I discovered this issue while working on a clients website. Each time I tried to connect to their blog I’d get a server side page that said, to many processes try again later. Or something to that effect. I called blueHOST.com but got a 1st level tech who had to put me on hold, ask someone questions then come back with not many answers. To be fair to blueHOST this was an exception to always stellar tech support.

I ended up doing my own research. I called my client, had them quit Mail.app on all 3 computers in that office. I went to their cPanel & killed any remaining processes. I then screen shared with each computer & started each remotely. For each user relaunched they created around 8 + processes each. And these IMAP processes would not die until Mail was quit, or killed manually. There were some IMAP processes that didn’t die and had to be killed manually.

I called BlueHost again today and got an amazing tech. I again explained the issue to him. “How odd” he said, “let’s see what we can find.” So we spent 30 minutes on the phone trying many different things. He on his end and me on mine. I even tried Entourage using IMAP. Entourage only opened 1 connection, and that was it. No multiples.

In searching Apple Support Forum I found this thread “Topic : Mail is killing the processes on my server with IMAP” talking about the very same issue. There were multiple people with different web hosting companies reporting the same behavior. So I’m not alone in this and the problem does indeed exist. The thread showed no “solution” to the issue yet. Bummer!

Now I hope Apple is listening, and fixes the issue very soon.

(I also sent this to MacFixtIt)

As you may or may not know, Apple has a new cat waiting to pounce on us all. Leopard (a.k.a. Mac OS X 10.5) arrives at your local Apple store on Friday October 26th at 6:00 PM. Apple stores will be open until Midnight that night.

This new cat will be sporting some new spots …. over 300 of them. These new feature will cost you $129.00 US. Or if you bought a new Mac on or After October 1, 2007 you can get a free upgrade disk for $9.95. The cost of shipping.

System requirements for Mac OS X 10.5 are:
Intel Mac, Power PC G5 or a Power PC G4 with an 867MHz processor or higher, 512MB RAM and a DVD drive for installation.

As I tell all my clients when a new Mac OS is ready to be released … wait. If your computer use is mission critical, then don’t be an early adopter. As always, there will be applications that will “blow up” in a new OS … and an update can be weeks to months away. If you must be bleeding edge, load the new OS on a separate HD & ‘play’ with it. Add in a few of the apps you need. See how that goes. But whatever you do … don’t just blithely do an install on top of you older version of OS X. You are just begging for trouble!

You may have heard this a billion times, but here it goes once again. Back up your computer before doing any major install. If you have a second internal drive or an external hard drive use a utility like Carbon Copy Cloner and clone (make a copy) your current HD to an image file on your second drive. Or if the drive is empty just create a “bootable clone.” This way if disaster strikes while upgrading, you can boot from the clone & get back to work restoring the original drive.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more as time goes on. But I’ve already had two clients ask about the new OS. Apple had made the announcement today, but also did a supporting mailing to their mailing list.

So if you plan to be bleeding edge … back up … and be prepared. Oh… and don’t forget the virtual band-aids. Ouch!

help@emacconsulting.com

I started leaning about Macs by purchasing a new Mac Plus in 1986. Originally I bought it to use in my recording studio for writing music and MIDI sequencing. Personal computers were very new then, especially one’s using a GUI (graphical user interface.) That’s where the seeds of discovery were planted. I was a musician, and artist, with a technical bent. I learned all I could about the Mac, the OS, and any Mac application I could find, or download.

The Macintosh computer has always been cutting edge and on the creative fore. Like my music. Like my art. The Mac has always been a passion, and in my eyes … always will. I’ve used it to create music, record music, edit documentary videos, my photography, and even my ceramic art. The Mac has always been a inspirational tool, helping me in my creative process.

I’m sure it has much more to teach me, and I more to create.

About eMac Consulting:

I moved to Seattle in 1995. I worked for Westwind Computing for 4 years as a bench tech, and a systems engineer. Somewhere during that fourth year I decided I wanted to leave Seattle and move to San Diego. I left Westwind and started looking for a job and a home in San Diego. But something “didn’t feel right” about moving there.

When I returned to Seattle a few of my old clients called me and said “We don’t want anyone else working on our computers except you.” In that moment, eMac Consulting was born. That was October of 1999. Some of those clients are still with me.

Whether old or new, every client gets my personal attention, dedication and experience. Every day.

Thank You.

Joe Streno
eMac Consulting
“Engaging solutions for everything Mac.”

If a picture is worth a thousand words. Then I’ll say no more.

But we both know that’s not going to happen.

I thought long and hard. Hard and long. And it’s time to say … so long iPhone & AT&T. In past posts you saw how I agonized. Rationalized. Quantified & qualified my decision to procure this object of electronic lust. But lust is not enough. Nor is the iPhone.

In my previous post I was talking about the ‘unholy union’ of the ‘A-twins’ …. Apple & AT&T. This is also a MAJOR deciding factor to lighten my load. I’m sorry but no object is worth over $100.00 per month to have. I don’t mind putting cash into the pockets of Apple & it’s stockholders. But AT&T? A man just has to draw a line in the sand … at some point. Even if that line is after the fact. I just can not stomach the idea of shelling that kind of money out to a corporate behemoth like the Death Star … AT&T. Sometimes you DO have to go ‘through’ something to get to the other side. And now that I’m there …. I really don’t think there’s any turning back.

On Thursday I will have my partner Chris make me a member of the T-mobile family once again. Nope. I will not have all the bells & whistles of the iPhone. But i will have back my beloved Product (RED) SLVR. I won’t have to hack it to get my ringers back on. I won’t have to pay in excess of $1200.00 for JUST A PHONE! God! What the hell was I thinking? I truly was sucked into the Steve Jobs reality distortion field! Sucked in real good!

But now that my mind & my wallet are free … free of AT&T …. I can go back to life not worrying about a measly 900 minutes & 200 text messages. I can go back to having 2000 minutes & unlimited text messages & T-zones. Yippy! I can also spend that extra money paying off my credit cards and such. Sadly though I will sell my iPhone and use a large chunk of that money to buy out my AT&T contact. If I read the fine print correctly … I believe the buy out is $175.00. Though it could be more.

But that’s it. Say good-bye iPhone. You are … Going. Going …. GONE!

I got my first bill yesterday. Or at least the cost was posted … sans invoice. That I might have to wait ten days for, or so the disclaimer said. Imagine my astonishment when the amount before my eyes read …. $229.36!!!!! What the f%*$k!!!! Now I have no reason to complain. There were lasses and chaps out there who’s first iPhone/AT&T bills were in the THOUSANDS of dollars. Adam Aronson for one got a $5,000.00 bill from the Death Star …. AT&T. So I guess I’m lucky?

I know … Joe … shut your pie-hole. You made a choice to be on the bleeding edge. So don’t have a hissy because there’s a crimson tide headed your way.

How is it I can feel bad about owning one of the most technologically advanced phones in the universe? Maybe because that universe also includes the Red Death Star …. AT&T? Somehow it just doesn’t sit right. How is it that the coupling of such ideological opposites can effect me so deeply? Somehow I feel my best fiend has let me down. BUT IT’S JUST A F%*$KING TELEPHONE! I think it’s the idea that someone (Apple/Steve Jobs) who wanted to change the world through technology has partnered with a company that just wants to OWN the world through technology. And in that unholy union (one even MORE unholy than MS & Apple) the shine on the Apple has become a little more lackluster, a bit more turbid.

Surely I over exaggerate. Certainly I am playing with words. I must be.

I certainly am … losing my will to iPhone.

Lord there goes Joey Appleseed …

Here I sit waiting to get loaded. Or maybe waiting to come down. I sit in front of this wall of aluminum & silicon dioxide and wait. It’s so very black and shiny. But it’s not a monolith. Or is it? Something is changing blocking my view, yet I’m seeing much more clearly. It’s so stunning it almost hurts. It did hurt a bit. But only in the wallet.

Here before me stands my shining new iMac. Never in a million years did I ever thing I’d own an iMac. Starting to see a pattern here? I said something similar about owning an iPhone. But there they both are. In all their black and silver shininess. Peering back at me with all their SiO2 glory … and clarity.

But I’m a professional. I should have a ‘professional’ machine. A gigantic monolith of an aluminum tower who’s girth and weight would make a hippo feel svelte. Been there. Done that. But one Intel dual core beats a pair of G5′s. Or in my case a dual core G5 any day. It’s big. It’s glossy. And damn it … I can now load ringers on my iPhone. And I did! That alone may not have been the sole reason. But I’m sure it had a part in my thought processes and the final outcome.

I was feeling left behind. Having to slog through life with some old nasty pre-Intel Macintosh. The pain. The degradation The shame of it all. So when Steve on Tuesday said this day was going to be about the iMac … he was so right. It’s was the day of myMac. Yes … my iMac

I never thought it would happen. Hey … and I even like the new keyboard .. in all its slim aluminosity! I like that it sits so low to the ground … err … desktop. Never thought I’d give up my trusty old wireless keyboard & mouse. But here I type … and it feels better. Seems I can even type faster? Hmmm. I wonder if it will make me feel younger? Okay … maybe not.

Give Steve (and all the rest of the Apple team) a few weeks … and he/they can change your whole Mac Universe. Now If I could only get started changing the rest of my life. Okay … maybe I’ll start tomorrow. Today … I have another new toy to explore.

Lord there goes Joey Appleseed ….

So the first time I went to sync iPhone. Imagine my surprise when iTunes got to syncing my calendar … and it choked. I was getting bizarre errors. Checking the AppleMobileSync log I was seeing this:

2007-07-06 20:45:32.263|AppleMobileSync|568:25198080|SocketStreamHandler.¬
c:_SocketLogCallback| ERROR: SocketRecv (data): error 9: Bad file descriptor
2007-07-06 20:45:32.267|AppleMobileSync|568:25198080|StreamHandler.¬
c:_ReadFunc| ERROR: Error reading data: Can’t read data
2007-07-06 20:45:32.269|AppleMobileSync|568:25198080|DeviceLinkConnection.¬
c:_DLHandlerThreadMessagePortCallback| ERROR: Could not receive message: ‘(null)’

The first thing I did was to back up my iCal, Address Book, SOHO Organizer, SOHO Notes and any other apps I knew that used sync services. I then went to Library/Application Support/Sync Services and trashed the entire folder.

To my amazement … that worked. Hey this is what they pay me the ‘big bucks’ for.

Dale from Crow’s Nest has that ‘extra’ one still kicking around … and I convinced myself … with a little help from Edie. She’s the office manager at the Seattle office. It had gotten to the point where so many people were asking me how to do ‘something’ on the iPhone that I figured it was ‘my duty’ as an informed Apple consultant to have one of these babies to call my own. Of course I made this purchase solely in the name of research. Yeah research. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

So yes …. Mr eMac Consulting now HAS an iPhone. Woo hoo!

Now that I have one let the research begin!

One of them is a writer for MSNBC. Joe Hutsko … he’s getting lambasted in “comment hell” on his blog JOEyGADGET for writing a story about his failed iPhone and his experience getting a replacement. I wrote a little blurb yesterday about a client of mine that had ‘his precious’ overheat. Jilted Joe is a writer for a company that partners with Microsoft (MSNBC) and he wrote about his experience with AT&T and Apple support. No matter what this guy wrote short of slagging Steve Jobs or his mother personally … um … let’s cut Joey boy some slack!

Good press or bad press … this little phone that could is going to do just fine. Short of some MAJOR bonehead move on Apple’s or AT&T’s part … this is going to sell sell sell. The myth is too big. The hype too big. The momentum too big. So yeah … there are going to be folks who have a bad experience with this mythological creature. Just by the sheer numbers sold. And they might write something about it. It’s the way things work. But as Apple users if we are going to be all Pollyanna about our beloved company THAT CAN (and does) … then we are no better than those who cut Apple for no reason.

But Mr Hutsko did have a reason to tell his story, and a right to tell his story too. iPhone is too new. Those that do own it haven’t put it through its paces yet. Not in a six days time.

So let’s sit back and wait a bit. Lets sheath some of those vitriolic tongues and listen for the sweet marimba tones of your own working ringing iPhone. Or … embrace you inner curmudgeon and send everybody to voicemail! Damn them all!