Archive for the 'geekery' Category

We – Bubi, Joe and i – have ‘just’ talked about a mechanical apparatus that would be programmed to prepare coffee in the morning just like this breakfast machine in the first Back to the Future movie that even included preparing an egg. Well, now that we are living in the wonderful world of the web 2.0 we can get quite a lot of inspiration by viewing clips of Rube Goldberg machines. Bubi – a bright mechatronics student – has just send me this one where a tea bag is finally thrown into a cup – after detouring a marble around a labyrinth of things. I would like to add some Japanese jewels of Rube Goldberg machines with impressive mechanics, materials, and music. More of these kinda things on Google Video or YouTube. DIY at its best.

Wann hast du das letzte Mal die Feststelltaste bewusst betätigt? Wir reden von jener Taste, die auf wohl fast allen gegenwärtig produzierten Computertastaturen zwischen Umschalttaste und Tabulatortaste verortet ist. Ich meine zufällig betätige ich sie oft, weil sie mir zwischen Tab- und Shifttaste öfters mal unter die Finger kommt. Aber ich kann mich an keinen Zeitpunkt jüngerer Vergangenheit erinnern, da ich bewusst ALLES FOLGENDE GROSZSCHREIBEN WOLLTE. Selbst nicht im Chatfenster. Viel zu mühsam, die dann wieder auszuschalten. Auszerdem ist es nicht meine Art zu schreien. Ich kann mich also nur Pieter Hintjens’ Bewegung CAPSoff anschlieszen: Die Feststelltaste muss gehen. Sie hat ihre Dienste getan.

via ranchero.com: Death to Caps Lock

Als ich Deutschland vor nun schon mehr als 4,5 Monaten verliesz, musste ich auch mein tazabo unterbrechen. Ich hatte der netten Frau von der Aboabteilung versichert, dass ich prinzipiell an der digitaz interessiert wäre, sie aber dann eher in einer am Rechner zu verdauenden Neuigkeitenspeisung (engl. news feed) zu mir nehmen würde. Nun, nachdem die meisten Schwergewichte im eiskalten Geschäft der Weltverbesserung bereits Bock auf Blog hatten und zumeist noch haben, ist auch die tageszeitung auf den Zug zur Sonne, zur Freiheit aufgesprungen. Die taz hat endlich tazblog. Wie bei anderen konventionellen Medienanbietern wirkt das alles noch ein wenig so wie ein Testlabor neben dem eigentlichen Kerngeschäft mit der Druckausgabe. So ist der geneigte Leser mit einer Handvoll von Autorenweblogs konfrontiert, die ich erstmal alle (manuell weil der kombininierte Feed nicht funktionieren wollte) abonniert habe. Inhaltlich kann ich noch nicht so viel sagen, aber die Blognamen wirken verheiszungsvoll: Wortistik, Hier spricht der Aushilfshausmeister! oder Bildschirmtext. Auszerdem fällt mir auf, dass gewisse Themen, die ich doch eigentlich schon mit anderen Blogs besetzt habe, nun auch mitunter vom tazblog beackert werden. So gibt es einen Blog über Zeichnen und Comics. Auszerdem gibt es zwei Blogs zum Überwachungsstaat: Alle(s) unter Kontrolle und STOP 1984. Ich bin gespannt, wie sich die tazblogs entwickeln werden und freue mich auf inspirierende und augenöffnende Beiträge. Die tagtägliche taz werde ich aber dann aber trotzdem wieder abonnieren.

Ich befinde mich ja hier in Santiago im Praktikum und beschäftige mich mit sozialer, webbasierter Software. Neben dem Studium dessen, was es da so schon so in die Richtung gibt, ist der wesentliche Teil des Praktikums dafür gedacht, seine Ideen praktisch umzusetzen. Bei webbasierten Dingen gibt es eine Vielfalt an Ebenen, Sprachen und Kontexten, die vor die Verheiszungen von Ajax schweisztreibende Webprogrammierung gesetzt haben. Mensch ist mit Umgebungen stark variierender Eckdaten konfrontiert, wo mal diese Bibliothek vorhanden ist oder eine andere Funktionalität nicht unterstützt wird. Außerdem muss mensch mit mindestens vier Sprachen einigermaßen umgehen können, um ein zeitgemäßes Nutzungserlebnis zu gewährleisten.

Es gibt verschiedene Ansätze sich diesem Dickicht zu nähern: Ruby on Rails ist jüngst dafür berühmt und beliebt geworden, anspruchsvolle Programmierungskonzepte in die bisher eher schmutzige Welt des Webs zu tragen, und somit das Programmiererlebnis – was bei der ganzen Nutzerzentrierung nicht zu vernachlässigen ist – zu verbessern. Besonders zu erwähnen ist das Konzept der Modell-Präsentation-Steuerung (engl. Abk. MVC), das eine Trennung zwischen Darstellungs- und Datenschicht vorgibt, um Programmiercode besser zu strukturieren und Programmkomponenten unabhängig voneinander pflegen zu können.

Das Problem mit Ruby on Rails ist aber, dass es bislang noch zu wenig verbreitet ist. Strebt mensch also eine möglich weite Verwendung seiner Software an, bleibt ihm bislang erstmal nur PHP. Unter dieser Maszgabe haben sich einige PHP-Programmierer die Ansätze und Ideen von Ruby on Rails angeschaut, für gut befunden und versucht jene Konzepte in PHP abzubilden. Dank Bubi bin ich auf CakePHP gestoszen, das genau das versucht. So beschäftige mich in diesen Tagen intensiv damit und habe heute mein erstes Tutorial geschrieben.

In der Cake Bakery gibt es eine Liste mit deutschsprachigen Ressourcen bezüglich Cake.

I really enjoy doing nightshots these days. In fact, i have used my camera (canon ixus 400, sometimes also sold as powershot or elph) almost exclusively with the extended exposure feature lately. I am sure other digicams have it, too. So instead of walking my camera during the day, i get her out during night. The colors are so much different. If you have a (digital) camera at hand you should really try it out. The ‘technique’ is dead simple:

1. Wait until it’s dark outside. You could read a book or talk to your flatmates in the meanwhile.
2. Walk around your neighborhood and find a nice scene to take a picture of.
3. Extend the exposure time according to need or gusto.
4. Place your camera on a steady surface, e.g. the ground. Tripods are also great, but not always at hand.
5. Do it. Take the picture.

Too easy. It is all about experimenting with your photographic device. But just a few more notes, to get you kick started:

• Color the sky. Cool effects are possible with the sky being almost black. With extended exposure it will turn red, purple and/or blue.
• Let it rain. Wet surfaces will make your result far more colorful.
• Cars suck. But when it comes to nightshots they add the essential effect of red and yellow light lines.
• Do it often. Take more than one picture of a given scene with different exposure levels. This way you decide later what suits you best.
• Money, money. Use some coins to adjust the angle, especially if you put the camera on the ground.

Those nightshots that i’ve uploaded to Flickr have not been edited in any way. It’s just extra long exposure goodness. If anybody reading this has some results, please leave a link. I reeaally like nightshots. Ooops, its getting dark outside. Gotta go.

Thanks again to the Ente who has prodded me to the night mode feature of my camera and to ClobS who has ignited my appreciation of nightshots a few months ago by showing his nocturnal view on Santiago.

I was going to blog about that some weeks ago, and now that cybernotic was faster, i just add some quick thoughts. There seems to be a wave of (influential and advanced) Mac users switching away from the Mac as Apple gets bigger and starts doing Microsoftish things. The two articles that started this discourse were by Mark Pilgrim and Cory Doctorow. The main reasons stated for leaving the Mac behind were the decreasing quality of Apple software and that the data created or maintained with this software often becomes an “undocumented binary black hole” as Mark has put it.

I am still happy in regard to the software. Mac developers eat usabilty every morning with their breakfast so that the software i use allows me to be pleasantly productive – apart from my daily procrastination. Even though Apple seems to become more evil on some parts, they still have the lead in designing an innovative system with the user in mind.

I would be happier if all my personal belongings (e.g. pim data) would be stored in well-documented xml, so that staying with the Mac is not a matter of a vendor lock-in. Of course it would be also cool if we see some more open sourcing – not very likely.

I would be a lot happier if Apple would turn itself into a self-ruled collective where the designers, programmers and factory workers work under fair conditions with a good pay – not at all likely. Furthermore the side-effects on the environment and world regions in crisis need to be considered when producing computer hardware. Yet those latter complaints also count within the Linux world (more on this here).

Right now i don’t have the patience to switch, but i am sure the day will come. The FLOSS world has quite a few things to offer. The most obvious is the open nature of a thriving community that is devoted to creating software. While Mac fans get nervous (incl. me) waiting for the next keynote by Steve Jobs to listen to his words, the open source community gets work done through a compellingly open process. While Mac OS X still is technically more innovative, Linux & Co is socially, politically, and economically far more progressive.

Remember what is written in the intergalacticly acclaimed Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

… any man [or woman] who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his [or her] towel is, is clearly a man [or woman] to be reckoned with.

You always should know where you’ve got your towel – well, at least today. Otherwise you might miss the chance of a lifetime to have participated in the internationally celebrated Towel Day in 2006 which happens to be today, May 25th. I have recently talked to Marco about Douglas Adams having been also a mac aficionado and now the day of the commemoration of the Hitchhikers’ series comes along. Grab your towel and put up your thumbs.

More and more hackers and hackresses leave their computers turned off these days to turn their attention to a completely lo-tech pastime activity. They get their knitting baskets out filled will needle and yarn goodness and do the thing that might as well change the whole world. Some weave streetart, others knit anti-war protests and a few even start magazines devoted to the next big thing. Those webs of yarn neither need electricity nor wi-fi – just commitment to the cause. Today products of knitted fabrics of wool seem to be just as pervasive as air. There is even apparel completely made of yarn. If you ask me this is what i would call grid, everywear, or ubiquitous technology. In the future we will overcome dull necessities like electricity, internet, or computers. We will all knit together a warmer, fuzzier and more interwoven web of wool. Leave all tech lingo behind you and start to use those open APIs available in every thriftstore.

If you are enthusiastic about information visualization and want to get a bit inspired, don’t look through all of the examples posted on visual complexity. Otherweise you might as well feel a bit dizzy or disconnected. They have 315 projects categorized with screenshots, description and the link to the corresponding page. For me it was sufficient keeping the mouse on the next-link to keep me from working. The picture above is a rotated screenshot from the index page.

via iaslash: Visual Complexity

Now that i am enrolled in a advanced – i am still blushed – Spanish course at the Goethe Institut in Santiago i can really kick of my studies in regard to the Spanish language. Even though the other three estudiantes in el curso de español seem to be some steps ahead i think it will be a good way to improve mi español.

There are several ways one can prepare a stay in a country with a different language besides formal courses. In my case i did tandem meetings with a Mexican girl in Magdeburg. For me this worked like a alarm clock for awakening my sleeping Spanish abilities that i once acquired in school. The idea is that two persons meet on a regular basis talking both in mother languages and the new one to be acquired. In this way the process of learning and teaching a language is combined. I think i will do this here too. Vamos a ver.

Furthermore i also did employ – claro – web 2.0 technologies. In this case it was podcasting. If you are into computer and internet things this one is for you: Latin Tech Talk. A podcast about information technology held in Spanish via Skype by several Latinos discussing the latest developments in the tech world. The good thing for beginners: technical terms often remain in English, so it is possible to follow the course of the conversation vaguely even though you might not understand all words.

In another podcast i learnt that reading a book still helps even if you almost understand nothing. You get accustomed to co-occurrence of words and the order in sentences. So much about my amateurish insights in learning a language.