After almost 1.5 years with my 15 inch MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz in original setup.

With a 120 GB hard disk and 2 gigabyte of ram memory I figured its time for a serious upgrade. I’ve taken way too many pictures in Raw format to still fit them on the small disk and more memory never hurts especially at the low price you get it these days.

So I went for a 2 Gigabyte Ram upgrade replacing the 2 old 1 Gigabyte modules with 2 new 2 Gigabyte ones. That’s the max my MacBook would take by the way.

• Double Data Rate Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module (DDR SO-DIMM) format
• 1.25 inch or smaller
• 200-pin
• PC2-5300 DDR2 667 MHz Type RAM

I got them via Amazon as they had the best price tag for them I could find.

Here is a nice description on how to replace the modules.

Easy as pie really nothing anybody should worry about and hell it made the machine run quite a bit faster. Really everybody should do that.

Now to the hard disk part of the upgrade. As again you just can’t have enough storage I quickly decided for a 500 GB 2.5 hard drive. This little beauty I ordered at my local hardware dealer of choice.

Reminder do make a new OS X Time Machine backup on an external hard drive as preparation first – getting back to normal later is a piece of cake this way.

Where were we? Ah I went for the Samsung SpinPoint M6S HM500LI 500GB 5400RPM 8MB 2,5″ SATA-2 that is perfectly thin enough to fit into the MacBook.

• HM500LI
• Spinpoint M6
• capacity : 500 GB
• interface : Serial ATA 3.0 Gbps
• buffer memory : 8 MB

After some research I found the perfect instructions at ifixt documentation and this video on Vimeo

Macbook Pro HDD switch in HD from max milion on Vimeo.

The worst thing was to get a size 6 torx – that you will need to install the new hard drive. Once I had that the whole procedure only took me about 40 mins.

Now the hard drive was all in place and ready to rock. The next thing was to get OS X and all my applications running again. Lucky me I did backup my system with OS X time machine first thing before taking my MacBook Pro apart. So once the power was connected again and the Western Digital My Book plugged into the USB port we were ready to go. Almost really as if you start the system from the DVD now you have to select the disk tool from the utilities menu first and partition the disk as otherwise the option restore from time machine will not find a hard disk drive to install the backup on. So I did the right thing and partitioned the HDD. Now into the restore from time machine mode and quickly select the latest backup.

It took about 1 and a half hours till the procedure was completed. I did reboot the system and WOW everything was just were I left it – only with 400 GB plus in storage room.

Time to go off and take some new pictures – in raw format obviously

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

MacBook PRO 500 GB HDD & 4 GB Memory Upgrade – back with Time Machine

You have to love German efficiency. Since this year 2009 iPhone owners have to pay an extra of 5,76 Euro per month on top of the fee they pay for the monthly plan at T-Mobile.

The GEZ (Central radio and television toll collecting agency) in Germany does argue that the iPhone is a device that enables you to access the internet (that’s true) and they use the money to provide the citizens of Germany a basic coverage of news and information of all kind. This is an old approach they translated form the television part of media where the argumentation goes that by collecting the fees they gather the money to ensure that media is not influenced by advertising or big money quite as much and you will get rather unbiased news coverage.

They have a point there if you look at Italy for example where all the big contry wide television channels are owned by the President of state.

BUT and that is a big but. Its all not true when it comes to the internet. The coverage they provide is by far not complete and IMHO its outragous for them to charge 5.76 Euro from everybody on a monthly basis for the sites they do host.

Anyway if you are a honest person you will have to pay the extra – even if you don’t access their pages ever.  

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

In Germany owning an iPhone will set you back another 5,76 Euro a month now

I did replace my QNAP NAS with a shiny new Synology 207+ this Christmas. And whilst I was more than pleased with its functionality and the great user interface I was more than dissapointed by the fact that all videos I did try to watch on my MacBook Pro via the VLC player did not run smoothly at all it was snatchy really. 

And as the VLC preference changes by extending the buffer in size didn’t do the trick I had to search quite a bit to find the solution to this problem. The solution then was found by using SMB (Server Message Block) network protocol instead of the Apple OS X standard AFP (Apple Filing Protocol).

Follow the steps in this article to connect to Windows File Sharing (SMB) from Mac OS X 10.1 or later. SMB is the native sharing protocol for Microsoft Windows operating systems, but it may be offered by other computers.

Follow these steps:

1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
2. Choose Connect to Server from the Go menu.
3. In the address field of the Connect to Server dialog, type the URL using this syntax: smb://ServerName/ShareName/
4. Click Connect.

You will be prompted for the workgroup, user name, and password. In addition to connecting to actual Microsoft Windows computers, you may also use the Connect to Server dialog to connect to a Macintosh that is offering Windows File Sharing.

Doing this resolved the issues for me and videos do run like a charm now via WLAN and directly from the NAS.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

How to get rid of choppy video streaming playback from Network attached storage (NAS / VLC / Mac OS X)

Just came across this new toy – and am really tempted to spend some money on it.
It is from the same company that released the Nabaztag that I dearly love! The new toy is called Mir:ror.

Make your everyday objects interactive, smart and communicant. Simply affix RFID Ztamps to them and show them to Mir:ror.

Mir:ror makes your everyday objects interactive, smart and communicant. Simply affix RFID Ztamps to them and show them to Mir:ror: your bunch of keys will send email to tell someone you’re home, your pills know when you’ve swallowed them, your toys play video clips… Thousands of uses can be easily programmed through a Web interface.

This pack contains one Mir:ror with a USB connection to your computer, Ztamps to affix to any object you like, and two cute little Nano:ztag micro-rabbits containing Ztamps and which you can also program to perform any task you choose.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

Thinking about spending some money on a Mir:ror

For last weeks flight from London to Munich I have gotten my first real E-Ticket. Usually the E-ticket just tells you that you don’t have to bring more than a credit card or a frequent flyer card to grab your ticket either at the airline counter or a quick check in terminal.

That was a little different this time. While I was checking in online just after choosing my seat I was asked if I wanted to print the boarding pass now or send it to my mobile device.

I had a look at the mobile option that was supposed to send you a mail with the scan able code to the device / address specified.

It did arrive in an instant on my iPod Touch. I did get a doubting look at first check on the airport just outside the security check area but did pass without a problem.

At the boarding counter the lady did take the iPod and held it against the scanner – worked perfectly and I could board the pane.

So no paper involved at all – nice one Lufthansa.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

iPod Touch serves as a flight ticket – a real e-ticket

This little HowTo explains how you get Nintendo Entertainment System games running on your iPod Touch.

The procedure should be identical for the iPhone but I haven’t tested that.

First things first:

Your iPod needs to be jailbreaked (see HowTo here)

1. Click on installer on your iPod Touch home page.
2. Click on install and go to the Games folder
3. Select NES package and click install

This will get you the emulator to run the so called ROMs with (the actual Game packages)

Now you will need to create two new folders on your iPod Touch.

To connect to your iPod Touch use a FTP client like Cyberduck

• Click on the Settings button on your iPod Touch home page
• Click on WiFi and click the blue arrow button of your WiFi to get the details

Use the IP address as the host for your FTP client
The user name is root and the password is alpine

Create two new folders inside the Media folder
They need to be named

ROMs (mind that this is case sensitive so make sure the s is a small letter and the ROM are capitals)
Inside the ROMs folder create another sub folder and name it NES

Now go and get yourself some ROMs like the all time classic Super Mario Bros 3.

There are many websites out there but I found theoldcomputer.com has the most comprehensive list.

Download the zip file and unpack it. This will get you a file called example.nes

Upload this file to your iPod Touch with your FTP client.

Now go to you iPod Touch home page click on the NES button and select the ROM from the list displayed.

Have fun!

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

How To Play Nintendo NES Games on your iPod Touch

Here is a simple how to explaining a pretty straight forward way to read your RSS news feeds offline on your iPod Touch.

Basically you will do the following.

Export your subscriptions from your web based or software RSS reader like MyYahoo, Google Reader, Bloglines or Vienna in the so called OPML format a simple XML format.

If you use MyYahoo! Simply click on this link and you will get an OPML file of your subscriptions.

If you use Google reader.

Go to your my Account page and click on settings next to the Google Reader link. On the next page you can choose to export subscriptions as OPML file.

Here is a little sample file with a couple of feeds about search, website marketing and gadgets I like to read.

On your iPod Touch, that you need to have jailbroken like explained here, you need to follow these steps to be able to continue.

On your iPod Touch home page click on the Installer button and select the following apps to be installed.

1. Pure-FTPd in the Network folder
2. MobileRSS in the Productivity folder

After installation of these two apps go to your iPod Touch Settings >> Click on WiFi >> click on the blue arrow button of the WiFi you are connected to >> on the next page you will see the IP address of your iPod Touch.

Note the IP address down.

Now go to your preferred FTP client. I use Cyberduck as mentioned earlier. Open a new connection and enter the IP address as the FTP host address. As username type in root and as password use alpine.

Now you can connect to your iPod Touch via FTP. Copy the OPML file in just the folder open after connecting.

Now go to your iPod Touch home page and click on the RSS button then click on settings >> and then click on import feeds.

You should see the file just uploaded via FTP on the next screen. Select it and the feeds will be imported onto your iPod Touch.

Mind depending on the amount of feeds this might take some time – just be patient.

Now you are done and you can read your news feeds without being connected through WiFi.

MobileRSS is not the quickest of all apps but it does the job.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

iPod Touch as an offline RSS Reader – Quick How To

If you find this info useful please do give us a thumbs up! much appreciated

The iPod Touch is a very neat and shiny gadget and great to watch YouTube movies with on the Go, but it lacks some of the nice applications the iPhone has – now you can’t enable phone capabilities on the iPod Touch…

But as both of the Apple toys work on the same operating system and are in fact very similar when it comes to hardware and software, there is an easy way to add some great new tools to your iPod Touch if you follow the guide below to get applications like iPhone Mail, iPhone Maps, iPhone Weather, iPhone Stocks on your iPod Touch.

Caution: Obviously this is not a Apple approved procedure and I can’t be held responsible and will not take any responsibility should anything go wrong. So everything you do is at your own risk.

First you need to check the firmware version of your iPod Touch.

You can do that on your iPod Touch by clicking on settings > general > about.

There you will see a list item called version the number tells you the firmware version.

Or you go to iTunes on your Mac or PC with the iPod Touch connected and you will see something very similar to this.

Software version gives you the version of the firmware your iPod Touch is running with.

If the version check shows anything else than 1.1.1 you will need to downgrade your firmware in order to install additional applications to your iPod Touch. This is due to the .tiff exploit only working with this very version of the firmware.

To downgrade you will have to follow this little How to.

1. Download the 1.1.1 firmware from Apple by clicking here

2. Connect your iPod Touch to your PC or Mac and click on the restore button while holding down alt (for Mac users)

3. A select file to open interface will show up (see the OS X version as a screenshot) go to the downloaded 1.1.1 firmware file and select it.

4. Let the update happen – you don’t need to do anything now

5. You should have 1.1.1 firmware on your iPod Touch now – to check follow the above steps.

6. Next thing you need to do is open Safari on your iPod Touch and go to http://jailbreakme.com

7. Click on the button in the very bottom of the page that reads “Install AppSnapp” – this will do the trick and will take you back to the home page

8. Click on install on the home screen and on the next screen click install (button with a little + icon ) > click on all packages and choose openssh, bsd system and launcher and install them

9. Install whatever you find and like on the list of 3rd party applications onto your iPod Touch

10. To install iPhone applications follow the 7 steps below.

1. Click on installer
2. Go to sources and click edit
3. Next click add and add http://repo.us.to
4. Then press done and go to install
5. Choose For iPhone 1.1.1 click on it >> then YOU MUST INSTALL PREPS FIRST (for Mail and Maps)
6. Then install the rest
7. You are good to go

In case something went wrong – as the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy tells you DON’T PANIK

Help my iPod seems broken or doesn’t respond at all!

You should be able to fully restore your iPod Touch by holding the sleep and home button until your iPod Touch turns off. Keep holding them and eventually the apple logo will appear > now release the sleep button while still holding the home button. If everything went right you should connect to iTunes and it should do a full restore.

For more detailed information on restoring your iPod Touch go here

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

How To – Install iPhone and 3rd Party Applications on your iPod Touch

As mentioned in this earlier article a lot of fun for the iPod Touch comes with the videos you can watch anywhere anytime.

And as stressed before I happen to love the TEDTalks and Google Tech Talks and much much more stuff available on YouTube.

Now these movies tend to be a little long and during work they are so hard to follow as people have a bad habit of disturbing me while I’m watching videos at work

So I figured the best way is to get the videos on my iPod and watch them while waiting at the airport, sitting on the tube or bus. Only problem is how do I download and convert the YouTube videos to work on my iPod Touch. (The tutorial works for all third generation iPods with video capabilities and of course for the iPhone)

Tuboy Juego
(Download Client OS X)

First You will need to  download the .flv YouTube video file using a tool like Tuboy Juego it will simply allow you to download the video file of the page currently open in Safari or you can alternatively use the v=xxxx video ID from YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TpRAp0WWLs in this exmple 4TpRAp0WWLs)

The tool will open a shell and show the progress of the download.

ffmpegX
(Video converter OS X)

Once the .flv file is on your hard disk its time to convert the file into a format  supported by your iPod Touch. Here you might want to use a tool like ffmpegX

Just install it and then drag and drop the .flv file downloaded from YouTube to the From filed on the GUI. On the Target format section choose the MP4 H.264 format.

After the conversion is finished just add the file to the movie section to iTunes. Sync your iPod or iPhone and you are set to enjoy the YouTube video on the go.

UPDATE: After downloading the .flv file from YouTube the easier way to convert the file to an iPod / iPhone Video file is to use iSquint – iSquint may not be as flexible in terms of supported media types overall but for this use case it just works brilliantly even way faster than ffmpegX on my intel MacBook Pro.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

Convert YouTube Videos for iPod Touch – Mac OS X

Yupp it is out of date and its from Microsoft but very recently I got me the Xbox360 console. The pro version with the 20GB hard disk. I got it used from a now former colleague Ken, who moved to NY this week.

It is in mint condition came with two wireless controllers and 10 Games. Oh heaven. This was one of my Christmas presents for me myself and I.

The main reason for getting the Xbox360 weren’t the games so … Believe it or not
I got me the Xbox and not the Playstation P3 or the Wii cause the media streaming capabilities of the Xbox are the winning formula for me. With the latest update the Xbox will recognize and play not only windows media files but xvid and divx video files as well! This just works fab with the QNAP server of mine.

In addition to the games that came with the box already I fell for the brand new Assassins – till now only managed to play a couple of hours and have to say the game play and the graphics are stunning. So if ur into Knights and Templar plus a little gaming addict – go for it.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

Xbox 360 supports DivX and XviD – Oh Joy