Creating a Grub Screw for a Doorknob

07. August 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: DIY

This old house has lots of old door knobs, but some are a bit worse for wear. I've already repaired a broken spring in one with some cobbled together bits from an old wooden clothes peg, but that's another story. Another was lacking a crucial grub screw that meant the knob on one side just rotated freely, rather than operating the latch. The nice guy at Alban Locksmiths furnished me with an Imperial threaded screw that fits. However I needed a grub screw – one where there is no 'head' so to speak so that it can worm its way right into the hole.

No problem! Just saw the head off the normal screw then saw a notch in the end for the screwdriver. Here's a pictorial essay of my approach, the only trick of any merit being to clamp the screw between two bits of soft wood in the vice, so that it's gripped securely and you can saw it without it slipping or being damaged.

GrubScrew 1  GrubScrew 2

GrubScrew 3  GrubScrew 4

Update iPhone Software Using Internet Tethering: Don’t!

05. August 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: iPhone, Mac, Web/Tech
Because my broadband wasn't working I've been using internet tethering with my iPhone for my main internet connection for my computer. So when my iPhone demanded I update its software to cure its SMS vulnerability I thought hey why not go ahead! I figured it would download the update to the computer (via the iPhone's net connection) as per normal, then perform the update. No reason to suspect a problem. 

Unfortunately once it had got the whole 300MB package and tried to install it, it required access to some Apple server in order to finish the install, but the iPhone was half-updated and no longer providing internet connectivity. So I got stuck there, with an iPhone just showing a "connect to iTunes" graphic when switched on. I understand this is known as "recovery mode". And that's how it's been for a full day, but thankfully I now have broadband working and have managed to get it back up on its feet. That required a factory restore then update from backup then full sync though, and I'm yet to determine if all is truly well.

So the lesson here is – don't use your iPhone as the sole internet connection in order to update your iPhone!

iPhone Internet Tethering: GIF and JPEG quality

04. August 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: iPhone, Mac, Web/Tech
For some reason, having switched it off when the previous occupants left, we now have to wait 2 weeks for BT to turn our broadband back on again. I know not why. They must literally have a system that includes a "wait two weeks for no good reason" step. As such I'm using my iPhone with internet tethering as my internet connection.

It works reasonably well, maxing out at about 50 kilobytes/s – which equates to about half a megabit, so stretching the term broadband quite thin but useable as long as you're not in a hurry. However I've noticed that O2 are pulling a fast one (pun intended) and rewriting JPEG and GIF images that you request via HTTP, re-encoding them at a much lower quality level, presumably in order to make your bandwidth go that much further.

I have a problem with this though as they've gone so far down the quality slope that the images are often no longer fit for purpose, with small text unreadable and photos suffering from JPEG artefacts so badly that there's only a muddy mess left. Here's a small screenshot from my blog sidebar, showing the knackered JPEG, which I have saved with very high quality JPEG compression so as not to introduce more artefacts. Of course when I review this post it'll get re-compressed by O2 again and look even more terrible (indeed the hyperlink text is near unreadable) but hopefully you won't have that problem unless you're also tethering.

O2CompressedJPEG

So this is a plea to O2, asking them to turn up the quality, if they must mess with the web at all.
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