Sarre9

T-Mobile spams me with an HTC Radar offer. That gets me writing a bit.

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:46:00 +0000

I just got an email from T-Mobile asking if I'd like to "upgrade" to an HTC Radar 4GTM for FREE. All I have to do is trade in my old working iPhone 4 and sign up for a 2yr contract.

Hmm.. let's see. My iPhone is not the most current model but it is in great shape. It isn't 2 years old yet. I still love it. Ebay has the same phone for just under $400. So, for giving T-Mobile the chance to resell my iPhone for let's say $350 they'll give me an HTC Radar for free. This is what I told Mr. T.

Dear Mr. T (not his real name),

Trade in my perfectly good iPhone4 (which I'll probably just upgrade to a 4S or 5 when it strikes me) for an HTC Radar? Let's see if that works for me.

iPhone Size:

I like the size of the iPhone. Fits in my hand easily, those 2 Gorilla Glass slabs wrapped in Aluminum have a great feel in the hand. The balance, thickness, weight are all nice.

115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm at 140 grams.

Radar Size:

The Radar does weigh less. It is thicker, longer, and wider making me wonder how well it fits my shirt pocket? I only have one shirt with a pocket.

120.5 x 61.5 x 10.9 at 137 grams.

OS:

iOS rocks. There, I said it. Plus, I dabble in iOS development. Can I do that on the Radar?

The Radar runs Windows. O.K. I like Mr. Softy. I think Excel is great. Yet, Windows doesn't quite resonate with me. Never has, most likely never will. Don't ask why. Maybe it was all those years running a group that had to manage 5000+ Windows beige boxes. That experience made me realize that Windows is simply not an OS for business, home or hobby life. For phones? Yea, right.

Applications:

Can I get Photoshop, Dragon Go (Siri), iTunes, iPhoto, Pages, …. ? Where's the viable App store? Should I worry that Windows phone software has a history of not succeeding in the market? How likely is Windows Phone to go the way of the Zune, CE, Home Edition and other Microsoft attempts at porting the bloated OS.

Functionality:

iOS allows me to carry around all my media, documents, metadata and more. Plus, I can share that with my family's Apple devices. Can I do that with Radar? Nope. It would be the only Windows device in my life. That won't work.

Airplay:

I love Airplay. The ability to instantly sling video and music from my phone to my TV or any Airport connected audio system is simply amazing. Radar has none of that. Let's say I find some great TED Talk while browsing the web on my phone. How can I share it with everyone on the big screen if I'm using Radar? Can't at least not easily. Perhaps if I cobble together a variety of 3rd party software and some beige media box.

Tech Specs:

Display:

iPhone 960 x 640

Radar 800 x 400… yawn.. this is too easy.

Storage:

iPhone 16 - 64GB

Radar: 8 GB.. That's cute. It is so, 2007!

Camera:

iPhone: Annie Leibovitz recommends iPhone.

Radar: ..…. must be too new… yea, that's it.

Sensors:

iPhone: 3 axis gyro, accelerometer, proximity, light

Radar: accelerometer, proximity and light.

iPhone wins again. Can Radar take my pulse? The iPhone can.

Battery:

iPhone Talk Time: 8 Hr on 3G, 14 Hr on GSM.

Radar: 8H on WDCMA, 10H on GSM

I'll throw the Radar a bone and call it even. I suspect iPhone's specs are low and Radar's are high but I'm sure it depends on how each device is used.

International use or GSM vs CDMA:

GSM> 1 billion users

CDMA 0.27 billion.

I like to travel. CDMA is for people that don't travel.

Bottom line: HTC Radar is another phone that works for some but isn't close to what works for me or my company. I'm convinced now (as if I wasn't before) that the iPhone is the phone for me, my family, business partners, the pub down the street, my neighbors and The Queen of England. Now, could you do me a favor and remove my name from your email list. I simply don't have time to do this next month when HTC comes out with another iPhone wannabe.

Thanks

Paul

Airport Extreme Frimware 7.6 Upgrade Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:43:00 +0000

Back in November (2011 for those from a different year), Apple released Airport Base Station and Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.6. The update was for 802.11n capable Airport Express, Extreme and Time Capsule devices. Since then, a number of folks on the Apple Discussion boards have reported issues in getting the upgrade to work. The chief complaint is network speed but as with many medicines, the symptoms are as numerous as breweries in San Diego.

In my case, my Time Capsule failed to reappear after the upgrade. At least it didn't appear until I went out for a coffee and came back about an hour later. Since then I haven't seen any issues. My network has 3 Airport devices; a Time Capsule, a 802.11n Airport Express and an old fashioned 802.11g Express. Of course, only the 802.11n devices were upgraded.

Apple appears to be aware of the issue as their web page describing all the features of the update has been taken down. You can find a cached version via Google here. There are a couple of interesting bits about the issues people are running into.

1) Apple reccomended you make sure you are using Airport Utility 5.5.3 or later for the install. This implies that updating your Airport with an older version of the utility may result in issues.

2) People with multiple Airport devices on their network might be having more issues. That or they complain more on the discussion boards.

3) One poster claimed that Apple suggested making sure the Domain Name field (found under Internet - TCP/IP of Airport Utility) contain the same domain on all of your Airport devices.

4) Others claimed that reverting to an older Firmware version and then upgrading to 7.6 fixed the problem. Others of a different Mother claimed that had no effect except to waste precious time.

5) It appears that if you do get into an issue with 7.6, that resetting the device and then reverting to an earlier version of the Firmware puts things right.

My reccomendation -- If you like to tinker, go for the update but make sure you can revert to an earlier version of the firmware. Also, make a backup of your Airport's configuration. For the rest of you, I'd hold off on the upgrade for now. I am sure Apple will issue a fix at some point.

As an aside, I picked up an Airport Extreme for a friend over Thanksgiving. It worked right out of the box. What did surprise me was that though it did not have the 7.6 Firmware the device did not come back and say "Update me!". Seems even the current stock of Airports know 7.6 has issues.

Lion Tip# 2 - Quick way to see Library in Finder

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:10:00 +0000

There is one other way to get to your Library directory. From the Finder Go menu item, press the Option (alt) key and Library will magically appear.

Click on Library and Finder will display its contents in all its glory.

Lion Tip# 1 - Where did my Library go?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:29:00 +0000

I've been upgrading the Macs around our place to Lion. So far everything has gone as smooth as silk. There are somethings I enjoy like the ability to sign PDFs in Preview and some things that make me go "Hello! Why did you do that?". One of those things is in what Apple has done to protect users from themselves.

Way back in the pre-Lion days, one was able to browse the Library directory from the Finder. This was great when you needed to delete an application preference file that was suspected of causing a problem or two. Simply go into the Finder, browse to your home Library/Preferences directory and delete the suspect preferences file. There wasn't much danger as when the application was launched, the file would be recreated.

Alas, that ability to get directly to the Library directory is no more. I suspect Apple just figures the average person can cause more damage then good by messing with files in the Library.

That said all is not lost. There is a rather simple way to get there from here.

From the Finder simply type cmd-shift-g
That will open a dialog box up where you can type
~/Library

The Finder will drop you right into your Library folder.
By the way, that '~' sign expands magically behind the scenes to /Users/username
which happens to be the root of your home directory.

If you want to make the Library folder always show up in the Finder you'll have to launch Terminal (found in your Utilities directory) and enter the following command.

You'll be prompted for a password. Enter your user password and hit Return. If you have a Finder window open you'll see Library magically appear.

To hide the Library type:

One word of warning. Make sure you include the ~ sign. Otherwise you'll hide and unhide the root Library.

That's it for today.

Cheers

Now for some reading material

I need to update my blog

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:55:00 +0000

Really! I do!!!

iWork - Maintenance Scheduled

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:13:00 +0000

I've been a long time fan of Apple's iWork applications. Pages, the word processor is very flexible and the price is pretty good considering you get Keynote (presentation app) and Numbers (spreadsheet). But one of my favorite and what I consider to be the most useful features is the ability to post my documents to iWork.com.

From there I can share my documents with co-workers, friends and family. They can view the document on the web, leave comments and even download a copy if I allow such a thing. The beauty is they can download as a PDF, Word document or Pages. Pretty much anyone I work with can easily see the docs the way I created them.

I just uploaded a new doc, a job proposal my company is putting together. Everything was going great until I noticed that Apple has a message on iWork saying:

"Scheduled Maintenance: 9/16/2010 iWork.com will be unavailable on Sept 16 from 21:30 PDT to Sept 17 00:30 due to scheduled maintenance."

Three hours of maintenance? Or are we getting some new features? I don't know but I hope so. What new features would be included? Those are questions to ponder this morning.

iPhone 4 Bumpers Coming Your Way!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:23:00 +0000

If you happen to have an iPhone 4 laying around then you might be interested in a little press conference his Steveness and friends gave on the 16th of July 2010. I know you are busy so I have distilled the almost 90 minute Apple soul bearing to a Tikka-Masala take-away of said event via various 3rd party sources. I wasn't physically there so I'm reposting summaries which can mean all of this is completely wrong. Bold is Apple condensed interpretation. Not bold is um.. not bold. ...

Atennagate 2010 is all because we love you and the damn physics! -- Yes there is a problem. ATT is seeing an additional 1 more dropped call per 100 dropped calls. And that is a problem. Especially as it impacts Sarre Nine while in his Laz-Boy. This is an issue that hits all phones. The iPhone 4 just happens to be more susceptible because it loves you and wants to get close to those beautiful fingers of yours. The cell signal is embracing your old spice laced fingers (random fresh water fish) instead of entering the the iPhone 4 which uses the Emotivate 4000 Apple designed CPU. The processor gets jealous and turns off your cell signal. Blame it on your beautiful body parts and the damn physics.

On retrospect, the 'Touch Here' indicator might have been a bad idea -- Having a place on the phone that shouts "Touch me here to reduce the prowess of my signal" was great for the press but not so good for Apple and those bars on your phone.

iPhone 4 return rates is less then the 3GS return rate -- I like my 3GS. I like my 4. Return either? No way! And so agrees the 3 million other iPhone 4 users less the 16,497 people that I wouldn't want to see their face on FaceTime anyway.

Steve's health is fine. -- Can't believe that was the first question of the Q&A. What did you expect him to say? "Cough cough.. Not too good right now. Does anyone have some Ibuprofen?".

Apple loves us. -- I never doubted their love and now have confirmation that there is someone in the world that loves me besides the wife, the kid and Kaz Winery.

Steve just got back from Hawaii. -- Wonder which island. I like the Big Island because it is Big and they have coffee. Mmmm, big coffee.

Steve cut his vacation short. -- All because my iPhone 4 gives me a No Signal message when I sit in the Laz-Boy? I could have waited until he got back, you know. Can I send the Apple technicians back now? They've been here for over a 2 weeks and keep drinking all my beer! By the way, they confirm I can't get a Verizon signal either. So much for iPhone 5!

Speaking of beer - We are all getting free iPhone 4 cases! -- Yea! I mean... damn. Should of bought AAPL @ 248.41.

The white iPhone will be here at the end of July. -- Cool. Can't wait for the headlines. "iPhone 4 White gets dirty quicker then iPhone 3GS. Consumer Reports recommends a brown Bell & Howell satellite phone. Blog at 11"

People at the press conference still use BlackBerrys. -- Go figure.

Apple is not perfect -- WTF? Say it is not so! Who shall I pray to now?

Steve uses a bumper -- No more running the iPhone naked. Naked iPhones should only be used in the privacy of your home, a 4 star hotel or on a fishing boat somewhere off the coast of Whistible. Oops, probably shouldn't mention that last one.

There you have it. iPhone 4 has an issue but so does every smart phone in the known universe being operated by incompletely known physical laws. Free bumpers shall rain down upon the faithful because Apple loves us. Finally, Bill Gates was right. Apple is not perfect.

iPhone 4 more susceptible to black hole gravity wells then 3GS

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Deep within the bowls of our house, sits a post 2000 era Laz-Boy. This is the chair from which blog words arise when I'm not Stumble!ing around. This is also the chair that has a black hole with a propensity to suck up all cell signals be they Verizon, AT&T or Cricket.

Every cell phone I have had - be it a dumb phone by Motorola on Verizon's network or an iPhone Original, 3G or 3GS on ATT - all suffer from a loss of bars whenever the phone approaches the Laz-Boy. Sometimes, the force is so strong it generates a NO SIGNAL message. Sometimes.

Just the other day I upgraded my year old 3GS to a 4, handing down the trusty device to a close family member. She was standing in the kitchen at the time and I traded a sandwich for the phone. Before handing it over I compared call quality, those pesky bars and frequency of the dreaded NO SIGNAL message.

First off, ATT coverage at the house is weak. Calls get dropped not only in the Laz-Boy but in my office, near the old maternity rocker, in the loo and at random locations that appear to change as if some cell sucking ghost was flying around the place. But that Laz-Boy is the gravity well of gravity wells, causing the 3GS to drop to 1-2 small bars at the plop of the derriere and at times bring forth the dreaded NO SERVICE message.

In the Laz-Boy, the 4 struggles to maintain one bar. It is more likely to give a No Service message then either the 3G or 3GS. This occurs whether I use the Vulcan death grip or just set it on the left armrest (close to the event horizon of that wireless gravity well) with both arms above my head holding a loaf of bread so I don't touch the iPhone.

As for the good - when the signal is strong, the iPhone 4 call quality is better then the 3GS. Sound is clearer, voice quality better. Outside the house, the 4 holds its own and in general the signal strength is as good, maybe better then the 3GS.

In summary, I find the 4 better in terms of voice quality then the 3G and 3GS when the signal is medium to strong. But it seems more willing to drop calls if those bars are weak. Is this a software problem? Possibly. If the algorithm measuring the strength of the signal dictates when to just give up and issue a No Service message, then a tweak to the software may not only look better from bigger, taller, sexier bars but a decrease in the frequency of the dreaded No Signal message. At least when used from my LaZ-Boy

Tivo's Big Event - Coming Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:53:00 +0000

Could this be the long awaited DirecTV TiVo DVR? Or is this something completely different?
Perhaps a Netflix Tivo iPad Android Anthem AVM-50 Bryston 28BSST Wilson Audio Wamm-7 combo in a bamboo enclosure?

I don't know, but I'll settle for that DirecTv thingy.

Hampton Suites sends me a survey!!! Oh what fun.

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:09:00 +0000

Oh, they shouldn't have! I and the significant other spent the night at Hampton Suites in some

wine country.

Now, the place is fine. Reasonable cost for a decent room. Nothing spectacular, just comfortable bed in a nice room with internet and a tele with nothing on. The staff was helpful on check in and out. The room was quite and the temp was fine. As a bonus, breakfast was included. So, how can I say anything was bad? Well.... one word. Carpet!!!!

So, to the question:
What, if anything, could we have done to make your stay more satisfactory?

The room would have been o.k. if it wasn't for that carpet. To say disgusting would be an understatement. Yet, it is all relative. I presume there are worse floors. Like the toilet floor of a Greyhound bus traveling on gravel roads between downtown Los Angeles and Hayward while being chased by a possessed tornado during the sweltering temps of August. Surely, the Hampton room was not that bad. Then again, I don't travel via Greyhound so the comparison is probably nonsensical.

Suffice it to say that room 204 has the worst carpet in hotel accommodations I've stepped on in over 10 years. And that includes hotels in third world countries besides the U.S. ... oh wait. There was that hotel outside of Edinburgh many summers ago. The carpet was fine but the smell of the place was horrendous. But that was over 8 years ago and not carpet related. Thus, I hereby bestow upon Hampton the award for the most disgusting carpet in hotel accommodations of 2010. Damn, I should have taken a photo! Congrats Hampton! In that wine country!

Gogo Inflight Internet for the Traveler

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Finally! The Intertubes in the air! Yes, I finally got what I've been wishing for. Internet access at 30,000 feet. A few days ago I flew from San Diego to SFO on Virgin Atlantic. First off, those Virgin planes are pretty nice. The blue glow comforts and calms the traveler while their media system is not too bad. .. Not too - the touch screen requires fingers with the power of a gorilla. The best bit is the internet which eliminates time as quickly as a road runner on a golf course. Not sure what that means though it sounds right. ...

Virgin Atlantic is featuring GoGo Inflight Internet. A wifi connection to your laptop or iPhone for just under $6.00. That is a lot if you are on a 65 minute flight, but a longer flight just might be worth it. Especially if you can book the expense to your company, all the better.

I spent most of my time posting the last blog and reading email. Connection was simple and quick. I did have to enter in a credit card number which I am sure the bloke behind and to the right of me was gingerly copying down. If you register with GoGo beforehand you can take care of that credit card stuff before hand. Once the captain has turned off the no-electornics sign, simply login securely. On my Mac it was painless. Your pain may vary.

Connection begins at 10,000 feet or greater. No, surfing the web during take off and landing. No surfing the web while waiting for your flight to board. At least not through gogo. Once you are up in the rarified air, you can surf all you want. I did change my dns entries to OpenDNS primarily for security and perceived speed. OpenDNS just makes surfing nicer, lighter and just all around happier. Trust me, it does.

Speed -- yep, I was interested in speed. While we were cruising along at about 450 mph (ground speed) my internet connection was cruising along at 449 Kbps down and 287 Kbps up. Not exactly super fast but then it was better then that ISDN line I had at the turn of the millennium.

By the way -- DSLReprots.com is the site to check line quality and speed. I highly recommend it. And no, I do not have any financial interest (to my knowledge) in DSLReports, GoGo, Virgin Atlantic, Google, AT&T, Uverse, Blogger, LinkedIn, Victoria Secrets or anyone other company I may have mentioned or thought of while writing this blog.. Wait! I do have some Apple. Damn you FTC stop treading on my fingers!!!

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Apple OS X versus Windows - why I recommend a Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:53:00 +0000

The other day I was sitting in the garage of a friend, enjoying fish tacos with a bunch of other fish taco eating carnivores when someone asked what I do for a living. My answer, given with a hesitation as the jumble of thoughts bounce around my grey, had something to do with; computers, clouds and practicing enjoying life. That is when one of my friends said something along the lines of; "If you have problems with your computer, just give him a call". Now, while I don't mind that answer, I usually volley back "As long as your computer is not running Windows".

That usually sets off the "Why?" response which allows me to gauge who the Windows users are and who just doesn't care. Yes, there are people out there that just don't care about computers. Unfathomable I know. Yet strange as it may seem, I understand completely. There are a lot of things I don't care about. Oprah is an example. I neither like nor dislike Oprah but start waxing passionatately about the latest perfume she left under some seat and I'll nod politely while pondering how difficult it would be to measure the tensile strength of a moving fly whisker.

Anyway, my answer about the "Why not Windows?" has evolved over the years and I now believe that it all has to do with Gestalt.

gestalt |gəˈ sh tält; -ˈ sh tôlt| (also Gestalt)
noun ( pl. -stalten |-ˈ sh tältn; -ˈ sh tôltn|or -stalts) .... an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.

Apple products are about detail. Detail in design, manufacture, software. They are not perfect, for very few things made by human hands are. Yet, all that detail results in the Apple products fitting together in a way that sets up a harmonic resonance with our inner aesthetic view of beauty. Apple products are more attuned to us, to the music of the spheres then any mass produced product. I say that and immediately my brain fires off images of the Leica DM3 and the Bugatti Veyron. O.K., they too touch those spheres. Example? What? You want an example? How do I know Apple focuses more on design, functionality and beauty then any other company? Because, sometimes they are so proud of something it infects their marketing campaign.

When the unibody Mac Books came out in May, Apple spent as much time showing off their manufacture process as the new products. I saw pride in what they accomplished and they had good reason to be proud.

"Carved from a solid block of aluminum.." Brought to life by the marriage of fire (lasers), earth (aluminum) and water (high power hydrocutting). Craftsman summing computation to life from a block of pure aluminum. A product that embodies Strength, Beauty and Functionality. All coming together unlike any other product since the birth of Guinness Stout.

Hmm... perhaps I'm going just a tad bit overboard. But, go and pick up a MacBook Pro. It has a feel that makes one smile. Same with the iPhone, the Touch, and now the 27" iMac. Apple plays to our senses through our senses.

When an object resonates with our aesthetic sensibility, that object becomes a joy to use. Subtle design cues speak to and with us. Cues such as the feel of the keyboard, the dimming of the screen in response to our surroundings, a heart beat pure white light quietly telling us We are alive. We are alive .

These things have little to do with functionality, yet they are critical to our sense of enjoyment, comfort and beauty. Design is critical to functionality and Apple is about how design and form reinforce functionality with beauty.

When a tool (yes Apple products are tools) are a pleasure to use we allow our feelings and focus to flow through them to create something greater then what we could have created with a lesser tool. It is as if tools built with attention to detail call forth greater form, beauty and function and passes those characteristics to our own creations. There are few companies that understand the importance of form and beauty. Those that do, have the ability to create amazing products. And Apple just happens to have figured out how to call forth the music by invoking something greater then the sum of its parts.

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Coming Soon! Healthcare -- is yours really as good as chicken twizzlers?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Get educated. Watch this:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Snow Leopard Footsteps

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:31:00 +0000

Finally got my Snow Leopard. It took a while though. And I learned something. Don't rely upon the USPS if you want something to be delivered on time.

Amazon sent SL with a promised delivery of Tuesday after the release date. I was fine with that because I was saving me driving 2 miles to the Apple Store. Amazon actually sent it via Fedex. Fedex sent it the last 2 miles via USPS. Don't ask why, according to Amazon that happens a lot with Fedex. But that should not be a problem as long as Fedex gives USPS time to deliver the package.

Which they did. By Monday at 5:30 AM my copy of SL was at my local post office. When I say local, I mean local. Only 2 miles away. Walking distance even for a postal worker and they had all of Monday and half of Tuesday to get it delivered. No problem, right?

Well, Tuesday came and went. Wednesday came and went. By Thursday I was sending emails to Amazon asking what was going on. They got back to me very quickly and said. Looks like it is in your neck of the woods. Um, yes. Been there since Monday. Tell me something I don't know. It should arrive soon. If it doesn't show up over the next 10 days, contact us and we'll take care of it.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear. So, I said 'Ah Fiddle Sticks!' and headed down to my local Apple Store, plunked down the cash and went home. Of course, by Friday SL did show up. Of course by then I didn't care so immediately sent it back.

Sorry Amazon! Blame it on USPS. They must be using carrier rats again.

Where's my Snow Leopard?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:18:00 +0000

I pre-ordered Snow Leopard from Amazon. Got a good deal here. Only $25 for one machine and $44 for 5-user license.

But, it hasn't come! In fact it hasn't shipped (28 Aug 09) today! Weep! Weep! Amazon says "Shipping Soon" and it won't let me cancel the order. This might be the first time I have not had the latest OS X release as soon as it appeared. I'm not sure this was worth saving the cost of a Starbucks Latte. Especially given the fact I'm lactose challenged. What made me pre-order instead of just heading down to the nearest Apple Store on release day? I have no idea except that I wanted to support Laugh 2 Life since it is owned by the person sitting behind me. LOL!

On the positive side, I might as well clone my hard drive n preparation for the SL's arrival.I use SuperDuper by Shirt Pocket for these types of jobs. Yes, I could use Time Machine. My Macs are all using Time Machine, I just like the idea of having a clone. That way I can easily boot off of that drive in case of an emergency.

SuperDuper is an excellent backup utility that easily creates a clone of your hard drive on another drive you have laying around. I use it for all of the computers we have around here whenever I perform a major upgrade. Yes Marsha, Snow Leopard is a major release. There isn't much in the way of new features but the underlying pinnings will allow some amazing future feature and performance gains. SL is more for future proofing OS X then putting more eye candy on your desktop. And I want the future today, not Shipping Soon!

Speculation on the Mac Air future

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:47:00 +0000

With the rumours of an Apple Tablet floating around, a friend suggested that the MacBook Air just might be dropped from the Apple line up. At first, I discounted the idea. Our house has an Air. A first generation that is going strong. Strong enough to withstand the constant use and abuse of a teenager. The only downside with that machine is its paltry 80G hard drive. Being a 1G, I can't easily upgrade the drive either as it is a 1.8" ide drive that is thinner then most 1.8" hard drives.

I got to thinking whether my friend was right? How are Air sales doing? Unfortunately, Apple does not report out individual product sales. So all we can do is take speculate based on available data that may have no association with reality. Apple shows the Air in it's "Top Sellers" Mac products on their website. This month (August 09) it sits at number 6 just behind the Mac Pro. Mac Pro? Who buys those things except professionals? Sure, I want one, but then I want a lot of things. Most of my Apple purchases are made on need first then want. Weird thing is AppleCare is at number 7. I'd expect the extended warranty would do better then that. Hmm... maybe top sellers is based on revenue and not individual sales.

How about Amazon's 100 Best Selling Computer and Accessories? A few Apple products make it into the top 100 including AppleCare. Here are the standings for Apple computers:

17. Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
35. Apple MacBook Pro MB991LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
39. Apple MacBook Pro MC118LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop by Apple
46. Apple iMac MB418LL/A 24-Inch Desktop by Apple
59. Apple Mac mini MB463LL/A Desktop by Apple
66. Apple MacBook MB466LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
78. Apple MacBook MC240LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple

Notice what is missing? Yep, the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 17" and that beautiful monster the Mac Pro. All missing from the top 100 Computer and Accessories sold on Amazon. What does all of this mean? I'm not sure. i I do know, the Air is sweet and there have been many times while traveling on business I wish I had brought the Air instead of my ole MacBook Pro. I also know that I need a new iPhone. My first gen jumped out of its sock and into a glass of water this morning. Strangest thing I've ever seen.

Quello e tutto per oggi!

iPhone OS 3.0

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:39:00 +0000

I got to my computer at 5:30 AM yesterday, docked my iPhone Original with 2.x OS and hit the 'Update' button in iTunes. All I got was a message that my iPhone (as my wife) was "up to date" with the latest 2.1. whatever OS. Blast! I was hoping to upgrade before the masses descended upon the one OS X 10.6 server sitting in some garage in Palo Alto. Um, I'm not sure if that is where it is. It is just where I imagine Apple has kept their servers for some 25+ years.

For the next few hours, I hit the update button every time a humming bird flew by my office window which looks upon the lovely curtains of my neighbor's window just 6 feet (1.83 meters) away. Finally, sometime around 10:00 the update cranked away. All went fine and in the time it takes me to refill my coffee cup emblazoned with the chemical structure of caffeine, the iPhone was alive with 3.0!

So what is new? What is exciting? Was it worth the wait? Was it worth the expense?

Cost -- Free. I can't argue with that! Once again, Apple provides an update that delivers great features with an admission price that you simply can not argue about. O.K., I hear you iTouch users. Yes, I know! OS 3.0 is a whole $9.95 and most of you with that ipod Touch are about the same age as my nephew. But admitt it! For the cost of 2 weeks allowance, this upgrade will have incredible payback. The girls (or boys) will be amazed as you text with 2... count them! TWO thumbs!. But, more on that later.
Anyway, even at $9.95 + tax, license, building and printing fees this is a small price to pay for 2 thumbs typing in addition to everything else you get.

Best new Feature?
When I was young, I used to love reading manuals. Big fat manuals. I read the PDP/11 manuals. I never learned anything from them but I did build up calluses on my fingers and improved my reading speed by 11%. Nowadays, I don't RTF much. And with 3.0 there isn't a manual sitting around on the iPhone. So, you are left to your own intuitive devices to deduce how stuff works.

My first attempt at the Cut, and Paste features selecting a block of text left me confused, bewildered and sipping some Kona. The secret is in how you select. Go for the simple. Just double tap a word and a small menu will appear with 'Cut, Copy, Paste' tabs. Two small pointers sit at the front and back of your selection. You can drag those pointers to expand or contract the select area. Then ... Cut , Copy or Paste away.

That cut, copy and paste appears everywhere; Notes, Messages, Email, But what about legacy App Store applications? Will it work there? I am a frustrated verbaphore. When I get flumoxed trying to think of a word with the appropriate musicality, I sometimes look for similar words in other languages. One of the apps I use to find those words is iTranslate. The app has 2 windows, one where you type in the word and the lower window where the translation appears. I am happy to see that the Cut, Copy, Paste commands appear here too. So, this CCP is a great feature and one that really should have been around since day one. But, I'm glad it is there and Apple has done a great job with it.

Next new feature -- Landscape Typing Mode. Up until Wednesday, one gripe I had about the iPhone was the inability to type in Landscape mode in eMail and Messaging. I use both probably more then any other app so this defect in functionality was sorely missing. Well, it works just as advertised. Mail and Messaging allow landscape. Two thumb typing works great. Sadly, my thumbs forgot how to fly over the keyboard. Ah, they will relearn.

That is it for now. There is more. Perhaps I'll update you all after a few days of playing around with the OS. Suffice it to say 3.0 is excellent even on an old pre-3G phone.

A stumble through TiVo Land

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:01:00 +0000

Looks like TiVo is preparing for a new box. While the name is unknown, it will be a "Series 4" unit. Rumors have it that Flash will play a hand in the interface. This was due to a tweet by non-other then

As for the name of this device, endgadget showed a recent TiVo survey that listed the following names:

• TiVo eVo
• TiVo OminBox
• TiVo Series4
• TiVo OnDemand

From the survey it looks like the new DVR will be able to record two or more programs at once. Does this imply multiple tuners? Or perhaps 2 tuners plus the ability to record video off of the internet? TiVo is definetely setting up partnerships with a number of companies. There is Netflix and now Jaman.com. Netflix and Jaman allow you to get videos on demand.

Jaman looks pretty interesting. Rentals cost between $0.99 and $4.99. You have between 7 and 30 days to start watching it and once you start either 24 hours or 7 days to finish the movie.

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Oracle eats Sun for lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Yesterday my world fell apart. O.K.,maybe not the whole world. Just one little corner. But I don't have that many corners to hand out so when Oracle announced they were going to buy Sun, I got all teary eyed. Sun has had a hard time of it for the last 5 years. Their servers do not carry the value they did in the 90's. And while they were great machines, the white box Intel / AMD boxes slowly and persistently took over their space. We can discuss for hours why this was so. We can speculate on what could have saved Sun. But speculating on what could have been done is only good if you are choosing a universe to live in among the infinity of universes within the multiverse. Did I say that right? Oh well... my apologies to Dr. D. Deutsch if not.

Sun has seen the writing on the wall for quite some time. They have tried to pull out of the tail spin, but alas it is not to be. When IBM called and said "Hey, we'll buy your little company", I was a bit bummed but also saw the spark of a relatively good fit. Sun has for quite some time endorsed the open source world. Java of course is the prime example. While their support of a variety of open source operating systems and languages shows their commitment. Their purchase and stewardship of MySQL has not hurt the product. If anything it has helped MySQL acceptance in the enterprise and only increased the number of companies using MySQL.

IBM has also been playing the open source game for a number of years. While it appears counter intuitive for them to do so, it really does make sense. IBM focuses on the full suite of IT solutions. From consulting, managed services to application development and product generation. Rumor has it they also sell some hardware. IBM endorses open source as a solution and they demonstrate that commitment through support of a variety of technologies. There are actually people (yes, people!) in IBM whose sole job is to work on open source projects. That is commitment. I wish my company could afford to do that. Some day it will.

Anyway, when the IBM - Sun deal was proposed, I wasn't to concerned. I figured MySQL would still have a future. Java would live on and so would everything else that Sun has. The one area that might change was in their server space. But, Sun has already shown they could use some help there. Perhaps Sun and IBM engineers would create an innovative product, like a ZFS based Cell chip driven backup device for my car? We shall never know because IBM did not offer quite enough for Sun.

That is fine, but what I don't get is what happened next. Suddenly Oracle walks through the door, plops down ten cents more per share and everybody gets all wiki wiki about a deal. What? Ten cents more? Why would Oracle want Sun? What could they possibly do with hardware? Revise the Internet Computer? Create Soracle and Open Soracle to replace Oracle OS? Revise their attempt at JOralce? Release a new database.... oh. A database. hmmm.....

So, the tears in my eyes are spot on. Oracle has every possible reason to rework MySQL so that only the most innovative features of future versions could be found in your Mother's relational database, Oracle. ... Um, I actually like Oracle. I cut my baby database teeth on Oracle and somewhere around here there is a certificate of completion saying so. But the days of Sun supporting MySQL are probably numbered if the take over.. I mean merger... goes through. And that will be a sad day. Sure, fans will fork MySQL into something else. There are already some forks (Drizzle) that have potential. I can only hope that those innovative folks will have as much success as MySQL has had over the last decade.

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Passion in Words

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:23:00 +0000

At the Apple Quarterly Conference call the other day, Tim Cooke, Apple's interim CEO, was asked how Apple would continue to function without Steve Jobs. Tim Cooke responded with passion befitting a leader that truly believes in his purpose, the companies mission and the products Apple produces. If these words express Tim Cooke's heart, then Apple has nothing to fear going forward.

All accomplishments arrive through the work of great leaders. Those leaders may only lead one person, themselves. They may lead large groups or they may lead whole companies. In each instance, there is some driving force that is there pushing for delivery. Encouraging during darkest of times, inspiring when the last slice of pizza has been sitting out for 3 hours.

At times there is only one leader, leading their own self. The sole artist, the garage scientist, the student working out the latest hack to Facebook. These people are leaders too. Leading their own hands and mind. But leaders with a passion and vision that can produce the unimaginable. Others lead small groups and live with the uninspiring name of "project manager", hampered by budgets, time constraints and the inevitable nay sayer. Yet, these project managers are responsible for inspiring folks to deliver inventions against all odds. Finally, there are company leaders. They inspire, question and reward their colleagues to deliver for the good of the company and their customers. The best ones are the true heart of a company. They attract leaders so that their companies can dream up the truly amazing products. Is Apple one of those companies? Is Tim Cooke one of those leaders? If his words are any indication then perhaps, just maybe ... yes.

I found the following by Adam Lashinsky of Forbes here: http://gowest.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/01/22/the-cook-doctrine-at-apple/

I paste the bit that got me to blog here -- but head over to Forbes for the full article.

We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.

I find these words to strike a cord with my view of my own company. Tim has put to words what I feel about our mission, he has put his passion into words that resonate and for that I thank him

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Microsoft 7 Beta Download Hiccup Raises a Cloudy Question

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Microsoft recently released Windows 7 Beta. The number of folks downloading the forthcoming replacement to the disappointment (to some) that is Vista, is a testament to the strength of the pent up demand for a workable replacement. I usually tell people to get a Mac or if they are technically savvy and enjoy getting under the covers, Linux.

What struck me about the release was not the software itself, but the problems Microsoft ran into in under estimating demand for the download. Normally, I would not have thought twice about them having to shut down the servers, add additional capacity and then bring everything back up again. That is par for the course at most companies when their servers buckle under heavy demand. How can one truly predict how popular a product will be? I completely understand how Microsoft got blindsided by this one. What could they have done? Provision an architecture that can easily and automatically scale on demand? How crazy would that be and what would it look like?

Oh, isn't that "Cloud". That's right, they could have made use of some of the popular Cloud Computing architectures. Industry leaders such as Amazon's AWS has the components to build a scalable web service. 3tera has software that allows for easy design and provisioning of a scalable architecture across a variety of different data centers as does GoGrid. Too bad, Microsoft doesn't have experience with cloud computing.

What's that? They do? Oh yeah! I heard they were doing something called Azure. A product that was initially announced way back in July of 2007 according to CNET. Then in October 2008, Microsoft the official announcement of Windows Azure, as a Cloud Computing OS arrived. Azure is the foundation to Microsoft's Cloud architecture. On top of Azure sits services that really make Azure intresting. These include Live, .NET, SQL, Sharepoint and Dynamic CRM Services. All cool and intresting.

So, why didn't Microsoft release Windows 7 beta from within their Azure Cloud? That is the question isn't it? Microsoft missed a great PR opportunity. Imagine marketing getting a hold of the number of succesful downloads from within Azure. That could have been a small but important example of Azure's ability to handle network and compute loads. Instead, Microsoft focused on how quickly they can fix what should never have broken in the first place. Something, they are pretty good at.

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Stump the Amazon Turk with the iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:48:00 +0000

Quick post for you iPhone users. I have a new past time, I call 'Stump The Amazon Mechanical Turk'. Amazon has a nice iPhone application called Amazon Mobile.

The coolest feature is the ability to take a picture of something you just have to have and Amazon will magically find the item for you. You will receive an email pointing to the must have item. But, you can take it up a notch and play 'Stump the Amazon Mechanical Turk' by taking pictures of items that there is a low probability of them finding.

For example, I took this picture:

And Amazon returned with this one.

Not quite what I wanted. Mine was your typical Snowman Ceramic Bell that everyone has sitting on their end table. You know, the one that somehow escaped the post-holiday packing. So far I'm 2 for 2 on this game.

So give it a try and let me know if you can come close to my perfect 'Stump the Mechanical Turk' score!

Happy Stumping!

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Uverse, Tivo and Cirrhus9

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:39:00 +0000

Happy New Year all!. Hope your holidays were excellent. Ours were busy, fun and tasty. It was great to see friends and family. Do major feasting, singing and sharing the roads with millions of others doing the same. O.K., enough of the social niceties. Let's get down to what is new around here -

New Around Here
Nothing much except for Werner Vogels will speaking next week at a Cloud Computing round table we and some ole friends will be hosting. Check out www.cirrhus9.com for more info.

O.K., how about what is old around here

Old around here besides me
-- TiVo and Uverse.
We still have Uverse. Sound and picture quality are still marginal. User interface is still below par but we have learned to live with it. TiVo is still working with Uverse though whenever AT&T pushes an upgrade it does tend to mess up the picture settings (16:9 width setting) on the receiver that the TiVo records from.

We just got 2 notices in the mail from AT&T. Both said they are increasing our prices. The monthly rental on the "included" Uverse boxes are going up in price by about 40%. If the price increase was matched with a 10% improvement in service, I'd be happy. But alas, if anything picture quality is steadily decreasing with more and more drop outs while watching both recorded and streaming video. In terms of real money, this means for the two non-DVR receivers, we will be paying $14 / month instead of the $10 we paid in 2008. Looks like I'll have to cancel Orkin to pay for AT&T's greed.

On the plus side, AT&T has announced we can bump our internet speed from 6 to 18 Mbps. AT&T must have the largest number of internet plans I've ever seen offered by any internet provider. The price feels steep to me though, at least at the top end. However, I have not looked at comparable plans and perhaps the pricing isn't too bad. Finding AT&T's pricing isn't easy but here is the low down. All speeds are listed as "Up to" which simply means you can't complain if you don't quite get the max speed.

TiVo Update -- We still have an old Series 2 TiVo connected to one of the Uverse receivers. Of course, the TiVo only records in standard definition but that unit has been working great since we got it just over 5 years ago. I have a hard time believing the Windows box that Uverse uses as a DVR will last anywhere near 5 years. But that is just me being a Linux / Mac zealot.

I'm finally lusting after a Series 3 TiVo. Primarily because TiVo and Netflix have joined forces and are offering Netflix subscribers the ability to download movies-on-demand. Now before anyone says that Uverse offers movies on demand (they do and we do use that service) let me explain why I think linking TiVo and Netflix is in some ways more powerful then the Uverse service.

We have had Netflix for about as long as we have had TiVo. Mary is actively involved in rating movies and maintaining our Netflix wish and favorites list. She shares that list with friends and family and Netflix rewards us with some pretty good recommendations. For example, we never would have found Jeckyl if it wasn't for Netflix. A drama with such amazing acting by James Nesbitt that I can guarantee you will be addicted to this series after watching just one episode. ... where was I... Oh, anyway having video on demand that links to our favorites and recommendations and friends wish lists just seems like a very good idea. There is one catch and that brings us back to why I am lusting after a Series 3 TiVo. The Netflix service will only work with TiVo®HD, TiVo®HD XL or TiVo® Series3™ DVR. Notice the complete absence of my old TiVo Series 2.

Finally, before I go and do something completely different - I just wanted to tell you about an event my company Cirrhus9 is hosting in January. January 14th to be exact. We are having a round table discussion on Cloud Computing and Life Sciences. Seating is limited, but if you are in San Diego on the 14th and are interested in Cloud Computing, pharmaceutical / life sciences then check out our web site and sign up for the talk. Our guest speaker is Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, so this talk is bound to be interesting.. even if I don't mention TiVo, Uverse or Jeckyl.

"Ciao, e tutto per oggi!"™

Ars Awards Top Buzz Word for 2008 -- "Cloud" of Course!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:48:00 +0000

Ars Technica Top Tech Award are in and the buzz word of 2008 is.... drum role please..... umbrella please.... Cloud!

read more | digg story

Kaz Vineyare & Winery

noreply@blogger.com (Sarre9) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:53:00 +0000

My favorite winery for several years running. Check out their site by clicking on the title to this quick post.