The VM sandboxing is especially interesting: The Real Blogger Status: Your Browser, In Anonymity And Safety - Browser Isolation.
You have to be sure your VM is really isolated though. Many OS X VMs provide VM clients access to the OS X file system. That's normally a feature, but it's a big issue if the VM goes rogue.
The furthest I go today is using FF with NoScript, or using Chrome. Mostly I just use plain FF and don't wander far from bright lights and the jostling crowd.
Friday, November 21, 2008
iPhone 2.2 - reboot during a call.
My phone just rebooted in the middle of a call. The phone was charging via USB at the time.
Actually, I'm not sure it really rebooted. It may have hard crashed into the Apple logo. I had to force a full reboot.
It's never done that before.
I suggest waiting a while before updating to 2.2. If you do update, do a reboot immediately after the install.
Update 11/22/08: The phone hasn't spontaneously rebooted since the first event. The MPR App died with the OS update -- crashed on selecting a "channel". I deleted the app on the phone, checked for updates (none, I'd already updated it once recently), and reinstalled from iTunes. that fixed the problem.
Update 11/30/08: No further problems, updates working, no more intra-call reboots.
Actually, I'm not sure it really rebooted. It may have hard crashed into the Apple logo. I had to force a full reboot.
It's never done that before.
I suggest waiting a while before updating to 2.2. If you do update, do a reboot immediately after the install.
Update 11/22/08: The phone hasn't spontaneously rebooted since the first event. The MPR App died with the OS update -- crashed on selecting a "channel". I deleted the app on the phone, checked for updates (none, I'd already updated it once recently), and reinstalled from iTunes. that fixed the problem.
Update 11/30/08: No further problems, updates working, no more intra-call reboots.
iPhone 2.2: Why does only Google use the Safari databases?
After installing iPhone OS 2.2 [1] I was poking around settings and came across Safari's database settings.
They're probably old, but little remarked on. I found no hits for the string: iphone safari databases "talk asset cache".
Turns out iPhone/Safari has an interesting collection of database stores, but only Google seems to use them. I found one for Google Talk (suggests they might do something with it if Apple ever enables the #$@$! instant messaging function [2]), translate phrases and mail.google.com.
It's odd nobody else seems to use them.
--
[1] No problems, even though my network chose the update time to grind to a halt.
It may be coincidence, but power resetting my Airport Extreme seemed to clear up the problem. It was last reset when the power went out several months ago.
It is a bit weird how many glitches I get like that; that was my first network issue in months. Next time though I'd probably reboot the phone first to clear out gremlins and place it in airplane mode to prevent any incoming calls.
[2] If Apple had implemented their promised notification framework, AT&T and Apple would have lost a lot of SMS revenue. I don't think we'll see this notification framework until Apple and AT&T feel more competitive heat. Maybe the next generation of Android phones. The current BlackBerrys won't do the trick; their beautiful hardware masks an impressively lousy OS.
They're probably old, but little remarked on. I found no hits for the string: iphone safari databases "talk asset cache".
Turns out iPhone/Safari has an interesting collection of database stores, but only Google seems to use them. I found one for Google Talk (suggests they might do something with it if Apple ever enables the #$@$! instant messaging function [2]), translate phrases and mail.google.com.
It's odd nobody else seems to use them.
--
[1] No problems, even though my network chose the update time to grind to a halt.
It may be coincidence, but power resetting my Airport Extreme seemed to clear up the problem. It was last reset when the power went out several months ago.
It is a bit weird how many glitches I get like that; that was my first network issue in months. Next time though I'd probably reboot the phone first to clear out gremlins and place it in airplane mode to prevent any incoming calls.
[2] If Apple had implemented their promised notification framework, AT&T and Apple would have lost a lot of SMS revenue. I don't think we'll see this notification framework until Apple and AT&T feel more competitive heat. Maybe the next generation of Android phones. The current BlackBerrys won't do the trick; their beautiful hardware masks an impressively lousy OS.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Top Apps for iPhone - better than the App Store
I prefer this layout to the App Store: Apple - iPhone - Top Apps.
Second oddest iPhone omission: screen lock
The oddest iPhone omission is cut, copy paste.
The omission I am most disgusted by is an API that would allow Google to sync the iPhone calendar to Google Calendar over the air.
The second oddest iPhone omission is that you can't lock the touch screen during a call. I frequently tap the wrong button. I'd like a way to set the screen to 'swipe mode' so it was safe from errant touches.
Update: I just tested with iPhone 2.2. If I click the 'off' button during a call, it locks the screen just the way I want. I'd tried this with 2.1; it seemed to work but it on one test it disconnected me. So I gave up on it.
On the other hand 2.2 also rebooted during a call when I wasn't touching that switch, so I'm not sure I'd recommend upgrading just yet.
The omission I am most disgusted by is an API that would allow Google to sync the iPhone calendar to Google Calendar over the air.
The second oddest iPhone omission is that you can't lock the touch screen during a call. I frequently tap the wrong button. I'd like a way to set the screen to 'swipe mode' so it was safe from errant touches.
Update: I just tested with iPhone 2.2. If I click the 'off' button during a call, it locks the screen just the way I want. I'd tried this with 2.1; it seemed to work but it on one test it disconnected me. So I gave up on it.
On the other hand 2.2 also rebooted during a call when I wasn't touching that switch, so I'm not sure I'd recommend upgrading just yet.
Outlook manifest add-in bug and Windows Live Search - an Office Communicator uninstall bug
[see updates -- looks like Office Communicator is the culprit]
Lately, my XP experience goes like this:
The Word 2007 blog article says the problem is errant registry keys, and removing the references solves the problem. Sounds good to me, the Outlook add-in infrastructure is a gaping wound.
So I may yet hack the registry, but since the errors only occur once on startup, and since everything seems to work ok otherwise, I'm going to see what else I can learn. I tried using the outlook /cleanprofile switch but it didn't work.
That's where, for the very first time, Windows Live and Yahoo! Search have an advantage over Google search.
Both Live and Yahoo support search feeds. So, for example, this Live search has a feed ...
PS. My prime suspect is Office Communicator 2005. I think it's evil and I'd uninstalled a few days ago. However, reinstalling it didn't fix the problem.
Update: New hunch. Maybe it's a botched installation of Windows Live Messenger that may have occurred when my attempt to reinstall Microsoft LifeCam was aborted by .NET stack corruption. I'll try an install/uninstall of Messenger.
Update 11/20/08: This is promising. I try installing Windows Live Messenger via the LifeCam install and I get this "Windows Live Installer" error: "There was a problem with this installation ... Catastrophic failure". Hey, so now I know where to focus my dark suspicions. I'll try installing from Windows Live and see what happens next.
Update 11/24/08: I resolved the Windows Live Catastrophic Failure bug, but installing Live Messenger didn't fix the dangling registry references that cause the Outlook 2007 FormRegions (Manifest) bug. I uninstalled Messenger and Communicator (terrible software both) and then, as advised by Word 2007 Bible Blog I deleted the Outlook FormRegions references from my registry. I made sure to exit Outlook first and checked that I didn't have a persistent Outlook process running (known Outlook 2007 problem related to Microsoft's insane Add-in infrastructure.
My money for the source of this bug is Office Communicator. I say this becauseOffice/Outlook/Addins in my registry contains OcOffice.OcForms which has the description "Outlook 12 add-in to support Communicator custom forms" and a FriendlyName of "Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Add-in" (note our corp is on Communicator 2005!). The dangling FormRegions were pointing to something called an "OcForm".
I'd also put a little money down on Newsgator, which I'd tested with Outlook 2003 as a news reader before giving up on it -- just because the only web hit on "OcOffice.OcForms" appears as an incidental entry in a Newsgator forum posting.
Lately, my XP experience goes like this:
Born down in a dead man's townFor today's installment I have a bug reported by precisely one web site ...
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up...
Word 2007 Bible Blog: Form region manifest specifies an add-in that is not installedThere are some usenet hits, but nothing terribly specific. This one is closest "Form region cannot be opened".
... Form region manifest specifies an add-in that is not installed: "For the past few months, I’ve had a perplexing mystery in Outlook 2007. During an Outlook session, the first time I clicked the Actions menu item, I got four Microsoft Office Outlook OK boxes in succession. The first said:
The form region IPM.Note.Microsoft.Conversation.Region cannot be opened. The form region manifest specifies an add-in that is not installed.
Then I got three more, identical except for the region specified:
IPM.Note.Microsoft.Conversation.Voice.Region
IPM.Note.Microsoft.Missed.Region
IPM.Note.Microsoft.Missed.Voice.Region...
The Word 2007 blog article says the problem is errant registry keys, and removing the references solves the problem. Sounds good to me, the Outlook add-in infrastructure is a gaping wound.
So I may yet hack the registry, but since the errors only occur once on startup, and since everything seems to work ok otherwise, I'm going to see what else I can learn. I tried using the outlook /cleanprofile switch but it didn't work.
That's where, for the very first time, Windows Live and Yahoo! Search have an advantage over Google search.
Both Live and Yahoo support search feeds. So, for example, this Live search has a feed ...
Outlook manifest add-in not-installed "IPM Note Microsoft Conversation Region " - Live SearchI've added feeds for this search to Google Reader for both Yahoo and Live. I'll see what comes up. Maybe I'll just have to wait for Office 2007 SP2.
PS. My prime suspect is Office Communicator 2005. I think it's evil and I'd uninstalled a few days ago. However, reinstalling it didn't fix the problem.
Update: New hunch. Maybe it's a botched installation of Windows Live Messenger that may have occurred when my attempt to reinstall Microsoft LifeCam was aborted by .NET stack corruption. I'll try an install/uninstall of Messenger.
Update 11/20/08: This is promising. I try installing Windows Live Messenger via the LifeCam install and I get this "Windows Live Installer" error: "There was a problem with this installation ... Catastrophic failure". Hey, so now I know where to focus my dark suspicions. I'll try installing from Windows Live and see what happens next.
Update 11/24/08: I resolved the Windows Live Catastrophic Failure bug, but installing Live Messenger didn't fix the dangling registry references that cause the Outlook 2007 FormRegions (Manifest) bug. I uninstalled Messenger and Communicator (terrible software both) and then, as advised by Word 2007 Bible Blog I deleted the Outlook FormRegions references from my registry. I made sure to exit Outlook first and checked that I didn't have a persistent Outlook process running (known Outlook 2007 problem related to Microsoft's insane Add-in infrastructure.
My money for the source of this bug is Office Communicator. I say this becauseOffice/Outlook/Addins in my registry contains OcOffice.OcForms which has the description "Outlook 12 add-in to support Communicator custom forms" and a FriendlyName of "Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Add-in" (note our corp is on Communicator 2005!). The dangling FormRegions were pointing to something called an "OcForm".
I'd also put a little money down on Newsgator, which I'd tested with Outlook 2003 as a news reader before giving up on it -- just because the only web hit on "OcOffice.OcForms" appears as an incidental entry in a Newsgator forum posting.
Update 1/3/09: It took a while, but my search feeds turned up a report that implications Office Communicator. Looks like both Office Communicator 2005 and 2007 share the same incomplete uninstall bug.
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