Murphy Mac

Murphy has been thinking about security after discussing the previous post all over the Internet. In case you missed them, here are some security posts you might have missed:

Encrypting files from the command line. This is a quick and easy way to lock up a file tight. Not so great if you’re sending it to a Windows user though. You’ll also get started with making an interactive shell script.

Encrypting files using a widget. This post built on the command line method mentioned above. The widget supports drag and drop, just drag the file and hold onto it before invoking Dashboard.

Create an encrypted DMG. A screencast detailing use of Disk Utility to make a password protected secure DMG file.

1Password. This is a utility for storing the usernames and passwords you use all over the Internet. If you use the same credentials on every site you visit you should probably stop. This tool integrates fully with the OS X keychain and is easy to transfer from Mac to Mac.

Here’s another little tidbit: You can unzip a password-protected zip file using Terminal on your Mac. Open Terminal, type unzip followed by a space. Then drag the zip file from Finder onto the Terminal window and hit return. You’ll be prompted for the password and your file will be unzipped.

Note to Murphy Mac regulars: Murphy needs your help! Visit this link on Digg and Digg the story. Murphy could use the traffic. Thanks !

If you’re using an iPhone or a touch or some other mobile device this could be a very convenient way to retrieve a file from home and view it on your device.

Here’s the scenario: You’re on the bus, you realize your French homework is sitting at home on your Mac. Send yourself a text message with the path to the file. By the time you get to school and log on to a computer your file has been emailed. Problem solved.

Configure Murphy’s script to run every so often using something like launchd. Then send yourself an email. Include the path to the file you want sent in the body, like this:

/Users/murphy/Documents/PenskeFile.doc.

Mail will create a new message, attach the file, and send it to the address in the script. You can configure the script to run when a certain word is in the email subject, like FileGrab. This is an ideal use for rules in Mail.app. But rules don’t seem to work in Mail as of 10.5.1. Murphy hasn’t tried 10.5.2 yet.

Update:  If you leave the file name out the folder’s contents will be zipped and sent.

Instead of using rules, this script is written to run periodically. Maybe every ten minutes or so. If it sees an email with the keyword in the subject it checks for the file and sends it. If the file doesn’t exist the script sends an email that says so.

Security hole? Well, Murphy doesn’t think so. The file will only be mailed to the address you specify in the script, it’s not a reply. (you could alter the script to have it reply, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea.) You can use secure email to send the request and the file. That’s secure.

Getting back to the mobile devices: Your unhacked iPhone and touch don’t let you download files. So you can’t SSH back to the house and grab the file. You could set up your Mac as a web server, but I wouldn’t want to do that.

Using this script the file is emailed to you, so you can view it in Mobile Mail or Gmail depending on what kind of file it is. You can easily view the file later, when you’re offline. The catch? You need to know the path to the file you’re retrieving. Don’t know the path? Here’s some help.

Windows Users: Have a look here.

Note: Script requires use of Mail.app. To schedule this script to run on a schedule you might want to try something like lingon for editing your launchd configuration.

Other Murphy scripts for working with Mail:

Sleep Your Mac by Email

Select a Playlist by Email

Get a List of Your Files by Email

Retrieve Mail.app Messages by Text Message (this post shows how to match emails with Applescript using multiple criteria)

Murphy has been on the lookout for an easy way to use the Quick Add feature of Google Calendar, even when his calendar isn’t open in Safari or Firefox. There doesn’t seem to be a widget, but there is a Firefox plugin. Last time Murphy tried the plug-in there were some problems.

If you’re partial to the Terminal you might like gcalcli. Murphy uses gcalcli to make Quick Add entries from the tiny Terminal window he’s always got open. Simple, fast, convenient. He’s also using gcalcli with GeekTool to display calendar events right on the desktop, like the image you see above. Read the rest of this entry »

Quick post in case you haven’t seen this:

I’ll be the first to admit I knew nothing of Webkit until I saw it mentioned on Digg. I always forget to look at Digg. Murphy does too.

Then I read this glowing review by Seth Weintraub over at ComputerWorld. What is Webkit? It’s a developmental version of Safari you can get your hands on right now. I’ll let the post speak for itself, but in summary Seth thinks Webkit is seriously fast. More importantly, the often-ornery Digg comment crowd seems to agree.

When you start Webkit up you’ll see all your links and bookmarks. Basically, jumping back and forth between Webkit and Safari should be more or less transparent. I only played with it for a few minutes. Gmail wasn’t doing so well with auto-fill on the address line. Let us know how you do in the comments.

Here’s the link to Webkit’s nightly builds.

NOTE: Murphy could use a little help on an Applescript with regard to captured text, paths, and spaces in file names. If you have the required expertise please drop an email to murphy at murphymac dot com.  Thanks.

If you’ve jailbreaked your way to 1.1.3 it looks like movie rentals won’t play on your iPhone or iPod touch. That’s based on first hand experience and this thread over at Hackint0sh.

Other things you might want to know about rentals:

1. When you transfer your movie rental from your Mac to your device you need to be able to connect to the iTunes store. This could burn someone planning on watching on their Macbook in the airport and their device on the plane.
2. You need to be connected to the Internet when you first play the movie, to stamp the 24 hour start time.
3. Front Row can’t play your rented movie.
4. The rental can only be stored on one device at a time.

It’s been widely reported that a rental will only play back on one Mac - the one that downloaded it. Check the update on this review at Ars Technica. According to David Chartier, you can transfer a rental movie from one Mac to another, using an iPod or iPhone to make the transfer. Copying the movie file from one Mac directly to another isn’t supported. Read the rest of this entry »