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Both the Mini and MacBook have been running Snow Leopard since its release date and without much trouble. I held out upgrading the iMac simply because I wanted to be sure that all my peripherals and software products would work. A good thing, too. After upgrading to Snow Leopard on the MacBook, I discovered that support for the excellent Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M was lacking. Nothing too serious, but the scan to folder functionality is exactly what I want to use and I had no intention of working around the current software release’s inability to do just that under Snow Leopard. The partial fix provided by Fujitsu is simply another workaround and is not able to match the functionality as it’s intended to exist.

Long story short: after waiting for an update on when the new driver and software bundle would be ready to support Snow Leopard, Fujitsu has finally indicated that the end of November has been targeted. That’s great news…

I’ll try the update on the MacBook first and then move to Snow Leopard on the iMac once I’m satisfied that the update solves the issue of being able to scan directly to a folder without manual intervention. Looks like the iMac is getting a Snow Leopard for Christmas…

My book has arrived.

Posted via email from mhertenberger’s posterous

Canon has announced a firmware release for the EOS 5D Mark II that will be available sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

Aimed primarily at those who enjoy the 1080 full-frame video capture functionality of the camera, the firmware update will allow the frame rate to be set at either 24fps, 25fps or the current 30fps.

30fps is aimed primarily at video produced to be viewed on a television set. 24fps is suitable for the silver screen and allows video shot with the camera to be transferred to 35mm film for projection in a cinema. 30fps is optimized for display on NTSC televisions and 25fps is suitable for PAL televisions.

Hopefully, the firmware update will include something for ordinary photography…

The Ubuntu team has released the latest version of the popular Linux operating system one day ahead of schedule. Though I haven’t had a system running Linux for a while now, I’m quite keen to give this one a test run. Ubuntu 9.10 is provided with 18 months of support and the usual gamut of variants from Edubuntu to Mythbuntu is available and running on the new core OS.

The 9.10 release features a slicker desktop design and interface improvements, obviously inspired by the recent UI additions in Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. Empathy is a new instant messaging client that supports a wide variety of protocols, whilst an updated Evolution should be moving closer and closer to providing an Outlook experience that is not provided by Outlook proper.

Enhanced media support, playback and interactive features are provided in the new version of Rhythmbox, a standard application in the Ubuntu distribution. I prefer Amarok and, thanks to the redesigned Software Centre, finding additional or alternative programs is made simple.

F-Spot, the capable photo management application has been updated and provides better import functionality and the ability to perform basic photo manipulation. Not quite iPhoto or Aperture, but absolutely first-rate considering its open source heritage. The standard addition of the latest Firefox browser and OpenOffice releases rounds out Karmic Koala, as does the ability to use the online storage solution, Ubuntu One.

As I’m typing this, the download servers already seem to be under heavy load, so I’ll wait for a local mirror to be updated in the next few days to get my copy.

Today, 50 years ago, Goscinny and Uderzo created one of my all-time favourite comic book characters, Asterix. The wacky cast of characters appeared for the first time in a French magazine and legions of fans have followed the adventures of Asterix and Obelix in over 30 comic books, each of which has been translated into almost every language imaginable.

In the time since the first book has been published, more than 300 million copies have been sold. A number of animated and live-action movies have brought the creations of Goscinny and Uderzo to life on the silver screen over the years.

For the 50th anniversary of the popular franchise, a special comic book has been prepared: Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday: The Golden Book will be on sale. The 56 page book is a collection of unpublished illustrations, blended together into a tale of a birthday celebration for our two intrepid heroes. Almost all characters that have featured in some form or another in previously published books make an appearance. As is usual, the friends will get themselves into some kind of an adventure before being able to enjoy their roast wild boar …

The official Asterix website can be found here.

Bon anniversaire!

There are quite a number of magazines related to cycling on the shelves of bookstores. For local cyclists, the problem with international magazines is usually that a lot of the content is simply not applicable. Cyclists in Europe are gearing for winter right now, whilst sunny South Africa offers hot weather and clear blue skies. The prospect of seeing winter gear reviews is an interesting one, but somewhat useless for local conditions. A description of a trail or cycling route in Scotland is certainly of interest, but unlikely to fit into the route plan of the MTB enthusiast living in Durban. That cuts the number of useful publications down quite drastically to just a handful. MTB or road bike? Unlikely that both are covered in the same magazine, so the options narrow even further.

Of the local magazines catering to MTB enthusiasts, only one has so far impressed me sufficiently to prompt me to inspect each new issue. Tread is a great magazine that provides a balanced array of content, ranging from gear and bicycle reviews to brief essays from everyday cyclists, to recommended trails covering all provinces and a very brief overview of current events. The publication strikes a good balance and manages, so far, to stay out of the trap many others of its ilk fall into: plastering page upon page with pictures and tables detailing top riders and event results. That’s lazy and hardly worth reading.

The online presence of Tread Magazine can be found here. The magazine is published on a quarterly basis and is certainly worth waiting for.The cover price is about ZAR 37 and each issue runs well into the ninety-something pages.

If you’re into mountain biking, I recommend you check it out.

With an eye on next year’s World Cup, Google has just announced the South African version of its online mapping resource, Google Maps. Anyone accessing maps.google.co.za should now see a default view of South Africa.

The usual levels of detail and various views are available.

One very useful addition is the ability to request driving directions. These are displayed on the map view and are also provided in textual form to assist in guiding eager tourists to the nearest shopping mall, B&B or liquor store. Locals will probably find the ability to request detailed route information useful to – we know where the cheapest liquor stores are located, natch!

And just in case you’re desperate for a drink, queries can be entered to assist you in finding what you’re looking for.

In time for the 2010 World Cup, Google Street View of five large metropolitan areas will be available online. For use on the go, Google Maps is accessible on most mobile phones that provide a browser.

It’s been quite some time since I settled back into the audio book mode. There have been so many podcasts to keep me busy that I’ve been racking up the credits without choosing and downloading anything new. Not that there isn’t already plenty of book content to listen to on my iPod that I haven’t even started with yet…

I chose Afuta Daku on a whim.It’s a book I almost purchased in paper format some time ago, specifically because of the location where the story takes place (Tokyo) and the fact that it seemed to be a mystery/fantasy title.

The audio book is just over five hours long and is read by Judy Bennett. Nothing wrong with the quality of the delivery, but I found myself constantly annoyed by the accents employed by the narrator. The book is set in Tokyo. The characters are Japanese. Why then is it necessary to change to accents that belong to the greater London district? Characterization is fine, but that simply didn’t work for me.

The book is short and has a rather sudden ending. What starts out as an interesting and intriguing story slowly peters out into nothing. Many questions are left unanswered, even though part of the book takes place in the dreams of one or more characters. Chapters are broken down into times: the story starts with Mari sitting in a coffee shop, reading at just after midnight. She meets Takahashi, who knows here sister Eri and is on his way to an all-night band practice session. Eri is asleep. Asleep for a long time. Two months, we are told sometime later. As the brief novel continues, Eri is being watched by a sinister someone and experiences a rather frightening dream.

A nasty computer expert meanwhile beats up a prostitute and returns to his all night vigil behind a computer screen. Takahashi and Mari meet again during the same night. And basically, that’s it. The story left me with a wish that at least some of the loose ends started within it could at least be tied up. Instead, the reader’s one night sojourn in Tokyo ends abruptly without much satisfaction.

Not bad to listen to, but ultimately a bit of a let down. I’d give this one a miss.

Adobe has made a beta version of its new Lightroom software available. The download works on both Mac and Windows platforms with the Windows version approximately 135MB in size and the Mac download about 65MB. There is no requirement that any previous version be installed or that you have a license – Adobe is following a growing trend that is seeding future software to as large as possible an audience to gain a far wider range of feedback. For developers, this means a greater pool of feedback on features and bug reports, for end users it’s an opportunity to try out new software. The beta expires at the end of April 2010 and as always, you are advised not to rely on the software for day-to-day work, but rather to try it out and play around with it.

I installed Lightroom on Windows 7 and was rather impressed that the ZIP file includes both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version. I chose the 64-bit version, since G2S runs a 64-bit OS. Lightroom installs quickly and, upon startup, request images to be imported. The user interface is attractive, with chunky buttons and neat rows of thumbnails.

The screen area is roughly divided into a top panel holding oft-used functions, a left side panel with a preview of the current workspace and quick-access menus for services such as Flickr. The main workspace holds the current photo being edited or a preview of all the photos in the library. Finally, the right side panel contains manipulation tools and settings that may be applied to the picture in the workspace.

One of my favourite features is the ability to sort data with having to maintain filters – these work straight out of the box. So, for example, it is easy to filter by a specific camera and see only the photographs that were taken with it. An additional filter goes so far as to permit filtering by lens. Rather neat!

Editing tools are provided, as are many different effects filters and the ability to change almost any aspect of what the photograph will look like. A handy preview allows the result of applying a specific effect to be seen in greater detail.

I’m really impressed by Lightroom. It’s the first time I’ve played around with a copy of it, and I’m seriously considering getting the final version of the software once it becomes available after April next year. If you’re into photography, you should certainly check it out, even if you have no desire to purchase it in the long run – the fact that the software is available without charge for a couple of months without restrictions should be enough motivation to get some use out of it. My guess is that you’ll like. Give it a try!

Another typical example of the carbon interface problem when dealing with computing tasks. In this case, I had completed an interface in SAP PI to accept SOAP messages from a third-party system. Everything worked rather well until I started sending some real test messages to ensure the whole process from message acceptance to table update using my custom function module works. Not a nice sight in WE02:

The error message? EDI: Partner profile inbound not available. This is a bit of a catch-all and generally indicates that there is something missing or wonky in the SLD. Try as I might, I couldn’t figure out the problem. Clearing the SLD cache, re-creating technical and business systems, ensuring all necessary entries had been made all over the show…nothing.

The long text to the error provided a clue and I had a look at the table that contains all inbound profile information, EDP21. And there it was: I’d entered LS for some reason in the SNDPFC (partner role) field. In WE20, I removed the offending entry and saved.

Then tried again.

Problem solved.