JonCellini.com

I just came across this post over at the Apple forums and now have my RIZR Z3 working correctly with iSync! It now will sync wirelessly via Bluetooth fixing my biggest gripe with using the Z3 with my Mac.

The Z3 plugin can be downloaded here.

Mac, Tech

I just noticed that Linode bumped up the RAM in my VPS by another 20%.

Thanks Linode!

Linux, Tech

Last week I finally gave in and moved all my email infrastructure over to be hosted by Google Apps. Dominic and I were discussing email over lunch last week and he convinced me this was the way to go. It simply isn’t worth the time and hassle of self-hosting. Google has better uptime, a much nicer web-UI, and is considerably more effective in fighting spam.

Setup was easy and importing my current email was as easy as a drag and drop between mailboxes. So far the only drawback I see is that I need to rework my moblogging script since I can’t trigger it via procmail anymore.

5ThirtyOne has a nice guide to setting up Mail.app optimally to work with Gmail via IMAP.

Tech

The earlier iSync problems I was having seem to be related specifically to syncing via Bluetooth. I was able to get my RIZR and Mac to sync just fine using the USB data cable T-Mobile was kind enough to throw in when I purchased my RIZR.

For anyone else looking to get this working all you need is this plugin. Adding this tiff will make your RIZR look correct in iSync as well.

The Bluetooth problem I’m having has me stumped. The phone pairs fine via Bluetooth and I can wirelessly send/receive files and use it as a DUN modem. iSync will recognize it correctly via a Bluetooth connection but blows chunks when actually trying to sync. I get the following error:

[iSync:772] ERROR (.serial-at.operation): Time out talking AT with channel… channel is now in a bad state

Google hasn’t turned up anything helpful. Since everything else works fine via Bluetooth I’m thinking that the problem has to be specific to iSync or something dumb T-Mobile has done to the seem on my RIZR. My postings at the Apple Discussions and the Macintosh forum at DSLR didn’t turn up any answers.

If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment or shoot me an email. Thanks!

Mac, Tech

Last weekend my RAZR bit the dust after taking an accidental drop into some water. After drying it out for a day it was still toast so I took this as an opportunity to pick up a new handset. I opted for a Motorola RIZR instead since with rebate it ended up costing the same price as another RAZR. So far I really like the phone - the higher resolution camera is great, the MicroSD storage card is a welcome and much needed improvement, the rubbery body coating has a good hand feel, and the battery life is supposedly improved vs. the RAZR.

Since I purchased a T-Moblie branded phone there is the typical carrier BS where some of the features of the phone are intentionally crippled. Just like on my RAZR I found that the included email client was disabled. Fortunately it was easy to fix using P2K Tools to modify the seem. P2K Tools has come a long way since I last used it to modify my RAZR so this was a snap to fix. It is a Windows only app but worked just fine under Parallels.

So far my only gripe is that I can’t get iSync to recognize it as supported in order to sync my contacts. Google turned up an iSync phone plugin for the RIZR; however, my handset appears to be a newer hardware revision and isn’t recognized as a valid model. I need to tinker with it some more and hopefully I can get it working.

Mac, Tech

I upgraded my phone since the last time I used it to pair with my Tungsten T5 for data service. I found that my RAZR didn’t seem to work any better out of the box than my old Nokia 3650 did. The Palm default configuration wizard for US T-Mobile GPRS data still doesn’t work right - fortunately this forum posting was helpful in figuring out why.

To make it open a GPRS connection successfully the default T-Mobile script needs to be edited as follows:

Send: AT&FX1E0V1
Send: CR
Send: CR
Send: ATDT*99***1#
Send: CR
Wait For: CONNECT
End:

Since T-Mobile still seems to be blocking port 80 the proxy needs to be set in the Blazer browser in order for it to work. The T-Mobile proxy server @ 216.155.165.50 on port 8080 still works like a champ

Tech

In the event one forgets their iPlanet^H^H^H^H^H^H^HSun Java System web server admin server password here is the reset process:

Open the file server_root/https-admserv/config/admpw in an editor

You should see a string like this:

admin:{SHA}wuxl6TYxeB7pHCJwcbKicQQyoQM=

Where “admin” is the username and everything to the right of the colon is the password. Deleting the encrypted password will reset it back to a null value.

Tech

Thank you for calling me today (and every day this week) to let me know about the “exciting new” FiOS Internet service. You may recall installing it at my home back in February. While I do appreciate the persistence on your part to sell me a service I already subscribe to it would be nice if your CSR’s would remove me from your database or at least cross reference your current subscriber database. I really like the service - just quit pestering the shit out of me
Respectfully,

Jon

House, Tech

One of the things I love about OS X is that there seems to be a plethora of cool apps available. Tonight I came across Tangerine which is by far the most convenient playlist creator for iTunes. It works by analyzing the BPM and beat intensity of the songs in your iTunes library. It is speedy as advertised - on my rather anemic 1.2 GHz iBook G4 it took only 12 minutes to analyze 573 songs. Unfortunately it doesn’t work with DRM encumbered files at the moment.

I definitely plan on picking this up once it is released

Mac, Tech

Today marks the first International Day Against DRM. So-called Digital Rights Management does nothing more than impose third-party restrictions on the use of technology while at the same time limiting our fair use rights.

I feel this Heinlein quote quite fitting:

There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law.

drm.info has a great site that explains what DRM is, why you should care, and what you can do about it. The EFF’s The Corruptibles does a nice job of explaining the issues behind the Broadcast Flag, Audio Flag, and Analog Hole legislation.

Vote with your wallet, educate your friends, and remind your representatives to not sell out our rights and consumer interests.

Activism, Tech