Finn got to play in the snow this morning. I don’t think she’s been this happy to crawl around outside since we were at the beach.
Here’s a really interesting article on the Jalopy Journal with some good information about hooking up an iPod to a hidden amplifier. The interesting part is the iPod dock connector, which I’d never really thought about searching for before. I believe the Kenwood head unit I have is equipped with RCA jacks that will support AUX input, so I may switch over to that instead of a mini stereo cable out the front.
Update: I’m out of luck with the Kenwood unit (it’s got no aux inputs on the back), so I may just sell it on Craigslist. I never liked the control/button setup anyway.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Dear AT&T: Fuck you. Unless Verizon has negotiated some draconian sort of data plan, or pre-installs shitty apps on each phone (According to Ars Technica, this will not happen), I will be on line on the 10th of February with cash in hand to bounce, bounce, bounce off your lousy network.
Love, Bill.
PS. Verizon? That page design sucks donkey dicks. Really? Who’d you hire for that one, the accountant’s kid brother?
File this under Karma’s a Bitch: DeLay sentenced to three years for money laundering. He should have gotten more, but I’ll take three. Enjoy the golf course, Tom.
Dear AT&T: From what everybody says, Verizon is going to announce that they will be offering the iPhone tomorrow. And when they do, I’m going to ditch your shitty service as quickly as possible. And then I’m going to buy this phone cover.
After several attempts over the last eight years, I finally sorted out and set up remote login to our home server here at IdiotCentral. To begin, I set up rules for AFP (Apple File Protocol) port forwarding on our FIOS router and created an account at DYNDNS.org. Back in the day their setup was ridiculously obtuse and there was no real good way to confirm things were correctly configured, but things have gotten a little easier. Now, they provide a couple of handy tools to test connectivity and open ports from outside one’s local network, which is a huge help. Once I’d set up the account and tested the open ports, I used a VNC account on a client’s machine to test the connection, and presto! I mounted my drive from their machine.
The next step was to shut down all open ports except for SSH (secure shell) to tunnel AFP and VNC using a method I found here. On first test from work this morning, It didn’t work, but that was because I’d set up one of the port forwarding rules up incorrectly. It’s now working correctly, and I’m connected remotely via SSH, which makes me very happy. Welcome to the new century!
In the future, what I’d really like is a copy of Leopard Server so I could set up proper share points and define users and groups, all of which would add layers of security to the existing setup. For now, what I may do is use the router’s built-in scheduling to close everything down after business hours so the port is only open for a short while.
My colleague Aaron let me know about a recall program for some MacBook Pro models, which may or may not be the source of my video woes. I’m going to make an appointment at the Apple Store early next week to bring it in and have it tested, in the hopes that the video card issue is the root of the problem. If it is, and we can get it fixed, I can give it to Jen for use as a utility laptop and backup machine, which would be fantastic.
Update: My video card isn’t the Nvidia model covered under the program; it’s an ATI 1600. Oh, well.
File this one under Right On: Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch Beats Cancer. The new album should be out sometime this year.
Here’s an awesome interview with W. Earl Brown, AKA Dan Dority from Deadwood, and Warren from There’s Something About Mary.