Windows Desktop Search and shortcuts

I guess the shortcuts feature of the XP Windows Desktop Search was too geeky to carry over to Vista?  It was what I liked most about it.  The ability to type in a short acronym to bring up a  file, run a program, navigate to a website or many other actions, from a small area on the taskbar was awesome!

Thankfully, Brandon has made his Start++ program available that gives you the same functionality in Vista.  If you are developer, it is a must have.

Linking up Help in Cocoa

I haven’t had to "hook-up" help in a Cocoa appplication yet since the application I inherited at work already had it working.  But recently, when the application invoked help I’ve been getting the message:

"Help isn’t available for <application name>"

I found this article to help me understand how help is hooked up in Cocoa.

I checked the required metatag and the info.plist values and they seemed in order.  What worked for me is to remove the Help Book Folder from the resources folder and re-insert it.  Be sure to select the radio button titled "Create Folder References for any added folders"

The one thing that is different in my Xcode 2.4.1 version project from the article was that the Resources folder exists inside a Frameworks folder.

iPods and Zune

My first MP3 player was a Creative Muvo. It only lasted a year.  Then I got some generic MP3 player with a small one line screen.  It supports playlists and generally works pretty well but the design is not very friendly.  It’s David’s now.  Then I bought an iPod shuffle for Jane followed by a shuffle for Cassidy. A few months ago we upgraded Cassidy’s shuffle with an iPod 4gig Nano.  I’ve "inherited Cassidy’s shuffle, Jane is still happy with her shuffle (Jane wants me to include that she ROCKS because of this).

My next portable music player will probably be a Zune.  It may or may not match the experience and design of an iPod, but I bet it will at least come close.  The least expensive Zune compares favorable with an iPod Nano.  They both cost the same at $149.  The Zune has a built  in FM tuner and can sync wirelessly.  The screen can also display in both portrait and landscape.  Although in recent years I’ve split my allegiance between Apple and Microsoft (Jane’s mini, our 3 ipods), we are an XBOX family and the Zune has some nice integration features with XBOX and Windows Media Center that I’m eager to play with.

Yeah, my next portable music player will probably be a Zune, unless I opt to go with the Apple iPhone!

Here are a few interesting articles regarding the Zune:

Zune vs iPod
Zune vs iPod specification smackdown

8 Zune Myths

Zune vs iPod, the final word on who should get your money