I've been using MAMP Pro for a while to do local ColdFusion development on my Macbook. It makes installing, configuring, and connecting Apache, MySQL, and (shudder) PHP an absolute breeze. And with a little bit of know-how, you can add ColdFusion into the mix to make a stack that is not only easy to use, but fun. When I was consulting, it was well worth the $60 pricetag to be able to use multiple hostnames, but if you only need 1 hostname or are perfectly happy to work out of subfolders of http://localhost/, then the free version of MAMP would be fine for you.

I'm not going to show you how to install ColdFusion 9 into MAMP Pro, because there is already a great video that shows how to install ColdFusion 8 into MAMP Pro, and the install process for CF9 is not different enough to warrant a whole new video by itself. Instead, I'm going to show you how to fix an error that I consistently ran into during the installation process detailed in that video.

At right around the 19 minute mark of that video, the presenter has completed installing ColdFusion and configured MAMP to connect to it; so he restarts his MAMP services to give it a go. At this point, I get the error:

Start Apache failed
Apache wasn't able to start. Please check log for more information.

How do you fix this? Well, why don't I show you?

If this version is too small, you can view it full screen, or you can watch the HD copy on Vimeo.

Hopefully this proves helpful to others out there that want to run CF9 on MAMP or MAMP Pro. I know it drove me nuts for a while.

Previously I wrote about my own feelings after the announcement that Flash will soon be compileable into a native iPhone application.

Kendall Whitehouse, a fellow UPenn staff geek, was at MAX this year and has a great write-up on the situation from a business perspective. Not a whole lot of "news," per say, but definitely some interesting insight for anyone interested in the topic. Kendall also has a few sets of photos from MAX in his flickr photostream.

This started as an email to my friends and family that are iPhone owners, but I figured I might as well post it here too.

I'm not sure how true or severe this is, but I figure it's better to have information in advance so you know what to expect. It seems to be a legitimate article from a reputable source… so I'm fairly convinced it's true.

How To Hijack 'Every iPhone in the World'

My Summary: There's a bug in the iPhone SMS software that allows someone to send you a series of SMS messages, only one of which will show up. The guy in the article says the visible message from his version will only have 1 character, a square, but his method could be easily changed by another hacker to display another message, perhaps to look more innocuous. It looks like it will work in the same fashion as an internet worm: Spreading by sending itself to your contacts — so you will probably get the message from someone you know.

The only way to stop it from spreading is to immediately turn your phone off after receiving the message. It's not clear if or when you'll be able to turn it back on.

I would assume, but am not sure, that if you immediately turned it off, and then only turned it back on when you were ready to immediately restore from your most recent backup (which is made when you connect to iTunes), that might remove the malicious code… but then it's just a matter of time until you get it again. The more people that know you, the better your chances for getting infected (and again, and again, and again…).

Scary stuff! I hope Apple addresses this quickly.

Update: A friend informed me that hitting the Check for Update button in iTunes netted him the 3.0.1 firmware. Indeed, it's now available and the only note in the change log was that the SMS bug had beed addressed. I can finally stop worrying.

Since switching to my MacBook last December I have had but one regret: The lack of MS SQL Server Enterprise Manager. I quickly found Aqua Data Studio, but as a hobbyist I can't justify the cost of a personal license, and as one of few Apple nerds at my company, I couldn't convince them to buy the license for me. I have been able to get by using phpMyAdmin (gasp! php!) for MySQL databases, and a Windows laptop when I absolutely must, for MS SQL Server.

Today I saw Ray Camden's post on how Aqua Fold gave him a free license because he develops Open Source software, and I fired off an email of my own. Within the hour (I bet this is also reflected in their tech support), not only did they reply asking for my personal information to fill out the license registration, but they offered me the beta of version 6.5 of ADS (which should be a public-beta in a few weeks, and launched around September).

There has been some recent discussion in the CFBloggers discussion group about advertising in your blog, and in particular, giving the impression that you are presenting an objective view, even when the possibility exists that your opinion has been biased (as it might if you were given a free license). So to keep this as objective as possible, here are some cold, hard, facts:

• Aqua Data Studio is the only DBMS GUI for OS X that I have found, that isn't in its infancy and / or doesn't just plain suck. (The part about sucking is my opinion)
• ADS supports a ton of different DBMS'.
• I used the free trial, and based on that, really, really wanted a license; but eventually uninstalled the trial after it expired, shedding a single tear.
• Aqua Fold will give you a free license for Open Source use.

Draw from that whatever you want. For me, it means more productivity, and one new icon in my dock.