Rick's Picks (weekly)

• blog:Cogley - Linking File Types and Apps in OS X

  How to Re-associate File Types with Applications in OS X - If you are an OS X user, and you find files of a certain type, say PDFs, are opening in one applications but you want them to open in a different one, you can easily change the association using Finder.

  tags: os, x, apps, association, file, type, tiger, leopard, snow

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Linking File Types and Apps in OS X

If you are an OS X user, and you find files of a certain type, say PDFs, are opening in one applications but you want them to open in a different one, you can easily change the association using Finder.

How to Re-associate File Types with Applications in OS X

Here's how:

1. Select a file in Finder and ctrl-click it.
2. Select "get info" from the context menu.
3. Find the "open with" section in the "get info" menu that appears.
4. Select your desired application from the drop down list.
5. Click "change all" to set the association between that file type and the application you selected.

This has worked in OS X Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. You can use this method to, say, open all PDFs in the native OS X "Preview", Adobe's Acrobat, or Skim, for instance. Please leave a comment if this helped you. Enjoy!

Safari Makes it Trivial to Download All Images on a Page

Of course it should not be used for nefarious purposes, but Apple's Safari browser makes it trivial to download all the images or files on a web page you are visiting. I had The Logo Factory create a special logo for my company eSolia's 10th anniversary, and they prepared a page with the deliverables on it. I did not want to download each one individually, and I remembered that the Safari Activities window allows you to access the objects on a page directly, such as various file attachments on a page.

O' Sensei of Safari, How Do We Achieve this Magic?

You can use Safari's Activity and Downloads windows, both available in the Window menu in Safari, in this way:

1. Browse the page you want to download from, then open Activity from the Window menu.
2. Find the page among the other pages if you have multiple tabs open. Use the disclosure triangle to open the outline of the objects on the page.
3. Find and select your download targets. Press Cmd-C to copy to clipboard.
4. Display the Downloads dialog, also available in the Window menu, then paste into it. Cmd-v.

You should see the images or files start to download in the Downloads window. I hope this is helpful to someone.

Directory Utility MIA in Snow Leopard?

Is Directory Utility, which has been available in /Applications/Utilities, missing in action in Snow Leopard? No, it's just been moved to Core Services. Access it this way:

1. Open Apple Menu, System Preferences.
2. Enter Accounts, clicking the lock to authenticate as needed.
3. Click Login Options at the bottom of the accounts list.
4. Click Edit, to the right of "Network Account Server."
5. Click Open Directory Utility.

You use Directory Utility to connect to Active Directory, Open Directory, or other LDAP servers.

Rick's Picks (weekly)

• blog:Cogley - Changing a Bike Inner-tube

  I got a flat the last hill of my 100 km bike trip last Sunday. Thank heavens it did not happen at km 50 or something. I went to a bike shop in Shinjuku today to get a replacement tube, and they were kind enough to tutor me on how to replace it. How to Change that Tube Here's the process I learned at the bike shop: Purchase a tube, tire levers (they come in sets of three, usually) and rim tape of the appropriate size. My rims are 26 inch with 1.5 Schwalbe Marathons on them now, and you just have to be sure what you buy is the right size. If you can give them the rim size, that's better too. The tubes come with various valves, and I have "French" valves now so that is what I got. All told, the cost to buy the parts was about JPY 1300 (USD 13).

  tags: bike, cycling, inner-tube, change, rim, tape, spoke

• blog:Cogley - Fixing EMobile USB Dialup on Snow Leopard

  I just installed Snow Leopard OS X 10.6 with no problems after getting a replacement for a bad Family Pack install disk (the Shibuya Apple Store said that many people reported the same), and found that my EMobile Huawei D02HW USB Wireless Dialup card, which was fine in Leopard, died when Snow Leopard was installed. Reinstalling the EMobile Huawei D02HW on Snow Leopard Here's how I fixed it:...

  tags: emobile, d02hw, apple, snow, leopard, huawei

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Changing a Bike Tire Inner-tube

I got a flat the last hill of my 100 km bike trip last Sunday. Thank heavens it did not happen at km 50 or something. I went to a bike shop in Shinjuku today to get a replacement tube, and they were kind enough to tutor me on how to replace it.

How to Change that Tube

Here's the process I learned at the bike shop:

1. Purchase a tube, tire levers (they come in sets of three, usually) and rim tape of the appropriate size. My rims are 26 inch with 1.5 Schwalbe Marathons on them now, and you just have to be sure what you buy is the right size. If you can give them the rim size, that's better too. The tubes come with various valves, and I have "French" valves now so that is what I got. All told, the cost to buy the parts was about JPY 1300 (USD 13).
2. Remove the wheel with the flat from the bike. I have Shimano Deore XT rim brakes, and there's a place you hook the brake wire's flange in, which if released, gives you the leeway to get the tire off.
3. If you have French valves, completely remove the bolt that keeps the valve in place in the rim.
4. On the opposite side of the wheel from the valve, insert a tire lever between the rim and the tire, and use it to lever the tire out, in that area. Take care not to pinch the tube while you do it, just in case you want to fix and reuse it. You'll notice there's a kind of hook on the one end of the lever - this goes onto a spoke to keep the lever in place, holding the tire edge out and away from the rim.
5. A couple of spokes away, do the same thing again with the second lever, to get more of the tire out.
6. Now you should be able to slide the third lever under the edge of the tire, and rotate it along the rim and tire edge to get the tire out. You can keep the one edge of the tire in the rim.
7. Slide the flatted inner tube out, taking care not to damage it if you want to repair it.
8. Inspect the tire inside and out for damage. There could be something sharp embedded in the tire. Remove any sharp objects puncturing the tire. In my case there were two pieces of a broken spoke embedded in the tire and in the rim tape. I could only find the one embedded in the tire by running my hand along the inside. The rim tape problem was quite obvious!
9. If you either remove the tire completely or just push it to one side, you should be able to see the rim tape, which prevents the inflated tube from working its way into the nipple bolts for the spokes. Rim tape prevents flats, but, in time it gets worn out too. If it has been mashed into the nipple bolts too much, and there are sharp edges, replace it. Rim tape is basically like a big rubber band with a hole for the valve. You can use a flat blade driver or an awl to work old rim tape out, and to lever new rim tape on. In my case, the yellow rim tape was two years old and starting to get dry, and, it had been punctured by the old spoke bit, so I replaced it.
10. Put a little air into your new tube, because it is easier to work with the tube if it is slightly inflated.
11. Insert the valve through the rim tape and rim, and put the valve bolt on to secure it.
12. To put the tire back, this time start on the valve side (removal starts opposite the valve). You can use the tire levers to get started putting the tire back into the rim, but be careful not to pinch the new tube. Having the tube slightly inflated will make things a little easier to maneuver. Once you get the tire in a little, use your hands to kind of "knead" the tire back in, working around it. Schwalbe Marathons are a little tough, as they have Kevlar inside and are consequently a bit harder rubber.
13. Check that the valve is 90 degrees to the rim. If it is angled, work the tire and rim until you can rotate it so it is perpendicular to the rim.
14. Inflate the tube to the correct psi pressure. Confirm that it's holding air and that you have not damaged the tube.
15. Deflate the tube once, then re-inflate. The bike shop said this last step really helps to prevent flats.
16. Go ride!

Hope this procedure helps someone with their tube troubles. Happy riding!

Fixing EMobile USB Dialup on Snow Leopard

I just installed Snow Leopard OS X 10.6 with no problems after getting a replacement for a bad Family Pack install disk (the Shibuya Apple Store said that many people reported the same), and found that my EMobile Huawei D02HW USB Wireless Dialup card, which was fine in Leopard, died when Snow Leopard was installed.

Reinstalling the EMobile Huawei D02HW on Snow Leopard

Here's how I fixed it:

1. Deleted /Applications/EMobile D02HW Utility.app.
2. Deleted /System/Library/Extensions/HuaweiDataCardDriver.kext
3. Deleted Huawei folders and files in /System/Library/Modem Scripts and in /Library/Modem Scripts
4. Emptied the Finder trash.
5. Rebooted the system.
6. On plugging in the USB Modem, the system mounts it in Finder as a USB memory. Ran the installer EMobile D02HW Utility.app and got an error regarding AutoOpen. Bypassed this by opening the installer package via "Show Package Contents" in Finder, and ran the Contents/Resources/EMOBILE_D02HW_Drv_App.pkg, which is the actual installer. Now it runs with no errors. AutoOpen be damned.
7. After the install, rebooted again.
8. After the reboot, I can add the Huawei Mobile modem in Network Preferences. Phone number for these devices is "*99***1#", user name em, password em.

I read a report that you can simply change tone to pulse dialing in the existing Huawei Mobile settings (from Leopard, for instance), so maybe the failure just has something to do with a plist not working somewhere and changing that setting refreshes it, but removing and reinstalling works fine too.

Give it a try if you have trouble, and I hope this short tip is helpful for someone.