A spare PC that's been kicking around my apartment recently got a fresh dose of Lenny.
As a headless machine, it's handy to have the system beep when it reaches the log in prompt to announce that it's ready to accept SSH connections.
This is achieved with the beep command which can be installed with
The beep command can be used to play beeps at different frequencies and durations. For my 'system ready' sound I decided on
To execute the above command when the log in prompt is displayed, paste it into /etc/rc.local before the line exit 0.
Closing a Windows Remote Desktop connection leaves the host machine locked.
It is possible to create a shortcut that will close the session without locking the screen.
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Google Voice Icon by malabooboo
Google Voice is the eighth wonder of the world.
Mac users lucky enough to have secured an invite might consider creating a Fluid site specific browser to carve out some space for Google Voice on the Dock.
An SSB is quite useful in itself, but even more so when a few CSS tweaks are applied.
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If you've noticed Safari crashing more often lately on your PowerPC Mac, you're not alone.
At first I blamed the Verizon cell data coverage in Las Vegas for the stuttering video and dropped frames that I noticed when tuning into TWiT Live for their CES Coverage, but when the browser started locking up completely I knew it had to be Flash.
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SlingPlayer Mobile App Store Screenshot
After excitedly unwrapping a Slingbox SOLO this holiday season, I decided to have a look at the SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone app. As you might expect, the app lets you watch your SlingBox content on Apple touch devices.
Much has been made of the steep price ($30!) and the fact that AT&T crippled the software by making it WiFi only, but it was the rating for the app on the iTunes Store that caught my eye.
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Google
Test 1: 225040 ms for 1000 records
Test 2: 99505 ms for 1000 records
Test 3: 209550 ms for 1000 records
OpenDNS
Test 1: 246687 ms for 1000 records
Test 2: 101039 ms for 1000 records
Test 3: 228571 ms for 1000 records
Comcast
Test 1: 135830 ms for 1000 records
Test 2: 171054 ms for 1000 records
Test 3: 136189 ms for 1000 records
I jumped from OpenDNS to the new Google Public DNS after Gruber did.
The speed difference between the two during real world browsing has been negligible. In fact, a recent BrowserMob article has me reconsidering the plain-old Comcast DNS servers.
Download the Java utility from BrowserMob to run your own speed test.
Usage instructions:
java -jar browsermob-dns-perf.jar
To test your ISP’s DNS as well, add the IP address(s) to the command like so:
java -jar browsermob-dns-perf.jar 123.456.789.012
