tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73512942327870284532024-02-07T15:46:15.457-05:00Thoughts. Technology. TweetsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-67745842422842810192013-08-07T01:41:00.002-04:002013-08-07T01:41:13.721-04:00Blog MoveI have decided to transfer my blog to wordpress, at <a href="https://picotweet.wordpress.com/">https://picotweet.wordpress.com/</a>. I'm still working out what I want for the new blog, hope to see you there.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-52422226844357928172012-08-15T23:41:00.012-04:002012-08-16T02:02:57.995-04:00Reeder Mac App ReviewI've been looking for an alternative for a while now, to replace the aging Netnewsire (which does not seem to be maintained any longer). A prime candidate, or a much touted one at least, is Reeder. It is available in the Mac App store for $4.99 at the moment, so I decided to give it a run. Note that initially the application was closer to $9.99, so the price has gone down. I will conduct this review in comparison with my current RSS feed reader, being Netnewsire, in terms of customizability, user experience, and features. This review will reflect my workflow when it comes to RSS feed readers so our opinions might differ. I will then go through an in-depth comparison of every preference in each application and talk about various pros and cons. I will show screenshots from both applications, where I have similar RSS feeds set up for each. I will have more folders for netnewswire because I archive the articles in the application itself as I do not have google reader sync set up (more on that later).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">General Interface<br /></span>Netnewswire<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3LHc8tjgafJ24kzwRRoytGtO4EgfRZZgPR7vh-xjd2c53uzKKiLUTpRwrRR5THOrLhomojemCR4fk32iT44BSMAY0hubld9ku7Cas_5l3gGZcV7L7-pIVxtSW8R8FTrYkYoA9d94PQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.56.53+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3LHc8tjgafJ24kzwRRoytGtO4EgfRZZgPR7vh-xjd2c53uzKKiLUTpRwrRR5THOrLhomojemCR4fk32iT44BSMAY0hubld9ku7Cas_5l3gGZcV7L7-pIVxtSW8R8FTrYkYoA9d94PQ/s400/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.56.53+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777130623704333010" /></a><br /><br />Reeder<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuBvQQLJEN_ZN3tsGQjcIYm_MOwJaSRWOTnoK4x6RXAb11QRIEqph3cQZvGyerNQkiv21sxGxAGoR0VhdCwjh7RQLTQ3W2J3TrXZgWZ3uW_EhRnd3M7EDEDoBebOiAiH4YYKvTPotVw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.58.03+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuBvQQLJEN_ZN3tsGQjcIYm_MOwJaSRWOTnoK4x6RXAb11QRIEqph3cQZvGyerNQkiv21sxGxAGoR0VhdCwjh7RQLTQ3W2J3TrXZgWZ3uW_EhRnd3M7EDEDoBebOiAiH4YYKvTPotVw/s400/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.58.03+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777130911668507346" /></a><br /><br />In terms of interface they are pretty similar. The both sport a three paned interface, where on the far left are the subscriptions and folders/tags, in the middle of the application are the headlines, and on the far right are the article shorts. Reeder also has a more compact view where the far right pane is not present. Netnewswire also supports this more compact view (called the "combined view"), but in addition has the traditional view (where instead of the screen being split into middle and right pane it contains a top and bottom pane, with the left side containing the subscription list).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Preferences</span><br />If you haven't downloaded this app (I do not believe there is a trial available) I am going to post screenshots of all of the available preferences in reeder and compare them to netnewswire (and discuss whether there is feature parity, or whether one app has more options than the other).<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">General</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT8-d8hytcOKQePY_2RVdxxuA_5LbptmGDjOB-2bqmPIgQTp-6_fDvW-pJpPZBuKW60quDm10LQQ9mZcdsYvefRA6uiTOE5Ab4LhozJPQqXt0ZopuQBlslDjHIndth__8sCA2Iz9Yrfg/s1600/General.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT8-d8hytcOKQePY_2RVdxxuA_5LbptmGDjOB-2bqmPIgQTp-6_fDvW-pJpPZBuKW60quDm10LQQ9mZcdsYvefRA6uiTOE5Ab4LhozJPQqXt0ZopuQBlslDjHIndth__8sCA2Iz9Yrfg/s400/General.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132186594279090" /></a><br />One thing I really like about Reeder is the built in, "defaulted" google reader support. This makes it so much easier to read RSS feeds when you are on the go and don't have your computer with you. I have tried out google reader support in netnewswire but I found the feature to be quite buggy, and every time I try to sync my feeds there would be duplicate feeds shown in netnewswire. This process is far more seamless in Reeder. Another option part of Reeder is "readability," which appears to be a service that makes it easier to view webpages (similar to safari's reader feature), where it focuses only on the article and takes out other headers and footers that the website may have. While this does seem to be a useful feature I found it perplexing that this feature is baked into the application itself. At the bottom of the application there will always be a "readability" button, and there is no way to disable this (more on this later). Reeder also has the capability to put the unread count number as part of the application icon itself on the dock. Though it is possible to change it back to the "badge" style that is present in netnewswire.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Appearance</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQQUe-pCHkUQSbkqAyrtZa-z-tCsGT-7oL1VdAzsEa4ZQp814Qe1FMZu4ALzAgQjfdJo44saLV2_LNBqmp7gaL9yh-IpWfnsxFOQ2howQmIOGMcR9qO99EnR1MXcdwn2u8-OhbTSAwoQ/s1600/Appearance.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 278px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQQUe-pCHkUQSbkqAyrtZa-z-tCsGT-7oL1VdAzsEa4ZQp814Qe1FMZu4ALzAgQjfdJo44saLV2_LNBqmp7gaL9yh-IpWfnsxFOQ2howQmIOGMcR9qO99EnR1MXcdwn2u8-OhbTSAwoQ/s400/Appearance.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132192190428994" /></a><br />Even though there are a fair number of sliders in this preference pane I found the options to be quite limited. I personally like having the style similar to that of Mac OS X, so I adjusted it as such. However, in the end I was still not totally satisfied with the result. On netnewswire whole themes are available to change the entire interface of the application, and this is not available for Reeder. Even though this is a setback, it does not affect the user experience. On a side note, one thing I've always hated about the newer versions of Mac OS X (lion and mountain lion) are the monochromatic color schemes.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Syncing</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlFODTSkPYt6zrEiSnoNs-pbvySvr6xbZxiwzqLnelgHflEDXbrsqcrF8YHStRJHDbZeWR112h7i14bdRzMG2Y0DR4qG_IDBjQylMhZhvsVEhVSU2ru0zGmoXW96xOIm6zFc0Xr6TLw/s1600/Syncing.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlFODTSkPYt6zrEiSnoNs-pbvySvr6xbZxiwzqLnelgHflEDXbrsqcrF8YHStRJHDbZeWR112h7i14bdRzMG2Y0DR4qG_IDBjQylMhZhvsVEhVSU2ru0zGmoXW96xOIm6zFc0Xr6TLw/s400/Syncing.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132201708209874" /></a><br />Synching settings are pretty familiar, nothing much to note here. I like that you can configure how long to keep read items though overall it is feature parity with netnewswire.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Services</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIy0T6n_QmLYVEFKS9k3aqQKWqFJVTQTv2LM4c9jyoZaUMsYFwwnHhyGRF9niXBVwKdSVSz4KpNV9LMW1onXKz8Aekr1EHvKuwmFVlQo53wWJet-6sAUDbPREl9OrsFGa7jM3Vzbg2eA/s1600/Services.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIy0T6n_QmLYVEFKS9k3aqQKWqFJVTQTv2LM4c9jyoZaUMsYFwwnHhyGRF9niXBVwKdSVSz4KpNV9LMW1onXKz8Aekr1EHvKuwmFVlQo53wWJet-6sAUDbPREl9OrsFGa7jM3Vzbg2eA/s400/Services.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132208851038514" /></a><br />Now this is where it gets interesting. Netnewswire has many services built into the application, but its age shows especially when compared to reeder. I was quite pleased to see services such as evernote, safari reading list, and pocket (read it later) to be part of the list. Admittedly I have only started using such features not too long ago, but I found it very nice that Reeder supports that many services. As well, when enabled there is an option to have the service show up as an icon in the application itself, which is very convenient. Even though netnewswire does have options to post to services such as delicious and instapaper, it is mainly available through right clicking the headline and is nowhere as convenient and seamless as Reeder. Now back to the readability "issue," in Reeder I disabled readability but on the bottom of the application window there still exists a link for readability. I was quite disappointed at that.<br /><br />Also, in netnewswire I can set to have the RSS feeds open up either in the default browser of my choosing or in the built in browser. This was done in the preference pane and is very simple to change. However, this is not so in Reeder. There are options to open the link in the browser but that involves keyboard shortcuts, and by default the link will always open up in the built-in application browser. While this may be good news for some, I still prefer the superior customizability of a separate browser in comparison to the built-in application browser, and there is no way to change this. While you may say that that I can still open links in my default browser the experience is not as seamless as in netnewswire, where I can just double click the link and have it open in my browser (in the background too, might I add), in this case firefox.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Reading</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCv7xWzjpe8jNZxma23IHty8UaFrNSh8vwZaPd62vzcQb85nq4za2nUwl7IDIwo8rJKiJx-EKAJq7RuId2k-va32TnfC6GL0bJ4pjzq1fwhAKsuf3u85ddSXg7-2jWJ8iS62p83BHrzA/s1600/Reading.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 324px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCv7xWzjpe8jNZxma23IHty8UaFrNSh8vwZaPd62vzcQb85nq4za2nUwl7IDIwo8rJKiJx-EKAJq7RuId2k-va32TnfC6GL0bJ4pjzq1fwhAKsuf3u85ddSXg7-2jWJ8iS62p83BHrzA/s400/Reading.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132218805686882" /></a><br />There are options of interest in this section, where it gives various options for the classic and minimized layout. Here it tells you that in order to open the article in the default browser you need to command click the article. This to me is a huge setback, as it is not possible to change this setting. The built-in browser is good (I tried it numerous times), but in terms of my workflow I still prefer having a separate browser. The article font is also customizable, though such an option pales in comparison with netnewswire. In netnewswire I can change the font for the subscription list, the headlines, the article summaries, the dateline, and the combined view titles. In reeder I can only change the font size for the subscription list and headlines (through a toggle) and the article font.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Gestures</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7grhJyLT2ntcQS5xdhOqUCIiaJ6mxiB8069vtqsCEx1ElvhUHWNAKKwjeY48cUKln-orgC72mYpHd7Mz78gkQ8GATyIpMnLUPDTXJ1c8earBtm6m7xViE0Yj3eLPxphqcxFjl9KjTdQ/s1600/Gestures.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7grhJyLT2ntcQS5xdhOqUCIiaJ6mxiB8069vtqsCEx1ElvhUHWNAKKwjeY48cUKln-orgC72mYpHd7Mz78gkQ8GATyIpMnLUPDTXJ1c8earBtm6m7xViE0Yj3eLPxphqcxFjl9KjTdQ/s400/Gestures.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132655023114594" /></a><br />Gesture support is not supported in netnewswire (as far as I know), so there isn't much to say here. I personally have not tried out the gestures since I use a mouse and keyboard; I don't use the macbook pro trackpad that often so I did not have the chance to test out gesture support in Reeder.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Shortcuts</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZz_qkrJLBsPy4wjuvstA6kvLpehVrgy48mDMOZwEJ-TaEcTz7f2lsJmJp_kF015B6KnmaoM9V8GU2PDuDSwTXaj96D-VPFEbqxOqPhamBUD6YnZPvercr9z_nbGVFoHpnk9Ufb3nvw/s1600/Shortcuts.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 377px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZz_qkrJLBsPy4wjuvstA6kvLpehVrgy48mDMOZwEJ-TaEcTz7f2lsJmJp_kF015B6KnmaoM9V8GU2PDuDSwTXaj96D-VPFEbqxOqPhamBUD6YnZPvercr9z_nbGVFoHpnk9Ufb3nvw/s400/Shortcuts.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777132645893091218" /></a><br />It's also very welcome to be able to change the keyboard shortcuts in Reeder (there is no such preference pane in netnewswire), though I still found it disconcerting to have to press B (or command click) to view the article in browser. Oh yes, I was not sure where to put this but Reeder supports the "retina" resolution found in the new retina macbook pros. Netnewswire does not support this (though I personally don't own a retinal macbook pro so it doesn't affect me one way or another). In addition, it has full screen support. So in summary Reeder it has more support for recently advancement (arguably) in the Mac operating system.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">User Experience<br /></span>Reeder creates a very simplistic yet elegant user experience, and the theme suits very well with Mac OS Lion/Mountain Lion, with the icons and the color scheme. Personally I am not a big fan of this color scheme and I find it harder to read text especially when compared to netnewswire, where I can control the font and font size of every element of the application. Much like Lion/Mountain lion there is a bit of excess in eye candy (in my opinion). An example is the transition between the preview of the article and the full rendering, where in transition it gives a moving pane effect (like in spaces/mission control). To me, this effect is highly unnecessary, and it shows up every time I read an article (since I have to double click to get to the full article view), and it just wastes a lot of time.<br /><br />Reeder is interesting in that it supports a quick "preview mode" of the article, where if you just click the headline of the article on the preview (the right pane) it shows just the text and images of the article, without the accompany header and footers. When you double click on the article it shows rendering of the article using its built-in browser. While this does make it easier to read articles at first glance does have its caveats. For sites such as Ars Technica I realized that it does not show the full preview of the article, and forces you to open the full article by double clicking on the headline. I know this is not a fault due to Reeder, but it's just annoying from the perspective of the end user. On other sites such as Anandtech the preview is sufficient and I don't need to double click on the headline. I have attached screenshots to visualize my point.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Ars Technica Article Part 1<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4sI72jmCom5az8s5p49va_3YLlruUS49oMJZqWo-W7Z3Eo-JCr4Qpr4KsDXwf75cyNaDzND_1ZzC7OT3w4ZmXliVs5LxRoXDKbeo6z9tlKWdqpkBauNHDfc6cIraYsKVSjzBo1QgdgA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.45.55+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4sI72jmCom5az8s5p49va_3YLlruUS49oMJZqWo-W7Z3Eo-JCr4Qpr4KsDXwf75cyNaDzND_1ZzC7OT3w4ZmXliVs5LxRoXDKbeo6z9tlKWdqpkBauNHDfc6cIraYsKVSjzBo1QgdgA/s400/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.45.55+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777141843482408210" /></a><br />It's all fine and dandy until the end.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Ars Technica Article Part 2<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55jV2lweeA-AvjH3-khY9SvwDplIR-dTjGPiZc_VdbnfhhyRg7IiNjR36FJKtUXyS6GrxsdxK8WGOdEhB3h9wGYU0-vqdDMA0W_qqyorgMgM6s6g3HRxHshDaSISPpKvW7DiDVJNW-Q/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.45.59+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55jV2lweeA-AvjH3-khY9SvwDplIR-dTjGPiZc_VdbnfhhyRg7IiNjR36FJKtUXyS6GrxsdxK8WGOdEhB3h9wGYU0-vqdDMA0W_qqyorgMgM6s6g3HRxHshDaSISPpKvW7DiDVJNW-Q/s400/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.45.59+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777141850469921458" /></a><br />Note the "Read 1 remaining paragraphs" option on the bottom of the webpage as well as the accompany google inline text ad.<br /><br />When double clicked the application shows a more rendered full view of the selected article using its built-in browser like so.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFVLktf6tkQGwjqOmQS32yUY0Hfq5uPMC792-IVSP_Y6bvuJF-_WibEDlNXbkyPqgFAIB3jI-eVQLnJCaRqlrmxWGZia5eOyrgRdF1mbaoU8yTOwGLDv8UmWNH5rdoN0GDBj5efLeSg/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.46.03+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFVLktf6tkQGwjqOmQS32yUY0Hfq5uPMC792-IVSP_Y6bvuJF-_WibEDlNXbkyPqgFAIB3jI-eVQLnJCaRqlrmxWGZia5eOyrgRdF1mbaoU8yTOwGLDv8UmWNH5rdoN0GDBj5efLeSg/s400/Screen+shot+2012-08-16+at+12.46.03+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5777142902578701938" /></a><br /><br />Some other aspects of the application I found to be lacking was the subscription management, where for some reason folders (tags) could not be renamed, and I had to create a completely new folder. However, this was a small issue. I also wish there was an option to turn off the date headers, as I find them to be unnecessary.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Last Thoughts</span><br />Going in I really hoped to replace Netnewswire with Reeder, but it was just not compatible with my workflow. Even though I disliked some of the design aspects of the application I could still live it. The one thing that completely ruins my workflow would be the built-in browser support. I really wish it were possible to open articles with firefox just by double clicking the headline. Alas this is not possible, and thus concludes my review of Reeder.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-81693668782753142982012-07-03T01:15:00.009-04:002012-07-03T01:55:53.522-04:00Launching and Quitting Applications on Mac OS X at Specific TimesSo for about a year now I've been trying to find out ways to quit and launch apps on Mac OS X at specific times of the day. This is especially useful when I run BOINC because my computer never sleeps at night anymore. Initially it was just iTunes that I wanted to quit after a set number of minutes, and I would use this nifty little application called <a href="http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/iTunesShut.shtml">iTunesShut.</a> Here's a quick screen shot of it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpxEprtYfejGMnBFU00zSoUJPpZWmYIRUYTNQjfnXtM5kNQdE0hgDsvB6ZdayC8l36p9E1x9YFdQ5fz9oklfwtFzrFfDAzPE3itxVj3vDadfxcht4RaWvNzy5ItUh7Gx0mK65_9W9ywA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.18.58+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 340px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpxEprtYfejGMnBFU00zSoUJPpZWmYIRUYTNQjfnXtM5kNQdE0hgDsvB6ZdayC8l36p9E1x9YFdQ5fz9oklfwtFzrFfDAzPE3itxVj3vDadfxcht4RaWvNzy5ItUh7Gx0mK65_9W9ywA/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.18.58+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760808782604136306" /></a><br /><br />Basically, as you can probably tell by the screenshot after a set amount of time or at the end of the playlist (or songs) you can tell iTunes to quit, pause, and even tell the whole system to shut down or sleep. However, this application is only limited to iTunes.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cronnix</span><br />After a while I realized I wanted something that could launch or quit ANY application on a timely basis. I would try to google applications that could do this but I couldn't find a solution. However, yesterday I saw this application called <a href="http://code.google.com/p/cronnix/downloads/list">Cronnix</a>. The website describes this application as "a GUI frontend to the powerful Unix tool "cron". Cron is a Unix system service that allows scheduled execution of scripts, programs, applications - in short anything that can be started from the command line. This includes OSX applications and AppleScripts." In short, this can be used to launch applescripts, meaning that I can launch and quit applications at will. Now, while I dabble a bit into the tech world I am by no means sa programmer. So I continued to google for how to set up an applescript to launch an application.<br /><br />Before I talk about how to setup an applescript I'm just going to quickly talk about Cronnix how to use it to launch scripts in the first place. So, when you launch the application it should look something like this, however, without the tasks.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibgrT59U1ktHjcYmv03p8Kv_rNmmtm4C8bULkQuWGZEBIahycA81DzjmRH425R3H_ZKukdy3Fi8Blgzo9985seeMyqTejzyTK23MG-i5LZizxOvBFFXj1QRI06AXCl_M82U1BP2HeUHg/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.25.34+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibgrT59U1ktHjcYmv03p8Kv_rNmmtm4C8bULkQuWGZEBIahycA81DzjmRH425R3H_ZKukdy3Fi8Blgzo9985seeMyqTejzyTK23MG-i5LZizxOvBFFXj1QRI06AXCl_M82U1BP2HeUHg/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.25.34+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760810362115789714" /></a><br /><br />To start a new task you click the "new" icon at the top left (fairly straightforward so far, right?). YOu will then be greeted with this screen. At first I was unsure what the screen was supposed to do (I had thought that cronnix was a timer based app, where I could execute a task after a set amount of time, but I was wrong).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-aZHajfFFQPKDzGoY9rF6_X2W-RJzdikRiWc57y0tTsdpFEZisPCegZhzHQ-Ik0kAZSEkG9DcRLZau3IIGtO_-I6-Y1A2iChtlWPAN9iN5modQcrRSRaRbvT5_GTKr5JqtrKBKCYuBw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.27.48+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 371px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-aZHajfFFQPKDzGoY9rF6_X2W-RJzdikRiWc57y0tTsdpFEZisPCegZhzHQ-Ik0kAZSEkG9DcRLZau3IIGtO_-I6-Y1A2iChtlWPAN9iN5modQcrRSRaRbvT5_GTKr5JqtrKBKCYuBw/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.27.48+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760810946982222210" /></a><br /><br />This information is also in the cronnix help file as well (if you go to the help menu), but I'm going to go through it anyway. Minute and day are for the time of day you need to run the script. And it's 24 hour time, so just a quick note there. So 23:30 would be 11:30 pm and so on. As for the month and day, if you need to run the script every day make sure you check the box and you see the asterisk in the box. That means it'll run every day.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Applescript</span><br />I have used applescripts in the past (at one point in time I wanted to launch all of the applications I used at once using an applescript. However, I quickly realized that the application would have to fully launch before the next one would run. That disappointed me at the time (where I wanted all of the applications to launch at the same time), so I abandoned applescript.<br /><br />Back on topic, so I'm just going to quickly paste the commands for running and quitting a script. It's actually quite simple. First of all, launch the applescript editor.<br /><br />For launching an application<br /><blockquote>tell application "[insert application of choice here]"<br />launch<br />end tell</blockquote><br />For quitting an application<br /><blockquote>tell application "[insert application of choice here]"<br />quit<br />end tell</blockquote><br />Here's a quick screenshot of how it looks like.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8KtAdayCr7QlTinmeYJYNQBw1LEHMVKaKZT3ZytwI8_xA_NBPJYSZU7U_ais2Wqujpn3mG6lo7Epj9i-WRAHDThZileP6l6EVs3E2vbTnLZuXuqFrrxuoiWQHv1ZgsJFG6Vl4Ggd6g/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.45.44+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 372px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8KtAdayCr7QlTinmeYJYNQBw1LEHMVKaKZT3ZytwI8_xA_NBPJYSZU7U_ais2Wqujpn3mG6lo7Epj9i-WRAHDThZileP6l6EVs3E2vbTnLZuXuqFrrxuoiWQHv1ZgsJFG6Vl4Ggd6g/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.45.44+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760815456694425010" /></a><br /><br />One thing I noticed was to run the script before hand to make sure it works. Sometimes the applescript editor is unsure of which application you are referring to and an extra dialog box comes up. Select the application you want to launch or quit and click "done." Now to save the script. Go to "file" and click "save as," and make sure it's saved as an application and not as a script.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Back to Cronnix</span><br />So now at the dialog screen at cronnix check the "prepend usr/bin/open" box and click browse to go to where the applescript was saved. Once you've selected the script click "new" in cronnix and the task is set. While in cronnix you can choose to run the task to give it a final check, where you go to "task" and then "run now." While in cronnix make sure you click the "save" icon to save the task. The nice thing about cronnix is that since it's a system feature you don't need to open cronnix to run or quit the app! It's done all in the background, so automatically at the set time the script will run and there you have it, an automated mac. <br /><br />One last screen shot to make sure all is well.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpomeGKfvQGato1tbKOmNpGLkDxROGpED5C45oU2KjvKoOi3je5-f22jBCUPYiwndBj39u8BXrL15n33coEzTaWx4PYOGZuSEI0lR1GfctRtxvNI9EQFTBMLqqktEJopQvZXANd6HT3A/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.53.36+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 371px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpomeGKfvQGato1tbKOmNpGLkDxROGpED5C45oU2KjvKoOi3je5-f22jBCUPYiwndBj39u8BXrL15n33coEzTaWx4PYOGZuSEI0lR1GfctRtxvNI9EQFTBMLqqktEJopQvZXANd6HT3A/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-03+at+1.53.36+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760817540247005506" /></a><br /><br />So in this script I'm telling skype to run at 1 pm every day. And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Leave a comment if you have any questions, and I will try my best to answer them (I did just discover this all yesterday, after all).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-76412957793893614642012-06-12T00:56:00.007-04:002012-07-02T21:16:47.464-04:00BOINC UpdateIt's been a while since I talked about BOINC so here's a quick update post regarding what it's been going. So I used boinc extensively for the first few months but then I stopped for a couple of months. I stopped because I just couldn't get the settings right, where I wanted two processor settings for when the computer was in use and idle. This just wasn't possible with the BOINC manager so I got frustrated and stopped using BOINC. But about two months ago I restarted my BOINC journey, where I tried to only participate in one project that I cared about. Initially I thought it would be the World Computing Project but then I realized the times were just too variable and I went to rosetta@home, where the project times are user configurable online at their website <a href="http://boinc.bakerlab.org/">here</a>. Before I also tried to run BOINC only when my computer was idle for a set number of minutes, but I found out this time that I could actually run BOINC as I was using the computer unless I am on youtube or another flash site. I also refined my processor and memory usage configurations, which I will also talk about. But, first for the screenshots. At this point GPU computing using AMD graphics cards on the mac is still at its infancy, so I do not use my GPU to do any computing. <br /><br />So this is how my project page looks like at the moment. Pretty simple, I removed all the other projects and used rosetta@home for my main project.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtslZ4WVsEF9BVfvFwQwqnVnQ37mFiEeYmoirFQfxMlkUXTYCUoD9dZyn1iar8e4ZE9jrpaVYxlAQ7_xz7tPMqaHhhTAeY2TaiLp5mUUvua0GGszvxjRc0I_PmuFqx-6T0MoU7y9oSmQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-02+at+8.51.59+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtslZ4WVsEF9BVfvFwQwqnVnQ37mFiEeYmoirFQfxMlkUXTYCUoD9dZyn1iar8e4ZE9jrpaVYxlAQ7_xz7tPMqaHhhTAeY2TaiLp5mUUvua0GGszvxjRc0I_PmuFqx-6T0MoU7y9oSmQ/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-02+at+8.51.59+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760739965748514450" /></a><br /><br />Theses are the current active tasks I have, there's a good number of them because I can potentially run 8 tasks at once. Some are "waiting to run" because I've restricted my memory usage, but when the computer is idle there should be 8 tasks running at the same time.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxH2o4ubDB79LVHpiappt_5djgi7nVAhoCye14ND9htM_MWcGRtdwLr3bsaX_If4WFaXzBFxrqjf7aab71jP5vjd2hvVt_930DQqGJOhYD2_SzIystAMXyCEZpeeIH0Fh8hgYZw9u3g/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-02+at+8.51.51+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxH2o4ubDB79LVHpiappt_5djgi7nVAhoCye14ND9htM_MWcGRtdwLr3bsaX_If4WFaXzBFxrqjf7aab71jP5vjd2hvVt_930DQqGJOhYD2_SzIystAMXyCEZpeeIH0Fh8hgYZw9u3g/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-02+at+8.51.51+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760739957471936866" /></a><br /><br />Just a quick screenshot with my credit statistics on a daily basis.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9844keyrxOJ5VBGu0qcM_MYfVsyeF610xPy2m-UBusIxMg4KsPEw6_ouiPWTAMIyPIHQNXP5u4KtIQm0bbhoVigTM-mitMtRIAWMOCMv2r6TFdAkDC_TemV_JuvRzm7c5rCzFDUB1A/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-02+at+8.51.56+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9844keyrxOJ5VBGu0qcM_MYfVsyeF610xPy2m-UBusIxMg4KsPEw6_ouiPWTAMIyPIHQNXP5u4KtIQm0bbhoVigTM-mitMtRIAWMOCMv2r6TFdAkDC_TemV_JuvRzm7c5rCzFDUB1A/s400/Screen+shot+2012-07-02+at+8.51.56+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5760739963687754978" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Memory Configuration</span><br />So now a quick look at my BOINC settings. When I first ran BOINC I tried to run it even when I was using the computer, and I found out that BOINC was just using too much memory at once (plus I was using firefox), even when the memory at idle was restricted to 50%. Perhaps this was fixed in the latest release (or I just didn't notice it before) but I set memory restriction to 40% at idle and it's been running far better, where if I start using the computer the application would give back some of the memory, where more tasks would be "waiting to run" as compared to "running."<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />CPU Configuration</span><br />Memory configuration was pretty simple, it actually took me a while to figure out the optimal CPU settings, since it had a direct relation to temperature. I would have to change the CPU settings depending on the computer temperature (which I monitor with istat menus). Right now I have BOINC to use 100% of the processor at a 15% run time. I no longer need to change the processor settings, though I do snooze BOINC when I go on youtube because flash is still quite processor intensive. At this point, even with all my usual apps open (WEb browser, Sparrow, Flux, iStat menus, Radium) the processor is at 67 degrees celsius and the fans are at 2000 rpm, with the enclosure being 334 degrees celsius. Previously I thought it was imperative to have the CPU temperature at low 60's at night but over time I realized it didn't matter as long as the fans were at the lowest setting (I do not run SMC fan control). I do monitor the temperature over time, hwoever, and snooze BOINC if necessary.<br /><br />So there you have it, a quick update on my BOINC status. Happy Computing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-67588554720235697812012-06-12T00:02:00.015-04:002012-06-12T16:48:01.625-04:00Macbook Pro 15'' (Early 2011) UpdateI was initially writing a post regarding the new 15'' macbook pros that came out very recently, but the more I started typing the more I realized that I kept referring how I was doing with my current setup (the early 2011 15'' macbook pro) so I decided to first have a post about my thoughts on the older model. I hope to do an update on my BOINC operations in another post (this one is quite length already).<br /><br />So about a month ago I reinstalled the operating system, since when I first started using this computer all the data and settingswas transferred using the firewire 800 cable. THis to me wasn't as optimal since I was porting old settings into new hardware. Since it was the summer and I had a bit of free time I decided to erase the partition and reinstall. I've actually come up with a template of what files to backup (I'm going to post this at a later time), so overall the process was fairly efficient. It was mainly just waiting for files to transfer through ultra slow USB 2.0 (I wish I had a couple firewire 800 drives, alas).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Backing up</span><br />In terms of backup I actually came up with a new procedure. So I have three hard drives, one 250 GB, one 500 GB, and one 1 TB. Initially I would use time machine on the 250 GB hard drive to back up information on the 500 GB and 1 TB hard drives, as well as data on the macbook pro. Then I was thinking that backup was incremental, since it uses time machine. Though, I found that this method was not as efficient as I had hoped, where some files I rarely change (Ex: family videos). So the 250 GB time machine partition was actually taking up unnecessary space. In the new setup on the 250 GB hard drive I have a time machine partition and a blank partition. I use the blank partition as a one way synching device, to sync data from other drives to this one. This is since I do not require incremental backup for some files while for others (Ex: school documents, system files) do. I am also considering using google drive or dropbox to backup some of my school files online but I have not come to a final decision.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Filesync</span><br />After I made the blank partition I wanted to fine a free application that would do one way synching and I found an app called <a href="http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23023/filesync">filesync</a>. Here's a quick screenshot of the application. It's nothing fancy and doesn't come with the spark and dazzle of many mac apps but it does the job and does it well.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkJEeLi3yzmeFRnyjMK4t_Iqvn2uZdxSj1mX74JINK-iG3yRHXNE8kAD0PXEhjCeWXXuvCKH34jNymr4xWSr5dAoHOkP6-88eQ7TaE6QfBlPBmEefoD0-ElXztsGbU2dxQkaMfbrcsg/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+12.46.12+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkJEeLi3yzmeFRnyjMK4t_Iqvn2uZdxSj1mX74JINK-iG3yRHXNE8kAD0PXEhjCeWXXuvCKH34jNymr4xWSr5dAoHOkP6-88eQ7TaE6QfBlPBmEefoD0-ElXztsGbU2dxQkaMfbrcsg/s400/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+12.46.12+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5753007469163855314" /></a><br /><br />The interface is self explanatory. To sync folders one way you select the "add" button where this new dialog comes up. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn56NnoiAeidMw0bdJC00TUnWJfp7g_XSMNoch5-UFGiJXlbUmW1St8gitbUpFh6WzfB5eT0uE13niL6GaDOIFB7Sy7y33UFenNWc8nQPx796NRSgohTJWSjY_MbZFQUywwO9A_z5g1A/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+12.47.48+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 350px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn56NnoiAeidMw0bdJC00TUnWJfp7g_XSMNoch5-UFGiJXlbUmW1St8gitbUpFh6WzfB5eT0uE13niL6GaDOIFB7Sy7y33UFenNWc8nQPx796NRSgohTJWSjY_MbZFQUywwO9A_z5g1A/s400/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+12.47.48+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5753007730045127730" /></a><br /><br />So it actually enables one way or two way sync. To have one way you choose a "master" file, and select to mirror the folder and its contents (which was what I had selected). Then later you select the "copy" option and the destination. You can do this with multiple files, and when ready click "sync" on the main menu. Then it starts to transfer files. One thing i thought could be improved about the application is that it didn't show the speed or the approximate time where the synching would complete. There was only a box showing which file was transferring and it did not mention where that file was located. But this was not a huge issue for me so I waited for it to finish.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Browsers (Firefox vs Chrome)</span><br />After I reinstalled the operating system I was considering whether to switch browsers to google chrome as my main, because its load speed from the dock quicker than firefox. Plus its system performance is far better in terms of memory usage and processor percentage than firefox due to its architecture. I also found that most of the addons that I use on firefox are available on chrome. The adblocking functionality of chrome has also improved significantly since its inception. I also love using greasemonkey and stylish scripts on firefox, but on chrome I could install the scripts as is, without the extension. In the end I transferred my bookmarks over to google chrome, though over time I found some quirks of chrome that weren't exactly favorable.<br /><br />The first thing I had an issue with as importing bookmarks. I used the built in browser option in google chrome to import my firefox bookmarks, but I found the function to be faulty. Some bookmarks were simply not transferred over to chrome (Ex: unsorted bookmarks folder), and what I had to in the end was export bookmarks using the bookmarks manager in firefox and import the file using chrome. This way all the bookmarks were imported correctly.<br /><br />Second of all I had issue with was the bookmark manager in chrome. The firefox bookmarks manager was by no means perfect, so the mnanager-in-a-tab was a new experience for me. I personally favor having the bookmark manager as a tab because sometimes I like to compare folders, and having two managers open side by side (windows 7 style) really makes it easy to do so. But I had an issue with the bookmark manager (I'm not sure whether this "feature" is intended or not) where if I delete a bookmark or a folder I would need to refresh the page to see the changes. The first time that this happened it drove me crazy trying to find out what I had done wrong, because I had delete a folder but still saw it on the sidebar. That made me think that the folder was still there, and I had to keep trying to figure it out until I found out I just needed to press the refresh button to notice the changes.<br /><br />Third (albeit an obvious one) was privacy issues. I really did not like how chrome kept all your history, download history, and other browser data until you clear it manually. There is no extension to clear them automatically, and I found it to be an annoyance. On firefox I had it set to delete everything on exit (even adobe flash information), for the sake of privacy. So theoretically if you go on facebook then close the browser, open it again the facebook will be at the login screen. I know there is an option on chrome to block some sort of third party content, but it was interferring with my youtube script so I had to leave it unselected. I also had to select all the features that would automatically send data to google, for example their instant search options.<br /><br />Fourth was that the google chrome store is hard to browse for the addon you need (though I suppose this could theoretically be an issue on every browser). Just a couple days ago I tried to find an addon that could close the browser based on a timer that I can set. THis is because sometimes I like watching streams before I sleep and I fall asleep before closing the browser and stream. This would waste bandwidth and system resources (since I have a internet usage limit and I run BOINC at night). I could not find one in the end, though in retrospect it could have just been that such an extension was impossible to create. But I did try for a good 15-30 minutes.<br /><br />Fifth was the zooming feature in chrome. If there's one thing I know firefox is doing extremely well it is the zoom feature. This is pretty much if a website's font is far too small you could just control/command +, to enlarge the text and page size. In comparison to firefox their zooming feature just falls short. SOmetimes I try to zoom in and the page warps and I can't see part of the page, or the text just doesn't zoom very wel. I know for many this might be an nonissue to but to me it was just plain annoying. I also noticed at times when I zoomed in chrome the website layout would be distorted.<br /><br />Sixth was tab management. In firefox I have to keep an addon called "tab mix plus" to manage how my tabs behave, and the good thing is that chrome does many of the things by default, like right clicking a link and closing tabs to the right. However, when it came to many tabs I could barely see the tab at the top of the page. Firefox has a solution for this, where you can scroll left and right to see all the tab names and I hope chrome comes up with a solution as well.<br /><br />As of now I still have chrome as my default browser, because I like opening links from my rss feeds into chrome, which has better memory performance than firefox. But for browsing and actually logging into sites I still use firefox. So right now I use the two browsers side by side. I use safari once in a while to access pages I want to support with ad content, since I have adblocker on chrome and firefox. So an example would be some streams, but I've noticed that when the flash ads come it takes up a lot of processor activity, which I am not very happy about.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">General Applications</span><br />During every renewal of the operating system I look through my applications folder and decide which apps I didn't really need. Startup applications are especially important since they influence booting time, but right now I have seven start up items. I had fewer items before but as time went on I just kept adding more. They include, BOINC, gfx cardstatus, sparrow, growl, alfred, flux, bettertouchtool, and istat menus.<br /><br />I've had all of these applications running at startup before, though alfred is a new one (I installed it for the first time after the reinstall). Alfred is similar to quicksilver in that it's an application and file launcher. I switched mainly because I found quicksilver to be slow, even though developer updates were coming. I wanted to see what else was on the app market so I decided on alfred, which had good reviews. I'm sure there are numerous reviews out there, but I mainly use alfred for opening applications, setting up key triggers for launching folders in the finder, and to open and browse finder items. One thing I really like about alfred is that it uses the built in spotlight index, while quicksilver it had its own database.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hardware</span><br />In everyday performance I'm quite satisfied with the macbookpro, though if I had a wishlist I wouldn't mind having a SSD (I'm eyeing the 256 GB one in the newer model), but a more pragmatic approach would be just to geta 7200 rpm drive instead of 5400 rpm (which I currently have). I have yet to do research on heat issue (which should be minimal from what I've found so far), but I have no plans to upgrade since the current hard drive is working fine. Also, out of 500 GB I've used roughly 292 GB of it, in part due to the windows partition (100 GB), and the rest from the mac partition. I tend to max out my RAM pretty often because of BOINC using a huge chunk of it.<br /><br />Here's how it looks in activity monitor 90% of the time (sometimes I need to snoozequit BOINC if I really need more memory for the browser).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXjciJIVpH0-D2B2TbsZKR0zzHfXmlPDnG_PFIWYVaYLQG83aCkPI4hSqCFvgs4UWkNDgZqhagxN2I4MgQjyEloUPIqTVrhIo5X9rhBTzWknYkq4EklyNyP3IqYk6D7EIn-9lFCcKBA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.26.21+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 341px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXjciJIVpH0-D2B2TbsZKR0zzHfXmlPDnG_PFIWYVaYLQG83aCkPI4hSqCFvgs4UWkNDgZqhagxN2I4MgQjyEloUPIqTVrhIo5X9rhBTzWknYkq4EklyNyP3IqYk6D7EIn-9lFCcKBA/s400/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.26.21+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5753141331727926962" /></a><br /><br />I find that when the discrete graphics card is on (AMD Radeon 6490M), the computer gets noticeably hotter. Recently I've been running gfx cardstatus to force the gpu as the integrated one, which I did last summer as well. I notice the computer being a few degrees cooler that way, which is good for BOINC (I don't like BOINC running my computer too hot since after all it is a laptop).<br /><br />For my previous macbook pro I was hugely disappointed in the batter capacity and how fast it degraded. Here's a shot from the coconut battery app.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCFZBqEL7h6GpflbDzX1DSmW-0u7MdB78e5hyRqZOtz5gtxU7XFOsCcU1rdKhthkq8kjlbbGEvOifaJd84s2YycjpwDPKQUvAyCSkDLXFhMVP0XOV7yhxQwKS8plKNLXp8-4fdxJ9tQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.19.35+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCFZBqEL7h6GpflbDzX1DSmW-0u7MdB78e5hyRqZOtz5gtxU7XFOsCcU1rdKhthkq8kjlbbGEvOifaJd84s2YycjpwDPKQUvAyCSkDLXFhMVP0XOV7yhxQwKS8plKNLXp8-4fdxJ9tQ/s400/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.19.35+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5753139616168119410" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXXI87eaOb_oTUBkfw_kSjDatYIbzbTdJn_Ux3KWGgWcIjExpzd6H-7NC3ZQh3N_t3qVjY4b8wPh-PeRQaa2fJk_DzOl3ShZFyaEGw15p7LXQhpE6BFKFJUW5ZnsVUPw3r-NMbxrotyQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.19.40+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXXI87eaOb_oTUBkfw_kSjDatYIbzbTdJn_Ux3KWGgWcIjExpzd6H-7NC3ZQh3N_t3qVjY4b8wPh-PeRQaa2fJk_DzOl3ShZFyaEGw15p7LXQhpE6BFKFJUW5ZnsVUPw3r-NMbxrotyQ/s400/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.19.40+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5753139620360448818" /></a><br /><br />As you can see the new batteries are far superior to the old sony removable batteries I've had in the past. It's been well over a year but the capacity has only changed by a couple of percentages. The loadcycles for the computer is still fairly low, but I try to put it on batter once in a while and let it run for a bit (until 70-80%) then charge it back up. I also try to calibrate the battery once in a long while, though this is more of a challenge now with the larger battery capacity. It takes a very long time for the battery to finish, really.<br /><br />As an ending note here's a screenshot of my desktop. I've been using another wallpaper for some time, but I recently looked at apple's collection and I liked the new mountain lion wallpaper due to the cooler colours. I just found it wasn't as "busy" as the lion wallpaper.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rmZ5yMDjEKONktjh4Et9ccjvZEknwIRSRggt6Vl1dKJRBaYfndKT_IxRF-nen_zrYlNHAg_ZQT0YbVBjnEOMOUL_YCq05_JjOzmzsPn_7G7WgI-UtQa3n8BCURXjasX1met3TGExRA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.22.35+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rmZ5yMDjEKONktjh4Et9ccjvZEknwIRSRggt6Vl1dKJRBaYfndKT_IxRF-nen_zrYlNHAg_ZQT0YbVBjnEOMOUL_YCq05_JjOzmzsPn_7G7WgI-UtQa3n8BCURXjasX1met3TGExRA/s400/Screen+shot+2012-06-12+at+9.22.35+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5753140673341869842" /></a><br /><br />So I'd say, one year later, computer is still as snappy, and no hardware issues.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Why not upgrade to Mac OS Lion?</span><br />One last point, regarding "upgrading" to lion. In the past I've been pretty eager to upgrade to new releases of Mac OS X, but this time I've been more cautious. I've read many reviews of lion and even though some features are cool (Ex: filevault 2) overall I do not consider it an upgrade over snow leopard. I suppose the upgrade is "necessary" if you are an iPhone perhaps icloud user, because snow leopard sadly does not support icloud (which still baffles me by the way). Because, in the end, despite such enticing features there's just some functionality in lion that I think would drive me crazy. I am not a big fan of the new document saving system at all, where having backup copies of the document is good but taking out the "save as" dialog is not the way to go. <br /><br />I also dislike the new "mission control" feature in lion, where I see spaces and expose is a far more efficient way of handling open windows and applications than mission control. I've tried out Mac OS Lion at the apple store and it just baffled me how I could move a window to another space, but I could not move the window back. Taking out an easy way to access assigned spaces is also a step backwards from apple.<br /><br />Having a full screen is a new feature, but I've read so many threads where a secondary display is attached to the laptop, and in full screen it just adds that fabric-like background to the secondary display. THis misstep, to me, is horrifying. How could apple not take this seriously (there is still no fix in lion) and I'm not even sure whether they consider this a real issue.<br /><br />The loss of rosetta is another thing; I have jam packs and during their installation rosetta is required. It's not even third party software but in lion I would be unable a piece of software from apple itself, which makes me uneasy.<br /><br />I've considered the pros and cons of installing Mac OS Lion for a long time now (I have a copy of it). Even though I like to be on the latest and "greatest" I feel that snow leopard, despite its age, outperforms lion in terms of providing the optimal desktop experience.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-11339716037997205992012-06-11T23:58:00.004-04:002012-06-14T14:44:21.222-04:00New 15'' Macbook Pros Early 2012 Oh My!I had a bit of time today and I've been following the WWDC 2012 fairly closely, so I've read about some of the rumors and about what people expect to see. I'm personally not that big of an iOS fan, nor am I that interested in the next iteration of Mac OS X. On a side note, I personally think that by iOS-ifying the operating system, the user experience has been severely compromised. I am still using Snow Leopard 10.6.8 at the moment (I actually reinstalled the operating system about a month ago). But that is another topic, what I would like to compare is my current system, the macbook pro 15'' (early 2011), to the system that just came out, the macbook pro 15'' (early 2012) model. My macbook pro isn't really "oudated" per se, there has been one revision in between, and even for that revision it was just a slight bump from my configuration (so the base model is actually the mid range model from the early 2011 line). To clarify I will be doing a comparison of base models for both years.<br /><br />I hope to go through all of the specifications of the two machines and then give some of my thoughts and opinions regarding them. Some components I agree are a pure upgrade, and there are no detriments to the overall system. But I do have some queries as to the design decisions apple has made regarding the new model, which I will discuss in detail.<br /><br /><blockquote><b>Macbook Pro 15'' (Early 2011) Technical Specifications</b>; taken from <a href="http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.0-15-early-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html">everymac.com</a> as well as the system profiler<br /><br />Processor: Intel Core i7 Quad Core<br />Processor Speed: 2.0 Ghz<br />RAM: 4 GB (DDR3) 1333 Mhz<br />Video Card(s): AMD Radeon 6490M (VRAM: 256 MB)<br />Intel Integrated HD Graphics 3000<br />Display: 15.4'' Glossy LED-backlit TFT display <br />Display Resolution: 1440x900<br />Camera: Facetime HD<br /><br />Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n<br />Bluetooth: 2.1+ EDR<br />Hard Drive: 500 GB 5400RPM SATA (at least mine was)<br />Superdrive (Y/N): Yes<br />Battery Capacity: 77.5W<br />Dimensions: 2.4 cm (height) x 36.4 cm (width<br />Weight: 2.54 Kg<br />Sound: Stereo speakers and microphone<br /><br />Ports<br />-Magsafe<br />-2 USB 2.0<br />-Gigabit Ethernet<br />-Firewire 800<br />-Thunderbolt port (minidisplay port)<br />-Headphone jack<br />-Audio in<br />-SD card slot<br />-Laptop locking port</blockquote><br /><blockquote><b>Macbook Pro 15'' (Early 2012) Technical Specifications</b>; taken from <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/">Apple</a><br />Processor: Intel Core i7 Quad Core<br />Processor Speed: 2.3 Ghz<br />RAM: 8 GB (DDR3L) 1600 Mhz<br />Video Card(s): Nvidia Geforce GT 650M (VRAM: 1 GB)<br />Intel Integrated HD Graphics 4000<br />Display: 15.4'' Glossy LED-backlit TFT IPS Display <br />Display Resolution: 2880 x 1800<br />Camera: Facetime HD<br /><br />Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n<br />Bluetooth: 4.0+ EDR<br />Hard Drive: 256 GB SSD<br />Superdrive (Y/N): No<br />Battery Capacity: 95W<br />Dimensions: 1.8 cm (height) x 35.89 cm cm (width<br />Weight: 2.02 Kg<br />Sound: Stereo speakers and dual microphones<br /><br />Ports<br />-Magsafe 2.0<br />-2 USB 3.0<br />-2 Thunderbolt port<br />-Headphone jack (compatible with apple mic/headphone set)<br />-SDXC port<br /></blockquote><br /><b>Processor, RAM, Hard Drive, Video Card</b><br />In terms of these three components, the new macbook pro is leaps and bounds over the previous model. It supports the latest processor, increased memory (4 GB to 8 GB), and finally sports a solid state drive. My first macbook pro (before it got replaced) had 2 GB of RAM and for everyday use I consistently maxed out. As for 4 GB, I run BOINC, so I let it use up to 2 GB of memory, which leaves me at near maximum (right now I have 3.87 GB used out of 4 GB). I recently read multiple articles saying that the new macbook pro really isn't user replaceable. That does disappoint me, because components do break down (especially hard drives). Even though the new model comes with a pretty large SSD, it just feels wrong not be able to replace it for whatever reason.<br /><br />And lastly for hard drive I have a 500 GB hard drive, where I've partitioned 100 GB for windows leaving there rest for mac, and I still have 210 GB available. So in the end I've used roughly 190 GB of hard drive space. Personally I love archiving files, I also keep a 82 GB iPhoto library along with application files, and couple gigabytes of music files for iTunes. If I had 256 GB for total hard drive space I would still partition 100 GB for windows, and move off my iPhoto library to an external drive. All in all, there is no debate it is an upgrade in all three categories. One last note the video card upgrade is a no-brainer,<br /><b><br />Display</b><br />The "retina" display on the iphone and ipad has gotten a lot of attention, with many hoping it would move on to the mac ecosystem and it has. I fully agree that having a retinal display on the phone makes a huge difference, but after handling the second and third generation iPads I feel that the difference is not as distinct in my opinion. In my mind this is a very good upgrade, but I hope to determine after actually using the new model at an apple store. But, as with other apple devices, I'm sure the addition of a "retina" display adds a lot of hype.<br /><br /><b>Ports</b><br />First, the magsafe 2.0 port; for my first macbook pro I had the original magsafe, which very similar to the new magsafe 2. I personally did not have any issues, design or otherwise, with the magsafe connector. j I was very careful with it and did not yank it to unplug the connector. However, I am aware that for other users there have ben issue fo fraying at the connector, which got apple to redesign the magsafe connector to the new "L" shape they have now. Personally I like the original design of the magsafe, because with the current connector that I use there is only one "right" way to connecting it, since if I flip the connector 180 degrees, it would block up the ethernet port. However, as with the original connector I've had no problems with it. Since it just came out, I don't know what new design features are incorporated into the connector but all I know is that the connection is smaller and it reverts to the original magsafe design. I hope to try out the magsafe 2 connector at an apple store, but I am disappointed that the new connector is not compatible with the old one (who would have guessed), so for plugging the old connector into the latest model macbook pro an adapter is needed for the low price of $10.<br /><br />I personally love using the ethernet port on my current macbook pro, since I love having a direct connection to the router, especially when it comes to gaming. I find that when I download files the speed is far superior to a wireless connection, so I question the removal of the ethernet port on a 15'' machine. Of course, apple now has a dongle for thunderbolt to ethernet, but personally do not appreciate this change.<br /><br />Now for the two thunderbolt ports and the hdmi port. This part leaves me quite apprehensive about the change. To me, thunderbolt to me is a very niche connector, where the market for it is still very small at the moment due to pricing. I've never used the port myself but I in the past I've considered a minidisplayport to hdmi adapter. However, I do not own a HD TV so buying one would be pointless. <a href="http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2">This adapter from monoprice</a> was the one I was looking at, and though the price is cheap I have no need for its function.<br /><br />So back to my original point, if having one thunderbolt port is barely necessary (one is enough if you want to connect to an external monitor), what is the point of having a second one, plus a hdmi port. Actually, I am just bewildered as to why they would include a hdmi port. Minidisplay can easily switch to hdmi (linked already provided), why is there a need to have another hdmi port on the computer? This, to me, just does not make sense whatsoever.<br /><br />In the end, the addition of some ports (and subtraction of others) leaves apple to provide new dongles, such as thunderbolt port to ethernet. An interesting move is the abandonment of the firewire 800 port, but the hilarious part about this decision is that apple provides yet another dongle for thunderbolt to firewire 800. These multimedia port decision just leaves me so frustrated with apple.<br /><br />The audio in (or microphone jack) has also been taken out for whatever reason, and is replaced by a headphone jack not unlike that in the current 13'' macbook pro (where you can use apple mic/headphones and it'll still work with the one port). The machine gones with USB 3.0, which is a welcome upgrade (though I still wish it would come with more than 2 USB ports, I can wish can't I?). <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Battery and Superdrive</span><br />Since there is no longer a superdrive in the new model, and the hard drive has been shrunk from the traditional sata drive to solid state storage, the batter capacity of the new macbook pros has been increased, from about 75W to 95W. This is a welcome change, though even with my current macbook pro I have never run out of battery. I run gfx cardstatus, so when I'm in battery mode I switch over to the intel integrated graphics and the battery life is extended by many hours. Though I suppose that due to the increased pixel density of the screen a larger battery would counter the increased power consumption of the screen.<br /><br />As for the superdrive, I personally don't mind having a superdrive but Know there are many who absolutely find no use for it. I burn rewritable media once in a while, for backup and also to transfer files to others, and also to watch DVDs once in a long while. So I would not mind having a superdrive, though it increases the heft of the machine. In the end, due to the ailing nature of DVDs it would depend on the needs of the user but it is still a worthy upgrade.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Last thoughts</span><br />The weight decrease as well as a thinner body is quite nice. For me with the older macbook pro, I always notice the heft whenever I carry it. I watched the video of designing the new macbook pro on the apple website and the new fan structure was quite awe inspiring. With an discrete graphics card on the lose it really does increase internal temperature of the machine, and having more vents is a straightforward approach when it comes to heat issues. I also wonder about whether the new fans are indeed quieter than the old ones. For the older version when I browser the internet I don't hear the fans unless it's youtube, but when I do it the sound is noticeable. Typically during the summer I try to restrict the GPU to the integrated graphics which helps preventing the computer from getting too hot.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-50841450728939376802012-03-01T22:25:00.005-05:002012-07-02T21:13:24.459-04:00New Layout, OopsSo I was bored one day (today) and was wondering what new enchanting templates were available from google. Looks like there's no turning back now so if you have any suggestions let me know. I'll play around with the design when I have time.<br /><br />Edit: I really didn't like the font and previous template (I find I like serif fonts far more than sans serif), I also changed the width to fit my monitor (before I would have to keep zooming to get a good font size). Note that I made such changes to optimize my personal viewing of the website, and though I hope such changes are aesthetically pleasing to you as well, if you have any thoughts or comments in regard to the layout of the blog leave a comment and I will gladly take in your feedback and change the layout if necessary.<br /><br />By the way, more posts coming in the next few days!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-14942652491472011442012-03-01T19:11:00.010-05:002012-07-02T21:13:50.762-04:00Google Calendar Theme Change (for Firefox)So if you're a google calendar user you probably know that google has taken out the old layout because it was "impossible" to maintain two layout. As well, their stance is unwavering. And, if you're like me, you aren't really a big fan of it (though they have recently added a number of new colors that are easier to see). This post is mainly for Firefox users since I'm going to talk about greasemonkey and stylish, both found on the firefox browser. Though I belive that you can run greasemonkey scripts on chrome but I will not talk about it here. So in this post I'm going to show you what I did to go from this (original)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheAmZKt5NgKwY9LnnFx1m1O_7H8lyWElB6KnWZBa9_0PHGZ4uIiO9x_2Sn3jGSZSLFKHAb_oaYTe3L9vULU-AqRl9aeysOweTV0fuuCurr9zMNG9v1Cy_FIJgyx9Yh4acgFcdkeHr5nA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-03-01+at+7.20.29+PMr.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheAmZKt5NgKwY9LnnFx1m1O_7H8lyWElB6KnWZBa9_0PHGZ4uIiO9x_2Sn3jGSZSLFKHAb_oaYTe3L9vULU-AqRl9aeysOweTV0fuuCurr9zMNG9v1Cy_FIJgyx9Yh4acgFcdkeHr5nA/s400/Screen+shot+2012-03-01+at+7.20.29+PMr.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715088839016263890" /></a><br /><br />to this<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZZV9e22WwgKNNTZJfk1z6tT4xKsLBeyoIzc5JP9QkRYigcgLmdWrCSUkg3bUYR1jvGcFJJcZR4rvJnKzyLv32n1Z8xDRczUB-74WsdCfeSDWrN4ss_xCsZ607c345R3OPLZjuAiMIw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-03-01+at+7.16.53+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZZV9e22WwgKNNTZJfk1z6tT4xKsLBeyoIzc5JP9QkRYigcgLmdWrCSUkg3bUYR1jvGcFJJcZR4rvJnKzyLv32n1Z8xDRczUB-74WsdCfeSDWrN4ss_xCsZ607c345R3OPLZjuAiMIw/s400/Screen+shot+2012-03-01+at+7.16.53+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715088840256244994" /></a><br /><br />At least for me, it is far easier to see the actual event names and the screen space is used properly, unlike in the first picture (black text to white text). Plus, the space is used better as there is more space for the calendar.<br /><br />Well, two of my favorite websites when it comes to tweaking websites to your liking is going to be <a href="http://userstyles.org">userstyles.org</a> and <a href="http://userscripts.org">userscripts.org</a>, with the first one catered specifically to greasemonkey and second to stylish. Now for stylish they do give you options to covert the script to greasemonkey which means running less addon but I guess I'm lazy so I have both addons.<br /><br />Step 1. Download <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/">Greasemonkey</a> and <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/">Stylish</a>.<br /><br />Step 2. The first script to download is found <a href="http://userstyles.org/styles/50283/google-calendar-better-2011-style">here</a>, called "google calendar better 2011 style." Just click the blue "install with stylish" button and you're done. What this script does (Straight from the website)<br /><blockquote>- white event and task text on all colors<br />- classic yellow current day highlight<br />- grey hour label bg color </blockquote><br />Step 3. The second script to download is found <a href="http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/107309">here</a> and is called google calendar bars toggler. As its name suggests it allows you to hid the headers and other elements on the google calendar you are not likely to use (ever). It provides arrows (and keyboard shortcuts) for you to toggle their hidden state. The steps are similar to the second where you just click the install button.<br /><br />And that's it, with these two scripts you can hopefully like google calendar a bit more. For chrome if you go to the script sites I'm sure they provide instructions to install the script as an addon (I've tried this with other scripts), though if you have any questions you can ask in the comments.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-81015271128859469472012-03-01T16:28:00.008-05:002012-06-12T16:32:55.432-04:00First post of 2012? Quick thoughts.Well I guess it's evident now that it is not possible for me to maintain this web page during the school year. And by maintain I mean post new articles here and then. I have some ideas for new posts but I just haven't had the time (or motivation) to use these ideas and actually create the post. I am now going to spend a couple minutes to go through some quick thoughts that I've had on recent events in no particular order.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Windows 8 Consumer Preview</span><br />Nice name by the way, apparently "beta" is too mainstream. Disclaimer: I haven't personally tried windows 8 (though I would very much like to, and I'm not talking about virtualizing it here. I want the full experience.), but I can't help but say that it's kind of like mac os 10.7 lion. There are some features that I really like, such as the new windows task manager (I find the layout very informative and the colors convey the information efficiently), and I'm talking about the detailed view here. <br /><br />Though I don't know whether this metro interface is the way to go, with the start menu "gone." The metro UI does not facilitate an efficient desktop experience. Say you just want to search up a program to start up, you would have to press the window key, then you have to find (I believe you press "control-f" to search all apps, and then select the app that you want to launch. But the thing is, the change is too drastic. The change from the desktop to the metro interface just seems so jarring, like I'm moving from one experience to another. I really hope that microsoft provides a way to disable the metro interface. That and a tweak to put back the old start menu and windows 8 would be good to go. In the end I actually have some faith in microsoft on this issue, where they will listen to customer demand and provide options (unlike apple and snow leopard/iCloud).<br /><br />In the meantime I will consider downloading the consumer preview, though I will have to find some sort of external hard drive or USB drive to store the temporary windows 8 partition. I don't really have that much time at the moment, perhaps I will do that over the summer.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Google Calendar</span><br />I have been a longtime user of google calendar, but a recent change has really infuriated me, and continues to lead me to believe that Google is definitely evil. Google calendar recently eliminated the option to view the calendar in the "classic view temporarily." And they did this pretty suddenly. During the whole time I was using google calendar I received no message, no email about the change. Google said they gave some warnings in advance but for me personally I had no idea they were going to change. And I wouldn't be so vocal about the change if the new layout wasn't so bad. But it is atrocious, where the colors are horrible and the layout is not efficient with space at all. <br /><br />These days when I have time I'm still trying to find a good replacement for google calendar, so that I can view it on the desktop. I thought iCal would be a prime candidate, but then the font is far too small on the calendar, and there is no way I can change it (I'm talking about snow leopard here). Outlook, turns out, doesn't even support the CalDav protocol. Busycal is very functional but is far too expensive (I'm not paying $50 for a calendar).<br /><br />Oh yes, this also relates to google, though not specifically to google calendar. But one time I went to google groups to "discuss" the new calendar changes only to find that google had messed that up too. From the old, comfortable gmail-esque layout to the new repulsive layout. For whatever reason the site used up a lot of browser resources too as it was laggy and almost unusable. It behaved a bit better on chrome but seriously.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Last thoughts/Apple</span><br />I find that these days I'm losing faith in the big tech companies (I'm looking at you, microsoft, apple, google). Microsoft, well, they've been losing ground for a while now (though some faith was restored in windows 7), the metro interface is not useful in a desktop environment. For apple 10.7 was a disaster (when compared to previous releases, and in this case I'm talking about 10.4-10.6), where apple is slowly clamping down on the desktop OS, and they're not giving users a lot of choice at all. I'm still running snow leopard right now, and I'm not optimistic about mountain lion. I like how they're moving over to an iOS-like environment slowly, but some features are just not refined. I do hope that in the next iteration of OS X such features will be more refined, as in better multi-display support, and better application management when it comes to virtual desktops. I'm talking about issues such as versions and full screen mode multi-monitor support. However, typical Apple doesn't listen to customer feedback, and has said nothing about it. And Google has so far proved itself to be an evil company, with their tracking cookies bypassing browser restrictions (a la safari and internet explorer), and their new policy where they can use all your usage data (from gmail, youtube, etc.) to form an overall comprehensive picture.<br /><br />I also realize that I am kind of schizophrenic at times, you might say, as I was so intrigued by BOINC when I first started using it. Now I no longer have it on my system. Though, over time I realized one thing. It is that my mac warranty expires in march 2012, and if I keep running BOINC I fear that since the computer runs at a hotter temperature that it'll break down easier. Though if I ever do build a desktop in the coming years I'll run BOINC on that for sure (since I can replace the parts far easier and cheaper than that on a laptop).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-32847120290975867502011-11-23T10:51:00.012-05:002012-07-02T21:16:52.215-04:00Grid Computing: Folding@Home vs BOINC Part 2 (BOINC Guide and Conclusion)In this part of the review I'm going to go over how to install BOINC as well as its operation and configuration. One think that I really like about BOINC is that there's an unoffical wikipedia for it, one that is up to date and is generally helpful. Here is the <a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php">download link</a> for the client and here's a <a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/">short list of instructions</a>. The install instructions are straight forward, and are identical to that of folding@home (Extract, put in applications folder, run).<br /><br />Though, there are differences, and when you start running the client you have to choose a project to run. In BOINC, you have to make a username/password for every project you choose. This allows you to manage the preferences online. For just all of the projects you can create a new account from the client, except for world community grid where you need to go to their <a href="http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.jsp">website</a> in order to sign up. After you have signed up you "log in" using the client. I'm not going to try to persuade you to join a project in this post, as I'm sure it depends on your interests.<br /><br />Here's how it looks once more, where only the active tasks are available. I have changed around some of the projects since last time. Just a bit more on this, this is the advanced view. I highly recommend the advanced view over the simple view (you can change it by going to "view" in the menubar and clicking "advanced view."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLy6sjlLJbN9sePZ5Nnur4S601yy-0rbrv8DgiS-HLTCm4Rff-UahsvRpauOvwiUtC-5yB8Z4zRKRfzr_0Fw6RIisT3Dh4xJn0Deo59jRJ693PCQrbljRYlPChgMhMjJcySaM5mw0bvg/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-11-23+at+10.57.17+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLy6sjlLJbN9sePZ5Nnur4S601yy-0rbrv8DgiS-HLTCm4Rff-UahsvRpauOvwiUtC-5yB8Z4zRKRfzr_0Fw6RIisT3Dh4xJn0Deo59jRJ693PCQrbljRYlPChgMhMjJcySaM5mw0bvg/s400/Screen+shot+2011-11-23+at+10.57.17+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678222749932409138" /></a><br /><br />Preferences (Processor usage)<br />So after you have signed into a project it starts chugging away. Now for the preferences, there's actually a very detailed explanation of all of the settings <a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Preferences">here</a>, or you can just click the question mark on the botton right (next to "ok" and "cancel"). On Mac if you have an ATI processor the GPU option won't make a difference. For more information there's an article on the wikipedia <a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/GPU_computing">here</a>. An important setting is going to be the % of the processors and % of CPU time, as you will be using this to control the temperature of your computer. Just a note, for the % of the processors if you have say a quad core processor with hyper-threading and say 100% it will give you 8 logistical processors and not 4 due to the hyper-threading. For example if you use 50% it should only use your four cores (and thus should not use hyper-threading). I personally have my CPU time set at 15% (at most). This is low because I want to preserve my fan speed. I could theoretically schedule BOINC to only run during the night but I still want it run without the fans being too involved (at 2000 rpm as I stated earlier). With these settings I can set BOINC to calculate while I am out and about, as long as my computer is plugged in.<br /><br />Preferences (Network/Disk and memory usage)<br />For network I didn't change anything, though just a note. If you select "network activity always available" in the "activity" menubar item the preferences won't affect it. Only thing I changed in memory usage was to decrease the maximum memory usage of active use to 40% (which may still be high depending on your computer's total amount of memory), and I left it at 90% for idle since memory use for me at that time is not a concern. <br /><br />What I liked/didn't like<br />One thing where BOINC is ahead of folding@home is its GPU support. At the moment it does support Macs that have NVIDIA GPUs, however my computer has an ATI version, which is not currently supported. However, the current beta version will be able to detect the ATI GPU. In fact, right now for the primeGrid project, already in the preferences there are options use of the ATI GPU. It's just the client that's lagging behind (apparently due to the lack of mac testers). On folding@home there is no support at all for Mac GPUs.<br /><br />The settings for throttling the CPU is also far more varied, and allows me to set up a schedule where it can run. This was far from true for folding@home. I also enjoyed the fact that these work units are far smaller than that at folding@home, and at time it's interesting to see what tasks are available and active.<br /><br />One word of caution, one time I shut off the client and closed the lid on the laptop too early. This caused errors in the client (specifically "task x exited with zero status with no 'finished' file) and made me abort a task and reset a project. So be careful when you shut off the client, and allow it to have time to fully quit or else there might be errors.<br /><br />An update on that error, it came up again after I waited for the app to shut down. I'm going to experiment with just ignoring the error and see whether it'll continue processing.<br /><br />Conclusions<br />So in conclusion, BOINC does everything folding@home does and more. It gives you more overall configurable options for the client, has a more intuitive and refined interface, and gives you access to a far greater reach of projects than that of folding@home.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-65227624320758093822011-11-22T15:41:00.015-05:002012-07-02T21:16:20.174-04:00Grid Computing: Folding@Home vs BOINC Part 1 (F@H Guide)I'm going to do a two part segment on my experiences using Folding@Home and BOINC. Last night I was revisiting an old subject, that of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_computing">grid computing</a>. What are they you might ask? Basically it's having many computers work together over the internet to form models from data, for things such as protein folding (folding@home) or modeling the milky way (milkway@home). Folding@home gives this definition, hopefully it clarifies it a bit for you <blockquote>Distributed Computing is a method of computer processing in which different parts of a program, or different portions of data, are processing simultaneously on two or more computers that are communicating with each other over a network or through the Internet. </blockquote> <br /><br />I first wanted to try folding@home, in fact I had no idea BOINC (by the way folding@home started out first, from a team at Stanford, and BOINC later on from a team at Berkeley). So I went to their website and was utterly confused as to what to do. Now I'm using a Mac, and I'm not sure how it's like for windows, but for Mac the user experience just wasn't very good. I wanted to make this guide, to hopefully encourage other mac users to participate in this project. I know that your computer will probably have to run for long periods of time, I personally think it's worth it for the result. Plus, as I said, it for me was very hard to find enough help from the help forums for folding@home, and the website FAQ layout was not very intuitive for me. By the way BOINC stands for "Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing."<br /><br />To start out I'm going to post how folding@home looks like from InCrease and the BOINC client.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0EH5KuWFmvUkKliYuuJb2AY2h-56_UktfMSkEU7gbOCo7ubgMzOdNea84Bzee5ajhGkeANw9Y7OFPGC-pEwAhbhRZ0OUHm0R_tTH9IrO1MCILk_Nsd77uKn9gfBpRM9BJOzqj13wANQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-11-22+at+3.21.29+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0EH5KuWFmvUkKliYuuJb2AY2h-56_UktfMSkEU7gbOCo7ubgMzOdNea84Bzee5ajhGkeANw9Y7OFPGC-pEwAhbhRZ0OUHm0R_tTH9IrO1MCILk_Nsd77uKn9gfBpRM9BJOzqj13wANQ/s400/Screen+shot+2011-11-22+at+3.21.29+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677926088299304242" /></a><br />Folding@Home (via InCrease)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMG70Jwis3WW5PQswdWK8GrgDXHQZhciphIB5Jyd7pGb_N938v93VgMmheB6FpoyrMGfj83tz6Nj1ziW-CUbMH9MLGIKEF28_GAHtLpXAoaAua1ZwHi-1dgz7iIRtENaqjWEC5PwLkOA/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-11-22+at+3.21.24+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMG70Jwis3WW5PQswdWK8GrgDXHQZhciphIB5Jyd7pGb_N938v93VgMmheB6FpoyrMGfj83tz6Nj1ziW-CUbMH9MLGIKEF28_GAHtLpXAoaAua1ZwHi-1dgz7iIRtENaqjWEC5PwLkOA/s400/Screen+shot+2011-11-22+at+3.21.24+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677926081567606018" /></a><br />BOINC<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Folding@Home </span><br />This <a href="http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Guide#ntoc9">webpage</a> is a good overview of what clients are available. In the process I discovered this, you can either download a command line, or console version, of the software, a preference pane, and a screensaver. I shall discuss the first two methods, as I don't think that the screensaver method is still available.<br /><br />I first started with their client (I clicked the middle link, for mac OS 10.5), and as I mentioned before it is a preference pane. Now that I've tried it though, I do not recommend this option. Instead I will spend far more time on an option that overlays on top of the command line version. This is because this method is the most configurable out of three, and gives you far more details as to what your computer is actually doing. <br /><br />InCrease<br />First of all, increase can be downloaded <a href="http://calxalot.net/InCrease/">here</a>, where you just click "universal binary," the first link. Then put it into applications folder like you would for any application (after you've unzipped). Now it doesn't run out of the box "automatically" and there will be things you need to configure. First of all, go to preferences (command + ,) and click on the "local group" tab. Make sure you change the name of the folder to something that is not "folding@home" or "foldingathome." <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO5xIY9r-Wtw-uX55UuNddTUCXjQQU7ALNtzlgW9TdOFDj9ruWOlsx6QkBaxdO_7LvG1iZH7KCoKFctfKpNj8Qv7rgA7CdsZNprZnDt8dm-XBoBr71Gy1BqXEGMl4Ii7rprI_WUbXc7Q/s1600/pref.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO5xIY9r-Wtw-uX55UuNddTUCXjQQU7ALNtzlgW9TdOFDj9ruWOlsx6QkBaxdO_7LvG1iZH7KCoKFctfKpNj8Qv7rgA7CdsZNprZnDt8dm-XBoBr71Gy1BqXEGMl4Ii7rprI_WUbXc7Q/s400/pref.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677928946467954962" /></a><br /><br />This is because the preference pane client uses this name, and confuses InCrease as to who is controlling the process. While you're there also click the "New Units" tab and put in a username, and it allows you to check whether your name has been used. You can also choose a team ("1971" is TeamMacOSX but it really doesn't matter). After this has been done click the "groups" on the menu bar and click "create local group." After this just click start and it should start downloading data and computer should start chomping away. One more thing, if you don't like your fans revving up there is one mechanism decrease this, in preferences again click the "pause" tab and you can throttle the time for which the software uses the CPU for. For me I set it to 50% (the lowest possible) but I was still not satisfied with the result.<br /><br />Cores (1 or 2)<br />Just a bit more information on this. So you are downloading data and you might have one core or two. For me you see that I have two because I have 8 threads (from a quad core 2.0 GHz intel i7), but you can set that in the preferences. If you set your processor number to say 4 I believe it should only give you one set instead of two. But I realized in the process that it doesn't matter, because if you have one set running it uses the same amount of CPU cycles as if you had two. <br /><br /><br />What does this mean<br />So back to what I was going to say, I am just going to briefly go through what this whole thing means, with the projects, points, points/hour (oh yes, you can change the column headings by going to "view" then "columns" and selecting which ones you want). For every block that your computer finishes processing you gain points. So for me you see that if I finished the two blocks i would have gained 481 points each. But they are red in this case because I stopped the project the whole night and at that rate I was going to miss the deadline. What is the deadline? When your computer gets issued that segment there is also a deadline issued as well. If you miss the deadline, say you've been pausing your computer a lot or downthrotting the CPU too much you will miss the deadline and the hard work your computer did will be erased. So just a word of caution. Also, be sure to set your computer to never sleep (at least when it's plugged in) so that this software can continuously run. And that's it! You're set!<br /><br />What I liked/didn't like<br />I really like that this application uses multi-threading. Here's a screenshot of my cpu history. From what I see this application is all about power. It's pretty good from a desktop point of view, where the fans are noisy anyway and they're easily replaceable. On the laptop I prefer them to run at their minimum speed (about 2000 rpm), as it costs a lot more for them to be replaced. As well, its mac client to me seems a bit neglected. On windows there are additional projects where they use CUDA on GPUs to run tasks even faster. This is only on windows, no support for Mac OS X or linux. Though it can also run on your PS3.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWt8UlCU-Rp3lPerSS9ZMPPDwkjvhSNz-Gubqg2ElB5wgwACTQ5KmXp5a54ujIdr9kApKRFpwlXK4mTyYlg5XD92f1w8iIE61-RCD5KalVLnQt4_g4Tf0AmeWH4Bj66AeRrn5MxrThfQ/s1600/gree.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWt8UlCU-Rp3lPerSS9ZMPPDwkjvhSNz-Gubqg2ElB5wgwACTQ5KmXp5a54ujIdr9kApKRFpwlXK4mTyYlg5XD92f1w8iIE61-RCD5KalVLnQt4_g4Tf0AmeWH4Bj66AeRrn5MxrThfQ/s400/gree.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677932138624247618" /></a><br /><br />So, as I said, I use a laptop, and I am not very happy to hear my fans revving up at all, which has been the case even with maximum throttling from InCrease. Since the throttling is done via a time interval the temperature of the CPU goes up and down which may induce the fans to rev up. For me I have seen the temperature go to about 84 degrees celsius, and at that point the fans usually rev up. I looked at the settings on the windows client and it's slightly easier to throttle it (it throttles by percentage not by time interval), but the interface is still not as configurable as it could be. If you're looking the <a href="http://folding.stanford.edu/English/WinUNIGuide#ntoc1">installation guide for windows is here</a>. I think that much could be improved on when it comes to customizing things, both on windows and mac.<br /><br />So I hope you got something from this, and in the next segment I will talk about BOINC.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-61900663129739246122011-11-21T21:27:00.007-05:002011-11-21T21:35:49.283-05:00Updates and WallpapersHello, just a quick update as I'm still trying to type up reviews of the targus backpack and the OS, but in the meantime here's a small collection of wallpaper I've collected from the website <a href="http://simpledesktops.com/browse/">simple desktops</a>. I browse the website occasionally for wallpaper that I like and hope you enjoy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbxapVx2stAJi03vU-B-WaYHdQYljnklgNTSS2_mD5Ei5SzmzOPg1tuFcR8__Be0uaP7VbT-kRpsmQAlXD8PmtRBJ7uzSwQSJnOiFhIJiBESEXnXhD-_eAacYIq2ef_CR6Vc9XIE6fQ/s1600/doppler.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbxapVx2stAJi03vU-B-WaYHdQYljnklgNTSS2_mD5Ei5SzmzOPg1tuFcR8__Be0uaP7VbT-kRpsmQAlXD8PmtRBJ7uzSwQSJnOiFhIJiBESEXnXhD-_eAacYIq2ef_CR6Vc9XIE6fQ/s400/doppler.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677641569493908418" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtpC2lrBtgthbw_z9E0OHWogCGZhjlZnmkbq9MDW4Gjg6NNVOOl4XtfnVtZVmCPk2fQ_YQyBxb7GVmzCxRxUdgv_eLl8oM91SN14jKvHu8CmT4d_4SM4KN1g0EYGj6WwaUZm4vsFBqw/s1600/Copenhagen.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtpC2lrBtgthbw_z9E0OHWogCGZhjlZnmkbq9MDW4Gjg6NNVOOl4XtfnVtZVmCPk2fQ_YQyBxb7GVmzCxRxUdgv_eLl8oM91SN14jKvHu8CmT4d_4SM4KN1g0EYGj6WwaUZm4vsFBqw/s400/Copenhagen.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677641558196970514" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNsOoQJMrDkC3KW76-NZByWXwWoVCEZ5PFB_5bHQVzRCpebiEO1jHso-RFqrPQjMOFvP1XN4MxgxNa2-nF5egNQTOCOdT8oaNlEphIbTW465FpnuvX9kS8cfnbyTqW-TN_i9XR3bJnQ/s1600/Cogumelo3_.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNsOoQJMrDkC3KW76-NZByWXwWoVCEZ5PFB_5bHQVzRCpebiEO1jHso-RFqrPQjMOFvP1XN4MxgxNa2-nF5egNQTOCOdT8oaNlEphIbTW465FpnuvX9kS8cfnbyTqW-TN_i9XR3bJnQ/s400/Cogumelo3_.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677641555371327586" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3NCEDraJ0WyzoJU2yWrHZIf8ZSVWhdd6_Gux1RCR64DBcJrsSW5a1XRTP1_icxE-dW-04dBLEjoI5jZAdpoBHJHR1E6gtsYf5kjYf_tISCEvaNGod5ISGdQEPse80TOWvRUYuJoJ9w/s1600/Chaplin.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; 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cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXiD8L2bKgc8FDlHZpw80UYCNC-6bFMW2jOzCmoL06dgk5J2HHsLT_m_pXyTx9rJL8wFerd7yQX8Ym3bL4x6Aq3jUaVd9-wGm5IO7Yic1JycCdt7z13FY5CwaTHxyQjMmg_kJUEhhWAQ/s400/Mac_Wallpaper.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642135079232546" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cmJwB7BAFBO1dGKJVeETj1Oqju8exrTz7JrolFaLzTKKT-ikC_pbFQI3hnVBhlVqvkZBaozEYcB23K_nrGsBoZeFX6hWGQgfc5w3EgWpuzZCGDUlTQv5oUpIBlwKLSsmMCbHc339QA/s1600/hong+kong.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cmJwB7BAFBO1dGKJVeETj1Oqju8exrTz7JrolFaLzTKKT-ikC_pbFQI3hnVBhlVqvkZBaozEYcB23K_nrGsBoZeFX6hWGQgfc5w3EgWpuzZCGDUlTQv5oUpIBlwKLSsmMCbHc339QA/s400/hong+kong.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642120998242834" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02d9jedYMjBb5mAaOdcof_tx2V5UeZCgJmkGFFUT7hkQbLFSVII3cIJ63GLuACUR4dUj5L8tVrtl2P5SYYU71htRPyu48H_hOE7u8yP_pip8jnfCbgHWyeBtz4MDMMgrO3Fr11wcgqA/s1600/goodmorning.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; 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cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3SFSNC9s97OogrNtc-KKDA7B9Fu63d9lZM9NBJeSUfSRz3-OVtJAVTITOOhNbNjzu2_rQ4bJ97JRi4RC3gTo7ru0yqxpMtSdiK3b5nf9HyknjPx5Kj5HRg8Oq3zeVCWT93DRGQu-Jg/s400/Magic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642142470967106" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW196fQqDPNZiDFfLOzoXo2F3coegC6mOD8BoGnfDxidJZDlRdrZk2Ihwf33QViYEyWN21rKjH77S2u95SWxQKXWPT8VjVUDu2OKtgDkKOSDklo7OAFNZeJf0HCZ_A-1PBSWvlouQ9tg/s1600/tdsotm3.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW196fQqDPNZiDFfLOzoXo2F3coegC6mOD8BoGnfDxidJZDlRdrZk2Ihwf33QViYEyWN21rKjH77S2u95SWxQKXWPT8VjVUDu2OKtgDkKOSDklo7OAFNZeJf0HCZ_A-1PBSWvlouQ9tg/s400/tdsotm3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642672794849330" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_32XuK3x7xmbmHQwDwO36enqB29vD0IwbSze0DNa6toleIJezzxOXgGO2mGwKwbNPSBsFKrXHzkWu9NxHDIJdxMPioEOadA-oC3Yh6R0XG0_z4ouZAP3kI_81eyxXtVHIZSEZo2J8g/s1600/simpledesktops.com.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_32XuK3x7xmbmHQwDwO36enqB29vD0IwbSze0DNa6toleIJezzxOXgGO2mGwKwbNPSBsFKrXHzkWu9NxHDIJdxMPioEOadA-oC3Yh6R0XG0_z4ouZAP3kI_81eyxXtVHIZSEZo2J8g/s400/simpledesktops.com.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642661871078498" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGVY96XGYSUfqivznzHh9XPpSzNUz9ejTRjkuSRlIywHqeA7ySfttS_BG7n20Pyn2jl3WRRd1GLNHbsN2YQTjZtbrNw9wsyJBH_L6Po1s79Xx9-h5e0G6gQL_gD2xToCmqtx7df6WEw/s1600/periodicLight.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGVY96XGYSUfqivznzHh9XPpSzNUz9ejTRjkuSRlIywHqeA7ySfttS_BG7n20Pyn2jl3WRRd1GLNHbsN2YQTjZtbrNw9wsyJBH_L6Po1s79Xx9-h5e0G6gQL_gD2xToCmqtx7df6WEw/s400/periodicLight.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642655423558706" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMv46hAoUSoUky2ZHHdj91ffGKQAJ-S7DkYk1nTKSi_1ZVKV1p4jtTLQuSjDz2qFcx-gO9FzVRyAc9dEPgAj3nYUqrY5fu-CRLpoI76JDmbdFP5gj9Mp8o5OvBxn8olIWCcyxLAh6icw/s1600/music.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMv46hAoUSoUky2ZHHdj91ffGKQAJ-S7DkYk1nTKSi_1ZVKV1p4jtTLQuSjDz2qFcx-gO9FzVRyAc9dEPgAj3nYUqrY5fu-CRLpoI76JDmbdFP5gj9Mp8o5OvBxn8olIWCcyxLAh6icw/s400/music.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642648520205106" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2dtkLZGcaMGV1jxCx6GWX3yLIGOoR0yd7TLRfOuIIrkrn69PgloYJySdSFZp7X7H6Bb6BXAwg6l6-94VAm5HOyn960NFcX0dhb11HrdtelctGe26lon-sR7cgtyQhexhaQ9rvFhsxg/s1600/TronLightCycle1.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2dtkLZGcaMGV1jxCx6GWX3yLIGOoR0yd7TLRfOuIIrkrn69PgloYJySdSFZp7X7H6Bb6BXAwg6l6-94VAm5HOyn960NFcX0dhb11HrdtelctGe26lon-sR7cgtyQhexhaQ9rvFhsxg/s400/TronLightCycle1.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677642675530443234" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-49835564803627697212011-10-26T15:27:00.002-04:002011-10-26T15:29:38.549-04:00Upcoming ReviewsI've gotten the backpack for a number of weeks, and I'm in the process of writing a review for it. As well, I recently acquired a nokia C6-00 phone, so I'm also hoping to do a review of the symbian system installed on it and my thoughts on the actual phone (so a software and hardware review).<br /><br />I know this isn't a good explanation cause it's so repetitive but things have been busy, I hope to have reviews up soon (tm).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-17369542881947807142011-09-29T10:01:00.005-04:002011-09-30T22:36:51.736-04:00Targus A7 BackpackPreviously to yesterday I never considered this, but yesterday it dawned on me that last year I carried around my 15'' macbook pro quite regularly during classes. I realized that when I put the computer into my backpack the straps just didn't provide the back support I needed. Plus, the layout of my current backpack just wasn't as effective as I had hoped.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://p.gzhls.at/589676.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 232px; height: 300px;" src="http://p.gzhls.at/589676.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I went numerous websites to check out laptop backpacks, and this particular one struck me on <a href="http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/alldeals/comments/reflagdeals_exclusive_dellca_targus_a7_16_laptop_backpack_1999_reg_6999_mor">redflagdeals</a>. I read some reviews and decided to get it, it arrives in a couple of days so this is a heads up. The specific website that I bought it was from Dell, the discount was $50 off (coupon is from redflagdeals) so total price is $22.59 CAD, here is the <a href="http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/Bags_Carrying_Cases/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&cs=cadhs1&sku=A3800183&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch">dell link</a>. I hope to do a review of this backpack after several days of usage, just a quick heads up post beforehand. Oh, and the discount ends Sept 30. I'm not sure whether I'll like the brown color but we shall see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-62812104640800066872011-07-01T03:42:00.009-04:002012-07-02T21:17:11.293-04:00Weathereye Mac App ReviewI haven't been a big proponent of the mac app store, but one feature that I really like is that it updates all your apps for you (so long as the app is in the app store, that is). I have been using a widget from weather network for a while now, but today I went to the site to realize that it was no longer supported. For a while now, they have been "beta testing" a new desktop application, which I downloaded for the first time today. I also made my first review on the mac app store, regarding the app. Here's a screenshot of the review. Fortunately I didn't take any screenshots of the actual app (it's hideous), but if you are the curious type just go look it up in the mac app store, there are about 4-5 screenshots of it there.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfcWwSAnmSPYQ0Dzd_KJBGyPPvUn8IiFXSbmx6k_t0dCYs0i5qjoO76XoLcr6dtkpgv1_hf67KYtCU-nmVpFCMHxStoOK02qkRmBCKp5xVCTAzEtmAlr-2x8XtvM1YykWFIHVPKjzYA/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-01+at+3.39.21+AM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 333px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfcWwSAnmSPYQ0Dzd_KJBGyPPvUn8IiFXSbmx6k_t0dCYs0i5qjoO76XoLcr6dtkpgv1_hf67KYtCU-nmVpFCMHxStoOK02qkRmBCKp5xVCTAzEtmAlr-2x8XtvM1YykWFIHVPKjzYA/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-01+at+3.39.21+AM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624286875247460946" /></a><br /><br />I really liked the simplicity of the mac widget, it would even have weather warnings at times, but since it is no longer being developed RIP. I'm going to use it as long as it functions. Hats off to the developer for making such a streamlined, aesthetic, and functional widget. For those of you wondering why I didn't use the built in apple one this is far more accurate, and as I mentioned earlier has weather warnings, plus additional (yet useful) features.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkiaR_0wjyjGmHteMMoEejxPiwtJjmqBWoIjn9aO_fBeptVFjNlS_AxFi_H2Dbl9jg5cj2dG-X7BAjsyUJRhq4ChJcMdZ9JBff25cygl0AFcY6gN-oFfrPn2ujIfGLPZRHEcX10JraQ/s1600/1.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 307px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkiaR_0wjyjGmHteMMoEejxPiwtJjmqBWoIjn9aO_fBeptVFjNlS_AxFi_H2Dbl9jg5cj2dG-X7BAjsyUJRhq4ChJcMdZ9JBff25cygl0AFcY6gN-oFfrPn2ujIfGLPZRHEcX10JraQ/s400/1.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624288695545108194" /></a><br /><br />Edit: The font on the screenshot may be too small, so here's a quick transcript for easier reading. I also realized I said "a nice touch" two times in a row, hope weather network doesn't mind.<br /><br /><blockquote>I have been a longtime user of the weathereye widget for mac (currently at version 2.1.1), which appears has been discontinued as it is no longer available for download. I will conduct this review in comparison with the mac widget, as it is the successor to the widget.<br /><br />First of all, a bit of background information about the widget. The mac widget had no ads. The mac widget loads very quickly, as it is a widget, and it displays all the pertinent information needed. Current weather, short term weather, and long term. That's it, no "videos on demand" or "viewer photos." The point of the mac widget was to allow the user to quickly glance at the current weather conditions, period. There was no need for added functionality, as all of this could be viewed at the weather network site if needed.<br /><br />On the other hand, the speed of this desktop application is sluggish, and its layout disorienting. Almost a third of the whole window has been taking up by an ad, and overall the app has a huge memory footprint. I'm just reading this information off from activity monitor, but right now just with the app open it is using 76.8 MB of memory, even more memory than itunes, quicktime player, or adium (on an individual basis).<br /><br />The application does display the current weather information, as well as five day, hourly, and 14 day trend. The video on demand quality is good. One advantage that this desktop application has over the widget is that you can add multiple cities. A nice touch was to have the current temperature show up on the menubar, for quick reading. The application is 64 bit, which is a nice touch.<br /><br />Also I guess this is somewhat of a temporary modification but it appears that the desktop application has an added fireworks border, just for Canada day. As if the app isn't taking up enough space already, with its huge ads and random weather stories. Another thing to note is that it has the usual mac traffic lights on the upper left, but only the "red stoplight" does anything, the other two buttons are useless, just like the application itself.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-32456870919370194912011-04-21T19:58:00.004-04:002012-07-02T21:17:39.533-04:00Current DesktopThis is going to be a somewhat random post. I'm just going to post a picture of my current desktop layout, but what I really wanted to convey with this post is that I read an article on lifehacker talking about cool mac apps that are available in the appstore. Personally, I'm not really that excited about the mac app store, especially since you have to sign in with an apple ID (I just made a new one that's not tied to any billing services). I can see why you would need an account if you were buying an app, but all I wanted to do was browse and download free apps. Why do you need an apple ID for that? Anyway, hopefully in the coming weeks I can review a couple of free apps, yeah.<br /><br />A quick note about the macbook pro, it's been performing pretty well. Though, at times for some reason the screen freezes, usually expose and then the computer starts lagging and seems glitchy. If I restart the computer it'll work fine again. I hope apple fixes these bugs with the new macbook pros (early 2011).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwH2RBlV_0xU1aybsxoZ8WkGDZUKurigfTP7S8NJAJ-CNLUvMj6M3G98F3edyVAGXWhXe6Afo-t11VdGA5r9qbvpvtKMapr6UpasYvF-c1kM-3UQ8cd5XvK9yZtf-4DgIix6UaVCHrrA/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-21+at+7.58.28+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwH2RBlV_0xU1aybsxoZ8WkGDZUKurigfTP7S8NJAJ-CNLUvMj6M3G98F3edyVAGXWhXe6Afo-t11VdGA5r9qbvpvtKMapr6UpasYvF-c1kM-3UQ8cd5XvK9yZtf-4DgIix6UaVCHrrA/s400/Screen+shot+2011-04-21+at+7.58.28+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598191445933180946" /></a><br /><br />Note that my dock is usually hidden, I just have my mouse hovered over the dock so it pops up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-77625500131277402072011-04-09T11:56:00.006-04:002012-07-02T21:17:48.030-04:00Firefox 4 Clear History SolutionI said in a <a href="http://picotweet.blogspot.com/2011/03/firefox-4-clear-history.html">previous post</a> the shortcomings of firefox 4 when it came to clearing the history but through searching forums and the like I have found a solution.<br /><br />In short, I was talking about how firefox 4 no longer has an entry in the about:config that allows you to automatically delete history after X days. In this new method instead of limiting the history by the dates I now limit it by the number of entries. So in about:config I made a new entry, called places.history.expiration.max_pages entry, and I made the integer be 2500, so now it will delete the older entries if the total number of entries exceeds the number entered in.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5z7A8vlAqRZLW-2hKjGf_au9VXi7YHu9u201CQXAyoobBaY-V5HQZLbU3XEahk2KNR9W4P0hDaFzC-L38-7wxI26AqCrG2g486dozRPfZo6byzSnUui6vgou-DPgXsa7Si8Y6FiEwKQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-10+at+1.39.53+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 68px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5z7A8vlAqRZLW-2hKjGf_au9VXi7YHu9u201CQXAyoobBaY-V5HQZLbU3XEahk2KNR9W4P0hDaFzC-L38-7wxI26AqCrG2g486dozRPfZo6byzSnUui6vgou-DPgXsa7Si8Y6FiEwKQ/s400/Screen+shot+2011-04-10+at+1.39.53+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594011549421621058" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-34022227160748498802011-04-04T10:47:00.004-04:002011-04-04T15:12:33.678-04:00Macbook Pro (Early 2011) First ImpressionsI know this isn't really that interesting a post, but I'm just going to put down some of the things that intrigued me when I started using my new macbook pro, and what I found was different compared to the early 2008 model that I used before.<br /><br />Keyboard<br />First of all, they keyboard is quite nice, I think I prefer this keyboard to the old one, but I think that this chiclet is louder when typing compared to the older keyboard. The keys are very responsive, and I like how the spaces under they keys are smaller, so I would think that it's harder for dust to enter (compared to my older macbook pro).<br /><br />Display<br />Another thing is obviously going to be the glossy screen. I love how the colors just "pop out" at you, and the display seems vastly better. But the glossiness can be annoying sometimes, especially when it's in the daylight. I think it might be a bit easier to clean the screen now, though there are still crevices where dust can accumulate.<br /><br />Speakers<br />I love how the speaker grill holes are smaller, one pet peeve I had with the older macbook pro was how the dust would accumulate in the holes of the speaker, which would make it look clogged. However, with this new model since the holes are so small I don't think this will happen. Speaker quality is better as well in the new macbook pro.<br /><br />USB<br />For the USB ports I do sometimes wish that they would be opposite to each other (so one left one right of the computer). Sometimes I would have a really big USB device and it wouldn't fit, since there isn't that much space between the USB ports.<br /><br />Superdrive/Firewire 400<br />I personally like the superdrive on the right side compared to at the bottom of the computer (facing you) since it fits my setup, but it could go either way. I am somewhat sad that there is no firewire 400 port, but I guess times have moved on (I have a firewire 400 drive, but I just use USB on it now since it had USB as well).<br /><br />Line in port<br />I had a headset (where there's a headset and microphone component) which worked perfectly with the older macbook pro, but when I started to use this new one it didn't work at all (the mic part). I later realized that the mic port is actually a line in jack, something along those lines, so it no longer supported my headset mic. I luckily had those USB sound cards on hand so it now works (since it's powered). Somewhat disappointed at that<br /><br />HD Webcam<br />I definitely see a difference in the video, seeing that this is a HD webcam, but the photo quality didn't seem that good (as you could see with the previous pictures). I'll continue to use it and see how it goes.<br /><br />Display adapters<br />In the new macbook pro there is no longer the dual DVI port, but rather there is the minidisplay port. I think that apple should seriously consider giving out minidisplayport to VGA port adapters, since very little projectors etc. use minidisplayport. I don't really want to buy a $40 adapter, whereas for my older macbook pro it had a DVI to VGA connector, so I didn't need to buy anything.<br /><br />Trackpad<br />The trackpad also feels different, because there's no longer a button at the bottom. I think that I personally like the old trackpad more, but I think the glass makes it harder for the trackpad to rub off (since I think for my old computer since I used it for so long sometimes a part of the plastic would rub off, and it would look more shiny). For some reason it feels like that the trackpad is not as sensitive to my old computer, but I'm pretty sure I'll get more accustomed to it over time.<br /><br />Edit: I know I said I might get used to the trackpad sensitivity over time, but I never got used to it. Rather, by googling I realized that a lot of other people perhaps have been experiencing the same problem (though looks like their problem may be more hardware oriented). In light of this, in a specific post someone mentioned a software called <a href="http://blog.boastr.net/?page_id=1722">Better touch tool</a>, which is a free piece of software where you can freely augment many sensitivities settings with the trackpad. After downloading it, it may be just me but I think I'm enjoying the sensitivity of my old macbook pro trackpad. Bad thing is that it's another piece of software to run at startup, which doesn't really make me happy but what can you do? It's up to apple to provide good drivers for the trackpad and I have found this lacking.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-68836977574669904202011-03-31T17:05:00.008-04:002011-04-04T00:43:18.330-04:00Applecare History 5 (The End?)So a few days ago I began to have another problem where the right USB port would randomly disconnect the device (though when I used the hub there was no problem for some reason). So then I was thinking, hm, this could prompt a replacement of the motherboard (I didn't really know, I assumed since the USB port was connected to the motherboard there was a chance it would be replaced). So right away I booked an appointment for the "genius" bar at the apple store and when I got there I just told the apple "genius" the problem. He then took out one of the testing USB drives that the store had and plugged it in, and it indeed did have this problem. He then told me that the logic board would have to be replaced. <br /><br />I reminded him that the logic board had just been replaced once last year and also in January (a pretty recent replacement). He took about a minute to think this over, looking through the past records this computer had (there were numerous problems, mind you). Then he told me I would be eligible for a replacement computer, to my utmost excitement. So there you go, he even replaced the power adapter with the new one and said that the new computer came with a one year warranty, and I could even go for an added applecare plan (I probably won't, but we shall see). So here I am at the apple store, he said I would have to transfer files here or come back later with all the files transferred. I initially asked him whether I could have my old hard drive back (since it's not broken or anything) but he said that it wasn't possible since a technician would have to open up the computer. <br /><br />So here I am sitting on the side transferring my files. It's been transferring for about an hour now, and it says it's going to take 16 more minutes. I looked at winclone threads and I don't think it's able to resurrect my bootcamp partition in the new computer due to the new hardware. So I guess I will have to reinstall, but this time I will reinstall windows 7 (since I only have windows xp 32 bit). I am, again, just delighted at this and I will spend the next few days retweaking aspects of Mac OS X. I'm glad I came to the apple store as soon as possible. So I guess this is a "the end" (unless under some circumstance the new computer has massive problems). Thanks for reading!<br /><br />Dec 29 2008 Both fans replaced for clicking noises<br />Jun 09 2009 Battery replaced (couldn't charge up properly)<br />Oct 07 2009 Right fan looked at (made clicking noises again)<br />Feb 28 2010 Power adapter 85W replaced<br />Apr 11 2010 Logic Board Replaced<br />Jun 21 2010 Battery replaced (81.6% charge left)<br />Jan 05 2011 Logic board Replaced<br />Ma 31 2011 Macbook Pro Replaced (Logic board problem, USB port faulty)<br /><br />Edit: By the way all of the applecare history posts have been labeled as "macbook pro" for easy viewing.<br /><br />Edit 2: Here are some last moments of my previous mbp. Now I read the forums saying that people have been having overheating problems with the new mbps lol. Luckily seems like it's the 2.2 GHz model that is affected, while I have the 2.0GHz. Though personally I haven't really had any freezing problems with this machine.<br /><br />It was in a way a test of the facetime HD camera, though the pictures didn't turn out very well...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pL29wngAxNzEMeM9mnkAd_K3tyDcQjoQ6d6CQUW_bduOtU5nTnjki2ye37B1ja3LCIhtQsU5ALvR5C8NE8hAOBm1cyHNnk1ov0kwgATiyMjzs4bOSM6WPEB1dlh2WbodRp3TTRUNNQ/s1600/Photo+on+2011-03-31+at+17.58+%25232.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pL29wngAxNzEMeM9mnkAd_K3tyDcQjoQ6d6CQUW_bduOtU5nTnjki2ye37B1ja3LCIhtQsU5ALvR5C8NE8hAOBm1cyHNnk1ov0kwgATiyMjzs4bOSM6WPEB1dlh2WbodRp3TTRUNNQ/s400/Photo+on+2011-03-31+at+17.58+%25232.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591022277777585634" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ65DMaUdtAnfgnaPMdpLuTn_8Zf4fC_MHlrgkt3lvR9wKKxkPyJzjUDC6lOooxgYucC_1uyoWpD4kQOFA-VObF3CyVlBV-NmTwsBGb7yIVqjQaKgI6ZiGBx_LOXs9Z5YMf2ARMMmCxw/s1600/Photo+on+2011-03-31+at+17.59.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ65DMaUdtAnfgnaPMdpLuTn_8Zf4fC_MHlrgkt3lvR9wKKxkPyJzjUDC6lOooxgYucC_1uyoWpD4kQOFA-VObF3CyVlBV-NmTwsBGb7yIVqjQaKgI6ZiGBx_LOXs9Z5YMf2ARMMmCxw/s400/Photo+on+2011-03-31+at+17.59.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591022279745178018" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-60003495913128465562011-03-30T20:54:00.005-04:002012-07-02T21:17:54.302-04:00Firefox 4 Clear History<a href="http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Clear%20Recent%20History#w_how-do-i-make-firefox-clear-my-history-automatically">Clearing history "automatically" in forefox</a><br /><br />So as I continued to use firefox 4 I realized that my history kept accumulating. Then I googled it up and realized that in firefox 4 you can't set a number of days to keep your history. Either you keep ALL your history, or it deletes your history every time you leave your computer. This in my opinion is an extremely bad move. Why can't I keep my history for 1-2 days? By deleting my history every time I leave the browser does it improve performance THAT much? Where is the intrinsic choice involved in this? Why did you take out this often-used feature mozilla? I feel somewhat disappointed, and may have to use an addon to supplement for this feature which is unacceptable.<br /><br />So, regarding my previous post about deleting history it no longer works (where you have to tinker with about:config).<br /><br />Edit: One small tip, if you want the old reload button back right click in the tab bar, choose customize and then where you see the reload button is just drag it back to the left, and it'll become its own button.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-59641368135062537632011-03-25T20:10:00.014-04:002012-07-02T21:18:08.324-04:00Firefox 4 Quick ReviewI think I had a quick firefox 4 post in the past, but from then I was already a skeptic. I tried the firefox 4 beta for a short while and I really didn't like the interface, where everything just seemed to take up so much room. It just didn't seem like an improvement from firefox 3, but today I thought, why not try the new firefox 4? If I don't like it I can always switch back. I checked for compatibility for all my addons and all I needed to do was update my 1password to the latest version, and I downloaded firefox 4. I am was not really an early adopter of firefox 4 as I was pessimistic about its performance. However, as I started to use the browser I quickly changed my viewpoint.<br /><br />Note that this isn't really a review on the more technical aspects of firefox, just an opinion piece about various new features and things that I liked or didn't like about the new firefox. I'm sure if you're looking for technical reviews of firefox (say exactly javascript benchmarks, memory usage) there should be a plethora of reviews out there (I bet most people are going to do reviews of firefox 4 anyway). So going back to my original point, I'm just going to comment on aspects of firefox that intrigued me, whether in a good or bad way.<br /><br />Just to start off this is how I set up my firefox 4, and it's fairly similar to the setup to my firefox 3.6 layout, just that the interface has changed slightly.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqe9nkpUeYhivwIydRg8cP7N4rVjqA9n1XQuGhoOKbKA5SCMI8mtTSvQbec3WJQiazhC4LVWA9ff2-XJOpzUudNt5gVyq_ne-XZJFJZrZJKIJ4_9L8bVqVDYre6tKHX7qQ9-YBaHw3rw/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.21.58+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqe9nkpUeYhivwIydRg8cP7N4rVjqA9n1XQuGhoOKbKA5SCMI8mtTSvQbec3WJQiazhC4LVWA9ff2-XJOpzUudNt5gVyq_ne-XZJFJZrZJKIJ4_9L8bVqVDYre6tKHX7qQ9-YBaHw3rw/s400/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.21.58+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588177947098038258" /></a><br /><br />I filled over part of the toolbar, it just includes a number of bookmarks and my bookmarks folder. There was a built in button for bookmarks but I thought that it was too general, as it showed all of the categories just like the bookmarks manager. I would rather have a folder favicon with the name "bookmarks." If you are that curious I assure you that these bookmarks aren't to any "naughty" sites. SO you might say, "Hey, this looks so similar to safari," which is true. It appears that firefox now has many similarities to safari (a la reload button on the right of the "awesome bar," opera/chrome, due to the tab placement. By the way, the tabs were originally on the top, but it was fairly easy to bring them down (all you do is right click on the tab bar and deselect "tabs on top"). I find that I'm not a very big fan of the new square block icons firefox 4 utilizes, I would prefer the old icon set (so now borders, just have the icon as is), though not that big of a deal.<br /><br />In firefox 3 I had the original huge back button but when I used 4 I just saw it as too bulky and used up too much space, so I rather had the smaller buttons, which look identical to those in safari. The two icons next to the URL bar are for noscript, one to temporarily allow all scripts on page and the other to selective activate or deactive scripts temporarily or permanently. Then there are the bookmarks I talked about earlier, and lastly there's the icon for my webmail checker. I found it interesting that they took out the spinning circle, that indicated a site was loading. Rather, the have a new spinning circle as part of the space normally taken up by the favicon in the actual tab. I actually prefer this.<br /><br />Since it's firefox I'll just mention addons, here's a screenshot of my addons, nothing special. I also disabled a number of plugins. Some people have been complaining that the addons page is now in a tab (like chrome) but I personally don't mind. I've been having troubles previously in greasemonkey where when I go to the extensions manager I would see a huge icon for greasemonkey scripts, messing up the height of the tabs in the extension manager. Having the addons in a separate tab fixes this. One thing that I don't like about this new format is that I have to click on the cog at the top to change settings, which I found to be annoying.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oyw0oubKwTuRf4IMJUbnDdwlJfFcFk7TbcXxg-uqMiiYg0HUup7ZwsG_0Y3polZIBwIf-kE9NpZWUeiwyMb9odYnJ-SPmKeIaVpxnmzdQ5LS17MCpCyHsSOVRxaV7I3rm-VHm4u53g/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.29.39+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oyw0oubKwTuRf4IMJUbnDdwlJfFcFk7TbcXxg-uqMiiYg0HUup7ZwsG_0Y3polZIBwIf-kE9NpZWUeiwyMb9odYnJ-SPmKeIaVpxnmzdQ5LS17MCpCyHsSOVRxaV7I3rm-VHm4u53g/s400/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.29.39+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588180403177587362" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qL8-O9NQP-Zat7EJY-A-apzuUy3X0igaSYaXJ0xyvJ9kV8ps2E1rLLXORsUfo8PfOlgZQOw6cHPJXCnamxqthieZ_CGB3X-Z0fUf_ooJKQQCauqHNWFau8Pj4CWLiH8tA3URVRj6Hw/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.29.33+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4qL8-O9NQP-Zat7EJY-A-apzuUy3X0igaSYaXJ0xyvJ9kV8ps2E1rLLXORsUfo8PfOlgZQOw6cHPJXCnamxqthieZ_CGB3X-Z0fUf_ooJKQQCauqHNWFau8Pj4CWLiH8tA3URVRj6Hw/s400/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.29.33+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588180016646376786" /></a><br /><br />I will delve into some of the technical aspects of firefox 4 on mac, one thing is that it's a 64 bit browser, with plugin isolation (but not tab isolation). It uses far more memory now (in fact, right now it is using about 650 MB of RAM, which makes me wish I had more memory in the first place- I have 2 GB). Here's a screenshot of the isolation process shown in activity monitor. I have read reviews of firefox 4, but I didn't pay attention too much to the isolation processes that firefox uses, so I won't be able to give a detailed description of how this works. The firefox plugin process is highlighted. I personally like the feel of a 64 bit browser (which is more important now that it uses so much more RAM), though at times I get messages telling me that a plugin doesn't work in 64 bit mode and requires a restart to 32 bit mode. I'm not sure whether this will be a huge problem over time, but for me it was when I was using hotmail so I just disregarded the message (I really don't like the silverlight plugin in hotmail).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDs_6aRKmrg5aNkQtFCDcn2adWGD0jPUtFC-WjY7e8he5KLzhRDxccbfTUMXSvUdtfF41lkQW-oA9wqHKRxTvDLxbLWsI3wa7HDabCTvZZJopfDUFPktXBYwH-IOkNyDeTmvVoW2BQA/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.46.38+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDs_6aRKmrg5aNkQtFCDcn2adWGD0jPUtFC-WjY7e8he5KLzhRDxccbfTUMXSvUdtfF41lkQW-oA9wqHKRxTvDLxbLWsI3wa7HDabCTvZZJopfDUFPktXBYwH-IOkNyDeTmvVoW2BQA/s400/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.46.38+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588183781718335186" /></a><br /><br />One of the more touted new features in firefox 4 (other than speed and performance upgrades) was a project originally known as "tab candy," which is a new way of tab management. An example of it is shown below. The shortcut for it (at least on the mac) is command-shift-E, and then you see this window.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-EsUml6XJMYOQSacucK3rHCThx9lbISMX7-fk8DK1IaFnQjohvRHq1vyYC1E3RgL04Z9FajeWLb5p_Q4851YHZzJQSvMWgxA7eH-bY9DqmccEB8D2v9-Df3CCnyDKbxOu06OHpfdVw/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.48.35+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-EsUml6XJMYOQSacucK3rHCThx9lbISMX7-fk8DK1IaFnQjohvRHq1vyYC1E3RgL04Z9FajeWLb5p_Q4851YHZzJQSvMWgxA7eH-bY9DqmccEB8D2v9-Df3CCnyDKbxOu06OHpfdVw/s400/Screen+shot+2011-03-25+at+8.48.35+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588184314576915746" /></a><br /><br />Some other reviewers have said that it's clunky and hard to use, but I personally like it, since I always have many, many tabs open (especially when I look for research articles). It allows me to sort through the tabs easier, though I can see how this process could be more streamlined and efficient. So basically once in the window you can rearrange tabs, make new tab groups. When a tab group is selected the other groups aren't seen. So for example if one group just has hotmail and gmail, while the other groups have yahoo and bing open and I select the first group, I will only see the tabs for hotmail and gmail, and not the tabs for yahoo and bing. I like this as I always have many windows open. By default I think every window is its own tab group. One flaw that I saw with this new system, is that when I'm in the tab management mode and I click on a tab the animation isn't exactly smooth, so I'll see block text until LI reach the actual page. Hopefully they'll fix this in the next release<br /><br />In conclusion, even though firefox uses much more memory I think it's worth it, since I gain speed and many new features. I would highly recommend this browser for those who are using firefox 3 and internet explorer, and I assume that those who use chrome and opera are diehards anyway so (jk). Over time as I use firefox 4 more maybe I might add more to this, or create a new entry altogether.<br /><br />Edit: Some additional thoughts, I miss having a reload button (there is one, but I wish there was a real icon for reload next to back/forward buttons, but I looked through the icons and it was not there). To those saying "just press control-R" I just want the choice, seeing it's not that hard to add a reload button. Also, flash seems to crash more often than before. Regarding the silverlight problem, I downloaded and installed the newest version of silverlight and I haven't had any problems it (I'm having more problems with flash now, in fact...).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-43664154901128461922011-02-21T14:11:00.005-05:002011-03-31T17:17:15.521-04:00Applecare History 4Well, I guess this is the continuation of the saga "what could break next" as part of my absense in the past month or two was due to schoolwork, and the other part due to my computer being fixed yet again. It was on January 5, 2011 my logic board had to be replaced yet again. Prior to that for some reason my computer would just turn off by itself, which was indeed perplexing (reminds me of my old IBM thinkstation, which I might add is still running after many years of service). The first time it happened I let it go, thinking it was some sort of fluke. The second time that it happened, I was just mad and just a couple hours later I was at the apple store discussing this new found problem.<br /><br />I made sure to go there as soon as possible after the problem, since I was hoping that there would be a clue in the logs. So the genius went over the logs and said there was a problem with the power rail, which was part of the logic board, and that the logic board had to be replaced yet again. He also said that the problems with the battery and power adapter should also be due to the problem with the power rail. For me one part that I disagreed with, regarding the diagnosis, was the part about the power rail being responsible for the battery and power adapter failures. I'm not sure whether he noticed this, but I got the logic board replaced just last year (so in less than a year it had been replaced twice). I also mentioned that just recently (a couple weeks ago) I reinstalled the whole operating system from scratch, and only moved back files from a time machine backup, which rules out a lot of other possible causes for the problem.<br /><br />During that time I also asked him whether a replacement was likely and he said no (he didn't mention that logic board replacement at all, perhaps I should have reminded him). I do wish that before the applecare is over (May 23), that the logic board or a main component of the computer will break. However, I am not sure how likely that is going to be. I guess I have 2 months remaining for some sort of problem to happen.<br /><br />In the end, the most aggravating part for me was when I had to wait for the computer to be fixed. He initially cited 5-7 days as the time it would take for them to fix the computer, though turns out that they took 9 days to fix it. It was during the school year as well, so I didn't have my computer for a lot of the classes in the first week. So yeah, a (somewhat) short summary of what happened for this repair. In my opinion, I would indeed say that I am using my applecare quite effectively. By the way, I hope to have more frequent entries now, though exams will be coming up soon.<br /><br />Dec 29 2008 Both fans replaced for clicking noises<br />Jun 09 2009 Battery replaced (couldn't charge up properly)<br />Oct 07 2009 Right fan looked at (made clicking noises again)<br />Feb 28 2010 Power adapter 85W replaced<br />Apr 11 2010 Logic Board Replaced<br />Jun 21 2010 Battery replaced (81.6% charge left)<br />Jan 05 2011 Logic board ReplacedUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-82269400992423189992010-12-21T22:36:00.007-05:002011-03-26T11:06:50.153-04:00How to Fully Uninstall DivX 7 (Mac)I actually just reinstalled my Mac OS X (feels a lot faster, by the way) but the thing is, I wanted to make sure all my software was up to date and in the process reinstalled divx. Previously I didn't really have a use for divx, I just installed it on a "just in case" basis, and it surely backfired on me this time.<br /><br />The version that I installed was the very latest "divx 7" and it installed an addon in firefox that COULD NOT BE REMOVED. Just like those annoying java and microsoft addons, this one could not be removed. I was furious, and it took me a while of searching to find out where all the files were (it does not come with an uninstaller, and the company doesn't have one either). So first of all I use pacifist to find out where all the files were, here's a screenshot. The files are quite diverse, and crawl through your whole system.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmq2vGNDGGtBPBPCwXRiLlWvmVsbQHfbzjOlwkO8qbV0yApQKYsuIBKIV4XM_LEbdqG6kgKMsXCf0sAsGx8Mpn0MtWv8881S9PQnQSy2o3bhimQXrSiZMB7mocrlVYkTJrzj00gJ9lLw/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-12-21+at+10.37.12+PM.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmq2vGNDGGtBPBPCwXRiLlWvmVsbQHfbzjOlwkO8qbV0yApQKYsuIBKIV4XM_LEbdqG6kgKMsXCf0sAsGx8Mpn0MtWv8881S9PQnQSy2o3bhimQXrSiZMB7mocrlVYkTJrzj00gJ9lLw/s400/Screen+shot+2010-12-21+at+10.37.12+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553346422755727730" /></a><br /><br />All of these files were in the macintosh HD directory as well, which was annoying. But, guess what? I uninstalled most of the files, except for the script (I couldn't find it), but the addon was still there! I finally got a tip from a forum, and it turns out that if you go to Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/Extensions there's a random string of numbers, and when you open it there the divx components are. I deleted it, and am now a happy camper. Good luck!<br /><br />Edit: For me then I think it was just one folder of random numbers. And I'm pretty sure I have long deleted that file so I am unable to give the exact string. And as long as you delete the files mentioned in the screenshots. So for example go to macintosh HD/library/frameworks and delete the file named "DivX Toolkit.framework," and go through the whole list deleting the files in quicktime, preference panes, etc. Just for the last highlight folder I mentioned, "scripts," you can't delete and you have to go to the extension folder I mentioned.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-83059609745456282072010-12-17T13:14:00.009-05:002011-01-16T19:03:41.655-05:00Brother HL-2170W ReviewOver time I hope to review just about every piece of hardware I own, and at this point I've made it to my Brother HL-2170W printer, which I got close to a year ago. The main reason I didn't do a review earlier is because I haven't played with the wireless/wired features until now (I've been using a USB to connect it to my computer). But now that I've actually tried those features I can give a more comprehensive review of the printer. Also note that I'm going to be presenting this review from a mac oriented perspective, since it's my primary computer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.brother.ca/ims_docs_900/47AFC27218BF2D99E1000000CD86208B.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 152px;" src="http://www.brother.ca/ims_docs_900/47AFC27218BF2D99E1000000CD86208B.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Specifications<br />I'm just going to paste them from the original brother website.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Technology</span> Mono laser<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Print Speed Black-Max (ppm)</span> 23<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Print Speed Colour-Max (ppm)</span> N/A<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Memory (MB; Std / Max) </span> 32 / 32<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Max Print Resolution </span> 2400 x 600 dpi (HQ1200)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Paper Capacity (Std / Max)</span> 250 / 250 pages<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Max. Paper Size </span> Legal (8.5" x 14")<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Print Languages </span> PCL6<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Windows® Drivers </span> WINDOWS VISTA, XP, 2000, WINDOWS SERVER 2003<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mac® Drivers </span> OS 10.2.4 +<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Duplexing </span> Manual<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Interfaces </span> USB 2.0, Ethernet, Wireless 802.11 b/g<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dimensions (cm; W x D x H)</span> 36.8 X 36.1 X 17<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Weight (Kg) </span> 6.8<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Warranty</span> 1 Year limited exchange express warranty<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Network Ready </span> Yes<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Wireless Network Ready</span> Yes<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">First page out</span> Less than 10 sec<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Warm up time</span> Less than 18 sec <br /><br />A bit more detailed specifications list<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Resolution </span>Windows HQ 1200, 600 dpi, 300 dpi (same for mac)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Processor</span> 181 mHz<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Wireless network security</span> WEP, WPA-PSK (TKIP, AES), LEAP<br />Power consumption<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Printing Average</span> 460W<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Standby Average</span> 80W<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sleep Average</span> 5W<br /><br /><br />For the main touted feature of the printer, wireless printing, I have never gotten the wireless to work (I was using Mac OS 10.6.5). The network I have uses WPA 2 (WPA-PSK), and at first I didn't know whether it was AES or TKIP, I tried both. Still hasn't worked. My goal then was to see whether it actually worked. Right now I have it working via the ethernet cable where I have it connected to the router via ethernet. My laptop is connected to the router via ethernet as well. <br /><br />It went flawlessly. All I did was connect it, and when I saw that the green light was on I went to printer and fax, in the system preferences. Went to "add printer," then under default I saw the brother printer's name, and said it was connected via Bonjour. Just note that after you connect up the printer you should go to software update, as there should be more drivers for brother printers. In fact, I recommend that you connect the printer via ethernet. Then all the computers in your network can use it, don't have to set up printer sharing, which is annoying especially between macs and PCs. Also, you wouldn't have to use overpriced USB cables (I really shouldn't have bought mine), but when I compare using USB or ethernet it gives the same experience, same speed, etc.<br /><br />One thing I realized that was important was to update the firmware. When I first got the printer every time I would open up the print dialog the printer would go into standby, which I was not happy about at all. However, with the firmware update it no longer went into standby when I opened the printer dialog, only when I told it to start printing.<br /><br />I find the printing speed to be average, it's not lightning fast but it suits my needs. One thing I had to do with the printer was covering up the holes on the drum, so that it wouldn't keep saying I was out of toner. In fact, from the time that I bought the printer to now I've printed more than 1800 pages, and I've never replaced the toner. However, if I don't cover up the holes on the sides it immediately says I don't have enough toner and doesn't let me print.<br /><br />One thing that I realized I really needed was duplexing, and as it says in the specifications there's "manual" duplexing, which is pretty DIY (do it yourself). If you first print out the odd pages, put it back into the paper tray in a specific orientation and then print even pages (or vice versa), you'll have duplexing.<br /><br />When I was trying to get the wireless to work I learned a couple of things from the manual. First of all, if you press the blue "go" button three times, it'll print out the printer settings page (which takes up three pages). I find it to be a very impressive overview. It gives you information about the resolution, sleep time, drum life, toner, total pages printer, when jams happened (at the specific page number as well). I'm just going to give a quick summary of my printer's history (just to reiterate I've had this printer for close to a year now). I've had 11 paper jams in total, 3 rear jams, 7 jams inside, 1 in the jam tray. I've printed out close to 1800 pages in the lifetime, and drum life is close to 85%. Toner it shows as 0% (but it still works). As well, if you want to enable or disable the wireless for the printer you hold the "go" button for 10 seconds. Then it'll print you a network configuration page and at the top it'll say whether the wireless is active or inactive.<br /><br />Also, about the drum, initially when I got the printer the salesperson told me that the drum was separate from the toner to reduce costs, giving an example where for HP printers where the drum was included with the toner it would cost a lot more than this brother printer's toner since it lacks the drum. However, when it's time for the drum to be replaced it can be quite costly, ranging from $100 upwards (CAD). Though, even after printing for a year I still have roughly 85% drum life, so I don't view the drum lifespan as a detriment for this printer.<br /><br />There is a pretty big power draw when the printer first starts up, and I usually can see the lights dim a little. I don't use a UPS, however, so can't give any viewpoints on that. Though, I think that the power draw is offset by the amount of time it takes to warm up. I know someone who has a samsung printer, and it takes forever to work up. For me, I don't mind about the power draw, as long as the warm up is quick.<br /><br />So, in conclusion, I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase. I might try to play around with the wireless in the future, but I'm not overly optimistic. Having an ethernet port is still pretty useful though. I think if I was given the opportunity to choose a printer I would choose one that has auto duplexing, but given its price this printer is fairly good.<br /><br />Edit: By the way, if it ever asks you for a password it's "access"<br /><br />Edit 2: I just replaced my toner after 1984 pages printed. I was somewhat sad as when it forced me to replace it the pages were still very dark, and I personally didn't see a need to replace. However, I had no choice as even with the sensor blocked it wouldn't print any more pages. However, the blackness levels are far higher now that I have a replaced toner cartridge. I later realized that the problem was that the tape that I used to cover the sensor wasn't dark enough, I used some green tape and the toner light did not come back on. However, since I had opened a new toner cartridge I guess I'll have to replace it anyway.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7351294232787028453.post-57207443427341128062010-11-30T18:31:00.003-05:002010-11-30T18:35:15.512-05:00Her?Now I find "gender debates" to be quite an interesting topic, and just now I was reading about a new Windows kernel flaw that allows the attacker to bypass UAC. Needless to say I was caught surprised by this sentence.<br /><br /><blockquote>The flaw is a privilege escalation vulnerability. Anyone who can run code on a Windows system can elevate her privileges to the highest level, and accordingly install back doors, compromise sensitive data, and so on.</blockquote><br /><br />I do not know why but reading that sentence just distracted me a moment, it made me wonder who was the hacker, since she is apparently female. On a hilarious note, many comments were used to discuss that very sentence in the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/11/newly-discovered-windows-kernel-flaw-bypasses-uac.ars?comments=1&start=0#comments-bar">comments section</a>. Happy readings.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0