Is it fixed now? Dammit!
Written by Arnan on February 7, 2010 – 6:03 pmToday, our modem signal again crapped it’s pants.
And i’ve had enough, so i went down there to replace the modem and some cables.
Turns out the spare modem i “borrowed” from our previous ISP doesn’t work with this one. It gets the signal and stuff right but doesn’t actually connect. I bet they locked the Mac address or something. Anyway, without a spoofing option to try that out i moved back to the original modem.
Next i swapped out all cabling. Some were a bit knackered, not sure how that happened. And the Ethernet cable promptly was stuck in it’s port. I had to pull hard to get it loose and in that process break the ethernet port on the router. Luckily no contacts were shorted just the locking clip broke off. So i can just use another port on the modem/router, it’s not mine so no need to replace it.
Let’s see how this works, all coax cabling is now replaced, new ethernet from the modem to the Airport… The modem shows a better signal/noise ratio. But i’m not sure if that was the problem. We’ll see.
Tags: broken, cables, internet, isp, modem| No Comments »
iPad vs. iPod Touch
Written by Arnan on January 31, 2010 – 4:19 pmThe iPad is a lie! It’s not a tablet pc. And especially not the tablet pc everyone wants. It’s more like they designed a new iPod touch and forgot to shrink it to a handheld format.
| iPod touch | iPad | |
| Storage | 8, 32, 64GB | 16, 32, 64GB |
| Processor | +/- 400Mhz (8GB), +/- 600Mhz |
1Ghz |
| Camera | No | No |
| Battery life | 30 Hours (music) | 10 Hours (webbrowsing) |
| Screen | 3.5″ | 9.7″ |
| Resolution | 480×320 | 1024×768 |
| Ports | Dock connector, Audio out | |
| Networking | Wifi 11b/g, Bluetooth |
Wifi 11a/b/g/n, 3G/Edge (optional), Bluetooth |
| Controls | Home-, Volume-, Powerbutton | |
| Multitouch | Yes | Yes |
| Standalone | No | No |
| OS | iPhone OS | iPhone OS |
| Multitasking | No | No |
| Finder/file access | No | No |
| File downloads | No | No |
| Portable | Yes | Somewhat |
Note that the iPad is a better device specs-wise, but that’s what you would expect in a new iPod Touch.
The lack of multitasking and the “feature” of iPhone OS makes it a bit of a useless thing. Nice for in and around the house. But imagine you sitting in a bus or train with it. Playing some game or whatever. Try it… Take a paper and fold it to a A4 sized slab and see how it not fits with your environment because it’s too big.
The lack of a real OS makes it an iPod. Simple as that. If it has OS X and a desktop it would be a real computer that could replace something. Now it’s just something that adds to what you already have. But at the same time you just know it’s a bit useless because it lacks the software you need.
No iBooks outside the US? What the hell! Is this gonna be like the video store Apple is so happy about but never leaves the States? Damn Apple! Fix that stuff or do not present it as if it’s the greatest thing ever. If i, we in Europe, cannot use it. It’s as good as useless.
The, for me, actual dealbreaker; No multitasking. How can you even try to justify that. A device that you claim will compete with Netbooks but cannot open multiple apps at the same time. Insane! It’s not even a standalone computer. Yeah, it syncs with iTunes. Like your iPhone and iPod.
No file access, if only… only, they had given us a browsable home folder. You know. A place to store and access files outside the app you run at that moment. It is so very simple and obvious. This folder should be shared by default via Wifi and have the subfolders like your mac has. Images, Videos, Music, Documents. Etc. But no. iPhone OS cannot do that. You have to open the Images app to see your images. And you have to open Pages to see your documents. But only the ones Apple supports.
It’s failboat! A big huge failboat!
However, most of it is fixable with software i’m sure. And i hope Apple will, because i want an iPad. Just not this one! For now my iPhone can do more and is more useful.
Tags: apple. failboat, broken, ipad, ipod, rant, thoughts| 5 Comments »
The unlimited widget experiment
Written by Arnan on January 30, 2010 – 1:09 pmOn the forums Olaf under the name Topsys made an interresting hack to AdRotate.
He wrote some code that allows unlimited widgets for AdRotate and posted it on the forum with instructions.
I find this an interresting enough feature to include in the plugin but as he states it needs some testing. You can find the thread here:
http://forum.at.meandmymac.net/topic/code-for-unlimited-widgets
Obviously using this hack is as of yet, unsupported. If things will work out i will include it in a later version.
So if you’re interested and like the way Topsys made things work try it out and let us know in the thread what your experiences are. Also suggestions for improvements are welcome ofcourse!
| No Comments »
AdRotate 2.5.1 and the way ads work
Written by Arnan on January 28, 2010 – 8:22 pmIn AdRotate 2.5 a new way of picking banner images was introduced.
You can now enable the media browser and pick images from there.
This forced me to change the way AdRotate stores it’s image path. WHere the old way would just require the filename the new method requires the full url.
Because of this, ads with an image selected from the dropdown menu will not show until you edit and save the ad. This has to be done once for each ad.
Tags: adrotate, forum, images, plugin, unexpected| 2 Comments »
Pleasantries of a plugin release
Written by Arnan on January 27, 2010 – 2:10 amI make plugins for WordPress so people like me, sometimes. Until they break, then my forum is crawling. Some even find their way into my IM accounts.
And, well… What can i say –
Not me: “yo!”
Me: “hi”
Not me: “Your plugin is broken! Help!”
Me: “i don’t do support via IM, go to my forum http://forum.at.meandmymac.net”
Not me: “But you must help me!”
Me: “i will, on the forum”
And he, i assume it’s a he, just stops talking and someone with a similar name registers shortly after on my forum.
Not me: “How can i use your plugin on my site?”
Me: “what plugin, i have more than 10″
Not me: “uh…”
Silence
Me: “well? Events or AdRotate?”
Not me: “the one for ads”
Not me: “Adrotator for wordpres”
Me: “AdRotate”
Not me: “How do i use it?”
Not me: “Hello??”
Me: “did you read the manual?”
Not me: “no”
Me: “try that first, http://meandmymac.net/plugins/adrotate/2/”
Not me: “Can’t you help me?”
Me: “i just did, besides i don’t do support via IM, says so on my contact page”
Not me: “You’re a twat”
I don’t see how i’m a twat. Am i? Perhaps i am. After all, he demanded help and i told him to read my manual. But hey, he didn’t introduce himself. Rude!
Not me: “Hello”
Me: “hi”
30 minutes later
Not me: “i like your site”
Me: “cool, which one did you look at”
Not me: “yours”
Me: “meandmymac.net?”
Not me: “your blog”
Me: “…”
Me: “ok”
20 minutes pass, i attempt for a conversation
Me: “so what’s up”
Not me: “?”
Me: “You started a conversation like 45 minutes ago, you must have something to say”
After about an hour, ‘not me’ goes offline
Useless sod! Leave me alone!
Sadly these conversations are all real. None of those people i know a name, sex, or anything specific about. Not that *really* i mind that. Chat is fun, i think. But please… this is horrible. Make an effort people!
Tags: chat, crazy, plugins, random, rant| 1 Comment »



