DIVID Technology Riffraff & Whatnot

Better late than never! Picasa for mac is here finally: download

Note: I noticed strange UI issues until I activated the Georgia font. YMMV

There are lots of troublesome ways to change the look of the OSX appearance outside of what Apple provides in System Preferences. I’ve often wanted a theme that is darker than the default colors. I’ve tried several and waited on other successors to what was once easy with Unsanity Shapeshifter

Now, another amazingly simple but dead-on app from Blacktree comes “Nocturne”. This uses the built-in Core Image UI to alter your desktop into a somewhat inverted mode, similar to what you’d find in the Universal Access preference pane. Here’s the best part: It lets you invert the hue after you invert your screen, making status colors and other visual cues return to a useable state! It’s the next best thing to having a real dark theme or skin, and in some ways it’s even better because of the lack of overhead or config time. I am ecstatic. Try it out and you may be also. Here’s a tip: Combine this with Isolator and see what you come up with.

Here are some virtualization performance findings on a native install of the latest Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10 and Mac OS X 10.5.6.

For this test I just booted XP and recorded some timings:

VMWare Server 1.08:
1:04 to responsive desktop, 2:47 to idle CPU (<10%).

VMWare Fusion 2.0.1:
0:37 to responsive desktop, 0:57 to idle CPU (<10%).

The image used is XP pro with SQL 2008 Express and Visual Studio 2008 installed. I recreated the .vmx on each host but used the same .vmdk. I also let the host OS boot and go idle before running VMWare, and didn’t have any other software running. The host system is a Macbook Santa Rosa with 4gb RAM and 2.2 core duo intel CPU.

Using the display control panel, the resolution options usually don’t include 256 colors. Here’s how to get it. Click Settings tab > Advanced > Adapter tab > List all modes. You’ll see a list of all options, from which you can pick your favorite 256 color resolution. Enjoy!!

ps. If your mouse cursor’s get finicky, just enable (short) mouse trails and that forces the cursor to refresh.

Check out this quick 10 Reasons to Learn Ruby article on h3rald.com. Might be good for those who aren’t sold on the whole idea of why everyone seems to love this language.

In your .vmx file, consider some configuration that may not have been added by default. This has helped me in Fusion 2.0, but also works inside Workstation and possibly Player as well. YMMV

memsize = “2000″

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = “FALSE”

MemTrimRate = “0″

mainMem.useNamedFile = “FALSE”

After hearing about the extensive time required to configure a gentoo stage3 installation, I was pleased to find that there are LiveCDs available. Although these are not nearly as in-depth for building a custom distro for yourself, it might bring a few more would-be naysayers on board with this extremely flexible version of linux. If you haven’t had a chance to experience gentoo, I recommend it if even for educational purposes. Linux is liberating!

If you like the webkit in google chrome, you might like midori on linux, it’s webkit, 100% acid3 (web standards compliant), and very slim. I fount it installed in Intrepid Ibex alongside Firefox.

I got into this site yesterday: http://bmw-web.tv/en/channel/design

The GINA concept has a fabric skin. Be sure to watch to the commentary about their thoughts on design.