Latest MacBook Pro Update - 2nd Hard Drive

Well, after waiting over a week for my 2nd Hard Drive Caddy to arrive, I'm happy to say it's finally here!

I spent about 20 minutes and was able to quickly install my 500GB 5400 RPM drive in it, and swapped out the Superdrive for it.

First impressions, awesome!!!  Having this additional space is perfect.  I still have the speed of the SSD as my OS drive and am storing movies, pictures, music, and downloads on the 500GB.

Heat doesn't seem to be an issue (yet), but I'm curious now how the battery will survive.  I'll have to play around and see how it goes.

Latest iPad 2 Rumor - No Retina Display

CNET has reported today that the iPad 2 may not actually include the Retina Display that iPhone 4 users have grown to love.  In their article, Latest rumor: iPad 2 won't feature Retina display,  CNET mentions that:

'However, the well-sourced Gruber says that is not happening. "I asked around, and according to my sources, it is too good to be true: the iPad 2 does not have a Retina display. I believe the iPad 2's display will remain at 1024?768.'

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20028878-37.html#ixzz1BVkHRuGH

Playboy on iPad

Afterdawn just published an article called iPad, say hello to Playboy.  Though there is already an iPad Playboy application, it doesn't include any nudity and is heavily censored.  In Afterdawn's article, they state Hugh Hefner tweeted the following today:

"Big news! Playboy--both old & new--will be available on iPad beginning in March. The IPad Version of Playboy will include the whole magazine from the first issue to the latest and Playboy on iPad will be uncensored."

That will definitely be an app to get, but for those of us with small children that hog the iPad, restrictions at the application level will be a most.

Thanks for nothing Google AdSense

Well, after weeks of playing around with the Monetize feature on this blog, Google has denied me an AdSense account as my site doesn't meet their expectations:

We're unable to approve your AdSense application at this time
because we feel that your site does not comply with Google AdSense
policies or webmaster quality guidelines. It's our goal to provide our
advertisers sites that offer rich and meaningful content, receive organic
traffic, and allow us to serve well-targeted ads to users. We believe that
currently your site does not fulfill this criteria.

I'm not overly heart broken as I wasn't planning on retiring on the $0.33/day I was seeing from their advertisements.

Either way, I will still continue posting as I always do and maybe some day my site will be worthy enough of the great Google to have their advertisements displayed once again on my site (if I want them too).

Seagate BlackArmor NAS 110... Time Machine = Good, Network Transfer Speed = BAD

I recently bought a Seagate BlackArmor NAS 110 1TB Network Attached Storage device as it has full support for Time Machine backups over the network.

Installation was simple, just hook the box up to my Gigabit Router, plug in the power and pop in the CD in your SuperDrive.  The application that installs finds the NAS quickly and lets you mount your shares from it and also allows for management of the system.  The web management interface is fairly straight forward and I was able to start building my shares quickly.  Once I had those setup, I went to Time Machine and clicked on "Select Drive".  Guess what, nothing listed :(

After spending some time researching (should have just gone to Seagate's support site first), I found out that the firmware the unit ships with does not include support for Time Machine.  You need to download and install firmware version 1000.1081 to enable that feature.  So after about 10 minutes of updating the firmware (yeah it takes a while) and enabling Time Machine support in the admin interface, I was able to see the network drive pop up in Time Machine.  At this point, I was fairly happy with my investment as I can just sit back and let Time Machine do it's thing (and it didn't cost me $300+ for a Time Capsule).

Now on the the bad news.  Seeing that I don't really need 1TB to backup my 160GB SSD, I decided to move some of my music and movies from my Windows 7 machine over to the NAS 110.  I selected about 400GB and told it to copy over and I'm sorry to say, was NOT impressed with the copy speed.  Windows 7 reported approximately 11.1MB/sec and that it would take 24 hours to complete.  Now I know what some of you will say, 11.1MB/sec is not bad.  Yeah, I can agree with that if I was getting that when copying between other systems on my 1000MB network.  I typically see anywhere from 20 - 40 MB/sec when copying from my Windows 7 system to my MacBook Pro or my HTPC.  So I started looking online to see if other people are reporting the same problems and guess what, they are (really should have researched better).  There seems to be some known issues with this unit and D-Link routers (I use a Cisco E3000 router) and a number of people complaining on the Seagate forums about horrible speed.

I did some tests using a 700MB file and ran copies between the NAS and my MacBook Pro and Windows 7 system.  Here are the results:

NAS 110 -> MacBook Pro = 39MB/sec (Activity Monitor)
MacBook Pro -> NAS 110 = 18MB/sec (Activity Monitor)

NAS 110 -> Windows 7 = 16MB/Sec (Windows File Copy)
Windows 7 -> NAS 110 = 13MB/sec (Windows File Copy)

Windows 7 -> MacBook Pro = 42MB/sec (Activity Monitor)
MacBook Pro -> Windows 7 = 31MB/sec (Activiy Monitor)

So at this time, I'm torn as to what to do with this device.  Some people in the forums have suggested putting a 1000MB switch in between the router and computers to speed up network performance.  I'm considering trying this to see if that helps, but seeing that other machines are copying at a much faster rate, I'm not sure it will.

Either way, I will do my due diligence and pick up a switch to see.  If that doesn't help, I'll likely have to live with the sub-par performance as I don't want to spend $300+ on a Time Capsule.

UPDATE:

Well, I decided to try removing my router from the picture (as many people on the forums have suggested) and just ran a network cable from the NAS to my Windows 7 machine.  EXACT SAME RESULTS!  I even used a brand new CAT 6 cable and nothing changed :(

I'm going to try some Windows 7 tweaks as I am seeing better performance from my MacBook to the NAS, so maybe that will help. 

Until then, my recommendation on the Seagate BlackArmor NAS 110 is this...  If you want a cheap solution for Time Machine, buy it.  If you are looking for a NAS that will be quick to copy files to and from over a Gigabit network, look elsewhere.

iPad 2 resolution = 2048x1536

More iPad 2 Intel...

Interesting article over at the AppleInsider called Apple iBooks app indicates iPad 2 will quadruple resolution to 2048x1536.

Recent rumors have suggested Apple will give the second generation iPad a much higher resolution screen, although short of the ppi density of the Retina Display of iPhone 4. New graphics discovered within Apple's iBook app suggest this is true.

Based purely on rumors, it sounds like the iPad 2 will support a much higher resolution that the original.  Current speculation is that is will be as high as 2048x1536.   Some recent changes to the iBooks app may add some validity to these rumors as some of the included graphics files have a resolution of 1536x800.

Apple has reportedly slipped multiple examples of "@2" graphics in versions of its iBooks app, one targeted at iPhone 4 and another at a high resolution future iPad, according to tweets and a separate developer report. This includes "bookmark-ribbon-iPad@2x.png" and a "Wood Tile@2x.png" background image that covers 1536x800, rather than the standard 768x400 image used on iPad. 

 It will be interesting to see how the Retina display works with such a high resolution.  One thing I've always said about Apple is they know how to make an amazing looking display!

8 GB in my 13" Macbook Pro

Well I finally got a chance to pick up my memory upgrade and get my 13" Macbook Pro up to 8GB. Things seem a little faster, including boot time (though it still won't beat a Macbook Air).

My plans now are to setup VMware Fusion 3.0, best OS X Virtualization product (IMO), and get a Windows 7 install up and running so I can get Visual Studio back.

Real-life Angry Birds? Oh man!

Take a look at the following article on WIRED regarding a new game Mattel is developing - Real-Life Angry Birds.

Seriously???  Okay, I have to ask...  How does the boomerang bird work???

Apple iPhone 5 to use Solar Power?

Online Social Media posted an article called "Apple iPhone 5: Heading for solar power?"

It appears that Apple has been granted a patent which in future could enable Apple portable devices to use solar power. This would not replace existing batteries though, but would act as a supplement.

 Interesting concept, nice to see Apple taking a more GREEN approach in their products.

A solar-powered device would work by way of a voltage converter that would charge the onboard battery from the sun and could be implemented via a back cover while the phone was on a flat surface or docking station. It would also be able to be used via ambient light and not necessarily direct sunlight.

I'm curious as to how this will affect battery life over time.  If the device is constantly being recharged by either direct sun light or ambient light, the life span of the battery could be dramatically reduced.  Let's just hope there is some level of logic where it will not start recharging the phone until the battery is at 10 or 20% battery power.

Follow me on Twitter! @Techinsanity

New Twitter account setup. @Techinsanity

iPad 2 and iPhone 5 = No more Home Button?

Redmond Pie recently posted an article called "Apple to Replace Home Button on iPad 2 and iPhone 5 with Multi-touch Gestures – Report" which is an interesting read.  It talks about some intel BGR received about the removal of the Home button from the iPad 2 and iPhone 5:

We have exclusively been told that the reason Apple just added multitouch gestures for the iPad in the latest iOS 4.3 beta is because the iPad will be losing the home button. Yes, we are told that Apple, at some point in time, will remove the home button from the iPad’s design. Instead of button taps, you will use new multitouch gestures to navigate to the home screen and also to launch the app switcher.

I'm curious which gesture will allow you to close an app...  Thoughts? ;)

iPad 2 video leaked from CES 2011 - US Launch April 2nd or 9th 2011

iPad 2 video leaked from CES 2011:

Found this will reading the article - Media leaks iPad 2 video; spots front camera - from OneIndia News. 

On another note, rumor has it Apple is planning to launch the iPad 2 in the US either on April 2nd or 9th of this year.  Most of us can expect to be able to purchase it closer to Christmas when the stores will actually have stock ;)

Sources:

• Potential Launch Dates For iPad 2: April 2nd or 9th

• Daily Tech: iPad 2 Coming April 2 or 9 According to New Rumor

Apple Mac Appstore

So it's been roughly a week since Apple launched the Mac App Store and I must say, I'm impressed!

Apple's AppStore for Mac

It is extremely easy to purchase and install new apps, which mimics the functionality iPhone/iPad/iPod users are used too.  It's a great spot to go and look for free and paid apps that you would have to search all over the Internet for and in a couple clicks, it's sitting on your dock.

Now I'm going to need another source of income to pay for all these cool apps! :(

Nice work Apple!

Macbook Pro + SSD... Insanity!!!

Okay, maybe it's time to stop using the terms Insane or Insanity in my posts...

Well, I finally got my Macbook Pro upgraded with a 160GB SSD drive (Intel X25-M).  I thought this system was fast before, well it's absolutely smoking now!  Boot time has been cut in half, apps load in a blink of the eye (Photoshop CS5 opens in 5 seconds), and the battery life has doubled (if not tripled).
Needless to say, I'm very happy with this upgrade and am hoping this drive will remain at this speed after a few months of usage (OS X doesn't support TRIM from what I have found).

Next update - 8 GB of DDR3...  Looking at the Kingston 8GB Kit that is certified for this model.  Hoping to get that in the next week or two, so will keep you posted.

Macbook Pro 13" 2.4Ghz Processor 4GB 1066MHZ RAM = FAST!

Well, I finally got a chance to get a 13" MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 edition) for home and I must say, this thing is fast!  I was nervous about purchasing just the 2.4 GHZ processor but am extremely shocked at how responsive the system is.  I'm planning to make a few upgrades to it in the next few weeks, including getting my Intel X25-M 160GB SSD drive installed and increasing the memory to 8GBs.  Once that is done, I think I'm set for at least the next 3 - 6 months before I will consider any more upgrades (ya, I am insane!).

Couple of interesting notes.  When looking for memory upgrades for your MacBook Pro, I discovered the following:

1.  Apple wants $600+ just for the memory...  I though I was the insane one!
2.  Local Mac stores want about $399 for memory and installation.
3.  Kingston sells an 8GB kit on their website that is certified for MacBook Pros for $100 US (yes, you heard me).
4.  Local computer stores may have the Kingston memory in stock for $129.

Any local Mac shop can do the install for you and it should only cost you about $50 - $100 for this (aka don't void the warranty even though ifixit.com shows you how to install it yourself).  So basically, go out and pick up the Kingston memory and then get someone to install it for anywhere between $179 and $229.

CAUTION: I have not yet done this, so I am not 100% sure how well the Kingston memory handles compared to Apple and other brands.  I know my local Mac shop sells a brand that offers a lifetime warranty on the memory, hence the $399 price tag.  As I want to remain married and not in the dog house for a few weeks (right dual bag?), I will go with the cheaper solution and see how that pans out.

I'll keep you all posted on this upgrade over the next few weeks.

SSD or Hybrid-SSD?

So I recently took the plunge and got an Intel X-25M 160GB SSD drive for my laptop.  The speed is absolutely insane.  The issue I am having though it 160GB is not a lot of space when you want to store all your pictures, music, and virtual machines (VMware Workstation rocks).  So I'm not wondering about these new Seagate Momentus XT 500GB Solid State Hybrid drives and want to see if they are the perfect "hybrid" between the old fashioned spindle and the new hotness SSD.

I am hoping to pick up a Hybrid in the next few weeks, so stay tuned and I'll let you know what I find.

Toshiba Quality

First off, welcome to my blog.  This is my first attempt at documenting my insanity and I hope you enjoy the ramblings of an insane techie.

About a month ago, I attempted to upgrade my laptop by pouring a bottle of water on it.  I was pretty sure that this was the end of my nice Toshiba system, but to my surprise, I let it dry out and was able to power it back up with no issues. 

Last week I started noticing some issues and suspected it was related to the watering incident of 2010.  I took it back to the place I bought it from (since I had a 2 year extended warranty on it) and was pleased to find out there were no signs of water damage and the issue was actually a software problem.  Toshiba, you people make great laptops!  I am extremely impressed that this one survived my stupidity and want to say thanks for a quality product (and no I will not give you my serial number as I don't want to kill my warranty) ;)