Mac OS X and Lotus Notes

It’s interesting that there doesn’t seem to be that much information about Notes and Mac OS X since this site now seems to attract a lot of visitors from Google because of this post about gripes with Lotus Notes on OS X maybe I’ll slowly build up a resource page for things related to Notes.

So anyway todays problem with notes is that when you open a zip and expand it all works fine – only problem is I have no idea where it has downloaded to. It’s not Desktop – default for most programmes. It’s not Downloads – the new default for Tiger and 10.5 systems.

Lotus Notes stores temporary files on a hidden temp folder when you double click on attached file : /private/var/folders so to find it you need to use terminal to show hidden files see this post on how to show finder hidden files or you can press Command+Shift+G when in finder to open the “Go to folder” menu item, and manually type the path to /private/var/folders/

Simple eh? Grrrr

First of what I feel may be many posts about Lotus Notes

Why do I need to know what database I am connecting to? Why do I need to have a degree in computer science to change the default browser?

I’ve got my lovely new MacBook Pro in the office so need to set up a whole heap of preferences in Notes – of course not all the preferences are in preferences some are within individual tasks.

Current problem is trying to set up a mailing list – should be a fairly simple task but so far having checked about 800 menu items am unable to find it. The nearest I have found is Groups but with a description that includes ‘Multi-purpose’ groups are the default group type and used in most situations. They can be used for access control and email purposes. I’m a little wary of breaking the internet!

Fighting back against the monopolists

So in my quest to get a Freeview+ box with DVD player/recorder I ended up buying an LG RHT297H which is great in most ways (a few niggles like losing the time and hence recording times when the power cuts) but is forced to only play region 2 DVDs. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again if I buy a DVD from the US the UK or Australia then it should play on my equipment so obviously I wanted to fix this.

After searching on a few forums here is how to make your LG HDD DVD recorder multiregion.

Switch your player on.

When it’s booted up hold down CLEAR on remote (under the slider) and PROG Down on the front panel of your DVD player simultaneously for about 6 seconds

You will see a list of codes

Change OP6 from ae or af to 8e (move around using the left and right arrows on the remote)

Press Enter and then menu/list on your remote

Your player will reboot or switch off

Turn it on or wait for it to reboot and now your player is multi region.

🙂

Google Contacts Nightmare

So a slight problem recently with contacts.
I use a number of tools and web apps in my daily life to keep things organised beacuse I work for myself I use a number of machines in a number of offices so it’s easier to rely on web applications for some tasks.

30 boxes (30boxes.com) for a calendar as this also allows my partner to add events and we can keep track of what nights we have free for stuff which is nice.
Gmail (gmail.com) for email as it’s usually reliable and has heaps of storage space and I like the search
plaxo (plaxo.com) for keeping my contacts up to date
linkedin (linkedin.com) for business contacts
mobile me (me.com) because it came free with my iPhone and works with my MacBook address book

The problem I have now is syncing al the data.

This used to be easy as every now and then I would sync with plaxo to my work machines and that would pick up new contacts and I would dump them into Gmail manually. Not too painful and simple.

Now though the iPhone sync has got the better of me. Gmail has a whacked-out idea of contacts management in that email addresses are automatically added to your contacts list each time you use the reply, reply to all, or forward functions to send messages to addresses not previously stored in your contacts list. Sounds great in theory. In practise I don’t actually know a lot of those people and I may not want them in my contacts list.

iPhone has imported contacts from Gmail bringing all this random data and that has synched with mobile me and now my phone has 1800+ contacts only around 300 of which I actually added myself.

Google what are you thinking adding all these people to my contacts list without asking me?
Apple what are you doing allowing me to sync with data that is so different from my original set without setting off alarm bells somewhere.

Gah!

AOL EFF FTC

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to force AOL to help the people whose search records it recently released.

In a complaint filed Monday, the EFF requests that the FTC investigate the incident and have AOL notify, via electronic and postal mail, all affected persons that their search results were released.

AOL should also pay for at least one year of credit monitoring service for each person, because the release of the records puts these people at risk for identity theft, the EFF charges. The EFF is a nonprofit organization focused on protecting civil liberties in technology contexts, such as computing and the Internet.

More at Macworld

Charity?

How cheap can some people be? The other weekend I did a bit of a clothes clear out – mainly because I bought so much last time I went to the states with work and had no drawer space left.
So I took a bag to the Cancer Research charity shop and waited patiently for the assistant to be free to see where to leave donations. It was taking some time though. It transpired a lady was trying to return a pair of shoes. Now the lady behind the counter was keeping her calm but I was about to shout. The woman in question had bought some boots and was trying to return them for a full refund. Fine you might say except she had had them an entire year already.
I was gobsmacked. Really. I don’t know how she had the cheek. I wouldn’t do that in a regular shop let alone a charity shop.
There was nothing wrong with the boots either. She just wanted to return them and get her money back.
Some people.