I’ve argued before about what “open” means to the end user and I think this guy really nails why the iPad is more “open” than other devices. A lot of in-the-know technical people will state that the iPad is a closed box because it can do certain things. For example, one might argue that the iPad doesn’t play OGG files. On the flip side an android device can’t play protected files from the iTunes store. As a regular end user, which is going to be more important? I argue that if the android device can’t play protected music from the iTunes store then the android device is going to be less useful to them and therefore less “open.”
Category: Computing
On Apple replacing samba with their own
A lot of people think Apple is replacing samba with their own version because of the GPLv3 and patents. I’m not so sure that is the case and I think this comment is more on the mark
The reason is that binaries in /System are signed with Apple’s keys, which the haven’t made public. As far as I know this is also disallowed by GPLv3.
Of course it might also be that Apple isn’t satisfied with the progress of samba.
Apple has released the 10.6.7 update
The combo updater is located at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1361 if you have multiple Macs. Other wise install the update using Software Update from the Apple menu
Using Puppet to manage your infrastructure
Great post on how to use puppet to manage your infrastructure. This is something I need to get back to looking at and implementing.
Engineering vs Designing
A fantastic description of what is wrong with some companies in how they create things. I’ve been really disappointed with a number of products I’ve tried or even purchased recently because so much of it had a half-assed feel.
It’s not that the NFC-based, phone-to-object interaction didn’t work. Of course it did: it had been engineered perfectly. But what it hadn’t been was designed. Those responsible for imagining the interaction apparently wanted to protect users against the (edge case!) contingency of someone making off with their phones and running up a huge vending-machine tab. They failed to understand that, for low-value transactions like this, at least, the touch gesture is a useful proxy for consent — and that if someone’s got physical possession of my phone, I’m likely to have bigger problems than whether or not they order a few cans of Coke with it. A designer committed to the user and the quality of that user’s experience gets this in a way only the rarest engineer seems to. Designers are also, by training and predilection, inclined to design for the usual, where engineers are taught a kind of rigor that compels them to account for, and overweight, low-probability events.
This example really sums up the issue with a lot of companies.
Read more at http://speedbird.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/nokia-culture-will-out/
Dencoder 0.3.0 released
I’ve been putting a lot of time into this little project. Nobody uses it (yet?) and truth be told I barely use it in the house but it’s been such a great way to learn a number of different things including python, mDNS (bonjour), creating installer files for debian and OS X systems and even git that I can’t stop working on it.
I’m now releasing version 0.3.0. This version brings a few changes but most notably the Linux client is now ready. The next release will be coming shortly and will focus on making the client the more robust about how it deals with network disconnects.
You can read more about the 0.3.0 release at https://github.com/dustinrue/Dencoder/wiki
Dencoder updated to version 0.2
I’ve updated Dencoder to use Bonjour to find the Dencoder server. Visit https://dustinrue.com/projects/distributed-handbrake-queue-dencoder to access the latest version. If you’ve previously installed all three packages, you only need to grab the new RabbitMQ Installer and Dencoder Client.
This update means one less config step is required when setting up your distributed encode environment. The clients will now find the master server using bonjour rather than a hard coded value. This should be useful for DHCP environments where the master server’s IP address could change.
When mdadm says “device busy” for no apparent reason
I just spent that last couple of hours trying to figure out why I couldn’t create a new software RAID set on my Ubuntu 10.04 system. Long story short, it turned out to be device mapper grabbing hold of the drives at boot. No amount of lsof would show that the devices were busy. The key was running dmsetup table and seeing that the drives in question were indeed “locked” by the device mapper.
This thread was the key I needed to get it all figured out – http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg10661.html
After issuing dmsetup remove followed by the device name shown in dmsetup table I was off and running.
Microsoft is set to show off some more vaporware at the next CES
Microsoft is at it again. They’re making wild claims about having a number of iPad killers at 2011’s CES based on their Windows 7 OS. I really hope that they came up with a way to make Windows 7 more appropriate for a tablet.
But after reading this I dare say they haven’t
The Times, citing unnamed sources, said the Samsung devices would be “similar in size and shape” to the iPad, but not as thin and equipped with a slide-out keyboard.
A slide-out keyboard?! Are f&($ing kidding me? Congratulations, you just made a more cumbersome laptop
Macro photos of the sleep light on a MacBook Pro
On whim I decided to try capturing the sleep light on a unibody 13″ MacBook Pro. While off, the location of the sleep light is all but invisible on the all aluminum case. Looking at the photos you can see how Apple achieved. The level of precision here is incredible.
View photo stream on Flickr here.