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Control your life – Electric Imp style
0There are incredibly exciting advances being made in electronics and computing, a lot of which are making their way into the public domain and most of which are within easy reach of individuals from a usability an d cost perspective. Some examples are Arduino, the overfunded Pebble E-Paper watch, 3D printers and the RaspberryPi computer.
A new addition to that list is the Electric Imp, a set of minute circuit boards that may one day become a part of appliances and gadgets we use every day. The Imp is presently under development and will be available to developers as soon as June of this year. Its premise is to Internet-enable as many devices as possible. So, it will be possible to attach the Imp to a washing machine, garage door motor, swimming pool pump or anything else. An easy way to connect the Imp to the Internet via wireless LAN and an associated cloud service that permits programming the device will make the Imp attractive to hobbyists and developers alike. Best of all, the price of the minute circuit boards is expected to be around USD 20!
The intended production model will measure a scant 25mm square and includes 802.11b/g/n WiFi and a heavy-duty antenna. Powered by a Cortex-M3 processor the Imp has good performance and low power consumption. A wide range of output options are provided and catered for to enable communication.
A variety of boards are planned: an integrated board for use in new and existing appliances, a tinkerer’s kit programmable by hardware switches and even an Arduino add-on.
Exciting stuff, though would-be developers will need to embrace Squirrel.
PenStylus. StylusPen. iStroke.
0A stylus is a useful accessory for an iPad. There are a host of drawing and note taking applications that are simply easier to use when a stylus is applied to the screen rather than a finger. My current favourite has been the Wacom Bamboo, a heavyweight stylus with a nice heft. It’s has now been renamed the Wacom Bamboo Solo for reasons you’ll read about in the next paragraph. Unfortunately, I tend not to carry it around with me as much as I should. The reason is simple: a stylus is useful, but I often also need a pen and don’t want to carry both around with me. Ok, I often forget the stylus. And sometimes the pen.
The ideal solution is a combination of ballpoint pen and stylus. The Wacom Bamboo Duo would be my choice but is not yet available. Duo refers to the new Wacom‘s property of providing a pen and iPad stylus in a single pen. I picked up a reasonable alternative in the interim and am quite happy with my choice: an Ozaki iStroke L. The stylus has a large rubbery dome on one end for use on the iPad‘s screen and a black ball pen covered by a cap replete with clip on the other. The ballpen seems to be a standard refill, extending the lifetime of the rather slim gadget. I had to choose between red and white due to a limit in stock at the local Dion Wired (I chose white, though I would have preferred black).
The iStroke is manufactured in other colours, too.
For the ZAR 299 price, the iStroke does a good job. It is an imprecise stylus for precise drawing owing to its roughly 7mm wide functional end and is pretty much the same as the Bamboo in this regard. For more a far more precise stylus the Adonit Jot Pro is apparently worth a look, though that product features only a stylus without a ballpen. The iStroke is far lighter than the Wacom, making it easier to use for extended periods of time.
The Ozaki has changed the way I work, allowing me to take notes and doodle on the iPad and also to have a pen handy whenever it is needed.
Best of all, the two functions are combined into a single piece of hardware, so that the iStroke has become a steady companion to my iPad.
Thor-strength copy protection
0
In an effort to catch up on a lot of superhero movie goodness I’ve missed over the years, I’ve been ripping (legally, of course) a number of DVD‘s in my library. In fact, I’m extending my task to include all DVD‘s I own, especially those for the kids. My preferred format right now is m4v. The format provides high quality, reasonably compact file sizes and integrates well with our preferred home computing platform, the Mac. We can view the movies on Apple TV and stream and copy to iPad‘s. Whether or not this is the best bet or future-proof is anyone’s guess…
My general procedure is to pop a DVD into the iMac, fire up HandBrake and create the output file which is transferred to iTunes. In almost all cases HandBrake is more than adequate. A reminder: if you’ve upgraded to the VLC 2.0, the shared library that enables HandBrake to decode the DVD contents is no longer a part of the standard installation. It’s easy to fix. The file libdvdcss.2.dylib needs to be copied to the /usr/lib folder on Mac OS X. An easier way is to get the packaged installer for the decoder and run that to place the file in the correct place.
Automated SAP monitoring
0If you’ve been involved in any technical SAP administration you’ll know how tedious the daily checking and overall monitoring of an SAP landscape can be. The more systems the landscape consists of, the more pressure the technical team is under to ensure that all systems are running smoothly. The standard operating procedure of ticking off items on a checklist is rather useless when one is dealing with five systems or more: it is fair to say that 90% of productive time is lost checking things that don’t require checking – the time to check and fix the important things is extremely short and the last thing the technical team needs is to be informed by end users that their SAP infrastructure is misbehaving. Whilst SAP‘s Solution Manager provides a reasonable stab at landscape monitoring, it’s a mission to get going and to maintain. Ensuring plug-ins in satellite systems remain at the correct level is also difficult. Hence, there is still a huge demand and requirement for specific niche solutions that address specific problems in the SAP world at a lower overall cost and with a far quicker implementation time.
Syslink‘s Xandria is a SAP landscape monitoring solution that is extremely easy to implement whilst being very cost-effective. Sporting a very low resource consumption agent that is deployed per SAP instance and a centralized aggregation server to consolidate and store data delivered via the SAP CCMS to the agent, Xandria provides an extremely simple realtime monitoring view in a web browser. Problems are indicated in red, potential issues in yellow and non-issues in green.
A daisycutter for your clutter
0Without doubt I store too much on each of my Mac‘s internal hard disks or SSD‘s. The end result is often a mad scramble to try and find what is hogging space when Mac OS X warns me that my startup volume is running low on disk space.
Trying to find large files without some good help around is difficult. The best tool I have found for the job is DaisyDisk. DaisyDisk performs a single function: it maps out the content of internal and attached volumes and graphically represents space utilization.
An attractive graphic representation permits drilling down into directory structures and automatically updates what files have been found and their individual and combined space usage.
A handy landing spot at the bottom of the application’s interface collects files and directories that have been dragged and dropped there. Click the delete button and after a five second countdown, the files in the landing area are removed from the disk and valuable space reclaimed.
DaisyDisk is available in the Mac App Store for USD 19.99 – presently, the application is being sold at a 50% discount. Even at the full price, DaisyDisk is a valuable tool to have.
Back to the Future – Lego style
CUUSOO is an interesting initiative the Lego group is supporting. Originating from Japan, CUUSOO accepts custom-built Lego models and places them online for the CUUSOO community to vote for. If a particular model gains more than 10,000 votes, that model is put forward to Lego for consideration. The end-result may be that the model is packaged for sale. So far, three sets have originated from CUUSOO including a MineCraft micro world.
Currently under consideration is a set I really hope makes it all the way to being packaged: the DeLorean from Back to the Future. This set even includes custom mini figures.
A quiz about logos
My iPad tends to fill up with a bunch of applications, though games are generally relegated to the iPads belonging to the younger members of the family. Today, I discovered Logos Quiz. It’s hardly a game that would keep a youngster or game fanatic occupied and if you’re anything like Cayce Pollard, Logos Quiz is unlikely to appeal to you. I, on the other hand, find logos and company background information rather fascinating and Logos Quiz is right up my alley.
It’s a free iPad game that presents a series of obfuscated company logos and challenges the player to identify them. Various levels provide more and more logos that have been thoughtfully edited to make their identification rather difficult at times.
Instead of selecting from a list, the name of the company has to be entered using an onscreen keyboard. Incorrect answers result in a lower score, whilst a misspelling is indicated by an appropriate icon.
Completely stuck? By identifying a certain number of logos correctly an increasing number of lifelines become available. These may be traded in for a message to Twitter requesting help from the denizens of the Internet.
Well worth the download if logos and design are of interest to you. Download from the app store.
GMail by SMS
I’m not entirely certain how new this feature is, but after launching MailPlane earlier today GMail indicated that SMS messaging was available. This is a handy feature to have access to and is certain to be another nail in the coffin of mobile network operators already struggling to maintain their stranglehold on revenue generation that once was assured – SMS messaging in particular is under threat from various online services that enable communication between individuals at no cost.
By selecting the SMS option, a message can be sent to a mobile number.
The recipient may reply to the message which is relayed back to Google Talk.
The list of supported network operators in South Africa is limited to MTN and 8ta at present. The list of worldwide mobile operators is provided here.
The Google Talk user incurs no cost, whilst the mobile user will be charged for each SMS sent back the service. Once Vodacom and Cell-C are added to the list of supported networks, this is likely to be far more useful.
iOS 5.1.1 released
Apple has just released an update to iOS 5. iOS 5.1.1 for iPad and iPhone devices addresses the following issues:
- Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
- Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G wireless networks
- Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
- Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
- Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase
Since my third generation iPad arrived a couple of weeks ago, I have been experiencing the all too common problem that the device is unable to reconnect to the cellular network after having spent some time on a wireless network. There is no direct correlation between the length of time the device has been used on a WLAN or whether or not it has been exposed to a 3G network in between being used on a wireless network. The problem manifests itself rather simply: no connection to the 3G network is possible and the only fix is a reboot of the device.
Similar issues on the original and second-generation iPad could be resolved by switching into aircraft mode and back again. Not so with the third generation device. I am hoping the listed fix for the 2G and 3G network switching provides a solution to this rather irritating feature.
A 50MB download should provide the answer…
The big moon
1 week ago
by manfred
in Photography
If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to get out your camera and take some photographs of the moon, this weekend is ideal. On Sunday, 6 May the moon will have moved along its path and will be closest to Earth. The fact that the moon is at perigee isn’t the only remarkable occurrence. At the same time, the moon will be full. The combination of these two events will make the overall size of the moon appear somewhat larger than usual and should provide a good excuse to get out and get snapping. It would also pay to get to bed early on Saturday evening, as the time for the perigee is at 5:33 in the morning.
At perigee, the moon is about 357,000 km away from Earth, whereas at apogee the distance is about 407,000km. The moon should appear more than 10% larger than usual and will be a whole lot brighter. Since there’s no such thing as a ruler hanging around in the sky that will prove the moon is indeed closer or larger you may want to compose an image that provides some contrast – possibly the moon rising above a house or similar to accentuate its size.
Some gear that may help includes a sturdy tripod fitted with a tripod head that is easy to adjust in small increments. A lens with a long focal length will help pick out detail and you may want to add an extender to get even closer. Remember to use a cable release and enable the mirror lock-up function to reduce vibration and enhance clarity.
Full manual mode is ideal with an ISO value that is low enough to capture as much detail as possible. A high aperture value helps capture detail and prevents the large lightbulb in the sky from blowing out your image! Since the moon is extremely bright, exposure bracketing is useful. If your camera is able to bracket three or more frames, this is also an ideal time to capture a sequence of images that could be post-processed for HDR.
Maybe this is the chance mankind has been waiting for to capture a full-colour image of the moon?
One more thing. It’ll be dark, so don’t forget to bring a small flashlight. Lighting up the camera’s LCD panel using built-in lighting is one thing. Finding the right button to modify a particular setting in complete darkness is quite another. Most important of all, make a note of what has worked and what you have tried out for future reference.
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