Mail.app - Downloading Attachments or Not

If you set up Mail.app in OS X to download attachments for an IMAP account, and then later decide you do not want to store a copy of each attachment locally, you can change the account settings so that only the headers are downloaded. You can make the setting in Mail.app Preferences, but, it takes a while to synchronize. Sometimes a good looong while. Assuming OS X 10.5.5 and that all your mail is up on the server, you can expedite by setting "Keep copies of messages for offline viewing" to "All Messages, but omit attachments" in Preferences, Accounts, Advanced. Shut down Mail.app, to get it to release the folder we'll now work on. Bring up a Terminal, and switch to your IMAP folder and delete the contents (again, this assumes you have the mail up on the server already):

cd ~/Library/Mail/
cd IMAP-myaccount@mailhost.mydomain.com
rm -rf INBOX.imapmbox
rm -rf etc

Use the rm command to delete the contents. You may have to check what is in there using the ls command first. Next time you restart Mail.app, it will rebuild the folders under your IMAP folder. You can check the size before and after by running the du command:

du -h -d 1

Enjoy!

Rick Cogley's Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

Check out my new list of Mac Keyboard Shortcuts, especially tasty for beginning Mac users.

OS X Leopard Upgrade to 10.5.5

I upgraded my system to OS X Leopard 10.5.5 via Software Update (not the combo updater), and there seem to be no overt problems with the upgrade. This was a double-reboot upgrade, and it took some time to restart afterward probably due to whatever cleanup was being done. I noticed that the upper OS X menu bar was displaying incorrectly, in that the "bar" part of it was not visible - I could see only icons. After a while the problem resolved and the menu bar displayed normally. I am on a MacBook Pro with 2 GB memory, so there should not have been memory problems but you never know. After logging in, the Mail and iCal apps took a while to start with the status message "upgrading database". It is best to log in, start your regular apps and just leave for an hour. After two day's use, there seem to be no problems.

Nikon COOLPIX P6000 Released in Japan - 11 Sept 2008

The Nikon point-and-shoot COOLPIX P6000 was released in Japan today and I checked it out at the Shinjuku Yodobashi Camera. Good solid feel to the camera's construction despite a light weight, but it's the features that are a draw: built-in GPS for Geotagging, and the ability to shoot in RAW are my favorites.

I'll have to find some samples of its RAW output and download them, to see if I can process the files in Aperture. There are a lot of disclaimers about the NRW format RAW files: Windows-only this, in-camera-only that, so we shall see.

I bet we'll see this kind of in-camera GPS become more and more prevelant.

JVC Victor Wooden In-Ear Headphones - HP-FX500

When my iPod's basic headphones died, I bought the wooden JVC Victor HP-FX500 model earphones for about JPY 15,000. These have a wooden trembler, and so the sound is very natural. If you like to listen to anything acoustic, jazz, classical, opera and so forth, these are great 'phones. They have 100dB/1mW sensitivity and 8Hz to 25kHz frequency response. If you have never used an in-ear 'phone before, they take a bit of getting used to, as they shut out pretty much all sound. It's a little disconcerting to be able to hear your own heartbeat, but they sound wonderful.

Schwalbe Marathon Trip Report

Today I did this route, which has about 10 km of gravel and trail, 13 km of sandy asphalt, and the remaining 40 km regular paved roads or bike roads. I was very pleased with the Schwalbe Marathons I got last week. They have a good feeling, roll very well, and seem to be tough enough to go over patches of asphalt with glass shards without incident. Kudos to Schwalbe for making such a tough tire!

New Schwalbe Marathon Tires

My original Geax StreetRunner slick tires were getting cracked after about 1500 km of use, so I took the opportunity to put Schwalbe Marathon tires on the bike. Very good tires that are still fast despite being "treadier" than the Geaxes. I bet they will last longer, too, if reputation is any indication. Schwalbe Marathons have kevlar inside, and have a protective strip and their Marathon Plus line is even heavier duty. I like the Marathons so far; they feel quite grippy in the corners.

First 70 km Bike Trip

I did the River-Sea-River route Saturday in the rain, my first bike trip to exceed 70 km with a brisk personal best time of 34 minutes from Totsuka to Enoshima. The actual route is less than 70 km, but thanks to getting a bit lost around the Atsugi base, the whole trip was 70.5 km. Not bad for starting last November, but I'm still in no semblance of good shape. Another first was that I took the bike apart to clean it using an organic "orange" de-greaser, and changed the pulley wheels from the Shimano Deore XT plastic ones (seems like a hard vinyl-like substance) to aluminum ones. The metal ones are a bit noisier but it was an interesting exercise to swap them out and see how the thing fits together.