RSS

I have decided to implement news aggregation on this site. One reason is that after reading some information on the mt-rssfeed plugin for MovableType, seems like it will be an easy installation. However, it turned out not to be 100% easy. Dean McKenzie wrote a well written tutorial on how to do it. This is just my short summary: Installing the mt-rssfeed plugin. Be careful,

1. only install the main module into the plugsin directory, NOT the rebuild.pl module.
2. download the mt-list module as well. really can't use the rss without it
3. put the rebuild.pl into the mt directory. useful for testing
4. make up a new template (tester outputing to test.html or something) for testing
5. Put the feed names in a MT module so that you can update that separately, i.e. not editing your template file each time.

A reference site with lots of related link is here.

High Tech Grafitti

Check this out -- robotic art -- Hektor.

I broke and fixed my cellphone

I dropped my Nokia 8890 several times last week. I think I broke it Sunday night when it vibrated itself off the shelf. I realized that it was broken when I used it on Monday and could not hear any thing from it. The loudspeaker was not working. I had to press the top together to make it work, or use the headset. I opened it up with these instructions and my T6 screw driver. One of the screw recepticle broke off. The loudspeaker's contact is pressure based. So if the top is loose, the loudspeaker is not making contact with the PCB. I brought some superglue and glued the broken piece back, then held it close with one of those Quick-Grip Mini Bar Clamp. (I love those things). Now it is working. I also found a source that will sell me the cover assemble if I need to replace it.

Now that I fixed the phone, I feel a little less need to replace it with the Sony Ericsson T610. Meanwhile, there is a detail review on this phone that is titled My heart was broken by the T610 over at Mobile Burn. Maybe I really should wait for the next one.

My New iPod

I got my iPod !! 30G, third generation. It is just pure design and function. WOW. I paid only $410 for it with some discount coupons. I am using this with a Windows 2000 PC and firewire connection. I first tried to just use my existing MusicMatch software by installing the portable device plugin. It did not work. I had to install from the Apple CD because it install the currect iPod manager and other software. It asked for the serial number of my iPod. Not sure if that is necessary except for registration. It also updated the iPod's firmware. This thing is so well designed. From the product packaging (what a out-of-box experience it was), to little touches like the base of the docking station is rubbery enough, and the station is heavy enough that it does not slide around on my desk. The concept of the docking station with an audio line out is great. I am going to get another one and hook it up to the bedroom stereo. It will becomes the music source for late night sleeping listening. $40 is pretty expensive for it though. Note that the audio out is at line level, i.e. not affect by the volume setting.

Second cool design touch -- when you turn off the back lighting, it dims out, instead of just switching off immediately.

Update -- MusicMatch, or rather their plug in, just crashed on me. It refuses to start up, and locked up the iPod. I have to do a reset sequence -- toggle hold switch, hold menu and play together for 5 seconds. But now my iPod's disk is cleared according to the iPod, and have old content according to musicmatch.

Update (7/29) -- One thing that I don't like about the iPod is the wired remote. It looks nice but the clip is difficult to use. I prefer the Sony stick style remote. Also since there is no display on the remote, I have to take the iPod out to change tunes.

Speech Synthesis in Linux

I decided to see if I can get speech synthesis working on my Linux box. It is all part of a grand home automation project. I want to have the system read me the current temperature. Looking around the Linux Home Automation project page, I found Festival, a speech synthesis system from niversity of Edinburgh's Centre for Speech Technology Research.

Tech Watch Links

Apple and iPod

• Think Secret
• iPod Lounge

Sony iBook Look Alike

Sony came out with a subnotebook called the VAIO TR1. It looks completely different from the normal VAIO. It has that whitish look that resemble the iBook design. The spec of this thing looks great -- 3+ pounds, 10 inch wide screen, DVD/CD-RW drive, wifi, bluetooth, a portable note taking DVD viewing carry anyway machine. You can read the Japanese machine's spec and buy it in the US from at the Dynamisim site. The interesting thing is they just announced a model for the U.S., TR1-AP. And when I was in London I saw an actual English version, TR1-MP. The English version has bluetooth, but only 256 meg memory. After playing with the actual machine a bit, seems like the bit and finish on the machine is not great. At least not great comparing to my thinkpad. So -- do I get one? Still thinking. The US version is not shipping until July 26th anyway, according to the website when I try to order one.

Smart Input

How much smart should computer software have? Should a piece of software anticipate user error and correct or prevent it? Case in point -- Teamware, a source control system from Sun. When work is being done on the same source file between two releases, this system detects it and offer a way for you to merge the work together. As part of the merge process, you can type in command to compare one version with the other before deciding what to do. It may goes something like:

diff p c      # to compare parent version with child version
accept c    # after seeing that the child version is the better version

However, what if I meant to type in diff p c but typed diff p p instead? Comparing the same version will result in no difference. If I did not catch my mistake, I may end up accepting, wrongly, the parent version. Should the system refuse to execute the diff p p, the parent to parent compare? I think so.

Programming Job Posting

See this job posting. I agree with them completely, give or take the Microsoft specific requirements, depending on the actual job, of course.

RCN Cable Modem blocking SMTP

This information is from the Lexington Internet mailing list -- RCN is now blocking outgoing email (port 25, SMTP) so that you have to send email via their relay, smtp.rcn.com. See this announcement for more details. If you are currently setup to send email via your work mail server for example, you need to have a different setting for home. Or, just use SSH port forward to the same machine, which is what I do. I have a shell account at ISP X. Get an SSH client, either a commercial one like SecureCRT, or Putty freeware, and port forward port 25 to the mail relay (e.g. mail.x.com) at your ISP. Then change your email client to send out going email to "localhost".

T610

The coolest toys often comes from Japan, except the new iPod, which i have one on order !!!. Time to switch away from my trusty Nokia 8890 to the t610 by Sony Ericsson. Except wait until they fix that hissing sound problem. Lots of other info and lines at the Unofficial Sony Ericsson club, or at the esato site. Update!! I switched. Read all about it here

Public Wi-Fi Posting

My local Panera Bread (Sandwich and Soup place) has quietly installed Wi-Fi. Everything good happens after I leave town ! Speed is ok but it sure is nice to have connectivity, esp. since I disconnected all the data and phone lines at the Farm right now. Two weeks to closing.

RCN Cable and HTDV

Seems like RCN in the Masschusetts area is ready for HDTV starting May 15th. There will be new converter boxes etc. Channels inlude: AbcNbc, Fox, PBS, Discovery hd, Hdnet, Hdnet movies, Hbo hd, Showtime hd, Espn hd. Will be additional cost for these. This is the way to get a converter box with better output than composite video?

Some more info as time goes by. Here is a FAQ on the Motorola 5100 that RCN seems to be using. There is also talk that the non HD channels output quality is poor and Motorola is working on it.

RCN Cable, or I want my DirecTV

I have been living with RCN digital cable for several weeks now. Forget that the cable box user interface is so primitive and slow, the worst flaw is that the box only has composite video outout. What's the point of a digital signal !! I emailed their tech support. They were wonderful in responding to my email. They told me first that they have very few boxes in the warehouse that has S-Video out, and they are out of them right now. I asked them then if I can go buy my own, and they said the current policy do not allow me to do that. The tech that responded did say: ... I am doing some work compiling the requests from customers together with some of the new equipment spec sheets and writing a request for the policy change. This is something that may take quite a bit of coercion on the part of our customers to make this happen. Time for www.i-want-clean-signal-from-rcn.com ?

RCN Digital Cable vs DirecTV DSS

In the loft I currently have Digital Cable TV from RCN. The service from RCN has been first rate so far, but the cable TV itself has not been so good. I am not complaining about the program (yet), but the cable box. This Motorola Digital cable box is years behind my Sony DSS controller. The Sony DSS system has a highly readable program guide that spans 2 hours. The Motorola can only show half and hour. Sometimes it has to use two lines to display one channel because the program do not end in hour or half hour. Rediculous ! Instead of showing programs, it shows advertisement on 1/4 of the screen.

Outlook Replacement?

Will Mitch Kapor's Chandler project become the ultimate Outlook killer? The Personal Information Manager that is as good as the old Agenda?

Electronic Notebook

In search of the perfect electronic notepad -- light, long battery life, easy to type and draw with, connected. Why is it so hard? The Sony picture book (wifi via PC-Card only, no built in antenna), or the U3 (only in Japan), the Sharp actius (too big), the Libretto L3 (Japan only again), the Fujitsu lifebook (too heavy), etc. etc. Why is this so hard? The Sony SRX line comes close, but the 7 is not available in the US, maybe the 99?

Proximity Sensing via Cell Phone

This story on Wired.com describes how Jonas Salling, a Swedish programmer, developed Apple software to connect a Sony Ericsson cellphone to his Mac using Bluetooth. A lot of emphasis may be placed on the use of the phone as a remote control device for the Mac. This has also been down for Linux as well. However the one little fun thing that he did, which allow the laptop to detect the presense of the phone (and its owner) via bluetooth, is in my opinion, the innovation. Start thinking of application for this technique.

wiki configuration -- interwiki

If you want to setup your own interwiki names, edit the file in your wiki data directory, e.g. /usr/local/moin/share/yourwiki/intermap.txt The interwiki name must starts with a capital letter.

Digitizing Video Tapes

I have a new Shuttle PC with a Radeon 8500 All-in-Wonder card so that I can do movie editing and also video capturing. I saved a few old PBS shows on VHS for years. These shows unfortunately are not available on digital format. Now with this card I can capture them and burn DVD from them for my own personal archive. One cool thing I found out is that the Radeon card is smart enough to enable TV output as the only video out if a TV is plugged into the card on boot time. I took my PC downstair to the TV room, hook it up to the TV using S-Video cable and booted the system. If it did not enable TV-out automatically I would have to lug the monitor down there, not a fun thing to do. I did have problem with sound. I was getting a echo on the sound capture. I fixed it by disabling .wav output. I need to open the case and see how they connected the video card and the sound card together.

Some useful Links: DVD FAQ