Scott MacHaffie

The iPhone uses a proprietary library on Windows and Mac to transfer photos from the iPhone to the computer.  Presumably, they’re doing this to prevent playing with the phone’s other contents (files).

Someone has written a replacement driver for Linux which allows access to the photos.  It looks like he reverse-engineered the protocol.  More details are at:  iFuse main page.  If you follow the directions and install ifuse, then when you attach your iPhone to your computer, you will see a new “iPhone” directory under /media (at least on kubuntu).  You’ll find your pictures under there.

I used a first-generation 8GB iPhone with 2.x firmware.  Your mileage may vary with other combinations.

I have downloaded several applications to my iPhone. These aren’t “critical” or “necessary” applications, but I thought they might be of interest.

• Lightsaber — very cool, you get to use a lightsaber from one of the Star Wars movies or you can make your own.  Moving your iPhone makes lightsaber sounds.
• evernote — I use this to keep track of information between my computer and my phone.  I can bookmark a site on my computer (using the evernote web clipper), then view the information on my phone.  I can also make notes and send them back and forth between phone and computer.  This is very useful for writing.
• Google Earth — it’s fun spinning the earth around and zooming in.
• Lose It! — this is a program for tracking how many calories (fat, carbs, vitamins, etc.) you eat

Those aren’t the only apps I have installed, just the ones that are the most interesting or useful.

A writer writes something, revises it repeatedly, then ships it.

A programmer writes something, ships it, then revises it repeatedly.

I sometimes have fat fingers on my iPhone and end up opening messages instead of deleting them (hey, it looks like a delete swipe to me).

An easy trick, as of one of the 2.x updates, is to hit the “Edit” button in the upper right corner while viewing messages.  Then, tap the messages you want to delete and hit the “Delete” button.

Much easier, less error-prone.

Metaphor doesn’t work in the opening of fantasy and science fiction.

Take a traditional work of fiction that opens:

Tom was a rock.

From this sentence, we know two things: Tom is a solid, reliable character, and the writer isn’t very imaginative.

Now that a fantasy novel that opens:

Tom was a rock.

In this case, perhaps Tom is an earth elemental.  Or maybe we are reading something like a fable, with talking rocks, trees, and animals.

A science fiction novel that opens:

Tom was a rock.

means that Tom is a silicon-based lifeform, and we will be dealing with aliens (either just aliens or a mixture of humans and aliens).

The opening of fantasy and science fiction works establishes the world–thus, metaphor can’t really be part of that.  Once the world is firmly established, then metaphor becomes workable because we the readers know what is and isn’t part of the world.

Here is an easy way to get rid of email on your iPhone that can’t be sent.  (Why would you get unsendable email?  Well, in my case it came from having three-year-old twin boys…)

1.  Switch to Airplane mode (Settings / Airplane Mode / On)

2.  You may have to turn off the fetching of new mail temporarily as well (Settings / Fetch new data / Advanced / / Manual)

3.  Create and send a new message

These steps will force the Outbox to be visible (from the Mail application go to Mailboxes and you will see the Outbox).

4.  Delete the messages you don’t want.

5.  Reverse the changes you made to Settings.

That’s it!

Ever wonder what game ratings really mean?

• 10  Average
• 9.5  Below average
• 9  So awful it’s not even worth the free review copy we got

Allen Wong created a Palm-in-a-book and is now working on a revised version: a solar-powered Palm device. For the book, he stuck a Palm PDA into a notebook, then added an infrared keyboard.

For the solar version, he tore everything apart and is working on making the combination solar-powered. Very cool hacking–I hope he gets it working.

I needed to check our model train track for continuity, for our boys. I didn’t have a multimeter, so I improvised. I used a 9-volt battery, an LED, and a wire. I consider this absolutely basic stuff–something I learned so long ago, I’ve forgotten when I learned it.

I hope that we can teach our boys that they are capable of solving problems.

We went to Fry’s yesterday and looked at the videos.  Fry’s put “The Adventures of Baron von Munchhausen” and “Corpse Bride” into the Family section.  While I personally agree with that choice (although they aren’t appropriate for three year olds), I was surprised that a company felt that way as well.