Ramblings of a Geek - Jeremy Johnstone

Using all speakers on multiple Cinema Displays in Mac OS X

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:15:36 +0000

If you have the pleasure of using multiple Cinema Displays, one frustration you might share with me is being forced to choose which display (rather than both) as the audio output device. This has always made for an awkward audio experience that was frustrating. This weekend, I finally tracked down a decent solution, so I thought I would share it here.

I started off following Apple’s guide to combining multiple audio interfaces to create an “Aggregate Device”. The process is actually really simple, first up you need to run “Audio MIDI Setup” from in /Applications/Utilities. Once it’s running, you will see the normal “+” in the lower left corner. Click it and pick “Create Aggregate Device” as seen here:

After you create the Aggregate Device, you then need to add devices to it, in this case both of your “Display Audio” devices, as seen here:

After adding the two devices, the Aggregate Device should now list 2 in and 4 out channels and have both display audio devices listed under it as follows:

Next up, you need to click on “Configure Speakers”. In that window, click both checkboxes in the streams list. In the bottom part of the window you will need to do a little experimentation. In my case, the right setup was to pick “3″ for the Left and “2″ for the right as seen here:

but the goal you are trying to achieve is to have the left monitor play sound when you click the left speaker and the right monitor play sound when you click the right monitor. Try the various combinations until you feel you have it right.

At this point, if you set the Aggregate Device as your output device, you should hear audio playing out both monitors, but with two caveats. First off, the sound is a bit “center heavy”. Second, if you try to use either the keyboard shortcut or the speaker icon to adjust volume, you will find that you can’t change the volume anymore. Neither of these are obviously desirable, but thankfully I found solutions to both.

The first issue with the off balanced sound is easily fixed directly inside the Audio MIDI Setup app. The solution is to reduce the volume on the “inner” speaker on both monitors. To accomplish this, I set the “outer” speaker to a value of 1.0 and the “inner” speaker on each monitor to 0.85. This seemed to accomplish the sound effect I prefer, but feel free to tweak the values to your liking. Here is what the screen looks like when you are configuring each:

I found it not particularly obvious which output was which, so have audio playing and click the mute checkbox to determine which is which as needed.

The final issue to resolve is having the ability to change the audio volume like normal. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a way to do this without the help of a 3rd party app, but thankfully, Soundflower seems to do the trick without any extra bloat and appears to be well maintained. It’s hosted on Github and you can find a download link both on Github and it’s Google Code home. Once you install it, you will find two new audio devices are listed in the Audio MIDI Setup app. For my purposes, the two channel device fit my needs, so I went in and set it as the default for both input, output, and system alert sounds (right click on the device and you will see options for each). You don’t have to do all three, but I found it works for my needs, so might for yours too. Once you have done that, launch the Soundflowerbed app from /Applications/Soundflower and then look for a menu bar icon shaped like a flower. Click on it, and then pick your Aggregate Device as shown here:

With that, you should now be all set. Try hitting the volume change keys on your keyboard and confirm everything is working.

If you run into any issues or have any comments / improvements to this, feel free to sound off with a comment below.

Enjoy!

-Jeremy

Apple says a big F U to Final Cut Studio 2 users…

admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:07:35 +0000

Not being a Bud Light type person (I virtually always ask “but why?”, especially when something doesn’t make sense), I felt compelled to dig into the issue further causing this to appear when you try to install Final Cut Studio 2 on OS X 10.7 Lion:

following up on my blog post yesterday about how to Install Final Cut Studio 2 on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) without resorting to hackily installing Rosetta.

Digging high and low, I could find nothing in the FinalCutStudio.mpkg that would indicate any PPC requirements. Every binary is universal, nothing in any plist, not even a magic resource fork of some type getting in the way. Trying to pull it up in Pacifist crashes Pacifist, so no luck there either. Stumped, I decide to leverage the knowledge I learned yesterday of DTrace via this amazing blog post on the Top 10 DTrace scripts for Mac OS X.

First up I try `iosnoop`. It does help confirm that the system Installer.app is being executed, but nothing unexpected appears. One thing it does remind me about however is that Installer.app writes out a log file to /var/log/installer.log that I had overlooked previously. Checking it for any clues, I see the following:

Installer[14684]: @(#)PROGRAM:Install PROJECT:Install-686.3
Installer[14684]: @(#)PROGRAM:Installer PROJECT:Installer-530
Installer[14684]: Hardware: MacPro5,1 @ 2.40 GHz (x 16), 32768 MB RAM
Installer[14684]: Running OS Build: Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50b)
Installer[14684]: Final Cut Studio Installation Log
Installer[14684]: Opened from: /Volumes/Final Cut Studio/Installer/FinalCutStudio.mpkg
Installer[14684]: Rosetta required to install (QuickTime MPEG2 [6748520])

Ok, well that makes sense then. I’m obviously looking at the wrong package, I should actually be looking at QuickTimeMPEG2Pro.pkg instead it seems! Shifting my focus to it, I don’t find any obvious signs externally of it requiring PPC, but I do find it has an executable called `CheckMimeTypes` in it’s Resources folder that’s PPC only which is called by the postflight script. Aha! So there’s our issue, but that still doesn’t explain how Installer.app knows this fact before we even attempt to install. Not willing to just accept this new found knowledge on face value, I press on.

Since iosnoop was a bit light on info, I decide to give `hfssnoop` a shot since it’s significantly more verbose. Running QuickTimeMPEG2Pro.pkg directly now at this point, I check the hfssnoop output and find the following interesting tidbit:

1922348 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_read 0 BundleVersions.plist
1922348 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_read 2 PPCRequirements.plist
1922351 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_write 0 data.data
1922352 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_write 0 windows.plist
1922352 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_read 8 com.apple.LaunchServices.plist
1922352 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_read 8 com.apple.LaunchServices.plist
1922353 501 17517 Installer hfs_vnop_write 0 windows.plist

Ooohhh! Something referencing PPC! What might we have here? Doing a quick find for that file (`locate PPCRequirements.plist` for what its worth) lands me at this file: /System/Library/CoreServices/Installer.app/Contents/Resources/PPCRequirements.plist. Opening it up, I find the following contents:

Very very interesting if I do say so myself! It would seem that Apple is intentionally listing the identifiers explicitly of packages related to Final Cut Studio 2! Removing the FCS2 related entries from that file and re-running the installer, everything proceeds as normal and the install completes (albeit with a warning about the postflight failure) just fine.

So it would seem that just because a simple binary which does nothing other than to check mime types in the postflight script of a minor dependent package, Apple is going to say a big F U to FCS2/FCP6 users! W.T.F. !?!? What’s worse, they aren’t explicitly blocking just the package which is borked (albeit slightly), they are blocking multiple packages related to FCS2, even though they run just fine on Lion and furthermore all of Final Cut Studio 2 proper runs without issue!

This is extremely disappointing to say the least…

Installing Final Cut Pro Studio 2.0 on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)

admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:19:21 +0000

tl;dr

$ sudo installer -package /Volumes/Final\ Cut\ Studio/Installer/FinalCutStudio.mpkg -target /

Trying to reinstall Final Cut Pro Studio 2.0 on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion today, I ran into this seemingly impenetrable road block:

Of course my initial reaction was to scream, curse, and rant on Twitter. After calming down, I decided to do a Google search as obviously I couldn’t be the only one running into this problem before. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, I found a ton of links of people who thought they knew the answer (but ultimately were clueless), saying it just flat out wasn’t supported and there wasn’t any solution.

Thankfully I stumbled across this blog post describing how to install FCS2 using Rosetta from a 10.6 disc. I questioned it’s accuracy because I knew Lion removed PPC support, but figured it was worth a shot. Unfortunately opening my Snow Leopard box I found the disc was missing as apparently I didn’t put it back away properly last time. Scrounging all over the house, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Doing a deep dive across the web, I wasn’t able to find a single URL (outside sketchy file download services) anywhere that I could download it either.

Back at square one again, I started thinking to myself “there’s gotta be some flag or something that’s preventing it as all the binaries are universal”, yet trying everything I could think of for search terms was proving to be fruitless. Then it dawned on me, “what if I try installing via the command line?” Low and behold, that was the magic sauce that did the trick. Apparently running `installer` via a shell works perfectly!

To get going, fire up Terminal and enter this at the command prompt:

$ sudo installer -package /Volumes/Final\ Cut\ Studio/Installer/FinalCutStudio.mpkg -target /

When running the installer, you’ll see a bunch of messages like this:

But those are expected and not an issue. The install takes a while and you won’t see any graphical progress, but ultimately you’ll see this:

installer: The install was successful.

At that point, you are all set!

Enjoy!

-Jeremy

Twitter Updates for 2012-02-15

jsjohnst — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:33:00 +0000

San Francisco is showing its beauty this morning… (at Sky1 Traffic Helicopter) [pic] — http://t.co/KsSN3cu8 #
Yes… Again… Lemon laws don't apply!? Boo! ? (at @onemedical) — http://t.co/dzuJItSO #
Another great ariel shot from Sky1Ron… This one from 1500ft above a neighborh… (at Sky1 Traffic Helicopter) [pic] — http://t.co/ETBeLK5H #
SF Bay early morning awesomeness (via Sky1) http://t.co/ouJSCt9z #
Here comes the sun! (via Sky1) http://t.co/oNrJ5h4B #
Poached eggs… (with Tristan at @bluebottlemint) — http://t.co/M7TdQEDk #
Couldn't ask for a more perfect breakfast today… Well, except … (Poached Eggs & Cornbread @ Blue Bottle Coffee Co.) http://t.co/ItjUXF6T #
@Tristan's choice… I think mine was better! (Poached Eggs & Cheese On Toast @ Blue Bottle Coffee Co.) http://t.co/mrABn7oy #
Medical and nourishment now taken care of… Time to go head down and get work done did… (at Batman's Cave) — http://t.co/zK6Dugth #
Pro-Tip: If you mark me as a "friend" on LinkedIn in your invite and I've no clue who you are, I will report as spam. Be honest, recruiters! #
If your idea of generating XML is to do string concatenation, especially without any escaping, you FAIL as a dev and get what you deserve. #
@rckenned Yep, but for some reason developers push back on me when I say they patently *are doing it wrong* ™ re: XML but not others. WTF!? #
@rckenned I think you are giving those developers too much credit by putting them in that group… #
@rckenned Fair enough! I could agree with you easily in that case. You're either a 1 or a 0, alive or dead. Much simpler! #
Oink oink! (with Tristan at Fresh Meat Seafood Market) [pic] — http://t.co/1DeZc65m #
Police officer got on BART… Has a taser, an old wooden billy club, two pepper spray cans, and a firearm on his belt. Ready for combat!? #
@chartier Twitter? Maybe as high as $100/year. Path? Not sure. Facebook on the other hand? I really feel they need to pay me to use the site #
Yeah!! (at @sfsymphony) [pic] — http://t.co/8yz4o6FF #
Post symphony entertainment… (at @HarlotSF) — http://t.co/FEKAaRLi #

Twitter Updates for 2012-02-04

jsjohnst — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:33:00 +0000

@abiligiris how many photos are in your photo roll? I think it's related to that. #
@davglass how many photos are in your photo roll? I think it's related to that. #
@davglass all the phones which give me issue regularly have 3k+ on them. Surprised 700ish is high enough too, but not too surprised. #
Glowing chalice… http://t.co/1KhoxXUA #
Was a little dry and rich, but good balance of flavors… Obviously co… (Baked Mac & Cheese @ Sauce) on @foodspotting http://t.co/eYE0dZNW #
Always a good day when they're all green… http://t.co/hFgDLCje #
PHP devs who whine because your code uses short open tags:
I've the same sympathy if you whined about taking a gun and shooting your foot. #
@brionkeith Our developer forums ( https://t.co/GwowXS4E ) is the appropriate venue for asking questions. Thanks! #
Humbling!
RT @cheesycons If you ever need something really random, ping @jsjohnst. Seriously. He'll blow your mind. #
@sh1mmer I left just a bit ago… Boo! sorry I missed ya. #
"Any kid working in a garage anywhere in the world, with a good idea, could put us out of business." #
@nptacek This business is binary. You're either a 1 or a 0, alive or dead. #
"Human knowledge belongs to the world."
Generally the worst geek movie of all time, but still gotta say, a lot of good quotes in Antitrust. #

Twitter Updates for 2011-12-20

jsjohnst — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@bmf Ask me in 14 days and maybe then I'll go over the 1,093.6 yards long list of reasons to you why one shouldn't grossly stereotype! #

Twitter Updates for 2011-12-16

jsjohnst — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:33:00 +0000

NYC area friends, anyone have a room for rent? Have a family friend & his fiancé moving there in 2 weeks and they still haven't found place. #
I'm at California Pacific Medical Center (2333 Buchanan St., Sacramento, San Francisco) http://t.co/VCKrkdf8 #

Twitter Updates for 2011-10-23

jsjohnst — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:33:00 +0000

☑ Saddam Hussein
☑ Osama Bin Laden
☑ Gadhafi
☐ Internet Explorer

3/4 isn't bad, but let's not stop here!

/via @JakesplacePS #in #fb #ie6 #
Ugh… Found out two of the meds I am on have a restricted ingredient in the UAE, but the actual meds themselves aren't listed as banned. Hmm! #
I get so sick of OSX sometimes. Have a disk "go missing" and the whole damn OS/Apps lock up forever and a day waiting rather than timeout. #
Updated last phone to iOS 5, had 1 bar AT&T (despite being under a tower). Reinstall ultrasn0w, back to full bars. Odd!? #
@qqTC Thanks for the childish commentary. Very helpful! #
@qqTC A reply from someone who knows what they are talking about, otherwise why would I have said anything. #
@qqTC Also, sling all the insults at them you want, but facts don't lie… http://t.co/fjj9JXTY (ps, yes, I have all three carrier's iPhones) #
@conradev Thanks! Thought that was the case. The bug is related to the jailbreak, yes? Have any specifics on the bug? #
@qqTC Because I travel… Also, because my "factory unlocked" iPhone went for a swim in a friend's pocket that I loaned it to. #
@conradev thanks! will follow up with him later then out of curiosity. #
Anyone know if Signal works on iOS 5? It's not been updated in a year, so have my doubts, but really hope it does as I use it a fair amount. #
@synack boo! no invite!?!? /cc @SteveStreza #
@conradev I've been involved in the "world of jailbreak" for a long time. #
@conradev My how to guide on jail breaking the first iPhone was the top result in Google for numerous different queries for years. #
@conradev That said, I haven't done much lately (as in past year or two) due to lack of time, so I am out of date on a lot of it. #
Long shot… Anyone have the source code to Signal besides @planetbeing? Really want to update it for iOS5's commcenter if possible. #

Bank of America’s requirement of Adobe Flash for my “security”

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:37:15 +0000

While I am generally a fan of any security measure which improves your online safety, especially related to online finance, there has always been a nagging thorn which made me dislike Bank of America’s SiteKey / SitePass two factor authentication system. It all boils down to it’s requirement of having Flash player installed just to use it. Flash’s issues are well documented on the web, so I won’t bore you by repeating them here. Instead, I stumbled across a work around, while albeit clumsy, that does do the trick so I don’t have to fire up Chrome every time I want to log into Bank of America.

Doing a little digging, I found that most of the functionality on the site is handled via a smidge of Javascript (not generally well written I might add), HTML cookies, Flash local storage, and of course an utterly pointless flash movie to request / type in a 6 digit code (why not just a simple XHR backed form!?!?). Upon investigation, it seems the Flash locale storage is used only as a fallback in case the cookie data is missing (and presumably, also to share cross browser). As long as you have a ‘PMData’ cookie, the Flash local storage appears to not be used.

Ok, so now we know we don’t need Flash for local storage, how about the Flash movie for entering the code. Rather than decompiling their SWF or sniffing traffic, I decided to skip that. For the instances where I need to type in the code (large money transfers), I can just fire up Chrome as that doesn’t happen but few times a month at most (unlike logging in and viewing my account). Instead, let’s see if we can get Bank of America to recognize my Safari browser as being one previously registered, despite it can’t register due to lack of Flash. I first started off by copying all of my B of A cookies from Chrome to Safari. This somewhat unsurprisingly did not work. On a whim, I decided to switch my user agent in Safari and see if having it identify as the same UA would fix it. Shockingly, that is all it took and now I can log in (and it shows my personalized SiteKey and all, expectedly). Going back to sign in again with a fresh browser window to repeat the test sequence, I found that the UA switch wasn’t even necessary anymore. Thus, I can’t obviously confirm it’s “required” to switch the UA, so if you are repeating my results, please let me know if your experience differs.

Now, anyone with any paranoid / security mental tendencies are likely going WTF!? Yeah, me too. Isn’t the whole point of having a formal process for “registering” a new computer permanently is it must be something which should not be able to easily be worked around in 30 seconds by anyone with even an intro level understanding of HTTP? If all it takes is my cookies combined with a specific user agent string (??), then aren’t we really adding trivial (if any) security to the process and are in actuality doing more like the TSA (aka security theater, “make you feel safer”)? I went ahead and reached out to Bank of America’s security team, but haven’t had a response (and don’t really expect one either).

Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy problem to truly solve correctly. Anyone have great ideas on how to get the Internet to standardize on a single login scheme across the globe which has a superb user experience while maintaining two-factor or better authentication when needed all in some workflow? If so, I’m all ears and ready to jump on helping make it a reality in my free time!

UPDATE: Here’s a great security paper on SiteKey… worth a read! http://www.redforcelabs.com/Documents/SiteKey.pdf

Raw amounts aren’t everything! We can’t see the forest for the trees!

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:32:20 +0000

tl;dr –
Until this country has restored a “true” balanced budget, nothing else matters related to our national debt.

Yesterday I saw an intriguing retweet from a friend originally Tweeted by @paulfreid related to the current US Debt crisis and how it relates to various presidents over the past 3 decades. I did a quick fact check on it and the numbers seemed reasonably enough accurate to just retweet, so I did. Apparently a lot of people agreed with me on Twitter about its interestingness and to date my retweet has spread like wildfire (over 500 direct retweets so far not including cascade effect). A very unsurprising, but interesting thing, happened afterwards; the peanut gallery of the web reared their ugly head. From people blinding claiming the numbers are wrong, to those who immediately turned it into an “Obama vs the World” debate (with snide remarks about “Obamacare” and worse), to those who don’t understand math, to those who think the only important part is the raw amount of debt, nothing else. For those of you in the latter camp, let me clue you in on something:

Raw amounts aren’t everything!

To illustrate that point, here’s a somewhat contrived story. Hypothetically speaking, lets say there’s a homeless man named Bob who has $20 to his name. If he goes and spends $10 of that on some alcohol, he just spent 50% of his net worth. Next let’s say there is another man named John whose net worth is $50 million. He decides to go and spend a million dollars on a one night stand with a porn star. Just as ridiculous of a purchase in my eyes, but he only spent 2% of his net worth, even though he spent a million dollars, 1000x more than the homeless man! Which is more foolish? I have to say the one who spent 2% seems more logical (albeit very tiny) than the one who spent 50% of what he had on a frivolous purchase.

Now, to address those who think the numbers are flawed in the original tweet, yes, I have to concede, they are, a bit. I’m not sure if my sources are the exact same which could explain the variance, but that said, except for one president (where the percentage is actually higher) they are close enough that I personally wouldn’t blatantly call foul on something read in a tweet, rather than a real “report”. Based on an official source for the federal debt numbers, Page 141 of the 2012 Historical Tables from the Budget of the United States, we learn the following:

At the beginning of fiscal year 1981 (the first fiscal year Reagan was in office), the federal debt was sitting at $998,818,000. At the beginning of fiscal year 1989 (again, remember fiscal years don’t align with presidential terms precisely), the federal debt is now sitting at $2,829,770,000. Anyone who has paid attention in history class doesn’t need to be reminded that Reagan’s administration increased the debt more than any other since the institution of federal debt by Roosevelt, but just doing the math clearly shows a 183.31% increase. Yes, the tweet said 186%, but 183.31% is still within standard margin of reporting error, and again, I might be using a slightly different source. This is utterly obscene by any measure! Here’s a chart to show the remaining breakdowns by presidential terms:

Federal Debt by Fiscal Year

Fiscal year	Federal Deficit
1978	$772,691,000
1981	$998,818,000
1989	$2,829,770,000
1993	$4,315,571,000
2001	$5,732,802,000
2009	$11,853,142,000
2010	$13,510,840,000
2011 (projected)	$15,459,224,000

Federal Debt by President

President	Beginning	Ending	Percentage Change
Carter	$772,691,000	$998,818,000	29.27%
Reagan	$998,818,000	$2,829,770,000	183.31%
Bush Sr.	$2,829,770,000	$4,315,571,000	52.51%
Clinton	$4,315,571,000	$5,732,802,000	32.84%
Bush Jr.	$5,732,802,000	$11,853,142,000	106.76%
Obama (to date)	$11,853,142,000	$13,510,840,000	13.99%
Obama (incuding 2011 projections)	$13,510,840,000	$15,459,224,000	30.42%

I am hesitant to include the 2011 numbers above because personally I object to mixing “historical” numbers with “projected” numbers, but since we are already over half way through the year, I felt it might be considered disingenuous to not include. Furthermore, I firmly stand behind the fact President Obama should NOT be represented as an example of an administration “doing the right thing” fiscally, so, please do not take their lower percentage so far as a positive sign of anything on his part. In fact, if projections hold true (man let’s hope not for all of our’s sake!), his administration will easily be the second worst fiscally in modern US history, if not first!

In conclusion, for all of you who focus on the raw dollars and cents, or worse who focus on a man and everything he’s done or not done, YOU are the problem. We have way to many people in this country focused on the current news buzz topic who miss the big picture. Does it really freaking matter if the debt is $12 trillion or $14 trillion? Heck no! What matters is we are suffering as a country from thirty years of systemic gross overspending and it must stop! Cuts might be a solution, increased taxes might be a solution, but all of that is second to the fact we must STOP spending more than we have. Even elementary school kids can understand this concept, why not our own elected officials! What does that say about us as citizens because WE ELECTED THEM!?!?

While I am not a fan of President Clinton personally for other reasons, his administration helped secure a balanced budget (short lived as it was). A balanced budget is the critical step to ever getting ourselves out of this debt crisis. We must convince Congress and the current administration to stop with the endless loop holes and exceptions and own up to and actually stick with a sustainable balanced budget.

Let’s all do our part to be better informed and ensure the people we elect have our true best interests in mind.

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-30

jsjohnst — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Feeling like a steaming pile of manure this morning. This is really not the time to come down with something. #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-29

jsjohnst — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@mhay68 @pbowden what time? #
@dane The issue is with large apartment complexes. AT&T doesn't home run the dry pairs and/or mark them identifiably at the demarc. #
@dane Happened to me and also a friend who lives in a different building (but nearby). #
@dane Thankfully the AT&T tech came back before I went crazy and just tap/toned all 1000 pairs @ the demarc for my building to find mine. #
Apple now surpasses Microsoft in market cap, revenue, and profit. Boom!
/via @tristan #li #
Has anyone figured out how to get Synergy2 working between two Macs running latest SL? Seems its a known bug, but I can't get any ver going. #
@rckenned Man… This looks _PERFECT_ but my machines aren't able to find each other (different subnets, but have direct communication) #
@rckenned OMG! That was a difficult thing to figure out how to get working, but man it rocks so hard core! I owe you immensely for the tips! #
@rckenned In case you know anyone who had a similar issue to me with subnets, here is the solution: http://t.co/b6hxl1y #
We decry Apple for privacy concerns over the location DB, but it's fine that Google does too AND it's exposed publicly? http://t.co/AppbGY4 #
@rckenned neither was Apple's either unless you gave the data away. #
@peteypavello I have no problem with it. The point I was making is the stupid media making a fluff about Apple and not Google. #
@dane actually, that was my one bad experience with support. Took hours of back and forth w/ support for what seemed like a common problem #
@WrightsCS #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-28

jsjohnst — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@alanQuatermain using what version of Exchange? I'm near 100% positive I can with Exchange 2010. All older versions of OWA are total fails. #
How @Nike went from flirting with the idea of open data to creating a fellowship with Code for America http://bit.ly/fVBn50 #in #
@mergesort how so? The location stuff was found in backup files first, not jailbroken phones. #
@mergesort you understood entirely wrong and were misinformed on the topic. Here's a good source for info: http://url.vg/6J9K #
love the clarity/clearness of this response. this is why I trust Apple http://url.vg/6JMv /via @iTod #in #
@thinkgeek been closer and was a much bigger twister! then again, I was also on a trained team of storm chasers too. #
@Noffy4Life It wasn't, for the vast majority of those owning iPhone 4s. The media blowing things out of proportion doesn't make it "valid". #
@WrightsCS Did you read the link before commenting, or just choose to be snarky? #
@Noffy4Life Then why didn't you exchange it? I could barely _force_ mine to do it when I tried and same with many friends. Those who … #
@Noffy4Life could reproduce it reliably took their phones back and were promptly swapped for one which didn't. #
@Noffy4Life Just like the iPhones with glue issues, some had actual issues with the antenna. If it's defective get it replaced. End of story #
@Noffy4Life I know someone else who had similar experience. Still doesn't make it "antennagate" implying it was similar to Watergate somehow #
@Noffy4Life I'm saying the media was wrong for blowing it out of proportion no matter who the company was. I'm not "defending Apple" here. #
OH: "Want to program something in ColdFusion?"
OH Reply: "I programmed recently in C#, so my soul is already darkened, why not?" #
@lights I always figured you would probably meet your future husband in WoW and any future kids would be Lvl 60 before their 1st birthday. #
That's really weird… my leg started "vibrating" like I had my phone in my pocket, but yet my pocket is empty. Odd muscle spasm FTW!? #
Friend told me today: "You use emoji and emoticons more than even a Japanese school girl, yeesh man!"
#tigerblood #winning yes? #
“@ashponders: @SteveStreza harden up.” — ditto! #
@MehraBee I feel so unloved! #
@wilshipley @siracusa holy hell that sounds delicious!! #
@MehraBee because I'm not allowed to see the secret, real you, account. #
@Lessien @counternotions while I agree completely with your general premise, not sure those are the examples I'd have ran with. #
@macgasm if you want to reach the professional audience on the web, you need a "share on LinkedIn button" Just saying! /cc @joshuaschnell #
Hey @WaltMossberg, if you tested an AT&T 3G iPad you'd get roughly those same speeds in many cities (outside SF / NYC) http://bit.ly/jFpgdU #
@zadr I have their dual line 40mbps service & it's great! Their install process w/ AT&T is broken though, I can offer advice there /cc @dane #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-27

jsjohnst — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Something tells me this will make @julie_anna a very very sad lady, but I am going to post it anyway. http://t.co/0BntQZe /via @julieinouye #
@subdigit because I live in a 500+ unit high rise & my apt # isn't listed on the checkin + plus having a doorman makes it reasonably safe #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-26

jsjohnst — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@bdrago @Cabel press & hold on URL in @TweetBot allows you to do 1 click urls too. Only issue is images, action menu isn't convenient there #
@mxcl @GreySyntax here's some ideas:
1) not tying their app to the reincarnate of AOL

2) providing a good UX

3) owning their users info #
@chronic notified pro and sbsettings (with retina theme of course) #
@TheMudkip @chronic highly fugly, but super impressive none the less! #
@chpwn @notcom I doubt using "I" alone would be enough to purse, but anytime a Corp is a "proxy" for a single human it's very hard to defend #
@roidrage if it were me, definitely the later! #
@notcom @chpwn oh, I saw, I was just amplifying that part of your tweet to be more direct and clear. #
@roidrage I get about 22-25hrs with mine. #
@Nadeem97 what's an example of one of these bugs you're attributing to Apache on OSX? #
@jeff_lamarche tell the '97 you that it's a magically thin Apple touchscreen laptop & you wouldn't be that far from the truth (in '97 terms) #
@Nadeem97 are you using curl or stream wrapped file handles? #
RT @funkatron: OH "Let's be honest, if you're using PHP, your global scope is already a bit compromised" — Aman! #
@Nadeem97 seems like using a jackhammer to put in a screw, but if that works for you, great! Me, I much prefer using right tool for the job. #
There are 2 types of people in the world, those who can properly grok server side programming, and those who shouldn't even try. #
@Nadeem97 guess the thought of using the PHP and Apache that came natively never came to mind? Both work very well OOB. #
@Nadeem97 and if it were me, I'd grab a Linux distro of choice (Debian personally, but any works) any day over XP for a webdev project. #
@pixelarchitect you would have to see the Twitter conversation I'm currently having to fully appreciate that remark. Full of FAIL. #
@adurdin parse error on line 3 #
(function(){
var truth = "Javascript is awesome.";
return truth;

})();

/paraphrase of @adurdin #
@adurdin that thought entered the back of my mind but decided to run with it anyway. #
@roidrage "small nuclear power cell" is the scientific name for it. It's probably better known by it's trade name of @hypermac. Highly reco! #
Apparently my rainbow unicorn powered TVs talk at JSConf is on Monday @ 2:40pm. If you're a "JavaScript everywhere" fan you should be there! #
@roidrage they have a bunch of sizes. The 150 seems to be a nice trade-off between battery life and weight/size for long distance traveling #
@mhedstrom interesting! Do you have a link to more info? #
The woman who just sat next to me on the shuttle had excellent taste in perfume, but was horrible in "moderation" if you know what I mean… #
… She also had horrible taste in cell phones, so the perfume was probably just a gift I bet and not a sign of her taste in general. #
@GreySyntax @adurdin that's hard to do anyway!?!? #coffeescripthasbettersellingfeatures #
Latest arrival so far to office thanks to incompetent Caltrain maintenance on train ahead of us. (@ LinkedIn) http://4sq.com/dQZ3qe #
@adinardi Which part? The last line? #
@adinardi yeah, it is just your client wrapping it. #
Thank you @Adobe for confirming you just don't get good UX _at all_! Case in point today, try finding the DL link for Photoshop CS5 Trial #
@Adobe Try finding that anywhere else on your site. Instead find signup links to "Learn when CS5.5 is released". Even that page is clumsy #
@Adobe And yes, I had found that page after about 10m of stumbling through your site. Almost grabbed laptop w/ CS5 installed already instead #
I get this #Photoshop error http://t.co/W2pI14N when I try to Save for Web/Devices, but File->Save/Save As works fine. Any ideas out there? #
Nevermind, rather than ranting about @Adobe failings on the web, I should remember GIYF and learn the hacks to fix their installer failures. #
@subhrokar Nope. Brand new install of Photoshop CS5 on a brand new machine. Appears this is a common problem caused by their installer. #
If your CS5 install crashes on exit / shows error dialogs as documented here: http://t.co/s2xyjdb & that fix doesn't work, check ownership! #
@ChiperSoft you are taking global scope too literally. #
@ChiperSoft it's a tongue in cheek bash in general about using PHP. Think from that "scope". #
Lunch of 갈비 + 돼지불고기 + 닭갈비 + 김치 + 장아찌 == Very happy Jeremy! #LinkedInRules =) #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-25

jsjohnst — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@mdhughes @bmf with or w/o anything else below is the question. Really not a fan of the latter after one unfortunate bus ride blinding me #
@pixelarchitect same car my mother drives. great gas mileage! #
Christians: Happy Easter. Jews: Happy 6th day of Passover. Atheists: Happy Day 114, 2011. Muslims/Hindus/Buddhists/Others: Have a nice day! #
Here comes yet another @favstar_pop in 3.. 2.. 1… #
@tristan I really like how you think! #
@MehraBee Vietnam was utterly amazing! Wish I could go back right now. Still in LA? When are you going to come visit friends up North? #
Church bells are playing Joy to the World. Always did love that song! Now another set of bells at another church seem to be colliding. Boo! #
Seems the churches down the street realized they were colliding and both just suddenly stopped playing mid-note. Interesting! #
To anyone who thinks the official @Twitter client killed competitors, look no further than @Tweetbot. I love this app more & more each day! #
If @Tweetbot had push notifications for follows, mentions, DMs, & faves I'd uninstall all other clients, even w/ other features needed still #
@crispin8888 @chronic it is very similar to @neiltyson's, as I was inspired by his. I wanted to be more inclusive of others though. #
@crispin8888 I ran out of chars or I'd have hat tipped the original, but either way, is there a point you were trying to make by your reply? #
@jtarrio I love @Boxcar and all, but I don't feel like it's the right solution in every situation, case in point being Twitter. #
@jtarrio problem with using @boxcar for tweets is that iOS only keeps the last notification PER app. I use @boxcar for more important stuff. #
@jtarrio funny you should mention that, I use Notified Pro! But that doesn't negate my point, I don't want to wade through crap for nuggets. #
@joshuaschnell dang it! I knew there was a reason. thanks for clarifying, I'll work on that! #
@a @coates if my female doctor can give me a physical without issue or protest, why can't we legitimately request a female #TSA agent? #
@joshuaschnell oh!? Crap! Time to hit the wordpress admin dashboard and force out a post! I've got readers again!! #
@coates @a neither would my doctor! That's not the point. If the #TSA agent was attractive every perv would be lining up begging probably. #
Only 8.5 kilos more to go! I bet I could do it in less than 60 days easily and healthily if I lived in Vietnam! http://flic.kr/p/9BjPEL #
I'm really impressed how much of the Korean I understand in LOST between Jin and Sun w/o reading the subtitles. #winning #
@ibreakth1ngs Withings. It's the iOS app which goes with their wifi enabled scale. #
Every time people herald Apple as "just getting good UX" I pause and think about Apple's payment processing & then question their judgement. #
If everybody failed as miserably at payments in edge and/or error cases as bad as Apple I would never use anything other than cash. Ever! #
@MehraBee if you need a place to stay, let me know. #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-24

jsjohnst — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@ChiperSoft no, I actually meant Jahweh. Essentially means the same thing, but there's a slight distinction. #
@ChiperSoft and yes, you are in the right ballpark, but there's a much more specific connection between them. #
@tristan I've had similar issues 2-3 years ago and thus don't use keychain syncing anymore. In a world w/ 1password + dropbox, not missed! #
@mtabini evil man! #
Tweetbot could become my favorite Twitter client by large margin w/ just these addl features (in order):
Tiny font
Flickr photos
Streaming #
@SteveStreza sure, when I'm on 3G. But when I'm on wifi (like right now) it makes perfect sense and other iOS clients do it w/ great results #
@SteveStreza idiots will be idiots no matter what you do. easily messaged w/ a "streaming enabled" notice in the "pull to refresh" area #
@SteveStreza besides, quality user experience is obviously not a high priority to you, as you're using Twitterific for Mac as your client #
@FredericJacobs I'm not much an iphone landscape mode guy. iPad, sure, but not iPhone, hence not important to me. #
@SteveStreza I build products for the top 75%, not the bottom 25% of intelligence. Different strokes for different folks. Each works! #
@gedeon @SteveStreza u do realize I wasn't being serious, right? I need to invent a universally recognized snark / troll face for Twitter #
For those of you who follow @SteveStreza and I, no, my comment about @Twitterific for Mac was not serious. I'm feeling trollish is all. #
I wish Twitter had a feature that asked someone why they are leaving when they unfollow you. Guess I'll email the good friend and ask. #
1) 3^3 * (3 + 3) + 3^3
2) (3^3 * 3 + 33) * sqrt(3) + (33/3) + 3
3) (33/3) + (33/3)

Time to make it happen! #
How a single word change can make cruelty (wrongly!!) seem ok: http://url.vg/6C08 — everyone must fight against dehumanization of all forms #
Thinking this might be the year I pull the trigger & have surgery. Sick of eye glasses! Anyone have Bay Area LASIK location recommendations? #
I just ousted Dheeraj K. as the mayor of The Sky Club (@ the paramount) on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/d36DH9 #
@tristan I've been checked out twice and been deemed as ideal a person as possible, just I'm timid when it comes to my eyes. #
2nd reco request: what's the best Vietnamese food place in SoMA? In SF area overall (if different)? That delivers to SoMA (if different)? #
@tristan that's not my issue at all. I'm just petrified in general over the (albeit highly remote) chance I could lose my eye sight. #
Anyone know if it's possible to swap out a Verizon iPad bought on opening day for an AT&T one still? Having buyers remorse over going VZW #
@zadr @tristan mine has been stable a long time, I've just been petrified of side effects. #
Re: @sarahuth VZW may be better for voice, but data coverage is just as spotty commuting and their b/w + latency is horrible in comparison! #
@flo_core the test is if you can figure out what it all means. #
@sarahuth not sure how I'd have a (legitimate) opinion on the VZW's data QoS on iPads if I didn't get a data plan for it. #
@sarahuth yup! Used it a bunch and am not impressed, especially when on caltrain. Also the lack of intl roaming sucks too, but less an issue #
Continuing my trivia trend this weekend, anyone know what these 4 Egyptian cities had in common: Heliopolis, Hermopolis, Memphis, & Thebes? #
@mergesort haha! Good guess, especially as I did say "these four Egyptian cities" … #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-23

jsjohnst — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Hello my old friend! Been a while? (@ San Francisco Caltrain Station w/ 11 others) http://4sq.com/hx5lUH #
Must be said: "If you're a startup & there is one or more SPOFs that your business has that you have no BCP for, you deserve what's coming!" #
Hope I just got on the right shuttle! :$ (@ Mountain View Caltrain Station w/ 4 others) http://4sq.com/dGeERe #
Camped out in a comfy blue chair waiting for breakfast / speakers to start presenting. (@ LinkedIn w/ 3 others) http://4sq.com/ib6U06 #
Greenpeace presses for renewable energy in data centers: http://bit.ly/hzJd88 #
@a I sure hope there will be video… #
@tristan We haven't even scratched the tip of the proverbial iceberg yet! Once we progress beyond ACR tweaks you will be blown away I think. #
"In short, the severity of the impact was because this is a type of outage that Amazon told everyone couldn't happen." — such a B/S excuse! #
@mdhughes It's not a matter of "relying on the clooud" to me, it's a "I don't plan anything because people told me they are reliable". WTF!? #
@mdhughes How the hell does one get to be a reasonably large 'net company & not have a hot spare minimal setup with an alternative provider? #
@SteveStreza Aman! Sadly, so many companies, @wakemate especially included, just don't get how to reach out to their customers effectively. #
If I follow your company on Twitter, it means I'm already convinced. Retweeting everyone who says you're awesome comes off as insecurity. #
One thing I am so happy Apple put their touches on: browser debugging. Firebug just has nothing on Web Inspector these days, IMHO. #
@SteveStreza couldn't agree more! I still vividly remember the days when it first came to life and revolutionized web development. #
@pelechati @stevestreza That's not an issue for me. I only use Firefox for testing a Firefox specific bug, so it's start time is irrelevant. #
Aren't the new 15" MBPs supposed to have decent battery life? My new one seems to only get 2hrs at best. Please tell me that can't be right? #
I might offend some of my followers with this, but… "My kingdom for all SF Giants fans who take Caltrain to games be deported to the moon" #
@SteveStreza I so would trade Daring Fireball fans for SF Giants fans any day of the week! #
@pbur thought so! WTF!? Guess I will be doing a swap sometime soon. #
@janeylicious @pbur Yeah, I am doing merely light web work right now (on Caltrain) and it's already down to 75% in less than a half hour. #
@SteveStreza I am _SO_ down for that! I think I might start coding that right now in fact while I am surrounded by drunk noisy idiots. #
re: @GreySyntax I have CloudApp and Twitter.app installed. Hmm… Wonder if that's it!? #
@PHP_Architect A week. #
@t_ch0 Did that earlier today, no help. I'm now wondering if it's the GPU eating the battery because of CloudApp / Twitter? #
@RoyalPineapple It's showing 6861 mAh. #
@PHP_Architect I have nothing open but Twitter, Outlook 2011, and a ton of browser tabs across Safari and Chrome. #
My Bose QC2 at least are at least taking the pain away from the screaming idiots on this train, but still very very loud. Seriously STFU! #
"People" are seriously _OBNOXIOUS_ when I have noise canceling headphones + iPod turned to max + over amped music and I STILL hear them #
re: @GreySyntax Seems that was it! The discrete GPU was in fact the one in use. Forced it to use Integrated only using that app. Thanks! #
@zadr not in the remotest right now. I'm thinking it's because of the discrete gpu (hopefully now fixed with gfxstatustool app) #
@Christleen I'll pay $1000 for it!! /cc @nasatweetup #
Current Status: http://flic.kr/p/9ANjgM #
@billkunz it's a week old. I'm pretty sure it's gpu related, but will report back after I've tested it some after installing gfxstatustool #
@t_ch0 I installed gfxstatustool. Will report back after I let it run a while. #
If you follow me, know where I live, and like wine, stop by! Come up to the roof and I'll pour you a glass! Cabanas are nice and heated. #
@SteveStreza you of all people should know I've at this point nearly 200 bottles of liquor, so if wine isn't your thing, plenty of options! #
Updated Status: (more sunset, less bridge) http://flic.kr/p/9ANCGz #
@chpwn buy a better router and you'll never need to reboot. #
@janeylicious need a ride? #
@izs @Reid that one there is my preferred method, especially as you can specify the base to use during conversion. #
Lazyweb: what does the prefix 'heno' mean specifically?
(as in henotheism, as opposed to monotheism, which is same same, but different) #
Trivia question: what do these words have in common?
Pentateuch, Torah, doublets, Jahweh, Elohim, Wellhausen, and Mosaic. #
@summertweet not giving up the answer that easily! here's one more for you to add to the list:
J.E.P.D
#

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-22

jsjohnst — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

@ejacqui I realize you were just being a bit hyperbolic, but if EC2 has the power to "ruin" your life, your life was already bad anyway. #
@ejacqui But of course! I would expect nothing less just because of @clint alone #
@eagleshack Thanks! #
One "positive" thing about Amazon going down? You now know first hand every single company who is in us-east. Uggh! #
@rckenned I realize these are startups, but man, it's 2011, you'd think people would have learned about SPOF avoidance by now! ;( #
@rckenned "rapidly changing", no, but neither are many of the startups who went down today. #
@rckenned "writes" isn't "rapidly changing". Distributing new content created is much easier than content which changed. #
@rckenned That said, those aren't the startups which I am referring too… Those guys are big enough where they have no excuse for failing #
Final preparations for my first LinkedIn hackday presentation… Wish me luck!! #
Hoorah! @synedra and I rocked it with her inyourfacebook hack day project #
inyourfacebook #inday #
@mergesort different teams do different things, but yes, agile / scrum practices are definitely done by a few teams. #
Voting for inSide. Totally want this app to go live. #inday #
JYMBII Connect #inday #
Definitely an awesome presentation!! #leap #inday #
RT @hackernewsbot: Don't blame Amazon for your lack of redundancy… http://t.co/MFBWoDi <— OMG YES! AMAN!! Not like it's 1st time either #
+1 “@cheesycons: Agreed! RT @julieinouye #leap Possibilities are endless. #inday” #
Man, indigo totally kicks ass. So want the source code to this hack! #inday #
Apparently @koblas and @rckenned are my top "LinkedIn Twins" #inday #
@eridius If you are lucky! I had to wait almost 6 months to get mine including going back to the DMV or talking on phone w/ them 3 times. #
Really digging the LinkedIn Connection timeline hack. Very visually pretty. #inday #
@eridius First time I went back after 2 months, found out they had somehow lost my renewal and had to do over from beginning including test. #
@eridius 2nd time I still didn't have mine and had to get new temporary as the previous one expired. #
@eridius The 2nd renewal app was done beginning of November, I didn't actually get the DL until approximately March. #
@eridius It's enough of a problem they have someone monitoring Twitter and calling people who tweet about issues they have. #
CheckIN rocks! Very beautiful UI and easily something I would use personally w/o a doubt. #inday #li #
@dens Since you are only 2 blocks from my place, have time to go out for a drink? #
@zadr @cbarrett @pbowden @thekarladam @stevestreza @tristan Why wait till next week? I vote tonight! #
@SteveStreza how long is this festivities? I will be leaving the office in 10-20 minutes (aka in the city hopefully by 7:30pm) #
OH: "Person #1) I am surprised IE6 supports this technology we use called HTML. Person #2) Are you sure? Have you tested it?" #
@SteveStreza @shella yo Shella, want a ride North? I could definitely use a carpool buddy to get there faster. #
Quite amused how a random Tweet about SOAP and XML-RPC turned into a 20 person drunkfest planning. #StartupLifeInSFArea #
Man it's amazing what a $200 detail job can do for a car. My car looks awesome w/o the scrapes in the paint from a shitty valet a year ago! #
@zadr @augustjoki very true! #
Not like I complained much before anyway, but my trip to Vietnam seems to have lowered my opposition to walking long distances dramatically. #
@VietnamVisa Vietnam is one of my favorite APAC countries I've been too. #
@VietnamVisa hoping that will be sooner than later. I miss someone there greatly! #
OH: "seriously man, don't tweet or facebook that. I mean it. You can Pounce or Yammer it though because no one uses that shit." #jadedviews #
Rule #1) @thekarladam is always wrong, especially on the Internet
Rule #2) when he's right, it's because he was wrong at trying to be wrong #

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-21

jsjohnst — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:33:00 +0000

I'm at Philz Coffee (3101 24th St, at Folsom St, San Francisco) http://4sq.com/hki0z8 #
Catching @LinkedIn shuttle! (@ 24th St. Mission BART Station) http://4sq.com/dUKLZz #
@mdhughes @augustjoki @thekarladam YouTube works perfectly w/o flash for me, same with Hulu. Only site I use regularly forcing flash is BoA. #
Day 3, begin!! (@ LinkedIn) http://4sq.com/hD9qT1 #
Looking for an amazing job with a company second to none? Ping me! #
/me jealous!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdye/5639402160 #