The iNexus

I was working on some QA (quality assurance) for the upcoming Compare Folders public beta and was looking at the top of the files in Xcode, noting some of the dates. It’s so great to step back a bit and wax nostalgic about what’s came before.

In November Compare Folders will officially be 2 years old, and this month marks the 1 year anniversary of the introduction of .mac/iDisk support. I still feel CF is still incredibly fresh and new, and working on it brings all the fun back, with each improvement, change or tweak bringing back everything.

So to all who code, take a moment to step on through your projects and feel out the dates… it’ll bring back memories, I’m sure. To those who inspire, contributing on lists, in code, or by sharing ideas, bugs, and crash reports, and especially the customers, thanks!

I was recently (this past week) working on resolving a rather involved technical support incident for a Compare Folders customer and by the end it had not only worked out well (i.e., Problem Solved ) but I’d had fun and created a new tool.

The issue revolved around the licensing we use and problems with reading/writing the actual license. Since nothing we tried seemed to resolve it I sat down with Xcode and whipped up a quick app that I knew would do the job. Within an hour or so I had the new CF License Fixer, which I plan on not only keeping around, but improving to handle more situations that arise.

It’s an incredibly simple app that takes a custom-generated license and replaces the one currently on the system. No fuss, no muss, and you can then launch Compare Folders afterwards. But it does its job and it does it damn well, at least in my not so humble opinion. I’ll be working on adding permission detection, a console log for full diagnostics, and more.

All in all I couldn’t be more happy with a support call - a solution for the customer and one that will serve in the future, not to mention fun to code up.

Science News Article | Reuters.com:

Rat outsmarts scientists for four months

Thu Oct 20, 2005 09:25 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A cunning rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighboring island, researchers said Wednesday.

Scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand released the Norway rat on the 9.5-hectare (23.5-acre) island of Motuhoropapa to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate.

They got more than they bargained for.

‘Our findings confirm that eliminating a single invading rat is disproportionately difficult…’”

Never underestimate a little tenacity, eh? Read the full article for his exploits.

I’m a day late and a dollar short but I’ve submitted my bug to Apple for Report-A-Bug Friday: iTunes’ new Search Bar has rollover effects like those found on Safari’s bookmarks but they still work when you activate the Dashboard.

This isn’t my first iTunes 5/6 related bug as I filed one a little bit ago for the new window style they’ve created. It’s not against or for the design, but that it’s not complete. Click the Zoom (green) button to go into MiniPlayer mode and then mouse over the window buttons (the red, yellow, green combo on the left) They don’t support the rollover graphics found throughout the OS (in that X, -, + appear in them.) Definitely a bug and an annoyance, as writing your own widget means you should take care to fit in 100% with everybody to not stick out like a sore thumb.

Bug #4302736 for those who care