Blogger - software hell

Status.Blogger.Com

We've had to restart the databases multiple times today because of server freezes. During the freezes, users would have encountered error pages when trying to access their blogs.

We're planning on a number of improvements this week to address this very serious situation. First, we will be pushing new code to both gather information on these freezes as well as revise some features to put less strain on the database. Second, we will be effectively doubling the number of machines used to handle the db workload.

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Blogger is in flames. The status page is an impressive set of short reports, which are all variations on the theme of "we're doomed". Their shoving machines in and patching code on the fly, trying to figure out why their databases are going down several times a day.

I think they should shut down for a week and get some sleep.

Mall of America: Winner of world's worst web site - the invisible MOA PDF map.

Mall of America

What would most people like to get from a Mall of America web site?

A map of the mall.

Doesn't exist. Ok, so it does. But only Google can find it. There's a tiny link on this page that hints that a map exists. Click on it to get a PDF map.

There are no other mall maps on the web site. Buried away somewhere is a list of stores, each store links to an illegible map GIF for that store area alone.

This site wins the "world's worst" prize because I bet it cost real money. If it were a freebie hobby site it would only be lousy.

Silencing the G5 whine

MacInTouch Home Page

Bill Bradford may have put his finger on at least one iMac G5 noise problem:

I've had my iMac G5 (17", 1.8Ghz, SuperDrive) for almost a month now. Due to my ambient "computer room" noise, I never noticed any problems with the iMac (which replaced my quite noisy "Wind Tunnel" MDD 867 G4). After reading some of your Reader Reports concerning system noise, I turned off all of my other systems and had a listen. Sure enough, that's quite an annoying whine.

I took the back of the iMac off, and noticed that the CPU fan vent cover (below the CPU, the part with the metal "bar" across it) had a tiny bit of "play" - it would move or rattle when I tapped it with a finger.

I taped a piece of an old nylon backpack strap on top of it to eliminate any clearance with the back cover that would allow movement, put the back cover on, and fired everything back up. The whine is COMPLETELY gone - all I hear now is normal fan noise, and no whine at all. Even the "100% CPU" full-fans-on noise is much quieter.

Looks like this is a problem that Apple can possibly solve by application of some pieces of sticky-back rubber, or other padding material (as someone else mentioned, furniture leg pads would be perfect).

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Besides the fix, two interesting points:

1. It's nice to have a self-service system.
2. The Mac community is a large distributed problem solving system that adds substantial value to Apple products. I wonder if Apple includes it in their "goodwill" valuations. (joke).

Kick Sleds are becoming more available

Black Ice Dog Sledding Equipment

Canadian Kicksled    SR36  $189.00
A rugged northwoods version of the Norwegian style sled, this Canadian version gives you the look of a basket sled with its solid maple construction and laced seat back, with the convenience of a sled which you can fold up nd easily take anywhere. The bed is made of 5-16" slats providing a comfortable seat for a small passenger. The runners re 2" wide and have a narrow teflon guide on the base. A 2" UHMW runner base could be added to reduce drag (see below). Sled includes a bridle and single claw brake. Enjoy winter with this affordable, folding sled. (32" H x 18" W x 55" L) Approximately 16 lbs.

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A year or two ago I could only find these via Norway. Looks like they're returning to North America. Fun on ice, with or without a dog. If you want to skate with one you have to cut back the runners.

ClamXav - OS X GUI for UNIX ClamAV antiviral software

Mark Allan - Software - clamXav

Installing this sofware also installs the antivirus engine, which then downloads the antivirus definitions. So you don't need to also download the clamAV package.

This software just scans, it's not continually monitoring file I/O. Also it's not automatically triggered by receiving email.

Although ClamXav is free, the author is seeking voluntary donations. (Almost never works.) I'm testing now and it it works I'll donate $20. It's nice to have a convenient scanner.

I was able to install as a non-admin user. It does create its own directory: usr/local/clamXav.

ClamAV: Antivirus scanning software for UNIX, including BSD Unix/Darwin (OS X)

ClamAV: Abstract

Clam AntiVirus is a GPL anti-virus toolkit for UNIX. The main purpose of this software is the integration with mail servers (attachment scanning). The package provides a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner, and a tool for automatic updating via Internet. The programs are based on a shared library distributed with the Clam AntiVirus package, which you can use with your own software. Most importantly, the virus database is kept up to date.

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There are two commercial antiviral software solutions for OS X, but they both have terrible reputations for performance issues, system damage, etc. They cause more problems than they prevent. Fortunately OS X viruses are still very rare, but this is not a tenable situation.

Some OS X experts are implementing ClamAV, a UNIX antivirus solution. Apple should incorporate this into Tiger and support the project.

Macintosh hardware monitor software

MacInTouch Home Page: "Marcel Bresink's Hardware Monitor 1.3 reads all available hardware sensors in Macintosh computers and displays the measured values in a variety of ways. This release adds support for all iMac G5 sensors, support for nVidia GeForce 6800 sensors, support for many more hard disk temperature sensors, an option to attach the display window to the Desktop background, auto-save intervals for history data, and other changes. Hardware Monitor is 7 Euro for Mac OS X 10.2.5 and up."