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Ask TUAW: Mailboxes on MobileMac, Mac FireWire HD-DVR, Photo Booth on an external drive and more

mat lu
Updated ·5 min read

This time in Ask TUAW we'll be looking at questions about using a Mac as a DVR over FireWire, using Photo Booth with an external hard drive, saving messages on MobileMe, opening Google searches in a Safari tab, and more.

As always, your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X, as certain answers will vary between different Macs and Tiger vs. Leopard, etc. (we'll assume you're running Leopard if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!

Zoe asks

When you select a word(s) in Safari, you can Right click and a context menu appears. One of these options is one I use daily, that of "Search in Google" HOWEVER, I don't want it to use the current tab, because I'm still reading the page. Can this be modified to open a new tab?

As long as you you've got the "⌘-click opens a link in a new tab" checkbox on in the Tabs tab of Safari's preferences you can search with google in a tab simply by holding down the ⌘ key when you right click.



totoro asks

What is the difference between Secure Empty Trash and Empty Trash Securely? One is a Finder Preference, one is a menu selection. They seem to take different durations to perform their functions, but that could be my imagination.

I'm reasonably sure it's your imagination. All the Finder preference does is securely empty the trash every time you empty it rather than you having to choose it explicitly from the menubar.


ad6am asks

Any idea how to have MobileMe keep a copy of every sent and received email in an archive folder on the server? Even better - and this may be asking too much - is there a way to upload back to the server all of the messages I've saved On My Mac?... For years I've been moving messages from Mail.app's inbox to folders On My Mac. But recently I needed to access a message on my iPhone that had been already filed. And it seems ridiculous to underutilize MobileMe's 10 gigs of storage when my ~/Library/Mail and ~/Library/Mail Downloads folder are only around 2 gigs each. I know I can keep copies of sent messages on the server, and even bcc myself. Is leaving all my received messages in the inbox the only way to keep them on the server? I don't know about you, but that would really screw up my workflow.

I have a suggestion. You can create new mailboxes by going to Mailbox New Mailbox. Next, choose to create it on MobileMe (mine still says .Mac but it's the same difference). Now you have a mailbox on the MobileMe server you can use however you want. Create a series of Rules in Mail.app that would automatically copy your messages to the MobileMe mailbox based on whatever criteria you choose. You may need to BCC all your sent messages to yourself to make this work (I do the same thing, but I have a rule forward all my mail to Gmail for backup).



John asks

Part 1: I have an old Mac mini (PowerPC) that I would like to use as a DVR with my FireWire enabled cable box, primarily for HDTV content. Is this possible and if so what do I need? Part 2: If Part 1 is possible, can I schedule recordings and set up, say, an Automator Action, to convert the file for playback on TV AND move the resulting file to iTunes?

As to whether or not it's possible, it really comes down to whether or not the mini has the horsepower to digest the HD content. To begin with, you need to set up the Mac mini to record the HD content which will require you to download Apple's FireWire SDK from ADC (you'll have to register if you're not already a member). The idea perhaps originally appeared at Mac OS X Hints (later updated here), but you'd probably do best to follow this handy tutorial.

As far as scheduling goes, your best best is probably FireRecord. Unfortunately, the download links are not completely up to date, so try getting it here (download link). Once you've got the files you can easily convert the files with VisualHub ($23.32) which can be automated with some handy Automator actions. Alternately (and probably more slowly) you could use QuickTime Pro ($29.99) and the MPEG-2 plugin ($19.99) plus these Automator actions, though frankly I'd recommend VisualHub.


Gary asks

Is it possible to add an inexpensive non-Apple WiFi router to an existing Apple Airport WiFi network? I'd love to extend the network's range without having to spend $99 on an Airport Express when I don't need the additional functionality of wireless printing or Air Tunes.

To do this you would need a base-station that's compatible with Apple's version of WDS (Wireless Distribution System). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a solid standard and different implementations are incompatible. So while you may getting it working with other hardware (such as Linksys), in the end I would suggest it's really not worth the extra headache, particularly since you won't be able to use Apple's nifty setup tools. You'll save yourself a lot of time and effort just by going with all Apple gear.


Kris asks

I replaced my picture folder in my root with an alias, pointing to a folder on my external drive, and it works perfect in every way, except that Photo Booth refuses to save pictures. Is there a terminal/other solution to make it save to my external drive?

As another reader suggests, you'll need to create a symbolic link, not merely an alias in the Finder (also you may need to make sure the Pictures Folder on the external drive has a Photo Booth sub-folder). To do this you'll need to use the ln command in the Terminal to create the symlink to the external Pictures folder in your home folder. First delete the alias you already have then type (in the Terminal):

ln -s /Volumes/Mydrive/Pictures_External ~/Pictures

That should get you going.