Rubenerd

I've been on Twitter since March 2007, and things sure have evolved from those days… check out the picture of Twitterrific 1.0 on the right from early 2007!

During that time I've changed Twitter clients 7 times:

Twitterrific

Fantastic little Aqua Mac OS X native application that was originally free (as in price), but in a controversial move they started forcing inline advertisements on users and wouldn’t remove them unless you paid a registration fee. That move put me off using it.

Snitter

Snook’s Twitter, an Adobe Air client that was small and could have it’s themes changed. Seemed to crash all the time though: in hindsight it was probably caused by Air and not his client itself, but at the time I gave up and moved on

TwitBin

A Twitter client sidebar for Mozilla Firefox that I used on my FreeBSD desktop machine before I realised that you’re only allowed to make a certain number of requests to the Twitter servers per hour. Figured it made sense just to use a client on my MacBook Pro.

Twhirl

Another Adobe Air client that felt like Snitter on steroids (a particularly apt comparison given the current athletic competition going on). Acted more like an aggregator than just a Tweet downloader; you could choose to read direct messages, replies, and apply filters.

TTYtter

A very customizable and powerful Unix command line Twitter client written in Perl. I still have it installed on my FreeBSD desktop when I want to use Twitter remotely, though I moved on to the client below for when I want to keep logs and for day-to-day use

Twitter Commandline

A much simpler and more lightweight Unix command line Twitter client that can post messages, read friends timelines and send direct messages. Also written in Perl which is nice because I can read and modify it.

For my primary Twittering needs though, I've moved over to a very sleek client called TweetDeck. From their site description:

TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application that is currently in public beta. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces.

TweetDeck enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets. To do this All Tweets are saved to a local database. The far left column will always contain All Tweets. The GROUP, SEARCH and REPLIES buttons then allow the user to make up additional columns populated from the database. Once created these additional columns will automatically update allowing the user to keep track of a twitter threads far easier.

Unlike all the other graphical Twitter clients I've used, it splits up your screen into multiple columns so you can see your timeline, replies and direct messages right next to each other. It also has a very nice buzz column for the latest words and topics being discussed, and a search column you can customise. All the columns can be rearranged to your taste, and if you prefer the window can be "collapsed" into one column like a more traditional client.

Given it takes up your entire screen it works fantastically on widescreens such as the display on a MacBook Pro. I assigned it to it's own space in Mac OS X Leopard so whenever I want to check all my Twittery goodness I just navigate to that virtual desktop. Notification messages appear regardless of whatever virtual desktop or space you're in at the time, which is very useful.

ASIDE: I also love the dark background with light text colour scheme because it’s so much easier on the eyes, especially late at night when my eyes are tired. I think people who use dark backgrounds with light text are very intelligent, smart and bright people who I’m sure are also incredibly attractive, desirable and humble as well.

My only gripes are: the font is a tad big, meaning vertically it shows less tweets per column than Snitter, Twitterrific or Twhirl, the icon tends to hide itself on the Dock when my desktop background is dark as well, and it doesn't respond to mouse gesteres on Macs, though the latter problem is surely a limitation with Air than the application itself.

I've well and truly given up on instant messaging clients. Who needs them when you have this good stuff? Reliability aside of course:

Classic Twitter-is-down message from Christmas 2007

These posts originally appeared on Jaiku, which Google bought and shut down

Hello everone in Twitterland, it's sure been a while! Still don't have interent at home, typing this from a coffee shop in Mawson Lakes.

2008-08-09 08:13:00+08:00 on Jaiku

If you didn't see my blog recently, approx time for new home DSL connection is going to be several WEEKS!

2008-08-09 08:14:00+08:00 on Jaiku

I've registered for Virgin Mobile Broadband in the meantime, but won't be approved until Monday. Why isn't anything ever easy here? :-(

2008-08-09 08:15:00+08:00 on Jaiku

I've also plugged the code injection exploit on the show site too. Can't leave the intertubes for a few weeks at all it seems!

2008-08-09 08:17:00+08:00 on Jaiku

Hello again everyone, I'm back on the 24 hour internet again, our home ADSL is all connected and ready to go :-)

2008-08-16 05:42:00+08:00 on Jaiku

Configuring FreeBSD to dowload material from Internode mirrors instead of FreeBSD's servers. MUCH faster, and doesn't count towards quota

2008-08-16 05:45:00+08:00 on Jaiku

The Haskell.org site is back up!

2008-08-16 07:05:00+08:00 on Jaiku

Photo by User:OSX on Wikipedia

The Aussie OPEN Networks ADSL router manufacturer's firmware coders can't spell Porsche. If you log into the configuration page for the iConnect625, you're told one of the options is Need For Speed Porshe. I'm outraged because I'd never be caught making such an obvious mistake.

If Australian Woolworths Supermarket's Homebrand isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread for university students, I don't know what is.

Oh but wait… Homebrand also make sliced bread! Haw haw haw :-)

While sitting at the Boatdeck Cafe in Mawson Lakes, I was approached by a bloke who said he had just switched his Windows laptop for a MacBook, and he had a question about drive letters in Mac OS X. I've been asked this question many, many times before so I figure many switchers must be having this problem, so I'm posting about the issue here.

ASIDE: Isn’t it funny how Mac people are generally more willing to talk to other Mac people in cafes and whatnot compared to Windows users? I can’t imagine many Windows users saying "I noticed you’re using a Dell, could I ask you some quesions about how to use the taskbar?"

The other funny thing is, I don’t know why this is! Is it just because Macs are less common, or that if you see a Mac user you can be fairly confident they’re running the same software as you? Or is it some psychological Steve Jobs thing?

Mac OS X is the default operating system shipped with new Macs, and it has it’s heritage in Unix. Like other Unix-like OSs such as Linux, Mac OS X does not use drive letters to reference mounted drives: instead it uses essentially virtual directories for each drive located on the primary "root" directory. This would be equivalent to drive c: in DOS.

Windows 2000 Explorer showing drives, for comparison

For example, on Windows if you wanted to reference the notepad.exe in the Windows folder on your primary hard disk, and another file on your optical drive, the addresses would typically look something like this:

C:Windowssystem32notepad.exeD:FolderAnotherchuckpeddle.txt

On a modern Mac, your primary hard drive is typically the one where you have Mac OS X installed. Therefore, all drives you have mounted on your Mac will not only appear on your Desktop, but will be found within their own virtual folders in the hidden Volumes directory on the primary hard disk, which is ALWAYS referenced with a single forward-slash /.

Leopard Finder showing the hidden /Volumes directory

Here are some examples. The first is the address of a file in our Applications folder on our primary hard drive, the second is a CD-ROM we’ve inserted, and the third is a USB key:

/Applications/TextEdit.app/Volumes/Microsoft Office 2008/Installer.app/Volumes/Ruben Memory Key/homework.txt

Notice how the virtual directories which are named after the volume essentially replace the drive letter used on Windows, DOS, CP/M etc. In the first example we didn't need to reference the Volumes folder because it's on our primary hard disk. Mac OS X also uses forward-slashes instead of back-slashes (just like a URL) just like other Unix-like systems.

The only caveat to this system is that Apple intentionally hides the /Volumes folder by default. To view it in the Finder, navigate to the Go menu and enter /Volumes.

Of course you can also fire up your /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and enter cd /Volumes, then ls to list the contents.

ASIDE: This is not a paid advertisement, despite it reading as such. Having something go well for me is a big thing you see!

After several weeks of disastrous encounters with phone companies (Telstra and Virgin Mobile, I'm looking at you guys!) something has finally gone well: I'm typing this post from our newly established Internode ADSL connection!

Internode (Wikipedia link) is a local, Adelaide based internet service provider that, unlike other ISPs in Australia I've had experience with, have two very important things going for them: their heads are screwed on and their arses aren't on fire! We went from applying for a connection from scratch, to having a modem and working connection in less 4 days.

Monday, 11th August

Registered online for ADSL2+ broadband plan

Tuesday, 12th August

Recieved SMS saying that our local phone exchange isn’t ADSL2+ ready and that they can’t connect us (Telstra’s fault, not theirs). Went online and changed the plan to ADSL 8Mb/s

Thursday, 14th August

Recieved SMS saying we were all connected and ready to go. Went into the city and picked up the modem, went back home and went to RubenerdShow.com :-)

What blew me away even more than their timeliness (is that a word?) was their customer support. When we registered online, I chose the option to pick up the modem from their office in the CBD instead of waiting for a courier delivery. Getting the train into the city from Mawson Lakes only takes 20 minutes or so, and I figured I might as well save the $15 and grab a bite to eat. What, I'm not allowed to eat? I'm only human.

When I arrived in the city, I went to their office to get the connection finalised and collect the modem:

11:29

Walked into building. Told receptionist what I was there for. Was directed to a counter. Noticed all their computers were aluminium iMacs and their chairs were bright orange… very important!

11:30

Was told that my credit card worked and that the new connection was successful. Was told to wait while their technician configured the new modem. Was asked if I wanted to pay for the modem with the same credit card they had on file. Naaaaaaaaaah worries.

11:38

Walked out of customer service centre with modem and activated account.

Compared to Netspace that sent Kevin Tan and I a faulty modem back in 2005 and took a whopping two months to get connected as a result, and TPG Australia that took over three weeks, this was fantastic! Virgin Mobile Broadbandget a clue!

ASIDE: If you didn’t read my adventure with Virgin Mobile’s Wireless Broadband service, they wouldn’t let me register before I provided an Australian bank statement as "capacity to pay". My Singaporean bank accounts and credit cards were useless despite them meeting the minimum requirements and then some. Fine with me, I took my business elsewhere!

Internode House on Grenfell St, from Google Maps street view

As a free and open source software advocate (no, me, really?) what really impresses me about Internode is that they're also an officially licenced mirror of SourceForge, meaning when I download software I'm getting it from a server that's geographically next door, and doesn't count towards the monthly quota. They also have another comprehensive local software mirror that includes amongst other software… FreeBSD ISO images :-).

Unfortunately as I elaborated in a previous post, our local telephone exchange's DSLAM isn't ADSL2+ ready, meaning we're stuck with 8Mb/s 40GiB-limit plan until at least the end of the year. Telstra trying to get to me again it seems… what an oven of stupid grilled cheese sandwiches.

ASIDE: What’s the collective term for grilled cheese sandwiches? Chuck Peddle?

Quite often I find myself using a particular application for a long time, and only realising that something I'm doing can be done a lot simpler, or even automatically. A quick smack on the head with the palm of my hand and a few shots of espresso is generally called for, followed by implementing the previously unused feature.

In this case it's a feature of the improved and vastly more usable new Terminal.app bundled with Mac OS X Leopard. In earlier versions of OS X I used mrxvt in X11 for most of my shell goodness; a less elegant alternative to iTerm but one which I found more reliable. Unlike previous Terminal.app versions, mrxvt had a tabbed interface, and exited automatically whenever the process you were working on finished cleanly. I knew Terminal.app in Leopard had the former feature but not the latter… despite it being right under my nose the whole time.

The Leopard Terminal indicating a process has been completed, with the window still open

To get the Leopard Terminal.app to automatically close its window when the process you're working on finishes cleanly:

1. Hit [Command]+[,] to bring up the Preferences screen
2. Click Settings, then click the theme you want to change.
3. Click Shell and choose Close if the shell exited cleanly from the When the shell exits: listbox.

Now whenever a process you've initiated finishes, or if you type exit in your shell, the window closes automatically. When you have tens of tabs open at once, this saves a LOT of time!

The Leopard Terminal Preferences window showing changed setting

It's time for another of our beloved, quirky and highly useless Rubenerd Blog milestones… this is post number 800! And by sheer coincidence, not only does this post contain the number eight, but it's also Singapore's national day.

Well okay, I'm a few days late, but better late then never right? :-)

My very salubrious bedroom in our study house in Adelaide, with one slight alteration!

Welcome to your first grilled cheese sandwich observation lesson. Feel free to take notes.

As far as I know this is not a grilled cheese sandwich, and quite frankly it concerns me that you think it is. Please seek counseling.

Photo by Northeast Indiana

ASIDE: Considering the phone company in question, I was going to title this post "Screwed over by a virgin", but that’s a little too much even for this site I think. I do think, it only hurts sometimes.

Another day, another major problem with a phone company. I'm starting to think they're more evil than… other evil corporations.

Today marked the end of the long and involved adventure with Virgin Broadband, Virgin Mobile Australia's wireless broadband service. This system allows you to connect your laptop wirelessly (no, really?) through the Virgin 3G phone network to the intertubes for a fixed amount per month, plus the cost of the small USB modem. In Singapore, the public Wireless@SG WiFi network service is ubiquitous, but in Adelaide WiFi connections are fairly spare by comparison and not interconnected, so I figured this wireless broadband service would be quite handy.

Virgin Broadband's wireless service

Enter the phrase "capacity to pay". The idea behind this boneheaded system of checks is to ensure that prospective clients have the ability to meet their financial obligations each month for the lifetime of the contract, in this case with Virgin Mobile's 23 month wireless broadband plan. Simple and straightforward enough right? Of course not!

This is how it works: once you've registered and provided them was enough personal information to allow them to easily steal and assume your identity for malicious purposes involving grilled cheese sandwiches, you must provide them with a bank statement showing your last several paychecks or other forms of income. The bank account must be Australian, and no other form of proof is accepted.

This means that, despite my bank account clearly showing regular deposits from clients (or as regular as you could expect from a self employed person such as myself) which, after conversion to Aussie dollars more than meets the minimum income requirement… because it is with a Singaporean bank it is comepletely useless. Visiting a local Australian branch of DBS and printing the statement in Australia doesn't qualify me. Heck, not even my credit card is an acceptable form of proof.

ASIDE: Forgive me for the following transport related metaphors, I hate them as much as you do but they’re so especially apt under these circumstances. Next time I’ll go back to talking about grilled cheese sandwiches and Chuck Peddle, I promise.

Now let's take a step off the insanity bus and instead board the clue train. If their stated purpose was to verify my "capacity to pay", what does the location of the account have to do with verifying my finances? If they're worried my foerign bank doesn't exist or that I forged the documents, does not the fact that I printed them here in Australia negate this? Wouldn't it be just as easy to contact the local branch of a foreign bank here as to contact a local bank?

I don't know why they didn't think I was serious with my credit card.
Photo from SavingAdvice.com

Then we come to the ridiculous rejection of a credit card as a form of proof of "capacity to pay" regardless of where it came from. Think about this rationally for a second: for a person to have been offered the use of a credit card, a financial institution such a bank, credit union, building society or the like would have checked their income, credit history and employment details and deemed them an acceptable risk to be issued with a line of easy to access credit. In other words, said financial institution feels comfortable with the card holder's ability to pay their debts. Isn't this what Virgin Mobile is claiming to be looking for?

This considered, I would think a credit card would in fact be a more reliable way of proving income and "capacity to pay" than than a bank account which you can prove income now, but there's nothing to say that cash flow will cease once you've been approved! From Virgin Mobile's perspective, a credit card would ensure more deductions go through than a bank account which may or may not have the capacity for overdraft. Mmm, overdraft.

The only factor left in all this nonsense that I can imagine Virgin Mobile would lean on is the argument that they're helping themselves limit flight risk. Appreciate for a second how ridiculous this claim is when compared to any other internet service provider: sure a regular ISP only works in the address you've assigned it to, but what's to stop you from leaving that house, phone line and ISP the week after you register? And when you register for Virgin Mobile broadband you need to provide them with a home address anyway! What's the hang up?

Flight risk? Photo by Walter Van Bel

No, I think this all boils down to two things: laziness and inflexibility, particularly ironic given they're the two attributes the sexy and alternative Virgin Mobile folks claim to be different in compared to the competition!

What boggles my mind more than anything else in this whole mess though is that I was a customer who wanted to give them money, and they turned me down not because I didn't have enough of it, but because it wasn't the "right" money!

Not to inflate my own sense of self importance, but such devices that are used in public are a great form of advertising. Apple has known this and capitalised on it with the glowing Apple logos embezzled on the lids of their laptops for years. This means there will be one less Virgin Mobile advertisement walking around, perhaps one more of their competition.

Virgin Mobile's broadband slogan is: "Are you with us or what?". I'd answer "what"… amongst a few other words of the same length!