FlickrFan and My Mac Desktop
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, How To's, Photos, Technology
One of the things I missed when I moved from Linux to Mac OSX was the ability to display Flickr photo feeds as the background of my monitor desktop. Dave Winer fixed part of the equation for me by setting up FlickrFan which allowed me to grab Flickr feeds and bring them to my computer. Assigning the pictures for use as a screen saver or archiving is trivial but what I really wanted was to have the pictures displayed as my desktop background while I worked. Here is how I did it:
Once you have setup the screen saver you want in the Mac System Preferences you need to create two small scripts. The first script called RunScreenSaver (or whatever you wish) contains this simple code.
#!/bin/bash
/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app
/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background &>/dev/null & echo $!
Make sure the /System/…/ScreenSaverEngine path is all one line above. Wordpress wants to break it apart for formatting reasons.
The second script called KillScreenSaver (or whatever you wish) contains this simple code.
#!/bin/bash
killall ScreenSaverEngine
Be sure to make both script files executable by typing this in your terminal.app:
chmod a+x RunScreenSaver
chmod a+x KillScreenSaver
Or you can simply download both scripts.
When you want the background running, run the first script by double clicking it in the finder and when you want to stop the background run the second script by double clicking it in the finder. Of course, you can also run each script from the terminal.app:
./RunScreenSaver
./KillScreenSaver
Update:
Dave Winer over at Scripting News did a quick video of this effect:
iCARS, A Star Trek LCARS Summerboard Theme For The iTouch and iPhone
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I created a Summerboard theme around the Star Trek LCARS interface. This theme is based on the original iPhone theme by Kevin Rohrman (kevin@themonsterjam.com).
The iCARS theme includes a wallpaper you can put in /Library/Wallpaper to set the lock screen. This theme requires that you load and order your applications very specifically. You must read the details after the jump or you will not get this theme to look like anything but a jumbled mess.
The First Screen
Somatic, A Summerboard Theme For The iTouch and iPhone
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I created a Summerboard theme around David Lanham’s free Somatic Icon Set available at the Iconfactory. The Somatic Summerboard Theme can be downloaded and used on your iPod Touch or iPhone. There are 93 application icons in the theme plus 73 extra icons and 5 wallpapers:
Read the rest of this entry »
3deebly, A Summerboard Theme For The iTouch and iPhone
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I created a Summerboard theme around the 3D Cartoon Icons Pack found at deviantart. The 3deebly Summerboard Theme can be downloaded and used on your iPod Touch or iPhone. There are 80 application icons in the theme:
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Strek, A Summerboard Theme For The iTouch based on Star Trek
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I created a new theme for Summerboard based on various Star Trek icons I found. The theme works for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch (iTouch). If you want to try it out, unzip it and upload to your /var/root/Library/SummerBoard/Themes on the iPhone or the iTouch.
Star Trek Summerboard Theme for iPod Touch and iPhone
Gartoon, A Summerboard Theme For The iTouch
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I created a Summerboard theme around the Gartoon icons found at art.gnome.org. The Gartoon Summerboard Theme can be downloaded and used on your iPod Touch or iPhone. There are over 80 application icons in the theme:
Time Machine 2, A Summerboard Theme For The iTouch
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I modified the icons for the Summerboard Theme “Time Machine” for the iPod Touch. If you want to try it out, unzip it and upload to your /var/root/Library/SummerBoard/Themes on the iPhone or the iTouch.
Signs In The Water:
The iPhone Security Nightmare Proceeds On Pace
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I told you it was coming a few weeks ago. It definitely appears that the first of many root level exploits of the iPhone are in the wild. It is so easy to get full administrative access and every script kiddie now has the capability. The security armageddon is not far away:
The iPhone Security Armageddon
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple, Technology
I was considering buying an iPhone to replace my personal cell phone. But it looks like a few security shortcuts were taken during the development of the OSX software used in the iPhone.
It appears that Apple has chosen to run user applications effectively as UID 0. This means any application (especially with input control) can execute arbitrary code. Literally anything is possible.
It also appears that the root account is enabled and to make matters worse, the root password is already in the wild. The password is “dottie” by the way. One other account, mobile, has also been compromised. The password is “alpine”.
So roughly one million Internet connected iPhones have been sold and are ready to be compromised. Perhaps I should buy one so I can join the iPhone security Armageddon…or I can just easily hack it for my own needs.
Groovy Borderless Quicktime Playback Trick
Posted by Rich | Filed under Apple
According to the fine folks over at Murphy Mac, you can easily play Apple Quicktime movies without the need for a border or any of the other controls. So if you just want the video and none of the metal washed goodness of the Quicktime Player interface, head over and check it out.
