Category Archives: Software

Review – Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD in MacBook Pro

There are very compelling reasons to upgrade your current MacBook Pro. While my MacBook Pro is still a 2011 model with 8GB of RAM I always felt that it could be a bit faster. Even with the 7200RPM Toshiba drive fitted, IO operations felt sluggish (even more so after installing the OWC) and I wanted to see if a SSD would make a big difference.

The 30-day return promise from OWC made the choice of the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD 480 GB drive an easy choice. When it comes to SSD options, not many companies provide reasonable pricing and like OWC a 5 year warranty on their products – pricing is steep at USD 1,000.00 but the results are overwhelming and worth it.

Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD 480GB

My MacBook Pro supports 6GB SATA out of the box, and although the System Profiler does not show TRIM support, this is not an issue, as the OWC SSDs have TRIM support built-in.

Installation of the drive is as simple as:

  • Taking a backup of your current system via TimeMachine
  • Removing the bottom cover and the factory installed Toshiba drive
  • Attaching the mounting screws of the original hard-drive to the OWC
  • Restoring from TimeMachine (I chose a new install of OS X Lion and then a restore of my data

The performance of the OWC is simply mind-blowing. A cold-boot to the desktop takes roughly 10 seconds whereas a shutdown takes about 3 seconds.

Application performance has drastically improved – OS X mail opens instantly and displays all messages. Microsoft Office 2011 applications open within 2 seconds. MyEclipseIDE opens in 15 seconds and booting a VMWare image from suspend mode takes about 7 seconds.

Disk operations typically average at 200MB/sec although I have seen peaks in the 400MB/sec range:

Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD transfer speeds

OWC’s customer- and sales support is truly amazing – my order was shipped via Fedex and arrived within 3 business days in South Africa.

TimeMachine backups (typically around 20-40GB per backup operation) average at 200MB/sec read speed and are now pretty much limited by the network speed of my Airport Express.

The installation and booting into the BootCamp partition is natively supported by the drive and booting natively into Windows takes about 20 seconds. Game performance under Windows (Skyrim) and OS X (Civilization) show a tremendous improvement in performance and load time. At times it feels that the Mac Book Pro is struggling to process the data fast enough.

Another positive side-effect is the loading of Safari (which was typically sluggish) and browsing speed (I attribute this to faster read- and access-time retrieving cached fragments from the browser cache).

The MacBook Pro does run slightly hotter and the fans kick in more frequently, especially when resting the laptop on my lap – I only noticed this behavior during TimeMachine backups or more intensive disk-operations.

In conclusion, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD is a must-have upgrade for any gadgeteer.

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jQuery revolution @ bidorbuy

Over at bidorbuy.co.za we are really introducing a number of firsts in the online auction market. We obviously want to create a user-experience for our buyers and sellers to enjoy their time on our site as well as improve productivity.

Over the next few weeks we will introduce many new features to improve usability. A few weeks back we implemented a jQuery-based search-recommendation which provides users with guided searches and search-recommendations – although noticeable, the new feature is not intrusive.

Another cool feature (it is surprising that we never had this in the past) is to introduce an image-gallery for sellers which will really improve how they can list items. The current image system is truly cumbersome and users are not even able to view images they previously uploaded. The new gallery truly rocks:

Based on jQuery with lazy loading of pages, image transitions, keyboard support, sorting and filtering. The gallery will seamlessly integrate into the seller-tools as well as the current listing functionality. We will also introduce a number of really cool UX features over the next few weeks which will make your auction experience a truly awesome journey :D

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Paypal: How to sell your electronic goods

You will have noticed on my website a number of downloadable scripts accompanying articles. Since I spent a significant amount of time working on those scripts and this blog is certainly not contributing to my income, I felt it was just fair to ask for a donation.

In South Africa, a payment gateway costs quite a substantial amount of money and monthly fees. Many people don’t feel like donating Amazon gift-vouchers (although I know of one female blogger running a X-rated blog and she makes in access of 15K/p.m. on Amazon stuff alone). Paypal is an option if you either use Paypal to purchase a lot or if you have an European account to transfer your funds into (note, that there is currently no way to transfer funds into a South African account).
Continue reading “Paypal: How to sell your electronic goods” »

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ADSL router statistics

In a previous post I explained how to gather statistics for your Netgear DG834 DSL modem router. Thanks for all the donations!! I have made some subtle changes in the router.cgi to display SNR/attenuation in one chart and display the latest values:

The scripts don’t just run on a Synology DiskStation. I have received reports that people integrated the scripts with their Linux boxes, QNAPs and others. In some instances, people modified the scripts (the code is easy enough to modify even for a Linux newbie) to make them work with other routers.

Again, please note, that out of the box, the scripts will work with any modem router supporting telnet and “adslctl” on the router. I would love to make SNMP or HTTP-polling functionality available, but have not got any router supporting this at the moment.

If you want to use the scripts, donate below (you require a running version of Perl with Net::Telnet and Net::Ping, rrdtool — the scripts will run on the Synology out of the box).

 

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OS X: Spotlight is your quick calculator

Every day I find something new in OS X which makes me wonder, why this could not have done in any operating system. Every OS has nowadays a full-index search. Microsoft’s Vista-search just sucks, as I have never been able to index everything properly, Google Desktop is better, but is very intrusive and CPU-intensive.

OS X Leopard’s Spotlight search functionality seamlessly integrates in the menu-bar. You quickly activate it via CMD+Space and search results are produced as you type. It will categorise the search results (and will even show you the dictionary definition):

Spotlight also functions as a basic calculator and spits out the answer as you type it in and supports: * is multiplication, / is division, ^ is to the power of (exponents), ! is factorial, and then of course there’s + and – for addition and subtraction, respectively:

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OS X: DB Solo – master your databases

I stumbled across DB Solo the other day when in dire need to quickly compare database-schema’s and data. Watching our DBA’s compare schema’s in VI and Notepad gave me an instant headache. This is where DB Solo comes in – a multi-platform database tool providing some great features, I have yet to see in similar priced query-tools:

* Browse and manage database structures with a couple of mouse clicks
* Create and drop common database objects using the advanced DBA features.
* Enter ad-hoc SQL queries in the query window that supports (Auto completion, Syntax coloring, Explain Plan)
* Schema Scripting Tool
* SQL Data Import Tool
* J2EE Code Generator for POJOs, EJB 3.0 annotations, JDBC persistence layer using the DAO pattern, JUnit tests, etc.
* Schema Comparison Tool – Including Schema Synchronization
* Table Data Comparison And Synchronization Tool
* View table references in a graph or list format
* View rows related to a selected table row
* View images stored in BLOB columns (GIF, JPG and PNG)

There are many more features than what is listed above and DB Solo is just well thought through. Although there are hundreds of options, the application does not feel cluttered or complex. The greatest feature is the schema-comparison tool:

You simple open two databases, select the correct instances and DB Solo will go off and compare tables, indices, foreign constraints and then present a comparison view similar to text-comparison tools. Best of all is that it also includes functionality to synchronize schemas by creating the correct SQL-scripts.

Another awesome feature is the data-comparison. How many times have I seen DBA’s spend hours exporting tables and then comparing text-files. With DB Solo you just select the databases and tables you want to compare, and the tool will show you the differences and allows to easily synchronize the data between the two.

Alright – I was not 100% honest: DB Solo runs also on PC (Windows, Linux). DB Solo can certainly make a number of DBA’s more productive (or redundant – smile)

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OS X: SuperDuper – heroic system recovery for mere mortals

One of the first things I sought out for my new computer was a reliable backup software. After a lot of online and print research there seemed to be a lot of fanfare for SuperDuper. In fact, MacWorld rated it very highly as one of the best choices in backing up Mac.

One of the things that first surprised me about SuperDuper was its overall ease of use. When you start the software, you are actually walked through the backup process step-by-step. Every task choice comes complete with an explanation of what the software is going to do. Even a complete novice would have no difficulty performing their first backup.

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OS X: Delicious Library

Another cool application for us Apple-fans: Have you ever loaned a book or DVD or an expensive gadget to a friend, and forgotten which friend? And then bought another? With Delicious Library you just drag any item onto any friend from your Address Book, and it’ll remember the loan for you — and even put an entry in iCal reminding you when it’s due.

Or maybe you have something lying around you don’t use, like an out-of-print book, that’s worth serious bucks and you don’t know it? Because with Delicious Library 2 you always know the current value of your things, and can put your used items up for sale with three clicks. Or maybe you just want to publish your library to the web and share it with your friends.

It may be the most anticipated app of the year, and it is finally here. Delicious Library 2 catalogs all your stuff: even more than just your books, movies, and CDs. You can also catalog just about anything with a barcode on it, including tools, toys, software, gadgets, and apparel.

Delicious Library allows you to import, browse, and share all your books, movies, music and video games with Delicious Library.

A scan of a barcode is all Delicious Library needs to add an item to your digital shelves, downloading tons of info from the internet like the author, release date, current value, description, and even a high-resolution picture of the cover. Import your entire library using the full-speed iSight video barcode scanner. Once you have all of your items in your Mac, you can browse though your digital shelves, check stuff out to friends using Apple’s built-in Address Book and calendar, and find new items to read, watch, and play using Library’s recommendations.

Quickly importing your stuff into Delicious Library doesn’t require a dedicated barcode scanner – you can use any QuickTime®-supported digital video camera, like your Apple iSight. Just hold the barcode on the back of any book, movie, CD, or video game in front of the camera and your item magically shows up on your digital shelf seconds later.

Using the same technology found in $800 industrial-strength CCD barcode scanners, Delicious Library reads every single frame of digital video; seeking out, targeting, and instantly decoding any visible barcodes. This results in a seamless process of scanning that lets you import about 750 items an hour (assuming you can move your arms that fast). At that rate the staff of the new downtown Seattle Central Library could work together to import all of their 1.4 million books into Delicious Library in just over 5 hours.

Not believing it’s capabilities, I tried it on my PS3 collection and was able to scan in 18 PS3 titles short of a minute. While DL2 goes off in the background to fetch the relevant information, you can continue scanning. Once DL2 finds an item it will actually verbally provide details such as “Army of Two by Electronic Arts” – awesome.

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OS X: VMWare Fusion

I used Parallels for a while but I was never able to leave it on without it eating up my CPU for no reason. I gave VMWare a shot just for fun and what I found was a much more stable experience…so much so that I can usually leave it on all the time without noticing a decrease in performance on the mac side:

I have just upgraded to VMWare Fusion and truly enjoy some of the new cool features:

Unite: Seamlessly run Windows applications alongside Mac applications with the Unity features in VMware Fusion. Find and launch Windows applications quickly with the VMware Fusion launcher. Switch between Windows and Mac applications quickly with Exposé. Minimize Windows applications to the Mac OS X Dock.

Play: Play Windows games on your Mac. Create powerful multi-core virtual machines and run 32- and 64-bit operating systems with ease. Use your iSight camera in Windows and gain access to Windows-only USB 2.0 devices.

Bootcamp: VMware Fusion makes it easy to install Windows as a virtual machine on your Intel-based Mac, and makes a perfect complement to Apple Boot Camp. Use your existing Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine, or use the built-in Windows Easy Install to install a fresh copy of Windows on a new virtual machine.

Snapshots: Use Snapshots to save the state of your virtual machine, and revert back to that state if your PC crashes or becomes corrupted.

VMWare Fusion 2.0 (currently in beta, but a free upgrade for Fusion 1.x users) includes even more:
* True Multiple Display Support
* support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2
* Import Parallels and Virtual PC for Mac Virtual Machines, or Even Your Boot Camp Partition
* seamlessly print from your VMWare Windows partition to your OS X printers
* Faster USB Storage performance
* Improved performance when using NAT networking

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OS X: Smile – screenshot short-cuts

Taking screenshots in OS X (Leopard) is really cool (and easy) – if you know the relevant short-cut keys:

Press Cmd + Shift + 3: Take a picture of the whole screen

Press Cmd + Shift + 4: Take a picture of a chosen part of the screen. You then get a crosshair cursor. With the crosshair cursor select a rectangular area of the screen that you want to take a picture of.

Press Cmd + Shift + 4 + Spacebar: Take a picture of a menu or a dialogbox or a window. You get a camera-cursor which you can move from window to window or to an open menu (click once to make the menu hang on screen and not just temporarily show). When your camera is hovering over a window or menu or such, it gets selected with your regular selection color. When you click, the selected window or menu has its picture taken.

Press Cmd + Shift + 3 + Ctrl: Take a picture of the whole screen to the Clipboard

Press Cmd + Shift + 4 + Ctrl: Take a picture of a chosen part of the screen to the Clipboard. You then get a crosshair cursor. With the crosshair cursor select a rectangular area of the screen that you want to take a picture of.

Press Cmd + Shift + 4 + Spacebar + Ctrl: Take a picture of a menu, a dialogbox or a window to the Clipboard. You get a camera-cursor which you can move from window to window or to an open menu (click once to make the menu hang on screen and not just temporarily show). When your camera is hovering over a window or menu or such, it gets selected with your regular selection color. When you click, the selected window or menu has its picture taken.

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