In OS X there is a very easy method that can be used in order to show and hide hidden files.
First open a terminal from your Applications->Utilities folder:
Once you have a terminal opened enter the following command to show all files:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
If you want to hide the system files again simply change the ‘True’ parameter to ‘False’ when entering the command into the terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
This may require you to log out and log in again to see the results.
Last Saturday I attended a Flickr meetup in Belfast where we descended upon the newly opened Ulster Museum which has just gone through a major refurbishment.
Last Friday I embarked on a road trip to Dublin with Stuart Gibson to catch the Jonathan Coulton show at the Academy 2, which was part of his UK/Ireland 2009 tour. Jonathan was supported by a comedy music duo Paul and Storm who gave a superb performance and made me a fan.
Jonathan as expected rocked the house and we were lucky enough to briefly talk to Paul, Storm and Jonathan who are extremely nice people and also kindly signed our tickets. Hopefully they will all be back to do another UK/Ireland tour next year!
On Thursday November 5th the first Build conference was held in Belfast’s Waterfront Studio.
The atmosphere during Build was fantastic, a really positive vibe was emanating from the audience all day. The speakers did interesting and informative presentations, we even learned how to open a banana thanks to Tim Van Damme, I can’t believe we were doing it wrong all this time.
In case anyone missed the lineup of speakers, they are all top class:
Eric Meyer
Tim Van Damme
Mark Boulton
Wilson Miner
Andy Budd
Ryan Sims
I was also very lucky during the Build conference as I won a copy of Adobe CS4 Web premium (for Mac OS X) from Giant Training, thanks to a prize draw where Eric Meyer picked my out of a box.
The Build after party was also made of the stuff of legends, many beers were had and I met so many great people who I hope to see again next time!
A great job by Andy Good/McMillan on organising Build, it has been the most informative and fun conference I have had the pleasure to attend. Already I am looking forward to the next Build!
Conference pass.
Tim Van Damme getting things started with the first presentation.
On Wednesday evening (November 4th) the Build conference events continued, ‘An evening with Airside‘ was held in the Conor lecture theatre at the University of Ulster, where we were all treated to an insight of the inner workings of one of the UK’s leading design studios.
Until the Build schedule was announced I was unfamiliar with Airside, now after an inspiring lecture I look forward to closely following their work.
The Build conference got off to a great start last night with a screening of the documentary Objectified by Gary Hustwit in the Black Box. Free pizza and beer were served throughout the screening and the evening was rounded off in style at the Malmaison.
In OS X if you ever need to burn a variety of disks and don’t have a large budget, a nifty and free tool that can be added to your software arsenal is Burn.
Burn is a simple and yet full featured disk burning package that offers burning data, music, video and disk images.
The Burn menu makes utilising these options as easy as a single click.
Sub menus can also be used in order to narrow down exactly what format of disk you require.
For the more advanced users there are also an array of features including being able to use custom ffmpeg files, allowing overburining, selecting audio codecs along with the video and audio bitrates.
Burn has many the features of high end alternatives, so if you are looking for a free lightweight and easy to use disk burning utility I would highly recommend checking it out.
Some pictures of the new Magic Mouse I picked up this evening from the Apple Store in Victoria Square.
What It Is:
Build is a conference which has been constructed for designers and digital ninjas, it will take place on Thursday November 5th at the Waterfront Studio in Belfast.
Build has been fully organised by Andy McMillan (@goodonpaper).
Who Is Speaking:
The lineup of speakers are of the highest caliber in the business and this will be a great opportunity to learn from the best:
Eric Meyer
Tim Van Damme
Mark Boulton
Wilson Miner
Andy Budd
Ryan Sims
A full list of the topics which will be covered can be found in the speakers section of the Build site.
Surrounding Events:
Unlike most conferences Build has a full week of events which will surround the main conference. These are not your typical events and include a showing of the popular documentary Objectified, a lecture by Airside, a BarCamp unconference and of course the Build after party. Complete listings for the events and registration details can be found over at the Build schedule.
Workshops:
Build also gives you the opportunity to register for a range of workshops on Wednesday November 4th. The workshops include Accessibility 2.0 with Philip Strain from Ecliptic, HTML 5 and CSS 3 with Chris Murphy and Nik Persson (Web Standardistas) and Guerrilla Usability Testing with Andy Budd from Clearleft.
Tickets:
If you are interested in attending Build it is still not to late, so grab a ticket while you can.
Roundup:
With only a week to go before the conference gets underway, the buzz is beginning to hit the streets and I, for one can’t wait.
Hope to see you there!
A good weekend with Ben (@Marmite_Robot) and Beckie (@i3eckie):
In car shot taken by @i3eckie:
