General
Brick by brick
After yet another egregious use of the fictitious word “LEGOs” by a mainstream (American) publication, I sought evidence from the wide world of the Internet.
How To
Unpacking the suitcase
Further to my post on installing fonts on iOS devices, I came across a slight problem when attempting to include the ever popular Century Gothic font in my font payload. When I located the font it was in a Font Suitcase file which the Apple Configurator didn’t want to know about. I spent some time trying to work out a way around this and eventually hit on a simple method using only an OS X command and a simple piece of free software.
How To
Fontastic iOS!
While I was mucking around last night trying, again, to figure out the much talked about “per app VPN” that iOS 7 supposedly offers, I stumbled across a rather glorious discovery. You can install any TrueType or OpenType font on your iOS devices and use those fonts in iWork across iOS and OS X. Hallelujah!
Tech
Standing on secure shoulders
Some time ago, I heard about Bart Busschots‘s xkpasswd.net password generating site via his appearances on the NosillaCast Podcast. I absolutely love the passwords it generates and I’ve used the site many, many times when setting up new online accounts.
So imagine the look of joy that came across my face when I was mucking around with an Alfred 2 workflow the other day and realised it would be the perfect front end to the xkpasswd library!
How To
Printing with AppleScript
Despite an idea of going paperless – eventually – a current reality is that my wife pays the bills and right now most of them arrive on paper. So one of the bills that arrives electronically usually gets printed in order for it to get paid and I got to thinking – can I use the same, going-paperless techniques to automatically print a document? Turns out yes, I can. It’s pretty easy, too. When you know how!
Tech
Going out on a limb
In recent weeks there have been a few stories in the Apple press about rumoured plans for Apple to switch from Intel to ARM chips in its Macintosh computers. What none of these stories delved into is that it is very, very simple to ‘predict’ when there will be a mainstream, desktop class personal computer, running an ARM CPU, that will hold its own against a contemporary Intel-powered system. In fact, I’ll do that for you in just a moment. I’ll give you a precise year.
General
PC in a new domain
In New Zealand, any swimming pool must have a fence around it with fairly serious dimensions and locking mechanisms – all because a handful of people weren’t watching the kids in their care. Smacking a child is against the law, too, as a ‘protection’ against the ravages of child abuse. Those same children can’t fail at school either, where everyone succeeds and it is an offence to even touch a student. It’s a mad state of affairs which doesn’t look like turning around any time soon.