Damn 10.7.2 Update and FileVault

So for some reason I am months behind on updating my Macbook Air to 10.7.2.  I saw I had some updates available today and let them run their course.  First off, I need to mention I use FileVault on my laptop.  FileVault is a full disk encryption method (that probably doesn't stand up to deep forensics based on what I know from TrueCrypt and full disk SSD encryption issues) but it is good enough to keep the thieves from getting my data.

My update hung when it was almost complete and failed to change for about 30 mins.  I made the decision to hard restart it to see what would happen.  The boot screen came up, asked me for my credentials, and then when the Apple logo appeared the little pin wheel just spun and spun.  I let it go for an hour to no avail.  I tried DiskWarrior, rBoot, and the restore USB stick that came with my Air.  None of them worked.  They couldn't see the HD for some reason.  I even tried a Time Machine restore and even then the HD wouldn't come up.

I reset my PRAM (Command-Option-P-R through two reboot cycles), I booted into verbose mode (Command-V; hangs on the Bluetooth driver), verbose safe mode (Command-Shift-V; hangs on some line that I have no idea what it means), and finally tried the Lion recovery mode (Command-R).

Oh...I need to digress shortly.  I have Time Machine backups via an AirPort Extreme.  The backup is within a sparsebundle.  Once upon a time when my iMac hard drive crashed my TM backup was corrupted too so I was nearly up sh!t creek.  Thank God for Super Duper.  Nonetheless, before I headed to the Apple Store or did anything drastic I tried to verify my TM backup was still good.  I used Back It Up 2 to attempt to get access to the TM back up and received a nice little "resource unavailable" message from my sparsebundle. Normally you can double click the sparsebundle and it will mount just like a normal disk.  Not this one.  I figured maybe it was because the back up was from a different computer than my iMac with different permissions???  I never had any luck mounting it which made me sweat.  I could see the bands within the contents so I knew the data wasn't encrypted but it still made me sweat.

Back to Lion's recovery mode; I like the simplicity of the recovery mode.  I immediately had an option to restore from a Time Machine backup.  When I walked through the steps based on the logic I was given, I never received an option to make the destination drive my laptop hard drive.  This is the same issue I ran into before using the Snow Leopard restore method via the USB restore stick.  I was stumped.  I did recall that a few screens back, one of the source drives for the TM backup search was my SSD.  I took a few steps back in the recovery and chose the SSD.  It asked for my password, which I entered, and then acted like nothing happened.  It actually removed the laptop HD from the list of drives available as TM source drives.  When I landed on the destination dialog, THERE IT WAS!  I guess I had to unlock the drive first before the recovery process could even figure out what it was.

Nonetheless, I have an hour and a half left on my restore.  Cross my fingers and I'll let you know how it turns out.

I probably should mention I noticed a handful of people posting on apple's forums with a similar issue....very few alternatives seemed to work.  I strongly recommend Time Machine, Super Duper, Carbonite, Backblaze, etc.

I actually use Backblaze for my iMac (I should note that their recent service upgrade offers UNLIMITED SIZE BACKUPS AND they pull up all file types...outside of system files!!!!!) but have most of my recent files backed up via DropBox.  My ass was saved because I am trying out Syncplicity and tied it to my Desktop.  My most recent work file is on my desktop.  Thank you Syncplicity.

Non-removable batteries are better?

I think I may be coming around on Apple's concept of having a battery that cannot be removed.  I never thought of this until now.  I balked when the new Droid Razr came out with a non-removable battery.

I have a Prey Project account and recommend signing up.  It is a "free-mium" site that offers tracking of your laptop, desktop, and phone if they are stolen or lost.  I have heard that in NYC, cabbies are paid for lost phones and are paid even more when they hand a phone over that has its battery removed.  Purpose for the incentive - information.  Smart phones have a treasure trove of data on them these days; all of which is probably not security hardened like computer hardware and software are getting.

A thief can still turn off a device holding down the power button on most phones but I think it is a lot easier for them to pull the battery.  If turning it off was so simple then why would a "fence" care that the battery is out or not? 

OX 10.7.1 Fullscreen View Mode

In a quick update I thought I would pass on my experience with the new built in fullscreen option of OS X Lion.  It has not trickled out into all apps yet however I found my first application where it makes perfect sense and works very effectively (although it should considering the app).

First off let me say if you have a Mac you need to do this:
1) Find a .pdf.
2) Right click or command click to get the pull down/option menu.
3) Go to "get info"
4) Go to "open with"
5) click on the pull down menu and pick "preview.app"
6) click on "change all" to apply the changes system wide

I don't care if you use Adobe Acrobat or Reader religiously.  Adobe has all sorts of security issues and flaws within the pdf reader functionality of Reader and Acrobat.  New exploits are found weekly.  Preview app is much less of a target and should not have all of the immediate exploits as Adobe's products do.

With that said, I own a MB Air (late 2010) and read pdfs all of the time.  Some are very complex documents and some are very simple.  I also use a privacy screen.  Sometimes my screen is not large enough to read docs formatted for 11x17" pages very well.

I saw the little double-arrows in the top right of the application bar and thought to click it.  I don't use this option often.  It doesn't always work well and doesn't always go away easily.  With Preview app it transitions to full screen beautifully and renders the page very well.  I could read an 11x17" document very easily.  The page to page transition is beautiful and even seems to handle the page turning better than in non-fullscreen mode.  It actually flips pages like on an iPad instead of scrolling the pages.  It must buffer the next page since it can anticipate what is next and what is before....what the hell do I know.  It sounds plausible.

When you move the mouse over to the left of the screen, the open documents are shown (I had two preloaded into Preview) and when you move the mouse up to the top of the screen the menu bar and application bar appear with an option to leave fullscreen.  I think Esc button will also get you out of the fullscreen mode but that doesn't seem to work for me.

Menu bar and application bar shown above

I am pleased with this option and continue to be generally pleased with Lion.  Hope this encourages you to try out some of the less traveled options within the OS.

UPDATE: If you use Mission Control then you are in for a HUGE treat.  I happened to hit my hot corner where Misson Control is activated and to my surprise the fullscreen Preview and Chrome apps had their own space!  That is genius.  Check it out below.

ANDROID TIP: Wifi Tether and my Droid Charge

For those of you who have rooted your Charge, here is a quick tip regarding free wifi tethering.  Wifi Tether has been the defacto rooted tethering app for a while.  I downloaded v2.0.1 a while back after failing to get the newer versions to work.  2.0.8 and 3.1 beta 1 didn't cooperate well, were slow to load, and sometimes needed a force close.

I installed the newest 3.0.1 beta 6 and got success even with WPA encryption.  Here are the settings I used:

Change Device Profile - Samsung Fascinate
Change Setup Method - Softap for Samsung (Master)
Enable Wifi Encryption - Yes
Added a passphrase
Hit menu - reload binaries
Hit back
Click on tether

I don't turn on access control however I suppose I could.  I just figure this is MAC filtering which is spoofable for those who really want to.  The app will notify you when someone connects and show you their MAC address, IP, and device name.  It works like a champ but have a charger cord handy.  It makes the phone warm and burns some battery.  Great for cranking up some Neflix on the iPad in the car for the little one though.

Good luck and let me know if this works for you.

10-3 UPDATE:

One note I need to add is that it seems Wifi Tether version 3.1 beta 6 has is that it can only successfully work the first time it is tethered before a reboot is necessary.  I typically get errors and have trouble tethering the second time around.  A quick reboot of the OS fixes it but still get annoying.  I trust it'll get figured out soon enough.

12-9 UPDATE:

I am running 2.3.6 on my Droid Charge and trying out 3.1 experimental 12.  No issues so far.

CONSPIRACY THEORY - Why Verizon is not rushing to update Android phones to Gingerbread and AT&T is

So you have a Droid Charge, like me, and you are wondering why you have not received that wonderful little notification that your phone is ready to download Gingerbread?  I have a theory:
Verizon isn't ready to have a hoard of phones with front facing cameras capable of Skype video or Google Chat.

Verizon is rolling out LTE locations as fast as they can, but the locations they are picking are not always clear to the end user.  Certain markets like Houston and Dallas, TX have LTE but Austin doesn't.  Is this related to why AT&T rolls out hoards of mini-cell towers during South By Southwest?  Too many techies who like to burn through bandwidth?

I realized Verizon is trying to do me a favor.  I do.  I just don't like the fact that I have to wait for them to plan for the oncoming data onslaught.  I guess it makes sense regarding the tiered data rollout that happened in July.  Get the heavy users to subsidize the light users.  Like insurance and welfare.

AT&T's network has been dragging with iPhones for 3+ years now and people still keep buying more iPhones on A&T's network.  AT&T seems to figure revenue is revenue and customer service is second.  Hence Facetime on the iPhone is wi-fi only.  AT&T knows when their LTE network rolls out in the near future, with Gingerbread phones and iPhone 5, they'll be in a nice position to lob some softballs at Verizon via their commercials and marketing.

Come on Verizon.  I'll take a laggy LTE network so I can have some video chat with my family while I am on the road. 

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My new favorite obsession...TOP GEAR!

She will be mine...oh yes, she will be mine!

Some of my favorite tv shows I've discovered on accident...in the last few years, I've become a huge Doctor Who fan simply for the fact that it used to come on before Battlestar Galactica on the Sci-Fi Channel, and I'd see advertisements for it on BBC America.  My DVR would catch the last five to ten minutes of the show, and it always seemed really interesting.  Throw in Billie Piper, and I was hooked.

So it's only fitting that I fell in love with my most recent television obsession by catching random episodes of it while DVR'ing Doctor Who on BBC America.  And that show is Top Gear!

Now, I don't come across as a car buff, and really I'm not.  But I used to be.  My early teenage years were spent drooling over Porsches and Lamborgini's, and I can still remember the day I saw my first Dodge Viper.  I was a car nut for about four years, which is how long it took me to get over 10 speeding tickets.  My first car was a 1966 Ford Mustang that my dad and I spent over a year restoring.  By the time I was done paying off lawyers fees, ticket fees, and buying new tires, I was done with my car phase.

But there's still a little bit of me that loves cars, and seeing a really cool car still moves something dormant in my soul.  Which is why I love Top Gear so much...it's nothing but cool cars.  Whether they're racing Lamborginis on a runway, or Ford Raptors in the desert, I want to be right there with them.  One of my favorite parts of the show is when the producers give them a set amount of money to buy a specific car, and then run them through a series of tests.  This is where the hilarity of the show ensues.

The original version of the program, a staple on the BBC for over 20 years, is hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond.  It's the trio's onscreen antics that really make the show, with the elder statesman Clarkson rolling his eyes at the optimistic and naive Hammond, while the aging hippie May just watches it all and laughs.  You can tell that the three must really get along, to have to spend so much time together.  And the humor borders on blasphemy!  The Christmas episode had the group dropped off in Iraq, to make their way to Bethlehem in Israel.  The only problem...there were a couple of wars between them and the town of Jesus' birth.

Greg Peltz deserves an award

The amazing artistry of Greg Peltz is now on sale at Acme Direct.  Need I say more?

Bye Bye Quick. It was nice not knowing you.

So I heard on the Ticket - KTCK this morning via Gordon Keith of yuck monkey fame, that Quick (the Dallas Morning News and Belo fame) is going away next week.  I need to state that a) I don't read the newspaper, b) I don't read Quick, c) I read the The Observer, d) I don't watch TV news, e) I listen to NPR, and f) Gordon Keith writes for Quick.  Does that last part matter...not really but I figured I would give him some props.

When Quick was first published it was an attempt to capture the younger readers who have grown up with more interweb influence and are not as willing to get ripped off on a regular basis for a significant amount of paper that we normally wouldn't read anyways.  I use "we" as I fall into this generation, this demographic, and am one of these people.  Hence.  I didn't think it was a good idea then and think that people who did pick it up had a very specific need or were bored and needed something to kill time.  I don't recall ever seeing a single friend of mine carrying in their arm, reading at their desk, or telling me about something they saw in it. 

I think the Morning News, who now has a significant pay-wall on their website, needs to attack change in a much more internet savvy fashion.  The newer generations want to see quality writing, shorter stories, and usable content.  I don't have the solution to this quandary.  I just know that I scan news readers, Google News, engadget, wired, and USA Today when I am in a hotel.

Most local news is crap and doesn't impact me on a regular basis.  The old model as I see it was to push that local news and make it seem interesting because there was little access to anything else besides the 6 'o clock world news.  Times have changed.  My phone gives me more access to anything a 20 page rag or 30 minute newscast could ever provide.

I am rambling a bit but it is unfortunate people will lose their job over this.  I am sure Quick offered some value to someone out there who now has to find another source of whatever they used Quick for.  I am not sorry that Belo still hasn't figured out how to push quality news (and get revenue) to/from me.  Good luck with that.

I am pleased it gave Gordo another source of income and gave more Gordo a larger audience base.  He is pure genius. 

Optical Drive. What's an Optical Drive?

 

The new Mac Mini doesn't have a optical drive and neither do I.  Well, not on my MacBook Air at least.   It used to be a reasonably powerful computer for the everyday user, AND it had a DVD drive.  Not any more.  

 

Is this important?  I think so.  I always thought the Mini was a fantastic Mac for new converts.  For purposes of converting Windows users I could always point to the Mini and sing its praises.  People have big, beautiful TVs that they could hook to their Mini to run as a media center.  I have converted two people specifically on this premise...and the Mini meets their needs completely.  It actually meets and exceeds their expectations.  Not many PCs do that at first blush.  

In regards to the value of an optical drive, I say "meh."  My Air hasn't seen a DVD in quite some time and usually only does when a client gives me some DVD I need to use in a pinch.  I do regret Macs never got a Blu-Ray disk player.  I would have liked to have one in the house.  But then again I am not going to pay the price to buy the disks so maybe I am just blowing smoke up your skirt.  

Well.. I cannot argue their vision.  Good luck Apple and good buy Optical Drive.  USB kicked your butt anyways in size and performance anyways.

ANDROID - Samurai II: Vengence THD - Wow

I saw over at engadget that the app Samurai II: Vengence THD was rolled out to the non-Tegra II phones.  I downloaded it for my Droid Charge today and played for a bit.  Holy Crap!

Here are a few screenshots from the website...I didn't download the APK and make the screenshots for myself.

This might be the most entertaining game I have found for the Android platform so far...outside of good 'ole Angry Birds and Robo Defense.  I have only played for a little but I really enjoy the interface, the graphics, the interactivity is fluid and gameplay is cool.  I cannot say a lot more yet but I give it 4.5 stars right now.  This will be a serious time kill very soon.  ...and one hell of a battery drainer.

Bark Collar Battery Hack - PetSafe can SUCK IT!

If you don't agree with bark collars that shock, then it is best you don't continue reading on.  I have a beagle and a neighbor that called the cops on her.  I had to deal with it.  Long story. 

I own one PetSafe Deluxe Little Dog Bark Control Collar.  I have had it for about 3 years now.  It works generally well, most of the time.  You just have to let it work up some charge and it'll get its point across.  Something I found with the collar that rubbed me the wrong way is the replacment battery cost.  It is $6 at good 'ole Radio Shack and $3 to $10 plus shipping depending on where you find it on the interwebs (the battery is a CR 1/3 N 3 Volt Lithium battery).

This is where I stumbled upon the little bitty LR 44.  The LR 44 is a 1.5 Volt battery that happens to be 1/2 the size of the CR 1/3 N.  You can use two LR 44's in place of the CR battery to get the same voltage!  I found 50, yes 50, for $5, shipping included on Ebay.  That rounds out to a solid $0.20 per PetSafe replacement kit.  Not bad seeing as I probably purchased 3 to 5 replacement batteries before I figured out this hack. 


Long story short, here is what you do.  This is no Lifehacker.com or iFixit.com post, but it'll do.

1) Buy a pack of LR 44's. 












 2) Turn over your collar and pull the battery cartridge.  You simply grab a quarter and turn the cartridge until the line matches up with the arrow. 

If you notice, the little round plastic piece that sits on top of the battery needs to get popped off.  Don't worry, it won't hurt anything and you really don't need it.

3. Pop the battery out with a paper clip.  Just poke with the paper clip through the little hole in the middle of the cartridge, right where you would stick a coin to rotate 

 4. Here is where you have to get creative.  You need to take one LR 44, and put a tiny little piece of electrical tape on one side of it.  See the battery on the left?  It has to cover the entire side which is the positive terminal of the battery.  Then you need to find a very small piece of metal.  I don't recall where I found this piece but it needs to be fairly tiny and about the length of 1.5 battery heights.   If that confuses you simply read on.




 5. You place the first battery without any tape on it into the cartridge.  Then you carefully squeeze the metal strip down along the gap as shown on the left.  The metal strip allows you to create a "series" between the two batteries and double the voltage.  Its like when you add two AA batteries into a piece of electronics.  Notice that on the cartridge, one gap goes the full height of the plastic and the other only goes half way.  You want the metal to go on the gap that is full height of the plastic.

Metal shown in the long gap.  Battery on the right is prepped with electrical tape.

6.  Carefully place the second battery with the tape into the cartridge, making sure the tape is situated directly behind the metal strip.  The metal strip cannot touch this battery or the "series" will be broken. 





 7.  See the little metal contact on the top of the inside of the unit below?  This is what needs to touch the metal strip.  When you put the cartridge back into the unit, make sure you insert it so that when you twist it back into place - and in the "on" position - the metal strip will be lined up with the contact.  It will make a slight, soft pop as well.

 8. Turn to the "on" position and get a green light.  You're done!




PS - another tip I have found handy with this bark collar is to tape pennies to the opposite side of the buckle.  This helps the main part of the collar to hang properly below the dog's throat.  My dog's throat is small enough that the buckle is at 3 or 4 o'clock on a dial which tends to cause the collar to rotate around without a counter weight.  See the duct tape on the left?  That is where I have about 15 pennies hiding.

Hand Rolled Green Tea Hype?

I like to brew tea from time to time and recently have come across something I think is a bunch of crap.  Hand rolled tea "pearls".  As you can see in the picture the dried tea leaves have been hand rolled into little bundles of tea joy!  Really it just means they look fancy and some poor Indian or Chinese laborer got stuck with this unfortunate job.

I have bought a lot of tea from a lot of places and respect the fact that sometimes selection incurs higher prices.  A good example is teavana.com.  They offer a ton of selection with high-quality ingredients.  Problem I have is that you could end up paying a significant amount more for a product that is slightly, if at all, better than what can be easily procured down the street. 

Consider these tea pearls.  They claim to be hand rolled young tea leaves.  What do you get out of them that you don't get from normal tea leaves?  They slowly unroll to release just the right amount of flavor crystals?  Bah.

Do this and save yourself some money.  Go to your local Indian or Asian supply store.  Find the giant 1 lb bag of green tea for $12, go home, and compare the steeped leaf to any off the shelf version for...say....twice as much per ounce.  The size of the leaf and the quality of the tea is probably damn close to the expensive stuff.  Even compare it to a bag of Tazo green tea in a bag and you'll be blown away. 

And you know what?  Buying from your local Indian supply supports local small business which is good for everyone.  The second pic is what I purchases at the local store.  Look for the black Assam tea as well and steep some cinnamon stick in the tea while your at it.  Just can't beat it.

KTCK 1310 on the Android OS

I once owned a Blackberry and used to get so frustrated when I couldn't listen to The Ticket (KTCK) AM 1310/FM 104.1 in Dallas.  I found a simple app on my iPod Touch which is also ported to the Android OS.

Image care of zatznotfunny.com

TuneIn Radio. Enough said. Go here or TuneIn.com by RadioTime.  Not only does this app let you get The Ticket, but you can pretty much listen to any local radio station anywhere.  I travel some and this allows me to listen to PowerFM 89.7 when I am on the road as well as The Ticket.  You can set presets by making an account and then load them anywhere you have a internet connection.  ANYWHERE!  I love it.

I would pay for this service...but it is free so even better.  They even stream the metadata from the radio stream as well...not that it matters but still an added touch.  ..oh, on the iPad app you can record the stream. Very cool.

Thank you RadioTime.  I love you.

App Review - ScreenShots Plus for the Mac

I don't always give props where I should so here is one app that is well worth the time.  Steven Chaitoff over at tarcolesfilmarts.com has created a simple yet oh so useful OS X dashboard widget that is amazing.  

At first you look at this and say - I can perform screen shots with simple keystrokes such as:

1. ⌘+Shift+3 – Takes full screen shot and saves it to the desktop
2. ⌘+Shift+4 – Allows you to capture a selection of your screen and saves it to the desktop
3. ⌘+Shift+4 and tap the space bar – Allows you to capture an application window and saves it to the desktop

Simply add the Control key and the screenshot is copied to the clipboard.

With this dashboard widget, just simply hit F4, click on a small icon, size up your screenshot on your screen, left click, and then review your screenshot.  As the picture shows you above, you can then see a thumbnail of your screenshot with a magnifying glass.  When you click on the Floppy Disk icon, it saves a .png to your desktop.  If you don't like it you simply click the Redo icon and try again.

Voila.  

Tutorial - How to change the Droid Charge's dock icons

So you have a fancy new Droid Charge from Verizon with 4G LTE and you say, "You know what?  This is a great phone but I wish I could change the icons at the bottom of the screen."

Image care of phonearena.com

I came across this when I got tired of getting an icon update from both the Messaging and Handcent icons.  Well, here is how you do it.

1. Click on your Applications soft icon in the bottom right of the screen
2. If you have your applications in List View, then click on the hard Menu button on the bottom right of the face of the phone
3. Select Grid View
4. Click the hard Menu button again
5. Select Edit
6. Now you can long press your icons up above and drag them into the dock (or menu bar or primary icon bar or whatever it is called)
7. When done hit the Home soft button in the dock

Hope that works for you!  Enjoy.

Droid Charge is MINE!

I purchased a Droid Charge over the weekend to replace my ailing Droid Incredible. My DInc's power plug was getting finicky and I was talked into a 4G LTE phone for a small fee.

The Super AMOLED Plus screen is beautiful and blows away my DInc's screen. It is much happier in full sunlight although it is no iPhone. The resolution is outstanding for the screen size and it handles smudges as best as possible. I am pleased it has a front camera although I am bummed that there are so few apps that work cross platform. I am super ticked that Fring cannot get the front camera to work. I feel even with the Android fragmentation that occurs that this is ridiculous. I have read many Samsung Galaxy users have this same woe. The app is free and ad supported but at least offer a paid version and develop fo' real.

So far I am unimpressed with the processor. The interface is snappy however jumping back and forth between the home screen and apps can be a bit laggy. I miss HTC's Sense interface just a little as the widgets and calendar interfaces were top notch. I do love TouchWiz 3.0's ability to change my dock icons. Tutorial to come.

The unit feels good in my hand and is easy to navigate. I like the actual mechanical buttons over the touch screen buttons my DInc had. The plastic is a bit wonky but for being a larger phone than my DInc I am pleased with the weight to size ratio. Thickness is reasonable and the location of the outer buttons are reasonable intuitive. I do like having the power/wake button on the right. I am right handed and it works perfect for both hands to easily wake/sleep the phone when talking or simply waking it back up when it falls asleep because I didn't touch it soon enough.

The battery life has been fairly spectacular so far. The 4G LTE speeds will blow your mind. Also, the fact that it comes with a 32 GB SD card is pretty cool too. I think my DInc came with a 2 GB one. Overall, I am pleased with the purchase. I may note that my DInc still works and I added Cyanogen(Mod) with no problems. I figure I have 14 days to return this thing and if it doesn't make me completely happy I will claim insurance for my DInc and roll with Android OS 2.3.3 on the down low.

I suck

Here is how much I suck. I haven't posted anything in years. Thanks Bunterman for keeping this thing on life support.

Do you like movies? Do you like only the best movie review site?

Hey dorks, if you enjoy what I write here (which obviously you must), then check out my movie review site Movie Dork...leave some comments and let me know what you think.