Following a successful release of v1, we’re now announcing that development of v2 is well under way!
This early preview was taken on 24 April 2008, around 12 weeks into the build (click through for a larger image).
The release date is currently set for early November, although given that v1 shipped two and half weeks early (much to our surprise), there is a good chance that v2 will follow that same trend…
Stay tuned for updates!
Since my last rant about Apple attempting to push new software onto my PC via it’s “update” service, they’ve backed off a little with a newly released version of their software. Following an update to the updater, it now looks like this,
As you can see they’ve rightly split the list into actual updates and new software. However, as the astute among you will notice, the Safari selection box is still ticked by default. This is better behaviour than before, but still not “best practice” in my opinion.
Hey Apple! - despite not wanting your browser, I don’t have a problem with being offered new software, but I want to OPT-IN not opt-out. So yeah, shame on you - again! And don’t get me started on having to install QuickTime just because I want iTunes…
While browsing though some photos on my computer I came across a whole bunch of old family photos from my grandparents. Here’s a quick sample - my father as a boy playing in a pedal car,
This photo was taken at my great grandparents home in Geraldine St in Christchurch, 1946. For comparison, here’s Matthew in a pedal-less car from the toy library,
Taken at our home in Wellington on 6 Apr 2007, just over a year ago.
Virtual machines are great. They let you run another operating system inside your current operating system so you can test software out without fear of nuking your current computer. Or, without having to find another computer to install a completely different OS on.
Here’s some screenshots of virtual computers on my PC,
Windows XP - my current OS,
Ubuntu - a popular Linux-based OS,
And the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child),
If your first reaction on seeing the above screenshot was “WTF?” - you’re not alone. So was mine. I still can’t get my head around it. I guess I’m too old and stuck in a Windows world to understand how the kids can do anything useful with that… I did however manage find a web browser under one of those big noddy icons.
If you want to try running another operating system on your machine, here’s some useful links - all with free downloads,
Following the recently released v2.5 of WordPress for the folks who host their own install, my blog here at wordpress.com has got the same treatment. The changes are all behind the scenes, and if you’re curious what the new interface looks like, here’s a screenshot of the page used to post a blog entry,
Pretty!
Yet to discover all the new features, and only one gripe so far - I don’t like the position of the tags and categories sections - these were better on the right of the main post area.
This is actually a t-shirt available from uneetee.com.
Apple’s Software Update service is trying to install the Safari web browser on my computer.
Why is this bad? Because an “update” service should not be pretending that I should update this software which doesn’t actually exist on my PC! Yes I can opt-out of the install, but why isn’t the process opt-in? That little box should NOT be checked by default if the software isn’t already installed. Shame on you Apple.
If you run iTunes on your computer, you’ll see the same thing if you use Apple’s Software Update. Here’s how to disable it permanently so you won’t be bugged again,
Leave the box ticked for Safari, hit the tools menu and select “Ignore Selected Updates”,
Safari update be gone and don’t bug me again. I’m more than happy with my Firefox install (and I don’t believe the claims in the blurb in that top screenshot).
Ignore Safari. Get Firefox. Smarter. Safer. Better.
…is out from Niwa.
In short, it was warmer than average by 0.8C nationwide (also warmer than Dec 2007) and drier than average in several areas with severe soil moisture deficit in places. Notably for Wellingtonians, the capital was the sunniest of the 5 main centres, despite being the wettest, while Auckland was the warmest and Christchurch the driest.
Grab Niwa’s pdf summary for more data.
via xkcd
Last night I finally finished moving all my photos over to Google’s Picasa Web Albums service,
http://picasaweb.google.com/noblephotos
The photo upload was actually quick via the Picasa desktop application. The time consuming part was all the link fixing for photos already embedded in this blog and other pages on my site.
Besides reasons I’ve already outlined for choosing Picasa (here and here), there are a few other reasons I moved all my photos relating to personal web hosting. In particular, I’ve decided I no longer want to put time and effort into maintaining and updating my “Gallery” install (still a most excellent, free and open source solution via gallery.menalto.com). Not only does any software you install on your own website need to be updated (eg security patches), but there’s inevitably a certain amount of effort needed to customise the look and functionality to fit your site. Personally I can’t be bothered any more, especially since my personal site is non-profit and funded 100% by me!
Furthermore, host space and bandwidth needs to be paid for - both of which Google now handles for me. Picasa Web Albums are free for anyone with a Google account (who hasn’t got one these days?!) providing 1GB of storage. By moving my photos there I now have more free disk space at noble.gen.nz, and have greatly reduced my monthly bandwidth usage from my web host. Nice. Thanks Google!
So, all my photos and albums are still available, just at a different address. And with lots more available space to fill up, I now plan on getting more of my snaps online. Watch this space…
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