Completely by coincidence, I found this old ad in a Fox News slideshow today:

That ad is what, 40 years old? 45? So obviously the technology for video communications has been around for some time, but it hasn’t been developed nor has it become common. That’s because there’s a very limited market for it. And I suspect the same is true for FaceTime.

I’m not saying that FaceTime is crap, that it’ll be unused, or anything of the sort. I wanted to take a few minutes to support a point I was making to someone earlier today.

~ George Washington

Here’s the crux of my complaint: RSS feed status isn’t synchronized between devices. I use MobileMe to synchronize my bookmarks between Safari on my Mac and Safari on my iPhone. Safari iPhone doesn’t have a native way to display RSS feeds. Instead, it passes the feed URL through reader.mac.com, which generates a page to display the feeds. They are not marked as read or unread in any way, as they are in Safari Mac. If I read a feed on my iPhone, when I return to my computer later in the day, I’m presented with the same articles in the same feeds, all unread. It’s pointless to read RSS feeds on the iPhone.

I’m already synchronizing bookmarks to MobileMe. How about syncing RSS feed status as well? Why not make reader.mac.com more similar to Google Reader, in the sense that it can use my synchronized MobileMe bookmark information to present accurate RSS feed status via the reader.mac.com web interface?

For now, Google Reader is my RSS client of choice. Its iPhone interface is very good and feed status is consistent on whatever account or computer I use. As a MobileMe subscriber, however, I’d be happier with a one-stop solution for my feed reading.

When Evernote initially started, it prompted me to create an account with which to sync notes between different sources, such as my MacBook Pro and my iPhone. Why do I need to sign up for an account with Evernote to do that? I already have a MobileMe account that’s able to do this. I understand that you want to make money by charging for a premium account. How about you give me a 30 day trial of your software and then charge me for it instead, and let me use MobileMe?

So I decided to create an account. The sign-up window stated that an account must begin and and with a number or a letter, and may contain dots or dashes. Great. My e-mail begins and ends with letters, and contains a dot. But I can’t use my e-mail account as a username for some irrational reason. This is the year two thousand… and ten! E-mail addresses are unique identifiers that are easy to remember. Why can I not use my e-mail address as the user name? The sign-up dialog asks for my e-mail anyway, so it’s not a privacy issue. Every spammer in the universe has been able to guess my e-mail address, so if someone else were able to see it, I haven’t lost anything. I’m tired of having to dream up usernames for every other site and service I visit. I’d like to at least have a username that’s consistent, and since nobody else in the world has my e-mail address, why can’t I use that?

So I decided to leave Evernote some feedback to suggest that they implement the option of using e-mail addresses for user names. Except… the Evernote site has no easily discoverable feedback page. So obviously they don’t give a damn what I think.

By this time I was getting ticked, but I created an account (which was also associated with my real, full name and my e-mail address). It prompted me to install Growl. I happen to dislike Growl, and I was glad it gave me the option to say no. Then I attempted to drag a text clipping from my desktop to the notes section of the default notebook to create a new note. Nope. It gave me a dialog listing the file types that can be used to create notes, among which text clippings were not listed. So I can’t create a note out of a simple text clipping? Really? Unbelieveable.

And then I noticed a little pop-up section in the lower left corner that cycled between some ads and had the little x to close it. Except when I clicked the x to close it, another window popped up asking me to purchase the premium service. Do not display a UI element to close something I am not permitted to close! At this point, I was over Evernote. Period. I quit the application.

And then I noticed the Evernote icon in my menu bar. At no time was I asked if I wanted to install this. I quit out of that too. Then I removed Evernote using this command in the Terminal:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/Evernote.app/ \
~/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/EvernoteSafariClipperPlugin.webplugin/ \
~/Library/Application\ Support/Evernote/ \
~/Library/Caches/Metadata/com.evernote.Evernote/

In summary:

• Allow users to set unique, memorable, convenient things such as e-mail addresses as usernames.
• Tell me about all the things your app will install, not just some of them, and give me the option to say no.
• Utilize existing services, such as MobileMe, for sync and charge me for the software after a trial.
• Don’t add UI elements that are supposed to do one thing, but beg me to buy stuff instead.
• Create a feedback page so (potential) users can tell you how they’d like to see your app improve, instead of having to post it to their blog.

After a little digging around, I finally figured out how to share Virtual Box virtual machines between multiple users on a single Mac. Here I’ll reproduce exactly what I did, and you can adjust these instructions to fit your own needs. Some command line work is required, and if you do exactly as I do here, you can copy and paste. This assumes you’re starting the process from the admin account in which you’ve initially created the virtual machines you want to share using default settings.

1. Create a folder in /Users/Shared named VirtualBox.
2. In the Finder, move the  ~/Library/VirtualBox/Machines and ~/Library/VirtualBox/HardDisks folders to the folder you created in step 1. (We’re moving virtual machines and virtual hard drives to a shared area where anyone can access them.)
3. Move ~/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml to /Users/Shared/VirtualBox.
4. Start VirtualBox and go to the preferences. Under the General tab, set Default Hard Disk Folder to /Users/Shared/VirtualBox/HardDisks. Set Default Machine Folder to /Users/Shared/VirtualBox/Machines. Quit VirtualBox.
5. Start Terminal. Change permissions on your new VirtualBox folder so it can be accessed by anyone.
   sudo chmod -R 777 /Users/Shared/VirtualBox. Type your admin password when requested.
6. Create a symlink so that the current account can use the moved VirtualBox.xml file.
   ln -s /Users/Shared/Virtual\ Box/VirtualBox.xml ~/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml
7. Logout of the current account and login to the account you want to share with.
8. Delete ~/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml if it exists.
9. Create a symlink for this account as you did the first.
   ln -s /Users/Shared/Virtual\ Box/VirtualBox.xml ~/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml
10. Start VirtualBox, and repeat step 4 only. Quit and restart VirtualBox, and you should see the same virtual machine set as the original account.

I understand that in step 5 we are setting permissions for the virtual machines to be read-write accessible to the entire world. For most people, this seems like the most fool-proof way to accomplish our task. If you’re concerned about security or keeping certain users away from certain VMs, you’re welcome to set permissions accordingly on your own.

We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

Mr. Jobs, welcome to the world of computers. Apple, as a third party in the relationship between my customers and I, is a capricious and secretive company, and we’re constantly at its mercy. I’ve made it a long-standing policy not to write about work issues on my personal blog, and I’ll maintain that policy here. However, if anyone at Apple with authority to correct issues would like to discuss being at the mercy of a third party, I’ll be happy to fill them in on the day-to-day life of an IT consultant employed by an Apple reseller.

I understand that, as a reseller, I’m at the bottom of the Apple sales and support food chain. I understand that you’re the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company with a lot of influence, and I don’t blame you one bit for using it to shape circumstances to your benefit. But please please consider the situation your company places customers and resellers in before you comment about being at the mercy of a third party.

Tonight I was able to borrow a Nikon D60 from Brad Ditzell for our first effort. This is the first clear night since the beginning of the year that wasn’t unbearably cold, and the snow pack has melted significantly this week. We set up the scope in Tim’s back yard in suburban Dayton, Ohio, and aimed for the most obvious late winter target, the Orion Nebula. The D60 was attached to the scope via the appropriate T-ring and Meade camera extender. Controlling the camera was my MacBook Pro running Aperture 3.01 via USB cable.

For those of you not familiar with how this works, the telescope acts as the lens for the camera. Correct polar alignment of the scope is critical for finding and tracking the target object. The scope first has to be leveled using the bubble level built into the wedge. Then the scope’s computer has a built-in routine  for polar alignment, where we set it to an initial position, center Polaris mechanically in an eyepiece with crosshairs using dials on the wedge, and let the scope slew to a bright star near the celestial equator. We center the star in the crosshairs and register its position with the scope. Based on those two points, the scope’s computer can point to any other coordinate in the sky pretty accurately. There are a lot of factors that go into accurate slewing and tracking, and the fact that our scope sits on a tripod rather than a permanent pier of some kind probably introduces the greatest amount of error. That being said, tonight’s alignment was about as good as we’ve been able to do in quite some time, and tracking was good enough that we didn’t experience any star trails.

We slewed the scope to M42 (the Orion Nebula, mentioned before). Because the objects we’re attempting to photograph are usually comparatively small or dark, it’s nearly impossible to see them on a camera LCD or in a view finder. The only way to know what the camera can see is to snap a picture. The first several shots were very much out of focus, but after a bit we sharpened things up and we were super excited to see M42 come into focus. In that few minutes, we had already taken better astrophotos through our scope than we had in a dozen years.

We spent a while after that centering M42 in the frame and attempting to improve the focus. Because M42 is a comparatively dim object, exposure times obviously have to be longer than a normal daylight shot. This would bring out color and detail in the nebula, but would make it difficult to judge whether focus was accurate.

After a lot of trial and error over several hours, Tim and I got a picture we thought was pretty good for a first effort. This is M42, the Orion Nebula, taken on the night of March 6, 2010. The camera was set at ISO 800, -5 EV, 10 seconds, AWB, RAW.

I cropped the picture down and rotated it 90 degrees counter-clockwise. You can click it for the full res version.

Overall, not bad for a first effort.

Tim and I also took some time to point the scope towards Mars, which was high in the sky. We got pictures of an unmistakably round, red Mars, but we got very little detail out of it. Admittedly Mars is not an object with a great deal of detail. You can sometimes see the polar caps and some seasonal markings. Jupiter, Saturn, and even Venus are better planetary targets. I’m not sure if our lack of detail was due to improper focus, incorrect exposure times, or whether we had simply reached the limit of the scope’s resolution. In any case, this is as good as we were able to do:

ISO 400, -5 EV, 1/320 second, AWB, RAW. If you look closely, I think you can see a polar ice cap at the top.

After about four hours, we decided we were cold enough to call it quits. I don’t know when we’ll get another crack at this because the weather forecast for the near future appears to be cloudy. Tim and I are very encouraged by tonight’s results and we’re dedicated to getting better at this. We want to thank Brad for letting us use his camera.

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.

- Charles Austin Beard

These Mickey Mouse boots rock. This particular pair was given to me by my friend Tim a couple of years ago, although you can get them at flea markets or military surplus stores. He did something or other to screw up the tops, but it doesn’t matter because you don’t even have to tie them. Just slip them on and pull your pants over and they’ll keep your feet warm. And they’re comfortable. They’re the best boots I’ve ever had.

These are some neighbors that are nice enough to go through the neighborhood and clear driveways without being asked. I have a snow blower and I’m capable of clearing my own driveway, but they’ve done it twice before I’ve had a chance to get out. Thanks, neighbors.

Here’s a shot of the side yard just after sunset.

Late additions: Here are a few shots I took tonight with my Samsung S860.

Our patio and the fence we hope to replace this spring.

The back yard, and the shed we hope to replace before it falls over.

Furthermore, I think it would be a good idea for Apple to create their own Home Servidor. Users of Apple products tend to be more affluent and enjoy the finer things in life, and I believe an Apple Home Servidor would serve that market. It should incorporate all the masturbatory buzz phrases that dominate the Intarwebs, and Apple should work out a content deal with Cigar Aficionado. It will be the most important thing Steve Jobs has ever done. Ever. It will make my hair grow back. Rumor has it that there will be a special March 5 event introducing this life-changing device. And by life, I mean all life on Earth.