average admins

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 27th, 2007.

Ok, so I blogged a while back in November of 2006 about being back in the wardriving game. Well, it turns out, that wasn’t entirely true. See, after I posted that entry on averageadmins.com, I never really did any wardriving. When I finally got ready to get back in the game and make some maps and what not using KisMAC and Google Earth, my MacBook’s built-in wireless NIC wasn’t 100% compatible with KisMAC. It seems that the 2nd generation of MacBooks changed their wireless chipsets and the new chipset isn’t 100% compatible with KisMAC. So, according to this document on the KisMAC developer WiKi, my best bet was to get a USB wireless NIC with a Prism2 chipset. So I did…

The bad thing about having to get this type of hardware is a) most of the devices with these chipsets are older wireless cards and kind of hard to locate, or b) the newer cards that are still manufactured with this chipset are pretty pricey. Well, I did a little eBaying and found a D-Link DWL-122 for around $60 with shipping and insurance. This was a great find as this device was still new in the box and the price wasn’t that bad considering I had to locate an affordable wireless card with a specific chipset. I placed my order on the 20th of this month and got it in yesterday… Guess what?! That’s right kids! I’ve already put it to use.

(more…)

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007.

I have been fascinated with the Mac Mini for quite sometime and actually thought that this piece of hardware would be my entrance into the world of Macintosh due to its size, price, and the fact that you can use your already existing DKM. When I purchased my MacBook from the Apple Store in Plano, Texas, I talked with a salesperson about the Mac Mini. She said that a lot of people were purchasing the Mini for use as a server. I thought that was an extremely cool idea.

Think about it. Most data centers aren’t getting any bigger. Every server manufacturer out there is trying harder and harder to cram more and more into 1U rackmount servers. Even so, the length of these machines is way too long. I mean, you took a tower server and squashed it down to like an inch to an inch and a half tall but the rest had to be flattened out and spread over a larger footprint. The Mac Mini measures 2 inches tall and is 6.5 inches square. How many of those things can you fit on the real estate a 1U server takes up?! A lot!

(more…)

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007.

I have had my 30 GB Video iPod for a while and have been using my MacBook since late 2006. I bought my iPod at WalMart and it came formatted for a Windows machine. This was fine and all when I used a Windows machine and FreeBSD because I could read and write to the iPod with no problems as well as update the iPod via my Windows PC (yes, I have one… I’m sorry…). However, since I have been using my MacBook full time I haven’t been able to update my iPod’s software from 1.2 to 1.2.1 because it was formatted for Windows, I was too lazy to boot up my Windows machine, and I was honestly a little afraid to click on the “Restore” button within iTunes for fear of hosing my iPod.

Today, while working at a remote disaster recovery location, I had a few minutes to spare while a server booted up and recognized some new tape drives to press that “Restore” button within iTunes. I was scared, yes, but I did it. I clicked it! As soon as I did, iTunes told me that all of my music would be deleted from the iPod and the iPod would be returned to the factory settings. I accepted this and told iTunes to continue with the restore. As it was wiping my iPod it also upgraded my iPod to the latest version of the iPod software, version 1.2.1, and obviously, formatted the iPod with a Macintosh file system.

Now, as software updates are released for the iPod I don’t have to feel left behind due to laziness and fear any longer. I always use my Mac and can just update it inside iTunes at the click of a button. I’m glad I “made the switch” to Macintosh, both in my normal computing environment (i.e. my laptop) and in my iPod file system.

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 15th, 2007.

I stumbled upon this article the other day when I was reading through some of the blogs I monitor in Bloglines. The article is from O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter.com site and is about a patent filed by Apple in August of 1982 and granted in December of 1985 for a flip phone in the shape of an apple with a bite taken out of it. In other words, the phone is in the shape of the Apple logo.

If you review the patent through some nifty patent interface provided by Google, you’ll see 13 drawings (Fig. 1 - Fig. 13) of what the proposed phone would have looked like. This is pretty cool to know that Apple had an idea for a phone over 20 years ago. I am also very glad that this phone didn’t make it to market and that the iPhone will be their first cellular phone offering. If they had released this flip-phone back in the late 80’s or early 90s, they may not be around today to give us phone addicts the iPhone.

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 15th, 2007.

I am totally sold on hands-free communication when using a cell phone. I can not stand to hold a phone up to my dome and talk on it. It makes me feel all yucky inside. So, ever since I got my first Bluetooth® enabled phone, the Motorola RAZR V3, I have been sporting a Bluetooth® headset along with it. Before I go on about my latest adventure, let me give you a little history of where I’ve been.

Lately, I have been using a Plantronics Voyager 510 and a Motorola H700. Both of these headsets have their pros and cons, in my opinion. I have written a little bit of what I like and dislike about both of these units below.

(more…)

…Why Don’t I Back That Thing Up?!

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 5th, 2007.

I’m just trying to tell you, I do a lot of development on my laptop and have a lot of Photoshop files, code, etc. for my client’s web sites and other applications I have developed for Fruitful Solutions. I also have a ton of music in my iTunes music library. I have e-mails from clients that I need to hang on to and other important things that matter to me and I feel like I need to back this stuff up. Before I go on, if you have data, you need to be backing that stuff up. And here we go…

I have been backing up my MacBook to a USB 2.0 IDE drive cage with a 120GB Western Digital drive in it for a few months now using an application called Personal Backup X4 from Intego. This application has everything I was looking for in a backup solution.

I currently do what the software calls Synchronizing. Basically, it is an incremental backup. The first time you run the script, it performs a full backup. Then each run after that it only backs up any files that have been added or modified since the last synchronization and will also delete any files that are no longer on the source disk from the disk you’re backing up to.

You can also create disk images, archives, and even make bootable copies of your harddrive with this software. Like I said, I have been using this software for a while now and love it. I like knowing that my data is backed up and that I can customize my backup job with little to no effort using the intuitive interface Personal Backup provides.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive ($69.95) commercial backup solution for your Mac, I highly recommend you give Personal Backup a try. There is a free trial available for those of you who like to try before you buy. If you try this application, I can almost guarantee you will be impressed with its ease of use and feature set. Of course, I say “almost guarantee” because some people just can’t be pleased and then some don’t want to pay any kind of money for software these days. Hasn’t FOSS just spoiled us all?!

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on March 5th, 2007.

I ordered me another external harddrive last week from Buy.com. I got a Cavalry Storage 500GB USB 2.0 drive and it arrived today.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Who is Cavalry Storage?” You know what?! I asked myself the same thing until I read the user comments on Buy.com that said this thing worked flawlessly and quietly. On top of that, how can you beat 500GB of external storage for $144.95 and free shipping?! I mean that equates to like 29 cents per gigabyte… Great find if you ask me.

I have it plugged in, formatted for use with my MacBook and can’t even hear the thing over there running. The only way I know it is on is because it has a beautiful blue LED on the front of it and Mac OS X has recognized it and mounted it successfully. The transfer speeds are great since USB 2.0 is so good to me. I look forward to loading this thing up with, uh, something soon. I’m sure I have some files and folders I can pull off of my1 60GB internal SATA drive in my MacBook and throw on there.

Anyway, I wanted to tell the world about my new “gadget” and how it is working so far.

Until next time…

Originally posted at cocoacrusty.com on Sunday, February 11th, 2007.

I cleaned up my desk today, well, actually yesterday since it is now 12:27AM on Sunday morning. I got it looking so good I thought I would take some pictures of it. I needed to get my stuff straightened up so I could do some development without being overwhelmed. The photos are posted below:

(more…)

According to a new blog (terminal23) I’ve been reading, who keeps up with another blog (joatBlog) I read, the wi-spy is going to be twice the price starting Feb. 1st. That’s in 20 days for those of you that think math is hard (you know who you are, Jeff)

Ok, so what exactly is a Wi-Spy?

Wi-Spy™ is the world’s smallest 2.4 GHz spectrum analyzer*. Wi-Spy is perfect for troubleshooting interference from the following devices:

* Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
* Microwave Ovens
* Cordless Phones
* Zigbee
* Bluetooth

Who needs Wi-Spy?
You may need Wi-Spy if:

* You deploy and maintain Wi-Fi networks
* Your Wi-Fi has intermittent bandwidth problems
* The microwave interferes with your Wi-Fi network
* When the phone rings your network connection drops
* Your neighbors, family, and friends constantly call you for free tech support

Also, it looks like the guys over at MetaGeek (the makers of the Wi-Spy), are working on a new software release for this little device.

The screenshots for this little thing look amazing. Take a look at them here:
http://www.metageek.net/chanalyzer/screenshots.php

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/the-apple-iphone/

It definitely has a lot of sex appeal. It’s like having a little MacBook in your pocket. Check out the comments if you want to hear from all the haters out there.

The best thing about this phone is that it’s going to be on the Cingular network. While Cingular sucks here in our neighborhood, it’s the best available.

Jason, start saving your pennies now since this phone has quite the hefty price tag on it … 600 bucks for a 8GB model with a 2-year contract. I might just be trading in my Treo 650 for one. Now I just need to find a good spot on my shelf for my new 80GB iPod.