Apple AirPlay is incredible in my home

Here's the setup.

I have
- An Apple TV, connecting to an HDTV.
- A Macbook Air running OS X Mountain Lion - I need Mountain Lion for AirPlay feature
- An iPad 2.  It is kind of a family device used by all the members of the family, although any iOS devices are designed and meant to be used by a single user

Not too many Apple products alright - just enough for now.  But I think an iPod touch or iPhone will definitely complements this setup nicely.

Then I also have
- A Synology NAS in the setup.  The features on this thing is incredible.  I configure it to provide WebDAV, FTP, VPN, and other cool stuff that I will talk about next time.
- A notebook PC running Windows 7.  This runs iTunes and catalogs the NAS media files, and sharing the iTunes library out using the HomeShare feature.

All of these devices are connected to a LAN network in the same subnet.


So these are what I do with the Apple TV:

• View movie streaming on it or browse the files on NAS via iTunes
• Browse the previews of movies and songs - maybe I will buy some of them
• Browse some of the news channels (WSJ Live)
• With an iPAD, I can use the Remote Control app to control and type on the Apple TV.  This is when a smaller device such as the iPod touch or an iPhone is more convient for this job

But the primary feature I use Apple TV for is its AirPlay feature.

• While working on the Macbook Air, I play video from any players, iTunes, or whatever, I can instantly hit the AirPlay icon and stream the screen AND audio to the Apple TV.  Viola, a bigger-screen display to share with others in my house
• I can use the iPad to do the same thing on most of the applications.  However, the picture sometimes does not fill the entire TV area and I have yet to find out why
• I can use the iPad to stream music to Apple TV via AirPlay too - so the iPad can access the iTunes library, play the music and stream the audio to Apple TV.  Or the APple TV can also access the iTunes library and play the music directly.  But for me, it's easier to search and play music on the Macbook or the iPad.

This works pretty well for me.  Now let me think how I can expand this setup for an even better experience.

Troubleshooting Apple TV - network subnet

Not too long ago, I have been having a strange problem with my Apple TV.  The problem was not the device itself, but it's the connection to it from my iPad and Macbook Air.   Sometimes AirPlay didn't work when the computers did not detect Apple TV even though it was on, and on the same LAN subnet.  What I did was to switch off and on the WIFI radio on the computers to find ATV again.

I figured it might have been problem with the UDP broadcast that did not reach my computers.  Before I purchased my ATV, I have been running with the 192.168.0.0/25 network.  This means the broadcast address is 192.168.0.127.  Thinking along this line, I verified that all devices have been set with subnet mask of 255.255.255.128 - on the computers, the network access storage server, Apple TV, router settings.  All seemed OK but the problem still persisted.

Believing the broadcast message still didn't reach all my computers, I decided to configure the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0, CIDR 192.168.0.0/24.   So starting with setting my router's LAN IP address, its DHCP server, and setting the router LAN IP address as one of the DNS servers in the DHCP configuration.  Then I renewed the IP address on all the devices, starting with my NAS storage (this is using fixed IP actually), ATV, and finally the client devices.

I have been running in this setup a couple of days now.  This seems to have solve the problem.  Now my devices can find the ATV all the time, and AirPlay-ed all my music and video to TV.

Anyway, I will still need to monitor this for a long period before I can call this a 'problem solved!'

A tour in S2 Heights, Seremban 2, Negeri Sembilan

Some of the (almost) completed houses built in S2 Heights, Seremban 2.  This is one of the 24x75" Serena houses.

Serena, S2 Heights, Seremban 2

MacBook Air 13" 2011 photo shots

I have gotten this new MacBook Air 13" (year 2011) since early August and didn't take any photos of it until today.  Here I'm taking these photos for your viewing pleasure.

Oktoberfest mug 2011

I've just got myself an 'Oktoberfest' mug that comes with a purchase of 2 x 6-pack.  This cost me about RM60.

Cheers (prost!) people!


By the way...OktoberFest is mostly celebrated in September, in Munich, Germany


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest

What started the fan on my 13" MacBook Air 2011?

Here I am, have got myself a new 2011 Apple MacBook Air.  I like it.  The build is solid; the weight is just nice for me; the thin case is easy to carry with just one hand.  And it's so quick to close the lid and re-open it to continue whatever work I have been doing.  The battery also lasts about 4 to 5 hours based on my usage.


But with this, I still could not leave without certain features that I miss from Windows.  First of all, Microsoft Money.  This is the only piece of software ever that I have most often used in the past, err, 10 years?  Microsoft no longer develops this software but they have included a "sunset" edition for free to users of all the earlier versions.  The next one is a ActiveX, which runs only in Internet Explorer.  ActiveX is used on a couple of websites that I use almost every day and there are no other web browsers that support ActiveX.  Lastly, the Encrypted Files System, EFS, in Windows 7 that I use on my USB flash drive to store some personal files.  I find no solution in Mac OS X Lion that lets me use a certificate-based EFS on the flash drive.


Wait, I'm supposed to stick to the topic of what started my MacBook Air fan.  The MacBook Air runs so quietly most of the time except when the fan starts to run at full speed.  I can feel the warm breeze from the left side of the system, near the power connector.  I figure these may be the reasons the fan start.  You see, the sole reason a fan starts is to reduce the temperature of certain components in the system when a thermal sensor measures that its temperature reaches a certain level.  I guess it's mainly the CPU that runs the hottest when it's stressed to perform to 100%.   Back to the possible reasons that trigger the fan in my case:


1) VMware Fusion - this virtualization software runs my Windows 7 Operating Systems so that I can run Microsoft Money and IE.   I notice that whenever I started this, surely a couple of minutes later, the fan started into full spin.  Even though I have only assigned 1GB of memory to it.  I think I will try to put this OS on a diet by disabling some services


2) Adobe Flash Play - occasionally I play some Flash games.  This also kick-starts the fan.  I vaguely remember Steve Jobs complaining how Flash Player behaves badly.  Oh well.  Hopefully this HTML5/Adobe Edge may supersede Adobe Flash and behave better


Seems to me that the fan noise also affects many others who stated their comments in the Apple Support forum https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3194717?start=0&tstart=0


18-Aug-2011 I found one article by VMware.  Not all of the things are applicable when we use Windows 7 in a MacBook.  View that article at VMware View Optimization Guide for Windows 7.   By doing some of the suggestions, I am able to reduce the idle memory usage of Windows 7 Professional to about 320MB.  The general idea is that whatever things the HOST/VMware Fusion will do, we disable the similar functions available in the guest OS - i.e. Windows 7.


03-Oct-2011 Using coconutBattery 2.7, I measured the "Battery power usage" to be about 24 watt when I was running a Flash game in Facebook, compared with just about 8 watt without it running

The HP TouchPad

The HP TouchPad has been launched in some countries.  It is currently running WebOS 3.0.  There may be updates to the OS by HP to fix certain issues with applications and user experience.


For now, some of HP TouchPad characteristics and features are listed below.  Skype voice and video call fucntionalities (HP Synergy) are integrated in the OS.  Video calling APIs are not available in the SDK  at this time.

• Videos are played in landscape mode only
• The TouchPad supports HTML5 and Flash video in full screen mode
• WebOS does not support WMA, WMV, and AVI
• The TouchPad supports H.264 Flash Video, MPEG4 Codecs (MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, M4A, MP3, AAC, AMR, QCP)
• Amazon Kindle for WebOS will be availble
• QuickOffice - an office productivity tools - reads Microsoft WOrd, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF files.  It does not edit these documents

What set the HP TouchPad apart from the other tablet computers?

1. Touch to Share (for easy data communications)
2. Touchstone technology (for wireless power charging)
3. Beats technology (for better audio experience)
4. Compatible with HP Printing Solutions
5. HP Synergy (for voice and video calls)
6. Just Type (for better user experience)
7. Support to Adobe Flash Player (for full web experience)

More updates will be posted when I have more information about this HP product.  HP has not announced the launch date for Malaysia at this time.


These are the technical specifications:

• HP webOS 3.0
• High-speed connectivity
• Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2-GHz processor
• 9.7-inch diagonal XGA capacitive, multitouch screen with a vibrant, 18-bit color, 1,024 x 768 resolution display
• The option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage
• High-performance browser with access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player Beta (10.3 Beta) for access to rich, Flash-based web content
• Wireless connectivity:
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
• A-GPS (3G only)
• Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
• Multimedia options, including music, photos, video playback, and a 3.5 mm headset/headphone/microphone jack
• Internal stereo speakers and Beats Audio
• Front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam for live video calling
• Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
• Robust messaging support
• Light sensor, accelerometer, compass (magnetometer) and gyroscope
• Rechargeable 6,300 mAh (typical) battery
• Micro-USB (Charging and PC Connect) with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• Built-in HP Touchstone technology for easy charging (HP Touchstone for TouchPad sold separately) and HP Touch to Share to share web addresses between TouchPad and compatible webOS phones
• Dimensions: 190 mm x 242 mm x 13.7 mm (7.48 inches x 9.53 inches x .54 inches)
• Weight: approximately 740 g (1.6 pounds)