If you’ve been living under a rock, iMessage is one of the new features Apple added to iOS 5 and is essentially free messaging across your Apple devices.

If you take email as an example you don’t ask people to email you on the particular computer you are using do you? Do you really have laptop@example.com, desktop@example.com, homecomputer@example.com, iphone@example.com or ipad@example.com setup on each corresponding device? Imagine if someone wanted to email you, which one would they use? They want to email YOU not your devices. So you have the one email address configured on all the devices so no matter where you are you can see the message. (you also use IMAP, Exchange or ActiveSync to keep all your mailboxes in sync and don’t use POP3 right?)

The same goes for iMessage. If someone is taking the time you message you then they want to message you not guess if you’re using your iPod touch, iPhone, iPad or Mac and send to the corresponding devices address. (after you’ve somehow given them all those addresses and explained which one to send to to get to which device)

You may be wondering what exactly the point of iMessage is, over, say, WhatsApp?
There are a few benefits,

• It’s free and built in – there’s no need to pay to download (and even go through the hassle) of getting yet another app from the App Store, to live on your home screen
• It’s seamless – you don’t really have to worry about if the other party has iMessage or not – there’s not several different contact lists to maintain. It either magically works, or just sends an SMS
• It has the option of fallback to SMS, when there isn’t a data connection
• Custom tones for messages – unlike WhatsApp, you can choose a default one to apply to all messages, or even use custom ones per contact
• It’s cross platform - perhaps not in the way that WhatsApp is (across different OSes – Android, BlackBerry, etc), but exists across iOS and soon OS X – the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and the Mac
  This is the biggest downside to competitors like WhatsApp - once you’ve logged in on your iPhone – you can’t log in with your same account/number on your Android tablet for example. You can’t even install it on an iPad or iPod touch.
• Conversations sync - you can start a conversation on your Mac at work, continue it on your iPhone, and then finish it off at home while on the couch with the iPad - while retaining everything. If you read a message on one device, it’s in sync on the others. If you send an attachment on one, it appears on all devices.
• Stateless - there’s no worrying about being online or offline, or having to set a status message - messages are replied to at your own pace
• Configurable read receipts (depending on who you talk to, this is a benefit or a downside!) – while this really is a common benefit with WhatsApp, iMessage allows you to toggle read receipts on/off at your convenience.
• Encryption - this is probably the biggest for businesses and the tin foil hat wearing among you. iMessages are encrypted with authentication done via tokens.
  Change your Apple ID password and immediately iMessage will require you to login before continuing. WhatsApp uses XMPP… in plain text. Everything is sent in the clear – contact list, chats, etc
• Full quality attachments - iMessage allows for full quality attachments to be sent, including Photos and Videos. WhatsApp will compress much more than iMessage. You can also send multiple filetypes from Messages on Mac OS X – you can send an MP3 etc via iMessage from a Mac to anyone with an iPhone
• Multiple Receiving Addresses - as touched on below, you can nominate additional addresses to receive at – unlike WhatsApp which requires you to give out your mobile number, you can tell people to iMessage your personal email, your work email, or a completely different email address.

Of course, there are other benefits over SMS that both (and other apps) share

• ‘Free‘ messages. Messages are sent using your data connection (WiFi or 3G) making it much cheaper than your usual SMS (or MMS)
• Not only free domestic messages, but free international messages - no need to pay international SMS/MMS fees if someone on the other side of the world has data access and iMessage or another app
• ‘More Reliable‘ – you’re not totally reliant on the carrier’s network – with messaging using data connection you’re free to use 3G/WiFi etc. However it then relies on your providers network.
• Works everywhere - you can use apps over WiFi where there’s no 3G access, including overseas while roaming
• Delivery receipts - you are notified when messages are delivered (either to the server (WhatsApp) or the device)

You can share a location in Maps by tapping the pin (or the blue ‘my location’ dot), tapping the blue arrow and tapping ‘share location’. It takes two taps in WhatsApp. I’d imagine Apple’s official solution is to be using Find my Friends – then you can just ask Siri where your friend is

Here’s how I use iMessage and you might want to do the same so your friends can get in contact with you and not have to worry about messaging each of your devices to contact you.

I have an iPhone 4S, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iMac and MacBook Pro

Sign into iMessage (or Messages for Mac) with your Apple ID (let’s call it myappleid@evansmith.info) on all my devices.

Messages sent to myappleid@evansmith.info will now appear on ALL my devices and when it is read on one the notifications will clear on the other devices.

Now you may not want to give out your Apple ID address to everyone (I don’t) so setup an alternate address or addresses if you want more than one. Tap Settings > Messages > Receive At and add as many addresses as you’d like. In our example let’s add imessage@evansmith.info and evan@evansmith.info. You’ll also see down the bottom of this screen ‘Caller ID’ so let’s look at that while you’re there.

Caller ID is the address that iMessages you initiate on that device will come from. If you set this the same on all devices (such as your email address) all your conversations will be available across all devices, handy if you’re jumping from one device to another. I’ll go ahead and set this as evan@evansmith.info on all my devices.

Now, iMessages sent to your phone number will be sent only to your phone that has the SIM with that number in it. Until Apple has some sort of feature that registers your mobile number against your Apple ID rather than just the phone you can’t do much about this. Just ask your friends that have iMessage to message you at your desired email address! (and keep reminding them!)

So with this setup I can start my conversation on my MacBook Pro at work, continue it on my iPad/iPhone on the way home in the train and continue again on my iMac at home and whoever is on the other end hasn’t realised I’ve changed devices and their messages have been delivered to me and read by me no matter what device I’m using.

Now if you really, really, really need someone to contact you only on a particular device you could add a ‘Receive at’ email address on a particular device. For example on my iPad I could create ipad@evansmith.info and then give that to someone that I want to message me only on my iPad. I don’t have a reason to do that so I won’t.

Obviously you don’t have to use iMessage like this but it certainly seems the most flexible setup if you’ve got a few devices and want the convenience of picking up and continuing a conversation on any device. And is definitely one of the key problems that Apple decided to tackle when they introduced iMessage

Got any questions? iMessage me! I even have a handy iMessage link on my website where you can just tap on your iOS device or click on your Mac to send me a message. (visit here if you’d like to add an iMessage link to your website/blog)

Beau Giles contributed to this post.

During the morning peak, lunch time and evening peak everyday I will experience full signal but no data transfer at all. Resulting in failed iMessages, inability to send/receive email and a battery that drains really fast as a result of continually trying to transmit/receive data (as there is full signal and 3G access but no data flowing)

iOS 5.1 was released today and brings back the Enable 3G toggle to the iPhone 4S. This morning I ran two tests from my desk at work in the Sydney CBD. One on Next G and one on EDGE just to see if EDGE might be an option when 3G seems to be saturated.

Testing EDGE vs Next G in the Sydney CBD while plugged into power

Next time I have absolutely no data on 3G I’m going to give EDGE a go and see if I can get some data.

If you’re having similar issues leave a comment below

I decided to go up by train so jumped on the 13:18 from Central to Woodford, arriving there at 15:00 (the train was late leaving Central). The nice thing about this ride is you can ride from Woodford station to Glenbrook station via the trail, no car needed!

After all the recent rain the trail was in poor condition with a lot of loose rocks, some large ones too, that made it hard to get a lot of speed down hill and going up the hills with that much loose track was hell. Even going down some of the steep sections required walking because the rocks were so unstable

Thankfully a storm rolling through the mountains just missed us, traveling to the North of our location and we only got a few spots of rain.

I had a change to use my new CamelBak 2012 M.U.L.E.® NV which worked extremely well, the venting on the back of the pack kept my back and the water nice and cool.

Once we finished the first 19km of the trail that is locked off the road was nicely graded, although had plenty of corrugations to shake the shit out of you while riding. I did plan on going a bit of the single trail on this part of the ride but there was another storm approaching and just wanted to get to Glenbrook.

Crossing Glenbrook creek at the causeway was fun, some nice cool water to cool down from a hot and humid days ride.

The last bit is the climb out of the national park from Glenbrook creek up to Glenbrook, which required walking in some bits.

It was just a quick ride to Glenbrook to grab some food and drinks from FoodWorks before jumping on the train back home from Glenbrook

As always you can check out the ride log from my Garmin Edge 800 which records GPS track, speed, cadence, heart rate, temperature, elevation etc. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150701241

I wrote a post about this last year and at the time Barry O’Farrell seemed to think would be logical to charge an off-peak fare for an off-peak service.

Mr O’Farrell, now that you’re Premier, is this still the case or are the states finances so bad we need to squeeze every last drop from everywhere we can?

A reader pointed out last year in the comments that this issue is covered in the CityRail FAQ’s

Why do I have to pay full peak fare during holiday periods?

Rail services are already heavily subsidised by the community. The price of a full fare train ticket represents around one quarter of the total cost of providing the service. It would be unfair to further subsidise rail services by providing off-peak fares for everyone travelling throughout this period. Doing so would also disadvantage customers who purchase MyTrain and MyMulti weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly tickets.

Due to the high costs involved in running these services (even when running an amended timetable), in addition to staffing and maintenance costs during holiday periods, it is not viable for an off-peak fare to be charged over these days.

Well that statement is a bit of a cop out isn’t it? You don’t pay enough anyway so we’ll charge you based on that rather than charging for the service we deliver to you. High cost of running services? It’s not a public holiday so CityRail aren’t paying their staff penalty rates, why does it cost more now than any other weekday of the year? If it’s not viable to charge customers for what they are getting….

This time of year is a perfect opportunity to entice people back to public transport and away from their cars, offer incentives to use trains to get to work during this weak rather than provide an incentive for someone to drive to work instead.

Public transport in NSW is now supposed to be ‘all about the customer’, yes all about shafting the customer whenever you can.

Have a read below and make some energy saving suggestions in the comments.

What have we done so far?

• Push button timer switches on the two garbage rooms so the lights cannot be left on. Each room has 2 x 2 35W fluorescent lights
• Moved feature wall floodlight (150W) onto a separate timer so it runs only from 6pm until 11pm rather than 6pm to 6am like it used to. This also helped reduce unwanted light shining in some residents bedroom windows
• Car park lighting is now on a motion sensor so it is only on when required and switches off after 5 minutes

I wanted a dual suspension so decided on the Giant Anthem X3 2012. It’s at the lower end of the dual suspension at $1999 and should suit me nicely. It has disc hydraulic brakes which are awesome!

The bike came with clipless pedals so I’ve taken the plunge and bought some mountain bike shoes. The clipless pedals connect to cleats on the bottom of the shoe and lock you into the pedals. It allows for a bit more efficiency with some energy going into the ride on the upstroke. I just have to get in the habit of getting a foot unlocked before stopping or making sure there is something to lean against when I stop!

I also decided to get a Garmin Edge 800. This will let me create courses to give me directions and also takes a GPS log of the trip as well as elevation, speed, cadence, temperature, heart rate etc. You can check out my Garmin activities over here

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

I currently use GoGet car share rather than owning a car and it does work great, however I really would like the freedom to just jump in my car and go for long drives, camping on the weekends. I could do this with a hire car or with GoGet but it is a hassle having to pickup cars from hire places or to book a GoGet car with enough time to pack it etc. Also if I feel like staying out longer than planned I can. With GoGet there is this lack of freedom in you know you have to have the car back at a particular time, sure you can extend the booking but if someone else has booked it after you then you have to get it back or be fined $50.

To fit in the car stacker the vehicle needs to fit inside these parameters:

• Maximum weight 1800kg
• Maximum length 5050mm (including any tow bars)
• Maximum Width 2200mm (including mirrors)
• Maximum Height 1550mm (including roof racks & antenna)

Subaru had released the Impreza XV (crossover vehicle) which gave a little more clearance and other features to make it a bit tougher however to my amazement it is actually too high for the car stacker at 1570mm

I have searched and searched for more vehicles but most are all too high to fit in.

Along came my trip to the International Avalon Air Show 2011. I flew to Melbourne and had hired a car for the long weekend, I had decided to go a  few notches up from the basic tiny car and had selected i30 or similar. On arrival at Melbourne I went to pickup my car from EuropCar where they told me I had the Skoda. Now I had heard of them before and as far as I was concerned they were pretty shit. Well I was blown away. I had the Skoda Octavia TSI DSG and from the moment I drove away from the airport everything felt great. It handled well, the DSG gearbox was fantastic. It has standard drive and a sports automatic modes with the option to shift to semi manual (tiptronic)

After that weekend I had pretty much given up on my AWD search and thought why not just get a Skoda Octavia? So I headed off to the nearest Skoda dealer at Petersham to check things out. When I got there they had several types of Skoda Octavia, once of which was diesel and was 4×4! (AWD) It was called the Skoda Octavia Scout and came in a manual option only in a standard or premium model. Best of all it fits in the car stacker coming in at 1533mm high. I took it for a test drive for about half an hour and it was great. The only concern I had was the constant shifting for city drive, with 6 forward gears the car never felt like it ever had the right gear when crusing at 50km/hr

I did a bit of research and found out the Scout would be updated with the DSG gearbox in the coming months. This was finally announced by Skoda Australia towards the end of March. Following is the line up with driveaway price a the Petersham Skoda dealer:

• Octavia Scout 103TDI 6 Speed Manual ($44,401)
• Octavia Scout Premium 103TDI 6 Speed Manual ($48,545)
• Octavia Scout 103TDI DSG ($46,770)
• Octavia Scout Premium 103TDI 6 DSG ($50,960)

You can read the brochure to see all the standard equipment but here are things that stand out the most for me:

• Massive amount of luggage space in the boot and with the rear seats down it’s huge. 12V socket in the boot too
• 2.0L turbo diesel engine with good efficiency combined 6.1L/100km and CO2 emissions 160 g/km
• Leather seats, tinted glass, electric seat and sun roof (premium model)
• Dual zone climate control so passenger and driver can have different temperatures
• Satellite navigation comes as standard
• AUX input in the console
• Cruise control
• Lots of controls on the steering wheel
• Multi function display – a scroller on the steering wheel allows you to see plenty of information about the car, trip km, engine temp, fuel consumption (current and average), speed (current and average), trip time etc.
• Lights under the mirrors come on when you lock/unlock the car so you can see where you are going at night.
• Heated seats & mirrors
• Plenty of room for passengers in the rear seats
• Roof rails to attach roof racks for extra luggage or my kayak, bike etc.

What do you think?

Thermalmix creates a thermal barrier which prevents heat loss through walls and ceilings in summer and prevents heat gain through walls and ceilings in summer. This will dramatically reduce your energy cots for heating in winter and cooling in summer. In winter Thermalmix works by reflecting heat back into the room rather than it being absorbed and lost through the walls or ceiling.  In summer Thermalmix will prevent heat from coming in via the walls and increasing the amount of heat inside the room.

It’s pretty easy to use, just add it to whatever paint you’ll be using and paint as you normally would. The mix is actually made of up tiny balls that create the barrier so it will create a slightly rough finish on the painted surface. If you don’t want a rough finish just ensure you do a final coat without the Thermalmix in the paint to ensure a smooth painted surface

I’ve painted all my walls and ceilings in my apartment with Thermalmix and it makes a huge difference in Winter and Summer.

The Jackson Green Energy Saving Powerboard – Master/Slave (PT9778) is a great way to save on standby power usage at home or at work. You can pick these up for around $30. The powerboard itself uses less than 1W of power and provides surge protection

Here’s how it works:

Plug one device into the ‘Master’ socket and related devices into the ‘Slave’ sockets. When the device in the master socket is turned off a few seconds later the slave sockets will be switched off by the powerboard to save on standby power usage of those devices. There is also a ‘Normal’ socket for plugging in a device that should not be powered down when the master device is turned off.

I have a few of these powerboards at home here is how I have them setup:

Living Room:

• Master socket: LCD Television
• Slave sockets: Bluray player, sound system and Apple TV
• Normal socket: AirPort Express (because I want my WiFi network extended all the time for better coverage upstairs)

When I turn the TV on,the Bluray, Sound system & Apple TV now have power available. When I turn the TV off they then all get turned off at the powerboard automatically so they aren’t using any standby power

Home Office:

• Master socket: iMac 24″
• Slave sockets: Extra 24″ Display, External Speakers
• Normal socket: Printer/Scanner/Copier (These devices should not really be powered up and down often, set their internal sleep settings to save power)

When I turn my iMac on power is restored the second monitor and the external speakers. When I shutdown my iMac the external monitor and speakers are powered off at the powerboard.

When I had an energy audit done it was found the external speakers could use up to $50 of energy per year in standby mode.

Why not think about how one of these devices could save you money in your home or work place