al4kosh: Random Thoughs


Smugmug

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Most of my web activity is related to my photo site. The site is actually hosted on Smugmug.com, which provides great flexibility in desgning and displaying one’s photos and videos. I have found it to me good value for the money. If you’d like to try it out, please use the referral link at the bottom of all my blog web pages. If you decide to subscribe, you will get a substantial discount (and I will get an equivalent rebate) for your 1st year’s subscription.

Late Spring Yosemite Trip

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I usually attend an event in Paso Robles during Memorial Day weekend. This year, rather than returning immediately to the Bay Area, I decided to spend the next week exploring some easily accessible areas of Yosemite National Park that I still had not seen. I spent two nights at Wawona in the southwestern area of the park a spent a day heading up to Glacier Point. I then crossed the park to a base closer to the Hetch Hetchy area which I then explored. Along the way, I checked out part of the Valley now that the vacation crush has started.

Naturally, I have posted the photos on http://photos.al4kosh.com. You can explore the photos in two different ways:

Cocoaconf Yosemite

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In March 2016, i attended CocoaConf Yosemite, a unique event in the conference world. While aimed primarily at Mac developers the seesions involved no analysis of code or technical breakthroughs. Instead the presenters spoke of issues related to the development life—being inspired, overcomiong burnout, appreciating the world, and living more harmoniously.  

The conference was held at the Yosemite (Valley) Lodge, with Yosemite Falls in constant view (even from the converence room skylight) and only a short walk away. Conference sessions happened in the morning and evening with the afternoon reserved for a variety of touring activities either with other participants or on your own. …

Notes on my London Trip

The author at the Tower Hill Underground Station
Lord of the Tower

I have returned from a trip to London that started in late January. Unlike the weather we have been experiencing in Northern California, it was quite soggy there. Although London only had light rain during the trip, flooding in other parts of England, expecially the southwest, dominated the news.

Using Bloombury as a base, I also travelled up to Bletchley Park and also to the Olympic site and Greenwich. Pictures of my travels are on my photo pages.

Photo Site Update

Like other providers of sites for displaying photos, Smugmug updated its service last week. The service provided more flexibility in organizing and displaying a subsciber's photos. Although their are still some rough edges and bugs in the setup, I have chosen to reorganize my site using one of the new layouts. Over the next few weeks, I will probably be making some changes in the way individual pages are displayed, but the basic organization should remain the same. 

Click here to check out the new site.

Paris Notes-- January 2013

I'm staying in Paris for about a week and have been posting photos and sending a notification with some observations to friends and family on a daily basis. Linked below are the notes. You can access the complete collection of photos here. The collection of galleries for the trip is here.

Tuesday, January 8                       

Wednesday, January 9 

Thursday, January 10 

Friday, January 11 

Saturday, January 12 

Sunday, January 13 

Monday, January 14 

Tuesday, January 15

Saturday, January 19

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On the roof at Galleries Lafayette


Google Maps for the iPhone

(See updates at the bottom)

Original text (December 2012)

Google Maps for the iPhone was made available on the App Store last night. I donwloaded and have reading commentary and playing with it since then. This blog post will be updated as I discover new things.

• Reviews and Commentary:

 David Pogue (New York Times)

 Dan Moran (MacWorld)

 Jacqui Cheng (Ars Technica)

Andy Ihnatko (Chicago Sun-Times)

John Gruber (Daring Fireball)

Adam Engst (Tidbits)

Expect more to be added if I find interesting additions

 Two issues with the new Google Maps for the iPhone are that it doesn't use your contacts (neither Apple's or Google's [see update below]) in searches and that Siri can't activate it.

Concerning Mac Malware

Discussion on websites and email lists have prompted me to write up some of my thoughts on the recent outbreak of Mac malware. 

1) Most viruses these days attack systems that, for various reasons, haven't caught up on security patches. For example, in the last week, there was a discussion about a trojan horse on the Mac that was transmitted through the opening of Word documents by a vulnerable version of Word. That vulnerability was noted and patched against in 2009. So if you have installed any Word security patches in the last 3 years, you're safe from this.

2) The latest Flashback version was a variation of this where Apple took the role of the irresponsible user. …

Welcome to my blog

A bit late to the party, I've decided to start a blog.  I plan this to be respoitory for occaisional thoughts and ramblings on items that strike my fancy. I don't plan to post on any regular schedule. but will post when I have something to say. As sort of preview, you might be interested in looking at a posting concerning community bike systems that John Allen was kind enough to post on his site a few months ago.


email: [email protected]              SmugMug Referral Link                   © Alan Forkosh 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017