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New Blog - hiltmon.com

2012-01-30T10:51:00.001-05:00

This blogs has not been abandoned, it has just moved.Go to http://www.hiltmon.com to catch up on all you missed.The Hiltmon has left the building.

The coming data crunch

2011-08-24T18:11:00.001-04:00

Over the past few years, the carriers in the USA have been steadily changing their pricing plans, offering lower and lower data caps for a slightly lower monthly fees, and getting rid of unlimited and higher capped plans.

The majority response to these changes are favorable, as the majority of people look at their current monthly utilization, see that they are currently below the lower, cheaper cap, and lock in to that plan. They feel like they are saving money. Any they are locked in so they feel they will continue to save money.

The truth is that this majority is acting in the most blitheringly stupid idiotic way possible. They are allowing the carriers to bribe them now into smaller capped plans so that they can be royally fleeced by the same carriers later.

How? This majority has no idea how quickly their bandwidth use is growing and how this growth is accelerating. And they have no idea how much the carriers do charge when they go over. It’s like the the overage interest charged on credit cards. Get card, pay it off, save money. Go one day over and suddenly you are paying 26% compounding interest and getting hammered.

The major assumes there will be a way out when they hit the carrier limits. They are wrong. Here’s how.

The myth of choice.

Back five or ten years ago, US households had a multitude of choices for broadband internet, these days, it’s no longer true. According to the FCC via the Washington Post, 78% of US households have a choice of only two providers, 13% can only use 1 provider. So really no choice.

With cable, its even worse. If the National Broadband Plan comes into play, then up to 15% of households will gain choice in cable providers (FIOS fiber is included as cable), the remaining 85% will still have no choice (see the NYT article here). Word is that currently only 2% of households currently have a choice in cable provider. 2%! I know! 98% have no choice!

Which means that the cable providers (who are the broadband providers) own a monopoly on 98% of US households. If you want cable TV, if you want fast internet, you can only use one provider and whatever plans they offer. Since there is no competition for your household, the carrier who has the monopoly over you has absolutely no interest in providing competitive services or pricing. If you don’t like the plans offered, you don’t get TV or internet. At all! No choice.

What about satellite? If you want TV and slow internet on sunny days, and only if your landlord allows dishes, it may be an option. Until you see their capped plans are even smaller. And ADSL? The ADSL providers are going out of business because the line sharing law, which they relied on, was reversed in 2005.

There exists an organization called the FCC. It’s part of the government and its job is protect consumers from monopolistic and unfair practices by communications carriers, like cable TV, phone and ISP's. Turns out, lobbying by these carriers over the past few years (and the hiring of ex FCC commissioners by them for fat salaries) has led to a situation where the mandated government organization, the FCC, no longer has the jurisdiction or claws to monitor or regulate this industry, and therefore protect us consumers.

It is a myth that the average consumer has a choice in how they access the internet and in the plans that can get.

The myth of unlimited

Riddle me this. What is the cap on your home broadband internet connection? Its unlimited right? Do you know? Can you even find out? I bet not. I signed up for an unlimited plan on my home internet (both providers), yet they both manage an unlimited plan as a plan which they arbitrarily throttle and cap. So its not unlimited! Its capped! The cap itself is whatever they want it to be, and they don’t say what that cap is. What happens when the consumer hits this unknown cap? They get cut off. And there is no recourse. No option. No one to switch services to, no plan to upgrade to. No choice.

Those who have the AT&T unlimited data plan on their iPhones know what I am talking about. AT&T throttles or cuts off people using what they say is too much bandwidth on unlimited plans. Again, no one agreed to the cap, no one knows what the cap really is, and AT&T does what it pleases. Don’t like it? Nothing you can do. All the other carriers do the same, at the same price point, at the same unknown and very variable cap.

I smell cahooting. It looks to me like cartel behavior.

It is a myth that unlimited plans are capped, or that they will even exist again in the future.

The myth of static use

If you have gotten this far in the rant, and I’d be surprised if you do, you may be thinking that all this does not matter, your usage of the internet is not even close to the unknown caps on broadband or mobile, so why worry?

Here’s why.

Five years ago you subscribed to, erhem, magazines and newspapers, no bandwidth used. Today you read all you want on the internet, and your ‘special’ needs (nudge nudge wink wink) are handled via streaming video, lots of bandwidth used.
Three years ago you phoned your friends to plan a party, no bandwidth used. Today we use Facebook and FourSquare not only to plan, but to post photos afterward, lots of bandwidth used.
Two years ago, you only got text email on your phone, little bandwidth used. Today, you video chat, use apps, load maps, and run your life on an iPhone, lots of bandwidth used.
A year ago, you rented DVD’s, no bandwidth used. Today you stream Netflix, lots of bandwidth used.
Six months ago you watched programs on TV, no bandwidth used. Today you watch shows on YouTube, Hulu and other services, lots of bandwidth used.
Three months ago you listened to music on an iPod, no bandwidth used. Today we have Pandora and Spotify, lots of bandwidth used.
Soon (like next month), your phone will download its own updates, replicate into the cloud and update its apps using the internet, using even more bandwidth.

See the trend? Your bandwidth use has doubled or quadrupled year in year out.

The carriers know this.

Project forward, your bandwidth use will double or quadruple annually again. How quickly will you hit the mysterious cap and be forced to pay the insane overage fees, or cut back on services.

The carriers want to make money off this trend. They are relying on apathy and consumer short-sigtedness to lock in a beneficial cap and fee structure for them. And the majority is blitheringly stupidly going along with this.

It is a myth that you won't bump up against your cap soon, whatever the cap is.

Aside: it gets worse

The current plans for LTE on all carriers have an interesting feature. If you use your LTE phone at maximum LTE speed to download something, you will hit the bandwidth cap in about one hour. One! So what do you do for the remaining about 719 hours in the month? You pay overages, expensive overages, or turn off your LTE data. I see the carriers rubbing their hands and drooling over this.

And I bet none of them will offer an upgrade from 3G to LTE for unlimited plan holders.

Data crunch

So while we are all happily watching movies, posting photos, video conferencing and listening to music over the internet, the carriers have circled, and set the trap.

As soon as our usage hits these caps, probably sometime this year, the carriers will make a killing. They will not offer higher caps, they will not offer unlimited plans, they will not offer any choice. Pay them, or piss off.

A data crunch is coming, when need for more data gets crushed by the carriers cap and fee structures. Consumers will get hurt, companies that rely on the internet will get hurt, innovation will be stifled in the USA, and no-one seems to care.

Or maybe I am the only blithering idiot worrying about this.

The hiltmon has left the building.

On TextMate 2

2011-07-31T14:14:00.001-04:00

TextMate, for the three people in the world who don’t know, is simply the best programmers editor on the Mac. It was released in 2004 by Alan Odgaard in its most basic form, and won the Apple Design Award in 2006. What makes it so unique is that it ‘knows’ the context in which you are working and provides language specific shortcuts and snippets. For example, when working in Ruby on Rails, you may have an HTML file open with embedded Ruby code. When the cursor is in the HTML bits, TextMate acts like a HTML editor, move the cursor into a Ruby bit in the same file and TextMate acts like a Ruby programmers editor.

I purchased my first license in April 2006, one of the first 10,000 users, and have used it almost every day since. The purple gear icon is as much part of my dock as the finder smiley face. Even today, five years later, I still start my work day by opening a command prompt in my current Rails project and type in mate .. Everyone I know who programs on the Mac uses it, and swears by it.

What you may not know is that it’s very rare for the same software program to be used this frequently and for this long a period of time by this many diverse users without a major update. As any product, it has had minor patches and fixes to make it even more stable and reliable. But over the same time, I have upgraded OS X 3 or 4 times, changed word processors, blog hosts, mail servers, programming platforms and jobs!

TextMate is an exceptionally successful product. I wish I had such a product, all indies do. It didn’t happen overnight, it took a while to get stable (2004 - 2006) and then build up it’s feature set. Yet it has remained the trustiest programmer’s editor out there. Success is hard, making a great product is very hard, maintaining this product given its diverse users and use patterns is even harder, and yet, MacroMates has done it, brilliantly. It’s still in my dock, in many programmers docks (even famous ones like DHH), and used every day by thousands.

But TextMate 1 has its problems too, as all version 1 products do. The ATSUI text editing model is old and limiting, the undo and search need work, paned editing would be nice, etc. Alan recognized this a long time ago and set out to rewrite TextMate as TextMate 2.

If writing a successful product is hard, rewriting a blazingly successful product like TextMate is a Sysyphean task. The first release took only 5 months, the new version could and should take 10 times that long. The new version has to be better than the old in every way, on a completely new technology platform. They have a ton of work to do to replace the existing features with the same, add new ones without breaking existing customizations and make it fast and reliable. And to make it an even tougher challenge, TextMate users have insanely high expectations and are super vocal about it.

I believe that TextMate 2, my friends, will not and should not be the same as TextMate 1, it will not be as stable to start with, will do things differently and may not start out with the same feature set. But I expect it will be a whole bunch better. And to make the job even harder on the developers, they know a storm of comments, vitriol and complaints will hit them no matter what they release, no matter how good it is.

Just take a look at the public discourse on TextMate 2 right now just by googling it. People, strangers really, discussing it in StackOverflow without any facts, web sites saying nope its not released today, calling it hopeless or vaporware or nukem. Even nobody’s like me writing this article. I don’t envy Alan and his team; if I was faced with all this derision, I’d probably just give up and go do something else.

But there is a silver lining. Amongst all the white noise is that fact that all new programmers editors are compared to TextMate, most new text editors use the idioms and bundles and themes that TextMate invented, and most new text editors still fall short of TextMate as it is right now.

We know Alan and Co are working on it, and we know its hard, very very hard, to make a successor to TextMate. So give them a break, they are attempting something most of us cannot even conceive of. I paid EUR40 for a text editor that I have used for over 5 years straight. What a bargain! I owe them for a great product and all the free updates, they owe me nothing. And I do not hold them to their promise of a free 2.0 upgrade, it was a nice gesture, but in retrospect a rather silly one.

So keep on using TextMate as I do, it’s still the best programmer’s editor in existence and there’s no sign of it getting replaced on my dock by anything other than TextMate 2 whenever it comes out. And give its developers a break, let them do what they have to do, give them the time to do it right, without extraneous pressure, it will help them get it done all that much easier, and we’ll all get a better product.

UPDATE

Textmate 2 is coming, Alan and co have announced a public alpha by the end of the year here.

The Hiltmon has left the building.

30% Off

2011-04-03T13:05:00.001-04:00

I decided to run an experiment today. I was wondering why my Windows VM's seem to kill my CPU and disks. Why they were so slow when I demo on them. So I launched 2 different virtual machines running Windows XP, ran all software updates, virus scanned them, and clean rebooted them, then launched Task Manager and nothing else. And I left them alone. For a long time. No mouse movement, no app switching, no apps running, they just sat there.

I expected them to eventually do nothing, no CPU usage, no disk activity. My Mac does nothing when its idle. My Linux VMs do nothing when idle. Surely...

I was wrong.

Looks like Windows takes 30% off the top. And maybe a little more...

VMWare reported both CPU's running at 100% for the first few hours. I know, hours! Then they dropped to 40% each. I give that VMWare does create a CPU hit (lets generously give up 10%). But 90% for the first few hours? And then 30% CPU Usage on idle VM's? Idle!

VMWare also reported that the virtual hard drives were reporting full time reads. But what is being read? Why is it being read?

So I started to watch Task Manager, to see what was consuming the CPU's. Both Task Manager's reported an average of 60% CPU Usage, 60% of the time the CPU is doing something on Windows.

Half of that 60% was being taken up by MsMpEng.exe (Windows Defender), thats 30% of all available CPU cycles, and it turns out, it is also the culprit that is causing those excessive reads. But Windows Defender has already run its scans. And search indexing is complete (for those who think it's the search indexer causing this). Since no user applications are running, and therefore no new files being created, opened, written, etc, there is no need for the indexer to update nor for Windows Defender to be doing anything.

The other half of the 60% seems to be evenly split between System.exe, and a few others like TaskManager itself, explorer, VMToolsd.exe and a few bits and pieces that pop up and then disappear for a while. I don't begrudge System.exe, it maintains the operating system and provides services. I do wonder why TaskManager uses so much CPU when its effectively UNIX's top. And VMToolsd.exe needs to run to make the VM remain smooth. But they really are not that big.

After several hours of still leaving it alone, the second 30% (System, VMTools, ...) drops to almost nothing, just spikes occasionally. But MsMpEng.exe still uses between 25% and 30% CPU, and the hard disk reads are still full time.

30% off CPU. And who knows how much time and productivity off because of this. I have to interrupt Windows Defender to so something. I have to interrupt Windows to get my own work done.

In comparison, my Mac chews up less that 5% of CPU when idle, and disk reads and writes remain quiet. My Linux VM's are the same, after their launch flurries, they too idle at 5% CPU and no disk activity.

So why, Windows, do your users get 30% off? 30% off performance, 30% off productivity, 30% off the computer we paid for.

Update: Several hours later, I come back, having left both VMs alone, and the laptop is overheating, the fans are running hard and CPUs are again at 100%, disk reads at 100%. As soon as I woke the VM's, it dropped to 30% usage. Something is going on, but I have no idea what!

What your programming language says about you

2011-03-27T11:10:00.001-04:00

There was a big internet brouhaha over .net programmers this week, kicked off by this article at expensify. Since he insults .net programmers, I thought I'd make sure the rest of us were not left out.

C - C programmers are nerds, the real deal nerds. Pasty faced, pimply, girlfriend-less, pocket-protector wearing, open-source, stay at home and code nerds. They also create the operating system and compilers all other programmers rely on, and look down upon the rest of us with appropriate scorn.

C# - C# programmers are corporate drones. They are part of a vicious circle - corporates hire C# programmers because they can, and people become C# programmers to get hired by corporates. C# programmers are bored, have boring jobs, drive boring cars, churn out boring programs and pay boring rent.

Java - Java programmers are the couch potatoes of programming. They remain behind closed doors, lounging on fancy desk sofas, eating potato chips and creating bloated, monster programs that are larger than Zeppelins which have eaten too many potato chips. Big companies need them for their heavy lifting, so they provide them the big iron they desire and more potato chips.

C++ - C++ programmers are mad professors. They wear those ugly jackets with the leather elbow patches, speak in multidimensional math, and are the only ones who can look down on C programmers. They create the simulations that run on thousands of cores to calculate weather patterns and determine the weather outside, while the rest of us just look out the window.

Objective-C - Objective-C programmers are nerds with style. They dress well, focus on design, user experience and ease of use, but deep down, they are still C programmers. Anal, pixel aligning, minimalist, black turtleneck wearing C nerds, with a life. Objective-C programmers use the ugliest language to make beautiful things that just work.

Ruby - Ruby programmers are Japanese zen masters of convention and consistency. They wear the same boiler-suits, eat the same food, and work to the same routine. In doing so, they create supermassive applications with 3 lines of code, then spend the next 5 years struggling to keep it running.

Python - Python programmers are our sociopath, axe murderer and artist programmers. They have serially killed off blocks, line endings and readability, relying on negative space as if it were a real thing. They take data and systems apart and glue them back together in new and interesting ways.

PHP - PHP programmers are our streetwalker programmers. They hang out in public spaces, showing off their wares and changing often. They ride the freight railways of the net, delivering blogs and content to a starving clientele.

Javascript - Javascript programmers are the new robot masters. They take a static web page mannequin and make its arms and legs move and flail about, but the face remains creepily still. We can all hope that they have not yet created Skynet.

Delphi - Turbo Pascal programmers are the hippies amongst us. They still live in the 60's, drive old VW beetles and have long hair. They think Windows 3.1 is still an adequate operating system and C is this cute newfangled programming child. Get off my lawn!

Perl - Perl programmers are either idiot savants or just plain idiots. Their code is unreadable, they speak to trees and furniture in voices, and are too lazy to explain it to the rest of us, even to C programmers. Yet somehow their gibberish programs hold it all together.

Visual Basic - VB programmers are the wannabees. They wannabee programmers, they wannabee cool, they wannabee treated with respect, they wannabee C programmers. Their only way in to the cool crowd is to learn a real programming language, but that's too hard. They make extremely complicated excel worksheets even more complicated.

hiltmon = {'Objective-C', 'C#', 'Ruby', 'Perl', 'Javascript', 'C++', 'PHP', 'C'};

If your programming language is not one of the above, you feel left out and feel you have not been properly insulted, post a comment. But ask yourself this - why are you not a C/C#/Java/Objective-C/Ruby/Python/PHP/Javascript/Delphi/Perl or VB programmer and therefore already properly insulted?

My first OS X Experience

2011-03-24T11:22:00.001-04:00

With Apple's OS X turning 10 today, I though I'd share to my first experiences with it.

For me, it was back in 2002. I was living and working in Tokyo, Japan, creating interactive Web applications. I had an old Dell laptop that I'd used for about 5 years and it was on its last legs. Every few months or so, I'd reformat the hard disk on it, install some random distribution of linux on it, try to get some work done, get mad, and restore my old Windows 2000. I wanted off Windows, I wanted in on this cool Open Source caper, I wanted back to my happy place in UNIX, the OS I grew up with. But no matter how bad Windows 2000 was, the UNIX variants at the time were worse. I just could not be productive. And I could not work with the corporate file formats my company used.

We'd invited a quant in one day to show us some C++ code he had written under contract for us. He brought in a Titanium Powerbook to show us his work. There was much 'oohing' and 'aahing' at the laptop itself, but it was nothing that compared to what happened next. I knew all about OS 9, having used Macintoshes in the 90's, and expected to see OS 9's classic look when he booted up the screen.

Instead, after the obligatory awesome chime, up came this beautiful, shiny, bright interface. Jaws dropped, silence ensued, the dock popped up, and we marveled at the bright icons, clean lines and smooth fonts. Work stopped. A crowd formed. Questions were asked and answered. My first impression was that they had taken OS 9 and made it pretty. It was better than that.

I dispersed the crowd, and asked him to show me his work. And he did the most astounding thing. He opened a bash shell window and started typing in UNIX commands. UNIX! Yes, real UNIX. I was verklempt. This was the operating system I was hoping Linux would be. UNIX, with an easy to use UI. And it had Excel on it. Real Excel. I was sold.

That weekend, I went to Akihabara, spent 2 hours tracking down the top of the range Titanium Powerbook (1Ghz, 1GB RAM), and bought it. It had a weird Japanese keyboard, so they sold me a US keyboard replacement part. I went home, peeled the old keyboard off, installed the new keyboard, and first booted to OS X 10.1.

I never used the Dell after that. I still have that PowerBook, and it still works.

I have been an OS X user ever since.

Say what you mean

2011-03-22T12:23:00.001-04:00

"Great is the power of steady misrepresentation." Charles Darwin

"More bars in more places" AT&T

What they want you to think: You get better service in more places.

What you think they mean: You get better service in more places.

Reality check: The bars on a phone are not a measure of signal strength, its a measure of signal-to-noise ratio. A crappy signal with low noise gives more bars. Oh, and AT&T forced Apple to change the bars calculation (proving its bullshit), see the WSJ on it. So more bars in more places means that the algorithm to calculate the bars gives more bars, you still get crappy service, dropped calls and slow data.

"Own it today!" Blu-Ray

What they want you to think: You own the movie and do what you like with it.

What you think they mean: You own the movie and do what you like with it.

Reality check: You license the right to watch the movie subject to all and any restrictions they have placed on it, including forcing you to watch the piracy bit, all ads and previews, and preventing you from copying it to other devices for more convenient viewing. So own it on blu-ray means you own a piece of useless plastic, the content belongs to them.

"You’re in good hands with Allstate" Allstate

What they want you to think: If you insure with us, we'll pay when things go bad.

What you think they mean: If you insure with us, we'll pay when things go bad.

Reality Check: "For example, Allstate's CCPR manual says claims adjusters should strive to settle as many cases within the company's historical base range — the 10th percentile of all payouts. In other words, Allstate encourages its adjusters to settle as many claims as possible for no higher than what the company historically paid out on the lowest 10 percent of its claims." See here. And this "In July 2008, the American Association for Justice ranked Allstate No. 1 among nation's worst insurers. This ranking was given because: “While Allstate publicly touts its ‘good hands’ approach, it has instead privately instructed its agents to employ a ‘boxing gloves’ strategy against its policyholders,” said American Association for Justice CEO Jon Haber. “Allstate ducks, bobs and weaves to avoid paying claims to increase its profits.”[12]" from Wikipedia, yes Wikipedia!

"Higher standards" Bank of America

What they want you to think: We're a great bank.

What you think they mean: They are a great bank.

Reality Check: Higher fees. Oh and we'll stop you for performing legitimate transactions, see here.

"Fosters?Australian for beer." Fosters Australian Beer

What they want you to think: Its a great beer because Aussies who know great beer drink it.

What you think they mean: Its a great beer because Aussies who know great beer drink it.

Reality Check: Fosters Australian Beer is a British beer, made in Canada for the US market. Foster's Lager is an Aussie beer, available only in - wait for it - Australia!.

"Fair and Balanced" Fox News

What they want you to think: They provide factual unbiased news reporting.

What you think they mean: They provide factual unbiased news reporting.

Reality Check: They are biased as hell, and admit to it, see Slate. See also the wikipedia page. Its a 24 hour channel, with news on only between 9AM and 4PM, then 6PM - 8PM, only 9 hours of news out of the 24 hours available.

"Eat Fresh" Subway

What they want you to think: Eat at subway to get fresh food that is healthy for you.

What you think they mean: Eat at subway to get fresh food that is healthy for you.

Reality Check: They make the sandwich on baked bread in front of you, using old ingredients, processed meats and cheeses and curdled dressings, with huge calorie counts, sodium levels and cholesterol. But the bread is reasonably fresh.

"Made from the best stuff on Earth." Snapple

What they want you to think: Its made from fresh ingredients so it must be healthy.

What you think they mean: Its made from fresh ingredients so it must be healthy.

Reality Check: So you still have teeth left after drinking all that sugar, coloring and preservatives (Ok, I'll admit they use the best sugar, coloring and preservatives.)

"We know money" AIG

Enough said.

It is time for "Are you sure?" to end

2011-01-31T16:53:00.001-05:00

Friends, Romans, Countrymen and Developers, lend me your ears. For it is time that the "Are You Sure?" dialog meets its demise. It is time that it annoys its last user, it is time it gets ignored by its last viewer, it is time it gets deleted by its last developer.

The "Are You Sure?" dialog came into being in the early days of computing, when things were text, undo had not yet been invented and dialogs were vocal discussions between people who were too pretentious to use the word discussion. It was a time if limited CPU, memory and disk, a time that predated the trash can. It was a time when deleting a file actually deleted it, a time when changing data meant that the computer forgot what was there before, and a time when computer asked questions were uncommon and not ignored.

Along came the trash can on this thing called a Macintosh, and file deletes were no longer irreversible. Delete a file, no problem, its NOT deleted, its in the trash. Why does the system still ask if I am sure I want to delete a file?

Following came undo, around the same time as cut, copy and paste, and we all use it well. Change some data, undo, mess up a document, undo, delete some rows in a spreadsheet, undo. So why do applications still ask if I am sure? If I make a mistake, I should always be able to undo. Asking if user's are unsure, makes them unsure, makes them fear their software and their interactions with it.

There was a time when the modal popup dialog box provided valuable information. And in that time, people read these popups. But then these popups started to proliferate. "You have an error" looks just like "I saved your data OK" which looks just like "Click here to install malware" which looks just like "Are You Sure?". Average users just ignore popups, click OK and move on, so lets reduce their interruptions by getting rid of the "Are You Sure?" ones first.

There are those who argue that sometimes the "Are You Sure?" is necessary. I'd agree that fully destructive events (like emptying the trash) should require a confirmation, but I'd argue that there are few fully destructive events left in computing that cannot be undone. And there there is the case when the user hits cancel with unsaved changes, surely then the app should ask an "Are You Sure?". I'd argue that the concept of saving should also meet its demise, let the system save everything, and if you don't want your changes, make the cancel button simply undo them (and if the user realizes a mistake, a redo will fix it).

Software should allow users to do whatever they want, even destructive acts, without annoying them. Software should also forgive user actions and mistakes and allow them to undo everything.

So please, friends, help make "Are You Sure?" achieve a dignified end. And may we rarely see it again.

Are you Sure? Ye-haaa!

The Backup Drive Blues

2010-11-20T09:49:00.001-05:00

In the past week, I have had two of my friends come to me with backup drive blues. In one case, their backup hard drive had failed, in the other case, they needed to know which backup drive to buy, probably because their old backup drive had failed. In both cases, I believe they lost precious data.

Over the past few years, I have had more than 5 backup hard drives fail on me. Interestingly enough, I have only had one internal drive fail in all that time. Most of the time, the actual problem is not the drive but the el-cheapo USB to SATA chips and logic boards used in backup drive housings. Two of my failed drives worked fine once I plugged them into the SATA ports on my Mac Pro - one is still running fine 1 year later. The remainder had the click-click beep of crashed heads because the drives had been dropped or otherwise manhandled.

Here are a few things I do to ensure that I never again face the backup blues.

Use multiple backup drives

I purchase those 500GB WD Passport drives, the playing card pack sized, very slow, portable hard drives that are powered off the USB port. I buy them because they cost $99, have no power cords to lose; and I buy a lot of them. Each computer I have that has 500GB or less storage on it has one of these as a Time Machine backup drive. I also drag and drop my home folder onto a second one every month or so. So my data is now in 3 places, on the computer, in Time Machine and manually on a third.

For my machines that have larger storage, I use larger USB drives, also set up as Time Machine drives. One of these is internal as its controller failed but runs just fine inside my Mac Pro. And I copy swathes of my data onto a series of the smaller 500GB drives, admittedly not frequently enough. Once again, my data is in 3 places.

Use multiple computers

Since I have a Mac Pro and a MacBook Pro, I have the advantage of also duplicating my data on 2 machines. Once again, a quick drag and drop over the network keeps the two in sync. Of course, since the laptop has a smaller drive, not everything goes across.

If you do not have two current computers, grab your old clunker out of the closet, install some big hard drives and use that. If no old clunker, use your partner's computer. If no partner, see if your employer will permit you to use up space on your work laptop.

The cloud

At this stage I do not yet use the cloud for backup. I have a Dropbox account that I use for some stuff and an iDisk at MobileMe that I use for others. Some people use BackBlaze, Mozy, Carbonite, iDrive or other online backup products, but I cannot recommend them as I do not use them. And a lot of people like me who have web server accounts use the excess space for backup, thanks DreamHost.

The big issue with online backups is the time it takes to do the initial backup and the time to do incremental backups. Its not the cloud server's fault, these folks have heaps of bandwidth, its the ISP's fault for not providing sufficient, or at least burst, upload bandwidth to consumers.

Things you should never do

Never, ever, use a backup drive as primary storage. The number one cause of the blues in backup drive blues is because people put all their photographs on a single backup drive and only on that drive, and it fails. If you have to use an external drive because your internal drive is not big enough, do yourself a favor and buy a bigger internal drive; or make sure your data is on at least 2 external drives.

Don't leave your backup drive on and spinning all the time. This is not a problem for the drives themselves but these flaky controllers seem to burn out. Backup drives are designed to be used, then left off until used again.

Don't install the software that comes on these USB drives. Never do this! Ever! The software is buggy, annoying, usually incompatible with other manufacturers stuff, slows your computer down, and probably reports back to the mothership. Your operating system can handle these drives just fine without it.

Don't spend money on those disk recovery services. Chances are, they will plug the drive into a new case and it will just work. Or they will replace the heads and it will still not work. Its a lot cheaper to backup to multiple drives than it is to get the data back after the fact, if at all.

More than one basket for eggs

The first rule of backup is that the data exists in at least 2 places, on the primary drive and on the backup. That way, if either drive fails, and it will, you have the data on the other. I have it in 3 places in case 2 fail (it has happened to me).

The second rule of backup is to do so regularly and in multiple ways. Time Machine is brilliant, but a drag and drop every month onto an $99 USB drive is worth it for the peace of mind.

I don't care which backup drive you buy, just get more than one. They really are cheap, and your precious data is not worth losing.

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Aside: Western Digital, please get rid of that WD SmartWare virtual CD. Its rubbish, drives your customers nuts every time they plug in their drives (especially Time Machine users) and anyone who actually installs the software has problems.

Which Computer Should I Buy?

2010-09-11T15:28:00.001-04:00

Short answer: Get a Mac! Any Mac.

Long Answer (and the more correct one)

Why the blazes are you asking me? Huh? I write software, I don't design hardware. I use Macs. I write software for Macs. So I'm going to tell you to buy a Mac, like I just did, because I get more customers if you buy a Mac and fewer computer related questions from Mac users.

Don't ask me to decide for you.

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Still here? Ok, I'll help a little bit.

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Mac? PC? Linux? Choose the one you are more comfortable with. Get the one you have purchased software for. And get the newest and latest version of it. If you don't have a lock-in on any software, get a Mac.

Laptop? Desktop? If you travel, get a laptop, else whichever you like. If you are a greenie, get a laptop, it uses less juice. If you want to plug in a lot of stuff and expand it, get a desktop.

Netbook? No bloody way. See Netbooks are Rubbish.

Buy Now? Wait a few months? Now! If you need a computer, get it now. There's always a newer model on the horizon, it's not that much better than the current model, and you cannot use a computer you don't have.

Upgrade? Replace? You just asked me which to buy, just go buy it.

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Still here? Sigh!

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You want a PC, so which vendor? Dell? Lenovo? Sony? HP? Asus? Acme? Frankly, if you're asking me which computer to buy, they are all the same to you. In reality, they all have the same bits and bobs inside, and most vendors fill the computer up with crapware. Go to a store and see which feels better to use. Then stop wasting time and buy a Mac.

Ok, I have chosen a vendor (Apple, Dell, IBM, Sony) and a kind (desktop or laptop), which model should I buy? Get the most expensive one you can afford with the MOST RAM and LARGEST hard drive. It will work better longer.

Why not get an el cheapo now and replace it again next year? Because you won't. And you'll have a horrible experience with it. And you'll be unproductive. And unhappy. And whiney. And your time is worth more than the difference between rubbish and a useable computer.

Really get the most expensive I can afford? Yes, you'll get better quality, better productivity, better support and a longer computer life.

But its a recession and we need to save money. Its a recession, so you need to be more productive than the next person to keep your get a job, so spend the money. When the recession is over, instead of replacing a rubbish computer while still unemployed, take a holiday to Hawaii.

Get the extended warranty? No, unless it's vendor provided like AppleCare. All the other stuff like store warranties are a total ripoff.

But what if it breaks down? Well, if its in warranty, its free. If its out of warranty, it will cost the same to fix whether you purchased the store warranty or not.

Get Geek Squad/Nerd Herd to set it up? Hell no, don't spend a cent on them, they are an even bigger ripoff than store extended warranties (which are useless, see above).

Buy the Essential Services from Dell? No. Same stuff as Geek Squad.

How do I set it up? If its a Mac, its all set up. If its linux, you are already a geek and I don't need to help you. If its a PC, nuke the hard drive to get rid of all the crapware and run the OS install from a Microsoft CD. No Microsoft CD? Don't buy that computer then. Ask before you buy if there is a valid windows install CD, not a vendor one that just reinstalls all the crapware. If they lie, return the computer same day with the packaging shredded and get your money back. Or buy one without crapware on it - if you can find it.

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Still here? You're pretty persistent.

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Store or Online? I buy online from the vendor, takes more time, but I get what I want. For you, first got to a few stores and play with the computers to help decide what suits. You don't buy clothes without trying them on, do you?

Faster CPU or more RAM? More RAM

Bigger Disk or More RAM? More RAM

Faster CPU or Bigger Disk? Really, more RAM

Big Screen or Faster CPU? Seriously, more RAM

Which Video Card? Unless you are buying a gaming rig or a CAD station, does not matter.

Intel or AMD CPU? No difference.

Desktop replacement or true laptop? True laptop. Desktop replacements are big, heavy laptop like looking computers that have the same chips, same portability and same power suck as a desktop without the expandability. Get a desktop or a laptop, don't encourage vendors to make 'desktop replacement' computers.

Light laptop with small screen? Heavy laptop with big screen? Go in the middle, a 13"-15" screen usually provides a reasonable screen size with light enough laptop, else, go light. Choose the lightest 13"-15" with the longest battery life. You'll never carry a heavy laptop, so don't buy one.

Get the extended battery? Or get a longer life laptop The only vendor to get this right is Apple. They have one battery, its light, it stays inside the laptop and it lasts forever. As for others, get the biggest battery they offer that does not add extra weight or sticks out the back or front of the laptop, which usually is the standard one. Choose a laptop vendor whose standard battery gives you the longest life. The next time you are waiting at an airport, you;ll thank me.

How many USB ports will I need? On a desktop, three (keyboard, mouse, other). On a laptop, one. If you need to plug something else in, unplug what's there first.

Compact flash or SD card reader? Unimportant. Unnecessary. Use the USB port.

B, G or N WiFi? N.

Built in 3G on a laptop? Nope, you'll get locked in. If you need 3G, use the USB port or get a MiFi. Or jailbreak your phone and tether.

Trackpad or Joystick? Whatever you like, but it seems touch, and therefore trackpads have won, so learn how to use one.

Wired or wireless keyboard and mouse? Same same, but different as they say in Thailand.

Camera? Yes, in the 21st century we make video calls. For desktops, use a headset, laptops don't always need one.

Tv Tuner? Remote? Speakers? No, its a computer, not a home theatre.

Video Out? HDMI? VGA? Does not matter, any place you need to hook up an external monitor for presentations will provide all, or buy an adaptor when you need it, which in my case has been never.

DVD or BlueRay? DVD is more than enough. Unless you have a top of the line 30" screen and watch lots of HD movies.

Buy the extra bundled software? In general, no. Most extra software bundles are cheap, consumer versions or limited versions of better products. Only get the software you need, and only get it bundled if it offers a genuine saving without giving you a rubbish version.

Not even the AntiVirus? For PC users, don't get the bundled AV, its usually a mess. And uninstall any preinstalled trial ones immediately. Microsoft Security Essentials is free and good. So is AVG Free.

What software should I get with it? That's another blog post.

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Still Here?

Get a Mac.

iPhone 4 and the antenna meme

2010-08-12T11:52:00.001-04:00

I'm writing this post because if one more person asks me about the iPhone 4 antenna issue, or tells me that they will not buy an iPhone 4 because of the antenna issue, I'm going to go postal on them, I'm going to rip them a new one, go ballistic, get nasty, and go all aggro. (Hopefully I've covered sufficient cultural slang terms for I'm going to yell at them, vigorously, loudly and for a long time).

Fact: 0.55% of iPhone users have had the antenna issue. As of July 16, 3 million were sold, which makes only 16,500 phones had bad antennas that were reported to Apple.

Fact: 1.7% were returned as per July 16, 51,000 returns, which means that 34,500 were returned for other reasons.

Fact: All phones exhibit some attenuation when you wrap your sweaty palm (with sincere apologies to @chockenberry) around them, especially around the bit where the antenna is.

One of those returns was mine. I had the Yellow Screen issue. Apple swapped it out with no questions asked.

So, where is the brouhaha about the yellow screen issue? No-one has asked me about the yellow screen on my iPhone, no-one has told me they won't buy an iPhone 4 because the screen looks like it has pee on it. Steve Jobs did not have to have a special news conference to explain that Foxconn workers were not peeing on new iPhone 4's. And yet more people faced the yellow screen issue than faced the antenna issue. And the press remained very quiet.

Go figure!

My new phone has no pee on its screen and I cannot reproduce the alleged antenna issue on it, or the one I handed back.

The real problem with the iPhone 4? AT&T's horrible network of course.

Netbooks are rubbish

2010-07-16T15:01:00.001-04:00

I received a freebie Dell Mini 10 a few weeks ago, and thought I would use it as a web testing machine (since I do all my development on a Macintosh) as well as leave it in the lounge for people to use instead of grubbing up my iPad. Boy was I wrong!

The Dell Mini 10 has a 1.6Ghz atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a nice big 160Gb hard drive. It weighs a feather and seems to be sturdily built, perfect for tossing around the lounge. The screen is bright and colorful, and the small keyboard is about the same size as the landscape keyboard on the iPad, so easy to get used to. It even has an HDMI out. On paper then, its a very good machine.

The iPad has a 1.0Ghz CPU, 256MB RAM and a 64GB flash drive. If I compare the paper specs with the iPad, the mini 10 has a much faster CPU (with hyperthreading no less), 4 times more memory, heaps of storage, but slower storage access.

So I'd expect it to take a little longer to load data from disk, but beat the iPad in rendering performance, typing speed, app switching and other activities.

This netbook is rubbish, it runs slow. Too slow, tortoise waking up slow, sitting in english class slow, chick flick slow, waiting in a TSA line slow, slide night slow.

In short, if this netbook ran any slower, it would be running backwards!

Boot time into Windows XP, close to 4 minutes before its useable. Time between clicking on the IE icon and the window appearing, with nothing else running, averaging 40 seconds. Opening a second IE window, 15 seconds. Time between clicking the mouse and seeing an hourglass, 5-8 seconds.

My 1Ghz powerbook with 1GB RAM that is 7 years old runs faster.

This isn't just slow, its ridiculously slow.

But it shouldn't be!

Sidebar, councillor, its slow, but it sells.

Why is this rubbish selling like hotcackes? Sure its cheap, but for $100 more you can get an iPad. Maybe its user expectations? Users expect PCs to be slow. Users expect PCs to be frustrating. Users expect PCs to be running windows. Users expect PCs to be full of crapware. Users expect PCs to, well, be like this netbook.

Does this make our users stupid? Or insane? I don't think so. Smart IT guys like me make normal users feel stupid, and they believe it. The industry projects an image that its the user who is at fault when the computer is rubbish, not the other way around, and users believe it. Software vendors project an image of such superiority that their crappy bloated software is not the problem, and users believe it.

Users should expect computers that work, work fast, faster than they can think, work reliably and forgive the lack of skills of their users. Kinda like the iPad.

But users do not expect these things, and marketing departments know it. They are selling truck loads of these rubbish computers to users who expect them to be as bad as they are. Surely we can all see what's wrong with this picture.

Back to it.

I am a reasonably expert IT guy, and the hardware specs tell me this little Dell Mini 10 can be so much more. So I applied my time and expertise to make it so.

I went ahead and

Removed all the crapware that came preinstalled. But the machine remained slow, seems the crapware took up disk space, not memory or CPU.
I optimized the Windows XP installation, turning off services and features that slowed it down. It got a little better, but still way to slow.
I even removed the anti-virus software that was bogging the hard disk down, not a smart move, but I was trying to get some performance. This seemed to improve things the most, like moving from crawling to hopping, not walking yet.
I reinstalled Windows XP on it, from scratch, but it was still too slow.

So I tried Ubuntu linux instead, the netbook edition. The current release, 10.04, does not work because the video card in the Dell Mini 10 (Intel GMA500) is no longer supported. But Dell has a special dell version of Ubuntu 9.04 netbook edition that does support the video card. So I installed that.

And...

Well...

It became very useable. As useable as I expected given the hardware specs. Boots to use in 1 min 15 seconds. First launch of firefox, to rendered page, 11.7 seconds. Way better! It's made it to the lounge as a web box, but I have to show people how to use it each time, and that's annoying.

Netbooks are rubbish because the default install of Windows XP is just way to bloated and slow. Netbooks are rubbish because the components (like the video card in the Mini 10) are too old and slow. But with the right operating system software, old software, they can be made useable. Too bad users don't know it, and vendors don't push it.

My advice: spend the extra $100 and get the cheapest iPad. Its fast, just works, is forgiving, light, and is the device and experience users should be expecting, nee demanding, even at this price point.

Apple sues HTC

2010-03-04T09:39:00.001-05:00

There is a lot of buzz in the verse that Apple is now evil because it is suing HTC over patents. They are saying things like Apple is showing signs of being terrified of Google, or Apple is acting like other companies and stifling innovation, or Apple is the devil (Ok, I made the last one up).

I think Apple was forced into it. When it comes to patents and copyrights, in the US at least, holders are required to show the efforts they make to protect them. And the only way to do that is to sue. If someone else uses one of your patents or copyrights in the future, and you did nothing in the past to protect them, then they can claim that you did not do anything to protect it, and therefore they could use it.

Its a Judge Dredd moment - its the law.

It's stupid. But its how the law is interpreted. I believe the reason they sued HTC is because its not Google, a partner that they do not wish to anger. HTC will settle, for a small yet face saving amount, and everybody wins. Apple proves that it has protected its patents in case someone really steals them, and life goes on.

And everyone seems to be suing everyone else in that space at the moment anyway. Staying out of the fray is not an option anymore.

The Hiltmon has left the website.

Microsoft Windows 7 Phone Series

2010-02-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

I love my iPhone. But I also worry about its future. History has shown that when a company innovates an awesome product and takes over the imagination of a market sector, the awesome product goes stale without a creditable threat. I think this new Windows phone just might do the trick. See the article in Gizmodo.

Current Threats to iPhone

Google's Android platform is the current yet less that credible threat to the iPhone. Android sure looks good, is easy to develop for, has all the features you would expect from a modern smartphone, but has some fatal flaws too. Different handsets have have different versions of the system, different features implemented, different screens, different keyboards and different performance curves, making it a very difficult target to pin down. At least on the iPhone, you know the features and limitations available. The best Android phone, the Nexus One from Google, has potential to make this a credible threat as its the best Android phone out there, but the support mess and penalty structure needs to get fixed.

Symbian has announced Symbian S^3, their next generation handset operating system, taking the ideas from both Android in going open source and Palm in using web technologies. Since most of Europe will be on this platform by 2011, it sure is a potential threat. As long as Nokia and the other Symbian handset makers stabilize the feature set on handsets to make it work.

Palm is the baby of the three. Its software looks terriffic and its handsets look great and work terribly. If they fix their hardware, they can still be called a potential threat.

Windows Phone 7 Series

I like the big flat buttons. I like the Zune build in. I love the integrated contacts, facebook and other live updates. And Xbox on a phone is just plain smart. Calling the mail application outlook is priceless. And locking down the hardware to a limited set of features means the handset makers will compete on price and bezel and nothing else. Leaving us developers with a nice clean platform to make money on apps, just like the iPhone.

What's the Catch?

Windows Phone 7 Series will not be out until the holidays - I assume that means the end of 2010. That gives Apple, Google, Symbian and Palm a year to leap even further ahead while making sure their offerings equal or beat the Microsoft product. And Microsoft itself has to still deliver a stable and feature complete product, something they have not executed well at over the pst 10 years.

I really hope they succeed. The iPhone is 3 years old now, and still looks and works the same as it did on day one. Maybe it needs some credible threats to spur Apple on to make it even greater.

The hiltmon has left the website...

Nickel and Dime again...

2007-08-25T16:33:00.001-04:00

Just booked a rental car in Seattle via Avis. The rental rate is $64.71 - great deal. Copays and surcharges are $27.51, yes 42% of the rate is added on. Then they charge tax on top of the surcharges - this has got to be illegal, most certainly fraudulent! A good deal just went horribly wrong. It certainly is disgusting customer service and I don't like it one bit. But I am the little guy, they are the big 10,000 pound gorilla and all the other rental agencies cartel it the same way. They win, we all lose, again.

Gaaaaaaaaaaah!

iBank: Congratulations

2007-06-14T21:59:00.001-04:00

Looks like I picked it again, iBank 3.0 came in runner up for the Best Mac OS X Leopard Application at the 2007 Apple Design Awards 2007. I like this product, heres hoping the Leopard version just rocks! Congratulations Ian Gillespie and all at IGG.

Nickel and Dime

2007-05-29T22:17:00.003-04:00

Stipulations: I am not an American, I live in New York.

There seems to be a cultural acceptance in the USA of the practice of Nickel and Dime-ing, co-paying and demanding tips from the population until death (or poverty!) takes them away from the open palm. I suspect that the average citizen has been worn down to the point they just pay up. Over and over again, nickels, dimes and more commonly, one dollar bills are handed over for no valid reason. Sigh.

I get a mobile phone service for $59.00 a month including 2 lines and about 600 minutes. A good deal it seems. My bills average $82.00 a month. Huh? The deal was for $59.00 - what gives? Examining the bill shows additional charges of a dollar or two here and a dollar or two there for taxes and fees and co-pays on each line (see AT&T or WirelessGuide). Searching the net shows that some of these so called taxes are 100 years old and have been cancelled. And several seem to be just plain made up by someone smoking crack. The phone network provider gave me 2 choices, pay up or pay up and pay an additional $150.00 to cancel the service! They said the additional fees were not of their doing. Yeah, right!

The power bill has them too...like a dollar to allow you the choice of power providers!!! In my building in New York there is only one, so why pay extra for the choice between them and, well, um no one else!

Buy a flight ticket, pay a fuel surcharge, an airport fee, a booking fee and a federal tax. Why can't they just give me the price when they already know the how much fuel they will use and at what cost (many purchase fuel future contracts so that they know the fuel price long in advance!) and which airport the plane leaves from. More dollars....

Order delivery from Amazon, get a delivery fee on the web and a surcharge when billed. More dollars....

Use another bank's ATM, $1.50 (yet my other non-US bank does not charge this)...

Use a credit card overseas, add 1% (again, non-US cards do not carry this charge!)...

Receive a mobile call, get charged...even for the spam ones...

Send a text, 10c, receive a text, 10c, add a picture to the text, 25c...

Free wi-fi, na-aaahhh....

Write a check, money goes out on day 1, in to the receiver on day 7, they get 6 days interest on the float (I use free wires from my non-us bank instead - instant!)...

Eat a meal, tip, leave your coat, tip...

Six people eat a meal, tip gets included on the bill and you're still supposed to leave a few dollars...

Take a taxi, tip...

Walk in to a hotel, tip, enter your room, tip, sleep, leave a tip on the bed...

Got a doorman, gardener, manicurist, tip....

My wife goes to a salon, gets her hair washed, tip, dried, tip, colored, tip, cut, tip, and then still has to pay for the haircut!

Gaaah! I want to stop being nickel and dimed and dollared to death. Give me a price and stick to it! No more! No less! No muss! No fuss! Leave me and my rapidly depleting wallet alone!

The hiltmon has left the website....

Why I use a Mac

2007-05-29T22:17:00.001-04:00

I read Paul Kafasis' article on why he uses a mac, and although his article is insightful and funny, his reasons are different to mine.

I work in corporate IT, programming in C# on Windows XP (bored yet?), supporting a network of windows servers. I spend all day programming, troubleshooting or maintaining systems. At least once a day, one of my users has a problem with an indecipherable error message, a virus, popups, or just trying to do something thats denied by default on windows XP.

At home, things are different, My wife and I both use Macs. I never have to deal with the same issues as I do at work. I just use it, it just works. Its why we have Macs at home.

Most of my friends and family have windows computers (I have converted a few to the cause!). I watch how they use their computers and when I show them the Mac way, they love it, and then continue using windows.

For example, almost all have photo libraries. Without exception, they save their photos in a folder structure that is set up manually. Several have Picasa installed but still use the folders. There is no tagging, no search, and all their picture file names are incomprehensible. I use iPhoto, it manages the files for me, I tag and name the pictures and I can search with ease. Thats is why I use a Mac.

For music, most of my friends use folders too, a few with iPods use iTunes.

None of them have experienced a video chat yet (and more than half have webcams!).

When I show them RSS (built into safari or even more impressively I show them NetNewsWire) they start drooling, they still type in web addresses over and over again to get their news. None use tabbed browsing.

For email, they all pay extra, a lot extra for Outlook. Outlook drives me insane (yes, I use it at work too). It reformats emails by removing line breaks at random, blocks access to many attachments, and has warnings all the time about html email formatting. And whomever decided to make MS Word the default editor for emails deservers to be spayed! Its slow, ugly, expensive and the PST file format is proprietary. On the Mac, I use Apple mail, its single purposed, fast and does not get in the way of reading and writing email. Thats why I use a mac.

I also watch my friends when they are just puttering around. They seem to spend a lot of time doing maintenance, moving files, renaming things, reorganizing, or just plain trying to find stuff. And waiting, waiting, always waiting while they search, looking at an hourglass as the anti-virus slows them down. I spotlight, and thats why I use a mac.

I really have no need to delve into the following stuff, the 'Get-A-Mac' ads from Apple or the blogosphere cover them adequately:- spyware, malware, trialware, nagware, interceptware (like the Dell DNS interceptor), anti-virus, anti-spyware, memory protectors, Genuine Windows Advantage (people buy Vista knowing that they can be locked out of their own computers by Microsoft - don't get me started!), DRM, running as an admin by default - are you nuts! My 2 year old work laptop is barely functional with all that installed. My 4 year old powerbook G4 flys better than when it was purchased (I am writing this on it now flying over the Caribbean sea!) That's why I use a Mac.

Oh and it is darn pretty Paul.

So why don't they switch? The excuses range from 'I am used to it' (I say switching is easy) to "I need more buttons on the mouse!' (You can) to "Its more expensive!" (Not!) to "But I need X software" (which they either never use or there is a Mac equivalent!). I make no excuses, thats why I use a Mac.

The hiltmon has left the website...

Personal Money Management Followup

2007-03-14T21:26:00.000-04:00

Its almost a year since I last wrote on the topic, Macintosh Personal Money Management Software and things have changed. I purchased a new Mac Pro and Quicken was never installed. Instead, I migrated to iBank 2.0.

So what made me do it? iBank 2.0 came out!

It handles

Multi Currency. Not available in Quicken Mac and I have money back home and here.
Loads bank statements the same way.
Tracks my stocks and mutual funds in various currencies.
Backs up to .Mac.
Better Mac-like interface.

6 months on, and I am satisfied! If you still use Quicken, you are just encouraging their belief that Mac users will still buy their products even if they do not change it for years and ignore their customers pleas for features available in their Windows version. iBank works.

I am also keeping a beady eye in Cha Ching, but it has a ways to go....

The hiltmon has left the website...

Ghosn and GM

2006-07-16T08:56:00.000-04:00

Its been announced that Wagoner of GM and Ghosn of Nissan-Renault will talk, and in about six weeks or so, we'll see if GM joins the Nissan-Renault alliance. Light goes on - So that's why Kerkorian was buying so many GM shares!

Its an interesting play. Ghosn needs to expand production because Nissan and Renault are both topped out on capacity and growing, GM has oodles of excess capacity and no-one wants their cars. Using GM's excess is far cheaper than buying new capacity, and the deal is sure to leave GM's union problems squarely on GM. Its upside to the alliance, downside to GM. On the other hand, Nissan and Renault have oodles of design talent, and not enough models to design, GM needs new models. Badly. Desperately. Even in its home market! Its a perfect match.

Power-wise, this screws Wagoner. Ghosn will effectively run the alliance no matter what actual structure is put in place. The market listens to him. The market likes him. He has already proven himself up to the task twice. Wagoner will not give up without a fight. And I think that's why Kerkorian bought all those shares, so that he can punt Wagoner when the deal is done.

Where's my GT-R, Carlos, I'm waiting....

The hiltmon has left the website...

On Crippled Phones

2006-04-30T20:09:00.000-04:00

As a technologist, it pains me to see technology crippled by vendors just so that they can squeeze another buck off of Joe Citizen. To me, the true benefits of technology are only achieved when the user gets the full benefit of that device.

So, for example, when you purchase a top-of-the-line mobile phone anywhere in the world (except the USA), you get the best technology available from the manufacturer of that handset. As a result, you are a happy customer, you use it, show it off and recommend to your friends to use the carrier and their cool new handsets. Good for the consumer, good for the carrier, win-win. And they know it!

Not so with a certain Carrier in the USA. They advertised and promised to provide a cool handset with all the trimmings (the best that Motorola could and did make at the time - think Bluetooth sync), they then crippled the phone so that none of these features worked. They lied to their customers that they would rectify the issue with an update (blaming Motorola, who kept quiet because they sell a lot of handsets through this Carrier and did not want to lose that business), lost a class action suit on the issue, and squirmed their way out at the end with a settlement that provided no material compensation to their victims, er customers.

But did they learn a lesson? I mean, is it not the purpose of the courts to provide justice and to see that the bad guys get punished, learn their lessons and do not do it again? I must be naive because the Carrier got away with it and did not seem to be punished or learn a thing.

The new RAZR from the Carrier came out with all the cool stuff in a software release v02. So far so good.

Oops, turns out that was an accident. The Carrier pulled this handset as soon as they realized what happened (many lucky customers kept theirs) and released a very crippled version v03 that killed all the cool stuff (no bluetooth sync). And now they released v04 that simply accepts that those customers who had v02 can keep the cool stuff and still get upgraded, but the v03 users remain as crippled as ever, but the bluetooth fairy headsets work. Basically, if you, like most, got a v03 phone, no cool stuff for you. But the character next to you with the same handset from the same Carrier gets it!

Why do they do it? They say its for your own security. Horsepukky! Bluetooth functionality in Motorola handsets does nothing unless the two devices are properly paired and the user has to do that manually - you have to put in a code when pairing or nothing happens. Hackers cannot get in without you allowing them in and in Europe, where everyone has a bluetooth phone, and in the USA where other carriers have the same handset, there is no issue, no problem, no hassle, no nothing. Just FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) issued by the Carrier. Horsepukky I say!

The Carrier simply wants its customers to pay a buck here and a buck there to get their photos off their handsets (yes MMS costs extra) or to download (and pay for) music and ringtones using their service instead of allowing the customer to use their own music or a competitor. This is bad for the customer, they cannot use their phones properly and bad for the Carrier in the long run (but they seem not to know it!).

Carrier, you know who you are, please uncripple your phones. You are the best carrier in New York when it comes to service and coverage, and the worst carrier when it comes to phones and cost. And readers, do me a favor, if you have a choice in carrier, go with the one that does not cripple their phones. You will be happier with them, and they will get more business from you.

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GTR-Proto in 2008

2006-04-15T15:01:00.000-04:00

Carlos Ghosn stated at the New York Motor show a few days ago that the new GT-R will be available in the USA as the Nissan GT-R (Yay!) in 2008 (Boo!). Its a long wait, better start saving for it now!

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Macintosh Personal Money Management Software

2006-04-15T14:45:00.000-04:00

Sometime in the early 1990's, when I started working, I decided to get some software to manage my personal finances. I had a paycheck, but had no idea where all the money went every month. I knew I paid rent, phone, power, ate food, bought clothes, partied (a lot!) and at the end of the month, seemed to have no cash left over. Sounds normal for a kind in their 20's.

I bought Microsoft Money (I was using Windows in those days). Money allowed me to download statements from my bank and track where it all went. Seeing my Net Worth report in those days was a depressing sight. I persisted and got into the habit of tracking my income and expenses using Money. It was easy to use, easy to see what was going on and easy to better manage my meagre budget.

Tardis to 2002 and you'll find me migrating my old data from trusty Money to Quicken on the Mac. Not so fast, Hiltmon! You see, by then I was employed out of Hong Kong and living in Japan. Money had no problem tracking my still meagre bank balances in Aussie Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars and Japanese Yen. But Quicken for the Mac is single currency and could not load in all my accounts from Money!

Intuit's web site recommended creating foreign currency accounts as investments and then manually putting in the exchange rate to value that investment. As if that was a smart solution! Not! You cannot transfer money between one account and another that way, you have to manually create a withdrawal from one and a deposit in another. You cannot have securities in a foreign currency (like Euro stocks in a US dollar account). And you have to go through the process of manually re-valuing each account every time you want to get a full picture. Hassle factor - high. Yuk!

Since it was all that was available at the time, enter work-around stage left. I created a Quicken file for each currency and managed each separately. Whenever I want a Net Worth report, I copy the balances into Excel and add it up. Hassle factor - medium.

Rumors on the web at the time had it that Quicken would match the Quicken for Windows feature set in the next version for Quicken for Mac (Quicken for Windows is multi-currency and can do all of the above). Nope, not happened! Not the next version or the version thereafter. What gives Intuit? Huh? Selling a product on two platforms with the same name and different feature sets! Mac users are not good enough? Gaah! Get smart and match feature sets, no more money from me or anyone I known until then!

I have recently been researching alternative software to get me back to the same functionality as I had with Microsoft Money but for my Mac. The top two these days seem to be MoneyDance and iBank. I have looked at both for a trial period, and they are both excellent software products. However, they still don't get close to Money.

MoneyDance is full featured and very popular. But, its not Mac software and I find the interface non-intuitive and quite frustrating. iBank is much more Mac-like and easier to use. Both handle foreign currency accounts in the same interface, both allow for management of portfolios and investments, and both import data just fine. They all do budgets and credit card tracking and all the basics. I feel that MoneyDance has the edge in reporting and I do like the idea of using plugins to get prices and rates so you can change the source. iBank has the edge in just plain usability although it does seem to have some rough edges and odd interface inconsistencies too.

So what is stopping me from leaving Quicken behind and switching? Well, MoneyDance fails my esoteric view that I want a Mac-like program, and iBank does not handle investments in more than one currency (nor do both store historical prices which I do use in Quicken to see portfolio performance). Microsoft Money on Windows is still the leader in personal financial management software and until hell freezes over and Microsoft releases it for Mac or Quicken, MoneyDance or iBank get a matching feature set, I'll save my money and use what I have got. Or write my own...

BTW Virtual PC, Windows and Money was tried and rejected ages ago! Costs too much!

The hiltmon has left the website...

The Gates

2005-02-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

I live in the city that never sleeps, fueled by coffee, continuous wailing of sirens and walking dangerously close to yellow cabs. Whereas most people like the look of New York, I find it relatively ugly. And the Gates in Central Park are great.

Make no mistake, I am not an architect or designer. I lived in Tokyo for 4 years and the drab, grey, plain, conformist architecture there is nothing to write home about. Coming to New York, with its character and grit was a pleasureable change (I miss the modern plumbing from Tokyo though). I liked the scaly ceilings in the subway, the dusty eaves on old buildings, the high rises art decoing the skyline. Over time, you stop looking up. Only tourists in New York look up. And so all I see now are the potholes, the cracks, the grime and the garbage. I dodge the little lakes that form on the corners when the rain falls or snow melts. I use the shadows of approaching people or taxicabs to wind my way though the city.

Central Park is a breath of fresh air in the grey city. Although in winter, its grey too. So when they put the orange gates up, it brightened up the whole place. Now the grey drab park looks alive (or like a big construction zone according to Mrs Hiltmon). The flapping skirts bring the place to life, the wandering hordes forming rivers of movement beneath the rolling winds, small children perched on daddys shoulders reaching to grab a handful of colour. It gives me something to look at, to photograph, to talk about, to show off to those unfortunate enough not to be here.

And something to argue about with the legions of whiners and ignoramuses. They complain that the city should never have spent the money on The Gates, not knowing that the city did not pay for it. They complain that they do not understand it, and are unaware of how stupid they are acting (it takes 5 minutes to read about it in any newspaper). They complain about the waste of materials, not knowing that all materials are going to be recycled. They complain, they complain, they complain.

Come on people, put the latte down and just look at The Gates. Orange gates line the park like worms, the skirts wave and crash like waves and it makes people happy, it brightens up the grey city.

No one got hurt by the Gates, I for one love them.

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On opening a new account

2004-11-12T17:30:00.000-05:00

So many people blog. They write about what they want to talk about, when they want to do it. Kind of like speakers corner when the audience is world-wide (or at least a Google search away). I guess I will try it out, see if anyone is interested in what I have to say, or more likely just add my ramblings to the Google cache for future generations to ignore.

My name is...well...its kinda like Hiltmon...but not. I am not a dog or a 12 year old ackneyed nerd, nor am I a geriatric in a drooling room awaiting a sponge bath. I just an ordinary guy leading an ordinary life in extraordinary times. They have to be extraordinary times or I'll have nothing to write about.

So why do people blog? Some do it for fame, some because they are bored, some do it because others do, and most have a reason we cannot fathom. Why am I trying this? Well, I guess I want to leave my mark, my insignificant scratching on the internet wall. Maybe one day I will blog something that someone else will read and it will the world a better place for them, or maybe no-one will ever notice me and I'll remain in the nerdy shadows. Either way, I can indulge in any topics I want, when I want. As soon as I find a topic to indulge in, as soon as I find something to say.

I mean, what should I blog about? Shall I blog about me? What shall I say about me? I could cover what I wear, what I eat, where I work, but....boring! Who cares, its not interesting and it will not make the world a better place. How can wearing Gap and eating at a Diner (and then blogging about it) make this world a better place or change someone's life?

Shall I blog about my friends? That would violate the trust between friends. I keep their secrets and they keep mine (I have none but is sounds better if they feel like they have secrets of mine to keep) I do not want to embarass them or make them more famous than me. Let them blog if they want.

Shall I blog about work? Naaaaah!

Politics? Naaaaah!

Sex? Naaaaah

TV? Tech? Sports? 101 Uses of an empty Kleenex box? No no no no no no no!

I'll come back when I have something to say. Until then...

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