Have you ever wondered which lens you used the most? Or what focal length is your favorite? The results of these queries can be used to decide what new lens to get; a (ultra)wide-angle, normal, or telephoto lens.
Well, there is an answer for both questions. The first (which lens) is relatively easy when you're using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Just select the metadata filter in the library view and examine the results.
Posts filed under Tips'n Tricks
iPhone 3GS Tethering with Firmware 3.1.3
With the release of firmware 3.1.3 the tethering option is back on the iPhone. After the reboot of the iPhone you get additional fields in the 'Cellular Data Network' section in the 'Network' menu (Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network). Just enter the appropriate information in the APN field (for KPN in the Netherlands enter internet in the APN field) and the Internet Tethering option is back (w00t) in the 'Network' menu.
Extend Windows System Partition under VMWare
When working with Virtual Machines (VM's) you probably work with templates (and/or) clones to create new VM's. When you do this, you basically get a fixed drive with this. The size of the drives are basically the size from when you created them in the past. Since people put more and more crap programs in these VM's, you'll need more, and more diskspace.
Under VMWare it's relatively simple to add space to a virtual disk (vmdk), or even add an additional disk to the VM. The problem is that this works for creating additional partitions or extend existing NON primary system partitions. This means that you can't enlarge your C: partition, a partition where (under normal circumstances) all your programs are installed.
Deleting Locked Files in OSX
During the migration of the data on my dad's (*cough*) Windows computer to his new iMac, we ran into lot's of locked files. Usually you get the information on a specific file (⌘ + i) and deselect the 'Locked' option in the 'General' part. It's basically impossible to remove all the locks by hand, so I needed a quicker way to remove these locks.
It seems that there's a command available in Terminal to do this. The following command removed the Locks from all the files in the current directory AND all the sub-directories.
chflags -R nouchg *
More info on the chflags command can be found in the Terminal by typing man chflags, or by visiting this page.
The cause of the locked files in my case was that we copied the data from a read-only network share (to prevent that information might get lost in copy/move actions during the migration). Reading from read-only media results in locked files (or so it seems).
Management Through SSH
SSH (Secure Shell) is a secure alternative to the ancient Telnet program/protocol. Telnet (and SSH) allows a user to connect to a remote server, and enables the users to use a command line interface to execute commands (manage the server).
Where Telnet is relatively limited in its functionality, SSH has a bunch of features which enables the user to do much more. The SSH protocol has the possibility to tunnel traffic through an SSH connection (read: tunnel). The big advantage is that everything going through the tunnel is heavily encrypted (which is good).
;)
The tool best known to use SSH is SFTP (FTP over SSH). A secure alternative of the 'old' (in plaintext communicating) File Transfer protocol.
Apple OS X Leopard, Nokia N95 and Dialup Networking
One of the things I forgot to backup were the setting for Dialup Networking (DUN) on my MacBook. I use a Nokia N95 with a flatfee UMTS/HSDPA subscription. Both the MacBook and Nokia N95 have Bluetooth capabilities, so it should be a match made in heaven... Well, not completely.
You need specific settings AND files for getting this to work. First of all, Apple does supply several modem scripts for several phones/providers, but not the HSDPA/N95 combination.
Thankfully, I found this blogposting providing the modem scripts (local version). Having those makes it a lot easier.
Just unzip the file and place the scripts in the following folder:
/Library/Modem Scripts/
Citrix ICA Client SSL Error 61
The great thing about Citrix is that you can access company resources from almost anywhere. They have several solutions for remote access and thin client computing. They also have an ICA client for Apple OSX (Yeeehaaaaa).
I've been using the OSX ICA Client for a couple of months now to access my mail on the company intranet. Apart from some little quirks (like not functioning well when having two displays), the experience is good. Up till now.
Today, completely out of the blue came this error:
;)
The error message suggests that I have changed something on my Mac, but not that I know. For someone who works with PKI, one would think that they would remember choosing NOT to trust a public VeriSign CA.
Data Robotics Drobo Review
About a month ago, I bought a Drobo to expand my hard disk storage. Normally you would buy an additional hard disk to add storage. Problem with that is that those drives will eventually fill up with all sorts of important information.
Every time you add or replace disk you need to move data around, which takes a lot of time.
The Drobo is an external enclosure which holds up to 4 SATA disk drives. The enclosure can be connected via FireWire800 or USB2.0, and is seen by the OS as a removable drive.
Your data stored on the drobo is secured when you use 2 or more drives. 1 disk drive is used for redundancy. So if one drive fails your data is still there.
Screengrabbing in FireFox
On Windows PC's I use SnagIt from TechSmith for screencaptures etc. On OSX I use the built-in capabilities of OSX for capturing screens, windows, or areas, but there was something missing...
SnagIt can capture large windows within *cough*Internet Explorer*cough* or Firefox as one image. So no need for a capture, scroll down, capture again etc. This feature isn't available in OSX, or any (commercial) capturing software I could get my hands on. Until I ran into Screengrab.
Screengrab is a FireFox extension which allows you to save an entire webpage as an image (jpg or png). Excellent extension if I may say so.
Unpredictable Exposures
When shooting from a tripod and/or with Live View on your (d)SLR you may find strangely exposed photos. Some are darker than others.
This could be related to the light seeping in through the ocular on your camera. Normally you have your eye against the ocular, but when you use e.g. Live View on your camera, you watch the LCD. This leaves the ocular 'open', and unwanted light might enter the camera and screw up the exposure of the photos you're taking.
I created a small example were I shot several high-speed images (in Aperture priority mode) while I used a small flashlight to pass a beam of light over the back of the body (e.g. car lights passing by in low light circumstances). I made sure that I also 'touched' the ocular with the beam of light.
You can see that the exposure goes from normal to dark, and back to 'normal'.
I haven't found any real differences when you're shooting under normal circumstances, but when (a strong) light is shining in or on the ocular, you might be in trouble.