Running out of iCloud space? Trim your backups.

Oct 152011

One thing I have been hearing a lot lately from several friends is that after attempting to back up their iPhone or iPad to the all new iCloud service, it’s telling them that the backup size is too big for the initial free 5GB quota and that they need to purchase more space.

This might seem logical on the surface. I have a 32GB iPhone that is nearly full, how can I possibly expect that to fit in a 5GB space? But when it comes to the size of your backup, what’s really important is what kind of data is filling up your device.

What is not backed up

Not all data stored on your device is backed up. So a whole lot of the 32GB of space that I’m using up is not included at all in the backup size. This is okay though because the things that aren’t backed up don’t need to be. Just like on a computer, there’s little value in backing up the Windows directory when Windows can just be reinstalled from the DVD.

So what kind of data is not included in the backup?

  • The operating system itself and any system updates are not included in the backup.

  • Music, photos, videos, etc sync’d from your computer are not backed up (the idea being that they already exist on your computer so there is no need to back it up.)

  • Apps and other content purchased from the app store are not backed up because the app store already has a copy and they can be re-downloaded at any time.

  • Properly developed applications that cache large amounts of data (for example the Maps app) keep this data in a location that is not backed up because cached data is safe to delete.

In reality, the items listed above make up the bulk of the data on your device. So then what does need to get backed up? And why are some people finding that 5GB isn’t enough to cut it?

What is backed up?

So what is really taking up all that space? Most likely it’s either pictures in your camera roll or applications that store large amounts of data in locations that are backed up. If like me, you rarely pull your photos out of your camera roll, you will probably want to do that periodically because it can significantly bloat the size of your backup.

But each application also stores it’s own private data in locations that may or may not be backed up depending on how it’s used. Unlike the Maps application I gave in the earlier example, the iBooks application stores a potentially large amount of data such as PDF’s and other ebooks that you really do want to get backed up.

But sometimes the decision is not so obvious. For example, back issues of “The Economist” magazine? I’ll never look at them again after I read them and they are potentially huge. But by default, they are going to get backed up. So how do I tell iCloud to ignore them?

Telling iCloud which apps to back up

Fortunately iCloud gives you a pretty easy to use interface for toggling on and off which applications you want to include in your backup. Remember that the applications themselves are never backed up, but this controls whether or not the data stored in those applications is.

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Tap iCloud in the list
  3. Tap “Storage and Backup” at the bottom
  4. If “iCloud Backup” is not switched on, switch it on
  5. Tap “Manage Storage”
  6. Tap on your device at the top of the page

Here, you will see a list of applications with on/off switches next to them and the approximate size of the data in those apps. Look over the list for large amounts of data in applications that you might not want backed up. For example, my preferred podcast app “Downcast” defaults to being backed up but by nature, podcasts are relatively useless after they are listened to and get more irrelevant the older they get. Recent podcasts can always be downloaded again. So I turned that off and saved a lot of space in my backup.

From this screen you can also see the size of your camera roll. If it’s very large, you probably ought to pull the photos off onto your computer and try to do that more regularly.

With a few tweaks, I am sure you can get your backup size to well within the 5GB allotment.

iCloud Backup Options

Do you use SQL Server? If you don’t follow Conor, you are probably a moron.

Sep 302011

Yep. Conor vs SQL

[Solved] This program can’t start because mscoree.dll is missing from your computer.

Sep 122011
Get-WindowsFeature Wow64*

While trying to download and install some Windows updates on a machine running Windows 2008 R2 Server Core, I got the following message and the updates failed.

This program can’t start because mscoree.dll is missing from your computer.

The updates in question are listed below.

  1. KB2468871 – Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems

  2. KB2533523 – Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems

  3. KB2539636 – Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems

I couldn’t find anything on Google that was relevant so I started poking around in the Windows system directories, .NET Framework directories, and the registry to see what was going on.

The machine itself is running the x64 flavor of Windows, but apparently I did not install the WoW64 support for .NET and PowerShell.

A quick check at a PowerShell prompt confirmed this.

PS> Get-WindowsFeature Wow64*

Display Name                                            Name
------------                                            ----
[X] WoW64 Support                                       WoW64-Support
    [X] WoW64                                           WoW64-ServerCore
    [ ] WoW64 for .NET Framework 2.0 and Windows Pow... WoW64-NetFx2-Support
        [ ] WoW64 for .NET Framework 2.0                WoW64-NetFx2
        [ ] WoW64 for Windows PowerShell                WoW64-PowerShell
    [ ] WOW64 for .NET Framework 3.0 and 3.5            WoW64-NetFx3
    [ ] WoW64 for Print Services                        WoW64-PrintServices
    [ ] WoW64 for Input Method Editor                   WoW64-InputMethodEditor
    [ ] WoW64 for Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications WoW64-SUA

Once I installed those features (and restarted the server for good measure) all was well.

PS> Get-WindowsFeature Wow64-NetFx*,Wow64-PowerShell | Add-WindowsFeature
PS> Restart-Computer

Just putting this out there in the hopes that it helps someone else.

How easy it would be to harvest passwords at a bar

Sep 082011

I’m here at my favorite bar to kick off the start of the NFL season (and some guy on TV keeps interrupting about some jobs “plan”) and I noticed there’s a strong wifi signal where there used to be none. Huh? Did this place get wifi since last time I was here? I asked around and apparently it’s news to them too.

But actually it’s not just one wifi signal… There’s three! But they all have the exact same signal strength even though they have very different SSID’s.

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Now I have no idea if these 3 companies are in cahoots or what but it seems odd to me that three cable companies are providing wifi hotspots from the same device. There is a hotel next to the bar but it’s much too far to get a signal. Trust me, I’ve tried.

What the hell, all my shit is SSL protected, I decide to check it out. All three networks give the same private IP range and each one prompts for my credentials with their respective service. The pages are pretty authentic looking (as compared to the usual illiterate Nigerian Paypal hacker’s work).

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Maybe they are legit, but I’m not taking any chances. But it got me thinking, how easy would it be to go around to various bars, malls, coffee shops, etc and just drop off a rogue battery-powered access point in a bush that just prompts people for their Gmail or Apple ID’s. Even people that are trained to ignore phishing emails will probably gladly hand over the keys to the castle in their desperate search for connectivity.

I’m paranoid about this stuff. And so far, (knock wood) I’ve never been hacked.

Another handy iOS tip: Folders the the dock

Sep 022011

Did you know you can put a folder in the icon dock on iPhone or iPad? If you have a lot of home screens and you’re having a hard time deciding which of your apps are worthy enough to be accessible from all of them, this technique can save you a few swipes.

Follow me

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Major update to Parallels iPhone/iPad app

Sep 012011

The updated version of Parallels Mobile for iPhone and iPad allows you to remotely control your Mac the same way it lets you remotely control your virtual machine. This eliminates the need to use a combination of VPN and VNC to remotely access your Mac and in most cases it’ll be a much smoother experience as well since VNC sucks. Now if they could just find the time to bake in a general purpose RDP client I could be down to just one remoting app.

It also adds some welcome features such as clipboard sharing and audio playback.

It’s free for all registered users of Parallels Desktop so go grab it.

Update: I’m not sure why I thought it was free. It has a $4.99 introductory price tag.

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Re: 15 million tablets; What might Microsoft do?

Aug 212011

Motion LE1600

I posted a response to Rob Bushway’s post: 15 million tablets; What might Microsoft do? I vented a bit of my frustration with how Microsoft has totally blown their leadership position in the tablet industry and I figured I would re-post it here.

Here’s the closing statement on the original post:

Is it possible that Microsoft might finally bite the bullet and seriously undertake the overhaul of Windows’ and Office’s tablet features that we’ve all been begging for? Incorporate the Intel shell software that allows iPad-like responsiveness? Pair this with a properly-designed hardware platform that complements the new software features? In short, is it possible that this order might cause Microsoft to finally, seriously, design the tablet that they’ve always talked about? I think the possibilities here might be huge, but only time will tell.

What do you think..???

I think it’s a lost cause for them. The blew the tablet opportunity. They couldn’t get on the same page. They couldn’t even sell the concept internally. Apple came along and wiped the floor with them right out of the gate by doing what we all told them they had to do years ago – build an OS and apps with the tablet form factor in mind from birth.

The whole running on top of Windows thing was a good option back in the early days when there would have been no tablet apps. But they never led the charge with tablet-specific apps the way Apple did. They couldn’t rally developers because those developers would go broke trying to prop up a system Microsoft couldn’t even unite behind.

Finally, Apple has proven that when it comes to hardware, choice sucks. The old model of shipping an OS to a variety of OEM’s is simply a losing model. The OEM’s have no interest in the long term success of Microsoft’s tablet strategy. They just want to make payroll in an industry with razor-thin margins and in doing so they crap up every machine they make and skimp on parts and materials. (I’m giving Motion Computing a pass here, their LE1600 was a thing of beauty.)

In order for Microsoft to get people to pay attention to their tablets, there needs to be a reason for me to put down my iPad for a second and take notice. At this point, the damned thing would have to make me breakfast for me to even consider it.

Is the home button on your iPhone 4 acting up?

Jul 012011

Recently I’ve noticed two problems with my iPhone 4. First, the home button was “missing” clicks half the time. Trying to double click the home button became increasingly more difficult. The button moved freely enough and did not seem stuck, but the press just didn’t register.

Then when attached to my car charger, after a few minutes it would throw up a message saying “Charging is not supported with this accessory.” and sure enough the charging indicator showed that the battery was no longer charging.

After searching online I found some suggestions indicating that slapping the phone against your leg could fix the home button issue and others suggested blowing compressed air into the charging port. This leads me to believe the issue is due to gunk in the charging port which finds it’s way under the home button, preventing contact behind an otherwise freely moving button.

My charging port looked pretty filthy so I tried the compressed air and it seems to have worked pretty well… For now.

iPhone charging port

Remote lock my iPad (just in case)

May 142011

Anyone that knows me knows full well I am the farthest thing possible from an Apple fan boy. But I’ve slowly but surely been sucked into the blissful white and brushed aluminum dream world. This fact bothers me enough that I’ve considered giving Windows Phone 7 a “pity fuck” just to strike some balance in my technical world.

However, I did have a moment of brilliance earlier that would not have been possible unless I was locked into the Apple monoculture.

I left my iPad in my car while I was in the movies with my son. I was pretty sure I locked the car but not 100%. We were already seated by the time I realized this and dragging a 4 year old back to the car was going to be a huge pain, especially considering I was fairly certain it was locked.

But then I remembered that I could remotely set a lock code on my iPad from my iPhone (using the Find My iPhone application) and that was enough peace of mind for me. The hardware is replaceable. Of course a sophisticated thief that really wanted the data could bypass the lock or shut down the radio so it couldn’t be tracked, but by remotely locking or wiping an iPad you are much better off than never knowing what happened to it.

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Supporting markdown in applications

Apr 302011

In just about every application I’ve ever developed, there’s at least one multi-line text box that takes free form input from the user. In some applications (such as email, Twitter, log entry, etc.) this might be the primary use case. In other applications it might be a simple “description” box hidden away in a properties dialog.

But in any case, it’s always a challenge to use anything more than plain text for a variety of reasons. First of all, even though WPF, Silverlight, and Windows Forms all have built-in rich text controls, they lack the basic UI elements such as toolbars for formatting. In web applications it’s even worse because there is no native rich text control so you gotta find a component.

Then there is the issue of what to do with the data. Windows Forms produces RTF formatted text. WPF and Silverlight produce XAML. Web browsers produce HTML. But these three formats aren’t easily interchangeable and they all suffer from the fact that they look terrible when circumstances require you to present it as plain text.

There is a solution! It’s called markdown. And it’s something you’ve probably used before if you’ve ever used StackOverflow.

With markdown, you can input and store the content as plain text but render it as rich formatted text. The advantage over markup such as HTML is that the syntax is designed to be very readable as plain text. And since the formatting characters are so intuitive and natural, you don’t need superfluous toolbars or menus to format your content. Since there is no need to strip the formatting when displaying as plain text, you don’t need to worry about how it looks on devices or application screens that don’t support rich text.

Markdown

Of course it’s not HTML so it doesn’t support anything like layout or complicated formatting. It’s simply rich text. But it does support links, headings, lists, and images. You can refer to John Gruber’s markdown page for a more thorough explanation of where and how markdown fits in the context of HTML.

So I’m making more of an effort to support and promote markdown everywhere that I use multi-line text boxes and hopefully you’ll consider it too. I set up a WordPress plugin created by Michel Fortin that allows me to compose my posts in markdown. Now I can write blog posts on my iPad much more easily. Next I’ll be looking for ways to translate markdown to XAML FlowDocuments so that I can use it in WPF and Silverlight applications.

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