Image files to PowerPoint slides Automatically

Imagine that you (a Mac user, of course) have a bunch of image files (say, screenshots) that you need to get into a PowerPoint presentation. How do you do it? Well, in PowerPoint you would create a new slide, go under Insert menu, pick "Picture…", in the subsequent dialog box navigate to where your image files are, pick one, hit "Insert" and then repeat the process as many times are there images to include. The question is - aren't computers supposed to make your life easier??? I encounter this scenario quite frequently, and so I figured that investing a bit of time into trying to figure out how to do this right was worth it. The solution is based on Apple Automator and uses Snow Leopard revamped Services (if you are not using Snow Leopard, this is still imminently doable with Automator). Here we go.

Launch Automator and choose "Service" on initial prompt

Set the selectors in the upper right gray bar as shown on below

Find the poorly named but highly useful "Create PowerPoint Picture Slide Shows" action and drag it in:

File > Save

I named my service "Add to PowerPoint Presentation"

You're done!

To test, select some image files in Finder, then go Finder > Services > Add to PowerPoint Presentation. Viola!

Next time you find yourself with a heap of images that need to go into PowerPoint (or any other repetitive kind of task), right when your mind starts to get numb just imagining what you are about to start doing, ask yourself - won't it be better to have my computer do this for me? Then take a little time, figure out a cool solution, and write about it so I can find it!

Paste unformatted text in Word 2008 for Mac via keyboard shortcut

I often need to paste text into Word 2008 for Mac but frequently need to make sure the formatting does not clash with existing document. The only way Word lets you do it is to go Edit > Paste Special… then manually select Unformatted Text and hit OK. Way, way too many steps and keyboard/mouse switches for a simple and frequently used action. Ideally I want to accomplish this with a keyboard shortcut. Older versions of MS Office for Mac supported VB scripting, and there was an easy native solution; as you know, Office 2008 dropped that support. So people who know turned to Apple Script. And I turned to Google to find those people… The solution:

In AppleScript Editor, open a new document and paste this in:

try
set theClip to Unicode text of (the clipboard as record)
tell application 'Microsoft Word' to tell selection to type text text theClip
end try

Save as Script; name it "Paste Plain Text\omV.scpt" and place it into ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Word Script Menu Items

Now, when you need to paste unformatted text, hit Option+Command+V and - viola! - magic happens.

Enjoy!

Minute Clinic

Minute Clinic at CVS rules! I went in today for a flu shot and was very pleasantly surprised. Actually, it reminded me of my visit to another Minute Clinic location 2 years ago - I also went in for a flu shot and also walked out smiling and surprised at how nice and effortless and well thought-out the entire process was. It's an experience that is entirely different from all other healthcare-related interactions you would typically deal with. Little to no wait. Smiling, likable, nice personnel. In-and-out - exactly how I like my interactions with healthcare system to be, if I must interact with it. Also, on the geeky side - their IT is very impressively done. You register at a kiosk outside - touch-screen PC with good (not excellent, but good) interface walks you through a few screens of demographics and typical questionnaire about your allergies, etc. Quick and painless. There's a question about whether you like to get access to your records and you need to provide your e-mail address if that is what you want. One I got home, there was an e-mail waiting with instructions to click on a link to verify my identity. Another nice touch - I had to enter a code found on my paper visit receipt which I was given upon leaving the clinic - this way the system was able to not only verify my ownership of the e-mail, but also verify my identify, but in a completely unobtrusive and seamless way! Once I completed the simple registration process online, I saw the records from both of my visits to Minute Clinic - complete with all information, even including vaccine lot numbers! In addition, there were two buttons - one for exporting my records into Google Health and another for Microsoft HealthVault. As easy as clicking a button - literally! Pleasant, simple, transparent - overall two thumbs up. If only they had H1N1 vaccine there...

Russification of Macintosh

My venerable Russification of Macintosh site has not been updated in a while, mostly due to the fact that the free hosting provider has been ignoring my pleas to restore access to the files. There've been some recent developments and I wanted to make sure that my fellow Russian-speaking computer users have uninterrupted access to the wisdom and goodness that is the Russian phonetic keyboard layout. Hence this update in my blog.

If you are a Mac user, things have gotten substantially easier since I originally started providing information about getting your Mac to "type" in Russian. Macs come with all the necessary pieces in place - fonts, keyboard layouts, applications that are ready to deal with Cyrillic alphabets right out of the box. One crucial thing is still missing, however - if you are not familiar with key layout in a standard Russian typewriter, you will find it difficult to use Apple-supplied Russian keyboard layouts. This is where my phonetic keyboard layout comes in - it makes it to super-easy to type in Russian because majority of letters are arranged in such a way as to correspond phonetically with latin keys on your keyboard. Here's what my keyboard layout looks like:

There are two things that prompted me to make this update in my blog - first, keyboard layout files are no longer available for download from the original website; and second - MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" finally did away with old way of specifying keyboard layouts in favor of newfangled XML-based files. I made a quick version of my layout in the new format and have been testing it for a while; it is now ready for wider audience.

Dear users, please enjoy!

Keyboard Layout for MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" and above

Download this file: ruskbd106.zip

Unzip it by double-clicking on it

Place contents into either /Library/Keyboard Layouts or ~/Library/Keyboards folder

Go to System Preferences -> Language & Text -> Input Sources tab and enable the new layout - it is called "Russification"

Log out and log back in

Switch to this layout to type in Russian; switch back to your default layout when you're done

Option key accesses certain letters not present in regular layout

Apostrophe is in the upper left instead of "~" (tilde) key - this feature is unique in Snow Leopard version

If you use this layout, consider making a donation to support availability and continued development!

Keyboard Layout for MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" to 10.5 "Leopard"

Download this file: ruskbdx2.zip

Unzip it by double-clicking on it

Place contents into either /Library/Keyboard Layouts or ~/Library/Keyboards folder

Log out and log back in

Go to System Preferences -> International -> Input Menu tab and enable the new layouts (you truly need only one - "Русская - AppleStd")

CapsLock toggles between Latin and Cyrillic layout:

• CapsLock up -> Latin
• CapsLock down -> Cyrillic

Shift key functions normally in both configurations, producing capital letters.

Option key accesses certain letters not present in regular layout

If you use this layout, consider making a donation to support availability and continued development!

Keyboard Layout for Windows

Now you can have the same easy-to-use phonetic keyboard layout you came to trust on your Mac when using Windows. I understand that you would rather be using your Mac, but sometimes we simply have no control over these things. So while you have to put up with Windows, at least you do not have to put up with a typewriter-style keyboard layout!

Should be compatible with Windows 2000 and XP (limited testing performed on XP only)

Instructions

Download this file: RU-MBP.zip

Unzip

Double-click "RU-MBP" to install

Configure XP

Start->Settings->Control Panel->Regional and Language

Languages Tab, in "Text services and input languages," click

"Details..."

Under "Installed services," click "Add..."

Under "Input language:" select Russian

Check "Keyboard layout/IME:"

Choose "Russian Phonetic Student Keyboard Layout," click "OK"

There are now 2 Russian keyboard layouts; remove the one named "Russian"

One the same window under "Preferences" click "Language Bar..."

Check "Show the Language bar on the desktop" and click "OK"

A few more "OK" to dismiss the remaining windows

Now, use Left Alt + Shift to activate the new layout you just installed!

If you use this layout, consider making a donation to support availability and continued development!

What's the difference between a "disc" and a "disk?"

Did you ever wonder about the difference between a "disc" and a "disk?" Find out by reading a recent Apple's KnowledgeBase article.

Create custom keyboard layouts with Ukelele | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

MacFixIt has a writeup on using Ukelele utility to create your own keyboard layouts for the Mac: Create custom keyboard layouts with Ukelele | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

Configure built-in VPN client in Snow Leopard

MacOS X 10.6 Snow Leopard comes with built-in VPN client. Snow Leopard did break my Cisco VPN client, so learning how to set up the native client makes me very happy. Steps are:

• System Preferences > Network
• Click "+" and pick "VPN" under Interface
• Choose "Cisco IPSec" as VPN Type
• Enter a name of your choosing as Service Name
• Click "Create"
• Server Address - value of Host from your .pcf file
• Account name - your user name
• Password - leave blank and you will be prompted upon establishing a connection
• click Authentication Settings
• Shared Secret - either value of GroupPwd from .pcf file; if blank, take value of enc_GroupPwd and decrypt it at http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode
• Group Name - value of GroupName from .pcf file