zerolight

SABNZBD+ is the ultimate nzb file downloader. It’s particularly useful in conjunction with SABNZBDX, an OSX GUI for interacting with the SABNZBD+ server. Unlike other nzb downloaders, SAB runs as a server on your Mac. It’s surprisingly easy to set up. I’d procrastinated for weeks over using it, fearing that setup would be compex.

You place nzb files in a folder of your choosing and the SAB server will automatically download, par, unrar, and organize the them for you. It even cleans up after itself. As my ISP uses traffic shaping between 10am and 9pm I was pleased to see that you can schedule SAB to pause and resume at times of your choosing. You can optionally have it poll your newzbin bookmarks, downloading anything it finds. If that’s not enough, it has powerful post processing scripting options should the basic functionality not do what you need. I’ve been using it for a few days now and am very impressed. Check it out.

I’m a big fan of Apple’s new OS X Leopard, even of the glass menus and the 3D dock. I do however quite like the smoke look that’s popular in Mac applications these days. So with the help of Fireworks I set about smokifying the 3D dock.

Is it sad to get excited about a new OS? I can’t wait for the new version of OS X from Apple. Check out the preview here. I’m loving Time Machine, the new Desktop – especially Stacksl, and QuickLook and the new Finder look interesting.

At long last an update. I’ve not posted in what seems like ages. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Eid Mubarak to all.

It’s been almost two weeks since an application in OS X hung. The guilty apps tended to be Entourage, VLC Media Player, and Firefox. It’s now as reliable as you’d expect, which is a relief. I didn’t want all the Hardware and OS eyecandy at the expense of reliability. An Entourage update together with the latest point release of OS X seem to have cured any issues.

The ownership experience continues to be a joy, though I still crave a Mac monitor to complete the experience. A large part of the Mac experience has always been the look of the hardware as well as the software interface. Using a PowerMac with a PC monitor somehow doesn’t have the same impact. I still drool when I play with a 20″ iMac or view a PowerMac through the Apple 20″ Cinema display. Macs are about style & quality in parallel with ease of use & functionality. It’s a price worth paying. Without that they’d just be PC’s running a variant of Unix. But then, I guess that’s all the average PC user wants or needs. Nothing wrong with that. If I was that kinda guy then I’d probably play a Squier guitar instead of a Tyler or PRS.