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FileMaker 9 released
You'd be forgiven for thinking, especially reading our coverage and stories elsewhere, that the only new product to come out of Apple, Inc. in the past two weeks was some sort of bizarre chimera mutant love child of an iPod and a cellphone. Not true! Hardworking and underappreciated subsidiary FileMaker has lovingly crafted version 9 of its namesake desktop database, to the joy and glee of DB geeks near and far.Version 9 continues the trend of power-user upgrades for FileMaker, adding dramatically improved SQL integration with MSSQL, MySQL and, Oracle back ends; there's also a code-free PHP setup tool in FileMaker Server for database-powered web pages at an instant. More than 30 new features in total are gracing the FM website, so by all means check it out. Upgrades start at $179 for FileMaker Pro.
New database site: WoWDigger
For those of you who are still a little uncomfortable about Wowhead, here's a new alternative. By IncGamers, the people behind the venerable WorldofWar.net, WoWDigger aims to fulfill your databse needs and then some:WoWDigger is not only a World of Warcraft game database, but also a place where your character matters. Upload your character and see your recipes, quest log, bank, talents and more!. Choose what information you share with your friends, the WoW community or your guild!IncGamers has always been staunchly anti-RMT (real money transfer), so you don't have to worry about that when using their sites; they promise that "There will be at no point gold selling adverts or any affilition to gold selling on WoWDigger." And with "choose what information you share..." in their description, they seem to be taking a bit of a jab at the Armory, with its privacy concerns. Furthermore, they are trying to keep the site banner-free:As you may have noticed the site contains no banners. We intend to keep the site this way as best we can with the backing of the community. If you like the site and use it you can help the dev team by pressing the donate button on the right, this will go to cover server hosting costs. We know such a site like this is resource hungry but are going to do our best to keep the site ad free. Overall it looks like a decent site; a little bare-bones in terms of content at the moment, of course, because it just started, but once it gets off the ground it might provide a nice alternative to the Affinity triad. Personally, I plan to still use Wowhead (due to design, speed, and content), but more options never hurt. [via Into the Web]
Camera Shutter Life Expectancy Database: feel free to chime in
We've seen all sorts of unscientific testing with regard to digital cameras, and while getting your facts straight about megapixels and dust-sensor effectiveness is just dandy, how's about knowing how many clicks your trusty shooter has left? An online database has apparently been created to track this very statistic, and while manufacturers will typically give you an estimate, we all know it's the real-world results that count. The site lists a smorgasbord of cameras and allows users to chime in and inform the world how many clicks their snapper has survived, and while we wouldn't lay our money on your device necessarily living up to the standards set by others, it's a fair judge nonetheless. Go on, we know you're curious, give the read link a visit and toss your experience on up to keep the data flowin'.[Via Core77]
UCSD's Squirrel puts pollution monitoring on your mobile
Giving an animal a phone to tote around and monitor pollution is one thing, but hooking up a critter to your cellphone sans wires sounds like a much more viable solution to keeping track of filthy surroundings. UC San Diego's Squirrel -- which sounds an awful lot like a project UC Berkeley was working on -- is a Bluetooth-enabled, palm-sized sensor that currently measures carbon monoxide and ozone, but eventually will be able to "sample nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide in the air, as well as temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity." After sampling, the device then utilizes a software application dubbed Acorn to allow the user to "see the current pollution alerts through a screensaver on the cellphone's display." Furthermore, the program can periodically upload the captured data to a public database operated by the "California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), which is funding Squirrel's development." Of course, cleaning up the mess that these monitors will inevitably find is an entirely different matter.[Via MedGadget]
Nintendo's Wii gets into the home automation game
For those of you who've just unboxed (or already snagged) a Nintendo Wii, and are more interested in casing out the innards or hacking it up, we've got yet another challenge for you and your console. While we've seen how to control the functions of your home with a PSP, there's just something special about flinging your Wiimote up and down to lower and raise the lighting conditions around your crib. Aside from a Wii, Wiimote, and a good bit of spare time, you'll also need the Smarthome Insteon lights w/ ControlLinc, an Aurora Multimedia WACI NX, a Linux-based PC, and if you wish, an optional AXIS PTZ IP Security Camera and Proliphix IP Thermostat. Once you've got your hardware in order, you'll need to get your palms on a PHP script that directs the IP traffic and forwards the appropriate information. This home automation mod has the potential to control "lights, thermostat, cameras, jukeboxes, DVRs, TiVos," and basically anything you can dictate via IP information. So if you're looking for a great way to spend your hours off, and don't mind getting dirty with a little coding, be sure to hit the read link for the full rundown, and click on through for a YouTube demonstration.[Via Digg, thanks Nate]
T-Mobile hacker gets slap on the wrist
What better deterrent to breaking into T-Mobile's customer database, than a year of being forced to sit at home with nothing to do but screw around on the 'puter? We can't imagine, and apparently neither could U.S. District Judge George King, sentencing 23 year old Nicholas Lee Jacobsen to a whopping 365 days of home detention for the 2004 crime in which several hundred names and Social Security numbers were swiped (not to mention the Sidekick contents of a Secret Service agent, of all people). To be fair, the hoodlum was also ordered to pay T-Mobile ten grand -- and we have to believe the feds are doing what they can to keep Mr. Jacobsen away from technology for the time being -- but we wouldn't have minded seeing some hard time involved.
Emergency Maintenance on Select US Realms
Sixteen US realms have been taken offline for emergency database maintenance. One of Blizzard's database administrators is on-site to ensure that downtime is kept to a minimum. All are expected to be back online by 11:00 PM PDT, but expect status updates throughout the evening. But if you play on the following realms, you're out of luck for the evening: Agamaggan, Azshara, Dark Iron, Detheroc, Emerald Dream, Greymane, Kalecgos, Lightninghoof, Maelstrom, Malfurion, Moonrunner, Sargeras, Staghelm, Twisting Nether, Ursin, and WildHammer.
Emergency Database Maintenance on Select US Realms
The title says it all. At 4:00 AM PDT today (Thursday), a number of US realms will be taken offline for database maintenance. If all goes as planned, it shouldn't last longer than two hours. So if you play on any of the following realms during that time, you'll need to make alternate plans: Andorhal, Anetheron, Archimonde, Black Dragonflight, Dalaran, Dalvengyr, Dentarg, Duskwood, Executus, Haomarush, Khadgar, Mal'Ganis, Norgannon, Scilla, Steamwheedle Cartel, Thrall, Turalyon, Ysera, Ysondre, and Zuluhed.
Brief Maintenance Wednesday Morning
A number of realms will be brought down at 4:00 AM PDT this Wednesday for about an hour to correct a database setting. So, if you play on any of the following servers, maybe that will be a good time to go find some breakfast: Altar of Storms, Andorhal, Anetheron, Archimonde, Black Dragonflight, Dalaran, Dalvengyr, Deathwing, Demon Soul, Dentarg, Doomhammer, Duskwood, Executus, Haomarush, Icecrown, Jaedenar, Kel'Thuzad, Khadgar, Mal'Ganis, Norgannon, Scilla, Steamwheedle Cartel, Thrall, Turalyon, Uldaman, Ysera, Ysondre, and Zuluhed. I recognize a number of these realms as running at the new site on new hardware, but I'm not sure if all of them are.
iWeb 1.1 can handle multiple site databases
I was pretty darn happy with iWeb's update the other day, and good news of feature enhancements is still cropping up. Comments on my review of iWeb's new features pointed out such handy additions as a pop-up calendar when clicking on a blog post's date - great for adjusting its schedule. There are also six new themes that add some much appreciated diversity to iWeb's style.Then today I noticed this Apple Support document that details iWeb 1.1's ability to handle more than one website/database file. Now, you can create multiple database files and work on them separately. In fact, you can keep these files anywhere you want to; not just in your Application Support folder.Check out the Apple Support document for details on how to create a second iWeb database and how to handle working with multiple sites. There are a couple of minor gotcha's, but overall, this should be good news for anyone who wants to use iWeb to create and manage multiple, completely separate websites (publishing to non-.Mac locations, of course).
MySQL and OS X, a happy couple
The Apple Developer Connection has just posted a nice article about MySQL (the famed open source database) and OS X, calling it an 'ideal development combination.' The article reveals that some of the developers at MySQL AB (that's the commercial company that makes MySQL) program in XCode, for a number of reasons. It also talks a little bit about the process of turning MySQL into a Universal Binary (it went well).
Mail slowing you down? Rebuild its database
Apple's flagship email client had me banging my head against a wall again when I finally dug up this tip on rebuilding Mail.app's 'Envelope Index' SQLite database at Hawk Wings (If you're wondering what that file is all about, check out Hawk Wing's "What's in your Mail folder?" post). Forcing Mail.app to rebuild this file is as simple as quitting the app, browsing to your ~/Library/Mail/ folder and dragging out the file called 'Envelope Index' to your desktop (I'd recommend making a backup of your Mail support folder before attempting this. Don't say we didn't warn you). Start Mail.app back up and it will give you a message about re-importing or re-indexing all of your messages (sorry, I forgot to screencap the message), and depending on how many you have it could take a couple minutes. I have over 13,000 emails and it didn't take my G4 PowerBook long at all. My Envelope Index was over 300 MB before I started this, and after it was all said and done that file weighed in at less than 4 MB. Putting Mail.app on this kind of a weight loss program can seriously speed it up and generally improve its performance; no more clicking on a new message 10 minutes after Mail.app notified me about it only to be greeted by "this message has not been downloaded yet..." silliness.It is also worth mentioning that this tip is probably more of a troubleshooting technique than something you should work into your regular maintenance tasks. A commenter on this tip at Hawk Wings pointed out that this rebuilding operation nullifies a couple of mailbox settings. If you have set any specific IMAP mailboxes to be used for trash or junk, Mail.app will forget those settings after this rebuild. Still, I think the performance gain and all-around less-schizophrenic behavior of Mail.app was worth having to reset a couple of preferences.[UPDATE: Some commenters have pointed out that Mail also has a Rebuild option under the Mailbox menu (at least in Tiger). I tinkered with this on one of my 4 IMAP accounts and it seems to do the same trick with far less fuss. Thanks for the tip!]
Helix updated for OS X
It's been a long time coming, but Helix 6 is finally available. That means a complete switch to Helix for OS X is finally possible. That also means no server running on OS X, clients running in Classic. For those who don't know, Helix is a powerful database app— similar to FileMaker. The core tool, Helix RADE, is a visual tool for programming relational databases, and creating apps built on those databases. While Helix isn't as slick as FileMaker (and nowhere near the marketing budget), it does have a loyal following. It's had plenty of time to develop a following, since it was introduced in 1983. But Helix's fanbase isn't necessarily old, it's practical. Helix uses an interesting workflow, and is reportedly quite easy to setup and manage. According to the site, they are also working on Windows and Linux versions of Helix.
