Category: Apple

Apple related stuffs

MacOS Desktop/Finder keep refreshing/restarting

I went to Apple Store for repairing my iMac harddisk recently. After that, when I use it, with Time Machine restoring my Mac to previous backup, I found the Finder keep refreshing for certain time interval.

The symptoms are:

  1. Opened Finder are all gone after some time.
  2. The Desktop keep refreshing with interval

From Apple Discussion, some people mention to solution:

  1. Restart the OS with Safe mode
  2. Remove some corrupted file(s)
  3. Change User Account with potential losing some Account’s preference

Hopefully I didn’t work with those approach until I found someone mention it can be Dropbox issue (to me, I also suspect even related to other Finder related Application, like Google Drive)

Therefore I remove Dropbox, Disable Google Drive, so then, the problem seems gone.

So, if you find yourselves suffering similar case, you may try to disable/uninstall Dropbox / GoogleDrive first, and see if the problem gone. And re-install the spoken software on demand. Hope this help.

iOS6 與 Web Developer 的關係

自 21 SEP iOS6 釋出後，過了24小時左右，花了一小時自動更新，把手機轉到 iOS6 去。更新的原因，主要是因為它對 Safari 進行了若干改進。

在左圖你可以見到，Safari 的若干改進中，有前所未見的更新：支援照片上傳 (Support upload from media library) 。此前，因為 sandbox 原故，或是因為沒有做好 portal，手機隨了靠 native app 如 PhoneGap 來作搭橋方式，把資料送上去後台程式。現在連網頁都能夠上載相簿中的相片，甚至即是拍照，這可是一個不顯眼的突破。對於一般上網族，未必留意到這個改變，但對於網頁開發人仕，可不要忽略這個新功能。因為，這個新功能帶來的方便，可改寫你之前對某些認為一定要寫 native app 才做到的事情，變由拍一張照傳到後台，經後台分析而得出處理結果。

此外，對網頁開發員的另一個好消息（突破相對較小），是其 JavaScript 的執行效能。且看以下網站將 iOS5 跟 iOS6 進行的對比測試：
http://www.newmobilelife.com/2012/09/15/ios6-vs-ios5-safari-benchmark/

可看到網頁呈現的反應之差異。實際前往我公司的網上商店，可感受到網頁很快便能完整呈現。

當然，新 Safari 也同時帶來一些問題，就是對 POST Ajax 的 caching 處理跟 iOS5 。因而有些網站反映有一些問題出現。解決方法是添加一個不斷隨時間而變的數值到 ajax 作出回應的 function call 中： http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12506897/is-ios6-safari-caching-ajax-results

至於其他改進，也是使用層面中體驗經歷，也不用作深究了。

su – root password

As a Mac user, but not an expert linux user. Sometimes when you follow some online tutorial to teach you work out some installation or task, you may encounter an issue of ‘permission’ deny.

You may clever enough the think of ‘I not yet grant enough permission’ so then you try using a command ‘su – root’. However, if you use this first time, you may find the Terminal reply you ‘su: sorry’, which indicate your password is incorrect.

‘What?! I am the owner of my Mac and my account is admin!!!’ You end up with this anger, and double that your Mac is kidding. In fact, [ admin != root ].

The message is really telling you that the password is incorrect. It happens just because the password is empty. What you need to do is to setup the password for the root account. The command you need is ‘sudo passwd root’, set your password (please remember the password!!!). Once you set it, you can try login as root. Now you should grant the root permission.

Facebook app – 由 HTML5 回到 原生 iOS app

Facebook 曾打響旗號，將其 iPhone app 和 android app 改為以 app container 配合 HTML5 來製成適合智能手機上使用的 mobile web app，一時將 HTML5 的風吹得熾熱，讓人們覺得 HTML5 web-based apps (a.k.a HTML5 app)正是手機程式開發的理想方向之一。然而近來又似乎在打退堂鼓…… Continue reading Facebook app – 由 HTML5 回到 原生 iOS app

The fate of Adobe Flash on mobile platform

From the day Steve Jobs declare iPhone does not support Adobe Flash, it is the beginning of the decline of Adobe Flash. In sprite of being a Flash Developer in the past, I have to admit that Flash is not ideal to run on mobile device. Flash requires certain amount of resource to execute smoothly, while mobile device normally unable to provide such demand.

Android device keeps mentioning to support Flash, however, the disappointed user-experience causes people from joining their parties. So that from 15th Aug, Android is no longer provide Flash player for its devices.

Does HTML5 really the most suitable candidate for his task? My answer is: NO. I don’t thinking HTML5 can replace Flash game / Flash animation easily. Or the development of that game /animation will be complicated. No matter what, building multimedia content with HTML5 is the global trend. But if your target audience is not teenage, you probably keep using Flash as the tool, as Desktop has much powerful computing ability, with developer familiar with Flash programming, building fancy stuff with Flash can be much complicated but much faster.

Related reading:
Flash退出Android平台 正式告別移動端
http://news.cnyes.com/Content/20120816/KFM56OW8LB8KR.shtml
Did Steve Jobs kill Adobe Flash:
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-09/tech/tech_mobile_flash-steve-jobs_1_html5-battery-hog-photoshop?_s=PM:TECH

Apple Boot Camp Bug: No response for disk burning

從 Apple 一月十四特價日買回來的 iMac 到新年前終於進行了開封儀式。雖然買了 Parallels 6，還是想看看傳說中的 Boot Camp 是什麼回事。

Parallels 6 是 Virtual Machine，用作把 PC Window OS 帶進 Mac 的世界，而 Boot Camp 有著類同的功用，讓 Mac 在開機之際讓用家選擇載入什麼視窗系統。兩著分別在於前者能夠讓用家在某一瞬間同時使用兩個不同的視窗系統，但電腦資源需要被瓜分，而後者則讓用家決定哪 一個視窗作業系統後，讓該系統完全利用整台電腦的資源執行作業。

Continue reading Apple Boot Camp Bug: No response for disk burning