Alvin Alexander

I ran into a situation recently where I wanted to batch convert a number of BMP images into JPEG images. Fortunately, as a Linux command line user, I didn’t have a problem using ImageMagick, and their mogrify command.

In short, I was able to convert the images from the Linux command line like this:

mogrify -format jpg *.bmp

I found this information at this URL on the ImageMagick website.

Batch image processing on Mac OS X

If you don’t happen to be a Linux command line user, I’ve also written about how to do similar things on Apple Mac OS X computer systems. Here are links to some of my Mac image processing tutorials:

• Batch convert Mac OS X BMP, JPG, PNG image files
• Mac - Convert BMP image to JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, or PDF
• Free Mac batch image resizing with Automator

If you’re looking for different ways to convert images from one format to another on Mac OS X system, or resize images on a Mac, I hope those examples and tutorials are helpful.

I ran into a need to use the Linux find command newer option this weekend, and I thought I’d share a quick example of how to use it.

In short, you typically use the “newer” argument when you want to find all files that are newer than some date or time. You do this in a two-step process:

1. You create a new file with the desired date and time.
2. You issue a ‘find newer’ command, specifying that new file.

For instance, let’s assume that I want to find all files beneath the current directory that are newer than December 4, 2011, at 10:40am.

First, I create a temporary file using the touch command, which conveniently lets me control the time stamp on that file when I create it:

touch -t 201112041040 foo

If you look at this new file with the ls command, you’ll see that it is created with the timestamp we specified:

# ls -l foo-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       0 Dec  4 10:40 foo

Next, I issue my Linux find command with the newer option, saying that I want to find all files that are newer than this file I just created:

find . -newer foo

If you try these commands on your own Linux system, you’ll see that this works like a charm. This find command will give you a list of all files whose timestamp is newer than the ‘foo’ file you created.

Details about the touch command timestamp

The touch command timestamp format looks like this:

[[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss]

As a result, I didn’t have to include the year in my earlier example, I just did that to be clear. As long as the file you’re creating is in the current year, you can just issue the touch command like this with the month, day, hour, and minute, which are required:

touch -t 12041040 foo

You can also optionally add “seconds” to your timestamp, like this:

touch -t 12041040.30 foo

In my experience I’ve never had to use the seconds field, but if you’re dealing with a really bad situation where files are being created very rapidly, I can see where that would be useful.

My Linux find command newer option examples

I hope my Linux find command newer option examples have been helpful. As you can see, you can combine the find command and touch command to create a really powerful way to search for files on Unix and Linux systems.

For much more information on the find command, please see my Linux find command examples and tutorials on the devdaily.com website.

Here are a few views of the Boulder, Colorado area and the Rocky Mountains after our recent snowstorms. This first photo was taken on December 3, 2011, as it looked like another storm was about to hit us:

I just took this second one on the morning of December 4, 2011. I haven’t checked the weather yet, but it looks like we might have a clearer day after 2+ of snowstorms:

The locals keep telling me that it usually snows one day and melts the next day, because it’s usually very sunny here … time will tell.

One thing I wish Apple would do is to come out with a “retro iMac” version, using this style that they used in the 2002 through 2004 iMac design:

An iMac design like this would be perfect for my kitchen area, especially if it had a touchscreen.

As I’ve written on my devdaily.com website, I’ve created a “Mac Siri” app that runs on all current Mac OS X computers, including any MacBook or iMac, but it won’t run on the 2002-2004 iMac, because those systems didn’t use Intel processors, and also aren’t powerful enough.

My app can do things like play iTunes, play DVD movies, read web pages, get the current weather, and much more, so my Mac Siri software, combined with this retro/vintage iMac design, would bean awesome device in any kitchen.

When I first moved to the Colorado area (way back in October, 2011), I picked up a local Boulder newspaper, and found this ad for a showing of The Big Lebowski at the Boulder Theater:

You have to love the “$1 off of White Russians with robe or costume” line. Actually, you have to love a movie theater that serves White Russians.

For more information on their schedule, here’s a link to the Boulder Theater, in Boulder, Colorado.

I do like my donuts, and when I first moved to Colorado, I was very disappointed to see this news about Dunkin’ Donuts:

Hopefully they’ll get a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise opened somewhere around Boulder, Colorado in the near future.

In happier news, I did find a Krispy Kreme donut location just down the road, in Westminster, Colorado (I think it was Westminster):

There were no donut chains at all in Alaska, so as you might imagine, I enjoyed my visit at Krispy Kreme. (I had a little catching up to do.)

If you know me, you know I start hanging the Christmas lights indoors as soon as it starts getting dark outside early. Of course in Alaska that was really early, and here in Colorado, I started hanging the Christmas lights in my apartment in mid-November:

Of course, if you also know me, you also know I start baking fresh cookies around the same time. (Cookies not shown … but they sure do smell good.)

When I first moved to the Boulder, Colorado area in October, the first several news stories I heard were about mountain lions in the Boulder area. This photo of an indoor cat and outdoor mountain lion shows the problem pretty well:

Or, as I wrote on my Facebook account, “Little kitty looks in the ‘mirror’ and thinks, wow, I’m looking pretty fierce today.”

It’s currently December, 2011, and I think I bought my 24″ iMac back in 2009, and a simple picture will show you what I think is the best iMac design feature:

I’m not sure what you can that ledge/stand for the iMac, but it sure is a handy design feature.

As I was driving home last night I got to see this spectacular scene of some storm clouds coming in over the Rocky Mountains, getting ready to pound the Boulder and Louisville, Colorado area with some fresh snow:

That photo doesn’t really do justice to those snowstorm clouds … just seeing them, you knew we were in for another big snow storm here in the Boulder and Louisville, Colorado area, the results of which you can see in my Boulder, Colorado blizzard/whiteout post.