In my last post I explained how to use the Photoshop Elements’ (PSE) Copy/Move to Removable Disk feature to move part of your collection to lower cost disk while still retaining visibility within your catalogue.  To make the best use of this feature there are a few caveats, and workarounds for them, you need to keep in mind:

1. No Photo Review/Compare of Offline Images: Despite allowing you to choose offline proxy file sizes as large as 1280 x 960 pixels, the Photo Compare/Review features will not display offline images unless the media is currently mounted.  While I understand the proxy file’s quality would not compare to that of an online file, why couldn’t they just display the "offline file" icon to explain the lower quality image (like they do in the main browser UI)? 
   Workaround: Photo Review can be emulated in the PSE browser by zooming the offline file to maximum size.  Photo Compare can be emulated in a similar way by adding tags/collections to the images, selecting them, then zooming so only two photos appear in the PSE browser.
2. Directory Structure Flattened During Move: All of my photos are stored in a YYYY-MM-MMM\category\yyyy_mm_dd_desc directory structure on my HDD.  When moving photos offline I’d like to automatically retain this relative directory structure but there is currently no way to do so without manually calling the Move Offline function once per destination directory.
   Workaround: Run Move Offline once per destination directory.  e.g. I move photos offline a month at a time.
3. No Way to Identify if Media Online: The Details Metadata query provides no way to search for media based upon whether they are offline or not.  It also provides no way to search by the volume the file is currently stored upon.  Offline photos aren’t automatically assigned tags or collections so this can’t be used to identify the files either.
   Workaround: Assign a tag to photos as you move them offline, and later use this tag to find or exclude the photos.
4. No Way to Move Images Back Online: Hard drives are becoming larger and cheaper all the time, so over time photos that had to be moved offline for space reasons may be able to be moved back online after hardware upgrades.  PSE provides no obvious way to achieve this.
   Workaround: Select files in the PSE browser and use the File\Move option to move files to an online directory.  Alternately delete files from the catalogue and re-import, but if using this approach you should File\Write Keyword Tags and Properties Info to File to retain captions and tags (collection information will be lost).
5. Cannot Bulk Relocate Images on Removable Media/Network Drives:  PSE does not provide any easy way to move the files once they have been moved offline.  This is particularly problematic when having to relocate images as media fails,  or larger media becomes available. e.g. a USB hard drive is lost or fails, or refresh optical media by moving DVD content to larger Bluray disks.  This issue is exacerbated by PSEs insistence on storing network drives as the underlying UNC paths, and identifying optical media by their serial number rather than drive letter, so you can’t just copy the files manually and map them to the same drive letter.
   Workaround: Use the "Move online" workaround, then move the images offline again.

As long as you adjust your digital photography workflow to take these caveats into account, the Move Offline feature remains an extremely useful way to make use of your precious disk space.

This morning I clicked on a link in a newsletter from Sun and was presented with a "server not found" error.  Odd, especially given I would expect a company of that size to have better QA than that.  When I found the same issue with a Software AG newsletter later in the day it was time to investigate.

Turns out this wasn’t a coincidence.  Both emails were using links passing through the same tracking server: promo-manager.server-secure.com.  I suspected our Corporate firewall was blocking the tracking server, but the content itself would be OK. 

Upon inspecting Firefox’s location bar it was obvious that the latter part was an encoded destination URL:

https://promo-manager.server-secure.com/pm/mail/link.php?id=98027102 &link=http%3A%2F%2Fau.sun.com%2Fedge%2F2008%2F02 %2Fentry_level.jsp%3Fcid%3D921839

This is good practice by the web developer but I hate manually trying to decode those things.  %3A is ":", %2F is "/", but anything beyond that is a struggle.  There had to be an easier way.

I’ve been tinkering with some Javascript recently and it occurred to me a bookmarklet should easily be able to tackle this task.  A quick rummage through a language reference and voila – the following bookmarklet was born.  Install it by dragging the link onto your toolbar.  Use it by opening the bookmarklet when on a page with an encoded URL.

Decode URI

The code isn’t rocket science.  It does exactly what I needed.

javascript:location.href=decodeURIComponent(location.href);

After I ran the bookmarklet the location bar contained the following.  All I had to do was discard everything prior to the "link=" entry and I was back in business!

https://promo-manager.server-secure.com/pm/mail/link.php?id=98027102 &link=http://au.sun.com/edge/2008/02/entry_level.jsp?cid=921839

Note: The initial URL above is currently working so it would seem our Corporate security guys are getting a little over zealous.

Martin over at gHacks recently posted about Microsoft’s Office 2007 plugin that saves documents as PDF:

Microsoft is offering a plugin on their homepage that adds pdf support to Office 2007 adding PDF as one of the options in the Save As dialog. That’s probably the most effective way to add support for PDF documents to Microsoft Office 2007.

I’ve been using this plugin with OneNote 2007 for some time now and thought I’d share some experiences with the product.

When using the Save As PDF function the Options button will call up the following dialog box:

Most of the options are similar to those you would get when using a virtual printer to create a PDF document.  The most significant difference is the "Create bookmarks using" option.  Creating active bookmarks (hyperlinks) within a PDF is the most compelling reason for using this plugin over a virtual printer solution.  By default the plugin will embed working links (e.g. a Word document’s table of contents will be interactive), with the "Create bookmarks using" option allowing you to extend the link support to make all headings visible in the Acrobat Reader’s Bookmarks navigation pane as well.  This link creation is something no virtual printer solution I’m aware of is capable of doing, and Adobe’s Office plugin is the only other tool I’ve used that can create working bookmarks in converted Office documents.

Unfortunately I have encountered one significant issue with the plugin.  I usually do my diagramming in Visio then copy the results into Word using Paste As Special (EMF).  This keeps the Word file size down without visually impacting the diagram on screen or paper.  When I skimmed through the PDF conversion of one Word document I noticed this in one of the embedded pictures:

The same diagram looked like this in the original document and after conversion to PDF via a virtual printer:

Obviously the plugin doesn’t work well with gradients in EMF diagrams.  I’ve yet to find an option to overcome this or a workaround that keeps Word document size down and diagrams accurate in the conversion output.

For documents that don’t include diagrams with gradients, Microsoft’s PDF plugin is my preferred way to convert documents to PDF.  For all other documents virtual printing (or Adobe’s commercial plugin) will still be the only way to give acceptable conversion results.

Over the past few years my family has spent too much time in the company of medical professionals.  So I know firsthand that navigating through the minefield off terminology used by doctors and surgeons can be a difficult and daunting task.  I’m sure you’ve all heard someone mention a doctor’s “bedside manner” before but I’ve never heard anyone talk about their “diagnosis-side manner” – the ability of a doctor to clearly describe to laymen options and the trade offs for treating the diagnosed condition.  Now we have a tool to help make it a little easier to understand what they are talking about: Visible Body.

Think of it as Google Earth for the body, but thankfully without the photo-realism!  Visible Body allows Internet Explorer users to visually navigate through the human body using a 3D interface.  You can select which systems (layers) or anatomical elements to display, search for individual items, or just browse through our internals to find what you are looking for.  I’d recommend skimming through the brief help information first because the controls aren’t quite as intuitive as Google Earth (use space bar + mouse drag to reposition instead of panning the view?) but overall the interface is pretty polished for a beta.  The one major feature still missing is non-graphical information about the item you are viewing.  For that you will still need to head over to Wikipedia or one of the medical dictionaries to complete your education.

The tool is obviously intended for teachers and people in the medical field, but they are also aware that laypeople like us are part of their target market.  When signing up one of options for explaining your intended usage was

Understand information from health care professionals

They knew we were coming!

Via gHacks

The recent release of DisplayFusion 2 was a timely reminder of how much I rely upon this program.  I use a dual display configuration at work and not a day goes by where I don’t find myself relying upon its capabilities.  The reason?  It adds keyboard shortcuts allowing you to take full advantage of multiple monitors without reaching for your mouse.  

I’ve found out the hard way that Windows level of multi-monitor support is highly dependent upon your video chipset vendor.  My previous system had an ATI chipset, and their Hydravision utility allowed me to perform similar windows management functions to DisplayFusion out of the box.  My current Thinkpad T60 includes an Intel chipset and while its display profile support is much better, its multi-monitor application management capabilities seem to be non-existent.

I tried a few alternatives but stuck with DisplayFusion because it does everything I need (and some things I don’t… yet) at the right price.  To give you an idea of its capabilities I’ve listed the default hotkeys for the standard version’s functionality.  I’m sure the Ctrl + Win + X key combination must be hard wired into my brain by now!

To be honest I haven’t even looked at the wallpaper capabilities – I usually have so many windows open I can’t even see the desktop!  But when I do get around to using the aesthetic side of the utility I’ll probably pay the $10 to upgrade to the pro version.  Working out of different offices means the resolution of my second monitor changes and it would defeat the purpose if I had to manually reconfigure my wallpaper when I booted up at new site.

via gHacks

Apple’s iPod managed to make its way into many stockings during the festive season. The svelte music player is beautifully designed, but how do you keep its appearance pristine once you remove it from the box? Can it be done without overly compromising either its aesthetics or usability?

Socks are a great way to protect an iPod while in transit and still providing some access to the controls at the same time. They help prevent cosmetic damage from abrasion and scratches and also combat some shock and intrusion damage. This makes them ideal for keeping your MP3 player safe while in a pocket or a bag, and still allow you to easily remove the case to show the iPod off in all its glory when you get to your destination.

Right now the Apple ecosystem is hoping you will run off to buy the official iPod socks from an online retailer, or failing that you might find some cheap alternatives on eBay. Or you could do what I did and DIY.

If you are a parent you can start by heading to your child’s wardrobe, otherwise make your way to your nearest children’s clothing retailer.

The key to this whole exercise is finding the right sock. If you are old enough to be reading this post then your own socks will be too large and will look decidedly home made if used. I’ve had best results with socks for an infant (sized for <= 1 year old), but make sure they are both stretchy and warmer autumn or winter socks so they have some thickness to them. This ensures they provide some padding but can still expand to completely cover your iPod.

You don’t actually have to make any modifications. This project is DIY because you are using the socks for a purpose other than was originally intended by the designer. Slide the sock onto your iPod and you are done!

Not only is this solution affordable, but you have a huge range of styles to chose from, and will have a spare case if your main one starts to look a bit worn!