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Four years of going Paperless

I’ve always been good about keeping receipts, but I just shoved receipts in folders sort of ordered by date. Just over 4 years ago, I was looking for a receipt and got frustrated that I couldn’t find one. The idea for ReceiptWallet (now Paperless) was born as there was no other Mac product on the market tailored to receipt management. Two weeks of work later, I had a working version of the software and released it to the world a few weeks later.

Ever since then, I have scanned every paper receipt, stored every web receipt, as well as every manual I’ve received. To many, this may sound like overkill, but I’ve had no problems easily pulling up receipts for everything I’ve bought. Some stores accept copies of receipts and I hope that more will do so in the future. I’ve gone one step further and pretty much every piece of paper that comes in our door gets scanned as it make it so simple to find documents that there is almost no reason to use a regular filing cabinet (OK, I still file the paperwork after scanning and storing) as scanning is easy and storage space is cheap.

More and more documents are being delivered electronically, so it makes sense to store everything electronically (as long as you have sufficient backups). Printing out documents is usually a waste.

I still keep the paper receipts, but this year, I’m going to do more cleaning and get rid of all the ones I can no longer read and ones for items that I’ll never return.

If you haven’t started a system for storing documents electronically, there is really no reason to delay; scanners are cheap and fast and storage space is plentiful. I highly recommend the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner and have recently been impressed with the Brother MFC-7840W all-in-one (more on this device in a future entry).

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Computer sleep vs hibernate

While troubleshooting my computer today to see if I could prevent it from crashing if it went into hibernate mode (where the OS saves out the contents of RAM before sleeping to the disk and completely shuts down the system), I again came across information on how to disable hibernate. I’ve seen this information a number of times, but didn’t really pay attention to it. Recent Mac laptops, by default, have hibernate turned on which is great if your machine loses power completely and you haven’t saved your work. However, I always save my work and rarely let my machine get all the way down such that the battery is completely dead. So, hibernate simply makes it longer for my machine to sleep; with the addition of 2 more GB of RAM, it takes even longer to write out the contents of RAM.

Basically to disable hibernate mode, you issue the following command from terminal:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

To re-enable hibernate mode, you do:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3

(Information from Apple’s documentation.)

 

So with that set, my machine should goto sleep faster and no longer crash on wake (due to a firmware issue with my SSD).

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Picking smoke detectors

Fire protection experts recommend replacing batteries in smoke detectors every year when you change your clocks for daylight savings time. So this year, I heard an ad that also recommended a carbon monoxide detector which we didn’t have. I started looking at combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, but quickly dismissed that idea as all the reviews indicated that the combo units ate batteries like crazy (my house is older and only has 1 hard wired unit). In addition, my reading suggested that houses have both ionization and photoelectric type smoke detectors. No combo unit had carbon monoxide and the 2 types of smoke detection.

Once I resigned myself to getting a separate carbon monoxide detector, I decided on a First Alert Carbon Monoxide Alarm. This was based on reviews by Consumer Reports, I believe. That was the easy part; I got one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Right now our son sleeps on a bed in our room, so we don’t need one in his room. When he moves back into his room, I’ll get one for his room.

The second part of this equation was finding ionization and photoelectric smoke detectors. Photoelectric detection is supposed to be better for smoldering fires and ionization is better for flaming fires according to the US Fire Administration (who even knew that this agency existed?). There are a small number of units that do both, so my choices were very few. It’s really surprising to me as the recommendation is to have both types. After going to Home Depot and looking at a few (after some research), I decided on the Kidde PI9000 Battery-Operated Dual Ionization and Photoelectric Sensor Smoke Alarm. I had to replace 7 smoke detectors and install another one, so this wasn’t cheap.

After I replaced all the units, I saw that most of the units were manufactured over 10 years ago. The US Fire Administration recommends replacing the entire unit every 8-10 years, so it was about time anyway to replace them.

So far, I know that at least one of the units works as it went off last night when my wife burned some pizza and opened the oven. Luckily the units have a hush button to temporarily shut them up (much safer than yanking the battery and forgetting to put it back in).

Why was this process so hard? Are my sights too high in trying to protect my family and my house? How many average homeowners learn so much about smoke detectors? My guess is probably quite few. I’ll just add this as another topic that I have more than cursory knowledge.

(Newer houses are required to have interconnected smoke alarms which sound all of the units when one goes off; retrofitting a house for this is not easy and there are only a few that offer wireless interconnect and none of those are both photoelectric and ionization. I did consider this for a few minutes, but quickly dismissed it.)

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Unsupported MacBook Pro RAM upgrade

As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to get more performance out of my 2 year old MacBook Pro. When I purchased machine, I got it installed with the maximum amount of RAM that I could, 4 GB. Newer machines support up to 8 GB of RAM and I’ll definitely get 8 GB when I get a new machine. I had read reports of people putting 6 GB of RAM in my vintage machine and as RAM is one of the limiting factors in performance, I did a little investigating and everything I read said that there were no issues. Typically putting more RAM in a machine than the hardware supports leads to kernel panics and random crashes.

I decided to give the 6 GB of RAM a try as it would let me put the 4 GB in my machine in my wife’s machine (she had 2 GB) and speed up her machine a little. OWC had a 6 GB upgrade kit that wasn’t too expensive (the drive has dropped $15 from when I got it a month ago. (I realize it sounds like I’m spending money like crazy on things, but my computer is a tool that I use to earn money, so getting better tools, I can do my job better.)

The only downside to 6 GB is that there is a slight performance increase by having paired memory modules and 6 GB comes with a 2 GB and a 4 GB module. However, what I’ve read has shown that the increase in RAM outweighs the paired performance.

I easily installed the RAM and so far, I haven’t had a kernel panic due to the RAM (only kernel panic has been due to my machine hibernating with my new SSD). The extra RAM has been quite nice as I can run more apps at once without apps paging out to virtual memory. If you have a machine that is the same vintage as my MacBook Pro, I’d definitely recommend this RAM upgrade. It’s not that expensive and has huge benefits (more RAM is always better).

 

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Review: OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD

As computers are the tools that I use to earn my living, I invest in getting the best machine for my needs and replace my main machine about every 2 years. My current MacBook Pro 15″, I bought in October 2008, so when Apple announced an event this past October, I was hoping for a significant update to the MacBook Pros, but instead they announced a new MacBook Air. (Apple did announce a 2.8 GHz option for the Core i7 MacBook Pros, but that wasn’t enough for me.) So I decided to wait until the next upgrade which I hope will be in the first half of next year.

What was I to do to squeak a little more performance out of my aging workhorse? While many developers have decked out Mac Pros with lots of RAM and horsepower, I prefer a laptop as it lets me work anywhere and having a main machine and a secondary machine is just a nightmare trying to find files (I’ve done that before). A colleague had mentioned that he had put an SSD into his development machine and seen a nice performance increase. So after a little research, I decided to get a Mercury Extreme SSD (240 GB) from OWC. Since Macs don’t support TRIM, I needed a drive that wouldn’t degrade performance over time leading me to the Mercury Extreme (since I purchased the drive, other drives have come onto market that apparently don’t require TRIM support in the OS).

Installation was as easy as any internal harddrive in a MacBook Pro (a few screws and presto) and copying my old drive to the SSD was very easy using SuperDuper!. I placed the old drive in my Voyager Q drive dock and waited for the copy to finish. Once the copy finished, I restarted and presto, it booted quickly and my SSD was running.

I’ve been using the SSD for about 1.5 months now and it has been working well with one exception. There is a firmware bug that causes the Mac to crash if the machine goes into hibernate mode and then you try to wake it. OWC has told me that a firmware upgrade should be available soon. I’ve only hit this twice as my machine rarely goes into hibernate.

Most of the speed tests I’ve seen on SSDs compare boot times, but I don’t reboot all that often, so while the speed is nice at startup, it’s kind of a pointless test for me. During everyday operation, I’m actually a little disappointed in the speed. I expected my machine to be blazingly fast after reading all the positives about SSDs. There are 3 factors that affect computer performance, processor speed, RAM, and I/O speed (hard drive/SSD is typically the limiting factor). Maybe I’m spoiled, but this upgrade was a bit expensive for the little gain I’ve seen (or maybe now I’m used to the faster speed and can’t remember the slower speed).

Pros

  • Decreases boot up time.
  • May have a small performance increase in overall machine operation.
  • Silent.
  • Less prone to damage causing by moving the machine (hard drive platters could get damaged if they aren’t parked before moving).

Cons

  • Expensive.
  • Performance increase may be minimal depending on how the machine is used.
  • Firmware bug crashes machine on wake from hibernate.

Summary

I’m not sure that adding an SSD is going to be worth it for most people. I’ve read lots of reviews showing the drives as amazing, but routinely show decreased boot up times which I only see rarely as I put my machine to sleep all the time instead of shut it down. SSDs are coming down in price, but still you can get a much larger 7200 RPM mechanical hard drive for a whole lot less and the 7200 RPM vs 5400 RPM that comes stock in most machines may be a better use of money (I’ve had a 7200 RPM drive in my machine since day one).

When I buy my next machine, I’ll definitely get an SSD in it direct from Apple as it will let me eek every last bit of performance out of the new machine. If the price of SSDs drop significantly, then replacing a mechanical drive with an SSD will become an easier decision.

 

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Review: Apple Magic Trackpad

I’ve been using trackpads on my laptops for many years and used them on the desktop for awhile as well, so when my father started raving about the Apple Magic Trackpad, I thought I’d give it a try. I had read a few reviews of it and heard people talk about it on podcasts, so I thought I’d immediately like it. When I received it, I easily paired it to my MacBook Pro and tried to use it. As I had always been a mechanical click kind of person, I found the trackpad hard to use even though it had mechanical buttons in the front feet. I kept trying to use it for a few days and then simply put it away and forgot about it.

Last week we travelled to San Jose for Thanksgiving and stayed in a hotel (if you go some place for Thanksgiving, I highly recommend staying in a hotel instead of with the in-laws; much easier to have your own space for an extended stay). We put our son down pretty early and I didn’t want to disturb him with the mechanical clicking of my MacBook Pro’s trackpad, so I turned on tap to click. I spent several days learning how to use this feature and first, it was hard to use, but once I changed the double click settings to be slower, I got the hang of it. The hardest part was dragging as every time I was trying to drag, it would double click (hence changing the settings).

When we got back, I pulled out the Magic Trackpad and started to use it again. I had been using my Handshoe Mouse which I really like. My only complaint was all the dirt it picked up which made it feel gritty when I moved it. Within a few minutes, I understood what my dad had been saying about it. It works quite well once you turn on tap to click; if you use the mechanical click, it works poorly as dragging is almost impossible (at least for me). Now that I’ve been using the Magic Trackpad, I’m almost ready to put my mouse out to pasture. The only area that I seem to switch back to the mouse is when I use the iPhone Simulator and have to swipe up as it seems harder to do with a trackpad.

 

Pros

  • Takes up very little room.
  • Easy to pair with my Mac.
  • Reasonable price.
  • Very customizable (there is a free app called BetterTouch Tool that adds even more customizations).
  • Large surface area (larger than my MacBook Pro’s trackpad).

Cons

  • Mechanical clicking works poorly.
  • Tap to click/drag can take a little getting used to if you haven’t used it before.
  • Doesn’t come with rechargeable batteries (when I replace the batteries, I’ll use the Eneloop ones that I’ve had for a few years).
  • Bluetooth is sometimes annoying if I take my MacBook Pro in the other room and the trackpad randomly connects/disconnects (other room is maybe 15 feet away).

Summary

It seems that Apple is moving in the direction of touch for everything and the Magic Trackpad is a natural extension. If you’re tired of dragging a mouse around or cleaning a trackball, the Magic Trackpad is worth considering. The customizable gestures, including the pinch to zoom and swipes is the future of where Apple is going with input, in my opinion. The only real downside I see to the device is the learning curve, at least for me. If I hadn’t forced myself to get used to the tap to click, I would have definitely said that this device was a waste of money. However, once I figured out that this was my problem, I’m happily using the trackpad and am using my MacBook Pro’s internal trackpad more efficiently as well. I would not be surprised if Apple drops the mechanical click in the future.

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You get what you pay for

When I sold ReceiptWallet (now Paperless), I no longer had a real need for a VPS (virtual private server) as all it hosted was this blog. So I decided to shop for something cheaper (I was paying about $40/month). I found one site and paid maybe $15/month, but after an extended outage and poor support, I switched to another provider, costing less than $11/month. I stuck with them for awhile after a number of outages and IP address changes. Last week, they changed my IP address again and not until I received an alert from the monitoring service I use, did I know they had done this. That was fine as I quickly changed my DNS, but then they had a few hour outage yesterday and the explanation was that they had a networking problem. Enough with the problems!

Well, I finally gave up and switched to another provider. This time, I decided to spend a few extra bucks ($20 per month) and go back to the provider I used in the ReceiptWallet days, VPSLink. While their service is a little more expensive and I don’t get as much RAM, bandwidth or storage space (the only thing I miss is the RAM), I’m crossing my fingers that this is a lot more reliable. I’m either going to pay in money or time to keep this site running as well as my wife’s site for her business.

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Self employment, six months later

Six months ago, I left my job to become self employed, again. The last time I became self employed was seven and a half years ago, when I mutually agreed to leave that job due to lack of work and due to my boredom. This time was a bit different as I made the decision completely by myself to leave. Last time, I was quite nervous the first couple of months as I wasn’t guaranteed steady income and didn’t know if I’d have enough work. This time, I was nervous the 2 weeks before I left my job because I didn’t have any work lined up, but luckily all the pieces came together and I landed an ongoing monthly contract.

In my last few posts about being self employed, I mentioned that I was enjoying my work. Things haven’t really changed, except I’ve been put on tougher projects which are quite trying. However, they’re pretty short term and I’ll move onto a new project soon. I’m working with really good people and the work is challenging; when I’m not challenged, I kind of go crazy.

Not only has my work been going well, I’m now consistently running 3 or 4 times a week and have changed my diet. In June, I decided to give up red meat after getting quite sick twice from beef. My wife has been quite supportive of this and has been cooking mostly vegetarian meals for us. It takes a lot of work for her to come up with different ideas and prepare the meals. Before June, I would never have imagined liking vegetarian faire, but it’s pretty good. My diet change and running have helped me lose 15 pounds. I wasn’t overweight, but my weight had increased a little bit in the last few years, something I wanted to reverse.

As I’ve written about numerous times, I’ve also picked up a hobby, something that I never really had before.

So, the last six months have probably been the best six months I’ve had in a long time. I’m enjoying my work, eating well, have a lot less stress, and feel good about myself. The change to becoming self employed again has treated me well. Many factors have lead to this and I have a new outlook on life that took a drastic change for me to see.

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Excellent customer service

As it is probably apparent, I’m a bit addicted to my new hobby and bought another helicopter. This time it was a Blade mSR. I flew it a few times and it flies pretty well. However, after those flights, I started seeing a problem where the helicopter looked like it was periodically losing power during flight.

I read a post where others have experienced the same problem. I contacted Horizon Hobby support describing the problem and referencing the post. They promptly replied, asked for pictures of the motor and a copy of my receipt. The day after I replied with the information, I had a new tail rotor and new main rotor in my hands at no cost and they didn’t require me to send the parts back!

I was quite pleased with the service and definitely will keep me buying Horizon Hobby products. It makes perfect sense for a company to provide excellent customer service to keep you coming back for more. However, so many companies don’t quite understand this. In this case, I paid just over $105 for the helicopter and they sent me about $20 in parts without having to send anything back and with no down time. For someone addicted to a hobby, they just help me feed my habit.

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Automator to the rescue

This past week, I finally upgraded my wife’s MacBook to Snow Leopard (yes, I realize it is a year late). The upgrade went fine, but last night my wife told me that her DYMO Labelwriter 4XL wasn’t properly printing PayPal shipping labels. I wrote a few months ago about printing labels on the DYMO. I’m not sure what happened to my wife’s machine, but I had to solve this problem. I went down the path of scripting it and sending the label to DYMO’s software. Unfortuantely DYMO’s software is junk and threw exceptions when I used their demo AppleScripts. So, I had to find an alternative.

After a ton of work, I managed to hack together an Automator workflow that used Pixelmator, Preview, and some GUI scripting. It isn’t really pretty, but amazingly it works.

While my script works, I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone, but here it is in case anyone wants to use it as a basis for their own. Download the script