Madness

Friday September 04, 2009 at 9:21

Snow Leopard Not in 64-bit mode by Default

So, you bought Snow Leopard, and you thought everything would just work. Guess what, you were wrong. By default, Snow Leopard boots in 32-bit mode, not 64-bit. This was a decision on Apple’s part, and after readying why, I understand why they did it. However, I want full 64-bit mode. First, you need to verify that your Mac can even boot into 64-bit mode. In a terminal window, run this command:

ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi

You should get back:

“firmware-abi” = <”EFI64”>

If yours says EFI32, there is no reason to keep reading because you can’t boot in full 64-bit mode.

Here’s the boot as you want method for 32 and 64-bit. At boot up, hold down the 6 and the 4 keys. This will boot into 64 bit, just for that boot.

You can verify that you’re in 64 bit mode by going to About this Mac -> More Info -> Software:

Look at 64-bit Kernel and Extensions, if it says No, then you are not in 64-bit.

If you want to always boot in 64-bit mode, here’s the easy and safe way to do so:

With a plain-text editor, edit: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

Insert arch=x86_64 into the Kernel Flags field.

<?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”UTF-8”?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”>
<plist version=”1.0”>
<dict>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>arch=x86_64</string>
</dict>
</plist>

That’s all it takes. Reboot, and you’re in 64-bit mode. If you have a problem with an app after doing this, just go to the Info for that app, and you will now see a check box that says: Open in 32 bit mode.

Update:

These are the only models that can boot in 64-bit mode:

Xserve - Early 2008 - Xserve2,1 MA882LL/A | Early 2009 - Xserve3,1 MB449LL/A

Mac Pro - Early 2008 MacPro3,1 - MA970LL/A | Early 2009 MacPro4,1 - MB871LL/A, MB535LL/A

iMac Early 2008 - iMac8,1 MB323LL/A, MB324LL/A, MB325LL/A | Early 2009 - iMac9,1 MB417LL/A, MB418LL/A, MB419LL/A, MB420LL/A

MacBook Pro - Early 2008 (Penryn) MacBookPro4,1 MB133LL/A, MB134LL/A, MB166LL/A | Late 2008 (Unibody) - MacBookPro5,1 MB470LL/A, MB471LL/A | Early 2009 (Unibody) - MacBookPro5,2 MB470LL/A, MB471LL/A, MB604LL/A, MC226LL/A

Friday July 31, 2009 at 10:46

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That SMS iPhone Hack

By now, we’ve all heard about the iPhone SMS hack. Once again, Jailbreak users are ahead of the curve, and have a solution.

If you’re using a jailbroken iPhone then you can SSH to your iPhone, navigate to the Applications directory and then remove all permissions from MobileSMS.app. This prevents SMS application from running on the phone.

I rarely use SMS, having so many other ways of communicating with people, it’s just an overpriced waste of technology. Looks like I’m just going to disable it completely until Apple releases a fix.

Sunday March 15, 2009 at 14:31

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Open Letter to Apple About NetBooks

Dear Apple,

I want you to make a netbook. Correction, I need you to make a netbook. Lets just end this. We all know that whatever Apple designs, the rest of the world will follow. I’m tired of seeing all this little, under powered notebooks trying to pass as netbooks. Lets do this thing right. It’s not that difficult. Put an ARM processor inside, none of this Intel crap. Give it a beautiful 9 inch touch screen. And by touch screen, I mean the whole thing is a screen. A little slide out keyboard for when you really need it. Add in a couple of USB ports, a mini-display for projecting in meetings, an Apple Remote, Wi-Fi, 10/100/1000 ethernet. If you want to through in a 3G for good measure, that’s OK by me. Then to really set you apart, put the iPhone OS 3 as the operating system. What do I need to do on a netbook? Surf, check email, watch movies, listen to music, and with 25K+ apps already waiting in the app store, there’s very little I wouldn’t be able to do. If you add in Flash support and SilverLight, I’ll worship you more than I already do. I know it’s asking a lot, but instead of racing to the bottom, lets show people what happens when you race to the top.

Thanks in advance, because I know we’re already on the same page.

Gabriel

Friday December 12, 2008 at 14:09

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iPod Touch Ad on Yahoo

Once again, Apple does something really creative, what a surprise. The new iPod Touch ads running on Yahoo are an example of what rich media ads can do.

Tuesday November 18, 2008 at 9:18

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For the iPhone Fanboy, the iPhone icon coaster set. behold the goodness. Buy them here, $60. via cache.gawker.com

Sunday November 02, 2008 at 13:25

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So you have a DVR

You’ve got a DVR, and you want to get all the great stuff you’ve recorded. Turns out, this is a lot more difficult than one might think. If you have Time Warner, like I do, it’s really difficult. You can try to mount the HD/DVR receiver through Firewire, and hope you don’t do something really bad to the device, (Linux box required). Our, if all you really care about is getting certain items, or perhaps getting all those great movies that play On Demand, there’s an easier way. I have an EyeTV, with the option for full digital lossless recording. On the back of the HD/DVR, there is a cable out jack that pumps data out in full HD. Connect the EyeTV to this jack, set the input option to Digital, and suddenly, you are recording full digital video of anything that is currently playing on your TV.

Remember, the EyeTV cannot access the higher cable directly, nor can it access the OnDemand channels directly. This means that you will not be able to set up record times. However, if you record your shows or movies, or even live TV on the DVR, then all you have to do is let it play through the EyeTV, and record it as if it’s live television. Click the Export to AppleTV option, or iPhone for that matter, and you suddenly watching True Blood on your iPhone. Don’t forget, the latest releases of EyeTV software also allow full streaming of TV shows to your iPhone over WiFi, which is pretty cool when your in the bedroom trying to put the 2 year old to bed.