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Archive for January, 2009
Back to the Lego Future
This is another great fan creation – the DeLorean from Back to the Future.
Of course, the car is nothing without Doc and Marty. They make an appearance, too.
More pictures at the Brickshelf Gallery.
Kim Stanley Robinson: Blue Mars
It’s taken me almost four months to complete the last part of Stanley Robinson‘s epic trilogy. Thankfully this was an audio book, all 30 hours or so of it. I believe I would have tossed a paper copy into the nearest fireplace. It’s not a bad ending, but I have the feeling that Stanley Robinson felt pressured to constrain himself to a trilogy and not the colour spectrum. I’m of the firm opinion that, given a chance, we could easily have been burdened with a Brown, Silver and Azure Mars… Thank Ka for small mercies! Ferrone has the unenviable task of having to stay awake throughout the reading of Blue Mars. He’s a decent narrator, but even that talent couldn’t sustain my interest and I force-listened myself through the last three parts of the downloaded audio. Unpleasant but necessary if I at least wanted some inkling of how this epic tale ends.
Blue Mars concerns itself with the long-term effects of the colonization and sees the former red planet transformed into one with large oceans and heavy rains. The remaining 18 members of the first hundred have reached the ripe age of 220+ by the time the trilogy ends. DNA replacement therapy has advanced to the point where periodic treatments are able to rejuvenate humans and a special treatment to counter memory regression has been developed. Nadia‘s missing finger is regrown by similar advances in medical technology, not to mention the fact that 200 year old women are still able to bear children, little consolation for those 40 year olds worried about pregnancy in our time…
At the same time, further revolutions occur and earthlings are barred from colonizing the new blue planet. Kasei visits Earth in a bid to find the disappeared Hiroko with little success and discovers that native Martians are unable to fully adapt to life on Earth. The colonization of other planets in the solar system has already started, including an entire city on tracks running at 3km/h across the midrif of Mercury to stay out of the baking sun. Countless other useless story arcs such as this one seem to pad the book in a desperate attempt to make it as voluminous as the previous two. There is little value in adding this content – no one character has the focus for any length of time and the overall scope and detail of the colonization efforts has been lost. In any case, once the first two hours are up, there is little sympathy left for any of the characters one has followed. Thankfully, a some of the main characters die toward the end, though most of the key persons survive. They are left to roam on Mars’ beaches eating ice cream. I kid you not.
I’m pleased to have sat through the Mars trilogy, but am very hesitant to recommend anything but the first volume. It’s simply too disjointed and full of fantastical theory. I’m eagerly anticipating a bite-sized audio book now!
Kogan gets Agora-phobia
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
At the beginning of December I ordered a rather unique Android phone, the Kogan Agora. It should have made an appearance by post from Australia sometime in the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, an email from the manufacturer indicates that certain interoperability issues have been discovered. The press release also appears on their website. This means the Kogan Agora will not be shipping at all – at best, a modified model will be produced for sale in the not too distant future.
I’m disappointed not to get an Android device. I’m also wondering how much of this story is reality and how much hype was created to build an awareness of the Kogan brand. I won’t speculate, but would think that the interoperability issue mentioned, to wit
“One of the potential issues is the screen size and resolution. It seems developers will be creating applications that are a higher resolution than the Agora is currently capable of handling”
should have been picked up way earlier in the development and planning cycle.
Screen resolution is probably one of the items highest on the list of specifications for a mobile device. Surely the inclusion of a low resolution screen was a consideration from the beginning, including developer feedback and SDK specifications at hand from the word go. If the screen wasn’t capable, no initial prototype should received a stamp of approval.
Monies paid in advance for the now-defunct Agora will be refunded by the manufacturer.
I’ll have to wait for the G1…
When a restore isn’t a restore
I undertook the recent forced reset of my E90 without too much worry about data loss. After all, all my contacts, diary and email details would be synchronized once RoadSync got going again. I performed a backup using the PC Suite of all device content just before the reset and complete a backup like that every other week in any case. Once the device was back up and running, a quick glance at all the information I needed confirmed that everything seemed in order.
One of the applications I constantly use on the E90 is ActiveNotes. Anything of interest, lists and other notes find their way into an ActiveNote. When I tried to add something to my ever-growing list titled Research, I discovered that the notes had obviously been cleared due to the device reset. No problem: the PC Suite features a restore from a backup file. In fact, the restore and backup functionality is flexible enough to enable the user to select what content should be restored or backed up. The only problem is this: the ActiveNote data is combined with the Calendar data…
Okay if the calendar hasn’t changed, but of little use if a recent sync has updated and modified many entries. Obviously I was not willing to sacrifice my calendar’s known-good state for the sake of restoring my notes. On the other hand, I really wanted the notes back.
Thankfully the Interweb always offers a solution. Noki is an application that is able to read and interpret the contents of the Nokia backup files. These files generally have the NBU extension and contain all the data selected for backup during the backup process.Use of the application is very easy and there is little that can go wrong.
Using Noki, it’s a simple matter of selecting the desired backup file. The content is displayed in a neat tree view.
The ActiveNotes are basic HTML files. Using Noki I was able to extract them to the desktop and then copy them back to the phone’s ActiveNotes directory. Simple as that!
Over and above that, Noki is a means of integrating your phone’s data to a variety of other applications and using it in a number of other ways. The homepage provides a download link to the latest version and a list of capabilities. The price for Noki is pegged at USD 22 – I managed to get my notes out of the NBU file without being bothered by any request for serial numbers or a payment, and I can’t identify a place where the software is locked. Maybe that’s a special feature of the version I downloaded?
If you’re stuck with Nokia phone backups and need to manipulate or restore the data, Noki may be a lifesaver for you too.
Construction site
Lego‘s new sets for 2009 are making an appearance in local stores. There is still no sign of the new Pirates line, but a couple of great additions to a cityscape are available. Set #7633 is the dream of every Lego City town planner. Included in this 900-odd piece set are three vehicles and a modular building, complete with elevator for five construction workers and assorted accessories.
The 43cm long crane features a telescoping arm that reaches almost 30cm high.
A bulldozer makes light work of rubble and a truck is available to transport essentials.
No more lawyers for the Watchmen
The legal case that could have delayed the eagerly anticipated Watchmen movie has been resolved.
The details of the settlement are not known at present, but who cares! It seems as though the March 2009 debut is a go. Time to break out that graphic novel, start watching the trailers and get in line for some tickets…
The Lego President
What a pleasure it must be to live in the USA. An outgoing lame duck ready to be replaced by a Blackberry-toting, Apple computer using, Spider-man reading Barack Obama. Here we sit in South Africa reading daily accounts of our presidential hopeful tussling with the law, seeking a sixth wife and convincing individual minority groups that their very personal interests and fears will receive the bulk of his attention… And let me not forget that inspiring ditty about machine guns.
Personally, I prefer the candy-coated image the next American president shows the general public. At least he has a front-page appearance on Spider-Man #583.
All Zuma has managed so far is to be represented on a T-shirt…
Let’s be clear on this: Obama isn’t in office yet and will need to prove that he isn’t cut from the same cloth as his predecessor. Before his impossiblehard work starts, some more ultimate sophistication is his: this scale model of the presidential inauguration has been constructed in the American LegoLand to mark the occasion.
Here, the Capitol with large crowds gathering in its shadow:
And the inauguration ceremony itself:
I have a feeling Obama‘s reign won’t be filled with fun and games…
via 
SF Weekly
Riding the MTN Cycle Park
At the beginning of October I swung past the MTN Cycle Park in Bryanston to check up on the progress they were making to get ready. The opening date had been set for the end of November and I was busy with various other things, so I left it for the new year. Yesterday, I packed bicycle and gear and headed for the MTN Cycle Park situated just off Sloane Avenue.
It’s not easy to find and the entrance is somewhat hidden: from Main Road heading away from the highway in the direction of Randburg, turn left into Sloane and immediately right into Libertas. Turn left once you see the cycle park boards Else, set your GPS to find S26 02.291 E28 01.589.
Ample parking is available. It seems that the venue has still not been officially opened; that is expected to happen sometime in February. Nonetheless, the facility is open to the public.
Payment is per entrance and a single entry costs ZAR 50. Packages are available to bring that cost down for anyone wishing to make use of the facilities more frequently: around ZAR 1900 for a year pass and the more reasonable ZAR 300 for ten entries. An indemnity form needs to be signed prior to entry and obviously the requisite no helmet, no ride rule applies. Each rider is assigned a number plate that needs to be affixed to the bicycle. My number: 031. Supplied cable ties enable the number plate to be attached to the handlebars rather easily – it reminds me of the mid-eighties BMX craze…
Change rooms and toilets are available, as is a coffee shop and seating. Kids may use the miniature cycle track. They pay ZAR 10 per entry. Unfortunately, there are no showers which makes early morning sessions problematic unless you have a shower at your place of work, don’t work or don’t mind arriving in the office drenched in sweat.
On to the track. The overall layout contains a single, wider track that runs around the entire facility and is roughly 1.8km in length. Running inward and away from that overall track are numerous single-tracks of varying degrees of difficulty. Beginners, intermediate and advanced riders are all catered for. Each track is marked appropriately, as are warnings at each single track’s exit to ensure no one rides against the general flow of traffic. Each track has a name and the degree of experience required to complete that section is indicated.
What’s in the box is on the box
My wish to remain legal with the software I use almost made me spend some cash on Microsoft Office for the Mac recently. That idea changed rather quickly…
Being attached to corporate networks and having to spend inordinate amounts of time documenting things makes compatibility with certain file formats a necessity. I’m very happy with OpenOffice on Linux and iWork on the Mac. Unfortunately the standard for corporate documents is the Microsoft Office Suite. But it’s not just about documents. Interacting on a corporate network by email and maintaining contacts and a calendar is possibly even more critical. So there’s no getting away from using Outlook on Windows, which is one of the better integrated applications I’ve come across. The new Outlook may be somewhat bloated and slow every now and then, but it gets the job done and is indispensable.
Hence, one of the biggest challenges to overcome in shifting platforms to Linux or Mac away from Windows in a corporate environment is the ability to connect successfully to a groupware system like Exchange. Microsoft Office for Mac is a logical choice, and I was reasonably happy to pay the roughly ZAR 1800 for the Home and Student Edition. It has Excel, Word and Powerpoint plus the all-important Outlook for Mac, Entourage. And that’s where I’m pleased I had a look at the packaging in a bit more detail. Entourage is included, yet the ability for this application to connect to an Exchange Server isn’t.
Of course the included Entourage will connect to an Exchange Server, but using POP3. That precludes its use for all-important groupware functionality, such as scheduling and the like. Microsoft has thought of this, of course and offers Office for the Mac. It’s essentially the same as the Home and Student Edition, but includes Exchange support. The pricetag for this bundle? A rather cool ZAR 5300 or so!
I understand Redmond‘s hatred for the Cupertino-based Apple. I understand that corporate licensing for software attracts a higher price. But such a high price for a single function that is a 
native feature of a client application is simply ridiculous. RoadSync for my E90 makes total use of a variety of Exchange features, including push mail. It costs a lowly USD 49. Surely the primary cost is built into the backend without which none of the clients have the ability to provide rich applications. Surely it is fair to charge a bit more for this feature, but it’s daylight robbery to increase the price for the application suite by more than 100% simply to permit access to calendaring, mail and contact storage on a client machine.
Another criticism is Microsoft‘s inability to clearly state the crippling of the Home and Student Edition on the packaging. I’ve spoken to more than one person who has spent the money on that software suite only to find the required Exchange connectivity missing. My advice: check what you need and be sure you get what you are paying for. Also, start supporting open source alternatives that are aiming to provide rich clients for minimal cost or even no charge. There is no reason individual users should be held to ransom by large corporates!
RoadSync crash with ucmp 0
I rely on RoadSync to constantly synchronize my E90‘s contacts, schedule and mail with an Exchange Server. The product has never let me down and has performed flawlessly. Hence my consternation when I attempted a sync whilst overseas. Obviously I’d switched to a wireless network and was attempting the sync manually, yet try as I might I could not resolve an error RoadSync and the E90‘s S60 3rd Edition had never shown before: Application closed – ucmp 0.
I tried the usual error resolution: reset mail data and try to synchronize again. That worked, but only for the first sync. Every subsequent sync would cause the ucmp 0 error to pop up. The more drastic measure of resetting all data and synchronizing again had a similar effect. Since I was on holiday, I ignored the error until I got back home and started googling for a possible resolution. There was nothing similar, though I found a few developers mentioning the ucmp issue with regard to memory overflows and possible persistent storage issues. The next step: re-install RoadSync. Same result: first sync works, subsequent synchronization attempts fail.
Switching off mail synchronization indicated that mail was indeed the problem, so I cleaned out my inbox and tested again. No joy: even with an empty inbox or a simple, single message in the inbox, no second or subsequent synchronization had any intention of working. I was at my wits end and turned to DataViz‘ support desk, mailing them details of the error and how to possibly reproduce it. Their turnaround time in getting back to me was quite something, taking less than a few hours each time. Finally, this morning the issue was resolved. Seems my E90 must have been corrupted even though I hadn’t installed any additional software on the device for some time. The suggestion to master reset my device by dialling *#7370# paid off. A brief re-installation of some software later, all is well.
This is another example of how valuable it is to consider purchasing mission-critical software. With the quality of support I received from DataViz, I consider the USD 49.99 pricetag well worth it.
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