Hardware
Introduction of the first iMac
Here’s an interesting video of the introduction of the first iMac, in 1998. It wasn’t that long ago, but oh how the specs have changed from todays Macs. I also think it’s funny how Steve Jobs refers to the mouse as “the coolest mouse on the planet”. Anyone who’s ever used one of those knows that making the mouse round was one of the worst mistakes Apple ever made. When your hand rested on it, there was no way to tell front from back, by touch. The thing constantly got turned, and the cursor would go in the wrong direction when you moved your hand. In the next revision they added a little dimple to the front so when you felt that you knew you were holding it the right way, but it was still a pain in the ass to use. I always just threw mine in a drawer.
YouTube Link | found via macsupport
Migrating from Media Temple’s Shared-Server (ss) to Grid-Server (gs): part II
In Part I of this story, I mentioned that I recently completed the migration from Media Temple’s Shared-Server (ss) to their new Grid-Server (gs). The process went very smoothly… much more so than I was anticipating. But, as smoothly as it went, you may want to wait a while longer before you do this. I think they still have some bugs in their Grid-Server system.
I completed the process late Friday night. Most of Saturday the site was down. But, it wasn’t from the migration process itself. Apparently, on Saturday, Media Temple discovered a bug in some of their new Grid hardware. Under certain conditions, the hardware is forced into a diagnostic cycle. It’s a built in “feature” that is designed to protect the system. Unfortunately, it was falsely going into that cycle all-day Saturday. Media Temple was working with the hardware vendor to apply firmware updates to correct the problem. Also, I have noticed that my sites seem a little slower than they did under the Shared-Server package. So, I would say unless you really want the new features, you may want to stay where you are for at least a little while longer.
Before I talk about the process, it may be helpful to know what I was hosting on the Shared-Server package:
- This site - onedigitallife.com (Wordpress 2.0.4, Mint 1.29)
- Alternate domain for this site (pointer) - 1digitallife.com
- My other blog - AGreenIdea.com (Wordpress 2.0.4)
- My girlfriends portfolio site (Static HTML / Flash)
THE PROCESS
The process for migrating is very straight forward. Simply login to your Media Temple Control Panel (it’s been recently updated), and select “Migrate to the Grid!”. You’ll then be presented with 3 steps. Instead of retyping everything, here’s a screen-shot…
As the first step mentions, it does take about 12 hours for their DNS changes to kick in, so plan ahead if you are going to be doing this. You don’t really need to do anything for step #1, other than click “go”. 12 hours later you’ll be able to move on to step #2.
Step #2 is primarily a billing step. You need to specify which plan you want to migrate / upgrade to. As an existing customer of mt, you can opt for the Grid-Server Lite package. They don’t really give you any information about this until you are actually in the process of doing it, so here’s the breakdown:
The Lite package is only available to current Shared-Server customers. New MT Customers are only able to do the full package. The Lite package is designed to be similar in features to the old Shared-Server package.
Step #3 is just like it sounds. It packs up all you data, databases, email accounts, etc…, moves them over to your new account, and then deletes your old SS account. This step takes 5-25 minutes, depending on the size of your media. I have a lot of media, so mine took the full 25 minutes.
That’s it! The process is remarkably simple. I would say that Media Temple did a good job building this migration tool. My sites stayed up through most of this process. They went down during the last 3-5 minutes, so it wasn’t a big deal at all.
THE RESULTS
How did it all work out you ask? Well, here’s the breakdown, starting with the least complicated site…
My girlfriend’s portfolio site… no problem at all. Since it was just static HTML, the migration tool moved it and set everything up like it should.
AGreenIdea.com and onedigitallife.com… Almost no problems at all. I was worried about my Wordpress sites, as one of the biggest changes in the configuration differences between Shared-Server and Grid-Server is the location of the MySQL databases. You can no longer use ‘LocalHost’ in the WP-config file, you need to actually specify a path to the database. I thought I was going to have to do this manually after the migration, but the migration tool re-wrote my wp-config file for me, changing the path (that’s awesome!). It did the same thing for my Mint installation. I was actually surprised about Mint, because I named my folder something other than “Mint”. But, it found it anyway and changed the path. Currently, Media Temple says they can auto-update these apps: Wordpress, Movabletype, Mint, PHPBB, and PHPNuke. The one problem I had after the move was with one of my plugins, Google Sitemap Generator. It didn’t want to function after the move, and was causing errors in the sites. I’ve deactivated it for now, but as a precaution, you may want to turn off all non-essential plugins before doing the migration. And, as always, you may want to do a full backup of your files and databases before doing the migration. Once you finish the migration, you’ll want to do another backup… remember, the migration tool auto-changed some of your wp configuration files.
Strangely, my domain pointer, 1digitallife.com, did not function after the move. I wasn’t able to fix this through the control panel, as it said it was working properly. I had to call tech support and have them finish it.
One other thing to note, is I did receive a strange Error message at the end of the migration process:
“You do not have access to this portion of the site.
For your safety, this action has been logged. Numerous deliberate offenses could result in the suspension of you accout or the permanent denial of your IP address to the Media Temple netwrork.”
I never did figure out why I got this error, and MT tech support didn’t know either.
So, as of now, the sites are moved, and things are working reasonably well. Hopefully, MT has flushed out most of the bugs in the new system.
As this post has now ballooned into a long read, I’ll save the other items I wanted to mention for a part III post. It will go over a few more things that may be helpful if you are planning to do the migration.
Migrating from Media Temple’s Shared-Server (ss) to Grid-Server (gs): part I
Three months ago I moved this site to Media Temple’s Shared-Server (ss) package. It wasn’t all I wanted it to be, but at that time they were beta testing their new and improved Shared-Server (ss6), which had the features I wanted. Sometime between then and now, they dumped the idea, or at least the name, Shared-Server, because when their new system recently came out of beta, it was renamed Grid-Server (gs).
I’m going to be writing about the experience of migrating my site from the Shared-Server to the Grid-Server… what worked, and what didn’t. But first, here’s some of the basic differences between the two packages (simplified). Media Temple’s Shared-Sever was much like everyone else’s shared server packages. Basically, the websites being hosted don’t have a server (hardware box) of their own, the hosting company puts your website, and X number of other sites on a single box. That box is then put into a room with other boxes that also have X number of sites on them. Even though they may be placed together, each box runs independently. This is the most common type of hosting for small to medium sized sites, because it’s the cheapest.
The biggest downside to shared hosting is you don’t have much (or any) control over what server you are put on. If you’re lucky, and you share a server with only small sites that don’t get much traffic, you probably won’t have much trouble. But, if you are put onto a server that is being taxed by to much traffic, either from your own site, or others, you can start to have a lot of problems. And, if one of the sites on your box should cause the server to crash, your site will go down too.
Media Temple has hopefully reduced these kinds of problems with their new Grid-Server. Essentially, it’s still a shared sever, but instead of each box running X number of sites independently, they’ve connected all the boxes into a “grid”. Your site is essentially running on many, or all, of the boxes simultaneously (instead of on just one box). Theoretically, this will have some great advantages over traditional shared hosting. Since all the sites being served are running on all the servers, the system can better absorb sudden increases in resource usage or traffic from individual sites, and individual boxes can crash without affecting the rest of the grid.
A few months ago I ended up on digg.com, and had a sudden increase of traffic. In order to prevent my site from crashing the server, my host deactivated my account. Theoretically, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen under the Grid-Server, because it is supposed to be able to absorb those sudden spikes in traffic, without adversely affecting anyone else’s site. We’ll see if that is really the case.
I won’t go into the other new features of the Grid-Server right now. But you can get details on the package over at Media Temple if you’re interested.
At some point Media Temple will be transitioning all current Shared-Server clients over to the new system, but you can do it now if you don’t want to wait. Unfortunately, the new Grid-Server costs a fair amount more than their old Shared-Server. It’s now $20/mo. or $200/yr. If you are an existing Media Temple customer, you can opt for the Grid-Server Lite package. According to Media Temple, the price will be based on what you are currently paying for your Shared-Server package. In my case, the price was slightly different, but not enough for me to cause a fuss. My new price is $10/mo or $100/yr. I’ll be going over the differences in the two packages in part II of this story. Unfortunately, the Lite package isn’t available for new Media Temple customers… You’re stuck with the $20/mo, $200/yr price.
Apple’s iTV
As I mentioned in the run down of today’s Apple event, Steve Jobs gave us a sneak peak at a hardware box, code named iTV, that will be available in the first quarter of 2007. If you haven’t seen it, this is it. It basically looks like a short Mac Mini.
The iTV will be used to stream media from your computer, to your TV. There were 2 things that struck me about this image though:
1. The wireless networking is only referred to as 802.11. I think it’s a fair assumption that the iTV will use a version that is faster than “G” for it’s movie streaming.
2. This thing has a USB 2 port on it. I wonder what that could be for? It’s not needed for the functionality that Steve described at the event. I’m wondering if by the time this thing comes to market, it will have turned into a full fledged DVR, and that USB port will allow you to attach whatever size hard drive you want to it.
Just speculation, of course.
New iPods / iTunes / Movie Downloads / iTV?
Today special Apple event didn’t disappoint, at least not in my mind. The more realistic rumors came true. We have new model iPods across the board, including larger capacity full size iPods, a totally redesigned line of Nanos, and a super small new Shuffle. The new iPods also have upgraded batteries that last a bit longer.
There’s a new iPod Nano add for your viewing pleasure.
One awesome new feature is you can now sync your iPod with more than 1 computer! Yahoo! This has caused me a lot of headache when traveling. I’ve been waiting for this forever!
We also got iTunes 7.0, which I’ll be writing an entire post about. It has some really awesome new features that we’ve all been waiting for… can everyone say, browse by cover?
As expected, the iTunes Music Store is now simply the iTunes Store. They’ve dropped the word Music from the name. They’ve added full length movies and iPod games to the mix of things you can buy.
Video content bought through iTunes got a bump in resolution. All video will now be 640×480, instead of 320×240. I’m trying to find out some more info on this. I’m hoping this isn’t going to cause a problem playing the new videos on existing 5G iPods.
Also, in a very uncharacteristic move, Steve Jobs gave us a sneak peak at a new product, code named iTV. It’s a set top box that communicates wirelessly with your computer to stream videos and music to your TV. The device will be available in the first quarter of 2007, and will retail for $299 (USD).
Here’s a couple of very interesting quotes from the end of todays event:
“Apple’s in your den now, right?” said Jobs. “iTunes on a Mac or a PC. Apple’s in your living room with iTV, driving your big flat-screen TV. Apple’s in your car, with over 70 percent of the 2007 model cars offering iPod connectivity. And of course, Apple’s in your pocket, with iPods.”
“Den, living room, car, pocket. And i hope this gives you a little idea of where we’re going,” said Jobs. “Thanks for coming. and we’ll see you all soon.”
I haven’t been able to connect yet, but Apple is providing a webcast of todays event. You can also get some more specific information on Macworld’s live coverage.
iMacs and Minis get upgraded
Today Apple announced new versions of its iMac and Mac Mini lines.
The iMacs were fitted with the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at speeds of 1.83GHZ, 2.0GHz, 2.16GHz, and 2.33GHz, and come in new sizes of 17″, 20″, and a whopping 24″. One item to note is that they dropped the remote as standard equipment on the 17″ model. Base configurations range from $999 - $1999 (USD)
The Mac Mini updates were a little more subtle, but still welcome. Apple dropped the Intel Core Solo processor altogether, and now both models run the Core Duo (not the Core 2 Duo). They also received a small speed bump from 1.5GHZ/1.66GHz to 1.66GHz/1.83GHz. Pricing remained the same at $599 and $799 (USD).
I guess we can retire these rumors for next weeks event.
Apple recalls 1.8 million laptop batteries
Photo Credit: nondeadly
If you haven’t heard, Apple is recalling 1.8 million batteries for G4 iBooks and Powerbooks, sold between October 2003 and August 2006, because they pose a fire hazard. These are the same batteries, made by Sony, that were recently seen blowing up Dell laptops.
“Consumers should stop using the recalled batteries immediately and contact Apple to arrange for a replacement battery, free of charge,” Apple said. “After removing the recalled battery from their iBook or PowerBook, consumers should plug in the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives.”
Affected customers can contact Apple at (800) 275-2273 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. CT Monday through Sunday or log on to Apple’s Web site to check the battery’s serial number and request a replacement battery.
Unfortunately, my iBook battery falls within the range of recalled units. I guess I won’t be taking my laptop anywhere for a while.
You can get the whole scoop over at AppleInsider.
UPDATE: I just tried to apply for the replacement online, and even though my battery does fall within the affected range, the online form says it’s not a valid number. I called Apple about it. They told me that the online form is wrong. They are experiencing technical difficulties with the servers (probably too much traffic). They asked me to try again later… they weren’t able to do it over the phone. If you’re having trouble with the form, don’t bother calling Apple just yet… try the form again later tonight or tomorrow.
UPDATE #2 (8.25.06 morning): The online form still doesn’t recognize my serial number, and now I can’t even get through to Apple on the phone. If I get connected at all, I get disconnected before speaking to anyone. This is getting very annoying. I want to start this process ASAP, because the Apple support page says it may take 6-8 weeks to get the replacement. Get it together, Apple!
UPDATE #3 (8.25.06 evening): So, the form is still saying my battery doesn’t qualify, even though it falls within the number range listed. I was finally able to get a hold of Apple, and I’m now being told that the number range is a rough guide to let people know that they should check with Apple, but not all numbers within the range are being recalled. They are saying my specific battery number is fine. While this explanation makes sense, I am extremely suspicious. I’ve read several reports of people having the same trouble I’m having with the form, but eventually the form accepts their battery number. I’m not quite ready to accept Apple’s explanation yet. It looks like I’ll be following up on this on Monday :(
UPDATE #4 (8.26.06 evening): This should be my last update on this subject. It appears as though I was told the truth on my last call to Apple… Not all serial numbers in the range are being recalled. Apple has finally updated the serial number range on the site from “6C519 - 6C552″ to “6C519 - 6C552 ending with S9WA, S9WC or S9WD”. Mine ends S9ZD, so it looks like I’m OK. They also added some ending digits to the 15″ Powerbook range. Why, oh why didn’t Apple list it this way from the beginning. It would have avoided a lot of confusion and headaches.
New Mac Mini coming after Labor Day?
Check out this post over at FreeMacBlog.com. Brian, the blog author, describes what happened to him recently when he tried to place a large order of Mac Minis. He was told…
“…they can’t take big orders, but after Labor Day they’d be able to ship plenty of the new model…”
hmmmm… new model?
No new iPhone :(
Well, the WWDC announcements are over, and I’m sure there are a lot of disappointments out there. Like always, rumors were running wild, and reality can never live up. I have to admit, I got sucked into to ‘iPhone’ rumors, and actually thought there was a good chance of that happening this time. Oh well, maybe at Macworld in January.
In the meantime, check out the OS X 10.5, Leopard, preview. It looks like it has some really cool new enhancements. I especially like the way they implemented Time Machine, it seems like backup done right. Unfortunately, a preview is all you can have for now. Leopard isn’t scheduled to be released until Spring of 2007.
You can also check out the specs on those new Mac Pros. They look like pretty awesome machines. You don’t have to wait for those… they are available today. If you happen to buy one, please consider using my Apple Store affiliate link (also in the sidebar). I get a small commission, so you’ll be helping to support this site :).
Wireless Mighty Mouse
Yesterday brought renewed rumors of Apple releasing a wireless version of its Might Mouse, and today its a reality. Thats one of the quickest rumor-to-fact cycles I’ve seen.
I just have one thing to say… its about damn time. The original Might Mouse was released a year ago. I actually expected the wireless version within 3 months.
I haven’t played with one in person yet, but from the picture it look identical to its wired counterpart. If that ends up being the case, I may pass on this. The original Might Mouse had some issues that I didn’t like. I’m also not too sure about its $69 price tag. That’s just a bit more than I normally like to spend on a mouse.
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