We returned from holiday to find that our furnace had died. Miraculously neither pipes nor radiators were frozen.
The repair service recommends a device that will turn on a light in the window when the temperature dropes below a critical level. The theory is that our neighbor will see this and call us.
That's fine, but I'd rather a sub-50F temperature event trigger email from my server. Then I can route it to my cell phone, etc.
Seems like either a commercial product must exist, or someone must have adopted this sensor/light device to trigger an email message. Of course I'd like something that worked with OS X, but I have a Wintel server as well.
This would be a great Steve Ciarcia article in the BYTE days, but I'm looking for something less ambitious than his recent work.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Slashdot Submissions: Sensor to detect furnace malfunction and send email
Slashdot Submissions
Belkin KVM switch recommended by a persuasive slashdot poster
OmniView SOHO KVM
Of particular interest if Apple's headless $500 iMac comes to market.
Belkin gives you control over four computers--either PS/2 or USB models, or both--from a single PS/2 console. Our audio feature lets you switch between computers sharing speakers and a microphone, without having to unplug and re-plug them. Using the SOHO Series on Sun and Macintosh USB platforms gives you easy, cross-platform control. With its advanced features, such as audio and microphone switching support, the Belkin SOHO Series makes controlling multiple computers easier than ever.
Of particular interest if Apple's headless $500 iMac comes to market.
The OS X Keyboard viewer -- yet another obscure utility that displays special characters and fonts
CreativeBits: OS X: Typing special characters
I wonder about the Mac developers who get stuck doing these utilities. Here's another clever one that's utterly buried in a completely obscure location and probably known to only a dozen people -- yet if you search it out it's a great way to see the effect of using modifier keys and to examine various fonts. The one downside is that it uses yet more space on the menubar, but it's good enough to warrant taking something else (the MacClassic icon?) from the menubar (command-click then drag off menubar* -- but restoring icons to a menubar is application dependent).
One of the most interesting tips I've seen in a while.
* This is one of the more obscure user interface behaviors in OS X. A Ctrl-Click should show a "remove" item on the context menu.
I wonder about the Mac developers who get stuck doing these utilities. Here's another clever one that's utterly buried in a completely obscure location and probably known to only a dozen people -- yet if you search it out it's a great way to see the effect of using modifier keys and to examine various fonts. The one downside is that it uses yet more space on the menubar, but it's good enough to warrant taking something else (the MacClassic icon?) from the menubar (command-click then drag off menubar* -- but restoring icons to a menubar is application dependent).
One of the most interesting tips I've seen in a while.
* This is one of the more obscure user interface behaviors in OS X. A Ctrl-Click should show a "remove" item on the context menu.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The Poor Man's Mathematica
Graphing Calculator Users Gallery
There's a long story here. My perspective is that when Apple moved from its 68K Motorola chip to their "hot" RISC PowerPC architecture, they introduced a new mini-app -- the graphing calculator. They made a fuss about it. At the time it reminded me of Mathematica, except even then Mathematica cost hundreds of dollars and this far simpler app was a freebie. It persisted through all of Classic, but vanished after OS X came out.
Now the story of how it came to be, and not be, has come out. And, amazingly, it's back. There's a free version for OS X (works fine in my limited testing) and a $60-$100 commercial version with more features. There's even a book.
I used Mathematica quite a bit 10 years ago, and this is no Mathematica, but I must say it's a very cool tool. I don't do enough math now to judge how useful it would be to an engineer, but it does look like it'd do the job for high school math -- and it's not at all expensive.
There's a long story here. My perspective is that when Apple moved from its 68K Motorola chip to their "hot" RISC PowerPC architecture, they introduced a new mini-app -- the graphing calculator. They made a fuss about it. At the time it reminded me of Mathematica, except even then Mathematica cost hundreds of dollars and this far simpler app was a freebie. It persisted through all of Classic, but vanished after OS X came out.
Now the story of how it came to be, and not be, has come out. And, amazingly, it's back. There's a free version for OS X (works fine in my limited testing) and a $60-$100 commercial version with more features. There's even a book.
I used Mathematica quite a bit 10 years ago, and this is no Mathematica, but I must say it's a very cool tool. I don't do enough math now to judge how useful it would be to an engineer, but it does look like it'd do the job for high school math -- and it's not at all expensive.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Mac OS X 10.3.7: problems with DNS and preferences?
Macintouch - Mac OS X 10.3.7
This feels credible. A problem with a .plist file is a typical OS X glitch. Deleting the pref file for network preferences might work as well.
Updated to 10.3.7 on my 15' alBook and suffered same slow Internet performance that is widely reported on the web. It was especially terrible with my AirPort at home.
The suggestion to make sure you load 'valid' DNS numbers was the only tip I needed. I loaded a different set of DNS numbers and ZOOM it took off. Then I put back the original DNS numbers and ZOOM it keeps on rocking... my previous speed had returned. It was not a new 'valid' number it needed, but simply a reload of the DNS addresses to correct some type of corruption. Even thought they are correct, try erasing, then reloading your DNS addresses and see if it works for you.
Something about 10.3.7 messes up the DNS server lookup process. But it is easily fixed in the Network Preferences panel.
This feels credible. A problem with a .plist file is a typical OS X glitch. Deleting the pref file for network preferences might work as well.
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