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Zswap: Compressed Swap Caching For Linux

2012-12-14T02:31:49Z

Published to the Linux kernel mailing list were a set of patches to provide a new feature called Zswap for lightweight compressed swap caching...

Nitrux Icon Theme for Linux – Faenza Meets Zen

2012-08-28T19:46:31Z

We all like to spice our Ubuntu desktops up now and again, and the easiest way to do it is by changing the icon theme.

Nitrux is a new squared icon set for Linux that sports clean lines, smooth gradients, and simple icon logos.

Although familiar to the popular Faenza icon set in that both are squarish, Nitrux shuns the faux-3D look for a flatter, more minimal style.

Nitux can be downloaded directly from the icon creators DeviantArt page @ deviantn7k1.deviantart.com/art/Nitrux-OS-Icons-293634207

Better, Faster, Easier

However, if you’re planing to use Nitrux with Ubuntu’s default Ambiance theme (or any other dark theme for that matter) you may prefer to use the following spin-off version I’ve put together.

Why?

It adds a bunch of extra app icons (including Smuxi, Polly, Shutter and Marlin)
Uses monochrome indicator icons

Install Nitrux-UMD in Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kokoto-java/omgubuntu-stuff
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nitrux-umd

All you have to do is then apply the theme with a tweak tool of your choice, we recommend MyUnity.

Our tip: Pair Nitrux with the ‘squared’ Ambiance we featured earlier this month for an awesomely angular desktop look

Wallpaper by Vladstudio

DeadMouse Opens Links with Just Your Keyboard [Video]

2012-07-13T13:30:00Z

Chrome: You can do almost all of your web browsing with just keyboard shortcuts, but in Chrome one of the missing features is the ability to open links inside a page. With the DeadMouse extension, you get that ability just by typing the words in the link.

DeadMouse is pretty straightforward. With the extension installed you can start typing the first letters of a link you want to follow and the link starts jiggling. Hit Enter to open up the link or Shift+Enter to open it in a new tab. If multiple links have the same words you can cycle through them with the Tab key. It's simple, but makes browsing a breeze.

Firefox users already have this ability with the search function. Hit the "/" key and type the text in the link and Firefox will highlight. Hit Enter and you can follow the link.

DeadMouse | Chrome Web Store via Digital Inspiration

Only You Can Prevent Brain Abuse [Decisions]

2012-07-17T15:00:00Z

Our brains are good at many things, and not so good at others. When you give your brain a task it's not great at (half-made decisions, mundane thoughts, trivial reminders), that's brain abuse. We all do it, and we can all stop it. Here's how.

I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who would argue that their brain was unimportant (and if they did, you would wonder how well it was functioning anyway). Yet on our travels we find that many people misuse their brains. They expect it to perform well in areas where science and experience tell us it just doesn't cut the mustard. And that means they don't exploit its full potential.

We've learned enough about the brain in the last 60 or so years to know that it is powerful and dependable at some things, and limited and unreliable when it comes to others. Thinking creatively, drawing connections, brainstorming, focused thinking—all great uses for our grey matter. But counting on it to remind me of the fact that I need to buy olive oil? Allowing it to have the thought over and over "I need to email the proposal to the client"? Only half-deciding what to do with several (hundred?) emails and leaving them in the inbox to fester?

That's brain abuse. Of course if you're guilty of it, you are also the only one who can put an end to it. A first step would be to consider a spotter's guide to the forms the abuse might take:

Re-thinking things

If your brain space is precious, why would you allow it to have a mundane thought more than once? The only thoughts you should have multiple times are thoughts you enjoy. Anything else should be dispatched to some place in your organizational system where you'll be reminded when you can do something about it.

Leaving thinking half-finished

This is a close cousin of re-thinking. If you have an email inbox that's chock-a-block, I'm imagining there will be more than a few emails in there that you have opened, gotten a sense of, closed, possibly marked unread (the digital ritual that indicates "I'll think about that some more later"), and then left so you could move on to other things. And you might have repeated this several times for the same email. That's not only brain abuse, it's inefficient. Better to finish the thinking: what's the outcome that you want to or need to create that relates to this email? In other words, when will it be done and off your mind? And what is the very next visible action that you will take to move it forward?

Trying to fill your brain beyond capacity

Ever since George Miller's research at Princeton in the 1950's, we've know that our short-term memory is limited. There is only so much that we can keep in there—Miller reckoned about seven items—before things are either lost, or fall into long-term memory. And the problem with long-term memory is that you can't be sure when things will re-emerge from it, like a huge field of jack-in-the-boxes popping up without much rhyme or reason.

You'd think that, knowing that our memory is so severely limited, we would deduce that there is no way it's going to cope with tracking all of the dozens of moving parts in our lives. But we see most people soldier on, heads full of details they're hoping desperately to remember, but often generating failure, internal stress and distraction instead. Better to make it a habit to empty your head at any opportunity. Employ "distributed cognition". In plain English, write things down, or send yourself an email, or voice mail, or whatever it takes to free up that precious mental space.

Counting on your brain to remind you when you want to be reminded

My wife is fuelled by Earl Grey tea. Her day starts with that first cuppa, and if it's not available, it doesn't start well. When we go on holiday, it's a very good idea to make sure we have some with us, as most places overseas won't have it on the breakfast menu. Do I count on my brain to remember that I need to pack the tea bags? I value holiday tranquillity too much. Earl Grey appears (in bold letters) on my packing list.

Identify your brain's strengths and weaknesses, and stop giving it things to do that it doesn't do very well. Remember, only you can prevent brain abuse.

Only You Can Prevent Brain Abuse | Next Action Associates

Todd Brown is the cofounder of Next Action Associates.

Is Everything I Do Actually Killing Me? [Ask Lifehacker]

2012-07-17T17:30:00Z

Dear Lifehacker,
It seems that nowadays there's a study saying that everything I do is slowly killing me. I can't sit down, I can't eat the foods I like, and I'll have an early heart attack if I live in a big city. If so many things are bad for me, how can I change my life without giving up so much that I lose my mind?

Sincerely,
One Foot in the Grave

Dear OFG,
If you read a lot of popular studies—as it seems you do—it's easy to get paranoid about the many things that can slowly kill you over time. The internet doesn't help matters. You can do a web search for just about any food and find some claim that it'll give you cancer if you eat it or drink it too often. Not everything you learn is going to be true, and the accurate studies only offer a limited view on the subject. When you learn something you're doing might not be that great for you, and there's real scientific evidence to prove it, you don't need to go out and change your life dramatically. Let's take a look at some of the popular studies that call out some supposedly deadly behavior and look at practical and reasonable solutions to the problem.

Sitting Down Is Destroying Your Body

We've written a lot about the ways sitting down too much can damage your body. Studies show it can significantly increase the risk of heart disease, put you at risk for certain types of cancer, and shave off about seven years of quality life. Fun, right? Sitting too much is, indeed, bad for you. There are enough studies showing that being too sedentary is a problem over time, but we live a lot of our lives in a chair. Most jobs don't require us to move, and by the end of the day we're not particularly excited to get up and walk around.

As we've previously noted, you don't have to do too much to counteract the negative effects of sitting. Basically, just get up once an hour and move around and get about 30 minutes of physical activity a day. That 30 minutes doesn't need to be a hardcore workout, but really just the equivalent of a brisk walk. For example, that could mean just doing some yard work. You can include a shorter, more intense workout and daily mobility exercises, but the most important thing is to get up on the hour and move around. You mainly need to avoid sitting down constantly, whether you get yourself a standing desk at work or just periodically walk around the office.

Certain Foods are "Poison"

People like to overreact and call problematic foods like milk and sugar are "poison." A little common sense should tell you they're not, as you've eaten them and here you are alive and reading this article. But when certain foods are referred to as particularly bad, the idea is that they're a slow killer. Referring to them as poison, or by some other sensational term, is to try and get you to pay attention to the problem. While we've seen evidence that dairy is bad for you (despite its nutrients and you're better off never eating certain types of sugar, consuming either isn't going to put you into an early grave if you do so in moderation.

The trick isn't to get rid of these foods, but rather to change how you look at them. Think of sugar as a dessert and try to avoid it in non-dessert foods. Primarily, this means learning which foods you buy in the grocery store have added sugar (like some breads, sauces, etc.) and which do not. In the case of milk, many of us think of it as a healthy drink. Instead, think of it as something you enjoy (if you do) and have for that purpose rather than in combination with a balanced meal.

Again, it all comes down to moderation. There are downsides to eating too much of anything. If you make an effort to balance what you eat and look at the less-healthy foods as a special treat—rather than a given part of the meal—it's easy to manage them without too much sacrifice.

Where You Live Can Kill You

Where you live can kill you. For example, if you live in the middle of a highway in a cardboard box there's a good chance you're going to be the victim of nasty car accident. In all seriousness, there is a relatively unknown field of study called geomedicine that takes your location into account when trying to figure out if you're at risk for certain diseases. What geomedicine has discovered is that certain problems tend to occur more in certain areas. For example, take a look at the map to the right. It displays the rate of heart attacks based on location. You'll notice that the highest risk starts to accumulate out East. So if you live out East does that mean you're definitely going to have a heart attack some day? No, but it does suggest what kind of problems are more likely for you and where you should focus your preventative energy.

The reality is you're probably going to live where you're going to live. If you live in Los Angeles you might get killed during an earthquake. In the Midwest it might be a tornado. In Florida a monsoon could come to get you. Wherever you are, there's some natural disaster waiting to happen and you could be a victim of it, but you put that out of your mind and live there anyway. The same goes with geomedicine. If your entire life is in an area at high risk for heart disease, moving away isn't going to help. The reason those areas are believed to be problematic is because certain types of people tend to move there. In Los Angeles, the pollution doesn't help matters, but you'll also find higher levels of stress because there are many people working long, hard hours. The same goes for New York. Instead of uprooting your entire life and changing everything about it, you can use geomedicine as a compass. It'll tell you common problems in your area, and then you can take measures to help prevent the effects of those problems. If you're seriously stressed out, work on ways to lower your stress levels (like with meditation). Small changes are often enough, and panicking about the possible location-based problems isn't going to make anything better.

If you want to learn more about geomedicine, check out our in-depth look.

The Bottom Line

Studies can be a little sensational once they've found their way into the media. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because it gets you to pay attention. However, the important thing is to remember that most often the solutions are pretty simple. If you don't live an obviously unhealthy life, small changes can do the trick. If you do a little research when a study makes you nervous, you'll often find out how to cope without much work at all.

Love,
Lifehacker

Photo by Medical Billing & Coding and FanPop.

Remote SSH Into Your Home Mac Through iCloud's Network [Mac OS X]

2012-07-24T17:00:00Z

If you're running two Macs with iCloud support (Lion or Mountain Lion), then you can use iCloud's network to remote SSH back into your home computer no matter where you are with just a few lines in Terminal.

The process is detailed by weblog One Thing Well, but you need to set up a few things before you get started. First off, you need to make sure Back to My Mac is enabled in iCloud (System Preferences > iCloud > Back to My Mac). Next, you need to set up your home computer for sharing if it isn't already. Head to System Preferences > Sharing and turn on at least File Sharing and Remote Login. With everything set, you can now remote log in to your home computer using iCloud's network wherever you have internet access.

The first thing you need to do is find your Back to My Mac account number. In Terminal (Applications > Utilities), type:

dns-sd -E

The final, nine digit number is your Back to My Mac account number. Next, it's time to SSH into your other machine:

ssh -2 -6 username@computer-name.[account number].members.btmm.icloud.com

If you don't know your username or computer name, head to System Preferences > Sharing on the destination computer and click on Remote Login. Your Computer name is listed at the top (if it's multiple words use the address with the dashes). Your username is listed on the line below Remote Login right before the @ symbol. You will need to do this before you try to SSH into your computer when you're away.

With that, you should have access to your Mac no matter where you are. Head over to One Thing Well for a few more tricks and shortcuts for using the iCloud network to remote SSH.

Remote SSH using Back To My Mac | One Thing Well

How To Stay Productive After Work [Productivity]

2012-06-26T11:00:00Z

After a long, hard day at work, the last thing many of us want to do is go home, buckle down, and go to work on something else. It can be tempting to just fall down on the couch, order a pizza, and then stumble off to bed, but doing that means you never use your free time to learn a new language, read a good book, start your own blog, or work on any of the personal projects that you're passionate about. So how do you resist the temptation to do nothing when you're not working? Here are some tips.

Inspired by this thread at Hacker News, we asked you not too long ago how you made time for your pet projects when your willpower and energy reserves are running low. If there's anything both threads taught us, it's that there's no shortage of ways to stay motivated and productive when you feel like you're running on empty.

Get Started As Soon As You Get Home

A number of you said that if you wait until you've had dinner or spent some time with your family, it's too late and your energy is gone—you're too far out of "the zone" to really get back into it. The solution? Walk through the door, say hello to everyone, and head right for your workspace at home to do a little work. Whether it's a few minutes or an hour, getting started as soon as you get home and you're still in work mode goes a long way. Photo by AISPIX by Image Source (Shutterstock).

Commenter seewhatIdidthere1 says:

For me, body in motion tends to stay in motion, body at rest tends to stay at rest. If I want to get something done after work, I need to keep moving and not sit down and rest until I'm ready to call it day. For me at least, I literally avoid sitting down when i get home if there are other things I want to get done. Once I sit down, the odds me getting the next thing accomplished get cut in half.

Get Out Of the House

If the siren song of your couch or bed is just too much for you to bear, the key for you to make headway on your pet projects may be to get out of the house and go somewhere you can work or learn something new. Head out to your local hackerspace to get your DIY on, or drop by your favorite coffee shop to do some writing or coding. Reader cellophane suggests taking a class that keeps you out of the house, and reader William Mize says:

I'm working on my third novel, and I find that if I walk through my front door, I'm sunk.
There's Netflix, there's snacking, there's plenty to distract me from doing my pages for that day.

Instead, I stop by the Panera that is between my day job and my home.

I go there, order a healthy meal, open up my laptop and hit my word count before I go home.
Then, once there, I can enjoy guilt free laziness.

Give Yourself 10 Minutes. Just 10 MInutes

Lifehacker Editor-in-Chief Adam Pash gives himself 10 minutes in the evening to work on his pet projects, sometimes more, never less. If he can drag himself off the couch for 10 minutes of focused work, that's a success—and at the end of that 10 minutes, if he feels like working some more, he does. If he feels like closing up shop and going back to the couch, he does. The important thing here is that he makes himself get started, and even on those nights when he doesn't feel like doing anything, he at least gets 10 minutes of progress towards his goals. Photo by bendao (Shutterstock).

Pick Projects You Love

One of the best ways you can make sure you'll have the energy and the drive to work on the things that matter to you is to pick projects that you're passionate about and you're naturally drawn to. If you love something, you'll be much more likely to dedicate some of those precious after-work hours to it. Says commenter alterno2k7:

Easy. Sign up for stuff you love.

I have Danish lessons and salsa lessons in the afternoon. If you already paid for them, you are gonna show up. Plus the feeling is so good when you are there, and you are productive without really being proactive on those days when you are really tired.

Reader mindar101 reiterates the point:

"The best exercise is the exercise that you'll do." Brilliant and so true, and also true for hobbies. Choose hobbies and side projects that you'll look forward to when you get home. Avoid things that you 'want yourself to do' but that will get all of two days' worth of attention from you, and then leave you sitting in front of the TV feeling even more rotten.

Make Sure You Get Some Exercise

Want more energy, or more hours in your day? Exercise. It may seem counterintuitive, but exercise is key. Even a walk around the block will make you feel energized, and the benefits grow with more regular and frequent activity. Reader Ben Bond summed it up nicely:

First, I find that exercising in the evening gives me energy for the rest of the night. Even a 15 or 20 minute walk right after work boosts my energy immediately. Second, going to a different location forces me to focus.

If you're not making time to exercise, that may be the first thing you want to do—if you can fit in a 20-30 minute workout into your day, you'll feel the results almost instantly, and while you shouldn't give up sleep, you'll at least be more motivated to do the things you've always wanted to do instead of wasting the evening in front of the TV. Photo by Mircea Bezergheanu (Shutterstock).

Schedule It and Keep It in the Front of Your Mind

If you use some energy earlier in the day scheduling and thinking about your projects, it'll be easier to respond to an alarm or a beeping phone later in the day and go to work. Commenter MischiefMack also pointed out how important planning is, and suggested you get started thinking about your pet project before you even leave the office, so you're pumped and ready to tackle it when you get home. When you do get home, have a very specific goal to accomplish, and get started. Mad Molecule also stressed the importance of specific goals:

First, plan what you want to do with your evening ahead of time. When making this plan (and all plans), BE SPECIFIC. "I want to be productive" is not specific. "I will finish ten pages of this screenplay," "I will clean and organize the hall closet," "I will set fire to the homes of half of my enemies"—these are specific goals.

Speaking of goals, one commenter at Hacker News makes his goals for each night public so he has to stick to them—every day at lunch, he emails his friend with what he wants to accomplish when he gets home. Then, when he gets home, his friend has responded with a little encouragement (and a desire to see the progress), which motivates him to get busy before it gets too late to work.

Stop Working After Work and Get Up Early Instead

If coming home and working on that app you're developing just seems too daunting for you, maybe the key isn't trying to summon the energy to do more when you're tired, and instead giving in to the temptation to go to bed early. The earlier you go to bed, the earlier you can wake, and if you can wake up a little earlier, you can carve out some time in the morning to work on your pet project, read that book you've been meaning to read, or do some development on that new webapp you want to build. Plus, getting up early has other benefits, the least of which being it makes the start to your day much less stressful.

Forgive Yourself When you Stumble

Finally, realize that you won't be productive every night. Some nights you'll stay on the couch, and others you'll just forget to do what you meant to do. That's okay—forgive yourself and pick up again the next day. Remember, productivity isn't everything, and if you beat yourself for being unproductive on a night where you really just needed to rest, you run the risk of growing to resent your project and giving up on it entirely. Another commenter at Hacker News makes this point completely clear:

Let go of the guilt of not being productive.

Let go of any other guilt or pressure to do something more valuable with your time or improve something that you already know how to do.

Accomplish a small goal that is unrelated to your larger goal. The more unrelated, the better. If your goal is to start a company, teach yourself calligraphy instead or learn how to prune a fruit tree.

Once you're feeling good again, you know, where you feel good doing stuff after your normal work, take a look at your original goal. Can you start working on it again? Has the break given you a fresh perspective on it? Can you break it down into small achievable chunks now?

If yes, do that. If no, go back to 1.

What are some of your best after-hours productivity tips? Have any more suggestions for how to stay motivated to work on your passions when your day job has left you tired? Share them in the comments below. Photo by eurobanks (Shutterstock).

Title photo by StockLite (Shutterstock).

How Will the New Health Care Law Affect Me? [Ask Lifehacker]

2012-06-29T17:00:00Z

Dear Lifehacker,
So the Supreme Court had their big ruling on the new health care law—aka "Obamacare"—but to be honest, I'm still not really sure what the law does. What does it mean and how (if at all) is it going to affect me personally?

Sincerely,
Uninsured and Confused

Dear UC,
Politics aside, we know the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPACA) is kind of confusing, so let's break it down to the basics of what the law means, what the recent Supreme Court ruling signifies, and finally take a look at what the law will actually mean to you.

The Basics of the PPACA and the Supreme Court Ruling

The PPACA is a gigantic law and we're just going to summarize it quickly. If you want a full guide to everything you could possibly need to know head over to the official Healthcare web site for the full text of the bill, state-by-state implementation, and more. If you'd prefer a more summarized approach, Reddit user CaspianX2 has done an excellent job of breaking it down simply (with citations).

The Basics of PPACA

PPACA was initially signed into law in 2010 and a number of its rules have already gone into effect. Here's a rundown of some of the most important aspects of the law:

Individual Mandates: By 2014, every citizen in the US will be required to have health care. Medicaid will be expanded to include a wider range of people, and subsidies will be offered for those who struggle to pay for insurance (we'll explain how all this will work below).
Employer Mandates: Employers with over 50 employees will be required to offer some type of health insurance option to employees.
No More Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies cannot deny you if you have a pre-existing condition like a chronic illness or disease. In addition, insurance companies can't drop you because of an illness.
Children Can Stay On Parent's Plan Longer: Previously, it was up to the insurance company to decide how long a child could stay on a parent's insurance program. Now, children can stay on their parents plans until they're 26 years old, regardless of whether they're in school, married, or considered a dependent.
No Lifetime Limit: Insurance companies used to have a lifetime limit on the amount you could spend on treatment over the course of your life. Now, that cap has been removed and your insurance company can't refuse to pay for services because you've reached a cap. Photo by Jennifer Morrow.

What Happened in the Supreme Court Ruling

In November 2011, several petitions were sent in against PPACA, claiming that the individual mandate was unconstitutional because it "forced" people to buy health care. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) agreed to hear arguments over these issues, which brings us to yesterday's big news.

The Atlantic snagged a bit of text from the SCOTUSBlog that explains the Supreme Court ruling as simply as possible:

In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters.

Basically the only thing that matters to you is that the individual mandate remains. This means you are required by law to get health insurance by 2014. If you don't have insurance by then, you will be fined (more on that in the next section).

How It Will Affect You Personally

We know how and what a large chunk of PPACA has already done since it first started in 2010, but the big question on everyone's minds until yesterday's Supreme Court decision was how the individual mandate will affect people going forward. That depends entirely on one factor: whether or not you currently have health insurance.

If You Have Insurance

If you already have insurance the mandate itself has no effect on you (obviously). However, a number of changes are still on the way up through 2016 when the law is fully implemented. On top of the above provisions regarding how insurance companies cover you, the hope is that new markets will open up to offer cheaper options, but only time will tell.

You may also see an increase in your taxes, assuming you're making over a certain amount every year. Smart Money breaks it down in detail, but the main impact is an increase in Medicare taxes:

Starting in 2013, an extra 0.9% Medicare tax will be charged on: (1) salary and/or SE income above $200,000 for an unmarried individual, (2) combined salary and/or SE income above $250,000 for a married joint-filing couple, and (3) salary and/or SE income above $125,000 for those who use married filing separate status. For self-employed individuals, the additional 0.9% Medicare tax hit will come in the form of a higher SE bill.

The only other major financial change insured people will see is that the new law halves the amount you can keep in your "flexible spending account." This pre-tax medical fund was to help pay for any medical procedures, and it was capped at $5,000. Now it's capped at $2,500 and purchases for non-prescription medicines are not eligible.

All of this is on top of the other changes we mentioned, of course—like being accepted regardless of pre-existing conditions, and being able to stay on your parent's insurance until age 26. Check out Healthcare.gov's timeline for a full breakdown. Photo by frances1972.

If You Don't Have Insurance

Since the point of PPACA is to get uninsured Americans insured, if you're not insured, the SCOTUS ruling has a much bigger impact on you. First off, if you can afford insurance, you need to be insured by 2014. This is so that people don't wait to get insurance until they're sick.

What private options you'll have are still up in the air. On a state-federal level, Medicaid will be expanded to include more people at the beginning of 2014 on a state-by-state basis. You qualify if your income is below $14,404 for individuals or $29,326 for a family of four (133 percent of the federal poverty level). Smart Money suggests the uninsured should have cheaper options if you're unemployed or self-employed:

The new law will requires states to provide online "exchanges" with the aim of making it easier for people to find and afford individual plans that suit their needs. This, plus the new pre-existing condition mandate, will help self-employed and unemployed people get more affordable and complete coverage.

Those options are going to vary state-by-state much like they do now. It's hard to say what options will be available to you and when. Subsidies will be offered for low-income individuals. Kaiser Health News provides the details:

Premium subsidies will be available for individuals and families with incomes between 133 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level, or $14,404 to $43,320 for individuals and $29,326 to $88,200 for a family of four.

The subsidies will be on a sliding scale. For example, a family of four earning 150 percent of the poverty level, or $33,075 a year, will have to pay 4 percent of its income, or $1,323, on premiums. A family with income of 400 percent of the poverty level will have to pay 9.5 percent, or $8,379.

One place to start looking for insurance is Healthcare.gov's Insurance finder, but a lot of the options will change as we get closer to the implemenation of the individual mandate in 2014.

If you don't get insurance by then, you might face fines. The Washington Post breaks down the numbers:

In 2016, after the law is fully in place, about 4 million people will pay the penalty to the Internal Revenue Service for being uninsured, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated. They would pay $695 per uninsured adult or 2.5 percent of family income, up to $12,500 per year.

If you don't pay the fines the IRS can withhold your refund, but no other course of action is taken against you. Photo by The Consumerist.

It All Boils Down to This

If you're uninsured, you need to buy insurance by 2014. If you can't afford it, the government can help you pay for it through subsidies. Many people will see an increase in their Medicare taxes, as well as changes to how insurance companies treat you.

Hopefully that clears things up. It is a confusing law with a lot of different rules dispersed over a wide range of time, so be sure to check out the links above for more detailed explanations of everything.

Sincerely,
Lifehacker

P.S. Have more questions? Sound off in the comments (but be civil).

Title image remixed from Clover (Shutterstock).

Know the Effects of Dehydration to Stop Them Before They Start [Health]

2012-07-02T16:30:00Z

In most cases, knowing you're dehydrated is as simple as feeling thirsty. However, sometimes you might miss that feeling or your body will tell you in other ways. Health blog Greatist breaks down the common signs of dehydration so you can fend it off before it starts.

On top of being thirsty, your body also tells you that you might be dehydrated with:

Dry mouth
Lowered blood pressure
Headaches
Dizziness
Muscle fatigue
Dry skin
Lack of urine

These signs aren't always in a particular order, which means you won't necessarily feel thirsty before you get a headache. The trick to keeping yourself hydrated all day? Drink water before the thirsty feeling starts. You know drinking water all day is good for you, but it's also good to catch dehydration before it hits. Dr. John Mandrola explains:

Not enough summer exercisers start the workout topped off. Before I leave for a bike ride in the summer, I usually chug an entire bottle of water. Again, it's hard to drink that much fluid, but when going out in the heat for a few hours, your body will thank you.

The basic idea is that you drink water before you know you'll be thirsty. It's not just before exercise that matters. Even if you're just sitting around in a hot apartment or taking a stroll, a bit of water beforehand can help keep you hydrated and feeling fresh. Head over to Greatist for a full list of what happens, and the best ways to prevent dehydration.

How Do I Know If I'm Dehydrated? | Greatist

Photo by David Joyce.

Words for Small Sets

2012-06-18T04:00:00Z

‘Qreator’ Offers Fast Creation of Qr Codes in Ubuntu

2012-06-19T03:28:34Z

If you ever need to quickly create your own Qr codes – those small scannable black and white squares often found in print advertising - then Qreator is just the tool you need.

As a recent addition to the shelves of the Ubuntu Software you might not have heard of it before.

But the simple interface and tight Unity integration mean that it is just as capable, if not more so, than similar offerings we have looked at in the past – like as QtQr.

Features of Qreator

The usefulnesss of Qreator is in its feature set. It is able to quickly make Qrcodes for four different types of data – not just hyperlinks.

These are:

URL
Text
Location
Wifi Network

QrCodes based on the data chosen above are generated instantly, and can be saved straight to your desktop or copied to the system clipboard to paste in a graphics editing app, such as GIMP or Pinta.

A handy Unity quicklist is also in tow, giving you right-click access to all of the above features.

Qreator is a free download and available for Ubuntu 12.04 via the Ubuntu Software Center – just hit the button below to get it.

Ahead of the Pack: the Pacemaker High-Availability Stack

2012-06-18T17:32:35Z

A high-availability stack serves one purpose: through a redundant setup of two or more nodes, ensure service availability and recover services automatically in case of a problem. Florian Haas explores Pacemaker, the state-of-the-art high-availability stack on Linux. more>>

Quickly Convert Between Fahrenheit and Celsius Without a Calculator [Mental Math]

2012-06-11T14:00:00Z

If you do a lot of cooking or working with temperatures in a way where you don't need exact accuracy Reddit user quaxon shares a dead-simple method for converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius in your head with no need for a calculator.

The formula to convert between the two temperature scales isn't something most of us can do in our head, but if you just need a close estimation, quaxon's formula works great:

C to F: Multiply the temperature by 2 and then add 30
(actual formula is multiply by 1.8, add 32)
ex: 22 C is roughly equal to 74 degrees using my method, actual conversion is 71.6
F to C: Now just work it backwards, subtract 30 from the temp. and then divide by 2
(again, actual formula constants are 1.8 and 32)

As you can see from quaxon's example it's not an exact result, but if you simply need to convert some temperatures when you're cooking or following other directions it works great in a pinch.

How to quickly convert between Fahrenheit to Celsius in your head | Reddit

Photo by Ged Carroll.

Aaron Toponce: Another Reminder About Passwords

2012-06-08T12:49:41Z

Two things are prompting this post. First, the recent leak of LinkedIn passwords, and second, family/friends’ email accounts getting hacked. It’s amazing to me how many posts there have to be on the Internet about password security, and how little attention people pay to them. One could say that many of the weak password demographic doesn’t read tech blogs, and if they did, they wouldn’t understand most of the post. Even then, I’ve had friends in the tech industry who should know better, and still ended up with hacked accounts. So, while I might be reaching a limited demographic, and for those who I am reaching, won’t care, I’m covering it anyway.

To prevent a compromise of your account because of your password, all you need to do, are two things:

1. Use different passwords for every account online

This is probably the most difficult step for most. Remembering 100 passwords or more can be a major pain in the butt. Everyone has their way of doing it too, but from what I’ve seen with most people, a single password is used on multiple accounts. This is especially critical for finance and corporate accounts. No one really cares if your personal email or fitness account is hacked, but you might care when your savings is emptied, or your boss might care if sensitive data is leaked.

So, I would recommend the following system for using different passwords on every account. First, generate and print a password card. I’ve blogged about this before. Essentially, your passwords are stored in plain text on the card itself. You pick a row color and column symbol on the card as the starting point for your password, then go from there. That becomes the password for your account. Second, I would install KeePass. For every password you create from your card, and add to your account, make note of it in the encrypted database, including where the password starts, the direction it takes, and how long it is. This way, should you forget your starting location, you have an encrypted database to get access to all the passwords you’ve created.

2. Use passwords with a great deal of entropy

I hate “password strength meters”, because they are always completely arbitrary, and really don’t communicate to the user what that strength is or where it comes from. Usually, they just assign points to things like uppercase letters versus lowercase, extra points for symbols and numbers, points for length, etc. Like playing tetris, if you fit all the pieces of your password together, maybe you can get a high score. To me, these are pointless and not helpful. Instead, you should be concerned about the entropy your password belongs to.

Think of entropy like a haystack. Your password is the needle. Aside from burning down the haystack, can you find the needle? Of course, the larger the haystack, the harder it will be to find the needle. I have also blogged about this in the past. Thankfully, Gibson Research Corporation has put together a web application that uses this analogy. Entropy can be defined in a simple equation: length of your password times the log base 2 of the character set search space. In other words, it’s not arbitrary points. It shows you the size of your haystack. The larger the haystack, the more difficult it will be to find your needle. Play with some passwords in that web site, and you’ll get an idea of how this works.

They key point here, however, is to help people understand how password attacks work. Attackers don’t start by incrementing through the alphabet, starting with ‘a’. Instead, if brute forcing, they will start with common words in a dictionary, and popular modifications of those words (think “leet speak”). They will use common phrases, then append and prepend numbers to these dictionary words and phrases. Believe it, or not, but this is a very effective way to get a vast majority of passwords. Why? Because the haystack is small. Very small. If your needle is in that haystack, it will get be found.

So how do you get a larger haystack? Well, first use uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. We want a large character set to search through. But, make the password LONG. You would be amazed at how much bigger your haystack is with a 9 character password versus an 8 character password. Length will buy you much more hay then some convoluted, difficult to remember, pain in the butt password. Length is key. Different character sets are also important, but length gets you so much more hay.

Conclusion

Think. Think about your haystack. Think about being an attacker. Think about your data. If you would just sit down, and think your passwords through, you would be ahead in the game. Remember, different passwords for different accounts, and big haystacks.

Why Your Next iPhone Should Be Prepaid

2012-06-07T13:12:52Z

Earlier this week, we did the math and declared prepaid carrier Cricket Mobile to be the best iPhone deal around, but today’s announcement that Sprint’s Virgin Mobile will also be offering the iPhone 4S starting on June 24th changes the math substantially, and Cricket’s no longer looking like such a good deal.

Virgin Mobile’s iPhone deal requires you to purchase a completely unsubsidized iPhone from them up front at $649, $150 more expensive than Cricket. But that initial money spent up front can really pay off over time, depending on which plan you sign up for.

How much? You can save over $1000 over the course of two-years on Virgin Mobile compared to AT&T, Verizon or Sprint.

Here’s how it breaks down:

	AT&T	Verizon	Sprint	Cricket	Virgin
Minutes	$39.99 (450)	$39.99 (450)	$69.99 (Unlimited)	$55.00 (Unlimited)	$40 (1200)
Texting	$20	$20	$0	$0	$0
Data	$30 (3GB)	$30 (2GB)	$10 (Unlimited)	$0 (Unlimited)	$0 (Unlimited)
Activation	$36	$35	$0	$0	$0
iPhone 4S (16GB)	$199.99	$199.99	$199.99	$499.99	$649.99
2-Year Total	$2395.79	$2394.79	$2119.75	$1819.99	$1609.99

A couple notes of explanation. In the above chart, we decided to not nickel-and-dime the big carriers. You can get cheaper plans with Verizon and at AT&T, but these are outlier cases when it comes to usability. We decided that 450 minutes, unlimited texting and at least 2GB of data was the bare minimum service most people expect when it comes to their carrier.

With that in mind, while Cricket’s a great deal, Virgin’s $40 a month plan is a real winner. You don’t get Cricket’s unlimited minutes, but you get more than the big carriers, and you’ll pay almosy $200 less over the course of 24 months than you would on Cricket.

If you’re willing to make do with fewer minutes, Virgin has an even tastier deal: a $30 a month plan that includes 300 minutes, unlimited data and unlimited texting. If you opt for that deal, you can have an iPhone 4S for $1369.99 over 2 years, which is over a thousand dollars less than an AT&T or Verizon plan.

Curiously, Virgin’s “truly unlimited” $50 a month plan is the worse deal compared to Cricket. It actually costs $30 more over two years than the equivalent Cricket plan.

The bottom line? Virgin Mobile runs on Sprint’s network, so it offers service roughly equivalent to Sprint, for budget prices. If you can afford $649.99 up front, this is the best deal on the iPhone 4S pretty much anywhere. These prepaid carriers are going to start drawing blood from the big three, mark my words.

What We Expect To See In iOS 6 Today At WWDC 2012 [Feature]

2012-06-11T13:11:56Z

Cult of Mac speculates about what to expect in Apple's upcoming version of iOS.

Apple’s unveiling of its next major operating system, iOS 6, is right around the corner. Scott Forstall and Co. are expected to announce the new OS to developers at WWDC next week. Very little is actually known about iOS 6, but there have been some rumors that made headlines over the last few months.

iOS 6 looks to be an evolutionary upgrade from iOS 5, rather than a revolutionary jump forward. Here’s what we expect to see.

Probably Happening

Google Maps kicked to the curb: Many publications have been beating the drum on this rumor, and at this point it would downright shocking for Apple to not unveil its own Maps app. Instead of Google’s backend, expect the new Maps to be made from the ground up by Apple.

A mockup of the new Maps running on the new iPhone. (via http://vrge.co/KsZgPd)

New coat of paint: Expect iOS 6 to sport a more metallic color scheme. Less blue and more sliver. This year’s WWDC app is a good indication of what iOS 6 will probably look like.

Looking good. (via http://vrge.co/KsZgPd)

Facebook integration: Not only did Tim Cook himself say to “stay tuned” for more involvement between Apple and Facebook, but multiple reports have said that Facebook integration is definitely coming to iOS 6. Expect the integration to work much like Twitter does currently.

A better Siri: Siri is smart, but she could be much smarter. Cook recently acknowledged that Siri has room to grow, and he said that Apple has big plans in the coming months for the digital assistant. Third-party API access for app integration would be a good start.

Safari omnibar: It’s an address and search bar combined into one! OS X Mountain Lion will be bringing this feature to the Mac as well.

“Do Not Disturb” setting for Notification Center: We also think that iOS 6 will feature Notification Center improvements, including a Do Not Disturb toggle. When you flip it, all incoming notifications will be automatically hidden. Expect it to look something like this:

The "BannerDisable" jailbreak tweak.

iCloud tabbed browsing: The tabs you have open on your Mac will be synced wirelessly to your iOS devices, and vice versa. iCloud already syncs your Safari bookmarks between devices.

Enhanced Mail app: Some more features from the Mac client should carry over, like VIPs and (hopefully) multiple signatures.

Maybe Happening

A whole lot more iCloud: OS X Mountain Lion lets you save a file directly to iCloud, and it would be nice to see that sort of integration happen in iOS 6. Beyond iCloud tabbed browsing, we’d like to see more third-party apps offer the ability to save documents and files to iCloud directly. Sharing between apps could also be dramatically improved.

Totally revamped stock apps: There are whispers saying that iOS 6 will be less of a design overhaul and more of an app-focused upgrade. Essentially, you wouldn’t really notice a difference between iOS 5 and 6 until you start opening stock apps. Apple could redo many of its default iOS applications, and maybe introduce a couple more surprises as well.

Siri for iPad: We’ve been skeptical about Apple bringing Siri to the iPad before, but some are saying that the digital assistant is indeed coming to Apple’s tablet in iOS 6. We’re not sure what Siri on the iPad would look like exactly, and she will probably be only available on newer iPad models.

A Siri for iPad mockup. (via http://bit.ly/LaFBRb)

Widgets: While many would love to see Apple introduce some sort of third-party widget platform for Notification Center, we’re not so sure. It could happen, but it’s just as likely that Apple could beef up its own widget offerings. Something besides Weather and Stocks would be nice.

Booooring.

There you have it! That’s what Cult of Mac expects to see in iOS 6. Not much to go on, but rumors are unusually quiet regarding the upcoming OS. That means everything will be all the more interesting when Apple execs take the stage at the Moscone Center on Monday. Stay tuned for a ton of news during WWDC next week.

In the meantime, what are you most looking forward to in iOS 6?

Add Linux power to wireless routers with advanced tips and tricks for DD-WRT

2012-05-09T20:00:00Z

DeveloperWorks: DD-WRT is a Linux-based firmware that turbocharges low-end consumer wireless broadband routers, transforming a $70 toy into a mighty networking powerhouse.

Eureka reveals why humans really shouldn't try to impersonate AI [Tv Recap]

2012-05-01T22:59:00Z

Eureka wrapped up the season's opening arc, as an unlikely alliance was forged to bring home the Astraeus crew. It also featured Carter pretending to be his virtual-reality self... which went about as well as expected. Also, gratuitous nudity!

Spoilers ahead...

"Force Quit" provides a nice end to the virtual reality arc, as perennial nemesis Beverly Barlowe decides to help Eureka bring the Astraeus crew home in the wake of Holly's death last week. The plan is a simple one — hack one of our heroes into the simulation, then have them blow up something big enough to overheat the servers and reveal their particular thermal signature. After a quick and wholly unconvincing misdirect that this would be Henry, Carter volunteers to go, and hilarity most definitely ensues.

As is often the case when Carter goes into action-hero mode, the show becomes very funny. His unbelievably nonsensical attempt to explain to Zane what's going on — which convinces Zane that this Carter is the real deal, because no computer could be this incoherent — is a great opening salvo, and Carter is hilariously unconvincing in his efforts both to reconnect with Allison (I loved his "I thought that would go differently" after his first attempt to convince her this wasn't real) and to stay the hell away from virtual Jo, particularly when she tries to put a new spin on the phrase "naked lunch"... and unlike the William S. Burroughs book, that description was apparently wholly accurate.

This episode is a good encapsulation of what makes Carter such a fun protagonist — sure, a lot of his methods border on comic relief, but when push comes to shove he's more than willing to throw a bomb into the virtual Astraeus and just run like hell. Throw in the fact that he successfully worked out Senator Wen's role in all this, even if I suppose it is more instincts than detective work, and you've got one of the best showcases for the leading man in a good long while, and Colin Ferguson is as usual a lot of fun to watch.

Indeed, this episode gives some great material for quite a bit of the show's cast. As Henry, Joe Morton is pretty damn terrifying in the virtual world as he threatens Grace, while in the real world he is all barely contained rage at having to work with Beverly to bring Grace home. Erica Cerra gets to cross over into full-on villainy as the AI version of Jo, with her virtual character moving from subtle betrayal of the Jo we know to a complete murderous psychopath. Really, there's just very little about this episode that didn't entertain me a lot, and as such I found it a very satisfying end to the arc. There's still the matter of the grieving Fargo, but I think I'll leave that one to next week to judge better where it might be headed.

Where the episode falls down a bit, however, is the stuff on the edges. I've generally been impressed with how Eureka has handled this latest round of conspiracy plot, particularly since it's never been in the show's comfort zone. Still, it definitely falls into the cliche of having the Consortium members speak in pointlessly vague, menacing sentences, resolutely leaving the ciphers in place when this was a golden opportunity to start doling out some larger explanations. Also, as Senator Wen, Ming-Na seems to make her performance more obviously villainous once we know the truth about her, which seems like a weaker choice — I'd rather she act no different, since the situation hasn't really changed from her perspective... well, at least not until her inevitable comeuppance, of course.

The other problem I have is with Beverly. I like her character and Debrah Farentino's performance more than some of you do, but I'll be the first to admit that she's particularly hard to fit into Eureka's tangled continuity. We can still only guess how her backstory was changed by the timeline shift (probably not that much, but it's still a complicating factor), and the show has moved so far away from its first season that it's forced to elide around what really should be the defining aspect of Henry and Beverly's relationship — her culpability for the death of his first love Kim. Considering the near murderous rage he has in the past displayed towards her, their scenes feel like they're dodging around one hell of a big elephant in the room.

It doesn't help that her whole central argument — that Global Dynamics is bad because it works for the military — never really goes beyond some cliched platitudes about peace and Albert Einstein. It's all stuff we heard her tell James Callis (ya know, Gaius Frakking Baltar) back in season 4.0, and it feels just as superficial now as it did then. Also, if a key crux of the argument is the danger of military power, it seems kind of problematic that the other major Consortium character, Senator Wen, seems to use the army as her own personal strike force. I suppose it's possible Eureka was intentionally trying to play up that contradiction, but what we see in the episode feels very muddled.

Really, what I'm saying is that Eureka is really good at comedy and character moments, and it's less good at big thought-provoking drama. That really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone at this point, and the show is certainly a lot better at the latter stuff than it has in previous seasons. The time to draw everything together into one massive five-year story has probably long since passed, at least from a narrative standpoint — this is a show best experienced one episode at a time, with previous continuity really only brought in on a strictly as-necessary basis.

And sure, it's one of the things keeping this show from reaching greatness, but I'm OK with that. Because, as we head into the final eleven episodes, what "Force Quit" does suggest is we'll get a rich conclusion from a character perspective. And really, it's the characters and the goofy sense of fun that keep me coming back to this show, so that's all fine by me.

Setting up Ubuntu on an SSD

2012-04-26T22:44:01Z

I recently purchased a new solid state drive (SSD) to replace my current hard drive (HDD). Since SSDs work so much differently than HDDs, it’s worth while to make some optimizations in Ubuntu for them. SSDs are much faster than HDDs, but have a limited number of writes before they wear out. This makes balancing performance with the life of your SSD also a big concern for how you tune your system.

I’ve written a post on this topic before for the older SSD in my netbook.

Partitioning and bind mounts

I partitioned my 60 GB SSD into a 10 GB / partition, and a 50 GB /home partition, both using the default ext4 filesystem. I kept my old HDD home partition mounted at /media/oldhome.

I wanted to put some of my large and infrequently accessed files, like virtual machines and videos, on the more spacious HDD. I also wanted to make accessing these files from my home directory seamless. One way to do this would be to symlink folders from the SSD to the HDD. However, I found that this wouldn’t be fully seamless for some applications that don’t follow symlinks.

Bind mounts are a better solution. They allow a directory in a filesystem to be mounted in additional locations, similarly to symlinks but fully transparent to applications. To test bind mounting my videos directory, I ran mount with the bind option, and specified the source directory (on the HDD), and the mount point (which must already exist):
mount --bind /media/oldhome/tom/Videos /home/tom/Videos

To make my bind mounts permanent, I added them to my /etc/fstab file in this format:
/media/oldhome/tom/Videos /home/tom/Videos none bind 0 0

If you need to add a path with a space in it, replace the space with \040 to escape it. If you make a mistake and one of the bind mounts fails, Ubuntu will allow you to skip it and continue booting. So far the bind mount approach seems to work perfectly.

Mount options for SSDs

Any recent SSD should have the TRIM command available, which prevents performance degredation by allowing the OS to notify the SSD of which blocks are unused. The ext4 filesystem uses TRIM when the discard option is set.

The noatime option reduces writes to the SSD by not writing access time updates whenever a file is read. This improves performance and increases the life of the SSD.

I set these two mount options though /etc/fstab for both my SSD partitions by adding discard and noatime to the list of options for / and /home like this:
UUID=193af662-d7a0-47fb-b3f7-141ae3d19227 / ext4 errors=remount-ro,noatime,discard 0 1

Disk head scheduler for SSDs

A disk scheduler optimizes the order of disk requests by considering the position of the hard drive’s read/write head. An SSD needs no such optimization, so it’s best to use the noop (no-operation) scheduler.

I switched to the noop scheduler for my SSD by adding the to following line to /etc/rc.local (replace sdb with your own SSD’s device node name):
echo noop > /sys/block/sdb/queue/scheduler

Swap and swappiness

I kept my swap partition on the old HDD. Swap on the SSD would be faster, but would also shorten the SSD’s life.

My system has plenty of memory, so I also reduced the swappiness value to 0 to tell Ubuntu to only swap when absolutely necessary. I did this by adding the line vm.swappiness=0 to /etc/sysctl.conf.

Even more

There are many more ways to tune Ubuntu for SSDs. A few things I haven’t done are: partition alignment (Ubuntu’s partitioner now seems to take care of this automatically), disabling journalling (I’d prefer reliablity over slightly reduced SSD life), and mounting /tmp or browser cache in memory (I’d prefer to save the memory). The Arch Linux Wiki has a comprehensive page on SSDs, and here’s another article that goes more in-depth in some of the things I mentioned here.

MacBook Air & MacBook Pro Will Make Way For All-New MacBook That Has It All [Report]

2012-04-23T12:04:49Z

Could Apple replace the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with one MacBook that has it all?

We’ve heard plenty of speculation surrounding the future of Apple’s 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros in recent months, which are soon expected to adopt a new form factor and Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors. However, according to one analyst, there may no longer be a MacBook Pro… or a MacBook Air.

Instead, Apple will release an all-new MacBook that combines the qualities of both, while the 17-inch MacBook Pro will be discontinued completely.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a research analyst with KGI Securities, has published a new report in which he predicts Apple’s largest notebook will soon meet its death. Kuo feels the Cupertino company will introduce a “fully new” MacBook this year that will combine “the advantages of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro.”

The 17-inch model, which isn’t as popular as its smaller siblings, could be discontinued:

Apple’s Mac business in 2Q12 will be boosted by several factors. Three of which are: (1) Mountain Lion, which integrates iOS features with Mac OS, Apple TV’s interaction function, will be launched in June; (2) upgrading to Ivy Bridge; and (3) back-to-school demand. We forecast Apple will sell 5.32mn units of the Mac series (up 28.5% QoQ and 35.2% YoY) in 2Q12, making it the main growth driver. We also predict Apple will roll out a fully new MacBook model in early 3Q12, boasting strong performance and easy carryability by combining the advantages of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. While adding new products, Apple is likely to stop making the 17” MacBook Pro this year due to falling shipments, in order to maintain a lean product line strategy.

So, according to Kuo, there may no longer be a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro, but rather one MacBook that combines the qualities of both. Recent rumors have claimed that the MacBook Pro would adopt a thinner, lighter form factor much like the MacBook Air, but this is the first time we’ve heard that it could replace it.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro, according to Kuo’s estimates, is by far Apple’s best-selling Mac, accounting for nearly half of its 3.1 million notebook sales during the first calendar quarter of 2012. In contrast, the 15-inch model could account for 500,000 units, while the 17-inch model could account for just 50,000 units.

As for the MacBook Air, Kuo estimates Apple will sell around 1.1 million units altogether, with the 11- and 13-inch models accounting for roughly 550,000 units each. That sounds like a pretty great sum, but according to Kuo, the Air is only meeting Apple’s expectations rather than exceeding them. It is believed the machines solid-state drives are still too small to satisfy the majority of customers.

[via MacRumors]