A large portion of the time spent uploading a large directory with utilities like scp and sftp (and sometimes rsync) is sending all the meta information over for the various files (and creating them). For some reason, this sometimes takes a purely silly amount of time.

The upside is there’s a simple trick that will let you upload things very quickly. The tar command is optimized for dealing with lots of little files and does it far, far better than the other commands. It’s not network enabled, but ssh does understand pipes…

tar cz MyDirectoryOfLittleFiles | ssh remote.host "tar xz"

Ta da! Full-speed uploads with tar on either end doing all the file work and ssh just encrypting the stream. For me, over local connections, this gives a much more even upload experience than scp alone ever did, especially for large directories of small files (source, for example).

Downside: it doesn’t do syncing like rsync. If this fails in the middle, you get to start over or switch to rsync to finish it.

Disconnect everything, power first. Keep the drain hose above the top of the washer if the bucket’s full of water. If there are clothes in it, remove them to a water-tight location (like a cooler or something).

Put the unit on an appliance dolly and get it onto the driveway before removing the drain hose from the rear of the unit. Water will gush out for a while here.

Unscrew the two hex bolts at the top of the unit that attach the plastic tabs to the console. Unscrew the screws in the end caps that attach it to the top of the cabinet. Unscrew the two hex bolts at the base of the rear panel that attach it to the base.

Pull the console forward and up a little to dislodge it. Slide it out of the way enough to get access to the two brass clips. Put a flat-head screwdriver in the hole towards the front and pry the clip forward a little to release it. Remove both clips. This releases the rear panel from the top of the cabinet.

One cable goes from the console to the top of the cabinet: this is the lid switch. Disconnect it.

Pull the cabinet forward now that everything is detached. It helps to have someone holding the console and rear panel while you do this. Remove the cabinet.

Place it on something to prevent scuffing, like a few towels or a small animal. The lid switch is the only device here. Unscrew it from the ground (one hex screw) and from the inside of the lid (two Phillips screws). Push the grey tube holding the wires out of the clip holding it in and release the plug from the top of the lid.

Take this to a parts shop and ask for another. It’s around $25-50 depending on how desperate you look.

Snap the gray tube back in, screw in the ground and switch. Close the lid: it should click now. If not, check that you actually screwed the new unit in properly. Yes, the new one.

Replace the cabinet and the rear panel, then the clips and the console. Replace all screws and bolts. Make sure there are no spare parts.

Codesign error: no certificate for identifier “iPhone Developer” was found in your keychain

Getting this error when building an iPhone app? Yeah … you’re going to love the solution:

After much tinkering around, I tracked the problem to a keychain error.

And TADAAAAA: Go to Keychain Access -> Preferences -> Certificates and deactivate both automatic checking gizmos.

Quit Xcode, relaunch. It worked for me. Instantly.

Best advice for .Mac Sync failures, ever.

One creative little AppleScript later and with a couple of keystrokes you can see your bank balances on screen immediately. Oh, the things curious coders will code.

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To get money, I have to bug people. It’s a sad fact of software development, but if the software didn’t destruct in a period of time, I’d be working for naught.

Right now, Notae goes four weeks (28 days) in a full-access demo and then locks down, hard. I’m seeing the majority of conversions within the first three days, and most of the rest in the first week. While I look at it and say “I would, myself, appreciate thirty days to get used to something as intimate as a notes program” I can also see getting used to it within two weeks as well.

Of course, with a time period that short, you run the risk of someone downloading it, opening it, poking around, and then forgetting about it. Some weeks later he goes to test it out seriously and bam the demonstration period has expired. Suck.

A compromise, then. I’m considering letting Notae run in a full demo for two weeks, and then locking out the user for two weeks before resetting the demo. That should be just enough time to get used to it if you just downloaded it and then enough of a wait so that if you wanted to try a new release after a couple of weeks that it would let you. The registration dialog would explain this and then give either the date of expiration or the date the lockout will reset.

My concerns, then, are these:

• Is two weeks enough time to get to know a program you’ll use pretty much daily?

• Is two weeks downtime enough? I’ve also considered four weeks here.