It’s hot, I’m taking a break, I’m in front of two computers, and one is a Mac.
Redesign time.
Done.
~ For future reference, long after this design is gone and forgotten, this redesign can be remembered as ‘the white type on the blue background redesign’.
Just for good measure, I have given micro.rogilife.com the same treatment, too.
Recently I have started using Skype again, as I now have several hours a week of foreign languages lessons and I do them directly with the languages teacher ‘live’ via Skype. (This is a great method for learning languages incidentally, and I have more to say about that in another post).
I was looking today for a way to record the hour-long Skype conversations, so I could replay them if I needed to remind myself about specific language techniques, or uses, and so on, that came up during any of the lessons. Having not used Skype for a while I was surprised to see that it still has no call recorder built-in, but, well, it doesn’t (at least not on my Mac version) so it was a case of searching for third party software.
I found this; Ecamm Network’s Call Recorder. It’s Mac-only, which is fine by me as I’m Mac-only too, and I used the trial version of this software today for the first time.
It works well. I set it to automatically record all calls longer then five seconds (the default time) at ‘low’ quality, and waited to see if it did it’s thing as it was supposed to.
It did. Perfectly.
I ended up, after a one hour Skype conversation – audio only, though it records video too, so it says, though I haven’t tried that – with a 115Mb .mov file [update: 22Mb after using the supplied 'Convert For Internet' software] containing a flawless recording. I’m not sure why that setting is called ‘low quality’ as it does not sound low quality, it’s extremely clear. Next time I’ll set it to high quality and see what the difference is (other than a presumably significantly bigger .mov file).
The free (fully functional) trial lasts for seven days and then the software is $14.95USD to buy. Assuming that it always works as well as it did today, that’s a bargain, and my 15 bucks will be heading Ecamm’s way in a few days.
If you want to record Skype (and video) calls, and are on a Mac, check it out. Ecamm Network Call Recorder. FAQ.
Update: I hadn’t noticed this function when I wrote the above;
Call Recorder makes it easy convert your QuickTime movies into MP3 files. Simply drag a recorded QuickTime movie to the “Convert to MP3″ icon and it will create an instant MP3 file out of your movie, which can then be emailed or posted to a website.
So that functionality also now goes onto the ‘things to try’ list.
As much a note to myself as anything else, Mac OS X Security Update 2009-001 is available and should be installed.
At the time of posting I have the notification showing in software update, but I have not yet run it as after reading this post regarding a few startup problems caused by the update I think I might just hold off for a couple of days to check that nothing too untoward is likely to happen*.
*I have never yet had a problem with a security update in all of the years that I have been doing them, but there is always a first time for everything, as they say.
Continuing onwards with my Learning PHP and CodeIgniter project, I have put aside the entire day today to delve even deeper into the mysterious worlds of both PHP and CodeIgniter.
So if the internet suddenly breaks later today, you’ll know who to blame.
I am making notes as I go along (I am still making mistake after mistake so far, but getting better fast) as I’m planning on putting up a separate section here on RogiLife.Com covering the entire project. Kind of a ‘CodeIgniter For The Rest Of Us’ type of series. I know that it will be useful to me later on as a reference when it comes to remembering what I have done and, more importantly, how the hell I did it. Maybe it will come in useful for other PHP/CodeIgniter newbies out there too.
I’ll probably put up the first installment next week, so if you are curious you might want to check back then.
Incidentally, I’m running CodeIgniter locally on my (Mac) laptop after installing MAMP, which is free and couldn’t have been easier to install. It is also completely hassle-free and simple to use. There appears to be an almost identical thing to MAMP for Windows called WAMP5. I can’t speak for that as, obviously, not being on Windows, I have never tried it.
That’s it as far as this update goes.
Onwards, then.
I’ve compiled a list of my top 100 Mac apps for your perusal, since so many people have been asking for it. Thanks to Taylor Olson and Jason for helping me put all the icons and links in place! These apps are certainly Tiger compatible, and most of ‘em work inside Leopard (though the VNC utilities are now unnecessary). I did my best to avoid overly popular titles, but couldn’t avoid it in some cases.
A pretty good list it is, too; Top 100 Mac Apps