Calling AppleScript gurus everywhere
I’m using the BBC iPlayer to watch a lot of TV at the moment. The problem is that, to get uninterrupted viewing, I have to keep changing my screen saver and display sleep settings (or sit really near the screen so I can keep moving the mouse to keep everything awake).
I found an Apple Script that I’ve edited (very slightly) to allow me to set the screen saver idle time from a simple dialogue box, but I’d like to be able to extend it to also set the display sleep settings as well. Anyone got any ideas how (if) I can do this?
The script I have so far is:
set screenSaverTime to the text returned of (display dialog “Enter screensaver time delay (in seconds)” default answer “300″)
set displaySleepTime to the text returned of (display dialog “Enter display sleep time delay (in seconds)” default answer “900″)
set prefsFolder to (path to “pref”)’s POSIX path & “ByHost/”
tell application “System Events”
set prefsFile to property list file ((folder prefsFolder’s first file where name starts with “com.apple.screensaver.”)’s POSIX path)
tell prefsFile
set value of property list item “idleTIme” to screenSaverTime
end tell
if exists process “System Preferences” then quit application “System Preferences”e
end tell
The idea being that, when I’ve finished watching the program, I can run the script again and the default values will reset the screen saver and display sleep to more normal settings without me having to go back through the System Preferences.
Now I’m REALLY confused
At work, we’re running a customer information database that uses an Access database file with a user-friendly Visual Basic front-end. Part of the set up is integration with postcoding software, for address verification. It currently runs on a Windows 98 system.
We’re looking at upgrading the hardware, so at the moment we’re trying to ensure that the database will run on either XP or Vista (we’re not yet in a position to also be able to upgrade the software). We know that the database will run on XP, as we’ve got an XP laptop that it currently works on. The problem is that we can’t recreate that result; none of us have been able to get the database running successfully on XP. The usual result is that we can get either the database to work (enable customer searches, add orders, etc) or we can get the postcoding software to work. Not both at the same time.
My latest attempts are even more confusing; run the database and it opens up without problems. Run the routine to print an address label and it will let you do that - and let you use the integration with the postcoding software to verify the address - but do anything that requires searching for a customer and you get a “Runtime 91″ error, which is what you normally get when the Access file can’t be found.
I’ve been trying to do this on an XP installation on the BootCamp partition of my Mac, and I’ve got nowhere. Today, I loaded a trial version of Parallels, the desktop VM software that allows you to run Windows without having to re-boot your Mac. I told it to use the BootCamp installation of Windows (couldn’t be bothered to try and re-set everything up) and everything seemed to work well. Just for a laugh, I thought I’d run the database program.
And guess what? It works perfectly - exactly as it’s supposed to. Yet I’ve changed nothing about the installation. The only difference is that it’s running in a VM window. I wondered if something had changed, so I re-booted into BootCamp and no, it still doesn’t work there.
Which is why I’m REALLY confused; what is the fundamental difference between Parallels and BootCamp that is making the software work in one and not the other? Any tech-heads out there able to give me any clues? Please…
SocialSpark: all it’s cracked up to be?
First of all, let me say that this post is an an attempt to give you a quick overview of the recently launched SocialSpark phenomena (if, indeed, that is what it is), as well as highlight some good and bad points about the whole thing.
Second of all, let me apologise for the fact that this post is a bit long. Like Topsy, it just sort of grew.
What is SocialSpark?
PayPerPost was one of the first (if not the first) system to put bloggers in touch with advertisers, for the creation of sponsored posts. Their stated aim was to “Change the world, one blog at a time”. SocialSpark - brought to you by the same company, Izea, behind PayPerPost - builds on that premise, and adds a community element to allow bloggers and advertisers to interact with each other to a much greater degree. In the same vein as Facebook, you create a profile, add friends, etc, at the same time as promoting your blog, taking Opportunities and generally being a ‘monetized’ blogger.
Anyone can view your profile (see screenshot) and, from there, can then see the advertisers you’ve worked with, the Opportunities you’ve taken and the traffic that your blog gets. Advertisers looking for bloggers to write about their product, service or website can use this information to place their advertising with those blogs that are likely to give them the best return on investment.
Having only just gone beta and launched to the general public (the invite-only alpha was running for about a month or so, to iron out some of the technical issues), the list of available Opportunities (see screenshot) isn’t that long yet, but is growing steadily. In a development on the PayPerPost model, Opportunities now include not only sponsored posts but blog sponsorships (like the one that is currently running on The New Wolfs Howl) and Sparks - which are a non-paying ideas for bloggers to write about, designed to get the ‘blogosphere’ buzzing.
In another new development, Opportunities (see screenshot) now have bonus payments and dynamic pricing. In addition, you can queue for an available slot or, if you don’t qualify for the Opportunity, you can ask the advertiser to let you have a slot.
And when you’re done looking at the Opportunities, you can browse through the profiles of other users (see screenshot); see what blogs they write, how many advertisers they’re working with, add them to your friend list, add their blog to your BlogRoll (another new feature) and maybe even pick up some pointers on how to improve your own blog.
So that’s a brief overview of SocialSpark (click here to visit the site for yourself), but what’s it like to use? I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and in that time I’ve come across things I like, things I don’t like and things I’m undecided on. Let me walk you through a few.
The Good
In-post disclosure now required for all Opportunities: this is a biggy. One of the major complaints against PayPerPost from vocal commentators like Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis was that by not requiring in-post disclosure, PayPerPost was encouraging bloggers to mislead their readers. The merits of that argument went backwards and forwards around the blogging world for quite some time and pretty much everyone had their opinion on it. For myself, I always include in-post disclosure, but I was concerned that a number of PayPerPost advertisers would specify no in-post disclosure in their requirements. Happily, with SocialSpark that is no longer possible.
Blog sponsorships: even with in-post disclosure now required, there are those that don’t agree with sponsored posts. With the introduction of blog sponsorships, anyone can now earn some money from their blog without needing to write paid posts. Blog sponsorship takes on site advertising to a new level and is an easy way to introduce yourself to the world of SocialSpark.
More transparency: by giving site visitors - both bloggers and advertisers - more information about the SocialSpark community, there is much more openness about who’s doing what, with whom and for how much. SocialSpark is designed to be much more of an open system than PayPerPost ever was.
The Bad
Can’t import PPP info: I imagine that most PayPerPost users will migrate to SocialSpark, so it would have been useful to be able to import your PPP account into SocialSpark. Sadly, this is not possible so you have to re-set everything up (including getting your blogs re-approved). This is a time-consuming step (for both bloggers and SocialSpark staff) that could have been avoided. Also, by not being able to import your PPP account, your earning history, Opportunity history, etc all start from scratch again.
Props: this is a feature that was not part of the PayPerPost experience, and allows users to give each other a ‘thumbs up’ - either for the user or for their blog. Unfortunately, as a user while you can see how many props you’ve been given, you can’t see who gave them to you. So, reciprocal propping is out.
Dynamic pricing: in the PayPerPost model, Opportunties came with one price. In SocialSpark they come with dynamic pricing, which means that from one day to the next the value of the Opportunity may go up or down. Trouble is, until this post on the PPP blog on Thursday, no-one really knew how dynamic pricing worked. Having read how it’s supposed to work, it seems needlessly complicated.
Opportunity requirements not always obvious: again, the SocialSpark model is different from the PayPerPost one in this area. SocialSpark will tell you whether or not you qualify for an Opportunity, but unlike PayPerPost will not show you a list of the advertisers criteria. There’s an Opportunity at the moment that I don’t qualify for, but can’t work out why that would be since SocialSpark doesn’t give me the information.
Queuing for Opportunities: as I mentioned earlier, one of the new features is that you can add yourself to a queue for Opportunities that have had all their slots taken. This is a great development. What’s not so great is that you get no indication of how long the queue is, how many slots there might be or what your chances of grabbing one are.
Leaving comments: in another new development, users can now comment on Opportunities. This is a good way to ask questions about the requirements, etc, but a lot of users seem to be using the facility to ask general questions about SocialSpark. There seems to be no way to leave comments or ask questions about the site as a whole, other than submitting a support ticket - which isn’t necessarily the most appropriate method. There is a link to the Izea forums, but I think most users would be better off with something that didn’t require them to go off site.
Video tutorials: it’s probably just because they haven’t had time to produce them yet, but there are links throughout the site to video tutorials on how to use SocialSpark. Trouble is, all you get is a “Coming Soon” message. If they’re not ready yet, don’t put the links in, surely?
Where is it?: to a certain extent, I think there’s too much going on around the site and it can be less than obvious how to do certain things. For instance, adding blogs to your BlogRoll or adding friends to your Favourite 9.
The Not Sure
Social network number 3,204,679: well, maybe that’s an exaggeration but there are already a large number of social networks out there and I wonder if we really need another one? Indeed, I wonder if SocialSpark really is one, or is it just an extended blogger information resource? Whereas in PayPerPost you couldn’t see anything about other bloggers, now you can, and you can send them props and add them as friends. But does that make it a social network?
No follow tags: as well as insisting on in-post disclosure, SocialSpark requires that all sponsored links be “nofollow”. This is apparently to keep search engines (well, Google anyway) happy by stopping advertisers taking advantage of PageRank and incoming links. But does it really achieve that aim, and there also seems to be quite a bit of resistance to it in the blogging community. (As an experiment, I’ve “nofollow’-ed all the links in this post).
Questions
Moving from PayPerPost to SocialSpark has also raised a few questions, at least for me, which I haven’t yet seen addressed by any of the Izea team. The prime one among these, I suppose, is what happens to PayPerPost now? It’s unclear whether SocialSpark is intended as a replacement or a service to run alongside. If both systems are to continue, how will Izea differentiate them, from an advertisers point of view? SocialSpark offers more information about the bloggers, so I would think advertisers would be more likely to place their Opportunities there - but then, how will PayPerPost bring in enough advertising to keep going? As a blogger, I’d prefer to use just one system rather than two so will be using SocialSpark more than PayPerPost from now on. I believe that many others will be like me, too.
A picture of you
While I was playing about with installing 2.5, I noticed that the comments screen shows a little picture for each person that’s commented (previous versions may have done this, but I never noticed). This little picture - called an avatar - is usually what the person has uploaded to their blog as their profile picture, but can also be a variation called a gravatar. Gravatars (or globally recognised avatars) can follow you from site to site, because they are linked to your email address.
I liked the idea of being able to display peoples gravatars on the blog, next to their comment. This required another plug-in and some hacking around with the comments.php file, but I’m happy to report that comments are now a little more graphical.
It’s a small thing, really, but it keeps me off the streets.
Making the switch
Despite what I said in my previous post, I’ve gone and updated my WordPress installation to 2.5. The trigger for this was that one of the plug-ins I’d been waiting for (Ozh’s Absolute Comments) has now been updated. I used Fantastico to do the update - so much quicker than downloading the new version and then uploading it to my server (why does FTP take so long?) - and all went smoothly.
Having now used 2.5 in anger, as it were, rather than just on a local install I’ve been able to give it a bit more of a test and to find a bunch of things that I don’t think are really all that good. Let me run you through some of them:
Colour scheme: that new default colour scheme is so wishy-washy. It looks like its been left out in the sun too long. First job I did was to head to Users \ Your Profile and change to the classic colour scheme, which is at least a little better.
Dashboard: this has been improved - a bit more focus on your blog, rather than Wordpress - and is now widgetised. What you don’t get, though, is any way to manage the widgets. You can edit some of them, so that they show you different content, but you can’t turn them on or off. So another plug-in was called for - Dashboard Widget Manager. This is a great little plug-in that lets you control the Dashboard widgets in the same way as you do the widgets on your blog. So I’ve turned off most of the widgets now and have a lovely streamlined Dashboard.
Tags: when I first looked at 2.5, I thought it was great that they’d finally properly integrated tags as well as categories (after so long of WordPress thinking they were interchangeable items). But when you use the online editor to write a post, you don’t get a list of previously defined tags to choose from, so it becomes a little pointless to keep a track of them.
Widgets: this one seems to have been giving some people on Wordpress.com a bit of trouble. Management of widgets has had a major overhaul and, while on the whole it is not too bad (really just a re-designed layout) the one big bugbear with it is that you can only see one sidebar at a time. Fine if your blog only has one sidebar, but a pain if you have two. I quite like the new layout, but would prefer to be able to see both sidebars at the same time like I could with 2.3.
I’m sure there must be some good things about 2.5 that I haven’t come across yet (and there are a couple that I’ve already noticed - better support for Safari when using the Visual Editor and an attempt to offer tag management) and when I find them I’ll you know.
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