IT'S JUST CODE http://john.bluespark.co.nz Ideas on how to make things easier. posterous.com Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:48:49 -0700 Why Apple's Facetime costs a SMS for each call - And most likely why. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/why-apples-facetime-costs-a-sms-for-each-call http://john.bluespark.co.nz/why-apples-facetime-costs-a-sms-for-each-call
Recently when using my  iPhone4, I changed out the micro SIM to try a Telecom Sim and noticed this screen below and thought that was interesting.

Photo

iPhone SMS screen showing possible charges

So I asked VodafoneNZ on Twitter, and they confirmed these charges.

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Twitter conversation - read from the bottom up

So obviously I looked at my bill to see what I have been charged for.

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Vodafone bill - I got my iPhone on the 5/08/2010

And there are two charges to a UK number (44).

After reading around a bit and with details from Vodafone, what am I really charged for using FaceTime?

MY THEORY ON COSTS.
1. When you first get your phone, Facetime needs to register with this 44 number to say, "hey I got facetime, you can facetime me"
2. If your carrier settings change, it may need to re-register with this service as I can see I have been charged 2x and I know my carrier settings have changed once.
3. When calling your friends in New Zealand using the Facetime button in contacts (eg not switching to a Facetime call during a normal call). I can see I am charged one of my SMS messages on my account, luckily I get heaps.
4. When calling a friend overseas (I have no clue).

ANOTHER THEORY 
1. SMS to the 44 number for each new contact you Facetime
2. SMS might or might not be required for any subsequent Facetime calls (could use push notifications).

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@tarlen's possible explanation 

Since I have only successfully had 3 Facetime calls with friends and only been charged 2x, I think the international message is only to register me and the device.

WHY SHOULD I PAY A SMS MESSAGE TO FACETIME.

I think this is both good and bad, overall it might be the price to pay so we don't get Facetime voice spam.
GOOD
• When the price of something is free then it is very easy to spam - eg email spam, costs virtually nothing to send an email, lots of spam. 
• SMS messages in general are very reliable, I don't recall or know of missing a SMS message in the last year or two.
• I get enough SMS messages bundled in my plan to not worry one bit.

BAD
• Well Apple has a super massive data centre that they bragged about at WWDC last year that can send millions of push messages very quickly and can handle massive loads.  They could have used this.  It is possible that they are.
• Do I have to pay even if the use does not pickup.  (this could be good, as that could also be used by spammers to simple call you, hang up and see if you call back).
• Cost and international costs which are not in my free bundle. (assuming Facetime uses SMS messages for all calls).

I am open to any comments here. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:01:00 -0700 Making your software life a lot easier. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/making-you-software-life-a-lot-easier http://john.bluespark.co.nz/making-you-software-life-a-lot-easier

For many projects, you create your own development folder structure.  One key task is making sure you have what I call the deploy folder.

In this folder is only the files and folder that will be copied to the server or to a client.

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One of my favourite tools is DropBox.com , DropBox simply creates a set of folders on you computer which are automagically synced to the cloud.  You can also create a new folder within this set and share that folder with your clients or friends.  Files in these shared folders are also synced near instantly.  Its really quite "magical", I think of DropBox as the poor mans file server.  

To my point.  I like to automate the deployment of my file deploy folder to a dropbox shared folder.  I do that with 1 click and this file.

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So this file is located in the sub directory "compile" 
Look at the first line it says.
#! /bin/zsh 

This means don't use the old mac Bash Shell but use something called zShell. It has a few extra commands that will come in handy.
What is cool about zShell is that you can find where the command file was executed from. Which means you can sync files relative to your project directory. 

Now I use "rsync" to copy on the changed files, "-v" means shows me anything that is copied. "-a" is archive mode which only copies missing files or changed files. and --exclude allows me to exclude any types of files or folders that I want ignored (yes I have some PSD files in my deploy).

If you write this code in TextMate and save the file as mirror_files.commmand.
Then since OSX does not allow you execute this file by double clicking it.
In TextMate goto Bundles > Shell Script > Make Script Executable.
Or using terminal the below command will make it executable
chmod u+x mirror_files.command

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Now you can just double click this file to run it.

When you run the file you should see something like this.
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This really does make life a lot easier for me and my clients.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:34:00 -0700 Getting your iPad on 3G. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/895979841 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/895979841

Get the XT Prepaid Mobile Broadband 500MB - you don’t have to pay monthly - Confirmed By Telecom ^JL.

If you use your iPad now and again outside of your wifi zone. You could get 500MB of data from Vodafone or 2º but it’s going to cost you $20/month. You must also pay every month. On XT Prepaid Mobile Broadband 500MB, you pay for what you use and have 6 months to top up.

You need to tell them at the Telecom Store that you want the 500MB Mobile Broadband prepaid rate on the sim when you buy it. (they will probably look at you confused).

The cheapest is $29.95
(it says per month, but it should say, “500MB of data capped at 29.95”).
http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobilebroadband/plansandpricing/prepaid

This 500MB prepaid rate basically means you pay 10c/Mb up to $29.95 which is 300MB. Then you get a free 200MB if use that in a single calendar month. 

“If you use less than your data allowance you’ll only be charged for what you use, and your credit balance will roll over to the next calendar month.”

Which means if you use only 100MB in a month, you only pay $10. If you use 300MB in one month you are billed $30 and if you use 500MB of data in 1 month you will be still be billed $30. You can add another 500MB though by topping and getting 1GB for $60 (I am rounding my values up to make my example clearer).

You must top up every 6 months.
“Any top-up credit needs to be used within six months otherwise it will expire and you need to make sure you top up at least once every six months to avoid your Prepaid account being deactivated.”

http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/yourmobile/topup ("By the way, just so you know…") 

This means if you use you iPad now and again on 3G it’s pretty good, if you need heaps of data, eg 500MB to 1GB this plan is good.

You can see lots more options here if you have more data requirements.
http://www.whiteandblack.co.nz/2010/07/ipad-data-plans-comparision-xt-vodafone-and-2-degrees/

Thanks to Matthew Buchanan for his assistance with pulling the correct data together for this post. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:14:41 -0700 Mac OS X: ssh key generation and deployment http://john.bluespark.co.nz/macintosh/os/x/10_3/and/ssh_keygen.html http://john.bluespark.co.nz/macintosh/os/x/10_3/and/ssh_keygen.html http://www.geektimes.com/macintosh/os/x/10_3/and/ssh_keygen.html

Creating RSA keys for OSX / Linux

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:49:41 -0700 sponno's iPhone-Photoshop-JSX-Icon-Exporter at master - GitHub http://john.bluespark.co.nz/sponno/iPhone-Photoshop-JSX-Icon-Exporter http://john.bluespark.co.nz/sponno/iPhone-Photoshop-JSX-Icon-Exporter http://github.com/sponno/iPhone-Photoshop-JSX-Icon-Exporter 

Photoshop - iPhone App Icon Export for iPhone 4/3 Touch and iPad.

Creates all 6 icons sizes that are required for these devices from homescreen, retina display, spotlight search

1. To use this script, double click the script file, photoshop will launch and ask you for a 512x512 icon file of any 
image format (jpeg, psd, gif, png etc.)
2. Select the file and photos shop will create 6 icon files and save these with the correct names in the save folder as 
the 512 image.

3. Add these images into your iPhone project and update you app plist.
Read Apples Q&Q 1686 on how to add this icons to your info plist
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/qa/qa2010/qa1686.html

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Mon, 24 May 2010 10:32:12 -0700 Video JS | HTML5 Video Player http://john.bluespark.co.nz/video-js-html5-video-player http://john.bluespark.co.nz/video-js-html5-video-player http://videojs.com/

HTML5 video player, fallback support for IE, Opera, works with iPhone and supports, h.264, ogg and webm

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Mon, 24 May 2010 00:27:11 -0700 Duplicate line in xCode with Ctrl+D, finally. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/blog/xcode-trick-creating-a-shortcut-to-duplicate-a-line http://john.bluespark.co.nz/blog/xcode-trick-creating-a-shortcut-to-duplicate-a-line http://www.xinsight.ca/blog/xcode-trick-creating-a-shortcut-to-duplicate-a-line/

More details on all the commands to make your own.
http://www.erasetotheleft.com/post/mac-os-x-key-bindings/

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Wed, 12 May 2010 23:57:35 -0700 OSX SVN remove pesky svn files from a folder http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/592265022 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/592265022

In Terminal navigate to the correct folder first.
To see what this command is going to remove run

find . -name .svn

Then when you want to remove these files. Note the traling slash semi colon.

find . -name .svn -exec rm -rf {} \;

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:49:44 -0700 Developer-To-Developer iPhone App Distribution Without Ad-Hoc Provisioning http://john.bluespark.co.nz/developer-to-developer-iphone-app-distribution-without-ad-hoc-provisioning http://john.bluespark.co.nz/developer-to-developer-iphone-app-distribution-without-ad-hoc-provisioning http://www.mobileorchard.com/developer-to-developer-iphone-app-distribution-w...

A pretty simple way to send an app for another developer to re-sign and install on their machine. Watch 2min Vimeo video to see how easy this is.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:31:55 -0700 SSH Public/Private keys. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/message.jspa http://john.bluespark.co.nz/message.jspa http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11128067#11128067

Quickest way to generate and share SSH keys.
1. Generate key (if you haven’t done this before).
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C “tekkub@gmail.com”

2. Upload key.
cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub | ssh user@host ‘cat - » ~/.ssh/authorized_keys’

You may have to login to the server and mkdir .ssh
If you get permission denied, delete this servers .ssh folder and recreate it again.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:15:00 -0800 Tracking my health from my iPhone. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/tracking-my-health-from-my-iphone http://john.bluespark.co.nz/tracking-my-health-from-my-iphone

All done from my iPhone

YESTERDAY RUN

Run

LAST NIGHTS SLEEP

Sleep

THIS MORNINGS HEART RATE.

Heart_rate

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:22:44 -0800 Untitled http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/266742473 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/266742473

Tumblr_ku1q5wuvpx1qz7itlo1_400

Damn awesome album by E603, the mixes make want to download all of the originals and listen to them.

Download for free but you can also pay what you want. I have been listening to it so much that I paid $25 USD and Ethan is sending me a Tee-Shirt to NZ, double win!

Get your Torn Up mix from www.e-603.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:35:05 -0800 Untitled http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/266148179 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/266148179

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Oh I love stuff like this.

/via matthewb

Albert Exergian created this great set of minimalist film and television posters as a personal project. You’ll find these and many more on his blog, and his commercial portfolio is equally impressive (and much more ornate).

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:14:07 -0800 Untitled http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/247037489 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/247037489

Tumblr_kt8uvgdtwn1qz7itlo1_500

The coolest way to use Dropbox on a Mac to send file.

http://wiki.dropbox.com/DropboxAddons/Dropbox%20Service

Once installed you can simply right click on any file and copy/move it to your Dropbox public folder. The public URL will automatically be copied to your clipboard. Awesome.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:44:10 -0700 Untitled http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/218468367 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/218468367

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My take on how the new iMac should have been designed. Even less noise than the latest iMac with “reduced” noise.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:38:14 -0700 Untitled http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/214164472 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/214164472

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Graphed data of New Zealand fixed and 2 year floating rates from 1964 to Jan 2009
Full Size

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:56:06 -0700 The PUMA Index http://john.bluespark.co.nz/the-puma-index http://john.bluespark.co.nz/the-puma-index http://theindex.puma.com/

How all stock marketing charts should be created. !=

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:54:59 -0700 Untitled http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/194075216 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/194075216

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Ever wonder what the differences between Arial and Helvetica were?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:53:45 -0700 Configuring OSx for hosting with Snow Leopard. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/193248688 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/193248688

So I wanted to setup a Snow Leopard web hosting super duper cool machine.

There are few things, if you want a fresh install, put in Snow Leopard DVD, hit Utilities on the welcome screen and it will reboot.

— Server Install
1. Erase drive. Install Snow Leopard.
2. After some time, install xcode, this will give you all the tools to build think you will need to build.

— Configure Web Server Stuff.
1. Apache, this is very good to configure your hosting files.
http://clickontyler.com/virtualhostx/
2. Get PHP going (you can google this)
3. Install MySql from DMG then add a password to root install.
4. Get Mysql Going ( you have to change the .socket setting in php.ini)

— FTP Server
1. Download the source from here
http://www.pureftpd.org/project/pure-ftpd you will need to compile it and this is why we got xcode.
2. Now you gotta compile it basically: ./configure; make; make install;
then start it with “/usr/local/sbin/pure-ftpd &” more info here http://download.pureftpd.org/pub/pure-ftpd/doc/README
3. Then simply get this http://jeanmatthieu.free.fr/pureftpd/index.html it allows you to create FTP only accounts http://jeanmatthieu.free.fr/pureftpd/index.html

— Mac Ports
Great to install a few things.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:26:29 -0700 To much time. http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/172731840 http://john.bluespark.co.nz/post/172731840

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/38329/Picture_3.png http://posterous.com/users/PWlOB9iccp John Ballinger sponno John Ballinger