Cisco VPN with Mac

Guess what?  Cisco has a Mac version of their VPN!  It works under 10.4 versions, and under 10.5 and 10.5.1 as well!

If your IT department doesn't support Mac (as I've said, they're invariably overloaded so that's not an unreasonable initial stance), you can either pull in a favor from a friend in IT (she just has to go to the protected part of the Cisco site, which she can do if she's in your IT group, and get the Mac client for VPN and email it to you), or google the web for a copy.  I found a current copy on some European site, perhaps a university. (Suppose I could have shmoozed one of our IT guys, but I got into the challenge.)  The newer version I now have, 4.9.01 from about 2006, is much more forgiving of the vagaries of hotel networks and such, so I am no longer having any problems (well, no more than my PC friends) with consistency as long as the actual connection is good. 

In a hotel, the sequence is: pick a network, clear a path to the internet, then clear a path through VPN.  Hotels are the most challenging, so if you can do a hotel, you're a pro.  Home DSL is easy in comparison.

Pick a network.

1.  Plug in the network cable, or click on the wireless antenna icon.

2. If you clicked wireless, it will show you a list of possible networks.  Pick the one you want and click on that.

3.  The antenna symbol will now show you some bars, which says you have a physical connection.  Or it won't, in which case you are missing a password, or something's changed.  

What you have now is a path to the hotel's network.  From here, you need to get to the real internet; the hotel may give you some ads or limited Yahoo access, but they'll usually charge for full access.

Clear a path to the internet.

1.  Click Safari, or your chosen browser.  Do you get your home page?  I bet you don't.  I bet you get the hotel's page, you've been redirected to it, because they want to ensure your satisfaction (charge you money) and deliver optimal performance (charge you money) before they let you get to the network, a grace for which they're likely to want to charge you money.  Heck, they're charging you $10.95 for bad porn on the TV with all the interesting bits edited out, why would they let you have internet porn, with those bits still retained, for free?  And the details of surfing aren't reported on your hotel bill, so you can go ahead and prepare your expense report with a clear conscience.  I'm sure you've done at least one work-related email, right?  

Incidentally, I know this because I talked with a guy who did this.  He was an odd one; he didn't seem to think that we were given sex so we'd be easier to damn.   

2.  OK, you've got the hotel's page, so you agree to the charges, or you click to say that although they're not charging you, you're willing to take responsibility for your own actions.  One way or another, you get a few last frantic popups asking for spare change or to meet their sister who is lonely, and it says "you're now on the web."  Type www.google.com or something you know what it looks like.  If it looks like that, you're done.  

Click the Cisco VPN button

If there's a path to the internet, it will show you a small introductory window, looks like a skinny lady on the beach (properly attired, which is Cisco porn I suppose), and then ask for account and name.  You type that in, it consults its inner child, and then comes back with a new popup that says that your company owns your computer, your soul, and your sense of self.  You agree to that, as I always do, and the window goes away.  

Then there you're left with this this Cisco window, just hanging around on an otherwise clean screen.  Hit Command-h (it's the "hide" shortcut; "Command" is the "Apple" button, or the "four-leaf clover" button; there's not a clear Windows analog to it and it took me a while to figure out when I first started using the Mac).  The Cisco window will now tuck itself into the toolbar, wherever you've put it on your screen.  If you want to see the Cisco window again, such as to log out of VPN, you can either click that thing at the bottom right or Command-Tab your way through the currently operating programs (do you know that Command-Tab shortcut?  it's really handy) to get to it. 

You're now on your corporate network, courtesy of Wozniak, Jobs, Chambers, Morgridge, and probably 10,000 talented Silicon Valleyers who actually did the work.  Welcome!

Leaving Cisco VPN

When you shut down your computer or disconnect from the web, it's cleanest if you bring the VPN window back up and click "disconnect."  Otherwise a complaint pops up and you have to close that too.  I had some problems with laptop restart in the past, under earlier versions of VPN, but that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore.  

MacWorld, and Mr. Jobs' "failure"

A very brief note for today.  Seeing the responses to Mr. Jobs' keynote, in which viewers are disappointed that they were not "wowed" more, I can't help thinking that the word "spoiled" has unfairly fallen into disuse.  The resurgence of Apple is an accomplishment of almost mythical proportions in modern times, and any judging must be done on its average performance, not its instantaneous.  If this trend of "he wowed us last year, but didn't wow us as much this year so I'm disappointed" continues, I will expect to see this continue into increasingly fractalized microclimates: "but then he wowed me from 1:18 until 1:22 when he hit a lull and then I was really disappointed, but then at 1.24 he seemed to turn into a tailwind and wowed me again for seven minutes until..."

At some point, this kind of evaluation ceases to serve and commences to strut, hollow-eyed and pointless.  We read for understanding and perspective.  Please give us that.  

AC Adapter: PowerBook vs. MacBook Pro

Update, January 15 2008:  I've heard about problems with the Magsafe connectors.  Just to let you know, I haven't had a tick of trouble.  Zero heating, zero fraying, nothing that would be a leading indicator of trouble to come.  I take care to grasp the body of the connector, of course (no yanking on the wire), but it seems pretty durable.  

Original:

Three adapters have arrived.  

Stated capacity:  85W, up from 65W

Appearance:  Identical

Size:  The new ones are about 10% taller and wider, maybe 5% thicker.  In other words, barely larger.

Weight:  Not perceptibly heavier.

This gives four adapters, the normal portion.  

>  1 for backpack

>  1 for work desk

>  1 for home, downstairs

>  1 for home, upstairs.

Batteries: PowerBook vs. MacBook Pro

Two new batteries for the yet-to-arrive MacBook Pro are on my desk.  They are flatter and wider than the PowerBook batteries, so they must be using something other than the classic 18650 Li-ion cells.  Maybe Li-polymer?  Similar brushed-Al look, and the same wonderful power meter (push the flat button and one to five green LED's on the battery face light for four seconds, depending on state of charge).

Labeled Capacity:  Now 60WH, up from 40WH

Weight:  Now 0.95 pound, up from 0.70 pound (postage scale, .05 lb resolution)

Voltage:  Still 10.8V

This gives three packs total, which is my normal traveling complement to accommodate long plane flights with no power jack (the situation encountered more often than not).

PowerBook to MacBook Pro: Transition Coming

The elements necessary to change from the current 1.25GHz PowerBook, 160GB HDD/2GB DRAM, to a new 2.4GHz MacBook Pro, Core2Duo, 250GB HDD/2GB DRAM, have been ordered.  Updates will come as they do.  Since this involves swapping out the entire laptop-related personal infrastructure, this comprises a number of parts.

Post-1.1.1 iPhone status

Things change.  In this case, an adventurous upgrade to 1.1.1 resulted in a bricking of the iPhone, although most user experience indicated that it would leave a usable (but application-free) phone as long as the SIM wasn't unlocked.  Apparently one of the applications touched the third rail and what remained was a $599 art piece.  

Let's define "brick."  A brieked iPhone is not completely nonfunctional.  A bricked iPhone is actually an iPhone with its function set stripped down from at least a dozen to only two functions:  an entry screen that times out (and features a photo of the earth, a lovely planet while it lasts), and a slider that sends you to "Emergency Call."  Emergency Call is the second screen, with a 12-key touchpad and a "call" button that I haven't had the courage to press.  But you can enter digits, and erase them, and enter more.  Eeyore and the Useful Pot, putting digits in and taking them out again.  

The reliability of operation in this mode is evidence to me that this was a deliberate choice by Apple, not the accidental damage their PR implied.  It always works perfectly, just with many fewer functions.   That's not consistent with "we don't know what may happen," which usually yields flickering pixels, dead screens, clicking speakers, or just permanent, irreversible silence.  I usually don't have much problem with Apple's positions on things, but this bit of spurious pomposity, this seemingly deliberate vandalism, is beneath them.  I hope that the decision process by which it was allowed to occur is corrected and not allowed to repeat.

But, anyway:  it's still useful for showing people.  I took this elegant monolith to Denmark, and the amount of interest, even with almost nothing working, was surprising.  They were trying to hold it, playing with those digits, talking about everything they could see and feel. 

Since this happened, there has been a lot of progress with unbrickers, and I've got it back to a reasonably working state.  It no longer syncs reliably with the PowerBook, which has always had dodgy USB interoperability even with my old iPod, but it does sync with a Mac Mini, so I think this is most likely an issue with the laptop.  

Time to move to the next phase in the master plan...

Today's iPhone status

Yes, I have an iPhone.  Bought it shortly after it came out for all the obvious reasons, including the real ones and the rationalizations.  One real reason was to reduce the number of "things" that I carry; at present, the core set is a cellphone, an iPod, and a PalmPilot running some applications.  

Getting something new includes figuring how it fits into your life.  This is true whether you are acquiring kids, bicycles, or iPhones.  In the case of the iPhone, there are several roles that need to transition if this to be considered successful.

• Phone:  My company cellphone is already on AT&T, but the company does not support iPhone, has not negotiated deals with AT&T.  For the duration and to be able to evaluate the phone, I'm paying for an account myself.
• iPod:  The old iPod is a third-generation 60GB non-video model.  Paring down 60GB of essential audio to about 8GB was a lot less angst than I expected.  It's still on the computer, after all.  
• Palm:  The applications are the hardest part, because the iPhone as shipped is functionally incomplete. The web-based apps that Apple encourages are unreliable and slow.  The user community has developed a set of embedded apps, but the latest Apple update breaks them.  Deciding that I prefer these apps to Apple's new UI tweaks (and having no interest in purchasing more Apple songs and ringtones, which is also facilitaed by the new update), I'm staying at iPhone v1.0.2 until a better story comes along.  This gives me a reader, keychain, true IM, a couple of games, even a Mac-style "Finder" into the OS.
  

New features.  That's another nice part of it.  I've found a great belt clip for the iPhone, and so have a free pocket for the first time in years.  Can play widescreen movies (watching "An American in Paris" on the iPhone is one of the closest things to miraculous I have experienced in years).   Some of those apps exploit the new platform: a pedometer, a tilt displayer, an etch-a-sketch that erases the image when you shake the phone!