ApplicationCatalog - Maemo Wiki - Applications for the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
Archive January 2006
Springer and the Ministerial Permit
Springer was apparently against ministerial approval - but that was not about them:
"There is no room for the application of ministerial approval in the press market for constitutional reasons," it says in the paper. At that time, it was about the acquisition of the Berliner Verlag by the Holtzbrinck Group.
This time, they will certainly be able to explain in detail why everything is completely different now.
Domain-Engel becomes cheeky
When alleged domain angels threaten blog hosts with a lawyer, there's usually a sorehead behind it. In this case, it's probably a bird unknown to me so far, but who has apparently already been noticed before - and this time wants to get at Lanu (from DotComTod and BooCompany) presumably because of their postings about him - and, due to the lack of an imprint, now thinks he can force Dirk Olbertz (the one from blogger.de) to disclose the data.
It will certainly be exciting to see what happens next - another attempt to suppress opinions with a lawyer. Whether the noise spreading through the blogs will improve his already spoiled reputation of the domain grabber again is rather questionable.
But when you then see that a legal counsel is also involved, nothing surprises you anymore.
Knitting Fashion - Knitting with Knitting Machines, Knitting Design, and Knitting Patterns - everything about machine knitting. Yes, yes, I know, it seems a bit out of place here
ThoughtFix on the Nokia 770: USB Power Injector 2 - external battery pack for the Nokia tablet - also usable for other devices with USB powering (iPod etc.). For DIY.
Football Canvases and Websites
The Netreaper thinks I should drum up some support for Nordwalde so they can get a new WM screen to watch football. Okay, I'm not really sure why I should do that to the people of Nordwalde, but okay - I don't live there anymore.
What really excites me, however, is the great voting function, which asks for a Captcha before voting. Which only contains uppercase letters and numbers. Which are hard to distinguish because a particularly stupid font was chosen. And the kicker: you're not supposed to use capital letters. Is this a Captcha with a built-in intelligence test?
Well, never mind, if you want to drive the Nordwalde people crazy, just vote for the screen there, so hordes of crazy football fans can stand around and watch football. Best during the final, and best if Germany is out early and no one knows what to do there anymore.
Guido van Rossum and Web Frameworks
Guido van Rossum asks about web frameworks - nothing exciting in itself. He just hasn't done anything with them before and wants to inform himself. He makes some claims that aren't quite accurate (e.g., that Django's template language is similar to PHP), but given the likely brevity of his "looking into" it, it's forgivable.
It gets funny in the comments on his post. Mountains of frameworks, all of which aren't finished. Piles of comments like "take XYZ, it's great and in the next few months it will definitely be usable" - especially often TurboGears is suggested.
Sorry, what? If I'm looking for a web framework, I don't want one that will be usable in a few months. I want one that is usable now and for which there are clear statements about its fitness right now. We really don't need any more web frameworks that won't be finished.
I don't have anything against a variety of frameworks - it makes life exciting and interesting because you never know if you've bet on the right framework - but there are certainly more than enough unfinished frameworks that are pitched by their users as if they were the best thing since sliced bread.
By the way, I use Django for exactly these reasons: the stuff has been in use for quite some time and has proven that it is suitable for large sites and high loads. It was developed from real applications and is not the byproduct of some unimportant Web2.0 thing of which I have never heard outside the TurboGears clique. It was also not cobbled together by a kid alone who thinks he's the new Einstein and believes he's the only one who knows how frameworks should be. And it's not a project that has been dead in principle for over a year because the author has long since moved on to something else. And it's only called 0.9 at the moment because API changes and cleanup work are pending in the guts (which would be appropriate for any project that has been developed for two years in live operation) - not because it's only 90% finished.
Of course, after this Artima post, everyone will look at GvR and wait to see what he chooses. And of course, all the web framework authors will jump up and down and want to make themselves noticed. And of course, every word will be analyzed and rubbed in the other's face. And a whole series of projects will make short-term quick-fix changes because they hope GvR will choose their framework. All of which is a really insane waste of time. Sometimes these kids in the OSS projects really get on my nerves.
"Brother Johannes" has passed away
Even though I certainly did not always agree with his opinions and stance, with the death of Johannes Rau a significant part of NRW political history comes to an end.
After all, the man shaped a large part of my conscious engagement with politics - most of that time as the Minister President of NRW. He will definitely be missed - even if he was sometimes a rather conservative hardliner, and his sermons were annoying on more than one occasion. Somehow, he still belonged to NRW.
PythonForMaemo - Python for Maemo - Using Python on the Nokia 770 Tablet (the shipping confirmation arrived today, hopefully the device will arrive soon).
twill: a simple scripting language for Web browsing - a Python scriptable Web client. Interesting for automated page requests and for specialized robots. Possibly also for testing web applications.
We still struggle
implementing equal rights for homosexuals:
Gay civil servants with a registered partnership do not receive a supplement like married couples. This was decided by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. The registered partnership is not a marriage, but an independent marital status, the judges decided. The legislator can favor marriage over other communities in terms of remuneration. This does not violate the principle of equality nor the anti-discrimination prohibition under European law. (Case No.: BVerwG 2 C 43.04).
Rarely have I read such a far-fetched justification. We simply define everything as we please, which saves the state money and to hell with the equal rights of homosexuals. Discrimination does not only occur when one group is treated worse than others, but also when one group is treated better than others. It is absurd that the legislator may favor a heterosexual marriage over a homosexual marriage - and exactly the reason why the registered partnership is not a full equivalent to marriage, even if some politicians claim otherwise.
Brain Farts from Former Ministers
Former Minister Scholz will discuss German nuclear weapons - hopefully no one else. There are already far too many nuclear weapons in the world, we certainly don't need German atomic bombs. Sometimes you really wonder what kind of idiots are running around in politics. There is no other appropriate response to nuclear threats than total nuclear disarmament. If someone drops atomic bombs on a country, it is completely irrelevant for survival whether the attacked state also has atomic bombs - and no, the threat scenario is complete nonsense if you are not also willing to use these monstrosities. And that's where the madness begins.
Interesting Hybrid from Olympus
Olympus introduces a SLR camera with preview image - either via an auxiliary CCD with AF support or with mirror lock-up via the main CCD. The latter, in my opinion, manufacturers could have installed for a long time - because for macro photography it would be a real blessing if you could get preview images with the normal chip for the first settings.
Slight Exaggerations in the Netzzeitung
The title Smallest Earth-like planet discovered is a bit strange. Okay, if you define "Earth-like" as "orbits a sun and is not a gas planet or ice lump," it might fit. But what does such a definition bring then? 5.5 times as large as Earth, the distance to the sun 3 times as far, the sun weaker than Earth's, and the temperature at minus 220 degrees - sorry, that's really not particularly Earth-like ...
Game Protocols and Firewalls
If someone wants to check out Second Life:
Second Life needs to connect to ports 443/TCP, 12035/UDP, 12036/UDP, and 13000-13050/UDP. You should configure your firewall to allow outbound traffic on those ports, and related inbound traffic.
Ok, so TCP is fine with NAT firewalls - but apparently it also wants all those UDP ports inbound. And why does a game client need 51 UDP ports in a block? And why so many UDP ports at all? Do game designers ever think about what they're doing? In the case of Second Life, apparently not ...
Torvalds: insert foot into mouth
Linus claims to know again - this time about licenses:
The new license requires that all keys necessary to run the software must be delivered with the software, for example in the case of Trusted Computing systems that may require a signature of the programs. In Torvalds' opinion, the regulation also covers the private keys of Linux developers and he is not willing to publish his private key.
Yeah, sure, if I interpret a license in the most absurd way possible, I might come up with such an outlandish idea with enough idiocy. If he now only proves to me that his private key is necessary to make the kernel runnable (because that's what it's about in the corresponding section of the GPL v3), then I would agree with him. However, it's going to be difficult, because so far I have always been able to run all Linux kernels without ever needing any key.
You can be against the switch to GPL v3 - there is definitely a problem with the license change in the kernel with the extremely many contributions and authors - but the above "reason" is simply ridiculous.
Should Windows source be disclosed?
Microsoft gives in to EU in antitrust dispute:
In the antitrust dispute with the EU Commission, the software manufacturer Microsoft has now given in and will disclose the source code of the computer operating system Windows.
Let's wait and see how this disclosure will look. Will every Windows license holder actually be able to view the sources? And will the sources match the system? And which parts of the source will be left out? Will the EU Commission be able to recognize such deceptive packaging?
Opera Mini: Free HTML browser for mobile phones launches worldwide - Golem.de - definitely better than the primitive built-in browsers. However, of course - due to Java - not necessarily the fastest.
Stigmatization of adolescents already in the report cards
Great, NRW is bringing back headnotes:
According to the plans of the North Rhine-Westphalian state government, teachers should evaluate the "work and social behavior" of students, and this should be mandatory for all classes up to and including the tenth grade. Points such as "willingness to learn and perform" and "readiness to take responsibility and independence" should be graded with classic school grades from "very good" to "insufficient." However, characteristics such as "endurance and resilience" and "cooperativeness and team spirit" should also be mentioned in the report card, as well as special school and extracurricular commitment such as voluntary work in youth groups.
So that students are as well-behaved as possible in school. You engage politically, but unfortunately in a different direction than your teachers? Doesn't matter, you'll just get a bad grade in social behavior. What, you won't get a job later because no one wants you? Doesn't matter, there are already hundreds of thousands of unemployed young people, you can just throw you in there. You don't want to engage in church groups or similar because all these groups in your town are just cross fanatics anyway? Doesn't matter, bad grades in extracurricular commitment certainly won't be a problem in job hunting. What, you have problems with your classmates and are excluded by them, for example because they don't like your skin color or nose shape? You're just not cooperative enough and not a team player.
There are good reasons why these dreadful headnotes have been abolished. Social behavior is simply not gradable - even less so than knowledge or performance (here, the concentration on a few key moments in the school year is already a problem - real knowledge is not evaluated, but performance at the time of the exams).
But of course, they are incredibly practical if you want to breed compliant yes-men. "Child, just don't cause any trouble at school, the grade for social behavior can decide your later job" - I can already hear some parents "straightening out" their children. Left-wing youth group? No way, job-threatening. Slip-ups in life? Catastrophe, can only be smoothed out with years of brown-nosing the teacher.
Oh yes, we are getting the best school system in Germany in NRW. The question is just for whom the school system should be the best - probably not for the students.
T-Online is not allowed to store usage data
Let's see how long the ruling against T-Online's data storage will last:
The effect of the Darmstadt ruling may be short-lived. Because the EU Parliament decided in December to log all internet and telephone connections in advance, there will also be a corresponding law in Germany. However, it is questionable whether the so-called data retention is compatible with the Basic Law.
Basic Law? What Basic Law? Does that still matter to any politician? We don't have a constitutionally compliant budget, the customs authority's surveillance activities have been extended despite a contrary ruling, and what else has undermined the Basic Law recently. What is a little data retention in comparison?
GVU allegedly sponsored pirates
With so much audacity from the rights extortionists, one can hardly think of any further comment:
After joint research by the computer magazine c't and the news portal onlinekosten.de, indications suggest that the GVU may have overstepped the bounds of what is permissible in its investigations against copyright infringers. The editorial teams received hints from a GVU-affiliated informant some time ago, which have since been confirmed by a second source. According to these reports, the GVU regularly paid at least one administrator of a central exchange server in the warez scene. In this way, they obtained log files and thus access IP addresses of this so-called "box." In addition, they are said to have contributed hardware to equip the platform.
Jean-Remy von Matt unnerved - envious for that
It's quite amusing when an alleged communications professional lets his envy show so clearly:
Many of you write that I scored an own goal with my email. Okay, maybe one. But how many own goals are you scoring right now by picking up my buzzword "Toilet Walls of the Internet" in part indignantly, in part gleefully, spreading it in the sense of agenda setting? At Technorati.com, the search term was temporarily ranked 3rd!
Well, that's just the way it is - there are also others who can exploit a term. And in the blogs, the toilet wall is simply more popular than the you-are-German-language nonsense.
And about the alleged "apology" - sorry, but that is an apology that you can also read from politicians - meaningless, vague, and the only statement you can derive from it at best is a defiant "but I'm right!" Tja, Marketinghansel. Big mouth up front, but only a sensitive soul and no clue behind it.
Microsoft Closes the Gates Against OSS
First, only signed drivers should be accepted:
What Microsoft markets in its documentation as a security gain and as an indispensable feature for Digital Rights Management (DRM) has a bitter aftertaste: So far, only those who equip themselves with corresponding certificates from Verisign and pay around 500 US dollars per year for this can create such a signature.
But from signed drivers (with which open-source drivers will already have a real problem) to signed applications is not far. And for open source projects, it is usually not so easy to get the money for certificates.
pyvm home - another Python implementation. Its own bytecode interpreter and a Python compiler written in Python. Sounds almost like PyPy meets Parrot - though retaining the Python bytecode.
APRESS.COM: Practical Common Lisp - now also available as a free PDF download (go to the Free Download page and download it there).
Bill Clementson's Blog: Update on Termite (A Lisp for Concurrent/Parallel Programming) - Information about Termite, a Scheme based on Gambit-C with the concurrency features of Erlang. Sounds very interesting, check it out when the code is released.
BooCompany - the only legitimate successor to DotComTod.de. Now open to all industries.
Thinking Forth - now also available as a PDF download. For old Forthers like me, of course a must-download.
Unofficial documentation of iPhoto 6.0 photocasting feeds - Mark Pilgrim tears apart Apple's iPhoto RSS support. It's bad. It's really bad.
When will developers finally discover notebooks?
I mean, when will they finally realize that notebook users are different from desktop users? For example, the environment of a notebook user constantly changes? That the network configuration is not static but dynamic? And that the web proxy is a dynamic setting - it is highly nonsensical to pack these into program configuration files instead of reading them from environment settings? For my part, it can certainly be a place for this in the configs - but then there should also be a way to override this setting from the environment.
Where this has become particularly noticeable to me recently:
- subversion: the proxy configuration is only possible in ~/.subversion/server. Rarely stupid, you can't even refer to an environment variable (at least I can't find anything about it)
- x-chat: the configuration is only done via the GUI. The system-wide proxy in the environment variables should override any local settings in the GUI and be displayed there, there is a reason why the user has set a proxy outside.
This is especially annoying with Unix applications that are ported to OS X Aqua (e.g. X-Chat Aqua is such a case): with real OS X applications, the network settings are used for proxies and the like, so that these applications then use the correct proxy when the network environment is switched. With ported applications, this access to the network settings is missing - but because they are GUI applications, possible settings from the shell startup scripts are not evaluated. Because these are possibly not active at all in GUI applications. Instead, a special property file is read - which is rarely stupid, because it is static and no shell script. Yes, Apple messed that up.
With programs that are started from the shell, you can easily read the proxy settings using scutil and a few lines of Python and put them into the environment - but with GUI applications and even some CLI programs, you fail with the ignorant developers. Bah. Humbug.
On the 20th Anniversary of Joseph Beuys' Death
I am sure that the master would be horrified by this kind of homage. Tributes and commemorations would probably be more appropriate actions and provocations on his death day. After all, he preferred to provoke throughout his life rather than listen to flattery. However, I find statements like the following particularly shocking:
Beuys was just a figurehead of the art academy. The times when great artists wanted to provoke are over. Even Beuys would not stand out today with his actions, is painting student Eva-Maria Schmitt (21) convinced.
I do not believe that such "art students" really advance art - there is already enough adapted droning in elevators, we do not need artists for that ...
Unauthorized access to email is unauthorized
Yes, as an admin, one should be aware of the legal consequences in case of a breach of trust:
According to a decision of the Labor Court Aachen from August 16, 2005, the unauthorized access to other people's emails by a system administrator justifies his immediate dismissal (Az. 7 Ca 5514/04).
Power (in the sense of access to data that is not accessible to others) always means responsibility. By the way, this has been clear to many sysadmins for a long time. It would be nice if politicians (whose power is often much greater) were also aware of this ...
A list of open-source HTTP proxies written in python - many of them are still active, and potentially quite interesting for mobile use (especially those based on asyncore, due to the low resource usage)
runit - a UNIX init scheme with service supervision - alternative to sysv-init with more possibilities and integrated features like supervise (from the daemontools).
WebCleaner - a filtering HTTP proxy - absolute high-tech, that part. Asyncore, so low resources, built-in JavaScript interpreter against obfuscation and a bunch of other features. Sounds very good on paper.
Feed Icons - Help establish the new standard - free icons for feeds as an alternative to the XML icon from Userland. Inspired by the Mozilla feed icons.
HD? Not in Hollywood
HD Output must be downsampled by the player - if the studio demands this feature. The result: great HD-DVD, but the result on the monitor is far closer to standard DVD quality than to the possible HD quality.
Sorry, but why should I get HD hardware if it doesn't make much difference? Is this whole thing a kamikaze strategy for the HD hardware manufacturers?
Hurring.com: Code: Python: PHP Serialize implemented in Python - Deserialize PHP data in Python. Could be interesting if I want to migrate further sites from PHP to Django and, for example, access Wordpress settings.
Ok, Sandvox doesn't just suck up hamsters
Found at Bill Bumgarner:
As it turns out, Sandvox silently installs Smart Crash Report in ~/Library/Input Managers/ when it is launched. As an input manager, SCR is thusly loaded into every Cocoa app launched and subsequently uses various non-supported mechanisms to modify the behavior of said application.
Sandvox installs a hack in the Input Manager - these are libraries that plug into the interface to modify application behavior. They usually overload system functions with their own code. Not a rootkit - they don't hide. But they may destabilize the system. And above all: they affect not just this one program, but all programs that use this mechanism.
Sandvox is off my disk, sorry, but I don't want something like this installed without a big warning sign and without asking. We're not under Windows ...
Ross Barkman's Home Page - Modem scripts for Mac OS and Mac OS X and various mobile phones.
ScriptAculoUs - MochiKit - Trac - a port of the script.aculo.us effects to MochiKit. Finally, drag and drop and other effects with the significantly better technical MochiKit base.
Sinar m
What happens when Sinar develops a flexible camera system. Okay, they really know what flexible means at Sinar - but one could almost think that they overdid it a bit with the Sinar M.
I'd like to play with something like that, but I think I don't want to know the price for a complete system with AF mirror adapter, a lens, and digital back.
The Scanner Photography Project
The idea itself is not that new - I've already heard people in d.r.f. pondering over flatbed scanners behind GF cameras. But unlike some of them, this person not only carried out the project but also brought it almost to perfection (as far as the image result is concerned). Very interesting effects through the mixing of the scanner movement and object movement. And the digital camera also has a gigantic resolution.
US Justice Department wants Google data
The US Department of Justice wants to access user search queries from Google (and other search engines). Of course, initially only to combat child pornography (how often will this be used as an excuse to dismantle privacy?). Those who think they have to agree with this: afterwards, research on child pornography (and, for example, the search for source material for the research - I mean reports about child pornography, not images or films) will also be suspicious. Because with search engine queries, you have the same problem as with email connections and IP connection data: there are gigantic amounts of data, and the search can only take place automatically, making the probability of hits more than questionable.
Those who have ever watched their spam filter struggle to distinguish spam from ham can roughly imagine how promising any search and qualification algorithms can be that only have these mutilated data from the search queries at their disposal ...
Cover up, deny and ignore
Here's how the Bundeswehr, the BND, and the Foreign Office are handling the secret Bundeswehr report on the abduction of six people to Guantanamo:
Despite the facts and a transcript of the report, which has now been handed over to the Ministry of Defense, the official conclusion is that there is no conclusive evidence of the incident and the hints contained in the secret document in question.
The report itself is gone. Allegedly deleted because no long-term archiving was planned (yes, of course, I believe that immediately - it certainly wasn't like that during my time in the Bundeswehr, when every document was filed and archived, that's just my imagination). And of course, no one knows anything about it. And the embarrassing evidence - such as the confession of the author of the report and photos on the computer that belong to the report - are simply ignored.
What is absolutely not funny about this: six people are sitting in Guantanamo - without conclusive evidence. But no one cares, no one is advocating for them. These people were abducted with the knowledge of the Bundeswehr. No one cares about that either. All that matters is keeping one's own record clean.
Monitor: Vorwürfe gegen Ratiopharm - In case anyone is wondering where all the money for the healthcare system goes ...
Cute Advertising Guys
The ad guys behind this stupid DBD campaign are sulking - at least one of them is complaining in a round-robin email about the unwashed bloggers, the annoying journalists and the stupid colleagues. His mother taught him that one should thank people for gifts and he thinks DBD is a great gift. My mother taught me not to give people useless junk. And in the case of broad disagreement with my opinion, to consider whether maybe the rest of humanity might be right. My mother is smarter than his mother ...
And the next one leaves us
The next photo manufacturer leaves the industry: Konica Minolta gives up traditional camera and film business:
How much and which individual parts of the camera business go to Sony and at what price, the company did not announce in detail, in any case Sony is to continue the business with digital SLR cameras from Konica Minolta. According to Konica Minolta, Sony wants to develop further digital SLRs with which users of the Maxxum/Dynax lens system can continue to use the lenses.
Too bad. The digital Minoltas were actually a comeback - and the Dynax 7D was quite an interesting camera. But soon it will probably be a Sony 7D. Ok, Sony can certainly do photography, but still it's a shame about the name Minolta, somehow it belonged to photography for me (even if I myself was never a Minoltheke).
Wikipedia.de currently offline
The Wikipedia.de is currently shut down:
According to an article from Wikinews, which also belongs to Wikimedia, the reason is that the parents of the deceased computer hacker Tron from Berlin did not want the full name of their son to be published in a Wikipedia article, not just his pseudonym. However, this is still the case, even after the interim injunction.
As much as I understand that they do not want this - it is a bit late for that. Because the name is not only found on Wikipedia, it is scattered all over the net. Moreover - whether they like it or not - he is a person of contemporary history. After all, there is even a whole film about him.
The blocking of the entire German Wikipedia domain as ordered by the court is then already quite strange - because the German Wikipedia is just a redirect page.
In some way, this is once again another proof of why you cannot operate websites in Germany - here, almost fundamentally, cannons are used to shoot sparrows. However, the consequences of the whole action are not considered - because the fact that the redirect page is no longer allowed to be operated does not mean that the page is now offline. And the only result is that his civilian name becomes even more widely known.
All that is missing is that a block like Büssow is demanded for the entire Wikipedia. And enforced. Because we are in Germany.
Cosina is the new Contax, sort of
Clear statement from Zeiss - now with the ZF system. Cosina takes on the role of Kyocera - including the production of Zeiss lenses. And parallel to ZF, there will also be ZS - M42 lenses. However, the use of M42 lenses on Canon EOS cameras is quite boring, as there is no aperture function. With ZF, the full status of manual Nikon lenses should hopefully be supported.
Hmm. I think I need to take a look at the D200 with a manual lens to see if it's possible to achieve usable focusing. With the EOS, it simply doesn't work - at least not with the 10D or 20D, as these do not allow changing the focusing screens and the AF indicator does not work with lenses connected via adapter. On the tiny focusing screens of the AF-digitals, you can't focus by focusing screen at all - completely unusable for critical situations, where focusing estimation by scale is still more precise ...
Actually, this would be exactly my dream system - a solid, robust camera with decent focusing aid, something around 8 MP in the chip and in front of it the Zeiss lenses that I like very much.