It looks like there’s this “reality” out there called Dexigner where I was told “… all the coolest stuff is up there”.
Well…
Nokia’s Flagship store is there (thanx Max).
This also means that we made it to Dexigner :)
Unique Wireless Shopping Experience
Popularity: 1% [?]
I have to admit it, I don’t use FireFox.
At least not until NOW!.
I’m using it to post this article and I already can see the (BIG) difference.
FireFox
Safari
Not to talk about the times my file uploads just fail.
This means one thing: as of today, I’m a firefox user.
Of course it will take me a while before I get used to not rounded buttons (I really don’t like FireFox having square buttons, but can’t do much now).
I’m testing Camino as well as an alternative, but I could experience some little visualization bugs I didn’t like at all.
doubts, doubts, doubts
Popularity: 1% [?]
This morning I received an email from Michael J. Hale (the one who first told me about the NovaMedia iSync plugin), tipping me about mactomster iSync plugin.
Haven’t tested it as I bought the NovaMedia one, and can’t say much about the product, as the site is German only, but I pass this to whoever is interested in getting a free way to sync their 3rd ed. devices.
In case the plugin author sees this from technorati or logs or whatever I advice him/her to provide an english translation to the site and the readme file as well.
This might be an option to novamedia’s product.
Too bad just a small part of the world speaks german (including my girlfriend).
update: as foo commented, the plugin is not free.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Due to the latest Os X update 10.4.7 (containing iSync changes), NovaMedia has updated their plugin.
PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE UPDATING THE PLUGIN (and even better before updating Os X)
Once the plugin has been updated (remember you’ll receive notification only if you legally own the plugin) you’ll see that the device icon is back to the default novamedia.tiff one.
Although I love the product I hate the icon, that’s why I investigated how to change it in first place.
Anyway…
Now the structure is a bit different, as we have separate bundles on a model basis.
This makes it easier to update an icon, as we can easily identify this plugin
/Library/PhonePlugins/Nokia-E61.phoneplugin
open the bundle, in the directory Resources you’ll find the MetaClasses.plist file to edit and the novamedia.tiff.
easiest way to get your icon is just replace the novamedia.tiff with your device icon (E60 and E61 can be found here) and rename the icon to “novamedia.tiff”.
If on the other side you feel like (me) wanting to make things cleaner, just edit the MetaClasses.plist file using a text editor or Apple Property List Editor (in case you have developer tools installed).
if you need more specific instructions just read my previous post
Now get your hands dirty!
Popularity: 1% [?]
TwoDotOne’s expansion towards world conquer (based on psychedelic experiences from the 70′s) is leading us to need an industrial designer who wants to collaborate with us.
There’s not many requirements, besides these 2
1: good product/interface design skills
2: ability to prototype (functional) models
any response will be exhamined.
contact
workwithus at twodotone dot com (basic anti spam skills required to decrypt the email address)
Popularity: 1% [?]
Niko finally published Hanazuki.com.
The Hanazuki Company is a small agency founded by Niko Stumpo and Hanneke Metselaar.
The agency produces work of any kind from crafting to interaction design.
The site is a common effort of me and niko.
This is, at the moment, the only place where you can check a part of TwoDotOne’s portfolio, as of all the works in there I’ve been coding more than half.
The site is sweet and playful, as most of niko’s work.
plese check it out.
Popularity: 1% [?]
the previous article’s been written on a MacBook.
just so you know…
:)
Popularity: 1% [?]
As you might have read, we are running an installation here in amsterdam called radarFunk.
This installation is based on a Windows XP machine and uses a Nokia 6680 mobile for user interaction.
BlueTooth is used to establish communication between the 2.
I’m not going to explain every detail, I’ll just highlight the points necessary to tell the hassles we had on the way.
The machine has no screen, keyboard, mouse.
It’s a server that runs a Director application to host and play the sounds, and a BlueTooth server (our BlueSocket technology) to receive input from the mobile device and broadcast it to every TCP/BlueTooth client attached.
When preparing the machine for the installation, we thought it could just be running 24/7, as we thought about the Nokia 6680 too.
This world is everything but an ideal one, and windows machines just can’t run 24/7 (I turn my mac laptop off only when updates require a restart).
The Nokia is less of a problem, but restarting it every night just can’t do any harm.
Of course we figured this out when the installation was already running.
To have you understand what the real problems were, you have to first know how this works and then we’ll highlight the possible flaws/requirements.
radarFunk MINI is a J2ME application that requires a BlueTooth SPP (Serial Port Protocol) connection to a server to broadcast note signals.
In the first revision the device had to be configured on application startup to connect to a BlueSocket server.
Now in case the BlueSocket machine was failing (it happened first time because of overheating) the J2ME client looses connection, and since CPU cycles are precious, I didn’t want to implement a listener to check if the SPP connection is broken.
I figured out that to avoid all the necess fiddling with the configuration panel of the application, it was better to have it reconnect to the last known server on launch.
Well, this worked and still does, but then we had to face another problem:
the server was locked in a box with no access to power switch.
I could have used a KVM extender to enable the exhibition people to turn off the machine properly every evening and start it up the morning after, but I didn’t want them to connect monitor/keyboard/mouse every time. They already have to execute a sequence of operations in order to restart the Nokia device.
Let’s examine what we had to deal with:
control userpasswords2 from a command promptWow, now we have a machine that will start/stop with no complaints at all.
Wait a moment… I said the machine is locked in a box, how do I access the power button?
Do I leave it out so everybody can just go there, click the button and shut down our installation?
I really don’t think so.
How do exhibition managers shut down my machine then?
Here’s when I decided to build my remote power switch/LED remote USB key.
You can read about it and see some pictures here.
Just for the article here’s a picture of what it looks like.
I installed it this morning and it’s very easy to use.
Plug the modified USB pen into the port, press the button.
It’s nothing but an extender for the Power LED and Power switch, but it’s quite neatly done.
Now Ed and the others at the Arti’s building are happier.
In case you want more detailed information or schematics just drop a line.
I’ll be glad to help whoever wants to try this.
u.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Now that I own a black Nintendo DS Lite, I couldn’t see it next to my pbook12.
I had to get a black MacBook.
It’s finally sitting on my desk.
No impressions to come as there’s already PLENTY out there.
:)
Popularity: 1% [?]
Our radarFunk installation uses a BlueTooth server developed by us that runs on a windows PC.
The machine is a bit outdated, and there’s a lot of hardware running under windows XP.
This causes windows’ hardware manager to sometimes fail on the BlueTooth dongle and crashes the service.
Luckily this happens just every few days with the computer running 24/7.
Today I had to go and check the installation, but I had to figure out a way so the machine can be turned off and on.
I already set up the server to auto-login, launch the needed stuff on startup etc.
I even created 2 batch files to restart and shutdown the machine in case we need (there’s no monitor/keyboard attached).
All of the above works if you can:
None of the above can be easily performed by the people who manage the exhibition, so I had to figure out something else,
this is why I built a remote power switch for PC.
I used an old USB memory case to build the switch and add an LED to represent the machine status (power LED).
As I needed to carry 4 wires (switch and led) I thought using a USB connector might have worked pretty well, and it did.
An afternoon of work (most of it on adapting the board inside the usb memory stick and the USB port in the black box.
This is what came out, and tomorrow I’ll have to test it (hope it’ll work)
Popularity: 2% [?]
I won’t be posting an unwrapping report with 500 pictures of me peeling off every piece of plastic.
Neither will I show how beautiful, crispy, bright the screen is.
Nor the beauty of sounds and the reminiscence of past they bring back.
This post is exclusively to show off in a moderate way and keep track of the fact that I received my B L A C K (get this, non EU countries who use to get everything before us) Nintendo DS Lite on friday June 23, 2006.
By the way…
It’s beautiful, now I just need a black macbook to go together. My only worry is that my E61 pairs so beautifully with my aluminum pbook 12…
Popularity: 1% [?]
The motto is:
Pushing the desktop metaphor with physics, piles and the pen.
the video is fantastic. I’ve been watching it all.
I love when researchers try to ease the daily desktop experience and this is a good attempt.
Popularity: 1% [?]
The dude now has to say about RSS, blogs etc.
Of course not much good coming out of his mouth.
Dude, you’re 49, quite done, I’d say.
Leave us alone.
Let us design good stuff.
We’re trying to separate content from presentation to allow for a broader target.
Impaired people will be able to use contents too.
Ain’t that enough?
I know people who are 75 years old and don’t complain about interfaces.
They chat, write emails, read news.
They can even use aggregators.
It’s about time Nielsen surrends to the fact he’s the minority.
Please, world, don’t listen to him.
[from ./SlashDot]
Popularity: 1% [?]
A very nice article on this project me and saver (as TwoDotOne) contributed to.
from the article:
We’d go so far as to say it rivals Chicago’s impressive Apple Store just a couple blocks north for style, clean design, and clever use of technology.
check it out here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Asia Carrera, former pornstar, earned my respect for being a geek more than a hardcore actress.
This woman who not long ago retired from the porn industry to live a happy life with her growing family (she’s 8 months pregnant now) just lost her husband Don in a car accident.
In a previous version of my own site I used to link to her site because I loved the fact she was publishing it herself. I even sent her an email tracking down the administrative contact from the WHOIS database, and I got a reply
thanks for the link! links from fellow geeks are always appreciated! :)
hugs,
asia
I felt so happy for this, then never wrote again to respect her privacy.
Now the always smiling Asia is going through some hard time, and here I want to show my solidarity with her.
She’ll have to raise her children by herself, and she’s asking for help.
If you feel like, read her diary
Asia, we love and respect you.
Popularity: 1% [?]