Opinions, Expertise, Passion.

These instructions apply to the Novatel MC950D UMTS USB modem running under Mac OS/X 10.5 (Note these instructions do not apply to OS/X 10.4)

1. Software Installation

You first need to install the software as supplied on CD.

This will give you a Vodafone Mobile Connect folder including the Vodafone Mobile Connect application and manuals in various languages.

2. Connect your modem

Insert your data SIM card (which should be a different SIM from your mobile phone) into the modem and connect to our Mac. You should get a consistent blinking RED light.

3. Run the Connect Application

Selecting the Vodafone Mobile Connection Application you will get a program that will search for a network connection. You will prompted to enter your SIM card pin.

When an appropriate connection has been made, your modem should now have blinking GREEN light in intervals of 3.

You need to select the [Activate] Button at the bottom right of the window.
Your modem will now have a blinking GREEN light in intervals of 2.

Select the Support tab will provide some technical details of the modem and OS.

4. Getting a Network Connection

Open System Preferences then select Network.

Click the [+] button to add a new network type.

Select from the dropdown list the Interface Notavel and give the service an appropriate name. NOTE: It does not appear you can change the name at a later time.
Click the [Create] button.

Now back on the Network page, click the [Advanced] Button to change settings.

Select the WWAN tab. Select the Vendor Notavel from the supplied list.

NOTE: When selecting a different Vendor the Model list does not change. You need to Select [Ok] then [Apply] and then re-enter the WWAN panel.

Selecting the Model GSM you will be prompted with two additional fields. Enter WEB.VODAFONE.DE in the APN field (This is very important).

Select the DNS tab. No changes should be necessary. This should remain empty.

Select the WINS tab. No changes should be necessary. This should contain the NetBios Name entered, other fields empty.

Select the Proxies tab. No changes should be necessary.

Select the PPP tab. No changes should be necessary.

5. Making the connection

You are now ready to go.

Click the shiny [Connect] button. If all goes well you should end up with a connection.

6. Checking Settings

Following a successful connection, the [DNS] tab shows updated information.

Today I needed to visit a medical specialist for collection of something. I had to pay $250 as my insurance did not cover. I sent a check as requested however today they had not record of receipt. Not wanting to write a second check and then find they cash both, I logged onto my online banking right there with my iPhone (miracle I could remember my login and password as all important logins like this are different and normally I need my notes) and I’m able to confirm deposit and even view a scanned copy of the check. Confirming the date they are still unable to find. I’m able to use an office computer and print out this confirmation to show them proof of payment.

The technology of the iPhone and the thoroughness of my bank online check verification solved the hassle, simplified the confirmation and greatly reduced the stress of the situation. At T-2 days the technology worked and I was most grateful.

To change the Hostname under Mac OS/X 10.5

$ sudo scutil --set HostName servername.example.com

Some 9 months ago I left my noise canceling headphones on a plane. Since then I’ve though I’d just self suffer for my carelessness, and I’d decided the next set I would buy would be Bose. The problem is, Bose make two brands, The over ear 2 model and the on ear 3 model. I could never decide which one to order without first trying. They do offer a return policy but that’s just more hassle.

So eventually I get to the Bose store in the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle, try them both, can’t really decide either way and settle for the over ear 2. Some facts in my decision is basically the case is the same size, the 2 model has a recharger, while the 3 uses AAA batteries.

I then head of the the NY apple store for some smaller purchases, and I notice that all the sample headphones for the iPods are Bose. You can even buy them there. So treking across NY in the rain could have been easier?

In other Apple news, the MacBook Air is not as light as I would have thought, being 3 pounds, still it’s a cool geek thing and I was tempted even though I’d just just purchased my own Macbook recently. And of course they released a new macbook yesterday as well. Go figure.

I read yesterday in The Wall Street Journal an interesting article in Personal Technology, “Solid-state drives challenge hard drives in speed, but not value”. While the title does sum up nothing new, the barrier to entry to embracing new technology is always cost, and early adopters may not have deeper pockets, but it’s also about being a alpha geek.

As the article states “Solid-state drives have some key advantages. Because that lack moving parts, they are faster, draw less power, and harder to damage and are quieter”. It also backed this up with some results.

What I did not realize, is the new MacBook Air has a 80GB HHD version at $1,799 and as 64G SSD version at $2,798. Testing showed that there was little difference in battery life between these models, however with the Toshiba Portege R500 and the right battery there was a 36% battery life increase. That’s interesting news for those that spend a lot of time on planes,trains and airports. Tests clearly showed faster cold startup and reboots, up to 40% faster.

Kevin Burton has had a lot to say recently about MySQL and SSD, and Matt Yonkovit has also just published some results with Mtron SSD Sysbench/MySQL results, DBT2 MySQL SSD Results and More Details on MySQL & SSD drive performance…. It seems that Mtron SSD was the brand reviewed by Matt and Kevin (See 24 Hours with an SSD and MySQL).

Where do we go from here, MySQL as with any database has certain characteristics, large amounts of storage needed, fastest access possible, but generally sequential and random writes, but random reads. Certain MySQL storage engines may benefit with sequential writes, such as PBXT. As with any architecture today, multiple layers, caching and different approaches to storing and retrieving data within your application or website will ultimately be required to maximum the strengths of underlying technologies and minimize the weaknesses.

More information at Wikipedia Solid State Drives.

Seems Mac OS/X has not escaped the unnecessary annoyances of Windows. Below are details to unstall a product on my MacBook, following it crashing my machine a few times with the “blue screen on death” below.

Eye TV Lite is the software that comes with the Pinnacle TV line of products for the Apple Mac.

To completely uninstall the EyeTV Lite software and it associated files, please follow the steps below.

1.      Drag the EyeTV Lite application from the Application folder to the trash.

a.       Open Finder

b.      Select Applications

c.       Select EyeTV Lite and drab it to the trash

2.      Using Finder, move the following files to the trash.

Below is a list of the files that need to be removed and their function.  Below that is the location of the files. 

com.elgato.eyetv.plist - stores the preferences and there are 2 copies on the hard drive

EyeTV Helper - assits with USB/FireWire issues

com.elgato.eyetv.devices.plist – preference file related to the available devices

com.elgato.eyetv.world.plist - preference file related to the channel lists

Wakein - assists EyeTV Lite with waking/booting to record

EyeTVEPG.db - EPG data is stored in this file

EyeTV Archive - contains all of your recordings and scheduled programs

EyeTVClassicDontSeize.kext – All of the kernel extension files .kext are to prevent the Mac OS X from attempting to talk to TV devices that can appear as generic USB audio class or HID class devices before the actual firmware has been uploaded to them.

EyeTVAfaTechHidBlock.kext – same as above

            EyeTVEmpiaAudioBlock.kext – same as above

Drag these files from the location listed to the trash using Finder

/Users/(username)/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.plist

 

/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.plist

/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.devices.plist

/Library/Preferences/com.elgato.eyetv.world.plist

 

/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/EyeTV Helper

/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/Wakein

/Library/Application Support/EyeTV/EyeTVEPG.db

 

/Users/(username)/Library/EyeTV Archive/

 

/System/Library/Extensions/EyeTVClassicDontSeize.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/EyeTVAfaTechHidBlock.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/EyeTVEmpiaAudioBlock.kext

NOTE 1:  If you erase the EyeTV preference files, then any activation key you may have will need to be re-entered.

NOTE 2:  The files with the extention .kext can only be erased with root/superuser access. Also, to erase EyeTV Helper, you first have to quit it by using the Process Viewer or Activity Monitor.

Reference

I’m being able to spend more time using my MacBook finally. The following are some essential tools I needed to install.

• Firefox - Browser
• Skype - Chat, Voice Calling
• Colloquy - IRC Chat
• VLC - Media Player for xVid
• Mac the Ripper - DVD Extractor
• Parallels - Virtualization for Windows XP

There are many things I’m coming to grip with on my new MacBook. One is missing buttons on the screen, like Page Up, Page Down and PrntSc.

Well I at least found out from Eric that I can get Print Screen with the following keyboard syntax.

Command-shift-4 then space then mouse click

Time to install MySQL on my new MacBook.

$ cd /opt
$ wget http://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-5.0/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686.tar.gz/from/http://mysql.mirrors.hoobly.com/
$ tar xvfz mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686.tar.gz
$ cd mysql-5.0.45-ox10.4-i686
$ scripts/mysql_install_db
Installing MySQL system tables...
071129 22:10:48 [Warning] Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/ is case insensitive
OK
Filling help tables…
071129 22:10:48 [Warning] Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/ is case insensitive
OK

bin/mysqld_safe &
[1] 239
macbook:mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686 rbradfor$ chown: /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/macbook.err: Operation not permitted
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data

$ bin/mysqladmin -uroot password ’sakila’
$ bin/mysql -uroot -psakila -e “SELECT VERSION()”
$ bin/mysqladmin -uroot -psakila shutdown

It was interesting that these normal steps under Linux provided two errors not normally seen.

1. Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/ is case insensitive

2. chown: /opt/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-i686/data/macbook.err: Operation not permitted

The first is interesting, is Mac like Windows in that sense? I’ll need to check that out.
The second occurs every time I start MySQL which is also intriguing, but for now doesn’t affect MySQL operation. It’s interesting that the permissions of the error file is the same as the user running it, so go figure.

I discovered a bug on my iPhone. The issue was around Daylight saving. Thanks to Dock I was able to take screenshots which was much better then photos.

In Calendar when you select 1am on the scrollers, you get 1am as the start time. When you select 2am, the start time goes to 1am. When you select 3am, it goes to 3am as expected.

I installed Dock on my iPhone and it gave a very handy and wanted Screen Shot function. So now I can show my present iPhone screen. It looks like:

Apart from the obvious differences of different and more icons, I have by background behind icons, and I’ve turned off the text, so you need to know the icon means. Still, it’s wicked cool.

I arrived home last night at midnight from San Francisco to a pile of mail and a number of packages. My shiny new MacBook had arrived. It was rather ridiculous that I wanted a HDD upgrade and I could no buy it in the store. They come with 160GB and have only one upgrade option to 250GB.

Nevertheless, I’m now trying to familiarize myself with Mac OS/X 10.5 (Leopard) which is rather foreign as I’ve never used a MacBook before.

So what was my motivations? After Hacking my iPhone I wanted to do more, and even try and write an app, so I needed a Mac OS. I actually wanted a MacBook when I first joined MySQL last year, but my request was not approved (”You have to be able to run Windows” was the response, and yes I told them it can run windows).

Combined with a my Q3 Bonus, I just had to have one. This has been a number of significant purchases in recent months, an iPhone and a Canon 40D. All I need now is a girlfriend and my bank balance will be in more serious trouble.

I’ve finally taken the plunge after wanting to for some time. This is what I did, all steps are from using the iPhone directly, no computer required.

NOTE: I can’t take responsibility for anything that happens to your iPhone. As the warning for the installer program states, “This software comes with absolutely no warranty of any kind. If it should cause any harm to your iPhone or data, we shall not be held responsible.”. That said, there are instructions to Virginizing your iPhone to 1.0.2. So if you ever had to return the phone to Apple you would need to do this first.

Part 1. The Installer
NOTE: This only works if your Phone has firmware Version 1.1.1. If you have the iTunes button you have 1.1.1 (as at 01-Nov-2007). You can find our your Version by going Settings -> General -> About and look for the Version value.

1. Disable Keyboard Passcode Lock if enabled (Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock -> Off), Disable auto-lock (Settings -> General -> Auto-Lock -> Never), enable Wi-Fi (Settings -> Wi-Fi -> On) and get connected to a wireless network (Settings -> Wi-Fi -> Join Network)
2. Using Safari Browser, goto http://jailbreakme.com/.
3. Click on Install AppSnap link. The phone will appear to do nothing before it returns to the initial screen, with Slide to Unlock. (It took less then a minute for my iPhone to go back to Slide to unlock, other notes indicate up to 5 mins)
4. Slide to unlock. You will see a new icon called Installer. (Don’t click it yet)
5. Power off your phone, and power back on. (I’m uncertain how long this will take, as I did it slightly different, but don’t be alarmed if it takes at least 15 minutes this first time, as that what it took for me.

Note: At step 4 I selected the Installer button (it asked me to Update, which I did). This was bad idea, it went to Downloading package and never recovered after 5 minutes. I needed to do a reboot via holding down menu button. Click on the Installer button again, and it simply doesn’t start properly, going back to the main page. Turning off via power button freezes as well. After 5 minutes, tried holding down first the menu button, then the power button, no luck. Froze on the shutdown spinning icon for at least 15 mins.

Part 2. The Necessary Programs

You can now install the following programs when selecting Installer. Note: after each installation it will go back to the initial slide to unlock screen.
Note also the initial order, in particular the first 3 are important.

6. Installer -> System -> BSD Subsystem (Version 1.5, 6.6 M)
7. Installer -> Sources -> Community Sources (Version 3.0, 165 bytes) Update This happens automatically now.
8. Installer -> System -> OpenSSH (Version 4.6p1-1, 696k)
9. Installer -> System -> Term-vt100 (Version svn198, 81k)
10. Installer -> Package -> Summerboard (Version 3.0a11, 693k)

This then gave me access to SSH to my phone, SSH out to the big bad world, and ability to have different themes, changing the look and feel, see Summerboard themes for example.

Part 3. The fun applications.

I installed to start with the following application, you should choose what you like.

Installer -> Games -> Sudoku (Version 1.0-1, Size 24k)
Installer -> Utilties -> Erica’s Utilities (0.36, 42k)
Installer -> Utilities -> Erica’s iPhone Utils (0.06, 12k)
Installer -> Utilites -> Erica’s Ported Utils (0.06, 2.5M)
Installer -> Multimedia -> VoiceNotes (0.21, 60k)
Installer -> Productivity -> Crosswalk (1.01, 362k)

Practically everything is from www.modmyifone.com. Many references available online helped including here. Thanks James for the demo and points to success.

Some darn wicked stuff.

One of the cool things, being able to save Call History, SMS messages and Notes. Did via SSH with the following commands:

PATH=/var/root/bin:$PATH;export PATH
sqlite3 -line /private/var/root/Library/SMS/sms.db 'select address,text from message;'
sqlite3 -line /private/var/root/Library/Notes/notes.db 'select data from note_bodies;' | sed "s/^.*data = //"
sqlite3 -line /private/var/root/Library/CallHistory/call_history.db 'select "* " || address || " (" || ((duration/60)+1) || "  minutes)" from call;' | sed "s/^.*= //"

I really don’t like the backquote character (`). This is primarily due to it’s use by MySQL in internal and community tools.
MySQL allows objects, .e.g table names, column names etc to contain both reserved words and spaces, providing they are appropriately surrounded by backquotes, so tools now simply enclose everything with backquotes. Really annoying.

Last week while on a client site I was told a funny story. The CEO of a company bought an iPhone however was unable to use it at work due to the WEP key for the Wireless access in his organization includes a backquote. I’ve confirmed it, the iPhone keyboard does not have a backquote key. So now, because he is the CEO, everybody will have to change their Wireless WEP key just because of the iPhone.

But it gets better. Around midnight last Saturday between Slate Plus (for Dinner & Pool) and going down to SOHO for more drinks, Farhan had to change a cron job. As his battery was running low, he was trying to find it, you guessed it, the backquote character on his OQO. Just lucky it’s Windoze and if you can find the character map application, you can insert the character.
Rob and Michelle were on hand, and with my new EOS 40D and 50mm 1.4f lens I was able to take a series of photos without flash and without alerting my unsuspecting subjects.

Today I got back home to my iPhone bill. Lucky for me it was only 15 pages long. Rather stupid, but this news has been circulating for a few days. You can read More Google News stories including creative titles like “How many trees did your iPhone bill kill?”, “A 300-page iPhone Bill?” and “iPhone: The 800-Pound Gorilla Spawns a 300-Page Bill”. Not only did they waste trees, but I read one article stating it cost AT&T $7 in postage for one bill.

The present news is that the only way AT&T will address this is if you accept to get a paperless bill. How stupid, how about they just not print every data transfer, it’s not like you can actually get on a data plan that’s not unlimited anyway.