m2cw – my 2 cents worth

well, after well over a year, i’m trying again to predict what’s going to be announced on tuesday (remember, i have a pretty good track record… ;-))

anyway, once again putting 1 and 1 together i get:

1. updated appletv: i’m not sure i buy into the blue-ray rumors but i think jobs will open up appletv (with an SDK – as it is planned for the iphone). now eyetv 3 (rumored today) points into a somewhat interesting direction. an open appletv would make it possible to use the USB connector with interesting add-ons (video conferencing, PVR etc.). this way, apple would not get in the way of their relationship with the studios but at the same time make the appletv a much more interesting device (think add-ons market of the ipod!). i think other upgrades (e.g. storage, wireless keyboard input etc.) are a given in some way

2. SDK for iphone: given

3. “something’s in the air”: now that’s interesting. i think apple might pull a product out of their hat without any wires, incl. power. that would be innovative. it could also mean wireless sync for iphone/ipod touch.

4. 3g iphone: almost a given (but i’m not sure if they announce it way before they will/can ship it). probability: >50%

5. subnotebook: i’m not so sure. i think that’s more wishful thinking than anything else by the rumor-mongers. tablets did not work (except for a niche group of people). knowing jobs and ive (well, not personally but you know…) if they do something like this it’s gotta be with an “awe” factor. it’s either a large display (10-12″) without a keyboard (and the possibility of using a wireless keyboard) or it’s what the patent says: a dockable macbook (into a larger screen) – so here i’m not sure what to expect really… – i really would not have use for a subnotebook. with the iphone my computer is in my pocket anyway and with an SDK this will even improve further. so who would buy a subnotebook. making the macbook lighter and thinner isn’t really a subnotebook, it’s a lighter and thinner macbook. so, if there some truth to the rumors, we’ll probably once again be blown away…

6. wishes: using apple’s wireless keyboard for the iphone;

now let’s wait and see what steve jobs has up his sleeves… 😉

food for thought and discussion: if the apple tv is nothing but a stationary ipod (which basically steve jobs said during his keynote), then i wonder where the dock connector is.

well, you might say, it doesn’t need one as it is always connected. correct, i respond, but the ipod’s dock connector is not only used for syncing and connecting it to your computer is primarily used by heards of people to connect the ipod to a myriad of third party tools/gadgets etc.

at the same time the apple tv has a USB interface nobody really understands so far.

so here’s a thought: has anybody ever considered that this usb interface could be a “dock connector” in disguise? if so, it would mean that third party devices could be connected to the apple tv!

just a couple of ideas spring to mind: DVR (digital video recorder), direct camera connection, video conferencing system, karaoke systems (not my favorite), stream music to other stereos in the house, etc. etc. etc.

now that would be COOL! (and i think that’s what it is…)

(remember: my track record with predicting these kind of things hasn’t been all that bad… ;-))

this wordpress tutorial saved my life…

i’m trying to predict the future again… (here is the note to my first, very successful, attempt) 😉

at this first attempt i already predicted that apple would sell movies through itunes. well, i was wrong for a little over 12 months because it is already almost a given that steve jobs is going to reveal movie downloads on the special event this tuesday, sept. 12, dubbed “it’s showtime”. rumour has it that it’s only movies from disney. for some reason i just can’t believe that. so my prediction: movies from at least 2 (if not 3) major studios.

now for prediction number 2: here i’m putting one and one together. first: you need an easy way and relaxing way to enjoy those movies. you can surely watch them on your ipod and your tv using your ipod BUT first of all not everyone has an ipod and secondly ever since the introduction of “front row” in january this year, apple has started to make the living room experience much better. now the rumor is that there will be a video enabled airport express. i think that this is right on the money.

why? because elgato doesn’t sell it’s eyehome any more. i found out today that elgato does not list it’s eyehome on their homepage anymore (only on the support pages). eyehome, for those who don’t know, was a product to “stream” videos (but also music and photos and webpages) to your tv (either via wifi or wired). i used to have an eyehome but just a couple of weeks ago it stopped working (don’t know why).

now why is elgato a good proxy? because they have been very good in updating their products and eyehome was nowhere near perfect and they haven’t changed it in a while and now they even delisted it. so i think: they know that apple is coming out with a product similar to the eyehome. so they concentrated on producing tv recording products (which they did in breath-taking speed) and let the eyehome slip without a lot of noice.

just my two cents…

as for a new ipod: i’m not convinced it will happen. yes, bigger hard drive etc. but feature-wise, nothing new. this will all come further down the line with the iphone…

mind you: i have no relation with apple (as much as i would like to) and these predictions are mere brain farts and withful thinking… 😉

here is a short tutorial on how to set up a jabber server using the unix build for wildfire:

1. download the .tar.gz unix build from wildfire
2. unzip it and move it to the desktop, if it isn’t already there
3. go to the terminal and type:

cd desktop
sudo mv wildfire /usr/bin/

and type in your password
4. then go to /usr/bin/wildfire and start the readme.html
5. in your browser click on the “documentation” link and then “installation guide” (as you can see, we have already done the first linux/unix steps, so skip those)
6. click on database and follow the instructions (btw, i decided to go with the internal database option as i did not want to fiddle around with my mysql database)
7. go back to the installation guide and click on “running wildfire under linux/unix” and follow the instructions there (if you want to start the jabber server as a service, do NOT follow the instructions provided but just read on…)
8. if everything worked out you will now be able to access the admin console by following http://127.0.0.1:9090/ – enter the appropriate things and off you go…

that’s it – sweet and simple!

for those of you who do not want to start the server by hand each time, here is how you can do so at startup using lingon, a launchd editor:

using lingon’s assistant enter the following:
page 1: “run job at startup”
page 2: give it any label you want and UNcheck the log in checkbox
page 3: enter the following command: /usr/bin/wildfire/bin/wildfire start

the result is put under “user agents” in lingon and will start the server immediately upon load.

PS: here are two pages from the wildfire forum which might be helpful, especially if you have troubles with java:
some more mac os x build & java details
autostart

i was having an annoying postfix error in my log files:

Mail[260] Unhandled response to command STATUS: * NO Mailbox vulnerable – directory /var/mail must have 1777 protection

the solution: i changed the chmod attributes to 1777! (according to the guys at pine, makers of postfix, it makes no difference! for me it does as it doesn’t fill up my logfile with entries every 5 minutes!)

fire up that terminal and type:
cd /var/
sudo chmod 1777 mail
type in your password and it should work!

update: the only problem: after a “repair permissions” you have to do it again! i guess i will have to install a cron job… stay tuned…

update: i used lingon, the software that lets you edit cron/launchd jobs! with the assistant it was easy to set up a job that must be run at a specific time (5:30 am) as root user with the command chmod 1777 /var/mail. now i only need to wait and see if it really works tonight! 😉

interesting post about 10 reasons why user-experience is hot and features are not: new laws of digital technology

here is how i changed the cron files in mac os x 10.4.5.: because the httpd log files were rotated every week, webalizer only had a weeks worth of data in the statistics. thus i had to change the log rotation to monthly.

i copied the rotation bit out of the weekly maintenance script (/etc/weekly) into the monthly script (/etc/monthly).

now webalizer should have data for the whole month and the log files of the webserver will be rotated each first of the month!

from macdailynews:

Apple now worth more than Dell

Friday, January 13, 2006 – 04:14 PM EST

On October 6, 1997, in response to the question of what he’d do if he was in charge of Apple Computer, Dell founder and then CEO Michael Dell stood before a crowd of several thousand IT executives and answered flippantly, “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

A little more than a month later, on November 10, 1997, new Apple iCEO Steve Jobs responded, speaking in front of an image of Michael Dell’s bulls-eye covered face, “We’re coming after you, you’re in our sights.”

Today, after a little more than eight years of hard work, Apple Computer, Inc. passed Dell, Inc. in market value. That’s right, at market close Apple Computer ($72,132,428,843) is now worth more than Dell ($71,970,702,760).

Got any snappy retorts for that one, Mr. Dell?

Luckily, Apple has had the right man in charge since July 1997; a man with the vision and the ability to do what lesser men think impossible.

update: these numbers from Om Malik are even better.

here is an interesting bit about quicktime pro: how to rotate movies. this helps in case you used a photo camera and shot a movie with it turning the camera 90 degrees (either direction…)

i almost threw two very funny ones with jacob out because i accidentally did that! now i can actually do it on purpose…

sweet! 😉