Category Archives: Technology

Google Drive

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I think I have learned a few things about Google Drive today. I have not looked into all of the close enough to be able to claim that I know this is how things work, but so far this is my conclusion:

  1. If you move things to / off Google Drive from multiple clients, everytime things (i.e., files) are moved from the “Google Drive” to a local (local to the client) storage, they also gets stored to the “Google Drive” Trash folder
  2. The Trash folder seems to ONLY be visible from the Web / Browser Client
  3. The Trash Folder does NOT seem to clean up automatically
    1. If it does, or if there is a setting to make it happen, it is not obvious.
  4. Trying to Manually clean up the Trash Folder when there are a “lot” of stuff (either in the Trash Folder itself or overall in the Google Drive) is not trivial task
    1. There is an option to “Empty Trash” which might seem tempting but it took me a while to realize that it does NOT work.
    2. You realize very quickly that the web app is prone to all kinds of “browser” weirdness – most obvious “Clear Cache” (i.e., Browsing History)
    3. The step(s) that worked (or, seems to have worked) for me:
      1. Clear Cache
      2. Select a single large file and right click on it and select “Delete forever”
      3. Repeat step 2 till the total storage usage comes closer to 10Gb than 15
      4. Select a half dozen files and right-click select to “Delete forever”
      5. In going thru steps 2 thru 5 I did run into a few “Server error”. In which case, I closed the browser and opened a different one and started from Step 1
      6. Also, not sure what (if any) impact this step had but I did also clean my local “Trash” – on all my computers / laptops
  5. When your total storage usage is calculated, it also counts what is in the “Trash Folder”. Which is why, even after moving large files from your Google Drive to your local storage does not seem to have any affect on the total storage used 😦

– manzoor

P.S. I don’t have any paid service from Google, which might contribute to my experience. Your’s might be different.

P.P.S. I also use multiple laptops / desktops to access my Google Drive and also to move files from / between machines. Which is probably not a usual use case.

Apple AirPods

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At $159 these are going to be the most expensive pair or head-phone thing I will have ever bought.

But I am excited about it. I only hope it switches from my various devices as well as they eluded to in the Apple Event.

I am a bit disappointed that these won’t be available till October 13th (and that they are going to be $159 for a pair).

– manzoor

  • What happens if I loose just one?
  • how to keep mine separated from my friends’?

iTunes, iCloud

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I am a user of Apple Eco System and I pay (willingly) for some “Cloud Storage” services. I also pay for the following devices:

  • Phone
  • Computing Devices (Laptop / Desktop)
  • Streaming Media (Apple TV)
  • Watch

When I say I “pay” for the things above I mean both in terms of money (one time for the devices and recurring for the service(s)) and also time & effort. The time & effort in mind is the more “expensive” part of this whole deal. But the value I get from this is worth it to me.

My digital library consists of:

  • A little over 4K songs (there ar esome duplicates that I need to sort at some point) – stored locally on external drives and in iTunes
  • About 50 movies – in iTunes and, most of them, also in physical DVDs / Blu-Rays
  • “Some” pix – stored on 2 different flickr accounts, iCloud and locally

I do believe I cloud have gone to another camp (Android / Google) had I access to a different Smart Phone when I got my first Smart Phone. I got the iPhone as my first Smart Phone back in 2007. Which was a bit weird because I was one of the last person to get a Cell / Mobile phone that I personally knew. The reason I claim I could have gone to a different camp is that that iPhone was the very first Apple Device I ever owned. Never before that time had I ever personally bought or owned a Apple Product. I did use iTunes (on my PC) to organize & play music.

Since getting my first iPhone I have now switched to MacBook for my laptop (which is also my primary computing device – both personal and for work), iMac for my family Computing Device (which I only get on to keep updated and “clean”) and a Mac Mini for my multi-monitor desktop.

I do consider myself to be an early adopter of “technology” but I do the adoption with the least amount of monetary / financial investment as possible. While I was the first of my friends to get a Smart Phone, I have gotten the fewer actual Phones than most of my friends. Once I get a device I tend to keep it for a while.

– manzoor

cocoapods

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While I try to figure out why all the available PODs seem to be written in Objective-C (and not Swift) I need to make notes for using Objective-C (in addition to using CocoaPods) in my iOS App(s).

Pre-Req:

  • Xcode
  • cocoapods
  1. Create (and save) a Project
  2. on a Command Line Shell cd into the location of the App
  3. Run “pod init”
  4. Edit the “Podfile” that is created
    1. add the specific POD Framework entry
    2. Uncomment “use_frameworks!”
  5. Run / execute “pod install” (from the command line)
  6. Close the “Project” and open the “Workspace” (.xcworkspace file)
  7. If the POD Library is in Objectve-C, will need to follow the next few steps (to create a Bridging Header)
    1. Right Click on the Main Folder for the Project and Create / Add a New Objectve-C File (call it anything you want)
    2. Follow the flow till it asks to “Configure an Objective-C bridging header”. Definitely choose / select this option
    3. There should be a couple of files that gets created / generated. Delete (or not) all the files except for the one that ends with “-Bridging-Header.h”
    4. Edit the “-Bridging-Header.h” file to add the “import” for the POD Library
    5. Now to use the POD Library in any class, just add the “import” in the class file(s)
  8. that should do it

– manzoor

Python, Ruby & Swift

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These are simply programming languages to help us learn “Object Oriented Programming”. While we will be trying to learn each of the languages as best we can, the goal is to learn to Program and user “Object Oriented Programming” as the foundation.

Data Structures

Struct

Class

  • Class Inheritence

Struct vs Class

  1. Class requires initializer to be written and Struct does not require
  2. Struct is of “Value Type”, Class is “Reference Type”

Method

  1. Instance Method

Initializer

Default / Memberwise

Functions

Optionals (need to go over) / Unwrapping Optionals / Optionals Chaining

– manzoor

Related Posts (internal)

iPhone Mini??

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Just read a rumor of a possible 4″ iPhone. The 2 major features that caught my interest were:

  1. Wireless Headphone
  2. Taking away of the Home Button

The second feature seems inevitable but it’s really the “Wireless Headphone” that had really got me thinking. Personally I have been thinking of getting a wireless headphone ever since I got my Apple Watch. I just have not found a pair that was both “good” and “priced well”.

OTOH, forcing the users to “buy” (invest in) a Wireless Headphone does somehow seem not right 😦1

Also, I think I read that they’re trying to make it “thinner” – how much thinner does it really need to get? Seriously? It’s already too thin if you ask me. So thin that even the “camera” does not quite fit in it. For me the 4s was a really good form factor.

The final feature that comes to mind is the wireless charging. Not really ground breaking here.

A smaller iPhone would definitely be something I look at getting  – eventually. When I got my iPhone 6 (after initially getting the 6 Plus) I was a bit disappointed – at having to have had gone “bigger”. So, being able to get back to my 4″ size would be preferable.2 I am going to be looking at the following more closely when I eventually do look at getting my next phone.3

  • Camera – I take most of my pix with my Phone. Even when I have the SLR around. I end up taking some pix with my Phone. Just because of the convenience.
  • Storage – though I do use iCloud, I still prefer the local storage
  • Overall Build – I felt the 4s was built better than the current 6
  • Performance – Processor / WiFi / Network

– Manzoor

  1. I’m assuming Apple will NOT be including a pair with the Phone
  2. I have fairly small palm / hand and even the 4.7″ is a bit too large 😦
  3. So far I’ve had:
    1. The Original iPhone
    2. iPhone 4S
    3. iPhone 6 (current)

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