isnoop.net blog

This morning, I completed the final step to activate my iPhone Developer Program membership. The last news I heard about this program indicated that it was (I assume it continues to be) a fairly exclusive program and they are only allowing small numbers of people to join at this time.

I didn’t apply for it until late last week, and I didn’t download the SDK until late in the day it was released, so I’m not sure how I got in so easily. Perhaps they’ve opened the gates to everyone or maybe I just got lucky. I did write a couple of mac apps in the past: MacSaber and WiiSaber. Perhaps they saw those uploads in the Apple Software site and took an interest.

No matter the reason, it’s a bit of a mixed blessing for me. For one, I’ll have to drop my fantastic T-Mobile cellular plan and go legit with my iPhone to run the dev software. I’m currently paying $45/mo for 1500 minutes, unlimited data, and no contract. I’m looking at $79.99/mo for a comparable AT&T plan.

What’s worse, as much as I’d like to, I just don’t have the time to write iPhone apps right now. Heck, I haven’t been able to find enough time to update this blog in months!

Boo hoo, right?

Well, I’ll just have to make the time to write some apps. I have several promising ideas, and I’ll need to sell at least one of them to help justify the increased monthly cost of the new service.

Over the past several weeks, I have gathered nearly 10,000 hits from iPhone users. After sifting through this data, I have found some interesting results:

Only about 28% of my iPhone traffic is from EDGE. Of the EDGE users, 6.2% of them are using T-Mobile.

Here is the breakdown of the top 10 iPhone hosts, cellular providers in bold:

• mycingular.net: 2505
• comcast.net: 1030
• rr.com: 430
• verizon.net: 348
• optonline.net: 338
• cox.net: 255
• bellsouth.net: 243
• shawcable.net: 209
• tmodns.net: 156
• superkabel.de: 151

You might recall an application I wrote earlier this year called MacSaber. If so, my new Cocoa application should be quite familiar.

Hiroaky just released a handy bit of code that adapts the Nintendo Wii’s “WiiMote” wireless controllers for use on the Mac. I have taken his idea and merged it with the magic that made MacSaber to bring you a new breed of audio Lightsaber simulator.

This application looks and works just like MacSaber, but the input device is the WiiMote instead of your Apple laptop. I plan on adding more features including more visual response and multi-controller capabilities soon, so check back again later.

Download WiiSaber 1.0 Beta 1 Here

I work in a large corner office with a beautiful view of Seattle’s Lake Union with frequent breathtaking views of Mount Rainier just to the side of downtown. The hitch is that I share it with three other developers.

On top of the general noise four people make while coding, there is a constant stream of visitors who come to make unceasing mouth noises. Of course, all this stray conversation makes productivity difficult, especially when your job relies heavily on mental focus.

In order to improve my concentration in the face of such adversity, I purchased a pair of AKG K271 circumaural headphones which promised to cut the noise in polyphonic style.

All of their claims are true. These new headphones are like magic genies singing ultraphonic renditions of all of my favorite songs right into my brain all while silencing the crazy world around me.

I typically work with a Windows XP machine as my primary machine and my personal MacBook Pro off to the side as a secondary tool. I had just burned some MP3s to CD on my Mac and was testing them on the PC when I noticed the audio had lost some of its vibrance.

I returned the CD to the Mac to verify and the music did indeed sound much better. Even after turning off EQs and matching volume levels, the audio quality was notably better when comparing the same song back to back.

I suspect that Apple is using some subtle 3D sound enhancements that my poor Dell workstation’s corporate class sound card simply can’t compete with. Many PC sound cards, even generic varieties, come with this feature, but I simply don’t have the hardware to make that comparison.

So, for now, I’ll just have to conclude that music just sounds better with Mac.

It is very uncharacteristic of Apple to have announced the iTV months in advance of release. However, if you’ve been looking in the right places, you might have noticed that you can enjoy your networked HDTV media on your big screen TV today!

Your video options are nearly limitless:
• HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)
• Component Video
• Coax Digital Audio
• Optical Digital Audio
• Composite Audio and Video
• S-Video

The connectivity is fantastic:
• 802.11g Wireless
• 802.11b Wireless
• Wired LAN: 10/100Mbps Ethernet
• DHCP or Static IP Address
• UPnP AV 1.0
• USB 2.0
• WPA-PSK Encryption
• Hardware-based WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
• Up to 128-bit Encryption

As an aside, I’m particularly pleased that they added WPA-PSK into a network appliance.

The idea of putting the power supply inside a device this size was brilliant, but the best part of all is the price: You can buy it now for $199, an entire 33% off of Apple’s iTV suggested retail price!

(click for larger image)

As far as speculations on whether the iTV is going to revolutionize the way home media and electronics are purchased and enjoyed, I am doubtful. The D-Link MediaLounge DSM-520 (see listed specs above) has been available for close to a year now and it has made only a little splash in the media consuming community.

This is a photo from today’s Apple press event.

Your pocket is protected.

MacSaber 1.1 has been released, now with expanded 17″ PowerBook support and keyboard backlight effects. I invite you to take your very expensive laptop into a dark room and swing it around* for improved dramatic effect.

Download MacSaber 1.1.

*Don’t break your laptop, okay? If you do, don’t blame me.

Over the past few weeks, my MacBook Pro has been running slower and hotter with constant harddrive activity. Just this afternoon, iStat Nano measured my CPU at 170ËšFahrenheit, well beyond normal operating range.

I know that claims of hot MacBooks have become quite passe, but my laptop was literally hot enough on the bottom to burn me. At idle, CPU load averaged at around 1.50 and the harddrive was constantly writing according to the activity monitor. I brought this situation to the Apple forums and promptly recieved the answer.

Apparently Apple overlooked several logfiles when they set up the log rotation scripts in /etc/weekly. The texfile /var/log/samba/log.nmbd had topped 100 million lines in a month. The file measured 6.8GB before I removed it.

The Samba logs are two out of a handful of logfiles that are not rotated:

There are several breakdown scenarios which could lead to massive record dumping into some of these files. Unfortunately, there comes a point where adding more lines to a poorly trimmed log file is like throwing water on a grease fire.

If your OSX Mac is exhibiting any of the symptoms mentioned above or you want to ensure optimal health for your system, you will likely benefit from this script.

1) Open the local weekly script file

Note: You will be asked for your system password.

2) Paste the following script in the file

After you’ve pasted this script, press Ctrl+X then press Y.

3) Make the file executable

4) Try out your fancy new log rotation script

You won’t need to manually run this script after this one time, but once you have, you may find your system runs much smoother and cooler.

Thanks to Apple forums member “iggle” for their help in diagnosing this problem.

UPDATE: Version 1.1 is now available. It includes keyboard backlight effects.

MacSaber 1.0 Final has been released. This new version includes support for iBooks and PowerBooks equipped with SMS. It also includes a “Check for updates” menu item and debug output if you are having problems (the report button is not yet available).

Compatibility notes:
iBook: SMS only exists on iBooks built after July 26, 2005. These iBooks are either 1.33GHz or 1.42GHz. All 1.42GHz iBooks have SMS. Only 1.33 GHz iBooks with a scrolling trackpad, 512MB RAM (stock), and 40GB HDD (stock) have SMS.

PowerBook: SMS only exists on PowerBooks built after January 31, 2005. These PowerBooks are either 1.5GHz or 1.67GHz. All 1.67GHz PowerBooks have SMS. All 1.5GHz PowerBooks without backlit keyboard have SMS. 1.5GHz PowerBooks with both backlit keyboard and the 8X superdrive have SMS.

Download MacSaber 1.0 here

Thank you to those who have provided their feedback. I have released MacSaber 1.0 with support for iBook and PowerBook machines. Please read here for more information.

I sure wish I had a PowerBook and an iBook right now. In lieu of that, I am calling on you to test for me.

Thank you for your help!