A Blog Of Gentoo and other stuff

PayPerPost

2007-11-18T18:48:00.000+02:00

Hi all

I just wanted you all to know that I've been using PayPerPost for few months already and it's been really great!! I've been posting some reviews, and payperpost allows me to earn money on that! I really love the opportunity.

For example, I recently needed my own domain for some blogging idea I had. So I went to look for domain options, and I found that a good ones cost money. But because I has posted some reviews and been rewarded for that, I had some cash on my hands to allow me to "rent" the domain easily and fast. So now I'm happy owner of my own domain and I really glad I had money from PayPerPost that allowed me to easily pay using PayPal.

Just to explain how easy that was - I paid for that domain including support the amount I got from writing less than 2 smallest paid posts on PayPerPost. That's it. 2 posts a month. A domain for a year. Neat, isn't it?

Now, I'm going to keep with my blog as I've been so before, find interesting stuff to talk about, and participating in talks with my commenters. But from time to time, when the appropriate request comes over, I will be posting reviews and earning money from them.

I think I'm going to stick with PayPerPost for a long while :-)

Getting online

2007-10-29T18:46:00.000+02:00

Well, last few months were a bumpy road. I've been on and off on the net. But all of this has the reason.

I got married!!! So all the disappearances are the direct result of this simple fact.

Now I'll probably get online even less :-)

Dual Skype Phone

2007-10-08T10:50:00.000+02:00

Hi all

As I've moved into a new appartment and got connected to a landline phone, I've found myself in a lack of modest phone equipment.

So here's the quest for me know:
I want a handset (wireless of course), which I can use both for mobile and VoIP calls (preferrably skype - not because I like it, but because all my family is interconnected with it). I also would like it to be as attractive as possible (not Bang&Olufsen, but still pretty), and not require a working computer to function.

A possible candidate for such a thing is a DualPhone's 3088 model, which unfortunately is not being sold in Israel at the moment.

Please advise.

Thanks,
-A.

Coupons

2007-10-07T14:21:00.001+02:00

Hi all
As holiday seasons are upon us, it's a chance to check out deals that one can get online. I look for those at online shopping coupons site, CouponChief.

For example, I'm in search for a small laptop these days, and one good example of what I'm looking for is a Dell laptop. So, I can get up to a 350$ off deal using Dell coupon from couponchief!! I think its a very good deal.

In addition, my wife is going to school in few week for her master's degree, and she needs a laptop which is as light as possible. So I'm checking some of the HP's laptops - and on CouponChief I can get a 30% on HP deals! Ain't that great?

I'm sure anyone can find great deals at couponchief to ones likings!

Top 10 side effects of switching to Linux

2007-10-03T09:42:00.000+02:00

...
Number 2: You actually get some serious work done
...

But the most cool one is number 1.

Take a look :-)

Flattery

2007-09-30T09:01:00.000+02:00

Jürgen

I'm really flattered for being added to your blogroll (I just noticed :-) )

Why the honor? (I really like it though)

The state of Linux

2007-09-25T17:32:00.000+02:00

Dear Readers

* (Linux is a term I chose to use. Please don't start with me philosophy debates regarding naming conventions. Besides, I'm sure everyone who reads this will understand).

I'd like to challange a little the Linux community. In all recent press, me, my friends and many other people I know are reading about Linux all sorts of information. There's one article talking about winning some deal, where Linux shines and outperfomes Windows. There's another, where we finally "Get the facts" where Windows gets the win hands down. And then there are more, where Mac is better than Windows and Linux is better than Mac, etc...

This, of course, is an endless list of PR (public relations) and other commercial stuff. (Yes, I said Linux and commerce in one sentence, and I meant it so). Each vendor shows all the cases he wins over his competitors and we know that.

But here's the thing. I'm sure it happens all over the net, but I mainly read Unix/Linux news and not Windows ones. I'd say, that in an average day I see the same number of those messages from public press on all three major operating systems. Even more than that, news about less known ones like *BSD, Solaris, etc are also pretty much at the same level.

Here what I'm trying to say: with regard to my own field of expertise, I'm saying that all 3 operating systems (and even few more) are valuable and existing choices, all offer the same features and all can do the job. Customer chooses the solutions to his/her likings and he's happy.

Let me elaborate on this.

All ... operating systems... are valuable choices. What I mean by this, is that when I as customer am coming to a vendor, and explain to him my problem, I at least expect that I will get all the possible solutions. In almost all cases (except in OS-specific problems) I want him to provide me with Windows choice. Not that I think it is the best choice (it may not be), but because I like choice. It makes me feel better and more comfortable. And also, I'm saying that all operating systems today offer similar features, so I can solve almost anything in any of them.

With all this, I come to main point. We often talk about how Linux is ready (or not), it's on Desktop (I even wrote a piece about that as well), or on server, and how its better than Windows because ....... (fill in your favorite), and how its more open than MacOS, etc. What I'm saying, its this:

Linux is ( and already for some time) ready.

It's ready for Desktops. Ready for servers. Ready for embedded. Ready for everything.

Ready for competition.

I'm saying its ready, because the community is ready. Customers are ready.

Linux stake in OS business is ~3%, and this serves (surprisingly or not) as the reason for many people to ignore it. Well, too bad. Apple has the same share, but it is hardly ignored. Solaris has probably even less, but no one ignores Sun.

So, I'm calling to a Linux developers out there (and application developers): stop worrying. Keep going. You're doing a great job. Your product is better than other ones. Keep doing what you do, because the fruits of your labor are being used by millions and this number will only keep growing. I'm handing off my hat to all of you.

There's no point in bashing other operating systems. Linux holds its place. It will get even better. But competition is good for us. It keeps us all in shape and prepared. It makes us go over the edge. It makes us think.

And want to know what is the best thing of all? The community. It will overgrow companies. That's why Linux (and other open OSes, and applications) will thrive.

Linux is ready. Welcome to Linux state.

Net problems

2007-09-24T14:20:00.000+02:00

Bummer, I have a gtalk disconnecting on me all the time... :-(

The overestimated Death of the Linux Desktop

2007-09-19T19:19:00.000+02:00

For the last couple of days I've been reading about the so called Death of the Linux Desktop. What I cannot understand is, how so Linux desktop can be dead if it never existed?

For few years, we've been hearing all sorts of saying, that this year will be "the year of Linux on the Desktop", that this year, Linux will conquer desktop arena, etc. So if all that is true, wouldn't that mean that it is not on the desktop yet, and hence it cannot die?

That depends hugely on point of view. What would mean, that Linux is on a desktop? I use it. On the desktop. Does that count? Some people I know use it on laptops, servers, and even embedded devices. Does this count?

Yes. Everything does. The main point of these articles, debating on the death of desktop Linux, is to address the departure of one of the major desktop proponents within kernel developers. While great thing by its own, it doesn't yet encapsulate the whole desktop on Linux, isn't it?

I think that the most important thing is that work will be kept going on, improving things we have, inventing new ones and making everything better and better. And only after awhile, we would be able to look back on what we've done, what happened and decide: That was the year of Linux Desktop. That year it made it. And only if it won't be going well anymore, we'll say - Linux on Desktop is dead.

But until then - I think we should stop jumping to conclusions, and just keep doing what we do the best - the greatest software and the best communities.

Linux on the Desktop is yet to come.

-A.

Google Code - Updates: Google welcomes ISO decision on OOXML

2007-09-17T13:00:00.000+02:00

Google issued a letter, in which it welcomes ISO on their decision to drop OOXML from fast approval.

I personally think this is a great thing that there's no one huge body (read Microsoft) anymore that can pressure people to their mind. I hope that Google and others can create enough counter-weight to balance things. I'm glad that ISO can decide things based on technical merit sometimes.

Read here: Google Code - Updates: Google welcomes ISO decision on OOXML

Grandma factor

2007-09-16T16:52:00.000+02:00

I've been reading around different stories about how we're not making our systems enough "grandma"-proof (that is to be "easily" used by grandmas. Sorry grandpas, you're probably not too appealing for the cause).

In fact, I've written something like that myself some time ago. That doesn't mean I've changed my mind about that essay, I just adopted an attitude.

What I am thinking now, when considering things said in that article, is that designing a system for an "average" computer user is becoming less relevant. I do think that usability must go as one of the first and foremost important features, but nevertheless, making our systems oversimplified (Gnome anyone?) is a totally wrong thing to do.

(Regarding my Gnome remark, I just saying rather large opinion that I hear around. I use Gnome myself, and it is sufficient enough for me. But also is a Xfce and MacOS X, and in some degree Windows and KDE. I just want to say, that in some projects, craving for simplicity overshadows main goals of the projects - and that is to deliver functionality. And Gnome's "simplicity" was the factor that turned Linus Tourvalds to KDE)

In fast technology race, the functionality can be beaten by usability. But usability means "convenient use", not "simple". Any system that simplifies on expense of other important aspects, is destined to fail.

All I want is that technically oriented crowd would differentiate between the so-called "average" user and everyone else. My wife (wife to be in a short while) uses a computer without significant problems. She just doesn't like how some things are done (such as MSN Live upgrade forced up on her. She liked it the way it was, and she doesn't like to be forced to do anything, as we all don't).

In the world I live in, there's almost everyone knows how to handle a computer. For better or for worse. And you know what? My dad is a grandpa now, and he can handle complicated computer tasks very well. Do you know how? I'll tell you how.

Because he's a grown intelligent person, that can take his time to learn a new thing. Just like he did once when remote controls for everything began to appear.

What I'm trying to say, is that we should probably stop using a "grandma" factor as a major "usability" measure. Many computer users are not that illiterate anymore. Almost all newly grads for last 10 years (who lead many businesses today) are comfortable with computers. Many college students grew up with one.

So, I think there's a need for yet another level of usability. A community needs to find another type of a person that will test a usability of a product.

It should be an advanced computer user, who are not afraid to try new things, who understands what a new product is and what is usability and how can it be assessed.

Try me for that.

No words needed

2007-09-16T12:09:00.001+02:00

Absolutely amazing.

Source: Digg

Microsoft works against itself?

2007-09-10T11:09:00.000+03:00

Well, that at least what Matt Asay believes in.

I'm, in fact, disagree.

He argues, that "Get the facts" way of campaign is against the vendor itself. But on the contrary, they do not say that their product Gen1 sucks, they're just saying that in comparison, Gen2 product is much better.

You have the same thing with everything else. Car manufacturer will say his cars are much better than the competition, and then its new model is much better when compared to a previous one.

I can keep the list going on:
...New clothes are so "new" and those you bought last season are so "retro"...
...New cleaner detergent washes everything that a previous one (the one without those blue and red balls - it had green ones, and we all know blue and red are so much more than greeen) could not...
...You new cell plan is so much better than one you had! And you get a phone as a gift!...

During the days when we all loved AMD for their much better and cheaper CPUs than Intel's, Intel never compared their product to AMD (which AMD did thoroughly all the time). They just showed how much their new product would benefit their customers in means of price, performance, compared to an old one.

Matt: don't panic. No need for laughing (albeit ironic) at big vendors. It's just called marketing.

Nothing more.

-A

Licensing issues

2007-09-06T10:06:00.000+03:00

I've read the article from Jem Matzan, about how latest ramblings around licensing issues prove that reality will prevail the idealizm.

And you know what? I agree.

I always choose to use an open source software when I have the choice. I do it both idealistically (because I can easily connect to developers and users community, and get help and assistance), and because of technical merit (I find often that open source software is much better than many commercial ones), and definitely because of the cost (just bandwidth to download stuff) and mostly because I don't want to get into licensing debate with larger bodies.

I just use computing as tools. Think of it as when you buy a hammer, it comes with sort of a license agreement that only allows you to use it with specific type of nails. Sure, noone will really check what exactly for and how exactly are you going to use it, but license is there nevertheless.

I think such thing would be extremely stupid and worthless, but I'm not the one who decides. I just want my hammer as something heavy and convenient, and I do want to hit something else with it sometimes.

So it is for me with computers and software. My choice of open source software is a choice that assures me, that I can do anything I want or need with tools I get.

Now, what is the problem Jem describing here? The problem, as FreeBSD Foundation President put it, is that many think that what Free Software Foundation thinks is the right thing regarding the licensing. I disagree with their approach.

In a free world, as they would like it to be, anyone entitled to a free software, exactly as I am. But sometimes, for my own personal advantage, I would not like to open source to my product. Someone doesn't like that? Either close your code too, or shut up. It is a free world after all, I can do whatever I want. Many GPL proponents seems to care to their freedom only.

With all those additional open-source licenses, the only one more thing you get is the one thing that you're trying to avoid - DRM. The curse word in digital world, meaning that every single bit is restricted, and you can use the bit I created only under my own conditions, and if you don't comply, I'll sue you to death. But it's all ones and zeros, folks. Nothing more.

That's why I side with Linus on licensing issue (he was never bothered by commercialization of Linux, and in fact I think he's even happy about it).

I like the most the BSD license.

Free for all and for all purposes. Just don't forget to mention who created it.

The best ever.

-A.

At work again

2007-09-02T15:44:00.000+03:00

Hi all

Today, almost 2 month after I was fired from my position at Exanet, I started to work with my new employer, Tehuti Networks as a System Manager. My job would be creating a processes for QA inside the company. So I hope that I'm back online now :-)

Please, wish me luck.

My own site

2007-08-23T18:29:00.000+03:00

Hi all

Recently, I've asked your help with suggestions regarding hosting my own blog. Now, as I started doing some other things which require online place for myself, I need a little more than blog hosting.

I need your help with general hosting plans, which provide great resources (software: wiki, blog, etc, bandwidth and space), great reliability and excellent price.

I'll be thankful to all of you for suggestions.

-A.

Coming back to life

2007-08-16T11:04:00.000+03:00

Hi all

I've been away for a long while. It was kinda unexpected - I just planned a little trip with to Paris, but now I have 2 major shifts in my life:

1. I'm changing jobs
2. I'm getting married!

It is so cool, that I can't explain it all. I'm just overwhelmed by this, so I will get back to this blog, but it will take another couple of weeks to get my head straight and to get re-synced with everything.

So, have a great day y'all.
-A

Windows joke

2007-07-02T10:22:00.001+03:00

Google OS

2007-07-01T22:14:00.001+03:00

Dear reader

I have shared with you my views on technology, operating systems and computing for awhile now. So here's my latest one.

I just read a column by Matt Hartley (a contributing writer to OS Weekly). The article discusses possible entrance by Google into OS space.

I wanted to respond on that opinion by my own. The issue of Google OS is being debated for as long as Google become an important part of internet culture. Many have predicted the appearance of Google's OS long time ago, but the thing never happened.

Why?

If Google OS is easy to create (just peak any Linux distro and create an additional "brand"), easy to maintain (the distro is already there and if you choose wisely, it is being frequently updated and bugfixed), easy to customize (it is Google after all using an open source application and it is a house full of open source developers), so why haven't this already happened?

Because Google doesn't need one. Just think about it. What Google's purpose is? World domination. What Google's business is? Selling ads. So how would OS integrate into this scheme?

Well, the thing is - it wouldn't. And the main reason for this is that an importance of any specific operating system is diminishing by the second as much of our computer life goes onto the net. In addition, diversity of mobile and small devices running uncommon local operating systems would render another desktop OS useless - and those devices are great for Google, as they allow users to view ads anywhere. And another reason - is the one I'm putting always as reason du jour for many Windows users stay in Windows - gamers would not use it because they won't have their favorite games there.

But besides any other reason, here's the million dollar question: why Google needs to have an operating system if it is not in operating system business?

And what's for sure, is that Ubuntu (Canonical) is very good by their own, without Google's money. And if you target only home users, I'm sure you will fail, as main OS business today is actually business users.

I prefer Google contributing money to a good cause instead.

-A.

Technorati : Google, Linux, technology

Cool graffiti shot!

2007-06-24T11:50:00.000+03:00

Those who can, create.
Those who can't, erase.

Innovation is total crap

2007-06-24T00:00:00.001+03:00

Dear reader. I want you to know, that I intend to piss of a lot of folk by writing this, but this is intentional. I have nothing personal against you. I just want to say things that bug my mind.

I'm saying that innovation is total crap. It exist in extreme cases only.

Hear me up dear reader. Let me tell you about myself first, so you know why I think so:
I've started using a computer when I was at age seven or eight years old. It was a 16K memory Soviet computer, which was connected to my home TV with an analog cable with zillion connectors. It was connected to a tape, which produced funny voices like the TX terminator in T3 when she connected to a police computer.
That was the time when I've understood that my life is going to be around the computers and technology. I was much more interested with practical use than details of electronics.

Fast forward 20 and so years later. We now use computers with 16G memory (which is a factor of million). I have a cellphone which is much more powerful than my first computer. So, will someone tell me which innovation lead to this? How have we become so obsessed with this weird word "innovation"?

I find, that the use of this word is so ubiquitous, that it is used everywhere all the time. New software product? Innovative. New service? Innovative. New technique? Innovative.

Total crap.

If I went and created a teleported, someone would call it innovative. Others would say, "Teleporter? Come on, those Sci-Fi writers have said that for more than 50 years! I've seen Capt. Kirk using one!".

I'm sorry dear reader if I hurt your feelings. You know what? Everything is innovative these days. New color for default theme? Innovative (5 years ago we've called it themes or skins). New window borders? Innovative (well, 10 years ago Windows were innovative, so what? 10 years until new innovation?). New sounds in the system? Innovative (well, we had 16bit sounds ages ago, haven't we? Now its polyphonic and in stereo!).

So what is innovative after all? Let me tell you. It is what you like. My dad, who brought me that first computer of mine, thinks blog is innovative. My mom barely knows how to use a wordprocessor. You can call them obsolete - I call them my parents and my usability tester. Whichever they call "hard" - I believe it is hard, and keep working on it. Innovation is like a breath of fresh air. If this air smells like a bad fish, it's not an innovation.

I'm sorry to bring it up, but no one innovates in business. Well, maybe they do, but I rarely find anything new these days.

There are out-standers. Let's call them incremental innovators - they are improving the existing stuff, and their "fresh" versions appear so cool to us - it like that fresh air I was talking about. An ipod was like that.

So I'd call all the vendors of the world (including those of Open Source base) to stop shouting yet another buzz word. I'm seek of it. I'm tired. I can't bare it any longer. I call your innovation "crap" until proven otherwise. Can you prove me you innovated? Can I be sure I won't find your "innovation" anywhere else (like Microsoft's "the world's first no-ball mouse" which appeared in 2000's, while we had an optical SUN mouse in our old unused and dusty pile of crap since, like 1994)?

Let me decide on your innovation. I can speak for myself you know.

One more thing for business oriented out there: I've never seen "innovation" as the major sales point.

"Hey boss, I've chosen that vendor because he's so more innovative that 5 others we have considered! Yes, he's pricey, but he's so innovative!".

This crap would make me laugh. This crap would've caused someone to lose a job.

That is all, dear reader.

Just my opinion. You can have your own.

Feedback is appreciated.

Technorati : Google, Linux, Microsoft, technology

PPP Direct launch

2007-06-23T20:12:00.000+03:00

Well, I've wrote already before, that I've started to look for other ways to earn money.

One of the ways I've found to be very nice and not that hard is Pay Per Post. It is site, which gives you ability to earn some money by blogging. After your blog passes some minimal amount of visitors, and you get certain Google PageRank and Alexa rank, your blog gets "verified" and affiliates of pay per post allow you to post "promotion" articles on your blog! After these posts get verified, you just receive the money!

Well, I've already posted some articles on sponsored subjects. It gave me already 7.5$ earned. Now, after some new of my posts are approved, I'm expecting to recieve ~30$ more.

It can be seen as not as big money, but doing that from home, and spending about an hour in total on this, I think it worth it.

So, now PPP launched a new service - PPP Direct! It means that anyone browsing my blog can order a review or sponsor a post directly from me! That's really cool! What's more, compared to its competitors, PPP only takes 10% of the money, and all the rest goes to me! (that's compared to, say, ReviewMe which takes about 50%).

So, I heartily recommend pay per post for earning some money by blogging on your own blog!

To find out more, check out the official release, demo movie or watch live.

Note: this post is sponsored by Pay Per Post

Thoughts on widgets

2007-06-21T15:32:00.000+03:00

I just read a blog post by Leah Culver about why widgets suck.

I've invested my few minutes of though on this. Result is here.

Feedback is appreciated.
-A

Google Killing Microsoft?

2007-06-19T15:06:00.000+03:00

I just read a digg story, titled "The Google Product That Could Kill Microsoft". It mainly says this:

Office isn't the only Microsoft hegemony that Google Gears could help destroy. One of the defining differences between Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux is the application lineup. That's given the crew in Redmond, Wash., tremendous power. But
technologies like Gears render the operating system irrelevant.

My first response was this.

So, here I am, thinking about it bit more. I will go over this in a little more detail:

Google will "kill" Microsoft.
While not really arguing with this argument, I'm not that sure what "killing" Microsoft means. There were aplenty cases in the history, when something buried by others is still pretty much alive. For such a huge entity as Microsoft, not only from software point of view, but economically - I'm not sure anyone can explain how can it "die". I'm not saying that disappearance of Microsoft is not possible - it is. But Microsoft has so huge impact on technological way of life in our world, and especially on world's economy (Microsoft's software, hardware, platforms, intellectual property - and I mean in its pure logical sense of inventions, its financial base) - that I believe its almost a stand-alone machine which needs no human interaction to function. Too much effort and resources are put in it. So much, that its "death" seems to be possible only as a result of sudden unexpected surprise (like aliens invasion). So, yes, Microsoft will (I'm sure of it) loose its hold on a desktop and in business. But that doesn't mean it will die. It will shift its act into other areas, and as any other meta-organism it will keep fighting for its life. So, Microsoft's death? Not visible on my radar.
Google applications
Yes, Google has a lots of useful applications. I use Gmail and Google Reader myself. Even documents sometimes. But it really scares me that I might use everything online. While this may not be a security issue (say I'm keeping my sensitive information with me all the time), but in a Big Brother kind of thinking. Trusting Google with all the things I do online? To be able to track each and every step I do? To be able to say at any moment with high success probability what my internet usage patterns are? That's scares the hell out of me. So I'd use Google apps, even in offline mode, but I do want a control over my computing needs. Paranoia, anyone?
Now, while the argument here is being online and that the importance of operating systems installed locally is diminishing (which I've been saying for a long time). I agree to this statement, but why would anyone mentally healthy think that Microsoft would do nothing about it? (But that I suggest that Microsoft will also develop a platform for online applications).
Online service
That is the most unwise argument in whole the story. If being offline is that matters, why would Google beat Microsoft? Because sometimes I will be without the net access and still be able to do my work? Then why would I need Google for that? I still have my OS (be that Windows, Linux or Mac), and I don't really have to use Google, right? So here I see 3 possible choices:
- Google develops offline tools for their applications, allowing offline work. Microsoft get caught unprepared and dies off.
- Microsoft develops online tools for many of their "offline" applications. Google get caught unprepared. Nothing happens to it.
- Both Google and Microsoft provide online as well as offline applications, and competition is going on for the benefit of all customers.
Which one seems more probable? I leave it for you to decide.

Besides, in a few years the whole world will be online anyways anytime. Offline? Say what?
All the other stuff
As I've already said, there are so many areas where Google and Microsoft do not even compete, at least not yet. And these are pretty hefty areas with much money in them. How would Microsoft be killed by Google again?

In other words - Google killing Microsoft?
Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath yet.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, Microsoft, Google

Google Linux

2007-06-17T15:36:00.000+03:00

I just read a column in Inquirer about meetup in Googleplex. There are people from Linux Foundation and FSF, which meet up in goal to discuss the latest Microsoft ramblings about licensing problems in Linux:

Following Microsoft's inking of agreements with Linux hawkers, offering to shield them from lawsuits over the 235 patents it reckons versions of Linux infringe, a gathering of open sorcerers is assembling at Google HQ to debate what is to be done.
According to Reuters report, which helpfully details what a Linux geek is wearing these days (T-shirts and jeans), organizer of the "Collaboration Summit", Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation, told the amassed geeks: "Guys: Be seekers of truth, not finders of contradiction."
Maybe something will come of it, but typically, like the Left in politics, there may be too much squabbling over what society should look like after the revolution that the revolution will be eternally postponed.

I actually agree to this. Its much easier to discuss than get things done. But then, I like this comment:

Google Linux anyone?

Funny isn't it? Not that Google needs such a thing, but I think that while everyone is talking Ubuntu would do the trick and take it all.

-A

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu

Optics for sale

2007-06-14T16:23:00.000+03:00

Note: this post is sponsored by PayPerPost

Recently, I was talking to my friend who's a photo-equipment junkie. He has a Nikon D50 and he's so into it. He makes great photos though.

When choosing photo equipment, we all have our favorite sites and places. I've recently encountered Optics Planet.

Optics Planet is an online shop for optics of any kind. It means that you can get there telescopes, microscopes, rifle scopes, binoculars, nigh vision products and many, many more by ATN, Yukon, Bushnell, Trijicon, Weaver, Aimshot, Insight Technology, ITT. Its a one-store for everything resource. You can get night vision or any other night vision optics devices and products.

But while this store offers much of the products, I do have one problem with it (albeit not a bad problem). Usability on the site is somewhat problematic - a lot of text information hits you right to your face and it makes navigation cumbersome. So, for me it may not be much of a problem as I'm relatively experienced computer-literate person, but for newbies and newcomers to the site it can pose some difficulties.

Still, this site provides much useful information, so it definitely will be saved in my bookmarks!

Technorati : review

Hottest female podcasters

2007-06-14T16:21:00.000+03:00

Well, it had to come here at some point.

Take a look here. Who's your favorite? :-)

I think I'll go for Amanda (although Cali and Amber are very hot as well)....

-A

Using coupons

2007-06-13T15:34:00.001+03:00

Note: this post is sponsored by PayPerPost!

I have recently decided to buy a new laptop. My current one is quite old (its an HP Pavillion ea4508ze, more than 3 years), and I would like something more powerful, lighter and with longer battery life. While searching for a laptop buy, I recalled that I should probably look for discount coupons.

That is how I have found the www.couponchief.com - online shopping coupons. It is very friendly site, which enlists thousands of coupons from different vendors, including Dell and HP, but also Amazon, Best Buy and others. While looking for notebook deals, I've found HP $200 worth coupons here - on HP store. It means, that when buying an HP laptop I can, and will save about 200 bucks on each buy (I might buy two: one for me and one for my girlfriend).

Another cool thing about CouponChief is that they have a screencasts for different vendors, showing how to use their coupons.

So, go to online shopping coupons and check this out.

-A.

Technorati : technology

Building a value PC

2007-06-13T14:58:00.000+03:00

This is something that I have always like to do. Imagine this: we're computer/technology junkies (well, at least part of us are), and we like to have computers. But what we really like, is to build those, if not in life, but on paper.

So, you'd go to different online resources, and you find what kind of a computer you want. Then you go to forums and vendors sites and decide which components you'd like to have. Then you go to online stores and find what you need...lengthy process, but fun isn't it?

Heh, here's a shortcut for a computer for the best value for the buck.

Enjoy.

-A.

PayPerPost raises money - what's in this to me?

2007-06-12T19:59:00.001+03:00

Note: This post is sponsored by PayPerPost!

I just got another opportunity to earn some cash.

PayPerPost is just got another raise of $7M. I'm sure it will bring them enough resources to keep up their business, finding more opportunities and creating more of those for me.

Here's their press release note:

The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored
Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company's Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

PayPerPost was founded by ted murphy. It allows bloggers to review some products/services which appear on the site and get rewarded once their review is accepted. On the other hand, with blog readers PayPerPost get blog outreach they want to get more attention.

I just started with it, and I can already tell you that I've made $7.50 by putting some time and writing a review! Which is great, related to how much time I spent on it, and that I've never payed for membership or anything.

So I recommend everyone to use payperpost, if not for money, then just for your own training.

Now, what could PayPerPost do with all those millions they got now? I think the following:

Keep the service alive as much as possible. For me that would mean reachable everytime I get to their site www.payperpost.com
Gain more advertisers, so beginner bloggers have more chances to earn money.
Gain more advertisers, so more categories will be available for review.
Remove possible duplicates in opportunities list.
Create other channels of revenew so both PayPerPost and bloggers would gain more profit from them.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Spice up Windows - replace it! [with Linux]; part 5

2007-06-12T17:33:00.001+03:00

In my few previous posts I've stated that I'd like to help people to spice their system and move from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I started to explain the process in last posts. I hope that to this point you got used to those applications I've suggested before. If not, just have another week or two using them, until you're comfortable enough with them.

This time I will explain the 5th step: Playing around

Note: suggestions in this post should be taken with care as I assume that you've read all previous parts and have a little experience with your new shiny system.

This step will include checking different environments, customizations and applications.

So, after you installed Linux, and your applications are working fine, what's in it for you? What could you gain by all the effort of moving? Well, at least you've gained the following:

Moving to Linux made your system more stable. While Windows was probably stable enough for you, statistically there's less loss of information on Linux systems I've worked with compared to Windows ones.
Your system is much more customizable now. Not that you should run and change anything, but you could've if you wanted to.
You didn't have to pay a dime to Microsoft for a new version of Windows, to hardware store for a new hardware and yet still you have much better performing system. And the main catch? Its totally legal and free.

So, here are those things which can spice up your system even more:

1. Graphical environment - there's a plenty of environments for Linux, which contrary to Windows, provide all sorts of features. All the odds are that if you went with my suggestions in previous posts, you're using either KDE or Gnome. Head over to their sites and read about them! You can customize a look and functionality of those 2 in many unimaginable for Windows XP user ways.

2. Multimedia Library applications - I've suggested to use VLC, but that was just for convenience. There are so many multimedia applications for Linux, take a look:

And there are plenty more! I suggest you to look at them, play and choose what works best for you.

3. Photo Management application - I strongly suggest trying out F-Spot. It is great application for managing your photos!

And most important part is, of course - play around and have fun!

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Beating spyware

2007-06-10T15:31:00.001+03:00

Have you ever needed to fight spyware?

In most of the current software packages that I test and use, there are unfriendly software hidden. Every day I get much email with spyware included. I suffer from this as much as any other computer user. But I suffer when working in Windows, because when I use Linux I don't have to fight spyware at all.

So when I use my Windows laptop (which is my main computer at work), I have to find the solution for fighting spyware. And I have found a great one. I'm going to tell you about it, but first, try to decipher this secret message:

SHX OGUONPR ZI RWP MAEJ ZUSBO-VCJSFPX OPKJCBLUSBP SGDURMPR

Have anything? No? OK, head over here, and find out!

Got it now? Yes, it says that Webroot's Spy Sweeper is the most award-winning antyspyware software. By comparing its price, feature list and least but not last award's list to its competitors, you see its a total winner. It means that this software is a total requirement for anyone trying to fight spyware on her computer.

In addition to being highly configurable and customizable, Spy Sweeper is the best tool for filtering spyware from many downloadable context you're trying to get from the web. You can download music, video and pictures securely, without being infected by spyware.

Check out what others are saying about Spy Sweeper:

"Spy Sweeper remains a favorite for protection from spyware." - PC Magazine
"Our top choice..." - PC World
"Definitely worth the money" - Download.com
"...stands apart as the most well-rounded anti-spyware utility..." - SmartComputing

So, go ahead and download Spy Sweeper and get yourself protected starting now!

Note: this post is sponsored by PayPerPost!

Technorati : technology

Spice up Windows - replace it! [with Linux]; part 4

2007-06-10T14:48:00.001+03:00

This time I will explain the 4th step: Spicing up Windows!

This would include the following:

Backing up all you useful data (such as movies, music, family photos ~~and those other photos~~).
Choosing Linux distribution.
Installing Linux distribution.
Back to work.

NOTE: this step will be much easier if some member of your family (or a friend) who actually familiar with computers will be around helping. He or she can save a great deal of time, effort and negative emotions by helping to do all this.

Here we go:

1. In first step, you should definitely back up your stuff. Stuff includes documents, music, video, photos and all sorts of other things we always forget about (such as contacts, bookmarks and other settings which just the way we work - not the real information). I can't say where is this stuff of yours on your computer (except maybe Firefox bookmarks), but computer-literate people can always locate it pretty fast for ya. That's where that nephew of yours becomes handy and should repay for all those candy you've invested in him. You do get candies, toy cars and soldiers for him, right?

2. Choosing the distribution. Oh boy, this is so interesting step. By browsing multitudes of sites, you can find that there are several hundreds(!) distributions in the existence, while one or two more are created each day. So how should you choose? Well, the fact is (and I'm sure many disagree), it doesn't matter! There are only 2 major differences between them all:

They use different package manager (package is like installation file for a program)
They have different set of chosen defaults for applications, settings and environments.

So, anyway, how should you choose? I suggest the following:

Choose the one that can easily be installed.
Use it for a while
Either stay with it if it fulfills your need, or try another.

I'm going to recommend using one of the following for beginners:

Ubuntu Linux (of course)
Fedora (yes, another 'of course')

As I've never used anything remotely as much as I have used Gentoo Linux (not recommended for beginners, but it is the one I use on my systems), I won't suggest anything else. I hope that commenters will suggest other distributions and I will update the post :-)

Another suggestion, is to use Wubi project, which intends to make the installation of Ubuntu Linux much easier for Windows users. (this one thanks to an anonymous commenter on my blog).

3. After (or during) installing Linux, make sure that all the applications I suggested before are installed. Just to make it quick reminder, here's the list:

Firefox
Thunderbird
Pidgin
Xchat
eMule
Azureus
Skype
Gizmo Project
VLC Player
Picasa
Jajuk
Songbird
Open Office
AbiWord
GnuCash
Grisibi

So now, what you're left to do is transfer you stuff to a new shiny Linux computer and get back to work. Using the same application will (supposedly) have no effect whatsoever on your productivity or entertainment.

I hope that these instructions cover the basics. If it doesn't, let me know and I will help you find information you need.

Next time I will explain when will you feel the change and what can be done with it.

Have fun!

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Comparing Windows to Linux

2007-06-10T13:20:00.001+03:00

I've just read a community blog on ZDnet, suggesting to stage a face-to-face run of Windows Server installation with Linux installation on the same hardware.

By getting (supposedly) much better results on Linux side, it claims then that Microsoft's claims about "stolen" intellectual property in Linux or other open source projects will be pointless. After all, using the same technology should provide the same results, isn't it?

I just so disagree with this. Understanding that there's so much more to operating system than couple hundred specific technological ideas making me think that implementing the suggested demonstration will not show any effect.

Besides, I probably could understand the reasoning if the difference would become tenfold, but if its consistently about 10% in average? And if Linux system will come worse in some scenarios? It doesn't mean anything at all. Yes, Linux developers may have used (unknowingly of course) some technique "patented" by Microsoft (all the value and meaning of patenting is beyond the scope here), and they even could've implemented it the same way, but then something else in Windows or Linux can cause for one of the systems work slower or faster than the other - and it will have nothing to do with this specific technological issue (patent?).

I just side Linus Tourvalds on this: just let Microsoft show the IP problems, and they will be fixed. If you don't want to show anything, I have nothing to fear about - how do I know you're not bluffing?

Knowing Microsoft I know for sure they bluff a lot.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, linux, technology, windows

Spice up Windows - replace it with Linux; part 3

2007-06-07T15:13:00.001+03:00

In my previous posts I stated that I'd like to help people to spice their system and move from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I started to explain the process in last posts. This time I will explain the 3rd step: Spicing up Office/Production applications.

For many, such applications include:

Word Processor application (for writing documents)
Spreadsheet (for simple calculations such as IRS reports)
Presentation application (for business people among us - for creating presentations for their bosses or customers, for the rest of the crowd - for watching those nice ~~nude~~ vacation photo stripes with great music.
Some graphical tools, for building flow charts, graphs and similar things.
Reading PDF files (and even creating them)
Money/account management utilities.

I'm sure there are many others. If you know them, please send feedback to me and I will update this list. We will do our best to cover what we have at the moment.

Here we go:

1. OOO Writer - a very good Word Processor. It is a part of an open source project OOo (openoffice.org), and for many many many people it covers all their needs for an application for creating documents. Whats good, as a bonus, it supports Word's document format (almost perfect), so you could use it for exchanging document with you friends who still not decided to move to better platform.

2. OOO Calc - a very good spreadsheet program. It is also a part of an open source project OOo, and it definitely covers much of the needed features in spreadsheet application. It also supports Excel file format which allows you to work with such files if one of your friends haven't moved to other software yet.

3. OOO Impress - a very good presentation program. It is also a part of an open source project OOo, and it definitely covers much of the needed features in presentation application. It also supports PowerPoint file format which allows you to work with such files if one of your friends haven't moved to other software yet.

4. OOO Draw - is a program for creating sketches, diagrams, and simple graphs. Its a part of an open source project OOo, and it also covers many of the features requires for simple diagrams creating and flow charting. While not much used by home users, it can drive great value to an office user.

5. PDF Reader/Creator - this is one great thing in all systems. Don't mind about reading PDF files too much - they are readable in every system. It doesn't even matter that much, which application you would use, because for general purpose PDF reading is application independent, and can be done in all applications - and it will look the same.

For creating you can use OOO Writer - it can import (save) your document as PDF file.

6. Accounting - I've inserted this here, because it has to do with productivity applications. I personally found that for me actually using a spreadsheet for all accounting is much easier and faster (So you can use OOO Calc). But for many who want to try specific application, I'd suggest checking one of the following:

Grisbi ( my favorite)
GPF
GnuCash (Windows port completed few days ago)

As you can see, I strongly recommend to install OpenOffice suite of office applications. It will give you the benefit of integrated applications, the joy of using open source (and free) software and easy transition from that other application because of similar interface.

In addition, I will just mention that for the word processor functionality, there's another option:
Abiword - it is an open source word processing application. It is also works with Word format files, and it is lite and sufficient for many tasks. I would choose Abiword over OpenOffice if it was the only type of productivity program I needed. It is much smaller and subjectively faster.

I hope that list I gave will cover you basic needs. If it doesn't, let me know and I will help you find the applications that fill the need you seek to fill.

After you install aforementioned applications, use them. It is important to leave older application aside, just in case. But use these new ones to get used to them. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications.

Next time I will explain how do we remove Windows with fun.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows: replace it with Linux; part 2

2007-06-06T09:48:00.001+03:00

In my previous post I started to explain the process of "spicing up" the Windows installation by moving to Linux. This time I will explain the 2nd step: Spicing up Multimedia applications.

I define multimedia applications as applications used for the following tasks:

Listening to music
Listening to internet radio
Watching movies

So, without further due, lets dive in:

1. VLC - is one of the best multimedia applications ever. I use it extensively for music playing/listening, watching movies, and listening to some very cool internet radio stations. It is an open source project, supports replaying virtually all formats and containers in existence (except some exotic ones), supports subtitles, playlists and many more.

In an ideal world, I think I'd just suggest VLC and that would be it. But we don't live in such world, and I will provide couple more applications:

2. Last.FM - this service allows creating "custom" radio stations based on personal choice and preference. It is very similar in functionality to Pandora, but Pandora has recently shut their service outside the United States, so as I live outside the US, I had to find something else. In fact I already have used last.fm more that Pandora, so the "switch" came to me with no big problem.

3. Jajuk and Songbird - these two are media management utilities, quite recent but fairly usable. I suggest them in case you have tones of multimedia and you're tired managing it manually. If manual management doesn't bother you (and you're fine doing it), then there's no real need to install multimedia packages. Jajuk is a Java application and Songbird is more of a web browser with vast multimedia features, that allow it to be digital media manager. You all should know though, that I don't use media management applications, so my knowledge in this area is limited, so any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

Now, I have to mention couple more things:

1. iTunes - while the best in its field for managing multimedia content, I don't suggest using it. Using iTunes would be justified if I were trying to explain the move from Windows to Mac OS, but since I'm trying to encourage people to "stay" with their hardware and just to move to better operating environment, move to Mac OS is beyond the scope of this subject.

2. Photo management - I wasn't sure whether to suggest it or not, and if so, then in which category? I've decided to explain it here, in "Multimedia" context but still apart. For photo management I am suggesting to install Picasa - it is one of the Google's acquired assets. It is in an essence a photo management application, which does a really great job managing photos, but no so great job for adjusting them and making small changes/fixes. So, this one is great for management, and if someone knows great application for "simple"/"minimal" photo manipulations, please let me know and I will add it to this list with links to people who suggested it.

After you install aforementioned applications, start using them. It is important to leave older application aside, just in case. But use these new ones to get used to them. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications. Take some time with these applications, say couple of weeks to see how it feels. If it feels good, move to next step, if not - use it for little more. These are all great applications and they all are very usable and there's no reason one should have problem to get along with them.

Next time I will explain how do we install Office/Production applications (and which ones) to make life in Windows more productive (and in some cases - cheaper).

Feedback for everything is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows: replace it with Linux; part 1

2007-06-05T13:59:00.001+03:00

In my previous post I've stated that I'd like to help people to spice up their system by moving from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I will explain step by step how are we going to do this so it will be easy for anyone to follow.

We will do it in 5 following steps:

Spicing up:Internet applications
Spicing up: Multimedia applications
Spicing up: Office/Production applications
Spicing up: Windows (by replacing with Linux)
Play!

So, let's get started!

This time I'm going to explain how to perform step 1 - Spicing up: Internet applications

As I've explained in previous post, Internet applications are used for the following (mainly, of course, and highly subjective):

Browsing the web
Reading/Writing email
Chatting/IM'ing (using instant messengers)
P2P applications (bittorrent/eMule are the most popular ones).
Internet Telephony

In order to spice up Internet applications, we're going to install the following set of applications to answer our needs (which inherently makes our life better!):

1. Firefox - is known as one of the best browsers in the world. It is open source project, and while maybe not perfect on some (in my opinion - poorly written) sites, it is very customizable and expandable through gazillions of extensions. If you're still using Internet Explorer 6 on your Windows XP box, do it urgently. Firefox is much better and secure browser than IE6, and provides much more functionality using fewer computer resources. Your browsing will never be the same!

2. Thunderbird - is known as one of the best email clients in the world. Just as Firefox (and made by the same team), it is an open source project. It handles email delivery in most known protocols (being POP3 and IMAP) perfectly and without any major problems. It has very good junk control (read spam filter) engine and very good rules engine. The new version (which is 2.0.0.0 at the moment of this writing) has new "tagging" feature which allows you to "tag" (categorize) message with any number of tags and then easily find it by tag without searching. This feature makes Thunderbird to be like Google - allowing to find messages by labels. Great stuff! If you're still using Outlook Express, move to Thunderbird now - it is faster, more stable and more secure.

3. Pidgin - is one of the best IM clients around. It is an open source project, and the best thing that I like about it - it supports 3 major IM networks I use, namely ICQ, Jabber (Google Talk), and MSN. It means that I only use one client to be connected to all networks at once, at I'm able to talk to all my friends! Isn't it cool or what?

4. Xchat2 - an IRC client. If you're on IRC, stop using MIRC and move to Xchat! It is an open source project, has lots of customization options and very nice graphical user interface.

5. Azureus - very good, open source Bittorrent client. Written in Java, has a very good interface, stable and fast. Has many features that other clients don't have, which makes it faster when downloading your favorite Linux distribution.

6. eMule - also very good client, but for ED2K network. It is different protocol of downloading (different from bittorrent that is), but also very popular and fast. Many prefer eMule to Bittorrent, so make up your mind and choose an application!

7. Skype - the most know application in the world for free internet conversations. It is free, beautiful an allow free pc-to-pc communication.

8. Gizmo Project - very similar to Skype, but uses different protocol. It is also free and allows free pc-to-pc conversations.

Both Skype and GizmoProject also allow calling to regular landline and cell phones around the world for considerably low price.

After you install aforementioned applications, use them. It is important to leave older (read your previous) application aside, just in case. But use these new ones all the time. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications.

Next time I will explain how do we install Multimedia applications (and which ones) to make Windows more fun.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows - replace it with Linux - Introduction

2007-06-05T13:49:00.001+03:00

I decided to write a series of essays about moving from Windows system to a Linux one. There are plenty resources online that can help with this transition. I just thought to make an easy one and with explaining each step of doing so.

First of all, the main issue with the series: it is not intended for the following audience:

Gamers
Video/Audio professionals using specialized tools
Photo professionals using Photoshop
Professional artists using specialized tools for their work.

I believe that these posts will be helpful to the following minorities of users:

Internet users (mainly browsers users, IM/Chat users, email users, internet video/internet radio users, p2p users)
Writers (including bloggers)
Office/Production workers without specially customized Microsoft Office applications.
Music, video and movies consumers

I will explain each step in the process and provide information about it.

Good luck you all!

-A.

Update: here are these articles:

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Choosing a platform for work.

2007-06-03T14:00:00.001+03:00

After meeting a friend yesterday and talking a bit about technology with him, and after reading a review today, I had an idea.

I recently understood that most of my "computer"-related work is either already done or can be moved to be totally online. Such a thing would lead me to one of the following (or combination of them):

I'm totally online. I never loose my data because I have it online all the time. The only moment when its not there is that split of a second I loose my wireless connection and my data not uploaded yet. I can do my work (or entertainment) anywhere, anytime.
I'm totally "dead" without internet connection. My powerful computer has no use for me. I can't access anything. I can't do anything. I'm so addicted to being online, that I have problems figuring out what are computers for. Although my movies and music are local and with me, I have no wish to "consume" them - after all, I can't access my email (don't tell me its unrelated! It is. I am not addicted).

Then I've thought about it even more.

We have an internet connection nowadays everywhere. I walk around my neighborhood and I catch easily 10 open WiFi spots. Many can check their email with 3G mobile phones, or even use them to connect to the "real" Internet. Many of those phones are good enough for Internet by themselves. WiMax us promised to come in couple of years give or take. So we have connectivity problem solved. That, probably, also solves me the "problem" with an Internet ~~addiction~~ usage. This means, I can work virtually everywhere anytime.

Now, what bothers me at this point, is the computer itself. I mainly use browser and email. I use simple editor for documents/blog writing. I use simple photo management application. I use somewhat more advanced pictures editing application. I use multimedia players.

These all are hardly resource intensive tasks. But my computer starts to crawl when I open more than 2 apps at a time. Besides, when I'm thinking about installing applications and maintaining the computer, I wonder: why should I invest so much time in it?

So, I know what I want. I want a TV-like usability computer - something that just works. I want a "work" appliance. I want an appliance which is lite, small, convenient, has a long battery life, and fast and responsive. I want to know what it does and how it does it. I want to be able to customize it. I want my computing everywhere with me.

Just like an OLPC with a larger screen and battery life.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, OLPC, Ubuntu, apple, technology, windows

Automobiles recall. Rings a bell?

2007-06-02T20:42:00.003+03:00

So, do you think problems with hardware are the computer industry prerogative?

Guess again. From news site in Russian: http://e-news.com.ua/show/151516.html

Fast translation:

Yesterday Mazda Motors has recalled more than 280000 cars. It is the largest recall in history of Japanese car maker.

Around 287980 Demio and Verisa models, manufactured between 2002 and 2006 are being recalled. Most of them were sold locally, but some 25000 were sold abroad.

The recall was performed for two reasons: protective covering on cylindrical springs on amortizes was put with technological errors, which can lead to a springs corrosion; another problem was not complete coverage of hydraulics systems, which can lead to a problem within a clutch system.

In a meanwhile, no accidents were reported as the result of these problems.

So, Sony, you're not alone :-)

-A.

Technorati : Linux, automobile, gentoo, technology

Responsive computing required!

2007-05-31T12:12:00.001+03:00

Hey all. Thanks for spelling me out the obvious by commenting on my previous post - using swap out of memory is useless.

But I still want my computer to be faster and swap less. I know that today's userspace apps suck and use much unnecessary computer resources, but all I want for my computer is to be responsive!

I remember in DOS days, with much slower computers I didn't have to wait for it. Computers perform tasks much faster that people, so I want to use this tool and I want it to be usable. I don't want to wait for it to do something it "thinks" it needs to. I want it to respond in half of a second to any of my actions.

Is that too much to ask for?
Is it possible to be easily done? Without the suggestion to buy more hardware? If so, how?

-A.

Technorati : Linux, Ubuntu, technology, windows

Lizard near the carpet

2007-05-31T11:43:00.000+03:00

Last night we've seen a small (2-2.5 inches long) lizard resting near the edge of the carpet. So I took the shot.

-A.

Speeding up computer; dropping swap.

2007-05-30T15:26:00.000+03:00

As I've written in few posts before, I use IBM Thinkpad T42 for my day to day work. The "forced" operating systems installed is Windows XP Service Pack 2. Unfortunately, the laptop has only 512M of memory, and this often leads to a large "swapping" exercises. We used to "swapping" almost since first hard drives appeared (IBM Winchester was my first one), and we all know how and when it happens.

But this is exactly the problem I'm having - all I do is read email, browse the web, and create documents; sometimes I happen to watch a short movie (or YouTube clip) or listen to music - hardly the most intensive stuff in computing. But it really bugs me to wait for any application to load. Sometimes an applications such as Firefox or Outlook take upto half a minute just to start! And that's on almost idle system where one or two lite (such as PuTTY or IM) applications are running. This is very irritating, and bugs me more as a current state of things in all systems and in all applications rather than waiting itself.

I'm sure that this behavior while better in other operating systems, is similar in all of them.

So this got me thinking. Today's memory is cheap. Today's system are fully capable of handling 4GB of memory. What if I were creating "virtual" volume in memory and mount swap space in it? After all, I use swap for swapping only when system is up. I don't need it when system is off.

So, I'd equip my system with 4GB memory, giving 2GB of it to the OS, and using the other 2GB as swap space. The intention being eliminating hard drive access as much as possible. Would that work? Would this speed up my system?

Tell me what you think.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, technology, windows

Geeky Al Gore

2007-05-29T15:54:00.000+03:00

While I consider myself a some sort of technically oriented fetish person, I never thought Al Gore is one as well.

Take a look :-)

-A

Wireless Cat; An ultimate geek toy

2007-05-28T15:53:00.000+03:00

Wireless cats 'bugging" (as in 'listening to') Russians. Read here.

I just can't stop laughing....

Amazing picture!!

2007-05-28T11:35:00.001+03:00

From other blog:

In the pic below you can see two faces.A normal face on the right and a wicked one on the left.Now get up from your chair and walk some 8 steps back and see the magic.The two faces interchange their positions:

Neat, isn't it?

Making Windows usable - Part III

2007-05-21T13:21:00.001+03:00

In two previous posts I wrote about applications, tools and utilities I use to make my Windows XP system usable. This time I will finish the list.

Applications

Skype/Gizmo Project/Miranda
While I'm working in Windows, this in no way means I'm disconnected from the rest of the world. I use Skype to talk for free with my parents that live in Ukraine (landline call would cost me ~20 cents). I use Gizmo Project to test my friend's Asterisk installation. I use ICQ to chat with parents and friends. I use MSN messenger to connect with colleagues. So Miranda is my solution for multipurpose chatter application. Plus, Miranda is an open source application.
I've used Pidgin (ex-GAIM) before (also open source), but I didn't like its memory management - it was heavy on my system. I suspect it is a Windows build problem.

Yahoo Widgets
Yahoo widgets is a child's play. It used to be a Konfabulator once, who created widgets for Mac OS X, but since Apple introduced widgets on their own, Konfabulator created an engine for Windows. After awhile, Yahoo has bought Konfabulator, and now we have widgets on Windows XP. Cool! I use a day planner widget, which shows me my day's meetings from MS Outlook and SMS widget for sending SMS messages.

Foxit Reader
After using Acrobat Reader on a low-on-memory system such as mine, I got to the point when I couldn't normally read PDF files anymore - my system would start to crawl and would become unusable. So I've searched to a lighter application. And Foxit Reader supplies me with all the features I need - it is fast and lightweight. It is not an open source project, but a free version of it is very nice.

Picasa 2
Picasa is my favorite photo organizer. I like its intuitive interface, its categorization, its ability to index photos and tagging, and also blog- and web-albums integration. It is easy to use. It also has few photo editing features (not a professional photo editing, but still), and correction functions. Thumbs up!

IrfanView
Another image manipulating software. I use IrfanView as fast image viewer and for fixing things in a bunch - such as renaming photo files or changing photo sizes. It is very known application, very good, stable and convenient.

RealVnc
When I need to use a Linux GUI workstation (one of our compile servers, or GUI testing machines), I use VNC. It is very known and tried out way to communicate with remote GUI, and I like RealVNC because its lite and easy to use.

Launchy/Keybreeze
These two application I test right now. These applications are application launchers and more. Think of them as Spotlight for Windows. I really like Spotlight, so I miss this feature badly, even in Linux. Yes, there is a Desktop Search, but it is still not the same.
Launchy is Java-based application, and somewhat heavy on my system. Keybreeze is a newer one I've installed couple of days ago, and I'm still comparing the two. At the moment I'm more used to Launchy (it has been installed for couple of month), but I'm getting grip around Keybreeze as well. Both are quite good and, when I use them as fast app launchers, they do their job very well. Highly recommended.

Zoundry Blog Writer
Ok, now the last one :-).
I've been blogging more or less seriously in last few months, and I came to conclusion that I have to upgrade my blogging tools. That's why I requested help with Blogger switching, and this is also the reason I'm in a search for blog editor. So while I like Zoundry more that other editors (such as Qumana), and I do find it to be very good application, there are nuances I don't like - for example, I have to post as draft first and then edit the post online because formatting that gets to a Blogger is not very good. Before that I've used Flock's blogging editor, but since I've upgraded to full Blogger from Blogger Beta, they didn't have support for it yet, so I switches.
In any case - Zoudry is a good application, I just wish I could configure its behavior as I like.

As I said earlier, there are some applications (and a good ones) that I don't use. But if I had to, here's the list of some:

Antivirus
I'm in corporate environment, so I have Norton Antivirus installed. But if I had to choose, I'd go for AVG antivirus - its free and very good. That's what I've installed on my family computers.

Scripting
I don't script on my Windows machine - I just don't need to. But if I'd need it - Python, Perl and Cygnus would be installed on my system. Free tools rule!

Torrenting/Emule
Once again, as it is a corporate laptop, I "don't use" P2P tools - unless I have to download some Linux distro for testing. Then I use uTorrent, as it is the lightest torrent app ever. I don't use Emule for ages now.

SSL
I have an openSSL installed, because I wanted to use it once. But since then, I've never used it, so it is listed in this list.

IRC/Chat
I use PuTTY to ssh to a server and I run irssi console client on my Linux machine. But if I'd use an IRC application on Windows, it would be an XChat-2. Open source. The best one :-)

Games
I don't play games (I hear now "yea, right...", but trust me - I don't), so no games are installed on my laptop. Period.
When I play (Tycoon Transports Deluxe, made circa 1997-8 or Cashflow 101), its not on this laptop, but on my AMD Athlon desktop at home. And even that haven't happened for over a year, so as I said before - I don't play.

So, here you have it. The list of applications, tools and utilities that make my life if not perfect, at least better.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : technology, windows

Making Windows usable - Part II

2007-05-20T13:27:00.001+03:00

In previous post I started to list the programs I use in order to make my Windows system usable. In this post, I continue with applications.

Applications

Firefox
Well, the ultimate internet browser needs no introduction. It is one of the best software programs created by open source team. Started by the Netscape, it became an open source project some period after Netscape was sold to AOL. It has became the most used browser in community mainly because its open source root and because it is one of the greatest peaces of software ever written. It is not without downsides, however, I use it completely instead of any other browser save maybe couple of sites.

Thunderbird
The same thing as with browsing been done to an email. Being split from Netscape and later from Mozilla, Thunderbird is one of the greatest email clients available. It is the only one that supports tagging out of the box. And it is open source :-)

Outlook + X1+ SpamBayes filter
So, here's an "enemy" #1. Yes I do use Outlook. I use it because I work in corporate environment, and I'm "forced" to use it just as I'm "forced" to use Windows.
But here's the thing: I like it. Yes, it doesn't have some feature's I'd like (like tagging for instance), and it has multitudes of bugs, but I still like it. Many email clients are all alike, and Outlook is no different. But to make its usage better, I use the following helpers:
X1 Search - one of the best around, this search indexer integrates with Outlook (and Windows if you let it), and makes email search easy, customizable and highly configurable. It makes an email finding fast and easy, and it is much better that Outlook's own search.
SpamBayes filter - a plugin for Outlook, which integrates Bayes algorithms for spam filtering. It is much better answer to a spam problem than Outlook's junk controls, and I believe it is one of the best tools available. Its easy installation and really good integration with Outlook make it a highly efficient and convenient tool.

Microsoft Office
As I said before, I am forced to use Window XP. As the result of that pressure, I'm also forced to use an Office. It is a corporate environment issue - everyone uses it, so an ecosystem exists here and it is hard to penetrate it. I do have an alternative applications suite, but I use it rarely, as it is not fully compatible with our office templates. So I do use MS Office applications, because one does what one can (or have to...), right?

Vim
Vim is one of the "oldest" open source project existing. It was created as vi was not open source project. I use it as basic ASCII editor with bunch of great additional features, such as text coloring and scripting/commands/macros. I realize I can start a flame war here, so hear me out: I know that Emacs/XEmacs for Windows exist. I know it provides similar set of features. I just like vim better, OK? It is my personal list, so I choose what I like.
Vim is fast, lite, stable and I'm more used to it because I'm actually working in vim when developing our product - not that I develop code in it, but configuring our system is done with vim (when in manual mode..), so I have more field experience in vi than in emacs (though I had about 3 years developing in Emacs few years ago).

VLC
VideoLan Client is the program of choice of mine for multimedia player. It is an open source project, it works with multitude of formats including DVD, and I use it in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (yes, I do use all three of them). It has a generic interface, easy to use and install and it is very stable.

In next part I will complete the list of applications I use and also describe a little the application I don't use and why.

All feedback is welcome.

-A.

Technorati : gentoo, linux, technology, windows

Making Windows usable - Part I

2007-05-16T17:21:00.001+03:00

I'm sort of "forced" into using Windows XP for the last year or so. After working for more than six years with Linux and SGI IRIX, I got so used to several applications and utilities and environment features, that I find it hard to work in Windows without them. So I started collecting different tools to make work in Windows as enjoyable as possible.

There are still missing things though. For example, I work on IBM T42 laptop with only 512Mb memory, which leads me to performance issues.While I hope to get an upgrade at some point, it may take some time for that to happen. By default, memory handler in Windows XP is quite horrible, which makes me to reboot the machine couple of times a week.

So, herein my list for the useful applications, tools and utilities, which make my life if not perfect, at least much more convenient and productive when working with Windows XP:

Environment:

Dexpot - Virtual Desktops.
Dexpot provides me with the highly usable feature I need in my GUI environment - virtual desktops. No one who have worked in Unix/Linux environment since forever needs an explanation for what that is. But this feature have been missing in Mac OS and Windows. It is being added in Mac OS X - Leopard (the coming version), but in Windows its status is still unknown.
Using aforementioned utility I get the feature I need. There are other utilities that provide this feature, such as Sysinternals' (now Microsoft) Virtual Desktop Manager - but I find Dexpot to be the better one. Rich in features (can be used to make windows transparent or remove all shortcuts from particular virtual screen) and highly configurable make Dexpot the best utility for what I need.

Graphics - Minimal.
This is just a concept and not a utility. To be as productive as possible, I want my computer to serve me and not me serving a computer. So I work with my laptop connected to an external 19" CRT monitor, with extended windows - I have screen 0 on a laptop with resolution of 1024x768 and screen 1 on CRT monitor with resolution 1280x1024. For example, I use big screen for browsing the web or writing documents (as I get more screen real estate this way) and I use laptop's screen for Outlook.
Even in Linux, I don't use advanced Beryl/other 3D mambo-jumbo on my production machine. Simplicity leads the way in being productive.

Tools & Utilities
While being applications, I don't use these tools "all the time". I use them mostly as supporting infrastructure while doing the "real" work in some "real" application. So, here are tools and utilities:

PuTTY/Pscp
Ssh/scp is the best-known and mostly used secure way to login to other machines. Considering that I work at least half of my time on our product which is built upon Linux OS, I use PuTTY/PScp intensively. I just wish it came in "tabbed" enclosure.

7-Zip
This is a swiss knife of archiving. The best of the best. 7-Zip opens and archives to any archive format, iso and many others. It is more convenient than WinRAR and, something much more important - its an open source application.

Procexp
Once again, SysInternals (now Microsoft) have created a very nice application which allow to analyze processes running in the system. It also provides the option to dedicate specific processor to a process (if available), to raise or lower the priority of the process (niceness?) and such. Very good application, which allows me close monitoring of my system (very needed tool when running Windows XP on the machine with only 512MB of memory).

Synergy
It happens to everyone - you want to work on multiple computers at the same time, and you even have dual-monitor setup, but the problem is the keyboard and mouse - it is very inconvenient to switch between them, and it takes space on your desktop. So, there are 2 ways invented to deal with the situation:
KVM - Keyboard, Video and Mouse, its a hardware device which allows you to connect multiple computers to a one set of keyboard, mouse and monitor.
Software application - Synergy - allows server-client model, when multiple computers are interconnected by software allowing control of all of them with a single KVM set.
I used Synergy to work on my personal Linux laptop from my Windows XP desktop computer and it works great. The great thing about it is, again, that this program is open source software.

Gmail Notifier
Everyone uses Gmail today, so it even doesn't need introduction. This small utility sits in my tray and notifies me about important messages I get, such as comments on my blog, forums and other stuff. Quite important peace of software.

In the next part I will talk about applications I use.

All feedback is welcome.

-A.

Technorati : linux, technology, windows

Future of proprietary

2007-05-14T18:12:00.001+03:00

Wasn't it like 40 or so years ago when computer users didn't always buy a software?

It is Bill Gates' letter to hobbyists which is considered by many an important milestone in proprietary software concept. This concept, which rules in many software markets today, is essentially alienated by open source software.

What is the difference? There is one major different, and not the one many think.

Proprietary software in Bill Gates' view, is a software product produced by a highly educated team of professionals. As any product made or manufactured it has to be payed for in order to be used. This team will sign you on a binding license (just as a driver permit, which has its rules); this team will not be responsible if this product destroys everything else in your life, and, my favorite, they keep control regarding how you can or cannot use their product.

Open Source software, on other hand, is all about freedom. Not free (by money factor) as many believe to be the main attribute of it, but freedom to use it the way you like. No, it is still not responsible for possible problems in your life, but the actual usage clause is clear:

As long as you're not changing the product, you may do whatever you want with it. If you do change the product, credit those who had created the base version you changed and publish your changes to everyone who requests it. Obligate others to use the same licensing terms.

This freedom is the most important part. Not the price. Not the vendor. The freedom of use.

So why, then, vendors would fear open source concept?

The problem lays in "property" concept. When someone is speaking about private property, such as house or premises, it is well understood what is it about. But when someone is talking about "intellectual property", this is much more complicated. It sounds like someone has "patented" his or her own thoughts and other people are forbidden to think those thoughts. And if they do, they either should pay for it or go to jail - just as thieves would.

So until the law implementations of such "property" use would be clear to all, many vendors would prefer using "real commercial" software products.

And I haven't started talking about DRMed content yet...

Although I prefer Open Source and Free model, I do understand the place of a commercial software products in the world.

Vendors, please, free the use for your products. And you'll be fine.

-A.

Technorati : technology

What is OLPS worth?

2007-05-14T16:28:00.001+03:00

In recent post of mine I wrote about misconception many are having about the OLPC. To my great surprise, I've read ZDNet' Dana Blankenhorn post about the worth of the device.

While previously I always was in disagreement with Dana's opinions, I do agree with this one for a change.

He's arguing in his post, that "One Laptop Per Child is worthwhile at any price". And that is exactly the conclusion I wanted people to get towards after reading my post. The point being is that it doesn't matter what exact price tag the device have - if it is comparable to few years worth of schoolbooks, it is worth every penny.

Using this device would replace the use of printed books and as such, it should be compared to the same thing. If providing a student with books for 5 years cost $100, then the price of the device is well suited, as the use of OLPC is much more benefiting for education, as it can be used for much more than just reading books.

I know that the device costs around $170 today, but

Different payment systems can be employed to draw that down (for example by offering them in "wealthy" countries for a price of two)
As production grows the production costs are going down, so after some production cycles I expect them to cost around that Benjamin mark.

In a nutshell: worth every penny.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, OLPC, technology

Push the Button

2007-05-13T16:36:00.000+03:00

Zeth

While it is real flattery to hear that you liked "Push the button" song, I for once, don't like it.

Tippex (which is their real name, as in "fixing fluid", not packs of tee :-) ), is a great band and they have really great songs.

Why this one was specifically chosen for Eurovision and by whom - is a mistery to me.

Cheers.

-A.

Linux and pornography

2007-05-13T14:09:00.000+03:00

Taken from: http://pcnews.ru/news/linux-microsoft-open-170187.html (link in Russian)

Fast translation (from Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs):
"The fact of installing Linux OS is not, unfortunately, considered a crime under the Russian law. It just absolute evidence that a computer user is feared that someone else may find what is he really doing on the computer and hence he/she is trying to hide something. Such a user is considered to be a hacker, and should be registered, listed, checked upon periodically and also should be called for explanation talks. Having a Linux on computer is the same as having a pornography: while not being strictly forbidden to have and store on users' computer, its usage patterns such as production, distribution and child porn activities is forbidden by law and are definitely illegal".

:-)

Ubuntu is SuperOS

2007-05-10T12:48:00.001+03:00

Ubuntu. Humanity to others. That's what it means, right?

For many of us, it is the Linux OS. For some, it is the only one. For others - its the show-off brother. An enemy for others.

What is it about Ubuntu, which in few years of its existence became one of the leading distros around, and the one for many? It gave a basis for many others and variations of sorts.
And what does it mean for the rest of us?

There are many explanations for many things, but I'm going to dig few important ones.

First. Ubuntu is GNU/Linux operating system. All those who jealous, please hold your peace. Ubuntu pushes forward the same thing that you do. It's in a user experience, stupid.

Second. Ubuntu is made with usability in mind. All Debian zealots (who "translate" Ubuntu as "can't install Debian") are probably correct from technical standpoint. They just forget, that computer is a tool, and I (and many many many) other users do not use Ubuntu, or Debian or Gentoo. They use computer. Surfing the web. Reading email. Watching ~~porn~~ movies. These sorts of things. So we don't actually care most of the time what operates our ~~computer~~ tool. That's why many of us like Ubuntu.

Third. Ubuntu has a commercial support of involved vendor. This in turn means that there will be someone who will push it further while money is in the game. Given that Linux OSes came up greatly up until now without formal support of many distributions (except maybe Red Hat and Novell), another player is definitely a plus, even though Red Hat and Novell do not see it that way.

Forth. Ubuntu is about community. Everyone knows it by now. For such a project to be successful, it has to build a community around it. There was a basis for this community in the first place: Debian. But Debian folk missed the usability part. Ubuntu created a community which is fun to be in. This leads us to -

Fifth. Ubuntu is a successful business model. Take some niche but wanted and/or undeveloped area. Find negative aspects in existing offers. Make what other don't. Eat them alive.

Sixth. Ubuntu is making it with a good planning and within the wishes of their users. Who said that I will always want open software? Yes, I'd prefer it to other one, but hey, first and foremost I want my tool to work. "No 3d drivers? You mean, not at all? Not even those non open source ones? No, thank you, I will use Ubuntu instead".

Seventh. Ubuntu is doing it for every platform. Desktop. Server. Mobile. Internet Kiosks. Ubuntu is everywhere.

And you know what? They will succeed. Where Red Hat will fail, Ubuntu will pick up. Where Novell will piss some communities off, Ubuntu will be careful.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe for a second Ubuntu is perfect. I don't think that any such project can be.

But I also remember, that their success will benefit me in all the ways possible.
Go Ubuntu!

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, technology

I have to post

2007-05-09T22:58:00.000+03:00

Words are useless :-)

Killing open source

2007-05-09T13:05:00.001+03:00

Did you know that Open Source (yes, I chose to write it with capitals) can be killed? Yes, that is at least what Dana Blankenhorn from zdNet thinks.

I've written last week about my opinion on what Dana thinks. I really like to read his articles, because they get me pissed every time. But that is a good thing. It makes me think about an issue on hand, and sometimes I change my mind about them. Sometimes I don't, because I make my opinion even stronger.

So, this time Dana talks about two possible ways to "kill" open source (just like that - no mentioning whether is he talking about specific software, generally open source software or the concept):

Spam it to death. (He mentions that this is what killed newsgroups).
Keep it from getting raw material.

I personally think that both reasons are dumb. I'm not sure about the possibility of "killing" open source as whole, but this sound like a very cool journalistic trick to draw attention.

So, regarding the first his suggestion - spamming the open source to death...laughable, isn't it? I just can't understand how "open source" can be spammed to an unimaginable death.
If it is software - a specific one at that - then such vendors as IBM, Red Hat, Google, Novell, Sun - might have to say something about it. If it is a community - then spammers will shoot each other's way of life, because many of them use and are actual member of open source communities. And if it is a concept - how can one "spam" a concept with a useless info? I have no idea.

The second suggestion - keep open source from getting raw material, is somehow a good point. If content providers would not allow me to consume their content with my open source tools, that would be a problem. But then, wouldn't that make me to search for another content provider? Such as one that allows me to use the content, especially if I'm ready to pay for it? This would benefit me and that provider, and the former one that never agreed to me using his content with my choice of software/hardware, will loose.

While loosing me is not such a big deal, I believe that loosing such big communities as Ubuntu/Debian users, Fedora/Red Hat users, Solaris users and SuSe users would be a major loss, because these are potential millions of customers who's money will go to other vendors.

And finally, it open source [community/concept] can be killed, then, please, let me know how do you do it with Creative Commons song, book or beer.

Just my 5 cents.

-A.

Technorati : [ Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, technology ]

Blogger updates, blog for dummies and useful stuff

2007-05-08T17:37:00.001+03:00

As I mentioned in previous post, I am still in the search of blogging platform.In a meanwhile, I've decided not to switch from Blogger and do that as time will allow.

So, while I was thinking about it, I started investing a little more time to blogger customizations. There are few things that I'd like to do, such as: changing template, colors, links, layout etc. One of the most wanted features today is "digg button". But I found digg's own help inconvenient. So, I went to the blogger's user groups, and made a search for "adding digg to a blogger". That is how I found this cool blog: http://betabloggerfordummies.blogspot.com/2007/02/digg-for-blogger.html.

First of all, it gives good definition of what the Digg means. Second, it explains in good details and in easy language the difference between different digg buttons. Third, it has a pretty easily understood explanation as to how can I add the "Digg me" badger to every post. That was the exact thing I wanted; that was the exact feature I was looking in the first place. You can now see "digg me" button after each and every post on my blog, and it'll be great if you'll use it when you think my posts worth digging.

Couple more things. Although I did like that explanation, what I'm missing (maybe still) is the instruction for adding "digg me" button with diggs counter (just as one I have on a sidebar) to the beginning of every post. And one last thing - I like this blog because I found there much of the useful stuff I can implement on my blogger blog and make it better.

What I need now, is the time for this all. Have a nice day everyone.

Note: while this post is all true, it was sponsored by betabloggerfordummies.blogspot.com through www.payperpost.com

Switching Blogger

2007-05-04T10:29:00.000+03:00

Hi all!

First of all, this is my 100'th post on this blog! (applause please).

Second, with this post I understood that I've probably overgrown the Blogger's platform, and need a better one. More stand-alone, more of my choice :-)

So, now I'm in blogging platform search. I am looking for the following:

Software platform - should I get something online or should I install my own?
Hardware - depends on 1) - should I use co-location service, virtual or my own server?
What's is the best price/performance possible way to do it? (by performance I would probably mean allowed traffic).

I hope someone can suggest me something great! Thanks all.

Comparison for platforms

2007-05-04T10:27:00.000+03:00

I've decided to perform comparison research between different OSes that are available for me. I will conduct the research as good and as objective as I can.

I will post the methodology notes and my report later on.

Enjoy all. :-)

New Elevators

2007-05-04T09:42:00.000+03:00

Technology coolness and evolution can be found everywhere.

Take an elevator for example. Simple thing, right? You step inside, choose the floor, done. If there are too many floors, then there's a dialpad, you type in the floor you need, done.

Now, if there are LOTS of people who want also to get to those places, you'll get high traffic around elevators. How would one solve the problem? Optimization anyone?

Well, as Joel Spolsky said on his blog post, there's a solution. Here's how it works:

You get near the elevators, you see a panel. On the panel you see dialpad and LCD screen. You type the floor you need to get to, and then on an LCD screen you see the elevator number you should take. You get into that elevator then, and that's it - there no possible way inside the cabin to choose floor. It just goes to that floor automatically.

Neat, isn't it? Such technology is implemented in IBM's offices in Petah Tikva, Israel; so if someone comes to visit Israel - I highly recommend to check this out.

Very cool.

Standard Linux - is it possible?

2007-05-03T16:55:00.001+03:00

I've read a post by Dana Blankenhorn, who "has been a business journalist for nearly 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985".

Here's a trackback to a story.

He's talking about running a "standard" Linux distribution. Not choosing one, but rather, using one.

I like his way of thinking actually. If mostly used distribution is Ubuntu, doesn't that makes it "standard"? Wouldn't it be easier for all to create and distribute products that would work with this vendor? Wouldn't it be great to optimize ourselves to work with/on it the best way possible?

Well, yes and no.

Yes because all Linux distributions (and Ubuntu in particular) are built alike. All of them include the kernel (it is a kernel what makes Linux after all), basic software, X server system (with great graphics support), management tools and software, which is generally the same on all of them. So, when an application or product is "ready" for Ubuntu, is will not be daunting or hard task to make it work with almost any other Linux distribution.

And no because it seems to me we already been in this scenario. Just imagine: a real alternative to Microsoft's and Apple's OSes, and a good one. It is so good, that many vendors start creating a products for it and based on it. Hardware vendors provide drivers and optimize their hardware. Accessories are made. Software is getting better. Ain't it great? The world, where at least one distribution becomes as good as commercial operating systems?

But that is exactly the world we're trying to change. We don't want the "lock-in" on a single vendor. I don't want to be forced to use something I don't choose by myself. We already have such vendor in our midst. Wanna guess who that is?

Isn't that the reason we do what we do with free software in the first place?

I'm all for innovation. I'm in favor of competition. I am in favor of trying to achieve high goals.

But I can't stand a choice forced on me. Even with best intentions in mind.

Technorati : Linux, Ubuntu, technology

Dell rumors - Ubuntu, here we come

2007-05-01T17:00:00.000+03:00

Well, I guess by now you all have heard the news.

It's a May, 1!! The International workers day!!
Well, yes, but it is not what I meant. The rumor du jour today is Dell choosing Ubuntu Linux for its linux-powered products.

The article is telling us much of the story:

Dell will be announcing a partnership with Canonical to ship pre-loaded Linux models with Ubuntu," stated Jane Silber, Canonical's Chief Operating Officer. "They'll be selling these models from their Web site with Ubuntu pre-installed. Canonical in turn will be working with Dell to certify those models to insure that all components are fully functional and will also provide support that will be sold through the Dell Web site.

I'm personally happy about it for 2 possible reasons:

I hope it will somehow bring prices down for Dell's laptops (not that I'm fond in that department, but it is nice anyways)
I hope Dell will be building a machine with all-supported-by-linux hardware, which makes me really happy.

While the first reason is not that important for me (albeit too appealing).

But this is what they say about the second reason:

We're working very closely with the Dell engineering team and they are working closely with us, in terms of... working with those specific models and ensure that all components of that system work properly," Silber explained. "As a consumer, you can confidently buy from that Web site, know that its certified by Canonical, that Ubuntu will run on that without driver issues

That is exactly what is making me happy. That some major vendor will produce a laptop, whose components will be supported by a major Linux distribution and for which drivers will be provided to support all the hardware found within the laptop itself.
Is it the beginning of the great world of multiple vendors supporting Linux within their product lines? I'd be very delighted.
And, Canonical seems to agree with me (heh, :-) ):

Regardless of this deal's origins, Canonical's staff is pretty excited, seeing this as a validation not only for their own distribution, but for desktop Linux as a whole.

I think it's the first time a major tier-one vendor is pre-installing and shipping consumer models on this scale," Silber [of Canonical] stated.

Technorati : Gentoo, technology

WIFI "The new generation"

2007-04-30T15:39:00.001+03:00

Hey all
It seems that new improved WiFi stack is heading into the mainstream kernel.
Ain't this great or what?? Finally I can be able to buy a new laptop with supported Wifi (supposedly this year)...

[Technorati] : technology

On another note, Jürgen - I find what Patrick said hillarious. We all need some fun and relief in our lives :-)

Tagging everywhere

2007-04-30T12:41:00.001+03:00

Hi all

After I wrote about 'tagging revised', I just came down to earth a little bit. To using "normal" tags.

I wrote in that post about tagging used in different applications. A special one, one which is close to my heart, is an email tagging. At the time of writing of that post, I noted that there's a one desktop application which tags email, and there's of course, Gmail.

But none of them works in corporate and enterprise environments at this moment. Not because they are not good. Both application are very good on their own, and provide very good user experience. But I don't see them replace Outlook fast on the corporate desktop. And here's why (albeit questionable):

There's currently one king of enterprise messaging. It is a MS Exchange Server. While the reality is being slowly rebalanced with other software, there are features that only Exchange server can provide, and those features are very important in a business world. Please don't start argument with me about how "the other" or "alternatives" are better. I know what are they better at, but still, all of the alternatives try to provide the very same list of features, just make it "better", "easier", "safer", etc.
Now, the best client for MS Exchange server is Outlook, and there's no point in arguing about it. I'm working with Outlook for a long time, and I came to conclusion, that it is one of the best collaboration applications out there. Why do you think Evolution looks the same? Because feature-wise, it is the same, and it aims after Outlook.

Well, fine, we can't change Outlook to something else fast enough. I get it. And here lies my problem: I believe I desperately need tags in email. I need tags in Outlook.

Hence, I've been trapped in this situation: on one hand I do use Outlook (we do have an Exchange server in our organization), and I want to use the tagging feature that Outlook doesn't support. Categories in Outlook are not the same, they won't allow me features I require and that I can get from tags.

As a result of this problem, I made a search around for an add-on to for Outlook which could help and introduce me tags to Outlook. Recently I have found one: it is an application with connects to Outlook, called SideFinder.

This application would allow me to use tags the way I want. It would allow me to put my email in multiple folders. It would allow me fast finding of my items. It would allow me much easier work with my information.

There's no product available for direct download, but one can sign to beta program. I'm already signed, and will get it soon enough. And then I will be able to see whether I've found the application I need.

Great day to you all.

Computing revised Part II

2007-04-29T17:56:00.001+03:00

So, in Part I I've been talking about how computing has evolved and how can we make it even better. I will continue exploring different users types now, in a race to make the computing easier.

3. Business user.

So, a business user, is as name says, a user which mainly uses computer systems in businesses. Such environments include corporate email systems, corporate applications such as SAP (resource management), databases applications, and such. Requirements of such user aren't high, but important: she doesn't need really fast system, but would not appose to one, she doesn't need a fast applications but would like them. She needs system to be operational, meaning she wants a system to be stable and she's willing to give up some other features towards that. Interoperability is also very important requirement, as work is needed to be done and no compatibility issues would not be tolerated - if the system can't deliver, it won't be used. There's no or almost no powerful graphics required.

4. Power User

Power user is a user which has high but specific requirements. Those would be:

a server system (high performance CPUs, bus, hard drives)
a cluster (high performance networking)
a graphics render cluster (high performance graphics, networking and sometimes CPU and hard drives)
a corporate server (may have stability and failover features as main requirement)
CAD/Graphics developer (would require high performance graphics and CPU)

Such users will choose dominant requirement on computer system, and would trade all other features for a major one. Almost all other features would not be very important. The main requirements can be regarding either hardware or software.

In next part I will continue review of different users of computer systems.

Technorati : technology

Computer for gradma and world domination

2007-04-28T22:38:00.001+03:00

This entry was inspired by latest entry in LinuxToday, but refers to such topic as "Computers for gramma" or "Linux on a desktop" in general.

These topics have history now, and they've been "refurbished" at least once per few weeks. The major points of those are twofold (althouth highly interconnected). Those points are being:

Whether my {favorite non-technical member of the family} can easily use computer?
Is Linux ready for desktop?

Please allow me to explain, why those 2 are interconnected.

Well, the first one is well understood. In last 15 or so years, computers transformed from geaky toy to a "in any home" appliance. We do many of day to day tasks with it: We send and read our mail. We read, see and listen to a news. We listen to a music/radio. We watch movies (and sometimes TV). We record music, speech and TV. We play. We talk.

So, if my grandma can operate a TV/VCR, why can't she operate a computer system? Of course she can. In the matter of simplicity, I'll ask anyone who is familiar with computers, to perform the following tasks:

Check/Send an email
Read/check news on favorite website
Listen to a music
Watch a movie/DVD (all legal, don't worry)
Write a simple document (such as you shop list)

I'd believe that anyone who's been using a computer for at least a month, would be able to perform all these tasks.

Now consider the following: the "Alex computer system" that I asked to perform those tasks on has nothing but pretty picture on the desktop, with the following icons:

Mail
Internet
Documents
Music/Movies

Wouldn't you agree, that using only common sense performing the aforementioned tasks would not be too hard? Say, Mail would present some pretty interface to email (or Gmail, Yahoo or anything else - all our email interfaces are alike and pretty self explanatory), Internet would fire up Firefox (or any other browser; and all our browser interfaces are alike and self explanatory), Music/Movies would start something like "media center" application (like Windows Media Center/Tivo/MythTv/Telly, or any other similar application) which is pretty straight forward to use and self explanatory, and Documents will start simple document editor, either local or browser-based (they do have similar interfaces anyway, except MS Office 2007, of course).

Now, I still believe, that no age-related neither intellectual issues have been discussed here yet. It is all very intuitive and common sense.

Just like the TV.

So, at this point, considering all I discussed before, could you answer the following question, please, :

Do you know which operating system "Alex computer system" runs? And more important, does it matter?

This is what I've been trying to explain. I sustain, that there's sincerely and absolutely no importance in which operating system powers the all-powerful "Alex computer system". This, as great result, leads me to the following:

For any such general-purpose computing, Linux-based OS (all you zealots, I know the difference between GNU/Linux and Linux, but I don't want to go into politics for a moment) is completely ready for massive desktop usage, as long as it can be installed and maintained in a way that makes sense to a general public.

Please, note the "common sense" part. I don't think that working with "Start" (or "applications" or whatever) menu is very intuitive (although I have to agree that "Applications" is much better than "Start"). To watch TV, one has to press an "on" and that's it. To play a movie on a VCR one presses "play". That's common sense. That's intuitive.

So here's my initial suggestion to all those aspiring to "prove" to everyone that Linux is ready. Create an application with the following features:

Create a very beautiful GUI with pre-defined tasks, such as those mentioned above.
Make sure it works as stable and as predictable as TV.
Make sure that interface is consistent thorough the applications.
Try it on your not so technical {member of your family} to see whether it is intuitive enough.

Until now, we've been preparing to world domination. Now the final part:

When they are asleep, swap the OS to Linux. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Heh, that would be fun and easy. Wouldn't it?

Technorati : technology

Computing revised - Part I

2007-04-28T16:03:00.000+03:00

Hi all

This is what I've been recently thinking. We're all hearing a lot about computing development. Our systems evolve. They become more powerful, software more bloated (but sometimes better), and our spending grows.

Why? Why do we have to buy a new computer every few years? Is the one we have not enough anymore? If we consider the tasks we perform on it, then not necessarily. Lets define few supposedly major computer users in the world:

Low-level developer
High-level developer
Business User
Power User
Home User
Gamer
Mobile user / Small mobile user
Embedded device (special one)

So I will try to explain those types of computer system users. Each user will have different "relations" with hardware and software, and for each one the importance of these lies in different usage patterns. Then I will try to analyze each one's habits, and try to find ways to improve upon those. In the end, I will try to perform a "research" about how can we make the computing experience better than it is today.

Let me begin then. I'm going to explain what I mean by user types:

Low-level developer.

computing hardware or devices.

This computer user doesn't generally have high requirements, he often uses very specific hardware/devices or those created by him or other developers alike. Software he uses generally specific as well, and not required by majority of other computer users. His major requirement is that a computer system will work stable, consistent and predictable. There's almost never requirement of high performance (unless the hardware/device itself created for providing it) or "pretty GUI" (unless, again, provided by the very hardware being developed).

High-Level developer.

software.

In the next part I will continue talking about different user types, and will explain them more.

Tagging revised

2007-04-27T22:23:00.000+03:00

Recently, I had an idea for a new site of mine. It was a nice idea, and while I was thinking about different aspects of implementation, I tried to outline for myself how would I like to create it.

It was fairly simple. I wanted to post an informational articles/essays on a chosen subject, with categories/labels/tags. I wanted readers to able to comment. I wanted readers to contribute (as actively as possible of course). I wanted it to drive traffic.

I would be ready to invest my time around this, as it is on subject of an interest for me. I would pet this site and care for it as long as it doesn't require too much effort, because otherwise I have rather more interesting/important things to do with my life.

So, while I was thinking about it, I finally decided that the easiest way to start this would be a blog. I'd start a simple blog using one of multiple blog hosting platforms around the web, and then, if when it drives enough traffic or I'd like features that platform would not offer, I'd move it to more private infrastructure, with more features, etc.

Easy, isn't it?

But then it hit me: tags/labels would not do. At least not always.

Let me start with a little bit of obvious stuff: what are tags? Citing wikipedia,
"A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (like picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification of information it is applied to".

In general, 'tagging' could be defined as appling a set of semantic labels on different types of fairly complex objects of data, such as text (say, on more text than one word - essays, articles, posts, etc.), video files, audio files, pictures and combinations of all these. We do it for 3 major reasons:

To find things faster.

Help other people to find things faster.

It's easy.

tagging

definition

Here are few examples when we use tagging:

Blogging/Blogs or News reading

are

Thunderbird 2.0

all my mail messages

the

Gmail.

RSS readers.

aggregates

But this time, I thought tagging is failing.

I will explain myself here. I like wandering around the city (it doesn't actually matter which one, all cities around here are bordering each other), looking into stuff, such as graffiti, streets, buildings, and people. I like to see things that other people don't, or just don't bother.

So recently, I started noticing some sticker in different places. On bus stops. On power stands. On power closets on streets. On trees. It was a sort of armadillo picture, and that's it. Nothing more.

A couple of weeks later, I was walking down the street in central Tel Aviv, and saw the same animal on the window. You know what? It was a bar - coffee shop (cafe as we call it here). I really liked the "commercial" - they stuck all those cute stickers around, without saying what they are, and then when I finally saw it somewhere else -I was really and genuinely intrigued.

Whether I ate at that cafe or not, is besides the point. What I really digging to, is this:
If I were to blog about this cool "sticker" campaign, and would like to "attribute" tags/labels to it, I'd be really tempted to use this exact image. Not some general armadillo picture - this specific one.

So, here it is. This is what had hit me. I would like to use nearly the most basic "feature" of most recent and up to date content management software available, and it is not enough. Because all of them allow only text tagging.

So this got me thinking. If we're using tagging to simplify our own minds way for searching things - even that we had barely started doing it en masse, we might be already overloaded the feature many times over. We may have overgrown it much faster, than it got really adopted.

How can it be "resolved" (if there's anything to resolve at all)? I was thinking about that as well.

If modern content management software regards tags/labels as metadata, maybe this metadata needs its own metadata as well. So, instead of using text tags/labels for 'tagging' our content, we could use metalabels/metatags to 'tag' our tags. So, in the end, I could use a picture (or any complex object) to tag my information.

Wouldn't that be handful and interesting?

Pranked!

2007-04-26T15:48:00.000+03:00

Steve :-)

I got you now. Good joke.

But I'm standing still. I won't change portage in a meantime, because the "only" features I use from it is to sync and install packages.

Now, 2 more things (also funny):

Patrick is an ex-dev (you can find multiple sources of that online, including my own rants few months ago), and he's definitely close to pkgcore team. If I'm not mistaken, he's even providing them with hosting services for the site.
The "cokehabit" being japanese guy is a prank on its own. Patrick is just evil :-) (aren't ya, mr. DrEeevil?)

He's real name is George, and he's british. Besides, he has nothing to do with Paludis project.

But that was a good one, sorry for being harsh :-)

Portage replacement - choice made easy :-)

2007-04-25T13:02:00.000+03:00

Steven,

Can it be true? My dreams for finding ${portage replacement} came true? It is so easy?

Now, while I do find a rationale in your post, let me disagree.

Right, so you're sitting bored near you computer, and looking around for portage replacement because it doesn't do what you want. Why? Did it stop installing packages and syncing nightly? I'd really like to know what is it that you want to do, and portage doesn't allow you to.
Right away you're starting to look for alternatives. Why? Is everything so terrible, that cannot be fixed? I can believe that this software might not be written to handle workload it now has. But still, portage 3 maybe will? A point to think, at least for me.
Your choice of the alternative is by their Doc Language, developer's nickname and language of choice? Come on, you can do better. You say portage doesn't do what you want (say, doesn't have a feature you want), but you neglect feature comparison? Or, at least, checking that either of alternatives has the feature(s) you're looking for?
And if both of them have that feature, does it matter, really, which one you choose? At least either will be better that portage, right?

So, while I'm not really happy with portage sometimes, I'm not really in a search for replacement just yet. Maybe I'm too conservative, but that's just me.

Paludis and pkgcore teams - right on! I really like your both work (while maybe doubling the effort), I believe it is the very nature of free software - that we all can choose the best software for ourselves.

Ciaran - I don't know why someones' nick should even matter at all. I don't know what nicks most Free/Open Software developers have, but I still use it and I'm happy anyways. Besides, I know you don't care such background noise.

Just my 5 cents.

New Blogs and new ideas

2007-04-25T12:50:00.000+03:00

In a shameless act of completely off-topic self promoting , I want to show this to all.

Aren't we all custom-made?

I started new blog, in which I'm collecting graffiti art from around the globe. So please, if anyone has photos and/or links to such thing, please send them to me with descriptions of the city it is taken in.

I have another couple of ideas for new blogs, so hold on, they won't come until Planet final changes. You'll know why later on.

Thanks a bunch all.

New band for me?

2007-04-23T12:22:00.000+03:00

Jürgen,

Great lyrics!!

I've checked out the bands' site, and it features a very cool video clip.

{/me} is checking now!

Bitter commentary in free software world

2007-04-23T11:03:00.000+03:00

I've been long-time reader of Linux Watch, and its journalist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (S.V.N).

He recently wrote a column, about Debian's latest release - new stable version, 4.0, codenamed Etch.

His comments, while harsh towards Debian Linux, are correct. He's mostly talking about decisions made by Debian developers in making this version, such as name changes for some applications, or flame wars led on developers mail lists.

But now, I've read comments by Debian developer Thaddeus H. Black, and some more by other journalist (can I say Debian-zealot? probably I can) Sam Varghese. These comments, while being probably correct by fact, sound like a bitter cry for me.

So, ok, Steve has very strong views and opinions about free/open software. But such comments are not adding anything to the issue. They seem to me, as like a developer being defensive and trying to justify and explain problems (nuances for my taste) in S.V.N's article, and Sam Varghese article sound totally like disgruntled guy got offended by some "mistakes" and opinions. He's much more offensive in his articles, bashing everything not truly "open" with much persistence.

Some people don't get it, ain't? That's why combined, OpenSuse and Ubuntu have almost 5 times the rating of Debian, according to Distrowatch.

I don't really understand, why these people are so offended by personal choices of other people. If I decide to use non-free (in RMS sense of the free) software/product, it is like I'm being treated as heretic. It is like such a thing is a total abomination.

I think, all people should be more tolerant to each other and respect each other's opinions and decisions.

If S.V.N likes Ubuntu - let him. If I like Ubuntu let me. If I choose Gentoo let me.

So, just let me be with my fully functional system and I will let you do with yours, however incomplete it may be. I don't care if it is not "free" enough to you. It is free enough for me.

It is my choice after all.

Content management

2007-04-22T11:23:00.000+03:00

I've been thinking recently about something.

I wanted to create a site with some subject and with use of tags (label, categories, whatever you call it). Just like blogs do.

But then, I figured that it would not be enough for me. I thought I need something else.

I will write an essay about it soon.

Meanwhile, our Planet is being reworked these days. Steve doesn't like to talk about these things before they are ready, so just hold on a little bit. It will come and these changes will be great and beneficial to us all.

Until then, you're still all welcome to sign up to our planet, as before.

Have a nice day.

Blogger's code of conduct - Gentoo derived

2007-04-18T16:50:00.000+03:00

Its a weird thing, but there are some attempts to create a code of conduct for bloggers.

You all can see those here.

But, what's more interesting, even besides the point of agreeing or disagreeing with any blogging etiquette, is this specific one.

Derived from Gentoo, no less.

Ain't life surprising, or what?

OLPC article remarks

2007-04-18T14:38:00.000+03:00

Wow, what a ride!!

This blog entry of mine made it to groklaw and linuxtoday. Thanks for submitting, people; I don't know who that was, but it brought ~ x100 times traffic to my blog than usual.

Now, my dear commenters:
Thanks for warm words. I really just said what I believe in, and I'm glad to see such positive response to it. It is nice to know, that I'm not the only one to think that way, and more than that - that I probably get this issue right.

Notes to commenters:
Jim, I'm not sure that 160 ms is the wakeup time, but indeed, 63ms is the hardware limit. Said that, I'd still be glad if my T43 with Windows XP would wake in 15 seconds (instead of about 2 minutes it takes now)

Jürgen, I get you point about the thought of being "feeling guilty". But nevertheless, given we both are born in more or less wealthy countries, can't we truly and sincerely want to contribute something to other people? With no second thought behind the idea? I mean, I don't believe we're trying to justify any other things we do in life, right?

I truly believe for a good in people, and I hope that the idea behind the project is a true and altruistic one.

For those who think its a financial scheme created to make a lot of money:
You're wrong guys/girls. While it is imaginable, I don't really see how it can be done considering the boundaries created for the project. Considering lot of Open/Free software developers/proponents are participating in this, I suspect that if any other cause would be possibly found in this, these brilliant but free people would leave the project.

On the other hand we see that this laptop would cost ~$100 to produce (eventually; and maybe even less in the long run). Given, that governments will get those units, I don't really see the way for MIT lab to profit from this (financially of course. All the technological benefit is there for all of us).

Some other ideas came to me while I was thinking a little more about the issue and reading all sorts of comments online.

Someone wrote (forgive me author, I don't remember who you are): GUI provided on OLPC is not all that good and relevant, because someone will find a way to override it and use the device as usual laptop.

At the beginning, I was a little agitated by this post, and wanted to explain myself better; but then I though a little more about it.

I decided that it would be great actually if that happens. Just imagine, a linux laptop, with very efficient hardware/software, long battery life, lightweight. Why wouldn't anyone want one?

But wait, there's more.

Imagine, all around the world, kids form "hack" communities, each with its favorite OLPC hacks. It will be one of the largest grouped communities around. And it will develope their skills, technical and social. It will develop the OLPC itself, as many [kids] minds is better than few [OLPC staff], not because they are smarter but because they are interested, and they are doing it for themselves.

And you know what?
I'd like such a computer for myself.

As a side note, I'd like to welcome Marco Albanese to our planet. Please join me in welcoming him and wish all the best.

Hilarious Marios

2007-04-17T13:16:00.000+03:00

I got hilarious Mario Bros'. game link.

Take a look :-)

The OLPC reviews review - the alternative standpoint

2007-04-16T14:43:00.000+03:00

Dear reader,

I'd like to review all sorts of reviews that have appeared lately online.
I believe, that almost all of them are missing the point.

All these reviews show, or assess, what kind of computer system the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is and how does it compare to other [known] computer systems.

So, the following components are being compared:

Hardware specs (specifications)
GUI (Graphical User Interface)
Applications choices

So, lets go over those components:

1. Hardware specs.

It is well known, that OLPC is nowhere in top 500 HPC systems list. But such a list is not its purpose. Say, if you build the system, and you require it to do the following:

Surf the web
Chat with other people (either text, voice or video)
Write docs
Read books/other electronic material (and especially in a direct light environment)
Have a battery life as prolonged as possible
Lightweight
Have an alternative power source (alternative to standard power outlet which can be found in most homes in developed countries).

So, what specs would you need then? Do you need a computer system, that would be able to land a man on moon for that? (In fact, humankind has such systems for a long long time, and many of today's calculators are capable of necessary calculations. So this would be not really such a good of an example).

Well, considering that all aforementioned tasks are not computing-intensive (except maybe video/chat, which is not that intensive load on the system after all), you won't have to have state of the art machine. I remember being a student in late 90' and being able to surf the net, listen to music, read the books, write lab reports and chat on ICQ with my friends. And that was on Cyrix 120 MHz machine, with 500MB hard drive and lousy 1MB Cirrus Logic VGA chip.

And you know what? Yes, it was slow. I had my kernel (I used Red Hat 5.2 then) compiling in 48 minutes. Compare that to two minutes 20 seconds on today's computers. But still, it did everything I wanted it to do. And did it ok.

I even played really good games on it (at least I think they were good).

So, considering today's applications for surfing, chat, music and reading are not much different (even sometimes even more efficient than those 10 years ago), I believe 300Mhz machine would be up to the task.

2. GUI

Hm, If I were to choose my favorite complain, this would be it.

Many articles complain, how not native this interface to people or even seasoned computer users. The common misconception as I understand it, is the assumption, that OLPC is the first computer that child will have, and it should teach a kid to use a computer.

Wrong.

First and foremost, it is not about teaching children to work with a computer. It is about teaching. It means, that OLPC and especially its GUI should not be directly compared to any other computer system.

Compare it to other education materials instead.
That's what main issue is all about. These computers is education tool. They will be delivered instead of schoolbooks.

Now imagine the potential this thing has.

Reading books (huh, well, any book has this feature, right?)
Editing book which is allowed to be edited.
Writing you school work, and allowing a teacher to test it.
Chat with friends.
Surf the web.
Compose music
Play
Imagine and do your own.

So, I think, if the child is about to learn something new and exciting - she will. And all you ~~grownups~~ computer whiz-es, who can't figure out the interface -thats not the problem for them. For them its a game.

3. Applications

So, as much as what I said about GUI, I have to say about applications chosen.

First, let me tell you about an OS chosen.

It is Linux OS, based on Fedora Core (GNU/Linux for you zealots). If someone asks why wasn't Windows/Apple OS X chosen - it is very simple. It is not about money. It is not about technology (almost). Its not about politics.

It's about choice.

When you choose a Linux to build your product upon, you have the fullest control possible over final product, both technologically speaking and IP-(intellectual property) speaking. I mean, it is so easy to develop product, when you can change every bit of it for your liking. It is not possible with Windows/OS X.

Besides, technology-wise, the improvements made to different subsystems which comprise the standard distributions (such as kernel, X, Gnome, etc) are to benefit us all.

Second, the applications.

If one would review again the list of requirement, she would understand, that apps she needs are as follows:

IM (including text, voice and video)
Browser
Book reader (supporting standard formats, such as PDF/RTF/text)
Games
Music player
Document writer

So - chat application (with text, voice and video), browser based on xulrunner, reader (evince), games, music app and doc writer (abiword) - that is actually everything required for this work.

There are more.

But no scientific calculator (though it might be useful for older than 7 y.o kids). No shooter games.
Just tetris :-)

Now, to the rest of things.

I like that OLPC has a screen, that can be read at direct sunlight. If it's for reading books, what else would you need?
I like that OLPC will have longer work time than most other laptops out there.
I like that it can be put to sleep in few seconds. I like that it can be awaken in few seconds.
I like that it weights about 1.5kg
I like that it has an alternative power source. It means that I'd never have to worry about power outlets around me.

So, all those comparing OLPC to conventional computer systems, are not comparing it to the comparable one. They expect OLPC to behave like a conventional computer system, and when it fails to comply they say all these negative things, such as its "stupid" or "unnecessary" or "why, oh God, you didn't put full fledged system on this laptop?".

All this because comparisons are basically flawed. They all compare OLPC to something it is not really made to be comparable with. One should try and compare it to something better for reaching that goal.

Try a printed book.

Money Making

2007-04-12T13:49:00.000+03:00

Recently, I've began checking the opportunities out there, that allow to earn few cents online.
For that matter, I find that most effective read is the blog material many put on their blogs and sites.

For example, I've read for a few weeks The Simple Dollar blog. This blog is written by Trent (the full name is yet to be discovered :-) ), and is a "...blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two".

I like his style of writing. His ideas are easy to understand, simple to implement, and fun to read. He gives a sense to people who wish to understand how budget works (and helps you stop referring to "budget" as a dirty word), he helps you to develop good spending habits so you can allow yourself a cup of coffee from time to time.

Highly recommended.

My Full blog

Blog Update

2007-04-12T12:56:00.000+03:00

OK, now I've decided that my blog has outgrown itself as "gentoo-only" blog.

I will keep using it for now, but many other things will be discussed here as well.

Have a nice day :-)

Planet Larry Update

2007-04-05T17:49:00.000+03:00

Hi all

Sorry for not updating the stuff for a few days - as a result of Passover, I was practically offline.

So Steven - I hope you like your new hackergotchi better. If not - I suggest you to make the real 100x100 pic and send it over to me again, and will update it.

We still in Passover days until Tuesday, when I'm expected to get fully online again, so expect a little delay in response, as Steve is sorta busy with implementing new ideas for planet, and I'm like having a vacation...

I'll get online from time to time, so you're welcome to leave me a message.

Enjoy life.

Avatars coming in...

2007-03-27T13:54:00.000+02:00

Hi people

I'm happy to let you now, that 2 more our users will get their avatars online in a short while:
Paul Chatziditriou and Eddy Mulyono are the new ones.

Thats the spirit!!

Now, whats wrong with the rest of you??

New things and planet update

2007-03-26T22:25:00.000+02:00

So, Planet update first.

Dear planet citizens, I haven't received any more avatars!! That is definitely not good.

I'm starting to think put random pink rabbits or green kittens near you!! (Unless you're a girl, then I'll think about something more creative, such as sportcars or math formulas).

Please, all, what is it for you computer literates? Just take your favorite avatar, enclose it in upto 100x100 pixels picture and send it to me. My address is here (djay), and I'm putting your favorite image in minutes after I see it.

In addition I plead to all of you:
1. Please find a friend (or make one) or acquaintance, who uses Gentoo. If he/she does not use Gentoo, help them start with it.
2. Help this person with personal blog.
3. Direct them here !
Thanks.

Now, the other note - after I posted my comment to Diego's entry, I was surprised to get 3 times traffic to my blog! So, in this, thanks to Diego for exposure.

And third - I'm doing some interesting project now, which has everything to do with embedded linux. Its not Gentoo Embedded, but linux nevertheless.

I'll keep it posted here and all the progress I make will be recorded.

Have fun :-)

QA in Gentoo, and Microsoft vs. Linux

2007-03-21T17:23:00.000+02:00

Diego,

I'm totally agree with you on the matter. I was actually talking with Patrick about QA awhile ago, and if you hold the same stance as he does on the matter - that is great. I think one should take apart the 2 definitions about application quality: the one is being made with high quality, and the second is being working stable as specified.

The first one is regarded in software as "code style policies" and such, which means the rules and choices made when creating products (such as variables/function names, code styles, etc). It is sometimes even implemented by using automated tools for creating skeletons in code, and running automatic parsers to check the usage.

On the other hand, Quality Assurance means testing created products for bugs, features and stability, and generally speaking has nothing to do with coding policies - as long as product is stable and performs as expected.

So for Gentoo, I would believe that the main things that QA team should always check, are the following:

1. Package can be built.
2. The result can be ran/executed/used.

If 1. doesn't pass in at least some 50%, package cannot be unmasked or even added to the tree.

When 1. is OK, and 2. is almost OK (say, it runs but some problems exist), package can be marked ~.

I only believe there are 2 cases when package can be marked stable:
1. The 1. above has near 100% positive result for all the deps.
2. The 2. from the above is considered positive, when tested by multiple users for given period of time (say at least a week) and no problems are being reported.

Thats the way I think QA issues should be handled in Gentoo.

Regarding your resignation - although I'm sure it is a lost for the official Gentoo, I hope you still stick around and help to people in need. I also believe that everyone is free community is entitled to personal wishes, and if you want to resign - its your right to do so, I don't understand why people bother you to explain yourself (like you own them or something.)

Now, to the Microsoft vs. Linux issue.

As Daniel de Oliveira already mentioned, Microsoft has created a new site, (currently down by the way), where they explain their potential partners and salesforce, how to win the sales case against Linux offerings.

I personally think it is important, because it is not blatant "Get The Facts" campain. It is a very business-case oriented, detailed and organized guide to winning businesses.

You do such guides only when you consider your opponent very serious contender, and that requires you to concentrate on important stuff. It also means, that Linux (I mean OS here, not just kernel), is considered by Microsoft very serious, and its not "only for ..... people anymore" (fill the blanks on your own; may I suggest "supergeeks"?).

So, I'd say that Ubuntu bug #1 set by Mark Shuttleworth, is being slowly but surely resolved.

Wouldn't you ?!

Planet Larry Update - Hackergotchis

2007-03-20T12:00:00.000+02:00

This is a planet update.

I'm happy to announce that my blog is being read. At least by 2 people.

From now on, Jürgen Geuter and Daniel de Oliveira have new avatars near their names which makes them more recognizable on planet's feed.

I call all of you who still haven't got an avatar, create one and send it to me!

Have a nice day.

Planet Larry Update - Hackergotchis request

2007-03-18T15:26:00.000+02:00

Hello to you all planet readers!!

As one of the planet's maintainers, I decided to write an update.
Currently we have a nice developing planet, well populated by different gentoozens.

But there is something I would like to request you all: you will be more recognizable to the planet (and hence, to the world), it'd be better for you to have a little picture aside your posts. These might be hackergotchi of yourself or someone else or any other avatar of your choice.

It will make our planet more attractive to other reader besides us :-)

In addition, if you are a Gentoo user and still not subscribed - drop me a note. The way to subscribe is described here.

If you are subscribed, but your entries are not aggregated or your feed has changed - drop me a note as well.

On the Gentoo note, there was a voting for a new CoC document last Thursday (at least supposed to be), but I haven't checked what's with that as of yet.

I'll keep it posted.

Please leave me a note if you think we can make something better for a planet.

:-)

Political Gentoo

2007-03-12T18:26:00.000+02:00

So, the last week has been kinda weird.

First, I was sad to witness bitterness and some sort of despair in Gentoo community. Lot of people feel that something isn't right, but at the same time there's a feeling that nothing could be done to fix it.

I'd suggest the following:
All Gentoo developers take the leave from working on Gentoo and have a break to have some fun in their own private lives. Then, in 30 days, council should be brought back to urgent meeting about future of Gentoo, with the following contributors:
1. Project/Subproject Leads
2. Developers
3. Users
Then, decide upon Gentoo's future, both technical (what is Gentoo? where should it be heading?) and social (what is devrel/userrel/userreps? how do they perform? how do they enforce policies? are policies well understood by all parties?)
And then, come back and start making great things together.

I know, I know, it just sounds great to me and will never be implemented.

It is sad, because Gentoo is a great distribution and a great technical effort made by community. I understand, that in free community you can only count on yourself or long-known peers, as it is free, disperse and voluntary. But many such communities choose to follow some sort of netiquette, which explains sort of a etiquette expected from all the members, and also establishes some way of enforcing an appropriate behavior.

Is bad behavior allowed in free community? Yes. It should, as "bad" is only subjective, and being "bad" means saying and/or doing something others do not like or want. But in free society, all things should be allowed.

But what should one do, when these things hurt or insult someone else? Well, in "democracy", there's a concept of decision making. If there's a majority for decision, but the decision itself implies hurting the minority, then the decision is banned as "non-democratic".

Which means, that "bad" behavior can be tolerated but some "objective" countability should be established and sort of "punishment" will have place. Punishment, in general, will be either temporal or permanent removal from society.

So how can all this be done with free community such as Gentoo? I don't know. I just hope, that despair that I feel inside the community is temporary, and soon will be dealt with.

I really love Gentoo, both technically and socially, and I'm ready to provide any help necessary and I will gladly do anything I can (and "official Gentoo" will accept) to make things better.

Second, on a side note: I got a Gentoo T-shirt for my birthday! So geeky....

Birthday

2007-03-06T23:37:00.000+02:00

Completely selfish and non-Gentoo.

It's my birthday today!!! Yaye!

Eight Principles of Fun

2007-03-05T16:59:00.000+02:00

So, with unbelievable urge to write one more entry in a very short while, here it goes.

First, regarding my previous post.

I just read Seemant's blog entry, where he's saying exactly the same thing as I do. Bummer. So I'm not the only one saddened by this issue.

I just hope that Gentoo's internal issues can be resolved by right behavior by key people. That means, council, devrel and userrel, and I know there are many great people there who can resolve everything I give them my trust for this.

Now, to a fun part. I found really nice site talking about 8 principles of having fun with life. Take a look here, and have fun yourself.

And of course, enjoy life.

Money stuff and sad Gentoo stuff.

2007-03-04T16:23:00.000+02:00

Well, this is not really Gentoo related.

Recently, I moved to a new place. As a result, I found (although I knew it beforehand as well, just didn't see the numbers) two very important things:

1. My rent went up ~ 2.7 times; and
2. My spare monthly cash went down ~ 3 times

Which means, essentially and unfortunately, that I will probably not be buying a new laptop this year :-(. Which, in turn, sucks

As result, I started managing my finances in much more strict way than before. I also started reading nice blog about personal finances management - The Simple Dollar. Useful in general and especially for living in US, as all practical advices are made by people living there.

Now, as for Gentoo related stuff - I was sad to find out last week that Diego "flameeys" Petteno has resigned his Gentoo position. Although I am glad to see him joining this planet, I'm sad that great people are leaving their developer positions because of internal Gentoo problems. I've seen what Diego gave as an example of the problem which led to his retiring, and all I can say is - childish behavior (not on Diego's behalf). This is very childish behavior that should not happen if project wants to grow. I think that devrel should really get involved into solving such problems as soon as possible. As I understand, that's the reason for devrel to exist.

Very sad news, it also affects me as user, and lowers my own motivation to participate.

A note to planet users: if you have a problem with your Larry The Cow planet feed, please let me know (by mailing to djay-il at gentoo-userreps dot org). You can also find me on Freenode IRC channels #gentoo-userrel or #gentoo-userreps.

Enjoy life.

FOSDEM friends

2007-03-01T10:39:00.000+02:00

Well, I forgot to mention something in my previous entry, but better later than never.

My new friend Rob (aka hyakuhei - he's a gentoo developer), found his laptop broken while we were at Fosdem.

Saturday, the first day of conference began really nicely. We met new people, had crepes, and all was nice and good. Rob left his laptop in his backpack in Gentoo dev room, but when he came back - his backpack was moved and laptop's screen was broken.

So, as a result, Rob had all conference covered by a dark cloud of bummer and unhappiness, as not only he uses his laptop for coding, but since he currently lives in Switzerland and his family/fiancee are still in UK, its his main contact line with them.

Rob, I hope you feel a little better now anyways (even that I know you haven't your computer fixed yet), and that everything will work out for you.

Now, to you all: Please Help Rob To Fix The Laptop Broken At Fosdem !! So, click here to get to his blog and then click on a PayPal link to help out with few bucks. It will be sincerely appreciated.

If you don't have the means or a will to do so, please ask your friends who might.

Rob will also establish a website for easier process.

Thanks on behalf of Rob to all of you who help out either way.

FOSDEM Photos

2007-02-27T20:07:00.000+02:00

So, some photos now:

Here we can see the panel of few devs. From left to right: kloeri, diox, christel, eroyf and kingtaco.

And that's me with Rob (aka hyakuhei):

Enjoy :-)

FOSDEM event

2007-02-27T16:12:00.000+02:00

Oh my.

I officially declare: FOSDEM 07 was awesome!!

I was not really sure I want to come anyways. Too much stress, expensive, all the logistics - all seemed too much for me.

But, for my own surprise, it came out much better that I'd thought it would. Everyone was some amazingly helpful, that I had one of the greatest experiences in my life.

First, when I came, Patrick (bonsaikitten) was kind enough to meet me and help me out around Brussels. Greatest thanks for that Patrick!!

When I came, he already met another Gentoo developer - Rob (or handsome Rob, as other dev calls him) aka hyakuhei. We went wandering around tourist area of Brussels. After we had some junkfood, we went straight to the Friday Beer event - a bar, which was exploded by a geeks storm. There were like couple of hundred geeks in fairly small area, so me and Rob left after awhile cause we were sorta dead tired.

We went to a hostel, where it took time until I got a bed to sleep in (thanks to diox for help with a hostel btw), and I crushed.

Next day was the first day of the conference itself. It was amazing. First, I finally met christel who remembered who I am and was sincerely happy to meet me. After we had listened a lecture from an OLPC guy, we (as in christel, Rob, Stephen - spb and myself) went to find something to eat. We finished up in crepes place and had a crepes and coffee.

After that I met many other devs I've been talking to in IRC before, and it was actually really cool to finally meet people in person.

Then, I went to overblown lecture on OpenMoko by Sean Moss-Pultz. It was great, and everyone in the lecture room was ready to get this Neo phone immediately.

Then, it was a Gentoo's panel with council, and then it was restaurant dinner with all the developers who came to FOSDEM and some other users/guests (including myself and Q-collective, another userrep).

I had a little argument with Danny (kugelfang, one of the council members) about the best ways of teaching physics, as I have my BA in this and he's on his way to diploma (equivalent to Masters).

Then, we went with few devs to have a beer, as Rob said he owns one to phreak (a dev who was his mentor and recruter). It was cool. Rob went to make some pictures, but it was too cold, so we went back to the hostel.

Then I came back to a hostel and crushed again, as I was tired. But before I actually could go to sleep, I found that latest update for dbus completely broke gtk-based everything (and that includes Gnome), so I was like with laptop but without X. Guess what do geeks at 2am in one room with non-operational laptop? Trying to fix it.

Thanks to genstef and full room of other people I don't remember (drop me a note if you've fixed someone's laptop at 2am Saturday night and I'll fill your name here :-) ) for at least finding a problem :-)

So Sunday was a sort of fun, as I only went to a Mike's (vapier) lecture on a council thing, and embedded, and christel's one on gentoo community, after which we with Rob had to go, because we had our flights home.

So we parted everyone, and off home we went.

It was awesomely best social event I've been at in ages, and I'm so happy I met all these cool people.

So, thanks to bonsaikitten for meeting me (oh, and Patrick - congrats on getting that PhD thing, I wanted to have a toast for that but forgot completely), Rob (hyakuhei), Christel, nattfodd, genstef, diox and many others for having me there and making me feel like I'm one of you.

I'm very appreciative for that.

I'll have photos posted as soon as I can.

Gentoo, FOSDEM07 and stuff

2007-02-15T16:55:00.000+02:00

Well, after not being successfully able to orginize the trip with work, I'm almost decided to go by my own.

So its now 85% chance that I'll be at Fosdem!! I've talked with diox (who's organizing things on Gentoo's part), and I might get help with accommodation, which would be totally awesome!! And then I'll be at the event itself and I hope that I'll catch that beer Friday as well.

As to a more Gentoo-related things, I've been asked by Steve to help him out running this very planet, which I agreed (for a time being at least for foreseeable future). So, until we update the site with our details, you can talk to me if you're experiencing problem with our world.

So, all seem good, some userreps answered my wake up call, and I hope to get us back in short time.

Have a great time all!

Going forward.

2007-02-11T18:58:00.000+02:00

Well, this year started pretty nice for me. So I've decided to make few new years resolutions:

1. Learn Gentoo even more than I do now.
2. Pass Gentoo dev quiz. All of it. Not to become a developer, but to create a cause for my own learning.
3. Find alternative source of income. Blog/writing-based is preferred.
4. Get a better job or make the current one much better than it is.
5. Make Gentoo User Representatives a worthy project, so it will continue further on.
6. Visit Europe.

And another:

7. Write a Gentoo book.

Regarding the book - its the idea I have lately. I know there's a lot of information about Gentoo including official docs, wiki etc, but I still feel its hard for noobs to start with Gentoo. That's why I want to write this book. All comments/wishes are more than welcome.

Coming back

2007-02-08T18:14:00.000+02:00

Phew!

For a looong time I haven't written anything in my blog. There are multiple reasons for that, mainly being sick a little, and holidays.

But now I'm starting to feel the urge. Writing is calling me, and I have to restate myself for that.

So, first of all - Userreps Project, which seems to be in deep deep deep hibernation is not dead. We (me and few others) had a talk about it, and decided that project lives on, and we will just get back on track with the resources we have. And then, we hope it will go smoothly.

There is also one more pleasant note for myself: I might go to FOSDEM conference!! I can meet Gentoo devs at last. So if you're a dev and reading this and don't want to see me - let me know as soon as possible. Then we can arrange something to not to bump into each other :-)

So, the new year started 1.5 months ago, and I haven't been active on Gentoo front. I sure hope it is temporal. I'm getting a laptop from work (with Windaews. yikes) in a few days, which should make me much more mobile than I'm now, so I could be more productive.

So, have a nice year everyone and we will push it forward!!

Userrep restaffing

2006-12-05T08:57:00.000+02:00

OK, now as its not a secret anymore.

As I already said before, cokehabit was removed from his post as User Representative. It doesn't mean George is a bad person or something. Promised announcement was made on forums, but to understand reasons more clearly I suggest reading Christel's blogpost.

As you can see in that forum post, I was instated as 11th User Representative instead of George. I was flattered when suggested to do so, and of course I agreed, although the only thing that it changes in my approach is sort of responsibility I now have towards the project.

If before that I had none, now if I say something or suggest something or take upon myself something, I have to answer on that promise. That is kinda new for me in open source project, but in no way a bad thing. I'd love to contribute in any way I can, and help out as time and my knowledge will allow.

So thanks to George for his efforts and for all that he has done being User Representative.

Google Docs as a blogging platform; and more on laws

2006-12-03T14:07:00.000+02:00

First, let me say something regarding Google Docs.

While I'm sure it is a very neat application as it is, I, at this point, am not going to use it as a blogging platform (read editor).

It is mainly for the following reasons: no "Title" field for post (it will just use the first sentence as such, exactly as it uses it for a file name) and no convenient tags - you have to save doc first, then apply tags, and then publish it. And even then, its tags and Blogger Beta tags aren't the same, and most important - you can't use tags you already have on Blogger - I mean you could create them, but not use already existing ones.

That said, I might check it out from time to time just to see its progress.

Now, as I wrote about interesting court case, it has progressed since then (its actually talking about brake pedals, not gas pedals, but for the sake of being correct, lets just say pedals).

It has progressed to the point, where Court would retest or review whether given patents are actually "innovation", or in other words something considerably new and not something anyone with ordinary knowledge in the field could've done; it requires something non-trivial to be implemented. That is, of course, what the patent should be in the first place, and not for review :-) but that's just my opinion. Full article is here.

Enjoy reading (lots of legalese btw), and feedback would be appreciated.

Patents on .....gas pedals and software; posting from Google Docs

2006-11-30T17:58:00.000+02:00

OK, this is the first time I try to publish directly from Google Docs.

This is interesting, because it seems that most of my online work is being moved to Google. Which is both good and scares me a little.

Good is being that me, as a sorta advanced user, moving to Google means that they have pretty good products. Search, mail (and especially spam filtering), Blogger (beta), RSS reader, analytics and now docs are all Google products which I now seem to use more. I do think they are good products for the type of usage I use them for, and they are good in more generic sense.

But what scares me in all this, is the thing that all my actions on the net, or at least many of them, go through one same central place, which is being Google, which in reality gives them all the info about my habits online, and also a lot of information about me as person. That, in fact, scares the hell out of me - if Google becomes evil one day, they could hurt many people as me. And what if they require a payment for all these? I don't believe this will happen, but it might.

Now, to the matters. I've found interesting article, about some obscure patent, given for ...."gas pedals, the kind that make trucks go when drivers step on them...".
Apparently, the outcome of the trial may serve as a precedent for other patent issues, so many companies, including Microsoft and Johnson&Johnson, tried to override the courts' decision.

But, what's to gas pedals and software licenses?

Quote: "Alliteration aside, we’ll defer that question to somebody with a law degree or at least a working knowledge of patent law. But, it’ll be worth following how the Supreme Court treats this case given that Microsoft is playing both sides of the fence here -- dangling the patent sword above the head of Linux while at the same time politely asking the Supreme Court to make it harder for patent squatters to hit tech companies."

Link to full article is here .

Feedback is appreciated.

Missed week

2006-11-29T09:50:00.001+02:00

Well, yesterday was Tuesday, and I haven't post anything.

That can be explained by me being lazy, but instead I can just say I finally moved heavy furniture to my new apartment and now I'm actually living there :-)

I didn't post anything yesterday because I left work early and I don't have an internet access at a new place yet, so it will take some time until I do.

So, I'll try to catch up and fill the blanks. All comments/feedback/requests are welcome as usual.

P.S. Don't forget this Saturday!!!! Dec 2, 2006 - its the Gentoo Bugday.

So go right ahead and join Gentoo at a bug-squashing action, on FreeNode irc network, #gentoo-bugs channel!