Do not call widget.system() synchronously in production Widgets

Do not call widget.system() synchronously in production Widgets. The synchronous mode is there for testing purposes.

Did you find the above information helpful? You will find a lot more information in my eBook "Programming Dashboard Widgets". The eBook describes how you can create Apple Dashboard Widgets using many programming languages including JavaScript, Perl, Objective-C, and PHP. You can buy it here.

Microsoft redesigns iPod packaging

Adobe Illustrator 88!

SuperDuper! finally adds Leopard support!

I think that SuperDuper! is the last application that is now Leopard compatible.

Version 2.5(84), February 5, 2008

• Enhancements & Bug Fixes

• Complete OS X 10.5 (Leopard) compatibility including bootable Leopard backups

• You can now store a bootable backup side-by-side with a Time Machine backup on a single volume

• The ability to copy Time Machine backup volumes to other drives when you need more space (or want to back up your archived data)

• A "Run Now" button runs Scheduled Copies on demand

• Automatic preservation of any custom icon on the destination volume

• Improved post-registration text to inform users how to use Smart Update

• Exposé, Time Machine, Spaces and Front Row are now copied on Leopard Sandboxes

• Updated Backup copy scripts to ignore Google Desktop Index Files and iTunes temporary files

• More robust handling of delayed re-mounts after a volume has been erased

• Added a new copy script "Restore - all files" that will restore everything except a Time Machine archive if it exists on the source.

• The WGTH text now describes the effect of the selected options upon Time Machine backups

• SuperDuper! will repair volinfo databases that contain blanks lines erroneously inserted by the Apple Setup Assistant

• Improved Growl error reporting for scheduled copies

• Significant improvements to ACL and permissions cloning

• Improved handling of Spotlight indexing on the target volume

• Custom volume icons and file system events are preserved on the target volume

• Resolved a bug that caused a crash during auto upgrade on some Intel Macs

• The dock icon will bounce if the copy fails

• Improved the etched text rendering under Leopard

• Smart Update will copy files with name case changes

• Locked symlinks are properly copied during Smart Update

• Immutable symlinks are properly copied during Smart Update

Lies, Lies and Adobe Spies

This has nothing to do with Dashboard Widgets but have to do with Adobe and Omniture.

«It all began with a post at UNEASYsilence titled "Lies, Lies and Adobe Spies" which caught on to the fact that Adobe CS3 apps were calling out to a suspiciously-crafted IP address. As it turns out, the IP in question—192.168.112.2O7.net (note the capital O instead of a zero)—is not an IP at all, but rather a domain owned by statistics-tracking firm Omniture.»

I first read it here and here.

Books that teach you UNIX

• Jon Bentley. Programming Pearls, Second Edition. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley, 1999. This book contains very useful programming techniques. You may not know it but memory (both RAM and hard disk space) was very precious a few year ago, so programmers were really thinking hard to overcome some challenging difficulties.
  

• Brian W. Kernighan, and Rob Pike. The Practice of Programming. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley, 1999. Get this book as it will surely make you a better programmer.
  

• Steve McConnell. Code Complete, Second Edition. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2004. This book is a must read for every programmer. I should not say anything more: if you do ANY type of programming, buy it and read it! NOW!

• Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike. The Unix Programming Environment. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1984. This is the best introductory book on programming in the UNIX programming environment.
  

• Shelley Powers, Jerry Peek, Tim O’Reilly and Mike Loukides. UNIX Power Tools, Third Edition. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly, 2002. This book is a must have for everyone who wants to master the UNIX environment and its tools.
  

• Trent H. Hein, Evi Nemeth, Scott Seebass, and Garth Snyder. UNIX System Administration Handbook, 3rd Edition. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. A very nice and complete book for learing the tasks of a UNIX systems administrator.
  

• Maurice J. Bach. The design of the UNIX operating system. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986. If you want to learn the nuts and bolts of the UNIX operating system, then you should without doubt read this book. It is an advanced book but it is highly recommended.
  

• Thomas A. Limoncelli, and Christine Hogan. The Practice of System and Network Administration. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley, 2001. This book will help you get more organized when administering either computer systems or computer networks. A really nice book.
  

• Jeffrey Friedl. Mastering Regular Expressions, Second Edition. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly, 2002. One of the best books about Regular Expressions. Regular Expressions are a central part of almost all UNIX tools.
  

Did you find the above information helpful? You will find a lot more information in my eBook "Programming Dashboard Widgets". The eBook describes how you can create Apple Dashboard Widgets using many programming languages including JavaScript, Perl, Objective-C, and PHP. You can buy it here.