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Free Memory I have too many applications open all the time, and only 2 GB of memory. The memory management of OSX just doesn’t seem to be able to handle this, without regular reboots. iFreeMem seems to be the solution. Downloaded trial today, let’s see, how good it it. Current status: Arwen:files jcf$ uptime 8:26 up 4 days, 23:59, 8 users, load averages: 0,41 0,70 0,76 Twittery iPhone Have your iPhone twitter its current location every now and then, in case it’s stolen (or you want to track someone?). iPhone LoJack does this for you. ...

Today we launched a new website for one of our customers: Zollinger-Samen.ch. Zollinger Samen is a family owned business, that cultivates more than 200 plants (vegetables, flowers, herbs) and sells the seeds. They have operated over 20 years and have been pushed into the internet age by their sons. The website was built with Rails and and a heavily extended Radiant for the catalogue and the shop. The wonderful design was inspired by the 20 year long history of printed catalogs and implemented by HTML and CSS wrangler Keith Bingman. We spent a wonderful time working with Zollingers on transferring catalogue and brand from print to the web. Personally, this was one of the most rewarding projects to work on, because I believe that the work Zollingers are doing on keeping genetic diversity up and cultivating the old, non-hybrid plants is very important. I have trouble with seeds that will not reproduce, so that they have to be bought again and again. ...

meta note: I sure hope this isn’t turning into a regular feature I got the news from a friend this morning. Viviane, my girlfriend before I met and married my wife, decided to end her life yesterday. We spent a bit more than a year together, including a wonderful 4 week vacation in the US and Hawaii (including a very memorable hike to Hipuapua Falls with no guide, the sunset in Grand Canyon, Mr. Gottschalks Restaurant in Flagstaff, Vegas, Monument Valley) and many weekends in her families house in Brissago. ...

Today at 12:35, Florians Brain Tumor finally took his life. Florian died in his sleep. I am so sad that he has left us. In September 2006 I visited him in hospital and left very thoughtful. That day I said I’d write a book, if I knew I only had a year left to live. I actually do hope, I have a bit more time, but it turns out, I got my chance. All going well, my book on Rails development “Ruby on Rails in der Praxis” will be published in January 2008. ...

Yes, Leopard is that great, but getting a full Rails Stack working again is a lot of work…. (work in progress) Ruby / Rails Ruby and Rails are bundled with Leopard. Be sure to read about the Apple modifications What’s new in Leopard The rails command defaults to sqlite as it’s database. Use: $ rails -d mysql project_name MySQL Download 10.4 package from MySQL and install both the mysql and the startupitem. Start/Stop doesn’t work, use these instructions apply the fixes from AngryFly MacPorts Download and install MacPorts 1.5.0-10.5.dmg Git $ sudo port install git-core SSH I have strange errors when the MacPorts version of SSH was being used (no connections, git didn’t pull from remote servers). I “solved” it by renaming it: ...

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree. “What are you doing?” you ask. “Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.” “You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?” “Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.” “Well why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.” ...