Archives from posts to the Home Page ...

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Saturday, October 24, 2009  

Thought for the day: new security updates and hotmail pop3 access

Apple has just released new Software Updates that have a very strong focus on security issues [These are important so go to the blue Apple top left of your screen and choose same to install or get same directly]

For those of you hooked into a free hotmail account long ago or currently, and you're frustrated by the limitations compared to Gmail or Yahoo, then Microsoft announced today the implementation of pop3 access. It's just for a few select countries so far, but this augers well for the future. If you need it right away it's apparently useable if you switch countries.

posted by Donald  # 5:13 PM

 

Recovering from data loss

For years now it's always been a real effort to encourage and train folk in the techniques to backup data, while knowing that the greatest losses occur not from hardware failure, but from human error involving often just one file. So when Leopard [OSX 10.5] was released sometime ago it was it's Time Machine backup system that excited me and I've been learning to trust and promote it to make all our lives easier ever since.

A part of my plans for this site is to publish softwares I come across that define the computer experience in terms of time saved and ease of use - ways to lower stress! And Time Machine is going to feature!

So... at the end of a busy day today I was delighted to get this email...

At 7:04 PM +1300 18/12/08, Georgie Tolmay of Cabin Fever [graphic design for print and the web] wrote:

Just thought I'd tell you that I discovered the joys of Time Machine today.  Accidentally deleted a major job last week without realizing I did it.

Looked for it this morning and couldn't find the *%&(*^.   Cripes!  HELP!

Ah - but not to worry - just travel back in time, find the date of the accident and then get the file.

Awesome!

"Save early and often" ~ Al Kapone

posted by Donald  # 5:09 PM

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Friday, April 24, 2009  

Being un-lost in Donald's iPhone

As promised here is a bit of an overview of the iPhones mapping capability in the backwoods of Wanaka. As an on-going comment though what is significant is that having had my phone for a few days now I've not made nor received a phone call. No I don't feel unloved [No really... no. 021 539 859], this illustrates the versatility, depth and richness of goodies, and that my inner geek will be fully engaged for sometime not talking!

Last week I climbed Rocky Top near Glendhu Bay and on the easy part of the track I turned on my Location Services.

From the main window: Settings/General/, then back to the Home window where I clicked Maps...


Walking, as I was amongst bluffs and 20 Kms approx. from Wanaka, and thus on the fringe of cell coverage, for sometime all I saw was this dot - apparently myself. This I established by "dropping a pin" on the screen [in GPS speak the iPhone equivalent of setting a Waypoint], and as time went by the distance between them kept increasing. No map layer appeared underneath though, which I put down to the flaky coverage...


Then I got an expanding and sometimes contracting ring - I figured [rightly as it turned out] that this was symbolic of accuracy - the tighter the better]...


Then when coverage got better the satellite layer appeared underneath [double tapping = zooming in]. The red pin is my "dropped" waypoint, green my home/office back in Wanaka [screen shot taken back at the office - hence the ring around green]...


From this point I could toogle to hybrid or map view. Here is the latter...

Next came the crunch test: I attempted to use the device to navigate, as I would from my Garmin Etrex, from waypoint to waypoint on the hill - in this case approx. 2 Km apart. This it failed to do, but did offer two things: details of the road route nearby in relation to Glendhu camping ground, and notification that walking view was compromised and would not work. Considering that some handheld GPS units can fool you into thinking they're getting you there, which can be dangerously misleading, I thought this advice was very good and responsible.

At this point I'm assuming the GPS side of things is driven mainly by cell phone tower triangulation, with limited satellite acquisitions. Also on the "to do" list is to find out if I can establish reference points such as latitude and longitude without launching the iPhone's web browser, or Maps/Google Maps, the other dedicated web browser onboard.

And back home should I wish to retrace my route to at least the car park...

In the upcoming version 3 of the iPhone's Operating System X, I'm guessing these instructions will be spoken.

Obviously the Map view is going to be useful even in rural localities - well anywhere there are roads and/or coverage really, but if we compare it to an outdoors GPS it won't score well, however many of the real thing don't operate very well in our NZ mountains and bush anyway [it's potentially highly dangerous to assume they will, just as it's foolish to expect a cell phone to function as an emergency resource].

Lastly and what a time saving feature it is, if you don't know where you are, then using Directions you just type in where you want to go e.g Paradiso Wanaka, and as the starting point default is your current position the directions are generated on that basis.

My next post will probably be on the painless and inexpensive syncing I've set up of iCal on the phone with iCal on my Mac. Already this is a huge boon.... updated and new diary entries at either end are "pushed" to the other. No cables, no wireless hook up, no bluetooth etc, and no clicking syncing buttons in iTunes. It just happens in a timely manner!

PS, obviously I've figured out how to do a screen shot in the phone - how cool and handy is that!

posted by Donald  # 12:27 PM

 

More iPhone fun - this time the camera

Last night I did an evening ascent of Rocky Top [near Glendhu Bay, Wanaka]. The iPhone was not really the reason, but I enjoyed trying the camera in an environment I know and also the GPS/Maps [more on this later]

Mt Aspiring photo made on the new iPhone in the low light of late dusk...


The same shot a few minutes later made on my primary camera [8 Mp if I recall]...


The observant photographer will note the colour differences and the fuzzy tussocks in the left foreground. All-in-all though I am impressed with the iPhone's camera - it's going to be quite useful. Yet another thing to add onto my list of very practical things all in one package! However on the descent darkness overtook me in the bush, and my old cell phone was a handy resource for lighting the way - not so the iPhone. Obviously this speaks for a good battery life, but interestingly the screen seems brighter than my old one. A local opossum seemed impressed too - took one look, then a second and scurried off!

posted by Donald  # 12:27 PM

 

Thought for today - new iPhone follies and thrills

I have to confess to being a bit of a luddite, but recently it was time to "bite the bullet" and upgrade from my 3-4 yr old cell phone. What I really liked about it was the shape and how I could tether it to my MacBook with bluetooth and do email on the road.

But times change, and while I can't "tether" my new iPhone [well not yet, but I'm sure it'll come], my plan has been to not carry a laptop so often, doing my mail on the iPhone. I've not been disappointed!

I got off to a bad start not understanding how to insert my old Sim card but a web search soon dealt to that. Next came the setting up of an iTunes account... frustration reigned in the midst of what I was beginning to think of the iPhone OS: brilliant, different, practical and awesome! The problem was the reg. requirements for me to state which suburb I live in. I've struck this before and sometimes it's best to state Central Otago as the city and Wanaka as the suburb, but not this time. So on the phone [land line] to Apple Support in Aust. and.... well it was good - we got there sooner rather than later!

And, the shape: it fits perfectly in my self imposed cell phone pocket so I'm a happy camper! The rest of the experience has been staggeringly great. The interface is just so practical - I should have upgraded the moment this model phone appeared!

24 hours later I'm still gaily syncing it with everything I can think of and am no where near my 8Gb limit. Why I've even loaded a new wallpaper, and this is not my usual behaviour, to be so playful with the likes of a phone.

Spit Island in Fiordland, the most remote and most beautiful beach I've ever seen...

posted by Donald  # 12:26 PM

 

New iPhone for Donald

Looks like my new iPhone will arrive tomorrow. But what I really want to share is that there is strong chance the next incarnation of the iPhone operating system maybe released today under the moniker of version 3.

Apart from this I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy having yet another computer - this one of considerable power, in my pocket all the time. It's going to be interesting!

posted by Donald  # 12:25 PM

 

Thought for today: FireFox and plug-ins

Yesterday I got engrossed in Mac security, particularly in browsers. I recalled at some point that in Firefox we can install many plug-ins. Jon and I did this a few years back as a handful seemed to offer some cool pony tricks, but then we noticed it became flaky. So we tidied things up a bit by various means disabling many of them, and we've been happy with the basic FireFox ever since.

While none of these plug-ins may compromise security they do seem to cause strange things to happen!

posted by Donald  # 12:25 PM

 

Thought for today: Mac Security...

As Apple sell more Macs and iPhones, gaining market share in other words, I find I'm fielding more requests from clients with concerns about all the usual nasties out there that primarily plague Window's users.

So to aid the raising of awareness...

What Apple have to say

Review of Norton's product

Also it's wise to make sure your our web browsers are up-to-date. Software Update under the Blue Apple top left can be run to check [if it's not happening automatically]. And Firefox, as we all know suggests strongly we upgrade, but seems to fail to advise us in this process that version 2 support is near end-of-life, and that the [much improved] version three is available.

posted by Donald  # 12:25 PM

 

Plain Clip

Plain Clip: one of the most useful utilities I use, and it's so unobtrusive...

Plain Clip is a tiny Mac OS X application which will remove formatting from text which is on the clipboard. It's designed as a faceless application ... more>>

posted by Donald  # 12:24 PM

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Monday, December 15, 2008  

Trademe web site in conflict with Safari

I encountered this problem 2 weeks ago. Switching to FireFox helped and I parked up Safari. Now one of my clients reports that both his Mac's can't access the site with either browser. He's been in contact with them and they say the problem began when they upgraded their site. It seems a software upgrade is the solution, to later versions of both. In Safari's case simply running Software Upgrade may not give you version 3.

posted by Donald  # 9:46 AM

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Sunday, December 14, 2008  

A Stolen iMac...

A story from Tech Support at University of Waikato NZ:

The house of one the technical support guys was burgled a few weeks
for the second time in two months. In the first 
burglary he lost a big screen TV and a digital camera. The second 
time though it was his flat panel iMac, which is where it gets 
interesting. The owner uses a program on his home computer to that 
advertises its IP address, and a few days after the machine was 
stolen he noticed that it was once again online. So of course we 
grabbed the IP address and handed it to the cops, who quickly got 
the address from the ISP, acquired a search warrant and raided the 
customers address. Unfortunately they discovered the bemused owner 
operated an unsecured wireless access point and the actual machine, 
while definitely in the neighborhood wasn't in the house. The 
police couldn't do much at this point, Except give us the address 
of the place. But were we defeated? Never, crime mustn't pay, and 
there were irreplaceable baby pictures at stake! We spent the 
weekend coding up some bash and applescripts, and left a small 
script running that would call our cells if the poor lost iMac 
again screamed for help

A few days later our script announced that the Mac was once again 
online, and the IP range was in the same subnet so we assumed it 
was connecting to the wireless access point at the address the 
police had given us. We grabbed a macbook and drove on over, 
parked outside the house and connected to the (still unsecured) 
wireless network. Bonjour seemed to be off on all the network 
machines, and no device was browsable on the network using a name 
that was familiar so we monitored arp packets for a while until a 
familiar apple mac address appeared. A port scan showed that all 
the sharing services on the Mac had been turned off except smb, but 
luckily the owner had configured a samba share of the root of the boot 
drive and with our administrator access we were able to connect and 
mount the share. Once we were in we copied as much data 
off as possible (a lot had been deleted sadly) and uploaded our 
weekends scripting into /Library/LaunchDaemons. Then we headed 
back to work.

The next day we checked our FTP server and discovered that our 
first launchd script was working great! Every two minutes the Mac 
would fire up a small applescript that instructed it to take a 
picture with its built in isight and store them in /tmp. The 
second launchd script monitored for internet connectivity and upon 
connection (scurvy dog stole broadband as well as hardware!) ftp'd 
all the pictures it had taken to us at the university. And there 
were a lot!

We could see from these that the guy lived in a small apartment.  
There was only one apartment building in the neighbourhood we were 
in, so now we were pretty confident of the general address. The 
third script enabled reverse ssh tunneling, so we connected to the 
machine and discovered its host name had been changed to "Bxx- Hxxk".
Could this be our perps full name?
Digging round his iphoto library through ssh we found:

Aww how cute, they found Photo Booth! And confirmed his name for 
us. :)

We turned all this over to the Hamilton Burglary Squad and we heard 
this afternoon that Bxx has been arrested, the iMac has been 
rescued and is resting comfortably after its long ordeal. We 
haven't heard back yet about the much less cooperative big screen 
TV but we're hopeful it'll be there too. We're thinking now that 
we'll package up our ad-hoc scripts into a nice open source gui 
package, include a simple remote activation mechanism like the 
presence of the file "you_have_been_stolen!!!.txt" on the 
owners .Mac account and make it available for other junior crime 
fighters. We're thinking we could even expand it to upload logs, 
internet caches and history, even turn on its mike and record 
conversations. And none of this would have been possible if it'd been a PC!

Lots more fun than regular old work too. :)

posted by Donald  # 4:56 PM

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