Category Archives: Technology

Configure Apache Web Sharing for user accounts in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

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Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) changes how web sharing is set up. Thankfully, they’ve moved us all to Apache 2 codebase (a good thingâ?¢). But in doing so, they’ve disabled the ability to serve web pages contained in your home Site directory.

If you turn on Web Sharing from the System Preferences panel, it works for the main computer (http://localhost) but not for user accounts (http://localhost/~username/). Most perplexing is that Apple’s graphical interface confirms that web sharing is turned on for your personal account, but it doesn’t work. This is *very* un-Apple.

Even if you turn on web sharing from the System Preferences panel, you’ll still receive the dreaded 403 Forbidden. You don't have permission to access /~username/ on this server.

Thankfully, it’s a simple oversight on Apple’s part. Your options are two-fold. You can either set it up to activate the Sites directory in all your user accounts, or just for individual ones. I’ll cover both. Continue reading →

Apple bug breaks 3rd party USB web cams; no fix from Cupertino

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Since the release of Apple’s 10.4.10 update, users (including me) have been complaining to Apple that their third-party USB web cams have lost audio capabilities. Although a bug report was issued and acknowledged (ID #5285354) by Apple, no fix has been forthcoming. In fact, Apple has stranded a large number of users in a void where iChat AV no longer has audio and video chat functionality. Continue reading →

Microsoft proposes professional IT body with power to censure IT workers

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Citing the high rate of failure in IT implementation projects, Microsoft’s National Technology Officer (UK) is suggesting the formation of a professional IT licensing body, which would have the power of censure and credential revocation for IT workers. Such an organization would be modelled after other professional licensing bodies such as the American Medical Association. 

The proposal raises real concerns for industry professionals around long enough to have comparative experience ouside the Microsoft bubble. Many see such a move as a thinly-veiled effort aimed at cementing Microsoft’s practices and protocols as the IT industry’s Hippocratic standard instead of a digital ‘Do No Harm’ sort of organization.

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Prevent Mac OS X from mounting a hard drive volume at boot

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Reader Charles asked a great question after reading my post about hiding a mounted disk volume on the desktop. He asked, in a nutshell, how to cause Mac OS X to not automatically mount a volume. Basically, Charles wants to leave his bootcamp volume unmounted when in Mac OS X. As it sits, Mac OS X automatically mounts all non-removable drives at startup. Continue reading →

Macintosh Mail.app speedup and cleanup

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Apple’s Mail.app utilizes a SQLite database to manage the mail index. In my case, that’s approaching 10,000 email messages. Constant deleting and moving wreaks havoc over time on this database, resulting in slow-downs and hiccups (or, in the worst case, failure). You can force Mail.app to rebuild its index, resulting in much snappier performance, a reduction in glitches, and a substantial savings in space. Performing this action has caused my mail folder to shrink in size from 780 MB to 363.9 MB. Continue reading →

Apple: Drop the Smug Ads

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I’m sick of Apple’s snobbery. As an AAPL stockholder and customer, I’m fed up with Apple alienating and insulting PC users.

Now, I’m not a Mac-hater; far from it. In fact, I’m a recent re-convert, having come back to the Mac platform after leaving it for Windows 95 when Microsoft was turning itself around based on Bill Gates’ long-overdue realization that the web was the future. Now, I’m primarily a Mac user. Up until just over a year ago, I was primarily a Windows user. Continue reading →