Recived an Acer Aspire 5050 laptop

Well I guess this is the good luck week, knock on wood. Someone gave me an Acer Aspire 5050, which I promptly accepted, Since I don't have a small Dev machine running on WinXp Sp-3. My Laptop is Vaio that runs Vista Ultimate + Visual Studio 2008 Team and a bunch of other 2007 based apps. Sot this small dual core machine is a blessing for me, since I can run Windows XP-SP3 and Visual Studio 2005 Pro with the older version of Office 2003 on this machine. A nice addition to my bag-o-tricks! LOL!

Bought an iPod Touch 2.0 - 32GB model

Got an Apple iPod Touch 2.0 yesterday. Got 32GB version & it is nice! Not just an iPod-a net device! Sync nicely with my MobileME. Email and everything that you can think that you need on the net! The interface is well thought of - intuitive and fast! Apple's Man-Machine-Interface always has been great and they have maintained that tradition in iPod Touch as well. Now it's time to move some music in to this apparatus and find out how much better it is than my version 5.5 iPod 80GB. How do you like the audio quality of the new Version 2.0 as oppose to the previous one? Are they the same? Your comments, please.

Apple's teflon Halo protects it for ANYTHING?

Apple's 10.5.5 is giving headaches to some. Adobe Printing - Elgato Video rendering, et-al. We hear nothin!! Must be the teflon halo! Nothing seems to stick to it, even when Apple is totally in the wrong. If Microsoft did this, we would all scream for the head of those responsible! Won't we? I use Mac and PCs at work and at home. I develop for both platforms, so I am not biased! But we all treat Apple like it can't do any wrong and Microsoft totally as opposite! What do you think? Do you do that too? Do you hate Microsoft windows Vista and you have never every see it or run it? Do ya? Don't we all? Unfair? Yes - but reality of life.

NebuAd mess is really hitting the fan!

Well NebuAd mess is really hitting the fan now. To the point that the ISPs are calling "opt-in" Targeting Ad! When will they learn? I am really - when will they learn that they cannot force consumers to watch ads and worse than that, if they are able to force us, who would really appreciate what they are trying to sell us - much less than buying it! Why are the marketing and advertising companies that work on the net so dumb! Most of us are sophisticated enough to know if we are being ad-fed (what NebuAd tried to do in UK) and if it is forced upon us, then it is guaranteed that we won't buy, even tho the product might have been good! DuH! This the same stupid disease that the Spammer are suffering from! Change your ways guys - Forget about Ad-feeding us and definitely stop forcing the spam and ads on us! You might even be able to make money the right way! Do you feel the same way? Would you buy the product that <b><u>they forced its advertising</u></b> on you?

Ecto to WordPress Blog Page

Well, I am testing the Ecto as a tool too post blogs to my brand new WordPress site. I really like Ecto! If you have a Mac and you Blog, then I recommend it highly. Check it out.

The new MSFT's Ads: "I am a PC"

I just saw the new ad campaign from MSFT and it looked good! at least much better than the Seinfeld, by far! Well it seems that MSFT is regaining back it's spirit and wants to fight! Imagine if this monster with all it's money wakes up! It will kick azz so so bad! I use Macs and PCs for my work as well as personal usage. SO I am not biased to wards or another one. But it's time for Microsoft to come out swinging. What do you think? Do you like Microsoft to get a bit harder on it;s competitors? Like it used to be, or do you like the newer "gentler" Microsoft? Personally, I can't stand the new gentler Microsoft! It is like the old USSR. MSFT is bid - rough and tumble, with a lot of money and large enough boot that can kick any competitor's azz! But this is only my idea. What do you thing? Speak up!

Been away!

Hello, My Blog! I have been away far too long! But we started this new Project and it has been taking all my time. But this weekened I have a few new Blog entires that I will be publishing. Not to worry!

Building a L.A.M.P. Server on OS X framework - PART 1

For my L.A.M.P. project, running on an older machine and acting as a test server I was going to use an old Macintosh G4 (the Original Graphite), but decided against it. Why? Seems that a 512MB - G4 running at 400MHz machine might not be enough to do the job. So, I selected an iBook G4 (1GHz with 1.2GB of RAM), 14.1” screen. This also gives me the ability of taking my test server with me if I want to work on the road.

I will be downloading and installing the following software, which are freeware for the most part. There are many sites that actually have step-by-step instruction and how-tos that cover every aspect of the operation. L.A.M.P. stands for Linux – Apache – MySQL and PHP. This L.A.M.P. in reality will be an O.A.M.P., since I replaced the Linux with OS X. So here is a list of server software that is needed to setup a functioning L.A.M.P. Server:

1. Operating system: I chose Apple Mac Server Tiger (10.4.11) as the operating system of my new L.A.M.P. machine. I was going to use the Leopard server (10.5.4), but then I decided against it. The tiger version already is a strain on this hardware

2. MySQL: I downloaded the MySQL server from their site directly. I chose the version 4.1 that is used very widely because of its stability and bug fixes. As it is with the most UNIX and Linux program that you download, you have to recompile the whole thing locally and it is highly suggested that you compile the whole thing on the same machine that you want to run it on. I was thinking to compile the whole thing under my newer and faster Mac. But no cigar – must be compiled on target machine. This will be an overnight job. So tonight before I go to bed, I will setup the little iBook to compile the whole big-bad-wolf MySQL (poor iBook, talk about torture!).

3. Apache 2.2: This is an adventure by itself. Apple ships OS X server with the Apache 1.3. I am planning to use Apache 2.2+ in my L.A.M.P. But this is more complicated than it seems, since they suggest that you remove the older version first and then download and recompile the newer one. I am looking forward to this, since I have never removed Apache server in its entirety.

Here was what has been done up to now. In part two, I will go thru the details of installing and configuring the MySQL server.

How to save iPhone battery

How to save iPhone battery and make iPhone less functional than a Razr:

1. Turn off Push Mail!

The most important selling pitch that Apple made to the IT community was the fact that the new iPhone 3G and the new version of iPhone Firmware will bring Push Mail to the table. Now they suggest switching it off to save battery? Makes no sense to me, since if you turn off that feature, then how would a Server push email to that device! Hmmm! Strike one…

2. Minimize the use of 3^rd party Applications!

The second exciting feature in iPhone is the fact that Apple opened it up for the developers to build applications so we can easily download them via the AppStore, which in it’s own right is another exciting feature of the new iPhone 3G. Here they are now suggesting that we should not use this feature that we were so excited about was so exciting about. Hmmm! Strike two…

3. Turn Off 3G!

Another huge improvement over the original iPhone has been the addition of High-speed 3G systems. Faster Data – Video – and MMS (oops I forgot that iPhone has no video or MMS! LOL! Forgive me), suffice to say that 3G does all that much faster. Here they are now suggesting that the owners of the new iPhone 3G could turn this important function off to save battery? Hmmm! Strike three…

4. Minimize the use of Location services!

Yet another important functionality of iPhone is under attack for the sake of saving battery. GPS and Maps and location services are another important functionality that has been added to the new iPhone. To save battery we are suppose to turn this one off too? Hmmm! Strike four…

5. Turn off Bluetooth!

By Law, in most States and Provinces in North America, the use of hands free / Bluetooth is compulsory when driving! We know that this law has passed to minimize the loss attention from the actual driving that is brought about by a cell phone. Here we are again, being told not to use this Bluetooth, so we can save battery and quiet possibly cause accidents in our highways and byways! Hmmm! Strike five…

6. Turn off WiFi!

Another very useful feature of the iPhone is wireless 802.11G/N. This in it self is a very taxing feature on the battery. But if this service is available in the area, this could be the most useful feature of the phone. Since you have already turned off your Bluetooth, disabling this feature will totally deprive you of any type networking. Turning this feature of sometimes might be ok. But permanently – hmmmmm! Strike six…

7. Turn off that EQ!

This one truly takes the cake! EQ? How much battery could that use and how weak this batter is? I was under the impression that Nokia N95-8GB was bad with the battery. Seems it has direct and close competition, with one small difference; N95 has replaceable batteries!

When this phone was being designed and all these feature were included in to the design of this phone – wasn’t there even one hardware Eng. that could stand up to Mr. Jobs and state clearly that this battery won’t be able to handle all these features! Either provide a way to replacement batteries or come up with a more realistic design? And they say that software Engineers are kinda strange! One look at the hardware will tell you what we go thru to deal with it. I truly believe, if an iPhone owner follow all this advice – his/her iPhone will be functionally reduced to lower than a Motorola Razr.

iPhone is not the best phone in the world - how Apple Can improve it

To begin with, I would like to clear this out of the way; that I am a Sr. Software Designer who works on both PC and Macintosh platforms. Further more I am a Macintosh user and developer and I have many products that carry ‘Apple branding’. So the following ‘rant’ is coming from a person who is an Apple enthusiast as well as a Mac user and developer. Having said that, here are my thoughts concerning the reasons that prove that iPhone, though nice and sexy, is far from being the best Smartphone out there:

1.) The Missing Editing Features: Even though Apple Sells the iPhone as a Smartphone (PDA / Internet Device being part of it’s functionality), It still lacks the basic editing futures like “Copy – Cut and Paste, which in turn are very important when you have to do any text editing on a Smartphone! Why? Simple; who wants to keep using the small and awkward keyboard of any Smartphone? No one. This is where the Copy and paste comes very handy so you don’t have to retype text and possibly make other typos and spelling errors that will slow you down. So these functionalities, as rudimentary as they are in larger computers, become very important and useful on devices like a Smartphone.

2.) That Terrible Camera: When iPhone 1.0 hit the market my N95 provided a 5.5MP camera. The iPhone had a 2.0MP built in one. I said to myself, well it’s version 1.0 and it will change in the upgrade. Low and be hold, Apple turns around and includes the same camera (2.0MP) in the iPhone 2.0. Hard to digest and / or comprehend what Apple is doing here, but there you have it. The Camera should have been a 6.1MP. Apple didn’t even bother to include a small flash system to at least be used as a fill light and improve the quality of the pictures that is taken by the it’s ailing camera. I guess Apple decided “Who’s goanna take any pictures with that crappy camera”!

3.) Total Lack of Video: As it was the case with the version 1.0 of the iPhone – iPhone 2.0 has no ability to create or stream live videos! Is this a restriction imposed by Apple or AT&T? How does Apple want to compete against other Smartphone companies, when they have no video recording capability? Most new Smartphone can do HD recording, or at least soon that ability will be added to their flagship products.

4.) The Strange GPS: iPhone sports GPS can not provided turn by turn directions – but it can divulge your EXACT position to the world! Is that not a strange GPS? When it’s needed, it can’t help its rightful owner – but it can pinpoint your position for those that really want to trace you, legally or illegally! iPhone 1.0 also performs this task thru triangulation of the Cell towers that are activate, with an accuracy rate of one ± hundred feet (Your ISP will never admit to it).

5.) Unsatisfying Audio: Even though iPhone 3G has 2 small inbuilt speakers at the bottom of its frame phone, it still cannot play Music in Stereo! Nearly all the other Smartphone can perform this task with the higher models playing 3D Audio. May be Apple doesn’t want to give this functionality to it’s clients! In the name of Sam Hill: WHY NOT?

6.) The Missing MMS: It seems that apple has never heard of MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that iPhone users do not need nor want to use MMS under any circumstances. So, MMS, is totally alien to iPhone and iPhone 3G. MMS is mostly software based that in turn depends on the communication-service that your ISP provides

7.) The Missing Secondary Camera: Nearly all, 99% of the G3 phones sold in Europe are 3G phones capable video calling. It is the norm for these Cell phones using their secondary camera as the Video out device for the phone. The secondary camera can be used in conjunction with the primary camera to mix video and send it to the person you call. This secondary is conveniently missing from iPhone and Apple keeps ignoring the fact and stays quiet about it!

8.) Locked Out Flash – Air & SilverLight: In a very surprising move, apple has locked out Adobe Flash – Air and Microsoft SilverLight from running on the iPhone 3G or the upgraded legacy iPhone. Reason give is that Apple does not condone one company ruling the iPod entertainment desktop! By the same token, Apple is really restricting the iPhone users from accessing all the material that are encoded in these standards and, severely handicaps iPhone competing against ANY Smartphone on the Market that support Flash – Air and SilverLight.

9.) Half-assed Exchange Support: Despite what Apple promotional material says, the Exchange support seem to be incomplete, at best. iPhone supports IMAP as it’s email protocol. That is not the Exchange default protocol. The Exchange managers can enable IMAP at their Exchange servers, so their iPhone users are able to pickup their emails. By doing that, the iPhone client looses the benefit of Exchange’s ‘PUSH Mail’ ability. iPhone at this time does not support Microsoft Exchange’s ActiveSync, consequently the iPhone client cannot remotely access the Calendar & Contact databases. This will be a deal breaker for the IT people for the following Reasons:

1. IMAP is not their primary Email protocol and if used they will loose the ability to push email to iPhone Clients.

2. iPhone doesn’t support ActiveSync, so IT loose the ability to sync ‘Calendar’ and ‘Contacts’ with the iPhone.

1. IRumors are that Apple has licensed ActiveSync and in the next versions of iPhone. Let’s hope that will be in the NEXT release of the iPhone software update and would be available to both version of iPhone.

10.) A User Friendly Battery: As it was the unfortunate case with the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G’s battery is not accessible by the user and can not be swapped with a full charged one, when the main battery has ran out. Apple reports improved Battery usage over the older version of iPhone., but I see this as a deal breaker for the iPhone being accepted by the IT Depts. as a viable alternative to Blackberry and or other Smartphone’s that provide interchangeable battery system.

If Apple fixes the shortcoming that I noted in this ‘rant’, iPhone 3G can very well be ‘ONE’ of the best phones out there.

Users reporting failed Windows and Office validations

Well, this was the header a few days ago on most RSS feeds that I picked up! Now Microsoft is saying that all the offline validation has been fixed and there are not problems any more. The question for the users are this: Why, after all this time after the release of these apps, we still have problems with their validation, be it onLine of off?

iPhone 1.0 and 2.0 have no 'Cut & Paste'!

This is beyond me - way beyond me. What is the harm of having 'Cut & Paste' on a phone that has editing capabilities for text - email and chat or any other App that might need it! How did, Apple in it's infinite wisdom, came to this conclusion that iPhone needs no 'Cute & Paste'? Sometimes Apple does things that makes no sense to anyone, except to itself. Do remember, at Apple, the ultimate decisions are made by Steve Jobs and his very small trusted inner circle. So here I am, trying to understand, what was the motive behind this decision. You see, if we can understand how these decision makings are done in Apple, may be we can understand Apple as a whole and happier with their products. Transparency and Informativeness are usually more powerful than decrees. Apple has always been more about the Steve Jobs Decrees than transparency and informativeness. May be, once Steve Jobs departs Apple (if he ever), then Apple will be more about being informative as suppose to be decretive. Amen!

Rogers the Robbers! When enough is REALLY enough!

Well I guess this picture has no need to be captioned! This is how most of Canadian Customers think and feel about Rogers the Robbers, the one and only distributor of Apple iPhone in Canada! This is coming from as a direct side effect of Rogers-the-Robbers insatiable Greed of this company and it's treatment of they clients! But some how - to this date they are still maintaining that with the 2GB data plan, they are offering a huge amount of data and that is exactly what bothers people the most! The assumption of the Canadian Customers are totally dumb. We we are not and we are much more savvy than Rogers-the-Robbers credit us with. We will not buy the iphone with this high rates and we will not accept the lack of UNLIMITED Data Plan. Rogers and companies like it, should learn that the consumer sets up the success abd promote it - No matter what they do!

Rogers has done it again! No UNLIMITED Data plan for iPhone

Well Rogers has done it again, showing it's yellow monopolistic teeth! 2GB of Data per month with the $115 Package? This is highway robbery! Are these corporate bloodsuckers for real?

All this is stemming from he fact that there are no competition for Rogers in Canada! No other GSM Service Provider! I was planning to at least buy 3 iPhone 3Gs, but I changed my mind! No iPhone till Rogers stops this draconian pricing for their data plan! What is hard to understand is this: Why Rogers has such a problem with DATA? Why? At least can they stop issuing decrees and actually explain to their clients why they are so stingy with their data bandwidth? May be also explain to us why the majority of Service Providers selling iPhone can sell their phones with an unlimited data plan?

Only 2GB a Month? This is a disgrace and it shows what Rogers really thinks about their Canadian Customers! They truly think that we are stupid & ignorant and that we neither know - nor are we capable of learning anything! Well I have news for you, Rogers: WE ARE NOT! I am canceling my plans for purchasing 3 iPhone 3G, until they offer UNLIMITED Data Plan! I am sure that most people, after finding out what Rogers is really doing, will cancel their plans as well. So I guess it was all for nothing to wait a full year for the arrival of iPhone to Canada! :(

Knowing about Rogers underhanded decision not to offer UNLIMITED data plan, Apple should have NEVER given iPhone sells rights to Rogers in the first place! Unlimited Data has been the cornerstone of Apple's agreement for allowing a Service Provider to sell iPhone. Rogers held out for a full year, knowing that they have the monopoly on GSM market, and Apple gave up, which is very uncharacteristic of Apple. I guess Apple doesn't care about their it's Canadian Clients either!

OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7 = Same Apporach!!

Well I seem to have been right, again (if I may say so). As I said, in my short blog, the next version of OS X will be the same Leopard – just it will be really massaged – debugged and optimized and turbo charged! Do you draw a similarity with the Microsoft approach here? Windows 7 will be Vista - just it will be really massaged – debugged - optimized and turbo charged! Sacrilege! Apple following Microsoft in to the den of lions, no way! Well yes way!I guess this step on behalf of both companies is the nest logical step. They both have a great OS, and now after all this time, they will step back and improve their respective Operating Systems. Microsoft can go far in fixing the grievances that exist against Vista and make it what PC Users are looking for. They have a great and brand new Code Base that they can modify – fix and optimize to hell, especially in the area of Multi tasking – SMP – Threading and Thread Management. They can also improve the Thread_to_Core development tools in Visual studio 2009 or as a service pack to VS2008. This will also help other Software Engineers to develop that type application, that will certainly makes a better User experience. Apple on the other hand can improve on 64 bit version and in fact make it the de facto of OS X, that can run 32 Apps as well. In time all the Developers will recompile their applications in 64 bit format. Apple has a lot of work to be done on the improvement of her the XCode. In comparison to Visual Studio, XCode is very basic and primitive. So this will be time well spend to set Visual studio as a starting point and then deliver Visual Studio as a minimal delivery cornerstone and surpass it by a long way. Mind you this will prove to be very hard task to achieve, since Visual Studio 2008 is totally amazing. But is great in under promising and over delivering. May be both companies can admit that they have great Operating Systems that is in dyer need of optimization and improvements. Yes Stranger things has happened, but would this also happen? Hard to believe!

Router crashes blamed on Windows XP SP3?

Been having problems with your broadband router rebooting unexpectedly? Windows XP SP3 has been named as the culprit?

Broadband modem/router maker Billion says XP SP3 has been causing its BiPAC 5200-series routers to go into a constant crash and reboot cycle.

The company has produced firmware upgrades that solve the problem. Although Windows XP SP3 has been available for manual download from Microsoft since May 6, it has just hit Windows Update as an automatic upgrade, which will cause unexpected problems for owners of “unpatched” Billion BiPAC 5200 routers, and possibly other brands or models of router. No this is a load of crap if I have ever heard one! How the hell SP3 of the XP causes the crash of a Router! This is the best example of: "BLAME IT ON MICROSOFT! This is really going overboard! Billion clean up your act and stop blaming your tech problems! the best part is: Billion doesn't even bother to explain how they have come to this conclusion as to why SP-3 has caused the problem or show any proof! Not bad, just point Microsoft and scream!

New D-Link coax cable home networking tech to hit 175Mbps

The D-Link Coax Ethernet Adapter Kit (DXN-221) is targeted at the home network. This isn't a router though, and it's not meant for everyone. D-Link is targeting home users that already have coaxial wiring in their home, promising to put it to good use in their existing network. In a way, the move makes perfect business sense for D-Link since most new homes and apartments come wired with coaxial. Homeowners want their satellite and cable signals everywhere throughout the domicile, and the same goes for their home network and Internet connection.

MY QUESTION IS THIS: At this time that Cable & DSL companies and trying to 'cap' the amount of bandwidth that consumers can use per month (First and worse Videotron Cable company), is this not a true contradiction in term? We give you a modem that can run at 175Mb/s and at the same time we will cap your usage to a minimum. So bad, that at that high speed, you can burn thru your Monthly quota in matter of few days. So this shows that ISPs want to kill Net Neutrality one - and two start metering and over charging the North American consumers. The business model that the European ISPs were using for nearly 10 years and now they have given it all up and took metering out of the big pictures, since the European Government forced them to do so.

Some pity for the North American Consumer, since we do not have governments that would get involved on the side of the Consumer battling the evil intentions of large and monopolizing corporations. In Canada our last hope hangs with CRTC. May be they would challenge the ISPs on the mater of Net Neutrality and Metering and over charging Data Related Services.

Is iPone 2.0 really coming in June 9th WWDC08?

I never bought the iPhone last year when it was released! Wy you say, because Apple and AT&T had it wrapped so hard that nothing was open or modifiable by the owner that I decided to go with N95-8G which has been working great for me for the past several months. Now there is talk of the new iPhone, possibly version 2.0. I am not convinced that the next release is truly version 2.0. If I deem it to be version 2.0, then I will place my order right there and then. But until then, I reserve judgement. Tho, I am excited...

Office mac:2008 Review

I have been using the Microsoft Office mac:2008 for the past 4 months and it seems to be good. I have been using Entourage and Microsoft Word Exclusively and they seems to work great! I will have an in depth work knowledge of the apps and I will be reporting on them soon. Stay tuned!

Ecto is actually working with BlogSpot!

Well, this is the first time that I see that a Blogging program is actually is accessing my account on the Blogger! Well we will see if it can actually post to it and if I can, I will be blogging more often. That is for sure! I also added a picture too.