Internet

Internet / Web — No Comments
9
Feb 12

Double Fine KickStarter

This was the first KickStarter project I joined. I have little time or attention for most games but I am an avid game lover.1 I listen to the Weekend Confirmed podcast every week. I know more about video games than most 13 year olds.2 I just never play them. I would love a world where software was developed this way. Show me something about what you plan to make. Include details about your track record. Give me updates of the progress. I’ll buy the product in advance and you can collect the interest on that investment while you make it. Payments going directly to the producers is the future I want to invest in.

Update: By the time I posted this, they have raised double what their goal was. $1M from 27K backers. Fully funded in 8 hours. I hope other studios see opportunities here.

By way of the Verge

  1. I did recently complete the game Limbo. It is short and beautiful and thought provoking. ↩
  2. But far less than John Siracusa. ↩
Internet — No Comments
8
Feb 12

BBC Tracks Down Troll [Link]

Pathetic account of an Internet troll by way of BoingBoing.

Internet / Web — No Comments
7
Dec 11

Monetize The Data Not The News

In the past month, I’ve read two things that have given me a different perspective on News organizations. First there was the history of Django and now today, I just read about the NYTimes “hack-day.” Both of these make me hopeful for a future of growth in the publishing and News media.

Both cases show that there are great opportunities to apply what companies like the NY Times does well. They gather and process huge amounts of information and produce web content on a dizzying scale. Why not turn that infrastructure into a money making business. They could provide access to the enormous repositories through API’s, generate analysis of the data and roll out their internal tools for outside access. I’d also guess, they could charge for commercial use along the way.

These businesses are forced to stress test things in ways that tiny start-ups can not imagine. They need to support massive loads and large numbers of data requests and they do it pretty well. Just imagine if the NY Times provided access to data with meaningful meta data through a simple API. I can think of several clever uses that they could charge for. I hope they learn to monetize their business in the Twitter age where News publishers become less relevant for breaking news. It would be a shame to lose those data repositories and technologies. I’m actually rooting for the NY Times.

Internet / iOS / iPad / Web — 2 Comments
19
Jun 11

Killing Print

If you want to see an industry willingly and eagerly destroy it’s self

New York Post website now blocking Safari access on Apple’s iPad

Try it from an iPad and see for yourself.

That’s not the only publication that I’ve stumbled on. Macworld has been doing this ever since their iOS app was released. There’s a difference between embracing a new technology and tying it around your ankles and jumping in a lake.

 

Edit: Sorry for the terrible grammar and spelling. I’ve updated the post with accurate english.

GTD / Internet / Tips — No Comments
12
Jun 11

Hyperbole and Bad Advice

I think Seth Godin writes some thought provoking pieces. I worry that he is following the recent trend of embracing hyperbole to fill a blog with fluff. Typically, hyperbole is just a waste of the reader’s time. Sometimes it is actually bad advice.

It’s great to try to encourage people to push themselves to do new and difficult things. The reality is that some success is from hard work and some is from good luck. Most is from a combination of both. Unfortunately Seth’s latest post has statements like:

“Work for a coal mine and make minimum wage. Discover a coal mine and never need to work again”.

Coal mines are not discovered. They are built… on land rights and enormous sums of money. Go ahead, start digging in the ground today. Work very, very hard and let me know when you have a coal mine.

I think I know what Seth was trying to do, but this approach is a not the right way. It’s also starting to feel like a trend a number of tech, GTD, and tips sites are starting to push. A simple idea is turned into a quick infomercial with quotable lines that have no basis in reality.

 

Dropbox / Hardware / Internet / Mac / Software / Tips / Windows — No Comments
13
Apr 11

More Dropbox Fun (FTP Access)

Tinkering

Dropbox is incredibly useful and I enjoy extending it’s utility whenever I can. I also enjoy choosing projects that will teach me something new about my Mac. My latest project was to provide SFTP access to my Dropbox account. For security reasons, I am not allowed to install Dropbox at work. I considered several options for direct access to my files (email, webdav) but FTP is the most simple and universal access I could develop.

The Mac Mini Setup

There are many advantages to having an always on local server. In particular, it means the various Apple TV’s in the house always have a movie library available without having to go to another room and start a computer. It also means I can tinker with server projects locally with a Mac rather than strangling myself with a remote unix server on Amazon or my web host.

To create a Internet accessible Mac server you will need to make some minor changes to your Mac and your broadband router.

Open the System Sharing Preferences and turn on Remote Login. I limit access to a single user account for a bit of added security. I’m the only one that needs to access the server, so this works fine for me.

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Open the Network Preferences and locate your IP address.

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The Router

Connect to your broadband router and locate the Port Forwarding configuration settings. This will be different for every router. The main point is that this needs to be configured at the router that connects your home to the Internet. If you have additional routers between your computer and the broadband router, you may need to enable additional settings. My Mac Mini is directly connected to my router through a LAN.

Configure the SSH port forwarding on the router to go to your Mac Mini IP address. The SSH port is generally set as port 22.

While you are in your router’s admin portal, write down the IP address of your router. This WILL NOT start with “192.168″ but rather will be a unique IP address that your ISP is providing to your router. You will need this for the next step of this tutorial.

portForward.png

The Secret Sauce

Getting to your Mac Server on your local LAN is easy. Getting to it over the Internet is a bit more complicated but there is a very easy way to enable a DNS alias to your home Mac.

Go over to DynDNS and sign-up for a free account. From within your free account you can configure up to TWO new hosts. Importantly, you can choose host addresses that are memorable, rather than 10 digit IP address. For example, “myawesomeserver.dyndns.org.” I use the “Host with IP address” option. This is where you will enter the IP address of your broadband router. Once complete, you should have a static IP address that now maps back to your Mac server at home. The only problem is, when your ISP changes your home IP address, everything will break.

DynDNS has a nice solution to help resolve this issue. Go to the DynDNS Update Client page and download the Mac Updater. Install this on your Mac Server and enter your account credentials. That’s about it. Make sure this application always starts up with the server. Now when your local IP address changes, the DynDNS Updater will notify the name server of the new address.

dynDNSControl.png

 

Finally, install Dropbox on your Mac Server.

Connecting

There are several options for connecting to your new server. SSH terminal connections give you direct access to the shell of the Mac. This is quite powerful. Unless you are accustom to using the terminal on your Mac, I do not recommend experimenting from a remote location. However, SFTP is a fairly safe way to access files on your Mac Server.

On windows, I use Filezilla for SFTP. It’s far from the quality available on the Mac with Transmit, but it is free and simple to use. From within Filezilla, create a new server connection using the DynDNS host name you set up. Provide the user credentials that are defined for the Mac Remote Login settings. Finally make sure to use port 22 (which you mapped in the router settings). This port is generally reserved for SFTP connections.

That should be all you need to connect to your Mac. Now you can navigate to your Dropbox directory and manipulate files until your heart is content.

Voilà, Dropbox FTP access.

References

These are links I found useful or interesting while building this service.

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/152
http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_build_your_own_online_cloud
http://www1.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_enable_ssh_your_mac
http://www.dyndnscommunity.com/questions/3849/mac-osx-snow-leopard-bt-homehub-2-and-ftp-server.html

Dashboard / Internet / Review / Tips — No Comments
25
Feb 08

Eye on the prize

I came across this great widget for tracking package shipments from the Dashboard. It has a really simple interface while remaining incredibly flexible. You can enter a title for your various shipments which is especially handy if you are an Amazon Prime member and order a lot of stuff.

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Apple / Internet / Mac / Review / Software / Tips — No Comments
13
Oct 07

Too many browsers

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No one should complain that there are not enough choices for web browsers on the Mac. Each one is unique and has its own merits. The only logical thing to do is to run them all, right. Well at least a few. Here is an abbreviated list.

Safari
Firefox
Opera
Omniweb
Camino
Shira
Devonthink

The problem comes when you start to gather bookmarks and cookies in different browsers. You end up with a rats nest of info and no way to find that bookmark to that site with that guy that was once in that movie (you know, that guy). There are a few choices out there for syncing bookmarks but I’ve settled on Bookit from Everyday Software. It’s kind of tough to setup, but then again it is only $12.

Here’s a great use of this little application. I have a Mac at home that I use Safari and occasionally Omniweb and Firefox. Bookit is great for syncing all of the bookmarks across all the browsers. The major problem though, is that I run Firefox on a PC at work. It gets frustrating to use my bookmarks through a .Mac portal. The best solution for me is to run Google Sync with Firefox (it’s only available for Firefox right now) on both my Mac at home and my PC at work. Now when I sync with Bookit, all of my browsers end up with the same bookmarks. This also ensures that my iPhone has all of my current bookmarks too. I’ve reached browser nirvana.

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Apple / Hardware / Internet / Mac / Tips — No Comments
26
Aug 07

Free your Mac's IP

The internet has become as much a part of OS X as Mail.app. But if your like me, your mac is stuck behind several layers of security. My first layer of “protection” is Comcast. Comcast really does not want you running your own server with their cable system. They effectively block IMAP ports to prevent you from running your mac as a mail server. They have even begun to packet shape BitTorrent traffic. There is little the average user can do about this. This outline is about the other layers of security that prevent you from using VNC, Devonthink Server, Omnifocus server and many other applications that now offer data up over the internet. I’ve tailored it for use with the Airport Extreme base station

The first step is to get a static DNS entry and point it at your router. I use DynDNS. I chose something memorable so I don’t have to look it up all the time. If you can remember the IP address of your router, then you can probably skip this step.

Open up the Airport Utility and select your router. Click the “Manual” button in the lower left corner. The IP address that your provider has assigned to the router should appear at the bottom of the next screen. Write that down.

Now go back to the DynDNS web page and enter your routers IP address as the address that you would like traffic routed to. You’re telling DynDNS to make a readable URL address available and point all traffic to your router. Don’t worry, there are TWO firewalls between the internet and your Mac.

Get a static IP address for your Mac

Your Mac’s IP address can be found in the System Preferences. Open the “Network” preferences and select whatever connection you use to get on the internet. Mine is Ethernet 1. On the TCP/IP lozenge, choose “Using DHCP with manual address” as the method for “Configure IPv4″. Most likely, your router is distributing a series of IP address from 10.0.1.1 to 10.0.1.200. You need to choose an IP address outside this range. I suggest using 10.0.1.201. Type that into the box next to “IP Address”. The “Subnet Mask” and “Router” IP address should already be set. Set the DNS server to your router as shown. We only need the router to do the DNS look-up for us anyway.
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Firewalls

The Airport Extreme is your first line of protection. No unsolicited traffic can make it past the router. That is, unless we tell the router to make some openings in the firewall. These are called Port forwarding or Port Mapping. To add port mapping to the Airport, click the “Advanced” button at the top of the Airport Utility window.

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Now click the “Port Mapping” lozenge

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Click the little plus sign underneath the “Allow:” box. The next pop-up window allows you to either choose a common service to add such as Apple Remote Desktop or Windows Sharing. A really useful port to open is the one used for VNC. This will allow you to control your mac remotely from anywhere on the internet.

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To add a VNC port, do not select a service. We are going to create one instead. VNC typically uses port 5901, so type that into all the port boxes shown. Enter your Mac’s IP address as the destination of the ports forwarding. This essentially tells the router to send any traffic it receives on port 5901 directly to your Mac.

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So now the router understands what to do with the traffic. You have to tell your Mac what to do with it. I said earlier that there were TWO firewalls. The first is the Airport Extreme. The second is the one built into your Mac. Back to the system preferences and open the “Sharing” preferences. Click the “Firewall” lozenge. If you have never done so, turn on your Mac’s firewall and then flog yourself for not maintaining your personal security. Never do that again!
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Now click the “New” button to open up a new connection through the Macs firewall. From the pull down menu, select “Other” and enter 5901 as the port number to allow through.

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Now the world can access port 5901 on your Mac. That’s kind of scary. You can always go into either Airport Utility or the Mac Firewall and turn off the port again without deleting all the work you did. The same technique can be used to open up BitTorrent or Telekinesis ports. There are several online tools that will tell you if the ports have been successfully unblocked.

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Apple / Hardware / Internet / iPhone / Mac / Programming / Review / Software / Tips — No Comments
26
Aug 07

We are living in the future

If I had any doubt that technology was not living up to my expectations, I’m a believer now. I just installed iPhone Remote on my Mac Pro and all I can say is WOW! My iPhone can control my Mac over the Edge network.

Svn Site Images Screenshot.Large iPhone Remote is brought to us by the good people at Google (code named Telekinesis). Maybe they got tired of waiting for the gPhone and decided to make the iPhone the device dreams are made of. The server software is a quick install. It’s a lot like a VNC server. It runs in the background and receives requests from some port that it is told to listen to. The server software then directs traffic to its own applications. Here is a quick run-down of what you can do remotely from your iPhone.

You can take a picture with your Mac‘s video camera and receive it right on your iPhone (only one frame, not a video stream). Any file on your Mac at home can be accessed from your iPhone. How about taking a screenshot of your Mac’s desktop? Yup, you can do that. You want to do a Spotlight search for a file? No probelmo. I’ll illustrate a quick tour of the application below. The screen shots are taken from Safari running on my Mac Pro (since there is no way to take a decent picture of the iPhone interface). But you have to trust me, this looks great on the iPhone.

This first picture is of the iPhone Remote software running on my Mac. It’s very simple to use. Just open up the ports in your firewall and start the server. I like to have the “applications” open in a new window on the iPhone just for ease of use.

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This is the main application view on the iPhone. Just tap one of the buttons. That background image is automatically pulled from the Mac running the iPhone Remote server. That’s my desktop. 200708260008

This is the list of applications on my Mac. Did you forget to fire-up your BitTorrent client this morning? No problem. Just turn it on from your iPhone.

 

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You can just as easily access your files. Click through directories and open up that PDF file right from your phone. I found a strange twist, that I don’t think was intended but could have very interesting consequences. When I clicked on a Subethaedit document that contained an HTML snippet, my Mac opened the document in Subethaedit (talk about remote control!) and my iPhone presented me with a rendered webpage, rather than the snippet of code. I don’t know which surprised me more, windows just poping open on my mac, or the iPhone rendering the HTML code. This opens up a very easy way to make your own web applications without having a web server. I’m not sure this method would support cgi though. 200708260016

And if you don’t remember where that file is, just use the iPhone Remote’s Spotlight function. Here is a Spotlight search for the word “Perl” 200708260005

A feature that has a lot of potential, is streaming media from your Mac at home to your iPhone. The server software can stream audio or video directly. You gotta have a remote to control that music, right? One is included. 200708260005-1

While the Edge service may never be fast enough to allow for true Remote Desktop, there is a work around. You can actually select and then trigger Applescripts from your iPhone. This has potential to allow you to FTP upload to servers, start Backup software, or even secure a stolen computer.

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Finally, for all those Leet Mac users, there is actually a Terminal application. Finally, we can run our cron jobs while we’re on the road.

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The service works through a secure shttp connection, so you don’t need to worry too much about the data being transmitted. It’s all encrypted. However, it’s a little scary to think that if some nefarious person gets your user name and password, they can have complete snooping privileges. I like a suggestion I found on the Telekinesis Wiki which is to setup some Mail.app Applescript triggers. Send an email with the Subject “iPhone Remote On” and voila, your Mac starts up the server. Send another email to turn it off. It’s really just one more layer of security. You could even have the script look for a particular password in the body of the message before running.

iPhone Remote is a wonderful application. Apple may someday provide an SDK for the iPhone, but until then, a little creativity and elbow grease will carry the device a long way.

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Apple / Internet / Mac / Software / Tips — No Comments
11
Aug 07

Sweet, sweet Safari Merging

Here’s a quick tip. If your browsing session looks a lot like a game of “52 pickup” then go to Safari’s “Window” menu and choose “Merge.” Voila, all of your open windows are now merged into one. Thanks Apple!

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Apple / Internet / Mac / Tips — 2 Comments
24
Dec 06

The easiest way to download Google and Youtube video

A little while ago, I wrote about using Podtube to download flash videos from Youtube. As Youtube pulls more and more videos off, due to complaints from studios like NBC, I enjoy keeping local copies for future viewing. Well, I’m happy to report the easiest way yet to capture these video. VideoDL is web service that simply fetches the flash file and provides you with a simple download link. Just put in the URL from a video that you want to keep. VideoDL produces a link. Click the link and your browser starts the download. From what I can tell it works great with both Google video and Youtube, but not Metacafe (they don’t claim it should).

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Internet / iPhoto / Photography / Tips — No Comments
14
Dec 06

Flickr photo streams in iPhoto

I love to look at other people’s photo’s on Flickr. Maybe it’s the voyeur in me or maybe I just wonder if other people’s lives are more interesting than mine. With iPhoto, you can keep up with all of your favorite photo groups and pools without having to click through to the web page. Just go into iPhoto and under the “File” menu choose “Subscribe to Photocast.”

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Get the RSS feed address from the bottom of a Flickr photo set and paste it into the address box in iPhoto. Click “ok” and iPhoto will download the latest photos for you to view right on your desktop. You can even view the comments and titles for each photo.

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Apple / Internet / Mac — No Comments
22
Oct 06

Voyeurs everywhere rejoice

I have a rather long intro for today’s software review, but hang in there. Alternatively, you can just skip to the section labeled “Review:” and ignore my theories altogether.

I look back at the first half this decade as the age of digital music. MP3 players came into wide spread use, music file sharing exploded, and iTunes was born. From that period forward, music has become a more integral part of my life. I can listen to it just about anywhere I choose.

Next came the podcast which did the same for talk radio. We can now be exposed to a limitless number of opinions and viewpoints.

Now, this second half of 2000 is shaping up to be all about images. More people than ever have digital cameras with features that can turn anyone into a semi-pro (or Prosumer as I’ve heard it called). Even Grandma can now take RAW photos like a pro.

Applications like Photoshop (still not a Universal app) and Gimp give anyone the ability to correct and manipulate images while iPhoto gives us instant access to our ever expanding library of digital images. More recently, sites like flikr, Google images and Photobucket have sprung up to allow us to share our work with the entire planet. It’s really hard to imagine the impact it might have when someone from Beijing China can check out the vacation photos of a New Yorker or vice versa. The internet is now enabling people to move beyond file sharing into experience sharing. Youtube will most probably continue down this path.

Review:

Flikr is great for sharing your photos, but what I like best about it is the ability to peruse the photos of people I have never met. There are some stunning photos out there. The problem with most photo sharing sites is that the display is pretty clunky and makes the experience rather dry. Not anymore. Now we have PicLens to blend the experience in a way that Mac users have become accustomed to. The usage is very simple. PicLens is not an application, but rather a Safari plugin. After installing the plugin and restarting Safari, you can navigate to a Flikr set (I chose this one discussed around the web this weekend) and PicLens finds all the photos and preloads them all.

If you hover over an image, you get an icon in the lower left corner as shown here:

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When you click the icon PicLens takes over and loads up a gorgeous full screen viewer with a preview ribbon below. Menu appear and disappear elegantly and the entire experience rivals any sophisticated photo catalog application out there. I’m simply in love with this Safari addition. Apple could learn something here.

Picture 1



PicLens is brought to you by Cooliris, the makers of a Safari plugin by the same name (also available for Firefox and Internet Explorer). The Cooliris plugin provides a preview of link URL’s without having to click through. I’ve never found much use for the Cooliris plugin but PicLens is a homerun.

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Internet — No Comments
22
Aug 06

Setup your own WordPress

I’m a big fan of Lifehacker. Today they had a link to a great video tutorial for setting up your own WordPress server. It looks so easy I might even give it a try. Now if only I could find the right hosting company.

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