AirPort Updates fixes AirPort Extreme VPN Problems · 44 words posted 03/19/2008 08:47 PM
You might miss it in the Time Machine hubbub, but Apple has quietly fixed its VPN issues in the latest “Time Machine and AirPort Update.”
I can now connect to my VPN even over the Airport Extreme. Run Software Update to get the fix.
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How to connect OLPC XO to WPA Airport Extreme · 85 words posted 12/26/2007 09:40 PM
As others have noted, the XO doesn’t support WPA out of the box. A kind soul has posted a shell script to connect to a WPA Wifi network.
Connecting to an Airport Extreme base station is simple: make sure your wireless is set to 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible) with “Wireless Security” set to WPA/WPA2 Personal.
When you run the shell script, the SSID is the same as your wireless “Network Name.” The Pass phrase is your “Wireless Password.” And WPA Version is 1.
Happy surfing.
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Quick and Dirty MySQL Diagrams on OSX with EOModeler · 510 words posted 06/08/2007 05:45 PM
Whenever I take on a new project with an existing database the first thing I like to do is generate an entity diagram of all the tables. On OSX you can buy or download any number of third party packages to model tables, but here’s how to do it with software you already own: WebObjects and EOModeler.
The executive version:
Create a MySQL database with Foreign Key relationships; then install the proper JDBC driver for MySQL; finally point EOModeler to your database to generate the diagram.
Although these steps are covered in various places on the web, here’s the whole thing step by step in detail. I assume you have MySQL 5 and OSX 10.4.9.
- First, make sure you’re working with
InnoDBtables. By default MySQLMyISAMtables will recognize but not enforce Foreign Key relationships. When creating MySQL tables remember to addENGINE=InnoDBto yourCREATEstatements.
- Next, you’ll need to install the correct driver so Java can connect to MySQL. Download Connector/J to your desktop. As of this writing the most current stable release is 5.0.
- Untar the download and look for the following file:
mysql-connector-java-5.0.6-bin.jar. You need to copy the jar file to your Java Extensions folder. To do so, open terminal and type the following commands:
cd ~/Desktop/mysql-connector-java-5.0.6
sudo cp mysql-connector-java-5.0.6-bin.jar /Library/Java/Extension
[Enter your password when prompted]
- Next, you’ll need to install EOModeler if haven’t already. It’s included with WebObjects. Search with Spotlight for
EOModeler. If nothing turns up, or if you hate Spotlight, open finder and look for the following folder:/Developer/Applications/WebObjects.- If you don’t have EOModeler, you need to install WebObjects. Find your OSX install DVD (darn!) and pop it in your Mac. Browse the contents and look for the WebObjects package, then double click to install. That’s all.
- If you do have EOModeler you can skip to the next step.
- Launch EOModeler and select Model > New to launch the New Model Wizard. In the list of available adapters select
JDBCand click Next. - Provide the connection information for your MySQL database. The username and password are simply the username and password you use for your particular MySQL database. Enter the following value for your URL:
jdbc:mysql://localhost/yourdatabasenamehere
- The Wizard will next ask you what to include in your model. You might want to uncheck “Ask about relationships” if you have a lot of tables. Click Next.
- Select the tables you want to diagram. For starters, just click Select All and then click Next, then click Finish.
- EOModeler then generates a list of objects, which isn’t so useful. From the Menu, select Tools > Diagram View.
Schweet! You can save the generated diagram and reopen it in Xcode. You should end up with a diagram that looks something like the image below, foreign keys and all. Tip: if you end up with am archipelago of unconnected tables, you’re probably working with MyISAM tables instead of InnoDB.
Questions? Post them in the comments here. Just don’t expect any replies Sunday night. I’ll be respecting the Bing.
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HoudahSpot, a Spotlight Replacement, Doesn't Quite Shine · 297 words posted 06/16/2006 05:58 PM
MacZOT has a cool way of bringing Mac software to your attention: periodically encourage bloggers to write about a given piece of software. Each blog that mentions the software drives the price down by several cents until the software is eventually given away. Last time, MacZOT featured SubEthaEdit, a lightweight, collaborative text editor. As a longtime user I didn’t have any problem recommending SubEthaEdit to my readers.
Today’s featured program is HoudahSpot, a Spotlight replacement tool from Houdah Software. I hadn’t tried HoudahSpot before the MacZOT promotion, so I thought I’d download it and kick the tires. According to the developers, “HoudahSpot leverages Apple’s Spotlight engine to bring you a powerful, fast and easy to use desktop search tool.”
Unfortunately HoudahSpot still has the feel of beta software. For example, on first run a dialog box with only one button (“never show this warning again”) pops up. The windows appears to be modal, and the only way to close it is to click the button. Hey, maybe I wanted to see that warning again.
Unlike Spotlight, HoudahSpot doesn’t allow you to modify search parameters on the fly. First you enter your parameters, and then you click start. Once you get your results, you’ll have to click stop before adjusting your search.
HoudahSpot is on to something we all know: Spotlight is far from perfect. I use a blend of Spotlight and Quicksilver to search on my Mac. But speaking of Quicksilver: while running HoudahSpot, Quicksilver gave me the dreaded spinning beachball for the first time ever. In fact, Quicksilver is still locked up as a I write this post.
I don’t suggest buying it, yet, but with a few improvements HoudahSpot might be worth your time. Download the program from MacZOT and give the developers your feedback.
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Tip: Triple-click to copy Code from Safari and Paste into Terminal · 105 words posted 05/11/2006 10:47 PM
If you want to roll your own installs of Rails or Subversion on OS X, I can’t think of any better source than Dan Benjamin’s Hivelogic excellent tutorials:
- Building Subversion on Mac OS X
- Building Ruby, Rails, LightTPD, and MySQL on Tiger
Here’s a tip to speed your work: if you’re copying the code in Safari and pasting into Terminal, try triple-clicking each line of code. This picks up the carriage return at the end of the line. The command runs automatically when you paste the line into Terminal.
This works for Bash; I assume it works for other shells but I haven’t tested it.
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"Do Not Be a Hero" · 306 words posted 05/02/2006 10:21 AM
Apple has released a new series of ads directly comparing Macs to PCs (via kottke and many others). That’s smart: for most users in most circumstances, Mac beats PC hands down.
In one ad, John Hodgman of the Daily Show is a PC with a nasty virus (watch Do Not Be a Hero on YouTube).
PC: [Sneezes three times].Mac: Gesundheit. Are you OK?
PC: Noooo, I’m not OK. I have that virus that’s going around.
Mac: [sympathetically] Oh…
PC: You’d better stay back, this one’s a doozy.
Mac: Thank you, I’ll be fine.
PC: No, no. Do not be a hero. Last year there were 114,000 known viruses for PCs.
Mac: [shrugs] PCs. Not Macs.
The response is pitch perfect: notice that Apple doesn’t claim Macs have zero viruses. It doesn’t have to.
It’s probably a coincidence that the ad started running a day or two after CNN reported Viruses Catch Up to the Mac. But Apple is smart to head off this meme. This summer, as Apple takes on Microsoft more directly, you’ll see articles arguing that Macs are no longer secure; that Macs have viruses too; and that if Apple’s biggest selling point is security there’s really no reason to switch to a Mac.
Don’t believe the hype. Norton currently lists over 72,000 PC viruses in its definition file. Let’s assume virus writers turn their industriousness to focusing on cracking Macs instead of PCs and release 1,000 Mac viruses over the next year. That would bring the number of Mac viruses from approximately zero to 1,000, or 1.4% as many viruses as Windows users face—assuming the number of Windows viruses stops growing (it will not).
Mac’s aren’t perfectly secure; no computer is. But they’re substantially more secure than PCs running Windows and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Update: Here’s Apple’s page for the new ad campaign.
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Ad: SubEthaEdit on macZOT · 198 words posted 04/25/2006 07:05 PM
macZOT.com is currently promoting SubEthaEdit from CodingMonkeys. According to the site, macZOT and TheCodingMonkeys will award $105,000 in Mac software. It’s a clever promotion: for each blogger who posts a link back to the promotion, the price of SubEthaEdit drops by 5¢. I feel a little tool-ish for participating, but only mildly so: I actually use and like the software.
SubEthaEdit’s collaborative text editing gets all the attention, but even without the rendevouz-based features it would be a light, tight, most-of-what-you-need-but-not-a-bit-more scripting tool. My favorite features:
- The Terminal tool. When you want to edit hidden config files from the command line but want to do so with a GUI, just type
see [filename]in terminal. TextMate also supports this feature; I couldn’t live without it. - Block Editing. Select and edit multiple lines at once. Best understood by watching SubEthaEdit’s tutorial movie (QuickTime).
Some day, I’d like to see the best features of TextMate and SubEthaEdit melded into one light and perfect Mac-centric code editor, but until that day SubEthaEdit is definitely worth a look. As I post this entry, it looks like the price is down to $7.60, from $35.
See BLOGZOT 2.0 on MacZOT.com for details on the promotion.
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The RIAA, Fair Use, and Your Music · 270 words posted 02/16/2006 02:30 PM
Midway through last month’s iTunes privacy dust-up, several readers asked (reasonably): what’s the harm? What does it matter if Apple sends your listening information to third parties? I answered with a hypothetical:
I admit that this instance of data mining appears to be innocuous. But is it? How hard would it be for Apple to check whether my music comes from an RIAA approved source and, if not, simply disable it within iTMS? Is that really such a paranoid fantasy after the Sony rootkit fiasco? I don’t have an answer, but I know this: the more you push back now against apparently harmless invasions of privacy, the less likely Apple will be to breach your privacy substantively later.
Cue the scoffing. Said one representative respondent:
Anyone thinking that Apple is working with the RIAA on a system that will detect pirated tunes on your computer should buy themselves a better tinfoil hat.
Ripping your CD’s to MP3’s or unDRMed AAC is perfectly legal.
Err, except for when the RIAA says it isn’t. As noticed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and picked up by Slashdot and BoingBoing, the RIAA does not acknowledge that ripping CDs constitutes fair use:
Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization. In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorization, not about fair use.
Put that in your tinfoil hat and smoke it.
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Apple Patent Application: GUI for Touch Sensitive Input Devices · 43 words posted 02/11/2006 11:29 PM
This is making its way around the net, but in case you’re having trouble finding the link on the USPTO site: Apple has applied for a patent for mode-based graphical user interfaces for touch sensitive input devices.
Say hello to the touch-screen iPod:
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iTunes: Apple Releases a Privacy Fix · 269 words posted 01/18/2006 10:43 AM
As Kirk McElhearn noticed this morning, Apple has partially fixed the privacy issue in iTunes 6.0.2.
Now, when you attempt to open the iTune MiniStore you are prompted with the following language:
The iTunes MiniStore allows you to discover new music and videos right from your iTunes Library. As you select items in your Library, information about that item is sent to Apple and the MiniStore will show you related songs or videos. Apple does not keep any information related to the contents of your music Library. Would you like to turn on the MiniStore now?
You don’t need to download any additional software to see the new Privacy language. Thus, Apple has addressed two of my primary concerns:
- The MiniStore is now opt-in instead of opt-out; in other words, a user can choose whether she wishes to use this feature but by default the feature is turned off.
- The interface now states in unambiguous language that some of your information is sent to Apple.
Apple should be commended for updating iTunes within a week of my original article.
Packet inspection with Ethereal indicates that—assuming you use iTunes on a Mac—iTunes still includes your Apple ID in the header of an HTTP GET sent to Omniture, a third party marketing, data collection, and web analytics firm. It’s up to Apple’s customers to decide whether Apple should update the licenses governing iTunes and iTMS to disclose its use of third party software and services as it does with GraceNote and Kerbango.
While the fix may not be complete, it’s clear that Apple listened to its customers and responded to our concerns.
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