chronobits » hardware

Printing on the iPad

Matt — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:05:30 +0000

I have been putting the iPad through its paces. I am turning to it more often to access information like email, rss feeds, and other media. One of the iPad’s unrefined areas is document management and printing. Luckily there is an app for that (sorry I couldn’t resist). GoodReader is a great way to manage apps until Apple figures out a better way to manage it (going through iTunes is just plain silly). It allows you to connect to server file shares, and will even connect to cloud services like google docs and dropbox. The downside is that it downloads a unique copy that would need to be reuploaded (is that even a word). GoodReader allows me to send docs to a shared folder share on my MacBook. This folder, using a Automator action, will automatically print out a copy to my printer. It is a little clunky, but it works for now.

To iPad, or Not To iPad Is Not the Question

Matt — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:10:03 +0000

I like to think of myself as a cautious early adopter. I purchased the first iPhone on the day it was released. I eschewed the 3G and 3GS models in favor of the 1st generation model; the same model I still use. I enjoy how it brings together many of the services that I have come to depend upon (ex. GMail, Evernote, Simplenote, Dropbox, iTunes). I am in love with the ubiquitous access to mail, notes, pictures, and music. I am skeptical of new hardware unless I can see how it will significantly improve how I run my life.

Along comes the iPad which quickly throws the technology world in a tizzy. Proponents and detractors alike seems swept up in an almost religious-like fervor. Some of this is Apple’s doing when they call the iPad “magic.” Some of it is the technology echo chamber’s desire

My take is that no one has decided what the iPad will be. This idea of a blank slate (Tabula Rasa) confuses the heck out of prognosticators. They try to evaluate what it is (no camera, no 3rd party apps) instead of seeing what it might be. The real question isn’t about the iPad, but the about whether or not Apple and developers can invent the apps that could make the iPad into the indispensable piece of hardware.

Zen and the Art of Hard Drive Failure Part 2: Life in the Cloud

Matt — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:22:24 +0000

When my hard drive bit the dust, my immediate worry for was my data. I knew how difficulty and expense of data recovery. With this in mind, I approached my Apple Genius Bar with little hope. After talking with Carl the Genius, I had two options: data recovery or complete hard drive replacement. I went with the latter.

After getting a spankin’ new hard drive, I went about the business of reconstructing my data. My first impression was how much of my data exists in the cloud. Through email attachments, web posts, Flickr accounts, Google Docs, and web servers I was able to download almost all the data for my current projects. I was also using CrashPlan and Mozy to various other archived files. The big chunk of data that were missing was iTunes Library. Senuti was essential for retrieving my iTunes Library from my iPhone and iPod.

I was lucky in the fact the much of data exists off my laptop. In the future I’ll be thinking of my hard drive as a rest stop for data instead of its final destination.

Zen and the Art of Hard Drive Failure

Matt — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:33:59 +0000

Last week I heard a violent clicking noise coming from my laptop. When I rebooted and saw folder with question mark emblazoned on it, I immediately knew my hard drive was screwed. I powered down my MacBook Pro hoping in my heart that the next restart would bring it back to life. My colleagues watch at an increasing distance as I muttered and spat obscenities at my machine. It is not a pleasant site when the IT director’s hardware turns against him.

About 3 hours into this ordeal something miraculous happened. I accepted that the hard drive was toast and moved on. Data had been lost; files, workflows, and applications would need to be replaced, but world was still spinning. I may have set a land speed record for moving through the stages of grief. I backed off and realized that the worst part of the hard drive failure was hoping that there was some way to fix it. Now I know that there were sectors of that disk that had undamaged data. I also know that the files I could have rescued would have been the blurry pictures that should have been deleted from iPhoto and ABBA’s Greatest Hits. The time, energy, and emotion spent trying to rescue a gigabyte or two wouldn’t have been worth it.

My big takeaway from the big crash of ‘08 is that disasters strike everyone. Wishing a disaster didn’t happen often prolongs misery and delays resolution. Wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth rarely results in a constructive recovery. When a disaster strikes, calm and perspective are the two qualities most needed and the most difficult to achieve.

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