Archive for category Reminders

Using a Samsung TV as an external monitor

Here’s a weird bug. I connected my macbook pro to my Samsung widescreen TV – it was detected but I had to select 59.9 as the refresh rate (rather than then autodetected 60) otherwise the TV just sat there with a message that I was using an unsupported display setting. That’s fine but how to do this in clamshell mode as macs seem not to share monitor settings between dual monitor mode and clamshell mode (or for that matter a mac mini connected to the same TV)?
My solution was to turn on screen sharing and enable VNC access. Then I plugged the mac (in clamshell mode) into the TV and connected to it via VNC. I could then select a 59.9 refresh rate and the TV magically came to life. This only needed to be done the first time I connected the mac & TV together. Weird ….

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Asynchronous HTML and HTTP

This post is to remind me that the next time that I am asked to consider using AJAX on a project to actually have a more careful think about the project’s design and user interaction requirements. If I take the time to look at what I really need to retrieve dynamically then will AHAH do a better job more simply than AJAX & DOM manipulation? Will it make my application easier to test?

No great insights, rather than a prompt to ask more questions.

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How to resize iTunes on OSX

I’ve updated to a smaller macbook – unfortunately iTunes remembered its previous size. Usually you can go to the Window > Zoom menu bar option and resize a wayward mac application, but iTunes just turns itself into a little application – not quite what I wanted. However, if you hold Alt/Option key while you click on Window > Zoom in the menu bar, iTunes will resize itself to fit the available screen area. Weird.

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