When synchronizing with an iPod or iPhone, iTunes offers two key options: ‘x least recent unwatched’ or ‘x most recent unwatched’. Unfortunately for us users, recent is determined, not by sensible things such as air-date or episode number, but by the date items are added to a user’s iTunes library. All works fine when items are purchased from the iTunes Music Store and downloads complete in order. Encounter a few failed downloads or add items manually however and iPod synchronization never again works as one might reasonably expect.

Since we, as users, have suffered this strange behaviour for a good number of iTunes releases, I can only assume that somewhere in Cupertino it’s deemed a feature (although I have yet to work out what it achieves).

Fortunately, for OS X users, AppleScript comes to the rescue:

tell application "iTunes"
 
	if selection is {} then
		display dialog "Select some TV Shows..." buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1 with icon 2 giving up after 15
	end if
 
	set sel to selection
 
	repeat with i from 1 to (count sel)
		set t to item i of sel
		tell t
 
			set my_kind to TV show
			set filename to location
			set my_state to unplayed
			set my_played_count to played count
			delete
			set my_track to (add filename)
			tell my_track
				set video kind to TV show
				set unplayed to my_state
				set played count to my_played_count
			end tell
 
		end tell
	end repeat
end tell

The above script iterates over the selected items in iTunes, sequentially deleting them and then re-adding them. Assuming this list of TV Shows is in the correct order, this will ensure all ‘added’ times are sequential and iPod and iPhone synchronization should now proceed as expected.

These days, it’s seems a rarity that I comment on software and, as most people are aware, even less common that I criticise Apple. This time, I couldn’t resist.

In the last couple of weeks, both Microsoft and Apple have simultaneously released upgrades to their music players supporting music profiling, allowing users to generate playlists of similar music on-the-fly.

While this technology has been in play in services such as Last.fm for some time now, it seems Apple still have some way to go — recommending your users try listening to a different song seems to be missing the point somewhat:

Just because I can…

It seemed high-time that I got around to joining the "What’s In Your Bag" bandwagon and contributing my own collection of curios to the mix.

Left-to-right, top-to-bottom:

1. Belkin NE-MS 12" Laptop Messenger Case (Website) – Recently purchased during a trip to Hong Kong.

2. Friendly Bunny – An as-yet nameless but exceedingly friendly bunny who recently found his way to Beijing from Taipei.

3. Shanghai Tang Writing Case (Website) – One of the few decent Chinese fashion brands out there, Shanghai Tang contribues one of the more garish things in the bag.

4. MacBook Air (Website) – A fairly frivolous purchase during my last trip back to Japan, the MacBook Air is now the prize jewel of the collection.

5. Sony Reader (Website) – Sony’s second attempt at an eBook reader makes a fairly good paperback replacement.

6. Ray-Ban Sunglasses – Slightly practical. Mostly for posing.

7. Victorinox – A seemingly more heavy-duty gunmetal equivalent of the Leatherman as made by Victorinox.

8. British Passport – A must when living abroad – "Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary."

9. Shure SE310s – Using a pair of these is like hearing your music collection for the first time all over again.

10. Security Pass – Two RFID cards, an RSA keyfob and various other miscellanea.

11. Pen & Glass Marker – While it may be straight out of a scene in A Beautiful Mind, carrying a glass marker is perfect for anyone who finds themselves with an idea but without a whiteboard. Thankfully there is no shortage of windows!

12. Business Cards – No self-respecting business-man-in-asia should be without a set.

13. Wallet – A chinese knock-off bought in the Silk Market, Beijing. The wallet came with a choice of either Gucci or Armani branding. Less than 100 RMB and genuine leather to boot!

14. iPhone (Website) & Moshi iPouch (Website) – The battery life may be terrible and the telephony questionable, but I cannot cope without this one. The iPouch is the best I’ve found so far.

15. Seiko Watch – A 20th birthday present which has suffered more than its fair share of war wounds.

16. Mints – A box of ‘National Embarassmints’ sporting a picture of our good friend Mr. George W. Bush. Some things never get old.

17. Taiwanese Pebble – An exceedingly thoughtful gift from Junko, hand-picked from the shores of a Taiwanese beach.

Looking at the various offerings, it seems I’m not the only one with a bunny in the bag.

Ever since purchasing jbmorley.co.uk, I’ve been planning a redesign of the website. Something a little more modern. Anyone not reading via RSS or Facebook will have noticed that this redesign has now happened (quite some time ago in fact).

It would be hard, in this new design, to miss the mirroring effect on all images. What started as a small personal challenge of adding Apple-style image reflections to my WordPress image rendering plugin [seemingly, it is] has become a significant feature of the new design. People say copying is one of the highest forms of flattery. I hope it can be viewed this way.

Another significant aspect is the header. This has formed an increasingly important role in my last few designs and, with version 3.0, hosted almost entirely my own photos. While, the feature has been very popular, I have omitted it in this latest design, hopeful that this gives greater focus to the main content of the page and allows for better presentation of a wider variety of media.

Of course, as always, I continue to maintain all of my previous designs, any of which can be selected from the ‘Themes’ drop-down box. I am also slowly trying to add to the collection various designs produced for friends. While other projects keep this task from progressing at high speed, expect a trickle of different styles to be added in the coming months.