Success … I think. My Mac Mini is now purring handsomely beside the plasma and is configured as an auxiliary Apache web server, but armed to the teeth naturally with the usual power tools – Postfix mail, php, MySQL and Webalizer (to name but a few). I’ve also added WordPress to the arsenal and got as far as hosting a test blog before turning to post this writeup – in a word, this Tiger is bitchin’ .

But here’s the million dollar question: is OS X simpler to use than Windoze? Well, ummm … maybe. Tiger’s brill when you’re doing noddy everyday stuff – and some of the cool things like widgets, Sherlock and RSS integration into Safari really put Bill’s HCI team at MS to shame – but the advanced stuff is not for the faint hearted and for this reason, it is well hidden from the user. So much so I’ve had to delve deep into the subconscious to dredge up what few nuggets are left from previous UNIX encounters to work around some challenging installation problems. Fortunately, I located this guide before resorting to hari kiri.

The bottom line … I’m a *very* happy bunny and with OSXvnc installed, I’ll be taking this little pussy to bed tonight, albeit remotely on my Windoze laptop. The Mrs, on the other hand, is not so thrilled about the idea … ;o)

Two cool things will happen next week: my Mac Mini is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday and we’ve got tickets for the opening of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith on Thursday. Not surprisingly, the boys are hyper with anticipation for the latter, and the Force is unmistakably strong in their rooms: Lego bricks that once lay lifeless in ambush of parental feet (why is it they hurt so much when you stand on them?!) have been restored into impressive battle crafts as the boys re-enact the scenes from Hoth, Besbin and Geonosis with the usual cacophony of whizz, bangs and pops comensurate with the intensity of the conflict. As for me, I intend to chill in front of the telly with the Mac (I’m plugging the Mini into the DVI of the 42″ plasma to achieve the holy nirvana of 1920 x 1200) and do lots of hand-waving (using the wireless air-mouse from Gyration while unravelling the delights of the new Tiger OS. Ummmm, just can’t wait …

P***ed off with expensive & ineffective 118 services? Google’s come up with an alternative that will only cost you a text message. Google SMS (currently in Beta) lets you get local business listings when you’re on the road and want to find a place to eat, obtain driving directions to get from point A to point B without having to ask for directions, compare online product prices with ones you find on the high street, look up dictionary definitions to expand your vocabulary or prove a point, solve maths problems such as converting to metric units. Just text your query to 64664 (or 6GOOG on most mobile phones) in the following example formats:

• (business name)or(type).(location)or(postcode) … to get business information e.g. tesco.swindon or plumber.sn2 1bs
• from (location) to (location) … for driving directions
• price (product) … for price comparisons
• define (word) … for definitions
• g (keywords) … for web snippets (first few lines of matching webpages)
• or calculator-like queries such as “5 miles in km”

However, if you are deskbound or have an internet-enabled PDA, Google Local UK is a Multimap-like local business locater service, and should provide directory listings in the familiar pin-headed mapping format.

I don’t think I’ve done a geeky blog on technical stuff to date, so here’s one I prepared earlier …

If like me, you have relatives & friends who live outside the UK and you need a better value service for telephony (i.e. anything from FREE to say 2p a minute to call the USA, Malaysia, etc etc) then read on – today’s blog is about Voice over IP (VoIP) and how someone in the UK can take advatage of something called ‘toll-bypass’. There’s a guy on eBay selling this info for 3.99 GBP – but if anyone wants to do something in return for my tips below, then feel free to go here and see what you can do to help …

OK there are 2 things to consider – the user and the equipment. If your Granny in Hong Kong only has access to a telephone and would be uncomfortable putting on a headset & talking into a computer, then it is unlikely (but not impossible) that you will be able to call her (or for her to call you) for FREE. The simple rule is this: if either end has to use a traditional telephone device (whether fixed or mobile) and is connected to the traditional PSTN or telephone network, then there will be a charge – the size of this charge will depend on the service provider and the options listed below. So, as a UK resident here are the services available to you:

If all you have is a telephone …

18866 – Registration for this service is by credit card. Requires a UK telephone fixed line but thereafter you can include other phone numbers (including mobiles) in your account, allowing you to use the service from these numbers. To use, simply prefix the number you want to call with ‘18866’ and enjoy silly tariffs to UK fixed numbers for ZERO pence per minute (i.e. FREE for as long as you can talk), 2p per minute to destinations such as the USA, Malaysia, New Zealand, etc etc. There is a standard connection charge for all calls of 2p. Billing is monthly and you will receive an invoice by email.

If you have a computer & you are on broadband …

You have a number of options, and these options will depend on the equipment of the people you are calling. If the majority of the people you call have access to a computer, then Skype offers very good quality audio conferencing facilities (plus other neat stuff like presence and chat). Both parties need to download and install the free Skype client/program and calls from one Skype user to another Skype user are absolutely FREE. However, if you need to call somone who only has access to a traditional telephone, you can also buy credits in 10 EURO chunks to ‘SkypeOut’ to say Granny in Hong Kong for 1.6p per minute.

In addition to using Skype (which uses proprietary technology), you can extend your options further by using standards-based VoIP service, based on something called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). 18866 provides details of the configuration required to connect to their service using an IP Phone. An IP Phone can be a real device or it can be a bit of software (a Softphone) on your computer. Xten offers a FREE softphone called X-Lite and when configured to use with your 18866 account, you can still call UK fixed numbers from your computer for FREE and pay a lesser 1p connection charge. There are other marginal savings on some other destinations. Like Skype, SIP Softphone to another Softphone calls are FREE.

So far we’ve only looked at services where you are the initiator of a VoIP call, but what if you want to be called and for the call to arrive on your computer on a UK number? Sipgate offers a geographical (STD) number to any UK resident and registration is FREE. Once you have configured the X-Lite Softphone with your Sipgate account details (you can have multiple SIP configurations on a Softphone), your friends and family can call you on the personal number given to you by Sipgate, and the calls will be directed to the Softphone on your computer. There is also a Voicemail service for when you are not reachable i.e. when you’re offline – messages are taken and sent to you as an attachment in an email. Sipgate also offers a call plan to dial out to other global destinations, but the tariffs are not as competitive as 18866 or SkypeOut. I see that Skype are now offering a ‘SkypeIn’ service with Voicemail, but unlike Sipgate, this is subscription based and not FREE.

On a final note, there are devices available now to make the VoIP technology totally transparent to the telephone user. ATAs (Analogue Telephone Adapters) such as the B2K Skype adapter from MPlat lets you connect your home phone to Skype (yes, your computer running Skype will need to be on all the time!) and your home phone will ring when someone tries to Skype you. When you want to Skype another user (or SkypeOut to someone on a telephone device), just use your telephone and prefix the call with the ‘*’ button. For standards-based VoIP based on SIP, there is a great box, the Draytek Vigor 2100VG that is a broadband wireless router with a port to plug in your home phone and works in a similar way to the Skype ATA, but doesn’t require your computer to be on permanently. So when enough people have these sort of devices, you can see that FREE global calling would be a reality … even when Granny is still clinging on to her dear old telephone the other side of the world.

BT, watch out … !!!

Still no news on the down select decision on the bid I’ve been working on …

In the meantime, I’ve splashed out on a new toy – a Creative Zen Xtra that will hold 40Gb of music. I mean, who in the world has a CD collection that large … and can claim to be totally legit about converting his/her entire music collection into MP3s. Why, me of course 😉 And it’s not even 1/2 full!

Ok, I’ve moved the front end of my website to blogger.com – not without the appropriate amount of heartache and angst that these things usually provoke, but it is done now. One of the benefits (as if any justification is required to take me back to my first love – that of programming code) is that the new interface should allow me to post more efficiently [read: more frequently], but only time will tell 😉

At work, we are approaching the down select decision on the bid I’ve been working on for the past year and a bit – nail biting stuff, but I guess the decision has already been made in the corridors of power and well … que sera sera.