Tell Xcode 4 to Put Its Junk Elsewhere!

With Xcode 4 being distributed through the Mac App Store, the process was streamlined to make it easier to install. In my opinion it is way more annoying. Xcode just puts itself in the root directory without telling you it will be there. If you know it will be there from prior Xcode installations, then you know how big the files are. A total of almost 7 GBs of data are put there. With my SSD, I can't have 7 GBs of information sitting there, it is just too big. So how can you tell Xcode where to put its stuff? Remember when I said Apple stream lined the process to make it easier? Well, what they really did was sugar coat the installer. If you go to the Xcode installer file, right click on it, and click "Show Package Contents" you will see what is inside. What we want to open is the "Xcode.mpkg". This file is located in Contents -> Resources. If you run this installer it will walk you through installing Xcode like any other installer. Plus, when you get to the part where you are asked about installing the Xcode files, you can use the drop down menu to choose where to install the Developer Tools. See image below:

After that, proceed as usual with installing Xcode!

~Dave

PS: Lack of updates was due to preparation for the hurricane.

It is picture clear!

Along with my summer of upgrades, I bought a Logitech c910 web camera. This web cam is good because it works for both Macs and PCs. That made finding a camera for my Hackintosh a breeze. Plus, the camera was just plug in and go. It was recognized automatically, no software needed. The camera takes pictures and does video chat in 720p. However, if you film movies it takes them in 1080p. I assume the difference in because of a bandwidth limit. What I like about this camera is that it just rests on top of my screen. There is no glue, screws, or anything needed to keep it there. Just mount and go. This camera is definitely worth the cost, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a webcam. It is portable too, so if you have a laptop with a poor webcam you can always consider this.

~Dave

After a short Hiatus

It has been quite a while since I was able to post an update. I have been busy running around here and there. However, I just received the parts for my additional hard drive bay for my Macbook. So, as most people who are very excited, I got right to upgrading my laptop. This time I took extreme precaution. I was dealing with a component which would cost me extra if I broke it. In addition, I had to be able to re-use it when done. So what did I do? First, I followed the guide on iFixit.com on how to remove an Optical Drive Bay in a Macbook Core 2 Duo laptop. With every step that included screws being removed, I made sure to place those screws in their own little boxes, making sure they were in the order they were removed. Once I had removed the drive, I proceeded to install the new HDD drive bay with the HDD inside it. Since there were no directions on how to screw it into place, I did the one logical thing I could think of, I followed the iFixit guide backwards. In order, I put the screws back, reapplied the tape, put the bluetooth back, everything. I took special care to properly connect the cables, as well as to make sure they were secure. After almost an hour of work my laptop was back together (with a lot less dust since I could blow some of it out). I held my breath and booted up the computer. I heard the familiar "Bummmmm", and then the Apple logo appeared. Once I had logged in, the computer notified me there was a disk that "was in an unrecognized format". This made sense since the disk had not yet been formatted. I click "Initialize" and then, within Disk Utility, formatted the disk as Mac OS X Journaled. At this point, I figured I was home free. Well, I was slightly wrong. You see, in my effort to save some cash I purchased a very cheap CD/DVD external encasement bay. However, I was in a rush when I did so and did not look at the specifications. The bay I purchased was for a SATA CD/DVD drive. My computer has an ATA CD/DVD drive. Because of this, I will have to make a return of the old drive, and spend MORE money to buy the right drive. This time, I will buy from OWC because they are really good at documenting exactly what their product offers. On the upside, I am now able to offload a ton of files onto my newly installed HDD. I can say, from experience, that if you follow instructions, and you know what you are doing, you should have no problem at all performing this upgrade. It is worth the time and money to do! ~Dave

iPhone Hard Reset

Recently my friends iPhone completely stopped responding. The screen was completely black, it wouldn't take a charge, and I couldn't turn it on or off. I had no idea what the issue was. My first though is maybe it had gone dead or something was defective, however I didn't want to believe that to be the issue. So I searched the problem on Google. I came across multiple Apple support threads in which people suggested a "hard reset" of the device. A hard reset, for those who don't know, is a way to force a device to restart if it is frozen. To do this with the iPhone, you have to hold the power button and the home button at the same time for 10 seconds. After doing so the iPhone restarted and booted as it normally would, thus fixing the problem. I am not quite sure what caused my friends iPhone to do this, but this fixed it. If you ever have that issue make sure to try a hard reset before you get on the phone with Apple.

~Dave

Plans for the Future

I have been busy recently with personal stuff, but I do have some plans for the future. First, I will be installing a had drive in my macbook in place of my CD Rom drive so I can have a second hard drive. This will allow me to offload some of the information from my SSD to my HDD. You might wonder, "What about the the CD Drive? You won't be able to use it will you?". No worries there, I thought ahead. I made sure to get a external USB encasement for my drive, thus allowing me to keep the drive and still use it. I made sure to purchase from reputable suppliers. I bought from iFixit.com, as well as Amazon.com. I saved money on my purchase, as well as made sure that I was getting what I wanted. The great thing about iFixit is they help you narrow your choices down to the ones that only work with your computer, so unless you choose the wrong computer it is pretty hard to buy the wrong thing. Later this week, when I receive the items, I will do a write up about it.

~Dave

Xcode and Moving Files

Yesterday I noticed that Xcode was not recognized as "Installed" on my Hackintosh due to the fact that I had moved it to another drive. So, as I should have done originally, I created a Symbolic Link. However, it still was showing up as "Installed" in the Mac App Store. Then I remembered that my version was outdated, so what I did was I re-downloaded the installer and ran it. I was overjoyed to see that the installer recognized the symbolic link, and immediately went and updated the files. I then deleted the installer and checked the Mac App Store. To my surprise, it was recognized as "Installed"! Hopefully I have no issues down the line, but as of now this is great since I didn't want to keep a 10 GB developer kit on my SSD.

~Dave

Name your Price for 12 Games

Humble Bundle has done it again. The guys over there are offering not only 5 games, but an addition 7 games to buy for what ever price you want. As long as you spend over $5.38, you get these 12 games. The 12th game is actually a free to play membership of mine craft for a couple of days. Although you are not getting the full game, you do get to try out what makes the game so popular. You will also receive the games from the previous Humble Bundle (Humble Bundle 2 that is) and a game called Steel Storm. So head over and check it out, give a little and get a lot!

~Dave

How much RAM can your Mac hold?

Today I will be performing a RAM upgrade for an iMac, mid 2007 version. Now, usually RAM upgrades can be very annoying, especially on Macs where you needs a certain type of RAM, as well as a certain amount. On PCs it is not so annoying as you can put any type in, just has to fit the socket, and you can usually have upwards of 8GB of RAM. Older Macs, like the one I am performing the upgrade on, can only hold about 4GB of laptop RAM. That is one of the reasons the iMacs are so thing, because they use laptop RAM instead of desktop RAM. So how was I to figure out the speed and type of RAM to use? Well, one way would be to use Crucial.com, and search out my RAM using their special RAM finder. Or, in Lion, I could go to "About this Mac" and find out. That is what I did.

From the example above, you can see what type of RAM is needed. In this case, it is two sticks of 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM. However, if you notice in the bottom right corner, there is a button that says "Memory Upgrade Instructions". If you click on that it will take you to an Apple support page which not only tells you how to upgrade your RAM, but also the maximum amount you can put in your computer. That is how I found out how much I needed, and then I went bargain hunting across online dealers to find the right RAM.

~Dave

iPad Photo Syncing Solution

Over the weekend I came upon a problem regarding my relative's iPad. My relative only had 500 of his 3000+ pictures in his photo library, and every time he would sync it would tell him that "Some of the picture, include PictureX.jpg, could not be synced with this iPad because they are not compatible". Well, that made no sense to me as all the pictures should have been compatible. I searched the internet for hours trying to find a solution. Some people said to delete your iPod Photo Cache, other said to remove all the pictures and re-sync them. Both of these I tried, but to no avail. When I thought I was out of option, I decided to try a fix of my own. Although impractical if it worked, it would get the job done. I rummaged through some items and pulled out our iPad Camera Connection Kit.

iPad Camera Connection Kit

Next, I took the SD card out of my camera and plugged it into the computer. It showed up on my desktop as usual. I then opened iPhoto, and dragged a bunch of pictures that were "incompatible" and placed them on the SD card under one of the folders that store other pictures. After they copied, I quickly ejected the card and plugged it into the iPad. As I expected, the card showed up and with it the "incompatible" pictures did to. I selected them, then hit import select and they were transferred to the iPad. Why no one on the internet had tried this baffles me, but it worked. My reasoning was that the iPad would read an SD card as long as it was formatted by a camera first, which it was. Then I thought, the iPad has to be able to make pictures compatible with it when they are transferred from a camera. By putting two and two together I was able to get my incompatible pictures onto my iPad.

~Dave