iPhone and iPads, moving beyond apps

While app development will continue to bring new fun and useful applications to the market -- this will be an important year for Apple in another way. Hardware paired with applications will further spur advancements in using the mobile phone and tablet as a user interface for control. Picture anything that today has a mediocre display screen and simplified horrible user interface -- now you can use your device to control instead. A truly universal remote -- not just for TV and AV equipment, but really anything that can be remotely controlled or interfaced.

What have you seen already out there? What is coming next?

Occupy First Chair

source: tetonat.com

Geolocate post

iPhone generated, more mobile blog

Jobs

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Thanks Steve

Santorini, Greece

We explored the whole island, by walking, 4x4, taxi, bus, boat, plane...

What an amazing trip.

09-17-2011

and every day after :)



quonniewedding.com

'02 Nissan Pathfinder

It was time to retire my '96 Pathfinder, she was a great vehicle and we had a lot of great trips up to the mountains together.



I replaced her with a 6 year 'newer' vehicle, a 2002 Nissan Pathfinder w/98k miles, pretty much the same core truck with 6 years less rust. The added perk of working AC and a sunroof is great, although going from standard transmission to automatic was a bit of a transition. New front brakes, rotors, exhaust, evap canister+valve --

I had considered an older 4Runner too this time around, and hoped to have been able to find one that spent some time in southern states -- but after test driving several vehicles this one seemed to fit the bill right.

Now to plan my preventative maintainance--

Cold Cucumber Soup - NY Times

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped onion (or 1 leek sliced/cubed)
2/ cups diced, unpeeled garden cucumber (no-wax supermarket one)
1 cup watercress leaves
1/2 cup finely diced raw potato
2 cups chicken broth
2 large sprigs of parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1 cup heavy cream
chopped chives, radish garnish
1 pinch cayenne pepper (dads note)


Melt butter in sauce pan w onion, cooked until onions transparent. Add everything but cream, boil, simmer 15+ (potato tender), cool, puree in blender or food processor. Salt/Pepper to taste. Chill. Before serving, stirr in cream, add garnish.

Zuchini Bread Recipe

Good stuff, give it a try with some nice garden Zukes!

350 60-70 mins

2/3 c crisco shortening
2 2/3 c sugar
3 cups shredded zuchini
4 eggs
2/3 c water
3 1/3 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp each cinnamon + cloves

Love this one mom-- Thanks.

Boston's Hubway - Zipcar like rentals for bikes!

I love to bike.. I rarely bring it into the city on the commuter rail due to space and the commuter rails rules of no full-size bikes during rush hours.

Today, Mayor Menino launched a bike-share program called The Hubway which in its initial phase introduces 600 shared bikes to the city. I signed up for an annual membership after seeing the Mayor kickoff the program. I then had to wait for a key-fob to be mailed to me -- I couldn't wait, later today I decided to pay the 5$ 24hour fee and take a bike for a spin. Using a credit card, the process was pretty quick and painless.. Hopped on a bike and headed to my destination.

The biggest question in this programs infancy, is will there be a bike in the area you need it -- and will there be an empty 'dock' spot where you are going. The other catch is will I always have my helmet with me whenever I want to hop on a bike?

There is a useful SpotCycle app that is useful for looking at how many bikes are available and how many empty spots are around where you are heading!

Check it out, thehubway.com. Spend the 5$ and give it a try! If there are no stations yet around where you live/work, you can suggest them for a future phase!

Seamunkey Splashes

After working on the hull and outboard for the majority of the spring, today was a very rewarding day in the books! Next year, hope to be in before fiesta and the fourth--

Last year I had her in the harbor half a month earlier, but there was minimal effort to get her ready for the summer season...

Yamaha 9.9 Head Gasket replacement

Above you see the valves and ends of the spark plugs, below we have the top of the two pistons. The area Bram is pointing out with a screwdriver is one of the sections that was clogged.

After isolating the cooling problem somewhere into the head, it was time to go in and plan on finding some problem with the head gasket. In the passageway of the head where the water exits, there were heavy salt deposits -- soo much so that one of the passages was completely blocked solid, and the other one was also pretty clogged. We think(hope) that was the problem. It looks like that could have been caused by the head gasket being previously 'repaired' instead of completely replaced.

Inland - by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Inland

People that build their houses inland,
People that buy a plot of ground
Shaped like a house, and build a house there,
Far from the sea-board, far from the sound

Of water sucking the hollow ledges,
Tons of water striking the shore,—
What do they long for, as I long for
One salt smell of the sea once more?

People the waves have not awakened,
Spanking the boats at the harbour's head,
What do they long for, as I long for,—
Starting up in my inland bed,

Beating the narrow walls, and finding
Neither a window nor a door,
Screaming to God for death by drowning,—
One salt taste of the sea once more?

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Yamaha Outboard 1993 T9.9ELHR - Water Pump Repair (Impeller)

Picked up Yamaha part 682-W0078-01-00 (WATER PUMP REPAIR KIT) from Boats.net.



Planning to replace the impeller(#21) and surrounding gaskets and seals. The kit included the parts below.

UPDATE: Replacement was not too difficult, loosing the nut which connected to the shifting mechanism was the most difficult aspect. After taking the lower unit off, all of the parts below were replaced. This project was done because its something you should do every few years, but also water was not being pumped through the engine and therefore not cooling the engine properly. It looks like there may be a problem somewhere in the head unit, so further investigation is now required.


#18 682-44365-00-00
DAMPER, WATER SEAL

#19 97395-06040-00
BOLT

#20 682-44322-00-00
INSERT, CARTRIDGE

#21 682-44352-01-00
IMPELLER

#22 682-44315-A0-00
GASKET, WATER PUMP

#23 682-44323-00-00
OUTER PLATE, CARTRIDGE

#24 90280-03024-00
KEY, WOODRUFF

Iphone 3GS 32GB on T-mobile

I've had a few iphones, and am familiar with the unlocking/jailbreaking process to get them to work on T-Mobile. Although, before you jailbreak and unlock, it is wise to do your homework on which firmware and baseband versions you have installed on your device.

So it looks like I have Version 4.3.2 (8H7) for my iOS firmware, and Modem Firmware of 05.16.02. I'll post my research and findings here.

I updated my baseband to a strange version, the iPad baseband 06.15.00, because supposedly that was unlockable -- I have not had any luck yet. It is jailbroken so I can at least use it as a 32GB 'iTouch' on wifi for now.

Update: I ended up using a variety of iphone tools, to end up installing a custom version of iOs 4.1 (8B117). If you are attempting to jailbreak/unlock for the first time -- read up. The amount of knowledge and posts out there is overwhelming, especially as much of it is opinion and personal recommendations....

The utilities you should have handy:

Pen + Paper: write down your phones Version (iOS), Modem Firmware (baseband), Serial number may also come in handy.

iTunes - create a backup of your iphone today. Backup your contacts, anything of importance. Get familiar and comfortable erasing your iphone with an official Apple 'stock' firmware, and then restoring your backups. Firmware can be chosen instead of auto-upgraded to latest and greatest -- learn how to do this (Shift+Restore/Option+Restore). If you upgrade to 'latest + greateast' you could be shutting yourself out from unlocking/jailbreaking...

TinyUmbrella- learn about and create backups with this tool

iClarified - great website for tutorials and stock firmware

iphone-dev.org - learn about and possibly get redsn0w and pwnage, note that versions work well with firmwares from around that timeframes

Archive the utilities and firmware versions you used for later reference and use.

why telemark?

Why did I decide to start telemark skiing?

My quick answer:
-new challenge and good workout
-snowboarding icy groomers really isn't much fun
-split-boards are too expensive, and I wanted to earn some turns climbing uphill and getting fresh pow runs.

First off, I love snowboarding. On a really snowy day, it will be tough for me to turn in my board for my ski's. If you are thinking about (seriously) learing tele or learning to snowboard, snowboard. If you just want to do it for one day, tele may be less painful.

I love a new challenge, and being on that learning curve. The prospect of starting over at the beginning is humbling, but it makes you stronger. Tele skiing is a great workout for my quads, it makes me a stronger snowboarder, it works my quads so when those powder days come, I'm ready to rock. On a mountain that is relatively flat or boring, or when I'm spending time with friends that go skiing about once a year, tele skiing is much more fun than waiting for them mid-run or at the bottom.

A typical new england day, isn't always a powder or packed powder day... The less powder and snow on the mountain, the more I'd rather ski... Two edges has advantages when there isn't much to grip.

After some point in your skiing career, you get spoiled. You start to have 'powder-greed', this greed drives you try to time your days on the mountain with big snowstorms. While fresh powder on resorts is typically gone within hours, the snow is still out there sometimes several days after the storm on less-traveled and mountains without lifts. This brings me to uphill/downhill, I'd hike a mountain and snowboard down it. Snowshoeing up isn't a bad way to go -- although the best way up, is to get a splitboard with skins. This setup can be expensive though. I found a used telemark setup was a bit cheaper for entry-level.

There is a rhythym to the tele turn that is invigorating, linking a few turns, feeling good, can be a great experience. I sometimes find myself walking down city streets, with each footstep bringing back a memory of some great tele turns.

Wireshark, you're best friend or worst enemy

You have heard of the dangers of unsecured wi-fi spots by now? You know not to enter your credit-card online when there is no S tacked on the HTTP or no lock to show the site is safe and trusted?

Enter the world of a wi-fi thief, using packet sniffing technologies the data is really just out there floating around. Many years ago, I used a product called Ethereal to open my eyes to the world of network packets, sniffing, and analysis. At the time, I was amazed at how unecrypted and exposed Instant Messages were --

Ten years later, the world is more connected than ever, public-free wifi spots are still common. Just use your brain before entering your important data on the line, or else the wire shark may bite you--

If you have some geeky inclination to inspect the wire and packets of your home network, check out the Wireshark product: http://www.wireshark.org/

Guitar, Day 1 with pentatonic blues

Many years ago (10+?), I picked up my first axe, it was a Strat Squier-- My first informal lesson came in the way of the blues, and here is what I learned, practiced, and to this day still has heavy influences to my playing style...



This is more what I'm working with today, although I never knew that until I found this searching around and looking at blues scales--

new year, new mountains

This winter has been pretty good so far, I've been able to see a lot of different mountains. A few new ones too. I checked out Bolton Valley in VT for the first time, along with Crotched Mountain in NH, and Saddleback in Maine. I explored some local hills in Ravenswood park and Watatic in Ashby by my folks.

I'd still like to see a few more new ones this winter, perhaps Burke, Black, and Wildcat and get over to some favorites like Magic and Jay Peak.

top of the world, with her

Mountains and oceans, a theme of my life and this blog -- At a very young age, my parents took me to Camden Hills State park and we hiked to the top and looked out over Camden Harbor and the ocean. It was probably one of my most memorable childhood moments outdoors. For many years, I had the memory, but didn't even realize where it was. A few summers ago, Avery and I hiked Mt Megunticook and the memory was renewed atop its rocky overlook. Being born in Maine, loving the mountains, and the rocky coast -- I knew this was a special place.

Today, Avery and I did an early morning winter hike to the top of sister peak Mt Battie and we got engaged!

Picking colors

How do these colors work for a SeaMunkey?

I decided to paint the topsides primarily white instead of blue. I do plan to have a small navy blue cover stripe line near the rails -- and a thicker navy blue bootstripe by the waterline. The bottom paint will be a lighter blue.

Comcast internet down? It's their DNS servers.

Looks like Comcast internet problems tonight, you can temporarily change your DNS on your router (or computer) to point to an open DNS server

like opendns.com's:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

or one of Google's (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) click for detailed instructions

new macbook pro!

It's been a long time since I bought a new computer, the days of upgrading every few years have seem to become less of a necessity. I am very happy with my new purchase thus far....



Features which I am using and plan to take full advantage of--

-Intel Mac's, means windows can run great! I'm currently using a trial of Parrallels (VMWares competitor) to run windows applications alongside my Mac ones. This is very important for ASP.NET development, IIS testing, and simulating an environment which I support and work in.

-Bluetooth audio support - I've beamed music across the room to my Sony MBR-100 and my brothers Jabra bt3030, it's been working great.

-SD Memory card slot - great for picture syncing

-Calendar and Contact sync with my online accounts - MobileMe syncronization is a snap, I'd mention how to do it, but its so easy instructions aren't even needed.
(Separately, I'm syncing my iphone with the same Email/Contacts/Calendars, and together they are quite powerful)

-Iphone development and simulation with X-Code - I probably won't be able to experiment with this, or jailbreaking the latest iOS and updating my iPhones firmware until around the new year. I'll let you know how it works out.

Gloucester MA first frost date?

Looking at this image, courtesy of NOAA -- I think our first frost for the region is most likely to happen in early October, somewhere between 10/1 and 10/15. I'll try to track down and see if I can find historical data to back this up.

Do you usually pick your gardens green tomatoes after the first frost?

Dyer Dhow, bottom paint and topsides

After sanding the old paint off the dinghy, I did a final cleaning with Interlux 202. I then painted the bottom with Interlux no sand primer, thinking that this hopefully will be the last time I sand as much as I did. I then put on a coat of Interlux bottomkote paint.

For the topsides, I used a quart of Interlux Brightside, but first primed with Interlux Pre-Kote.

For the oak rails and seats that I replaced with white oak, I used a 50/50 turpentine/boiled linseed oil mix. I stuck with the Interlux line and did all the prep work more for the experience of working with the products, and learning the process. After the painting was 'done', and the seats were in, I took her for a test row.. Unfortunately, I still have some leaks! It looks like around the rear skeg and where the dagger board used to drop I still have some small leaks that will require some fiberglass attention!