Captions from iPhoto

I hadn't noticed this before, but doing a file export out of iPhoto and selecting the kind as JPEG allows the caption/description and keywords to be saved into the IPTC metadata of the exported files.

If the IPTC caption doesn't appear, it might need to be re-written:

exiftool -iptc:all= -tagsfromfile @ -all:all -unsafe .

Plants vs Zombies 2 iOS save game syncing

My user profile was not synching between my iPad and iPhone in Plants vs Zombies 2.  I was eventually able to get it to sync by using iFunBox to copy the com.popcap.ios.PvZ2.plist file from /var/mobile/Applications/<PvZ2_folder_of_your_device>/Library/Preferences to my computer from my iPad and then copying it to the iPhone.  The player ID codes in iOS > Settings > PvZ 2 should match on all devices.

The synchronization is not instantaneous.  It seems to take a couple of minutes.  I'm not sure if the synchronization only occurs while waiting on the main menu.

There is a thread about this problem here.

Update:  This doesn't appear to work consistently.

iPad time since last full charge

I hadn't noticed this until now, but on my iPad under Settings->General->Usage, it now displays the time since last full charge.  It appears this was added in iOS 6.0.  It used to bug me that this only appeared on my iPhone in prior iOS versions.

Making high definition DVDs on a Mac

Final Cut Pro X (with Compressor) can burn a high definition video by exporting as Blu-ray and then burning directly to a DVD-R as an AVCHD disc. I prefer to save to disc images instead of burning directly.  Unfortunately, when Compressor burns to a Blu-ray disc image and then that disc image is burned to a DVD, it is not playable on the PS3 (it reads it as a data disc).

But, there is a way to turn the Blu-ray disc image into an AVCHD disc.  First, install Wineskin Winery from here (http://wineskin.urgesoftware.com).  Then download multiAVCHD (http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/) and ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com/) and install both in a Wineskin wrapper.  The executable that should be launched by the wrapper is multiBOOT.exe. Launch the multiAVCHD wrapper.  In the settings tab, check "Use ImgBurn with DVD/BD-R output" and "Use ImgBurn ISO mode". Load the disc image that was created by Compressor and then click Start.  Choose AVCHD Disc as the output format.  multiAVCHD will do its magic (changing the header of index.bdmv to INDX0100 and the header of MovieObject.bdmv to MOBJ0100, etc). It will then launch ImgBurn.  Change the label of the volume and be sure not to include the Certificates folder.

The AVCHD ISO that is created can then be burned to a DVD and will be playable on the PS3.

Strange router problem

My router (Cisco WRT-320N) kept getting into what appeared to be a reboot loop. Resetting the router firmware and swapping out the router with my backup (same model and version of dd-wrt) didn't help.  Eventually I discovered that if I detached the ethernet cable from the cable modem, the router would stay up until I reattached it.  Since that didn't make any sense, I tried swapping out power supplies.  That fixed the problem.  I'm not sure why the power supply would only flake out when the router was attached to the cable modem.

iOS 6 Mobile Safari debugging

One nice thing about iOS 6 is that you can remotely debug via the Safari desktop Web Inspector.  This also works with the iOS simulator that comes with Xcode.

Back to the Athens of the South

We had an early morning flight out of Athens on Air France to Paris.  For some reason, we arrived really late to the airport.  Luckily I was able to check in with George since he could check in with Sky Priority.

After arriving at at Charles De Gaulle Airport, I said goodbye to Kristen, George, and Dimitri since I had a different flight back to the U.S.  From there, I flew to Atlanta and then on to Nashville.