Techie Musings

Dreamliner Day

2011-10-09T23:34:18-07:00

Today, the Museum of Flight in Seattle welcomed Boeing 787 RA001 to its parking lot, and chief test pilot Randy Neville to its theater. Great presentation detailing the flight testing of the Dreamliner, and fantastic to walk around and under the airplane itself!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Here's a couple of videos showing the turbine blades windmilling.

IMG_0046.MOV Watch on Posterous

IMG_0055.MOV Watch on Posterous

Some interesting slides from Randy Neville's presentation:

See the full gallery on Posterous

The Myths of Innovation

2011-01-25T11:23:32-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Myths-Innovation-Scott-Berkun/dp/1449389627/ref=sr_1_7?...

David Sayed | Application Platform Marketing | +1 425 705 1985

Slideshare Fail

2010-11-18T09:13:47-08:00

I created a presentation in widescreen (16:9) but when I uploaded to Slideshare.net and tried to display it on an iPad, it rendered as horrible squished 4:3. Here’s what Slideshare.net has to say about it:

Geekomania, Nov 18 03:55 am (PST):
Hello
The default as aspect ratio for an iPad is 4:3 which is why the presentation appears squished. Please upload the presentation in 4:3 aspect ratio.
Thanks
Pranav

“Please upload in 4:3” Hell no! I’m not redesigning my entire deck just to accommodate your crappy decision to render everything in iPad native format. Why not viewers a letterbox format just as videos do on the iPad? What a complete fail!

iPhone 4 Really Thin Case

2010-10-25T09:14:47-07:00

I’ve tried a few cases for my iPhone 4 and since it came out have been using Zagg invisibleSHIELD together with a “holster” that attaches to my belt. This is the same holster I used with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The Zagg product is rubbish. Not only is it a beast to put on, but it peals easily and discolours. Currently the only part that I’m still using is the screen protector and I’m about to take that off because it makes the touch sensitivity much less sensitive, and this is particularly noticeable when typing. Ironically, the cheap clones of invisibleSHIELD are much better for a fraction of the price.

So I wanted to find some means of protection the iPhone 4 without adding to its bulk so that it could still slip into the holster. The various soft cases are too thick and don’t work with the holster. However, the new Macally METROCP4 case that is not very flexible is very thin and does work with the holster. As you can see from the picture, it is crystal clear with a tacky Macally logo on the back (but it looks like it will rub off with use thankfully). If there is anything on the phone like moisture, grease, etc. it will remain inside the case as you can also see.
It doesn't exactly offer full protection - the top and bottom surfaces are still exposed probably to make insertion, extraction and manufacturing easier. No doubt if you drop it, these are the areas that would get scratched...

At $30 is it worth it? For my specific use case it is - certainly better than that Zagg stuff.

Wireless Broadband

2010-10-20T17:26:27-07:00

I recently tried several broadband wireless hotspots. One of the first was the MiFi available on both Sprint and Verizon. Sprint recently introduced a 3G/4G version and even more recently, Virgin introduced a 3G prepaid version. The devices I tried are as follows:

Device	Network	3G/4G	Price	Plan
Virgin MiFi 2200	Sprint	3G	$149.99	Prepaid $10 for 100MB (valid for 10 days) Prepaid $40 unlimited (valid for 1 month)
Overdrive	Sprint	3G/4G	$99.99 (after MIR)	$59.99/month with 2-year contract. 4G: unlimited. 3G: 5GB/month, $0.05/MB overage. 300MB/month roaming, $0.25/MB overage.
Rover Puck	Clear	4G only	$149.99	Prepaid $5/day Prepaid $20/week Prepaid $50/month
USBConnect 881U	AT&T	3G HSPA	$249.99 (no contract) Free with 2-year contract	$35/200MB, overage $0.10/MB. $60/5GB, overage $0.05MB. 2-year contract
Apple iPhone 4	AT&T	3G HSPA	$199 16GB $299 32GB with 2-year contract	$45 2GB Tethering Plan

I conducted three tests using Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net (where applicable).

Indoor office: located in Redmond, WA in a building with insulated glass, which acts as a good wireless insulator (Faraday cage), resulting in fair 3G and no 4G coverage

Outside office: located in Redmond, WA with reasonable 3G and poor 4G coverage.

Coffee Shop: located in downtown Bellevue, WA with good 3G and reasonable 4G coverage.

Indoor office results for computer

Carrier	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps	Ping ms	Pingtest
Virgin 3G	0.52	0.08	237	F
Sprint 3G	0.77	0.10	145	D
AT&T 3G	2.90	0.39	98	F

Note: for this test, no 4G signal was received, so there’s no data for Sprint 4G or Rover 4G.

Outside office results for computer

Carrier	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps	Ping ms	Pingtest
Virgin 3G	1.84	0.49	222	D
Sprint 3G	2.21	0.43	150	D
Sprint 4G	0.55	0.07	190	-
AT&T 3G	1.41	0.78	99	F

Note: for this test, no 4G signal was found for the Rover.

Coffee Shop

Carrier	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps	Ping ms	Pingtest
Virgin 3G	0.38	0.15	225	F
Sprint 3G	0.44	0.19	190	D
Sprint 4G	1.97	0.90	157	C
Rover 4G	1.22	0.82	76	B
AT&T 3G	3.42	1.03	119	D

I will publish the iPhone results later, but they were consistent with the AT&T 3G USB modem results.

My conclusion is that the CDMA devices perform very poorly in comparison to the AT&T GSM network. Further, there seems to be speed discrepancies between the Virgin and Sprint device (when forced into 3G only mode) even though they are using the same network. Also, despite the fact that the Sprint has a stake in Clear and their 4G networks are supposed to merging, there are discrepancies between the Sprint device (in 4G mode) and the Rover device.

Virgin Mobile MiFi - Avoid It!

2010-09-30T22:21:15-07:00

Virgin Mobile has recently launched prepaid data devices in the US. They run on the Sprint PCS network, which is CDMA based. Many seem to prefer over AT&T and T-Mobile.
I purchased the MiFi, which is manufactured by Novatel. Verizon offers the same device but in black instead of silver. It is a WiFi router with a built-in 3G modem.
Unfortunately, while it works, the speeds I've been getting have been atrocious. Average download speeds are claimed to be between 600-1400kbps, but I've not seen more than 600kbps. I've tried this in various locations in WA (Bellevue, Redmond, SeaTac) and some locations in the Los Angeles area. Same issue every time: really really poor data speeds and high latency.

The attraction of course is that this is a no-contract device. you buy it for $150 and can have "unlimited" data for $40 over the period of a month. Now unlimited is rarely unlimited and in this case the small print includes "does not mean unreasonable usage" whatever that actually means.
For comparison, my three year old AT&T 3G USB device consistently gives me over 1Mb down. However, this device is on contract and costs more per month. Also, it isn't a WiFi router, which means it must be tethered to the computer to use it.

We have a Sprint PCS 4G device at work, which I will borrow and perform and A/B test of it versus the MiFi. Right now, though, it isn't looking good for the MiFi!

Huawei E585 Mifi Wireless 3G Modem

2010-08-06T11:41:47-07:00

While in the UK recently, I picked up the Huawei E585 3G MiFi offered by the Three network. For £49.99 you can get the modem as Pay-As-You-Go, which means no commitment. 3GB will cost you £15 or for £70 you can get it with 3GB that will expire after 3 months. The device is of course locked to the Three network, but €7 takes care of that nicely (you'll need a Windows machine or VM).

The device itself is small and slim and I was able to go most of a day running it and connecting to the Internet via the MiFi from my iPhone.

I'm currently in The Netherlands and have a Vodafone PAYG SIM. Currently, they're offering 30 days "unlimited" Internet if you top up with €20. Normally this costs €9.50, so that's not a bad deal. Note that none of these "unlimited" Internet plans are really unlimited. Vodafone NL's current small print says that it they will cut you off if you exceed 10x the average bandwidth being consumed. Not entirely sure what this really means, but don't be doing bittorrenting...

The Huawei E585 has web-based configuration like any router. In this case, it is accessed by connecting to the SSID and hitting http://3.home. On the iPhone, you get a reduced functionality interface, but opening the same URL on a Mac or PC gives you much broader access to the device. You can set up multiple connection profiles, which is important when using SIMs other than the one from Three. In the case of Vodafone NL, the settings are:

Connection Number: *99#

User Name: vodafone

Password: vodafone

Authentication: PAP

APN: Dynamic

IP Address: Dynamic

These are different to the ones I use on the iPhone for instance, which uses live.vodafone.nl as the APN. I found the above settings by trial and error and they are the only ones I could get to work.

Happy surfing!

Build your own Core i7 Hackintosh with an Intel DP55WB motherboard

2010-06-22T15:18:55-07:00

The following are step-by-step instructions for building a PC based on an Intel DP55WB motherboard that runs Mac OS, otherwise known as a Hackintosh.

While this is a complete set of step-by-step instructions, all the information was gleaned from tonymacx86’s P55 Hackintosh Blog, the forums there and the InsanelyMac forums. If you have questions or problems with the instructions below, one of those links will be much more beneficial to you than contacting me.

Parts

For the build, the following components are used:

Motherboard	Intel DP55WB LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX motherboard	$99.99
CPU	Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core CPU	$279.99
RAM	2 x OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-pin DD3 1066 SDRAM	$195.98
Video Card	EVGA nVidia GeForce GT 240 1GB 128-bit GDDR3 PCIe video card	$84.99
Optical Drive	ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM	$22.99
Hard drive	3 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm SATA 3.0Gb/s drives	$209.97
Case	Cooler Master Elite 335	$49.99
Power Supply	Antec BP550 Plus 550W PSU	$64.99
Card Reader	Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5” Internal Card Reader with USB port	$14.99
Bluetooth Adaptor	IOGEAR GBU241	$12.84
Mouse	Apple Magic Mouse	$69.00
Keyboard	Apple Wireless Keyboard	$69.00
Operating System	Apple Mac Box Set	$169.00

Apart from the Apple stuff above, all the items are from NewEgg. The total comes to about $1350 before any rebates. This is for a Core i7-860 system with 8GB RAM, 1TB system drive and 2TB RAID 0 array. A 27” monitor is about $350, so for $1800 you’re getting something similar to the custom build iMac that sells for about $2450. However, you’re also getting expansion and a built-in card reader.

Build

If you’ve put together a computer before, there are no surprises here – the build is very straightforward. The only thing you might want to do is to add a 120mm fan inside the front of the case to cool the hard drives.

If this is the first time you are building a computer, there’s a good guide here. It is really very straightforward. If you can change a light switch, you can do this.

Software Installation

Assuming the build went correctly and you can power on and get to the BIOS screen, you’re ready to do the software installation.

You will need the following to install Mac OS:

Mac OS Snow Leopard installation disk (in parts list)
iBoot Supported disk (burn an image from this article)
DVD containing Mac OS 10.6.4 Combo Update and MultiBeast 2.0.2.
AppleHDA.kext from Mac OS 10.6.2 from here.
Wired USB keyboard and mouse (something like this is great)

Also, you will need to do the initial installation with 4GB of RAM rather than 8GB.

BIOS Settings

The current BIOS is WBIBX10J.86A from the Intel site here. Follow Intel’s instructions for updating should you need to do so.

Set all BIOS settings to default except for:

Boot from CD first
SATA mode to AHCI

Pre-OS Installation

Boot with the iBoot Supported disk in the drive.

Once you get to the screen with drive icons, eject the iBoot disk and insert the Snow Leopard disk and press F5 to refresh.

When you see “Mac OS X Install DVD” as one of the selections, select it using the cursor keys and type –x to select a safe mode boot. Press Enter to boot.

It will take several minutes before you see the Mac OS Apple logo and spinning wheel to indicate that Mac OS X is booting. During this time, the DVD will be accessed.

Mac OS X Installation

Once Mac OS X loads, you will be prompted to select the installation language and then you’ll see the “Install Mac OS” screen. Here, you must select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

In Disk Utility, select the hard drive you will install Mac OS to. Choose Partition and set the Volume Scheme to 1. Name the Volume (say Hackintosh HD) and check that the Format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Now press the Options button and set the Partition Scheme to GUID Partition Table. OK out of all of that and once Disk Utility has done its thing, you can exit out of it.

Go through the installation, which will take about 30 minutes before rebooting.

The reboot will fail because the Mac OS X installation disk is in the drive. Eject it (you may need to press eject immediately after powering the machine on), and put the iBoot disk in. Reboot and this time select the hard drive (e.g. Hackintosh HD) and type –x for a safe boot.

Go through the installation screens, though I suggest that you do not opt to transfer information from another Mac at this time.

Once all of this is complete, you’ll get a login screen with Safe Boot in red under the Mac OS X banner. This is because we booted with the –x switch.

Making it all work

When logged in, you will notice that neither sound nor USB work. We now need to install the Mac OS 10.6.4 update, and since there’s no USB this is where you will use the DVD that you burned.

Eject iBoot and insert the update DVD. Copy over MultiBeast to the desktop and install the Mac OS X update. Restart the computer and boot with the iBoot disk again and the –x switch.

Once you login, start MuliBeast and choose the following installation options:

· EasyBeast -> EasyBeast for Supported CPU

· System Utilities

· Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Audio -> HDAEnabler -> ALC888

· Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Audio -> LegacyHDA -> ALC888

· Advanced Options -> Kexts -> Network -> Intel82566MM

· Advanced Options -> smbios.plist -> iMac11,1 -> Core i7

· Advanced Options -> OSx86 Software -> Kext Utility

Once the installer has finished (the last phase takes several minutes), eject the iBoot disk and restart the computer.

Your computer should boot Mac OS from the hard drive without requiring safe mode.

At this point, USB and networking are functional, but audio is not.

Now, open the Applications folder and retrieve the AppleHDA.kext file from a Mac OS 10.6.2 insllation. Drag the kext onto Kext Utility in the Applications folder and let it do its thing.

Restart the computer and you should have working audio output.

Now run Software Update and download the various updates, shut the system down and insert remaining memory.

Turn the power on and you should have a working Hackintosh running Mac OS 10.6.4 with 8GB RAM.

Note that Sleep mode does not work and you should disable it.

This is what will be in your /Extra/Extensions folder:

· EvOreboot.kext

· fakesmc.kext

· Intel82566MM.kext

· IONetworkingFamily.kext

· IOUSBFamily.kext

· JMicron36xATA.kext

· JMicron36xSATA.kext

· Legacy888HDA.kext

· LegacyAppleRTC.kext

· NullCPUPowerManagement.kext

This is what has changed in your /System/Library/Extensions folder:

· HDAEnabler.kext (new)

· AppleHDA.kext (from 10.6.2)

Setting Up RAID

I use the two additional drives as a striped RAID array (RAID 0) for video editing. You can set this up in Disk Utility simply by selecting the RAID tab and dragging over the two unused drives.

Dual Booting Mac OS X/Windows 7

The way I have done this is to dedicate a new drive to Windows 7. Unplug all the other drives, plug in the drive that will contain Windows 7 and install Windows 7 to it.

Once Windows 7 is installed and happy, reconnect the other drives and go into the BIOS to ensure that the drive containing Mac OS X boots first. Now when you boot, you can hold down the Alt (Option) key to select which OS to boot.

Install Microsoft Windows 7 ISO from USB Flash Drive

2010-05-25T14:06:28-07:00

Want to install Windows 7 from a bootable flash drive? The easy way is to use Microsoft’s Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool to make your USB flash drive bootable and copy over the files.

Why Dropbox Rocks

2010-05-18T22:04:12-07:00

Ah the cloud... It is everywhere, right? But what has it done for you lately? Well how about acting like a big hard disk in the sky that is transparently accessible across all your devices: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad?
Dropbox is the answer. Install the client on your PC and Mac and download the app for your iPhone and iPad and you're away. It looks like a normal drive to your computer and you can edit files directly from it. The client keeps a local copy and synchronizes it to the cloud so your file is the same - everywhere. It is probably the best way to get content on your iPhone or iPad as well.