Jay's Blog

10.5

Hello,

Leopard is installing and it is taking it's time.  The projected install footprint is 11.4 GB.  Wow!  I remember when Windows 2000 Professional took 650MB for the basic install.

iPhone issues... Argh !!!

I have had my iPhone for just under three months now.  I DID NOT wait inline like a fanboy, but purchased a 4GB model a week later.  A month later, when AppleCare was released for the iPhone, I bought that too.  Two weeks ago, the battery on the device started showing extensive battery use.  I would normally charge the phone every other day or when necessary.  However, the iPhone was going through a fully charged battery within the span of twelve hours.  At six AM the battery was indicating 100%, and around five PM it would just die.  Lithium-Ion batteries should never be drained to 0%, and I would never all that to happen.  I do not as of yet have a car-charger for the iPhone, but I do have an iPod car-charger.  Hmm, it would be really cool if both devices could use the same charger. 

Twice I needed to make a call with the phone and it was dead.  I do not use the phone that much during the day.  I do not use the iPod features too often, nor the Internet.  All of the wi-fi around is locked and EDGE is, well, useless.  The wi-fi at work is secured with 802.1X, which is uncompatible with the iPhone.  I do not use a bluetooth headset, so I disable the bluetooth functionality and wi-fi all together.  Like the web-site suggests, I sleep the phone whenever not in use.  I am also not one of those folks whom spends all day on the phone.  Typically, I make three to four calls A-DAY, that's it... I thought, initially, that the iPhone had an endurance close to the iPod Nano, but there are more technical variables involved with the iPhone. 

I called up Apple and explained the situation to the service rep.  Without a single question, the rep offered to send me a loaner phone and have my original shipped back.  There was an issue of a $29.95 service charge for the loaner.  The rep was kind enough to waive that given the situation.  I had explained to her that I did not really do anything outside of the normal operating parameters, and I bought AppleCare. Isn't that what AppleCare is supposed to provide?  Two days later a FedEx box landed on my door with the loaner iPhone and a return label.  Apple gave this nice printed pamphlet instructing how to remove the SIM card and pack-up the original iPhone.  They even gave me a paper-clip and tape. Not that I am not capable of looking up the number for FedEx, they made it so I do not have to.  Last apge in the pamphlet is FedEx's number along with a return airway bill on the box.  I cannot say Dell offered that level of support on any scale.

OS X 10.5 'Leopard'

I was able to install Leopard in under four hours.  My guinea pig Mac is an iBook G4 1.33GHz with 512MB of RAM.  I am not touching the MacBook Pro with Leopard just yet... The iBook is within Apple's described hardware requirements, just within.  Installing is straight-forward, boot to the DVD, and run the setup program.  I chose to erase the HDD and perform a clean install.  This option is not that readily apparent, and must be chosen from the 'options' button near the bottom of the window.  I am quite sure the install would have been faster if performed on my MacBook Pro or newer Mac. 

The welcome screen features some different music and a starry background instead of the 'blue curve' background.  It makes me think 'Close Encounters III'.  The O.S. was a bit slow after the initial reboot.  Activity monitor was showing between 85%-100% utilization from 'Spotlight' performing the initial index of the HDD.  I turn off spotlight to save CPU-cycles and because I do not use it.  I tend to keep track of where I put things on the HDD and do not need a background app to keep track of them for me.  This action really gave the poor iBook a break, but the RAM was still under siege.  The menu bar at the top of the screen is now translucent instead of gray.  The dock is 3D rendered, but still functions the same way as it did in Tiger.  I turn off the animation and visualization on the dock.  Bouncing icons do not do much for me any way.  Icons in Leopard are identical to those on the iPhone, a la System Preferences and Safari.  Of my 512MB, there are 20-50MB available at any given time.  Clearly, I need more RAM, but Leopard is cutting it thus far.

Prelude to Leopard

Hi,

Well, like an idiot, I am waiting at the local computer store to get my copy of OS X 10.5 'Leopard'.  I plan to install it on my older iBook and see what it does or doesn't do.  I'll follow-up in a day or so with a full report of my initial findings...

:)

More Fun With Vista...

Hi,

So... I have Windows Vista Home Premium running on a PC in my office.  As much as Vista is being thrown around in the tech press, I don't mind it that much.  I certainly like it much better than Windows XP.

I installed iTunes on Windows Vista and configured it to synchronize content with my iPod Shuffle. Almost immediatley, iTunes was unable to update itself and Quicktime via the Apple Software Update function.  The only way to clearly update iTunes was to reinstall it.  I should not have to do that.  Apple only lets iTunes customers activate iTunes installations 5 times each year.  Activation/deactivation would have followed me reinstalling iTunes.  I was not totally surprised, having ran iTunes on Windows XP with very similar results.  iTunes would not uninstall, throwing an error from Vista saying that VBScript was disabled and needed to be re-enabled before iTunes could be removed.  I did not disable VBScript, I actually use it quite often along with the Windows PowerShell

I made sure the dll for VBScript (vbscript.dll) was registered with Windows Vista, and after that uninstalled iTunes.  Phew...  Not over yet!

Upon rebooting, Windows Vista would only load a VGA video driver for the display.  Yes VGA only...  Vista does not work with VGA, and according to my system properties, the driver was 'working properly' .  The only recourse was to use System Restore to roll-back Vista to the state it was in before I removed iTunes.  Why in the Hell did an iTunes uninstall, trash my video driver system on Windows Vista?  Answer = DRM, 'digital rights management', Vista is loaded with it. In collusion with the entertainment industry, Microsoft rigged Vista with all kinds of DRM protection at the handicap of the end-user.  Peter Guttman published a great paper on DRM in Vista.  I have no direct proof that DRM is the culprit, but the facts lean in that direction.

7.10

Hi,

It's been awhile.  Fatherhood has got me busy along with work, consulting, and teaching.

Ubuntu 7.10 'Gutsy Gibbon' was released last week.  The latest release from Canonical has seen an improved version of the Debian-based distro.  More and more, Ubuntu is forming the backbone of many other Linux distributions such as 'Linux Mint', 'Mepis', and 'Linspire'. 

New stuff

 New desktop wallpaper:  The 'brown' theme remains, but a newer icon set and wallpaper accompany Gnome 2.20.

 A 'fast-user switching' element in the taskbar at the top of the screen allows multiple users to be logged into X simultaneously.

Apart from those aparent change 'Gusty' is very similar to 7.04 'Feisty'.  Great work Canonical, keep it coming!!!

 

iPhone Update...

It has been almost four months with the iPhone.  Despite all of the hoola, I have been able to keep the device running at it's best.  Unlike the vocal minority,  Ihave not installed any third party apps on my iPhone, or tried to unlock it.  I understood the idea of moving to AT&T and what it contained.  The idea of unlocking the phone to use it on another carrier never appealed to me.  Third party apps never appealed to me either.  I'll wait until the 'approved' crop of apps filter through iTunes this summer.  What I would like is the ability to remove the 'YouTube' and 'Stocks' icons on my phone's desktop.  I don't use either feature, so why can't I remove them and replace it with something else?  The wifi capability is great, but let's face it, wifi is not prevalent where I am. Ninety percent of public wifis are locked-down, and I would not be foolish enough to connect to the other ten percent.  EDGE is a freaking joke, and hardly viable for broadband activity. So, if I wanted to use YouTube or the iTunes store, I really couldn't.  Another really irratating feature is the automatic spellcheck and forced correction.  I am not a great typist, so I type in my own little shorthand. The iPhone does not jive with my shorthand and as a result I end up typing most notes or messages twice.  I don't expect iPhone to get my shorthand, but I should be able to turn it off...

I don't regret buying my iPhone and I would do it again, but I know that the latest round of Apple iPhone ads are completely full of crap.

October & 90F

Hello,

G-L-O-B-A-L W-A-R-M-I-N-G !!!

It was 90F today, October 9th 2007. That was a first for me.  It is like the damn tropics outside with near 60% humidity.  I really really really want winter to come so I can stop sweating and having to water my flowers...

Jammy & the RIAA in what has to be the example case of the century, caught a $220,000.00 fine for illeagally distributing 24 songs.  This idiot and her lawyers should have settled with the RIAA and the default settlement amount.  She was counting on the jury to side with her against the evil litigators of the RIAA.  Stealing is stealing and she got caught. However, 220K is a little steep a fine.  The Judge and jury are just trying to make an example out of Jammy, the fool.

Apple bricking iPhones - Well, I think the right to unlock your phone, or do whatever you want to a device that you own is yours.  The amazing constraints given into iPhone ownership a well told and understood.  Why a consumer would buy an iPhone with the express purpose to unlock it and place it on another network is beyond me.  If you hate At&T, if you hate no 3rd party apps, if you hate a forced subscription model, then DON'T BUY THE IPHONE.  The knack to tinker and fiddle will always be around, but get upset if your device fails to operate afterwards.  I think Apple crossed the line when they issued an update that rendered unlocked phones useless, that is not within their rights as a provider.  To the idiots that applied 1.1.1 to their unlocked phones, you knew this was going to happen, now take your medicine.  My iPhone works just fine....

/N