March 2004
No comment
by Volker Weber
No nekid ladies this time
by Volker Weber
Snappy answer
by Volker Weber
A crowded United Airlines flight was canceled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS."
The agent replied, "I'm sorry sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these folks first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?"
Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please," she began her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the United agent, gritted his teeth and swore. "F*** you!"
Without flinching, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that, too."
Thanks, but no thanks
by Volker Weber
Duffbert comments on his spam messages:
"Kitten18 Sent You A Message" - she's cute, but I don't remember her...
"V1 agr a w1th n0 prescr1pt1on" - do people think I am going to trust my pharmaceuticals to someone who can't spell and who's keyboard apparently doesn't know the difference between a 1 and an L?
"Increase the size of your Johnson" - I still haven't found this Johnson dude so that I can forward his mail.
"Cheating wives" - unless it's mine, do I really care?
"Be... a Hero.. In The Bedroom" - that must be some anti-snoring device...
"Go... all Night.. In Bed" - I think I outgrew that by four or five.
"How I Lost 68 Pounds (super photo tips)" - is this about losing weight or taking pictures that make you look like you have?
"Get Bigger Breasts Now" - sorry... I'm trying to reduce the ones I already have.
"you are the man!" - glad that's finally been recognized.
"upgrade your manhood" - must be some self-esteem course.
"Money In Your Pocket?" - no, I'm just happy to see you...
CCC ruft zum Boykott der Musikindustrie auf
by Volker Weber
Military humor
by Volker Weber
A British General had sent some of his men off to fight for their country in the Falkland Island Crisis. Upon returning to England from the South American island, three soldiers that had distinguished themselves in battle were summoned to the General's office. "Since we weren't actually at war," the General began, "I can't give out any medals. We did, however, want to let each of you know your efforts were appreciated."
"What we've decided to do is to let each of you choose two points on your body. You will be given 2 pounds sterling for each inch of distance between those parts. We'll start on the left, boys, so what'll it be?"
Soldier 1: "The tip of me head to me toes, sahr!"
General: "Very good son, that's 70 inches which comes to 140 pounds"
Soldier 2: "The tip of the finger on one outstretched hand to the tip of the other, sir!"
General: "Even better son, that's 72 inches which comes to 144 pounds"
Soldier 3: "The tip of me dick to me balls, sahr!"
General: "That's a strange request, but drop your trousers, son!" As the general begins the measurement: "My god, son, where are your balls?"
Soldier 3: "Falkland Island, sahr!"
Spring is in the air
by Volker Weber
Swapped all four wheels on the vehicle today. Snow tires are in storage, regular tires are balanced. Today was the first day with the top down. The weather outlook is great for tomorrow and there is some light travel ahead to Musikmesse Frankfurt.
Gisele
by Volker Weber
Some really odd pictures of Gisele Bundchen by top fashion and art photographer David LaChapelle
The Lemmings Trail wakes up
by Volker Weber
After we have sorted out a few things, the Lemmings Trail continues publication.
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
by Volker Weber
My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."
Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.
During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.
This Onion piece is three years old. Somehow it looks quite recent, doesn't it?
Stoppt die Musikpiraten
by Volker Weber
Wie man der heutigen Presse entnehmen kann, will die Musikindustrie also auch bei uns beginnen, Nutzer von Tauschbörsen zu verklagen.
Dabei ist mir ganz spontan eingefallen, dass ich eigentlich gar keine neue Musik brauche. Ich habe reichlich davon. Hunderte von CDs, Tausende von Titeln. Das reicht die nächsten Jahre. Darum werde ich:
1. Keine Medien (CDs, DVDs) kaufen.
2. Keine geschenkten Medien annehmen (oder ...)
3. Alle retournierbaren Bestände dem Handel zurückgeben.
4. Vertriebsaktivitäten wie Sonderangebote ignorieren.
5. Promotions in Fernsehsendungen, Werbung etc. ignorieren.
Und natürlich ganz wichtig: Keine Tauschbörsen benutzen. Man könnte am Ende gar Lust auf neue Musik bekommen.
Nicht zuletzt werde ich versuchen, drei Freunde davon zu überzeugen, sich erstens genauso zu verhalten und zweitens ihrerseits auch wieder drei Freunde zu überzeugen. Mal gespannt, wann jemand merkt, dass zu einem Geschäft zwei Parteien gehören.
Dosenfleisch, chinesisch
by Volker Weber
E-Mail-Spam, Kommentar-Spam, Spambots, das alles kommt auch bei mir nun vornehmlich aus China.
Jim beschreibt eine ultimative Massnahme:
If there's one country on this planet that deserves to rot in blacklists until the end of time, its this nest of spam-harboring clueless dolts. If all else fails, send this file to your favorite Chinese sysadmin, and let the Red Army take it from there.
Effektiv? Vielleicht. Aber ich denke, die Chinesen stellen das auch so ab. "Guten Tag, ich habe hier eine vorläufige Erschiessung gegen Sie."
Könnte so passiert sein
by Volker Weber
30. Dezember, müde und abgespannt von der Arbeit fuhr ich in die Wohnung meiner Freundin. Dort war es aufgeräumt, im Kühlschrank war etwas zu essen.
Nachdem ich mir den Magen vollgeschlagen hatte, machte ich es mir auf dem Sofa bequem. In diesem Moment klingelt es an der Wohnungstür. Ich gehe zur Tür und blicke durch den Spion. Dort stand ein etwa 40 Jahre alter, gut gekleideter Mann. Kaum hatte ich die Tür geöffnet, fing der gute Mann auch schon an: GEZ-Scherge: "Guten Tag, mein Name ist Lars Lästig, ich bin ihr Rundfunkgebührenbeauftragter ... blabla ... blabla"
GEZ? Wirklich ein GEZ-Scherge? Oh je...
GEZ-Scherge: "... blabla ... sind sie FRAU ANJA K.?"
Hat der mich wirklich gerade gefragt ob ich Frau Anja K. (meine Freundin) bin? Das verschlug selbst mir die Sprache. Stille machte sich im Hausflur breit. Plötzlich traf mich der Hammer der Erkenntnis: Es gibt ein Leben nach dem Gehirntod, der Beweis steht vor dir.
Bewerbungsspam
by Volker Weber
Preisfrage: Welcher Nationalität ist ein Absender, der seinem Namen ein Dipl.-Ing. voranstellt? Auflösung.
Sicher nicht mit der Nationalität verknüpft, sondern eher mit der Profession erklärbar scheint mir die Ungeschicklichkeit, eine unspezifische Initiativbewerbung an "sehr geehrte Damen, sehr geehrte Herren" zu schicken. Mal abgesehen davon, dass Damen verehrt und nicht geehrt werden, ist doch das neue Unternehmen sehr wenig daran interessiert, was sich der Bewerber so alles wünscht...
Dabei denke ich vornehmlich an eine anspruchsvolle Aufgabe als Softwareingenieur bzw. Projektingenieur mit Führungsverantwortung oder aber auch im Consultingbereich. Als angemessenen Ausgangspunkt für eine solche Tätigkeit betrachte ich meine fachlichen und persönlichen Fähigkeiten.
Setzen. Sechs.
Google redesigns result page
by Volker Weber
Google has a new design for the result page. The logo is smaller and moves off to the left side. Thus you can see more results before having to scroll down. Good move.
New IBM Redbooks and Drafts
by Volker Weber
Lotus Workplace Web Content Management
Lotus Workplace Web Content Management (LWWCM) is a key component of the Lotus Workplace solution which helps you manage your corporate content from initial creation to final Web presentation. This content can exist in different forms and formats within your organization. With Lotus Workplace Web Content Management, your information can be freely distributed and instantly updated across all e-business applications, including Internet, intranet, and extranet Web sites.
Lotus Workplace Web Content Management provides collaborative Web content design, approval, caching and staging services. This publishing service is available for Lotus Domino, WebSphere Portal and the IBM DB2 Content Manager. For customers using Domino, Lotus Workplace Web Content provides a compelling way to extend not only Domino applications and content to the Web but also to J2EE environments.These capabilities enable customers to use content integrated not only across key IBM middleware but also across business processes.
Within this redbook, we describe key concepts of content management while also providing an in depth look at the architecture and implementation for both the Domino edition and J2EE edition of Lotus Workplace Web Content Management. We begin by discussing best practices for deployment planning and describe how to install and configure the Lotus Workplace Web Content Management system, Next we discuss the importance of information architecture and site design, using a specific reference example site to illustrate concepts and demonstrate how to create and publish web content using Lotus Workplace Web Content Management . Finally, we address issues of integration within a portal environment, highlighting integration methods, best practices and considerations for presentation and navigation within a portal.
Lotus Workplace 1.1 Deployment Guide
Lotus Workplace consists of flexible, portal-ready collaboration products that you can customize to fit your specific needs. These products provide features similar to those found in the core IBM/Lotus Software portfolio, including Lotus Instant Messaging (Sametime) and Lotus Team Workplace (QuickPlace), but are built on different underlying technology.
Lotus Workplace products include the following:
- IBM Lotus Workplace Messaging
- IBM Lotus Workplace Team Collaboration
- IBM Lotus Workplace Collaborative Learning
- IBM Lotus Workplace Web Content Management
The objective of this redbook is to provide an installation and deployment guide for the overall Lotus Workplace “platform” that is underneath each of these Workplace products. We provide detailed installation procedures for installing the Lotus Workplace products on both a Microsoft Windows 2000 server, as well as a Linux server running Suse Enterprise Server 8.1. Finally, we discuss important deployment and planning scenarios, as well as discussing tips, best practices and techniques for troubleshooting errors during installation.
Lotus Workplace Messaging Administration Guide
This Redpaper provides an overview of the IBM Lotus Workplace Messaging system, its components, and common administration/configuration tasks. It is not intended to be a complete administrative handbook, but rather an introduction to the Workplace Messaging product from an administrators viewpoint. While this paper was written based on version 1.1, its general contents and best practices will, for the most part, be applicable to future versions of this product as well.
Somebody is going to be happy :-)
by Volker Weber
Back to RedHat
by Volker Weber
I have removed SUSE Linux once again from all my systems. This time I tried really hard to keep it, but somehow we just don't seem to get along. The nice people at SUSE had sent me a Professional Version, but I just don't seem to like it. Maybe if I tried to run it with Gnome instead of KDE. But what is the point running SUSE if you don't want KDE?
While I was busy downloading Fedora Core 1, I removed the SUSE partitions from the notebook and installed my trusted RedHat 9, using an SMC wireless card from the outset. Joining my network (SSID and WEP) was easier than expected.
Boy, do I like the clean BlueCurve interface with its nice font rendering right out of the box. It was the general look&feel that had sold me on RedHat when I tried version 8. The menus are clean and it does not list the same functions all over the place. Maintaining the panel is quite easy and I was able to replace Mozilla with Firefox easily.
I had planned to do an upgrade install to Fedora, but decided to do a clean install which did not work very well. After the initial 3-CD install I was unable to boot into the operating system. It hang right after the PCMCIA subsystem and I did not feel like cracking the problem.
Instead I reverted back to RedHat 9 and upgraded from there to Fedora. That actually takes more than twice as long for the upgrade alone. If your hardware needs an hour for a full RedHat or Fedora install, you can count on two to three hours for the upgrade. Since I was busy with other things I just let it work in the background and checked for a CD change request once in a while.
Without any difficulties Fedora installed and rebootet into my wireless LAN. I updated the up2date utility manually because there was a newer version available. The utility is now busy patching Fedora to the latest level.
Find somebody else's screenshots here. Happy camper. :-)
Not very PC ...
by Volker Weber
... these mousepads.
Need to send up to 1 gig by mail?
by Volker Weber
The YouSendIt team got together to tackle a common problem: secure online transmission of large documents without the use of clumsy client software, mail servers with limited storage space, and sharing passwords.
Eclipse 3.0 Milestone 8 is out
by Volker Weber
New user interface, lots of new features.
Feeling sexy tonight?
by Volker Weber
At least this bunny does. :-)
Surprise, surprise
by Volker Weber
Opus Software updates Goldberg to 2.4
by Volker Weber
Goldberg is a freeware image and movie viewer with image editing capabilities and support for applying QuickTime and other effects.
A new feature allows you to preset marquee selects to a fixed size or to a fixed ratio.
Quicksilver
by Volker Weber
If you are using a Mac you want Quicksilver, unless you already bought Launchbar. Dan Dickinson explains why:
... if you give me 10 minutes and you follow my simple directions, you can go from merely using Mac OS X to owning it.
This sounds like bullshit posturing, I know. I wouldn't have believed it myself had I not tried this app and had my jaw drop repeatedly. So standby to win.
That definitely is a keeper.
[via Michael Preidel]
Paris by night
by Volker Weber
You have to see this incredible panoramic view of Paris by night.
The Browser Museum
by Volker Weber
evolt.org has a comprehensive library of web browsers. This might come in handy if you want to test against a downlevel version.
Sharepoint Event in Frankfurt
by Volker Weber
Here is some good presentations from the SharePoint Products and Technologies Developer Tour I mentioned the other day.
Corporate black holes
by Volker Weber
The Register reports:
Too many company websites are "financial black holes" that gobble up stacks of cash, but deliver few benefits.
More than half of UK and European companies have no idea what return on investment (ROI) they make from their websites, according to a survey commissioned by Comrange and carried out by the European Centre for Customer Strategies (ECCS).
The problem is so bad that some companies are ploughing more than ¢1m a year on Web running costs yet haven't a clue whether they're getting value for money.
I am not surprised, because without an exception all of the firms that I know only look at the cost of their internet presence but not at the benefits. So they clearly have no idea what their return on investment is. Most of them seem to be obsessed with driving the cost down, even if that means they also bring the benefits down. Which will make their ROI even worse.
You need a clear strategy defining the goals you want to achieve with your internet presence and you need a way to measure whether you have achieved that goal.
The REXX conference is down the street
by Esther Schindler
Well, at this distance from Arizona, Sindelfingen seems like down the street from Frankfurt.
The 2004 International Rexx Symposium will celebrate the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Rexx Language in the beautiful Swabian region of Germany on 2 May - 6 May, 2004. In recognition of this significant milestone, the fifteenth annual Rexx Symposium has been extended to four days for the first time.
Bill and I wrote a book on REXX, which was later updated and is still available (and still selling, too). So I tend to pay attention to the language, even now.
More >
Haben Sie was gegen Offenbacher?
by Volker Weber
Kommt ein Offenbacher in ein Frankfurter Waffengeschäft und fragt den Verkäufer hinter dem Tresen: "Saachese, habbe se Gewehre?"
Der Mann antwortet: "Nein!".
Fragt der Offenbacher zum zweiten Mal: "Na abber Revolver, habbe se doch?"
Daraufhin der Mann hinter dem Tresen: "Nein!"
Der Offenbacher versucht's noch ein drittes mal: "Na abber, Munition tun se doch verkaafe?"
Und erneut antwortet der Verkäufer: "Nein!"
Darauf verlässt der Offenbacher das Waffengeschäft und überlegt sich draußen, dass der Mann vielleicht Vorurteile gegenüber Offenbachern haben könnte. Er beschließt, ihn darauf anzusprechen. Wieder im Geschäft fragt er den Mann hinter dem Tresen: "Horsch e mol, hast'e villeischt was gesche Offebacher?"
Darauf antwortet der Verkäufer: "Aber natürlich! Gewehre, Revolver und jede Menge Munition!"
[Danke der unermüdlichen Tanja]
Sneak preview
by Volker Weber
I am currently working on a new site powered by Textpattern. The design is done, but I am still fighting with the software. Things that are very easy in MovableType, take a hard time figuring out in Textpattern. But the new software looks promising and I will bite the bullet.
iChat AV 2.1 released
by Volker Weber
Wet T-Shirt
by Volker Weber
I am pretty sure, you don't want to see this. ;-)
Oops, my bad
by Volker Weber
497.000.000 EUR (or US$ 612.000.000)
by Volker Weber
Microsoft being fined by the European Community
Downsizing für senfgelbe Jackets
by Volker Weber
Wer solche Selbstbeschreibungen verfasst, muss ein guter Autor sein:
Die 33-jährige Autorin sieht sich als Expertin im Verpassen von Trends, war 1996 der Meinung, es sei "jetzt zu spät, um noch Java zu lernen", hat nie eine einzige New-Economy-Aktie besessen und wäre beinahe mal von Pixelpark angestellt worden. Unlängst hat sie, knapp 20 Jahre nach der Lektüre von "Programmierung des 6502", herausgefunden, dass man Funktionen auch aus anderen Funktionen heraus aufrufen kann.
Another trunk monkey
by Volker Weber
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Developer Tour
by Volker Weber
This week in Frankfurt:
The main focus of this event is to help developers and architects understand and extend Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. The event agenda will incorporate deployment strategies, developer extensibility and hands-on labs sessions throughout each day.
IBM erhöht die Preise zum 1. April
by Volker Weber
Nächste Woche erhöht IBM die Preise. Wer noch Lizenzen kaufen muss, sollte das vor dem 1.4. tun. Beispiel: Notes Collaboration Client wird erhöht von 127,00 Euro auf 142,00 Euro.
Maschine wieder gesund
by Volker Weber
Bei der Rückkehr von meiner langen Rundreise (inkl. CeBIT) habe ich hundert Meter vor dem Ziel einen gehörigen Schreck bekommen: Auf dem Instrumententräger blinkt Engine Check ein paar Mal auf und bleibt dann an. Der Motor läuft anscheinend rund, aber irgendwas stimmt nicht. Keine guten Aussichten, wenn der Wagen schon ein paar Jahre auf dem Buckel hat und der Preis einer Ersatzmaschine fünfstellig ist.
Heute morgen die Werkstatt angerufen und gefragt, ob ich damit noch fahren darf. Ich darf, da die Lampe leuchtet, aber nicht mehr blinkt. Also nichts wie hin, Diagnosecomputer angeschlossen und Fehlerspeicher ausgelesen:
Aussetzer Zylinder 6, katalysatorschädigend
Gut, dass der Speicher nur einen einzigen Aussetzer sieht. Auto hochgehoben, Zylinder geprüft und eine defekte Zündspule gefunden. Auch die nächste sieht nicht gut aus, also gleich mitgetauscht.
Nun schaut er wieder vergnügter. Der Wagen. Und der vowe auch. :-)
Would you stop and help?
by Volker Weber
Netgear WGT634
by Volker Weber
This was one of discoveries at CeBIT: The Netgear Wireless Media Router. What's media in a router? Simple: The router has a Samba server and a USB 2.0 port. So you can hook up an external disk drive via the USB port. Voila, instant file server. External disk drives sell for 1 Euro per gigabyte, so your file server is not only quiet but also cheap. Put your MP3s on the drive and stream them wirelessly to your stereo without firing up a PC. My recommendation for the drive: Look for a 5400 rpm Samsung. You won't be able to hear it at all.
This used to be an Audi A3
by Volker Weber
This is the result after hitting a tree. Look through the pictures and you will find a speedometer which still reads out the impact speed. Also note that no airbags fired.
Quick - what's wrong ...
by Volker Weber
on this page? Hint: At least one of 4150 is confused.
[via presurfer]
Lord of the Rings
by Volker Weber
Only slightly condensed.
Airport Security
by Ken Porter
Add this to the list of things you shouldn't pack when you fly:
Airport security agents at Boston's Logan International Airport stopped a biologist after discovering the severed head of a harbor seal in his luggage.
On heavy rotation
by Volker Weber
Bar Lounge Classics - Weekend Edition, courtesy of Ingenere Schwerber. ;-)
CeBIT impressions
by Volker Weber
"Did you see anything interesting?" - that's the common question you get when you meet someone at CeBIT. There is actually so much to see that you get a different answer depending whom you ask. Here are a few of my impressions:
- The first two days were more busy than last year. Beware however that last year CeBIT kicked of Wednesday and this year on Thursday. You won't see as many people Thu/Fri 2004 as Wed/Thu/Fri 2003.
- Sat/Sun will be busy as the free tickets now are valid Sat/Sun/Wed. Beware of packrats with big bags. :-)
- The busiest halls were 2 (SONY, JVC ...) and 26 (Nokia and other mobile phones).
- The CRT monitor is dead. The CRT TV might follow soon. Hold on to your money though. The prices will come down hard.
- IBM finally has a good on demand story: Bregenzer Festspiele scales from 60 people in the winter to 1600 in the summer. Clever architecture around clustered servers with a virtual server layer. Watch this space.
- Lots of interesting navigation systems. Magellan has a compelling handheld with a 20 gig disk.
- I like the Treo 600. Top spot on my wishlist. Palm people were surprised to learn I would dump the T3 for a Treo in a split second. Downsides: 160x160 screen, no BT.
- Markus Bregler has left palmOne on zero days notice less than two weeks ago. He is the #1 man in the PDA business in this country. Worked for Apple (Newton), USRobitics (Pilot), then 3com, Palm and finally palmOne. No information on his plans available. Watch this space.
- Gerald has a page on Heise Online, that looks like a blog, walks like blog, quacks like a blogs, so chances are it is a blog - although Gerald insists it isn't.
- Worst press conference award goes to Nokia for wasting 20 minutes on three models (m/f/f) parading their one and only new phone on stage.
- Evil scheduling award once again goes to Microsoft for scheduling yet another press conference for the same time slot that the IBM Software Group announced earlier. Apparently there were no real news in any of their press conferences though.
- vowe's best party award goes to palmOne.
Funny cats
by Volker Weber
iMac confused after power outage
by Volker Weber
Ute tells me we had a power outage. While the servers are backed up by a UPS, Lucy was shut down. Ute says, she cannot start the machine since it is looking for a wireless keyboard. I assume it cannot find the USB attached keyboard. Suggestions anyone?
Pingu #3
by Volker Weber
The Yeti does it again. Lucky first throw: 415.11 :-)
Lots of WLANs at CeBIT
by Volker Weber
CeBIT has plenty of WLANs. You can buy online time from T-Mobile for an arm and a leg. WeRoam has a free trial (1 hour = 10 Euros) for registered journalists (see them at the press center workroom). Or you just hop on one of the open WLANs available. When you do that, arm your firewall. :-)
vowe @ CeBIT
by Volker Weber
I am currently in Hannover working from the c't office. While I will spend most of the daytime in press conferences and meetings on a tight schedule, you will be able to find me in the evening at Symantec (Wed), VNU & Palm (Thu), and Heise (Fri).
Yes, I know, the picture does not look very cheerful, but I am currently not in a cheerful mood.
Das kann nicht nur IBM
by Volker Weber
Die x-dot GmbH präsentiert im Linux-Park, Halle 6 Stand 455, die neue Version 3.0 der browserbasierten Kommunikations- und Groupwarelösung x-manage office. Die Software basiert auf einem von x-dot entwickelten Framework mit einer relationalen Datenbank, einer J2EE-Applikation und austauschbaren Display-Schichten.
Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update
by Volker Weber
Updated Snoopy to Mac OS X 10.3.3 today. The prebinding (Optimizing ....) took extremely long, but I have not had any issues so far. I can't say whether Safari or Mail are faster as many people claim since I am not in my own office, but at least there are no difficulties after the upgrade. I am looking forward to test the networking enhancements when I return to my office.
Fast delivery
by Volker Weber
Fun from hell
by Volker Weber
Want to drive your co-workers nuts?
Wireless?
by Volker Weber
Today's toon by Randy Glasbergen:
Dad said his new computer is wireless, but I found lots of wires inside it.
:-)
Lyssas Lounge ist umgezogen
by Volker Weber
Katharina Borchert, besser bekannt als Lyssa, hat nun eine eigene Domain. Und da gibt es nicht nur das Weblog, einen Link auf Stadtgeflysster, Platz für Kurzgeschichten, einen T-Shirt-Shop, ein Gästebuch, sondern endlich auch einen RSS-Feed. Danke, Lyssa.
Bypass Compulsory Web Registration
by Volker Weber
BugMeNot.com was created as a mechanism to quickly bypass the login of web sites that require compulsory registration and/or the collection of personal/demographic information (such as the New York Times).
Doing more than 15 launches voids the car's warranty ...
by Volker Weber
There's a cheat code in the software running the BMW M3's sequential manual gearbox (SMG): Press the right buttons in the right order and the car will launch you from a stop after revving the engine to 5,000 rpm.
I wish there was a cheat code to switch on the driver's CPU.
Documenting the Madrid attacks
by Volker Weber
Wikipedia is currently the best place to find information on the Madrid attacks.
Fearless
by Volker Weber
[via mail from Diddi, source unknown]
Drum machine
by Volker Weber
Pump up the volume.
[Thanks, Karen]
WLAN-Brücke: Funktioniert!
by Volker Weber
Das WLAN Experiment ist geglückt. Links im Bild hat sich eine Netgear WGE101 Wireless Ethernet Bridge mit meinem Linksys WRT54G Access Router (vowe) verbunden. An der Bridge ist mein alter 3Com Access Point 2000 angeschlossen, der ein zweites WLAN (vowemobile) aufbaut. Da beide Geräte auf unterschiedlichen Frequenzen funken, kann ich das Netz beträchtlich erweitern, ohne zugleich Bandbreite zu verlieren und ohne beide Access Points an den gleichen Ethernet Backbone hängen zu müssen:
Derzeit befinden sich beide WLANs im gleichen Gebäude. Deshalb kann Snoopy beide Access Points sehen. Im nächsten Schritt wird die Netgear Bridge zwei Gebäude miteinander verbinden. Besser als der 3Com AP wäre natürlich ein neueres Gerät, das auch 802.11g beherrscht, aber für den Einsatzzweck reicht 802.11b allemal.
Update: Habe jetzt einen Test gegen einen T-Sinus 130 DSL gefahren und dabei zunächst keinen Erfolg gehabt. Nach einen Upgrade der Firmware von 3.0 auf den Stand 3.1RC1 funktionierte es dann. Kein Wunder:
Modifications: Improves compatibility when used together with certain wireless routers and access points
Es ist übrigens eine ganz schlechte Idee, die Bridge in dieser Konfiguration mit ANY verbinden zu lassen. Das ist im Zweifelsfall der "hinten" angeschlossene Access Point, der ja einen Mordspegel liefert. Das gibt dann eine schicke Rückkoppelung mit heftigem Geflackere der LEDs. :-)
CeBIT 2004 Guide for your PDA
by Volker Weber
Palm b/w: deutsch/english
Palm color: deutsch/english
PocketPC StrongARM/X-Scale: deutsch/english
PocketPC MIPS: deutsch/english
PocketPC SH3: deutsch/english
Nokia Series 60: download
Nokia Series 80: download
Symbian UIQ: download
I think I need one of these
by Esther Schindler
Surely, I'd be possible if I wore one of these outfits to the next tech conference.
Vorteile des Internet Explorers
by Volker Weber
Michael Pietroforte, IT Leiter an der Universität München, erklärt, warum er den Internet Explorer für besonders geeignet in großen Netzwerken hält. Ich war neulich über eine Aussage auf seinem Weblog gestolpert:
In großen Netzen ist meines Wissens, der IE immer noch nicht zu schlagen.
Und hatte darauf hin gefragt:
Na, jetzt werde ich aber neugierig. In welcher Weise ist der IE bei _irgendetwas_ besser als seine Konkurrenten, und wie wirken sich "große Netze" dabei aus?
Hier sind seine fünf Vorteile des Internet Explorer.
This is not what you think it is
by Volker Weber
This is a waterproof radio for your shower with soap dispenser. Now take a look.
[Thanks, Diddi]
WLAN Experiment
by Volker Weber
Ich plane ein kleines Experiment. Dazu brauche ich ein Gerät, das ich bisher noch nie verwendet habe: Eine Wireless-Ethernet Bridge, im Bild links unten abgebildet. Man benutzt eine solche Bridge, um Geräte ohne WLAN-Komponenten über Ethernet an das WLAN anzuschliessen.
Anders als oben dargestellt, ersetze ich den Switch rechts unten durch einen Wireless Access Point. Die Bridge operiert am äußersten Rand der Reichweite des Wireless Routers, der in einem anderen Gebäude steht. Der an der Bridge angeschlossene Access Point deckt dann sein eigenes Gebäude mit einem WLAN ab.
Ich bin gespannt wie ein Flitzebogen, ob das so klappt. :-)
Liest man sich das Datenblatt dieses Access Points durch, dann findet man: "Unterstützt Roaming und Bridging Funktionalität". Für Roaming muss der AP an einem Ethernet Backbone angeschlossen sein, was bei mir nicht geht. Beim Bridging muss ich erst mal erforschen, ob er alternativ als Bridge arbeitet, oder am Ende gar als Repeater, der somit Bridge und Access Point in meinem Experiment in einem Gerät vereinigt. Dier hier könnte das.
Update: Das Experiment funktioniert.
Anal-yst
by Volker Weber
Rob "Apple is dead" Enderle (a.k.a. Dvorak NextGen), who likes Ferrari notebooks ("When I walk into a room with this baby, even the Apple users join the throngs of admirers."), talks out the wrong end again: SCO Should Win.
If you ever wonder where some fellow journalists acquire their cluelessness, look no further.
Lotus Notes prank
by Volker Weber
Try this NOTES.INI parameter on an unsuspecting co-worker:
NoMouse=1
Admins know how to push this down to every single Notes client in their realm. Developers know how to set this via email. :-)
Hint: Alt-F4 will close the client.
[via madicon]
Racy ads
by Volker Weber
AXE is famous for their racy ads. In particular the new Touch campaign is going very well. My favorite is still the New Showergels ad.
Naming conventions
by Volker Weber
I like Uncle Bobs Naming Conventions
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols on BSD and Mac OS X
by Volker Weber
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes about BSD in Linux Magazine (yeah, December 2003 is a bit old). He has nothing but praise for Mac OS X:
For some reason, many Unix/Linux/BSD users seem slightly ashamed of MacOS X. Perhaps it's because Apple built a great desktop Unix by going their own way. ... The very best Linux interfaces pale besides the glory that is Aqua, the MacOS X user interface.
MacOS X, of course, is the leading Unix desktop operating system of all time. It may not look like a Unix variant to you, but underneath its glossy exterior lays an operating system based on the 4.4BSD-Lite2 Open Source distribution and the Open Software Foundation Mach 3.
His conclusion:
When it comes to security, the open source BSDs, especially OpenBSD, are the best in the business. When it comes to the desktop, MacOS X is the créme de le créme. For other purposes, though, Linux remains the open source operating system that most people still choose first.
I would have loved to see the comments to that article.
Quote of the day
by Volker Weber
I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it. So I said "Implants?" She hit me.
[via wflamme]
Panel discussion at Admin & Developer 2004 in Munich
by Volker Weber
Bob Balaban, Felix Binsack, Ed Brill, myself, Thomas Gumz, Bill Hume, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Nastansky
[Photo: Andrea Schalk, H&T Verlag]
Tri-band phones are not good enough anymore
by Volker Weber
Ed Brill was recently offered a T226 phone as a replacement for his T68i. Ed immediately noticed that the new phone was less capable than his own one: No BT and only 850/1900 instead of 900/1800/1900 bands. What can be easily overlooked is the fact that the new phones supports the 850 band which the old one does not. It now turns out that this is the reason, AT&T customers are offered a replacement for their existing phones. Engadget explains that GSM providers in the US start using this band. Customers who have phones without this capability will suffer from the poor coverage that Ed had noticed during Lotusphere.
While AT&T customers are up in arms because they are being offered replacements well below the standards of their current phones this has also consequences for international traveller. If you are using a standard tri-band phone you are also missing half of the US network. While the world is using 900 and 1800 MHz GSM networks the US carriers are now expanding from one incompatible band (1900) to two (850 and 1900). Your tri-band phone is no longer good enough. You now need a quad-band phone.
Well done. Sheesh.
Who needs enemies
by Volker Weber
Safe For Work?
by Volker Weber
I saw this a couple of weeks ago but never got around to post it. Now, before it gets off the radar ... Safe For Work Pr0n
Ich war noch nie in Japan ...
by Volker Weber
... und ich will auch gar nicht hin, seit ich weiss, wie Japan funktioniert. :-)
[via Urs]
17" Schleppables
by Volker Weber
Weight: 15.7 lb. (7.1kg)
Battery life: up to 1.0 hour
Weight: 6.9 pounds (3.1 kg)
Battery life: up to 4.5 hours
Good battery performance
by Volker Weber
This reading is again a bit optimistic. Another two hours and fiftytwo minutes on a 44% charge. But last Monday I was able to check my email throughout the day, keep on top of news, and check a few websites. In the evening I forgot to plug Snoopy in while it was driving a beamer during a panel discussion for more than 90 minutes. I never noticed this SNAFU until I packed up after the event.
I saw a few other guys who shall remain unnamed run out of power on their Thinkpads pretty quickly. One of them lost his machine during a presentation. He could still see the LCD screen but could not drive the external interface to the beamer - a sure sign of not enough power in the machine.
Apple, I am very pleased with this kind of performance. Still, if anybody wants to send me a second battery pack for Snoopy, I won't be returning it. :-)
Shake up the world
by Volker Weber
"The Greatest" is severely handicapped by Parkinson's disease. He shook up my world and he is still leading a meaningful life. Wishing you a share of his strength.
Translate to and from German
by Volker Weber
Dilo is an application to lookup german or english words on dict.leo.org to get a translation in the other language, respectively. If you installed it to your applications directory, you can call it as a service (after your next login) with command-shift-f.
Cannibals Descend on MP3 Players
by Ken Porter
It appears small MP3 players like the iPod mini and the MuVo2 have an unexpected use. Some people are buying them and busting them open for the hard drive.
get the microdrive for more than 50 percent off, and a free pair of headphones.
However, caution is advised!
Menu Calendar
by Volker Weber
If you have a Mac, you want Menu Calendar.
Zitat des Tages
by Volker Weber
Holger Dambeck in Spiegel Online:
das 3er-Modell - beliebt bei Männern mit eher kleinerem Geldbeutel und Hang zu Größerem
Einfältig
by Volker Weber
Jungejunge, wenn ich ab und zu mal Robert Scoble lese, dann fällt mir nur ein Wort ein: Einfältig. Das hat nicht mal Microsoft verdient.
Goodbye gizmodo.net, hello engadget.com
by Volker Weber
Peter Rojas has stopped working for Nick Denton's gizmodo.net and has started his own engadget.com. Update your blogrolls.
Driving the home stereo from Lucy
by Volker Weber
The Edirol UA-1X is a simple USB audio interface designed to offer component-quality audio signals to & from your computer. The UA-1X offers superior sound quality input & output from the computer through RCA jacks. The UA-1X also has an S/PDIF optical output to send digital signals to digital destinations & a headphone jack for direct monitoring of your computer audio & input signals.
While I am driving a pair of Canton speakers and a Yamaha subwoofer from Lucy I wanted a better output to go to the main stereo for a long time. The Edirol device was a no-brainer. Hook it up to the USB hub and the stereo, select the device as the output for audio and you are done. No drivers to install. It just works.
Should I ever need another pair of main outputs for Snoopy in the not so unlikely event of a party, I am going to use the Edirol and this software.
[Thanks to Ed for bringing it along]
Groove announces 3.0 beta program
by Volker Weber
Groove Networks is gearing up for version 3.0 of their product. Ray has recently posted to his dead dormant blog. Now you can sign up for the beta program. Any takers?
How to destroy your own market
by Volker Weber
Joi Ito is not the first person I come across who got burned by using GPRS. While the usual damage was in the hundreds of Dollars, he was hit harder:
Land in a random city, flip open my PowerBook, click, "connect" and I was immediately online via bluetooth, gprs and my T-Mobile roaming. Internet everywhere. It was sooo cool... until I got my bill. $3500 for one month of mobile abandon. At $3500 / month, I would say that it works, "technically" but is totally unacceptable socially and economically.
If this happens to you once, or you have a friend who has had this experience, you have learned never to use your phone for anything but voice calls or SMS. While T-Mobile has a nice $20 "all you can eat" plan in the US they charge their market to death here. Unless they come up with an unmetered plan here, I don't see anybody use their service.
T-Mobile Hotspots kostenlos bis 14.3.2004
by Volker Weber
Habe gestern erfreut festgestellt, dass T-Mobile Hotspots derzeit kostenlos zu nutzen sind. Vielleicht will Telekom mal rausfinden, wieviele Leute diesen Service nutzen, wenn er nicht dermaßen überteuert ist wie sonst.
