Stay On Line During a Power Outage

We were lucky not to be among the many who lost power in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. But it started me thinking. I am dependant on my computer and internet access to work. So I did some reading, and have some thoughts to share about staying on line during a power outage.

I use my iMac for much of my creative work, and I do have it plugged into a UPS. But the power requirements of a desktop computer are just too high to keep it going for a sustained period of time. The UPS serves mainly to protect the computer from damage by a sudden loss of power. But I'm willing to compromise, so my blackout strategy will centre on using my laptop. I've set up the software on my UPS to shut down my desktop as quickly as possible after a power failure.

Of course, my laptop has an internal battery, so it will keep running for several hours. If I need more time than the built in battery can supply, I have a large deep cycle battery and a DC to AC inverter to top up the laptop charge. I have used this setup at an Amateur Radio Field Day, and it kept my laptop working for twenty-four continuous hours, and still had power to spare. If you don't have a deep cycle battery, you can always plug your inverter into your car. Just be sure to leave enough power to start the car! No inverter? You can use your UPS to top up your laptop battery.

So we have the computer taken care of. What about the internet? It is unlikely that the power outage will take out your cable or DSL internet connection, at least in the short term. Phone and cable companies have super backup power, and can operate for hours or days without mains power. But you still need your modem and/or router powered to get online. Probably the easiest way to keep in operation, at least for the short term, is to plug your modem and router into a UPS. UPSs are designed to keep a computer powered for a short while, but modems and routers draw a fraction of the power needed to keep a desktop computer and monitor running. So a UPS will keep you on line for hours. To conserve more power, unplug the modem/router when you are not on line, and plug them back in when needed. Just keep in mind, it could take several minutes for them to reboot and reconnect.

If your cable or DSL go down, or you run out of power for your modem/router, you can turn to your smart phone. Many newer smart phones offer internet tethering. In fact, my iPhone on Rogers can offer a WiFi hotspot, and with LTE, the connection is as fast or faster than my home internet. If you can't tether, at least your smart phone still gives you access to email, and the web on a small screen.

These tips will keep you on line and in communication with the world for hours, or even a few days. Of course, if the power is off for long enough, the cable, phone and cellular networks will eventually die. If that happens, maybe it is time to take a break from the connected world. Curl up in a sleeping bag, and while the daylight lasts, read a book. When the sun goes down, grab a good night's sleep.

Resurrecting An Old Computer With Linux

I've given thought to picking up a netbook as a spare computer for web browsing and checking email. There are several models available for comfortably under $300. But I found a nifty alternative that didn't cost me a cent. I resurrected an old computer with Linux.

My daughter handed me an old Compaq nc6000 laptop that a friend had given to her. This machine (which a web search revealed to be about 8 years old) had been running Windows XP, but it would no longer boot up. In its time, it was a pretty smoking little machine. With a Pentium M processor at 1.7 GHz, and 1.25 GB RAM (it was originally shipped with 500 MB, so I guess someone upgraded it). Rather than fight with reinstalling Windows, along with a suitable antivirus, and finding software, I decided to have a shot at setting it up with Linux.

My first inclination was to install Ubuntu, since it is one of the most popular and widely supported Linux distributions. But I have had problems in the past getting video to work on some machines under Ubuntu, and I definitely wanted to use the machine for video. So I settled on Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, but includes all of the  non GNU (but still free) software needed to run video. Linux Mint comes in a variety of flavours, and I chose the LXDE (light X desktop environment), since it is the lightest of the options, and I didn't want to bog down this older computer.

I downloaded the ISO file from the Linux Mint website, and burned it to a CD. As a test, I booted the computer into live mode. It appeared to work fine. One small problem, the computer did not have a built in network card. I happened to have a Asus N10 USB WiFi adapter in my tech box. The adaptor is nice and small, so I could easily use it and leave it installed. After firing it up, it connected to my network on the first try.

Next, I ran the installer program, and did a full install to the computer's hard drive. It was surprisingly fast, and the complete install was done in about 20 minutes. I put it through its paces. Video was fine. WiFi worked. I loaded a few MP3s, and the sound worked fine. The built in speakers were nice and loud. I went to YouTube, and confirmed that streaming video worked great. Finally,  I popped in a movie DVD, and it too worked just fine.

Linux Mint by default installs a host of software. I started Firefox, and installed one of my favourite plugins, X-Marks. X-Marks synchronizes bookmarks between browsers on different machines. Once installed and configured, all of my bookmarks were available. Thunderbird is the default email program. It took just a few seconds to install and synchronize all of my email accounts. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that Dropbox was installed by default. I was able to configure and sync my account in a few minutes.

I have two other key needs for my spare computer, an office suite, and a stand in for iTunes. These needs were ably met with included software. LibreOffice is the default office suite included with Mint. It has a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, and a database. I found the word processor to be very capable and full featured. The spreadsheet and presentation software, while not quite as fully featured as Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint, were quite useable.

Rhythmbox is the included iTunes stand in. It performed most of the functions that I demand of iTunes, including organizing music, ripping CDs, and playing MP3s. It proved much more limited when asked to sync with my iPod. I could transfer music to the iPod, but there was no way to sync apps, contacts, and photos. But since I only intended this machine as a spare computer,  I can live with this limitation.

In conclusion, I was able to use Linux to set up an eight year old computer, to give me most of the functionality of a new netbook. It can serve as a useful spare computer, at no cost. I have been using this computer for a couple of months, and it has been totally up to the task.

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. The project began in 1999 with only 21 participants. Last year, over a quarter million budding writers took a crack at writing a novel in a month.

The goal of the event is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. The work should be fiction, and while you can plan your novel in advance, the actual writing must take place in the 30 days of November. Basically, that's it, no other rules.

The NaNoWriMo organization host web pages, chat rooms and blogs, and local events, to help encourage participants.

Do you have an novel bottled up inside of you? I think that I do, and I am joining this year. I will keep you apprised of my progress.

The Marvellous Option Key (Mac)

So what's the purpose of the Option key (actually, Option keys, there are two on your Mac keyboard, but they both serve the same function)? The Option key adds adds optional functionality to menus and other keys.

Lets start at the beginning. With your Mac powered down, hold the Option key, then power on your computer. Within a few seconds, you will be presented with the Startup Manager screen, which allows you to choose which startup drive to use (for example, if you have a backup drive made with Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper, or a Bootcamp partition).

The Pram (parameter random access memory) stores a whole host of system parameters, like which startup disk to use, video setting, audio setting, peripheral settings like mice, trackpads, and keyboards.  Resetting the Pram can cure a host of problems, and is one of the first steps when troubleshooting odd computer behaviour. Recently, the battery on my Magic Mouse was getting low. After I replaced the battery, the mouse wouldn't connect to the bluetooth on my computer. After trying to reset and reconnect with no luck, I reset the Pram, and voila, the mouse connected on the next try. To reset the Pram down the Option, Command, P, and R keys on startup. Wait for the startup chime, continue holding the key, and after the second chime, release all four keys.

As you probably know, the function keys on your Mac have some specific functions defined to them. For example, F1 and F2 change your screen brightness, and F11 and F12 adjust your speaker volume. But, if you hold down the option key before tapping the function key, you open the preference pane associated with the function. For example, Option/F1 opens the displays preference pane.

Option/F8, the key with the play/pause symbol, will open iTunes.

When you are editing a document, Option/Delete will delete the whole word to the left of the cursor, including any trailing spaces or punctuation.

Hold the Option key while a menu is open and in many cases (but not always), some alternate menu options will appear. Some of these are very useful. For example, open a Finder window, click File to drop down the File Menu, the hold down Option, and several menu options will change. For example, Quick Look changes to Slide Show. Here's one that I like. Since OS X Lion, the Library folder in your home Folder has annoyingly, been hidden. The Option key offers a quick shortcut. Drop down the Go menu, then hold Option, and "Library" becomes an option. Click "Library", and the hidden folder opens up.

In Safari, I find this one particularly useful. In the Window menu, hit Option, and "Bring All to Front" changes to "Arrange in Front". If you have several Safari windows open, scattered across the screen, this will neatly stack all of the windows in an neat fashion, bringing order to your desktop.

Here's another good one that works in Safari, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and probably several others. When you close any of these applications, the next time you open them, all of the windows and/or tabs that were open when you last closed, will open again. You might not always want this. From the program's main menu, hold Option, and Quit will change to Quit and Close All Windows. The next time you open the program it opens with a clean slate.

Many applications offer additional menu options in this way. Scroll through the menus of your favourite programs and hit Option to see if you find anything useful or interesting.

We started this post by powering your computer on. Here are some options to shut down. Option/Command/Eject puts your computer to sleep. Option/Command/Control/Eject shuts the computer down immediately (but first gives you the option to save any unsaved documents). Finally, click the Apple menu, and hit Option. You will see that the "..." following "Restart" or "Shut Down" will go away. The three periods "..." mean that a dialogue box with additional options will appear before the menu option executes. For example, select "Shut Down..." and a dialogue box asking "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?"  will pop up. But hit option, and the "..." goes away. Choose Shutdown, and your computer shuts down with no additional warning. This may be a nice option if you are rushing to catch an airplane.

If you have some other interesting uses for the Option key, share by leaving a comment.

Google Invents Time Travel

Google Earth has added a mass of historical aerial photos to their photo library. Check out the demo HERE. It should come as no surprise that there are extensive historical archives of aerial photos of both London and Berlin, dating from the early forties. I notice that the photos of Berlin are from the US archives, but the photos of London are from a nebulous "Georinformation Group". I wonder if they prefer not to give an image credit to Nazi Germany? Or maybe I'm just being silly. I am sure that the RAF took lots of photos of London from the air.

The Berlin archive is particularly chilling. There are photos from 1943, before the heaviest allied bombing of the city, and again form March 1945, just before the Nazi surrender. There are whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble between the two views. I am sure that London could offer some equally disturbing imagery, but the archive only has one set of images, so you can't do before and after.

I look forward to Google adding more images. Time travel is cool!

Apple Delivers More Than Expected

Today, Apple announced the much anticipated iPad Mini. The cute little 7.9 inch tablet is pretty cool. With pretty much the same specs as the iPad 2 (except for the size of course), it drops itself neatly in at the high end of the small tablets. But at a price of $329.00 it also sits at the high end price-wise!

While the popular press is all over the new tablet, personally, I find the other announcements made today much more interesting.

iPad 4th Generation

I think that most tech journalists were taken completely by surprise with the announcement of the 4th generation full size iPad. It's barely been half a year since the release of the 3rd gen machine (the first one to just be called "iPad"). With a blazing fast new A6X processor, Apple is firmly establishing the iPad as the top of the line tablet, a necessary pre-emptive strike against Microsoft's new Surface tablet.

Mac Mini Alive and Well

Reports of the demise of the Mac Mini have be going around for over four years. With this new upgrade, the Minis are proving that reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated. The top of the line Mini with a quad core i5 processor, and 4 GB of ram, is a serious computer for only $599. And anyone looking for a small business server would be silly to not consider the Mac Mini Server with an i7 Quad Core and TWO 1 TB hard drives.

iMac Still Impresses

It has been 3 years since the last revision of the iMac. Oddly, what' the big new feature of the new iMac? It's really thin! While it is totally unnecessary for a desktop computer to be incredibly thin, if you can do it without breaking a sweat, why not? The new display, 75% less reflective, sounds impressive. I look forward to seeing it. I am particularly interested in the great connectivity of this new machine. Four USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt ports makes this iMac a serious production machine. I am a bit disappointed that Apple didn't find room for an HDMI port, but they do offer a Thunderbolt to HDMI adaptor, so I guess I can't complain too loudly. And no optical drive! But more on that later.

13 Inch Retina MacBook Pro

I don't think that the new 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro came as too much of a surprise to many Apple followers, but it is nice to see Apple rounding out the Pro line. In all, these changes prove that Apple is not just about phones and tablets. They are still in the computer business.

Optical Drives Say Goodbye

Finally, it should come as no surprise that none of the new computers include an optical drive. Apple has been steadily moving away from them for a few years now, and Apple is always the first manufacturer to drop old technology. And at least (thank goodness!) Apple still offers the external Super Drive for only $79. I am pretty sure that I will include one with my first purchase of an optical driveless Mac. But hey, all of my Macs are still working fine, so it could be a few years before I shell out for a new machine. Maybe by then I won't care about optical drives.

For now, I'll sit patiently in my office, drooling over the new tech. And for certain, I will be dropping by the Apple store when the new machines comes in, for some hands on time.

Crazy Insanely Safe Web Browsing

Is there a way to browse the web free from the concern that your computer may be infected with viruses, malware, or other malicious software? It can be done. I'm not talking about routine safe computing practices. I'm talking about going the extra mile if you are concerned about safe surfing.

Really Safe Surfing

You are probably aware that Linux is the most secure and virus free of the major operating systems. And, thanks to a marvellous free piece of free software called Virtual Box, you can run Linux as a virtual machine on any Windows or Mac machine. For that matter, you can run a virtual Linux machine on another Linux machine. So here is the first step in a safe surfing plan. Download a copy of Virtual Box for your operating system HERE. Next, download a copy or your favourite Linux distribution. If you have a newer computer with a fast processor, you might want to play with a full featured and powerful distribution like Ubuntu. If your hardware is a bit older, a light version of Ubuntu, Lubuntu, is a good choice. For seriously light weight browsing, you could try Puppy Linux.

Install Virtual Box, then run it. Next, follow the instructions to install the Linux distribution that you downloaded. Once installed and running, to get the most out of your virtual machine, you should install the "Guest Additions". The Guest Additions software gives you complete control over your virtual machines settings, including screen resolution, and the way your virtual machine interacts with the host machine. Go to "Devices", and select "Install Guest Additions". The install wizard will guide you through the process.

Once you have your virtual machine up and running the way you want, go to the "Context" menu, and select "Clone". Follow the directions to make a clone of your virtual machine. Reserve your original virtual machine for safe keeping, and do your browsing from the clone. While it is extremely unlikely that your virtual machine will be compromised, for maximum safety, delete the clone periodically, and make a fresh new clone from your original copy.

Insanely Safe Web Browsing

There is an even safer way to browse. Instead of creating a virtual machine, you can install your chosen Linux distribution to a flash drive. The easiest way to do this is with a neat little program called Unetbootin, (download it HERE). Unetbootin will create a bootable flash drive with your chosen Linux distribution. You don't even have to download the distro. Unetbooting will take care of everything, including the download and writing the drive. Set your computer's BIOS to boot from the USB drive. Pop the drive in and reboot. You can safely browse from your USB drive. Once again, the odds of your Linux distribution being compromised is very small, but for maximum safety, periodically start up Unetbootin and make a new copy.

Crazy Insanely Safe Web Browsing

For extreme crazy insanely safe web browsing, instead of installing your distro to a USB drive, try this. Many Linux distributions will boot a demo mode from a CD, including the distros that I suggested, Ubuntu, Lubuntu, and Puppy. Burn the downloaded ISO image to a CD, set your computer's BIOS to boot from it, and fire up your machine. Because the CD is 'read only', there is no way that it can be infected by a virus. There is a downside. Since you can't save to your CD, you can't save any of your settings, so you have to start from scratch every time. But your browsing session will be safe--crazy, insanely safe!

Take a Tour of the SpaceX Dragon Capsule

SpaceX has released a really cool 360 degree panoramic tour of the new Dragon space capsule. Check out the tour at www.spacex.com/panorama/.

As you probably know, the Dragon capsule made the first commercial space delivery in history earlier this month. The reusable capsule will eventually be outfitted to shuttle astronauts back and forth to the International Space Station.

Rumour has it, that with a few upgrades, Dragon will be able to make the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs.

Why I Love Dropbox

I admit it, I love Dropbox. I use it every day, it works on all of my connected devices, and it has never let me down. So what is Dropbox, and why do I love it?

Dropbox is a cloud based file storage service. There are lots of cloud based solutions for file storage, but Dropbox is so much more. The beauty of Dropbox lies in its rock solid software, available for a host of operating systems. Dropbox offers software for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android. In addition to its own software, there are literally dozens of pieces of other software that work seamlessly with Dropbox.

So how does it work? Once you have created a Dropbox account, you are given 2 GB of free "cloud" storage on their server. After you install the free app, Dropbox creates a folder on your computer that acts just like any other folder, with one exception. Any file that you save to or drag to the folder is automatically synced to your Dropbox in the cloud. You can securely access your cloud stored files from any browser on any internet connected computer.

It gets better! Add Dropbox to a second computer, and all of your files are automatically synchronized between both computers. Need your files on the go? There are free Dropbox apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. Because mobile devices may have limited storage, these apps don't automatically sync, but you can download anything you need from the cloud.

Do you want more? Dropbox gives you more. You can create a "shared" folder in your Dropbox, then share it with any other Dropbox user. For example, my daughter has a Dropbox account, and we have a shared folder. Any files that I drop in the shared folder on my computer appear automatically in my daughters Dropbox. Delete a file from one shared folder, and it is deleted from all the shared folders on every computer.

What if you want to share with someone who doesn't have Dropbox? No problem. Just right click the file or folder in your Dropbox, choose "Dropbox", then "Share Link", and you can create a link to a file, or to an entire folder. Share the link with whoever you wish. When they click on the link, they are taken to a website where they can download your shared file.

Have you every made changes to a file, then hit Save when you meant to click Save As? If the file is in your Dropbox, no problem. Back to your Dropbox folder. Right click, choose "Dropbox", then "View Previous Versions", and you can recover an earlier version of your file.

Do you need more than 2 GB of storage. Dropbox offers you a host of ways to increase your storage for free. You can get free space just by Tweeting about how much you love Dropbox. You can get 500 MB of space every time a friend accepts your referral to Dropbox (up to 16 GB). And, of course, you can buy space. 100 GB is just $99.00 per year.

Enough? In the words of Steve Jobs, "One more thing." Yes, there is more. Save some photos in the "Photos" folder (which is generated automatically by Dropbox). When you share this folder via a link, it generates a neat little on line photo gallery and slide show.

So there you have it, cloud storage, syncing between computers, sharing files with friends, colleagues, and others, restoring old files, accessing files on the go, create a photo gallery. And all for free, or for a reasonable price if you need more storage. That's why I love Dropbox.

Orionid Meteor Shower

An Orionid Meteor, form an image by TheBrockenInaGlory,
licensed under the Creative Commons.

If you are an early riser, or are keen enough to set your alarm and drag yourself outside in the early hours of the morning, start preparing yourself to see the Orionid Meteor Shower. The Orionids are the most intense meteor shower associated with Haley's Comet. While the comet is well on its outward bound journey, not due to return until 2061, debris from the comet has spread widely along its orbit. So every October, when the Earth's orbit intersects with the debris field of the comet, we are teated to a fabulous meteor shower.

The peak of the shower will occur in the wee hours of Sunday morning, October 22. But you can expect an increased number of meteors for several days before and after the peak. The radiant of the shower (the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate) is in the familiar and easy to spot constellation of Orion. Hence the name "Orionids". At its peak, the shower should produce up to about 25 meteors per hour.

This is very much a naked eye event. The odds of pointing a telescope or binoculars in the right direction is very small. So just find a spot with dark skys, face west, look up, relax, and take in the show.

Earth Like Planet a Significant Discovery

Artist Impression of the Alpha Centuri Bb system. Image courtesy of European Southern Observatory (ESO). Licenced under Creative Commons.

You have probably heard that a team of European astronomers from the Observatory of Geneva and from the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto have discovered an Earth sized planet in orbit around Alpha Centauri B. The Alpha Centauri system is our solar system's closest neighbour.

Since the first extrasolar planet was confirmed in 1988 by Canadian astronomers Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and Stephenson Yang, 842 planets have been identified. But until this most recent discovery, all of these planets have been giants, similar in size of our own solar system's Neptune or Jupiter. This is not because giant planets are more numerous than smaller planets, but because current detection techniques make large planets significantly easier to find.

So what is the significance of the discovery of an Earth sized planet virtually in out back yard? If Earth sized planets were rare, you would expect that they would be widely scattered. The odds of finding another such rare planet so close would be very small. This discovery means that Earth sized planets could very well be quite common.

This new planet is very close to its parent star. With surface temperatures likely in the 1200 °C range, Alpha Centauri Bb is unlikely to be the home for life. But, with 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and 100 billion galaxies in the known universe, the number of earth sized planets is probably staggering. The odds of many of these planets being found in the so called "Cinderella Zone", where the conditions for life are ideal, could be very high. We are very probably not alone!

Everything You Need to Know About Charging Your iPad

When you plug your iPad into your computer, do you get a message on the screen that says "Not Charging"? Here's everything you need to know about charging an iPad.

Your iPad (and iPhone, iPod, Kindle, Kobo, Blackberry, GPS, and more) charge from a USB source. Plug your device's charging cable into the USB port on your computer, or the supplied wall or car charger, and your device magically charges. Except that it isn't magic, it's simple physics.

If you closely examine a USB port or cable, you will see four conductors. The two inner conductors carry data, and the outer two carry power. In most cases, with the ports on a computer, both the data pins and the power pins are functional. The power pins can power a host of USB accessories like keyboards, mice, flash drives, hard drives, or webcams. You can even plug in USB powered lights, laptop cooling fans, and more.

There are two specifications that characterize the power from a USB port, voltage, and current. The voltage is not negotiable, all USB ports and chargers should provide 5 Volts. But the current is variable. Most USB 2.0 devices provide 500 mA (that's 0.5 Amps). On many laptops, other devices draw power from the same USB hub. For example, a the built-in webcam, even the keyboard and mouse, may draw some current. If this is the case, usually one port is full powered, offering the full 500 mA, but the second port could offer less.

With some older computers with two or more USB ports, sometimes only one port supplies power, the second port is just for data.

So how much current does the iPad need to charge? Turns out that it needs 2 Amps. That's four times as much as is supplied by a full powered USB port on most computers. That's why Apple supplies that beefy little power adaptor with the iPad. Unlike most USB chargers, the iPad charger offers a full 2 Amps. But wait! You say that you charge your iPad on your computer all the time. That could well be. If the computer or charger only supplies 500 mA, it will still charge your iPad, just much more slowly. If you plug your iPad into your computer before going to bed, it will probably get a full charge overnight. But if you plugged into the 2 Amp wall charger, the iPad would charge in about 2 hours.

So what does it mean when you plug your iPad in to your computer and get the "Not Charging" message. It could be that you have plugged in to a port that doesn't supply power. Or it could be that you have plugged into a lower powered port, one that is also powering other peripherals. Try switching to another port.

There is one other possibility. When you turn on the iPad screen, it draws a lot more power than when it is on standby. The extra draw could be enough to stop the iPad from charging. Ironically, with the screen off, the iPad could be charging. But how can you tell? If you turn on the screen to check, it stops charging! Try this. Note the percentage left on the battery (next to the battery indicator on the top right of the iPad screen). Plug in your iPad in and let it charge for an hour or so, then check the battery capacity again. If the capacity has gone up, the iPad is charging.

What about the little cube charger that comes with the iPhone. It turns out that the iPhone charger offers 1 Amp, twice the current of most computer ports. So, while the iPhone charger is less effective than the iPad charger, it is still better than using the computer.

Can you charge an iPhone or iPod with an iPad charger? Will the extra current available from the iPad charger damage the iPhone? No worries, the iPhone or iPod will not draw more current than they need. I charge my iPhone with my iPod charger all the time with no problems. I have read some reports that the iPad charger charges the iPhone faster, but I have not noticed it, and if it does, it's probably only a little bit faster.

One last point. Many new computers come with one or more USB 3.0 ports. The new USB 3.0 standard calls for 900 mA current at 5V. So if you have both a USB 3.0 port and an USB 2.0 port, use the 3.0 to charge your iPad.

In conclusion, your best bet for charging your iPad is the supplied high current charger, but in a pinch, you can probably charge your iPad from almost any computer or adaptor, it just might take a while.

Formatting a Portable Hard Drive for Both Mac and PC

Do you need to use a portable hard drive to move files between a Mac and PC. There are some things you need to know. My son called me this morning with just this problem. He had taken a large number of photos at a recent company function, and had edited them on his Mac at home. He used his external hard drive from work to copy his photos, but when he dragged the photos to the drive, they would not write. So he called Tech Support (that would be me).

After a few questions, I learned that the hard drive had been formatted on his Windows PC at work. The drive was formatted NTFS, and that is why his Mac could read the drive, but not write to it. To understand the problem, and the solution, I need to give you a brief tutorial on drive formats and file systems.

To use any drive, you must format it to hold data. When you format, you need to choose a file system. Fortunately, there are only a few file systems in common use. Modern Windows computers use NTFS (the NT file system, first used on Windows NT). Windows computers running XP, Vista, Windows 7, and soon, Windows 8 (and of course Windows NT) can read and write to NTFS formatted drives. Macintosh computers can read an NTFS drive, but they cannot write to one.

Macintosh computers have used HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus) since OS 8 back in 1998. Of course, all modern Macs can read and write to NTFS+ formatted drives, but Windows computers can neither read nor write to one.

So is there a format that we can use so that both Windows and Macs machines read and write? It turns out that there is. Prior to NTFS, Windows machines used an older file format called FAT32 (File Allocation Table, 32 bit). An older standard, FAT32 is slower than NTFS and HFS+, but it is quite reliable and robust. Its major limitation is that it cannot store files larger than 4 GB. But that's not much of a limitation. With the exception of video files, and perhaps some other large graphics files, your are not likely to have many files that large.

So where do you get a FAT32 formatted drive? You make it yourself! Just reformat an existing drive. To format a drive in Windows, go to Control Panel/Admin Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management. Identify the drive that you want to format, right click on it, and select Format. Give the drive a name, and change the File System in the pop up window from NTFS to FAT32. On a Mac, go to your Applications folder, open the Utilities folder, and launch Disk Utility. Locate your drive in the left hand panel, then click on it. In the right hand panel, click the Erase Button. Change the format to MS-Dos FAT (this is Fat 32) and click Erase. IMPORTANT: Reformatting the drive will erase all of the data on the drive.

Your newly reformatted drive can now be used on your Windows machines, Mac, and as an added bonus, your FAT32 drive can be read on Linux computers as well.

Repurpose Your Old iPhone

So you've taken the plunge and upgraded to a new iPhone. Now, what do you do with your old iPhone? Of course, you could sell it, or pass it on to a friend or family member. Or you could just keep it as a backup in case something happens to your new phone.

For my part, I like to put my old technology to work. Without cellular service, your old iPhone makes a perfectly functional iPod Touch.

Converting your iPhone to iPod duty is fairly simple. Some web sites suggest that you restore the iPhone before reuse. I have found that this is not needed if you are going to continue using the iPhone on the same computer.

The new iPhones use a different SIM card than the old, so your carrier will deactivate the old card. It's best to leave the old card in the phone, otherwise, the phone will periodically pester you about its absence. If you need the old card for some other reason, the phone will work fine without it, you just have to put up with the occasional reminders. If you do decide to restore the phone before use, you will need a SIM card in the phone to complete the restore process. You can remove it once the restore is completed.

When you are ready to go, just connect the phone to you computer with a USB cable and start up iTunes. Your phone will appear in the side bar as usual.  If your old phone has the same name as your new phone, you will want to rename the old phone so that you don't get the two mixed up. Just click once on the name of the phone to highlight it, and a second time so that you can edit the name. This is not a double click, but two distinct clicks with a pause in between. Just type the new name and hit enter.

Next, you should delete any unwanted applications to free up space. Click the apps tab, then go through the list and uncheck any apps that you don't want. Then click sync. If you want, click the music tab and add some music. Disconnect the phone, then open the Settings app. To save your battery, turn on Airplane mode. This turns off all of the phone's radios, cellular, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi. This will make your battery last substantially longer. You will probably want to use WiFi, and fortunately you can turn just WiFi back on while in Airplane mode. If you need to use Bluetooth or GPS, you can turn Airplane mode off temporarily. Another advantage from being in Airplane mode is that the phone won't constantly be reminding you that it can't connect to the cellular network.

So what are some good uses for your new "iPod"? Unless you are retiring a recent iPhone, the old iPhone won't have the capabilities of a newer iPod Touch, but it will make a fine music player. You can play all but the more recent and demanding games. If you have an Apple TV, the Remote app will make you old phone a far better remote than the original Apple TV remote. Are you a Keynote user? Keynote Remote turns your phone into a terrific graphical remote for making Keynote presentations. Add Tune in Radio, or the CBC Music app (Canada only) to stream music. Magic Trackpad makes your phone into a trackpad to use with your Mac or PC.

Basically anything that you can do with an older iPod touch is fair game. Have fun!

Encrypt a Thumb Drive (Cross Platform)

After my post about encrypting a thumb drive on a Mac, folks have been asking how to encrypt a drive for use on both Mac and Windows. The best cross platform solution I have been able to find is a powerful open source program called TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file, or encrypts an entire volume. You can find full documentation about TrueCrypt on their website HERE.

One thing to keep in mind when using TrueCrypt is that the TrueCrypt software must be installed on the computer where you want to use the encrypted disk. If you are using someone else's computer, they may not want you to install software. Or you may not be able to install software on a company computer.

Instead of encrypting the whole disk, TrueCrypt also allows you to create a virtual encrypted disk, leaving the rest of the disk unencrypted. You might consider creating a virtual encrypted disk, and storing only your confidential files there. You can use the rest of the drive for non-sensitive materials. For example, you may have presentations or data sheets that you want to share. The data may already be freely available elsewhere, so if a lost or stolen drive fell into unscrupulous hands, the unencrypted data would be of no use to them.

Bonus for Linux users, TrueCrypt is also available for Linux.

Best Comet in a Century

Comet Kohoutek
Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC)

Russian astronomers have discovered a new comet that has the potential to be the brightest comet in a century or more. Comet C/2012 S1 was discovered on September 21, and will make its closest approach to Earth in December 2013. It could be brighter than the full moon, visible even in the day time.

Of course, I have learned to be skeptical of optimistic predictions about new comets. I remember the hype associated with Comet Kohoutek back in 1973. Kohoutek was supposed to be the comet of the century, but it turned out to be quite a dud. It has been speculated that the comet may have had a higher rocky content than expected, or it may have been partially broken up in its close approach to the sun, prior to its closest approach to Earth. I remember hiking out into a nearby conservation area with my Dad and brother to get away from city lights. While we came close to frostbite, we never saw Kohoutek. I headed out for dark skies again in 1986 to catch a glimpse of Haley's Comet, possibly the most famous comet in history. While I did see the comet, its appearance was less than spectacular.

The surprise appearances of Comet Hale Bopp in 1995 and Comet Hyakuatki in 1996 restored my faith in comets. Hale Bopp was particularly spectacular, visible even in the seriously light polluted skies in my front yard, for several weeks.

Only time will tell. Comet C/2012 S1 could turn out to be a rocky flop like Kohoutek. Also, the comet's projected orbit takes it perilously close to the sun, so it may break up before it makes its closest approach to Earth. So I'm not going to get to excited just yet. Nah! Who am I kidding? I'm excited!

Easily Encrypt a Thumb Drive (Mac)

I carry a USB thumb drive with copies of my current projects, presentations, and critical files. Sure, I have multiple backups of all of my files from both my laptop and desktop, but I just want some extra insurance. It occurred to me that by carrying the drive with me, I risk loosing it. Not really a big deal, since I have copies of all of the files. But what if the drive fell into the wrong hands?

So I started looking for a good way to encrypt the data on the drive. And I found it (for Mac that is). It turns out that encryption is built into Disk Utility on every Mac. It's quite simple. Insert your drive into your computer and start up Disk Utility. Select your drive in the left hand panel, then select the erase tab at the top of the right hand panel. In the "Format" drop down menu, select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)". Give your disk a name, then click "Erase". You will be asked for a password, and a password hint. After about a minute, the disk is erased and reformatted as an encrypted drive.

The first time you insert your drive into your computer, you will be asked for the password. If you click the "Remember this password in my keychain" box, then your computer will remember the password, and you can use the disk like a regular drive. Of course, if you insert it into another computer, you will be asked for the password.

One important note, the reformatted drive will only work on a Mac. If you need to use the drive on a Windows machine you need to use a different encryption method. Since my household is 100% Mac, this procedure has been working just fine for me.

Always Time for Tim Hortons WiFi

At long last, Tim Hortons has rolled out WiFi to the majority of its outlets. I am a true Tim Hortons fan, and Tims is always my fist choice for my coffee break while on the road. But in the past, Tims has often lost my coffee dollar because I needed to use WiFi. So I was quite pleased this summer to see a WiFi sign in the window of one of my regular Tim Horton stops.

I checked out the Tim Hortons web site and learned that they had beta tested the idea in a number of their outlets with positive results. In the past, Tims was always been pleased to serve, but preferred their customers to move along after 20 minutes or so. It turns out that when customers hang about to use the internet, they often buy a second coffee or doughnut.

By now, it appears that most of the local Tim Hortons sit down restaurants have installed WiFi. The Tim Hortons mobile app lets you filter search results to show only WiFi enabled locations. In the last while, I have found only one sit down location without WiFi, and that one was quite close to a high school. Coincidence, or does the local manager not want to encourage the high school kids to loiter?

Using the service is pretty straight forward. Once you have connected to the network you have to open a browser window, and you are taken immediately to a page where you can access the network, once you have agreed to their terms. Choose WiFi free, and you are up and running. Took about two minutes start to finish to access the network. You have the option to join Tim Hortons WiFi Plus. In exchange for your email address, the network remembers your device. After accepting WiFi Plus subsequent connections were faster, and click free. You do have to repeat this process for each device, so I had to repeat the process for my laptop, iPhone and iPad.

I started checking connection speeds using the free Speed Test app on my phone, and I found speeds varied wildly from store to store. More than half measured a respectable 5 to 6 GB download. A few were in the much lower, 1 to 2 GB, and one outlet was a pitiful 510 MB down. The slow connection was so slow as to be unusable, so I disconnected and used the Personal Hotspot feature on my iPhone instead.

I thought at first that the slower speeds might be because many customers were sharing the bandwidth, but the slowest connections were actually in the least busy restaurants. If I see consistently slow speeds at the same location, I think that I will point it out to the manager.

So in conclusion, I find the new service pretty good on the whole, and very welcome. If you plan to use it a fair bit, it is worth signing up for the WiFi Plus service to get faster log-ins. Since I signed up Tim Hortons has not swamped me with emails.

TP-Link Nano Router

Have you ever found yourself stranded in a hotel that only offers a wired internet connection? If you have, you know how frustrating it is to  find yourself tethered to a desk. Personally, I'm a great believer that my laptop belongs on my lap! I love to sit in a comfy chair with my laptop perched on my knee. It's worse, if you decide to travel light, and just carry your iPad, iPhone (or your personal favourite non-Apple tablet or smart phone), and you CANNOT connect to the hotels internet without WiFi!

Well, shopping at my local Staples, I found a prefect solution. In among the computer gadgets, I saw a tiny box claiming to contain a WiFi router. Since it was on sale for $19.99, I decided to take a chance. When I got it back to my office, I got a pleasant surprise when I unboxed it. The router nestled in the box was even smaller than expected.

At a bit bigger than 2 x 2 inches, and comfortably less than an inch thick, the TP-Link TL-WR702N wireless N "Nano" portable router is unbelievably small, and surprisingly packed with features. Out of the box, the device is programmed as a wireless access point, just the ticket for connecting it to a hotel's wireless connection. You can easily reconfigure the unit to function as a full-blown router with DHCP, as a repeater (to increase the range of an existing wireless network) or as a client bridge to extend a wired network. These are features typically found only in much more expensive devices.

The device is powered via the included micro USB cable. A small USB power adaptor is included, but if you want to travel light, you probably already have a USB adaptor in your kit to charge your phone. Also in the box is a really little flat Cat 5 cable that coils up into a tiny package for easy connection to a wired network.

I was pleased to see that the WiFi security was turned on by default. It's great to see wireless manufacturers doing this, since in the past, many users plugged these routers in without bothering to read the documentation and turn on security, leaving their home network wide open to shady characters. One criticism I can offer is that the included quick start guide is written in horribly translated english, and you have to read it really carefully to figure out how to set things up. I discovered that a much more complete manual can be downloaded from the TP-Link website. The full manual is still in horribly translated english, but at least it is quite complete, and is easy to follow thanks to the generous number of screen shots.

I hooked the device up to my home network in its default A/P mode, entered the default password on my MacBook (the password is printed on the bottom of the router in really tiny print!), and was immediately connected to the internet. I checked my download speed using the Speed Test website, and found that I had the full speed that I normally get from my internet connection. I also had access to all of the resources on my network, including network drives and printers.

I foresee another use for the router. I frequently give presentations with Keynote, using my iPhone or iPad as a graphical remote control. To do this, your computer and iPhone/iPad have to be connected to the same WiFi network. It is often hard to find an available network, or the available network may have security or other issues that make this utility hard to use. No more! My next presentation, I'm setting up my tiny TP-Link in router mode, and I'll be good to go. And yes, I have already tested it out, and it works great.

A Different Perspective on the iPhone 5

I followed the news about the release of the new iPhone with more interest than usual, because my iPhone 3G was getting long in the tooth, and I decided a few months ago that I would upgrade when the new phone hit the streets. That’s right, I kept my old iPhone through four generations before upgrading. I think that in itself says a lot about the iPhone. It remained a useful tool for a full four years, a year longer than the best I had from any previous phone. And at the end of its service it was still in good working order, which is more than I can say for any of its predecessors.

But at this stage, I was entitled to a maximum hardware upgrade, and the new iPhone 5 offered enough new features that I could justify the cost. A lot of the new iPhone reviews that I have read over the last few years complain that the next generation phone offered just a few minor upgrades, and were evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Well, just as biological evolution can, over time, create whole new species, so the evolution of the iPhone can produce a marvellous new machine.

I brought the new phone home, connected it to my computer, and synced it. What a beautiful experience. After about 10 minutes my new phone was ready to go. All my settings, my contacts, my email, my apps, were all in place, just like my old phone. I was up and fully functional just like that, which allowed me to concentrate on trying out the new features.

The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone to offer LTE cellular service. I am lucky enough to live in a city that is well served by LTE, and is it FAST! I used the free Speed Test app to check my internet speeds. Connected to LTE, the worst speed that I have seen is 12 GB down, and I routinely see speeds of 40 or 50. That’s 3 or 4 times faster than I get with my home internet connection, and 10 times faster than my old phone. Also, the iPhone offers a service called Personal Hotspot, so I can quickly and easily share my cell phone’s internet connection with my laptop or iPad.

The camera is amazing. I have often preached the idea that you should always have a camera with you to capture those once in a lifetime moments. The iPhone camera is up to the task. Its 8 megapixel sensor is worlds above the 2 megapixel camera in my old 3G, and has fantastic low light performance. And the panorama mode is amazing. I took some panos of the fall colours in Algonquin Park, and they are immersive and wonderful. As a bonus, the camera does double duty as an HD video camera.
The iPhone 5 also features a rear facing camera to allow video calling using iChat or Skype.

Lets talk about speed. Everything about this phone is fast. The apps open fast. App switching is fast. In a pinch, I could read an ebook on my old phone, but it was painful because the page turns were so slow. With the new phone, and its larger screen, ebook reading is a pleasure. And thanks to iCloud syncing, I can read a few pages on my phone, and pick up at the right spot on my iPad when I return home. Thanks to the improved speed, I can now run Keynote from my phone, so I have an ultra portable presentation machine in my pocket at all times.

There have been a lot of complaints about the new maps on the iPhone 5, but I have not had any problems, and I understand that the maps will quickly get better as people use them. The addition of turn by turn directions makes the new phone a fully capable GPS.

Speaking of complaints, there has been a lot of moaning about the new dock connector. I do have some accessories that used the old connector, and I will be picking up an adaptor to use them. But I have to say, the new connector is clearly superior to the old one, and I am sure that we will all look at the old connector as an obsolete dinosaur in a year or two.

My old phone was a very useful tool. The combination of Phone, and PDA and internet in one small box was great, and served me well for many years. But with the new phone, I feel like I really have a portable computer in my pocket. I can’t imagine what I will replace it with in another four years!

P.S. I am now using my old iPhone 3G as a very nice little music player.