliminate them.
I really need a Unix command that will list the largest files first (or last) from a given directory.
Does this command exist? I already tried googling to meagre avail.
Thanks.
AIX 5.2
9.2.0.2
DA

Hi Dan,
I really need a Unix command that will list the largest files first (or last) from a given directory.Here is how I do it, using the "find" command:
http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_unix_script_find_files_older_date.htm
Finding large files on Linux
The following command is very useful in cases where a Linux file system has become full. As we may know, Oracle will hang whenever Oracle must expand a tablespace and Oracle cannot extend the UNIX filesystem.
When a UNIX file become unexpectedly full, it may be because Oracle has written a huge core or trace file into the UNIX filesystem.
The script below will display all files that are greaten then one megabyte in size. Note that the size parameter is specified in K-bytes.
root> find . -size +1024 –print
./prodsid_ora_22951.trc
Of course, you can easily append the xargs of –exec command to automatically remove the large file:
root> find . -size +1024 –print|xargs –i rm \;
This find command will do a "stats" on all files in a directory structure, showing the total size of all files in the directory. You can also incorporate the "df -k" command"
find ${START_DIR} -mtime -${DAYS} |xargs stat -c "%s"|awk '{sum += $1}END{print sum}'
Hope this helps . . .
Donald K. Burleson
Oracle Press author
Author of "Oracle Tuning: The Definitive Reference"
http://www.rampant-books.com/book_2005_1_awr_proactive_tuning.htm

Beginner Assistance Sorely Needed

I'm attempting to teach myself J2ME; having successfuly (or so I thought) installed the JDK 1.3, CLDC, MIDP and changed the various PATH variable, I decided to try and run a program.
I managed to successfully compile the program and generate a class file, however when I try to preverify this I'm presented with the following error every single time.
Error preverifying class Welcome
Class loading error: Illegal constant pool index
Any assistance to get me up and started would be extremely appreciated...

Good point :)
Ok let me start from the beginning. I'm currently working through the 'Core J2ME Technology & MIDP' book from Sun Microsystems.
I have downloaded the JDK (1.3.1.08) and CLDC and MIDP, and hopefully have installed these to the correct directories. Following directly from the book, I've ammended the PATH environment variable, the CLASSPATH Environment Variable and created a MIDP_HOME Environment variable according to the book.
My primative program consists of the following code, which was succesfully compiled but run into the error at preverify stage.
import javax.microedition.midlet.*;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.*;
public class Welcome extends MIDlet implements CommandListener
private Display display;
TextBox tbMain;
private Command cmExit;
public Welcome()
display = Display.getDisplay(this);
cmExit = new Command("Exit", Command.SCREEN, 1);
tbMain = new TextBox("Welcome", "Core J2ME", 50, 0);
tbMain.addCommand(cmExit);
tbMain.setCommandListener(this);
public void startApp()
display.setCurrent(tbMain);
public void pauseApp()
public void destroyApp(boolean unconditional)
public void commandAction(Command c, Displayable s)
if (c==cmExit)
destroyApp(false);
notifyDestroyed();
Compiling the code correctly generates the CLASS file - Welcome.class, however when I try to preverify this I find the following error -
Error preverifying class Welcome
Class loading error: Illegal constant pool index
I've spent all day trying to sort the problem out, any help would be extremely grateful...

Performance improvements to LR3 features needed in LR4

There are other threads already in existence which discuss how performance appears to have decreased in the LR4 beta, and I'm sure that's partly explained by the fact that it IS a beta containing unfinished & unoptimized code, and partly because it is actually doing more work than before.
However, I see no mention from any Adobe sources of any attention being given to addressing the various performance issues that were already present in LR3.x and I think such performance tuning/optimization is sorely needed.
In particular:
Threading & parallelization - I recently upgraded my dual-core, 8GB RAM machine to quad-core (by changing only the CPU) but this gave a dissappointingly small boost in performance - it was barely noticeable during general use & exporting, surely something can be done to make better use of multiple cores, especially to make sure that the main application/editing UI *never* becomes sluggish (i.e. any LR tasks should run in the background and concede resources to the UI thread), and during export can't N-1 cores be used to process & export one image per core (in parallel) leaving one core for UI?
Poor performance and user experience of deleting files - there's no visual feedback at all (i.e. a progress bar is needed) and it takes MUCH longer than is reasonable, deleting a few hundred sometimes takes 5mins, during which time LR is completely unusable.
Importing images - even if RAW/NEF/DNG the perceived performance could surely be improved by populating the grid with thumbnails almost instantly by scanning the header of the files to extract the metadata including the thumbnails, THEN going back for a second pass which actually transfers/copies/moves the fullsize images, this approach would permit more useful work to be done while import is in progress.
Module switching latency - a necessary evil because of the separation between Library and Develop, switching between them often takes seconds, this should be instant!
That's far from an exhaustive list, but PLEASE could Adobe devote some resources to making these existing features perform better and in doing so alleviate some of the frustration & wasted time experienced in using LR day in, day out?
Others are of course very welcome to list other important performance issues which I've omitted / not aware of...

Agreed. On my list, some metadata fields (Title, Caption) have been replicated in the new Map Module, proving in principle that these fields could exist in other modules. Given the option to have metadata and keyword panels present in Develop mode, I'd never use the Library again.
I feel that LR performance/productivity has gotten short changed this time around. Let us go well beyond hiding and showing modules to customize our LR workspace across multiple displays. GPU accelerate operations. Optimize the application, catalog and cache to benefit more from SSDs. Make all operations lightening fast then worry about superfluous stuff like Maps.
Other than the book module (which is hamstrung by the Blurb-only initial limitation) nothing in LR4 is going to save me time. It feels like LR is drifting from its original high-volume mission. There are plenty of consumer-grade photo management apps out there, I don't want LR to turn into another one of them. 20 months till LR5 is a long time to wait to see if LR priorities embrace speed again.

Is there a reason for me to buy Acro 10?

Something I sorely need Acrobat to do is not provided in Acrobat 9, and I'm wondering whether Acro 10 can do it. Specifically, I'm continually building multiple long documents with very large numbers of video clips in them, for all of which I want the SAME parameters every time (floating window, stay open forever, etc.).At present (Acro 9) I must enter all the parameters again and again for every single clip. This could be solved if any of the following were true:
- If Acro 10 has a way to enable me to provide these parameters as DEFAULTS so I don't have to re-enter them; or...
- If Acro 10 has a macro language such that I could record a keystroke macro (better yet, enter appropriate commands in an editor) to set all these parms (essentially what the dialogs now do laboriously), where I could just fire it off with a single key combination like Alt+A or whatever.
Would Acro 10's Javascript enable something like this? I've never used it but I've written lots of Javascript for web pages. Do I miss my guess that your Javascript is only for responding to pre-arranged events triggered by the reader of the resulting PDF? I'm talking here about design time.
(Up to now my best solution has been AutoHotkey, a macro language for Windows in general, but I'm hoping you have something built in that's easier. AutoHotkey does not always adapt to particular details of each situation.)
- A partial solution would be if I could do major editing to PDF files after they're built instead of just the puny touch-up function. This is academic writing, which tends to require major editing and re-editing. As it is, I have to get every document nearly perfect before I undertake the laborious process of inserting all the video.
Thanks for your help.

Acrobat 10 doesn't have any different capabilities than 9 that will help you. What's available to JavaScript is very limited and not the type of things you need.

Save_As, and Color picker suggestions

Hello again-
In using custom themes, I see two features that really do
need to be added, at some point:
1. 'Save As' capability. I know this has been mentioned
before, but this is definitely necessary to develop new themes from
prior ones. Right now, to use a prior theme nondestructively, I
must enter the RGB values for each of the source theme colors in my
new 'unnamed' theme. Ai, caramba! The completely natural workflow,
as with most applications of all sorts, is the ever popular 'Save
As', and one can simply and safely develop a new theme. Please
consider making this a priority- it is sorely needed.
2. I have had many occasions to modify a color which I like,
but which I wish to 'gray down'- not changing value, but rather
trying to add some of its complement. This is essentially moving
toward the 'center', ie, moving 'inward' (away from the edge of
'pure color', toward the center of 'grayed color').
OK: Now, perhaps I am missing something, but I don't see a
way to 'keep on the line' when moving toward the center- I can't do
it by 'touch', and I know that I am moving both inward and 'off the
line' to wind up with a color that is different as well as
'grayed'.
So I'd suggest: How about adding something like the Ai 'Live
Paint' palette: In Ai, if you hold down the Shift key while moving
the color indicator, you are restricted to moving ONLY in-out,
along the 'line' of the color. An excellent key addition, allowing
me to confidently 'gray' or 'ungray' a color.
Thanks. --Bill

Sami-
Thanks for the response. My art-graphics background (apart
from any tech/applications) is originally watercolor painting- been
doing that for 20 years, primarily en plein air (smart aleck art
community way of saying 'I paint outdoors'). So I am very much a
colorist- my palette in WC and oils has no earth colors, for
example (burnt seinna, raw sienna, umber, blacks of any kind)-
everything is mixed 'by eye' from primaries (and from a 'base'
blue-green, Thalo green).
So- Kuler is great fun for me. I use it in two ways:
1. As an idea generator: I will occasionally troll the Themes
based on a keyword (coral), and will refine based on the metawords
I see in interesting Themes (ex: I might be led to 'tropical'). I
will save anything of interest as a Favorite, which I will later
prune down to the few I'd like to keep.
I often will refine a Theme- the most frequent thing I find
is that most Themes are so STRONG (!)- that is, the colors tend to
be at full saturation, un'grayed' with their complement, and at
full brightness. I have made several very successful palettes from
existing Themes by 'graying down' selected colors from the Theme,
and often muting their brightness a bit.
2. I also use Kuler in a back-and-forth way with Ai's Color
Guide. I think the Color Guide is a tremendous resource- I
regularly use it for Shades of a color, and for the array of
choices in Triads, etc. I may download a Kuler Theme (my own or a
found one), and work the colors in the Color Guide. Once I have my
particular color(s), I may go back to Kuler and fiddle some more.
When I work with a project (whether in Ai, Ps, or on
paper/canvas), I try to stay within 5-6 principal colors. But I
also want variants that are within similar color families. So on an
Ai project, I may have 1 to 5 or 6 Kuler Themes available- but they
are all 'within the family' of one another, and in the end I only
wind up using a subset from across the Themes.
Whew! (I think I will relax now by watching a black-and-white
'noir' movie...)
--Bill

How do I get rid of the orange Firefox thing in my Location Bar? I want the interface to look just like Firefox 16.0.2

I installed Firefox 33 after Tumblr stopped working on 16.0.2, but now everything is jumbled. i tried Classic Themes installer and most things worked great, except for one thing: the orange Firefox thingamabob in the location bar. I can't change it back to the short, unintrusive globe it was in 16.0.2. Here is how it looked then and looks now, for comparison. (Also, the open tabs now have no border and the bars are a different color!)
http://i.imgur.com/aIiwfvc.png
Also, the Awesome Bar doesn't work anymore! Before I could type, say, the letter 'i' and it would show my a bunch of imgur pages. Now it doesn't do anything when I type anything, and won't work when i hit Enter to search. What is going on?

Hello, I have the same... well... "opinion".
The Firefox logo in the address bar is intrusive and takes away a lot of sorely needed horizontal space in it, for no reason but to display the Firefox icon a third time (in the address bar, on the tab, and on the window in my case where it doesn't bother me).
The screenshot the starter of this topic made illustrates perfectly what I mean - it unnecessarily clutters and overcrowds the horizontal space within the address bar. This is especially a problem for people who cannot use high screen resolutions due to being damned to forever keep using old CRT displays since all flatscreens cause excruciating eye pain (a minority no one cares about, I know - still where's the harm in making it optional?).
Does anyone here know of any Add-on that can remove this said clutter in the address bar? I would really appreciate it and be grateful. Or any (other) way to remove it for that matter... make it an option, whichever...
Kind regards

Creating a new "Link to a Document" opens Word document or upload document dialog - plus more!

The Link to Document content type seems to be corrupted at root. When I attempt to create a new Link, either Word opens with a blank document or the "Upload" document dialog opens. It's been changing as I investigate.
One things I've noticed is that the "Link to a Document" Content Type on the parent site collection now shows it's parent as Document. this explains why the Word document opens, but not why the Upload dialog does.
While writing this question, I decided to check further and it seems that the other document types, Audio, Video etc. all now have Document as the parent and are opening a blank Word document.
Has anyone seen this behavior? How do I fix this?
This is on SharePoint 2010.
Thanks in advance.
Barry Cohen
Barry Cohen

Well, I spoke too soon. The process worked for all the custom content types, but the default Document type was still messed up. I probably should have fixed that one first, but...
Anyhow, the Document type had no template going to the Upload File dialog rather than the blank Word document it's supposed to go to. I followed the same procedure I'd followed for the other content types, checking what worked on another site and using that
template which in this case was a blank field:
So, I went opened Document, Document Content Type and went to advanced settings. The template field was empty, which matched the working site, so thinking that if I saved, it would match up with the working site. I saved the Document content type and when
after several minutes the save failed with an incredibly long list of locations where that were being perceived as "read only" plus several hidden content types that were listed as sealed. This snapshot shows a few of they many pages of content types. (I poorly
struck through confidential info):
Besides this gigantic error, which would require going to hundreds of locations on the site to change read access settings, which are, as far as I can tell actually not "read only" or are inaccessible, such as the hidden "System Page Layout' and so forth
which shouldn't be based upon the default document type anyway and therefor not fixable, I need to understand why this is happening and what to do about it. I don't want to spend the next two days going over all of these libaries and content types and ending
up back where I started with all the content types still screwed up. Afterall, I've spent about a day creating all these custom Content Types only to have the default Document content type loose its settings and corrupting everything and another day fixing
it and having it happen again.
This is a highly unacceptable behavior on the part of SharePoint and I would really like to fix this.
Help is sorely needed.
Thanks in advance
Barry Cohen

LaserJet software/driver issues. Print and Scan Doctor doesn't work on scanning function of MFP.

Upon using the diagnostic utility HPPSdr. exe, only the select an action "Fix Printing" shows up and not the "Fix Scanning" option. Our printer is the LaserJet 3050 connected via usb running under Windows Vista32 on a HP dv8408us laptop. The scanning driver is HP imaging 4.0.4.0. There have been numerous problems with this scanning software/driver package which have been well illustrated on the HP forums. An update is sorely needed. All that HP customers really expect when we buy a product is that we get the functionality that we paid for and that we get support for the software and hardware for a reasonable length of time, I think that 5-7 years after the final production date of the product, at least, is reasonable. In the case of the 3050, the scanning has never worked right since day 1 because the scans are too light with signatures and time stamps showing up poorly. With the pnp driver installed it it almost impossible to scan in receipts, etc. The communication software Toolbox FX is needed to use the scan button on the machine, and since there are so many problems with this package with respect to system resource usage and connectivity, we can't use it and we don't get the walk up use of the scan button that we paid for originally. As Microsoft has updated the Windows OS, HP has failed to keep pace and we lose functionality of our equipment over time. The diagnostic utilities have supposedly been updated several times and the scanning portion of the MFP still doesn't show. Surely the wide base of installation of this product could justify the expense of some engineering time for an update to the software and drivers. If HP hopes to turn itself around, a commitment needs to be made towards engineering products that really work in the environments that its customers use them, or else HP will merely be regarded as marketing company that is only concerned with selling the next thing without respect to customer retention.

VisionAiry,
Thank you for your response,
     There have been problems with the software and drivers for the LaserJet MFP/AIO machines which have been well illustrated by many users on here for several years. What is shocking is the unwillingness of HP to address these issues at an engineering and design level. This is the level in your organization that these problems need to be addressed at, not at the marketing and customer service level. The software/driver package has never really worked right ever since the 3050 - 3392 series was introduced back in 2006. The scanning drivers in the pnp drivers don't work, and never have, because of frequent communication problems. Someone never bothered to check if a blue ink signature would scan. I and several others have reported on these issues. What I have discoverd, through much trial and error, is that the full software package upon installation with only basic drivers installed using the check boxes in the menu, actually installs differently than the pnp driver. Who would have thought this? So now the machine scans OK.
     My PC really appreciates not having the ToolboxFX installed. ToolBoxFX Error messages and crashes have been well documented on here. This is an application that puts an unnecessary drain on system resources. The only problem is that now the use of the Scan button on the machine is taken away so I don't get the walk up use of the scan button that we paid for in the original design. Why is the scan button function tied to the defective ToolboxFX software?
     As far as printing goes, after carefully deleting the original print drivers, I use the PCL 5 and PCL6 UPD drivers. They work a lot better than the original print drivers ever did. But what about scanning? The scan driver on the 3050 dates all the way back to 7 2007. Scanning is an integral part of the functioning of most offices nowadays, but it is an afterthought at HP. Why would a driver, software or diagnostic package only address half of the capabilities of a machine?
     When I went on the vacation recently, I tried to use my PCL 5 and PCL 6 drivers on my relatives 2009 OfficeJet 7310 and it wouldn't work at all. I had to spend 2 hours with multiple failed attempts to install the full 7310 package on my PC. Installation problems and repeated attempts are a constant theme with HP software. The very term Universal Print Driver is misleading because it won't work on many of the HP products out there. The product listing for the UPD, I only recently discovered on here, with help, because it was so buried on the UPD information page.
     The LaserJet 3050 at $300 from Staples wasn't the most expensive printer out there, but it wasn't the least either. It is actually a pretty nice piece of hardware. I have invested over $1,500 in marked up toner since I've had this machine. HP needs to do better for us.

The dreaded 3F0, "hard disk not exist" problem

Okay, I have a degree in EE with a minor in comp sci. I understand how bios' work, etc. This is why the "answers" HP "tech support" gave me make absolutely no sense. Could someone please shed some light on this bizarre problem? I am trying to install a BRAND NEW, WORKING hard drive in a DV7-6163 and the laptop refuses to recognize the existence of the SATA drive. I have tried this drive in another laptop and IT WORKS, I have tried other working hard drives in this machine and they DO NOT work. I have checked to make sure the SATA cable was good....yes! I went as far as to switch the connector from the DVD drive to the SATA port that was meant for the hard drive. Guess what, IT WORKS and the laptop thinks there is a hard drive installed (it even runs the hd diag.. no more "hard disk not exist" error!!) SO I now know that that actual hardware port is able to communicate with a SATA device. HP has been LESS THAN HELPFUL as they insist it must be a bad drive or bad main board (even after I explained my various tests demonstrate that it cannot be (why does the port that refuses to recognize the hard drive talk fine to the DVD drive??). So the only thing left is either a corrupted bios, or a major firmware issue with the code. Could someone please point me in the right direction? This was a very expensive laptop and I am ready to throw it through a window!!

Could you provide a link to the UEFI diagnostics utility? I tried to google it, but there are so many hits, it makes it confusing to know which one! Are you saying that the UEFI diag dos utility can bypass the bios functions? HP blatently LIES about the ability to access the advanced bios settings! How do I know? I have the Insyde H20 EzH20 tool. For some reason i cannot get it to work with my dv7 bios (it is RSA signed), but it works fine on my DV6 bios and allows you to access a plethora of advanced settings! Namely the SATA mode which I sorely need access to. How HP justifies not allowing a customer access to settings on property we own is beyond me. Of course the impetus must be they want to be able to charge us to change a simple setting. I will NEVER buy HP again! Twenty years ago they were a respectable brand. Today, they are all about squeezing every drop of blood from the customer!

Why do we still have no pro-grade email app for the mac platform?

This is a combination of a question and a rant, I suppose. When I first came to the Mac platform back in 2003, I looked to see what the best email clients were and was surprised to find nothing that I thought was really strong. I started with Mail, hated it, switched to Entourage, and then since that time I've used or demoed about everything I can find. Powermail, Eudora, Mailsmith in years past, and more recently Postbox and Sparrow. I find all of them sorely lacking and it just keeps begging the question in my mind: why hasn't anyone yet created a truly professional-grade email application? I honestly think there's a huge market for it, and I think a lot of people would be willing to spend $30-50 for an app that got it right.
Right now, I use Mail with the add-ons MailTags and Mail Act-On, and I've got my workflows and practices down to a pretty tight level. I am an adherent of inbox zero concepts/GTD and I practice them. Like many of you I get a lot of email, probably 200-300 per day. There is no application I use on my computer more intensively than email, and yet it's the one app that is probably the most lacking from a development standpoint.
here are some of the things I'd love to see:
- support for IMAP, POP3 and Exchange
- an attractive, Mac-like user interface. Could Mail get any uglier? Why yes, yes it could, we now have Mail in Lion! Holy crap, were they incentivized to make it as dull and unattractive an app as they possibly could? If so, that team must be getting huge bonuses this christmastime.
- industry compliant tagging
- robust search functionality. Let me do quick spotlight-based searches, or give me a search dialogue box where I can construct more complex queries.
- robust smart folder functionality. Mail does ok here, but it could be a lot better.
- global rules (which Mail has but an app like Postbox doesn't), and then the ability to either have the rules applied automatically to all messages, or to fire a rule "on-demand" with respect to a single selected email (in other words, build in Mail Act-On functionality)
- integration with social media. Postbox does a nice job with this. Hit their info pane button and you see a nice summary of all the links and possible social media interactions available via that selected email
- integration with cloud-based file storage, and apps like Evernote, DevonThink, Omnifocus, etc
- an intuitive, flexible layout that allows me to see my accounts and folder structures the way I want to see them, not the way the app forces me to lay them out. Mail does a much better job of this than Postbox, for example.
- integration with industry-standard archival practices. For example, integrate with MailSteward.
Mail is honestly not that far away, but they've been "not that far away" for the last 8 years I've been using a Mac. I keep thinking SOMEBODY has to get this right and step up to fill this need, and nobody does. What I'd really love to see is the OmniGroup (the guys that make fine apps like Omnifocus, Omnigraffle, Omnioutliner, etc...) step up and make "OmniMail". Give me an interface and a user experience I look forward to using, not one I use in spite of the interface. Give me a simple, efficient structure with depth and power under the hood that I can customize and tailor to my workflows.
if any developers read this, I am begging you: create this product. I've read every email app review I can find, visited a ton of blogs, user forums, etc..., and I think there is a huge demand for this kind of an app. If I did such coding, I would take the project on myself, but I'm just a user, not a developer.
Hope it happens someday. From my perspective, it's sorely needed.

I agree completely; email applications on the Mac lag (and I agree with the OP's frustration with responses as well).
I also have settled on Mail with Mail ActOn and MailTags; this functionality should be incorporated into the OS. I actually like using Outlook in Win 7 better; it's super easy to connect files, contacts, email and other stuff right from one application. And Win 7 has better preview and tagging built in, better than QuickLook. On the server side we desparately need gmail to use tags, but I don't see that happening. I still prefer the labeling scheme it has over Apple's mail, however. But I also find that it confuses many users (labels vs folders).
There are also other applications that integrate email functionality, like SOHO Organizer, or Contactizer. Good, but not the email holy grail.
I'd like to see communications built into the Finder or system, which badly needs an overhaul. It hasn't changed much since the 90's and shows it. Communication, whether it be email, tweets, social media posts, sharing, etc, is such an integral function of all work you do on a computer it should be better, um, integrated into all applications. You should be able to send data from any application to others in a variety of formats without having to go into an email application. Sure, you can now do this to a certain extent with either built-in menu items or services, but it's clunky. For example, when you write something you can either "save" and write to disk somewhere, or "export" in a different format, or maybe "email." All of those choices should at least be part of one dialog; it's just as likely you want to email, post, share or tweet what you just wrote, so just having a "save" dialog is way outmoded.
So, yeah, somebody get on this.
Rob

Issue with Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5 Security Update 11.5.2

As part of my Adobe Design Premium CS5.5 suite, I have Flash CS5.5 version 11.5.1.349. It sorely needs updating per the security announcement page. Also Kaspersky IS keeps telling me it needs to be updated as a security vulnerability. I've tried everything. I download the 11.5.2 update from Adobe's security update page: www.adobe.com/support/flash/downloads.html#flashCS55
After it downloads I go through WinZip to open the zip exe file. It then gives me a message saying that Adobe Application Manager may be damaged and I should update/reinstall it. I've tried that.
I've tried opening the zip with Kaspersky security off.
I've tried updating through the AAM. (Always says no update available).
I've tried updating from within my Flash Pro application. (Always says no update available).
(Windows 7, 64-bit, using 32-bit browsers)
Really need someone's help on this, thanks.

Just to give some ease of mind, I noticed AAM also isn't telling me about this and I am also on a lower version.
I only use Microsoft Security Essentials (basically low interference) and I'm using flash CS5.5 with version 11.5.1.349..
I'm on Win7 64 so I jumped over to the page and grabbed the win .zip. Ran it, installed fine. Now:
As soon as I finished that I realized what my clients, family and friends constantly do. Do you see this screen?
The reason why you see this is you need to extract the files from the zip file.
Open the .zip, grab the single .exe AND the Payload folder and drag it somewhere (in the same place) on your computer. You can drag it to your desktop or anywhere you like, just make sure you grab both. Then run the AdobePatchInstaller.exe.
It's a very common mistake. You always need to extract all the files in a .zip because WinZip and Windows Explorer let you "preview" whats inside but you should never RUN files from that preview. Extract first, then run.

How do I create this look in illustrator....

I'm recreating some vintage art and am trying to get this spray paint look. Any suggestions on how to go about achieving this look (see photo) in illustrator?
I'm currently running CS4 (I'm on my work computer)....
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/aaaov.jpg/][IMG]http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4 728/aaaov.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
- I've tried looking in the preset brushes, no luck!
- I've tried creating my own brush using vector spray paint, no luck!
- I've tried looking for illustrator brushes online, no luck!
This seems like a very simple effect to do, I know how to create this look in photoshop but I need this to be vector. Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks guys!

First...
There is nothing wrong with a 1-bit diffusion dither object being raster, as far as printing results is concerned. Such images date back to the days of MacPaint and Hypercard. They are same-size (historically usually 1-point) pixels, randomly distributed at varying frequencies to suggest tones (as opposed to individual printer spots being combined to build varying size halftone dots).
So if the tiny squares are vector, yes, they are scaleable. But so are 1-bit pixels. When you scale a 1-bit raster, you're scaling square pixels, which are printed as squares. So a scaled 1-bit raster image is just as "resolution independent" as a bunch of vector squares.
Second...
This effect was employed in illustrations and designs since the very beginning of desktop publishing. For example, I frequently used it in the 80s thusly:
1. Draw a vector path of any shape in FreeHand.
2. Copy it to Photoshop. Blur it. Convert to 1-bit using diffusion dither. Save it as TIFF.
3. Import into FreeHand. Stack it below the object for which it served as a glow or drop shadow.
FreeHand had the ability to apply any color to a 1-bit or grayscale raster image, and the ability to set the white pixels of a 1-bit image to transparent. Illustrator didn't gain those abilities until decades later.
So it's not oppressively tedious to use that method nowadays, even in Illustrator. (And frankly, that's the way I'd do it.)
Third...
Illustrator sorely needs to provided a diffusion dither option in its Rasterize command for 1-bit color depth (as I've been arguing for years) instead of its lame pattern diffusion. Then this effect could be applied easily and quickly to any object, either as a "nailed down" rasterization, or as a live effect.
However...
You can simulate a vector diffusion dither pattern that you can apply to any path by combining several Scatter Brushes and storing their combined application as a Graphic Style:
1. Draw a 1 point square.
2. Store it as a Scatter Brush. Set the Spacing and Scatter settings to Random. To constrain the pattern to one side of the path to which it is applied, set the low limit of Scatter to zero.
3. Duplicate the Scatter Brush two or more times, changing the Spacing and Scatter upper limits in each duplicate so as to make each duplicate Brush increasingly sparse. In the example shown, the first Brush is named Scatter Brush 1 and has its upper limits for Spacing and Scatter to 300. This Brush was duplicated twice, and those two values doubled each time. But of course you can use whatever settings work for the effect you want.
4. Draw a temporary path with a 1-point stroke. Apply Scatter Brush 1. Select the Stroke Appearance and duplciate it. Apply Scatter Brush 2 to it. Duplicate the Stroke Appearance again, and apply Scatter Brush 3 to it.
5. Drag the whole path and drop it into the Graphic Styles palette to define a new Graphic Style. Now you can apply the whole Appearance stack to any other path(s) with one click.
Being Brushes, the fineness of the pattern can be adjusted by changing the weight of the strokes:
And, of course, you can apply other effects to the Brushes and strokes involved. For example, set the Colorization Mode of the Brushes to be able to change the color of the dither pattern; and/or apply Transform Effect to offset the pattern from the object to which it is applied (as for dithered drop shadows).
JET

Any easier way to set due dates?

By and large, I'm pretty happy with the functionality of iCal, even if it's a bit basic. But setting due dates on to dos and events is very frustrating!
Let's say you add a new to do, then click the due date box. Today's date is filled in, say, 26/08/2007 in my part of the world. I want to schedule the to do for next month. To change it you click on the day part, enter a number (say, 08), then tab or click on the month part. At this time the iCal display jumps to 08/08/2007 (in the past!). Now I get to manually type in the new month, 9, and press Return or tab and things are good again. It's all kind of long-winded and messy. What's sorely needed is a drop-down calendar picker, or the ability to click on the existing calendar at the left to pick a date.
Does anyone know of any easier way to enter due dates? I've even looked for external programs that handle to do functionality, but can't find any that automatically sync changes to iCal for syncing to my Palm Treo. Anyone know if iCal in Leopard is any better in this regard?
Thanks in advance!

I couldn't agree more. I can't believe that this has escaped Apple for so long, and didn't even make it into Leopard. Let's say its the middle of November and I want to schedule a to-do due date for the end of the week, say Friday, second week of December. I do this all the time. Sorry, but I can't do the math this quickly, so I need to open up a calendar, or scroll down the calendar, then enter the exact date manually.
Just give me a quick pop-up. Travel web sites do this. Now Up To Date in 1992 had drop down calendars. So does Entourage, which is what I use ONLY because of this one glaring pain. Entering due dates, reminders, etc, is just a pain in iCal, and even worse now in Mail.

Sorely needed

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