Apple

by wooter on Apple, Microsoft, Software, Windows

Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client on OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2

Ever since Apple came out with Mountain Lion, support for Microsoft’s RDP protocol to remotely administer Microsoft Windows desktops and servers has been flaky or just not working. Oddly enough, people were more succesful using the reverse-engineered CoRD client. But this reverse-engineered solution had trouble with newer Windows versions, just because RDP is a bag of hurt.

If you have any issues using the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and higher, you should check out this thread on TechNet.

At the end, someone links to a new version of the client, hosted on Dropbox.

This claims to be version 2.1.2 of the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac. Try it out and see if it fixes your issues.

Update

Just around the release of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Microsoft has released two Microsoft Remote Desktop apps in the Apple App Store. One is both for iPhone and iPad, and another one is an app for OS X. – W, 28th of October 2013

 
by wooter on Android, Apple, iOS, iPad

The difference between 7″ and 10″

People are convinced that a 7 inch tablet is an interesting proposition if you already have a  4 inch smartphone and think the iPad is too heavy, to large or too expensive.

I had the chance to test out some differences between my iPad with retina screen, and the Nexus 7.

In portrait mode, using the BostonGlobe.com website which since 2011 is made with HTML5 responsive design to cater for smartphones to very large displays, the difference is large:

You can see that the designers decided to switch to a single column in this version.

On the iPad, however, you get a magazine-like view with two columns.

You would then think that the Nexus 7 would be better usable in landscape mode. This is not the case.

You get barely one headline!

On the iPad, I don’t feel the BostonGlobe works as good as in portrait, but it is obvious you have much more content than on the Nexus 7.

 
by wooter on Apple, Garmin, iPhone

iPhone 4S, Siri and the Garmin Zumo 660

So I just received my iPhone 4S. I love it.

One of the new features is Siri, an AI assistant which uses voice to interact with me as an user, and the backend of what is my iPhone: reminders, my calendar, my contacts, and the internet.

Now, interacting with voice is not something entirely new. My car’s hifi and satnav system supports a basic level of voice commands to call people from my contact list, and even my Garmin Zumo 660 which I use on my motorcycle supports it.

Whereas in my car the voice commands are processed by the car, however, Garmin’s Zumo 660 uses the voice support of my phone. So if I had a phone which did not support voice commands, I’d be out of luck. But Garmin’s Zumo 660 specifies in the documentation that this voice is only limited to calling people: you shout their name in the microphone, and your phone should know what to do: call the contact who’s name you shouted.

It all goes a bit haywire on the iPhone 4S though: instead of simple voice commands, the speech button on the Garmin Zumo 660 starts up Siri on the iPhone and Siri will accept voice commands.

That’s the good bit. The bad bit is that if you’re not quick enough giving your voice command and receiving an answer from Siri, the Zumo will end the voice dialing phase with an error saying that the phone does not support it, breaking off your dialogue with Siri.

So the basic premise is: Yes, Siri can work for you on your motorcycle, but Garmin needs to modify their firmware to recognize and treat Siri differently than any other voice dialer system.

 
by wooter on How-To, Software

IOGear Mobile Digital Scribe GPEN200N on Mac OSX

In 2008, I was still using laptops running Windows, and had a project which included having many meetings with alot of people.  I found the process of retyping my on paper written notes onto my OneNote application tedious and felt I could spent my time more productive.

Visiting Canada, I found a digital pen called the Mobile Digital Scribe from IOGear (GPEN200N) for 99$ which did not need special paper, but worked with a special pen and a sensor you could place on any surface, to register all notes I would write on paper.  With the simple included software, I could easily integrate my handwritten notes into OneNote.

Not long later,  however, I switched to a MacBook Pro running OSX and was unable to use the digital pen any longer, since there was no such support on Mac.  I could use the device connected to my MacBook as a mouse, but not really for taking notes.

Up until I did some research…

… →

 
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