http://scottmachaffie.com/articles Writing, technology, programming Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:56:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The iPhone uses a proprietary library on Windows and Mac to transfer photos from the iPhone to the computer.  Presumably, they're doing this to prevent playing with the phone's other contents (files). Someone has written a replacement driver for Linux which allows access to the photos.  It looks like he reverse-engineered ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=32 I have downloaded several applications to my iPhone. These aren't "critical" or "necessary" applications, but I thought they might be of interest. Lightsaber -- very cool, you get to use a lightsaber from one of the Star Wars movies or you can make your own.  Moving your iPhone makes lightsaber ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=31 A writer writes something, revises it repeatedly, then ships it. A programmer writes something, ships it, then revises it repeatedly. http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=30 I sometimes have fat fingers on my iPhone and end up opening messages instead of deleting them (hey, it looks like a delete swipe to me). An easy trick, as of one of the 2.x updates, is to hit the "Edit" button in the upper right corner while viewing messages.  Then, ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=29 Metaphor doesn't work in the opening of fantasy and science fiction. Take a traditional work of fiction that opens: Tom was a rock. From this sentence, we know two things: Tom is a solid, reliable character, and the writer isn't very imaginative. Now that a fantasy novel that opens: Tom was a rock. In this case, ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=28 Here is an easy way to get rid of email on your iPhone that can't be sent.  (Why would you get unsendable email?  Well, in my case it came from having three-year-old twin boys...) 1.  Switch to Airplane mode (Settings / Airplane Mode / On) 2.  You may have to turn off ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=27 Ever wonder what game ratings really mean? 10  Average 9.5  Below average 9  So awful it's not even worth the free review copy we got http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=26 Allen Wong created a Palm-in-a-book and is now working on a revised version: a solar-powered Palm device. For the book, he stuck a Palm PDA into a notebook, then added an infrared keyboard. For the solar version, he tore everything apart and is working on making the combination solar-powered. ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=25 I needed to check our model train track for continuity, for our boys. I didn't have a multimeter, so I improvised. I used a 9-volt battery, an LED, and a wire. I consider this absolutely basic stuff--something I learned so long ago, I've forgotten when I learned it. I hope ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=22 We went to Fry's yesterday and looked at the videos.  Fry's put "The Adventures of Baron von Munchhausen" and "Corpse Bride" into the Family section.  While I personally agree with that choice (although they aren't appropriate for three year olds), I was surprised that a company felt that way as ... http://scottmachaffie.com/articles/?p=21