greg818's Profile

The pinnacle of web design

Thanks to 5Bunnies (a.k.a Fripplebubby), I've been reading the oatmeal for quite some time now, and there's a post I came across a few days back. Well, okay, I mean, already seen poorly designed sites that don't let you find anything, particularly Flash ones...

And then, today, I'm trying to find a menu for a restaurant. So humor me, try to find the menu, but time yourself from the moment you click the link. I'm curious, is that me? Or this site poorly designed? My not good enough english doesn't help...

Though, aesthetically, it's nice, but... that's it.

iPhone Tethering (3Gs)

Just yesterday, I noticed that iTunes was offering an uptade for the carrier settings, at first I didn't want to update, because I'll admit it, it's... Jailbroken. But then I realized it's just the carrier settings, so, let's do that. Never really know what happens in this little black box when there's this kind of upgrade... Then this morning, I just saw (don't ask me how or why I came this far in the menus, I really have no answer) that I had the "Internet tethering"option that just appeared!

Internet tethering option menu

Well, anyway, just tried it, it works, but there's not informations about how much data is used, how much client are using it... but darn, it works, it's such a trivial thing and yet I'm happy, so just wanted to share the good news.

It can be shared over bluetooth or USB, the bluetooth route requires pairing, and it's a bit weird with Macs, because it doesn't work at the first try (had to try for times on the iMac...), but in the end, it works.

Pairing

Like I said earlier, there's no display other than just "internet tethering" on top of the screen. I'd have appreciated at least the total amount of data for the session and the number of clients tethered...

Tethered device

So if you guys see a carrier settings update, have no fear, might be good for you (for a change).

By the way, I'm running iOS4.2.1 (and no, I have no slow downs so far).

Macs and SSDs: good surprise for me

For a while, I was wondering if replacing the HDD of a Mac with an SSD would be wise, knowing the grey area surrounding the trim support, that would be nice for some time, then things could go very bad. As I'm not an IT savvy, I wasn't really sure what to check before going for an SSD, the only thing I though I knew was that I should wait for trim support. But I actually found that it wasn't necessary with Mac OS. I also read here and there about Garbage collection, but don't really understand the relation with SSDs.

Anyhow, I decided what the hell, go for an SSD and hope for the best. So I got an Intel X25-M SSD 120GB 34 nm (mainstream SSD) for my MacBook Pro. I made a clean install of OS X 10.6.5 and copied part of my files from the TimeMachine backups (I have 200GB worth of music). The battery life before was between 8 to 10 hours depending on the workload (and could go as low as 5 hours easily), and now, with the SSD, it easy to go up to 12 hours!

But it's not really the reason why I wanted an SSD, even if it's nice to know that I have a better battery life, and an absolutely silent computer isn't a bad thing either, but the speed is the first reason people choose this kind of storage. And, I have to admit, my mind was completely blown. The boot time for the HDD (Western Digital scorpio blue 500GB, mainstream HDD), was around 40 seconds. For the record, by boot time I mean the time it take from the apparition spinning wheel (when it actually begins to load the OS), to the desktop, including mounting all the network drives. By the way, for both tests, I activated the auto login. The SSD roughly take 4 seconds!
But the first boots are never so fast. I consider a first boot every boot that happen right after a major update, for instance, I had an update right after installing (can't remember which one), it took longer, but not even 10 seconds though.
For applications launch, it's not such a blast. Some apps don't launch much faster (Microsoft office for instance), some apps tend to hang a bit on closing, like mail. I never noticed this kind of behavior with HDDs, but probably because everything is much longer. One other thing worth being noted is that it now takes longer to shut the computer down. Usually it's almost instant, now it take almost longer than booting.

I also tinkered a bit with OS X to preserve both the SSD speed and lifespan. For instance, I deactivated atime, to decrease the amount a write to the drive (each time a file or directory is accessed, there's a write of the last access time). For those who might be interested, it just consists on adding a .plist file to /Library/LaunchDeamons to activated noamite.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"

"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<dict>

<key>Label</key>

<string>com.nullvision.noatime</string>

<key>ProgramArguments</key>

<array>

<string>mount</string>

<string>noatime</string>

</array>

<key>RunAtLoad</key>

<true/>

</dict>

</plist>

Next thing, as my drive is relatively some (120GB) and compared to that, the amount of RAM is that small (8GB), I deactivated the full memory swap that happens on sleep, sparing me 8GB on the drive. To do so, I just went to the terminal and:

pmset -a hibernate 0 rm

  /var/vm/sleepimage

Then, the image file, located in the /var/vm folder, should disappear, freeing the 8GB on the drive.

A few other things could be done to preserve both speed and life span, like moving tempary folders to the RAM, but this can actually stall the shut down process, hanging the computer for some time, while some processes are hanging. So, I didn't do anything more. But I think it's already enough. At least for now.

If any of you did anything else, I'd be happy to know. Also if you have feedback on OS X and SSDs, that would be nice too, especially for long time users.

Edit: Freaking <code> tag don't want to work!

NVIDIA/Intel settlement regarding chipsets: Good news for Apple

Full article at ars technica.

The licensing dispute that has prevented NVIDIA from building controller chips for Intel's latest CPUs may finally be coming to a close. Late last week, a Bloomberg report cited inside sources that claim the two companies are in talks to settle the matter out of court. While both Intel and NVIDIA would benefit from a settlement—for instance, by avoiding legal fees for protracted litigation—Apple also stands to gain.

The whole brouhaha started early last year when Intel sued NVIDIA, claiming the chipset licensing agreement between the two companies does not allow NVIDIA to make chipsets for Intel CPUs that include an integrated memory controller. Intel moved to an integrated memory controller with its Nehalem architecture, including the Core i-series processors. This move effectively shut NVIDIA out of the chipset market for most future Intel CPUs.

This is kind of a good news for Apple, as the Core 2 Duo they had to use because of the chipset limitations is beginning to get old. The brand new MacBook Air might even feel very slow in the next months if nVidia and Intel can reach an agreement in the coming weeks. Let's hope it won't take years to settle this.

The Apple-o-mobile, or Brabus SV12 R800

In the world of computers, there are all computer manufacturers, and a there's Apple. Not that Apple is better or worse, but it's... special. Sometimes considered as luxury computers, sometimes just as over rated, overpriced. But it's not like other computers.
And, in the world of cars, there are all car manufacturers, and there's Mercedes-Benz. Not that Mercedes is any better or worse, but a bit different. Different because, there's (virtually) nothing you want that Mercedes or AMG - their "sports" division - can't do. Wether you want you want red crocodile skin on your seats, or a fridge in your armrests, or even a coffee maker - or churros frier - for the back seats, or just double the power under the hood (the "standard" S65AMG features a 6.0L V12 bi-turbo with 612hp and 1,000N.m of torque), it's just mundane for AMG.
But still, some people think it's not enough, not enough power, not enough personal, just not enough. So there are also some tuners for such exotic cars, one of them, Brabus, specialized in tuning, customizing Mercedes, and their other brands, Smart and Maybach.

So the one I wanted to show you is a special version of the Mercedes S class, the full size luxury sedan by Mercedes. Its name, or her name, is Brabus SV12R. It's based on the Mercedes S600L, the long version of the S class, that has a 5.5L bi-turbo V12, already boasting a 500+hp. But for some people, it's definitely not enough. And for those, Brabus made the SV12R. It has a revised 6.3L with 800hp (SAE), hence the name of this particular one "SV12 R800". Let's just peek at the numbers:

6.3L V12 bi-turbo
588 kW @ 5,500 rpm (800 hp SAE)
1,400 N.m @ 2,100 rpm (1,047lb-ft)
top speed 350 km/h (217MPH) electronically limited
0 - 100 km/h (0-62MPH): 3.9 s
0 - 200 km/h (0-124MPH): 10.3 s

Brabus SV12R

And, of course, it comes with the same standard equipments the vulgar S class already has, like triple zone A/C, HDD based navigation with dual-view screen (you don't see the same thing from the passenger seat and the driver seat), wheel mounted radio/navigation/phone/cruise controls, keyless entry/go, auto on-off headlamps and windshield whippers, distance adaptive cruise control, IR night vision, heated/cooled/vented rear seats with massage function ...

But what you guys might find interesting is what is available from the back seats. And it's an all Apple based entertainment system, featuring:

two iPads (can be put away in the rear armrest), with two docks and Apple wireless aluminum keyboards
a Mac Mini (hidden in a drawer in the trunk) with the wireless keyboard and mouse, of course
an iPod/iPhone dock on the centre

There's also a special iPhone/Pad/Pod app to remotely controle some of the features of the car, like the ambient lightning, ceiling screen, trunk drawer, Mac state of power...

Brabus SV12R

I'd never imagine a car manufacturer could put so much power under the hood, and still put so much electronics too. And of course, it's just a base version, you can still personalize if you think it's too common.

That's one wicked car!

13" MacBook (late '08) with supposedly unsupported 8GB of RAM

The late '08 MBU (aluminum) was supposed to support up to 4GB of Ram. Ok, 4GB with OS X is quite a nice amount of RAM, enough for what I do. But, sometimes when doing some heavy stuff (e.g. iMovie with HD vids, Photoshop with a few images with a fair amount of layers...), the computer tends to slow down, especially if there's Safari opened for a while with a bunch of tabs...

So, as I had these four 4GB sticks of RAM (meant to go in the iMac), I decided to test if the myth of the unsupported 8GB of RAM (inducing many crashes) was true, or not.

Turns out, it's not.

After swapping the sticks (by the way, the operation took 3min35sec, not 10-20 minutes like I read on many sites...), I booted, expecting some kind of unusual chime. Nothing, it boot, twice slower than usually, but still, no crash. At first, the MBU was pretty slow. After a while, everything went back to normal. So I decided to "populate" all the available RAM. Just to be sure. So I just opened LightRoom, Photoshop with maybe 100 12MP photos, a few (20) tabs in Safari, iPhoto, iMovie (with a 20minutes full HD project), GoogleEarth... I reached 7.2GB used... used to computer until the battery was drained. Not even a single glitch.

So, one can assume that Snow Leopard fixed the troubles with the greater than 4GB of memory.

By the way, I noticed an unexpectable improvement: better battery life! After about 20 minutes of light web browsing, only three tabs (and Flash disabled :-D), I had a expectable battery life of about 5 hours. Usually, even if it ends up better, I don't ever see better than 3:56 (yes, this one in particular).

Battery life

Also, it might worth being noted, it's a C2D 2.4GHz. But I guess it doesn't depend on the CPU.

Preview and review of a DasKeyboard model S professional silent

Hi everyone,

About a week ago, I was looking for a new (mechanical) keyboard, and the one I chose is the Metadot daskeyboard model S professional silent. I chose this one because I wanted a keyboard with Cherry MX switches, non clicky switches (mainly because the clicky sound is just driving me crazy after several hours of typing). So knowing that, I knew I needed Cherry MX brown switches (tactile but non clicky). So I didn't have a lot of choice (the other choices being the Scorpio M10 and the Filco FKBN104M/EB). There was also Alps switches, but the design didn't look as elegant as the Cherry one. And of course the original design of the Model M from IBM, with the Unicomp, but only available on the ugliest keyboards ever.

So, the choice being made, I order the professional silent, with the extra Mac/Linux keycaps (when I ordered it it wasn't meant to be only on the iMac). While I'm on the topic, using this keyboard (like any other Windows keyboard) on a Mac is just a pain is the ***. The option and command key are swapped, option being just beside the space bar, and command... on the other side obviously. Just that little thing drives me crazy when I'm typing a report in LaTeX, for instance while trying to cmd+C/V, and it just displays me "ç√" instaed (I just did it again). and while using some other shortcuts involving cmd or option... I just got to get used to it.

Anyway, past that swap, and the lack of the usual shortcut on the F keys (especially brightness control, that has no substitute, unlike exposé, dashboard...), that's an incredibly great feeling. Surprisingly, it requires less force to depress a key than a membrane keyboard (it's about the same force as a MacBook alu, maybe even less. The tactile feedback is not that tactile, compared to a model M (at least from what I can remember) it also requires less force to depress the key, and it feels smoother (but probably because the one I used hasn't been used in the best conditions). The sound of the keys bottoming out is just awesome! I love it, I'd like to type again and again and again just to hear this sound. I love it, I think it's a very relaxing sound. But something weird: all the keys don't sound the same, especially the backspace key that is much louder that the other ones, probably to make you feel ashamed! Another interesting fact is that keys don't all require the same for to be depressed, for instance, the upper row requires about .45N until actuation, and the lower row (lower row of letter or space bar lower row, I don't know) requires about .60N.

For a longer story, more details (to come), photos, and a video comparing the sound of the Apple aluminum keyboard and Das model S : here. That's still a draft, and I still need a little more time to get used to use the tactile feedback (for now I just hit the key until they bottom out, but it's not as hard as it was when I began with the board.

Edit: Note that on the video the background music is about he same volume with both boards.

No computers policy in some restaurants/coffee shops

For me, Starbucks goes along with glowing Apples, I just can't imagine going to Starbucks without my MacBook. I assume many people here feel the same way, I don't mean you'd go with my MacBook, but that you couldn't go to your local coffee shop without your beloved laptop/tablet. Whether it is to check my emails or read a piece of news (or Tested.com), I like to have my computer with me when I'm on a break at a Starbucks. And Starbucks has even been promoting its "free" WiFi for some years now, just to drag a few people in their shops. So, untli now, I always thought: coffee shop=latop+WiFi.
But, it appears I'm completely wrong! Some coffee shops and restaurants banned any kind of computers, including the iPad, and even the kindle. Nick Bilton, NY Times, experienced some trouble using his kindle and iPad in these places.
So, I was wondering, did you ever witnessed something like that? What would you do in such a situation? Personally, I wouldn't set a foot in such a place (frankly, what kind of a cave-shop could ban computers?), but if it wasn't clearly written in front of the shop, I'd ask for a refund and leave right away...

I can understand, that for whatever obscure reason some people don't like computers, so they don't want it near them, but don't open a restaurant or any kind of shop where people are supposed to come to spend some time seating...

iPhone 3Gs with moods?

Ok, so, here's something new:
This morning, during a meeting, I was standing in front of everybody (20+ people), and while I was talking, I heard some music, really quiet, like it was coming from the other end of the room, then, I noticed, everybody was staring at me. And that's not usual. Usually, half the people just don't care, and are here because their boss told them to intend the meeting... so they have their laptop, reeding emails, or do whatever else they want but listening to what I have to say. But this time, everybody was just listening to me.
So, I thought "wow, I'm beginning to be a great orator or what?". And actually, it was more "what"... The music wasn't coming from the other end of the room, but from my pants... I don't know why but the iPhone just started to play a song (that wasn't even supposed to be on it). So when I realized that, I was pretty embarrassed "Sorry, don't know why it's playing a song... upgrade to IOS4!", so everybody laughed and... went back to... not listening.

So here's the fact: the iPhone played a random song, while the iPod app wasn't even launched (didn't appear in the muslitask listing), and I didn't even transferred the particular song it was playing, to the iPhone (I manually manage music and videos).