As of right now (5 September 2009), the toastycode screensavers have not yet been updated to work with Mac OS X 10.6. I’m working on new releases that will definitely be compatible with 10.5 and 10.6 (and, with any luck, 10.4); they should appear at toastycode.com in the next few days.

Thanks for your patience.

This is a weekend for long-awaited software updates. Not a day after new versions of Cuckoo and LCD Scrub appeared, a bugfix update to our TapeDeck audio recorder is now available for download.

Here’s what’s new in version 1.1.1:

• Fixed a crash that occurred when playing back corrupt audio files. Now the tape will simply appear to stop playing earlier than expected.
• Copies .m4a tapes directly into the library, rather than sending them through the QuickTime importer engine
• Drawing performance improved slightly
• Set the file’s extension automatically according to the user’s currently selected QuickTime export component.

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 day after Thanksgiving, November 28, has been declared National Day of Listening by the StoryCorps oral history project and NPR (among others). The idea: With family in town, bellies full, and (hopefully) a little time off work, we might all take an hour to sit down and tell each other stories. An essential part of the NDoL is to record those stories, because they probably don’t already exist on blogs or email or Twitter—particularly if the storyteller isn’t of the Internet generation.

We realized this is a perfect use for TapeDeck, our fast, fun, and foolproof audio recording software for Mac OS X. So this week we’re taking 20% off the price of TapeDeck with the hope that you’ll use it to capture your family’s stories this Friday. Just download TapeDeck and press the big red REC button to get started. By purchasing a registration you’ll remove TapeDeck’s time limits (so you can record for as long as you like); do so before Sunday, November 30 to get the discounted price.

We sincerely hope this helps you and your family start and preserve your own oral traditions. Happy Thanksgiving!   —Dan & Chris

New releases: TapeDeck and Pyrothèque

TapeDeck, my exciting joint project with Chris Liscio of SuperMegaUltraGroovy, has made it all the way up to version 1.0.3 without so much as a mention over here on toastup!. The latest release fixes a few more quirks that we’ve discovered in the weeks since TapeDeck’s big introduction last month.

More recently, Pyrothèque got a long-overdue update. Version 1.1.1 incorporates almost a year’s worth of minor bug fixes, including an adjustment to the rocket launcher to better position explosions on monitors of odd sizes and proportions. (That means the fireworks ought to show up properly now, Mister Thirty Inch Cinema Display.)

Web site fixes

One of Google’s robot army helpfully informed me last month that spammers had exploited a hole in the version of WordPress used here at toastup!—resulting in lots of invisible nasty spam keywords that got the blog evicted from Google’s index. The hole’s now been patched, so (hopefully) we’ll re-appear in your search results in the near future. I’ve also gone through and fixed up earlier blog posts that were mangled by the update, so you should be able to see images again in the popular LCD Scrub article, among others.

And, finally—

Expect updates to be light for several months, as we’re expecting a rather large new “version” here at toastycode HQ in the next few weeks. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch (using the email link below, or in your toastycode software product) if you have questions or find any bugs—but also please understand if my replies are somewhat in arrears.

LCD Scrub version 1.0.1 (download)

Foam version 1.3.1 (download)

If you run into any trouble with these new versions, please get in touch using the email link at the bottom of this page. Release notes:

Changes in LCD Scrub 1.0.1

• Fixes registration problems for some users.
• Now shows license agreement when entering registration code.
• Other small improvements.

Changes in Foam 1.3.1

• Uses a different (better) pseudorandom number generator to improve randomness of bubble placement. (The previous method was OK, but could cause repeated sequences when invoking Foam in rapid succession.)
• Fixes a pretty silly infinite loop that the preferences would enter if you selected no color combinations.

Every piece of software available here at toastycode exists first and foremost because it was something I wanted to use and, finding it not to exist, had to go about creating it. Pyrothèque is a perfect example: I had fond memories of Pyro!™—perhaps the granddaddy of all screen savers—and wanted to bring its iconic B&W fireworks back for a revival.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about LCDs.

At my office I have my Mac workstation hooked up to a 19″ flat-panel display from Dell (the 2001FP). I drive it over DVI at native resolution (1600×1200), which is totally sufficient for my multitasking needs.

April 25, 2007

One sunny Wednesday morning, I arrived at my office to find this:

The standard “Computer Name” screen saver was running¹, but something was very, very wrong. Bright green lines streaked down the black areas of the screen, while green echoes smeared rightward off displayed images. The entire screen was dusted with stray green pixels, sparkling and popping like TV snow.

Not good.

It turned out that my officemate had used my iSight/iChat setup the previous evening. He must have swiveled the monitor around when he was finished; it was torqued so far out of position that the DVI cable came loose (with a few bent pins for good measure). Somehow the cross-talked DVI signal resulted in the green noise, which danced on my screen all night long.

The video, it burns

Here’s where it gets interesting. When I replaced the DVI cable, the screen almost went back to normal: my Mac’s screen was now covered in dark shadows where the searing green had been. It was like having CRT burn-in.

I continued using the monitor for the rest of the day, but the lines were distracting, irritating, and deeply concerning: I didn’t want to have to tell my adviser that I’d busted my shiny LCD panel². I turned it off overnight, hoping to release whatever bad mojo had found its way in there, but when I powered it back on the next morning, the lines were still there.

I turned the display off when I went home, and over the course of normal use over the next few days, the ghosts faded a little, but were still pretty annoying. I came in a couple of days later with a better camera³ and took some close-up images of the burned-in areas:

Over the weekend I did some research. I had always assumed that flat panels couldn’t get burn-in⁴; it turns out I (along with countless LCD salespeople) was mistaken. LCDs can instead get image persistence (aka image “retention” or “ghosting” or “traces”), and manufacturers disagree as to exactly why it occurs; perhaps stray charge, maybe combined with heat and “ionic impurities”, or some other abstruse electrochemical condition.

What is universally acknowledged is that one image, displayed for a long time, will tend to leave an after-image on an LCD screen or TV. High-contrast static images (like my green lines) are the worst. There also seems to be some consensus that Dell displays are particularly prone to this sort of thing. Lucky me.

Prevention and repair

The common recommendation, from manufacturers and message boards, is: don’t leave a static image on your screen. (So keep using those screen savers, folks.) Which is all fine and well, but what to do with a screen that’s already burned?

Finally, some good news: it turns out that image persistence is usually reversible (something that was never possible with CRTs). I quickly found Apple’s recommendation for eliminating image persistence: Create an all-white image in Photoshop and set up the photo-album screen saver to use just that one image. (Other manufacturers and forum posts also recommend displaying a solid white image.)

I tried the solid white image technique for a day, but for whatever reason, the lines were still there. After reading the NEC white paper talking about fixed high-contrast images causing persistence, though, I wondered: Could I use moving high-contrast images to “scrub away” and smooth out the excess electrical charge (or whatever it is that causes the problem)?

Scrubbing solution

I set about building a screen saver module that would let me try different high-contrast patterns to see how they fared. Furthermore, since patterns with thin bright lines caused the problem, I set about using similar line patterns to ameliorate it.

It worked.

After a day of using the high-contrast patterns, the lines were almost invisible; the next day they were gone.

So, to recap: Dan’s LCD is hosed; Dan does a bunch of Internet reading, tries a bunch of stuff, creates a solution that works; Dan doesn’t have to get a new monitor. Q.E.D., the end.

An epilogue—and also a preface

I thought I was done with LCD scrubbing forever; with my display fixed, my screen saver properly configured, and my DVI cable securely screwed to the back of my display (!), I was free of the whole issue.

And then I started hearing, from friends and family who had heard the sob story of how my monitor was ruined and how I fixed it, that I should make this tool available to everyone. “Our office’s IT guy just threw a few LCDs away,” said my brother-in-law. “They had burned-in logos and patterns, and we couldn’t use them like that. I told him about your scrub thing, and he said, where can I get that?”

“Don’t you sell software?” he added, somewhat irritably, to my blank stare.

So, here we are: A few months later (well, more than a few; it’s been a busy time for my other career), I present LCD Scrub 1.0.

It’s a descendant of the same screen saver I wrote for myself last spring; to use it, set your energy saver settings to never turn off the display, and your display settings to your LCD panel’s native resolution. Then select LCD Scrub as your screen saver, pick a pattern, and let it run overnight. If you don’t see any improvement, try another pattern.

You can download a trial version from the LCD Scrub page; it will run for 20 minutes so you can see how it works and decide if you want to purchase it. The full version (without time limits) costs just $18.

If LCD Scrub doesn’t work on your display, shoot me an email (with photos of the problem, please) and we’ll try to figure out how to improve the software. I can’t guarantee that it will work in every case of image persistence (having only a limited set of screens to test it on) but, as it uses Apple’s recommended techniques along with my additional high-contrast patterns, I expect it to be effective on all but the most severe cases of image persistence.

Download LCD Scrub and give it a shot.

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.