Problem:
After a first successful sync of my iPhone with iTunes on Windows 7, I rebooted my PC. Consequently, any attempt to start iTunes with my iPhone plugged in results in an error dialog:

“iTuness cannot connect to this iPhone because the required software is not installed. ….”
The message also suggests a fix – removing and re-installing iTunes using the iTunes setup package.

Real solution:

Obviously the method the error dialog suggests does not work. Instead, the following steps do:
1. Go to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program
2. One by one remove the Apple Mobile Device, Bonjour and iTunes programs
3. Reboot the machine
4. Use the iTunes setup package to install again
5. Reboot your PC
6. Sync (finally)

Tags: how to, tips

Use-case: run Hadoop with localhost as your only master/slave and with a custom JVM:

echo JAVA_HOME=/home/user/jdk > ~/.bashrc
echo JAVA_HOME=/home/user/jdk > ~/.ssh/environment
sudo -i
echo PermitUserEnvironment yes >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config
service ssh restart
exit
ssh localhost ‘echo $JAVA_HOME’

This post is not a list of tools to use to make your blogging life easier.

Recently I’ve switched my primary laptop from a Lenovo to a Mac. This in turn brought with it a need to change (almost) all of the software I used, including my blogging client. I use a desktop blogging client because I still have times when I’m not online, because I appreciate the responsiveness and the feature bloat of a desktop text editor.

On Windows I used Windows Live Writer, which, contrary to most MS products, is a good one. It worked like a charm, taking me through some blog changes and merging without glitches. However, it doesn’t work on the Mac, so I had to find something else. After fiddling with the idea of using a simple text editor and a custom script to post, I ended up using the trial version of Ecto. So far it seems an OK editor, though with less (apparent) features than WLW. I say apparent because I haven’t used for long enough to get to all of the hidden features, but unless I do in the 13 days of trial left I may even consider running WLW in a virtual machine.

Oh well, the price we pay for being lazy.

Tags: apple, blog, ecto, mac, tools

Just read the live coverage of the WWDC 2008 keynote by Steve Jobs on Ars Technica and seen details on the second version of the iPhone. Again the rumors were true – the second installement of the phone is more enterprise friendly, but most interesting – it’s got 3G, GPS and a price tag of only $199. For that price I don’t think you can get a phone with all these features, as well as the design and user experience that the iPhone brings.

The app store touted by Apple as the only way of getting 3rd party apps on your phone seems to become the primary revenue driver behind the new phone. By lowering the price while adding features, Apple seems to get into a ‘printer-like’ business: sell the printer cheap, but bill for the ink and other parts. So I’m guessing Apple wants to drive adoption, so it can thicken the revenue stream through the app store.

Some of the features Steve announced today will also be available on the current version of the iPhone, via a free software update near the end of july. Which means my jailbroken iPhone will get it a month or so later still before the second version will be in my hands.

Tags: apple, iphone, itunes, mac

It’s that time of the year – the SourceForge 2008 Comunity Choice Awards. If you want to participate and like Flex (or AIR) you can click here to vote for it.

Go Flex!

Later edit: Seems I’m last in the platoon to read the news and encourage people to vote – Mihai wrote about this before as well as Remus and Cornel. You’ve beaten me to the punch, guys.