The Practice of Code

Source: http://news.nab.com.au/choice-efficiency-and-innovation-for-customers/

Format inspired by John Gruber

A group of Australian financial institutions have lodged an application with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) seeking authorisation to enter joint negotiations with providers of third-party mobile wallets.

We would like to illegally legally collude to block competition in mobile wallets.

Through joint negotiations, the applicants want to ensure that Australian consumers can make payments easily through their choice of mobile wallet providers,

As long as that choice is not Apple Pay.

have access to the latest developments in contactless payment technology,

We’ll get onto these latest developments as soon we finish implementing Touch ID in our mobile-website-packaged-as-an-iPhone-app.

and can benefit from common security standards across the mobile payment system.

We are a threat to Apple Pay’s security. They need to reduce their standards.

The applicants believe consumers will benefit if they can choose the best mobile wallet that suits their own needs using their own devices. That way all consumers could have access to new features, apps and technologies developed by the makers of different mobile wallets.

We want you to have any mobile wallet you want, as long as it’s made by us, and as long as we don’t have to share any of the revenue. And besides, everyone knows that banks are always the first to offer new features, apps and technologies!

“This is about providing Australians with real choice and better outcomes.”

The only way that NAB Pay has a chance of being successful, is if we block any competition.

“If successful, the application would have tremendous benefits for the entire Australian mobile payments landscape including for public transport fares, airlines, ticketing, store loyalty and rewards programs and many more applications yet to be developed,” said Novantas Senior Advisor Lance Blockley, on behalf of the applicants.

I am high as a kite.

The application lodged by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac is subject to authorisation by the ACCC.

Please distribute your hate evenly.

The application does not request authorisation to enter joint negotiations on the amount of fees or charges, meaning financial institutions are responsible for individually negotiating contractual arrangements with wallet providers.

See, we’re not being greedy? It’s not about money. It’s about stifling competition.

Australia is at the forefront of contactless card payments, which have been well accepted by consumers and merchants. The negotiations, if successful, will ensure that consumers and merchants can be confident that Australia has a competitive, innovative and transparent system of mobile payments, including third-party wallets.

You can thank us for this mobile payment paradise later.

With major public transport systems in Australia soon to begin trials of open loop contactless payment technology, the time is pressing for consumers to be offered a choice of mobile wallet providers.

Just a quick and dirty script update to backup individual service Postgres databases in the latest OS X Server. The sockets have moved again. These locations feel a bit more stable.

#!/bin/bash backupdir='/Library/Server/Backups/PostgreSQL/'; server_root='/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot'; day=`date +%u`; mkdir -p $backupdir/$day; echo "PostgreSQL Backup for $HOSTNAME"; echo "=================================" echo `date`; $server_root/usr/bin/pg_dump -U _devicemgr -h /Library/Server/ProfileManager/Config/var/PostgreSQL/ -c devicemgr_v2m0 | gzip -c > "$backupdir/$day/devicemgr_v2m0.sql.gz"; $server_root/usr/bin/pg_dump -U _teamsserver -h /Library/Server/Wiki/PostgresSocket/ -c collab | gzip -c > "$backupdir/$day/collab.sql.gz"; $server_root/usr/bin/pg_dump -U caldav -h /var/run/caldavd/PostgresSocket/ -c caldav | gzip -c > "$backupdir/$day/caldav.sql.gz"; chmod 600 "$backupdir/$day/devicemgr_v2m0.sql.gz"; chmod 600 "$backupdir/$day/collab.sql.gz"; chmod 600 "$backupdir/$day/caldav.sql.gz"; #for database in `$server_root/usr/bin/psql -U _postgres -h "$psql_socket" -lt | awk '{print $1}' | grep -vE '\||^$|template|postgres'`; # do # printf "Exporting $database..."; # $server_root/usr/bin/pg_dump -U _postgres -h "$psql_socket" -c $database | gzip -c > $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; # /bin/chmod 600 $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; # printf "done\n"; #done echo `date`; echo; exit 0;

IMPORTANT (2013-11-19): All of this has changed in Mavericks / OS X Server 3.x. Each service has its own instance of Postgres. See some of the comments below for the new socket locations.

In Mountain Lion 10.8.2 along with OS X Server 2.2, Apple started employing two separate instances of Postgres, one for the built-in services, and the other for use by custom applications (e.g. Roundcube). My old backup script doesn't properly understand the differences, or the new socket, so I have had to rewrite it. I also quickly banged up a second version that backs up the user databases too.

First, the system databases:

#!/bin/bash backupdir='/Library/Server/Backups/PostgreSQL/'; server_root='/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot'; psql_socket='/Library/Server/PostgreSQL For Server Services/Socket/'; day=`date +%u`; mkdir -p $backupdir/$day; echo "PostgreSQL Backup for $HOSTNAME"; echo "=================================" echo `date`; for database in `$server_root/usr/bin/psql -U _postgres -h "$psql_socket" -lt | awk '{print $1}' | grep -vE '\||^$|template|postgres'`; do printf "Exporting $database..."; $server_root/usr/bin/pg_dump -U _postgres -h "$psql_socket" -c $database | gzip -c > $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; /bin/chmod 600 $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; printf "done\n"; done echo `date`; echo; exit 0;

Obviously, update the backupdir to the directory of your choice.

Next, the script to backup any databases you've added:

#!/bin/bash backupdir='/Library/Server/Backups/PostgreSQL/'; server_root='/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot'; day=`date +%u`; mkdir -p $backupdir/$day; echo "PostgreSQL Backup for $HOSTNAME"; echo "=================================" echo `date`; for database in `$server_root/usr/bin/psql -U _postgres -lt | awk '{print $1}' | grep -vE '\||^$|template|postgres'`; do printf "Exporting $database..."; $server_root/usr/bin/pg_dump -U _postgres -c $database | gzip -c > $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; /bin/chmod 600 $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; printf "done\n"; done echo `date`; echo; exit 0;

I [recently wrote](/post/27890029863/simple-applescripts-to-enable-and-disable-flash) two separate scripts, one to enable, and the other to disable Flash in Safari. However, sometimes I couldn't tell whether Flash was already enabled or disabled and choosing the wrong menu option gave a cryptic shell error. So I decided to rewrite it as one script, **Toggle Flash Player**, which firstly _identifies_ the state of the plugin, and then lets you choose whether or not you want to accordingly enable or disable it. Additionally, the script now tests for the presence of the disabled plug-in folder, and offers to create it for you if it's not there. Please read [the previous post](/post/27890029863/simple-applescripts-to-enable-and-disable-flash) for installation instructions. Here is the new script: property flashFiles : {"Flash Player.plugin", "flashplayer.xpt"} tell application "Finder" set enabledDirectory to POSIX file "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins" as alias set disabledDirectory to POSIX file "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)" repeat if (exists disabledDirectory) then set disabledDirectory to disabledDirectory as alias exit repeat else tell application "Safari" to display alert "The disabled plug-in directory does not exist." message "Would you like to create it?" buttons {"Cancel", "Create"} default button 2 cancel button 1 as warning set mkdirCommand to "mkdir -p " & quoted form of (POSIX path of disabledDirectory) do shell script mkdirCommand with administrator privileges end if end repeat set enabledFlashFileCount to 0 repeat with eachFlashFile in flashFiles set directoryContents to (name of every file in enabledDirectory) if directoryContents contains eachFlashFile then set enabledFlashFileCount to enabledFlashFileCount + 1 end repeat set disabledFlashFileCount to 0 repeat with eachFlashFile in flashFiles set directoryContents to (name of every file in disabledDirectory) if directoryContents contains eachFlashFile then set disabledFlashFileCount to disabledFlashFileCount + 1 end repeat set flashFileCount to count flashFiles tell application "Safari" if enabledFlashFileCount = flashFileCount and disabledFlashFileCount = 0 then display alert "Flash is current enabled." message "Would you like to disable Flash?" buttons {"Cancel", "Disable"} default button 2 cancel button 1 as warning tell me to move_files(enabledDirectory, flashFiles, disabledDirectory) set stateChanged to true set stateNew to "disabled" else if disabledFlashFileCount = flashFileCount and enabledFlashFileCount = 0 then display alert "Flash is current disabled." message "Would you like to enable Flash?" buttons {"Cancel", "Enable"} default button 2 cancel button 1 as informational tell me to move_files(disabledDirectory, flashFiles, enabledDirectory) set stateChanged to true set stateNew to "enabled" else if disabledFlashFileCount = 0 and enabledFlashFileCount = 0 then display alert "Flash is not current installed." message "Please check your installation and try again." buttons {"OK"} default button 1 cancel button 1 as warning else --display alert "enabledFlashFileCount: " & enabledFlashFileCount & ", disabledFlashFileCount: " & disabledFlashFileCount display dialog "Flash is in an unknown state. Please investigate and/or update this script." buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1 with icon stop end if tell application "System Events" to set safariRunning to (name of processes contains "Safari") if stateChanged and safariRunning then display alert "Flash is now " & stateNew message "Would you like to restart Safari?" buttons {"Cancel", "Restart"} default button 2 cancel button 1 as warning tell application "Safari" to quit delay 1 tell application "Safari" launch delay 1 activate end tell return end if end tell end tell on move_files(sourceDirectory, sourceFiles, destinationDirectory) set mvCommand to "mv" repeat with eachFile in sourceFiles set mvCommand to mvCommand & " " & quoted form of (POSIX path of sourceDirectory & eachFile) end repeat set mvCommand to mvCommand & " " & quoted form of (POSIX path of destinationDirectory) do shell script mvCommand with administrator privileges end move_files Or, if you prefer, you can just download it here:

2013-03-05 Update: These scripts have been updated for 10.8.2 / OS X Server 2.2 in this newer post.

Starting with Lion Server, and now with Mountain Lion Server, Apple has started bundling PostgreSQL for the database backends of services such as Contacts, Calendars, Wiki and Profile Manager. Additionally, it’s kind enough to back them all up into one dump file, typically located at:

/Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Backup/dumpall.psql.gz

Now, for migration to a newer OS or for any similar procedure, it’s a lot more convenient to have separate files for each database. Additionally, I like having a few rolling days of backups, so I’ve written a quick script to accomplish both of those goals.

#!/bin/bash backupdir='/Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Backup/'; day=`date +%u`; mkdir -p $backupdir/$day; echo "PostgreSQL Backup for $HOSTNAME"; echo "=================================" echo `date`; for database in `/usr/bin/psql -U _postgres -lt | awk '{print $1}' | grep -vE '\||^$|template0'`; do printf "Exporting $database..."; /usr/bin/pg_dump -U _postgres -c $database | gzip -c > $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; /bin/chmod 600 $backupdir/$day/$database.sql.gz; printf "done\n"; done echo `date`; echo; exit 0;

I run my system with Flash uninstalled and then I use the Safari Develop menu to jump to Chrome as needed. However, there have been some recent times that I've wanted to use Flash, but not leave Safari. I've installed the ClickToPlugin extension, so that when Flash is installed, I get to selectively determine which objects I wish to load. However, when I have that combination installed, every website thinks I have Flash ready to go and I don't get the image fallbacks I typically prefer seeing, so I wrote these quick little AppleScript's that let me Enabled and Disable Flash at a file system level.

These scripts expect the presence of a folder in the root Library named Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled). And my strong recommendation is to enable the AppleScript menu and then store these at ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari, that way you can see the commands contextually when you're in Safari:

Without further ado, Disable Flash:

try do shell script "mv /Library/Internet\\ Plug-Ins/[Ff]lash* /Library/Internet\\ Plug-Ins\\ \\(Disabled\\)/" with administrator privileges on error msg number num display dialog msg end try tell application "Safari" quit activate end tell

And Enable Flash:

try do shell script "mv /Library/Internet\\ Plug-Ins\\ \\(Disabled\\)/[Ff]lash* /Library/Internet\\ Plug-Ins/" with administrator privileges on error msg number num display dialog msg end try tell application "Safari" quit activate end tell

I really want to like Coda 2, but right off the bat, I'm having some issues with colors and syntax highlighting:

Issue with the above:

"db" is identified as "Document Text". I'd argue it's part of the variable and should be the same color as $this.

"select()" is identified by Coda as "Built-in Functions and Classes", which it isn't. Rather they're just methods in a class, just like:

"from()", which is correctly identified by Coda as a function. As you can clearly see though, it's inconsistently colored from similar functions/methods above it.

Unfortunately, there is also no ability to make the background transparent, which is quite a disappoint and a feature I'm thoroughly used to from Terminal and TextMate.

I'll keep trying, but have a feeling that I'll be swimming upstream.

In earlier flavors of OS X Server, when a local administrator logged into a machine that had managed settings applied, they were asked if they wanted those settings applied to that session, via the following dialog:

If you chose to remember your choice, you could just hold the option key the next time you logged in, and you would be able to choose again.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get that working in Lion. With 10.7.4 Server and clients, no matter what I did, the dialog would not come up, and managed settings were continuously applied.

After digging around, I worked out that by applying the following two keys to com.apple.loginwindow, I regained access to this feature:

AdminMayDisableMCX = TRUE

LocalUsersHaveWorkgroups = TRUE

You can see what that looks like in Workgroup Manager here:

I've always had a bit of a bag fetish, especially when it came to bags to store my technology in. In addition to loving the most portable pieces of technology (perfectly exemplified in the 11" MacBook Air being my computer of course), I've always loved the smallest and most minimal bags to support them. Whenever I get a new laptop, I always buy a second power adapter for it, so I can leave one at home, and one at work, and thus, not have to worry about making space for it in my bag.

I had always been a big fan of Crumpler bags, and up until the point that Apple stopped making 12" laptops in favor of 13" widescreen laptops, getting a minimal Crumpler bag to support my laptop was always the best choice. But when Apple switched form factors, it was as if Crumpler was frustrated or annoyed, as it took them years to make a small, snug, form-fitting shoulder bag for the 13" Apple form factor. Instead of having such an offering, whenever I periodically checked into a Crumpler shop to see if they had woken up, they would push a 15" bag on me with extra bits of removal padding on the sides. No, thank you.

So, when Apple released their latest return to the ultra-portable form factor with the 11" MacBook Air, I knew I had to have one, and I knew it deserved an equally impressive and portable bag. Luckily, with only a temporary and mild bit of stretching, my previously retired 12" Crumpler Skinny (S) actually suited it well at first, but I knew it wasn't purpose-made; I was ready for something of a different style, and I was no longer interested in touting the Crumpler brand due to their abandonment of the Apple ultra-portable, so the search began.

On and off for a year, I cruised various bag manufacturer websites trying to find the perfect bag. My criteria was simple:

I wanted a shoulder bag.

I wanted it to store the laptop on its side (portrait orientation as opposed to landscape).

I wanted it to be as small as possible.

And I really didn't want it to look like a laptop bag.

A year later, I finally decided on the Muzetto, made by Waterfield Designs in San Francisco.

Here it is hanging off the back of my chair:

And here's the inside:

So, inside, the MacBook Air is stored inside a padded sleeve, which fits perfectly inside the Muzetto. There's even enough room to also store an iPad:

Now, while the bag is designed to hold a laptop, the Muzetto by itself is not padded. Rather, I also purchased a SleeveCase from Waterfield, available in a variety of sizes and options, including, but not limited to horizontal vs. vertical laptop entry, a flap or a Velcro strap, and more. Here's the SleeveCase by itself:

Now, one of the benefits of the Muzetto over its Crumpler predecessor is that the Muzetto's flap is simply weighted. There is no fastener; no Velcro. The Crumpler strap used Velcro, which sort of sucked, because if I was in a quiet environment and wanted to take my laptop out, I had to get past the Velcro first, and that's far from a quiet operation. Similarly to the Crumpler though, the SleeveCase strap that holds in the laptop also uses Velcro. Luckily, it's easy enough to store the strap in the back of the SleeveCase:

The laptop is held snuggly enough in the SleeveCase for me to not worry about not using the strap, and of course the outer Muzetto flap adds an extra layer of protection keeping the laptop in.

So here is everything packed in nicely:

And here's what it looks like with everything removed. This configuration should be nicely suitable for an event where I need a bag and don't need my laptop, although I can't imagine what such an event would be.

When you look inside this main pocket, Waterfield has used a shiny, reflective, bronze colored fabric for the interior, which helps reflect light and enable you to clearly see the contents inside, especially those potentially buried down low:

There is also a separate pocket that is nearly the full height of the in front of that. That pocket has a very plush, dark gray material inside that is very soft to the touch and guaranteed to not scratch anything put inside it. There is also a stitched pocket inside that pocket, near the top, perfectly sized for a large phone (while capable of holding something larger than an iPhone, an iPhone would still fit perfectly).

Alas, other than for when I'm going through airport security, I don't envision using it for my phone, as my front, left pocket is always solely dedicated for that purpose.

There are only 3 little accessories I regularly keep in this front pocket:

An iPhone/iPod cable

A USB to Ethernet adapter

A Fisher Space Pen

The workmanship of the bag is exceptional. The leather is soft to the touch, beautifully treated, and as pleasing to the eye as it is to the touch. I chose the "flame" highlight color, which in my opinion, looks a bit more orange on the website than it does in person. Luckily, I'm even happier with the resulting color, than I was with my perception of it on the website.

The bag's footprint is pretty comparable to the Crumpler Skivvy, but the Muzetto is my preferred orientation, and as hip as Crumpler was, or may still be, the Muzetto is pure style and class. I think I could still appreciate an even smaller bag, but alas, this doesn't seem to be a common enough market desire, as the Muzetto for the Air is about as small as you can get.