Firmware update for Drobo FS repairs Time Machine support

The release of  Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) made it difficult, if not impossible, to use a Drobo FS as a backup destination for Time Machine. The forums were full of frustrated users that had bought the Drobo FS in the believe that the marketing was actually true. Drobo released a firmware update (2.1) but this did not work for me and many others users. I already suspected that Drobo had given up supporting the Drobo FS, but today I noticed that a new firmware (2.1.1) appeared. I updated both the firmware and the desktop client and this fixed the problem. After six months of having to use an external hard drive for my backups, I was finally able to use the Drobo FS again for what I intended it to be.

But I am still disappointment by the lack of updates for Firefly and Fuppes. Both apps do sound very nice, but they are so outdated that they do not play nice with the latest release of iTunes or other media streaming clients. Again, the Drobo marketing does not live up to reality.

Using Kiwibank for Google Wallet (Checkout)

I had some trouble getting my account verified in Google Wallet, or Checkout for that matter. Google claimed that the test transaction had been refused by my bank. Kiwibank did not have a clue what the problem could be and even started to give me misleading information. The call center guy thought that the SWIFT number should be put into the routing field, which was just utterly wrong. Contacting Google is also a hopeless endeavor. Their customer support does not exist.

After some internet research I found out that the problem was with the suffix. Kiwibank, and many other banks in New Zealand, only use a two digit suffix. Google does, however, expect three digits. A leading zero was the solution. After I put a three digit suffix in, the test payment went right through.