“SafariBookmarksSyncAgent quit unexpectedly” is an error message that could sometime appear on Mac computers while the user is browsing the Internet on their Safari browser. Some users even report that this issue may occur even if/when they aren’t using Safari at all.  User Complaints “SafariBookmarksSyncAgent…

This is the second installment of the Applescript Tutorials for Scientists, one response I got from the first article was to suggest a few reference books or articles. Getting Started with AppleScript is a comprehensive overview of Applescript that is part of the Apple Developers reference library. I’m…

USB or Ethernet Data Acquisition for OSX not from N.I.? By PeterG at Tue, Oct 17 2006 4:00pm | General Discussion Does anyone know of a *good* working USB or Ethernet based data acquisition device that works under OSX *AND* has driver level support for…

In this series of articles and tutorials I’ll be discussing some of the various technologies and strategies available for increasing the performance of science-related applications. Some of the items that will be discussed are Mac Only (e.g. Accelerate framework) while others will be generally applicable…

In the first installment of this Xgrid tutorial series, I introduced Xgrid and told you when to use it and how to use it. We used the Terminal to feed Xgrid, one job at a time, and ask the results back, one job at a time. In the second installment,…

Protein Data Bank Demo and Canvas Technology Analysis In this article, I provide some background and analysis of the javascript/Canvas technology along with future prospects followed by a step-by-step walkthrough on how to quickly put together a rich web application with the ChemDoodle Web Components. In the…

This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of tutorials on Apple’s own scripting language Applescript. I should perhaps begin with a confession, “I’m not a programmer”, by training I’m a chemist and I spent the majority of my career as a…

There has been quite a bit of discussion the last few days about the momentum-based scrolling that Apple uses on the iPhone. The discussion has largely been fanned by John Gruber’s Daring Fireball blog. He has been arguing for some time that one of the reasons web…

Around 3 years ago, I co-authored the book Beginning Mac OS X Programming with Mike Trent. It takes a broad look at developing software on the Mac, covering as much ground as possible, from Carbon to Cocoa, and even AppleScript. As far as I know, it is…

One of the great things about developing for the Mac or iPhone is the suite of performance and debugging tools that Apple provides: GDB, Shark, Instruments, etc. However, there’s one tool which has received a lot less attention than it should, potentially because of its…