c0t0d0s0.org - Apple

Too obvious

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:51:43 +0100

When friends asking me for the usability concept of MacOS X, i just say "Do the most obvious". I should follow the tip myself ... i just learned how you get the menu bar from one monitor to another in a multi monitor setup: Just moving the white bar in this window to the blue box representing the correct screen. To add insult to injury: It's even written in in the window ... but who reads documentation or help texts directly in the window

That's too obvious for a unixoid mind ...

Apple start to make public contributions to OpenJDK

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:42:30 +0100

Mike Swingler of Apple announced yesterday, that Apple has started to contribute to the OpenJDK project:

I'm very happy to let you know that today we made the first public contribution of code to the OpenJDK project for Mac OS X. This initial contribution builds on the hard work of the BSD port, and initially has the same functionality. Today's contribution simply modifies the build process to create universal binary, and produces a .jdk bundle which is recognized by Java Preferences and the JVM detection logic in Mac OS X.

You will find a list of important links in regard of this project in the announcement mail.

About Java on MacOS X

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 07:26:17 +0100

There is an interesting joint statement about the future of Java on MacOS X:

Oracle and Apple today announced the OpenJDK project for Mac OS X. Apple will contribute most of the key components, tools and technology required for a Java SE 7 implementation on Mac OS X, including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack and the foundation for a new graphical client. OpenJDK will make Apples Java technology available to open source developers so they can access and contribute to the effort.

Multitasking

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:17:27 +0200

One question isn't answered by many people wanting multitasking for the iPhone/iPad: Why does an device need multitasking, when the wetware in front of the device isn't able to do multitasking at an significant scale? Just observe normal users in their habits of using computers. I assume most of them wouldn't notice, when you would modify the scheduler in their operating system in a way that the window in focus gets all computing power, as long as you give some additional cycles to the mp3-player.

Mac, supported usb/serial adapter but no terminal program available?

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:06:36 +0100

There is a neat trick in the case you have an serial adapter, but no terminal programm at your disposal, your mobile data plan don't allow a larger download. Well, just open a shell:

screen /dev/tty.

At least for a Sun ILOM serial mgnt port it works right out of the box.

PS: Don't use the original MacOS X driver for Prolific based USB/Serial converters, the open-source variant is a much better alternative (implements BREAK, installer doesn't freeze) . You can download it from the sourceforge project page.

iPad

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:47:29 +0100

I really like to give presentations. Thus i'm looking at new devices from the perspective "Do they make my life easier in regard of giving presentations?". And somehow i believe the Apple iPad could be the ultimate presentation device on-the-road. More than enough storage for my presentations, there is an Keynote version on the device to make last-minute-changes with a display large enough to make changes, with a Dock2VGA cable you have 1024*756 (pretty much the standard for meeting room beamers) and it's lightweight. Would be nice to carry around just such a device instead of a full notebook. I want one

But there is an unofficial ZFS for MacOS

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:23:24 +0100

Okay, Apple dropped the ball, but that doesn't mean, that no one else is capable to play it: ZFS for MacOS. At the end ZFS is opensource and it's available with a license compatible (CDDL) to the one of MacOS. So this was an obvious step after Apple's decision.

Trust me!

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:04:58 +0200

Storagemojo about the missing ZFS in Snow Leopard

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:39:28 +0200

I really like Robin Harris' Storage Mojo blog, but in this case, but i'm thinking in his article Why did Apple drop ZFS he is wrong, when he thinks that the CDDL may posed a problem: Mac OS X uses Dtrace for a while now and it's licensed under the CDDL as well. So this can't be the reason. I assume some technical problems, but at Apple this includes "Steven didn't like the graphical user interface". Considering that this was a release concentrated at the inner workings of MacOS X, they didn't wanted to introduce a completely new feature to reduce potential instabilities because of newly introduced code. I don't even think a GPLed ZFS would help, given that a GPLed ZFS would introduce the same kind of problems for MacOS X than a GPLed Linux has with the CDDLed ZFS.

Battery life

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:43:41 +0200

It doesn´t look as bad as the the battery of Kris. But ... well ... it´s the second battery in the life of this MBP. I got this battery in November 2008.

Expensive Vacation

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:58:33 +0100

Hell ... this will be an expensive vacation: Apple stores selling iPhone 3G without a contract. At least the journey to the US is well timed ... By the way: Is there a halfway decently priced pre-paid data plan for mobiles available in the US?

OmniGraphSketcher

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:29:02 +0100

Omnigraffle is one of my favourite tools. It´s one (if not the most important) reason, why i prefer to use MacOS X. People knowing Omnigraffle recognize at 10 miles distance, that most of my figures in my presentations were made with Omnigraffle.

The Omnigroup made an addition to their portfolio. I wasn´t aware of the program before, but i think it you will see the results of this new tool in my presentations, too: OmniGraphSketcher. It´s a tool with only one job, doing excellent looking graphs with a few mouse clicks.

Really fscking easy to create a graph ... the demo screencast is really worth a look and my own test took me fewer than 30 seconds. I´m impressed.

PS: The data in graph is nonsense ...

MacBook Wheel - The notebook for the twitter generation

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:31:25 +0100

The Onion reports about the introduction of the new MacBook Wheel:

This is the notebook for the twitter generation - you don´t want to type in messages longer than 140 chars this way ...

Overpopulated

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:34:29 +0100

Looks like i´m using too many small tools ...

from right to left: Spotlight, Clock, Language Setting, Volume, Airport, Bluetooth, Monitors, Spaces, Time Machine, PPPoE, Dial-In networking, Accessability, iSync, Growl, Caffeine, Twitterific, Nokia Uploader, Adium X, Jing, Camouflage, smcFancontrol)

Nice toy: FluidTunes

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:00:29 +0100

The days of the Minority report alike GUIs getting nearer - gadget application by gadget application. FluidTunes (written by Majic Jungle Software) for example allows you to control your iTunes with gestures in front of your iSight:

Tofu

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:23:06 +0200

PDF articles with multiple columns look good on paper, but they are a major pain in the a... to read on a display under 22 inches. There is a small little tool called Tofu, which rerenders documents in a way, where you just have to scroll horizontally instead of scrolling vertically to the beginning of a column again.

You can even cut´n paste a webpage on the window to get a columned version of the text:

You loose parts of the layout, but it´s much easier to read ....

Mindmapping on Mac

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:23:09 +0200

Stefan Domanske of domanske.de pointed to a little interesting tool. Maybe you are aware of the technique of mindmapping for gathering ideas. I like this concept, but so far i prefered to use pencil and paper for this task as there was no really focussed and simple tool for it, at least not for the operating system from Cupertino. In the article "Mindmapping am Mac" Stefan talked about Mindnode. It´s a tool for MacOS 10.5 and it just does Mindmapping with a really clean interface. It´s near to the experience of using the oldfashioned paper because of the simple and clean interface. I really like this tool.

Mindnode is available for free on the website of the project, albeit there will be an Pro version in the future for purchase.

Habituation

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:07:28 +0200

What is habituation? When you borrow a portable navigation device from your brother, try to scroll through the menus and twitch through the maps like on your iPhone and think at first: "Fsck ... the display is broken" ... i want an iNav!

An established brand

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:06:34 +0200

You know, that a brand is well established in the marked, when the approx. 3-4 year old boy on the lap of his mother on the adjactent seat says: "The man has an iPhone". At least i think the boy mumbled something like that ...

The market share of Apple notebooks

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:51:36 +0200

I have a personal test for the market share of the Mac OS X plattform. I like to sit in the first wagon of the train. To get into the on-board restaurant i have to go to half the train. On this way i count the types of notebooks. 4 years ago, a Mac was a really rare sighting. On my train trip back from Berlin to Hamburg today, i´ve counted 13 notebooks, 7 of them were from Apple. I was somehow undecided about the move to the Intel architecture, but it seems that this move had paid off for the people at the Infinite Loop.

Out now: MacOS X - 10.5.4

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:31:37 +0200

Apple published an update for Mac OS X yesterday: 10.5.4. This update isn´t as large as the last one, but it still contains some important bugfixes. You will find the combo updater and normal updater at the usual locations.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 out now

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:21:34 +0200

There is a new update for MacOS X 10.5. You find the release notes for 10.5.3 in the Knowledge Base: About the Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update. And the release notes are looong ... Okay, you can download the combo update at Apples Download site. You just have to download 536 MB. In the case you already use 10.5.2 you can use the smaller Updater - just 420 MB

Jonathan is a Mac user ...

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 24 May 2008 10:03:00 +0200

White case, a black spot above the LC display, the typical monitor dongle at the side. This looks like a MacBook. Jonathan is a Mac user...

Lux

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:23:39 +0200

I want this at home:

Multi-touch is definitely one of the "next big things" in user interfaces. Work for a few minutes with an iPhone ... or: simply look at the video and you will understand. And Lux looks promising to bring that to your Mac soon. My personal favorite was the moment, when they controlled Google Earth with gestures

Thermal problems

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:47:49 +0200

Your old notebook has severe thermal problems because of a defunct fan or something like that and you need a last boot. This may be an effective solution for you: How to rescue data from an iBook with thermal problems

Comparative advertising

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:18:37 +0200

The problem with the X300 ... it runs this mediocre operation system from Redmond. Dear Levono ... you could make it smaller, you could make it faster, you could even make it silver and cool-looking ... your problem is the OS.

(via: fakesteve)

Cringely about Apples acquisition of PA Semiconductor

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:23:40 +0200

Cringely has a really interesting opinion about the recent acquisition of PA Semi by Apple. He thinks, that this move will lead us to an Apple system, where even the CPU is a custom-build circuit from Apple optimized for MacOS X. The arguments for his ideas sound quite reasonable.

Successful advertisment

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:59:53 +0200

I have to keep this "New Soul" from Yael Naim from my ears. When i hear this music, i have the strong urge to search my credit card and to buy a notebook ....

Location-aware Twitter for the iPhone: Twinkle

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:48:13 +0200

I revived my twitter account a few days ago, whe i discovered, that my prefered feedreader (Netnewswire) is capable of sending URLs to twitter with a single command. So i use twitter as a public clipboard again for links i do not want to put on del.icio.us. Yesterday i´ve found yet another really neat tool for my iPhone: Twinkle. Twinkle is a Twitter-client for the iPhone, but with a spin. You can add location informations to your tweets (the messages in twitter). Resulting from this information you can query for tweets that were published by people near of you:

Continue reading "Location-aware Twitter for the iPhone: Twinkle"

The MacBook Air and the TSA

nospam@example.com (Joerg Moellenkamp) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:57:37 +0100

Yet another reason, i´m glad that i didn´t purchased a Macbook Air yet. Now it´s up to others to explain the TSA that the MacBook Air isn´t a stylish bomb designed by Jonathan Ive