houltmac.com

TIPS FOR RIDING IN THE COUNTRY

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:33:00 +0000

Living in the Cotswolds I feel pretty privilaged in being able to ride all kinds of roads locally. Many of the best roads around here are small A-roads and bigger B-roads, but they hold their own dangers.

I see a lot of people riding them poorly and putting themselves in unnecessary danger. I’m not an expert, but I ride these kinds of roads a lot, so these tips may prove useful to newer riders.

There are plenty of dangers out there, but many can be seen well in advance and planned for. Use the hedgerow, fences, traffic ahead and anything else you can to judge the direction the road ahead goes. Look up, the further you see, the more you can plan. You can even use the angle of buildings in the distance, since most of them will have the front parallel to the road.

A common danger in rural areas are horses. They pose a danger to you if you hug the inside of bends or when takeing a crest without spotting them. They also pose a danger to themselves, so be sure to keep a look out, slow early, pass them wide and try to keep the revs down. On clear road I often turn my engine off and coast past a hundred yards with the clutch in before carring on (be sure to check your mirrors first).

Horses aren’t the only wildlife. There are birds, badgers and rabbits. You can’t always spot the quicker animals as they dart out, but you can anticipate. Dawn and dusk are the times for foxes and rabbits. Pheasants will often flap about in the middle of the road. If it’s a bigger animal don’t swerve until the last minute or it may well double back.

Tractors are a constant source of danger. Keep and eye on your surroundings. Trees often mean tractors are less likely, but open fields will tell you the state of the land and the likelyhood of farmers needing to tend it. Watch out for possible gaps in fences/hedges. The best indicators are usually dirt tracks on the road. Don’t just avoid these, read them.

While we’re at slow moving vehicles, don’t forget to warn other motorists. Give them the slow down arm signal (arm out straight to your side, move it up and down) to warn them of slow vehicles, horses, fallen trees… anything that may require them to be more aware and slow down. Be especially aware of trucks, coaches, trailers (yes, even horse trailers and caravans) and let them know. You don’t want to find one of them carving your lane or crashing on a bend in front of you because no one warned them of a danger.

Your biggest danger by far though has to be other bikes. Bikes fly around country lanes and often with little thought to who else might be coming the other way. Listen for them and think where they may cut corners or stick to the middle of the road. Be aware of bikes overtaking in the oncoming lane, or trying to overtake you (God forbid).

Many new riders hug the inside of bends and advanced training tells you to (generally) hug the outside. Use your judgement but be aware that bikes coming the other way may well be more central in the road, so if you are too… Also think about horses, tractors etc. you can’t see if you are too close to the apex. Never cut corners unless you have had a good view for some time. Consider where hidden entraces may be, and what could be over the crest. It’s easy to miss vehicles hidden by crests and dips.

Position is a constantly changing thing, but ride for yourself and consider everthing before deciding where to place yourself. Once confident and looking (and reading) far enough ahead (at least 1/2 mile) there is no reason to stick to your own side of the road. Use the oncoming lane for a better view. When overtaking, hang back in the oncoming lane to see earlier that it’s safe to move past. It’s very safe when done properly, and quite rewarding.

Speed is a factor on country roads too. They are often less uniform in width and offer far less visibility of the road itself. Undulations, sharper turns, poor signage, very tight turn offs and off cambers all contribute to requiring constant assessment of speed. Good overtaking is a skill, and one well learned on these roads. You will also find far less favorable road surfaces, so take care over those bumps, especially when leant over.

Oh, and watch those 30 limits; they are often there because of a particularly tight turn that if missed, will lead to you ending up in someones lounge.

These are just a few tips, and while neither comprehensive nor well structured, it should get you thinking about the right things when heading out of the city. For those that rarely do so, I hope it helps.

TWO WHEEL STARTERS

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:05 +0100

I wonder what sparks a passion for two wheels? Bicycles and motorcycles are often passions we have from a very young age and passions which tend to stick with us for a long time. I don’t remember when I first got interested in motorcycles, but I do recall my first two wheel experience.

Obviously when I was a kid I had kids bikes, with and without stabilisers. They were usually encrusted with poor rip-off paint jobs of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or some such. My first real bike though, the first one I chose came later.

I don’t know how old I was, or where I was but I do recall being upstairs in a blue carpeted cycle shop with my parents. At one end of the room were mountain bikes (MTBs) and at the other were road bikes. Early on I spotted a beautiful white road bike with dropped bars, skinny tires, light-weight frame and ten gears if I recall. It was built for speed, and it was cheap. I pleaded for hours with my parents to get it.

They weren’t convinced. Instead they tried to talk me into a black, bad-ass looking mountain bike. 21 useless gears, straight bars, made for giants and heavier than a bloated rhino. “You’ll grow into it.” I remember them saying. “It’s more fun, more versatile…” More tiring more like.

Eventually I caved and got the more expensive MTB. I loved it. I rode it everywhere. I wasn’t quick, didn’t venture too far off-road and I didn’t care. I was free and my medium pace coupled with my never-ending desire to keep going no matter what got me far. Even though I could barely lift it, and certainly couldn’t straddle it properly, a passion was born. A passion which quickly grew.

I rode that bike for years and years. It was the only bike I owned until it was stolen when I was 18. Later, I began riding motorcycles in it’s place. I’ve owned a few bikes since then, but I’ll never forget the white road bike that never was. I regret it to this day.

# PUNCTURES SUCK

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:00:06 +0100

There I was, on my longest ride to date on my new bike, way out in the middle of no-where, two thirds of the way around the ambitious circuit and feeling great. Suddenly something feels wrong—I’ve got a puncture!

Only then did I realise it was raining. Pushing it home I realise it’s so flat that even going up and down pavements is risking the rim. As I get back into Cheltenham I try a few cycle shops, but—being Sunday—they’re all closed.

Thankfully one was open—Leisure Lakes Cycles (LLC)—and they did a great job of fitting me straight in for a new tube fitting. I just had time to wander to Starbucks for some refreshment and to try and find a boutique shop I’d read about (which still evades me now).

All in I’d lost the mojo, but LLC had saved my mood at least. Riding home in the rain felt good. It occurred to me that £15 for a replacement tube (fitted) is a lot better than the £200 it cost me last time I had a flat on my Ninja.

Regardless, punctures suck.

# TRUE DESIRES

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:38:00 +0100

I don’t make new years resolutions for two reasons. Firstly, you can only make them at New Year’s. Secondly, you have to resolve to actually doing something. That might sound a bit funny, but let me explain a better way.

I make want lists. Instead of at New Year’s, they can be made at any time. It’s not even once a year—it could be 4 months after the last list, or 4 years. In my case, it tends to be around every 18 months. I also don’t resolve to do something, but to acknowledge I want a change. It’s a step before resolving to try something. Which itself is the step before actually doing something.

It solves the problem of a tendency to try to do something before you have really considered it, before you know it’s not a fleeting idea. Let me give you an example.

I, like many, tried to quit smoking countless times during the 8 years I smoked. Sometimes I really meant it, sometimes I ran out of cash, sometimes I did it to appease others. The problem is I never really wanted it. To want, is to have desire for a period of time. That period is indefinable, but it is longer than an hour, or a day. One day I simply woke up and decided I had considered it for long enough and I really, truly didn’t want to smoke anymore.

There are two subtle differences there: it was a long time considered, and I didn’t want to quit, I wanted to not smoke. The method worked and in 3 days the symptoms of being a recent smoker were well on their way to disappearing, and I felt great. Nearly 3 years later and I’m still really happy about it.

This was on my want list for a while. Probably about 2 years or more. The great thing about a want list is that it can change, and there is no anxiety about something being on the twice in a row—that’s progress because you still want the same thing

# TRY NEW THINGS

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:33:00 +0100

It appears I have a passion for all things 2-wheels. As anyone who’s spent time with me will know, I love motorcycles. I always have. Sportbikes to dirtbikes, it’s all part of the fun. The best thing I’ve ever bought was my Ninja—twice!

Recently however I have decided it’s time to try something else (as well). I’ve purchased myself a bicycle and I wanted to record a few intial thoughts, so bare with me.

I haven’t ridden a bicycle in nearly a decade, and I certainly haven’t ridden a road-bike before. I am used to mountain-bikes (MTBs) that are way too big and heavy for me. I’m used to 21 gears, massive brakes and straight bars. What I bought, age 26, is a single-speed road bike.

My new Kona feels tiny. It’s tall but oh so slight, weightless, and initially unstable. Quite different to the Ninja before peddling. I grew used to it quickly of course, but relative lack of off-the-line power and heavy braking takes a little longer. Hopefully my legs will grow powerful enough after years of neglect to use it properly.

Single-speed seemed interesting to me, and it is. It stops me from going too fast at times, makes it really tough for longer climbs and all round helps me work out (I think—not being an expert). It doesn’t seem easy anyway, which I guess is how it should be.

I’m exploring locally, really local. I’ve seen parts of Cheltenham already I had no idea existed. I’m getting an idea why people here don’t ride on the bike paths, footpaths or anywhere else without dual suspension. I’m quickly learining the terrain isn’t as flat as I imagined but I’m building quickly and enjoying it.

I hope to write about some of this in more depth as it’s interesting to me how little I knew [still know] about my local area and what treats there are if you bother to look. Until then, ride safe, whatever powers you.

Courier 7/

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:19:00 +0100

Empty bag at 5th and B’way

MacBook DVD drive dead =( (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:43:42 +0100

MacBook DVD drive dead =( (Taken with instagram)

Pressure in app development

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 07:21:51 +0100

I have been using it exclusively as my primary—nay, only—writing tool. Anything that needs writing (aside from tweets of course) gets written in Writer. It’s one of those rare, special apps.

Much of what makes Writer special is it’s simplicity, and that’s why I was sad to be informed by the Mac App Store that there was an update. Updates mean bug fixes which is great—new windows always opening under my Dock drives me crazy—but they also mean new features, and that’s not so great.

Writer is devoid of features by design, but that’s not to say that adding features isn’t a good idea. For a writing application based on using a markup language it only makes sense to allow document export that uses and shows the markup changes. It also makes sense to get it to open all standard text documents such as RTF in order to allow their editing. What I’m afraid of it bloat.

For me, adding even keyboard commands for auto-markup does, in a way, take a little from what makes Writer great. It’s useful for sure, but not quite in keeping with the feel of the app. There are many more and better examples being thrown over Twitter, and maybe that’s the problem.

Pressure from customers to add, adapt, even change the philosophy of an application can easily overwhelm a developer. I urge the guys at iA and all other devs around the world—remember your vision and stand up for it. For the likes of Writer it should be pretty easy—it’s what made it popular in the first place isn’t it? Do more of that.

Long time blog

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 11:03:06 +0100

I don’t write a lot of blogs anymore. You probably realised that. The main reason is redundancy. Odds are I will write about one of two things; tech or bikes. Both have their shortcomings.

If I write about tech then not only is it likely old news, it’s often not going to be in depth enough to say anything you couldn’t get from better sources.

If I write about bikes then the vast majority of people reading this will simply ignore it, and those that don’t would usually be better off getting a more interactive, thoughful discussion from me in person.

Shorter notes on either topic are often discussed on twitter and the rest probably doesn’t matter. All that said, I do have a few topics I’d like to talk about coming up, so perhaps I can find an angle that keeps us all interested until I’ve finished them.

In the mean time, hit me up on @houltmac and say hi!

iPad is new remember

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:38:00 +0000

Some iPad notes:

Keyboard

My first experience using a touch based, software keyboard was the iPhone. At first it was odd not feeling the keys under my fingers but i soon got used to it. The main thing everyone says about the iPhone Keyboard is that you need to trust it and just keep going. Learning this is like learning very counter intuitive, but it works and eventually you can get very quick at typing—possibly even more so than on BlackBerry devices as someone once blogged.

The iPad is a little different. Instead of learning from scratch (due to the size of the iPhone screen) you feel that the landscape keyboard is the same as a standard MacBook keyboard and so old reflexes and muscle memories can become a nuisance.

There are three big issues I find when typing on the iPad; lazy finger, special characters, and going too fast.

Lazy finger is simply that I never previously noticed how much I tend to allow my right pinkie to rest on the keyboard. On a touch keyboard that will have disastrous consequences (new lines, caps, and completely inappropriate words).

The same goes for special characters. I often find myself trying to type the apostrophe when I get flowing which again tends to result in a return instead. Any which way it’s not good. The same rule applies here as applies on the iPhone though—trust the software and keep going. The other side of the characters issue is simply typing in markdown. It’s not too painful, since most markdown is simply plain text, but it can become tiresome changing to the second character pallet after a while. Writer has added an extra line to the iPad keyboard which id very handy. I’d like to see this kind of thing added to a markdown editor with those characters instead.

As a side note: the iPad keyboard auto-correction does seem a little less predictable than the iPhones, especially with device names (proper case in iPad for example works 50% of the time only) and I is often not capitalised by itself. The space bar is also a little more awkward I find (often typing a lower line letter instead).

The final part of the puzzle is simply trying to go too fast. I can certainly type faster on my MacBook Air keyboard than this iPad keyboard, but I’m getting there. There is certainly a danger of trying to run before you can walk here though, and it all stems from the same single issue:

It might be the size of a standard keyboard, but it’s not so learn new muscle memory and habits for it.

Orientation

I find the iPhone has a natural portrait orientation for my uses. It gets quite annoying when led in bed and the orientation freaks out. I was relived when the software lock button was added for that.

The iPad feels very different there though. Firstly, its size means it’s more difficult to accidentally change orientation, which is brilliant. Then I also find I want to change orientation more.

I like certain things landscape, and some portrait. For example, my favourite app is Twitter and due to it’s column view style it just begs to be used in landscape or it feels very odd. Equally, I find the landscape keyboard much quicker/easier to type on.

Other things are obviously better in portrait however, like reading long documents or web pages. Instapaper is a portrait must.

I have noticed that while reading long articles in portrait view however, I rarely get more than 2/3 down the screen before scrolling. That seems a little counterintuitive but also quite natural.

The iPad is a fantastic device, but in many ways it has to be remembered that it’s neither a laptop, nor an iPhone because old habits die hard.

@replies

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:35:00 +0000

I use Twitter a lot. I love the new website design, which for a while even stopped me using Twitter for iPhone and Tweetie (Twitter for Mac) before Twitter for iPad snapped me out of that. There is one truly annoying bug in all the official Twitter software however: @replies.

For example:

I’d like to see what @donmowry is responding to in his reply. On the website I can see what @gruber said to warrant such a response.

twitter.com example

Sadly, on any of the official software, I loose that ability. What’s up with that Twitter?

Twitter for iPhone example

Twitter for iPad example

Tweetie for Mac example

iPad forges future

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:57:00 +0000

“This will be the start of something amazing.”

That was my first thought when I used the iPad for the first time a few months back. The experience of touching your data, touching the internet and feeling this connection with your computer was truly astounding.

A few months later, having given the work iPad back I found myself doubting my earlier impressions. There is more the Mac can do right? Well, sorta. I have temporarily replaced my MacBook Pro with an iPad until my MacBook Air arrives next week. For the past few days I have found only 2 things I haven’t been able to do outside of work (and work will change soon by the sound of things, but that’s another story):

Edit Airport base station settings
Download torrents

I can only imagine that Apple will eventually find a better (nay, elegant) way to setup an Airport network, torrents may be a different thing though. That said, I have no issue paying for content if it’s made available to me conveniently and Apple are on their way to making that dream a reality.

I have read more than one interesting article recently regarding the iPad’s future and the future of Mac OS. The most notable of course was John Gruber who recently wrote a piece for MacWorld magazine. Johns basic premise is that the Mac still has a place as a heavy lifter for things the iPad can’t or won’t do and that eventually Mac OS may disappear.

I’d agree with that. Of course there are things that the Mac OS will do that the iPad can’t, but those will soon be fewer than many are crediting I believe. More than that though, Mac OS has been a testing ground for all much of what makes iOS great for nearly a decade, and I can only see that being more true as the two world slowly collide; like tectonic shifts.

The future for the iPad is bright, and I really can see it becoming integral to my personal workflow over the coming years. I have spoken about the benefits of working on an iOS device before, and I will again soon, but I really think the benefits out way the cons.

The only things I have come to dislike about the iPhone also happens to be the reason I like it so much: I get everything in one bucket. Work, play, family, it’s all available to me on my iPhone. Sadly, it means it’s all mixed up on my iPhone too which has its own issues. My personal stuff can be a small but costly distraction during the working day, while work emails can be a real annoyance at the weekend. so far the iPad has been 100% personal for me, and for now I’m happy with that.

5by5 - top geek talk

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:03:16 +0000

I really do love podcasts. I was never a fan of radio, purely because there weren’t many shows that interested me, and they were all on at odd times. Podcasting fixed all that, and brought audio shows to light for me.

From Adam Christianson’s MacCast to TMO’s MacGeekGab, I have subscribed to many tech podcasts. TWiT, Buzz Out Loud, Systm… there are so many. Over the past year I have let much of that go, as I have gravitated toward video online more and more.

Recently I have started listening to more podcasts again and there is one person to thank for that: Dan Benjamin.

Dan runs an internet broadcasting network (much like TWiT or Revision3) called 5by5. The company began in 2009, off the back of the first series of podcasts Dan produced with John Gruber, called The Talk Show. Since then Dan and John have completely reinvented the The Talk Show, which is remains their flagship, and added many shows more besides.

Dan now produces 14 shows of various kinds, all based around things associated with geek culture. Dan is joined by Jeffrey Zeldman to produce The Big Web Show, Christina Warren for Briefly Awesome, Marco Arment for Build and Analyze and many other interesting, famous and entertaining guests for his interview show The Pipeline.

These shows are incredibly well put together, with very high production values and have a feeling of being produced by a very small, but high quality studio. Everything is so well executed, down to the album artwork and the website. I have no idea where Dan finds his intro music, but it’s completely inspired and sets the tone right from the off.

I can’t recommend these shows highly enough. I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed if you are in any way geeky or interested in tech and the internet.

Ultimate browser?

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 19:28:11 +0000

Every now and then I decide to try using a different browser for a while. It always ends in the same conclusion: I prefer Safari overall. The interesting thing is that it’s always for a different reason.

The past few weeks I have been using Google Chrome. It’s a really great browser. I love how fast it is, how self-contained, and the omnibus is brilliant. I also enjoyed the extensions. I used:

The problem is that all these extensions feel slow and fugally. Consistently delivering false positives and false negatives is not what you’d look for in a notifier. That said, Google Mail Checker became such a part of my workflow that I actually stopped using Apple Mail for a while. Overall though, they just don’t work.

There are a bunch of little things I love about Chrome, mostly the Omnibar - that just begs to be ripped off, it works so well. I love how it’s a search bar as well as an address bar - that just makes sense. I also love how well it deciphers what I mean, or want as a result. I also love how it colour-codes the information in the bar for easy reading. Wonderful engineering done properly.

I much prefer the tab behaviour in Chrome. If you Command-click a link in Chrome in tab 1 of 2, the new tab will open between the two existing tabs. New tabs will always open just right of the current set. It’s much easier to navigate this way.

I can also sync all my info and prefs through my Gmail account - a great touch.

A few weeks later, I have moved back to Safari now, with some small differences, and I am enjoying it a lot. I have installed a bunch of Safari Extensions to replace the ones Chrome offered. These extensions work so much better that I can’t say I miss the Chrome ones at all.

I now have my bookmark shortcuts back, which means easy access to top used websites with even less typing. I miss the omibar and the tab behaviour from Chrome but have made up for it in flash elimination.

John Gruber recently wrote about how to go Flash-free on OS X. I highly recommend it. Most sites serve up HTML5 content seamlessly. YouTube5 extension does a better job of serving non-flash content than their official HTML5 beta, and you don’t get the in-video ads either. If you get totally desperate (iPlayer) you can always turn to Chrome (which has it’s own built-in Flash support). It’s a brilliant experience I can’t recommend highly enough.

Techs do it too

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:27:09 +0000

I work for an ASAP, repairing Macs all day and warning customers to backup their machines, be careful of drinks near their machines and so on. All the usual nuggets of common sense come through automatically - it’s the same few speeches over and over. Well don’t think for a second this doesn’t come from experience.

About 5 or 6 years ago I was sat on the couch sending emails on my PowerBook. It was only 6 months old and I had carelessly left the power adapter cord strewn across the room. The mail came, the dog went nuts and when running for the door, tripped over the cord, ripped the laptop from me and smashed it on the floor. Expensive, but repairable.

A few years ago, Chris, one of our techs got married. He took all the honeymoon photos off the camera (deleted them) and stuck them in iPhoto (pre-Flickr integration). 2 days later his hard drive died - no backup. We tried for weeks to recover those photos but to this day his wife hasn’t forgotten his incompetence.

Yesterday, I was sat at work, minding my own business. I reached over my desk and grabbed my headphones. Somehow, the headphones brought with them a giant mug of tea (ironically, it was a Microsoft Office branded mug). My MacBook Pro fizzed and popped. I managed to get the hard drive out in time to save it (though dropped it and damaged the motor I think). Oddly, my backups were in a state of transition and I failed them (all 4 of them). I’m recovering the data now and a new laptop is on order.

The point is that we don’t lecture for no reason - we’ve been there. We’ve paid the money and felt the pain. That’s why we are so cautious with customer machines.

Personal disaster recovery

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 21:05:41 +0000

Today was probably the most disastrous day of Mac ownership for me. I had previous smashed the casing on my old PowerBook when the dog tripped over the cord, but this really took the biscuit. I was at work when I leaned over the desk to grab my headphones. Somehow, I managed to bring a fresh cup of tea with them and soaked my MacBook Pro.

Worse in this situation was that it wasn’t the “posh” tea I’m so fond of but the office garbage. As such it was full of milk and more importantly, sugar. It is fried. No ifs, no buts, fried.

While I wait for my new MacBook Air (and indeed insurance claim), I will be using the dreaded loaner from work. I know I should be thankful I have anything at all for the next couple of weeks, but damn this thing is a dog. It’s an original MacBook Pro 15”. 1.83GHz Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo, so just 32-bit) with 1GB RAM and an 80GB hard drive. I realise many people are on far worse machines but bare in mind it’s the loaner. The hard drive has paid its dues, the screen is hanging off, the fans are crying their final cries and as I found out earlier the battery is simply dead weight.

I am so glad I still have my iPhone, but there are some things I simply require a computer for (such as much of the software we use at work). While setting this machine up today I realised how dependant I am on two services:

[Dropbox]
[1Password]

On attempting to download Dropbox app earlier the website happened to go down for maintenance for maybe 4 or 5 minutes. It was very distressing. I didn’t have the app and I couldn’t download my data. Thankfully it came online shortly thereafter but I was hit with another barrier: agilewebsolutions website was also down. So now I had my passwords, but I had no way of getting to them.

Thankfully I found an old copy of the software which was new enough to open the keychain (even without the update I couldn’t have downloaded) right from Apple.com. Lucky. Just download [Chrome] and I’m good to go - the rest I can now access with my passwords, serials and the work software server (for safe keeping).

So remember folks - this storing online can come in handy, but only if you have access to the services. Thanks to both companies who saved my bacon today though.

Mac users: geek out

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:58:35 +0000

My favourite podcast

I have been a fan of podcasting about as long as I’ve been a fan of Macs. I guess I first started regularly listening to podcasts about 6 years ago when Adam Christianson started the MacCast.

Many other podcasts have come and gone since then¹, but there is one I have grown with since the very first episode and one which I can’t imagine not hearing every week; The Mac Geek Gab.

Hosted by TMO’s Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun, MGG is a wonderful show, chock full of useful tips, tricks and other geekery. Topics are well explained and ranges from the fairly simple to stump the geek challenges.

The real heart of the show is the user feedback. Users write and call in to ask and answer questions, build on previous discussions and even correct previous slights. It’s not something that can be summed up in words, but if you are at all geeky and a fan of the Mac then the 300th show has just been recorded and so you have plenty of back catalogue to learn from.

Check it out and don’t get caught!²

Not least, The Talk Show and You Look Nice Today ↩
One of the show’s ongoing tag lines ↩

Airprint Hacktivator

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:59:58 +0000

I was complaining earlier that Airprint in iOS4.2 doesn’t currently support more than a few HP printers. Since we use Xerox at work and I use Brother at home I was not looking good.

Since then, [@PorthosJon][@pj] has pointed out a workaround called [Airprint Hacktivator][aph]. Essentially it’s a 262KB download which you unzip, run, turn on and then head to your System Preferences. Remove and re-add any printer you want to print to from your iOS device and be sure to tick the *Share this printer on the network* box.

That’s it. From now on you can print from your iPhone (or whatever). Emails, webpages, all sorts. Get printing!

*Be mindful of printing lots of course - wouldn’t want to kill too many trees just because printing is cool again).*

[@pj]: http://twitter.com/porthosjon
[aph]: http://netputing.com/airprinthacktivator/

Airprint... kinda

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:26:28 +0000

Just a quick note for anyone not able to find any details about why they still can’t print from their IOS4.2 devices. It seems that a few much awaited features had to be (hopefully) temporarily crippled to make sure IOS4.2 was released sharpish. Gruber has some more on that.

Anyway, the following is a list of currently supported printers from Apple:

Works with AirPrint-enabled printers.

AirPrint works seamlessly with a new generation of wireless printers from HP.

AirPrint-enabled printers

HP Envy e-All-in-One series (D410a)

HP Photosmart Plus e-AiO (B210a)

HP Photosmart Premium e-AiO (C310a)

HP Photosmart Premium Fax e-AiO (C410a)

HP Photosmart e-AiO (D110)

HP Photosmart eStation (C510)

HP LaserJet Pro M1536dnf Multifunction Printer

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fn Color Multifunction Printer

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw Color Multifunction Printer

HP LaserJet Pro CP1525n Color Printer

HP LaserJet Pro CP1525nw Color Printer

Not yet

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:29:06 +0000

A couple of images

Being that it hasn’t yet been long enough for my readers, I thought I’d hold off another proper blog post for a couple more days. In the mean time, here are a few links that caught my eye over the past days (don’t worry, none of them are TSA related).

Not so funny - auto-correct gone wrong
Cute but funny - baby photo
A brilliant idea - traffic lights of the future¹

I admit there is an issue with colour-blindness here, but that can be easily overcome. ↩