David Vielmetter

Month: July 2010

  • Long Beach harbor cruise

    Last weekend I went on a three hour urban ocean boat cruise covering the Port of Long Beach. Sponsored by the Aquarium of the Pacific it’s one of a few attractions there that isn’t mercilessly overrun by exhausted moms, rows upon rows of strollers and screaming kids on the weekend. It was a perfect day…

  • Macbook pro palm rest discoloration

    A few months ago I noticed that my brand new Macbook Pro had developed some permanent stains on the palm rest. A trip to the Apple store “genius bar” ended in a 45 minute wait session followed by an interrogation about my palm moisture levels. Finally I felt I needed to make the following concession:…

  • Streaming HD content over WIFI

    SageTV Media Center can stream shows effortlessly to any SageTV Client in your house, but if you want to stream HD content you’ll need to step up to Wireless N for additional bandwidth. I’ve configured SageTV Client on my VAIO notebook in the bedroom and it now plays streamed HD content on an external 24″…

  • My MacBook’s trackpad clicks aren’t registering

    I recently got a 2009 MacBook Pro. I wrote about my experience with it a few months ago (generally positive), but now six months in I’ve got a really annoying problem. My trackpad (or touchpad) doesn’t register some clicks. The most annoying part about it is that the problem isn’t consistent. It just happens sometimes…

  • Serial commuications on a MacBook Pro

    Connecting to a device using via a rs232 using a MacBook is not straight forward, but possible if you have one of the more popular USB-to-Serial adapters. The PL2303 adapter is sold by a number of manufacturers under different model names. Luckily, however, most of them run on the same basic chip for which an…

  • Making thin burger patties

    My ideal hamburger is like those you find at In-N-Out. It has a relatively thin seasoned patty cooked medium well, onion, lettuce, tomato, thousand island dressing and ketchup all on a soft white bun. I never understood the appeal of those thick rare in the center burger patties advertised in restaurant burgers. To me a…

  • Extend your desktop to a notebook

    Want to add your notebook to an existing display environment? Then Synergy is for you. It’s a cross platform open source application that lets you control a systems mouse and keyboard through the network. Its server/client architecture let you extend the reach of your mouse and keyboard to other computers. Here’s how I configured Synergy…