It’s pretty straightforward to (incrementally) backup all emails in a Gmail account to a QNAP NAS. There’s a QNAP NAS solution using Getmail but it comes with some limitations. I prefer to use Gmail-Backup. It doesn’t need any configuration files and it doesn’t have a 100 messages per session limit. It stores all mails in the .eml format, which not only works on Windows PCs but is compatible with Apple Mail as well. You can even restore deleted emails using Gmail-Backup from the NAS back to a Gmail account.

Here’s how I installed Gmail-Backup on my QNAP TS-439 PRO II+. This tutorial should work with all Intel-based QNAP TS-* models but obviously I only have the 439 to test with. I’m looking forward for your feedback if it works on your QNAP NAS model as well. Please make sure you enabled IMAP in your Gmail account settings. Gmail-Backup works for “Gmail for your domain” (it’s part of “Google Apps” now) accounts as well.

The tutorial is divided into three parts. The first part shows how to install the Optware QPKG on the NAS. This package installer is needed in order to (easily) install Python on the NAS. The 2nd part deals with the installation of Gmail-Backup and the third shows how to automate the backup using cron. It probably is helpful to have some command line skills. Read more »

Here are a couple of popular camera-settings related mishaps when using pop-up or studio flashes. The result is always the same: the flash visibly fires but the image is either way too dark or too bright.

Pop-up flash fires but photo way too dark/underexposed?

For this post I’m assuming you already know the limits of a pop-up flash (e.g. you probably can’t properly light a subject 20 feet away with a small flash). Here’s list of camera settings to go through. I’m using a Nikon DSLR body with a built-in pop-up flash, so the settings’ names may be different on your camera. Read more »

Are you’re still waiting for SSD TRIM support in Mac OS X? Well, it won’t come in OS X 10.6.7. Here’s some output of my 2nd generation MacBook Air Serial-ATA System Profiler page:

APPLE SSD TS128C:

  Capacity:	121.33 GB (121,332,826,112 bytes)
  Model:	APPLE SSD TS128C
  Revision:	CJAA0201
  Serial Number: 80PB54G7K1WK
  Native Command Queuing: No
  Removable Media: No
  Detachable Drive: No
  BSD Name:	disk0
  Medium Type:	Solid State
  TRIM Support:	No

As there’s no TRIM support for Apple’s own SSD technology obviously there won’t be support for it for my Intel SSD in my Hackintosh rig. But just to make sure:

INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GN:

  Capacity:	80.03 GB (80,026,361,856 bytes)
  Model:	INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GN
  Revision:	2CV102HD
  Serial Number: CVPO942300DA080BGN
  Native Command Queuing: Yes
  Queue Depth: 32
  Removable Media: No
  Detachable Drive: No
  BSD Name:	disk0
  Medium Type:	Solid State
  TRIM Support:	No

Nope.

I just combo-updated my Hackintosh rig to Mac OS X 10.6.7 (dev release 10J860) and everything is still up and running after the mandatory reboot. As usual I had to reapply the custom AppleHDA.kext in order to get sound back. From an ASUS P6T standpoint, this update should be considered safe.

Can’t use the new “multitasking” finger-swipes on your iOS 4.3 beta iPad? That’s probably because you updated your iPad in iTunes. You have to restore it in Xcode’s Organizer and click “Use Development Mode” to get the new four and five finger-swipes. You need a valid iOS SDK developer account to do this, it’s not enough to have the iPad’s UDID registered with someone else’s dev account. Read more »