Work is progressing PhotoInfoEditor, and it is now called PhotoInfoEditor2….

In the last post I mentioned that work was progressing well on the new version of PhotoInfoEditor2. Things have slowed a bit due to some problems encountered with some web-services that are used.

New look data entry in PhotoInfoEditor

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoInfoEditor2 both use Google Maps for geocoding / geotagging the photos, and there were some problems in getting Google Maps working in PhotoInfoEditor2 – so this has slowed development down.

PhotoInfoEditor used a web-service called http://terraservice-usa.com/ for finding location names based on latitude and longitude. However, for some reason, that service no longer seems to be working (or I couldn’t get it to work in PhotoInfoEditor2 even though it was using the same code as in PhotoInfoEditor), so in PhotoInfoEditor2 Google’s system is being used. Again, this has taken some time to get working.

So, watch this space… I hope to get a beta version out for testing later in the week.

In a blog post yesterday I said I had a fix for the Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), iCal and MobileMe problem…. Well, it looks like I spoke too soon….

Yesterday I received a solution for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), iCal and MobileMe Problem from Stuart (see earlier post) as a blog post comment.

I followed the advice, and tested it, and it all worked for me, and I was able to add back the all-day events to my calendar and it could be viewed on the web. This morning I went to check that the calendar was still accessible and the ‘error’ was being returned. I removed the all-day events and the problem was solved….

So, bottom line. Still don’t have a fix!

UPDATE – within 10 minutes of posting this the original blog post on a possible fix received an email from Bob saying that the fix works for him.

Just received a solution for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), iCal and MobileMe Problem from Stuart (see earlier post).

THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO WORK IN ALL CASES

If you run iCal in 32 bit mode then it is possible to have all day events in iCal. To get it to run in 32 bit, quit iCal (if running), find it in the Applications folder, cmd-I to open information and click on ‘Open in 32-bit mode’. Restart iCal, and if it contains all-day events it should now publish OK.

The iCal information window

THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO WORK IN ALL CASES – see this post

Work is progressing well on the update of PhotoInfoEditor for Mac OS X 10.6 – Snow Leopard.

An update to PhotoInfoEditor, to version 2, was already in the works before 10.6 came out. Now that 10.6 is out, and the current version of PhotoInfoEditor doesn’t work, the question was to whether or not go back and fix PhotoInfoEditor, or push on with the new version of PhotoInfoEditor. It was decided to push on.

So, the new version of PhotoInfoEditor has a whole new interface (see below), and an increased level of functionality.

New look data entry in PhotoInfoEditor

In addition, the program now also handles images from a bigger range of cameras than before, including (and these have been tested): Canon EOS 20D, Canon EOS D60, Canon IXUS 300, Canon IXUS 400, Canon IXUS v2, Canon IXUS v3, Canon IXUS, Canon PowerShot A20, Canon PowerShot A40, Canon PowerShot A70, Canon PowerShot A80, Canon PowerShot A85, Canon PowerShot G2, Canon PowerShot S30, Canon PowerShot S40, Canon PowerShot S230, Canon PowerShot S300, Canon PowerShot S330, Canon PowerShot S400, Canon PowerShot SD100, Casio EX-S1, Casio EX-Z3, Casio QV-3000EX, Epson PhotoPC 3000Z, FujiFilm DS-7, FujiFilm DX-5, FujiFilm DX-10, FujiFilm FinePix A303, FujiFilm FinePix40i, FujiFilm FinePix1400Zoom, FujiFilm FinePix2650, FujiFilm FinePix4900Zoom, FujiFilm FinePix6800Zoom, FujiFilm FinePixS1Pro, FujiFilm FinePixS2Pro, FujiFilm MX-1200, FujiFilm MX-2900Zoom, FujiFilm MX1700, FujiFilm SP-2500, HP PhotoSmart 318, HP PhotoSmart 735, HP PhotoSmart C812, JVC GR-DC2000, Kodak CLAS Digital Film Scanner HR200, Kodak DC210, Kodak DC240, Kodak DC3400, Kodak DX4330, Kodak DX4900 Zoom, Kodak ProBack, Konica Q-M100, Kyocera FC-S3, Minolta DiMAGE 5, Minolta DiMAGE 7, Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi, Minolta DiMAGE A1, Minolta DiMAGE EX, Minolta DiMAGE S304, Minolta DiMAGE S404, Minolta DiMAGE X, Nikon CoolPix 775, Nikon D1X, Nikon D70, Nikon D100, Nikon E775, Nikon E900, Nikon E950, Nikon E990, Nikon E5000, Nikon E5700, Olympus C40Z, Olympus C860L, Olympus C960, Olympus C2040Z, Olympus C3030Z, Olympus C4040Z, Olympus E-10, Olympus E-20, Olympus X-2, Panasonic DMC-LC33, Panasonic DMC-LC40, Panasonic DMC-LC70 (Lumix), Panasonic FX7, Panasonic FZ5, Panasonic FZ20, Panasonic LZ2, Panasonic NV-GX7, Pentax ist D, Pentax Optio 330, Pentax Optio 430, Pentax Optio S4, Pentax Optio S4i, Ricoh DC-3Z, Ricoh RDC5300, Sanyo SR6, Sanyo SR662, Sanyo VPCSX550, Seiko Epson PhotoPC 3000Z, Sony Cybershot, Sony D700, Sony DCR-PC110, Sony DigitalMavica, Sony Mavica, and Traveler SX330Z

Even, if your camera is not listed above, the chances are the program will be able to open and edit the meta-data. (If not, send me the file nick@mmisoftware.co.uk, and I will see what can be done).

Still left to do:

Complete the interface integration (pretty much done)
Improve/complete map integration
Finish the output procedures for writing the meta-data back to the files

Some more information on the iCal, MobileMe, and Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) problem.

Picked up this information on a 10.6 discussion at Apple. Followed the message and I can confirm that it is all day events that cause the problem. I published a calendar with one event, worked fine. Added an all-day event (no start and no stop time), wouldn’t work. Removed the all-day event, problem solved….

A new version of PhotoGPSEditor has just been released. This new version contains a minor bug fix to allow photos to load correctly under Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard.

PhotoGPSEditor is an easy to use meta-data editor for photo files, plus it can match data from GPS (gpx or NMEA) files.

With PhotoGPSEditor you can add location and summary details to a photo file. Location information consists of latitude and longitude data, as well as town, area/region, and country. This can be added automatically by matching up photos with GPS (gpx or NMEA) file track data, manually (just type it in) or ‘automatically’ by placing a pointer on a map to get the latitude and longitude data. The program can then add town, area/region, and country information. This process can also be described as ‘geocoding’ a picture/photo.

The program is freeware, however, donations can be made to help support future development.

This new version runs under 10.5 and 10.6 only. Unfortunately 10.4 can no longer be supported.

In an earlier post I wrote about how iCal, MobileMe, and Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) were not playing very well together….

Today I received an email from Apple in which they thanked me for the small dummy iCal file I had sent that had the problem. Interestingly I received a ‘fixed’ file back from them which worked, i.e. I could publish to MobileMe and see it when accessed using Safari, but unfortunately all appointments (except repeating events for some reason) were off by 7 hours!

Hopefully a fix will be out for this soon….

Well, I have tracked down the problem with PhotoGPSEditor and PhotoInfoEditor when running under Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)…

The problem is this line: [NSImage imageFileTypes]

Under 10.4 and 10.5 it would return data in the same format, which was admittedly a strange format, but it came back on a predictable way so at least it could be handled, and the required file type, i.e. jpg, jpeg, JPEG etc. easily extracted.

Under 10.6 the format of the data returned has been changed…. and this is causing the problem.

The fix is fairly straight forward for PhotoGPSEditor, and a new version of the program should be out later this evening – early tomorrow.

Unfortunately the fix is a bit more complicated for PhotoInfoEditor (mainly because PhotoInfoEditor handles file types in a slightly different way, and also accesses more of the ‘inner-workings’ of the file than PhotoGPSEditor)….

Watch this space for updates….

Neither PhotoGPSEditor or PhotoInfoEditor are currently working under Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The programs can run, but will not recognise any photo file formats. (Apple has changed the way such information is stored under 10.6).

The problem has been identified, and a fix for PhotoGPSEditor should be out within a few days, and a fix for PhotoInfoEditor shortly afterwards.

For me this problem is a ‘show-stopper’ for which I need to find a fix – urgently. I know everything with iCal and MobileMe was working before the upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), but now it isn’t.

I have reported the problem to Apple, and hopefully they will get a fix out soon.

The problem is highly reproducible…

I have a rather complicated calendar that I publish via MobileMe with no ‘titles’, so people can see when I am free, but not what I am doing. Under 10.6 the publication goes OK, and the file can be downloaded from MobileMe and re-imported in to iCal with no problems. The calendar is also visible when logged in to the MobileMe site. However, if the calendar is accessed via a http://ical.me.com/username/calname type link the page will not display and will report an error – see http://www.me.com/not_found/. If the webcal://ical.me.com/username/calname type link is used the file will download and display in iCal with no problems. The file will also display OK in Google Calendar.

To explore this further I created a much smaller iCal file that only contained a couple of weeks of appointments, and some repeating events. Again the file appeared to publish OK under 10.6, but it still gave an error if accessed by the http://ical.me.com/username/calname type link. The file could be downloaded and would import OK in to iCal.

Interestingly, when I imported the file in to iCal running under 10.5.8 it loaded OK, and when published to MobileMe the file could be accessed via a http://ical.me.com/username/calname style link with no errors. All very odd.

The fact that an iCal file can be created so easily, and can be published, and work with 10.5.8, but not with 10.6 suggests it is a 10.6 problem.

One final thought. There is an outside chance that the problem is with MobileMe and not 10.6, or just my MobileMe account….

Apple have said they will call me back on Monday. I have sent them the new ‘mini’ file, so hopefully they will be able to get to the bottom of this quickly.

Watch this space…..

Update: Tuesday September 1, 2009 – The problem is caused by ‘all-day’ events. Move all the ‘all-day’ events from the calendar you are trying to publish to a new calendar, and then republish the old calendar. This should fix things until Apple comes up with a solution.

Update: Friday September 4, 2009 – Comment below seems to solve the problem – run iCal in 32 bit mode (see this post for more details)

Update: Saturday September 5, 2009 – The solution to the problem I posted yesterday does not work, all the time. Turning on 32 bit mode appears to allow the calendard to be accessed in some situations and not others. (More details)