March 2008
Legal Torrents
by Volker Weber
LegalTorrents is an online community created to discover and distribute Creative Commons licensed digital media. We distribute high quality digital media of all types and provide support to content creators, including hosting a guaranteed high-speed seed for the content. We distribute content with the full permission of the rights holders. We use the peer-2-peer file-sharing technology called Bittorrent.
Hot & Spicy
by Volker Weber
What a disgrace
by Volker Weber
In the world’s busiest airport you need to feel confident that while you’re heading through security and to your aircraft, your bag is doing the same. The Terminal 5 baggage system gives you that peace of mind. 18km of conveyer belts and intelligent baggage carts running on 4.5km of rails take your bag to your gate in around 15 minutes - particularly impressive given the size of Terminal 5. High-tech hoists take your baggage and inject it into the baggage system. Tracking technology means we always know where your baggage is. The new system can easily cope with longer items such as golf clubs. Last minute baggage can be sent automatically via a series of tunnels straight to the gate. Overall, the system can handle 12,000 bags an hour, moving them as fast as 30mph.
And practice:
The number of bags stuck at Heathrow is double the number admitted by British Airways, the aviation minister has disclosed, accusing the Terminal 5 fiasco of "denting the nation's pride". Jim Fitzpatrick said passengers using the £4.3 billion terminal had suffered and "unacceptably poor experience" and delivery had fallen "well short of expectation."
BA has been forced to scrap more than 450 flights since the opening of Terminal 5 last week Mr Fitzpatrick said 28,000 bags were now stranded, rather than the 15,000 admitted by the airline over the weekend. He added it could take up to a week for the bags to be reunited with their owners.
2 hot 4 you?
by Volker Weber
What a nerd :-)
Paul Graham: How to Disagree
by Volker Weber
If we're all going to be disagreeing more, we should be careful to do it well. What does it mean to disagree well? Most readers can tell the difference between mere name-calling and a carefully reasoned refutation, but I think it would help to put names on the intermediate stages. So here's an attempt at a disagreement hierarchy:
[via Daring Fireball]
IdeaJam is gold
by Bruce Elgort
It's been a few months since I last posted about IdeaJam and there is a lot of things to talk about. First and foremost is that IdeaJam is now available as a product that can be purchased. Companies with a Domino server can setup IdeaJam in a very short amount of time. Hosting services are available for those organizations that don't have a Lotus Domino server.
The product now includes many new features such as multilingual support, a central control panel for system configuration, full access to CSS and system graphics, support for various text editors including CoexEdit and FCKEditor, new graphical statistics, integration with NCT's Remember Me and much more.
The IdeaJam.net site for the IBM Lotus Community continues to see lots of ideas, comments and votes submitted. Currently there are 1,390 ideas, 31,165 votes 4,316 comments. Work continues with IBM to utilize the site as a credible source of community feedback. I am confident that this will happen however, it make take longer than originally anticipated.
At Lotusphere 2008 IdeaJam received many accolades from session speakers, vendors and IBM'ers. Many thanks to them for their support.
To learn more about IdeaJam visit the Elguji Software site.
Udo, ja komm, hau'hau rein das Ding
by Volker Weber
Nicht gedacht, dass er so was noch mal hinkriegt. "Eigentlich bin ich ganz anders, ich komm nur viel zu selten dazu." Auf ganz heavy rotation.
Don't click here. Don't.
by Volker Weber
Ok, I knew you would. Be strong. And don't dare clicking here. (Link removed now)
Update: This was a little game to make Ben Langhinrichs lead the "What's Hot" on PlanetLotus:
Now I wish I could remove this posting from that site. Genie is out of the bottle, I guess. But thanks for not clicking. :-)
Onion News Network: Queen Will Leave Behind Long Legacy Of Waving
by Volker Weber
Don't forget to look at the ticker. How about a genie for president?
Jeden Tag steht ein Dummer auf
by Volker Weber
... man muss ihn nur finden. Aus meiner Inbox:
WasDeinPlatz* stellt als erste Community überhaupt virtuelles Eigentum in den Mittelpunkt. Dadurch werden die für jede Community zentralen Selbstdarstellungsmöglichkeiten um das entscheidende Element der Exklusivität ergänzt: Jeder Landeigentümer besitzt ein Unikat, denn kein Grundstück ist wie das andere, jedes ist mit unterschiedlichen Assoziationen aus der realen Welt verbunden.
Angetrieben durch die Heterogenität realer Grundstücke entwickelt sich mittelfristig über die Wiederverkaufsfunktion eine virtuelle Ökonomie. Im Unterschied zu Plattformen wie Second Life spielt sich diese nicht in einer geschlossenen 3D Landschaft abspielt, sondern für jedermann zugänglich auf einer einfachen Google Maps Oberfläche. Durch diese fehlenden Zugangsbarrieren hat WasDeinPlatz das Potenzial, sich zur ersten virtuellen Ökonomie für den Massenmarkt zu entwickeln.
Der ganze Marketingsprech verstellt den Blick auf das Geschäftsmodell. Für richtiges Geld kauft man "virtuelle" Grundstücke, also "nicht reale" oder einfacher "nur gedachte". Kann so was funktionieren? Der Betreiber meint ja:
Bisher wurden auf ... bereits deutlich über 1.000 Hektar virtuellen Landes verkauft – das Produkt "virtuelle Grundstücke" wird vom Markt angenommen.
Clever: Der Betreiber ist 'ne GmbH. Im Nachsatz dann eine aufmunternde Note:
PS: Die Linkspartei hat das Willy-Brandt-Haus gekauft 8-)
Ich finde, das beschreibt recht gut den ökonomischen Sachverstand.
*) Name ist der Redaktion bekannt
Weird News Of The Day Department
by Volker Weber
Officials are pondering whether to charge a Missouri DIY satellite TV installer who decided that the best way to punch a hole through the wall was with a .22 calibre handgun, and in so doing accidentally shot and killed his wife.
[Thanks, Ben]
IBM numbers are out: Software Group grows 10% - WebSphere leading with 19.1%
by Volker Weber
Details here. Try to find something missing at the bottom of the page.
Prepare to be blown away. Seriously.
by Volker Weber
Paul just told me about PicLens, a browser plugin that lets you immerse yourself in the pictures on lots of sites. Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa Web Albums ... they are all there. It's truly amazing stuff. Watch the demo or go get the plugin. You will be blown away.
OK, I want one now
by Volker Weber
This would actually work on an iPhone if the software uses the accelerometer.
Nine-Sixty
by Volker Weber
The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem.... All modern monitors support at least 1024 x 768 pixel resolution. 960 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480. This makes it a highly flexible base number to work with.
heise Foto
by Volker Weber
Nein, nicht heiße Fotos. ;-) heise online macht einen neuen Channel auf: heise Foto. Und diesmal gibt es einen gescheiten RSS-Feed mit Descriptions. Das wünsche ich mir auch für den Newsticker.
Now you see it, now you don't
by Volker Weber
It's probably a Mac beta thing. Has anybody else seen this?
True lies
by Volker Weber
When I wrote about the 10 beliefs of the Domino community yesterday, one of the beliefs was "Microsoft employees are habitual liars". Of course this is pure nonsense. So I got one reply which stated "only the sales people". This seems to make more sense then, but it really does not. What are the chances, that one company's sales people are all liars? Think about car salesmen and their bad reputation. It may appear they are all liars, but they are not. At least not the good ones. What they do is they believe in the superiority of their product. Only if they truly believe that, they become good at their job. It does not matter if the product is superior. They have to believe it. So they don't have to lie.
For them it's a war. The enemy may not even be human after all. They are fighting for a good cause. The enemy is evil. Funny thing is, if you look at it from the other side, it's a similar picture. Only the talking points change. Whereas one believes in the superior quality of his product, the other thinks he has the better price and customers would get ripped off buying his competitor's product. And besides, isn't the other guy's car going out of production?
If you don't pick a side, it becomes pretty clear that both sides are both right and wrong. And if you take away the true lies, then there are still good and bad things in both products.
You can only afford to tell the truth if you are not afraid to lose a sale.
Kevin Maney: Microsoft Succeeds in Making Vista Even Worse
by Volker Weber
[Screenshot courtesy of Ben Rodway]
Windows Vista is already perhaps the most frustrating product Microsoft has yet heaved onto the computing public. But now its Service Pack 1 update, which is supposed to FIX holes and squeaks in the Vista code, seems to be making things worse -- so much worse that venerable publications like Computerworld are running stories about how to get SP1 off your machine. InfoWorld has a piece about how Vista users are blasting Microsoft on Microsoft's own Vista blog. The headline on The Washington Post's story says a lot: "Vista SP1: Threat or Menace?"
Imagine you would have invested 10k in Msft 5 years ago. That would buy you a small car today. The same amount in RIM (BlackBerry) would buy a nice house.
How to run TwitNotes on Notes 8.5 beta for Mac
by Volker Weber
Mikkel Helsterberg has created TwitNotes, an RCP plugin which lets you update your Twitter status from the Notes sidebar. Since it is a pure Eclipse plugin, it also works on the Mac.
There are two small points to mention regarding the installation on the Mac:
1. Stop Notes and find the file in your /Applications directory. Right click, Show Contents. Find plugin_customization.ini in Contents/MacOS/rcp.
2. When doing the File/Application/Install step you can't import and paste the URL that Mikkel provides. Just create the update site with Add Remote Location as follows:
Once you have created the update site, the rest is smooth sailing.
Safari on Windows anyone?
by Volker Weber
ars technica is very impressed:
We put the Windows beta of Safari 3 through the wringer last summer, we weren't impressed. With 3.1 out of beta, we wanted to know, have things improved? Wow, have they.
I have not tried. Have you?
Alan has great pictures from Petra
by Volker Weber
I am completely free of envy (or at least I hope I am) so I am very, very glad that Alan was able to make this trip. Petra is one of the most amazing places on Earth.
It it possible to filter GMail with charset?
by Volker Weber
As many of you, I am receiving tons of spam with charset koi8-r. Since I cannot understand messages in languages with this charset, I would be happy to just dump them. Works fine on my own mail server, but I have not found an option to filter by charset on GMail? Any ideas?
IBM Lotus Sametime Advanced 8.0 announced
by Volker Weber
IBM Lotus Sametime Advanced 8.0 software combines the capabilities of IBM Lotus Sametime Standard 8.0 with new, ground-breaking functionality for real-time community collaboration.
Key highlights include all of the capabilities of the Lotus Sametime Standard offering as well as:
* Persistent group chat
* Broadcast tools to search for experts and share, capture, and reuse knowledge in real time
* Instant screen sharing
* Geographic location services
1 common belief in the Exchange community
by Volker Weber
- Notes is dead
10 common beliefs in the Domino community
by Volker Weber
- Migrating from Domino to Exchange is a waste of money. Migrating from Exchange to Domino is not.
- Exchange servers crash all the time, leaving Outlook users for days without mail.
- Windows is a viable platform for running Domino but unfit for Exchange.
- Migrations from Domino to Exchange are driven by incompetent or sinister top management.
- Exchange is proprietary. Domino is open standards.
- The majority of Outlook users run against Exchange 5.5 servers.
- There are 130 million Notes users.
- Microsoft employees are habitual liars.
- Users hate Outlook.
- CIOs of Microsoft customers are incompetent.
Update: Von Tom ins Deutsche übersetzt.
Any landing that you can walk away from...
by Volker Weber
... is a good landing. Right?
[Thanks, Hajo]
Consider making your site readable
by Volker Weber
Once in a while I come across a site that I would like to read, but I simply can't. You don't have to be a great designer. But Baskerville is an extremely poor choice for a font to be read on screen at small sizes:
If you must use a serif font, Microsoft Georgia is a good choice:
Let's look at the CSS and find this:
html, body {font-family : Baskerville, Trebuchet, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;}
Baskerville is serif, the rest is sans serif. That looks very odd. And then it gets all overridden by
p {font: normal 1.0em/1.0em baskerville; text-align: justify; ...
Don't get me started on justified text on screen. Anyway, if we dump all this nonsense, it becomes readable:
Design is the art of removing all decorations.
Barry has a new Job
by Volker Weber
This has been in the works for a while but my new role at Microsoft was publicly announced on Friday -- I'll be taking on a new responsibility as CTO for the Microsoft IT organization.
Congratulations, Barry. I think I may have a few questions to ask in the future. :-)
Wires please
by Volker Weber
There are things that need to grow on me. Digital cameras were a no-brainer. While other people were still buying conventional cameras, I was immediately sold on digicams.
Then there are things that need some time. Sonos was one of them. I was happy with iTunes and Airport Express. Until I wanted to liberate the music from the computer.
And then there are things I just don't get. And most of those things use Bluetooth. Wireless headset with tiny batteries which make you look like a Borg. Terrible sound quality since BT does not travel through your body easily. Or wireless keyboards and mice. I love it when my friend calls me to tell me his computer hangs since it does not react to mouse clicks. Yeah, right. Get a tethered mouse and the problem goes away. My wired Apple keyboard has two USB ports. One connects the mouse. The other one is always handy to plug in the odd memory key or the camera which needs offloading.
alecmcint: Blödes suretype blödes
by Volker Weber
alecmcint: Wenn das so weitergeht machen wie das Boot I'm Dunkeln klar
alecmcint: wenn ich den seh see, brauch ich kein meer mehr
alecmcint: So. Genug getan die heute. An in die Sauna.
alecmcint: Blödes suretype blödes
8820 sticht 8120. 8310 sowieso.
I have no idea what Microsoft Word is talking about
by Volker Weber
I am just typing plain text.
Manu Katché
by Volker Weber
Alexander recommends Manu Katché, Playground. Very similar to his debut album Neighbourhood, Playground is really a great recommendation. Music for the middle of the night or a lazy afternoon. Alex has more: Herbie Hancock and Pat Matheney are absolute no-brainers. But I will have to check out Mario Biondi. He is not yet on my Sonos.
Wonderful recommendations, Alex.
Not trusting the weather
by Volker Weber
Diebold accidentally leaks the 2008 election results
by Volker Weber
Onion News Network has the story >
[Thanks, Bob]
Twitter is just another reason to use Flock
by Volker Weber
Twitter is just another reason to use Flock. You don't need a separate client, it's just there. And Flickr. And GMail. And Facebook. And YouTube. And a blog editor. And that is all much quicker than Firefox.
What makes Traveler special?
by Volker Weber
When IBM announced Traveler, push services for mail, calendar, todo, names and journal in Domino 8.0.1 at Lotusphere, everybody was excited. Finally Domino would have something like Exchange ActiveSync in the core product. It then turned out that Traveler would not be in the core product, but would be procured as a separate download. Lotus set up a new process, where customers would prove their entitlement, and then were supposed to promptly receive a download link. That did not work as well as designed, but has eventually been improved. Business partners still were unable to legally obtain the code until IBM set up a separate process through the Business Partner Forum.
Surely there must be a reason why IBM had to design a separate process for this piece of code. I asked whether IBM had licensed somebody else's product and was told that it was developed by Lotus but contained some third party technology. Today I asked whether IBM needed to track the code because they had to pay royalties and received this answer:
I don't think there's any value added to the discussion by explaining -why- IBM needs to track, simply that there is a requirement to track. IBM hopes to remove that requirement by the time of 8.0.2 or 8.5 releases, but it is too soon to know.
This is probably the best way to make me curious. Ed would not tell me, so I assumed he could not. Time to investigate. And that turned out to be quite easy. You just have to run the "strings" command on everything Traveler installs and you will find the pieces of this puzzle.
It appears Traveler utilizes the TrueSync server that IBM integrated into WebSphere Everyplace some six years ago. TrueSync was developed by Philippe Kahn's Starfish, then part of Motorola, now part of Nokia. Interesting quote:
"WebSphere Everyplace Access is a natural extension to e-business," said Mike Rhodin, vice president of IBM's Pervasive Computing Development. "As they did with the Web, enterprises are now looking for ways to leverage their existing technology and data with the onslaught of pervasive computing devices in order to get to market quicker and move information around the organization more efficiently. Having a flexible, open infrastructure built on WebSphere Everyplace Access with Starfish software protects the assets customers already have in place and doesn't limit what they'll be able to do tomorrow."
This is the same Mike Rhodin who now runs Lotus. I guess we have found the reason why Traveler is special. IBM uses technology that Nokia owns. This is a good reason to track usage of this code. What the nature of the agreement between IBM and Nokia is, remains a secret, that I don't even want to know. Case closed.
Regardless of the technology and everything else, Traveler seems to be working quite well, so the customer will be happy.
IBM Press room: New IBM Software Brings Web 2.0 to Mobile Phones
by Volker Weber
SANTA CLARA, CA - 20 Mar 2008: IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that the Lotus Expeditor software platform is extending desktop computing and Web 2.0 capabilities to mobile phones.
Web 2.0 on mobile devices? Can't do that so far. OK, seriously, which mobile phones? The press release mentions Windows Mobile 6. The Information Center is more specific:
I am not making this up. It is that hard to read. OK, copy and paste:
- Windows XP/SP2 Desktop as the development platform
- Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition
- Windows CE 5.0 Professional
- Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC or Phone Edition)
- Windows Mobile 6.0 (Classic or Professional)
Microsoft may have tools for that as well. ;-) But there is also a sole Symbian device:
Nokia E90 running Nokia eRCP that meets the minimum resource requirements of 2 MB available RAM and 2 MB free file system space. Attention: The support for the Nokia E90 is provided as early release code for internal evaluation and testing. The support for the Nokia E90 may not be used for production purposes.
Interesting timing for a press release. Right before Easter so nobody will notice it.
Would you like to be on this show?
by Volker Weber
[Thanks, Karen]
Beim Hintern befestigen
by Volker Weber
Kode 128 ist einer der meinsten weitgehend gebrauchtesten Strichkode Symbologien. Aber es verlangt von einem Checksum, beim Hintern befestigt zu werden.
[Danke, Hajo]
GoogleDrive
by Volker Weber
drive around google maps.
Looking for a track
by Volker Weber
Who has "A Touch Of Velvet, A Sting Of Brass" from Mood Mosaic? iTunes comes up empty. German readers, think Musikladen or Beat Club. Or go here and click on the logo.
[Update: Thank you Malte for the track]
MyTourbook - 2008 Best Open Source Eclipse RCP Application
by Volker Weber
Monday at EclipseCon, the ceremony for the Eclipse Community Awards was held. The winner of the Best Open Source Eclipse RCP Application award was MyTourbook, created by Wolfgang Schramm. MyTourbook is an Eclipse application that can visualize and analyze tours which are recorded by a GPS device, ergometer, bike computer or exercise computer. Main features include transferring or importing tour data, visualizing a tour in a chart with different graphs, visualizing a tour in a map, showing statistics, comparing tours automatically by altitude, and managing tours for different people.
Wolfgang is the co-author of the Domino Web Admin.
[Thanks, Thomas]
Ever wondered why people twitter #Lotusphere?
by Volker Weber
Well, here's why >
Happy anniversary, US of America
by Volker Weber
Five years ago:
On March 19 at 9:34 p.m. -- two days after demanding that Saddam Hussein and his sons Uday and Qusay surrender and leave Iraq within 48 hour -- the U.S.-led coalition begins bombing Baghdad.
Why Apple won't let you run in the background on the iPhone
by Volker Weber
Unless you’ve been stranded on a remote Pacific isle, you’re no doubt aware of the current furor over third party iPhone applications not being able to run in the background. To be blunt, I’ve never seen so many experts without a fricken’ clue. If you haven’t written code using the jailbreak tool chain, your opinions on the iPhone SDK, based entirely on what you see in a simulator, just aren’t relevant. You might as well be explaining the nuances of brain surgery.
As someone who has been involved in iPhone development for the past six months, please let me offer you a healthy dose of reality.
Vivaldi goes Metal
by Volker Weber
[Thanks, Schweppes]
LEGO icebricks
by Volker Weber
[Thanks, Hanno]
Does this hurt your eyes?
by Volker Weber
It's not popular, but at least it's available
by Volker Weber
WidSets 2.0 released
by Volker Weber
When I loaded WidSets this morning on the Nokia E90, I was asked to download the latest version with a lot of changes:
- Mobile studio. You can create simple widgets in the mobile end.
- Push Email widget. Totally revamped email widget.
- Open in browser. You can easily open any widget content in the mobile browser.
- Bookmarks. Also readable in the mobile end.
- More simple homepage on widsets.com and widsets.mobi page for mobile use.
- New functionalities in content search in the Library (mobile and web).
- Improvements to the speed of WidSets.
- Banner advertising in the mobile client.
- Clear cached data.
IBM Lotus Quickr 8.1 announced
by Volker Weber
IBM Lotus Quickr 8.1 is team software that helps you access and share information and project materials that you need to get the job done, and to make better, more informed decisions. Lotus Quickr Standard provides many new features to enhance the user experience and simplify administration, including:
Electronic software delivery:
* March 28 2008: English
* April 28 2008: West Europe
* May 12 2008: Nordic
* June 9 2008: Multilingual
* April 28 2008: Asia Pacific
Physical media and documentation:
* April 8, 2008: English
* May 14, 2008: West Europe
* June 12, 2008: Nordic
* July 9, 2008: Multilingual
* May 14, 2008: Asia Pacific
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone (KB936330) released
by Volker Weber
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is an update to Windows Vista that addresses key feedback from our customers. SP1 addresses specific reliability and performance issues, supports new types of hardware, and adds support for several emerging standards.
[Thanks, Huptus]
Teardown TV takes apart the Sonos sound system
by Volker Weber
At the end they mention www.audiodesignline.com and www.techonline.com/underthehood but neither contains the "full story".
Who is sponsoring ILUG2008? Or rather, who isn't?
by Volker Weber
Microsoft is watching you
by Volker Weber
Or rather, your instant messages:
Eric Horvitz, at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, and Jure Leskovec, who was an intern at the time, crunched through masses of data, logging a month's worth of global 'instant messaging' conversations using Microsoft Messenger — software that facilitates chat, in a similar way to e-mail, but in a more instantaneous and less formal fashion.
[Thanks, Stefan]
Our resident squirrel again
by Volker Weber
Today I was faster than last time. Click through and view the large photo. Or the slideshow >
Twitter is growing on me
by Volker Weber
Now, two weeks later, I totally get it. I'm even enjoying it. It is fun to watch the banter as tweets cross the wire about anything and everything. I've learned about new sites and tools, and been able to track the goings-on for friends and colleagues. It's a conversation starter. It's a news service. It's even a way to let off some stream.
It's also growing on me. I stopped checking Facebook and instead added a Twitter feed to my RSS reader. Since I am updating my Twitter status more often, I also added the last three tweets to the sidebar.
Although Twitter has the most simple interface of all, there are a ton of apps to update your status or consume tweets from your network. If you have not done so, sign up on Twitter, follow a few people, and shake your head on how useless this is. And then wait, until it grows on you too. :-)
You can find me at http://twitter.com/vowe
Joel: Now would be a good time to buy stock in Internet flamewars
by Volker Weber
Imagine that you went to Mars, where you discovered that the beings who live there don’t have the portable music player. They’re still using boom boxes.
You realize this is a huge business opportunity and start selling portable MP3 players (except on Mars they’re called Qxyzrhjjjjukltks) and compatible headphones.
Follow Joel on his journey to explain requirements for backwards compatibility. He is a brilliant writer who only lacks the ability to make his point with a short story. So pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee and get cracking.
Alex wundert sich
by Volker Weber
vowe wundert sich auch, wann Xing wohl diesen Müll wieder aus dem RSS-Feed nimmt. Auf der Website kann man es abstellen, aber für den RSS Feed greift das nicht.
Excel non calculat
by Volker Weber
After you install security update MS08-014, Excel 2003 calculations return an incorrect result when a Real Time Data source is used in a user-defined Visual Basic for Applications function
Where in the world is Len Kawell?
by Volker Weber
Who is Len?
Len Kawell is an engineer and entrepreneur who once worked at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), where he was one of the designers of the VAX/VMS operating system. He also played a key role in the development of the MicroVAX computer, VAX Notes, and VMC Mail. Much like DEC co-founders Harlan Anderson and Ken Olsen, Kawell graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in computer science.
Kawell was co-founder and president of Glassbook, Inc., and was eventually acquired by Adobe. The company developed PDF-based e-book reading software. He was also one of the co-founders of Iris Associates, where he co-designed Lotus Notes, the first commercial groupware product.
I overlooked this news last week, but apparently Len now works at Microsoft.
[Thanks, Bob]
Find the iPod
by Volker Weber
... in this picture. ;-)
What happens to Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection?
by Volker Weber
Microsoft RDC 2.0 for the Mac is currently released as beta 2 and will expire by the end of the month. I expected the final release to become available as part of Office 2008 but that did not happen. Microsoft press tells me the release is scheduled for "Spring". No sooner than next week, Microsoft has either to release a new beta or a final release. Does anybody have any further information?
Update: RDC 2.0 Beta 2 expired without any updates from Microsoft:
There are no plans to update the beta. The release is planned for "spring" with na particular date set. You can continue to use the beta by dismissing the dialog with the left button.
An idea worth spreading
by Volker Weber
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
If you only follow one link today, follow this one.
[via jcf]
Kurzwitz
by Volker Weber
Beck
Ever wondered why Monster cables are so expensive?
by Volker Weber
Joy of Tech has the story >
From my inbox
by Volker Weber
From: uwe xxx@gmx.net
Date: 13. März 2008 23:40:57 MEZ
Subject: blackberry pearl 8100!
To: vowe@vowe.net
hallo,
ich hab nen blackberry von einem freund geschenkt bekommen. der hat es gefunden, aber es ákzeptiert keine simkarte. was kann ich tun damit meine simkarte funktioniert und ich das telefon benutzen kann?
mfg
uwe
How long does this keep you busy?
by Volker Weber
[via Jan-Piet]
The most amazing piece of software I have seen so far
by Volker Weber
[Thanks, Malte]
Dale Vile: Why I downgraded from Vista to XP
by Volker Weber
The machine came with Windows Vista Business Edition pre-installed and when I was playing with it in the shop, it was pretty responsive ... Over the course of the next four months, however, the performance gradually degraded and the user experience became awful. It eventually got to the stage where it was talking 12 minutes to boot and about 6-7 minutes to shut down, with very sluggish performance in between and frequent hangs requiring a forced shutdown (which in itself was probably making matters worse).
OK, this is only one person. But I have heard it many times over that people have been removing Vista and installing XP, sometimes Ubuntu- Microsoft is not in a good shape when people downgrade their software.
My own experience is very limited. Just last week I helped my neighbor set up her brand new Aldi notebook with Windows Vista Home. It did work, but it was a nightmare of "register me", "start your trial", "go to our website". Very much like London Heathrow pretending to be an Airport when it is more of a department store with bad service. You can eventually fly, but it's kind of hard to get there.
[Thanks, Ben]
IBM: Considerations when deploying Notes 8.0.1 Standard on a Citrix server
by Volker Weber
The Citrix platform user load for Lotus Notes® 8.0.1 client is limited to 14 Standard clients. ... This issue was discovered using a 4 GB RAM, 2 Xeon-processor box, with a single IDE drive.
How many concurrent users do you run on your Citrix servers with Notes 6 or 7?
Running Lotus Notes on the iPhone
by Volker Weber
Ed commented that Dana suggested to run Notes inside the JVM, using OSGi, read Expeditor. Aside from the technical hurdles, I will have to side with Eric.
Eric Burke: Simplicity
by Volker Weber
Eric Burke via jcf
Your screen is dirty
by Volker Weber
Get some help >
[via Rob]
100 Milli
by Volker Weber
... das in der Lage ist, in weniger als 100 Millisekunden ...
Wer so was ohne Not (etwa vergleichende Messwerte) in einem Fließtext schreibt, der ist entweder auf die PR des Herstellers reingefallen, oder er weiß nicht zu übersetzen:
... das in der Lage ist, in weniger als einer Zehntelsekunde ...
100 Millisekunden hört sich irgendwie schneller an. ;-)
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.0.1 Update
by Volker Weber
This update fixes critical issues in Office 2008, including issues that might cause Office 2008 applications to stop responding or quit unexpectedly.
Released: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
[via Tom]
Hors de prix
by Volker Weber
104 minutes of great fun >
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
by Volker Weber
Our resident squirrel. Very hard to capture in the morning. This guy is fast ...
Saftladen
by Volker Weber
Ich verliere hier langsam den Überblick. Ist das die richtige Reihenfolge?
- Ypsilanti verspricht im Wahlkampf: keine Kooperation mit den Linken
- Ypsilanti will sich von den Linken wählen lassen
- SPD kriegt in Hamburg die Quittung
- Ypsilanti will sich immer noch von den Linken wählen lassen
- Metzger sagt njet
- Ypsilanti versucht vergeblich, Metzger umzustimmen
- Ypsilanti will aufgeben
- SPD-Linke nimmt Metzger in die Mangel
- Metzger will aufgeben
- Nachrücker Krist hat die gleichen Zweifel wie Metzger
- SPD pfeift Ypsilanti zurück
Seltsamer Vogel. Zwei Flügel, aber kein Kopf.
Nachtrag 11.3:
Nach Angaben ihres Schwiegervaters soll Metzger in den vergangenen Tagen einem "Psychoterror" der Partei ausgesetzt gewesen sein. Der frühere Darmstädter Oberbürgermeister Günther Metzger (SPD) sagte dem Radiosender Hitradio FFH: "Ich kenne den Bezirk Hessen-Süd der SPD und weiß, was ich von diesem Bezirk zu halten habe. (...) Und ich weiß, dass da mit Psychoterror gearbeitet wird." Im SPD-Bezirk Hessen-Süd herrsche "eine linke Mafia", sagte Metzger.
Full disclosure
by Volker Weber
John Gruber writes:
So G-Archiver is a Windows app that lets you download your archived Gmail messages. It ends up that the app emails your Gmail username and password to the author. Crazy.
Indeed. Though it has nothing to do with Windows.
xollob58
by Volker Weber
Neil Gallop, a.k.a. xollob58, takes some of the most amazing pictures of Darmstadt, where we live. I don't even recognize many of the places in his pictures. I do however know about these Stolpersteine (stumbling blocks):
These brass plates are being put into the pavements outside the old houses from which Jews were deported to extermination camps during the rule of the Nazis. The idea is that you almost trip over them, then read the names of the people who used to live there, thus also bowing your head. I like this idea of a memorial, because it brings the whole holocaust down to a local and personal level. This action is not limited to Darmstadt, but is spread across all of Germany. Data on the blocks includes date/year of birth, where the person was deported to, and date of death (if known). For example, the top stone reads "Elias Emil Blum lived here. Born in 1876. Deported in 1942. Murdered in Auschwitz".
Check out his Darmstadt set >
Notes is an amazing application ...
by Volker Weber
... which allows anyone to organise anything.
iPhone 2.0 special event available as HD podcast
by Volker Weber
Apple has made the iPhone 2.0 announcement (SDK / Enterprise) available as a HD video podcast on iTunes.
iPhone SDK does not allow you to run in the background
by Volker Weber
Aspelagh notes that a third-party application can't write data to another application, which is known as "sand-boxing." This is a security-influenced rule, presumably. The downer is that "the possibility of cool mashups is basically eliminated," notes Wired's Scott Gilbertson.
The SDK item drawing the most attention Friday, however, is that third-party applications will not be allowed to run in the background. TechCrunch's Mike Arrington wrote, "Instant-messaging applications (we saw a demo of an AIM version at the event today), can't run in the background and collect messages while you are doing something else. Leave the application to take a phone call, and it shows you offline."
If you can't run in the background, you also can't build a Sametime or Traveler client.
How are you liking the new banners?
by Volker Weber
I decided to post more than one banner for this month. There are almost 20 different ones. How are you liking them? Do you have any more suggestions? I am going to pick some from the comments if I like them. Try to be positive, be brief, don't ever mention ILUG, and don't emphasize the alcohol, which the Irish like to drink. :-)
KISS
by Volker Weber
From an invitation to a Greenhouse webcast:
(See attached file: LGHwebconfinvite.ics)
The .ics file attachment is an icalendar standard file and it contains calendar information for our event.
To process this
(1)open the email containing the attachment,
(2)Right-click the attachment,
(3)select view from pop-up, this will display a "Scheduling Notes in iCalendar File" window
(4)select Import all, this will generate a Lotus Notes meeting invitation that you can process to add the event to your personal Lotus Notes calendar.
Much easier in Apple Mail: click the file attachment once and confirm this dialog:
IBM booth @ CeBIT
by Volker Weber
[via Tom]
Wenn Sie gerade mitten in der Nacht angerufen haben ...
by Volker Weber
... und trotz Nachfrage Ihren Namen nicht genannt haben, dann rufen Sie nicht "besser später noch mal an", sondern einfach gar nicht mehr. OK?
Greg has done it again
by Volker Weber
vowe.net on all computers at Best Buy. The picture also shows the relative sizes of a BlackBook and a 24" iMac in the back.
Apple Announces iPhone 2.0 Software Beta with Exchange ActiveSync
by Volker Weber
CUPERTINO, California—March 6, 2008—Apple® today previewed its iPhone™ 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, and announced the immediate availability of a beta release of the software to selected developers and enterprise customers. The iPhone 2.0 beta release includes both the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) as well as new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.
Maybe IBM wants to build a Traveler client.
Smoke On The Japanese Water
by Volker Weber
[Thanks, Hans-Werner]
Google.com and Google.de unreachable
by Volker Weber
Google.com and Google.de are currently unreachable from my network. Are you experiencing the same issues? (g00gle.de is unaffected.)
Update: Google is back after 45 minutes.
Migrated to Jumbotron
by Volker Weber
It took about four hours to transfer all programs, files and settings from Raven to Jumbotron, but now I am up and running with a spanking new iMac 24". What a gorgeous computer.
Microsoft Office 2008 is a huge disappointment
by Volker Weber
Take a look at this screenshot. Notice the memory footprint of Microsoft Word after loading a 100 kB document without any embedded pictures. It gives you an idea of how bad this software is. It loads a lot slower than the PowerPC code of Office 2004. We also experienced several crashes of Microsoft Word where it would just go away. Excel does not have many of the interesting features of the 2007 Windows version. And the list goes on.
[Thanks to Benno for the screenshot and the heads up.]
New ReadyNAS firmware 4.01 released
by Volker Weber
Netgear has released a new firmware for the ReadyNAS devices, adding features and fixing a number of bugs. One is particularly important to me:
Fixed occasional dropped connections with the NETGEAR EVA 8000 media player. The same fix also addresses slow wireless access and general network access slowness due to unrecovered TCP retransmits.
You may remember that I thought I had fixed the problem with a better switch, but I had not. I hope that it goes away now.
13 gigs and 128 megs of USB memory, 2 piggy banks and a chunk of chocolate
by Volker Weber
Back from CeBIT and one comment writer wanted to know what kind of schwag I brought home from Hannover. There is a stack of paper and CDs I need to go through. Most companies give out their press kits on USB memory keys by now, and generally do so with 1 gig sticks. Two exceptions: Samsung, generous as always, gave away a 4 gig stick and a CD, and GMX still had some 128 meg leftovers from last year. One piggy bank is stainless steel from Felix, the other one yellow. It was the spare one the Yello Strom press person had for Steve Ballmer.
The chocolate will become invisible soon. I am also keeping a TomTom backpack, but everything else I already gave away.
DNUG booth @ CeBIT
by Volker Weber
Quote of the day
by Volker Weber
Now I may use an iPhone
— Jürgen Gallmann, head of Avaya Germany, ex head of Microsoft Germany
Let the show begin
by Volker Weber
Der erste CeBIT-Tag is rum. Ein Dutzend Pressekonferenzen mit interessanten, langweiligen, kuriosen Beträgen. Etwa ein Unternehmen, das ein PND (Personal Navigation Device) für knapp 800 Euro verkaufen will, und als Zielgruppe nur die benennen kann, die "sich das leisten können". Steve Ballmer war hier und genoss große Medienaufmerksamkeit. Es war ein souveräner Auftritt.
Alles ist grün angestrichen, auch die Krawatte und das Einstecktuch von IBM-Deutschland-Scheffe Martin Jetter. Siemens nimmt gar für sich in Anspruch, die "Green IT" schon vor mehr als 20 Jahren mit einem Recycling Center bei Nixdorf in Paderborn erfunden zu haben. Hauptsächlich dreht sich die grüne IT aber vordergründig um CO2-Emissionen, sprich Verbrauch, sprich Stromrechnung. Und das ist gut so, weil Umweltschutz am schnellsten dort umgesetzt wird, wo es weh tut, im Portemonnaie. Die Industrie sieht Chancen, neue Kisten zu verkaufen, und das ist vielleicht auch gut so.
Heute geht's dann richtig los. Erst mal mit einem Streik der Gewerkschaften, der passgenau so geplant ist, dass das Standpersonal keine Ahnung hat, wie es rechtzeitig zum Arbeitsplatz kommt. Ab 8:30 sollen die Bahnen alle wieder rollen, und da steht das Personal schon stramm zum Chaka Chaka. Der Anfang des Streiks wurde so gelegt, dass die meisten Kollegen friedlich im Bett sind und man nur verhindern kann, dass die Bahnen sich für die zahlreichen Gäste auch in gutem Zustand präsentieren können. So macht die Belegschaft heute wieder Werbung für den Individualverkehr. Die Autohersteller werden das vielleicht auch gut so finden.
Mein erster Termin liegt zum zehn. Ich darf also hinter der Meute her schlendern. Auch heute wieder geht es mit einer leeren Tasche auf das Messegelände und mit einer vollen nach Hause. An Papier, Memory Sticks und CDs soll es keinen Mangel haben. Heute Abend, nach der Heise-Party und in der Auszeit fällt dann auch die Entscheidung, ob ich mir morgen noch einen Tag antue. Letztes Jahr habe ich mich dagegen entschieden, aber noch ist alles offen.
Welcome to IBM
by Volker Weber
An extra screen to get some work done while watching a movie
by Volker Weber
Steve Ballmer @ CeBIT
by Volker Weber
That's all for Notes @ IBM
by Volker Weber
Bei IBM auf dem Stand: dickes PowerVM Rack mit Netgear Switch
by Volker Weber
No, I did not take the plane
by Volker Weber
Wing touches the ground in crosswind approach to Hamburg last Saturday.
[Thanks, Hajo]
