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Overheating Apple TV (Updated)

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I’ve had an Apple TV for a number of years now, but in the last 12 months I’ve noticed an increasing number of problems with graphical glitches – some pretty minor, such as the odd white pixel in the menu (shown above), up to the horrendous video playback problems like this:

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I’ve done quite a bit of experimentation, and the most obvious problem turns out to be the culprit: Heat. I’ve always thought my Apple TV (ATV) ran a little hot, but it seems to be notably hotter when the problems arise. None of this is very scientific, so I’ve set out to see if there’s a fix to this problem. (more…)

By Oli Trenouth, ago

iPhone 4.0: Why can’t we all just get along?

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There’s been a storm brewing between rivals Google, Adobe and Apple. Each day seems to bring news of some minor sparring between the software giants, but instead of looking on in mild amusement, I’ve started to realise how their actions are affecting the future of smartphone development.

The news that made me sit up and take note came only a day after Apple previewed their new v4.0 OS for the iPhone and iPad. At first glance the change was subtle; an addition to their developer SDK agreement:

Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

In a way, it’s a pretty reasonable request: that all iPhone applications should be developed and written in a C-based language, and link directly to the iPhone APIs. If I were to develop an iPhone application, that’s what I’d expect to do. However, I’m not an Objective-C or C++ developer – I’ve been a long-time .NET developer for the Microsoft platform, and my immediate thought was not about Adobe and Flash, but about a project called MonoTouch. MonoTouch allows .NET C# developers to work within the environment they’re used to, with all the benefits of the .NET framework, but write fully functional iPhone applications. In effect, it provides a bridge between .NET and the iPhone so that seasoned .NET developers can build multi-platform applications with ease (in fact, MonoDroid is in the works to provide the same bridge to Google’s Android platform). This makes sense from a developer point of view: One dev team can push out an app for the iPhone, Android and Windows smartphones relatively easily, and cheaply. Surely that’s a good thing for both developers and users? (more…)

By Oli Trenouth, ago

HowTo: Ubuntu as a Time Machine Volume

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Have you ever wished you could use Apple’s Time Machine service over a network? Since I’ve got almost 2TB of storage on my Linux (Ubuntu 9.10) server, I certainly did – but unfortunately Apple only lets you use physically attached USB or Firewire drives, or their own network-attached “Time Capsule”.

Well, it turns out theres a solution for us Linux folk (more…)

By Oli Trenouth, ago

It is time. To The Mac!

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In late 2006 I wrote an article about how I switched from PC to Mac, and through frustration over a few petty things I switched back. The main reason was simply that the Mac didn’t allow me to play my PC games, nor did it (perhaps more importantly!) allow me to continue developing MS-based applications using the .NET Framework (a Windows only set of application libraries).

I switched back, and was happy for a while. Then I starting listing all the things I couldn’t do on the PC that I’d gotten used to doing on the Mac. In particular, I use Final Cut Studio on a daily basis at work – it seemed a shame that I couldn’t use those tools at home. (more…)

By Oli Trenouth, ago

Where’s Oli?

Just a quick post … I thought I’d better post something to prove I’m still alive. I’m currently in a run of back-to-back theatre performances, which started with “Fiddler on the Roof”, segued into “A Funny Thing Happened on the Read more…

By Oli Trenouth, ago

7 Days with Windows 7: Part 1

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OK, jokes aside, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7 this week. I was keen to see if it lived up to the hype, and wanted to see for myself whether this really was Windows “Vista Redux”.

I was an early adopter of Windows Vista, and to be honest I’ve been reasonably happy with it. I can recall a few months of driver problems when I first switched, but that was to be expected with a new OS. Being a long-time Apple OSX user, I actually liked the new Aero design and the easy search features that had been added to the Start menu – even if at the time it felt like Microsoft were trying too hard to be like Apple. (more…)

By Oli Trenouth, ago