Mike Hudson

TuneUp saves the day with the iTunes library.

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For years now I have despised the way iTunes handles it’s music organisation, and it’s inability to keep compilations together. Leaving you with a huge mess of a library. Then there’s the other bug bear – it not being able to locate album art unless you manually specify it. Years ago (when I was younger and had more time on my hands) I used to go through my collections with ID3 tag editors. I no longer have time for things like that, and with an 90GB iTunes library it would take me the best part of a year. 

Luckily I recently stumbled upon an application called TuneUp (thanks to a Google Adwords ad on my own site!) so I headed over to it’s homepage and downloaded a demo copy.. The application boasts the ability to be able to clean up incorrectly tagged tracks and downloaded album artwork, so it seemed perfect! The demo version came with some limitations, the first being it would only clean 100 tracks and source 50 artwork peg’s.
So I searched through my album for the inevitable unknown album by unknown artists, which contain a massive 950 MP3’s. I threw the first 100 at the TuneUp app and sat and watched it query each one.. I was amazed to see it correctly tag every track, so I clicked the save button to update their ID3 tags. Then made my way back to it’s homepage to activate a year’s membership to finish my cleaning up!
I have just set it going on the remaining 800 tracks in the album, and just like the demo version it’s successfully tagging everyone!
The application is faultless – and I would highly recommend it!
Click here to watch a video of it in action. Click here to download your limited trial version.

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NetBeans 6.7

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Upon switching to Mac OS X I needed to find a new development studio for my PHP works. I searched high and low and read many tutorials from many forums around the world. However, I have finally settled with NetBeans. NetBeans is an open-source application, which is not only capable of syntax highlighting PHP but Java, C/C++, Groovy, Ruby and many many more. It supports many platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS C and even Solaris.

The latest version (6.7) includes integration with Project Kenai which is a collaborative environment for developers working on open-source projects.
The NetBeans website also contains many hands on tutorials and how-to’s to get you started with the NetBeans environment. Developed by the NetBeans community, it’s becoming an excellent resource. Not only for NetBeans usage but also general developed tips and tricks! They even offer online training courses!
The NetBeans developers promote plugin development and host a portal boasting a massive collection of application plugins.
So, what are you waiting for? Download your NetBeans IDE now!

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Can't afford photoshop? Get GIMP

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….. No, not A GIMP – just GIMP – The GNU Image Manipulation Program. Everyone knows just how powerful Adobe Photoshop is, which is all well and good if you are a professional user who can claim the costs back against your companies funds.. However for the average home user, wanting to edit their holiday photo’s from Costa France, there are few alternatives that provide similar ability and tools..

One of the major players in the market is GIMP. The GIMP project launched back in early 1998 and has been going from strength to strength ever since. 
The project is now unto version 2.6, which features a massive collection of tools and capabilities. All of which can be viewed on the GIMP features page.
GIMP is available for the following operating systems: OS X, GIMP 2.6.7 for Windows and for Linux.

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WakeOnLan for Mac

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One thing I always ensure I am able to do, is to control all the devices on my LAN from one single seat. Some may think thats lazy, others may think resourceful. Well I think it’s resourceful! One main part of being able to control equipment is the ability to switch it on without having to actually push a hardware button. To do this you can send it a special ‘magic’ packet over the network. Basically telling the PC’s network card to wake up the p.c.!

There are various applications to do this, one very good one for Mac comes from ReadPixel Software
ReadPixel’s WakeOnLan is quite special in the way that it always keeps it’s list up to date using passive network scanning. Providing an instant view of what devices it discovers on your network. 
Once the list has been populated, you simply right click on the device you would like to power on and tell it to ‘Wake Up!’ Then, as if by magic (and if your network adapter supports it) the device should power up!
It really is as simple as that!
But… HOLD THE PHONE! The features don’t stop there!!
Excerpt taken from RedPixel’s website:
WakeOnLan_Schedule

Scheduled Wake Up Calls
In addition to timer based wake up calls, each computer can be scheduled to be woken up frequently at a day of the week (or, weekdays or weekends only) and time of your choice. For example, schedule wake up calls each Sunday night at 04:00AM for backup.

WakeOnLan Dashboard Widget
You need to wakeup some other computer quickly, but don’t want to start the WakeOnLan application? Just press F12 and use the WakeOnLan Widget. Simply select the computer to be woken up and click on the sun. Press F12 again and you’re done.

WakeOnLan_DockMenu

New for all Mac OS X versions: Dock Menu
Faster access for everyone. Click and hold the WakeOnLan icon in the Dock (while WakeOnLan running), and select any computer to be woken up or put asleep directly from the menu. It doesn’t get any simpler.

About WakeOnLanWakeOnLan is Freeware. It is a Universal Application and runs on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, 10.4 Tiger and 10.3 Panther.

So what are you waiting for? Download your copy now! 
Also – why not check out some of their other software offerings:
RemoteTap – “RemoteTap 3 is a “Mac Style” remote desktop management solution for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It introduces several first and only features for any VNC-like application.”
RT Monitor – “RemoteTapMonitor is a companion product for RemoteTap for iPhone. It is a Mac OS X client to monitor and remote control multiple Macs at once. Make sure to install the free RemoteTap preference pane, including optimized server software, on each r
emote Mac.”

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Fitting Fuel Sender Unit – Audi A3 SportBack

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1. Lift out the bottom rear seat – Remove the baby seat clips then lift seat upwards, slide out of door and into the front of the car for safe clean storage.
2. Unclip the snap clip wires from onto of the rubber cover on seat base behind drivers seat.
3. Lift off the rubber cover and place safely to one side.
4. Disconnect the blue and black pipes, and place in a pot to collect fuel from pipes (shouldn’t be much)
5. Use hammer and long flat bladed screw driver to turn round the metal locking bracket type thing
6. Fuel pump is almost spring loaded so should pop upwards, lift out slowly allowing time for fuel to drain from entry hole.
7. Tilt the pump slightly to the left allowing remaining fuel to drain out and to get the fuel sender plastic level out from the tank.
8. Empty out any remaining fuel, and place on plastic (car mat or similar) out side of car for easy access. 
9. Make a note of the 3 wires connection points, to ensure you put them back in the right place. (We stayed old fashioned, and used the shortest cable must go first method like a true professional)
10. Use a flat bladed screw driver and prize out the small plugs
11. Slide the plastic connector downwards and off the side of the fuel pump.
12. Cable up the new sender using the cable positioning you made a note of earlier.
13. Slide the plastic sender back onto the side of the pump
15. Place the rubber seal back around the fuel tank hole (carefully otherwise you will be arm deep in petrol hunting for it)
16. Carefully feed the fuel pump back into the tank, making sure the blue ‘lug’ is pointing to the back of the car.
17. Place the metal ring back on, and tap back round until tight.
18. Push the blue and black pipes back into place.
19. Reconnect the push block connectors on the top of the rubber covers
20. Place rubber cover back onto of the fuel pump
21. Cross fingers and attempt to start the car
22. If you’re still reading this, all is still well and your car is still in one piece.

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