This is a little late, but last Friday (July 11, 2008) I took Apple iTunes’ advice that it was time to update my iPhone. Little did I know that it would be an adventure through confusing messages from the iTunes application and non-existent information from Apple on what was happening. By now we all know that Apple rolled out the new iPhone 3G and updates to existing iPhones. Their authentication servers simply could not handle the load.

Everything started OK. iTunes told me about all of the nifty things my iPhone would be able to do right after the update.

I was soon greeted by this rather disturbing message:

So I did. iTunes then informed me that there was a problem with my internet security settings were wrong.

A quick check revealed that both SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 were enabled.

Trying again didn’t really change anything. I received the message a few times, but it couldn’t give it much attention as I needed to get some actual work done.

Later, iTunes would sit on the “Accessing iTunes Store” step for extended periods.

Eventually, it would timeout with a slightly more informative message than the SSL/TLS message.

(Yes, I did switch computers during this process. I’m good programmer after all … try different tricks to see if something works …)

By this stage, I knew that Apple was having problems. I would just have to be patient. I figured I’d check on Apple’s web site to see if they had any sage advice. No such luck.

So, I spent much of the morning looking at this:

After about 4 ½ hours I finally received a message on the phone that all would be well.

And Apple’s web site today tells how successful the iPhone 3G rollout and upgrade for existing phones was.

There are a lot of seemingly interesting new features on the updated iPhone. It will be interesting to see if the iPhone will be able to attach to my employer’s rather finicky VPN for one. The ability to add third-party applications also looks interesting.

Tags: apple, iphone

I’ve finally purchased an Apple computer product.  Specifically a MacBook Pro.  This post is actually being written from it.

The only real reason to purchase the MBP was to experiment with it.  I’ve used so many Microsoft products (and the occasional Linux system) for nearly 20 years that I decided it was time.  Plus, I have an iPhone and I want to explore writing applications for it.

The MBP is a big adjustment after all the Windows notebooks.  There are keys missing from the keyboard!!  How do Mac programmers get along without “Home” and “End”?  And the track pad only has one button!!!  Whoever heard of having to put two fingers on the track pad and then click the mouse button?

The biggest problem I’m having at the moment is figuring out how to attach to a printer on a Windows XP Pro system.  It just isn’t intuitive.  The setup process for the MBP didn’t ask me about what printers I wanted to use.  That seemed a bit odd as well.

This shouldn’t sound like I’m bashing on the MBP; I’m not.  It’s just a big adjustment.  There are things I like.  For example, it is lighter than my comparable HP notebook.  I also think I might like the feel of the keyboard better.  The dock (or whatever the thing at the bottom of the screen is called) seems cooler than the the Windows taskbar (including the improved Vista taskbar).

It’s really too early to tell what I think about this computer.  I expect that I will write much more about my adventures with the MBP.

Tags: apple macbook

Comment spam on blogs sucks.  I hate it.  I don’t like it on blogs that I read and I certainly don’t like it on blogs that I write.

The sort of advertising that is in the spam consumes so much time.  For the blog writer it takes the time to set the blog up so that all comments have to be approved prior to appearing.  The approval process means that there will be a delay in genuine elements of the conversation being posted.  It is annoying to have to wade through and “mark as spam” the shlock that some posts seem to attract.

Some blog writers either don’t know how to configure their tool to delay posting comments so that the junk can be filtered out or they just don’t care.  Maybe the do care and they just give up under the burden … I don’t know.  For the reader it is a waste of time to trudge through dozens or hundreds of junk comments to find the handful that relate to the original post.

There’s one post on this blog (I’ll let you figure out which) that seems to attract all of the blog comment spam.  That’s good, I guess, but it is still a waste of my time and bandwidth to figure out which comments are genuine and which are not.

Ok, that’s enough ranting for one day.

Tags: comment spam

I wasn’t a big salsa (as in the food and not the dance) fan until a few years ago.  A co-worker and friend brought salsa into the office one day.  It was far and away better than anything from a jar or even a restaurant.  Gianni was gracious enough to share the recipe.

The basic idea for my version is based on Gianni’s (who was born in in Brasil and who’s parents are both Greek immigrants to Brasil… go figure). His recipe used exclusively jalapeños and habaneros for the peppers (particularly the habaneros if we said it wasn’t “hot enough”). I try to find a balance between bell peppers and hot peppers to find something that tastes good and is hot, but still edible (my son prefers it hotter).  The version I learned this technique from you were in bad shape if you stopped eating … it was less painful to continue eating.

This is largely a guide … not a formula. If you follow it, it will make a very large batch.

64oz bottle of Campbell’s Tomato Juice (brand is important)
4 Bell Peppers (any combination of red, orange, yellow, green)
6 to 12 Jalapeños (seeds make them hotter)
1 bunch Green Onions
1 White or Red Onion
1 bunch Fresh Cilantro
6 Roma Tomatoes
Ground Cumin (to taste … more is better according to my wife)
Olive Oil (not very much)
Black Pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)

Pour tomato juice into a large bowl.  Chop the vegetables in a food processor until nicely chopped. Add to the tomato juice. Dice the Romas and add to the rest of the mixture (don’t do the Romas in the food processor or you will have paste). Add the cumin, olive oil, black pepper, and salt to taste. Mix it all together.

It is best if it can refrigerate for a couple of hours. It will last 1 1/2 to 2 weeks in the refrigerator (my guess; not formally tested).

Wear gloves when working with the hot peppers.

Play with combinations of peppers, onions, and tomatoes to get a flavor you like. Other kinds of hot peppers (habaneros, serranos, Thai, Anaheim, wax, and the like) will change how hot it is and vary the color.

You can use other tomatoes if you like. Romas seem to work the best. Hot house tomatoes are a little on the watery side, but that doesn’t make them a bad choice. Regardless of the tomato variety chosen don’t put the tomatoes in the food processor.

You can mix just about anything together and have it turn out right.

Tags: Recipes, Salsa