{ Category Archives }
V-Moda Vibe Duo: Good sound, poor durability, and worse support
I got a pair of the positively-reviewed V-Moda Vibe Duo iPhone earbuds for Christmas last year. I’ve been meaning to blog about them for a while, but am only getting around to it now that I have a problem with them.
The short take: Good sound, poor isolation, shoddy construction, worse support.
Continue Reading »
If you’re like me, you just upgraded iTunes to the newly-released 8.0.1 version. And then you plugged in your iPhone and were greeted by repeated popups telling you your iPhone “cannot be synced unknown error (13014)”. And then you cursed Apple for screwing simple things up.
But have no fear, there is a simple fix! Just quit iTunes and start it up again. Everything should now be fine. You may have to restart your phone, too, but I didn’t.
This is part of an ongoing series of longer articles I will be posting every Sunday as part of an experiment in offering more in-depth content.
Although many discussions in the storage industry focus on the relative merits of one protocol or another, the conversation occasionally turns to the core issue at hand: We continue to patch together a system based on outdated concepts. Most storage protocols continue to mimic direct attached storage, and most of our so-called networks act as point to point channels. An ultra-modern virtualized storage infrastructure with all the latest bells and whistles still holds the concepts of block and file at its core. Whenever the storage industry has tried to bring about real storage management they have been stymied by a lack of context for data.
No amount of virtualization, and no new protocol, will fix this. Put simply, we need a storage revolution. Continue Reading »
Apple is recalling every iPhone 3G power adapter with American-style (NEMA 1 or Type A) plugs
Wow! Apple is recalling and replacing all of the compact power adapters shipped with every iPhone 3G sold to date in many countries! According to Apple’s support release, the prongs can break off and become lodged in an outlet, posing a risk of electric shock. And of course, inconveniencing the person who wants to keep their iPhone charged! American-style two-blade adapters in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and several Latin American countries are affected.
Looks like Apple is trying to make good on their defective power designs. Let’s hope they learn from this and the MagSafe debacle and make better-quality devices in the future!
I sure hope the iPhone is ready for the enterprise! VMware CTO, Stephen Herrod, just announced at VMworld that a new version of VMware Infrastructure Client was being developed for the iPhone and “other mobile devices”. This software allows an administrator to manage virtual machines hosted on VirtualCenter servers.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been using apps like pTerm (SSH), Remote Desktop (RDP), and Mocha (VNC) to manage my network devices. Throw in VI Client and you have a formidable mobile management device!
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking of keen uses for the accelerometer in system management…
This is part of an ongoing series of longer articles I will be posting every Sunday as part of an experiment in offering more in-depth content.
For IT-centric workers, being productive from the road requires more than just exceptional personal skills: A killer laptop is needed to replace an entire office full of equipment. Let’s consider what a modern digital nomad’s laptop should include.
Today, Sun released VirtualBox 2.0, a major revision to the (partially open source) desktop virtualization software. I have long used VirtualBox on my Windows machines as my virtualization product of choice due to its compactness, functionality, and low impact on the host system. Although I’m happy with VMware Fusion on the Mac, I intend to try out VirtualBox there, too, to see how it compares.
If you haven’t already tried VirtualBox, you ought to. It works very well, virtualizing Windows and Linux guests on Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac hosts with respectable performance. One thing I really love about it is that it doesn’t bog down my Vista system like VMware with installed drivers and services. It just installs and works and gets out of the way when you’re not using it.
VirtualBox supports shared folders, USB, and has guest additions for Windows and Linux to provide resolution independence and performance boosts. The new 2.0 version adds 64-bit guest OS support for 64-bit hosts along with performance and stability fixes. The Mac version now has a native look and feel and better networking, too.
One really interesting twist for folks interested in desktop virtualization (aka VDI on VMware) is integration with remote desktop protocol (RDP). VirtualBox guests can be configured to act as RDP servers, with thin(ish) clients accessing them over a network and even sharing their USB devices seamlessly. I’m getting pretty excited about the desktop virtualization concept - I’ll be keeping my eyes on companies like stealthy Old Road Computing Virtual Computer to see what they’re up to!
As impressed as I am with Apple’s iPhone App Store, with its simple purchasing and automated installs and upgrades, it would be better if the thing actually worked reliably. Along with sometimes forgetting song purchases, there seems to be some gremlin that causes the App Store to forget that certain apps are installed and not check for updates. This left me scratching my head, as updated apps like Super Monkey Ball, Facebook, Evernote, and Cube Runner remained in their previous state.
I suspect that the App Store did not update its internal record of my purchases when I wiped and re-set up my iPhone shortly after upgrading to OS 2.0. When I did this, I reinstalled all the apps from iTunes’ backup copy rather than re-downloading them from the App Store, and perhaps this caused them to be overlooked.
Sprint USB EV-DO + Cradlepoint personal hotspot = sweet!
I was traveling this morning, and was shocked to not be able to check on my flight status with my iPhone. It just sat there churning when I arrived in Chicago. I couldn’t figure it out, but quickly booted up the Cradlepoint router and Sprint EV-DO card and was online. Since I also had critical work-related email to respond to, I would have been seriously upset if I didn’t have backup connectivity.
It turns out that AT&T’s network was out in quite a few locations. Although I didn’t see Chicago on he lists at first, it was definitely down this morning at 7 local time!
I guess my iPhone’s camera wasn’t the only thing on the fritz in Chicago!
Chicago O'Hare Airport like you've never seen it before!
This time, instead of turning green, my iPhone snapped this oddly discombobulated photo. The very next shot was perfect, but how can one explain this? Whatever the cause, it’s certainly interesting!
Seriously, folks, this is the exact image from my iPhone, no editing involved! And it did this again this afternoon!
Enterprise Storage at FriendFeed
