Here is a short list of the resources I used to write this procedure:

Getting Imagemagick (and more) to work with MAMP on OS X – misses info on compiling for Snow Leopard.
Installing Image Magick and Imagick for PHP for MAMP – misses change needed in ports conf file to enable Universal mode.
MAMP & Imagick on Snow Leopard – goes through the pitfalls, which makes the tutorial confusing, but goes into the Universal mode switch.

There are others which I may miss, such as forum posts or other blogs, if so, my apologies. In all, none of them go into the use of older libraries by MAMP in its sandboxed model, which breaks imagick.so when trying to compile it from source rather than using pecl.

1. Install MacPorts

I won’t go into details as you most likely have already done it if you’re reading this. Make sure your ports are updated.

2. Make MacPorts build Universal binaries

Simply edit /opt/local/etc/macports/variants.conf and add +universal at the end of the file.

3. Install Image Magick using MacPorts

Simple:

sudo port install ImageMagick

This takes a while, so go grab a coffee.

4. Update your path

Add

export PATH="$PATH:/opt/local/bin"

to ~/.profile

5. Download and install the imagick PHP extension

Grab it from here, I used 3.0.1 RC2. Extract the archive, and then execute the following in Terminal:

MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.6
CFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -g -Os -pipe -no-cpp-precomp"
CCFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -g -Os -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -g -Os -pipe"
LDFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -bind_at_load"
export CFLAGS CXXFLAGS LDFLAGS CCFLAGS MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET

This sets up compilation as a Universal binary. Once the exports are done, execute:

cd /imagick/
phpize
./configure –with-imagick=/opt/local
make
make install

When this completes, you will have a directory called modules, inside which you will find imagick.so, the PHP extension. You can check compilation worked by executing:

file imagick.so

which should return:

imagick.so: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures
imagick.so (for architecture i386): Mach-O bundle i386
imagick.so (for architecture x86_64): Mach-O 64-bit bundle x86_64

If it doesn’t, then your exports didn’t happen correctly, and only one version was built.

6. Copy the module to the MAMP modules folder

You now need to copy imagick.so to the folder where MAMP stores PHP extensions, which in my install is:

/Applications/MAMP/bin/php5.3/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/

for PHP 5.3, and

/Applications/MAMP/bin/php5.2/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613/

for PHP 5.2.

7. Add the extension to php.ini

Here you can choose to edit the MAMP template (File -> Edit Template -> [your PHP version]) or simply edit php.ini found in either /Applications/MAMP/conf/php5.3 or /Applications/MAMP/conf/php5.2. Add the following line:

extension=imagick.so

8. The Test

The easiest way to see what PHP is being run with is to create a simple php page with:

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

This will show you all the extensions being loaded, and you should see an entry for imagick. If you don’t, check the PHP error log, where you may find crap like this:

dyld: Symbol not found: __cg_jpeg_resync_to_restart
Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices...
Expected in: /Applications/MAMP/Library/lib/libjpeg.62.dylib

which is Not A Good Thing™. You may also hit library version incompatibilities, such as imagick.so requiring newer libraries than those provided by MAMP. If this is the case, you need to edit MAMP’s environment variables, thus:

sudo vi /Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/envvars

Comment the two lines that set and export the path, which look like:

#DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="/Applications/MAMP/Library/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH"
#export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

and add:

export PATH="$PATH:/opt/local/bin"

This has the effect of breaking out of the MAMP sandbox, and using the newer libraries found at /opt/local/bin. You could also delete the originals in MAMP and add dynamic links to the newer versions at /opt/local/bin, but I have not tried this nor recommend it.

After doing this change, restart MAMP, and try to reload the PHP info page – imagick should now be listed and working!

Let me know if I missed anything or you have any improvements to this tutorial, I am by no means an expert at this, just managed to get it working after a bout of severe hair loss.

Me apena decir adiós a series como Cálico Electrónico, que en sus inicios nos hizo contactar con Albert sobre la posibilidad de que nos creasen un video animado de introducción a Whisher – aunque al final no se hizo por cambios sustanciales en nuestra página web. El cierre de Nikodemo & Co. viene forzado por no encontrar financiación que pudiese sostener el proyecto, que todavía tenía resultados económicamente negativos – aunque positivos en cuanto al público y lo social. Albert se queja de la falta de “riesgo” en la ecuación “capital riesgo”, aunque quizás el primer error fue la elección de las fuentes de financiación. El capital riesgo (en adelante, VC, como en los contratos) puro, tal y como se entiende en el mundo de los emprendedores, es desgraciadamente muy escaso en España. Me vienen a la cabeza unos pocos fondos, como Nauta, Debaeque, Adara, o Perennius. Más abundantes son los “business angels”, que son como un VC pero sin un garrote tan gordo para cuando van mal las cosas. Por debajo de aquí tenemos ya a los innumerables fondos, créditos, ayudas, viveros, parques tecnológicos, y pseudo-VCs. Los más preocupantes son éstos últimos, ya que en los primeros casos las cosas están bién claras desde el principio. Cuando accedes a un préstamo tipo NEOTEC, los términos son claros:

La empresa devolverá la ayuda a CDTI según vaya generando cash-flow positivo. Para ello, la empresa se compromete a facilitar a CDTI anualmente las cuentas anuales cerradas. La cuota anual de devolución será de hasta un 20% del cash-flow positivo generado hasta la amortización total del crédito.

Es decir, no corres riesgo. Si la empresa no llega a afianzarse, no tienes que hipotecar o vender la casa e irte a vivir debajo de un puente para devolver préstamos. el CDTI también se blinda un poco en cuanto a su riesgo de esta forma:

CDTI anticipa a la empresa, a la firma del contrato que regula la ayuda NEOTEC, entre el 40 y el 60% de la ayuda aprobada. El resto se entregará a la empresa a la finalización y justificación técnica y económica del proyecto-plan de empresa aprobado.

Si tus cuentas no dan resultado, el CDTI habrá perdido un máximo del 60%, de a su vez el 70% del coste total del proyecto, que es lo que otorgan. Otros tipos de ayudas oficiales se rigen por términos similares, y se convierten en una buena opción de capital semilla. El único problema es el arduo proceso de solicitud y trámite, que en ocasiones, puede alargarse meses, demasiado para una startup. Para solucionar en parte este problema, han aparecido una serie de empresas que se dedican a asesorar a startups en el proceso, a cambio de cuotas mensuales y/o porcentajes del capital conseguido – también otro tema para tratar en otro momento.

Los pseudo-VCs, o el nacimiento de una nueva palabreja en el mundo de los emprendedores.

El gran problema de los pseudo-VCs es que actúan como si tratasen con capital riesgo, cuando en realidad ofrecen créditos blandos convertibles. El gran riesgo de éstos créditos es que son como una enorme espada de Damocles que se balancea sobre la cabeza del emprendedor. El pseudo-VC se reserva el derecho a exigir la devolución del crédito en el momento que considere oportuno, y no en el momento en que la empresa sea “cash-flow positive”, ni tampoco con una restricción en cuanto al porcentaje de “cash-flow” destinado a la devolución. Por otra parte, también pueden convertir el crédito en participaciones en la empresa, en términos que pueden poner a los fundadores en minoría sin capacidad de recurso. El ejemplo de pseudo-VC en el caso de Nikodemo es Caixa Capital Risc, que se posiciona como VC, pero que en realidad tienen sus intereses bancarios en la retaguardia. Los bancos y cajas son la cosa más contraria al riesgo del mundo mundial, y por definición, no deberían ‘vender’ capital riesgo.

Los condicionantes que imponen los pseudo-VCs pueden también condicionar seriamente las posibilidades de financiación por parte de VC real en etapas de crecimiento y necesidad de financiación de la empresa. Imaginemos por un minuto que somos un VC, y se nos presenta una empresa con un éxito razonable, y que cumple con la mayoría de objetivos marcados en el plan de negocio. Analizando la estructura de la empresa, nos damos cuenta que han recibido 500.000€ de un pseudo-VC. La empresa nos pide 1M€ sobre una valuación de 2M€. En el momento del cierre de la operación, el crédito del pseudo-VC representa un 25% del valor de la empresa “pre-money”, y tras el cierre, representará casi un 17%. En condiciones normales, el préstamo se devolvería en el momento oportuno, sin afectar la composición de porcentajes de los socios. En cambio, con un pseudo-VC de por medio, existe la posibilidad de que los socios se diluyan un 17% en cualquier momento. Para el VC que pone el millón de Euros, esto representa ‘perder’ unos 170.000€ de golpe. Pocos VCs van a invertir en una startup con un riesgo así. Como dicen, “new money, new rules”.

Si, en el título también menciona WebTV…

No tengo muy claro que el modelo de WebTV (y que conste que tomo el término de forma un tanto liberal, para que se entienda a lo que me refiero) pueda llegar a funcionar con los modelos de ingresos actuales, que son, básicamente, la publicidad. Tal y como reconoce Gonzalo Martín en su blog, tener ingresos suficientes de publicidad exige unos volúmenes de tráfico muy elevados. Véase como ejemplo YouTube, que todavía pierde dinero y no sabe exactamente cómo monetizar más allá de los anuncios in-line. Otros medios como la prensa intentan los anuncios pre-roll, aunque desconozco su éxito. No creo que sea muy elevado ya que todos otorgan una pequeña ‘x’ que permite saltarse el anuncio. En mi opinión, desde que empezó el mundillo Web 2.0, la publicidad se tendría que haber considerado como un extra, que en caso de ser sustancial, bienvenido, pero en caso de no existir, no tuviese como resultado la muerte de la startup. En los años que duró Whisher, me cansé de preguntar a otros emprendedores “y cuál es el modelo de negocio?”, siendo la respuesta incontables veces “la publicidad”. Me imagino que de ser más realistas con las cifras, muchos proyectos ni siquiera se hubiesen lanzado. Hemos pasado de la exuberancia irracional de las punto-com a la estupidez irracional de la Web 2.0.

La primera víctima sonada del ajuste en las startups WebTV fue Mobuzz. Acabó de la peor manera, con denuncias y sentencias favorables a los empleados para poder cobrar sus últimos sueldos e indemnizaciones (con resultado de que la empresa y sus representantes se encuentran en paradero desconocido). Sonada, porque murió tras una intensa campaña de marketing viral destinada a sacarla del agujero, que generó ríos de tinta a favor y en contra. Lo que pocos se pararon a pensar es si el modelo encajaba dentro del mercado, es decir, si existía mercado de pago suficiente para sustentar a la empresa. Buscando referencias al caso Mobuzz, he encontrado una web curiosa, Fiasco Awards 2010, donde Mobuzz es una de las pretendientes. Lo curioso es que votaron el iPad como ganador, cuando está batiendo récords de ventas…pero eso es, de nuevo, otra historia.

Tal y como también menciona Albert en su comentario al post de Gonzalo, las empresas de WebTV sufren de una competencia por parte de una serie de receptores de ayudas públicas a fondo perdido, como es la industria del cine. Cierto, pero es un factor a tener en cuenta cuando realizas tu plan de empresa – hay competencia que tenga fondos y/o recursos ilimitados? Voy a luchar en un campo de batalla neutral, o tengo una parte de posibles acuerdos ‘amañada’ de antemano? A mí me ha pasado el perder un contrato público contra alguien que presupuestaba ocho veces más que el resto, sin ninguna otra explicación lógica que la del maletín. Es algo a tener muy en cuenta.

En cualquier caso, como emprendedor, deseo mucha suerte a todos los que estáis luchando día a día por llevar adelante vuestros sueños, independientemente de lo que digan los demás (o casi!). Eso es lo que realmente hace que el ser humano progrese, de otra forma, seguiríamos en una cueva.

Grabbing a coffee I noticed something new on the receipt:

At last, WiFi at my local Starbucks! It’s a shame that it comes a few months late, but welcome nevertheless. It seems that if you own a VIPS card you get double time, up to 90 minutes. The launch was confirmed by BT via Twitter (nice to see they are on top of things!). All they need now is some nice PR material at the stores to show people that WiFi is available, and how to get online.

[Update] I tested the connection on my iPhone today, and there are a few things that need fixing:

- The WISPr code is not fully recognized by the iPhone, and thus you are shown the hotspot’s default landing page.

- Once you have the landing page, you need to tap through to ‘other operators’ so that you can login with the provided BT credentials.

- The BT login page is not mobile-formatted, which makes it a pain to navigate in order to login, even on the iPhone.

- There should be only a password for the free session, having such complex username/password combination is going to put some people off (“where’s the damn forward slash on this phone?!”).

Ideally, BT OpenZone should recognize mobile Safari, and present either a formatted landing page, or suitable WISPr code for the iPhone’s built-in authentication software to kick in. Otherwise, the WiFi connectivity is superb!

Thanks to ifixit.com, we can appreciate that the underside of the Magic Mouse sports a grid of 10 x 13 sensor pads from the logo towards the top of the mouse, and two final rows at the very top, one with 8 sensors and the other with 6:

This gives the mouse the potential to detect one or two fingers placed on it, and the individual motion of each finger, anywhere on the mouse’s usable surface. So, I propose the following gestures. To middle-click (third button), simply place two fingers on the mouse, and click with both at the same time, thus:

To open Exposé or Spaces, place the right finger on the mouse, and scroll up or down with the left finger:

It’s actually quite ergonomic, try it on your mouse, and if you like it, send the suggestion to Apple – if anyone finds a form specific to the Magic Mouse, let me know, otherwise the link points to iMac feedback (as it comes with one). And yes, the images above are taken from Apple’s page and badly photoshopped, my apologies!

1. Real-time navigation availability depends on the type of license map data is served under, as I explained in a post a few months ago. The map data served by Google to Apple for use on the iPhone does not allow real-time, turn-by-turn navigation, thus, it is cheap and much less money flows from Apple to Google for it. This is explicitly referenced in the iPhone SDK’s licensing terms. Google must be paying a premium on the data it serves on the Android GPS app for this kind of use.
2. A real-time navigation system depends on constant availability of maps, which means online devices, such as an Android phone running Google’s app, must have perfect wireless coverage, in terms of both connectivity and bandwidth, and we know this is next to impossible. A comment on Erick’s post suggests Google caches map data when the route is created, which would be fine…if people followed the route perfectly. Many times, this is impossible for a number of reasons, such as bad routing, roadworks, or heavy traffic. All of these require re-routing, so Google, and any online system, would need to cache also every possible deviation and re-routing from the original path, which is impossible. There is a reason why TomTom’s iPhone app comes loaded with several hundred megabytes of map data.
3. The GPS chipset on mobile devices is not well-suited for high-rate position updates. This is evident if you use TomTom’s iPhone app, and is also evident as TomTom includes a separate GPS chipset in their iPhone car kit, for “…the most accurate positioning“. Since position update rate means battery consumption, and a phone has a ton of battery-consuming electronics on its own, the GPS typically provides less frequent updates than a dedicated GPS device.
4. Dedicated GPS units are best at taking you from A to B, re-routing you within a couple of seconds if you deviate, and showing you the location of speed traps safety cameras and other points of interest (POI). As you go up the price ladder, you are provided with additional functionality, such as voice commands, phone connectivity for hands-free audio and real-time traffic data. On this particular point, I totally agree with Matt Burns on his CrunchGear post, who says of GPS makers: “They are in the habit of producing 78 different versions of the same GPS. Each model steps you up $20 and adds another feature“. But I digress. With such a model, of charging for map updates, or for safety cameras, would they not also be charging for POI data if it was of any real use in vehicle navigation? Like updates to the “Restaurants” category? No, the issue here is that POIs are the least used feature in GPS navigators, and the makers know this. You may occasionally look for the nearest gas station, but that’s about it. If you want to eat something, you will ask around at your destination, or will have looked up options before the trip, but very very rarely do people go looking for stuff on their GPS devices. It’s true that Google makes it a lot easier to access this kind of information, and puts it right there on your face, but nothing will beat a dedicated service such as Yelp, or a dedicated app such as Bliquo (shameless plug for my good friend David Douek, who works there now, hope it helps your SEO at tiny bit!).
5. You can pick up a dedicated GPS unit for almost what you will spend on car mounts and cig-lighter adapter cables. They have faster routing, better planning capabilities, no need for wireless connectivity, and a much better audio output than any mobile phone.
6. You are supposed to be looking at the road while the GPS guides you by voice instructions, not at the GPS screen while it provides you with fancy data and/or graphics. Once you safely stop to look at the GPS, there are much better ways to present useful data, such as POIs, than Google’s interface. Many countries are looking into forcing GPS manufacturers into blanking the screen while the vehicle is moving in order to further prevent distractions to the driver.
7. TomTom, as an example, can add natural voice route requests to their higher-end units via software updates. Some already feature dictated destination input, but its use is clunky and not very useful right now – I bet we will see improvements soon. All it takes is the licensing of a proper speech-recognition engine. Google doesn’t have any major competitive advantage here, other than being the first to implement an (allegedly pending actual reviews) good functionality.
8. TomTom owns Tele Atlas, and Nokia owns NAVTEQ, which combined provide a huge chunk of the map data used by Google Maps. I love you Fake Steve, but you’re wrong on this one – GPS makers are fine, and they know it. Unless Google is planning on re-creating all the map data on their own of course, which is discussed extensively on this post by James Fee, but this would only mean Google would be free from other providers, not crush them.
9. Erick argues that “…the future of mobile apps are Web apps”. I think this is a huge over-simplification – the future of some mobile apps are apps that pull some or all of their data from the web. I regularly use an iPhone app that provides emergency response information on hazardous material (HazMat) incidents – I would be screwed if I had to depend on cellular coverage and a web service for this! We all saw how long Apple’s hard stance on iPhone web apps lasted, and the App Store just broke the 100.000 approved app barrier, so I rest my case.
10. Further from the GPS-centric topic, I’ll question wether Google really developed the Mail and Search functionalities of the iPhone – AFAIK, these are implementations of Mail and Spotlight respectively, can anyone confirm this one?

Ever since Bluetooth was invented, it provided a communications stack, and a protocol stack, which encompassed a growing number of profiles. An application only had to talk to the right profile in order to establish communication with another Bluetooth device supporting the same profile, for example, serial port, audio gateway or FTP. During device discovery, a Bluetooth device would query the other about its available profiles, and would then choose the right one as needed. As a practical and recent example, the iPhone initially supported the handset profile, which provides very rudimentary headset functionality and leaves out things like address book access. Over time, the iPhone has been upgraded with more profiles, some as complex as A2DP which allows highish-definition audio to be sent to stereo headphones or speakers. I say “highish” as it uses an audio bandwidth of 16kHz, way below the normal audio response of a set of headphones, leading to a noticeable decrease in quality. But I digress.

In my view, the press release was very badly worded, making it appear as a re-branding of old-time ad-hoc, when it really implies adding a number of protocol stacks and profiles to the standard ad-hoc mode. It is also an attempt to take Bluetooth head-on, with the argument that Wi-Fi is a gateway to a bigger number of services – Bluetooth DSL router, anyone? no? I rest my case. Having such a set of profiles would obviate the need to have Bluetooth chipsets on top of Wi-Fi, which are always an added cost and source of radio interference. We would then have to see how audio accessories cope with this, but then again, I’ve not seen many people carrying Bluetooth headsets around, while car kits can accommodate a Wi-Fi chipset thanks to their board space and bigger battery.

The Implementer’s Forum, as it is know, is made up from various companies that helped develop the USB standard and its newer, faster derivatives. The USB-IF acts as a central clearinghouse that provides USB vendor IDs to manufacturers who wish to use USB ports in their products. Every vendor using USB is supposed to register on this forum and pay its fees, which then gives them the right to use the USB logo on their products, and an individual vendor ID, which combined with a product ID, identifies every device on a USB bus.

In theory, this is sweet and dandy, but in the real world, shit happens. Anyone who has played with hardware peripherals long enough will have seen at least once a device identified by Windows as something else – this happens when a vendor “clones” another vendor’s ID. Some can get away with using the other vendor’s ID and a random product ID, combined with a customized driver on CD. In fact, there are tons of products shipping today which bear the USB logo without paying any duties to the USB-IF, and thus, running with “pirated” IDs.

The only power the USB-IF has is self-regulation. If you want to bear their logo, you need to pay their royalty, and agree to abide to its policies, including non-cloning of vendor IDs. So let’s say Palm gets booted off the USB-IF. They just need to remove the USB logo from their product (if they bear it at all – check your iPhone as an example), and they’re home free. They are free to use Apple’s vendor ID as much as they want, and there is no legal recourse Apple or the USB-IF has. With so much legal power, don’t you think Apple would have sued Palm already if there were grounds for legal action? Rather, they engaged in a technical cat-and-mouse game involving iTunes updates to kill off the attacker.

Personally, I think Palm is in delusion. Making the Pre compatible with iTunes will not make it any more popular that it already is not. And Apple has every right to place technical blocks on the Pre, particularly if they miss-represent the vendor ID. Still, if I was Apple, I would have just ignored the issue. The Pre is not a threat to the iPhone, which is far superior in all aspects (apart from the non-removable battery).

Let me get this straight – you use embedded Linux so that you can serve Windows-only ActiveX-infested web interfaces? Far worse, many of them use weird codecs that come in their Windows-only install CDs, which means that you’ll have to go back to a Windows machine or a VM in order to use these things. Mobile support of course isn’t much better, with Windows Mobile devices supported, again, via ActiveX, and Symbian via Java applets.

I’ll keep searching, but my hopes are fading…