So I just went through the easy process of jailbreaking my iPhone to tether it to my macbook pro via pdaNet to test the speed of the local network. It works like a charm.

Almost 2mb downspeed and 285 kb/s up speed. Pretty nice indeed! I’m sure sprint users are still waiting for evdo towers to be installed up here and I’m glad I’m no longer one of them. Thanks AT&T.

I might post instructions for setting up tethering on a mac later on. If you can use google, you should be able to find instructions yourself.

I’ve been using pretty much the exact set of instructions that lifehacker.com lays out in their article for several years and it works very well. I won’t duplicate their instructions, so click the link above if you also would like to not have to pay apple $99/yr for the few features of .Mac that you may like. I recommend using AFP over FTP to access your files. It’s just a better experience overall and allows you to do things like drag and drop files straight from Expression Media (formerly iView Media Pro) archives while your AFP volume is mounted. Check their directions for port numbers to use for AFP.

I’ve been using Palm devices for years now, this being my fourth device (Palm Pilot, Samsung i330, Treo 650, 755p) and feel quite at home on the interface. So for the time being I’m quite happy with my Treo.

Using DUN (dial-up-networking) to access the internet through your Treo has been around for quite some time for Palm with much thanks to folks like Shadowmite, so I’m not discussing any all to new. What I would like to show though is the easiest and most reliable method for getting your macbook online by “tethering” to your Treo. There are ways to do this using Bluetooth, like I said, you will have mixed results. Connecting through USB really is the best bet.

What you’ll need:

Download USBmodem (has 30 day trial) and double-click on the included “USBModem.prc” file which will open your default sync app. Make sure to install the prc to the device and not an SD card. Sync your device. Copy the included mac drivers to the /Library/Modem Scripts folder on your mac.

For the next part you might have to contact your service provider (sprint, verizon) to get your username/password, but in my experience you don’t need this info if you already can connect to the internet on your phone. If you can browse the internet using Blazer, that means your username/password are already stored on your phone.

Make sure your phone is hooked up to your computer through the usb sync cable. Go to the USBmodem app on your Palm, set the connectivity method to USB, check the box next to “background mode” (yes you can even answer phone calls while tethering to your computer) and tap on “enable modem mode”.

On the Mac go to System Preferences and click on Network. Look for the new port with the words “USB Modem” in it’s name. In Leopard you should see something like the pic below.

Enter in #777 in the Phone number field. Select and click on “advanced”. Make sure your Modem and PPP tabs look like the below pics.


and click OK.

Check the box that says “Show modem status in menu bar” and then click apply.

Go to the menu bar and select the connection you just created. Done

Now you can go sit up at your favorite coffee shop (or anywhere for that matter) and enjoy your own internet while tethered to your Palm phone–something the oh so cool iphone fanboys can’t say as of yet.

For further details on how to set this up and/or for GSM palm users please refer to the guide that came with the usbmodem download or again you could also check out this guide which also provides some details for using older versions of OSX, a detailed history, Treo 650 usage, and setting this up using Bluetooth.

If you are experiencing problems with staying connected to the internet on your Sprint Treo 755p try upgrading your firmware being very careful to follow Palm’s instructions. Another option is to hit ##EVDO# (##3836#) on the phone dial pad of your Treo which will allow you to disable the phone’s EVDO connection and only use the slower 1xRTT connection.

I had a chance to play with Leopard last night while helping my photographer friend get his brand new 24″ iMac setup. He’s new to the mac world and he will soon be happy to be converted.

I really like most of the new features and the new look and feel, but I’m not going to just willy nilly install the new OS while crossing my fingers and hoping it will work with all of my software. One poster on macrumors apparently did just that:

I’m so screwed. I am also having this problem and I have both work and class work that needs to be done this weekend.

All I have to say is “HA” and read up before you install. As for me, it sounds like most people that do a clean install, meaning they wipe their hard drive and do a clean install of OS 10.5 Leopard have reasonably good success using Adobe CS3 apps (minus the pro video apps read here for more).

So lesson learned is: PLEASE, don’t upgrade your operating system without first reading up on how it’s going to potentially affect your workflow in the immediate future and making sure you have a good backup of all of your important data.

If you’re just too excited and can’t wait to install, then I’ll be sure to catch your crys for help in the comment sections of various blogs in the near future. Someone has to be the guinea pig right?

One of the first things I install on any mac I use is Tinkertool. It’s a freeware app that allows the user to customize several features in osx without screwing up osx like other apps tend to do. All of the check-box options that Tinkertool enables can be simply disabled by unchecking the box. Best of all, it’s free.

Select “show package contents” and a window containing all of the media you have associated with that particular file will appear. Snag whatever you need, but make sure you copy and then paste any media you need out of this folder or you will break the link to the original file. Also, when you save a file in say Keynote, make sure the check boxes that apply to copying theme images and audio and video in to the file are checked.

You can thank Mark G. for telling me I should start giving mac nerd tips on my blog. I thought it was a great idea and hopefully you will find some of them helpful. If not . . . well, go use a PC.