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Archive for October, 2008
SpeedClic
The Dremel 300 is a very useful tool to have at hand and it benefits greatly when accessorized to the max. To transform the pedestrian cutting functionality of certain fixed cutting wheels I’ve used for wood, I recently added the SpeedClic Starter Set with an extra dollop of cutting wheels.
The SpeedClic Starter Set comprises a mandrel and two cutting wheels with a diameter of 38mm. These are supplied in a small plastic case that provides extra space for another pack of cutting wheels.
The entire thing is keyless, making the exchange of a spent cutting wheel very quick and easy. As long as the current cutting wheel is permitted to cool down before one touches it! To add the accessory, simply tighten it into the Dremel as you would any other accessory. To add a cutting wheel, a simply push down and twist suffices to safely lock it down.
Cutting performance is decent enough to transform the Dremel into a miniature angle grinder. As with most Dremel cutting accessories, the longevity of the materials used to manufacture them is sometimes questionable. I feel they could be made to last longer, but that would impact the price of the accessories. As it is, the cutting accessories are not cheap.
Safety tip: don’t be fooled by the small dimensions of the Dremel and the speed at which the inserted accessory spins. Always wear adequate eye protection!
2009 Toyota Hilux
There’s been quite a bit of interest in my post regarding the facelift to the current Toyota Hilux and Fortuner models. By chance, I happened to see one of the new 2009 Hilux models on the road recently and have searched around for some pictures.
The changes are mostly cosmetic and apply to both the Fortuner and Hilux models. The bumper is slightly larger with a more prominent grille above it. The overall body line running to the back has not changed significantly, nor have the overall dimensions.
The biggest change is to the interior appointments that now include a large GPS display integrated into the audio system and a digital indicator of the climate control settings. Satellite controls have been added to the steering wheel and the presence of the automatic shift control in the centre console is good news for those wanting the 3.0l Diesel without a manual shift. The automatic gearbox is rumoured to be a five-speed, auto-sensing gearbox that adjusts itself to the drivers’ actions on the accelerator and prevailing road conditions.
The 2009 model is expected to be launched at the end of the year. I’m hoping we’ll get a glimpse of it at JIMS.
Remote code execution vulnerability
Microsoft has issued a critical security vulnerability bulletin that includes a patch for the Windows family of products to prevent remote code execution.
The vulnerability has been reported to exist in the Server service and could allow remote code execution if an affected system received a specially crafted RPC request. It is also possible that the vulnerability could allow arbitrary code to run without authentication.
This is basically a loophole a worm could exploit to run malicious code and spread to other systems. As always, keep your anti-virus software up to date, be sure to stay behind a firewall and watch where you’re travelling to on the Interweb! Or run Linux. Of course, a worm can get through on a LAN, too.
Microsoft recommends that the patch be applied immediately. A list to specific patches for various Windows releases is provided here.
Bloodhound SSC
The fastest is never fast enough. The current world land speed record stands at 1233km/h and was set by the turbofan-powered Thrust SSC in 1997. Aiming to break that record by a margin of almost 400km/h is the mission of the same team that developed the Thrust SSC. By the way, SSC stands for Supersonic Car.
The vehicle that should be capable of doing roughly 1609km/h is currently in development, with the record attempt scheduled for 2011. It is the Bloodhound SSC, a 6 ton cigar almost 13m in length.
There’s only one way to get to those kinds of speeds: mega thrust and power! A jet engine from a Eurofighter will propel the Bloodhound from a standstill to a warm-up speed of 500km/h after which a hybrid rocket will kick in to deliver the necessary thrust to go as fast as possible: 1000mph (about 1609km/h) is the target.
A petrol engine provides auxiliary power and runs a pump for the rocket.
The name Bloodhound comes from the Bristol Bloodhound 2, a surface-to-air missile capable of reaching Mach 1 from a standstill in about 2.5 seconds.
South Park – Complete First Season DVD set
Collected on three DVD‘s, this box set enables fans of the South Park clan to relive the halcyon first season. South Park has already run for 12 seasons and is planned to continue for at least another three, well into 2011.
The thirteen episodes that started it all are presented in glorious full screen, full colour and have stereo sound.
Fans will remember such favourites as Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, Weight Gain 4000, Starvin’ Marvin and Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty Slut.
A few extras are included, specifically Cartman‘s rendition of Holy Night. A must for the festive season!
The name’s Ray. Blu-Ray.
The 007 franchise, much like the Star Wars franchise, has to reinvent itself to keep on selling copies of the same material we’ve seen many times already. Seemingly, we are willing to watch it all again, never mind purchasing a remastered edition of well-loved content on the hottest media format of the hour even though we have it already on 8mm, Beta, VHS, DVD and MP4…
So it comes as no surprise that 007 is coming to Blu-Ray, initially with a small selection of titles. Six, to be exact: Dr. No, Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love and Thunderball.
Casino Royale was easy: shot in a format and era that makes the transition to a high definition medium trivial, the only way MGM is able to market the updated Blu-Ray editions is by throwing in reworked versions of bonus materials that have been converted to high-definition. All good and well – the bonus features on my Bond DVD set are highly informative and well worth watching.
I’ll wait for the whole Blu-Ray craze to die down before I consider purchasing another copy of the Bond movies. After all, it shouldn’t be about the media format but about the content, right? And it’s unlikely Dr. No will ever make it to true, full HD. My DVD‘s are safe for now!
Logitech Premium Notebook Headset
My Plantronics DSP 400 is a fantastic headset that spends its time in use at home. For my daily travels, I decided to go for something cheaper. As usual, my first glance fell to Logitech and after a brief sojourn trawling for information, I decided on the rather pompously-named Premium Notebook Headset. Of course, it is not for use exclusively for notebooks! That part of the name is probably due to the ability to fold the speakers upward to make the entire headset flat, and due to the plastic box that stores the headset and cable securely. The plastic box is referred to as a travel case by Logitech. It’s a plastic box, slightly oversized and not easy to fit into a gadget bag already overflowing with a variety of other components. That’s the only criticism I can level at this product. The real meat, after all, is in the actual headset!
I’ve never considered using a behind-the-head type headset before. It’s very comfortable and the ear pads are adjustable to some degree to make the fit just right. The disadvantage of these open-ear headsets is that outside noises can be intrusive. When stored away, the ear pads are bent upwards, flattening the entire headset assembly. The microphone boom rotates downward from the back to the front. It is conveniently placed and sound quality on some Skype calls and recordings I made is first rate. It has noise reduction to enhance sound output and to eliminate popping and background interference. Attached to the cord is an inline volume control with an integrated mute button for the microphone.
Connectivity options are twofold: connect the standard 3.5mm jacks into the microphone and headphone sockets of the computer or audio device. When used with an iPod or similar music player, the microphone jack can be conveniently jacked into a plastic holder to prevent it from swinging around. The second option is to used the enclosed USB converter to connect the headset directly to a USB port. In this case, the 3.5mm audio jacks plug into the USB converter, which in turn is connected to the computer. The travel case has a moulding to hold the USB converter firmly in place when not in use.
On the MacBook, there is no issue when using either the analog or digital USB connection. Strangely, G2S running Vista is unable to get to grips with anything but the 3.5mm audio jack connections. Trying the USB connection results in frustration. I simply use the 3.5mm connectors, but need to investigate why Vista doesn’t seem to like the USB connection.
The Logitech Premium Notebook Headset is reasonably priced and is certainly a good contender for anyone wanting a well-performing headset for VOIP calls and listening to music. You need to get over the fact that people will consider you a bit of a geek with this thing on, too.
The travel case is a bit too large: adding a hinge in the middle of the assembly could have made the headset even more compact by letting it fold in half. Then, it could fit into a smaller travel bag similar to the Plantronics to save space.
A tip if you’re using Mac OS X: I use a great utility by Rogue Amoeba to assist me with the selection of audio input and output sources. SoundSource is available as a tiny download and adds a new icon in the menu bar. The application is made available without charge and is very useful: by clicking on the headphones in the menu bar, the selection of sound sources is easily changed.
Selection of volume levels is also possible. You’ll need a recent version of Mac OS X for SoundSource to work.
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson‘s Snow Crash is a book I read quite some time ago and absolutely enjoyed. Together with his monster tome Cryptonomicon it ranks among my favourites. Not able to decide what Audible title to download, I selected Snow Crash out of pure laziness – I should really try to get titles I haven’t read yet. It was an inspired choice, if I may say so myself. Johnathan Davis provides the best reading of any recorded work I’ve downloaded from Audible so far and brings the story of Snow Crash to life. At 18 hours in length, I worked through it very quickly and am seriously considering another listen…
Snow Crash is a drug, both in the real world and the Metaverse in this story set in a hypothetical 21st century Los Angeles. The Metaverse is a computer-generated reality and can be compared to Second Life and other virtual reality environments. Similar to William Gibson‘s description of the Internet in Neuromancer, Stephenson predicts an alternate reality people access using their computers in which they are represented as avatars. Though written in 1992, the concepts are fresh and the pacing excellent.
Hiro Protagonist is one of the original developers of the Metaverse and now collects data for the CIC to make a meager living. He’s also a brilliant sword fighter and hacker. When a pizza delivery for Uncle Enzo‘s Cosa Nostra Pizza Franchise goes horribly wrong, Hiro relies on the fifteen year old, street mart skateboard kourier Y.T. to help him out. At about the same time, Hiro encounters Raven in the Metaverse and sees his former colleage David being infected with Snow Crash. Not only does Snow Crash eject David from the Metaverse by crashing his computer, it also causes his body to be infected by the virus. From there, Hiro and Y.T. attempt to work together to piece the conspiracy of L. Bob Rife‘s sinister religion together and to prevent the infection of more people with the Snow Crash virus. The American Mafia under direction of Uncle Enzo is brought into the fold as is Hiro‘s former girlfriend Juanita and the librarian developed by gargoyle Lagos.
The action takes place both outside and within the Metaverse, often in both simultaneously. Stephenson is well known for his ability to meld a huge bunch of topics together to form the background for his tales. In Snow Crash religion, linguistics, cryptography and history play an important part. The background for the creation and dispersion of the Snow Crash virus is the ancient Sumerian tale of the Tower of Babel, the goddess Asherah and the first-ever linguistic hacker, Enki.
If you’ve never read Stephenson, I suggest you start with Snow Crash in either paper or audio book form.
Pity that Audible makes only Snow Crash and The Diamond Age available to subscribers outside of Yankee borders. I have to work on a solution to try out a US proxy as I would love to get a head start on the The Baroque Cycle…those three tomes have been haunting my bookshelf for a long, long time!
Eee Mandriva 2009.0 shutdown issue
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
I’m very happy to be running LXDE on the Asus Eee. The window manager suits the type of things I use the Eee for: some web browsing, the occasional OpenOffice document and photo management in the field. The biggest frustration I’ve had has been that my Eee‘s battery was sucked dry in a couple of hours following a shutdown. It’s a known issue the 2009.0 Mandriva release has with shutting down correctly on the Eee.
The fix is rather simple to apply and is effective: through the addition of the line
rmmod snd-hda-intel
at the very top of the file /etc/init.d/halt.
The issue is caused when sound drivers cannot be unloaded correctly at shutdown time. It is likely that the next kernel update will include a more permanent fix and will not require the modification of the halt file.
File sync with Dropbox
3 years ago
by manfred
in Connectivity
Dropbox is a very handy service that assists with file synchronization and sharing. To get going, a small installation file needs to be downloaded and installed on the relevant operating system your computer is running. Dropbox is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. My experience with the installation on my existing Mandriva 2008.1 system was not good: Dropbox simply wouldn’t install, let alone run. I’ll try another installation from the source sometime this week.
On the remaining systems running Mac OS X and Vista, the installation couldn’t have been easier. Once installed, Dropbox creates a standard desktop folder and indicates its presence and status by a small taskbar icon in Vista. From there, some rudimentary settings relating to storage locations and network configurations can be changed.
Account creation is a must. The service is still available without charge, though it will be monetized soon. The principle of use is thus: install the client on your systems and provide your account details. Drop files that you want to synchronize into the special desktop folder and watch the status on the taskbar icon. Once files are changed or added, the application automatically uploads them to the Dropbox server. From there, they are pulled or pushed to your other clients as required.
A great feature is the ability to log on to the Dropbox website directly and gain access to files.
From the web interface, files may be downloaded and new ones uploaded. In turn, these are synchronized to the clients as soon as these log on to the service.
I use Dropbox a lot to shove small text and image files to my various systems, obviating the need to haul out a thumb drive. There’s a specific area for synchronizing photos and even the ability to share files with other users.
If you have a requirement to synchronize important files across a collection of systems without the hassle of carrying around removable media devices, Dropbox may well be the solution you’ve been looking for.
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