Lacie hard drive won't mount

Thank you Diannetrussell!

She (he?) provided a simple solution to a frustrating problem

diannetrussellAug 7, 2014 5:51 PM 
Re: My Lacie Hard Drive won't mount in Mavericks.in response to jobu75

Hey everyone, my solution works for me and it's very simple - could be worth trying before anything risky or complicated.

All I do is go to Activity Monitor, choose Finder -> Quit -> Force Quit. Finder re-launches automatically immediately, and my external drives all show up and behave themselves. The same simple solution also works when trash emptying gets stuck. I often find it's the Finder, not the devices and system, that is at fault.

Finding Pantone Colors

I design fabrics for Taylor Joelle Designs and we often need to give exact pantone colors to the printers.

I usually start with iPad sketches in custom colors (like my little hedgehog above). Then we pay someone to make it a pattern (don't have that totally figured out yet).

The problem is - how do I determine Pantone colors from one of my sketches?

I found a simple method here in Planet Photoshop - thank you!

First import the image into Photoshop.

Then...

Here's their tip:

Ever wanted to know what a specific color would be in a specific library (like Pantone)? Select the color with the Eyedropper tool (I). Click on your Foreground color swatch to open the Color Picker. You will notice there is a button for Color Libraries. Click on that, and it will bring you the approximate color swatch for whatever library you chose.

I used the Pantone solid coated library to generate my colors - it worked great.


And this Pantone color finder site is a great place to check your findings.

Perfect iPad Purse

If you'd like to carry your iPad in style - here is the bag for you!

The obsessively organized, iPad purse is now available at clydebags.com

The Clyde iPad purse is a satchel style bag in two color versions - bright red and turquoise.

The lining is a gorgeous vintage typewriter print from London designer, Rachel Cave.

Important features:

• top quality, weather resistant polyurethane exterior (looks fantastic, lasts forever)
• fur lined zip pocket on the back of the bag - sized perfectly for an iPad or other similar sized tablet

• easy access back zip pocket with iphone sleeve and space for other frequently used items

• adjustable shoulder strap and convenient 'grab' handle
• two compartment interior
• kindle or small tablet pocket
• private interior zip pocket
• additional interior pockets
• key hook

Playing with fonts

Have you ever wanted to pick the perfect font for your text? 

I have. Right now I'm designing a logo for my new iPad bag company - Clyde.

Here's a fun website that let me see "clyde" in every font installed on my computer

wordmark.it

Here's another question - What if you want more fonts?

Here are a few places to find free fonts (thanks to Jad Limcaco for this collection):

1. The League of Moveable Type
   This website has a great collection of free fonts including League Gothic, which has really become popular. I would suggest following them on Twitter or subscribing to their feed as well.
2. Lost Type
   I just recently stumbled upon this website and they have lots of great fonts that are available for download. Although the fonts are free, I’m sure they would love your support so maybe donate a few dollars to them.
3. Font Squirrel
   This is a great website with tons of high-quality fonts that are mostly @font-face compatible. You can also download their fonts as @font-face kits and they also have a @font-face generator. This is definitely a great resource.
4. Impallari
   There are only a few fonts available for download on this site, but they are really nice. Lobster is a great font that has gained popularity and has even been included in the Google Font directory.
5. FontFabric
   They have a great freebie section with lots of nice fonts to download.
6. DaFont
   There are a lot of fonts on this site. Sure, not all of them are the best quality, but I usually go to this site if I’m looking for a font to use with a particular look or theme. For example, if I wanted to use an Indiana Jones font or some other type of movie font, I would just do a search on this site.

One last question to address - How do I install a new font once I download it?

1. Unzip your font folder by double clicking on the downloaded file (in your downloads folder)
2. Open the folder
3. Double click on the font file - it has the .ttf extension
4. The font will open in a new window. Click "install font" and you are done.

so easy!

Now, if you unfortunately have a PC rather than a mac - here's a link on how to install fonts (it's not nearly as simple):

http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Fonts-on-Your-PC

Searching within a YouTube channel

I had to solve this challenge today: I wanted to send a link to a YouTube video within it's channel. This avoids all the sometimes scary video links that show while you are in the general YouTube site. This particular channel had hundreds of videos. The general YouTube search window would not open the video within the channel. How to find the link I wanted?

What is a YouTube Channel?

A YouTube channel is simply an account set up by an individual or an organization to host videos. You can subscribe to channels and they will show up when you sign in to YouTube.

How do I search within a channel?

At first glance there doesn't appear to be a way to do that. Here is a hidden trick:

Open the channel's homepage. Click on "Uploads" at the top of the window and a search option will appear at the right - just above the sidebar of videos.

To share a link, click on "Share" and the video's URL will appear.

Here's something strange - you can't get the code to embed a video while you are within a channel. You have to view the video outside the channel in the general YouTube site. Use the share link as the web address or the general search window to get there. In the general YouTube site an "Embed" button is available below the window. Click on it to get the embed code.

How the Internet Began

How the Internet started:-

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM):

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started,
but here's the TRUE story ....

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of
Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg.
Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far
from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever
leaving thy tent?" And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load - but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in
between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with
the drums. The drums rang out and were an immediate success.
Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having
to move from his tent.

To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures: Hebrew To The People (HTTP)

But this success did arouse envy.

A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drum heads and drumsticks.

Lo, Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken
over by others!" And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or eBay as it came to be known, he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."
And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated
Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside.

It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)
And that is how it all began.




Source of this information? The internet, of course.

Showing iPhone/iPod/iPad Video through TV

If you are a teacher or trainer (or mother or grandmother), it's wonderfully handy to play the video content collected on iPhones/iPods/iPads through a TV. I carry a collection of family and teaching clips on both devices, just in case....

The Apple Store offers two different cables for this purpose: Composite Cable and Component Cable. Current cost for each: $39.99. I'll do my best to explain the difference.

Apple Composite Cable



This cable has three TV input connectors. It connects from your device's dock connector, to a TV's composite video (yellow) and two audio (red, white) ports (small round inputs). It also has a USB connector that you can plug into a power source such as a computer or power adaptor (optional to use - it can run on battery quite a while).

Apple Component Cable

This cable has five TV input connectors. It connects from your device's dock connector, to a TV's three video ports and two audio ports. The three video ports support HDTV (high definition). It also has a USB connector for optional power sources.

To see exactly which iPhones and iPads are compatible with the devices, click the titles above to view them in the Apple Store.

So which cable do you need?

That depends on what sort of TVs you will be using. Older TVs with inputs usually have the three inputs available on the composite cable. Newer HDTVs often have both types of input. Some of the newest HDTVs only have the five component inputs.

To be absolutely sure - have both. However I only have the composite cable and I've been able to use it in all situations (so far). For now, that's the one I recommend.

These cables are available from non Apple sources are well. Ask for them at an electronics store or search online.