Simplicitas

Simplicitas is Moving!

2005-10-28T09:52:00.000-05:00

I finally got an email from WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org) offering me a free account. I've always been impressed with WordPress (from the .org) as a publishing platform, so I was fairly excited to be offered a blog. Thus, simplicitas.blogspot will be closing its doors, and simplicitas.wordpress will be picking up where it left off. (For a list of the tradeoffs between the two platforms, stay tuned to the new blog). Be sure to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds!

Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

2005-10-24T09:07:00.000-05:00

Cory Doctorow, author and coeditor of BoingBoing, has released a new book. This in and of itself is not necessarily a momentous occassion (at least if you're not already a fan). The interesting thing is the publication media which Mr. Doctorow has chosen. Yes, he's selling the book in a traditional print format; after all, the man's gotta eat. However, he's also chosen to release the entirety of the book, a chapter or two at a time, as an RSS feed. The feed will also continue to provide all subsequently released chapters, regardless of when you first subscribe to it. Cool stuff - and probably the best (only?) method that I've seen for increasing sales using RSS.

The Intel Ruby

2005-10-21T08:14:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or is this just as sexy as the OQO?

pwned!

2005-10-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

Alright...so I'm a nerd...but you should check out pure pwnage. Noobs without micro need not apply...

Keeping Track of Your RSS Feeds

2005-10-19T11:01:00.000-05:00

Due to the recent reinstall of Linux on my home machine, the usefulness of the portable apps that I've been talking about has decreased significantly. The reason for this is that all of the ones that I've been using are entirely Windows-based. Where web browsing is concerned this isn't a big problem, as all I have to do is keep my fairly slow-changing bookmarks in sync. This is made simple by FireFox' use of a single HTML file to store bookmarks; synchronization is simply a matter of copying the most recent bookmarks.html file to the appropriate location. (Of course, in Windows, that location is fairly onerous - something like:

\Documents&Settings\username\ApplicationData\Firefox\Profiles\default\inmz3k6d.slt

...but that's another story).

Email is also relatively simple, owing to all of my accounts being forwarded (at this time) to 2 separate IMAP accounts. Since the emails are stored in folders on the server, I don't have to worry about migrating a bunch of saved messages; all I have to do is put in my account information, and I'm good to go.

RSS feeds, however, are a royal pain. To this point, Mozilla Thunderbird has been doubling as an email client and feed reader. However, due to a lack of OPML import/export functionality in the stable version, and support for OPML that can be described as "wonky, at best" in the latest beta version, I end up being stuck with no automated way of updating my list of feeds on any given machine. (Hand-entering RSS URLs isn't exactly my idea of a good time).

Long story short: I finally too Anonymous' advice and signed up for a BlogLines account. The nice thing about this is that they provide a system-tray notifier for multiple platforms - *nix, OS X, and Windows, to be precise. They also have some other nifty implementations, including FireFox and IE extensions. Hopefully I'm on the path to RSS Nirvana...

Product Disclaimer?

2005-10-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

I was taking a look at Mobility Email, another portable implementation of Thunderbird, when part of the project's FAQ caught my eye:

If Mobility Email blows up and takes your computer, your house or your pet dog with it...well...bad luck. Let us know about the bug, and we'll try to fix it in the next release.

Well, at least they're striving for improvement...

World's Smallest Linux Computer

2005-10-18T09:16:00.000-05:00

I found this while I was digging around on the Intarwebs the other day. Yes, folks, you saw correctly - that's a full-fledged computer, complete with RJ45 connector and serial port, that takes up a little more than twelve and a half cubic centimeters of space. Of course, a 55MHz processor and 2MB of onboard Flash (about half of which is taken up by the operating system) isn't going to knock anyone's socks off performance-wise, but they'd be ideal for, say, someone who wanted to build a cluster at home without being served with divorce papers for "re-purposing" the walk-in closet.

Of course, they're going to have to come down in price a bit before I can reasonably afford to litter my house with miniature linux computers; the manufacturer lists them at 99 euros, or about $120 US dollars. When they hit around the $20 USD price point, count me in!

The Badger

2005-10-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

An old friend returned to my PC yesterday. To clarify, I installed the newest release of Ubuntu Linux ("Breezy Badger"). I gotta say, I'm impressed with the polish of this particular release, even after only having used it for a couple of days. Having linux back on this box is almost like I've been living in a foreign country for the past couple of months - albeit one in which the accomodations are nice - and I've come back home, which is the only place in which one can be truly comfortable.

All In the Name

2005-10-13T02:52:00.000-05:00

More terrible things are done, more civil liberties lost, in order "To save the children!" than any other single fanatics' cause. Two examples of this showed up recently in the news, with the former being much more serious than the latter. (Thanks, BoingBoing, /.).

You know what? I have a 14-year-old sister. My 14-year-old sister is smarter than I could've ever possibly been at that age in terms of "the ways of the world". Yes, she needs protection from physical harm - sickos, drunk drivers, etc. - but the last time I checked, there are already laws against all of those things. Outside of that, I see little sense in "protecting" her from much else. It comes back to this: kids are smarter and stronger than anyone who isn't a kid could possibly imagine. They'll be fine; stop using them to push causes...

Custom-built Personal Clusters

2005-10-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

These guys had a booth at the Ohio LinuxFest (yes, I know it was a week-and-a-half ago...I just didn't have time to check out their site until recently).

"...powerful, compact, ready-to-run personal clusters...powered by eight AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture, low-latency gigabit ethernet, and up to 64 GB total RAM"

w00t! Now if they just had price listings instead of an "email us for a quote" link, I'd know how many pennies I had to save up...

Driving Traffic to Your Blog

2005-10-06T07:50:00.000-05:00

Some good tips on driving traffic to your blog can be found here (found on digg). Note #13:

"Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts."

...and #16

"Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time."

Oops. I guess I gotta work on that...

Ohio Linuxfest 2005

2005-10-02T19:02:00.000-05:00

I went to the Ohio Linuxfest this weekend, and while I was a little disappointed with the free swag (or maybe just bitter at not winning the Nano that they raffled off), I was pleasantly surprised at both the turnout and some of the talks that were given. I have to say that the high point (for me) was the talk about Ubuntu, complete with a preview of the upcoming Breezy Badger release (thanks, Jorge!). The enthusiasm for "the Ubuntu way" shown both by the presenter and the crowd have renewed and increased my interest in contributing to Ubuntu.

I also attended a LUG workshop that, while geared toward current LUG members, got me interested in seeking out and joining a Columbus or central Ohio LUG. Also of note was the afternoon keynote by Jerry Mayfield, Senior Corporate Business Strategist at Novell. Unfortunately, I missed all but the last half-hour or so of Jerry's keynote, but what I did see I was fairly impressed with.

All in all, it was a good old-fashioned nerdy time, and I look forward to Ohio Linuxfest 2006. To all of the organizers and volunteers: keep up the good work!

More Portable Goodness

2005-09-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

In a previous post I reviewed a couple of portable apps, which seem to be a fairly hot item in this age of on-the-go computing and large external storage drives no bigger than a matchbook. Well, it looks like Mike Tech Show has one-upped me by providing a single zip file with some of the latest and greatest portable apps. I'll be trying it out soon. Strong work, Mike Tech! [Found on digg]

Cooperative Linux

2005-09-27T09:21:00.000-05:00

I happened to catch this article on digg the other day about Cooperative Linux, so I figured I'd go ahead and give it a shot. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about "Linux running in Windows", as my previous experiences with such things had been somewhat lackluster. Still, I decided to give it a shot as I'm still reeling from the lack of Linux on my desktop. I have to say that I was pleasntly surprised.

The difference with coLinux is not an emulator. Rather, it is "a port of the Linux kernel that allows it to run cooperatively alongside another operating system on a single machine". Whether it's because of that or some external factor, coLinux blew away any emulator that I'd tried in the past. Granted, I haven't been able to test out the best emulator that the commercial world has to offer due to a lack of funds, but I can't imagine Debian (my image of choice) running any faster under VMWare than it does under coLinux. Of course "port" is generally a term that I think of as being synonymous with "massive potential for bugs and incompatibility", but thus far I haven't seen any such thing.

One upside to using an emulator is graphic support. As it stands, the only way to get a graphical desktop running coLinux is to use VNCServer. However, this is approximately the same as running a windowed desktop through an emulator, anyway. In short, I think that this is the best free (as in beer and as in freedom) solution currently available for running Linux inside of Windows. Oh...and for those of you that give it a shot, here's a couple of extras: how to grow a coLinux partition and pre-fab swap files of various sizes (you don't even have to run mkswap!)

OQO Upgrade

2005-09-27T08:01:00.000-05:00

It looks like OQO has released a new model of their ultrapersonal computer. Dubbed the Model 01+, it comes with some upgraded specs and is "much snappier" (according to Engadget). Oh...and perhaps the most important upshot: the price of the original OQO Model 01 has dropped $400 in price, which puts me one step closer to owning one. Now how long it will be before the OQO becomes the daily w00t?

Not On Froogle

2005-09-26T15:26:00.000-05:00

So I created a Froogle Wishlist earlier today, and that's all well and good. However, it doesn't have one of the more outlandish things that I want to get, so I guess I'll just have to post it here. Thanks, Gizmodo!

There I Am!

2005-09-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

Several months ago (six, to be exact) I was wondering about my absence from Google. Today, I repeated my search for Simplicitas and, lo and behold!, there I am, third on the list. Of course, that doesn't really help when searching for something that is relevant (in terms of what I've posted about), but it's heartening to know that they're aware of my existence now!

Wish List

2005-09-26T08:22:00.000-05:00

I decided to start a Froogle Wish List today. Yes, I know that everything I want is ridiculously expensive; that's why it's all in my Wish List and not, say, my living room.

This World We Live In

2005-09-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

I was recently talking to one of my buddies about how ol' Mother Nature seems to be taking the world to Hell in a handbasket. I also recently posted a couple of really bizarre things out there, both man-made. Well, put the two together, and what do you get? You guessed it: military-trained dolphins equipped with toxic dart guns. <insert obligatory Dr. Evil joke here> Thanks once again to /..

What's In a Blog?

2005-09-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

I'm proud to say that, due in no small part to a large amount of cajoling by myself, two new blogs have been created. I've believed for a while now that everyone should have a blog. This is not an idea that is popular with everyone, with the most common argument being something like, "But I don't want to read about how Sally had OJ and Wheaties for breakfast this morning." There's an incredibly powerful and simple counter-argument to this; it goes something like, "Then don't".

Perhaps more interesting are the arguments for everyone having a blog. I think that the best and most salient one is that humans, by their nature, are social creatures. The upshot of this for blogs and blogging is that everyone most likely has at least one other person that would be interested in reading his or her blog...even Sally's "Blog About Breakfast". Thus, it becomes a question of motivating would-be bloggers by answering all of their "Why?" with a whole lot more "Why not?" The following are some other helpful counter-arguments for those of you who have a friend they'd like to see start blogging.

"How?"/"Where do I start?":
There are a wealth of free blog providers out there - the long list probably ranges in the dozens - with a range of options and features that should meet just about any casual blogger's needs. Because they're free, there's not any "pressure" to post (another common complaint is "But I won't have time!", to which I generally reply, "You don't need to post frequently, you just have to post.") There are also a few for-pay services out there. Also, many of these have fairly simple interfaces for posting and tweaking the look-and-feel of one's blog, so one needn't be a technical expert in order to be a blogger.

"What do I blog about?":
The obvious short answer to this one is, "Whatever you want." However, that's not quite satisfactory for most people. A better approach is to try to hone it down to something in which one is interested or have some amount of knowledge, and forgive oneself the sin of off-topic blogging; after all, it's your blog. For example, you're in law school? Blog about current legal events. You're a would-be philosopher-poet? Let's hear what you've got. Speak your mind, and I'll pick up the feed.

"Who will read it?":
I basically covered this above, but just to recap, "I will read it!" is the correct answer. Also acceptable for some people is, "Who cares?", but that's heavily dependent on the person to whom you're speaking; YMMV.

Next up: explaining to your non-technical friends Why RSS Is Cool!

How Many Zeroes?!

2005-09-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, this monitor rig is more than a little bit ridiculous. Yes, you're reading it correctly (if you're reading it at all); that's a 19,200 x 2,400 resolution. [Ed.: commas added for emphasis]

Portable App Review

2005-09-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

I've posted before about having trouble keeping track of which headlines I've seen for all of the RSS feeds that I currently watch. Another problem that I have is keeping all of my bookmarks reasonably synchronized between machines (desktop, laptop, my box at work...), both in term of the bookmarks that I have and those bookmarks' organization (e.g., "Did I put the link to the Mozilla SVG Project in the XML folder, or in the Open Source folder on this particular browser?")

Several solutions to these types of problems exist - for example, BlogLines for RSS feeds, and of course del.icio.us for bookmarks - but most (all?) of the ones that I've seen are web-based. It's not that being web-based is a problem, it's just not what I consider an ideal solution to my particular problems. One of the major reasons that I started using Thunderbird and Firefox is the fact that they have extremely similar and fairly user-friendly interfaces, as well as the fact that Thunderbird allows me to read my email and my feeds; thus, it would seem that using 2 different web services to organize my information, in addition to both Firefox and Thunderbird, is a step backwards. (If you don't know why, scroll to the top of the page and read carefully...)

The bottom line is that I've been unsuccessful in finding a solution to either of these problems - until now. Enter Portable Firefox and Portable Thunderbird - versions of their respective programs that are able to be installed on a USB key. "But why not just install regular Firefox on a USB key?", you ask? Well, the short answer to that is that this approach doesn't quite work. While the binaries in this case would in fact be stored on the USB key, all of the "Profile" information would be stored on the local hard drive of the machine on which the install took place. Thus, when trying your USB key installion on another machine, surprise!, all of your bookmarks have disappeared! The same goes for Thunderbird's account information, including all of the RSS feeds that you spent an hour entering in by hand since Thunderbird doesn't support OPML imports (yet!). The portable versions of these two programs essentially are configured such that all data that they need to operate - including bookmarks, address books, and account information - is stored directly on the USB key.

The downside to this arrangement is speed. My machine at home has two 10,000RPM Western Digital Raptors, arranged in a RAID-0 configuration, and disk speed is something that I've come to take for granted. My USB key, on the other hand, is a chinsy 128MB piece of crap that I bought for 10 bucks or so on sale at a MicroCenter. This is important to note, as access times differ between USB keys. Essentially, this means that using either of the programs off of the USB key - Thunderbird in particular - is painfully slow at times. However, both of the portable apps are beta versions, and the speed issue is the only problem I've had so far. I think that furture releases have the potential to be much faster, and I plan on (hopefully) getting a new USB key before too long, anyway - hopefully one with some kind of security features, since I plan on toting my email around with me.

All in all, I give both of these apps (and their developer, John Haller), a hearty thumbs up, and I look forward to checking out a couple of John's other projects (Portable Nvu, Portable OpenOffice.org).

Wearable Displays

2005-09-15T12:29:00.000-05:00

I've seen a few wearable displays before, but never something quite like this.

The Strangeness Keeps On Comin'

2005-09-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

Okay...I try to keep things pretty tech-oriented around here, but there's just too much strangeness going on in the world today. Apparently the recent solar flare has caused some kind of cosmic disturbance - maybe that's why I've posted 5 times in 2 days; w00t! - resulting in products like this: The Portable Bidet/Digital Camera. Wow.

From the Bizarre to the Macabre

2005-09-15T08:24:00.000-05:00

Anyone in the U.S. will tell you that they're fed up with high gas prices. In fact, I know several people that are willing to give you their entire half-hour treatise on Iraq, gas prices, and the Dubyament at the mere mention of paying 3+ dollars per gallon at the pump. Apparently outside of the States they do things a little differently. "How differently?", you ask? How does a dead cat-powered car strike you?

Excerpt:

"[The inventor] said around 20 dead cats added into the mix could help produce enough fuel to fill up a 50-liter (11 gallon) tank."

I have /. to thank for making me almost choke on my coffee this morning...