There are more than one software out there to do the same task but since rsync is built-in to the operating system I’ll use it for now.

First of all you need to allow remote access to the source computer so go to System Preferences and Sharing. Enable Remote Login for your user.

After that you can log into your target computer and open the terminal. And just type the following

$rsync -avz –delete –exclude ‘.DS_Store’ username@192.168.1.10:/Users/username/FolderToSync /Users/LocalUser/FolderToSyncTo

Change the username, IP-address and folders on both the source and the target computer so they match what you want to sync. This is one-way only, it will copy changed files from the source computer to the target computer.
I might follow up on this, if there is enough interest in it, and write an article on two way synchronization between two Mac’s. For now this will be my note

TeamViewer to the rescue

This is just one wonderful piece of software, never again will I have to get away from the comfort of my home office to fix a friends computer. I use TeamViewer for every last one of these problems.
There are two reasons for this, the first one is in non-commercial use TeamViewer is free as in beer and the second is the variety of platforms you can run TeamViewer on. TeamViewer runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile devices. Granted I wouldn’t use my iPhone to support someone on a 24″ monitor but it is be possible.
Using it is so easy even your 90-year old grandma can use it. Just have them download and start up the QuickSupport version of TeamViewer and you can install the All-In-One full version.
From your client you will get the sessionID and the password, tap them into your full client and you are connected to their screen.
I promise you will save a lot of time using this. What ever your personal support incidents might be. Just remember it wont work if their problem is the connection to the network

iPad for books

Some of my friends are thinking about this device to read books on it, and I have to say electronic books will never get me. First of all I usually read in bed or outside in the sun when I want to get a small break from this electronic world. How the book feels is just as important to me as how it’s written. I like my books in paper and the feel and smell of paper, also it’s nice to keep them in a bookshelf.
And for anyone who has children, take a look at your child’s face the next time they are picking out a book at the bookstore or from the shelf. Thinking about which book to pick, looking at them and taking in the whole experience. You just can’t compare that to picking a book from an cold electronic device, tapping the file to open the book. It’s just that simple.
I can’t see myself using this instead of any traditional print media, I may be old fashioned but if I want to read magazines or books I really want them printed in paper. Any PDF manuals I read I print out, I really don’t like reading from screens. News, and articles are readable but anything more than that and I want my paper.

iPad for web

For this purpose I use a computer, why? Because when I browse I usually also do other things like, writing code, editing photos, work, talking to friends on MSN, ICQ, Skype etc. And that would be pain on a screen size 10″. I really don’t need another device to keep in my living-room. If I need to just check facebook, twitter or news a mobile phone is more than capable for the task.

Games

This might be a good argument for the device but it’s just too expensive. To put it in perspective Finnish prices are

• Sony Playstation 3 slim 160gb: 299.00€
• Microsoft XBox 360 S: 259.00€
• Nintento Wii (Sports Pack): 199.90€
• Sony PSP: 149.90€

And the iPad will probably cost 499€ to 899€. And that’s way to much for a device like this.

Where I see the usefulness of tablets

No, I’m not talking about the iPad specifically here. Any tablet would be usable in places like hospitals, large warehouses. Any place really where you need to access data without using traditional computers.
That’s it you say, that’s where we need them. Well maybe, but do you really want Apple to be in charge of testing the health care software your hospital uses? Or in charge of which software’s should be available on the device.
This is true on the iPhone, and I find nothing wrong with the business-model there. You get an phone not a replacement for your computer. But if I get a tablet I’m the one saying what should or should not be installed on the device. And if I want to run your competitors software on my device I should be able to do so. After all, it’s my device after I cough up cold money for it.

Convince me?

If you think everything I’ve said here is a bunch of c**p and you want to prove me wrong please do comment and we can discuss this.

Apple seems to think it will revolutionize press and save newspapers and the book industry. I have my doubts here. As a long time computer user I still PRINT every document that’s longer than 10 pages I have to or want to read. The screen just isn’t as good for reading as paper. Books wont do well on a iPad for me as I do most my reading in bed where a book is far better than an tablet.

It will however be a great device to watch a movie on while on a train or for taking notes in a meeting. But and this is a big but, if I already have a laptop why would I put out the extra money for the tablet.

It still doesn’t do flash, and like it or not flash is something we have to support today. It’s also as restricted as the iPhone and that’s to bad. I would have liked to see more OSX and less iPhone OS in this device. I like to be able to at least change some settings on my devices.

On the positive side it is able to run all the iPhone’s applications so even before the release it has over 140 000 applications and that’s great. Still I don’t see the value of this device if you already have a laptop and a smartphone. Some think it would be great for users reading email and browsing the web but most of them will want to store their pictures locally and do some editing on the pictures. The 800USD version has 64Gb space so it might be usable for this but then cough up a little bit more and you can have a Apple laptop, go for PC:s and you’ll get one much cheaper. The 500USD version has 16Gb so that’s just to small for any real use and to pay 500USD for a book reader, well that’s to much.

Before I pass any final judgment I will go take a look at it when it hit’s the stores in Finland I’ll give it a fair chance even if my first impressions weren’t that great.

Anyway, MAMP uses it’s own Application folder to store the pid files and the fix for this is really simple. Open your terminal and

After deleting the PID files MAMP should start just fine again.

I’m sure there are plenty more out there and if you whish to ad something to my list please do so in the comments.

I also want to point out that not all of them are free. Some cost, but as most programs for OS X they cost under 100 USD so it’s really not a big deal. The list is in no particular order.

Adium

Adium is an Instant Messaging program that handles, well almost any protocol. Instead of using a different client for my ICQ, MSN, GoogleTalk etc account I can use Adium and get everything in one client.

The design is good and it works as most OS X software’s. Without a hitch.

http://adium.im

Quicksilver

This is one of my all time favorite programs for my Mac. I just hit CMD+Space and start typing the name of the program I want to fire up. No more moving the mouse to the dock or going trough menus and folder. It’s really fast and easy to use.

http://www.blacktree.com

Coda

This is probably the best editor for PHP, SQL, Perl etc I’ve ever used. It’s not free but you can download their fully functional evaluation version from the website. It does just about everything you need from your editor. It handles your SVN and there are plenty of plugins available.

If you are designing websites in OS X and haven’t tried Coda you just have to take a look.

http://www.panic.com/coda/

TextExpander

Do you find yourself typing the same text often? How about the skeleton of a XHTML page? Or filling out forms with your address and email? TextExpander is really a life saver. I’m counting hours in saved time because of this small application I keep running in the background on my Mac. I actually can’t see myself living without it anymore.

All you need to configure are keywords to trigger the expansion. Be sure to use something you don’t type normally. mmail for mail, nname for name and so on.

http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/ 

VLC Media Player

This is my media player of choice to my Mac. It plays anything. I’ve never had to go codec hunting since I started using VLC.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

DropBox

This little piece of software helps me share some files between my work pc, iMac, Home PC and even my iPhone. The free version let’s you sync 2Gb, yes 2Gb of files between your devices. It’s incredibly easy to use. All you need is to register for an account and start synchronizing. You’ll get a folder on your Mac,PC and iPhone you can drop documents or files in and they will sync between all devices. Easy as 1,2,3

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

FreeMind

FreeMind is a great mind-mapping program. I don’t use it for the original mind-mapping, I tend to use it to sketch websites to get something to work from. It’s free and it does exactly what I expect it to.

It’s also available for other architectures so if your not using OSX take a look at their webpage.

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

If you have anything you want to ad to the list please let me know. As I said I’m in my second year of using my Mac so there are programs I still need to find. One of them being a replacement for Windows Live Writer. Anyway, hope you had some use of this list.

The Internet with all it’s glory also opened a gateway to our homes for the predators. Following the news you read almost weekly about police shutting down large pedophile groups, and that’s a good thing. Law enforcement units are able to hunt them down using the networks. But just as the good guys use the networks to find them, the bad guys use the networks to share their sick and twisted materials.

How do we protect our children from this?

I know the most effective ways are to, from a young age, teach them how to behave in social medias etc. But does it protect them enough. I don’t think so!

If you work as a systems administrator and have the privilege of watching firewall logs you’ll know what I know. Even if there is a company policy saying you can’t do this or can’t do that, people will still do it if you don’t prevent it. And you need to remember these are adults, so do we expect our children to follow these rules without ever crossing lines. I hope your not that blind, because they will.

So how do we protect them, the most secure way might be to sit the sessions with them, but that’s never going to work. My daughter is only 6 months so I don’t expect to know everything yet but I’m guessing someone with a teenage daughter trying to sit with them while they chat with their friends would hear a lot of *unfriendly* words. Correct me if I’m wrong.

The same goes to using spy software, not to mention in some countries it’s illegal.

There are also many devices children use. They use cell phones, computers, PSP, MP3 players, Nintendo’s, Playstation’s, Xboxes and many more. Most of them able to connect to the internet.

Using proxy services and firewalls

We can block access to certain sites or allow access to only certain sites using proxies. And blocking every port and protocol except the ones needed for the proxy will effectively shut down any attempts made to chat with software like MSN, ICQ etc. But doing something like that do we also restrict our children from learning? Where does the line between security and paranoia go? Also I don’t expect every parent out there to sit at home and configure proxy services and firewalls. It’s just to hard for the masses.

Apple OS X does include really easy to setup services to some protection. Like blocking adult sites, allowing use of only a few software’s, usage time and bedtime. This is a great idea but at the same time it does need configuration. But unlike firewalls and proxies, OS X is like any Apple product easy to use.

Here you can see some of the settings.

If you know of software’s like this for other platforms like Microsoft Windows, Linux, Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone OS, Android etc let me know. I’ll try to test as many as I can and post the test results on this blog in a future post.

Trust your children

Should we just trust them to make the right decision when confronted with a choice? Yes and no is my answer. There is no way we can ever protect our children from everything bad out there. We should also let them do their own mistakes. As we did when we were young.

We do need to follow closely on behavior and patterns since we have the web working against us. And we need to know what’s going on by *knowing* our children. Not by spying on them! Create a relationship based on trust and teach them how to behave online just as you teach them how to behave in real life. The web isn’t that different from the real life. I’m guessing the hardest part is to get your child to trust you enough to be open about what’s going on in his/her life. And internet or not, that’s called parenting.

Are you a parent? Have you been thinking about this? Please comment. How did you solve the problem, or do you trust your child to make the right decision?