questiOnabLy sAne.?

And for post number two hundred, something fitting for the occasion. Two delicious upgrades this evening for your viewing pleasure:

1) I’ve removed Zend Optimizer and installed eaccelerator on my server. The site seems to be a fair bit more responsive now. In case you’re interested, the main reason for this change was to cache the compiled code; there’s not much point optimizing the code if you throw away the results each time you do it.

2) The WPtouch plugin has been installed for access from the iPhone/iPod Touch. If you don’t have one of these two charming little gadgets you won’t see a change; sorry about that. It’s very pretty, though, trust me on this.

Now all I need is to generate some content. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? Here’s to another two hundred posts!

Some pleasant surprises came with the Apple TV 2.0 update, which arrived yesterday…

1. You can use the Apple TV as an AirTunes device.
2. 1080p output is supported.
3. Closed caption support is available (though, sadly, content with CC is currently quite limited).
4. Though you have 24 hours to finish watching an iTunes rental from the time you start, I was able to successfully start a movie with 45 minutes left on the clock and still watch through to the end – even though this took me nearly 45 minutes over the limit. (Kudos to Apple for allowing this.)
5. There are (optional) parental controls on all content downloaded from the Internet: movie and TV show previews, podcasts, photos, etc.

My kids and I picked out and started watching a movie within 15 minutes after running the new software. Given the fact that I wanted to keep the cost of our experiment down – in case it didn’t go so well – we chose a standard definition* (SD) movie. While not nearly as good as the network broadcast 720p content we’ve become accustomed to it did compare pretty favorably with a standard DVD. I’d still give the edge to upconverted DVD video; however, there were no glaring deficiencies in the downloaded video.

I’ll be exploring more in the next few weeks. I wonder, what other surprises await?

*Don’t confuse SD with standard (i.e. non-widescreen) picture. The movie was presented in a widescreen format just as in the theater; it just wasn’t encoded as HD.

As promised, here’s a selection of what I’ve been watching my Apple TV.

First up, the Hidden Universe HD podcast. Focusing primarily on images from the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hidden Universe brings some fantastic visuals from the depths of space. With reasonably well-written, 2-6 minute pieces, you can get breathtaking views of objects both (relatively) near and far. The longer, and typically more interesting episodes are hosted by Dr. Robert Hurt. Two versions of this podcast are available, so make sure you get the HD version.

Next on the list is another space telescope podcast: Hubblecast HD. The images are no less breathtaking from Hubble, and the Hubblecast crew has a few video tricks up their sleeve, too. This “vodcast” (or video podcast) is hosted by one Doctor J, aka Dr. Joe Liske, who expertly guides the viewer into the wild and beautiful reaches of deep space. Note: there are three versions of this podcast on iTunes, so be sure to get the HD version, not Full HD. You’ll notice that the first 5 episodes are missing, unfortunately, but you can fetch these from the standard Hubblecast feed or get them online. (The HD version first appeared in episode #6.)

Several television news organizations have at least attempted made an attempt to put together video content. NBC Nightly News is noteworthy as being the first full-length newscast available; FOX for short, generally upbeat clips, updated at least a couple of times each weekday; and CBS Evening News. Unfortunately, none of these are available with enough resolution to look decent on the Apple TV. (Since I started to write this, CNN and ABC have added news-related videocasts as well. I don’t normally watch these networks but you might want to check them out.)

Even if you don’t use an Apple computer, you may find it well worth your while to check out MacBreak in any of the several formats available. Hosted and produced by a variety of folks associated with TWiT, you’ll find a variety interesting short videocasts on topics including image editors, video production, and the cool gadgets. Make sure you get the Apple TV version, not the HD version.

A couple of other videocasts I’m currently subscribed to are Beautiful Places In HD and Finding America HD. They’re not high-end productions but they are certainly enjoyable for what they are. Beautiful Places is currently on hiatus, but hopefully returning this spring; Finding America is updated every week or two.

If you find any of this helpful – even if you don’t have an Apple TV – would you leave a comment or drop me an email and let me know, please?

Now that I’ve had my Apple TV for a few weeks, I decided it was time to write about it a bit.

Since I picked up this little high-def wonder, of course, there’s been a big headline: the Apple TV has made the Yahoo! “worst tech products of 2007” list. The criticisms are all based in reality, so you can’t really blame the writer. Unfortunately, I think that most people don’t actually understand what this device is. As a result it’s more than a little tempting to compare it to what we know. Apple hasn’t helped with their usual radio silence regarding plans for the device, either.

A few notes on what the Apple TV brings to the table, as clearly and succinctly as I can relate them:

First, the device supports progressive (720p, 480p) and interlaced (1080i, 480i) output modes. A widescreen TV does not appear to be required; I haven’t tried on my old 480i JVC standard-def set, but I’m told this works. Both HDMI and component output is available. (For my European readers, you can of course configure a standard 50Hz rate, and 576p/576i instead of the 480-line variants.)

Second, the device is linked directly with one iTunes library on another machine on your network. They tout the wireless connectivity, which is convenient, but you can use a standard Ethernet connection, too. All of the supported media on the linked iTunes library is automatically copied to the Apple TV, including the played/not played status and (if applicable) the point at which you’ve paused playback. This whole process happens seamlessly in the background once you’ve set up the link.

Third, you can you can connect to up to 4 more iTunes libraries using a mechanism similar to pairing Bluetooth devices. Provided the machine is on and running iTunes, you can play content from that library directly on the Apple TV. When you use the device this way you’re actually streaming the content from one machine to another, so make sure you have decent network connectivity if it’s a video. Note that the content is never stored on the device, but is read directly from the other machine via iTunes.

Fourth, a word about content. The only clearly legal way to get content on your Apple TV is to purchase it from the iTunes Store, or to download it via a podcast feed. Nevertheless, you can play most audio and video content supported by stock QuickTime codecs in iTunes. If you believe that it is within your fair use rights as a consumer to transfer copies of media you’ve purchased to your Apple TV, there are several ways to make that happen. (Remember; piracy is a crime. I am not advocating making copies of media you haven’t acquired legally.)

Fifth, and on a decidedly more anecdotal note, I picked up my little guy directly from Apple as a refurbished unit. I know a couple of folks who swear by this; with a factory warranty and a considerably smaller price tag, it’s very tempting. I’ll probably do this again should I be looking for more Apple gear.

In my next entry, I’ll discuss content in more depth. There’s some fantastic stuff available today, whether or not there are any announcements at next week’s Macworld Expo.

Update: While 480i output is available, your television must still support a widescreen signal. My JVC doesn’t.

I’m sorry, dear reader, if your eyes glaze over when you see acronyms and acronym-like things. If you aren’t interested in the usually fascinating world of email client configuration, feel free to stop reading now. I won’t feel bad.

Still with me? (Seriously, this is dry stuff…)

Okay, okay, I’ll get on with it already.

I’ve had a problem with my mail setup for some time due to the fact that I run two separate mail servers, but they live behind a NAT device on a single IP address. It doesn’t matter what the reason is; suffice it to say that (a) I won’t use an unencrypted mail connection over the Internet and (b) it’s not possible to map the same port – in this case the IMAP SSL port, TCP port 993 – to two different machines. Thus begins my odyssey into Mac OS X’s Mail.app and IMAP account configuration.

What I discovered is this: when configured with an IMAP account, Mail.app does indeed support the IMAP STARTTLS command. While I didn’t perform an exhaustive search, I believe this is not documented. Here’s how to do it:

1. Configure a normal IMAP account, if you don’t have one set up already. (It’s up to you to figure out where you can do this. This particular exercise is beyond the scope of this article.)
2. Edit the account, and on the Advanced tab, look to the bottom to find the “Use SSL” checkbox. Notice that it doesn’t mention TLS. Check it anyway.
3. Finally, change the port from 993 back to 143. Magic happens here. Just trust me.

Now, if your IMAP server supports TLS, Mail.app will automatically attempt to use it. Beware; if you are using a self-signed certificate, or a certificate that is not signed by a trusted certificate authority (CA), it appears to fail without so much as a peep as to precisely why.

With this setup, I’m now able to access both mail servers, one on port 143 with STARTTLS, and the other on port 993 with a standard SSL connection. w00t!

Enjoy…

This poem was written on May 11, 2006. Sadly, i haven’t actually been able to share any of the new music that floats around in my head since… but i was recently inspired by someone, and have taken the keyboard out again. (You know who you are… thank you again!)

Anyway… original post follows. I’m preserving it from oblivion, because it reminds me of who I was on that date. Today looks a little brighter, by comparison.

Computers suck.

You know, like a vacuum. Which is where I feel like I’ve been, in a vacuum.

Splat.

This is the sound
of my head hitting
the wall.

Again.

And again.

… and again.

Fifteen days ago I tried to upgrade
one of my computers.
It died.
I was sad.

I spent every
SPARE MOMENT
resurrecting the stupid thing.

When it lived again,
I cried with joy.

And then, another computer
decided that THIS TOO
was the time to get cranky.
Oh no, it didn’t crash.
It just decided to make life
fun
for Michelle.

Not me.

Her.

ARGH.

Spent money getting a happy,
big, new, fast, quiet disk.
Spent a day getting it into one computer,
whose drive I stole for the cranky one.
Spent a day getting the cranky one installed
and another day getting things back to
How They Should Be.

And then, the first computer…
yes, the one mentioned at the beginning…
crashed.

Splat.

There I go again.

I stayed up all night
and got a few hours of sleep
and worked on it all day.

And it LIVES!

And I can go on with my life.

And extract these things from my head
and share them, again.

and this makes me

Happy.

Is the following statement true or false?

IF YOU HAVE TWO AND ONE IS TAKEN AWAY
THEN YOU HAVE ONLY ONE LEFT

This is true, right? I mean, it’s obvious. Whether you think of this as being a simple algebra problem or just common sense, that’s the answer that most of you just gave.

The problem is, you’re wrong. Sort of. Without other cues, a machine attempting to parse this statement could legitimately look at this as involving a set of things labeled “one” and “two.” In this light, if “one” is taken away, you have only “two” left. It is true that we can write the question without ambiguity, usually by adding quotation marks, but this is much more difficult with spoken language.

Just something to think about the next time you’re cursing an automated phone attendant…

Currently on YouTube:

This is what hapens when you eat Mentos and drink Diet Coke at the same time. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT!

Diet Coke+Mentos=Human experiment: EXTREME GRAPHIC CONTENT – YouTube

If he lives, he’s simply a fool. If he dies, he’s a nominee for the Darwin Awards. How can you go wrong?

After running for several months without incident (not counting the time one of the kids pushed the power button and put it to sleep), the rev A iMac that runs this site decided it was unhappy. I have no idea why. It just stopped. Sure, the mouse moved and everything, but nothing responded. An animated icon was suspended in the middle of a movement. “Nothing to do but pull the plug,” I thought, so that’s what I did.

As a result of all of this, of course, I’ve reviewed several of the logs with a more keen eye than usual. Apparently it doesn’t take long for the hackers to notice. I’ve got some security changes to make. But don’t worry – you won’t feel a thing, I promise.

I’m annoyed with iBlog. It’s nice enough, but there are a few problems.

1. Development has slowed considerably.
2. It uses a proprietary and ugh-ly way to store and refer to other entries.
3. With the exception of the iLife applications, getting information into and out of iBlog isn’t very convenient.
4. Moblogging is only possible with the addition of a paid service.

I just don’t want to deal with a single license of a proprietary product any more.

Besides the fact that I can update things from a web browser, there are tools that support the WordPress format like ecto and MarsEdit. One cross-platform browser, Flock, is even geared toward updating weblogs, with a built-in editor and a “Blog This” function.

There are likely to be some issues. I think I’ve caught most of them but please do let me know if you find a broken link or an image that doesn’t load.

Is this the return of the blog? I don’t know. We’ll see. There’s no shortage of material, only time. This conversion might make things a little easier.