Filed under: General, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 12:03 am
In our personal detail aware world, ask.com have just trumped Google by offering an option to delete search data and anything that would link you to it. Today, Google will retain data on searches you make for 18 months. That isn’t something you might want them to do, not because you search for anything illegal, but because someone else might use your browser or just use your data to direct market to you. There’s no reason why you should let Google take advantage of you like this other than you have no choice if you want to use their engine.
Well ASK changes that today with their ASK Eraser option which once switched on (look top right of their page) will not store any data about your searches which is really what Google et al should do too. Actually ASK is quite good overall with neat enhancements like page preview thumbnails before you go to a page and they seem to have shaken off the Jeeves moniker now too.
Tonight on the news Vicky and I were watching a clip on the news about the deployment of the OLPC XO laptop into a school in Abuja, Nigeria (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7115348.stm ). Whilst I think this is a great social scheme run by the UN, Vicky pointed out that we don’t even have that level of technology adoption in the UK. That got me thinking about why we can’t provide a £100 OLPC type device to every schoolkid in the UK. I undestand that lots of kids do have laptops, and indeed at Vicky’s school their adoption level of Tablet PCs is 80%, but there are plenty of schools where kids only have access to a PC at home, if at all.
The great thing about the OLPC is that its robust and has some good basic features like a 1200 x 900 sunlight readable display, a webcam, 256MB RAM, 1GB NAND storage (no disk) and WiFi. This is ideal for schoolkids as it can do basic office tasks like word processing, presentaions and spreadsheet and of course internet connectivity.
In this country we should really be able to provide an OLPC for every schoolkid for universal access to basic services and capabilities. I wish I could think of some way I could help make this happen, but I don’t have any way to influence a way forward. One intersting scheme run only in the US is a buy one - give one program where wealthier people can pay double and give one free to a needy child. Bizarrely this scheme is only running for 3 weeks, how short sighted is that? Perhaps we could do a similar scheme in the UK?
Microsoft have published the keynote from TechEd Europe 2007 … for me it wasn’t that excting compared to previous years and isnt exactly action packed with new products. Anyway, here it is …
Reportedly performs well on low end systems and supports Vista, not sure about ‘Glass’. Looks neat too, about the size of a pack of cards. Hope I can find a UK supplier for £75…
Filed under: Mobile, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 6:23 pm
At last the industry agrees on a connector standard for phones, cameras etc. The OMTP have finally decided on MicroUSB as their blessed connector format, currently used in devices like the Motorola RAZR and Qtek 8500. Fortunately the OMTP also includes Nokia. Hurrah! I say, but I guess it will take 1-2 years before these new formats are ubiquitous, which then leads me to wonder whether they will be usable by the next USB protocol update taking us to GBps transfer rates, I guess time will tell. But whatever, please no A and B connector types, a single connector that can plug and be plugged (remember Token Ring?) unfortunately I think its too late …
If you are my age’ish then you probably won’t have been able to escape the influence of the IBM S/390 mainframe and all the associated technologies; buzzwords like 3270, MVS, VM, CMS, TSO, CICS, LU 6.2, PU 2.1, SNA, SDLC, DASD, FEC and many more … now thats a distant memory as the classic 3080 and 3090 ranges have long been replaced by the Z/Series with Linux now the premier OS offering.
Microsoft helpfully provide developers with a free, although time limited, VHD for VirtualPC with XP SP2 and IE6 for compatibility testing. This is jolly useful for backward compatibility testing or if you are tracking down an issue which needs a vanilla IE6 which hasnt been modified by the dev environment or other add-ins.
There is one gotcha that you need to be aware of. When they built this VHD, Microsoft obviously tested this on their internal network and then packaged it up. As a result they left in their own company specific proxy settings for the proxy server run by their internal IT Group (ITG). So, if you try and connect to a web page from IE on your own machine outside of Microsoft, you will not connect to a page since the ITGProxy server is not contactable. Ping and other IP releated activities will work fine.
So to fix this issue you need to open IE, and from the TOOLS menu select INTERNET OPTIONS and click the CONNECTIONS tab. At the bottom of the dialog you will see a LAN SETTINGS button, click that and the dialog below will appear. Simply uncheck the ‘Use a proxy server…’ check box and click OK and then OK to dismiss the main dialog.
Reported on SiliconValley.com, this guy feels vibrations in his leg near where his phone normally is kept, even if his phone is not there, like a phantom vibration. Freakily, I have experienced this a couple of times as well! Several times I have thought my phone was ringing (vibrating) I’ve put my hand in my pocket and found no phone…. not often, but enough that I could recognise this straight away. Should I worry?
Filed under: Linux, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 2:50 pm
Instant on computing is something I’ve been interested in for a long time, ie the ability to have a fixed function workstation that does what I need (and only that) which is always instantly available after powering on, like a TV.
I’ve never been able to build this myself because the raw materials always prevented it, primarily the BIOS startup time. But Asus are just about to ship a new motherboard with an embedded Linux in firmware based on SplashTop. This means that the OS is there almost instantaneously after powering on, with a fixed set of apps which are initially a browser and Skype. You can then boot a disk based OS from SpashTop, but often you won’t need to just to use a browser and hopefully soon, Acrobat.
The downside is the cost of the motherboard as its a premium model and full size, but if this principle could be extended to a mini-ITX form factor with a tiny case and low power then it would make a great home appliance using web based office tools and picture editors etc.
I’m keeping my eye on this, not for this implementation, but what I might be able to do real soon. There’s a brief intro video here:
MacRumours are saying that a R/W ZFS preview has been made available to Apple ADC members to test. As an ADC member myself I can’t comment. But, ZFS is a fantastic, modern OS and would enhance MacOS in many different ways and would be easily extensible by 3rd parties. I am hoping someone brave will do a port of ZFS to Windows, although I fully realise that it could be a support nightmare for Microsoft and probably not advisable for the OS partition unless a major (like SUN) does the port and supports it. I live in hope ….
I continue to be impressed by Nildram as an ISP and can’t imagine changing. My ADSL is normally rock solid but it failed completey the other night and was gone all day. I duly logged the problem with Nildram and BT duly fixed it within 8 hours. What impresses me more though is Nildrams follow up where they phone to check everything is ok, amazing. I had one query, my service came back 8096kb when it was 8192kb before, apparently it should nudge back up over the next few days, but the rep was saying how lucky I am getting over 8MB, especially since I don’t really use the capacity, she had one customer that morning who was struggling to get 512kb, and I realised that sometime you have to be grateful for what you’ve got.
Today the BBC announced on the news that they will release the on-demand iPlayer so licence payers can watch programmes up to 7 days after broadcast free of charge on their PC Unfortunately my demographic of non-ethnic, male professional, IT aware meant I couldn’t take part in the iPlayer trials, but now the beta will be available to everyone on July 27th. Like 4OD and Sky Anytime before the iPlayer will only support Windows XP SP2 as an OS, so my Vista Home Media Center still can’t participate in any of the current on-demand services available to me. The ITV version is coming soon, but I’m not sure what their criteria will be.
There is a darker side to this though, as both Sky Anytime and 4OD silently install Kontiki P2P service so that your PC now becomes a distributed server for other users. There’s nothing inherently wrong with P2P as a technology, but you are giving up bandwidth to act as an unpaid server for Sky or Channel 4, and doing so without being told or compensated. You also have no control over how much bandwidth you contribute and when its used. I will be looking into how I can take control of my bandwidth when I have time and will post my results. Not sure what technology the iPlayer service will employ.
We finally got our login to the BBC archive after waiting ages. I completely failed to qualify for a login because i was the wrong demographic (male, young(ish), IT literate and professional). Now I know this sounds really bad, but in an inspirational moment I signed up Vicki and she met the demographic criteria (being female made the difference) so now we have access. There seems to be about 8000 shows available including Eastenders episode 1. There’s certainly no depth to any of the featured series but it does show promise. I’m not entirely sure how far the BBC will go with this and whether it will become permanent. I am hoping it will become pervasive so if for instance I want to watch the 1978 British Grand Prix or Going live from September 19th 1992, I would be able to find and view it. But already Vicki found value in a play that is published that was shown only once that she could not get a copy of for one of her lessons.
Filed under: Apple, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 10:53 am
This should be a marriage made in heaven, but I feel we’re still somewhere in upper purgatory. First the good news. It works! I performed the upgrade last night and it rebooted back with the new menu item for YouTube, I played a top selection video and it worked, hurrah!
Now the bad news. Not that many videos appear to be available yet, but I’m sure that will improve. However, the biggest issue is the search. Searching is appallingly bad with a remote control. Its just not quick enough. I was hoping Apple would have included support in the update for a keyboard, wired or wireless via a bluetooth extender. Sadly not.
Still I guess there’s a way to go yet, and on the positive side, it does work. I certainly recommend the update if you have an Apple TV.
In the true spirit of the Windows 3.1 usability labs, copying and deleting files in Windows is as flawed as ever. I sometimes wonder whether the coders and PMs for the Windows file management components must actually use Linux or OS X. I’m sure they can’t use Windows, or, they have never tried to copy or delete a large amount of files within which one is open by another process, at which point Windows helpfully stops and doesn’t continue…WHY? … How can this make any logical sense? OK I know I should use Robocopy to ease my copy woes, but why doesn’t MS help and put the functionality of Robocopy into plain old copy ? </rant>
OK, I tried my very best, but a PDA is no substitute for a phone. The HTC Touch should have been a ideal converter for me because it is slim, and actually, surprisingly smaller than my favorite HTC Excalibur smartphone.
I have now been able to hone in directly on why it could not convert me away from a smartphone, which was caused by one single catalyzing event. I simply wanted to Shazam a track I heard on the radio, so I pulled out the Touch and tried to unlock it, which took too long. Then I tried calling Shazam, after calling 2 other numbers in error then canceling I finally got Shazam dialed, just as the track ended.
So, what went wrong ? Well here’s my analysis;
The screen isn’t bright enough to use accurately as input on a sunny day
My fingers are too big so I have to deploy and use the stylus, which takes time.
The touch screen isn’t positive enough, I don’t know if I have pushed the button or not (which is compounded because of the slow processor)
I don’t know if I hit the right button, invariably not!
I like and need real physical buttons to press
and lastly, specifically in the case of the Touch, the CPU is just too slow.
As Vicki succinctly put it, how can it be a phone without buttons ?
So, I’m afraid it wasn’t the Touch that could win me over. I’d like to think the iPhone could, but it shares so many of the same issues that I have with the Touch that I think it will be a tall order, but one I am going to take on.
Filed under: General, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 10:01 am
Since I got connected to ADSL I have been through 11 routers. For some seemingly impossible to fathom reason, the router reaches a point where the line speed begins to degrade irreversibly. Even hard resetting the device makes no difference, only a new router will help. Take the latest situation where my line speed had dropped to 5264kbps and nothing I or my ISP could do would increase the rate. The decline, as usual was gradual, losing about 100kb per week. Installing a brand new router (a Netgear DG834N) and immediately my line speed is back up at 8096kbps. Magic. Unfortunately I know the netgear is doomed to the same fate as its brethren in 6 or so months. I make a point of always buying a different router, so I’ve had representatives from all major brands on the market. Changing cables makes no difference and the reversion to normal working has no input from BT or my ISP, so it can only be that the router wears out and has become my latest consumable.
Filed under: General, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 10:01 am
Lost in Space is my first recollection of colour tv after black and white. The colours were so vibrant, I remember being amazed, almost brighter than real life.
Well now for a mere $24K you can recreate that feeling with a full size replica of the robot B9 built from the original prop by a ex-B1 bomber pilot. Not only does it look good, you have to read the testimonials here to realise what love of a product and good customer service means http://www.lostinspacerobot.com/testimonials.html
One of the big (supposed) benefits of Windows Installer technology is the capability to install applications easily without admin privileges because MSI would elevate privileges to facilitate the installation process. Turns out this doesn’t work so well and when logged in as a regular user the MSI will fail to install and you will need to (rather inconveniently) log in as administrator and start the install again.
Now if the MSI ships with a companion setup bootstrap program then you can right click it and choose ‘Run AS’ and then provide admin credentials interactively without logging out and everything is sunny again (except any user specific items get created in the Administrators profile, but you cant have everything).
However, right clicking an MSI does not provide a Run As option … why? Indeed, why oh why….
There is a solution though, turns out its not that it can’t be done its just that Microsoft chose not to make that option available by default. Just add a registry key and you will get Run As for your MSI files. Copy the following into a .REG file and then double click the REG file you created and import these settings into your registry. You will have to do that as Administrator.
