GreenEye Wire

OK, I found this out when I updated to the Mac 10.6 Snow Leopard OS. It changed all my text documents to open up with Apple’s TextEdit instead of my usual BareBones TextWrangler program. The fix is simple, but it is listed nowhere that I could find.

Go to one of your documents and Right click (or CTL Click) to get the menu that pops up to the side. Choose to “Get Info” from the list. In the box, there is an “Open With” drop down box that will allow you to choose whatever program you want. Choose your program. Underneath that box, you’ll find a “Use this application to open all documents like this one.” Note that you’ll have to choose the program before you get the “Change all” button to show up.

When it does, click it and you’ll get a window that basically says “Are you sure you want to change all similar documents to open with the application “TextWrangler.app”? This change will apply to all documents with the extension “.txt”.

Click “continue” to make it happen.

This should work with all other programs as well.

Long story short because I’m moving and don’t have a lot of time. My hard drive went completely blippo and had to be replaced. Thankfully, I just purchased a warranty for my little Mac, so it was all covered. And, thankfully, my Time Machine ran that day, so I had a complete backup.

All I had to do was click a button that said “Restore from backup” and presto, my mac was back to it was before.

I love my Mac.

I have been fighting this for ever. And after a friend of mine that I’d not heard from forever left me messages AND I was away from the screen, I knew I had to find out how to do it. Thank you Astraith for the following video:

This post does not look unusual. In fact, it looks pretty boring. But the cool thing about this post, is that I’m not touching the keyboard. I am using a really cool new software called Dictate by MacSpeech. And in order to show you how accurate it is, I’m not going to correcting the mistakes.

I was actually fairly impressed with iListen. IListen was the product before Dictate. But, I have to say, that dictate blows I listen out of the water. I think the most difficult thing when using a dictation software is not pausing in weird places. It’s not like a magic talking to anyone. The more natural and make my conversation with the software, the more accurate it is.

I started looking for a dictation software few years back when my wrists gave out. I had Cuba O’Connell syndrome in my arms so bad that I literally could not hold a glass without shaking. I could not type for longer than maybe two minutes. When your keyboard is your form of communication with the world, and your wrists get out, you’re pretty much screwed.

I think one of the most cool things about this software, is that it works with nearly any program. Right now, I’m dictating directly into my WordPress. Hey that’s pretty cool, even capitalized WordPress correctly. I can also use voice commands to go to the file system. Literally, I don’t have to touch the keyboard to do any of this. How cool is that?

Now I know that not everybody uses a Mac. But the software is made by the same people who make the Dragon NaturallySpeaking. So if you have a PC, you can get something similar.

I even like that can cuss at the software. Bitch. Dammit. Thought that. Okay, I guess I can’t say the word FTC K.

OK. It’s official. The new Spaces thing on Leopard rocks.

As I am the queen of having 500 windows open at once and only a 13 inch screen on which to view them, I have to say it is one of the handiest new features of leopard I’ve used.

I can’t find the easter eggs in this thing, though I’ve heard there is a Monte Python clip somewhere buried deep. I’m not the sort to sit right down and figure out my new os when I first install it, I sort of limp along until I need to really do it and then struggle through it.

Hence the reason I have a post 2 weeks ago about installing Leopard and just now I’m getting to learn spaces.

But then, I’ve never claimed to be organized.

**Update** I have just found the most cool feature: if I start to use skype, my itunes will automatically fade out to a mute so I can talk on my skype. When I hang skype up, my itunes fades back up so I can hear it!