Tuesday November 6th, 2007
Felix Technical Blog has MOVED
The iFelix Technical Blog has moved.
Due to onoging issues with my reset of iBlog, I have been unable to publish new material to the iFelix Technical Blog. After trying to let iBlog publish for a week, I knew it was going to be impossible to continue using iBlog without a major overhaul, and if I am going to do that I said to myself I might as well change my blogging software to something which is more flexible.
I have changed to using Wordpress, so please check out the new blog; I will be leaving this blog up as an archive.
Mon - October 22, 2007
Nokia announce N810
an improved and enhanced N series
device...
I have always liked the idea of the Nokia N series,
there have been times when I have considered buying one, but never really got
around to it, as I have other devices which do similar
things.On Friday, Nokia announce the new
Nokia N810.
The N810 is as you might guess is an
improvement on the older N800. Key improvements are a full QWERTY keyboard, a
faster processor and GPS.For
connectivity you either use a wifi connection or a bluetooth connection to your
phone, so mobile browsing is possible, especially if you have a 3G phone. You
can also play movie, audio and look at
photos.Is it an iPod touch, no, but the
phone connectivity does give it an advantage over Apples’ innovative
iPod.You can read the press release
and see some nice photos.
Posted at 12:10 PM | | |
Send Keynote to YouTube
what a clever idea...
One of the features of Keynote that I have always
liked is the ability to save a presentation as a movie file. As once a movie
file it can be converted in many different
ways.In version 4.0 of Keynote (part of
iWork '08) you can now send your presentation direct to
YouTube.
This avoids the need to export the file
and then upload to YouTube, you can upload direct to YouTube quickly and
easily.I've not yet tried it, but I can
see after attending a conference I could upload my presentation and then embed
it into my blog or the organisers could embed into their website. It also avoids
the problems that you can have with Keynote files as not everyone has Keynote
and even if you export as PowerPoint, not everyone has PowerPoint.
Posted at 09:29 AM | | |
Sun - October 21, 2007
GPS for the PSP
another thing it can do...
Interested to read
that you can use GPS with your PSP.So as
well as browsing the net, watching video, looking at photographs and listening
to audio, you can now use your PSP to find out where you are and where you need
to go.You know one day they're going to
makes games for this excellent device.
Posted at 02:54 PM | | |
Fri - October 19, 2007
How low can you go...
Sony VAIO UX1XN getting even
cheaper...
When the Sony VAIO UX1XN was released in the UK it
commanded a £2,000 price tag. This is a lot of money for a device the size
of a PDA (even if it can run Windows
Vista).In July I noticed my local Sony
Centre had reduced the price to £1,600. Still expensive, but 20% off is
quite a reduction. Such reductions usually imply that a new model is just around
the corner.On
Amazon
in August you could get the UX1XN for just £1,199 which considering the
features of the UX1XN (the cameras, flash hdd) makes the UX1XN seem like a
reasonable proposition.Now it is just
£999 at the Sony story and only £899 on
Amazon.
It will be interesting to see when, what
and how Sony update this model with, with the next revision.
Posted at 07:40 AM | | |
Tue - October 16, 2007
Leopard out 26th October
at 6pm...
Apple have officially announced that Leopard 10.5
the newest version of their operating system will be released on the 26th
October at 6pm.
I might get a copy as I
am intrigued, but certainly won't be installing it on my main computer, as I
can't really afford for it to go offline!
Posted at 09:29 PM | | |
Mon - October 15, 2007
A little faster...
but not much...
My ISP offered to upgrade my DSL
connection.
I was promised
8Mb...
I expected at least
4Mb...
I got
2Mb!
It's twice as fast as I had, but not
as fast as I was expecting.
Posted at 08:33 PM | | |
Sun - October 14, 2007
Why can't I get a wireless connection...
it's just not working...
One thing I have noticed attending a few events
recently is that the wireless networks have been unable to cope with the large
number of delegates wanting to use it.
A
few years (or even just a year ago) if you attended an event with free wireless,
there were probably just a few of you who used it with their laptops. Today if
you attend an event, you may find that everyone (virtualy everyone) has a laptop
and if not a laptop then a PDA or a phone or an entertainment device with wifi
capability.
As a result the wireless
networks can not cope and if you are late to the event, you will find that
though your wireless laptop can see the wireless network it will be unable to be
assigned an IP address by the router. With a self-assigned IP address your
laptop will the be unable to route any kind of network traffic, so no connection
to the internet.
Generally this happens
because most wireless routers can only deal with a limited number of wireless
clients. The Airport Express for example can only handle ten clients, the
Airport Extreme can handle fifty.
Once
the wireless router has reached the maximum number of clients, then it will no
longer assign IP addresses, and any “extra” clients will not be
assigned an IP address.
Now in theory
what should then happen is that when one of the wireless clients is disconnected
from the wireless network, it should release their IP address and the router
should then be able to assign the IP address to a new client. What usually
happens is that the client does not correctly release the IP address (the laptop
is hibernated or turned off without shutting down properly) and therefore as far
as the router is concerned, the IP address is still in
use.
The solution is to reboot the
wireless router, which in a conference or at an event is nigh on impossible, as
most conference organisers don’t even know where the router is let alone
how to reboot it (turn it off and back on
again).
As more and more delegates at
conferences and events use wireless devices, the more important it is for event
organisers, conference centres and other places which hold events, to ensure
that their wireless networks are scalable and can cope with the number of
wireless clients.
Just because my
wireless router can cope with my home network, doesn’t mean that I can use
something similar in an event or conference context.
Posted at 08:25 AM | | |
Sat
- October 13, 2007
Improve your 3G Connection
when you're at home...
Though we are seeing numerous 3G phones, cards and
modems now, but one thing that really stops these devices been used in the home
is that walls are very effective at blocking 3G
signals.I noticed this device (mentioned
in PCW Magazine) as a potential
solution.Oyster 3G
— The home access
femtocellOyster 3G is
the home access femtocell that delivers high-quality 3G spectrum into the home.
Because it uses the customer’s broadband it actually adds capacity to your
macro network, improving service for everyone in the cell, indoors or
out.Though this technology in theory
just makes it easier for 3G devices to connect to a 3G network, I believe you
would still be charged your usual 3G data
charges.Read
more
Posted at 09:24 PM | | |
Wed - October 10, 2007
Nice idea, but why McDonalds!
free wireless with your
burgers...
I read with interest (and disappointment) that a
certain fast food company is going to offer free wireless in their restaurants.
Now they use the word restaurant to describe their establishments, personally I
think that breaks the Trade Descriptions
Act!The Register reports
Proletarian fryhouse
McDonald's has announced it will offer free Wi-Fi in its 1,200 UK burger outlets
by the end of the year. The move will make McDonald's the country's largest
public hotspot provider, and pits it against Starbucks' pay-as-you-go T-Mobile
service for high street internet
supremacy.Now the thought of free
wireless is always something that I love the concept of, for example: Caffe
Gusto in Bristol (hasten to add only in some of their branches) had free
wireless and if you popped in for a coffee you might only be in there for
fifteen or twenty minutes, so you can quickly check your e-mail, do a Jaiku
presence report, check a few websites and so on...
The problem with something like T-Mobile
at Starbucks is that unless you have an account you can only purchase at a
minimum a thirty minute slot, or even a full hour. This means you spend probably
twice as much as you did on coffee to access the internet, and then you feel
like you need to spend the full time in order to get your value for
money.Now the problem I have with that
certain place that will offer free wireless is that I don’t like their
coffee (is it too hot) and I don’t like their food (way too
salty).Please can other (nice) places
start to offer free wireless, I would really appreciate it, please.
Posted at 10:58 AM | | |
Tue - October 9, 2007
Did Wire Tap Pro kill my iDisk connection?
I think so...
So there I was uploading some blog entries (from
iBlog to my .mac space) when it
failed...Attempts to access the iDisk
from Finder resulted in the following error
message.The iDisk volume can not be
foundNow initially I thought it was my
PowerBook (having had a day out) was misbehaving, so I tried to access my iDisk
on my iMac (which had stayed at home) and the same
error.I checked the blog on the web and
that was working
fine.Hmmm.So
I then checked the status page of .mac which stated all was
fine.I did a search of the Apple
Discussion Groups and that showed no current problems
either.I did a search on Google and
found the following Apple
KB.It
saidIf the issue persists,
replace the iDisk icon in the Finder sidebar by doing
this:In the Finder, choose
Preferences from the Finder menu
.Click the Sidebar icon at the
top of the window.Deselect the
iDisk checkbox, then select it again.
So I did that and all was
fine.Now the only common thing I think I
did was install WireTap Pro on
my two Macs.Could installing WireTap Pro
have killed my .mac connection?
Posted at 09:01 PM | | |
Mon - October 8, 2007
Power at last
on (some) First Great Western High Speed
Trains...
I do seem to travel long distance by train, and if
I am travelling by Virgin Trains or GNER I can at least plug in my PowerBook so
conserve battery life.However most of my
train travel has been with First Great Western and they failed to appreciate the
number of travellers using laptops on their trains until now...
With the current refit underway, the new
trains now have power sockets, which means I can plug in my
PowerBook...Well I would do if I had
remembered my power brick...I didn't
bring it, because the trains don't have power sockets, well I know now they do,
but, well you get my drift.
Of course the next time I bring my power
lead, I will be in a carriage which hasn't been upgraded, so it won't be of use
anyway!
Posted at 08:04 AM | | |
Fri - October 5, 2007
Installing a Canon LiDE 35 Scanner
a bit of a hassle...
Today I needed to scan in some pictures at work,
there was a spare Canon LiDE 35 Scanner in the cupboard so I decided to use
that.
I downloaded the software from
Canon, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to
be.
The driver didn't seem to want to
install itself.
Eventually I found I
needed to follow the following
procedure.
The CD that comes
with the scanner contains both drivers and programs, but the auto-starting
installation program ONLY installs the programs and NOT the
Twain-driver.
It has to be
installed manually.
The
procedure is as follows (the CanoScan N1240U is used as an example, simply
replace this name with your model)
1. When the Found New Hardware Wizard
appears, click the Next button to continue.
2. You'll notice that the wizard has
found all the available drivers on the cd-rom; this means all languages that are
available on your CD-ROM.
3. If you click the"Next" without
checking this, the Spanish driver will be installed or the first available.
So Be sure to select the language you want and then click the Next
button.
4. The file copying is done
now.
5. Click the Finish button and the
installation is done.
This also
applies if you are installing the downloaded software and you don't have the
CD.
I am pleased though that Canon do
provide the software on their website, too often manufacturers expect you to
always have the installation CD.
Scanning
worked fine into Fireworks and I then could edit the image.
Posted at 10:05 PM | | |
Tue - October 2, 2007
Don't check your e-mail, deal with your e-mail
have a zero inbox...
An excellent presentation from Merlin Mann on how
to deal with e-mail and have an inbox with zero e-mail in
it!
One
of the key messages, is don’t check your e-mail, deal with your
e-mail.
* Delete or
Archive *
Delegate *
Respond *
Defer *
Do
Well worth a watch especially if you
have more than fifty unread e-mail in your inbox.
Posted at 08:38 PM | | |
Mon - October 1, 2007
Adobe offers challenge to Word
free web based word
processor
Adobe has joined the ranks of Google and Zoho in offering a web based alternative to
Word.According to the BBC
:The software developer has
acquired the online word processor Buzzword, which allows users to create and
share text documents on the
web.Looks interesting.
Posted at 07:09 PM | | |
Sat
- September 29, 2007
Need more space...
250GB is never enough...
I can remember thinking once that the 20MB HDD
(that's MB not GB) on the laptop I had was a little too small for my
needs.
My Intel iMac came with a 250GB
HDD and I keep filling it up, so every so often I find one of my external drives
and fill that up with the (in the main) EyeTV recordings I have
made.
Now most of those drives are
full...
What do I do now?
Posted at 08:38 AM | | |
Fri - September 28, 2007
Bluetooth SMS PowerBook Address Book Problems
not sure of the reason why it isn't
working...
One thing that I use to use a lot on my PowerBook
was the ability to use the Address Book to send SMS text messages via my mobile
phone via a Bluetooth connection.
It was
great because I could use a proper keyboard rather than having to try and do
that predictive text stuff, or uz mob tlk 2
cmnic8!
However the last few times I have
used it the texts have never got
through!.
After a few tests I removed the
phone and re-added it as a Bluetooth favourite, however that did not
work.
Going to try with my new MacBook
Pro and the work phone to see if it is a phone issue (my home mobile is now a
pay as you go rather than a
contract).
Any other thoughts would be
welcome.
Posted at 07:01 PM | | |
Wed - September 26, 2007
iPod touch, me like, me touch
got my first touch
today...
Today I was lucky to try out the iPod touch, and
yes I was impressed.
I had quite high
expectations for the touch interface, and to be honest it met (and surpassed)
those expectations.
Browsing was
certainly easy as was navigation.
Alas
the device I was using had minimal content on, but it was still possible to try
out many of the features. Though it was really the touch interface I really
wanted to try.
Posted at 11:57 PM | | |
Tue - September 25, 2007
No PowerPC Support in 10.6
hold on, 10.5 hasn't even been
released...
Appleinsider is reporting
that Apple will drop PowerPC support in
10.6Looking ahead, those
people familiar with Apple development cycles speculate that Mac OS X 10.6 will
exclude support for PowerPC-based Macs entirely, requiring that users have one
of the company's Intel-based systems which first began making their way to
market in early 2006.So my PowerBook
might be stuck on 10.5, actually I would be surprised if the PowerBook could
even run 10.5!
Posted at 06:30 PM | | |
Slow and unsuable Vodafone 3G
but I am on a train, even
so...
This morning I am on a train to London, and I have
found that my Vodafone 3G data connection is very slow and virtually unusable
for anything even simple browsing.Now I
know I am on a train and from a technical perspective I should be impressed that
I can even get any kind of
connection.However I have used 3G on a
train before and it was a lot faster than
this.
Either there's reception issues with the
phone or more likely an issue with Vodafone, lots of people using their phones
and 3G connections.I can remember when I
was one of the few people to use a laptop on a train and (probably) the only
person on the train using the internet. Today, totally different story, even on
the table I am at someone else is using their Dell laptop, checking their
e-mail.I am thinking about getting the 3
3G USB Modem to see if a different network is faster.
Posted at 07:39 AM | | |
Fri - September 21, 2007
Presentation
now from Google...
The Google blog
is telling us about the new presentation web based application called
Presentation.Starting today,
presentations -- whether imported from existing files or created using the new
slide editor -- are listed alongside documents and spreadsheets in the Google
Docs document list. They can be edited, shared, and published using the familiar
Google Docs interface, with several collaborators working on a slide deck
simultaneously, in real time. When it's time to present, participants can simply
click a link to follow along as the presenter takes the audience through the
slideshow. Participants are connected through Google Talk and can chat about the
presentation as they're watching. Not wanting anyone to feel left out, we've
made the presentation feature available in 25 languages; Google Apps customers
can also access it as part of Google
Docs.We hope the millions
of people who already create and share documents and spreadsheets will find
presentations a welcome addition to the Google Docs family, and we can't wait to
add even more features and
enhancements.Going to go have a look
now.
Posted at 12:46 PM | | |
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Published On: Oct 22, 2007 12:13 PM
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