Virtual Appliances: what the?!

This one snuck up on me. Parallels, my OS X virtualization layer, runs Virtual Appliances - whatever the heck they are.

Near as I can tell a VA is a self-contained OS/application combination that works directly with the Parallels environment. So they don't need a host OS, instead the functions of a classic operating systm are divided between a layer within the VA and the Parallels environment.

This seems a profligate use of resources (each VA must repicate a lot of OS functionality), but memory is relatively plentiful and they probably use a slim version of linux.

So you can run a Linux app on OS X without having to create a Linux environment, and, in theory, each VA is a self-contained world.

I can't think of a use yet, but I'll keep watching ...

Update 5/7/07: I've been thinking more about this. It's an interesting variation on the theme of "routing around" the immovable Monopoly. I've thought of a few applications; so far they're all either security related (robust encrypted and portable environment) or are in some way covert (breaking DRM, etc). Interesting.

Chris puts Dawn Chorus on my RAZR

My loathing for my MOTOROLA RAZR V3M dropped on iota today thanks to this comment from Chris:

Blogger: Gordon's Tech - Post a Comment

To use an .mp3 as a ring tone just drop your .mp3 into the audio folder via bluetooth and it should show up in the available ringtone list...

I used the little-known iTunes export function to convert my Dawn Chorus AAC file to an 770K MP3 (over large, but it works), mounted the RAZR using the OS X Bluetooth browser and dropped the file into /audio/.

Now my phone rings as a bird chorus. It's definitely audible, but pretty tolerable and reasonably distinctive.

Thanks Chris!

Now I'm thinking I might take Eric's advice...

... I actually love the Razr for how easily modifiable it is, compared to most cell phones. Head on over to www.hacktherazr.com if you have some spare time. The guides there were meant for the Verizon Razr, but a lot of them will work for the Sprint V3m. If it doubt, ask in the forums. One of us will answer you!

We're cutting way back on expenditures, so if I end up holding off an iPhone purchase a hacked RAZR will ease my daily suffering ...

Update 5/4/07: Patrick, writing in comments, pointed to a post that gives a more detailed tutorial and shows how iTunes can create a 30 second segment. Very nice. When I followed the 'Water only Dries' advice I ended up with a 120KB file instead of the 770KB file. The tutorial even includes screen shots showing how to convert the original to MP3.

A hex editor for OS X: 0xED

TUAW points to the free 0xED Cocoa Hex editor. The last hex editor I remember using was a DOS tool that was part of either Norton Utilities or a product called something like PCTool. I think Norton Commander might have had one built-in too.

Nice to know there's one for OS X ...

A very readable discussion of AJAX frameworks

Modern web development ("web 2.0") is about creating applications like Gmail that combine the performance of a traditional application with the advantages of distributed code and server-side data storage. This is the kind of product we were trying to create in the 1990s, when we were beat up by the death throes of client-side Java. Those were dark days, but XMLHttpRequest [1] and a slightly more stable version of JavaScript [2] have enabled 21st century vendors to produce some very interest web apps. The next step was to create collections of functional code fragments (Frameworks) to support building new products; these are called AJAX Frameworks.

Dr. Dobb's has a very nice summary of modern AJAX frameworks that can be read by anyone who's every put an HTML page together. The authors ended up choosing a free Yahoo framework, but in part this was due to some requirements that excluded Google's (also free) AJAX framework from consideration. I liked the discussion of JavaScript compression, in part because I made a minor contribution to our engineer's adoption of html compression back before that was routinely done ....

Dr. Dobb's | AJAX: Selecting the Framework that Fits | May 1, 2007

...The smaller the footprint of the framework used, the less likely performance degradation occurs. The total compressed JavaScript file sizes required by YUI (22K) and Prototype (32K) are significantly smaller than the single custom Dojo JavaScript file, which is about 200K. All three libraries performed well with a high-speed connection; however, the YUI and Prototype/Scriptaculous prototypes performed faster with 56K dial-up connections...

It's a quick read, and it's a remarkable one-stop view of commercial web development.

[1] Wikipedia: "The XMLHttpRequest concept was originally developed by Microsoft as part of Outlook Web Access 2000." It pains me to confess that Microsoft actually added value to the Internet, but I think this was in the days before Ballmer killed IE development in order to keep the Microsoft Office franchise intact.

[2] Sigh. Microsoft helped there too with ECMAScript. When they have competition they're not all bad, shame that they always kill the competition.

Reaching for Nerdvana: Integrating family and work calendars

Can I reach nerdvana? Can I manage calendars for every family member, keeping them all as private as digital can be, and also integrate my work calendar while allowing each calendar to be viewed and edited on a PDA?

Not yet, but we're getting close. The secret sauce so far is Google Apps for our family, Spanning Sync, SyncMyCal, Outlook 2003 at home and office, iCal, my wife's beloved but aging Samsung (PalmOS) i500, Missing Sync for Palm OS, and my battered and broken Palm Tungsten E|2. My demon-spawned Motorola RAZR is not invited, there's a seat waiting for the iPhone.

Here's the situation so far:

• Google Calendar on our family domain. The domain means I can easily share calendars internally without exposing them.
• In Google Calendar: a work and home calendar for me, a home calendar for my wife, child calendars to come. My calendar view includes my two calendars and my wifes.
  
• iCal is a natural fit to Google Calendar (gCal), so I create corresponding calendars on iCal for my wife and I on our shared home desktop. For example, my iCal desktop my personal, my work, my wife's personal, etc.
• Spanning Sync allows me to sync each of my iCal calenders to the corresponding gCal calendars, so we're in great shape on the Macs. gCal is the source of truth, but we can view the composite calendars on my MacBook as well.
• My personal Palm syncs to XP Outlook, so I need an Outlook to Palm solution. I'm testing SyncMyCal. So far, it's ok. Even handled some calendar name changes I threw at it. I need it because I want control over sync direction, only SyncMyCal offers that. Outlook is a weak match to gCal and SyncMyCal is not as sophisticated as Spanning Sync -- so I sync only my Personal calendar to gCal Personal and and to my Palm.
• The last step will be to instal SyncMyCal at work, so my work calendar will sync unidirectionally to gCal, bidirectionally to Exchange Server, and unidirectionally to another kludgy app I run on the Palm. [My work calendar uses every advanced feature of Outlook and Exchange server, I don't dare enable bidirectional sync to the much simpler gCal data model.]
  

If the last step works, I'll have achieved 90% of nerdvana ...

Update 4/30/07: I ran into a roadblock on my journey to nerdvana [1] while testing SyncMyCal. The problem sounds a bit like this one, but I don't use ActiveSync. I do use Palm's Outlook sync conduits (HotSync Manager) and I also use a no-longer-supported .NET-requiring Outlook plug-in called Lookout for Outlook.

In my case I had two problems occur around the same time:

1. HotSync Manager stopped responding. This happens every week or two anyway, so I don't give it enormous weight. I killed the stuck process in XP's process list and restarted it and it worked.
   
   
2. After #1 the SyncMyCal toolbar vanished from Outlook and a restart didn't bring it back.

This won't be easy to debug -- I wonder about one of those infamous .NET-version conflict problems. I'll contact the SyncMyCal authors and see if they're interested in tackling this with me. If not I'll contact the gSyncIt folks and see if they're interested in supporting unidirectional sync (a mandatory requirement for me).

I'll update this post if/when I make substantial progress.

Footnotes

[1] Hardly surprising. When one creates a dependency chain of unreliable software components the probability that everything will work starts to get pretty low.

Update 5/7/07: SyncMyCal flopped for me. The install on my home machine was troubled, but I followed the vendor's FAQ directions and I was able to enable the plug-in. It worked at home for a week, so I tried it at work (Outlook Pro 2003 w/ Exchange environment). It crashed Outlook 2003 on startup. I tried a few times w/ rebooting etc, but it crashed every time.

I have sympathy for the vendor -- installing this type of functionality into Outlook 2003 is, I wager, a nightmare. I use 'Lookout for Outlook' at work and at home, and that's an unsupported plug-in now -- but I deeply depend on it. Outlook 2007 is incompatible with Lookout, so when we switch to 2007 I might try SyncMyCal again.

In the meantime, I'll try gSyncIt at home ...

Update 9/8/07: A blog dedicated to calendar interoperability ...

Update 9/6/09: I did eventually get this all sorted out! Actually, several times, since it changes every few months. There are some hints in this 2009 post. I have a unified work/home/family calendar now on both my iPhone and Google. I don't use OS X desktop iCal at all any more.

Apple fixes suicidal batteries?

I wonder if this is related to the peculiar phenomenon of perfectly healthy MacBook batteries abruptly showing the "Dead X" icon, possibly in association with use of Parallels ...

Apple releases MacBook battery update | Reg Hardware

Apple is recommending an update be installed on all MacBook and MacBook Pro computers and extra batteries purchased between February 2006 and April 2007...

...According to Apple, there are factors causing performance issues in the batteries which do not present a safety risk....

After you've installed the update, if your battery still has the following symptoms, contact Apple for a free replacement:

* Battery is not recognized causing an "X" to appear in the battery icon in the Finder menu bar.
* Battery will not charge when computer is plugged into AC power.
* Battery exhibits low charge capacity/runtime when using a fully charged battery with a battery cycle count (as shown in System Profiler) of less than 300.
* Battery pack is visibly deformed [Reporter's note: Somehow I doubt a software update will fix this guy.]

Apple is also extending the repair coverage program for MacBook and MacBook Pro systems batteries with Intel Core Duo processors for up to two years from the date of purchase.

The warrantee extension suggests that some behavior was prematurely aging batteries.

Google Apps for our family

If Apple had decided they wanted our business, we'd have built our family portal solution around .Mac (dotMac). Alas, Apple decided they needed to focus on other projects; .Mac has languished for years.

The next best option is Google Apps. Email that integrates seamlessly with desktop email (no imap yet), Page Creator, Docs and Spreadsheets (soon presentation), Chat, Control panel - it's a persuasive suite backed the most powerful and fastest thinking megacorp in history. I assume they'll integrate Picasa web albums into their emergent family solution and it will be a small step towards their personal health record solution.

The cost is low -- basically $10 a year for their eNom managed integrated domain. I have the faughnan.com domain, but it's awkward to switch over. I decided for now to create a new family domain.

Now I'll see how well various outlook and iCal sync to Google Calendar solutions really work. There is still the nerdvana of an integrated family and work/home calendar solution in my dreams ....

PS. Privacy? Surely you joke. That battle was lost in America 15 years ago. If you want privacy, use paper.