Speed Test: Western Digital WD5000BEVT vs Seagate ST9500420AS

xBench disc speed comparison on my unibody 15" MacBook Pro before and after replacing the 5400RPM WD5000BEVT with a 7200RPM ST9500420AS. Pretty impressive, though the speed increase closely correlates to the current price difference on Newegg. Weirdly, the new drive seems quieter. I can't comment yet on heat or battery life effects.

P.S. Changing the drive on these machines is like taking a bath in warm kefir - so easy.

Barren River Lake

I'm just testing Shozu's Blogger upload capability.

Interesting, Good

I just noticed that with the iPhone 3G (and the 2.0 firmware, in general, I guess?), the iPod application doesn't time out and become unresponsive to the headset clicker. It always annoyed me before, when I paused it with the headset button, if I waited too long, I wouldn't be able to restart the music with another click. I could hear a brief static, as the iPod app went to bed. Now, even after that static - about 15 minutes, maybe - a single click of the headset button brings it back.

1st gen->2nd gen, 2.5G->3G, 8GB->16GB, Skyhook->GPS, Recessed->Flush, $20->$35, Black->Black

I had to keep bugging the local Apple store, but finally it paid off. Oh, if you're relying on Apple's iPhone availability checker, you should know that all it tells you is whether there were phones left over from the previous night. At this point, they never have phones left over, but they get shipments during the day, so you're better off just calling throughout the day and being ready to get there quickly if they have some.

I thought I wanted white, but they only had black. It turns out that was actually what I wanted. The thing that photos don't really convey is that, when you handle the white iPhone, you see from certain angles that it looks weird. The black front and white back clash. The white does look really nice though, as long as you don't look at it from certain angles.

Anyway, here's a speed test:

This is in Louisville, full 3G bars, as you can see. And here's a GPS test:

X marks my actual location, inside the house. It took about 10 seconds to get a GPS fix. When I was walking around outside with it, it seemed to be much more accurate.

I'll post more about it later, with comparisons to my 1st gen iPhone.

iPhoto Problems '08: Preferences Gone Wild

In case you've started having freezing/crashing problems with iPhoto lately, I might be able to save you some time. For me, iPhoto just started freezing up a few seconds after I opened it, only to be resolved with a force-quit.

After a bit of digging, I tracked the problem down to the sharing settings in iPhoto's preferences. If the application is crashing too fast for you to even get into this setting, you'll have to delete iPhoto's preference file, found here: username/Library/Preferences. Look for the file called com.apple.iPhoto.plist and delete it. Now, you should be able to open iPhoto without freezes, but it will probably look a little different. That's okay, you can set its appearance back to how you like it once you've fixed the problem.

From what I've discerned, the problem stems from having "Look for shared photos" AND "Share my photos" simultaneously selected. By default, "Look for shared photos" is selected. If you want share your photos, you have to FIRST deselect "Look for shared photos". It's dumb, but it seems like, for the time being, you can't have it both ways. I suspect that the last MobileMe update is the culprit, so, hopefully, it will be resolved soon.

Once the crashing seems to be fixed, you can go back and set the rest of your iPhoto preferences the way you like. It wouldn't hurt, though, to make a copy of your com.apple.iPhoto.plist and save it to your desktop, just in case some other preference change breaks iPhoto again - then you can restore it to its last working state by copying your good preference file back into your preferences folder (quit iPhoto first), overwriting the wack file.

AIM

I like the AOL instant messenger app, but it's not notifying me of new messages unless I have it open. In the keynote, Jobs said they were giving developers a workaround notification system for exactly this kind of scenario. The application even has a preference setting for whether or not it quits when you close it. I don't really know how the notifications are pushed, but maybe the server that's supposed to do that is being overloaded right now, like MobileMe.

Update: I guess I overlooked this before, but according to arstechnica, the push notification support isn't scheduled to be released to developers until September.

iPhone 2.0 Geotagging

I installed the 2.0 software on my 1.0 iPhone today, and have been gradually working through the differences as well as the third party apps. As advertised, the camera now seems to offer to geotag your photos as you take them - it asks you when you open the camera app whether you want to allow it to access location data. Sure, why not.

So I took a test picture and uploaded it to Flickr, via email, to see how it works.

Well, it didn't. Just like before, emailing a photo strips essential EXIF data, including coordinates. I then tried transferring it to my computer to see if the geotag would be preserved that way.

It worked! Which means... I'm in China. Huh. The weird thing is that the Google Map application locates me very accurately.
I did notice something very positive. Compare this picture I took last night:

to the one above. The one taken with the 2.0 firmware looks much better, right? And they were both taken in approximately the same lighting conditions.

Louisville is for loafers

Louisville is for loafers, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

Nothing but a bunch of relaxation going on around here since we've been back. Still doesn't really feel normal to be home, nor does it feel like the bike trip actually even happened - more just weird, stationary and HOT. Jesus it's hot. So, how about another numbered list?

1) I will shortly be creating another blog for everyday, non-bicycle content. I'll update here with a link, when it's ready.
2) I haven't posted those pictures from the real camera that I promised yet, because... I don't have a computer! That's right, I sold my MacBook right before we headed out for Vancouver. I just ordered this, but the damned thing isn't scheduled to ship for at least a week. The wait is definitely going to kill me.
3) When I got my bike back from airport baggage, I noticed the box was open. Whatever they did to it, the headset is now dented and lacking a bunch of bearings. Of course, I have to replace it, but, in the meantime, it handles like a squirrel on oxycontin, which is cool.
4)That sensation that I seem suddenly, somehow, more credible isn't your imagination - I'm now, like all serious web personalities, a Twitter. Look over to your left. That's where you'll see my last last five updates.

Fly me to the blue moon.

Fly me to the blue moon., originally uploaded by itchytooth.

1) In five hours, we've just travelled a little more than in the last five weeks of bicycling.
2) Delta has little TVs for each seat - it's rad. I watched Conan, Survivor Man, Trapped Miners and Boxing.
3) Currently in Cincinnati, waiting for a very short connection to Louisville.

Cori's computer

Cori's computer, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

I think it will pull through. It was looking bleak for a moment there.

Mexico:

Mexico:, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

Easy to get in, hard to get out.

Bye, Tijuana

Bye, Tijuana, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

This ia how Katie looks when she's turning down an old man with a violin.

This ia how Katie looks when she's turning down an old man with a violin., originally uploaded by itchytooth.

Done.

Done., originally uploaded by itchytooth.

Pre-Mexico Sandwich

Pre-Mexico Sandwich, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

We're leaving soon, really.

Unfinished

Unfinished, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

It cerainly feels like we're done, but there are 15 undeniable miles sittng here between us and Mexico. We're leaving our bags here, at my aunt and uncle's house and riding into Tijuana in a bit here.

The lovely town of National City

The lovely town of National City, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

Familiar

Familiar, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

Redundancy from here on out - we are now retracing the first part of our cross-country trip a year and a half ago - backwards!

Racial

Racial, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

I'm not sure if I'm in this race or not, but I KNOW that I am losing.

Psychopath

Psychopath, originally uploaded by itchytooth.

So you're probably thinking, "sure a crazy, naked man kept you up untill 2am by hassling a homeless woman and her son, picking a fight with a blind man, and then being chased and beaten by a mob of angry, random strangers... But how is this supposed to entertain ME, without so much as a blurry photograph of this pariah to soothe my voyeur needs?"

Well, I've stepped over the lines of taste and ethics to deliver, for you, my good friend. This is a photograph of a photograph of an actual photograph of the man himself.

He was last seen running in an eastwardly direction, so, if you live east of California, watch for a man in white shorts, running - he is dangerous.