HotSpotVPN: safer use of open hot spots

I've known for some time that non-VPN use of an open hot spot (WiFi) service means anyone who wants to can read what I'm doing -- including passwords, etc. I've looked on occasion for a service that would provide me a personal VPN channel, but I couldn't find one.

What's weird is I just found one, mentioned obliquely in a NYT article on this problem. Why didn't it ever show up in my Google searches? Weird.

Anyway, HotSpotVPN is one of those services. It's $90/year, so not incredibly cheap. Supports OS X 10.4 but not 10.3.

Migrating Outlook contacts to OS X Address Book

I wonder if 10.5 will provide a better solution. TUAW: Outlook to Address Book tip roundup at macosxhints - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Record analog TV to a Mac

Elgato Systems

Hmm. If this lets me automatically eliminate commercials from sports broadcasts, I might have a use for it.

Blogger 2.0: now in beta, no Safari support yet

Blogger 2.0 is in beta. I tried it, the main thing I noticed was the ability to tag posts and the hierarchical navigation widget for the archives.

I also saw this post on Safari:

Browser compatibility. The current version of the beta works best in Firefox and Internet Explorer. We are working to resolve issues with other browsers, specifically Safari.

I suspect they simply mean they'll make Safari users as miserable as they have with Blogger 1.0, versus having it not work at all. Still, one can hope. There's a discussion group.

Things get confusing if you have a blogger account and accept the invitation to create a second beta account. I would advise against that, though I was eventually able to get the accounts sorted out.

Update: I get it. The new account is tied to my gmail account (Google's identity management solution), but my main Blogger account predates Gmail and has a different identifier. Since I've created a Gmail linked beta blog, I connect to the beta blog unless I disconnect from my Google accounts. Hmmm. This could be messy.

Evil Microsoft: Windows Live Writer

Microsoft introduces a free, extensible, Win32 blog authoring tool. Google doesn't have one. There aren't any good ones in the OS X world. The only decent one I know of is BlogJet, also Windows only.

Writer Zone: Introducing Windows Live Writer:

Writer is a great client for Windows Live Spaces but also works with other weblogs including Blogger [jf: aka Google's blog platform] LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress (and many others).

Writer supports RSD (Really Simple Discoverability), the Metaweblog API, and the Movable Type API.

We want Writer to work well with every blogging service out there. If you can’t get Writer to work with your blog, we want to know.

Oooohh. This is wicked evil. After deciding Microsoft was a corporation on Crack, a sly move like this makes me wonder if Ozzie can turn it around ...

Of course I'll have to try it out ...

Apple? Google? Are you paying attention? Time to wake-up boys, the Beast isn't quite dead yet ...

Update 7/15/06: It's really beta. I tried posting a draft to Blogger and it did a true post, as well as generating a bizarre Blogger error message. Not ready for primetime!

Update 7/8/07: It got a LOT better. I love it now.

Resetting Mac firewire ports: computer won't recognize device

Via Macintouch (LaCie sells firewire drives):

Mike Mihalik, LaCie

Seems like the FireWire issue needs to be revisited quite often. Here is my often repeated suggestion which appears to clear up many FireWire issues: reset the FireWire ports. Panther has a Finder Preference to show mounted volumes on the Desktop. You must set this for mounted drives to be visible. Please follow these instructions to reset your FireWire port. Here is a summary:

• shut down and disconnect all external drives and peripherals ; make sure nothing is connected to the FireWire ports
• use Apple Disk Utility to repair permissions on your internal boot drive
• shut down and disconnect the AC power from the computer as well as the drives; if laptop, also remove battery
• let sit unpowered and unconnected for 15 minutes
• reconnect AC power to only the computer (battery too if laptop)
• restart computer
• verify that FireWire ports are visible within Apple System Profiler
• reconnect FireWire drive (only one); refresh window within Apple System Profiler to rescan the FireWire bus; confirm that drive is visible
• confirm drive is OK by using Apple Disk Utility and apply First Aid
• repeat for other drives, one at a time

And here's the kb article he references: What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire device

Leopard: a different view

I was pleased with the Leopard announcement, and with a rumor that even non-Intel Macs ran faster with 10.5 than 10.4 (the Intel speedup is said to be remarkable). It sounded like a definite purchase for me, though as usual I'll wait for Andrew to run into the big problems for me.

This fellow, however, claims Apple's holding back to keep the 4th quarter sails going:

Apple’s Leopard Strategy: Screw Microsoft, Kill Dell, Save the 4th Quarter Page 1 - Talkbacks - Digital Trends: "

Saving the 4th Quarter

... Another of the primary reasons Apple isn’t being forthcoming about Leopard is the fear that if people get too excited about a product coming early in 2007 they will stop buying in 2006. So, Apple is intentionally not telling you about the great multi-media features in the new product, the security enhancements that will make the existing line obsolete, or the massive jump in application performance on what will be a fully optimized product on the then current Intel hardware.

Certainly you’ve been left in the dark about enhancements that will increase notebook performance and battery life, allow you to seamlessly move between 802.11n, WiMax, and Cellular data networks, and even more quickly create peer-to-peer relationships on the fly.

The UI improvements that better make use of the then current enhancements in graphics technology are hinted at but you won’t see the real power until the OS is released when the true power of the visual experience can be a real surprise (and it is believed to be stunning).

If you get too excited about what is supposed to be an incredibly amazing product you simply won’t buy a new Apple this year. That wouldn’t be a good thing because Apple would like you to buy both years, if possible, and that means keeping you in the dark about what is coming. It is a typical Apple after all...

I've read hints of most of the above from usually reliable source, and, more importantly, everything but the better security seems entirely likely. The 'vastly better security' promise is intriguing. Will Apple bundle an antiviral solution? They desperately need to do that.

Even so, it is very unlikely that 10.5.0, or even 10.5.1 will be a good upgrade option. You really don't want to buy a machine with 10.5.0 on it - Apple has a history of major bugs with the initial OS release.

Best to buy 10.4 and wait to 10.5.2 to update; you'll avoid a lot of pain that way.