Murphy Mac

This week’s Product of the Week is not exactly Mac-oriented. But if you like to tinker you might enjoy the world of JP1.

It’s been a while since I programmed my $20 JP1 remote control. It was something of a chore, but I sure am glad I did it. Sometimes I can’t believe it actually worked. (the linked remote is an updated version of mine)

A JP1 remote can be connected to your PC for programming. I bought a cable that connected to a parallel port on my pc for ten bucks. The other end has holes that match pins inside the battery compartment of the remote.

When I bought the twenty dollar JP1 remote at Best Buy it didn’t have the pins. I called the manufacturer (link is to my remote) and told them the remote didn’t have the codes for my Directv receiver. They asked me to send it in. The remote came back free of charge, programmed with the code I needed, and the pins installed. From there I could connect the remote to my computer and program it. I only paid one way postage.

The JP1 community distributes applications that make programming your JP1 remote an attainable goal. When I looked at articles on the web I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it. The complexity depends on how lofty your goals are and what equipment you want to control with the remote.

Murphy’s Goals

I have a Samsung DLP (I have an older 46″ model) with three sources: A Tivo, an HD receiver, and a DVD recorder / player. The audio on the television is muted and all the sources output through a stereo receiver. One remote handles everything.

Here’s the worst case scenario, without a good universal remote: If I’m watching television on the Tivo and decide to start watching a DVD I would have to do the following:

• Press TV
• Press Input Select as many times as necessary to toggle to DVD
• Press Audio
• Press Input Select as many times as necessary to toggle to DVD
• Press DVD - to begin operating the DVD player.

That’s at least 5 key presses, if not more to toggle. With my JP1 remote it’s a little different. I press one button, and the five steps mentioned above take place, and there’s no toggling steps. How? The JP1 lets you create macros, which let you tie a series of key presses into a single button press. But there’s more: You can also use discrete codes to avoid the toggling through multiple choices - and go directly to your choice.

Here’s an example. The remote that comes with my television gives me one way to switch between the source devices that feed it (the Tivo, HD, and DVD). I can tap the Input Select button and rotate between the inputs. Or I can go to the menu system and select one. But either method requires multiple taps.

What’s worse, when someone like your babysitter is trying to use the remote they have to decipher things, like which input source they’ve rotated to. With a macro and a discrete code there is no guessing. They press the button and all the settings change in a predictable manner, no rotating or toggling through choices. That’s the huge benefit of using a discrete code on a JP1. A discrete code is a very specific command.

If you’re looking at a certain TV you might want to investigate what discrete codes it supports - if you’re interested in a highly functional remote. Just google for the model along with “discrete code”.

My remote has a row of four buttons at the bottom for picture in a picture functions, which I don’t use. I’ve assigned a macro to each button. For example, the swap button puts the television in TiVo mode, makes the stereo monitor the TiVo, and leaves the remote in TiVo mode. Two of the other buttons handle the DVD and HD tuner. Bonus: My remote comes with dedicated TiVo buttons like thumbs up and down, Tivo Menu, and 8 second rewind.

Bottom line: A baby sitter can press one button and switch from TiVo to DVD. One button! If they press something accidently and get the stereo source out of sync with the television source they can press that one button and all is well again. No troubleshooting over the phone, just one button.

I’ve been so happy with this solution over the last few years I haven’t even looked to see what else is out there in the world of remote controls. If you’ve got something you really like please post it in the comments.

I won’t be able to help you with programming your remote, but I’ll reply if you have any questions on the big picture. The software for programming your remote is a little messy, so you might need to spend a little time on your research. I haven’t tried to use a Mac either.` For one thing - the cables I found were all parallel. Start at Wikipedia, they have some relvant links.

This is the remote I have. Here’s some information on other remotes. You’ll probably end up doing some serious Googling before you’re done. That said, when I sat down to set up my remote I was done in less than an hour, including my three macros.

There are plenty of other remotes out there, and they can be programmed. But this is a highly functional remote at a bargain basement price. The surcharge is your time.

And remember, if an optimized remote is your goal you might want to look into discrete codes before you buy a television.

This might be the BEST documentation I’ve seen on JP1 remotes.

More links: Downloading the software - JP1 Beginners Forum

If you can’t get used to the green button for resizing your Safari windows you might like this. Your bookmarks can do more than just take you to a certain website. Using the capabilities baked into javascript you can create bookmarklets that not only open a page, they can also resize a window and set its location on the display.

But there’s more. You can get creative and coax bookmarklets into performing all kinds of tasks. For example, you could use a bookmarklet on your iPhone to search the content of a web page. Here’s a site listing dozens of bookmarklet ideas.

A bookmarklet is actually a clever line of javascript. A single line that is, just like your bookmarks. Here are two examples that Murphy uses. The first one resizes the window from which it’s clicked and positions it on the screen at a custom-set coordinate.

javascript:self.moveTo(275,8);self.resizeTo(900,800);

Right click here and select Copy Link Location to copy the code. Then you can paste it into TextEdit to change it. Or paste it into a bookmark and tweak it there to make a bookmarklet. Or keep it really simple: Drag the line of javascript to your bookmarks bar in Safari. See the screencast to watch Murphy do it.

You can adjust the numbers so the bookmarklet works for you. The first number-pair places the top left corner of the window 275 pixels from the left edge and 8 from the top. The second pair sizes the window 900 pixels tall, 800 wide.

Murphy uses this other bookmarklet to open a window for Remote Buddy, which he uses to control a remote iTunes library. A small window is suitable, and it doesn’t need toolbars or bookmarks at the top. The bookmarklet produces a tidy little window for selecting playlists and rating tracks.

javascript:window.open('http://g5.local:8888',

'MyWindow','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,

status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,

width=320,height=418,left=100,

top=300');return%20false;

Right-click here to copy this code. It needs to be a single line and is only broken up here for convenience.

The http://g5.local:8888 is my G5 running iTunes. Change that to any url you need to open. The other settings are fairly self-explanatory. Murphy has the scrollbars on so he can scroll through his playlists. You can tweak those settings to meet your own needs.

Not all bookmarklets are created equal. You may need to trawl around a little to find the right javascript that works across multiple browsers. These two were only tested in Safari.

This time our product of the week is the Apple Airport Express, a truly versatile product - recently updated to 802.11n.

But first we’ll go over some considerations for Ethernet wiring in the home and where the Express fits into Murphy’s network. I’ve had an Airport Express for a while now. Recently I’ve been using it a lot more, thanks to Remote Buddy on my iPod touch and Macs.

Previous Setup:

My Airport Express is wired into my Ethernet network via a jack in the living room, right behind the stereo. The Express was only functioning as an AirTunes device -playing music from iTunes to my stereo. I’ve got a Netgear WGR614 in the basement which provides wireless for the entire house. There’s a Tektronix Phaser wired in from a remote corner of the house. And there’s Ethernet running to the upstairs for the G5.

The house was built in 1929 and the walls aren’t thin. Surprisingly, the wireless reaches from the basement to the second floor without trouble. The WGR614 was puchased without research to put out a fire. Along the way it became my main router and has served its purpose well. Still, I felt the need to tinker.

New Setup:

Now I’ve got the wireless in the basement turned off. The Netgear still acts as the router, plugged into the cable modem. But I’ve enabled wireless access on the Airport Express. It’s still wired, acting in bridge mode, with the Netgear still handling DHCP.

I’ve got a hacked TiVo on top of the stereo, connected to my network with a Netgear FA120 USB to Ethernet adapter. But I’ve only got one cable running from the router to the living room. Luckily I had a Netgear 5-port switch that wasn’t really doing anything (Amazon currently has a rebate on the 5 and 8 port switches ).

So now I’ve got the Tivo and the Airport Express wired in from the living room. If I want to do some big file moving I can plug my laptop into one of the two ports still open on the switch.

What would be better?

I’d prefer to have more than one run of Ethernet to the upstairs, and to the living room. A big switch in the basement is less expensive than small switches scattered around the house. For many people this might not be an issue. But sometimes I don’t like moving video around over wireless signals.

The point: As long as you’re running an Ethernet cable from here to there you may as well run two. Devices are increasingly network-ready. Blu-ray players, DVRs, Slingbox, game consoles. And of course, Apple TV. It just makes sense to have the Ethernet option if you want it. When I had an upstairs bathroom renovated the electrician ran an Ethernet cable down to the basement for me. I should have made it two…

Back to the Airport Express

So now I’m testing the Airport Express as my wireless access point. My Netgear router doesn’t support WDS so I can’t extend its wireless signal. But I don’t really need to because I’m wired.

I’m also using the Airport Express to play music and podcasts from the G5 upstairs. An iPod touch or a Mac make excellent remote controls using Remote Buddy.

I can take the Airport Express to another room too. First I turn Netgear wireless back on. ( I could just leave it on) Then I change the profile of the Airport Express from its wired state to a wireless AirTunes device. It works well connected to a Tivoli radio.

The Airport Utility software makes it easy to jump from one saved profile to another. The profile stores information on how the device is configured, which is good because there are many, many combinations of settings for the device. Profiles are especially handy if you want to take your Airport Express with you on the road. The utility is helpful, but I think the device should have a simple web interface.

If you’re in a hotel which only offers wired connections you can bring your Airport Express along and start working from the bed. What you don’t want to do is plug it into a corporate network without permission.

You can also use the Airport Express as your sole network router. Plug your cable or dsl modem into its Ethernet port and it can provide wireless access for up to ten computers. It provides the services you’d expect, like encryption, pass-thru vpn, and NAT firewall.

And don’t forget - the Airport Express is compatible with the WDS standard - making it capable of extending your wireless network. In other words, a laptop on your porch can get its signal from an Airport Express inside the front door, which gets its signal wirelessly from a Linksys WRT54G in the kitchen.

Finally, the Airport Express can also connect a USB printer to your network. If you’d like to keep the printer in a back bedroom or some centralized location the Airport Express might be just what you’re looking for.

What’s Next

I’d like to get an Apple TV when I turn Directv off next month. The Apple TV can handle the AirTunes duty in the living room. Then I might move the Airport Express to the kitchen with the Tivoli. That would mean moving back to wireless over the Netgear. Hmmmm…..

Retail Weirdness: Want to pay $219 + $29.95 shipping for your Airport Express? Toyzz has you covered. Otherwise click to get the reasonable regular price.

Note on Tivoli: This is the actual Tivoli device I have, but I don’t remember paying this much for it. The built-in rechargeable battery is nice.

One more product I find useful with all this stuff plugged into power strips: Extension cord shorties. When the Powersquid is overkill.

Related: Select a Playlist by Email

I was so close to making a screencast tonight, but the stuff I was looking at isn’t quite worth the time. For me. Maybe for you?

I found these little apps on Apple’s Applescript site that let you drop some files onto a droplet. The files are stored in the droplet which when double-clicked displays the files in Quick Look. So you could send the droplet to another Leopard user and they could see a group of photos, Numbers docs, or whatever mix of files you drop in there. As long as Quick Look can display them you’re good.

The downside is that it’s not really using Quick Look - the script utilizes qlmanage which is a Terminal utility intended for Quick Look testing. Unfortunately the command line version of Quick Look doesn’t do everything full-on Quick Look does. For example, once I invoked the Index view I couldn’t get back to regular view. I couldn’t go full screen. And the space bar wouldn’t close the Quick Look window. The site provides ample warning that qlmanage isn’t everything that Quick Look is. It does play video though.

On the plus side, it’s conveivable you might want a different look for files you’re distributing. A single Quicktime movie sent this way might get a little more attention, it won’t look like the same old same old. Then again, if it gets sent on to a non-Leopard user that wouldn’t be good.

Looking at the package contents (right click the droplet and select Show Package Contents) you’ll see that the underlying Applescript invokes qlmanage with the -p option, which displays normal Quick Look previews. I was hopeful when I saw the man page in Terminal. The -t option displays thumbnails, but not in the manner you might expect.  I expected the Quick Look Index view.

Altering the script to use -t resulted in thumbnails displayed one at a time in a Preview-looking window - revealing the next preview only when you close the previous one. It didn’t look like Quick Look at all.

If there were a way to make it open in Index view and have that view function like Quick Look - letting me get back to the default view - I’d be interested. But I’m not. What about you?

You can read more about the downloads here. The download includes another droplet for Quick Look that opens the files you drop on it immediately with pseudo Quick Look.   It uses qlmanage as well.

There’s another download on the site that lets you click a Finder toolbar button to jump into a full-size Finder window in Cover Flow view - with one click. Is that anything?

The new Elphs are coming! Which means it’s time for you to get an old Elph and save some money. You can grab the Elph SD1000 on Amazon for less than $160 in either silver or the retro black. The black is actually silver with a black lens accent, reminiscent of the original film Elph.

New Elph Powershots coming out next month are priced in the $299-$399 range.

You don’t need Murphy to tell you the Elph line is a solid established standard. All you have to do is look at how many customer reviews the Elph has on Amazon compared to other point-and-shoot cameras. Almost 600. Average review? 4 1/2 out of 5.

I bought the Elph for times when the D70 is too much to lug. Even with a fixed 50mm lens it’s quite bulky. When I started looking at compacts dimensions weighed in as a major factor. The SD1000 is tiny. Its simple boxy shape has timeless style, and slips easily into a pocket.

The Elph has a face-finder focus mode that’s pretty good at finding faces, but it might take a little getting used to. The interface is simplified compared to cameras offering a full assortment of manual settings. Small as this camera is, it still includes an optical viewfinder.

Saturday I noticed a large number of parents toting SLR cameras at the easter egg hunt. At least half. When you’re trying to capture a fleeting moment you’ve got a better chance with SLR. The Elph has the point and shoot lag, but it’s not too bad. Less than half a second in good lighting.

If your eyes are starting to go you might take a look at the SD750. The 3″ display (bigger than the SD1000) is bright and beautiful. A good friend has had excellent results with it.

I took a look at a Samsung and a Sony too. The first had a proprietary cable and the second had a proprietary storage card. As they say on Twitter: FAIL.