Screaming Squirrel

I had completely forgotten about this interesting little video I recorded at Golden Gate Park a couple of years ago. We had gone to SF to visit my brother and his wife and we went for a walk. I heard this bizarre sound and when I followed it I saw the source of it. Who would have known...?

Christmas

Christmas came and went and while it was the first time in 12 years that I wasn't in a house of my own, it was still really nice. Carrie did an outstanding job of getting the apartment ready with decorations, a nice tree, and she made a wonderful Christmas dinner with ham, sweet potatoes, rolls, and my mom made her signature butter with mashed potatoes (she uses a lot of butter, but they're so good). Sadie was dressed up in her official Christmas outfit much like Santa's helpers. My mom flew in for a couple of days from Montana and my brother Kevin and his fiance Shawn were in for about 30 hours on their return from visiting my brother Pippa in Australia.

My mom really had a great time with Sadie. The two of them got along famously and they spent so much time together playing and laughing.

It was a quick Christmas visit and I am resolved to be in a nice home by the same time next year and it will be even more grand but as it was, we had a great time.

iPod Touch Hacking, What I Did...

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was very satisfied with the results of having hacked my iPod Touch to use the iPhone applications and other 3rd party applications. Here's what I did (and this is using my Mac so you'll need somewhat different instructions for Windows).

Before you go any further, here's the obligatory disclaimer: I neither endorse or recommend willful alteration of a product that is already quite good. There is the possibility that you might brick your iPod.

1. If you are at version 1.1.2 of the firmware, which has been available since November, you'll first need to downgrade back to version 1.1.1. Download the firmware here. Depending on how your browser handles downloads, it may automatically unzip zipped files. If so, you'll need to re-zip it or make sure it's not zipped when you go downgrade.
2. Plug your iPod into your computer via the dock to USB cable. Cancel the sync if iTunes tries to communicate with it. Put the iPod into recovery mode by holding down the 'Home' button along with the power/sleep button at the same time until it shuts down and as soon as it restarts (the Apple symbol will appear on the screen) let go of the power/sleep button but keep holding the Home button.
3. With iTunes open it will then present you with the option to restore your iPod. Before you click on 'Restore', hold down the 'option' key and click on Restore. The Finder dialog will appear and then browse to the location of the 1.1.1 firmware that is still zipped and select it. iTunes will then install the firmware. This may take several minutes.
4. After the iPod reboots, disconnect the dock cable and connect the iPod to your wireless network and open Safari and point it to http://jailbreakme.com/. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the 'Install AppSnapp' link. Safari should crash and you'll then have the Installer.app icon on your iPod's 'Springboard' (the home screen with all the icons for the applications).
5. Open Installer and choose the application OktoPrep to install.
6. Now you'll need the Jailbreak application, download it from here.
7. Connect your iPod to the computer again and make sure iTunes is open.
8. Once iTunes sees your iPod, go ahead and choose the option to Upgrade your firmware. It will take several minutes to download and install. After the upgrade is complete, close iTunes.
9. Launch the Jailbreak.jar application you just downloaded (it's inside the downloaded files)
10. Check 'install SSH' and set a root password and hit 'Jailbreak'.
11. Disconnect and reboot your iPod. You should see the Installer program on the Springboard.
12. Open Installer to download and install packages.

Installing iPhone apps

1. First, you'll need to find them and download them to your computer. You might check various torrent sites. Make sure you get the version for your firmware, which, if you've followed these instructions, is 1.1.2. Make sure you get a set that includes the requisite 'Framework' folders because without them, Maps, Mail, and possibly other applications won't work.
2. You'll need to use SFTP to move these applications from your computer to the iPod Touch--you can either go command line from the Terminal or you can use a GUI program to move them. Either way, you'll need to put them all in the '/Applications' directory.
3. In addition, you'll NEED to copy GMM.framework from /System/Library/Frameworks/
4. settings bundle in /System/Library/PreferenceBundles/
5. One individual also mentioned this: cd /Applications/[appname].app/
6. chmod -R 644 *
7. chmod 755 [appname]
8. - then, test it by [still in Terminal] “./[appname]” (without quotes of course)
9. Test it by seeing if you can open Maps and then Mail (and configure an account).

I think this is everything, let me know if I missed something!

Credits to my resources:

http://www.hacktheipodtouch.com/install-application/mail/mail-app-on-ipod-touch
http://www.hacktheipodtouch.com/unlock/ipod-touch/iphone-apps-working-on-ipod-touch
http://lifehacker.com/337863/how-to-install-third+party-apps-on-your-new-iphone-or-ipod-touch

Also the ipodtouchmaster on youtube
Change the order of the icons on the bottom menu

Employment Profile

Not too long ago I completed a profile for a company that requires it as a part of their application for employment. I thought it was reasonably accurate in most areas. I've pasted the results below.

Summary

Aron, your responses indicate that you are an intensely persuasive and determined person. You delegate details and obtain technical support whenever it is possible. Your inclination is to deal with a project's key elements rather than its specifics. Too much definite structure and regulation affects your level of comfort. Since you are a very likeable person who takes time to listen to people, it is probable that you have many acquaintances and friends.

Communication Style

Aron, you have strong social skills and are excellent at quickly establishing rapport. You enjoy talking to people and do so with enthusiasm and spontaneity. Your style of fast, lively expression is both engaging and effective. You are a fluent speaker who expresses thoughts quickly, optimistically, and persuasively.

Also, Aron, you respond to people with flexibility and open-mindedness. You relay a tone that is uninhibited, creative, and, at times, quite independent.

You enjoy talking and can put people at ease. You use a fun, indirect style of communication. You are people-oriented and can easily relate with another person's point of view.

Aron, you are a natural team player. You readily delegate authority, and you embrace training. You do not care to be involved with too many technical details. You let others set game plans, priorities and time frames.

You function well when you are allowed a lot of people-interaction. You would rather talk about details than write them down. You enjoy being the focus of attention.

Leadership

Leadership Style: Persuasive
You perform your leadership role by using your excellent ability to interpret people's actions and dialogue, and then by persuading them to do things your way. You like a leadership role, function in a manner suitable to your environment, and support teamwork. You develop your people with enthusiasm. You delegate details freely and may be disinclined to delegate authority. You actively promote change and look for new ways of reaching goals.

Conscientiousness

You focus on your goals with self-discipline and positive motivation. You are able to recognize the importance of applying hard work, planning, and organization to achieving the tasks before you. Your determination to achieve excellence is complemented by a purposeful disposition.

Motivation

Motivation Needs:
Aron, you tend to be motivated by a great deal of interaction with people, and by identifying with a prestigious organization with a good public image. You desire opportunities to make more money for yourself, or to improve your status within the organization. You are motivated by praise, public recognition, and by acceptance. You are most productive when working as a team player, and when you are liked by others.

You tend to be demotivated if your territory or opportunity is reduced in size, or if you are not allowed a significant amount of people-interaction or teamwork. Insufficient recognition from management and/or peers can also affect your motivation. You can be demotivated by a perception of not being personally liked, and by not being invited to meetings with peers.

Primary Motivation:
• A lot of interaction with people.
• Meeting new people and making friends.
• Opportunities to make more money and improve status.
• Being a team player within the organization.
• Praise and public recognition.
• Identifying with an organization that has prestige and a good public image.
• Awareness of what is going on in the organization.
• Acceptance and being liked by others.

Primary Demotivation:
• You perceive you are not liked.
• You are not invited into meetings with your peers.
• Your territory, (opportunity) is reduced in size.
• You feel you are not part of the team.
• You do not have enough people contact.

Emotional Intelligence

Aron, your responses indicate that your Emotional Intelligence is exceptionally well developed. You pursue your goals energetically, and you persevere until your goals are achieved. You strive continually for self-improvement, and you are not discouraged by temporary setbacks or disappointments. Your negotiation, persuasion, leadership, and conflict
resolution skills are probably very well developed. You perform your work conscientiously, and delay gratification while pursuing your goals. You display appropriate self-confidence. You tend to understand the emotional makeup of others.

Work Status

I am still employed and my employer is still in business. We've trimmed down to ~40 employees and lots of people are doing things beside what they were hired to do, myself included. While many people are clearly demoralized and reluctant to do things outside their areas of expertise, I'm rather enjoying it. Granted, most of the things I've been working on are still technology related but instead of drafting policies, working with vendors on disaster recovery, and negotiating contracts, I'm still doing interesting things. I'm instead working with wholesale vendors to sell off excess equipment, working with facilities to smooth out issues with the building security and alarm panels, helping users directly, I relocated an office almost single-handedly (network, phone, servers, switches, routers, call managers, etc.), and have been learning how to work with our Cisco VoIP phone system. I'm actually learning a lot as well as refreshing my technical skills so it's kind of fun. There's also a certain type of satisfaction you get from doing more of the hands-on stuff--you can see what you create and get the immediate end-user satisfaction. While I don't necessarily plan to stay in this mode long-term, I'm glad to see that I can jump right back into it and offer good service.

So, if there's a lesson to be learned.... It's wise for management to jump back onto the front line and do the stuff that got you to where you are now. It gives you an appreciation for your team, hones your skills, and helps you to find areas where there might be room for improvement. Of course, it also is a tremendous time to reconnect with your group and your customers on a level for which there is no substitution.

iPod Touch Hacked

I'm far from bleeding edge in hacking my iPod Touch because there was a part of me that was concerned about breaking it (though the likelihood is really quite low) and much of it was trying to find a single good source for instructions, and there was a small part of me wishfully thinking Apple might officially release applications. After perusing enough sites and blogs I broke down and did it last night. I'll try to do another post with the final kit of instructions that I used a little later.

In sum, I had to revert to previous firmware 1.1.1, break it with the TIF exploit, do the proper prep for jailbreaking, and then did the 1.1.2 update through iTunes. After that, I installed apps, found the iPhone's applications and Frameworks (for Weather, Mail, Stocks, and Maps) and several cool apps from the jailbreak site. After this was done I was able to remotely SSH to the iPod and use all the apps.

Let me say now, I was crazy to have waited. The iPod Touch goes from being a cool UI iPod to being an awesome rockin' handheld PDA/music player/browser. The Apple iPhone apps are killer--Mail (I configured mine with my Gmail account via IMAP, not the default built-in configuration), Google Maps, and Weather are elegant and highly functional. The solitaire and blackjack games are fun, and there are several others I have yet to try. While it's still not a laptop, it is highly functional now.

I wouldn't recommend this for everyone by any means but if you have some patience and inclination, it's well worth it.

Blogging Test from the iPod Touch

Let's see if this works....

Sent from my iPodTouch

Job Search Update

When looking for another job it's sometimes hard to tell if your resume and/or cover letter are dialed-in. You'll wonder if the resume is too long, too short, formatted in an attractive and meaningful way, if it reflects your experience and talent, etc. You wonder if your cover letter has the substance that the potential employer needs, if there are any prejudices about where you presently live or your education, etc. It's not until you start getting some nibbles that you realize that you might actually have done a good job branding yourself. And with branding, I firmly believe it needs to go beyond the simple realm of creating a Word document listing your skills. If you have something to offer you can share it in a blog, responses to other blogs and articles that permit comments, reviews of products, forum discussions, etc. On one hand some people might see it as blatant self-promotion and I would have thought the same not long ago but what I'm finding is that it can be meaningful. My favorite recent example is a response to home office energy saving and my response was picked up in a follow-up story. I'm not a radical tree-hugging individual but I do believe in practical changes that aren't overly difficult or expensive and make a difference, particularly when you do a few things that add up and have a nice cumulative effect.

Back to the theme of the post... I have suddenly started getting a few really good nibbles. This serves as excellent affirmation that your identity online (one particular nibble confirmed that) and/or resume and cover letter are firing on all cylinders. One phone interview when really well and the committee was very impressed with my credentials and the discussion. The head of the department took part and called me afterward to tell me that. He also mentioned that he was afraid that I might be over-qualified and that the position might not offer me the ability to influence as much change as he thought I would be capable of, at least not in the near term, but he would enjoy my contributions. I stepped back and thought about it, looked at the location, the pay, and how the position could fit into my long-term career plan and it really didn't make good sense so I withdrew from the running.

I also got a call from a small northeastern college to which I applied over a month ago. Sometimes colleges and higher education take a while to fill positions, both private and public schools. This one looks promising based on the description and I had a phone interview last week that went quite well. They'll be contacting me again in the New Year.

Profile Your IT Organization

5 minute test to do a pop-analysis and summary of your IT organization.

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David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists

Former Talking Head's frontman gives his take on how emerging artists should look at the music industry situation.

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Awstats and Apache2

After fighting with the installation of awstats to quit giving me reports of 'corrupted' log files and errors on updates, I thought I'd post the sum of what it took to getting it to work correctly on my home *NX (Linux/UNIX) server.

In the awstats configuration page, I finally ended up using the combined LogFormat option (1). I then had to modify my virtual host logging format to the following:
%h %l %u %t "%r" %>s %b "%{Referer}i" "%{User-agent}i"

The standard examples I saw had slashes (\) in between each of the variables which caused me to get the corrupted log file message when I would update. I won't tell you how long it took me to figure that out but I now have it working again, amen. Nothing like a little trial and error.

Five Key Technology Trends for 2008

In the coming year mounting pressure will force companies to think "green" and a weakening economy will require new value strategies, says a report by Booz Allen Hamilton.

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Top 10 Tips for New Bloggers From The Original Blogger

"Jorn Barger of Robot Wisdom coined the term "weblog" Dec. 17, 1997 -- 10 years ago Monday -- to describe the daily list of links that "logged" his travels across the web. In the decade hence, Barger feels that he's gained some wisdom of his own about blogging. Here's Barger's top 10 tips for novice bloggers"

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A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff

The web can help you learn how to do just about anything you can imagine. Read/WriteWeb compiled a list of some of the best tutorial sites out there, most of them including video or other rich media instruction.

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The Evolution of Community

In my current position I have two staff members who are remote workers, working out of their home in Portland, Oregon. They are really solid contributors and very interesting people.

I was talking to one of them the other day about things and since he is from the Marin County area he has a lot of friends and family down here. I asked him if they had made many friends in the Portland area and he said that they aren't really very social so they pretty much keep in contact with the friends they've had for years. He said he keeps up with his friends almost daily via e-mail, instant messaging, and playing X-box over the network together.

This individual's social interactions with old friends only reinforces my theory that the nature of community and friendship is evolving dramatically. In an earlier post I recounted how simply posting old family photos has reunited my Italian family with my U.S. family. Even though I only see them once every few years, I have a small handful of really good friends from high school and grade school. In fact, we've been able to reconnect and have more frequent communication in the last few years as they have become more regular computer users and are using audio and video chat. Obviously you have to have something in common or some sort of connection in the first place but the now ancient art of letter writing is no longer required, spontaneous short conversations are possible without often inconvenient telephone conversations.

Some people might bemoan a lack of depth as a result of the abbreviated instant messaging (IM) or text message conversations but I think without these vehicles that most people would otherwise abandon communication with their geographically distant friends, or at least let them lapse.

Again, my team member's means of keeping in touch with his friends through e-mail, IM, and X-box gaming is neat. No, it's not the same as 'being there' but often times that's not even an option and without these things, it's highly probable that they'd lose touch all together.

How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People

Struggling to meet new people? Follow this common-sense advice for increasing your networking mojo and improving your chances of landing a job, customers, or investors.

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State of the CIO 2008

CIO.com had an interesting article recently about the CIO of 2008: What Kind of CIO Are You? In reading through it I was pretty easily able to identify my style. The first thing that really rang true for me was that of being a Transformational Leader. One of my strengths is being able to quickly identify the needs of the organization, the current state, and how to reorganize and shape the IT division to better align IT with the strategic objectives of the organization. Here are the bullets of the article:

• Redesigning business processes
• Aligning IT initiatives and strategy with business goals/strategy
• Cultivating the IT/business partnership
• Leading change efforts
• Implementing new systems and architecture
• Mapping IT strategy to overall enterprise strategy

I also think my nature is that of what they called the 'Business Strategist' which really doesn't seem wholly different. Here is the description for it:

• Developing/refining business strategy
• Understanding market trends
• Developing external customer insight
• Developing business innovations
• Identifying opportunities for competitive differentiation
• Reengineering or developing new sales and distribution channels

The other type of leader that they describe is a 'Function Head', which strikes me as being more of a tactical role. While I am certainly comfortable with the tasks associated with it, I do find my contributions to be more transformational and strategic.

Much of the article talks about being in the right place at the right time and I couldn't agree more. It is imperative that anyone, regardless of their position, be able to identify his or her own skills and put them to work in an organization that will benefit. It needs to be a mutually beneficial relationship for both the employer and employee to be successful. A couple of times in my career I've had frank discussions with employees who just didn't seem to be finding their groove and I wasn't able to adjust their positions enough to make the groove fit them and I had to say that maybe it wasn't the right job for them. While this sometimes terrifies people, it can often be the necessary wake-up call for everyone.

Why Leaders Must Evolve

Leaders who can adapt themselves to change have a competitive edge in a world in which the traditional model of management is in danger of becoming obsolete.

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The Best Gifts are Inexpensive

Alternative gifts that don't cost as much....

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Windows or Mac?

My quick answer as to which operating system I prefer between Windows v. Mac v. Linux v. UNIX....

YES

There really is no simple answer to the question because the answer really depends on what it is that I'm trying to do or accomplish. You really have to ask a lot of questions to find the answer to this and even then the dynamics can change and the answer may not be the same in 6 months. I've been working with and supporting Windows desktops and servers since 1993, Macs from 1988 - 1992 and again from 2003 on, Linux and UNIX since 1998. It's funny though, as someone who uses a Mac at home it's often expected that when someone asks me computer advice that I'll automatically recommend them to get a Mac. The truth is that people who use Macs typically are pretty enthusiastic about them and they have a greater brand loyalty than Windows users. I believe the choice is one that requires some questions be asked before a definitive answer be given.

In general I can say a little about my opinions on each of the operating systems.

Windows--obviously Windows owns the desktop though there are some minor shifts moving toward Macs but it's still small (well under 10% overall). In a large enterprise environment where enterprise mail and file services and applications are necessary to be managed, it's hard to find a solution more elegant than Microsoft's Active Directory and one of the better management suites (i.e., Altiris, LANDesk, etc.). In a smaller business environment you could make an argument for Microsoft's Small Business Server (which is a bargain) but you could as well for a Mac desktop with Mac server. In many regards it would come down to what applications you need to run and if they have any operating system dependencies. In a small business you could actually run a Mac server as your authentication (logon), file/print server and be quite happy. It could actually be a little cheaper too. As the industry moves toward more browser-based applications we'll see less dependency on a particular operating system so many things can change quickly.

One thing that has surprised me is the negative press that Vista has received. Every new operating system has its growing pains and teething but Vista seems to have received more than its fair share. But in my experience with it, which includes 3 beta versions and the production version were that it was quite stable and the aesthetics were great. Usability wise, you eventually become numb to the security reminders (though I guess that can somewhat defeat the purpose) but the most challenging things for me were trying to find stuff that I needed to service on a regular basis (network connections, for example) and lack of driver support. Microsoft and some of its key partners made a lot to do about the quantity of drivers built in but I found it to be sparse.

Mac OS X--the Mac operating system, UNIX-based as it is, has undergone some big changes since its inception at the beginning of the millennium. I personally hadn't touched Macs since I left college where I worked in a computer lab and supported the Macs. I really didn't have much interest in the Macs running the OS 8 or 9 since so much was happening with Windows at the time and Active Directory made its debut on Server 2000. When I got to my job with the University of Nevada, I heard from the Mac user community (representing nearly 20% of the campus) that the support for Macs was abysmal. Since they were using UNIX at the core and I had been working with Linux and UNIX for 5 years at that point, I would give it a try. I purchased PowerBook laptops for all of my staff at the time (the new aluminum G4 PowerBooks had just come out and they were quite fashionable). In fact, I splurged and bought a PowerBook 15" loaded for personal use as well. It took me a long time to 'get it' and would spend hours trying to figure out what I needed to do to get my job done. After a few months I overcame the hurdles (figuring out how to use Microsoft's Remote Desktop on the Mac helped a lot too) and started to see the elegance of the Mac. At the time the hardware was definitely expensive for the performance compared to the Intel/AMD options. Once the shift to Intel processors came around, I was all sorts of happy. In powerful desktops and servers the Apple machines were often quite a bit cheaper than the Dells and considering that they could run Windows natively, it was quite attractive. For my home use, and probably most people's, I think a Mac is a more enjoyable computer experience. Photo editing, surfing, music management and creation, video editing, and video chats are all easy and fun with the Mac. For me using a Mac makes the stuff I want to do with a computer happen. The hardware is generally very elegant and in fact, the low-end laptops, so long as you don't need big video gaming power, are a bargain. For about $1100 you get a Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa processor, 1 GB RAM, remote control, 80 GB 5400 RPM drive, Wireless b/g/n, Bluetooth, and a great web cam, not to mention a good suite of consumer software.

Linux--I really like Linux and most UNIX distributions for servers. They tend to be remarkably stable and one of my favorite things about them is that updates almost NEVER require a reboot. Mac and Windows servers seem to require a reboot about every 2nd or 3rd update session. Linux on the other hand can almost always stably update kernel-level items without reboots. Even on my home Linux server I would have uptimes limited by power outages and physical moves--even then extending past 6 months. The catch though for many people is keeping your Linux/UNIX server up to date on all the applications. Often times there are core applications that don't have any sort of automatic updating or notification routines and as a result it's up to the systems administrator to keep an eye on them manually to look for updates. One solution is to use a bundled Linux distribution such as SuSE or Red Hat which have the ability to update the applications through a core update mechanism. Of course, if you choose to manually install applications you are back in the same boat as doing a 'roll your own' variation. The big down-side to the bundled distributions is that you probably won't be using the latest version of the applications because those tend to be upgraded infrequently. I also don't care for the fact that the bigger bundled distributions now require registration.

As a desktop though, I would be reluctant to recommend Linux. I've tried multiple iterations of KDE for the desktop and Gnome. None have really been a good alternative to the Mac OS or Windows--things are just too patched together. For me it was an uphill battle, as much as I wanted to make it work. Of course you then get into the fact that so few applications exist for the Linux desktop.

So, there it is, for home use I personally prefer Macs for what I do (video chat, photo editing and library, music, and video encoding) but for larger businesses, it's hard to argue against Windows, at least until more applications are cross-platform, which is happening. I don't know that Linux will ever gain critical mass on the desktop but it will continue to evolve as a server OS and the fact that the vast majority of hardware embedded operating systems are based on Linux is hard to ignore.

Rumor: Windows Apps Running Native on Your Mac | Compiler from Wired.com

Code was found in Leopard that looks for Windows DLL's where attempting to load a Windows executable... future feature: running Windows apps natively?

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