First I downloaded the new files and unzipped them to my cgi-bin directory. I renamed my old mt dir to mt-2.6.1. Now I could safely name the new install's dir mt in its place. The installation instructions for upgrading tell you what to copy over from the old dir to the new one. I did this and made some minor changes to the new install's config file. I hit the server in my browser and was greeted with the upgrade page.

I'll admit, I didn't expect things to go so well and I was impressed with how far along MT has come. The only snag I hit was when rebuilding, my site lacked the comments forms. I checked the MT logs and realized that something was wrong with the MT-Scode plugin. I tried to troubleshoot it for about 10 minutes before I realized that I no longer needed it. Thanks go out to Brad Choate and the Six Apart team for the incredible SpamLookup plugins that are now bundled with MT!

Unfortunately the same thing came back again a couple weeks ago. Now I'm starting to think that it could be a problem. I depend on this workstation for my livelihood, and leaving it at the Genius Bar for a sleep-over isn't a very appealing proposition. Besides I've got an AppleCare package and its still got a couple months... right? Anyway, it's another quick fix by re-connecting and restarting.

Today it happened again.

Ok, lets get this fixed. I call AppleCare and the hold message tells me to have my serial numbers ready. Digging thought my files I find the serials on my AppleCare certificate. My heart sinks—it expired about 4 weeks ago. Damn, I should have called at the first sign of trouble. I expect the worst in about 14 minutes when my call is answered by the next available representative.

I give [James]* the serial number of my display and after punching a few keys he tells me that my AppleCare is expired and it will cost me $49.99 for phone support. I try to explain the whole story going back to the first time and how that was while the warrantee was still in effect, but its futile. He repeats his line from the manual about the $49.95. I try to stay calm. It's not James' fault right? Calmly, I ask to speak to his supervisor. James agrees.

I'm on hold again.

What seems like another 14 minutes later James is back. He's connecting me to [Kathy]*. Kathy lets me tell my story. I say that I just need to know if its hardware or software and she agrees to help. About an hour, a PMU reset and one kernel panic** later things seem to be fine.

Unfortunately that lasted only a couple hours and now its blinking again. The only choice I've got now is to take it in to Apple for some more diagnostics. Hopefully its the video card because that's probably the cheapest thing to fix. A new ATI Radeon 9000 AGP card will only set me back about $175.

I'll post updates as the drama unfolds.

*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
**Induced by unusual use of the video card. Kathy told me to plug in another monitor just after the PMU reset while the system was still booting. I haven't had a panic since 2003 before this.

1. Desktop Manager – More desktop space is more productivity. Desktop Manager lets you create virtual desktops just like Gnome or KDE does under Linux. Its still a tiny bit buggy still but once you try it, you'll never go back. By buggy I mean its never crashed on me just confused the frontmost window occasionally.

2. TextWrangler – I paid for the bigger sibling, BBEdit which I've been using since 1995. TextWrangler does almost as much and the price is right—free. Even if you want to buy BBEdit, you should download TextWrangler and register it first for a discounted "crossgrade."

3. Saft – A Safari enhancer extraordinaire. Block ads, launch sites and search queries, and more.

4. Flip4Mac – I used to hate sites with Windows Media embedded in them, now it works transparently through QuickTime. Launch WMV files in QuickTime player too.

5. NetNewsWire Lite – RSS/Atom newsreader with a familiar interface.

6. Quicksilver – Theres a whole Way of Life™ behind this one. Its a launcher on steroids and much, much more.

7. Fink / Fink Commander – Stop bashing your head against the terminal window trying to compile binaries from the source. Begone missing libraries and make errors! Fink will download and install pre-compiled apps for you. There's a whole world of FOSS out there, go get it.

8. Firefox – Unfortunately some sites don't work in Safari even though it's the most standards compliant browser to date. When Safari fails its Firefox to the rescue.

9. GamePad Companion – Not just for gaming, this great creation lets me program the other 6 buttons on my Logitec MX900 mouse.

10. MacTheRipper – Not quite legal but you should back up your DVDs anyway. This wont burn but it will let you rip protected (store bought) DVDs so you can guard your investment from scratches, loss or theft.

Just as I predicted in my original PEBL review, Apple has updated iSync to add support for the Motorola PEBL and a slew of other phones. You'll need to be running OS X Tiger with the 10.4.6 update that came out on April 3rd. This can be downloaded through the built-in Software Update program.

If you installed any plugins to iSync, I suggest you read the Before You Install section of the article on Mac n Cell. And if you're hoping for a Verizon version of the PEBL you should read this. I have T-Mobile.

Just back from WMC in Miami and wow, every year something unexpected is the highlight of the trip. This year it was seeing Jamie Lidell play live at the M3 Sunset Sessions. I was having flashbacks of hearing RJD2 play there live a year ago. Both performances moved me deeply on an emotional level.

Jamie's live shows are a bit different from his studio work. Don't get me wrong, his latest album Multiply is great but when he plays live its a whole different show. He beat-boxes and sings into the mic looping over his voice to build the songs. Its something you have to see to believe. I think my friend Anthony said it best, "That guy makes me ashamed to call myself a musician." A truly gifted soul for sure!

The good news is, if you missed him in Miami, he's playing two shows in NYC in April. I know I'll be at one of them to hear an encore:
April 25th @ Bowery Ballroom
April 26th @ Southpaw

Looks like we're getting some new neighbors pretty soon that will be sure to stir up some trouble. A block away from my apartment in Brooklyn the Capla Kesting Fine Art gallery will be exhibiting a sculpture of a seductive Britney Spears giving birth titled, "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston." The artist is Daniel Edwards and the show runs from April 7 through April 23.

Read more about it at BBC, Media Girl or American Girl. Don't miss this great piece of satire.

The other thing that precipitated the changes was my desire to put up google ads. I want to upgrade my bandwidth but need to offset the cost. I think this is a fair trade off. These only appear on the inside blog pages and I will only display text ads. I hate animated gifs more than anything except flash so don't worry about that.

This is not a generic review of the PEBL but rather one that is geared towards using it with a Mac. Check out Mobile Review if you want the full details, I don't want to be redundant.

This is the most beautiful phone I've ever held and it feels great in your hand. The rubberized metal shell is rugged but warm and somehow soft. The keypad is a little awkward at first but I easily adjusted to it and the subtle textures and raised divisions make it easy to operate without looking. Unfortunately the directional rocker with select button in the middle is very uncomfortable for me to use with my large hands. I've started holding the phone so that the bottom when flipped open is above my ring finger. This is slightly more ergonomic for me and doesn't hurt my thumb as much while using the rocker/select area. However this area is still very small and slippery compared to the other buttons and its easy to hit the wrong function.

• Voice Gateway (HSP)
• Handsfree Voice Gateway (HFP)
• OBEX Object Push (OPP)
• OBEX File Transfer (FTP)
• Image Push (BIP)
• Dialup Networking Gateway (DUN)

There are some menus on the phone that hint at the Basic Printing Profile as well, though the Bluetooth preference pane does not list it. Notably missing was the Synchronization Profile (SYNCH), though just as Printing wasn't listed, this might be included but not listed too. We'll have to wait and see what happens with the iSync update.

Connecting a mini-USB cable from the Mac to the PEBL allows the phone to charge but does not mount the phone's storage as I expected. I assume that the Motorola Mobile Phone Tools 4.0 package would contain the drivers and software but it looks like Mac users are out of luck. The listing on Amazon clearly states that Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP is required. Unfortunately the Motostore does NOT list this requirement.

OBEX File Transfers
I was able to browse the files successfully from the Mac. There are three root directories on the phone's storage:

• audio
• picture
• video

However only user added files show up there. I couldn't pull a wallpaper off the phone to the computer nor could I push the wallpaper to the computer from the phone either. I'm not sure if you can add J2ME applications without using the t-zones paid service from T-Mobile. It might be possible to get specialized software from Motorola through the Motocoder program that would allow more access to the phone.

Sending Contacts to the PEBL
Unfortunately there is no iSync support yet for the PEBL. However a future software update will probably fix this problem. For now I was easily able to send vCards from the Apple Address Book to the PEBL. Just open Address Book and from the "Card" menu choose "Send This Card..." Unfortunately the first and last names get reversed on the phone. I even tried changing the display order in the Address Book preferences to no avail. If you're using Entourage, Thunderbird, Mailsmith or another email client to manage your contacts I'm not sure how you could do this easily if at all.

Setting up Dialup Networking Under OS X
The only Motorola modem script under 10.4 that would work for using the PEBL as a Bluetooth modem was "Motorola iR TimePort (7089)." This got me a 9600 baud connection. Not sure if it's possible to hack the modem script to get a faster connection. There's a chance that the speakeasy.net modem I logged in to was just low baud, though I doubt that.

Customizing the Phone
Sending over new wallpaper was pretty easy. You can push the file through Bluetooth and the phone will figure out where to put it. Otherwise if you upload the file while browsing the device. You should put it in the "picture" folder. The dimensions of wallpapers are 176x220 and the format is JPEG. I also sent an MP3 and successfully set it as the ringer. I believe that the PEBL also supports AAC format but of course songs purchased through the iTunes Music Store (files ending in .m4p) will not work as they are protected by the FairPlay DRM system.

Interface Faux Pas and Annoying Limitations
I searched for a long time before I found the details of used and free space for the phone's memory. It's a huge over sight that the Motorola software engineers did not include a menu to access this under Settings > Phone Status. I finally found this info under the soft menu from within Pictures, Videos or other media section. There you'll see a menu selection titled View Free Space. I can see the reason for placing it in that location but this should be secondary to the logical hierarchy I stated earlier.

There is a 7 second limit on a video capture at high resolution despite space available in memory. The phone will tell you that you have room for 45 videos but there seems to be no way to extend the recording length.

Conclusion
Overall this phone plays very nice with OS X. If you're looking to sync PIM data with Microsoft programs you're out of luck since the Motorola Mobile Phone Tools are not compatible. But this isn't a smart phone and if you need this functionality you should get a Treo or a phone with Windows Mobile. The major shortcoming is that iSync is still not supported. However, at the time of writing this phone has only been sold in stores for a week and you have to expect these type of kinks if you're an early adopter of technology. An amateur hacker came close to spoofing the PEBL as a RAZR and using iSync. This is encouraging news and I assume it should be easy for Apple to get this working in a near future version of iSync.

Further Exploration
There are many features of the phone which I plan to explore in the near future but here is the short list:

• Sending or Receiving a fax with the phone through Bluetooth
• Exploring more inside the device memory over USB with a specialized tool
• Testing AAC support and file size limits of audio files.
• Trying to increase the recording length of video clips
• Keep an eye on attempts to hack an iSync profile for the PEBL or official iSync support

Dear Verizon,

I wish I could say, "it's not you, it's me," but the fact is you treated me badly and I've met someone else. Let's face it, ours was a relationship of convenience, there was never any love. I know that hurts to hear, but after so long I feel at least I owe you the truth: Verizon, you're an ass, plain and simple.

You were available when I wanted service and not much more. I mean to say New York is a big city and there are lots of options for me here. Maybe if we were both stuck in a small town you'd still be my best choice—nah—sorry I'd still have to dump you for being a jerk.

I mean, I can only take so much abuse. Honestly, I've heard from some of your other ex-'s and I'm not the only one who wasn't happy with your controlling personality. I hope some day you grow up and become capable of a healthy, happy relationship.

Sorry to pop this on you with out much notice, but I've arranged to move my number out already. Hopefully I'll be out of your way soon.

Netflix Search
flix
http://www.netflix.com/Search?v1=%@

Wikipedia Lookup
wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%@

Google Maps
gmap
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=%@

UPS Package Tracking
ups
http://wwwapps.ups.com/WebTracking/processInputRequest?tracknum=%@

FedEx Package Tracking
fedex
http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?action=track&tracknumbers=%@

US Postal Service Package Tracking
usps
http://trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/InterLabelInquiry.do?strOrigTrackNum=%@

Food & Wine Recipe Title Search
recipe
http://www.foodandwine.com/search/recipe.cfm?title=%@

NYC Health Department Restaurant Inspection Lookup
health
http://63.106.144.9:8080/RI/web/index.do?method=nameZipSearch&selection=name&searchValue=%@

Now that I have the same capabilities of the Firefox Ad Block plugin inside Safari, I realize that there are so many shortcomings in the OS X version of Firefox. My biggest complaints are a lack of Cocoa functionality like built in spell check and GUI inconsistencies in the form buttons and inputs. Having the Cocoa spell checking in textarea fields is really helpful especially when editing webmail or creating blog posts. Plus its great to have an operating system level spell check because your user dictionary spans across multiple applications. Now only if Bare Bones would re-write BBEdit in Cocoa instead of Carbon.

Also Brad Rice is right about the sheer speed of Safari. It launches much faster than Firefox. This hardly seems like a fair fight though when you consider that the Apple Web Kit framework is probably already running in OS X and Firefox has to load all the libraries to render a website from a standstill.

However, there is one area of performance where Safari falls painfully short of Firefox. When rendering a large (100k+) page of complex table structure, Safari really chokes. Unfortunately, there are some really poorly designed web applications that cause this exact problem which I'm required to use in my daily workflow. I guess I'll stick to Firefox for these few cases.

The good news is that rumor has it Firefox 2.0 will support more OS X native functions like native form GUI elements. I'll keep my fingers crossed for Cocoa spelling too.

Mark Jenkins, a street artist who's preferred medium is clear packing tape, has struck again in Washington DC. This time he's created large surreal lollipops sculptures out of parking meters. I'm sure the secret service is trilled. If caught, they'll probably ship him off to Gitmo as a suspected terrorist. While the meterpops are funny and attract a lot of attention, I actually prefer his more subtle work. Check out the other gallery of outdoor installations with packing tape street art at Mark's website. He's definitely formed a unique take on street art that I have yet to see someone else emulate or build on.

The big problem with not hiding the addresses in BCC is someone else on the list may harvest the other addresses to spam them with whatever they are trying to promote. This recently happened to me when my address was harvested as a result of my cousins mailing. Below I'll quote the conversation back and forth between myself and the organization sending the spam.

From: Joshua McFarren
To: The Surfers Path
Subject: Re: Monday Morning Wave (Apologies! We had a tech hitch)

To whom it should concern,

I find it highly unethical that you harvested my business email address from [my cousin's] list. Since you do not list a mailing address you are in clear violation of CAN-SPAM and any further emails to this address will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Please remove me immediately. You can be subject to a maximum fine of $11,000 USD per future violation.

Learn more about CAN-SPAM:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/business.htm

This has also been CC'd to your domain registrant and DNS service. Please note that any future violations from these servers will also be reported to the Spamhaus project for listing in their database of know spammers.

Regards,
Joshua

To which I received this reply:

From: Alex Dick-Read
To: Joshua McFarren
Subject: Re: Monday Morning Wave (Apologies! We had a tech hitch)

Hi Joshua

Well, apologies for the intrusion, although it seems very strange that you received a Monday Morning Wave at all without asking for one.

I doubt very much that we took your address from [your cousin's] list. We don't operate like that.

I'm not the tech expert but it sounds far more likely that someone signed you up for the MMW. This, and signing yourself up, are the only ways you can receive a MMW.

We've set it up like that because we take the issue of spamming people very seriously and want to make sure we are NOT intruding on in-boxes where we're not requested.

It might be good to see if anyone you know has signed you up. Might have been [your cousin], a friend of mine.

Meanwhile I'll check with the tech experts that there is indeed no way we would have 'harvested' yours, nor anyone's emails.

All the best
Alex Dick-Read
Editor

I felt this needed a retort since the circumstances of the mailing were so suspicious and my cousin said there was no way he signed me up. That pointed back to The Surfers Path.

From: Joshua McFarren
To: Alex Dick-Read
Subject: Re: Monday Morning Wave (Apologies! We had a tech hitch)

Alex,

Thank you for getting back to me and looking into this. I would appreciate a follow up after you check with your experts. I am sure there is a log of how my address was added to the list. If it was subscribed though the subscription form on your website, then your sever logs will be able to reveal the IP address of the machine that was viewing the site at the time.

Indeed it is very odd that I started receiving this mailing just after [my cousin] sent out his invite. However, the circumstantial evidence goes beyond this coincidence. I might like to submit that not only does the timing coincide but also the marketing potential cross-over between the lists. Add to that the fact that not only have I received your email at this address but my other email address as well--both of which were included on [my cousin's] list.

Thanks,
Joshua

Finally, some answers from someone who has the balls to tell me what happened. I give Drew some credit even though he's still missing the principle.

From: Drew Kampion
To: Joshua McFarren
Subject: Re: Monday Morning Wave

Hi Joshua,

Sorry about that. It was probably me that sent your address to the gent who manages our MMW e-listing.

Since the PATH doesn't use the MMW list for solicitation (nor do we sell or give away any of these addresses), and because "everyone" seems to love getting a wave shot on Monday morning, I figured you'd enjoy it.

There's a simple link in that email -- UNSUBSCRIBE FROM MONDAY MORNING WAVES -- that eliminates you from the list. You can do this or I can do for you, but ... are you sure you don't want to see a beautiful wave at least once a week?

Your wish is my command,
Drew

Of course I need to explain the point a little more clearly:

From: Joshua McFarren
To: Drew Kampion
Subject: Re: Monday Morning Wave

Drew,

Thank you for being honest about the origin of this problem. I hope that the managers of the MMW take this as a lesson and put in place a policy that prevents addresses from being added to the list in bulk so that the only way someone receives a mailing is if they sign up themselves.

The problem with signing up others is even if they unsubscribe, its highly likely that they can be re-subscribed again in the future with out their knowledge or consent. This would appear to the recipient as a broken un-subscription mechanism and leave the organization responsible for the mailing subject to HUGE fines, server blacklisting as a spam origin--which could cripple all business emails sent out--and of course a huge headache for the recipient.

I have taken the necessary steps to remove my addresses from the list. Please ensure that this does not happen again to myself or others.

Thanks,
Joshua

And one last email which I'm not sure is relavant or not, but I will include for the sake of objectivity.

From: Drew Kampion
To: Joshua McFarren
Subject: Re: Monday Morning Wave

Thanks, Joshua.

One point about the way our program is set up, re para 2 [above] -- In fact, we have the opposite problem: when someone has inadvertently unsubscribed and has requested to be resubscribed, our system requires the resubscribe through a different email address; it will not allow an unsubscribed email address to re resubscribed.

The point of this whole thing from the beginning (aside from disseminating beautiful wave pics) was to be noninvasive, so I trust you won't be hearing from us again. If you do, please let me know.

All the best!
Drew

Then I read Merlin's article Fresh Start: The Email DMZ and decided that I would reply to all the emails I hadn't given up on yet and resolved to try to keep my inbox clean from now on.

Now I just treat my personal email like my work email. I move those messages to which I've already replied, or those which need no reply, out of the inbox. That way the inbox is a list of tasks which need an action. The different is where in my business inbox I don't necessarily reply until I have an answer or I'm ready to present a new phase of the project, in my personal inbox the reply is most often the task itself.

This may seem like a small change psychologically, but its working for me so far. I realized that a short almost business-like reply to a friend is better than no reply at all. Now my inbox is clean and I'm able to manage it better.