Jamie & Lion

The personal thoughts and writing of Jamie Knight and his trusty feline companion Lion. Covering Design, Autism, Lego and Technology!

[jamieknight]

4 Devices, 3 Connections.

There are two personal tech trends which i find interesting. The number of devices i own and the number of internet connections to support them.

A quick chat to friends and family confirmed my suspicions. Owning multiple computers and devices is becoming normal. My partner and myself both own 4 computing devices of different types. We each own a laptop, a smartphone , and an iPad. We also share a desktop.

Each machine has its own purpose. For example we use our laptops mostly for writing and chatting online. Our smartphones for on the move browsing and listening, tablets for consumptions (films, books, watching F1) and finally the desktop for heavy tasks such as gaming and software development.

I’m not sure if combining all of these devices into one magical device would work all that well. One thing i have considered recently is to sell on my smartphone in the name of simplicity. I dont need to be able to tweet from a lift and check email on the move.

It is possible the tablet and laptop may converge. While i am happy enough tapping away on the iPad the lack of a pointing device makes writing an exercise in frustration for me. Untill i find text input more paletable the iPad wont be replacing my laptop. However, as thats all i now use my laptop for i wont be replacing it for the forseeable future. I’m genuinely hoping to get 5 years usage out of my current laptop!

Perhaps, once it’s time for an update the iPad will have usurped it and it will never be replaced. Wow, that’s a moment for pause. This could possibly be my last ever personal laptop….

It’s not looking all that great for the desktop either. It’s used for three main purposes (Gaming, media serving and development). Our gaming behavoiur is moving away from the desktop at a pace, i can see a future where media is served from the cloud which leaves only development. The reality is, these days i dont do much of that at home anyway.

Interestingly, the only device which i dont see being replaced in the future is the iPad. Ironic considering when i brought it i was pretty convinced i had no need for such a thing.

So in summery right now i am a 4 device guy and i see many others moving that way. However, people seem to be upgrading devices less often.

3 Net Connections.

Alongside having four devices, i have 3 net connections each with different providers. Though, i didn’t engineer the diferent providers situation on purpose.

I have a landline broadband connection, a data plan for my phone and a seperate 3G dongle. All the plans are of a resonably similar price. The broadband connection is shared and costs me less than £10 a month. The 3G dongle is even less (about £5) and finally my phone data plan sits in the middle (£8 a month).

Again, these three connections provide different things. The broadband connection is my high bandwidth fast connection at home. Used for most net traffic, downloads, streaming and the like. My phone connection is always with me and offers convenience and finally the 3G modem is cheap enough it’s worth keeping as a backup and for connecting my laptop on the go.

Personally i see all of these connections being combined into one device capable of providing and sharing a fast connection at home and on the move. That device may just be my next iPad…. If i need to download anything truly massive (such as iTunes purchases) then i can use the free connection in the local shopping centre, or in work. Though, that said, with the connections being as cheap as they are. There is no immdiate rush to be rid of them.

I suppose, where i am now may just be the limit of what i think i can handle when it comes to devices and connections. 4 devices seems pretty absurd and i expect at least one will never be replaced. 3 connections is pretty mad but then with the low cost and high convienece it’s no bad thing.

In my personal future, not far out (3 years perhaps) i think i will own less devices and pay for less connections. If i had to guess i think the iPad would take over and with it a single mobile data plan for use at home and on the move.

[jamieknight]

iPad (3rd Gen): First Impressions.

So, Apple released a new iPad. Unsurprisingly its faster than the last version and has better specs in keys areas. I own the original iPad which is starting to get long in the tooth. I picked up an iPad 3 to give it a whirl and see how it compares to my 1st gen model. These are my first reviews after a few hours with the device at home.

The one line review would be: Great screen. doesn’t feel slow. It’s thinner, lighter and has a better case.

Getting set up.

The Packaging is simple to open and robust, the first start process takes you through a few screens before landing you on the home screen.

It took me a few minutes to get a few of my favourite apps installed. From opening the box to reading my RSS feed in reader was around 6 minutes.

First impressions

I tend towards using the iPad for media consumption. A mix of reading, web browsing and watching media streamed from the iMac. The new screen makes a big difference to all of these activities. Text is pin sharp and easier to read.

The increase in resolution makes a noticeable difference to the 720p video files i stream from the iMac. Colours are better and the whole picture is sharper.

The extra resolution in safari makes text and some screen graphics super sharp. However, images and other page furniture can appear blurry if its using an image. The blurry edge to text rendered as an image is very noticeable and distracting.

Compared to the Original iPad.

I skipped the iPad 2 as it offered little more than my original iPad. Skipping a generation has made the differences more pronounced. The screen improvement alone is worth the upgrade. Combined with the thinner and lighter form factor the new iPad is very compelling.

Wrap up.

A few hours in and the new iPad is making a good case for itself. It improves on my first generation iPad in almost every area. If you own a 1st gen iPad then it looks to be a worthy upgrade.

[jamieknight]

Nokia E61 and the Mobile Web

I spent a very enjoyable day in mancherster yesterday to ateend Standards.Next. The Topic of the day, was Mobile. the inspiration for this article was the opening talk about the mobile web before the iPhone etc came along.

Im a fogetful sod, so i thought it would be worth getting down my experiences being entirely reliant on a E61 for communication a number of years ago.

Back in around 2007 i was living in a “hotel” room without a normal internet connection avaliable or a traditional computer. For a period of a number of months, my only way of communicating with the world was via an Nokia E61 smartphone.

I used it on the british 3 network, i used 3 becuase using MSN on the phone was free. I would then, occasionally, by extra data when i wanted to read something specific. As it happens this is how i read the first Simple Steps articles by Mark Boulton.

At the time that little phone with its QWERTY keyboard was a real lifesaver, it allowed me to keep in contact with my friends online when i had just been moved hundreds of miles away. It was also very very frustrating. The browser on the E61 was extremely basic and surfing anything but dedicated mobile / WAP sites was slow and fiddily.

While it was frustrating, slow and all round a bit shit, it provided a really important lifeline into the outside world. It allowed for entertainment, comunication and social activities which otherwise would not have been possible for me.

These days i have a fast broadband connection and a MacBook available for my use. However sometimes i still prefer to sit (or lay) in bed browsing around or reading RSS feeds on my phone. There is a saying that the best camera is the one you have with you. I think it’s the same for the the web. The best web browser / connected device is the one i have near me. Thats often my phone. With the ability to show full sites and with a plethroa of apps for social media it can do most of what i need most of the time. This is especially true for my personal usage outside of my Work.

It’s nothing new to say it, but i do believe in a future where more and more people use thier phones as thier primary means of accsessing the internet. For me, it’s almost true today. Which brings me full circle back to my experiences using the little E61.

[jamieknight]

Exploring HiDPI in Mountain Lion

As a heavy user of Mac OSX screen zooming, i thought it was time to take a good look at what the Mountain Lion Beta offers in the shape of improved HiDPI support. I wondered if HiDPI could provide an answer to my vision issues.

HiDPI (High Dots Per Inch) is the Mac implimentation of the double resolution technology used on the iPhone 4 and shortly the iPad. However, as we dont have the super high resolution screens for our Macs yet, the net result is a doubling in the size of everything in the Mac UI. This means that for every 1 pixel at normal resolutions HiDPI uses four. Even though all the graphics have doubled in side most things stay pin sharp. (more on that later.) This massively aids readability and visibility for poeple like myself with poor image processing.

Mountain Lion

In past versions of OSX doubling the screen DPI broke the UI quite badly. I last tried HiDPI when Snow Leopard came out, and most things were visually broken. In the screen shot below of Coda the task bar is completey screwed. Still usable, but only just!

This is to be expected, HiDPI is not a released. It’s hidden away in the developer tools for a reason. So last time i went back to my normal screen zooming technique. With the release of Lion and Mountain lion many site reported that HiDPI was more robust so i felt it was time to give it another go.

27” iMac, thinks it’s a MacBook.

I have installed the Mountain Lion beta on my 11” MacBook Air. Its my personal machine and not used for work, so its a safe place to experiment. The inbuilt screen on the 11” MacBook Air is not compatible with HiDPI mode. Its too small, after the pixel doubling the resolution drops below the minuim resolution OSX requires. In order to use HiDPI i hooked the Air up to my work machine, a 27” iMac.

Even on the high resolution (2560 x 1440) 27” panel the workspace once HiDPI is enabled is only 1280 x 720. For context thats a little smaller than the resolution of the 13” MacBook Pro. However, its more than enough room for my day to day computing.

Performance

My little 11” MacBook Air is no powerhouse and running the large moniter at double resolution is a but much for it. Scrolling smoothly in safari is not possible. Scrolling in Chrome was smooth, however chrome was not being pixel doubled so the point it mute. Of course, the effect on battery life is not so important for this test. I’m using the iMacs display so its easy enough to just plug the MacBook in.

Rough Edges

Overall i am very impressed with HiDPI. It really has lived up to my expectations. The only app i have noticed which dont support HiDPI is iTunes. Even then, iTunes still works, its toolbar is just a little pixelated. Another issues is web page graphics. Text which once appeared sharp is not blurry and sometimes unreadable. Luckily, this is mostly adverts.

Better than Zooming?

With the few hours i have been using HiDPI it has won me over. I dont plan to continue using screen zooming on my MacBook when i am at home. Screen zooming web pages often makes them fuzzy and browser zooming often breaks pages. HiDPI does not have this problem. Text is rendered pin sharp and reading is much easier.

[jamieknight]

3 Apple Predictions.

If you read here often you may have noticed my interest in Apple and Macs. I’m a big fan of the platform! Below are three predictions for the next 5 years. I am probably completely wrong but hey if prediciting the future was easy everyone would be doing it.

Prediction 1: OS X released as open source software.

The Mac market is growing, but iOS devices account for 71% of Apples profits. [1] iOS is often viewed as a gateway to the Mac. I see a future that is the exact oposite. Apple use OSX to win iOS users. There are two reasons i think this:

1: Apple are crazy enough to cannibalise thier Mac sales in order to better establish themselves in the “post-pc” world. Open sourcing OSX, while possibly killing Mac sales. would turn it into a gateway onto massively profitable iOS devices and mindshare. Not to mention making entry to the Apple ecosystem free.

2:If OSX can be assumed, resources can be pulled from developing windows versions of iTunes. The experience of syncing etc can also be improved.

This could also serverly damage one of Microsofts major profit centres. It would be a very interesting move.

Prediction 2: Merge the MacBook product lines.

Apple likes simple product lines, it likes to remove competing options. I predict a world where Apple have a single MacBook product line from 11” to 15”. They drop the 17” model entirely. All of the models are like the current MacBook Air, use SSDs and dont have optical drives. Perhaps the 15” model also includes a space for a larger mechnical hard drive. Perhaps a super low end 11” MacBook Air would use an ARM CPU but i think thats a longshot.

Predicition 3: iPad remains a lone product

For now, i dont see what Apple gains from splitting the iPad into a product line. Apple can sell every iPad they make easily and growth is strong. Adding a (cheaper) 8” form factor would just reduce profit per sale. Sales of 8” tablets have been weak and Apple would be better to stay focussed on the high end of the market. This one could go either way though, this is my least confident prediction.

So what do you think? Am i missing something obvious or do you have your own predictions? Please let me know in the comments.

[1] http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/25/ios-enables-71-of-apple-profits-with-platform-products-make-up-93-of-gross-margin/

[jamieknight]

Groking Responsive Web Design

When responsive design first came along i was curious but also not hugely impressed. From my perspective (accsessbility / client work) it looked like something which would work well for many clients but was just another bonus feature or add on. For most of my day to day clients with limited budgets, the time was better spent improving the Content, Quality or Functionality of the web site in question. It also looked something of a fad. Making it work in the real world was / is tough.

Part of this came from my perspective on mobile sites. For the clients i use to work with less than 10% ever had a mobile version of thier site. So to ‘complicate’ the current process (adding time and cost, at least at first) to build something which had not been asked for felt a little strange and i pushed back.

Now i consider it slightly differently. There are still a number of unresolved issues with responsive web design* but i no longer consider it an add on. Its now something that projects get for a cost of damn close to zero.

The reason is that building things to be adaptive or responsive no longer takes much additional time. There is some slight complexity (due to learning things as i go) but this also bring a richness and interest back to my work.

I dont work with many outside clients since i started at the BBC. However since i have been at the BBC i have been very strongly focused on moving forward with standards, and utilising what we can when it makes sense to do so. Whether that be using CSS for dropdowns (including keyboard controls), gingerly adopting HTML5 or exploring flexibox. This makes my work interesting day to day and that has a value all of its own.

If building something responsive / adaptive does not add to the cost of the project, then its not limiting scope in more important areas, thus its worth doing. As my client workflow has matured this is now more of less the case.

Responsive design is not the solution for all of the problems all of the time. But when it is effectively free, its providing value and thats a good thing. Even more so if it challenges me to improve as a crafter of websites.

One major issue still outstanding is allowing users to opt out of mobile experiences if they want the full version. This is an accsessbility and UX issue, but there are options out there to help!

[jamieknight]

Wrapped up in the service model.

A recent twitter exchange highlighted something to me, 140 characters was not enough to explain my point so here it is a “quick blogpost” format!

The original post was along the lines off:

re builders “If they can’t keep up with their emails then I don’t think I’d trust them to build a house for us” fair?

This is my answer.

The short answers is: “not fair” as it’s a builder, give them a call.

The long answer is that the ability to answer email, is not a good benchmark of a good builder!

I think as we (as web professionals / freelancers) are both “tech” and “service” based we tend to assume that anyone else has to be service based and tech literate to be good at what they do. I really strongly believe this to be false. It may win them more clients or make them more money. But they can still be very good at what they do.

I was recently in the position to have some custom furniture made by a carpenter. It was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life, untill i took a step back and looked at the assumtions i had made.

The carpenter i worked with was very exprienced, he made things, his wife helped him handle the admin etc. He is a very good carpenter, with dozens of years experience. He did not do well with email (he spends the whole day using his hands) but did do extremely well on the phone. He used a headset so he could work and talk.

One of the top mountain bike suspension servicing companies in the world (TF Tuned) work the same way. If you want an answer, phone as they are not at the computer. 

Untill i understood that the phone was how he gave the best customer service i was very frustarted, and so was he. Assuming he was either a) Incompetent, or b) running his business badly was a gross oversimplification of what it is to run a business. Or specifically, his business.

Now i come to think of it, i use to do something similar when i was self employed. If a client came to me and only wanted to communicate over the phone i would have turned down the work. As the phone works badly for me. It was a clear sign, upfront we may not work well together.

Email works the same way for others. What’s more, if someone is demanding i communicate with them in a way i find very difficult; because “they are paying” then thats an another clear sign that we wont work well together. Thats not a client relationship i want.

At the end of the day, with something like a builder, what matters is the overall quality. If as the client i need to comunicate using a tool which works for them in order to get the best quality / results, then thats a very small hurdle for me to jump through. Its worth it for the quality!

The carpenter i worked with taught me lots about customer service, my frustration was something i knew other clients felt with me. I could then empathise and do something about it in the future. I also got some fantastic high quality furniture at an amazing price.

Based on the experiences above (and having builders as clients!) i believe that email is an extremely poor metric for quality in buiders and tradesman. They dont sit infront of a computer all day like i do, so its better to give them a ring.

Finally, if a client was to play the i’m paying therefore comunicate how i tell you too card on me. I would simply not work with that client, its not worth my hassle and does not sound like the start of a good creative client relationship.

Naturally all of this applies to context too, if i’m hiring a freelance web developer / designer then i would expect excelent email skills and quite rightly stop working with people who used it poorly.

All of the above is my opinion, i’m sure many will disagree. But its interesting, or i think it is anway!

[jamieknight]

Web Performance

Is it me or is surfing the using alot more CPU than it use to? I have a pretty nippy MacBook Air yet i am increasingly finding websites which will max out the CPU simply while browsing, or scrolling long pages.

I’m not sure of the reasons, but here are a few thoughts. Let me know what you think.

Some Thoughts

When i noticed this i thought it was pretty weird, browsers have been getting faster and faster in recent years. So why should my web experince feel slower? I think its to do with the rate of complexity growth versus the performance increases.

As browsers perform better, we have them do more stuff. Which should be fine, but i wonder if large pages are now doing propotionally more than the performance increases means we can get away with. For example, if we have a 2x performance boost, but we do 3x as much stuff then we end up with ~33% performance decrease for the end user. I’m not sure if this is the case, but i have noticed it tends to be newer sites which cause the most problems.

Pushing Pixels

Another area which contributes to stuttering could simply be the sheer number of pixels browsers are pushed these days.

My little 11” MacBook screen has more pixels on it than an average desktop of just 2 or 3 years ago. Most browser activity is not enhanced by the GPU so it means more work for the CPU when drawing so many pixels.

From time to time i use my MacBook with on a larger screen. Unsuprisingly, when pushing a 27” screens worth of pixels it has a hard time keeping up in the browser. I think simply the number of pixels web browsers manage and rendering on the CPU is a big factor in performance.

Frameworks

Another aspect is that it now much easier to do things in the browser than it has been in the past. With frameworks like jQuery its easy to build very complex pages with dozens or even hundreds of animated elements. Just in my own work i have seen a massive increase in the amount of JS on modern websites. The combination of a perception of great performance, and easy tools combines to bite us in the foot a little.

Other Services

Browsing is not the only things our computers are doing. Its not even the only thing our browsers are doing. Browser features (such as image snapshots of every page in history, complex animated GUIS etc) also consume resources and add to the burden.

Further to this for users such as myself i am also running other complex and heavy processes for example Voiceover and text to speech. Even something simple (like spell checking) is not the cheapest thing in the world.

Slow Trumps Choppy

Personally dont care if something feels slow as long as it is smooth. So lets unpick that. What i mean is that if a process takes a while (anything up to 0.4-0.5 secs i guess) i really do not mind. However, if something is stuttering it really annoys me.

So for example, pausing animation or not showing images when i scroll is great if i means the scrolling is smooth. But trying to show everything and failing is not very pleasent at all. A very small amount of stuttering makes a slow experience feel worse than a faster experience which is less smooth. At least to me.

So what?

So what am i getting at eh! I have made up some ideas as to why; but what am i going to do about it. Both now and longer term.

Well, first up i have switched browsers and disabled flash. Thats about all the practical stuff i can think off really. I also try to keep my browser window a little smaller, but i dont think that has that much actual effect. For me, it has a perceieved effect though, less of the screen stuttering feels faster (or at least, less slow!).

On a wider base i do consider browser performance to be important with my work. Recently i have been pushing hard to get as much functionality out of the JS as sensibly possible. For example, using css hovers (and focus) fo doing menus and dropdowns etc. It just helps to keep the amount of JS activity down. I wonder if this actully translates to better performance. On one of the projects i spend most of my time working on, i certainly prefer the site with JS disabled.

Bigger bigger picture?

So, on the big big picture there is somethere here about performance. We can assume performance will always be improving in the future (moores law etc etc), however that is not an excuse to not work on it now. The web is a platform for all, not just for people with fast computers.

[jamieknight]

2010 Mac Mini Review

I know, its a bit weird, writing a review for something you have just sold… i agree it’s a bit daft but i thought it would be good to share my experiences with the Mac Mini for those who are interested.

I only owned my 2010 Mac Mini for about 6 months in the end. It was a replacement for an aging 1.66ghz Mac Mini i purchased in 2006. Over the 6 months the 2010 mac mini had been used a number of ways, as a normal desktop hooked up to a few different displays (a 24” Cinema Display, and a cheap Samsung Display) and as a media centre under the TV.

This review will try to both review how the Mac Mini performs as a desktop computer, and how it works as a media centre.

Design

The Mac Mini is a very well designed little box. Inside its basically a unibody MacBook but without a screen or keyboard. This leaves you with a small, rounded aluminuim block with the port on the back and a DVD drive upfront.

The unibody construction is extremely sturdy, during my time with the Mini i dropped a few things on and it was completely unscathed. I do wonder why exactly a desktop needs such sturdy construction in the first place however it does add to the fit and finish of the product.

The ports are on the back of the computer, the highlights are a HDMI port, an SD Card Reader and a Mini Displayport. This means the Mini i capable of running two screens.

This is something i did, at one stage i had the Mac Mini plugged into a display on the desk, with a long HDMI lead connecting it to the TV on the other side of the room. This meant that we could use it as a desktop, and use it for playing back media.

Sadly, managing this arrangement is a little fiddly so we rarely used it. However, for occasional use it works well.

I was not that impressed with the HDMI port, no matter what screen i connected it too there were issues. On my Samung TV (a 40” 2009 model) the picture was terrible. Even after spending hours messing with TV setting i never got it to look right. The same was true of a 24” Samsung moniter i tried with the system.

However, connected to the 24” LED Cinema Display there were no such issues, so your experiences may be better.

As a Desktop

As a small footprint desktop computer the Mac Mini performs very well. Handling all the day to day compuing needs easily. Its not a powerhouse but it was good enough for basic gaming and media needs.

The Mac Mini was also used for web design and development work. With 8gb of RAM installed it performed very well with fireworks and coda.

The Mac Mini also acted as a media server for the house sharing a large (multi-terabyte) iTunes library.

As a midrange desktop the 2010 Mac Mini performs well and will cover the needs of most. The small size, super low energy usage and near silent operation all add up to make for a well balenced and impressive package.

As a Media Centre.

Alongside its role as a desktop, the Mac Mini was also purchased to work as a media centre. For a short while it sat under the TV connected via HDMI.

This is where the Mac Mini really underperformed, however the issue was only partially the hardware. While the HDMI port problems were annoying the real show stopper was the software. Much of our media is from iTunes, so that left us with Frontrow for playback. Frontrow has become extremely buggy and never ran smoothly on the Mac Mini. With OSX Lion Apple has dropped frontrow entirely.

Boxess & plex had many issues playing back iTunes protected media so they were not options.

Conclusion

I would recommend the Mac Mini to a friend, though with a couple of caveats. For desktop use its a wonderful machine, however it really does pay to pair it with a high quality moniter and Apple keybaord.

As a media centre, its only really an opiton if you are using something else (like an Apple TV) to connect to the TV or if your library does not contain any iTunes content.

I only briefly owned the 2010 Mac Mini, the frustrations with the screen setup and frontrow issues quickly made me annoyed and frustrated. After a short while it was replaced with an Apple TV and then a few months later it was sold to raise funds for an iMac.

[jamieknight]

Media Mac Mini Revisited (or why i sold the Mini for an iMac)

I have written about the MacBook Air a few times before but I have not written about my total setup for a while. I have been running a Mac Mini under the TV as a media centre for a number of years.

However, with the recent move this had to change a little. I needed a computer to do my freelance work on. While I have the Air it’s important for me that I keep it for only personal stuff, not work. For me being unable to work on the Air is a feature. This left the Mac Mini under the TV for my work.

I moved the Mac Mini out from under the TV and hooked it up to a cheap 24” screen and decided to work from there. I put an Apple TV under the TV as a replacement. The Apple TV does a much better job than the FrontRow application, with the added bonus of having easy access to YouTube and Vimeo.

While this setup was fast enough it had a few limitations and frustrations; mostly with the cheap screen I had purchased. While the screen was very nice I never found a way to get it set up right. The colours were always wrong and the reflective bezel (reflecting the screen inside the inset) was extremely distracting.

Looking at my options I could see two choices, sell the screen on and replace it with a better quality screen, or swap to an iMac. I had decided against another laptop early as even a 17” screen would be to small and still require an external display.

The iMac was an appealing choice, the Mini caries a price premium for its size. Under the TV the small size was important, but on the desk its no longer an advantage. A quick look at 2nd hand 27” iMac prices meant that the cost to replace the Mac Mini and Screen with a 27” iMac was around £200. This compared well with purchasing a decent 24” screen, but was much less than buying an equivelent screen to what the iMac offers.

So I found a new home for the Mac Mini (thanks Gumtree!) and screen (thanks Jack!) and purchased a 2nd hand 2010 model 27” iMac. The iMac is a much more capable machine as both a media centre and a work station.

Another advantage to the iMac, is that the it can be used as a screen for my MacBook Air and my work issued MacBook Pro. This has proved useful a number of times already; it allows me to have both portability and power with my home setup. It also means when I am working from home, I can still enjoy a large display.

I am a long time fan of the Mac Mini, but I no longer consider it worth the time investment as a media centre under the TV. FrontRow has been neglected by Apple (indeed, removed from OSX Lion entirely) and the experience is poor. Frontrow is buggy and does not work smoothly with my large media library. Using it as a computer plugged into the TV is difficult and not condutive to productive work. For my TV experience, the maintenance free and power sipping Apple TV wins outright.

I did consider other options such as Boxee and Plex. These systems feel overly complex and they wont playback my iTunes protected media properly, which is a deal breaker.

The final use for the Mac Mini was as a TV recorder. In the end we used this rarely but the new iMac is capable of taking over this role. What’s more the iMac can do a much better job of decoding HD content and exporting shows for later.

The Mini did have a number of advantages over the iMac. The biggest being power consumption. The Mini when idle draws around 10w of power. The iMac when idle (with the screen off) uses around 30w. This is annoying but it’s the cost of higher performance. Both the Mac Mini and the iMac spend most of their time sleeping (where they both use around 2w) so its not too bad in reality.

As an aside, when playing back media thought the Apple TV I have observed the iMac waking, transfering the video file then returning to sleep. Whereas the Mac Mini was required to run the entire time when plugged directly into the TV.

As a media server the iMac is great, we use it to stream our iTunes library to a number of devices (AppleTV, iPad). Its also a great workstation. The iMac (quad core, with 8gb of RAM) is much faster than the Mac Mini for iPhone Development with compiling being 3-4 time faster. Whats more, when compiling the system does not get bogged down. Its far smoother handling large complex files in Fireworks and juggling multiple applications.

Finally, the iMac is somewhat expandable. It supports four times as much RAM as is currently installed and it even has a spare SSD bay which can be filled later.

Effectively, for the same cost as buying a nice screen I have doubled my computing power, got a gorgeous display for use with other machines and future proofed my setup for years to come. Bargain!

[jamieknight]

Class’s and behaviors: thoughts on elegance.

Elegance, or, simplicity, or as some have call it “the right way” is something all developers strive towards. The feeling of developing a clean, tight, and elegant solution to programming problems is something we all enjoy.

Today a thread came up on twitter which opened the topic so i decided it would be time to get some of my thoughts down. This is very much a first thoughts on the topic and i am really interested in discussion.

The problem that triggered this topic, was about how to open external links in new window... my favorites solution is a mix of a class (external) and some javascript.

Elegance, thought hidden complexity is not real elegance.

One of the suggested solutions was to use a clever jquery selector, it simply identified any links where were not relative. This is a very clever solution, its superficially clean and elegant. However, on closer inspection i feel uncomfortable about it.

The reason is thus, simplicity and using things how intended is important for something to be elegant. In the world of standards we have an in built way of identifying hooks for behaviors and styles. Which is simply the class attribute.

Im my opinion as long as a class is semantic and meaningful then it makes sense to use one. Even more so if the class in question will also be used for styling the external. Though, at the same time, we need to be careful not to litter our code with meaningless classes or going class crazy.

By using a class attribute with the value of “external” then we have have our hook for both styling and CSS. Its not heavy markup, its flexible and it makes sense in the context. Another side effect is that i makes the markup link into the script in a easy to follow and understand way. By looking at the markup and seeing the class i can easily see how the open in new window functionality works. It provides more context to the solution.

1: Its brittle - it will give false positives when using absolute URLS. And coding around this flaw makes the solution less elegant.

2: Its needlessly complex. It hides the complexity within the jQuery source code but it is a very heavily solution. just because the complexity is hidden does not mean that its not there. Using a simple class is less complex, and thus i would feel the better solution.

3: its not easy to see. As i have mentioned above, its more complex to see the relationship with the markup and the code. If i was investigating how the clever jquery worked i don’t really have any clues. I will have to read all the source code or look for comments. Using a class of external, i can simply search the JS for the class name and then find the related script.

class=”external” is not perfect tho

For one, its added weight to the page. It makes pages heavier and means that external links need to be marked. This adds some complexity to any backend code and slows the page down a little.

So, theres my thoughts. Please feel free to shares you in the comments or ask any questions.

[jamieknight]

Living with the MacBook Air, 8 months on.

I purchased my 11” MacBook Air back in January after a period of consideration. I brought it primarily too be my personal machine. For my university work and for my personal computing needs such as managing my photos, chatting online and using social media. I thought after 8 months of hard use i would report in on how the Air is to live with day to day.

SSDs are fast, but you get use to it.

When i first wrote about the MacBook Air one of my first take away points was that the Air is an extremely fast machine. While its CPU (a 1.4ghz Core 2 Duo) is not to quick the SSD makes it snappy for most tasks i use it for. This too largely still holds true, except that over time i have gotten use to the speed of the SSD and now everything else feels slow.

Over time i have gotten use to the speed and this has taken the edge of off the amazement. I am now use to the speed and expect it from every machine i use. 

RAM trumps hard drive space.

When i brought the Air i was torn between the 64gb SSD + 4gb RAM model, or the 128gb SSD + 2gb RAM model. My worry was based around how much space i use for storing my personal photo collection. With the macbook being a mostly sealed system i wanted to ensure that i did not run out of space.

In the end, i went for the larger SSD at the expense of the RAM. The model with the higher RAM was not available and this should have been a hint to me that more RAM going forward would be worth the expense.

My worries about space have so far proved unfounded, in the 8months since i purchased the Air i have only used 41gb of disk space. However, the Air is low on RAM and will get into difficulty when running multiple heavy applications (iPhoto + iTunes + Safari with 15 tabs etc). As the RAM is soldered to the logic board  it cannot be upgraded, the SSD can. 

Avoid beta software unless your brave & willing to accept issues

I am an OSX & iOS developer so i had early access to the OSX Lion beta. The Air was only non production machine i could install it on so i installed it a few months before lion was eventually released. On the whole Lion is extremely smooth on the Air but there are a few limitations which cause me much frustration. For example, broken screen zooming (requiring a restart to resolve) and patchy WiFi issues. I understood what i was letting myself in for when i installed the Lion beta, but in hindsight it would have been better if i had not. As my personal machine, i want a machine that works, installing and fiddling with beta software is too close to work for me.

With me all the time, use every day.

Although my uses have changed since i purchased the machine, one thing which has held the machine in good stead is its portability. Originally i was expecting to use the machine for 2 years more of university, in the end i took and early exit from university and took a job. However, the Air comes into work with me everyday. I use it at lunchtime and for managing my social life. Its become the computer i take most places. So much so, that i am writing this on a train back from a training event! Which leads on to my final point.

Better than the iPad.

While i do love the iPad, the Air, for me is simply better as the one item i carry with me all the time. The iPad mostly stays at home and is used to consume media / web browsing. However, when mobile i vastly prefer having a proper keyboard and mouse and using the touch screen interface for writing is a miserable experience!

The Air is so far my favorite computer i have ever owned, its very portable, fast enough to be useful, and after 8 months of use continues to impress me daily.

[jamieknight]

First Adventures with OSX Lion Server Profile Manager.

With the release of OSX Lion Apple have made a number of big changes to its Server product. A double whammy of more flexibility and a lower price. 

The flexibility comes from the new distribution model, OSX Server is no longer a separate install. Its an application available on the App Store to download to any OSX Lion install. Whats more, that download only costs £35!

The previous version of OSX server started at £399! So such a huge price drop has made this technology available to far more people. In simple terms, the new OSX Lion server is so cheap, thats even using it at its most simplistic level now provides good value.

i have been eyeing the technology for a while. For a charity project i’m involved in we will be distributing a large number of iPads too autistic users. For a while we have been looking at the options for managing these devices.

A few nights ago i downloaded the server app and installed it on my 11” MacBook Air. This post contains some first impressions and some information on performance.

After installing the tools, i setup file sharing, iCal sharing and finally profile manager. Profile manager allows you to manag users and their associated devices. It allows us to centrally manage what users can do with the iPads we supply and to provide support / assistance as required.

The setup was simple, i ended up disabling SSL for my testing and enrolled my iPhone and iPad to my user account. This ties my profile (on my Macbook Air) with my iOS devices. I can now centrally administer changes. Any changes made are sent out to devices using Apple’s push notification service. 

As i am only experiment with the technology i installed it on the MacBook Air. The Macbook is not a very powerful machine. This shows when click around the profile manager online interface which feels sluggish.

Once the services were configured i closed Server.app and watched the services continuing to run in activity monitor. Running the profile manager took around 3% of my MacBooks CPU power, jumping to 20% when a profile was being sent to a device. 

I will be continuing to test with OSX Lion Server. We are about to start our first round of devices going to users and were hoping to have our servers configured before the devices are released. 

If you have any questions or comments feel free to comment below, or email me at [email protected]

[jamieknight]

GeekKart.in!

The web community has many events to its name of one type of another. Conferences, meetups and pub crawls to name a few. Geek Karting adds gokart racing to that list!

Organized by the very speedy Alun Rowe (@alunr) and the nippy Josh (@FiftyDigital) 32 geeks got together on the track at Daytona Raceway for an afternoon of racing followed by a BBQ and a quick pub trip.

So starting with the Karting! I traveled up to Milton Keyes with my local web mates Ben (@ilmv) Shane (@shanegrifiths) and Toby (@tobyhowarth). Ben hired a car and we had a little road trip. We had an early morning but arrived for 11:17am. We registered and got into our gear for the safety briefing. 

The safety briefing was a DVD featuring martin brundle. While the tone was serious, you had to wince at some of the terrible jokes! Safety briefing over with we popped down to the Karts. The staff let lion sit on the pit wall and i got into my Kart, number 34.

The format of the day was to have 4 rounds, starting with 5 minutes of practice, followed by two 10 minute heats, then after a quick break a final 10 lap race! First practice was mostly uneventful, it was my first time karting and after a few very slow corners i started to build a little confidence and started to slide the kart around a little. At the end of the practice we were lined back up for the first heat. The first heat started well, i had a couple of of quick laps, and was getting into a good groove. I had a few spins (like most people) but had managed to keep it mostly out of the wall. This was not to last!

On the third lap a couple of corners in, i went for the brakes with the wrong foot and ended up ploughing into the tyre wall. It was the heaviest crash of the day! I managed to wedge the kart under the tyre wall, the marshals were great and quickly got me out of the wall. Sadly i had damaged the front of the kart so it was undrivable so i headed back to the pits to get in a new kart. 

The new kart felt quite different and the remainder of the racing was mostly uneventful. I started the final race in 30th, however i managed to claw my way back to 24th. I had a lot of fun moments both being overtaken and passing people. 

As geek events go, geek karting was different in a very good way! It was a very fun activity which brought together a small group to have a good time. There was very little talk of work which was a nice break. After the racing we had a presentation where the top 3 drivers got their trophies and i was awarded the prize for the most spectacular crash of the day! 

It looks like these geek karting events will be becoming more regular, i dont think i can attend every one (at £100  a pop its not cheap!) but i have definitely been bitten by the motorsport bug and look forward to more karting in the future! 

[jamieknight]

Thoughts on the MacBook Air & why i have a non work computer.

I grew up in the 90s and computers have been part of my life since a young age. We had a family computer since when i was in primary school and i used it for homework and researching things (such as lego instructions!). Since then i have always had a computer for work use but a few months back i brought myself a MacBook Air to be my “non-work” computer. This article looks a little at how the MacBook Air is for day to day use and looks a little at why i could never go back to having only a work computer.

 What makes a home computer?

 Before going into to much detail, i thought i should answer the question about how i define what is a home computer. For me, my home computer is the computer which i am unable to work on. I don’t have my software tools to to work installed at all. My home computer is what i use once i get home to check on twitter, facebook etc. I use it to manage my media collections such as photos and music. I also use my ‘home’ computer for non work projects, such as study or researching lego parts.

 Why did i choose an 11” MacBook Air?

 As i would be using the computer for studying i knew i wanted a Mac. All of my study notes have been produced using Pages.app and the Macs include the Voiceover screen reader which i am very comfortable using. I did consider and research Windows 7 based options, but i was unable to find anything compelling back in January (however, now i would take a close look at Samsung Series 9!). For my home computer i wanted to keep hassle to a minimum so, for me at least, Mac was the way.

Once i had decided i was going to have a Mac, i had to make the choice between a desktop or a notebook. I went for a notebook as i would need to be able to take it into university with me. Once i had decided on a notebook this led me to the MacBook range. It was a close run thing between the entry level white MacBook, or the MacBook Air. 

In the end i went for the Air, while the standard MacBook was more powerful it was really overkill for my needs. My main use for the machine is a little bit of photo editing and writing. I valued portability over pretty much everything else (as i would be carrying it around at uni and for years to come) and the tiny little air suited the bill. Another aspect which was important to me was that i could use the MacBook Air comfortably without a desk. The small size and low weight of the Air means that its more comfortable to use when lounging on the sofa. No desk required!

I cannot talk about the Air without talking about the cost! As i went for the larger 128gb system it was not cheap coming in at over £1000. However, as with my original MacBook (now on its 6th year and 3rd owner and still going strong!) i expect to keep this machine for at least 3-5 years if not longer, so i do not mind making a large investment now. I find Macs do retain their value well so even if i do sell it before hand i will recoup the majority of the investment. The only part of the spec which is a bit stingy is the minimal RAM allocation. The 4GB RAM option was unavailable when i purchased mine, so i am stuck at 2gb forever now.  The internal SSD can at least be replaced in the future if i so wish, with 480gb models coming down in price.

Pros and cons to using a MacBook Air as a home computer:

As with any trade off, there are both pros and cons to using the MacBook Air as a home computer. For me there are two big cons, and two bigs pluses. Lets get the bad news out of the way. 

The Air is VERY light on ports, the two i miss most are the SD card slot, and an ethernet port. These two ports would make my life easier! The second con is that the hard drive space is limited. While i am still only just hitting the 69gb used mark, i do expect to hit the storage limit in a couple of years time. 

The first big plus however is performance. As it has an SSD on board at a similar price point to the non SSD equipped 13” MacBook it feels far more responsive. For most of the things i use the MacBook Air for, this responsiveness is more important than pure grunt. Going from the Air back to my work MacBook Pro feels like quite a slow down! 

The second big plus is again the portability! As the Air is so light and small, throwing it in my bag when i’m traveling or taking it into the office with me is easy. 

Why have a home computer? 

I have explained why i choose the Air for my home computer, but you may still be asking why have one in the first place? Surely the MacBook Pro i have for work can serve my needs while also keeping my backup routine simple?  

While the MacBook Pro is a very capable machine, it is, foremost my work machine. As i am self employed it has become increasingly important to me to separate between home and work to prevent myself undue stress and worry. Its way to easy to go to check my email, or to edit some photos and end up doing client work or worrying about a long to do list. 

The Air however, is a separate system entirely. I cannot work from it (though i can stay in touch with clients, an important balance!). This means that when i leave the MacBook Pro in the office i have no ability to work even if i feel i should. This helps to reduce my stress levels enormously and has helped me to relax. 

Another benefit to having the Air is that it means that i am not so worried about its condition or its data. I consider the data on the Air somewhat expendable (i have multiple backups) and while i would be upset if the Air was damaged it would not have any wider financial implications. I feel happier leaving my essential work equipment in the office, rather than carting it around the country with me! 

Although i am talking about the separation of home and work computing there is one interesting side benefit of having the Air. I have a greater understanding for the computing environment of the majority. I know most people don’t have Airs; but the setup and use i have for the air, mimics how most people use their computers. This mindset i have found to be a big change from the mindset when using work computers. It has provided me with some insight into how most peoples use computers. 

So with all that said, what do you all think? Should i have gone for something different? Do you separate you work and home computing? Let me know what you think in the comments!.

[jamieknight]

iPhone 4 Review

6 months ago Apple released the 4th iteration of the iPhone. Apple’s industry changing iconic handsets latest incarnation brought with it a redesign of the hardware and a new name and update to its software. Having purchased the iPhone 3G 30 months ago it was time for me to upgrade my handset, my 3G had served me well, however it limitations were becoming frustrating. The opportunity came up to upgrade to the iphone 4 for a good price so i took it, this review is based on 4 days of use. I will be comparing the latest iPhone to my 3G and i hope this comparison is useful for people looking to upgrade.

 Hardware:

 The iPhone 4 represents the first major facelift of the Apple’s phone platform since it was launched in 2007. The 3G tweaked the designs of the original iPhone, then the 3GS the following year only made minor changes and performance improvements. For the iPhone 4 Apple changed the look and the feel of the iPhone completely. While it retains much of its original size, the new phone is a few mm thinner, the way its built has been completely changed. The iPhone 4 has a steel band around the outside, with all the other components   secured internally to it. This band also acts as the antennae for the radios inside the phone. 

 Apart form the new shape, the two other main changes are the screen and the processor. The new screen (named the retina display) has twice the resolution of the older iPhones. This means that where there use to be a single pixel, there are now 4 pixels with the associated increase in image quality. The new screen is stunning, from the look of the icons through the to rendering of text. The new clarity greatly improves the visual experience of using the phone. Compared to the 3G the new screen makes a huge difference in day to day use. I feel less eyestrain when reading in bed and photos looks much sharper than before. 

 Another huge change in the iPhone 4 is a new generation of processors. The iPhone 4 shares the same A4 CPU as the iPad. This quicker CPU matched with a huge increase in system memory has had an astonishing effect on performance. Switching applications, moving around the phone and manipulating web pages is seamless. This added grunt also contributes towards the smooth experience when running multiple applications. Compared to the 3G this performance increase has made the largest difference day to day. Where as the 3G had started feeling slow (waiting for form elements to focus, items to load, the phone to unlock etc) the iPhone feels instantaneous. I intend for the iPhone to last as long as my last phone so future proofing is important to me, i expect the iphone 4 to last this period admirably. 

 Other changes to the hardware from the 3G include a much improved camera, a digital compass and quicker GPS. These hardware changes have had no effect for me so far, but its nice to see progress in these areas.

Software

With the iPhone 4 comes a new name for the iPhone OS. Now renamed iOS its the 4th version of the iphone software. The biggest most noticeable change in iOS 4 on the iPhone 4 is the introduction of multitasking. I have used multitasking before on my iPad, but it was new to have it on my phone. The way it works is that applications join a bar along the bottom of the phone screen pulled up with a double tap of the homepage. This tray then shows a list of all your recent applications. Aside from the bar apps also retain their states, such as you can open one app, switch to another, then switch back to the first app to see it finish what it was doing. Im using the wonderful reeder application and im very happy with how i can load Reeder, switch to my email, then switch back to see my new feeds reading for my perusal. 

So how does the multitasking effect the day to day usage of the phone and how does this compare to the 3G? In the first case it makes the phone feel more fluid, compared to the 3G its a welcome change. The multi tasking is very useful for applications dealing with communication, for example, IRC and text messaging. The ability to hold a conversation while dipping in and out of IRC is very useful. 

The 3G’s in then out approach was fast, but not as quick as the switching on the iPhone 4, this small difference is appreciated but the saving of app states is a more readily useful feature. While the speed helps to keep the experience seamless, being able to pick up where you left of makes the experience a single action. A subtle but important difference.

Living With the iPhone 4:

So, after all those changes what is the iPhone 4 like to live with? In short, more of the same, only faster, and with more polish. While others have had problems with reception i have seen a marked improvement in call quality with the iPhone 4 in my lo-signal flat. Day to day the phone is much quicker to use and feels more solid in my hand. It a pleasure to use the phone and in my opinion Apple have kept ther lead in the smartphone game.

[jamieknight]

Converting Tag Spacing in Pinboard.

Just a short code focussed post today. I was recently asked by a mate to help him convert a bunch of _ to - inside a bookmarks export file. The reason was only for display (like myself, he prefers dashes to underscores). The files had a few thousand links and a few hundred tags.

In the end, i feel back on what i knew, and just used Jquery to convert _ to - for anything inside the tags attribute. The code to do this is included below:

<script type="text/javascript"

 src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.4/jquery.min.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">

  $(document).ready(function() {

    $('dt a').each(function(index){

    $(this).attr('TAGS', $(this).attr('TAGS').replace(/_/gi, '-'));

    })

  });

</script>

The code simple loads jquery from the google API, loops through the tags converting _ to -. It took around 6 seconds to run in firefox converting a couple thousand links.

To use this, do the following:

1. Open you bookmarks file, 

2. Add the code to the top of the file

3: open the file in a browser

4: save the results! Remove the code!

Hope that is of some use to someone!