Random Filenames for Digital Photo Frame Images

Many of the digital photo frames on the market still don’t have the ability to shuffle images and display them in random order.   A couple people I know have frames and want to mix up the photo stream a little. The first time I ran into this issue I used a Windows utility called renamer to assign random names to the image files. But what about a pure Mac solution?

There is one, and you don’t need anything other than OS X to get it done.  Skip to the screencast if you prefer - otherwise here’s what you do:

Place the files to be renamed in one folder. It’s best to have them all in one folder without subfolders. If you have images scattered inside subdirectories you’ll have to make some adjustments to these instructions.  USE A COPY OF YOUR ORIGINAL IMAGE FILES,  there’s no reason not to.

Open the Terminal from your Utilities folder in Applications. Type cd followed by a space. Then drag the folder containing the files from Finder to the Terminal window. Hit return. The Terminal prompt should update to indicate you’re now in the directory containing the images.  This folder should NOT BE THE SAME AS THE ONE YOUR ORIGINALS RESIDE IN.  Sorry for that, but it’s important.

Finally, type the following command in the Terminal:

for i in *.jpg; do mv $i $RANDOM.jpg; done

The command is case-sensitive.  If your images have names ending .JPG you’ll need to adjust the *.jpg part of the command above to use a capital JPG.

Hit return and your image files are renamed using random numbers.  Copy them to the digital photo frame and your images should cycle randomly.  Thanks to this thread at Mac Rumors Forums.

I’ve included a screencast for those not familiar with Terminal.  Be careful in the Terminal.  You can delete files accidentally and they won’t be in your Trash !  See this warning for more information.

Google Maps to GPX or MotionX GPS

While looking for a way to dump a Google Maps route from my Mac into MotionX GPS I stumbled into a web site called GPS Visualizer. They provided a form for processing a Google Map url, such as a directions page. The output was a GPX file that MotionX GPS could import.

From the beginning: First I went to Google Maps on my Mac and got directions from Point A (apple store 5th ave) to Point B (apple store broadway). Then I clicked on the Link link and copied the text in the link field. In other words, after clicking “Link” at the top right of the map I copied the text from the top field in the pop-up. (image below)
Optionally, you might want to save the map to your own personal Google Maps before grabbing the link. In my brief experimentation fewer waypoints were dropped into my iPhone if I added that step. When I was done with the route on the iPhone I had to delete the waypoints one by one, so fewer waypoints means less cleanup later.

Here’s a look at the form I filled out on the GPS Visualizer site. I only needed to paste in the link and select GPX as the output format, as indicated.

(Instead of using directions you can use the link from a place on the map, in which case MotionX GPS will import a waypoint)

Once you click Convert on the form above you’ll be given a link to download the GPX file. Check your Downloads folder and make sure the file name ends with .gpx - and fix it if it doesn’t. From there it’s all downhill.

The GPX file is added to your iPhone by email. Send your downloaded file to gpsimport@motionx.com and they’ll reply with a specially created link. Open their email response on your iPhone and tap the link. That’s it, the GPX information is imported into MotionX GPS. You’ll see a new entry on the log page in MotionX GPS and when you open it up you’ll see something like the map included here.

There may be FAR easier ways to accomplish this — if you know one please let me know. But for now thanks to GPS Visualizer for offering a useful service. It looks like their site offers many other forms of conversion and map creation as well.

MotionX GPS is one of my favorite iPhone apps. It’s had many significant updates since I purchased it, highly recommended.

Restore the Master Library Container in iTunes

Remember when iTunes used to have a Library container that you could select as the basis for a search of ALL your content? That was nice. Now if you want to search for a TV show in the library you need to click on the TV Shows node before initiating a search.

If there were a keyboard shortcut to select each container I’d use it, but I don’t see any such shortcuts. Thanks to the king of AppleScripts for iTunes I’ve pulled together some pieces that give me a solution.

If you really miss the all-inclusive Library container you can add it back into iTunes using an AppleScript application provided by Doug Adams called Change Hidden iTunes Preferences. From there you can script selection of that container or you can go a step further: I’m using TextExpander to kick off a script that facilitates iTunes searching. The script can select the Library container or go on to select a container like TV Shows, Movies, or Podcasts. The extra step is only required if you prefer to have search results limited by media type.

The commands to select the Library container were provided by Doug. When hooks for selecting other containers weren’t readily apparent (maybe they’re there and I didn’t see them) I moved on to another strategy: Selecting the Library and then scripting arrow key presses to move down the tree. So far that works ok. Last step: Place the cursor in the search box. Doug’s page on automating keystrokes helps there too.

The simple script, shown in the screenshot, can be kicked off with a keyboard shortcut. For me it means not using the mouse, and that’s worth the effort. Still, the script isn’t working 100% of the time. For example, if the Library node is already selected it fails. Needs a little work…