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Archive for January, 2010
Volkswagen Amarok
In a clear bid to attack the current set of favourite utility vehicles in the local market, Volkswagen‘s commercial vehicle division has developed a pickup truck that will soon be available for purchase. The Amarok is a rather attractive one Tonner, very similar to the Toyota Hilux which is the current market leader in its segment.
Available in both rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive variants, the Amarok will initially be available only as a double cab and later as a single cab vehicle. Volkswagen claims the car is as rugged as its Japanese counterparts and will be more than capable of hauling more than a ton on its loading bay and two tons in tow.
Interior appointments are on par with current Volkswagen vehicles and a variety of power plants and options will be available at the time of launch.
There is no pricing available yet and no information regarding the standard options the base vehicle will be delivered with. Volkswagen generally sells cars at a slight premium and makes a fair number of appointments available only as a list of options carrying a hefty price tag. Then there’s the question of whether or not one would really wish a load of 500 bricks to be dumped on the back of a VW… it’s not a question of capability, simply one of preconceived notions. Somehow, something like is just more natural when driving a Toyota…
IF no Fairmount THEN Ripit
Fairmount is a fairly reliable way of generating an exact copy of a DVD. In certain instances, the software is bamboozled by certain DVD‘s, however. For example, the 8GB Wall-E generates a whopping 63GB VIDEO_TS folder on disk, whilst District 9 seems to have decent copy protection, typical of Sony. After many, many hours that DVD had scarcely dropped 125MB to the hard drive with no indication of how long the remaining 7GB would take to arrive.
Clearly, the modern DVD backer-upper requires other tools to transfer DVD content to a hard disk for use on a home theatre computer. I found a reliable and fast alternative to Fairmount in Ripit.
Ripit is priced very reasonably at USD 20 and permits ten DVD‘s to be ripped before the trial version expires. I fed it District 9, simply because other means of transferring my copy of that movie to the Mac Mini had failed. I plugged the disk into the MacBook and waited.
Correctly identified is halfway there…
The transfer worked flawlessly and Ripit had the entire DVD copied to the hard disk into a dedicated VIDEO_TS 
folder without breaking into a sweat. A nice feature is the progress indicator on the dock icon, providing an instant view of the ripping progress.
Like any other software, Ripit may not be able to copy all DVD‘s, but is certainly worthwhile keeping around if other copy methods fail. Ripit‘s success in copying the District 9 DVD made me purchase a license for my machines straight away – the application is now the first one I’ll turn to when converting content to the Mac Mini HTPC.
Durban’s beaches
2 years ago
by manfred
in Moblogging
This just about sums it up:
Construction work on the beach promenade seems to be way behind schedule. June 2010 is around the corner and all jobs should be done by the end of March. Umhlanga is pristine…I think Durbs has had its time in the sun.
Mo Noodles
2 years ago
by manfred
in Life in South Africa
Florida Road, Durban.
Highly recommended – consistent and much the same after all these years…
3D Mini Golf Challenge
2 years ago
by manfred
in iPod/iPhone
3D Mini Golf Challenge is one of the games I play most often when I have a couple of minutes to spare. There’s nothing much to it: play some putt-putt over a couple of different, wacky courses trying either to beat par or trounce the computer opponent. As one accomplishes these various goals by scoring points, additional courses to play are unlocked.
The controls are extremely intuitive and simple. Other than aiming the club to select a path for the ball, the only other action is to select the strength with which the ball will be propelled forward. A touch and drag on the ball is all that is required.
That’s probably what makes this so much fun to play – no complicated controls to master and the ability to improve quite quickly as one learns how gradients affect the direction and travel of the golf ball.
The 3D environment is attractive and the animation and panning well executed. There are occasions when the view of the intended shot is obstructed. Otherwise, the ability to rotate the view and zoom out to some degree is adequate. The course are quirky and contain numerous traps to ensure the ball is prevented from making it to the hole too easily. The game contains 100 holes for play in various modes: against par, against the clock, against the computer opponent or try for a hole in one challenge.
If you’re interested in a game that is quick to learn, fun to play and doesn’t require a huge time investment, give 3D Mini Golf Challenge a try. It’s available for USD 4.99 from the Apple App Store.
Led Lenser X21
One year ago, I bought a LED LENSER P7 whilst vacationing in Australia. At that time, the German brand was not well-known in South Africa and I hadn’t been exposed to any of their products. That has changed. Since then, most LED LENSER torches are available at selected stores.
For a while, I relied on Captain SearchEye, a high-power halogen-bulb torch. It required a fairly lengthy charge cycle, couldn’t be operated whilst plugged into a lighter socket and would provide necessary lighting for less than a quarter of an hour. The torch is heavy, but is very effective. The biggest issue with rechargeables is that most have an overload protector built-in. Hence, they can generally not be operated whilst plugged into a power source. Eventually, Captain SearchEye passed away – the battery could no longer be charged and even though there seemed no obvious damage to the halogen bulb, battery and internal circuitry a fix for the unit was not an option. I bought a smaller, rechargeable halogen torch only to find that it too wouldn’t operate whilst plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter socket. Runtime? A paltry ten minutes or so, making it absolutely useless for occasional patrols taking about an hour. Clearly it was time to ditch cheap and nasty Asian technology and go back to quality, performance and good workmanship!
My new solution is certainly nowhere as cheap as the halogen torches I’ve selected in the past. But with the P7 as an excellent reference, the selection of the pricey LED LENSER X21 was a no-brainer.
The X21 is roughly 40cm in length, weighs about 1.5kg and boasts 7 LED‘s that can pump out a whopping 950 lumens light beam to a distance of almost 400m. Best of all, the X21 relies on four ordinary D batteries and can run on those for quite some time – no more recharging or worrying about battery life.
The torch is supplied in a carry case and includes four batteries and a carrying strap that can be attached to the torch to make it more convenient to lug around.
Operating the torch is very simple: the first press of the button provides a full power beam and a subsequent press switches to a lower output beam. Another press of the button switches the torch off. It’s not necessary to press the button in: a light press provides light for as long as the button is held down halfway. To focus the beam, the 9cm front section is simply pushed or pulled. As with the P7, weather sealing is excellent, as is the build quality. Check out the Zweibrueder Optoelectronics website for more details.
Canon software updates
2 years ago
by manfred
in Photography
It’s that time again when I check various software packages and devices to determine whether the holiday season has provided any updates and improvements. In the case of Canon, it’s been quite some while since I checked for updates to the Canon digital imaging software. There are a number of updates, specifically to Digital Photo Professional, Image Browser and EOS Utility for both Windows and the Mac. The download links for these are easiest to find on the Canon USA site.
At the same time, I saw that a firmware update for the EOS 5D Mk II is also available, having been released in mid-December. Though I don’t use or own the WFT-E4 II wireless transmitter that is usable with the 5D Mk II once the update has been applied, update 1.2.4 does include a correction for the bulb mode function. It is possible that certain artifacts or noise may be visible in photos taken in continuous bulb mode. I’ve downloaded the update and will apply it later today.
Rooiberg Eco Ride
This year’s Rooiberg Eco Ride has a new format and something that every cycle race should have: a relaxing ride on single tracks through the bush with brunch and high tea served! Obviously, the Eco Ride is no race. It’s a three day tour of 160km through the Rooiberg in Limpopo‘s Waterberg at a relaxed pace.
The tag line It’s not a race, it’s a ride appeals to me and I’ve submitted my entry. Day one sees a late start on a 30km ride including a stop for sundowners (probably non-alcoholic – the only downside). Early Sunday for a start on 70km, stopping for brunch and tea, and day three finishes the event off with a 60km ride. Though the distances will require some training on my part prior to heading up to the Waterberg, the fact that there’s no pressure on finishing within a set time should make this a great outing. I’ll probably take the camera along to snap a few pictures along the way…
The Eco Ride takes place in late April and the entry cost does not include accommodation. A curious prerequisite for the ride is that all mountain bikes have to be fitted with tubeless tires. Before getting the Anthem, I rode on goo-filled tubes for ages without a single stop due to a puncture. I’m not certain I agree with the fact that tubeless tires reduce the chance of punctures, and carrying a spare tube is a good idea even when riding tubeless. How strictly this rule will be enforced remains to be seen.
Entries are limited and the official website can be found here.
WordPress misses its schedule
I don’t often rely on scheduled posts, but had some spare time and last week and set up two posts to be published on schedule. In the past, this feature in WordPress worked without a hitch. After the upgrade to 2.9, it seems that the scheduling of post publication may cease to function under certain conditions.
Exactly what the cause of the issue is is not clear, though it’s most likely due to incompatibilities with certain hosts. The WordPress team has released version 2.9.1 in an attempt to fix the issue.
If you see this post, the scheduling bug has been fixed for me 
In that case, I recommend you upgrade to 2.9.1 if you’ve been experiencing a similar problem.
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