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Archives for June 2012

Final Cut Studio 7 co-existing with FCP X

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Here at work, we have FCS7 and FCPX on all our lab machines, but we’ve always had a weird issue where the Mac App Store (MAS) shows updates being available, but they won’t install due to some error. After thinking about it for a while, I took at look at the Final Cut Studio 7 apps that have FCP X equivalents (Final Cut Pro.app, Motion.app, and Compressor.app), and interestingly, I found in Contents that each had a _MASReceipt directory. Interesting. It seems at some point the MAS put receipt files in the older versions of the apps, and that confused it thinking that there were updates.

Anyway, removing these directories from each of the apps fixed the issue. Seems like a bug on Apple’s part. =/

UPDATE: Upon looking further, it actually seems like the MAS put the receipts in the wrong apps. The _MASReceipt directories were in the old versions, but not in the proper versions. This SEEMS to be because, for our students sake, I renamed the MAS versions of FCPX apps X.app ((So, Final Cut Pro X.app, Motion X.app, and Compressor X.app)) but left the older versions by their original names. Once we switch to using FCPX primarily, I’ll file the old versions away, but for now, it just appears that Apple does things based on the name of the app, and not any kind of application signing. At least, in 10.6.8. =/ I was, however, able to move the _MASReceipt directories into their respective, correct, apps, and the MAS saw that, and now reports them as installed. Weird.

Weather (wind) outage

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The cable for my La Crosse WS-2316 anemometer failed catastrophically (it was severed) 5 days ago, and alas, I didn’t notice it until CWOP showed no valid weather data for the last 5 days. I guess they don’t accept anything if you don’t have wind data.

Anyway, after a trip to the roof, and some soldering, I replaced the former 4 strand, untwisted phone cable with same shielded cat5e, al la this.

So far, seems to work great. And I took some extra time to wrap the areas of the cable that make contact with anything else with electrical tape. Hopefully this will keep the same thing from happening again. If not, I’ll have to extend my conduit down. =/

The biggest issue was figuring out you have to tell the station to start looking for wind data again (press and hold the “Pressure” button for about 5 seconds, and it will resync with the outdoor piece).

I had been meaning to do this mod for some time, but I guess nature forced my hand. Anyway, weather data is flowing again.

Victorinox (Swiss Army) Garrison Elegance

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For our fifth anniversary, my wife and I bought each other ((In reality, she bought both from work (a jewelry store), and had them engraved, but, it’s the thought)) Victorinox (Swiss Army) Garrison Elegance watches, or as they’re generally known, the $125 REI Swiss Army watch. The Men’s watch features a 1.25″ face, and the women’s a 1″ face ((in all honesty, I first liked this watch when I was looking at the women’s size, since I don’t like bulky watches)). The movement is quartz, but it’s made in Switzerland. From what I’ve heard, REI and Victorinox worked together to design a watch with this build quality, and price point. Given the cost to my wife’s shop, REI can’t be making a very big profit on these watches (neither could Victorinox for that matter).

The back is screw on, which leads to a tighter water seal, but the crown (the nob that you use to adjust the date/time) is not screw down, so the claim of 100m (330ft) is probably not realistic. The band is a silicon rubber, and the biggest problem with it is sweat. In the sun, my arm tends to sweat a bit, and causes the watch to be a bit gross. I might try out the nylon band option at some point, see how that fares, but nylon is going to tend to snag more. The hands, and dots above each number glow in the dark, and overall, the glow is not obnoxious.

The real advantage to this watch is that as the name implies, it serves very well as a casual every day watch, as well as a dressier watch. No, it’s no Rolex, but at 1/20th the price of the lowest cost Rolex’s, it’s certainly more affordable ((Mind you, Rolex’s are all mechanical rather than quartz movements)). Another awesome “feature” is the affordability of parts. The crystal (quartz as well) is only $10 to replace. The band is about $10, and the whole movement is only $25 (obviously none of this includes labor). This watch should certainly last me 10+ years assuming I don’t lose it in a lake.

It’s been 10+ years since I’ve regularly worn a watch, and this one certainly doesn’t make me feel like I’m wearing a bulbous weight on my arm.

Both watches have performed very well, and I would gladly buy them again. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, analog, dress/everyday watch, this might be a good one to consider. I only wish that REI stocked them more reliably (they almost always have the women’s, but not the men’s).

[xrr rating=5/5]