Mike Blonder: Thoughts on Technology, and the Web

Apple's Automator is a curious effort to spread the good word about scripts and task automation to a non programming audience. Apple is to be commended for taking the step, but the tangible effort, itself, is not worth much. What cripples Automator is the entirely counter intuitive manner in which it works. Apparently, though targeted to a non programming audience, the familiar problem is that a programming crew put together the operation of the product and, thereby, left the audience behind.

Let's look at the following: the example workflows work for wierd tasks; for example, resizing images, speeding up yet another itunes task, etc. Real requirements for business types who are using a Mac, like backing up, should have example workflows, but don't.

Without a schematic of how steps are intended to work together to result in hands free and useful actions by the computer, the non programmer can't follow the process and folds. Here we go again, another Dashboard (I will write on this other solution without a problem feature in a later post).

If Automator offers a view of the applescript, or javascript behind the Workflow, I can't find it. The debugger bombs erroneous routines, but doesn't provide a clear indicator of where the problem may be.

I would welcome a useful Automator. Mac OS X is a great operating system that gets a lot of my attention. Much of what I do with Mac OS X is repetitive and certainly a good candidate for a useful Automator, but I need something more useful than today's package. Hint to Apple: make it better in yet the next version of Mac OS X.

© Mike Blonder, 2007, All Rights Reserved

IMB Enterprises, Inc. actively pursues opportunities for non-IT computing solutions, including test and measurement. We maintain a web site dedicated to these solutions, Industrial Strength Ethernet.

One of our customers is working on a solution for remote meter reading. Our customer provides management services for utility usage to large industrial clients. As part of his service he publishes electrical usage information every 5 minutes to his customers via his own interactive website. He is collecting information using two devices that he purchased from IMB Enterprises, Inc.:

• 
  SimpleComTools COM1000 Internet Appliance
  and the


• Raven XT Cellular Data Modem from Sierra Wireless

Our customer encountered a problem. The cost of the cellular data bandwidth required to capture readings from remote meters via the Raven XT exceeded his business model. He decided to stop pursuing wireless methods of collecting the data, for now, despite the lower labor cost associated with wireless transmission.

We found him an alternative solution: Drop the need for cellular data communications by implementing point to point, or point to multi point serial radios from Digi Maxstream. We have successfully communicated, bi-directionally with the COM1000 from a PC via these radios.

To solve the need for a custom application to:

1) Query the remote locations/radios as required and
2) Collect the data and save it in a useful format for the customer's application (in this case common spreadsheet software)

we are recommending an "erector set" piece of software, Collect from Labtronics. Collect is an "erector set" in that application-unique steps can be added to Collect in the form of VBA macros; thus, the application is useful for a range of applications. We feel that the acquisition cost for Collect ($500.00 US Dollars at the time of this writing) pales when compared to the hourly cost of custom programming and revision.

Please contact us at (802) 457-2929 if you would like to hear further about this solution.

Please visit Industrial Strength Ethernet for further information on the devices used in this solution.

Copyright © October 9, 2008, IMB Enterprises, Inc., all rights reserved