agit8.org

Lately, my obsession with ActionScript, combined with my activities on Twitter and Flickr made me create an art project. Since it pulls data from both Flickr and Twitter, it is naturally suited to being posted online.

The work basically plays around with the idea of the association that we form between words and images. Putting words next to an image can suddenly shift the meaning of the image, since meaning in an image is quite subjective in a lot of ways. My idea was to create something that is constantly changing according to the data that it can gather. It is by no means some form of AI application. Quite the opposite. The application itself is really quite simple.

Hope you enjoy, here is the link http://www.agit8.org/the_association_of_meaning

Everybody has a favourite HTML editor on a platform, but does anyone have a favourite on ALL platforms? Well at least on the personal computing platform, that is. Well, I must tell you that my favourite HTML editor has been Aptana, which has served me well since I stopped using Dreamweaver exclusively. For me the major attraction of Aptana is its cross-platform nature. I can start work on my Windows laptop, then continue it on my MacBook and then finish it off on my tiny little Linux laptop the HP 2133 Mini note.

At the completion of my install of Jaunty Jackalope (Ubuntu 9.04) on my netbook, I found that Aptana just would not load. It would show the logo for a couple of seconds then it would just come up with an error. After scratching my head for a little while, I tried to look up an answer on Google and I found this thread on the Aptana user forum.

So basically, the issue is the version of xulrunner that Jaunty comes with. Currently it is version 1.9, while Aptana needs version 1.8. To fix this issue you need to download xulrunner 1.8 and unzip it to /usr/lib, so its path would be something like /usr/lib/xulrunner/. Then you create a script which looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/lib/xulrunner-1.8.1.3
if [ $LD_LIBRARY_PATH ]; then
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
else
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME
fi
export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME LD_LIBRARY_PATH
~/aptana/AptanaStudio -vm /usr/lib/jvm/ia32-java-6-sun/jre/bin/java

Make the script executable and then on your panel add an application shortcut to point to this script file, mine is called “aptanastart”. Oh, and you need to have Java installed, since Aptana requires it.

I have found that using Jackalope on the HP 2133 Mini-note to be quite a good experience so far. Compared to installing Intrepid (8.10), the installation process was a complete breeze. There was no need to install using weird methods and there was no need for installing any drivers from VIA to get the display working in the correct setup.

The only issue that can be noted is with the wifi connection manager. It seems after a few hibernates that the connection is stuck at the “getting ip address…” stage. This can be quickly fixed with a reboot. Other than this issue, I have not found any major ones to mention. Sound works flawlessly, Bluetooth works normally and the webcam works with Cheese (I have not tested it to work with Skype or anything like that).

Recently, I also purchased the 6-cell battery for the Mini-note, which makes the notebook (or netbook, if you like) much more usable. Since I use this notebook mainly for writing text, coding and web browsing, I have found that having that extra amount of battery capacity makes the notebook a little easier to use. No longer staring at the battery icon every few minutes to see if I will have time to finish what I am doing. It puts the usability of this little notebook on par with my MacBook and my Dell Inspiron laptop. Using it with little power management and with wifi on seems to give around 3-3.5 hrs of uninterrupted use. What joy!

Had this notebook shipped with Jackalope instead of Windows Vista Basic (standard on all Mini-notes shipped in Australia), it would have been a winner from the start. A 6-cell battery, even though it adds a little to the price should have been standard on all models.

Having worked on the Ubuntu 8.10 for a few months, when Jaunty Jackalope was released publicly it was a definite temptation to upgrade. Considering it was a real pain to install 8.10 last time around on my HP mini-note 2133 (Via C7 1.6Ghz, 1GB RAM with 120G HDD, originally was loaded with Windows Vista Basic), I was a little hesitant. However, since there were a few reports of success such as this article at bl1nk.com and the semester break is nearly upon me, I decided to bite the bullet.

Having upgraded the BIOS last time around, this time installation was quite sane and smooth. It was so smooth that it happened while I was watching TV without a single glitch. When install was done, I rebooted and voila! The screen worked OK, there was no need for funny hacks or even VIA’s driver to install and Wifi and Bluetooth worked out of the box! When I plugged in my USB modem from Three networks (Huawei E220), it was recognised straight away.

When I was done entering my wifi configuration, I was online surfing the net with a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04 on my HP mini-note 2133. I have not tested everything so far, but everything that I need from a basic notebook perspective was working quite well.

Having been stuck on Nokia’s Web (the default browser on the E71), I have always been on the lookout for an alternative to this often used piece of software on my phone. It’s not that Web is particularly painful to use, but sometimes it can be a little annoying. While it has some good features like the RSS reader and the ability to automatically resize web content (looks like it’s done with a custom CSS) and a few other nice touches, I often find it a little short in places where it counts.

One of the things that irks me about Web is when the screen goes blank after I click on a link. It first shows a text-only view of the web page, then it goes blank until the whole page and the majority of the graphics have loaded. This little habit of Web’s is quite annoying on its own. It might be fine if I am looking at the mobile version pages of the large internet sites like flickr and facebook and so on, but some sites do not have any mobile version and they regularly exceed 1MB in size, so on my E71, that means quite a few seconds (with a very good network connection) sitting idle waiting for something to load, staring at a blank screen. This is compounded by the fact that even when the same graphics are involved (eg the second page of a website with the exact same graphical elements), Web still makes you wait a few seconds (while it reads the local cache? How slow!). This is also true when you hit the back button to view a previously loaded page.

Having put up with Nokia’s little  browser for a year, I have decided that I have to find an alternative. I first looked at Opera Mobile, but it is only available for platforms such as Windows Mobile.  However, inspired by the good experience I had with Opera Mobile on my HTC phone (imate Jamin), I wanted to see if Opera made a browser for the Symbian platform. After looking around the Opera website, it turns out that they make Opera Mini, which is available for the Symbian phone, including my Nokia E71.

Download and installation was a snap and using the browser is such a joy. Pages load up so quickly and the zooming function works really well. Opera’s technology for the mobile browser has really created a nice user experience. Hitting the back button to view previous pages loads them in such a snappy fashion that I feel so compelled to write about it here. It seems that the use of server-side compression has really paid off for Opera in the mobile space.

So if you are on a symbian phone, make sure you give Opera Mini a try!

In my experimentation to build a question and answer system using adobe spry, I tried to create a view of the data set in which only one question is visible at at time. The code seems pretty straightforward, as the Adobe Spry 1.6.1 documentation outlines under the section dealing with Pagedview. However, when I tested it I get either “no data in the data set error (or something like that)” or a blank page. Try as I might, looking at all the different possibilities, looking at any possible oversight in my code, I could not figure out what was wrong.

The solution, however simple, took me about a day to find out. It seems that the SpryData.js that Dreamweaver CS3 shipped with is an older version, so while I was actually doing things correctly using the documentation of Spry 1.6.1 and the SpryPagedView.js from the 1.6.1 package, it was the SpryData.js that somehow broke it all. So if you are trying to create a paged view of a data set using Adobe Spry, make sure you update the SpryData.js to the one that comes with the 1.6.1 package from Adobe Labs. This way at least you will end up with more hair on your head.

Having owned a Canon DSLR for more than two years now, I have become somewhat aware of some of the limitations of the DSLR format. Even though it is a beautiful piece of equipment with nice results, I often find it a little cumbersome to carry.

Everyday, I find myself lugging a laptop, either my MacBook, Dell or the HP Mini-note 2133, depending on what I need to do for the day. As I am both working and studying, this could mean a whole day out of the home, so that means I have to carry everything that I need for the day from the morning to at least two or three different locations.

While it would definitely be nice to lug around a DSLR with some nice lenses and a flash gun, I sometimes feel that for my day to day photography needs, the DSLR is definitely an overkill. Carrying the whole kit with a laptop and its charger plus everything else that I need makes carrying the camera kit a burden in more sense than one.

With that idea in mind, I began searching for a compact camera that is capable of replacing the DSLR to a certain point, with a good quality sensor and some manual override functions. Since I have always had Canon photographic gear since the days of chemical photography, naturally I thought about getting a Canon G10 (I already own a Canon G6, but it is not in anyway pocket sized).

However,when I went to the camera shop I became interested in the Ricoh range of compact cameras. They looked good and seemed to be solidly constructed. I became interested in the odd-looking viewfinder attachment on the top of the GX200 and when I found out from the sales assistant that it was a tilt-adjustable viewfinder I was seriously smitten, but there was a slight problem.

One of the things that I have found to be quite annoying about cameras in general is the lens caps. The lens cap is the single item that I have to detach from the camera lens in order to take a picture. When I have to take a picture in a hurry, usually I end up not remembering where I have put it. There have also been occassion when the lens cap just fell off the front of the lens and these caps (if you buy the genuine Canon ones) cost about $25 each.

When I found out that you could replace the lens cap on the GX200 with a self-opening ones (it’s a lens cap made up of three leaves which get pushed open by the lens barrel when you switch the camera on), it was a deal nearly done. So I bought the camera with the self-opening lens cap and an extra attachment with an extra wide-angle lens.

After two days of use, I found that the GX200 is a solidly built camera with magnesium alloy body and a soft rubbery grip. It takes pictures in the RAW DNG format (licensed from Adobe?) and 12MP JPEG files. I found the battery to be worryingly small, but its ability to be replaced by two AAA sized batteries to be a stroke of genius (means that you can get emergency batteries from many different places). It is light and slim enough to be carried everyday, but I have found that the focusing is a little hesitant at times, which can slow down your picture-taking speed.

Overall, I have been very happy with this latest addition to my equipment bag.

I have been spending a lot of time on the computer these days. Virtually everything I do these days involve the use of the browser and an internet connection. What has caught my attention recently, though, is that many software has followed Google’s lead in releasing perpetual Betas. I use Aptana, Thunderbird and Firefox regularly and they all regularly ask to be updated so instead of getting something done in two minutes you have to spend ten or even fifteen minutes while the software you want to use is updating. I am not opposed to updates, but isn’t there a better way or time to update the software than at start up (usually in the ” I have two minutes to do this thing” mode)?

While I had some spare time today, I went to the Adobe Roadshow 2009 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney. It was quite interesting to see the demos of some of the applications from their new CS4 suite. A lot of work and thought seemed to have been put into applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Flash (that I sat through). Tighter integration and UI improvements seem to be the name of the game, but in Flash I noticed that they had included some of the tools that were more closely associated with other programs such as (mainly) AfterEffects. Looking forward to running some of the demos myself.

I have been somewhat troubled by the inability of my MacBook running 10.4.11 version of OS X to hibernate properly (suspend to disk). It all started when I upgraded the RAM from the standard 1GB to the 4GB it is now. After the upgrade, it could not reliably wake up from hibernation without a crash occuring after using some memory-intensive programs such as some Adobe software and Aptana and such, which would require a forced reboot. Having lived with this issue for sometime (started shutting down instead of hibernating), I decided to try to Google some answers.

After trawling through some forums and blog discussions, I found a Dashboard widget called Deep Sleep which is easy to use (one click) and seems to reliably put the notebook to sleep without wake up crashes (that’s what happens to me when waking up early morning). So if your macbook is a little insomniac like mine, then do give it a try.