Why does background processing drain iphone’s battery?

I have no idea how iPhone’s processor scheduler works. However, if it is like many modern OS, scheduler slices out CPU time according to priority. If that is the case, there are two reasons why iPhone’s background processing won’t drain battery too much.

The first is that the scheduler is merely taking cpu time out of foreground process. It does not make CPU go faster. It does not create any processor time. It takes a small slice out of foreground processor. How is this draining battery?

The second is that the modern OS spends most of time on CPU idle. This is truly the case when foreground processing is light. Unless you are doing a game, your iPhone spends most of time waiting for something to happen. This idle time can be used on background processing! This is how most modern OS is done. When it senses foreground program needing more CPU time, it yields.

Third is that modern OS is event driven. No more polling of anything. This means, background processor merely waits for an event to occur and it reacts to it. The task of handling events is entirely on OS. OS handles event routing. Once events are passed to background event handler, background processor starts to process each events. So, since there is no more polling, how can Apple make it sound as if each background process is constantly polling? I am sure there are cases where radio signals are handled differently. But, I cannot believe that modern OS relies on polling.

Yes, more background programs you run, sluggish the foreground program becomes. That’s a well known fact. You comment out the daemons from starting; you stop services from starting in Windows.

Maybe, Apple cannot just give in that easily, out of principal.

NYC Parking Ticket Conspiracy

As a store owner, I happen to accrue many traffic tickets in the city. Most of metered parking tickets are no issues. However, there is a definite effort on the Bloomberg administration to harass commercial traffics and out of state traffics. I compiled a list of situations where it is a black and white abuse, and yet, the hearing court does nothing but deduct a few dollars from the $120 fine.

The first case involves NJ plate. I have a store on Columbus ave. Every moring at 8 am, my van pulls over to discharge a person to open the store. The whole process takes no more than 30 seconds. One day, I saw a parked car on the corner. I pulled in front of his parked car and let the passenger out. While I had my head turned toward the door, a traffic vehicle pulls in front of my car, not allowing me to pull out. A woman came out of the car and began scanning my registration sticker. I protested and pointed to the car behind me. She did not care and just issued a summons. She pulled out and went away. The car behind me was a New York Plate and I had a NJ plate. I took the photo of parked vehicle and sent in for investigation. I never heard from them. I sent in for hearing, believing that since you can see the plate number of NY car, someone would investigate; nothing but $25 deduction. I believe there is a concerted effort to ticket out of town vehicles in NY. Bloomberg must have given a green light to allow such to happen in open environment. I am waiting to collect more evidence and plan on suing the city for multi million dollar class action against the city.

The second one involves one of my supplier . This supplier is an old man of sixties who is a member of methodist church and would not do anything improper. Not only that, there were many witnesses there!  My supplier was driving a truck with commercial plate. Commercial plate is allowed to double park if there is no parking space, in order to deliver products. We see brown UPS trucks all over the city. Without that, we ould not be able to do business. While he was delivering supplies, someone yelled about upcoming brownie – old uniform was brown. It was a woman ticketing person coming toward the truck. So the man ran out and started his truck. So far, he hasn’t moved. His truck was still in parked position. Soon, about seven NYC police patrol car came and arrested the driver. According to the meter maid, he hit her. Now, many people went forward and testified against her, but the police would take brownie’s worod over many witness’s.

This is typically what happens when the mayer allows abuse to continue. Citizen gets the abuse of  ticketing maids. This is unacceptable. If city needs to raise revenue, fire all the crooks working for Bloomberg. And fire most of ticketing maids. They think they are law enforcers and they act like police officers. Meter maids who gets three complaints must be fired. And Bloomberg must be driven out. He changed the law to allow third term for him and his cronies. Let’s change the law after he is kicked out. He lost many big business to NJ and he is making up the difference in traffic tickets.

If there is anyone with evidence of abuse, I would like to hear about it. I think we should bring a class action lawsuit against Bloomberg administration.

Steve Job’s Disappearing Act

    I am almost dizzy thinking about all the buzz around MacWorld Keynote fiasco. Most of cool headed people tells a story of how Macworld became irrelevant to Apple’s core (pun intended) business. Many fan boys echo this sentiment along with a need for passing of torch for Apple. The media and press have been surprisingly quite about this.

    I can understand that Apple as a consumer product company doesn’t align well with MacWorld event, which focus on Macintosh Computer world. Apple is more of a phone manufacturer than is a computer manufacturer. So, I understand that they do not wish to spend untold millions of dollars on marketing effort of a product they see ever more hard core. I also understand that Apple as a company rely too much on Steve Jobs for everything. Apple needs to prepare others that can lead Apple into next wave of innovation. Having understood all of this, I still don’t understand why Steve won’t appear on the last keynote speech.

    First of all, if you told me a successful executive who is not even in his sixties is doing what Steve is doing, like passing his torch or not showing up on an event that he’s been a keynote speaker for I don’t know how long, I’d say he is hiding something. Secondly, nobody wants to speak when it comes to his health. Yes, it is his private matter. But, it is no more private than his salary is private. If you are in charge of billions of dollars of other people’s money, your health is a fair game. And yes, we must ask if his health has anything to do with this absence.

    Would you hire a guy with a cancer, if knew, to run your billion dollar investment? It is not out of bounds to ask questions regarding anything affecting your investment. Just because he is Steve, we should not ask about his cancer? That is preposterous. If he is ill, he should let world know he is ill. That way, everyone can leave him alone and he can recover in his privacy. If he is not ill, he must let people know this absence has nothing to do with his health. Matter of fact, he must reveal this thinking behind this reversal of course. Why does Steve think MacWorld Keynote is not important enough for his presence? Why MacWorld itself is no longer relevant to Apple’s business direction. Why is Steve letting his subordinate speak instead? All of these must be communicated clearly and concisely.

    Days of Apple running only for fan boys are over. Most of Apple products are bought by people not caring too much for who will run the company. Apple makes more money from non computer products than from computers. Stockholders of Apple are no longer Macintosh computer owners exclusively. People’s view of Apple is closer to that of SONY now. And of course it would matter if SONY president had cancer.

    I think people avoid talking about Steve’s health because they are afraid of what it would mean. It could only mean that he is getting worse. That’s why some defend Apple’s move to announce Steve’s absence however ridiculous all other explanations may sound. That’s why most avoid writing about the subject altogether. It’s a lose-lose proposition. There is no winner in this. Except, if Steve shares his health news and Apple takes a small hit on the stock price. This event could lead to everyone wishing Steve for quick recovery, and company searching for overdue restructuring. This restructuring of Apple is long overdue. Each department must gain full independence. Autonomy could hurt in the beginning, but now that Apple owns close to 10% of computer market, this is only way for Apple to grow.

    I hope I am wrong, but I think it will ultimately help Apple in the long run.

 

Prince Simian – 2

A huge splash almost choked Simian to death. Somehow, Simian was thrown deep into the waterfall where Simian alone could not have covered. Before the jump, Simian was holding as much air he possible could hold in his lungs to fetch the stone. Even though he wasn’t sure, Simian thought he had enough air in his lungs, but something was very odd about this whole thing. First of all, if this is the bottom of the waterfall, where is all the water that fell? Shouldn’t there be a constant stream of water pinning anyone down from coming up? There should be a thunderous waterfall, yet, the water was calm and quite. It was also very odd that the sky was far above his head. How did one go so far in so short period? Judging from the distance of light, it must be a good 100 yards or so from the shimmering light that is leaking through the waterfall. “How did I get here?” Simian questioned himself. Simian looked around for more clue and found none. But, soon, out of darkness, a glimpse of faint light came visible. It is a faint light, and it seemed far away. It was at this point that Simian realized that he was running out of air! Looking back at the sky, “There is no way I can make it back in time.” Simian thought. “Is this how I end my life?” Simian asked. Soon, very rapidly, all the things he wanted passed by his eyes, as he let go of his last bubble of air.

He took a big breadth in and he expected a rush of water drowning his lungs. But, strangely, Simian had no trouble breathing! “What kind of waterfall is this?” he thought. Curious, Simian took another big breath in. And, as before, he had no trouble breathing. Soon, Simian began laughing out aloud. “Ha ha ha, I am alive!”. It was a strange feeling being able to breath underwater. There is no bubble out of his mouth, and yet, it feels just like breathing air. Now, encouraged by this turn of events, Simian began looking around for the light he saw earlier. “Where is that light?” Out of corner of his left eye, he caught a glimpse of light. It was a faint light coming from far away in the bottom somewhere. “Whew, that looks like a mile of swimming.” Thought Simian. So, he began swimming toward it.

After what seemed like eternal swimming distance, Simian was able to make out a rough shape of the light source. It was an old temple shaped building, and there was a light coming from the middle of court yard. Simian swam and swam toward it. As he got near the light, he began noticing many creatures of strange shapes and sizes, all buzzing around doing things strange and curious. A fish was walking in human clothing! Water horses were racing each other in a large arena. Turtles were busy carrying snails on their back. And they all were wearing human cloths! It was very strange at first. But, soon, Simian got used to seeing strange things. Soon, strange became familiar very quickly. Finally, Simian came upon a divide that separates water from air, but this time, water was on top! It was as if large air bubble got trapped under the pressure of water and couldn’t escape. Carefully, Simian went through the divide As he fell from the water sky, he landed on a solid ground. The bubble was not really a bubble; it was a water and air upside down. Water was on the top and there was air on the bottom. Simian began inspecting this strange arrangement. The first thing he noticed was four large beams on four corners, shooting into the sky, and supporting something. It became obvious that the water was held up in sky by these beams. Somehow, water was staying on top and air on bottom . Stomping on the ground, Simian realized that the ground was dry. There was not a drop of water leaking from above. Simian was fascinated by all of these strange surroundings. And, then there was a matter of light. Light was shining everywhere, but there was no single source of illumination. The light was not too bright and not too dim. It was just right amount to see everything and as expected, there is no shadow anywhere. Simian ,carefully avoided detection and sneaked his way into what seems like a temple. The whole area was filled with many temples but the one Simian chose was a structure with three small temples within. The compound was mostly empty of creatures and were very quite. Step by step, Simian inched his way across main yard, toward one of smaller temples. Out of nowhere, Simian hears noise. Soon, Simian realized that someone was coming his way. So, Simian hid behind the bush and saw an old crab in silk gown, walking and reading poetry to a group of followers, who were all baby shrimps. Soon, a servant puffer fish holding a lamp passed. Curious, Simian began inspecting each temple to see what’s hiding inside.

The first temple was an old temple with a statue of whale, in the middle alter. There were small candle like objects in front of the statue, but nothing special. There were no chairs or desks in the temple. Simian guessed it was a place of praying. So, he left. Across the courtyard was another small temple. The second temple was a class room with many variety of fish studying, writing and reciting something. They all were wearing fine silk gowns and one was reciting some type of poetry. This was very boring for Simian. So he left immediately. There was the last temple to the side of second temple. It was smaller and built more solidly. The door was locked with a heavy metal chains. Curious, Simian, immediately poked a hole in the window, and saw what was inside the room. There was nothing but a single book in the middle of room, opened and illuminated by a light from above. “What the…” thought Simian. But, soon, his eyes caught the title of the book. “Book of Magic – First Edition Vol 1 – All rights reserved”.

Simian’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “Wow! A Magic Book!”, Simian can’t hardly contain his excitement. But, knowing he is an uninvited guest, Simian plays very cautiously. Using a small pin he found on the floor, he begins to pick lock. Soon, the lock opened with a loud click. Smiling, Simian whispers “Yeah! Let’s see what’s inside.” Simian slowly sneaked into the room. Simian even stopped breathing altogether. Inch by inch, Simian approached the book. The book was opened to a chapter on “Defensive Self-Miniature and its duplication” It was written in old script. The pages were leather and paper bound together, written in flaming red ink. Main cover of the book was Jade stone. It was impossible for anyone to move the book. But, Simian thought “Hey, who’s to stop me from reading it?” Suppressing excitement, Simian turns pages to Chapter One – “Pan/Trans Morphing Theory and Practice, Methods and Derivatives”.

 

It must have been over a week. Simian didn’t stop to rest. He studied day in and day out, memorizing and practicing every single magic method written in the book. The book was very hard to read at first. But, soon, Simian learned the way to read magic. Simian early realized that most of book was a theory on how magic occurs. But, if he cut to the chase and just studied how it is done, he didn’t have to memorize most of the book. Obviously, this method had its problems. It was funny at first. His mispronunciation caused a half changed object that looked bizarre. His intelligence soon overcame his shortfalls and learned all the magic this book contained. Yawning out loud, Simian gets up and places the book back on the chapter where he found it. “I’m done!” said Simian. Stretching his arms, Simian kicks both doors out. There were few fish creatures outside the temple. All the pass by creatures stopped, to see this strange and out of this world scene of a monkey kicking a door down, and emerging out of a sacred temple that houses the book of magic. Horrified, all creatures disappear in half a second. Simian smiles and says “That’s right. I’m bad. I’m bad.” Looking around, Simian remembers that there was a wager of some sort that needed an object to be brought back. “Hmmm, what can I bring back as a souvenir?” Simian looks around but can’t find anything that satisfies him. Soon, his eyes stop at one of four gigantic columns that was supporting the heaven from falling in. Simian sees a sign that read “Do Not Touch. Support Beam Keeps Fins Dry”. A grin and a hop later, Simian is looking intently at the beam and chanting “Suri, Suri Masuri, Beam Beam Shrink!” With that, a giant rumble shook the ground as if there was an earth quake. This shake got louder and louder until, the giant beam that was supporting the heaven began shrinking. As it shrank, water began leaking down from the sky! All the creatures that were hiding before began running away, yelling and crying. The beam was supporting sky shrank down to the size of a pin on Simian’s hand. Meanwhile, water was pouring down everywhere, creating a large pool in the courtyard. Strangely, some of fish were drowning in water. Smiling, Simian puts the object into his ear and says “I’ll take this one.”

Simian bursts into the sky, flying and soon, passing back into the water. Quickly, Simian was very close to the waterfall where it all began. The noise of waterfall was getting louder and louder as he got near the light. Soon, Simian’s body shot out of waterfall pond, into the mist and landing on the top of waterfall cliff where all other monkeys witnessed..

One monkey yelled “Hey, you guys, look here. The dead monkey just came back”. One by one, others came to see what the commotion was all about. One monkey asked “Are you the one that fell in the waterfall last month and died?” Hearing this Simian answers “Well, Yes, it is me and No, I did not die. ” “How did you live in water for over a month?”, asked another monkey. “Well, I have travelled to the bottom of waterfall, and saw what was underneath” said Simian. Incredulous, everyone yelled “Liar, liar, pants on fire. You are full of caca. How can anyone live underwater?” “Lies, huh?” said Simian.

“Listen carefully” began simian. “I travelled down the waterfall, to a world where water gods live. I studied and mastered the magic kept by water gods.” Simian took a small break and continued. “As we have promised, I am your King as of this moment. However, considering my age, I will take the title of Prince Simian.” Soon, there were loud and heated discussions among monkeys about this turn of events. One monkey stepped forward and asked “How do we know you didn’t fake it?” Simian smiled and answered “Suri Suri Masuri, Ass-Monkey” with that, the monkey who stepped forward turned into a creature with a head of donkey and body of monkey. Simian yelled “I should call you Asskey or Mondonkey”. Seeing all this, everyone of monkeys began chanting “Prince Simian, Prince Simian”.

Prince Simian

A long long time ago, 4122 years ago to be exact, in a far far away land, on northern top of Mount Baik Du in Korea, lived a group of monkeys. The place was quiet and flush with various vegetations, all perfectly suited for monkeys to enjoy. Trees were not too tall and streams never ran dry. Having lived there for thousands of years, all the monkeys were simply bored out of their mind. They have climbed all the trees, ate all the fruits, harassed all other animals and now, there was simply nothing left to do, ever and forever! The group is made up of about thirty monkeys, curious and intelligent, but without purpose. Yes, it was the lack of purpose that absolutely drove one monkey out of his mind. His name is Simian and he is about eight years old. He has always been more curious and finds himself in unnecessary troubles than any other monkey. He is handsome, for a monkey that is, and brave. Like all other monkeys, he has seen it all, done it all and eaten it all. There was nothing left to do, except.

A stream of water always flew from the mountain top, through the forest, over the cliff into a mist of water vapor that always shrouded what lies beneath the waterfall. One can hear the water falling but can never see it arriving anywhere. A constant cloud of mist always hid the whereabouts of water destination. Not understanding how the valley never fills with water after so much water pours into it, they all had each theory as to where all the water goes. “A giant mouth comes from heaven and drinks all the water” said one monkey. “Humans are punished into carrying water back to the top” said another one. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. The water disappears into the air, that’s why we see the mist and bottom never fills.” Cried another one. Since no one truly knew how or where, it was left to each monkeys wild imaginations. This has always this way and will always be this way. In reality, no one cared or dared to know what lies underneath it all. It was another mystery of life that they know will never be answered correctly. Along with “Why green fruits taste horrible but taste great when it turns red”, it was a question that did not have an answer. It was some kind of magic that happens around that one learns not to ask too many questions about.

It took an extra sunny afternoon of extra boredom to gather all the monkeys together around the waterfall cliff. The cool breeze of mist from the waterfall made this extra hot afternoon a little bit more bearable. Since monkeys don’t like water, they never went into the stream to cool off. They all sat on the rock that sticks out a little bit more and began wondering. One of monkeys wondered aloud “What a day, hot day. I wish we could make the sun disappear”. Another monkey said “No, it’s better to have half sun, like moon is. Why can’t we have a changing sun?” “Don’t be an idiot! Human would fight over which half to hide – right half? Or the left half? They will never agree on that.” “Then how did moon gets hidden?” “Dumb ass, it’s because humans have nothing to do with moon. They sleep when moon pops up. It was animals who made the moon. That’s why it changes shape.” Hearing this, Simian perked up and yelled “Listen, I have been thinking. We always come here and do nothing interesting, ever. I say we do something interesting today. Why don’t we select a king? A king that rules and looks after its subjects. A king who makes smart decisions and talks to baboons about the fig trees. The King of monkeys. The king of all monkeys will be our leader, forever.” Soon, a burst of discussion erupted among bored monkeys. “What will our king do?” one asked. “He can tell us what to play, who to harass, what fruits to eat first!” answered another monkey. “Well, I want to be a king” said one small monkey. “Me too”, “Me three” they all chimed in at the prospect of becoming a king of all monkeys. “Quiet!” yelled Simian. Immediately, the noise level dropped. Simian, slowly speaking, convinces all the monkeys, “Let’s come up with a test. A test that will decide who among us, will be brave enough to be our king.” Soon, another discussion exploded. “Banana eating contest!” “Fastest one falling from the tree!” “Youngest one!” a chaotic mix of various suggestions, none of which was useful in this context, ensued. Out of pool of noisy discussions, Simian’s voice carried through loudly, “Well, the test must be something hard. Not easy to do. And Dangerous” The last word “danger” shut everyone up. “Dangerous?” slowly, one by one, excuses came out, “Well I have to ask my mom first” “I think he has gone mad” “No way Jose, I do not fare well with danger” “Danger and Monkey don’t go together!” “How dangerous? Are we talking about insulting gorillas? Or danger like, I could lose my head – danger?” “Guys! Think about it. It is our king. It must be a life or death type of test.” Simian said excitedly, “I got it!” everyone’s eyes were on Simian. “I say, one who travels to the bottom of waterfall shall be our king!” There was an eerie silence while this idea was being processed by a group of monkeys. One by one, they were comprehending the enormity of what is being suggested. Soon, each monkey had something to say. “This is crazy” “Who ,with functioning mind, wants to die for anything?” “I am allergic to death.” “Are you related to humans by any chance?” Simian smiled and yelled “If I go down the waterfall and come back alive, will you make me your king?” Grudgingly, one by one answered, in backward sort of way. “If you want to kill your red monkey ass..” “We cannot wait for your funeral, you smart ass” “King? Forget king, you could be our god if you make that trip.” However, when the idea of Simian actually taking on this challenge sank in, a suspicion crept in. “How do we know you actually went there?” “Splashing some water on your face won’t cut it, you know?” “How do we know there is a bottom?” Thinking for a moment, Simian answered. “I shall bring back some kind of proof of my travel. I will bring back the stone you throw in with your secret mark on it. I will find it and bring it back.” Immediately, every single monkey ran out to the forest, gathering good sized stones to throw in. After a while, a pile of stones occupied the top of waterfall, where monkeys all looked on in excited anticipation of upcoming mayhem. One older monkey started to examine each stone, very carefully, for some non trivial, hard to replicate natural characteristics that only existed on that stone. After a while, he came upon a stone with mark of three dots in a triangular shape. The stone itself was shaped like square, unusual shape for this part of the forest. Three dots made this stone an unmistakable proof that they all agreed on. Grabbing the stone and examining it, Simian said “Well , if this stone is what you wish, this stone will be what I’ll bring back.” With that, Simian tossed the rock over the waterfall into the mist. All the monkeys tried to listen to the splash of water, but the satisfying noise never came back. After a while, one monkey said “Well, I am sure it made all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall. All you have to do is fetch it now.” Simian stood and thought for a moment. After a few minutes of silence, Simian confirmed what this all means. “So, If I make down the waterfall and bring back the stone you just select, I will be your king from that moment on, am I correct?” Slowly but surely, one by one, each monkey confirmed what Simian wanted to hear. “Yes” “Yeah, you will be our king.” Hearing all this, Simian smiles and jumps into the mist yelling “Remember, I am your king foreve—-r”. The last part of his word never finished. Looking into the mist, all the monkey were stunned into silence at the brave and yet totally idiotic actions of Simian. “Poor guy, he finally went insane” “One less mouth to compete.” “Where will his body go after he dies, Dad?” “You see? It’s dangerous being an idiot like him.” various comments were made about Simian but there was doubt in anyone’s mind that Simian was the first monkey ever to commit suicide.

Obama’s Perfect Storm

It was a rise that has never been dreamed before. It was a “preposterous” idea when heard for the first time. It was something out of some fictional tales that one hears happen in far-a-way land. It was never to be such in this country. It was a fool’s dream. But, it became our reality.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are Obama and thinking about entering the presidential race, and it’s 2006. Economy was strong and democrats were scrambling to find a viable candidate for the party. No one knows who you are and your middle name is Hussein. If you were Obama, would you bet on yourself? Well, I wouldn’t. It was a hopeless desire, and sure to fail. With names like Hussein Obama, a black man and no experience in any serious matter, how do you convince yourself to run?

Well, it turns out, that it was a perfect storm of rare kind. It was a convergence of three critical events, each on its own significant but not earth shattering, but combined together, a deadly combo, all working in harmony for Obama to win the election.

The first event was his winning an election for Harvard Law Review. This event was the forcast of things to come for Obama. More importantly, after the election, Obama did not cater to any racial pressure and gave no preference to non white editors. This is very crucial point for most whites to feel comfortable voting for a black man. Whites want to make sure racial agendas will not affect decision makings of the president. Since everyone will second guess his decisions regarding racial matters, it was important to see from his actions what his motives were. Harvard Law Review showed that Obama had no hidden agenda. It showed that Obama was fair and racially unbiased. This is probably what made millions of mid west voters comfortable voting for a black man. Had Obama showed any tilt toward any race in his decisions, his race for the office of presidency would have been over from beginning.

The second component of the storm was Sep. 15 when, now famous “fundamentals of our economy are sound ..” speech was made by McCain. This, along with the closing of Lehman Bros., made this event a powerful component that all came together in perfect timing. Matter of fact, it is almost a divine intervention in timing, solely to thrust Obama into a leading position and upset the race. From this point on, Obama was in offensive position. The timing and unfolding of each event was purely a once in a hundred year event. This is exactly what made all other issues secondary. This is exactly what made McCain look uninformed. The playing field was tilted in Obama’s favor.

The last component of this perfect storm was Bush. Bush, for some reason, was creating a perfect environment in which someone like Obama was needed. Eight years of Bush administration was nothing more than a slow gas leak that had nowhere to go. In the end, the only way to eliminate the danger was to ignite it. Obama was the match stick that started ignition of old Bush era gas leak that had nowhere to go.

This perfect storm cannot be man-made. This perfect storm was a biblical in its enormity. This perfect storm had to happen. It was meant to be.

Coca Cola Index of American Consumers

I have been following our current stock market gyrations and began noticing one thing. Why don’t we have an index of companies that directly affect American consumers? It’s nice to know how each sector is doing but who is following American consumers?

If no one is willing to follow, I will. So began my compilation of fifteen or so companies that affect American consumers directly. Sin Coca Cola was the first company on the list, and their symbol KO happens to be my last name, I called it a Coca Cola Index.

The list follows:

KO	Cocacola	46.13
McD	McDonald	54.5
WAL	Walmart	52.69
HD	HomeDepot	20.74
GM	General Motors	6.46
GE	General Electric	19.96
GLD	Spdr Gold Trust	83.24
OIL	Crude Oil Return	44.73
C	Citigroup	17.15
HPQ	HP Compaq	40.02
LLY	Ely Lilly	34.12
FRE	Freddie Mac	1.12
VZ	Verizon	27.96
CPO	Corn Products	21.02
SGG	Sugar Return	39.28
JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	62.89
MSFT	Microsoft	23.86
V	Visa	51.45

 

These are companies that directly impact our lives. By following this list, we can closely watch how our consumers are doing. As of today Oct 15, 2008, combined index was 647

Without doing a complex weighing of each company, a simple addition of each stock should give us a clear idea of consumer health. Matter of fact, I am considering a small pool of fund to invest in these companies to promote invest in consumers of America.

One thing missing from the list is Starbucks and that’s intentional. I hope anyone spending five dollars for a cop of coffee in this economy should be ignored from the society.

I hope I am on the right track and hope to refine the list to correctly reflect American consumer economy.

Economics 101

Current situation in economics forces us to think about the immediate concerns we all have; prices, 401k, job security, etc. However, I believe that we will repeat these mistakes unless we know exactly what caused it in the first place. So, as a normal Joe Sixpack out on the streets, I think about what went wrong, and who made it happen, a lot.

The first one that gets my bulls-eye vote is G.W.B. our beloved president, not the George Washington Bridge. He drove us into two wars, spending ten billion dollars each week, while not minding his own store. All the sharks were in water and yet, he threw us into the pool. Speaking of sharks, traders of complex financial instruments were all there to steal and cheat us while GWB’s eyes were on Iraq. More infuriating, he didn’t even do a good job at that! These sharks are the second cause of the current situation. You can call them brokerage houses or stock traders, I call them sharks.

Third cause was our greed. My Aunt, for example, bought two condos with money taken out on her first home. Rates were low and house prices were rising. It was something that couldn’t go wrong. It was stupid easy. She was swept up on the frenzy of easy money boom and ended up with three homes, two of which can’t be repaid back. We all were a part of quick bucks envy insanity. We all looked up to anyone smart enough to make quick bucks and flaunt it. The envy drove more people into doing it. This was all our doing.

I think it is far too late to point finger at anyone. However, I believe, it is not too late to let most of these banks fail. If they are not smart enough to see a scam, they don’t deserve to be rescued. How is it that our gov’t was sleeping at the wheel while our country was rolling down the hill at 90 MPH? Is this how a market corrects itself? Or is it that now, we all are socialist.

OsX Leopard on PC ? Wow!

I have been hearing about Psystar company in Florida, that sells Mac compatible PCs for under $600. Matter of fact, it was Apple’s lawsuit that led me to their site to learn about the existance of this open EFI project that makes it all possible. From the sound of it, it was feasible for me to go out, purchase a copy of Leopard 10.5.4 and run on my PC. Wow! This is interesting. So, I decided to give it a try.

My PC is Q6600 based Quad Core 2.4G Intel machine from Gateway. DX440X is the model number. It has Sigmatel based On board sound card – STAC9227 chips, Intel CH9 IO set, Intel 82562V NIC and NVidia 8500GT card. So, without tweaking anything, I just wanted to try. So I followed the instruction as to how to create a patched DVD. There are many patched DVDs floating around torrent sites and as long as you have a legitimate copy of Leopard, I think you should be OK.

First boot off of IDE drive gave “Still waiting for root” message. A quick search gave me a solution – Use external USB drive. So I did exactly that. Voila, I have a work in progress machine now. Unfortunately, it still waits for something. Hmmm, what could it be? I quickly launched my live GParted DVD and created a manual blank partition for OsX to see. This time, it went all the way to install screen. Good. Now, I just chose my newly created blank partition and using Disk Utility, created a Journaled OsX file system. Soon, my pc was copying files to OsX partition.

FIrst time it rebooted, I was simply amazed at how easy it was for someone to install Leopard on a PC. My first attempt yieled semi working Hackintosh. Somehow, not all the programs were copied. For example, browser would not launch. Quick scan of the system revealed another dark area; none of my drivers were loaded. So, I decided to blow this out and try another distribution.

I used my GParted and created a blank partition after my Vista partition. I burned iAtkos 4i – which is 10.5.4 and booted off of my external USB driver. Upon starting, the choice given was a lot simpler. So, I chose basic package and NVidia driver, Intel 8225X Driver, STAC9200 sound driver  and Athros wireless lan driver. Upon reboot, I was greeted with properly detected video screen. Wow, this might actually work. So, I plugged in my USB 802.11G based wireless card. The first thing is to find the driver. Luckily, I know it is Zydas based card so I quickly googled for zydas1211 osx driver. I found one and installed it immidiately. But, it refused to work! Hmmm. Time to dirty my hands. I know when generic drivers are used, you must make entry for your hardware id somewhere. I checked and found a plist file that I needed to edit. Quickly I did a hardware lookup and found the Vendor ID and Product ID. I entered two numbers and voila! I had a wireless LAN. Quicky, I launched Apple Updater and patched OS. I browsed the web and found proper driver for my NVidia card and installed it. It gave me ability to span across multiple screens; Nice!. Next is sound. I spent numerous hours searching for Sigmatel 9227 driver. I tried them all, and nothing works. OK, luckily I use USB Lexicon sound card for better recording, and it worked flowless. Out of box, my USB sound worked. OK, what next?

I put a DVD into my internal IDE dvd player and DVD Player gives an error message – Can’t find dvd player. Hmmm. Strange. I put it into external usb dvd player and it says the same thing. Quick scan of my hardware revealed that, my IDE dvd player was not loaded. Somehow, IDE was not working. My SATA was working fine but IDE was not. Strange. Also, DVD Player won’t play from external devices. This is Apples doing. So I installed VLC and it played just fine.

I downloaded lots of programs and tested on this Hackintosh. They all worked. I have no problem updating using Apple Updater. This is incredible. They have defeated Apple’s golden lock!

To test my dual booting ability, I chose Vista on bootloader that OsX placed automatically. On my first boot, I got error message. I know this to be true when you change active partition on windows machines. Quick scan on the internet said repair option on Vista DVD will fix this. Quick launch of Vista fixed my loading problem. However, I want Vista to handle booting options. So, I changed my active parition back to Vista and copied CHAIN0 file to C:\ root and used bcdedit to make entry on boot screen of Vista to launch OsX as one of options.

Now, I have a dual booting Vista and OsX! Ok, let me go a little bit further. I installed Parallel on OsX and see if I can run Vista partition on OsX. Unfortunately, I have two Vista partitions and Parallel wont launch and use if it sees multiple Vista partitions. Well, there goes that.

I still have IDE issue and my Avermedia TV Card issue but, I think overall, this Hackintosh is really usable. Running Microsoft Office 2008 was painless. Using MacFuse and NTFS-3G gave me a read-write access to windows partitions. MacDrive on Vista gave me read write access to HFS+ partition. I am going to try VMWare on Vista to read Mac installations later.

So, what did I do next? What about a portable flash install of OsX? Well, using Pacifist, I was able to install OsX on my 8 GIG flash drive! I created a HFS+ partition and opened iAtkos 4i package using Pacifist. Using all to other disk option, I installed OsX on flash drive. The only thing I am working it is “bless” the proper folder to make it bootable. So far, it won’t boot off of it. I know bless is the command that makes it possible. I am still working on it. But, imaginge if I can simply stick a USB flash on a machine and load OsX!

I am impressed with how much work OsX86Project prople have finished. They made almost possible for a layman to insert a Leopard DVD and install it on his / her PC. OsX still has ways to go in the area of hardware support, but for anyone remotely attuned to technology, this is a great way to have two OS on one machine! Besides, Quad core Macintosh would have cost me over $3000! You should try it too.

Thanks to :

http://www.osx86project.org

http://www.insanelymac.com

http://www.hackint0sh.org

Psystar Vs. Apple

Ever since Steve J. came back to crunch Apple corp., J. began killing, all the licensed manufacturers of Apple compatibles. I remember UMax apple clones that many schools bought. These machines were inexpensive, good and fast. But, this was a desparate move on Steve J.’s part. The Apple was diving into history section fast, and was bleeding money like redrum-elevator scene in Shining. The move partly saved the Apple from extinction, but, can Apple pull the same stunt now that they are bigger and fatter?

Mind you, it’s 2008 now and Apple owns almost 10% of the market. Every single move they make gets analyzed. They make moves slowly and carefully. But the move they made last week was nothing if not anticipated. They started a lawsuit. They started a lawsuit against a company for selling PCs.

Apple’s move to Intel CPU was based on an assumption that ,somehow, Mac OS will be able to detect the hardware its running on, and not run if not on genuine Apple product. The idea is that the Mac OS will have this built in suicide program that kills itself if not run on genuine Apple product. For a long time, the idea seemed sound and working. Apple was happy and investors were happy. Only consumers were unhappy, but, hey, cash talks and bullxxxx walks, right? Apple charged many mulas for their privilege of running Os X.  Under the hood, what Apple was doing was simple check of hardware. This hardware, supposedly only available to Apple’s computers, was the key to the kingdom we all wanted in.

Lately, old BIOS was losing its prestige. A new kid in town Known as EFI – Extensible Firmware Interface,  was courting many modern hardware manufacturers. Invented by Intel, it was a soft of software version of BIOS that can live on harddisk, for example. This means, it is flexible and hackable.

Strange things happened. People began wanting to run MacOS on their Dell machines. Their IBM thinkpads were far better suited to run MacOS, they believed, than Apple Powerbook ever was. Everyone began asking why their shiny new PC cannot run Mac OS? Without going into detail, there was no good answer.  Besides, Vista was perceived as a dog and the Apple charged mucho dinero for their Logo on their laptop lines. People are not stupid, you know. So began the Osx86 project! Many smart people began disassembling boot code and found ways to bypass that hardware presence check! If you have no hardware to prove you are Apple, get rid of the program that’s doing the check. This simple idea worked! Once the hack was done, Os X ran on plain PCs. This was the beginning of the drip that took down the dam.

Soon, OsX86 project fellows had a hacked kernel that I can replace my original with. This altered OsX can be installed on any Intel machines. OK, That’s not entirely true. Many hardware partrs that Apple doesn’t use has to be written by somebody. So, there are many motherboards that have problems. But, most of modern motherboards with intel chipsets or Nvidia chipsets will run this modified MacOS fine. Of course, other drivers has to be installed to fit your needs, but the point is that you can make your machine run MacOS period.  Now, fastforward a few years.

Psystar saw a huge opportunity and jumped in. The idea is simple. They will make a PC with components known to run this Hacked MacOS, sell them at basement bargain prices and Voila! You have a Mac for $500 and it runs at twice the speed of $1000 Macintosh!

To test this, I bought a copy of Leopard 10.5.2. I tried to install it on my Gateway DX440X – Q6600 Quadcore Intel machine. It simply refused to boot. Then again, I already knew that. I burned a Kalyway 10.5.2 image onto my DVD and within minutes, I was installing MacOS! After the install, I tried Update service to see if it would break my MacOS. It didn’t! Now, I am running Mac Leopard 10.5.4 on my Gateway PC! This is truely amazing.

Seeing all this, Apple sent lawyers to Psystar ,and their expected lawsuit followed. Psystar is fighting back! From what I see, Psystar is not selling anything illegal. They are selling cheap PCs that can run this Modified Mac OS! Out of convenience to its customers, they are pre loading them like Dell would, but each copy is legetimate, purchased copy of Leopard from Apple. Now, can Apple win this case? What are they claiming? Are they claiming that the Psystar illegally cloned OsX? But it was osX86Project people and other hackers that worked on kernel patching. Psystar is selling nothing but cheap hardwares. Should Apple sue Gateway because my Gateway runs Mac OS? Is Apple claiming that Psystar is enabling illegal activity? What is illegal? It’s a legal copy of OsX and the owner decides to use patched kernel instead of Apple provided one. This is not uncommon. Matter of fact, early Linux had to be compiled from source code to customize to fit your machine! Each machine had a slightly different kernel! Is Psystar breaking any agreement? Well the only license is for OsX Leopard and it merely states that MacOS must run on Apple labeled machines. OK, I printed “Apple” and taped to my Gateway. Problem solved.

It might have worked had Apple kept its original 3% share of the market, but now with over 10% of the market, Apple is not so cute anymore. Will jury find defendant, a small startup company selling cheap hardwares, guilty of selling cheap pcs? Guilty of giving buyers a choice? I don’t think so. I think this will open a floodgate of companies selling MacOS loaded PCs if Apple fails. It’s a huge gamble for Apple. But they have no choice! They cannot simply sit back and let them get away with this, right?  Imaging a PC with MacOS and Vista preloaded? This is a large market. I think Apple’s monopoly days are over. Apple must allow other manufacturers sell compatible and competable products. Apple is, after all, a software company. Their skills are designing and writing good  software. Like Microsoft, they should do what they do best. Look at the ME launch fiasco. They are thinning their talent all over the place. Drop the hardware Apple! You can keep Air, iPhone, IPod, iTouch and new tablet and one PowerBook Pro model. And sell the Os X to manufacturers to preload.