Damn....

Memoirs of a Space Engineer - Leadpencils

And that video was interspersed amongst all that telemetry data. So in fact the video data rate was very slow. 40,000 pixels per 8 hours, 5,000 pixels per hour, 83 pixels per minute, 1.4 pixels per second.

Being nosey buggers as we were, we just had to do something about this. So we got a large sheet of graph paper and marked it out into 200 x 200 squares. Each square was divided up into 4 smaller squares. And we armed a team of 8 people each with a lead pencil. As the data came back, according to the video data value we would shade in a number of the squares. When viewed from a distance it gave quite a representable picture.

Pic is Here.

DNS kerfluffel

Man, I really can't wait till everyone updates this damn DNS patch. Email is on the fritzm websites are being goofy.... good lord....

Changes to bookmarks are lost whenever you restart Firefox

Bookmarks not saved

If your changes to your bookmarks do not appear when you restart Firefox, the issue may be that your bookmarks file is write-protected. A write-protected file cannot be changed, which prevents your edits to your bookmarks from being saved. Firefox 3: Windows:

To enable writing of your bookmarks file:

1. Go to your Firefox profile folder. 2. Right-click the file places.sqlite, and select Properties to open the Properties window. 3. In the Properties window, select the General tab. Near the bottom of the window, verify that Read-only is not selected.

4. If the folder also contains a file called bookmarks.html.moztmp, verify that it is not marked as read-only.

Mac OS:

1. In the Finder, go to your Firefox profile folder. 2. Select the file places.sqlite. 3. From the menu bar select the File menu and select Get Info. The bookmarks.html info window will open. 4. In the bookmarks.html info window, remove the check mark from the Locked check box.

iphone bug

So, if you unplug your headphones while listening to a song, the iphone will think that the headphones are still plugged in. This means your phone will not ring and you can't hear anything when you try to talk. Kinda frustrating to say the least. Change the volume with the side volume toggle and if it reads "(headphones)" by the volume setting, you have the bug.

The fix is to plug the headphones back in, go to the ipod area, stop the song from playing, go to a different menu in the ipod player and then go back to the main menu. Then you can unplug the headphones and reset the glitch.

That should do it.

If you left the house without the headphones or the $20 Griffin adapter (for gen 1) you are shit out of luck I guess. Way to design a recessed 1/8" jack apple.

Hmmm

Mac OS X 10.6 code named Snow Leopard, may be pure Cocoa

The next version of Mac OS X is code-named "Snow Leopard," and will indeed be Intel-only, we have learned. This info is hot on the heels of TUAW's original scoop about Mac OS X 10.6 being readied for shipment as soon as Macworld 2009 and being Intel-only.

People familiar with the situation have confirmed to us that TUAW's details are true—Snow Leopard is currently on track to come out during next January's Macworld, and it will not contain major OS changes. Instead, the release is heavily focused on performance and nailing down speed and stability. With Apple's current (and future) focus on smaller, thinner, and more mobile devices, this move makes perfect sense. Things like the MacBook Air, iPhone, iPod touch, and other mysterious devices that have yet to be announced need better performance for better battery life, and that's definitely something Apple wants to excel at in the years to come. Our sources did not note whether Apple planned to discuss Snow Leopard at this year's WWDC.

I can't help but think Apple is going the wrong path here. They are targeting light users and portability over power users and work stations. I am already planning on getting Vista 64 so I can run CS4 in 64 bit mode and this may push me over the edge to a full Windows user. Seems like they don't give a shit about power any more and just care about consumer level crap.

Dammit, I love OSX too. Too bad it seems to be becoming a bad choice for anyone who needs speed and performance.

This is handy

macosxhints.com - 10.5: Compress a file or folder via drag and drop to Dock

nspired by this hint about the Screen Sharing application in /System » Library » CoreServices, I found another small but very nice application there.

Drag Archive Utility to your Dock (or toolbar or sidebar). Now, you can drag a folder onto the application, the result of which will be a compressed archive in the same location. If you don't like the default .cpgz format but prefer ZIP, or want to have another destination for all archives, just open the utility and change its Preferences.

Azureus and a Base Station FYI


First Thoughts: AirPort Extreme Base Station - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

RE: torrenting and ports, if you have Azureus, you don't have to manually forward ports anymore with the new router. Goto Azureus Preferences > Plugins > UPnP > NAT-PMP and enable it.

On the new Extreme, goto Internet > NAT and Enable NAT Port-Mapping Protocol

Now everytime you open Azureus, it should be able to open the appropriate ports on the Extreme as needed.

LOL


Gamasutra - Fixing Online Gaming Idiocy: A Psychological Approach

Some gamers are fuckwads Of all the ways I spend my free time, playing games online is the only one I would describe as "frequently barbaric". Insults of all kinds, including racist and homophobic slurs, are commonplace.

The women I know who play online avoid anything that would identify them as female -- including voice communication -- in order to avoid the unwanted, and frequently negative, attention.

And that's just how players are intentionally insulting -- what some people do while playing online can also be aggravating.

Cheating, team-killing, entering a game but not playing, quitting before the game is over, and more, are all relatively common. Common enough that it was deemed worthy of a Penny Arcade comic, speculating about why normal people become fuckwads online.

April Fool's funny


World of Warcraft: The Molten Core

Blizzard's World of Warcraft: The Molten Core Collector's Edition, also announced today, will include tinted cellophane TV overlays, further increasing the array of colors available to players. Additional Collector's Edition features, as well as details on the upcoming World of Warcraft: The Molten Core beta test, will be revealed closer to release. World of Warcraft: The Molten Core will initially be available for the Atari 2600 platform, with plans for additional console systems to be announced in the near future.

http://ww23.rr.com/index.php?origURL=http:


Google to Yahoo Hijack

No thanks. I was with RoadRunner here in Austin back when they firstrolled out service, and for a couple years after that. I know just how flaky and lame their email, DNS, and web services are. They made headlines multiple times here when their POS email server ate thousands of customer emails, and their DNS was a joke (they have redundant DNS servers, but if one malfunctions, the others malfunction as well - meaning dear mom one day gets bounce back messages when she tries to email you, for instance). I found out Time Warner uses Microsoft servers exclusively, due to a limiting funding contract they signed with M$. And I'm quite sure they suck just as much, if not more, today than ever.

I've since switched to Earthlink as my ISP. Time Warner still provides the hardware (the cable line to my house, and the modem), but Earthlink provides the services (DNS, email, web). It's been smooth sailing ever since! I switched my DNS to OpenDNS only to avoid Earthlink's invasive ad-laden search pages on failed DNS lookups. Now with the addition of AdBlock Plus, my web browsing is pain-free!

Yeah, awesome. This just started happening to me this week. Time Warner has a monopoly so there is no-one I can switch too. Also, talking to a tech I could not even get them to admit these pages exist even though I have screen shots and the url. Just a FYI people.....

Scribefire notes

Been using Scribefire for the past few weeks here on the blog and I have to say it makes the whole process a breeze. Sometimes it seems to have a mind of it's own, but I like it. And I know blogging is old fashioned now with twitter and pownce, but I guess old habits die hard. Plus, twitter annoys the christ out of me.

And git off mah lawn!

Damn kids.

Been there, done that


Let’s go vampire slaying
Let’s go vampire slaying

Cold, undead relics from a past age haunt the corporate world, spreading fear and carnage wherever they go. These monsters can look good, seductive even, but if you let them, they’ll suck the life force out of you and leave you dead. Or worse: One of them. I call them vampire ideas and all they deserve is a stake through the heart. Vampire ideas can be found in stock management philosophy, tired old leadership theories or business advice from an earlier era. Wherever they come from, they’re bad for you and they’re bad for business.

Hoo boy, this sums up my corporate days perfectly.

Time maching brings the buggy


time machine slow initial backup - fix - Mac Forums

My initial experiences with time machine were not great, glacially slow initial backup rate, left external HDD in unstable state that could not be repaired, stuck on "preparing" etc. The initial backup rate was minutes per Mb--unacceptable. here are some steps I took, based on watching this and apple support discussion groups--this may not work for all problems being experienced.

turn off time machine

Although TM doesnt require exclusive use of an external drive and will use HDs that have other data, you are placing those data at risk:

before you turn on TM backup anything you have on your intended time machine external disk, partition ( as GUID) first, then erase (format as HFS extended, journaled) and check/repair permissions. (dont let time machine format the disk)

exclude the external disk from spotlight indexing (or turn off spotlight altogether); certainly do not commence initial backup while spotlight is performing initial index after leopard install

turn off any virus checking!!

remove TM plist file from any previous attempts and erase and trash any previous backup files

exclude any large frequently updated database files (Entourage, Parallels) from time machine.

If you have multiple drives that you dont intend including in your routine backup, make sure you exclude them in TM

avoid daisy chained FW drives for the initial backup, time machine disk should be directly connected.

that's about it, Time Machine backed up a ~90G system from a 2.4Ghz SR MBP to a LaCie 500G d2 (FW800) in about 120 minutes and has continued with hourly backups since.

good luck!

This did the trick for me. Been using TM since Jan and just had it take a crap on me. Tried all sorts of stuff but this did it. Norton is what slows it down biiiig time.

Nerve-tapping neckband used in 'telepathic' chat

A neckband that translates thought into speech by picking up nerve signals has been used to demonstrate a "voiceless" phone call for the first time. With careful training a person can send nerve signals to their vocal cords without making a sound. These signals are picked up by the neckband and relayed wirelessly to a computer that converts them into words spoken by a computerised voice.

And then the gub-ment can tap it at will and use it in a interrogation. I'll take 2 please!

XP SP2 vs. Vista RTM vs. Vista SP1: Gaming benchmark

So I plan on upgrading to a new Intel mac soon and plan on installing Bootcamp on it for games ASAP. (BTW, Bootcamp now supports 64 bit!)

I used to have a gaming PC back in 2001-2003 and ran XP fine, but with Vista I wanted to see what I could dig up in the way of recent reviews and found a nice write up over at ZD net.

XP SP2 vs. Vista RTM vs. Vista SP1: Gaming benchmark | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

I wish it delved into the difference between 64 and 32 bit, but all in all Vista still looks like a dog.