brandon-martinez.com: personal blog

One Calendar Tweak for the iPhone/iPod Touch

Wed Jul 16 16:11:49 -0700 2008

I love the calendar application for the touches. It provides and easy to use way for me to manage my schedule, see what’s coming up, and to create new events (and now, since version 2.0, put them in their respective calendars). However, I really want week view. On my Mac, I use the week view to get a nice overview of what’s coming up, where I have open slots, and how I should maneuver around them. On the touch devices, I have to either resort to list view (not very visual), or flip through day views (still not visual enough).

Here’s a quick fix: when the touch device is flipped on it’s side, automatically go to week view. Simple as that. I know Apple can do it, it would be a lot like the calculator app (changing from a smaller view to a larger one with slightly different functionality). 2.0.1, you better add this!

Oh yeah, todos wouldn’t hurt, either ;)

LogMeIn

Thu Jul 10 07:59:30 -0700 2008

For a while, I was using Hamachi to access my iMac remotely. While Hamachi worked great (with the occasional instances of it being dreadfully slow), it required me installing a Hamachi client on any computer I used. I needed a better solution.

So lately, I’ve been using LogMeIn, which, oddly enough, bought Hamachi some time ago. It’s been working great, and as long as I have a decent connection on the computer I’m using, I tend to be able to access my iMac without much of a problem (at least enough to do small stuff). Also, since LogMeIn is running, it gives me a place to find my public IP, in the event that I need to grab a file from FTP or need to login through ssh.

LogMeIn: My Personal Back to My Mac

iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0

Thu Jul 10 07:27:06 -0700 2008

I’m really looking forward to the new 2.0 update. I was already browsing through the iTunes Store to see what apps I want to put on my iPod touch (and hopefully soon, iPhone). Facebook, MySpace, some of the cool games, and of course, Remote (allows you to control your iTunes library remotely, as long as you’re on a WiFi connection).

I still haven’t really progressed with that application I was developing, I hit a dead-end. Oh well, I’m still keeping it going as a learning tool. Hopefully you’ll all see updates with it.

Commenting

Thu Jun 26 08:38:12 -0700 2008

Sometimes, I find myself writing comments on others’ blog posts, but never submitting them…

I guess it’s just to get the idea out of my head.

Gmail Complaints: Signatures and Threads

Thu Jun 26 07:07:19 -0700 2008

First off, I would like to say that for the most part, I absolutely love Gmail. It is by far the best web-based e-mail client I have ever used, but that doesn’t mean that it’s absolutely perfect. Here are the two biggest complaints I have.

Signatures

I use e-mail signatures all of the time; in Apple Mail, I have four that I use (one for personal, school, work, and then a very basic fits-every-other-situation style). Gmail, however, only lets me use one. Not too big of a deal, just a minor annoyance. My biggest problem with Gmail’s implementation is where it puts the signature.

If you create a new message, Gmail will automatically put your signature at the bottom of a message, and give you a few line breaks before so you have room to type. It also, for whatever reason, adds two hyphens (—) before your actual signature starts. So for example, mine looks like this:

Dear Whomever
This is my message.

—
Sincerely,
Brandon Martinez
etc.

Not too bad, it looks nice, and I guess the hyphens separate the signature that much more. Now here’s my major gripe: say you’re going to reply to an e-mail, and by default you have that e-mail included as inline text; where does Gmail put your signature? Still at the bottom of the entire message!

Dear Whomever
This is my message.

>>>This is the message that I am replying too.

—
Sincerely,
Brandon Martinez
etc.

Maybe it’s just me, but I personally think it should work more like Apple Mail. When you respond to a message in Mail, your signature is inserted before the original message, but after your message. At the very least, this should be an option (as should the insertion of the hyphens).

Dear Whomever
This is my message.

—
Sincerely,
Brandon Martinez
etc.

>>>This is the message that I am replying too.

Threading

On to the next topic: message threading. I wish that more mail applications would implement this feature (I’m looking at you, Apple Mail!). The only suggestion I have for threads, is to A.) be able to create a thread (in the event that Gmail doesn’t pick one up properly), or to B.) be able to pull a thread apart (one major area that this would be useful is if you ever get automatated messages from a blog service, Gmail wants to group all of them).

The Traverse City Adventure: Nonpoint Live at Streeters

Wed Jun 25 13:23:18 -0700 2008

Last night, Josh, Joy, and I went to a Nonpoint concert in Traverse City. The concert started at 8:00, but we didn’t actually get there until almost 9:00 (which is fine by me, I wasn’t interested in the opening bands). After waiting through two bands, we finally got to see Nonpoint. And let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.

I’m not sure if it was the room we were in, or if it was just the overall setup, but these guys sounded incredible! The sound quality was ridiculous – you could hear every instrument, and every word, near CD-quality. And to top it all off, they played an amazing set: Rabia, Bullet with a Name, Alive and Kicking (in a great Acoustic format), Development, and Circles to name a few.

I had an amazing time. If I can, I might upload some video/pics that Joy took on her new camera.

Country Code? Only If It's Toll Free.

Wed Jun 25 13:11:34 -0700 2008

I was designing a wedding invitation for a client that came into the shop today – we sat down and pulled all of her information together, sorting out what needed to go on the invitations and such. Anyway, after I was looking at all of the information she had written down, something caught my eye. She had phone numbers written like this:

(xxx) xxx-xxxx
1(8xx) xxx-xxxx
1(8xx) xxx-xxxx
(xxx) xxx-xxxx

Now, why-oh-why would you only include the country code with toll-free numbers?

The funny thing is that I’ve seen this numerous times before. People, in the general sense, seem to want to add that 1 before an 800 number, but do not find it necessary before any other telephone number.

Why does this happen? I blame infomercials. Just call 1-800-xxx-xxxx, that’s 1-800-xxx-xxxx, and don’t forget to call 1-800-xxx-xxxx!

Funny Commercial: I Couldn't Stop Laughing

Sun Jun 22 01:21:41 -0700 2008

A Car That Runs on Water? Yeah, Right…

Sun Jun 22 00:25:02 -0700 2008

It’s amazing what people will believe these days:

There are many articles saying why this is a major joke, and they all make sense. A quick summary, you can’t make more energy than what you start with: how can you separate the H2 from the O without using the same (if not more) energy than what it makes when you combine them again?

But hey, we can only hope that it’s possible, right?

Time Machine Isn't Aware of Basic Math

Sun Jun 15 09:29:09 -0700 2008

As I was using my computer today, I was greeted with a weird error:

How does that even make sense? After manually forcing a backup to start, I was back underway; but nonetheless, that shouldn’t ever happen, should it?

Genesis 9:11

Fri Jun 13 20:10:44 -0700 2008

With all the flooding, thunder and lightning, brief tornadoes, and some slight hail, Mason and Manistee counties are in somewhat of a wreck. Oddly enough, the actual CIty of Ludington Suffered a large amount of damage.

One of the worst parts of the disaster was right around the corner from my house (for large values of “right around the corner”). Across from Whitehall Industries, on Madison Street, a whole section of the road collapsed!

View Larger Map

Here you can see a couple of videos of the damage:

Here you can see the sewer line that was busted. People in the Ludington Area were advised to use as little water as possible, as to decrease the amount of pressure in the sewage system.

Too Much Starbucks?

Thu Jun 12 06:11:13 -0700 2008

I walked into Starbucks this morning, mostly because I actually left early for work and had some time, to get a morning pick-me-up. As soon as I walk in, the girl sees me and says: “Single Tall Mocha Light Frappacino?”

Wow. I didn’t think I went there that often – maybe once every two weeks. At least she remembered me.

Apache Tip: Create a Project

Sat May 31 07:47:53 -0700 2008

After setting up mod_rails (a.k.a. Passenger) in Mac OS X, I had a brilliant thought. If I’m going to have to update the Apache configuration every time I add a new site, why not just create a TextMate Project?

Well, I did. I created a new project in TextMate and added /etc/hosts and /etc/apache2/*, then saved that in my personal ~/Sites directory (this is where I keep all of my web projects). This allows for easy access when I have to add a new client, and it also means I won’t have to remember where the files are stored. Simple, but helpful.

Awesome User Experience: theBar.com

Sun May 25 14:42:36 -0700 2008

Just a quick blurb: I was looking for some drink recipes, and came across this site: theBar.com. Not only is it filled with great content (tons of recipes, all of which are searchable by a numerous amount of characteristics), but the user experience was great.

Before they let you enter the site, they ask for your birth-year (not that you couldn’t lie) to make sure you’re the legal drinking age for your region. They also ask for your first name, to help “personalize” the site to you. At first, I thought this would be no more than seeing your name at the top of the page. I was wrong! You are greeted by a digital bartender (a real person), Jack. Not only does he greet you, but he also speaks your name (quite well for me). Jack also has other interesting things to say, if you click Ask Jack, he’ll tell you stories revolving around several types of drinks.

If you’re the legal age (or even if you’re not), check out theBar.com. It’s not only informative, it’s fun.

Cocoa Crazy

Tue May 20 19:36:18 -0700 2008

In my spare time (the little that I have), I have been gradually learning Cocoa and Objective-C. So far, it’s been a great experience. I’ve already started one project, and I’m working on another: iNeed.

iNeed will be a “grocery list” application for the iPod Touch/iPhone. You’ll be able to enter in things you need to buy (all organized into different categories), their quantity (in the case of groceries), and some other additional information. You’ll then be able to use it like a real grocery list: when you get the item, check it off and move on.

This, as with all other projects, is on the back burner and is not guaranteed to ever be completed – even though I would really love to finish it.

Safari's Tab Titles

Sun May 18 21:56:01 -0700 2008

I never really noticed this until recently, but when you have multiple tabs open in Safari that share similar titles, Safari automatically selects the most relevant part of the title to display.

For example, if you were to open several articles from this site, the titles would be something like brandon martinez: blog – It Really Is the Simple Things or brandon martinez: blog – Safari’s Tab Titles. Safari will automatically remove the brandon martinez: blog - so that the tabs would read It Really Is the Simple Things and Safari’s Tab Titles.

However, I have noticed that it isn’t 100% accurate. Results such as martinez: blog -[article name] aren’t uncommon, but either way, it’s a cool concept.

It Really Is the Simple Things

Sun May 18 20:35:12 -0700 2008

As I said in the last post, sometimes it’s the simplest things that get me. For example, comment posting hasn’t worked on my site in a while (which in a way is a great thing, considering the amount of comment spam I get). I tried looking everywhere to get comment posting to work again; and yet, I was not able to.

Warning: Nerdy story alert!

Come to find out, it was because of a very small issue (which I will not get too in-depth with here) with how Ruby on Rails loads gems. If you are running the gem with it locally installed, you can require the gem in your code by putting gem ‘gemname‘. However, if you have frozen that gem into your vendor/gems directory and are using the config.load_paths to load the gem manually, you have to change the gem ‘gemname‘ to require ‘gemname‘.

Wow, so many hours wasted because of one word.

iPod Touch Wifi Problem

Sun May 18 18:25:21 -0700 2008

A few days ago, I was trying to connect to my wireless Airport Extreme network with my iPod touch, and for whatever reason, the iPod could not find the network. Actually, it could find it, but I had to be right next to the router (and even then it only showed one bar of signal strength). After a little bit of digging, I solved the problem.

On your iPod, go to Settings, General, Reset, Reset Network Settings. Another thing I did, just for good measure, was erasing Safari’s cache. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that get me.

I hope this helps you.

Coming Soon: BlogREST

Fri May 02 11:07:05 -0700 2008

I’ve been learning Cocoa and Objective-C over the past week, and it’s coming along great. I already have the basics for the Objective-C language down (actually, it’s nice because it’s a lot like C and Ruby combined, as far as theory), and I’m learning the frameworks for Cocoa.

As of now, I’m diving straight into Core Data and the NSXML libraries, building an application that integrates with my web site. It’s only taken me about 4 to 5 hours of development time, and already I have learned how to remotely connect to a REST web service, consume the data, and inject it into a Core Data application.

The app, tentatively called BlogREST, has a long road map ahead of it. Here is a short list of what I want it to do, and it will hopefully do within the next few months:

Connect to a REST-powered blog web service (read: Ruby on Rails), and consume the XML provided
Allow the consumed XML to be stored in a local data store, allowing data to be edited and managed locally, then sync up with the web server
At first, the app will only support one XML schema (based off my web app), but eventually I hope to allow the user to define and map their field names

Of course, the interface isn’t the greatest (I’m not even going to post a picture of it right now, that’s how bad it is), but that will come along with the rest of the application. Stay tuned for updates!

RSS Awareness Day

Thu May 01 10:44:40 -0700 2008

For those of your that don’t know what RSS is, maybe it’s time for you to find out!

RESTful Blogging

Fri May 02 11:59:18 -0700 2008

I’m a huge supporter of REST: I think it’s a great to take full advantage of a protocol, especially HTTP, to communicate. However, even though I personally have embraced REST, I can’t seem to find anyone to back me up on it.

As of now, this web site runs on the REST principles (all thanks to Ruby on Rails); this includes the blog, the portfolio section, and the photo section. This is great, every URL is technically a path to a resource, and every resource has actions that can be taken against it. The problem I’m having, however, is that I want a desktop application (Mac Application, preferably), to take advantage of that.

I haven’t found a single application that supports REST for blogging. I took the opportunity to contact MarsEdit developer Red Sweater Software to see if he would be supporter a REST protocol anytime soon; his response : eventually. He says MarsEdit will support AtomPub, which is based off the Atom feed format, allowing for REST based publishing. I just can’t find any information on AtomPub (besides the main web site, but very little information is actually displayed about the protocol).

If anyone knows of a REST aware client, please let me know!

UPDATE

I gave up. I couldn’t find any out there that support REST, so, I’m going to make my own.

Yes We Can

Sun Apr 27 05:44:39 -0700 2008

I love the idea of change, especially when it comes to government. If we get stuck into one method, especially a method that doesn’t work, we’ll continue to repeat our mistakes and end up in a place that we don’t want to be.

Favorite Line: “that we are not as divided as our politics suggests, that we are one people, that we are one nation, and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea… Yes We Can”.

The power of this speech, and the emphasis given to it from the musical composition, is surreal. Watching this video brought chills to me, making me realize that as a people, we have the power to change, if we want it enough. No one can stop the power of millions that want change… Thank you, Barack, for shedding the light on the next chapter.

FreeRADIUS, OpenSSL, and OpenLDAP

Tue Apr 29 09:24:45 -0700 2008

For one of my classes, and eventually my own personal use, I am setting up a RADIUS server. Being that this is my first time ever really working with RADIUS, it’s quite a challenge.

For the RADIUS server, I decided to go with FreeRADIUS. I chose FreeRADIUS for three reasons. One: it’s one of the most widely used RADIUS servers (meaning a lot of help in forums, wikis, and the like). Two: it compiles and runs on UNIX-based systems (meaning I can deploy it in Linux, or on a Mac). And three: it’s free! Yeah, I’m cheap like that.

So far, I have FreeRADIUS downloaded, configured, compiled, and installed. I’m using the default configuration for now – that is, until I get OpenLDAP up and running properly. All of my local tests work fine using cleartext passwords, but I’m trying to get EAP/TLS to work. Once I have all of this figured out, I’ll see if I can pull together a tutorial (step-by-step complete, including additional components).

Oh, and by the way, the server itself is being virtualized through Parallels on my Macs. I have to be semi-cutting edge somewhere, right?

UPDATE #1

I figured out FreeRADIUS and OpenSSL, they are authenticating okay. Now, to get an OpenLDAP authentication server, and get those to work well together, is the next step. Definitely look forward to a tutorial coming soon!

UPDATE #2

OpenSSL’s certificates weren’t working with third-party client software, so I switched back to FreeRADIUS’ default certificate. Also, in class we were able to setup a Cisco switch to pass authentication on a per-port basis. Next step: wireless access point using a mesh, and if possible, WPA2 Enterprise encryption.

UPDATE #3

Alright, everything is done; we were able to communicate with the FreeRADIUS server via a WAP, using WPA/WPA2-Enterprise. It took a little figuring, but we got it. Tutorial later this week.

Windows XP Users: Turn on ClearType!

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

I’ve been working on this new design for the web site and I’m testing it on different browsers, which are on different computers. Well today, I happened to test it in Firefox 2 on a Windows XP machine, and was very disappointed. The type looked terrible!

After a few minutes, I finally figured out what was going on. The machine didn’t have ClearType turned on! This is rather disappointing, since ClearType provides a much needed boost in terms of font-rendering on screen. I have no idea why Windows XP wouldn’t have this turned on by default, but Microsoft has an article up on how to do it.

Over at Veerle’s blog, she has written a nice article about a similar situation.

Adventures in Networking: Episode 1

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

I’ve been trying to figure out this crazy problem I’ve been having with HP ProCurve 2900 and 3500 switches. As of now, I keep getting Major Errors: “High Collision or Drop Rate (formerly overbandwidth) Action taken: Warning Issued.”

UPDATE

Apparently, this isn’t that big of a deal, and is to be expected. This can happen from old network cables, old NICs, or a few other problems. Then only time you should be concerned is when it slows down your network (noticeably).

Lost in Sanity!

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

I was listening to some music that Josh and I have been working on, when I remembered that a few years ago we had setup a PureVolume page. I logged in and added a couple of songs (very rough demos), and decided that we could use that as our front for the band. Hopefully, we’ll begin recording some stuff this weekend, and will update that whenever we have something to update it with. I’ll post here to let you all know, too. Feel free to check it out: http://www.purevolume.com/lostinsanity.

Skitch!

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

Alright, if you haven’t heard of Skitch, the you need to (Mac-Users Only, Please). It’s an awesome way to take screenshots, make notes, and then share them with the world. Check out their web site (http://plasq.com/skitch), and watch the video at the bottom. It’s a great way to see all that it can do.

I’ve only been able to touch lightly on the power it has, but I’m really enjoying it. And the good news is, I have one invite to give away. So if you’d like an invite, just leave a comment on this post, with the e-mail address you want it sent to.

Capistrano 2.1

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

I just updated this web site today, upgrading both Ruby on Rails (to version 1.2.6), as well as upgrading Capistrano (from version 1.0 to 2.1). On my development machine (my iMac), everything went great. However, uploading stuff to the server was a major pain. I spent about 2 hours trying to figure out why Capistrano kept failing. Come to find out, it was one line of code. Eck! I hate when that happens.

Adobe Updates Lightroom

Tue May 20 05:34:58 -0700 2008

For those of you running Mac OS X 10.5 and Lightroom (or any one running Lightroom at that matter), the 1.3 update is available. After installing and playing with it, I noticed that Lightroom is a lot snappier; there is nearly zero lag when scrolling (even through a few thousand photos). Also, Adobe fixed the print module, which wasn’t working under Leopard. Thanks Adobe!

IMAP and Gmail

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

I’ve been using Gmail’s new IMAP feature a lot lately, and I am totally loving it. This setup, by far, is far better than using POP3. I am able to organize my e-mail both in Apple Mail and the Gmail web interface, and they reflect each other. However, I one major gripe.

I don’t like the label->folder mapping. Honestly, I would prefer not to see the Gmail section in mail at all, I would rather have it be 100% integrated with my inbox. I don’t want to see all of those folders in Mail. Labels are great for Gmail, so I can find messages quickly, but in Mail, that’s what Smart Folders are for.

Another thing I noticed was when I was browsing through my user directory; I noticed that under ~/Library/Mail, the folder size for my Gmail account was double what it should have been. Why? Because Mail was downloading multiple copies of my messages because they appeared in Gmail’s labels (Mail was treating them as separate mailboxes, so it downloaded them as such). So, my mailbox that should have been taking up 965 MB, was actually taking up 2.59 GB! I had to find a fix.

Luckily, it was easy. Under your Gmail Advanced account settings, change your IMAP path to [Gmail]. After Mail quickly rebuilds the mailbox database, the problem is solved. You no longer have all of those extra folders, and also less space taken up by the mail database.

UPDATE

Apparently, Mail still will have some duplicates of messages, but it is still smaller than having the entire GMail path in your path.

Coheed Live!

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

Well, who knew: I’m going to see Coheed & Cambria next Thursday in Detroit (November 1^st). Awesome! After they put out an amazing album, I get to see them play it live; I’m so excited. I’ve seen them once in concert, and I had a great time; this time, however, I have a general admission ticket – can we say “hello front row!”?

UPDATE

The concert was amazing! By far the best concert I’ve ever been to.

The Fall of Troy opened the show with crazy guitar playing, intense drums, and rockin’ bass. Following up with a good old fashioned dose of Clutch, the show was rockin’ before Coheed even got to the stage.

Mac OS X 10.5

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

Yesterday I pre-ordered Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and I should have it next Friday (which is great, considering that is the day it will be available for purchase from Apple Stores). I’m very excited about this, and I’ve been preparing by buying a 500GB external hard drive ($139.99, Iomega, from the Apple Store) to back up all of my files, then I’ll wipe my hard drive and start fresh with Leopard. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

UPDATE

Well, after having a few months to play with it, all I can say is that I Love It. Sure, I’ve run into my fair share of problems (a couple of apps that don’t play nice), but other than that, I’ve been very satisfied.

No World for Tomorrow

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

I’ve been listening to Coheed & Cambria’s newest album, Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 2: No World for Tomorrow, and I am very impressed. This is their most mature album to date, with amazing music and production. I would recommend almost anyone to buy this CD when it comes out next week.e

Overall Rating: 10/10

New Shoes

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

Yesterday, I picked up a brand-new pair of Keen’s Austin shoes, and after wearing them for just over a day, I’m glad I did. They are the most comfortable shoe I have every worn, extremely light, and walk extremely well. If you are looking to get a great pair of shoes, for both work and play, I would 100% recommend buying a pair of Keens.

Mactive Directory

Sun Apr 27 05:13:35 -0700 2008

If any of you have been on a large, business-style Windows Network, then you’ve probably used Active Directory. Active Directory is Microsoft’s implementation of LDAP, a system for allowing users to login on multiple machines based on a single login.

West Shore Community College, my college, uses Active Directory (as do many colleges and universities). Yesterday I had the chance to plug my Mac into the network, and setup Active Directory. Honestly, it was a super-easy experience (you open up Directory Access and configure Active Directory, go figure) and it worked perfectly. This is awesome, because I personally like Active Directory, and eventually when I have a corporate network to manage, I will most likely use a combination of Open Directory and Active Directory, along with Macs and PCs for the clients.

Well, just thought I would share my experience.

Mac Tips: Moving Background Windows

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

This is a quickie: did you know that you can move a window that is not in focus, and without bringing it in focus, by holding down the command key when you click and drag? I just learned this today, and I think I will end up using it a lot :)

Online Classes... School of the Future?

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

With the popularity of the Internet, and the increasing number of American households that will be getting a high speed connection, how will we use this service to benefit and simplify our lives?

I recently enrolled into a few online classes – I needed the credits, and one of the classes was only offered online. After spending a few weeks with them, I have decided that they are the perfect solution for educating the world (at least the US).

Think of this, with that growing number of American households’ internet access, a student can “go to school” and still be able to work a stable job to help pay for that school. Not only will it help teenagers entering the college world, but it will also help those that dropped out long ago to pursue parenthood or whatever their life presented at the time. Now that “stay-at-home-mom” can be with her children, and finish her degree. By the time her children are in school, she can have her degree done and be ready to enter the workforce again.

Logic Pro 8

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

Over the past few days, I’ve had the absolute pleasure to work with Apple’s latest version of Logic Pro, studio version 8. Let me tell you, even with the few hours I’ve spent with it everyday, I know this product is absolutely amazing. Before Logic Pro 8, I was using Logic Express 7.2, which is also a great product, but I feel that 8 is leaps and bounds beyond 7.2.

The new interface alone is reason enough to upgrade. They have finally decided to put everything into one window (with the option of having multiple windows for all of you dual-monitor folk), letting you access everything you need from one window instead of 3, 4, or even more. Also, they have upgraded the way effects work, putting them in the Aperture-ish HUD displays. Absolutely beautiful. I’ll write more as I have more of a chance to work with the product.

Mac Tips: Keyboard Shortcuts

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

If any of you know me and my computing habits, you know I’m all about using the keyboard over the mouse. Well, I learned a new shortcut by accident. Command+Down Arrow. It opens files (normally I just use Command+O). Also, one most people don’t know is Command+Up, which moves you up a level in the finder.

SPAM: The Trash of Our Times

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

SPAM has just gotten out of hand these days.

I was cleaning out my Gmail account today (deleting newsletters and the like from sites I used to subscribe to), and I decided to empty my SPAM. Guess what happened 30 seconds later. Another new SPAM message popped in there; do you realize how annoying that is? It’s like cleaning your house, walking back to where you started and it’s a mess again! That is just ridiculous.

I must get about 500-600 SPAM emails a week. I realize that’s low compared to a lot of people, but I still find it frustrating! I’m just glad that Gmail does an incredible job filtering my mail from the SPAM. In fact, I think I’ve only ever received 3 or 4 SPAM messages in my actual inbox, and no real messages have ever been sent to the SPAM folder. That’s really impressive.

Moral of the story: “Use Gmail, and over look that 600+ number next to Spam”

Small Businesses: Reasons to Work for Them

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

I work for a small business in my county, and I really enjoy it. There are so many benefits that you get from working for one, it’s just a great experience overall.

For example, at my work, there are only 3 people there, and I’m the only employee. As such, I get to voice my opinion in the day to day activities that happen around the shop, as well as discuss any of the things going on in the community that directly effect the business. When a general decision has to be made, I actually get to put my input into the final outcome. What I do in my work is directly reflected into the business – it’s an awesome feeling to see something I did come to life.

Opposed to a larger business/corporation, this is great. How many people can go home and say “I had an awesome day today, and actually feel like I contributed to something.”? My guess is very few.

Of course, there are a few downsides for working for a small business. The pay will almost never be as good (smaller client base), as well as the benefits (insurance and such). But then again, I’m not saying that everyone should work at a small business for the rest of their lives, but it is a great way to start in the workforce.

Tutorial: Page Caching with RESTful Rails

Thu Jul 17 23:49:18 -0700 2008

Over at Rails Envy, they have an absolutely perfect guide to using page caching in rails. In fact, this site is running off of what I learned there. However, I did run into one problem (kind of a major problem).

This site uses the REST principles (thanks to Rails 1.2), so to create, read, update, and destroy anything on this site, the browser uses the same url (actually two, one for the collection – /blogs, and one for the page – /blogs/1). Here’s the problem: since a page cache is created on the GET method, as that is when something is rendered for the user to see, Rails will no longer be called for the requested page. Since Apache will then deal with the request, any other http method used to access the URL will be sent to the cached page. This is really bad; you will not be able to create, update, or destroy any postings. However, using some Apache magic, you can fix this problem in one line of code.

Change this:

RewriteRule ^$ index.html [QSA]
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ cache/$1.html [QSA]

To This:

RewriteRule ^$ index.html [QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !^(POST|PUT|DELETE)$
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ cache/$1.html [QSA]

Viola! Problem solved.

How does this work? Apache sees that you are using POST, PUT, or DELETE, and calls Rails instead of using the cached page; also, when you do use GET, the cached page will be called.

UPDATE: Be sure to check out Part Two of this series!

Tutorial: Page Caching with Ruby on Rails Pt. 2

Thu Jul 17 23:52:19 -0700 2008

I recently posted on a caching update for RESTful Rails, and thought I would write another helpful tip for people dealing with page caching. This applies to anyone using Ruby on Rails for development, even if it doesn’t follow the REST principles.

If you’re trying to find a way to show pages for logged in users, without having them view the cached page (and thus not being able to view the admin features), this method will work for basic purposes. To start, you need to set a cookie when the user logs in, like so:

cookies[:your_cookie_name] = some_value

Then, make sure you destroy the cookie when they logout.

cookies.delete :your_cookie_name

That’s just the setup, here’s where the actual magic comes in. You need to modify your .htaccess file (again) to check for the cookie you just set. So change this (this example includes the previous example):

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !^(POST|PUT|DELETE)$
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ cache/$1.html [QSA]

To this:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !^(POST|PUT|DELETE)$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE}% !your_cookie_name=(.*)
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ cache/$1.html [QSA]

This tells Apache to check if the cookie is set; as long as the cookie is empty, it will use the cached version of your page. If the cookie has a value, it will send the request to Rails to render the page. Now, this is a great method opposed to URL rewriting, because everyone sees the same URL (keeping it clean).

Another interesting thing you may want to do (especially on a site with few users), is to clear the cache on logout (in case a page you visited wasn’t cached and has the admin features left on it). To do this, simply add this to your logout action:

FileUtils.rm_r(Dir.glob(ActionController::Base.page_cache_directory + "/*")) rescue
   Errno::ENOENT unless ActionController::Base.page_cache_directory == RAILS_ROOT + '/public'

Also, I would recommend keeping your cached files in a separate directory from your public directory. I through mine into public/cached. It keeps your public folder clean, and it lets you wipe the entire directory to clear the cache. Very useful!

Next thing to figure out: how to not catch a page when a user is logged in (so non-users don’t see admin features).

UPDATE: Be sure to check out Part Three of this series!

UPDATE: It is now recommended to put your cached files in RAILS_ROOT/tmp/cache.

Tutorial: Page Caching with Ruby on Rails Pt. 3

Thu Jul 17 23:48:35 -0700 2008

This is a follow up to past articles, as a general suggestion, you should go over those before you read this one.

Finally! After looking through some rails source code, I figured out how to do conditional page caching. It’s actually pretty simple.

In your _app/controllers/application.rb_ file, you need to add a function to override the caches_page method.

# Override Page Caching
def self.caches_page(*actions)
   return unless perform_caching
      actions.each do |action|
         class_eval "after_filter { |c| c.cache_page if !c.authenticated?
            &#38;&#38; c.action_name == '#{action}' }" 
      end
   end

This function overrides the default rails page cache hook, allowing you to provide your own conditions (you can do a lot more than this example, if you wanted to). If you look through the code, you will see a call to a function c.authenticated? This function also need to be defined in your _app/controllers/application.rb_ file (unless you already have something similar, you can just change the name in the above code). Here’s mine:

# Check to see if a user is logged in
def authenticated?
   session[:user_id] || cookies[:user_id]
end

Provided you have followed the last two tutorials, you’re all set to go. Feel free to modify any of the code, Rails is meant to be open source! :P

Thank You, Again, Apple

Tue May 20 05:35:20 -0700 2008

Once again, Apple has saved my sorry butt. I tend to have bad luck every once and again, especially with technology: if I buy something new, normally I seem to get the one defective product in the entire bunch; I always have to take back my original and get another one (which always works amazingly after). Well, once again, it has happened.

I was using my iPod Shuffle (2^nd Gen) the other day, and it just shut off. No reason. I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary, it just shut off. After messing with it for 20 minutes or so, I gave up. The next day, I called Apple up, explained the whole situation to the Apple Tech (Brad from Idaho or Iowa, I don’t remember exactly), and he set up a new iPod to ship to me (and me then sending back the defective one). Amazing, 5 minutes on the phone (without having to wait, I was transfered directly to him) and I have my new iPod getting ready to ship.

You know what else? I should have it by tomorrow! That’s incredible. Apple cares about the consumer enough to send it next day. It’s great knowing I don’t have to talk to someone who doesn’t natively speak English, or have to wait an hour to talk to that person; but it’s always great knowing I get my new replacement product the day after I call. I don’t know how that could be any better (unless it were same day, but that’s pushing it :P). Thanks again, Apple!

Read the F'in Manual!

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

Sometimes, I hate myself…

One of my bands (Lost in Sanity) is playing at a wedding this weekend, along with a couple of other bands. Well, after talking with the groom (who is running the audio setup), I ran into a few technical problems. Firstly, he wants two channels, and not stereo – one of them needs to be an instrument line and the other vocals. Also, we won’t have any monitors because we’ll be running 100% digital (meaning Electric Drums and PODs Galore). Well, I needed to figure something out.

Before I get to the point, a little background information is needed: recently we purchased a 10-track digital Firewire directbox, an FA-101, to help with recording. It’s quite an impressive unit: up to 24-bit/192kHz recording, 2 XLR/Stereo combo inputs (one of which has a +48v phantom power for a condensor mic), 6 stereo inputs, MIDI In/Out, and an optical in and out. We’ve been really taking advantage of the MIDI capability, since Josh uses an electric drum set for recording. More so, we’ve been taking advantage of true multi-track recording; I’m not even going to get in to how we used to record, but it was 100 times harder (ask any of the guys). However, we’ve had some technical limitations with everything in the past (mainly because I didn’t know how to do something).

Now the actual story: after talking with Mike, the groom, I needed to figure out what we were going to do for (A) monitors and (B) output. Well, after about an hour of thinking and figuring, I came up with a decent idea: read the f’in manual! We use Logic Express for recording, and there’s a hefty PDF manual that comes with it. After spending about half an hour with it, I learned several things that I could have been using all along.

Firstly, I learned that buses are very handy. They are more than just for effects, they can be used to output to separate outputs (as long as the output unit has them). Luckily, we have 6 additional outputs to spare. Adding a quick send to our tracks preps them for monitors (if we wanted to get really fancy – which we will because the drums run on their own bus for leveling – we can output to bus, and have that send to another bus for the monitors). Awesome. Secondly, I learned a ton about MIDI and drums. Apparently, Logic has built in channel/pipe mapping, especially when it comes to drums. An hour of playing around and setup with it got our drums 10x better, and 100x easier to setup. Also, I figured that we can set Velocity ranges to help avoid accidental triggers. Another thing, Logic actually has a dedicated MIDI Environment that makes all of that possible. Awesome.

The moral of the story. Always read the f’in manual.

When is Reinventing the Wheel Okay?

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

If you have ever looked into creating your own weblog, online photo gallery, or any other of the virtually-endless-amount of online apps, you may have run into a problem: which do you choose? Or possibly, should I make my own?

For blogging, there is WordPress, Typo, Blogger, and several others. For photo galleries, many people turn to Flickr or even Facebook for sharing. E-mail probably has the most choices: Gmail, Hotmail (Windows Live), Yahoo! Mail, AOL, and even your ISP will give you an e-mail address. It’s great to have all of these choices, but it leaves us lost in a land of confusion.

With such a large selection of options, how can we choose a single one to dedicate our time, patience, and personal data to? It’s not uncommon to hear a person that has multiple e-mails, all from different providers, or someone that shares their photos on several different services.

Here’s a couple of suggestions:

Ask your friends. Odds are, they have used one of the many services out there; get their opinion and ask if you can see them use it.
Read online reviews. The internet is a great place to find information, so use that to your advantage!
Try a few. Create a temporary e-mail address and sign-up for a few of the services. If you enjoy them, and find them easy to use, then you can create a real account; that way, if you don’t like the service, they don’t have any of your information.

However, if you run into the problem I did, you may be in for an adventure: none of the services truly fit your needs and you think you could do a better job yourself. This is quite a bold statement, considering that there really are a lot of options out there, and most of the time they should be able to satisfy 90% of your needs. But if you’re like me, you may want to have complete control over how your web app works, along with the content.

How to Get (Ranked) High on Google

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

So, I just did a search for my name on Google the other day (which I do once in a while), and the search came up with my web site as the fifth results. Now, given the fact that the search was performed without quotes (thus ANDing the search phrase, and not looking for the exact phrase), this is really good. I also did a search for something related to one of my blog posts, gcal to ical fix applescript, and I’m the third results. You may not seem to impressed, but given the fact my site is relatively new and has not been out there long enough to gain that much Google merit, I needed to investigate the issue. This is what I came up with.

When I first got my blog running on my site (with RSS support), I set my Facebook account to import the blog entries as notes. So, whenever I write a blog entry, it will become a Facebook note after a couple of hours. Well, the more entries I write (especially ones with solid content, like my gCal fix), the more links from Facebook (a very popular site) to my site (not so popular, but getting there), the more merit my site appears to have. Also, since I write articles that talk about whatever (“Duke Nukem 3D” “rise of the triad” Mac OS X: a lengthy search, but to show under some combinations I do show up), the content is taken into Google and indexed. So, the lesson to be learned is, engage in standards (i.e., RSS), and use sites that use those standards (i.e., Facebook), to your advantage.

My Tech Support Experience

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

Many of us have had this problem: we buy a new computer (or a new anything for that matter) and something goes wrong with it within the first couple of months (our fault or not). Then we have to get on the phone and make calls to the company to see if our warranty covers it, and to see how much a replacement part would cost, and so on and so on. Well, for once, I had a decent experience.

The other day my Mighty Mouse partially stopped working. The middle click would not work at all – weird, because the scroll ball still worked – and it was really annoying considering I use that button constantly while browsing the web (good ol’ open-in-new-tab-middle-click). So, after some thought, I realized that my mouse was included in my iMac’s warranty. Thank God! So today I get on the phone with Apple, and this is how great it went (no sarcasm):

I called Apple, accidentally go to the wrong extension, and end up talking with a general tech in the order department. I tell him my circumstances and he says he will redirect me to iMac support (and as nice as he was, he even gave me the direct number in case I got disconnected). Might I add, he was a native English speaker and also lived in California. After redirecting me, I was put on the phone with Matt. After explaining my problem to him, giving him my basic information, and him checking with his supervisor (only took about 5 – 10 minutes), he had my new Might Mouse ready to go out the door. I was impressed; never have I been on the phone with tech support from any company and gotten something accomplished this fast. Also, he asked if I would like to upgrade my current warranty to the Apple Care plan for a discounted rate because I am a student. I figured it would be a great idea (especially if my mouse ever died again), so signed up for it – a mere $119 for a three year warranty, including hardware and phone support. So, all and all, it was a pretty good experience, and my new Mighty Mouse is on the way, free of charge. Thanks, Apple!

Cult of the Mac

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

As many of you don’t know, I happen to be a huge Mac supporter. Actually, many of you may find that to be backwards for me – but let me explain.

Since Apple announced the switching to Intel, I have been following very closely on what their company is doing. At the same time, I have been watching closely the progress of many Microsoft ventures. From this, I have drawn a very great conclusion.

Soon to be mine… In fact, the computer I am writing this on is in it’s last few days of life. I have had to strip it of many hardware components, and along with it, it’s dignity. To replace this poor machine, I have purchased an iMac. Being that the timing of this event is poor, with MacWorld around the corner, and I don’t have a lot of money to spend, I cut some specs short.

Some of you might find my “switch” from Windows Advocate to Mac Enthusiast strange – especially because of my anti-mac rants of the past. But let me make this clear to you. As of recently (the last year or so), it has been shown that the future of Windows holds nothing (or at least little) very promising. In a land of DLL hell, system errors, viruses, spyware, and more, Mac OS X is the promise land (not to mention the beautiful interface – love that Aqua). If any of you still can’t see why I would switch, oh well. Maybe one day you’ll switch and come to the realization I did. Windows is the past – Mac OS X is the future.

Many people are following the Switcher movement. For example, Robyn Peterson wrote a fantastic mini-article on his switch. Also, the comparison of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Mac OS X Tiger (not Leopard, but Tiger which has been out for over a year) are hilarious. Things Microsoft is bringing to the table that is dubbed “new,” Tiger has had for a while.

Also, I’m a huge security person. I want my computer to be secure from viruses, port attacks, and any other forms of computer rape. With Windows, I have to install a bulky anti-virus (I’ve tried many of them, and yes, they are all bulky that I’ve dealt with) and use either the built-in firewall (not the best) or another bulky third-party one. I want something that doesn’t waste resources I could be dedicating to Photoshop. An iMac was a great alternative. No virus software is needed (I don’t even worry about worms because I disable Macros and Scripting – even JS – by default), and I can easily run a light-weight, mean Linux based firewall with no problem. Oh, and speaking of Linux, I love UNIX and anything based on it. So, obviously having an OS that loves it as much as I do is a smart idea.

Also, this was mentioned: “Why don’t I just build a Linux/UNIX box?” Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) will be 100% UNIX Certified. That means an operating system boasting all the beauty of a UNIX shell. It will be my UNIX box, with a beautiful GUI and core services on top of it. I’ve used many varieties of every major OS, and Mac OS X is my choice.

Opinion: MLA, APA, or Permalink?

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

All through high school and college, we have been forced to write term-papers, book reports, and other forms of student-forced literature. Each piece would require hours of research, revision, and my least favorite, citing. Citing was such a pain! You would have to keep track of everything, and I mean absolutely everything, everything that you used, touched, or even looked at, to throw into your Works Cited. It was just such a long tedious process, it would get tiring very fast. To make matters worse, there were two different styles (technically there are more, but I’m talking about the main two) you could write your paper and citations in, depending, of course, on what the teacher preferred: MLA and APA.

You may wonder, What’s your point? Well, if you haven’t had the chance to notice, there is a newer form of literature that has exploded in popularity over the past few years, let’s just call it the blogosphere. And with this new form of writing, there is a new style of citation, one that is much easier to use and read for both the write and the reader: “permalinks”. Let’s compare the three styles.

Below I’ve listed an article that is on Wikipedia (my favorite source of information) using the three different styles of citation. Which do you prefer?

MLA

“Plagiarism.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 27 Feb. 2007, 15:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation. 14 Apr. 2007 < http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid=111336610 >.

APA

Plagiarism. (2007, February 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:41, August 3, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid=111336610

Permalink

Plagiarism

Personally, I prefer the Permalink, you can easily insert it into a body of text, and a user can click on the link to take them to the original source. Now, I do realize this only works for digital forms of publication (blogs, pdfs, etc), and only when it links to another digital source, but seeing as most blogs cite other websites anyway (check the definition of blogosphere), this style is ideal. For online journalism, MLA and APA style writings are no longer necessary, the simple post and link format is enough for any blogger.

Now only if I could submit term papers as blog entries…

Rails Tutorial: Adding Fields to a Database

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

Sometimes when you are updating your Ruby on Rails application, you find that you need to add a field to one of your models. Doing so is really easy (as long as you use migrations, which you should be doing!).

# Let’s say we had a Blog model, and want to update it
class UpdateBlog < ActiveRecord::Migration

def self.up

add_column :blogs, :draft, :boolean

end

def self.down

remove_column :blogs, :draft

end

So what we have is our Blog model being updated to have a boolean draft column. However, in our database we already have few hundred blog entries. Do we have to go through and specify that all of these will be false (in this scenario, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal since they would return nil, which could be interpreted as false), or is there an easier way? Thankfully, there is! Once again, it’s another one-liner (thank you Ruby!). Here’s the updated code:

# Let’s say we had a Blog model, and want to update it
class UpdateBlog < ActiveRecord::Migration

def self.up

add_column :blogs, :draft, :boolean
Blog.update_all ‘draft = false’, ‘draft IS NULL’

end

def self.down

remove_column :blogs, :draft

end

All that Blog.update_all ‘draft = false’, ‘draft IS NULL’ is saying, is to go through all of the Blog entries, find any entry where draft is NULL (the second condition of the function), and replace it with false (the first condition). There! Now our table has the new field, and the database is up-to-date.

HP Photosmart A610

Sun Apr 27 05:13:34 -0700 2008

I just picked up an HP Photosmart A610 printer today, and I must say, I’m quite impressed. The quality of the pictures easily rivals that of the local photo-developers (read: Walmart), and the setup wasn’t too bad. The product itself doesn’t require a computer, but of course, I prefer using one with it (I have more control over the photo color, making edits, and etc – although, the Photosmart does have some built in editing features and a small LCD to do them on).

Here is my partial review:

Setup

The setup was straight-forward and relatively simple. Those Geico cavemen could probably even figure it out. I unpacked the printer, took off the plastic covering, plugged in the printer, popped in the ink cartridge, and printed a test sheet. Additionally, although may be considered required, I plugged it into my computer (USB hub cable not supplied).

Computer Installation

After downloading the most current drivers from HP (I always recommend getting the most recent drivers for your OS and hardware), I ran the installer, click, click, agree, click, click, and I was good to go.

Printing from the Computer

After opening up Lightroom and selecting a photo to print, I selected the Photosmart from my printer list, and selected my settings (I’m kind of picky, an average person could have left it at its defaults), and hit print. Presto! A beautiful print in a few seconds. The image quality was great, and as I said before, rivals the local photo printers.

If you’re looking for a good photo printer to go with a brand-new digital camera, I would definitely recommend the HP Photosmart A610 ($99.99, any local photo retailer).0