The Kolonel's Journal

Over the years, there have been some pretty funny computer science jokes (at least they’re funny to computer scientists). This one is pretty well known: “There are 10 types of people: those who understand binary, and those who don’t.” Then there’s the list of ways to shoot yourself in the foot with various programming languages. This one, however, has always been a favourite of mine (because it combines base conversion and 10 holidays): “Why do computer programmers celebrate Christmas on Hallowe’en? Because OCT 31 = DEC 25.”

Anyway, happy whatever–you–celebrate–this–time–of–year. Be excellent to one another.

—Kol. Panic

If you’re a developer or sysadmin, you probably spend a lot of time in Terminal. But getting it launched, then getting to the right place can be a chore. Sure, you can type “cd <space>”, then drag the folder from the Finder, then hit the return key, but that gets old fast.

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Good news, everyone! Mojotones 2.0 now easily creates iPhone ringtones. While it was possible with previous versions, this new release makes it easier than ever. Find your track, set the range and click the button. That creates the ringtone and adds it to iTunes, ready for your next sync.

There are a lot of under–the–hood changes too, slimming the application a bit down while adding features and fixing a few bugs. I also changed and rearranged some of the menu items, and changed the short–cuts for the ringtone creation items under the File menu (I couldn’t think of another easy–to–type modification of ⌘S). There’s also a new Select Search Field item under the Control menu to put the keyboard focus in the search box at the bottom of the window, saving a bit of mousing. Finally, since iPhone ringtones are limited in length, the range duration is now displayed in the player.

If there’s anything you want to see added, changed or fixed, you can always choose the Send Feedback Message item under the Help menu or just click here.

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, my main ringtone is the opening tintinnabulation of YYZ, by Rush.

There are no major changes in Mojotones 1.3 (29). The big things are the three new items under the File menu. One lets you reload the library after you’ve made changes in iTunes (note that you have to quit iTunes before the changes are registered). The other two let you reveal the selected track and the last saved ringtone. Also, there are a few bug fixes, including the one I knew about on Leopard. If you have any other problems or questions, just select the Feedback item under the Help menu.

Thanks and enjoy!

I’m a co–founder — with my colleague David — of the Toronto Area Cocoa and WebObjects Developer Group, aka tacow. We’re also the first international chapter of CocoaHeads. Our next quarterly meeting, which we postponed a month so we could legally discuss Leopard (among other things), will be held on November 13. Details are available here.

Today’s big news is Mojotones 1.3. The main new feature in this release is the ability to open files outside of your iTunes library. Under the file menu, there’s a new item: “Open Other Track…”. Select that item, navigate through your disks and folders, and open the track you want. It will be added to a special new playlist called “Other” at the bottom of the sources pane. You can then use the track as you would any other in your library. Also, in addition to some minor bug fixes and tweaks, I’ve fixed something I overlooked during the UI redesign a couple of versions ago — the player buttons now enable and disable appropriately depending on the state of the application.Namaste, as they say.

Fresh off the assembly line, with that new car smell, I’m proud to announce Mojotones 1.2. Besides the usual bug fixes, the big thing in this release is support for MP3 ringtones. To use it, you’ll first have to download and install a Quicktime MP3 encoder component. Details and instructions are available here.Download it and take it around the block. If it works with your phone, please consider buying a license.Thanks, and enjoy!

With all the recent hubbub, I’ve gotten a few questions about Mojotones and iPhone ringtones. The short answer, is that, Mojotones doesn’t directly support them. However, I’ve helped a customer find a workaround. First, set your Mojotones preferences to use AAC as the export format. Then, find the track you want, set your desired range, and choose Save Track As… from under the File menu to save the ringtone to your Desktop. Finally use one of the free utilities that have been released lately to convert it into an iPhone ringtone (here is news about one I read just today — just make sure your iPhone is plugged in when you use it).I’d like to build more direct iPhone support into a future release, but it’ll have to wait until I can get one here in Canada.

Update: Mojotones 2.0 easily creates iPhone ringtones. Read about it here.

Tiger’s Address Book is out of date as far as .Mac functionality is concerned. Sure, you can click on the label next to a @mac.com email address and get a couple of menu items to visit the person’s .Mac HomePage or open their iDisk. But what about iWeb or iPhoto’s new Web Gallery?

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I flew in from C4[1] last night, and boy are my arms tired!

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