LCD Scrub version 1.1.1 (download)

Cuckoo version 1.2.5 (download)

Changes in LCD Scrub 1.1.1:

• Modified several of the patterns to give them a more even track across the screen (bug identified by Neven Mrgan).

Changes in Cuckoo 1.2.5:

• Fixed a bug causing the CuckooChimeAgent to crash when checking for updates in certain situations (while the network is unavailable or if the cookies database is corrupt).
• Added support for chimes in Core Audio Format (.caf).

The new version includes the usual heap of bug fixes and unremarkable tweaks, and adds the following nifty new features:

• For registered users: Cuckoo can now optionally toll the hour (that is, play the sound five times at 5:00) at the top of the hour. This is one of the most often requested Cuckoo features, the other being different sounds at different times.¹
• Includes a new clock-tower sound called “Campanile”—quite effective when tolling the hour as described above. BONGGGGG. (Because it’s built in to Cuckoo, this sound is available in Cuckoo’s free mode.)
• Finally, the de rigeur background checking for software updates. If the appropriate box is checked, Cuckoo will check the toastycode website every few days for new releases. If an update is available, the Cuckoo preference pane will open automatically and you’ll be given the opportunity to download the new version—or ignore or defer it. Cuckoo won’t make any changes to your system (you’ll have to double-click the new version to install it) and no personally-identifying information is be sent in the update query. ²

Please download the new version, and then consider stopping by iUseThis to vote for Cuckoo. Happy holidays!

I hope December finds you well and with family or friends. I was hoping to have Cuckoo 1.2 ready for you by now, but time seems to have gotten away from me.

While you’re waiting, here’s a little treat: an audio clip of sleigh bells you can use with Cuckoo for a little bit of holiday cheer on the hour (or, you know, whenever). Download it below, double-click the .zip to expand, and then place the mp3 in your Library/Sounds folder.

Happy holidays, and I’ll see you in 2008.

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    reveal pane id "com.toastycode.Cuckoo"
end tell

That is, you can use reveal pane localizedName or reveal pane id bundleId to tell SysPrefs to switch to a given prefPane. This is an improvement on reveal in earlier versions of the OS, which only supported the reveal anchor someTabName in pane name phrasing, which doesn’t fly if your preference pane doesn’t have tabs. (As noted here, you can use the pseudo-anchor main on Apple’s tabless prefPanes, but I couldn’t find any kind of documentation on how to add “main” to my own prefPane.)

If you try the 10.5-style reveal pane syntax on Tiger and earlier, you’ll be rewarded with a less-than-elucidating NSReceiversCantHandleCommandScriptError. (Try saying that three times fast. Or, uh, once.)

The following AppleScript will work on all releases of Mac OS X, however:

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    -- works in 10.4 and 10.5
    set current pane to pane id "com.toastycode.Cuckoo"
end tell

Just thought I’d share in case there’s some other poor soul out there trying to launch a specific preference panel from AppleScript or Cocoa.

There’s another minor fix for Mac OS X 10.5 users, and it has to do with one of the new security features in the OS. Read on for the details.

In Leopard, when you download software from the Internet using Safari, an invisible “quarantine” label is applied to the file. Then, when you (or any other entity, including automated tasks and login items) launch the application for the first time, the Finder notices the quarantine and first asks the user if the application is OK to launch.

While this feature has proved somewhat annoying for advanced Mac users (who have already invented ways to disable it), everyday users ought to appreciate the fact that the new Finder is looking out for them.

For preference panes, the process is a little bit different. When you double-click on a .prefPane file (like Cuckoo.prefPane) to install it, Mac OS X has always presented a dialog to confirm the operation. In Leopard this process is unchanged (and, in fact, doesn’t mention the quarantine at all, which may very well be a bug). In the case of Cuckoo, the prefPane is installed and the CuckooChimeAgent—the background application that takes care of chiming at exactly the right moment—is automatically launched.

The trouble comes when you reboot and see this dialog:

The prefPane installation process appears not to lift the quarantine on downloaded items (another small Leopard bug), and (as stated earlier) Login Items are subject to quarantine. So the user is presented with this perplexing dialog the first time she reboots 10.5 after installing (or updating) Cuckoo.

The latest version includes code to explicitly remove the quarantine label from CuckooChimeAgent once you’ve already approved the installation of Cuckoo itself. Future bug fixes to Leopard may make this unnecessary, but for the time being, it should save some extra clicking (and possibly some extra confusion, especially if you don’t reboot very often, in which case this dialog—appearing a long time after you’ve installed Cuckoo—will be very puzzling indeed).

My only gripe: Why does the new Finder take Cuckoo’s pretty birdhouse icon and cram it into a tiny little badge stamped on a generic “PREF” document? You can barely see it, even at 128×128 pixels (see below). For shame.

Yes, you heard correctly: Cuckoo’s great new feature is that it makes less noise, according to your preferences. Chiming can optionally be suppressed:

• while iTunes or Front Row is playing music or video
• while the screen saver is running
• during a specified hour range (e.g. 11PM to 6AM)
• while your chat application thinks you’re “away”

For that last bullet, Cuckoo currently has support for the following chat programs: iChat, Adium, and Skype. Why these? They’re the ones I use. (It’s good to be king.) That said, please let me know if you’d like support for some other chat software; if possible, please send me the necessary AppleScript incantations to query the app’s away status.

Fear not: these new features come at the low, low cost of FREE. That is, they are free to registered and unregistered users alike. (I couldn’t in good conscience charge for features that make my software less annoying to use.)

Why are you still reading this? Go download the new version of Cuckoo, already. (Oh, I see, you already downloaded and installed it. Good for you! Go vote for Cuckoo on iusethis.com.)

Note: The upgrade procedure is the same as installing for the first time: Download the .zip file; double-click it if it doesn’t expand automatically; then double-click the Cuckoo.prefPane file. You’ll be asked if you want to overwrite the old version of Cuckoo—the answer, in case you were wondering, is “yes.”

See Cuckoo 1.1 at: MacUpdate; VersionTracker; Apple; iusethis.

“I suppose I could…do freelance, uh, selling of some sort of, uh, product.” —Nigel