Welcome to Energy Aware

A few moments ago we launched Power Manager 3.7.1. This update includes a serious bug fix and a couple of minor improvements. It is available to buy and download immediately.

Power Manager 3.7.1

Power Manager 3.7.1 is free for existing users of Power Manager 3 and highly recommended.

Changes in Power Manager 3.7.1

• Improved syslog logging support.
• Improved removal experience.
• Fixed a rare bug in daily trigger calculation.

In Power Manager 3.5 we made a design mistake that made deploying Power Manager over a large network more work than it needed to be. In Power Manager 3.7 we fixed that design mistake.

Power Manager needs to store a copy of the schedule to disk. This allows Power Manager to run seamlessly between start up and shut down events.

The disk-based copy of the schedule is important and messing around with it is a bad thing. Making changes to the disk-based schedule without going through Power Manager will not end well — your changes will be overwritten if Power Manager is running when the changes are made.

Rocks at Manly beach, Sydney, Australia

The good news, for those wanting to play, is that Power Manager provides six supported ways of manipulating your schedule:

• a System Preference panel;
• Quick Schedule;
• a status menu bar;
• AppleScript;
• Automator actions;
• a command line tool.

With that in mind, we made a mistake with where we stored Power Manager 3.5’s copy of the schedule. We placed it in the hidden root user’s preferences folder.

/var/root/Library/Preferences/

In all fairness this seemed sensible. Power Manager runs as a root daemon and storing preferences along with the root user made sense. Doing this ensured the disk schedule was locked away tight from the curious. We neatly avoided a few problems that triggered our initial redesign, and we limited the scope of technical support queries arising from users who had tweaked preference file contents.

The design mistake was simple. We did not follow expected Mac OS X behaviour. Administrators expect preferences to be stored in a central location on each Mac.

Network, computer, and user preferences all have specific folders provided by Apple. By not storing preferences in the specific folder we immediately made ourselves a special case for administrators to deal with.

That meant administrators’ scripts and support tools had to deal specifically with our preference file. That hurt.

Power Manager 3.7 fixes the design mistake. Power Manager now stores all of its preferences in the expected folder.

/Library/Preferences/uk.co.dssw.powermanager.daemon.plist

I am sorry it took so long to correct. Thank you to the administrators who stepped forward to question, puzzle, and prod us back onto the right path.

If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, you have probably discovered carbon offsetting. You can pay to extra to offset everything from insurance to flights. Don’t, not yet.

I don’t want the airline to plant trees on my behalf when I fly. Planting trees is nice, but I want the airlines to invest in developing low-emission fuel.

JCDeux’s Velo bike hiring scheme in Lyon, France

Before you buy carbon offset credits, try these easy steps. You will reduce your carbon footprint, and you will save money.

1. Change all of your light bulbs to energy efficient ones. It is tempting to wait until your old incandescent bulbs go out, but you will save yourself money in the long run if you change them today.
2. Turn off electrical items such as lights, televisions, radios, and computers. As you leave a room, take a moment to look around and see what you can turn off. If you can turn it off at the wall, even better.
3. Drive less. Start by making one less trip to the supermarket each week, or try walking instead of taking the car for short trips.
4. Turn down your heating/cooling. Set the thermostat a couple of degrees cooler in winter and a couple of degrees warmer in summer.
5. Use cold water in the washing machine. Your clothes will still come out clean; there are washing powders designed for cold water. After washing, hang up your clothes to dry, instead of using the dryer.

A couple of weeks ago we launched three product updates. These were updates to Power Manager, Sleep Monitor, and Energy Schedule. The updates make sure our software works seamlessly with Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.5, also known as Leopard.

As usual, we marked the launch with a little celebration. But this was a special launch. Special because it encompassed three products, and because it marks our first launch since Megan and I returned from living in Lyon.

A year in France

Last year Megan and I had to break with tradition. We spent the year travelling and most of our time was spent living in France. The broadband revolution is wonderful, and last year proved my ability to continue to grow DssW while roaming free from a traditional office environment.

Living in France had its down side. It meant foregoing our traditional David Jones’ food court chocolate cake slice.

Surprisingly, finding suitably rich chocolate cake in Lyon was not easy. Thankfully, finding an alternative was easy - and so we broke with tradition and settled for local delights.

Back in Australia

We are back in Sydney, Australia, for a while. Once again, we can shop at David Jones for chocolate cake, but our tradition has been questioned. Never again can we return to David Jones without comparison to the delights of Lyon.

Cadbury’s cupcakes marked our launch

So, Megan and I had some fun and we made Cadbury’s cupcakes. Lots of little celebratory cakes in place of our usual one luxurious piece. Not in the same league as either David Jones or Lyon’s patisseries, but a yummy marker for our three latest updates.