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Posts by Ryan Petty

Oct 28

Leopard: Infinite Desktop Sharing ;)

So I installed Leopard and have been playing around with several of the new features. One feature that is of particular interest to many of us that provide technical support for family and friends is the new “Desktop Sharing” capability.

It appears Apple has re-purposed the open-source VNC client/server to enable screen sharing from the finder. It is a great feature and the Apple implementation is excellent.

Well, tonight I wondered what would happen if I shared screens between my iMac and MacBook Pro. So I connected from my MacBook Pro to my iMac and could see the iMac desktop. I then walked over to my iMac and connected back to my MacBook Pro. Here are the results captured by the Grab utility.

Infinite Desktop Sharing small

Click the image to see a larger version (hosted on Flickr).

Just like being between two mirrors (without actually being in between and partially blocking the image).

I don’t believe these are the results that Apple desires, but other than a few issues gaining control of my mouse (had to walk over to the iMac and use the locally connected mouse), there weren’t any runaway processes or freezes. I did not have VNC handy to test to see if it produces similar results. I don’t recall ever trying this with VNC. Enjoy!

Oct 24

AT&T paying Apple $18 per iPhone, per month

Silicon Alley Insider spotted a research note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster estimating that Apple is receiving $18 per month for each iPhone subscriber, under the revenue-sharing agreement between the two companies. Apple has confirmed that such an agreement exists, but has not shared the details about exactly how much cash it’s getting from the revenue AT&T makes on iPhone customers using the carrier’s data network.

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Oct 24

IMAP for Gmail

Finally!

To get started, you must first enable IMAP in your Gmail settings.

To enable IMAP in your Gmail account:

  1. Log in to your Gmail account.
  2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
  3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
  4. Select Enable IMAP.
  5. Configure your IMAP client* and click Save Changes.

iPhone setup instructions:

YouTube Preview Image

Step by step instructions

Update: Some additional setup instructions to properly setup folder with Gmail labels and also setting up Junk, Sent and Draft can be found at http://5thirtyone.com/archives/862

Update 2: Here are some recommended settings for Gmail IMAP

As a general rule, we suggest the following.

Sending:

  • Do NOT save sent messages on the server. If your client is sending mail through Gmail’s SMTP server, your sent messages will be automatically copied to the [Gmail]/Sent Mail folder.
  • DO save draft messages on the server. If you want your drafts in your mail client to sync correctly with your Gmail account’s web interface, set your client to save drafts to the [Gmail]/Drafts folder.

Deleting:

  • Do NOT save deleted messages on the server. Messages that are deleted from an IMAP folder (except for those in [Gmail]/Spam or [Gmail]/Trash) only have that label removed and still exist in All Mail. Hence, your client doesn’t need to store an extra copy of a deleted message.
  • Do NOT save deleted messages to your [Gmail]/Trash folder because this will delete a message in all folders.
  • Do NOT save deleted messages to your [Gmail]/All Mail folder as some clients will try to empty this folder and ultimately fail. This can lead to delayed mail access or unnecessary battery consumption on a mobile device.

Junk mail and spam:

  • Do NOT enable your client’s junk mail filters. Gmail’s spam filters also work in your IMAP client, and we recommend turning off any additional anti-spam or junk mail filters within your client. Your client’s filter will attempt to download and classify all of your existing messages, which may slow down your client until the process is complete.

For your specific mail client:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78892

Oct 24

HDR Photography

HDR is short for High Dynamic Range. It is a software technique of taking either one image or a series of images, combining them, and adjusting the contrast ratios to do things that are virtually impossible with a single aperture and shutter speed. Although not for every photograph, I think you will agree that the results are stunning.

There is an awesome tutorial at stuckincustoms.com on how to generate HDR images from the picture you take with your digital camera. Although the results are far more impressive with multiple RAW source images (you’ll need an auto-bracketing capability and a tripod), the technique can be applied to single JPG images shot with a point-and-shoot digital camera. I have included some sample images (courtesy stuckincustoms.com), but I would encourage you to go to that site or to the author’s HDR gallery on Flickr to see some truly amazing images.

Images courtesy stuckincustoms.com

Oct 23

The Map Just Changed

Green Apple Logo
Today, Apple’s market cap exceeded that of IBM. Apple finished the day at $186.16 giving it a market cap of $161.89B (IBM’s market cap is at $156.01B). Makes you wonder about Apple’s 1984 Ad.

YouTube Preview Image

Over at bbum’s weblog-o-mat he has created a graph showing the relative market caps for the leading computer hardware companies.

Over at SilliconValley.com, they point out,

And while Google-watchers go gaga over its soaring share price (see “A six-letter word for bubble? Try gasbag“), note that an investor who bought Apple on the same day Google stock debuted in 2004 would have, as of the close of market yesterday, made 40 percent more than if the same money had been put into the search sovereign’s shares.

Congratulations to Mr. Jobs and the entire Apple team on this truly amazing occasion!

Oct 23

Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place

Urban CamaflougeIn news of a solution looking for a problem…

Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime. Ms. Tsukioka, is a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer in Japan. She demonstrates her urban camaflouge, by lifting a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine. The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.

Check out the slideshow.

More at NYTimes.com

Oct 22

SanDisk’s Video Salvo

If your home is like mine, then you have a multi-megabit broadband connection, one or more HD capable TV sets, a wired or wireless home network and one or more PCs (ok mine aren’t all PCs–6 of them are Macs, and one PC running FreeBSD).

While having 7 computers, takes my home out of the norm (is it the number of computers or the fact that 6 of them are Macs?), my home suffers the same dilemma as the average consumer’s home. There is a gaping digital chasm between the personal computer and the television set.

There are several ways to watch downloaded programs and movies on the living room TV. Methods typically involve the transfer of video files over a home network from a computer to some gadget (I have an Apple TV, does that count as another computer?) connected to the TV. But few of them are easy, trust me I have tried them all.

The maker of the Sansa, a distant No. 2 to the iPod, has a new way to view downloaded content on a TV. It could turn up the heat on Apple.

SanDisk CEO Eli Harari says launching Fanfare has less to do with attacking Apple in a potentially tender spot than about establishing a toehold in an incipient market. “The video market right now is just embryonic,” he says. “Media companies have spent a great deal of money creating their content and they don’t want anyone to tell them how to sell it. And we agree with them.”

For David Poltrack, president of CBS Vision, the TV broadcaster’s research division, it’s a matter of getting the networks’ programming in places that consumers will use it. “When we tested the SanDisk product it clearly resonated with consumers,” Poltrack says. “There are other ways to do this with more sophisticated products, but because of cost and complexity they’re not as attractive. This is going to be selling at Wal-Mart (WMT).”

Combining the TakeTV device with the Fanfare service creates the means of tracking ads, he says. “When you plug in that device to the computer and sign in to the service it knows who you are,” he says. “Having people say these are the categories of ads they’re interested in—that opens up a lot of ways for advertisers to use this medium creatively.”

Taking a low-tech approach on PC-to-TV transfers could make a big difference to consumers weary of technical complexity, says Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. “We know consumers want to watch downloaded video on their TVs. But the biggest weakness is the complexity of the home network,” he says. “This takes the maddening complexity of the home network out of the equation.”

Sounds like a a lot of walking back and forth between PC & TV to me and completely misses the impulsive nature of TV consumption.

read more

Oct 22

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Imagine the Sony PS3 as a digital media center

As Brier Dudley from the Seattle Times points out in his latest article,

A lot of people who bought fancy TVs over the past year or two have been looking for ways to get more digital content on their screens. They’ve been waiting for high-def player prices to fall, and for a resolution to the format war between the Sony-backed Blu-ray and the Microsoft-backed HD-DVD.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. My repsonse: You bet they do, but not just from Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs, more and more they want to get content online. Blu-ray is great and I enjoy watching HD movies on my PS3. But more and more, I would really like to be able to access online content.

Dudley continues,

That’s where Sony is releasing an add-on TV tuner that turns the PS3 into a TiVo-like video recorder. It’s also where Sony is talking up plans for an online video and music store, similar to the ones operated here by Microsoft and Amazon.

Cool, I can watch and record TV and even download videos and music directly from Sony. Sounds great, doesn’t it? What about my iTunes library, YouTube, Flickr and all the other content available online? Will I be able listen/view that content? What about online content like Hulu? Will Sony make all that available and stream it to my PS3? Well, it’s too early to say for sure, to my knowledge Sony hasn’t been specific about online content for its PS3 platform, but based on the past behavior let’s say–I doubt it.

Dudley asks the pivotal question,

Will we keep using PCs to download and store this stuff, or will some computerish consumer-electronics gadget emerge as the new home-entertainment hub?

With game consoles in over 40% of US households and with most of the consoles in broadband connected households, the PS3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii, could play a pivotal roles as an entertainment hubs. The problem is each of these companies has a vested interest in building an ecosystem around their platform and only their platform. Call it an “insular ecosystem”. So when Sony builds their online content service, it will serve PS3s and only PS3s. Microsoft will counter with an expanded 360 content platform serving only 360s. And lest one forget, the PS3 (and the 360) as game platforms first and foremost.

While both Sony and Microsoft have become more comfortable with the “give away the razor, sell the blades” economics of game consoles (I am sure they would both vehemently state their hardware businesses are profitable–sure they are, because they can dump much of the costs into another category on the P&L), content and services will be rolled almost exclusively as a platform differentiator. In other words, they will view online content and services as a marketing expense to sell more hardware to sell more games.

As long as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo create insular ecosystems, the game console as a digital hub will never take off.

For now, it is great to see the online connectivity options enhanced on the PS3. I am certain there will be more to this story.

Oct 17

Top Ten Opt Outs

I have often wondered about the many “opt out” registries I have heard about on TV and online. The World Privacy Forum has compiled their list of 10 most important “opt outs”. This list has been scrubbed of scams and scammers.

As privacy experts, we are frequently asked about “opting out,” and which opt outs we think are the most important. This list is a distillation of ideas for opting out that the World Privacy Forum has developed over the years from responding to those questions. The list below does not contain all opt outs that are available. Rather, it contains the opt outs that we believe are the most important and will be the most useful to the most consumers.

Here are there top ten:

1. National Do Not Call Registry

2. Prescreened offers of credit and insurance

3. DMA opt outs

4. Financial institution opt outs

5. CAN SPAM

6. Credit freeze

7. FERPA

8. Data broker opt outs

9. Internet portal opt outs

10. NAI opt out

At the WPF blog is the complete list with instructions and more information about each.

Oct 16

Why are we happy? Why aren’t we happy?

Psychologist Dan Gilbert challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel real, enduring happiness, he says, even when things don’t go as planned. He calls this kind of happiness “synthetic happiness,” and he says it’s “every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for.”  This video is from the 2004 TED conference.

http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/DanGilbert_2004-medium.flv

More conference information on TED can be found here.  The original video can be found here along with other great presentations.  I would encourage you to take some time and view as many as you can.

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