If you are experiencing this issue, I have no idea how to fix it, and can only suggest you upgrade WordPress (I am about to attempt this,) or replace all instances of “s-e-l-e-c-t” with “choose” (or “opt” or something.)

In any case, I naively assumed that it would all be wine and roses, everything would work perfectly, and I would be able to easily do seemingly simple things like sharing my sweet new 3G connection over Airport with anyone else who happened to be working in my general vicinity. Upon eagerly tearing open the modem packaging and plugging it in though, I discovered pretty quickly that this sh*t is UGLY.

First of all, I couldn’t just plug in and get going. The Mac drivers for this thing aren’t part of OSX, and AT&T didn’t even bother to include them in the modem package. I had to go to some third party website and download them (support.option.com/att.) At least they took the time to write that in tiny type on page 30 of the manual.

Secondly, the third party application added a whole bunch of ugly, seemingly unnecessary network interfaces, and REMOVED all my EXISTING network interfaces. Clearly this wasn’t going to work. Not only could I not share my 3G connection with any other interface (since they’d all been disappeared,) but I couldn’t use any of my other interfaces at all until I disconnected the 3G.

[On a side note: googling the problem has indicated that this is also a major problem for Parallels and VMWare installs, which rely on adding network interfaces to get access to the host connection. Disappearing them all means that the guest OS can’t access the 3G connection.]

But enough about the problem. Here’s my solution. Basically an updated version of the solution found here: Imperfect Workaround.

This works with the AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver Modem with DataConnect package, and Leopard (OS 10.5) on a Macbook Air.

1. Install GlobeTrotter software as indicated by Quicksilver manual (Download from support.option.com/att — download link is tiny somewhere in the middle of that big blank page.)
2. Plug in card and run GlobeTrotter Connect
3. Connect and ensure your card is working this way
4. Disconnect and quit GlobeTrotter Connect
5. Open System Preferences, and click on “Network” (Choose “Edit Locations” in the Location dropdown menu, then choose “GlobeTrotter Connect” and click the “-” button.)
6. Delete the “GlobeTrotter Connect” location
7. Delete all of the weird network interfaces that GlobeTrotter has added (mine were called something like ‘Icon 322 Modem,’ ‘Icon 322 Diag’ etc.)
8. Hit the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the interface list
9. Choose Interface: Icon322 Control. Call it whatever you want (mine is called ‘Evil 3G Control’)
10. In the right-hand pane, enter this information:
• Configuration: Default
• Telephone Number: ISP.CINGULAR
• Account Name: ISPDA@CINGULARGPRS.COM
• Password: CINGULAR1
11. Click the “Advanced” button.
12. In the “Modem” tab, choose:
    • Vendor: Other
    • Model: Option GlobeTrotter 3G
13. Leave everything else as-is, and click OK
14. Click Apply, the click Connect.

This should get you connected. I have found it to be very slightly tempermental, but not too bad. I’m not sure what will happen if you uninstall the GlobeTrotter application — if you try this, let me know what happens!

Leave me a comment if you got this to work, or had problems with it!

First of all, do the things it says to do in these 10 Simple Steps to Joomla RSS.

Namely, install RD-RSS, add feeds, set up Feedburner.

To turn on HTML, you’re going to need to edit the RD-RSS source code. The file you’re interested in is [JOOMLA_ROOT]/components/com_rd_rss/rd_rss.php. Find it via FTP or in a terminal session.

You’ll probably want to make a copy of the original unedited file at this point just in case something dreadful happens and you need to restore it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you: screwing around with the Joomla source can quite easily cause catastrophic site failure.

Having said that, this operation is pretty basic. All you need to do is pop that bad boy open in a text editor, and comment out these lines (221-222):

$item_description = mosHTML::cleanText( $item_description );
$item_description = html_entity_decode( $item_description );

They should then look like this:

// $item_description = mosHTML::cleanText( $item_description );
// $item_description = html_entity_decode( $item_description );

Then just save the file and re-upload it (if you’re using FTP.) It might take a little while to see the effects because RD-RSS has caching enabled by default, but eventually your feeds should show up in all their HTML glory.

Note that if you want to see your images, you will have to make them into absolute links, or create a further hack to make sure that relative paths get translated into absolute ones. I suggest something along the lines of this, pasted just underneath the lines you just commented out:

$item_description = preg_replace( ‘#(href|src)=”([^:”]*)(”|(?:(?:%20|\s|\+)[^”]*”))#’, ‘$1=”http://www.YOURSITE.com/$2$3′, $item_description );

<c:url value=”http://www.google.com” var=”my_google_link”><c:param name=”query” value=”lookforit” /></c:url>

<c:url value=”my_google_link” var=”my_new_google_link”><c:param name=”pagenum” value=”5″ /></c:url>

<c:out value=”${my_new_google_link}” escapeXml=”true” />

This results in: http://www.google.com?pagenum=5&query=lookforit

Note that using escapeXml in your <c:out /> has the added benefit of giving you some sweet XHTML-compliant link action (i.e. ampersands are escaped.)

Yesterday, I bit the bullet. Thankfully, there weren’t excessively many issues. The first thing I stumbled upon was that Internet Explorer doesn’t like the DOM element.getAttribute(’class’) method very much (it returns null regardless of whether your element actually has a class.) I was forced to use the less pleasing direct DOM alternative (i.e. element.className.) Similar logic applied to the ‘name’ attribute (element.setAttribute(’name’, ‘x’) throws an error; element.name = ‘x’ doesn’t.)

The second issue was significantly more irksome, only because it took quite a lot longer to figure out what the hell was going on. This is partly because of the way my script was structured, which only made it more annoying. When creating a form input element dynamically, I was consistently getting the error: ‘Could not get the type property.’ This was not good, as there seemed to be no way to create, say, a radio button without setting its type.

To clarify: I wanted to end up with some HTML that looked like <input type=”radio” name=”my_name” class=”my_class” id=”my_id” />. I was using Javascript that looked like this:

function createElt(parent_elt, elt_type, elt_id, elt_class) {
var new_elt = document.createElement(elt_type.toUpperCase());
if (elt_id) { new_elt.setAttribute(’id’, elt_id); }
if (elt_class) { new_elt.setAttribute(’class’, elt_class); }
parent_elt.appendChild(new_elt);
return new_elt;
}

function createFormElt(parent_elt, elt_type, elt_id, elt_class, elt_formtype, elt_name, elt_value, elt_onclick, elt_onfocus, elt_onblur) {
var new_elt = createElt(parent_elt, elt_type, elt_id, elt_class);
if (elt_name) { new_elt.name = elt_name; }
if (elt_formtype) { new_elt.setAttribute(’type’, elt_formtype); }
if (elt_value) { new_elt.setAttribute(’value’, elt_value); }
if (elt_onclick) { new_elt.onclick = elt_onclick; }
if (elt_onfocus) { new_elt.onfocus = elt_onfocus; }
if (elt_onblur) { new_elt.onblur = elt_onblur; }
return new_elt;
}

createFormElt(parent_elt, ‘input’, ‘my_id’, ‘my_class’, ‘radio’, ‘my_name, ‘my_value’, clickMethod, focusMethod, blurMethod);

The problem was that Internet Explorer wasn’t gettin’ down with the idea of setting the ‘type’ attribute *after* appending the element to its parent. Never mind that, in theory, I still had a perfectly valid reference to the element in question, nor that setting any other attribute worked just fine. In any case, the solution was just to set the type element before appending. In this case I decided not to use the createElt method for form elements, but I could just as easily have added a parameter for type to createElt.

The code that worked:

function createFormElt(parent_elt, elt_type, elt_id, elt_class, elt_formtype, elt_name, elt_value, elt_onclick, elt_onfocus, elt_onblur) {
var new_elt = document.createElement(elt_type);
if (elt_name) { new_elt.name = elt_name; }
if (elt_formtype) { new_elt.setAttribute(’type’, elt_formtype); }
if (elt_id) { new_elt.setAttribute(’id’, elt_id); }
if (elt_class) { new_elt.setAttribute(’class’, elt_class); }
if (elt_value) { new_elt.setAttribute(’value’, elt_value); }
if (elt_onclick) { new_elt.onclick = elt_onclick; }
if (elt_onfocus) { new_elt.onfocus = elt_onfocus; }
if (elt_onblur) { new_elt.onblur = elt_onblur; }
parent_elt.appendChild(new_elt);
return new_elt;
}

createFormElt(parent_elt, ‘input’, ‘my_id’, ‘my_class’, ‘radio’, ‘my_name, ‘my_value’, clickMethod, focusMethod, blurMethod);

Now I just have to get the CSS working…

I’m here to tell you the good news. There’s hope, and it comes with a 15 day free trial.

First of all: it would be remiss of me not to mention GCalSync—an up-and-coming open source solution that lets you sync Google Calendars to Blackberries OTA. However, wonderful as GCalSync is, it’s a tad lacking in the Google Apps for my Domain arena (it won’t let me use my GApps login directly, and attempting to download calendar data from my “private calendar” URL results in all of my events showing up on December 31st, 1969.) That said, although I have not myself attempted it, I hear it downloads events from regular Google Calendars quite well.

But on to the main event: syncing a calendar (or, for an extra $40, calendars) to/from Google Apps for My Domain to your trusty Crackberry.

To achieve this mammoth feat, you will need to:

1) Set up an account with GooSync.

2) Tell them your Google account information. You will not be able to use their (allegedly) magical “auto-setup” utility, or their “you don’t have to tell us your password” Google Calendar authentication. This is the one thing that’s a little chancy about this operation—you do actually have to give GooSync your password to Google (choose the “I want to use password authentication” checkbox.) Therefore, you should likely not use the same password for Google that you use for your bank account, or the nuclear missile silo. Although if you ask me, any company that’s based in Wolverhampton Science Park is bound to be trustworthy.

3) Visit Nexthaus using your Blackberry’s default web browser and download and install their excellent SyncJE client software (http://www.nexthaus.com/bb/syncjebb.jad.)

4) Open the SyncJE client, select “Settings”, and enter:

• Server URL: http://www.goosync.com/sync/sync.aspx
• User Name: [your goosync username]
• Password: [your goosync password]
• Check “Calendar” and set: Foldername: Calendar

5) Hit Save.

6) Select “Start Sync.” When it completes, you should be able to see your Google Calendar events in your Blackberry calendar!

7) (Optional) Pay Nexthaus $29.95 to get a license so that you can sync for more than 15 days.

8) (Optional) Sync multiple calendars by upgrading your GooSync account (~$40 extra). Once you’ve upgraded, go to the “My Device” screen in your GooSync web console, and click the “Change…” link to the right of “Sharing 1 Calendar.” GooSync automagically loads all of the calendars you have set up as Shared Calendars in your Google Calendar account. It lets you name them, and events from that calendar will show up prepended with [calendarname] in your Blackberry calendar.

As you may have discerned, I am mightily excited about this. Now all I need to make Google Apps truly mobile is a Contacts sync (which GooSync says is in the works).

Note about my setup: I did this on a Blackberry 7130e on Verizon’s network.  To get it to work on a co-worker’s Blackberry Pearl with T-Mobile, I had  to configure their TCP to use T-Mobile’s APN: Go to Options > Advanced Options > TCP, and set APN to wap.voicestream.com.

For other networks, search for “[network name] WAP APN”.

But I digress. I got a Blackberry. Now I could install all of those lovely Java apps that Google is releasing these days, right? This was very exciting. Seriously exciting—I ripped open the box the minute it arrived.

Sadly, my euphoria was short-lived. After some back and forth with Verizon, my phone was activated and online. But, every time I tried to install a Java application (mobile Gmail, mobile Google maps, Opera Mini, etc., etc.) I got this error:

HTTP Error 406: Not Acceptable

The page you are trying to load is not supported by the browser. Please try loading a different page.

Details: 200: Application can not accept the content [text/vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor]

I’ll admit it, I pouted.

And then I did some research. And waited on hold with RIM customer service for about 3 hours.

What I discovered was this: my Blackberry was formerly part of a monolithic corporate network. It was chained to an Enterprise Account. The all-powerful IT Department bestowed their Security Policy upon it. And now, that Security Policy, much like a hot iron brand, is officially with it for life. Wiping the device cannot remove it. Kicking, screaming, and threatening to sue RIM cannot remove it. The original owner’s IT Department can remove it, by sending a new Security Policy, but that would involve figuring out who and where they are, and persuading them to do work that they have pretty much zero incentive to do.

The Security Policy seared onto my Blackberry does not allow third party apps to be installed. So, I would be right back where I was with my WM5 phone if it weren’t for the Awesome Power of the Internet.

Here’s your solution

If you are also having this problem, you may want to take a quick look at this page: http://blackberry.ig3.net/

Now, I’m still in a little bit of a pickle, because I don’t have a PC. Therefore, I’m stuck trying to make Parallels play nice with USB devices. When (and if) I get it all to work out, I’ll post an update.

The Update

The workaround is great—the only problem I had was getting my Windows running under Parallels to recognize my Blackberry. I finally gave up and just used an old PC laptop we had lying around the office.

For reference, here are the versions I installed:

• Java 1.5
• Eclipse 3.2
• Tomcat 5.5
• Ant 1.7
• WTP 1.5.2
• Subversion 1.3
• Subclipse 1.0.5
• MySQL 5
• Spring 2.0.1
• GreenUML 2.5.0

1. Install OS X developer tools

2. Run software update and install all updates (esp. Java—this will update from 1.4 to 1.5)

3. Install MySQL

• There’s a nice OS X package at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html#downloads
• If desired, install the startup item and preference pane that come along in the install package

4. Install Tomcat 5.x

• Download the Core Binary Distro .tar.gz from http://tomcat.apache.org/download-55.cgi
• Run the following (in Terminal):

> sudo su –
> mv /Users/{username}/Desktop/apache-tomcat-5.5.20.tar.gz /usr/local/
> cd /usr/local
> gnutar -xzvf apache-tomcat-5.5.20.tar.gz
> ln -s apache-tomcat-5.5.20 tomcat
> rm apache-tomcat-5.5.20.tar.gz
> chown -R {username}:{username} apache-tomcat-5.5.20

5. Install Ant 1.7

• Download from http://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi
• Run the following (in Terminal):

> mv /Users/{username}/Desktop/apache-ant-1.7.0-bin.tar.gz /usr/local/
> cd /usr/local
> gnutar -xzvf apache-ant-1.7.0-bin.tar.gz
> ln -s apache-ant-1.7.0 ant
> rm apache-ant-1.7.0-bin.tar.gz
> exit

6. Install Subversion 1.3

• Download nice OS X package from http://metissian.com/projects/macosx/subversion

7. Set JAVA_HOME / CATALINA_HOME / ANT_HOME / PATH

• Create /Users/{your_username}/.bash_profile if it doesn’t already exist
• Add the following to it (using vim, emacs, or your text editor of choice):

export JAVA_HOME=”/Library/Java/Home”
export CATALINA_HOME=”/usr/local/tomcat”
export ANT_HOME=”/usr/local/ant”
export PATH=”$PATH:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/subversion/bin: \
/usr/local/mysql/bin:$ANT_HOME/bin”

8. Create a MySQL database and a user for your project

> mysql -u root
mysql> CREATE DATABASE projectdb;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON projectdb.* TO \
‘projectuser’@’localhost’;
mysql> exit

9. Install Eclipse 3.2.1

• Download from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
• Copy to Applications folder

10. Install Spring IDE

• Follow instructions at http://springide.org/project/wiki/SpringideCallistoInstall

11. Install Eclipse Web Tools Project (WTP)

• As for Spring IDE, go to Help > Software Updates > Find and Install
• Select “Search for new features to install”
• Select Callisto Discovery Site, and Web Tools Platform Updates
• In the Search Results window, select WTP Updates > Web Tools Platform and WTP Patches
• Expand Callisto Discovery Site, and click “Select Required”
• Click Next, Accept (Next), Finish, (files download) Install All
• Restart Eclipse as prompted
• Open Eclipse > Preferences
• Go to Server > Installed Runtimes
• Click “Add”
• Find Apache > Apache Tomcat v5.5
• Enter /usr/local/tomcat as the Tomcat installation directory
• Click Finish, then OK.

12. Install Subclipse

• Download from http://subclipse.tigris.org
• As for Spring IDE, go to Help > Software Updates > Find and Install
• Select “Search for new features to install”
• Click “New Remote Site…”
• Name the site “Subclipse”; URL: http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.0.x
• Click OK
• Make sure Subclipse is selected; hit Finish
• In Search Results, expand Subclipse and select it
• Click Next, Accept (Next), Finish, (files download) Install All
• Restart Eclipse as prompted
• Open the SVN Repository perspective and define your repository

13. Install GreenUML

• Download from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=132685
• Unzip and copy everything in the green_x.x.x/plugins folder to /Applications/eclipse/plugins
• Restart Eclipse

14a. If you have an existing project, check it out from subversion.

14b. If you need to create a new Spring project, download spring-framework-2.0.1-with-dependencies.zip from http://www.springframework.org/download