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Archive for September, 2008
Handy Weather updated again
Yesterday, I wrote about my impressions of the new Handy Weather release for the E90. A rather annoying bug wouldn’t let me add more locations and the upgrade to version 6.0 had killed a couple of my preset locations.
A quick mail to the Paragon Software Support Team provided me with a very quick fix: seems the bug was well known and an updated installation file is already available. I downloaded Handy Weather 6.0 (1) and can say that the issue with adding more locations seems to have been fixed.
Rain forecast for the Gold Coast tomorrow. Why do I really need to know that…
Another way to die
…might be to listen to the title track of the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.
Written by Jack White and performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys, this is a first for any Bond movie theme song: it’s a duet. Also, the track is available online for your listening pleasure. Not as a download, but for streaming. It’s not a bad tune and certainly conveys something Bond…
Handy Weather updated
The Handy Weather application is always available in my E90‘s active applications. This weekend, the software stubbornly refused to provide up-to-date weather forecasts: my one year subscription to the Intellicast weather information service had expired and it was time to renew or face daily uncertainty.
For USD 15, I was permitted to download the very latest Handy Weather version and added the ability to gain the all-important weather information for another year. Handy Weather 6.0 has been spruced up a bit, but is essentially the same application with a few new features added.
Weather information is still displayed in the chosen format for a selected location – I prefer the week view. Now, maps have been added to display regional information. The addition of this option is the most significant feature of release 6.0.
Three maps are available: temperature, pressure and satellite.
In the default view, the map image is displayed in a size that is appropriate within the applications main window. It is possible to zoom into the image and make it appear full-screen. It’s important to note that the quality of the image does not improve: this is literally a bitmap being manipulated and the quality decreases as the image expands.
The addition of the maps is a nice touch. Hopefully future versions will strive to provide more dynamic map generation and include navigation features similar to those found in Google Earth. Overall, Handy Weather 6.0 is a worthwhile upgrade with one glaring exception:
Any attempt at adding a new location results in the above error. I had about seven locations in the application prior to the upgrade. After the new version installed, four of those had mysteriously disappeared. I cannot add them back. Not good.
I’ve mailed the support desk at epocware and described the issue. Let’s see whether they have a fix…
More Red. No Bull.
3 years ago
by manfred
in Life in South Africa
Your vision is not deceiving you, unless you’re in a Taurine-induced haze.
Consuming one of the new super-sized cans of Red Bull may well change that. Instead of a paltry 250ml of the sugary yellow liquid, you can now enjoy 355ml of the same. The price difference for the extra 105ml is not huge and the larger cans are recommended for all-night coding or gaming sessions or to help you cope with project-related stress or whining kids. Or whining adults…
Sure to lead to heart palpitations and jerky movements. Drink responsibly 
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
You’re either a Canon fan or a Nikon supporter. I’m the former and was somewhat disappointed that Canon had no equivalent to the recently released Nikon D90 digital SLR. The recent announcement of the EOS 50D has been followed up by a press release detailing specifications for a new high-end model: the EOS 5D Mark II.
Like the Nikon D90, the new Canon 5D boasts some impressive features and a couple that are new to the traditional digital SLR package. A DIGIC 4 imaging processor powers the camera and the 21MP CMOS sensor is full-frame capable. With a high speed storage card, four frames per second can be shot or 14 RAW images in a single burst. There’s a live view, VGA resolution 3″ LCD on the back and the shutter is rated for 150000 cycles.
The most intriguing use for this camera is its ability to capture high definition video at 1920 x 1080 resolution or standard TV quality video. From what I can gather, video files are limited to 4GB in size. For still shooting, the expanded ISO sensitivity of the camera ranges between 50 and 25600. It’s not a cheap toy, probably costing in the region of USD 3800. But for the professional photographer, this is a great piece of technology.
More information here.
WatchMinifig
A great rendition of this new Watchmen movie poster
with a Dr Manhattan using a Lego minifig
polywen does show a more faithful reproduction, but I like the floating Dr. Manhattan a lot more. There are a number of other great pictures on his Flickr page.
nüvi 710 firmware 4.10
My widescreen nüvi 710 is performing as expected with one exception: on occasion, it attempts to indicate a landmark or custom point of interest while I try to search for an address or it voices an instruction. The net result is a frozen GPS that can be set right only by powering off, then on again.
As is the case with any electronic gadget, the timing of such a failure is intimately linked with a pressing need to complete a task or find an address. Though the nüvi 710 has frozen on me only four or five times in the past couple of weeks, any requirement to reset the device shifts my mood and makes me contemplate flinging the plastic rectangle to certain destruction in rush hour traffic.
Thankfully, things can easily be fixed by software nowadays. If you are an owner of a 710, I recommend you head over to Garmin‘s support site and download the WebUpdater to retrieve the latest firmware for your device.
Listed in the change history is the item Corrected shutdown issue associated with an active proximity alert or tour guide alert. I assume this is the same as saying: 710 crashes when trying to multitask. The rest of the change history for 4.10 reads:
- Improvement in MAD Maps performance
- Added Australian traffic support.
- Corrected reboot issue while installing language guide at power up.
- Corrected shutdown issue associated with an active proximity alert or tour guide alert.
- Support for more GPI files.
- Fixed an error in MSN news reports where a report could be lost
Explaining the Churro
3 years ago
by manfred
in Entertainment
There’s been a lot of hype about the Microsoft advertising campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. I’ve watched the first two and have been slightly baffled by the content and the lack of a clear marketing message. I still have no clue where this campaign is headed and can’t see any clear indication of what the story so far is supposed to convey.
Though I’m no fan of over-analyzing and dissecting such things, I finished listening to TWiT Episode 159 today. The discussion of the panel moves to an analysis of the first Microsoft ad and Ryan Block comes up with some rather interesting insights.
Whether they’re accurate or not, his comments certainly made me re-evaluate my take on the Bill & Jerry interaction.
Watch the first Microsoft ad once and then cue TWiT 159 up to about 68 minutes into the podcast, and have a listen.
Then watch the video again. Maybe now, it makes a bit more sense…or not.
Block won’t tell you what a churro is. It’s a pastry-based snack, sometimes made from potato dough. It is believed to have originated in Spain and gets its name from its shape which resembles the horns of a certain kind of sheep. Explaining what a boerewors is seems much simpler!
The Tiger That Isn’t
I’ll admit that the orange cover to this book caught my eye and had a large influence on my purchasing decision. Crazy as that may sound. Even crazier is the fact that my school maths experiences were anything but pleasant. Varsity mathematics was hardly any fun, but my achievements there were above my own expectations. So on occasion, I find myself reading books about statistics and numbers, and overall, they’re very interesting when applied to everyday life. Both numbers and the books
The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing through a world of numbers is a fascinating dissection of the use of statistics. Statistics we are presented with every day do not necessarily tell us the entire story and are often skewed to such an extent that headline news articles frighten us into believing incorrect facts and premises. At just under 200 pages, this is a quick and easy book to read, written in a friendly and inviting style that never assumes the reader has a degree in mathematics or statistics. A minor criticism that may be leveled at the content is its UK origin, but having subject matter not influenced by the all-mighty Yankee is also a very good thing!
A great example of how numbers may be used to bamboozle us is the average number of feet a given population has. You’d be wrong in thinking the correct answer is two. Remember that a slight deviation in the average alters the expected result – the average number of feet any given population shows is slightly less than two. Another target is the ability of news headlines to declare gross government overspending. Seeing a huge number, often quoted with many trailing zeroes, immediately skews an individuals perception. But considered in context huge numbers become very manageable and show that many billions of Dollars equate to less than one Dollar per individual when dsitributed across a wide target population. Use your own experience and correlate what you know with the numbers you are presented with. Sage advice from the authors!
The Tiger That Isn’t is a fascinating read that has certainly altered my perception of the numbers and statistics I see in the media.
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