The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘LifeHacker’ Category

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Affordable MacBook Air physical USB ethernet adapter

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/01/13

DealExtreme product #34691: USB 2.0 10/100Mbps RJ45 LAN Ethernet Network Adapter Dongle

A big drawback from a MacBook Air is that it only have wireless LAN/WiFi (in the form of Integrated AirPort Extreme 802.11 a/b/n/n), no physical ethernet.

Transferring large amounts of data over any WiFi is can be a pain (being slow, suffer from signal quality) and for the MacBook Air: it makes the built-in fan swirl like crazy.

Since the MacBook Air does not have USB 3.0, I went looking for a 100 Mbps USB Ethernet dongle for it, and fone the DealExtreme product #34691: USB 2.0 10/100Mbps RJ45 LAN Ethernet Network Adapter Dongle.

At a price of about USD 7 including shipping, it comes in an Apple compatible shiny white color too, nicely fitting the 4 port USB hub (DealExtreme # 45773) on the right  :)

Even better: it works like a charm!

Note that first need to download and install the ASIX AX88772B drivers first. Choose the Apple Mac OSX 10.4 to 10.7 Driver for x86 and Power PC download package labelled “For Apple x86/Power PC, 32-bit/64-bit platforms”.

The install tells you to reboot at the end, but no need for that: as soon as the install finishes, the USB Ethernet dongle works. And it is fast too: 12 megabyte/second over a 100 megabit cable is fast!

In the readme of those drivers, it also mentions the AX88178, which is capable of gigabit (there is a separate AX88178 driver download page and Mac OS X download package).

NB: the cool thing about both these ASIX chipsets is that they are supported on a broad range of platforms (Mac, Linux, Windows CE, Windows 7/Vista/XP/2003/2000) and bit sizes (32-bit and 64-bit).

For even faster transfers, I might try the DealExtreme product #15336: Arkview USB 2.0 1000Mbs Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter.

It is slightly less than USD 20, and  user Janipro indicates it is based on the ASIX AX88178 chip at the DealExtreme forum.

On the other hand: I might not, as for more than twice the price, user cyberic mentions in the same forum thread it is only about twice as fast: 23 megabytes per second, about half the maximum USB 2.0 speed of 480 Mbps. And it is not Apple white :)

–jeroen

Via: USB 2.0 10/100Mbps RJ45 LAN Ethernet Network Adapter Dongle – Free Shipping – DealExtreme.

Posted in Apple, LifeHacker, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook-Air, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Resetting the SMC solved my MacBook Air Fan Noise With Lion problem

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/01/09

This might have been caused by my MacBook Air haning itself one time during resume: I manually turned it off keeping the on/off switch pressed for 5+ seconds, then rebooted.

Anyway: over time I observed that the fan was running fast without much CPU/GPU/memory/disk activity.

Resetting the SMC like the answer below, followed by resetting the PRAM and NVRAM solved my issue.

I had exactly these issues with my new Macbook Air 13.  Having read this forum I downloaded istat pro and discovered that my fan was always running at over 4000 rpm and the top left part of my case was quite warm.  I then followed the instructions here…resetting the SMC and after this the problem was fixed!

–jeroen

via MacBook Air Fan Noise With Lion: Apple Support Communities.

Posted in Apple, LifeHacker, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook-Air, Power User | 1 Comment »

Alternate (offline) Google Chrome installer (Windows) – Google Help

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/01/06

Currently most software installers have a small bootstrap and during the actuall install will download only the files that are actually needed.

Often that is not convenient: slow or no network connection, repeated installs in a test environment, etc.

Luckily, a lot of software does have an offline installer (a.k.a. standalone installer).

Being no exception Google Chrome has two offline installers: one single user install, and one for all users on the same Windows machine.

It ends up at one of these download pages, each with a download link for the current version (which changes for every new version):

–jeroen

via: Alternate (offline) Google Chrome installer (Windows) – Google Help.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »

After restoring fresh HDD from Time Machine Backup: No results from Spotlight

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/01/02

My Mac Mini Server had its’ primary HDD failure. It got replaced by the iAmStore service center, but contrary to what they promised, they didn’t put the Snow Leopard Server image on it.

So I grabbed an external USB DVD player, booted from the Snow Leopard Server install DVD, and restored the Time Machine backup from my external USB HDD.

Somehow, after the restore, Spotlight wouldn’t work: only the search bar was visible, but nothing else.

I tried various tips all having to do with erasing Spotlight for my root volume (so it would be automatically be reindexed), or many-part steps including killing SystemUIServer, Clearing Caches and Rebooting.

In the end the most simple one worked: just “turn Spotlight indexing on”.

My assumption is that Spotlight information is not backed up, and during restore Spotlight is turned off because continuously reindexing during restore will make the restore slower.

If someone can confirm this (or deny and explain the real reason), please post a comment.

This was what user nkt00 had posted as solution on the Apple forum:

I figured it out. In the man page for “mdutil” (type: “man mdutil” at the terminal shell prompt), it describes the option “-i”, which turns indexing on or off for the specified volume. I just typed:

sudo mdutil -i on /

and away it went

This was the screen output:

Last login: Mon Oct 31 19:31:01 on ttys000
macminiserver01:~ jeroenp$ mdutil -s /
/:
No index.
macminiserver01:~ jeroenp$ sudo mdutil -i on /
Password:
/:
Indexing enabled.
macminiserver01:~ jeroenp$

Now I’m happily using my Mac Mini Server again.

--jeroen

via No results from Spotlight: Apple Support Communities.

Posted in Apple, LifeHacker, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, Power User, SpotLight | 1 Comment »

Station Sassenheim opgenomen in de Android Sneltrain app, lezen @NS_Online en @NS_Stations even mee?

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/27

Eerder schreef ik over De NS en UserExperience: er valt nog veel te leren over ondermeer het nieuwe Station Sassenheim en het gebrek aan ondersteuning in Apps omdat de NS webservice na (inmiddels) ruim 2 weken nog steeds niet in haar webservice heeft opgenomen.

Daarmee geeft de NS haar eigen site dus een concurrentievoordeel tegen apps.

Inmiddels is er voor de Sneltrein Android app een update geweest en kun je daar toch Station Sassenheim kiezen. Dank Jouke!

Nu nog een iOS versie van de Sneltrein App :)

–jeroen

via: De NS en UserExperience: er valt nog veel te leren, ook door @NS_Online en @NS_Stations #UX « The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of Wiert stuff.

Posted in Android Devices, HTC, HTC Sensation, iOS, LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

#sr11 video livestream URL http://livestreams.omroep.nl/3fm/sr2011_mainview

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/24

Why do they hide such URLs so deeply :)

http://livestreams.omroep.nl/3fm/sr2011_mainview

You can open this directly in Windows Media Player; will check the Mac shortly.

Sources:

–jeroen

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

De NS en UserExperience: er valt nog veel te leren, ook door @NS_Online en @NS_Stations #UX

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/19

Afgelopen vrijdag daagde ik via Twitter meerdere ingangen bij de NS uit om eens een ochtend mee te lopen en wat dingen over User Experience te leren.

Hoewel @NS_Online en @NS_Stations normaal vrij snel zijn met antwoorden hebben ze deze handschoen niet opgepakt, ook niet na wat meer UX teasers.

Dus volgende de komende tijd hier en daar wat artikeltjes over wat er met User Experience voor de NS reizigers gewonnen zou kunnen worden op de sites, mobiele applicaties, stations, treinnen, etc.

Dit is de eerste, met twee eenvoudige over dienstregelingen, stations, apps en websites.

Op 9 december is Station Sassenheim geopend, met een pagina over Station Sassenheim op ns.nl.

Op 11 december is de nieuwe NS dienstregeling gestart met onder ander opname van Station Sassenheim en meer Fyra verbindingen.

Resultaat:

  1. De webservices.ns.nl hoofdingang van de NS API is niet bijgewerkt met Station Sassenheim.
    Alle sites en mobiele apps die daarvanaf hangen (waaronder de mobiele apps van de NS zelf en de SnelTrein app van een Android ontwikkelaar die UX heel goed door heeft) kunnen Sassenheim niet als station kiezen.
    Op de mobiele site kan het wel, maar daar moet je wel de stations exact goed intikken (handig op een smartphone) anders werkt het niet.
    Probeer dat maar eens goed te krijgen met Station Laan van NOI in Den Haag (ja, je moet precies “Den Haag Laan v NOI” intikken).
    Deze Android apps doen het bijvoorbeeld niet:
    – 9292ov pro
    – SnelTrein (van een geweldige developer die wel snapt wat UX inhoudt, en hoe technologie werkt).
    – ActuTrein
    – NS Reisplanner Extra
    – TreinTijden Lite
  2. De  NS Reisplanner op de ns.nl homepage planned van Rotterdam Centraal naar Amsterdam Centraal geen Fyra treinen meer.
    Dit blijkt voor alle HSL treinen op alle verbindingen te gaan: pas in het vervolg scherm zit een “Edit” button waarin je op een pagina komt waar je het HSL vinkje wel kunt zetten.
    De homepage van de mobiele m.ns.nl site heeft het vinkje wel staan, en daar staat het ook standaard aan.

Oh ja, nog helemaal vergeten: mijn G+ post over een grote vertraging in oktober, waar @NS_Online toen ook geen info over had.

Les geleerd in regio Den Haag / Rotterdam: pak ook eens Randstadrail lijn E.  Op de site en planner van de HTM vind je hem niet, maar wel op site van de RET staat de dienstregeling van lijn E.

–jeroen

Posted in LifeHacker, Opinions, Power User | 1 Comment »

ScreenDreams on your Philips TV is just a set of streaming MP4 files

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/16

When playing the ScreenDreams app on your Philips TV, what happens is that it just plays a bunch of web pages from URLs.

On my 42PFL7676H TV, you can reveal those URLs with the “Options key” on your remote control.

From there, it is very easy to see that the aquariums and fire places, are just a bunch of MP4 streams that are repeated indefinitely.

A few of the URLs:

--jeroen

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Cool tool of the day: Tasker for Android

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/02

Quote:

Tasker for Android is an application which performs Tasks (sets of Actions) based on Contexts (application, time, date, location, event, gesture) in user-defined Profiles, or in clickable or timer home screen widgets.

This simple concept profoundly extends your control of your Android device and it’s capabilities, without the need for ‘root’ or a special home screen.

Highly recommended, for instance to wake up your phone in an emergency.

–jeroen

Posted in Android Devices, LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Andrew Worcester • Kill Skype Home (KSH) – Get rid of that annoying “Skype Home” popup

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/11/28

Lifehacker tool of the day: KillShypeHome Kills the annoying Skype Home page that pops up on Skype start, and every now and when you are in the middle of something.

After starting KillSkypeHome, make sure you configure its tray icon as follows:

  1. Minimize Skype on Start
  2. Start with Windows
  3. Persistent Mode
    (this keeps KillSkypeHome running after minimizing Skype the first time, just in case Skype Home tries to popup again, which Skype does at inconvenient moments).

–jeroen

Via: Andrew Worcester • Kill Skype Home (KSH) – Get rid of that annoying “Skype Home” popup.

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User | Leave a Comment »

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