Author: Ianforrester

Senior firestarter at BBC R&D, emergent technology expert and serial social geek event organiser. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io

Ubuntu switch: If you ever want to sleep at night…

…don't try and create samba shares on top of NTFS formatted partitions.

Honestly it's been a ongoing problem for the last few months. My first lot of shares just worked on NTFS so I tried to duplicate the setup over other machines including my laptop and my ubuntu home server. Did it ever work? No. So I've finally juggled the data around and formatted all the drives in my ubuntu home server Ext3 (i was tempted with reiser3 but couldn't see the point) and now finally setup the shares. As expected, with some tweaking of my /etc/fstab file its all working correctly.

So hows the rest of my switch going? Well actually pretty well. I've not switched back into Windows for ages now. I actually deleted the virtualised image I had of Windows XP and although Wine is still installed, I have never really used it beyond seeing if particls will launch. Of course it didnt…

I'm now blogging using QTM and found a couple useful applications including Specto and Timevault. Timevault is like Timemachine on Mac OS 10.5 but without all the fancy crap and it can sync to a network drive. Yes this is very important and I realised after talking to Miles that Timemachine doesn't have this feature. Plus realisticlly Timemachine is actually just a app which allows unlimited undos, not really backup. Timevault on the other hand can back up to a local HD, Firewire drive or Network drive making it useful for real backup and with a VPN coonection very powerful.

My standby problems on my laptop are under control. I have a script which I can active via Natuitus Scripts to shutdown Gnome's Power manager control. Once the Gnome power manager is shutdown, the lid will put the machine to standby no problem. Sometimes I have to watch out because gnome will start the power manager again after a update. I had a problem a while back with my wireless card waking up afterwards but its all sorted now. I've also noticed my battery times have gone up again. Now I'm getting about 3.5 hours out of my 1 year old battery, so I'm not doing too bad. Maybe I'll get another battery later next year as a spare.

Another thing which got fixed recently was my calendaring solution. Now I'm using Google Calendar as a syncing tool between Mozilla lightning and Plaxo. My phone now talks directly to Plaxo and my work outlook calendar.

I'm glad I switched over and my next project is to get rsyncing working well with a couple of cron jobs. So for example my laptop will have the latest podcasts when I pick it up in the mornings. I'll also use it for backups in liu of amanda or bacula. I'm also still using Hamachi for my VPN solution and I'm finding it a pain on Linux, the gui version does crash a bit and the command line gives very little feedback. So I'm thinking about switching to OpenVPN as its got real Linux support and its highly recommended. Lastly I want to switch to Evolution and I need to upgrade my smoothwall server to version 3.0. Who knows a couple more late nights before Christmas and it might happen.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

SEMN IP Pitching event today

Just a quick mention that I will be at the SEMN IP Pitching event later today as one of the judges/dragons? Looking at the line up of companies pitching it should be an interesting event and I think anyone can come and watch?

You are warmly invited to the SEMN Pitching Event on the afternoon of Tuesday 11th December. This event is being run by SEMN in association with Wired Sussex. This is open to existing SEMN Digital Content Knowledge Network /images/emoticons/laugh.gifCKN) members and, more widely, to any digital content company, individual or university in the South East of England.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Jury Service again

Jury Summons

Opened my mail to find this on Friday night. This is my 2nd time so I think I'm right in saying they can't ask me again. I actually don't mind being on Jury Service but this time instead of the criminals of Croydon and the surrounds areas, I've been summons to the old baily in London. Let's hope I don't get on one of those huge fraud cases or worst still a multiple murder case.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

PlugLondon

Plug London

So PlugLondon a event run Christian of Yahoo's Developer Network, kicked off yesterday. It was a good event and I hope it will carry on through next year. I'm going to start calling it the Minibar for Developers, as its a simular format but more developer focused. I think throught-out the time we had about 10+ presentations and some time for chatter between. I did wish at some points people would be a little quieter but generally people would float off to the back of the great skype offices for a natter.

So to improve the event I would move the presentations to a set area maybe away from the entrance and kicthen. Then allow that area to be setup for adhoc networking or natterings. It might also be worth timing the presentations as some did go on for a while. I did love the idea of people saying who they were even near the end of the event. This meant even people who were really late could still feel part of the overall crowd. Having it on a Saturday was interesting but I don't know if thats a good or bad thing for people. I was thinking I could do some shopping then go the event. But it didn't happen, instead we ended up going to the Bricklayers Arms (I don't get why people love that pub but its so popular with developers) and after that going to a restaurant with Dave Sifry of Technorati. So in actual fact, the whole Saturday afternoon and evening was used up at the event and the stuff which followed. I did suggest to Chrisitan that it should be a Friday night instead. Chrisitan is talking about moving the event around different offices in the future, so that would be very cool, specially if it grows over time.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Bubble? Maybe but different this time

Funny video which seems to be doing the rounds at the moment. I would say there is a slight bubble in some corners but there is a genuine change which can not be ignored (oh did I meantion I posted a powerpoint about whats changed).Back in bubble land, there is few IPOs and therefore no money from the general public. This is important, as there won't be such a large crash if a bubble pops.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

thoughts on BarCampLondon3

So finally I got around to fixing the metadata on my Flickr photos which I've uploaded from BarCampLondon3. Please note I tried to take a picture of every single person during the introductions and 3 tags. This time I got a good selection of everyone.

Anyway how did things go? Well from my point of view – great! Without a douht it was the best BarCamp i've arranged or ever been to. Not only that but it was one of the best weekends I've ever had in my life. the whole event became a geek wonderland. After filling our skulls with ideas and inspiration it was on to a great dinner supplied fresh from the Google on site chef.

And lets just pause on that. Saturday morning a nice decent lunch. People were already impressed with the large fridges stocked with drinks and ice creams. Then for dinner a full thanksgiving meal complete with veg and vegan options, just perfect for the last weekend in November. Google's chef wanted to do a live BBQ on the tereace of the 5th floor office but it was a little cold for a real BBQ.
Turkey for dinner
If things couldn't get any better they did. At midnight a chocolate fountain with marshmellows and strawberries plus freshly made crepes (pancakes). I mean check out the pictures of the hour of pure sugar.
Waffles
Chocolate-covered marshmallow
Breakfast and lunch on Sunday were also great but how can you beat such a great midnight feast?

So the food and drinks were spot on. The Google offices are great lots of character and lots of well equipt rooms. For BarCampLondon we had a good selection of rooms and even some rooms without projectors. We thought we might try that out this time and I did see some sessions in them during the weekend.
IMG_0969
One thing we should have done is added a couple more rooms, as that would have eased the conjestion in some rooms. However I didn't want to spread the people too thinly by opening to many rooms and it would have caused Google even more problems with security. Can I also say how brave Google were, having people wondering past working peoples desks. But wow you really got a feel of what it might be like to work in such a dynamic place.

What sessions did I go to? (thanks Jeremy keith again for doing the microformats transformed version).
Saturday

  • Caja and OpenSocial.
  • BBC programmes API: a first look.
  • Messaging scales
  • Build your lifestream with Yahoo Pipes
  • Take your camera out of auto.
  • Geeky Kids

Sunday

  • TV tubes – automating your TV downloads.
  • Hacking people.
  • 101 uses for Twitter.
  • The desktop is not dead.
  • Using puzzles, stories and ARGs in brand marketing and the perils therein.
  • Talking about the future of BarCamps and the past of some volunteer-run events.
  • Data portability.

Ones with emphases are my own sessions. I actually uploaded the slides for the data portability one .

more to come…

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Sam Sethi in hotwater once again

Blognation UK Launch

So I'm late to all this because I was tied up with meetings all day for reasons which will come out soon. But Sam Sethi of Blognation is in trouble again. I only heard about it from John tonight at the girl geekdinner christmas party (good party, shame I came late and didnt win the xbox 360, specially after the previous blog entry). And yes John was right, its now across many blogs and its become a real meal of a story now.

I don't usually read the over gossip driven valleywag but they have a decent summary.

In short, Starr charges, Sethi hasn't funded BlogNation, can't pay his contributors, lies to the press and his employees, and will have a hard time raising funding because he is a liar, not a CEO. Imagine that: Oliver Starr, burning bridges?

In this case, no one wins but Arrington. Never one to shy from a nerdfight, the prickly blog impresario has had a running feud with his former coworkers. If BlogNation ceases to exist, they'll be missed — if only for the entertaining feud.

There right about Arrington winning. Blognation was a good idea and actually had legs. Now I don't know Oliver Starr that well but when I read what Nicole Simon had to say, I was disappointed. Nicole is a very straight down the line kind of person, a person who I certainly trust and it sounds like she was getting a bit of a run around too.

Although I believed 100% that my hiatus would just be a temporary thing until payment would be in and then I would go back and continue working, it becomes now clear to me that this is unlikely to happen. I assume that I will find my postings deleted as are Oliver's soon, but of course I do have backups as well as documentation of posted items. Just because I am trusting other people does not mean that I am stupid.

No Nicole your not stupid, even Sam asked me to write on blognation at one point. (Imagine that, dyslexic writer?)

Anyway Sam did briefly reply on Techcrunch and Twitter saying Techcrunch isn't as clean as they may think. I'm sure Sam will more to say about this all soon, maybe via Jemima Kiss this time around? then maybe get back to unbalancing the mighty grip arrington has over this area of the startup business?

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

What just happened? Xbox 360 and PS3 did what?

Xbox 360 and Playstation side by side

So I heard rumours that the next Xbox 360 dsashboard upgrade would support Xvid and Divx but I didn't think it would be this soon? Everyone seems to say it works fine even with ac3 (dolby digital or dts audio), shame this is still not enough to make me switch. See xbox media centre is just too damm perfect and using the Xbox 360s blade system sucks in comparison. I mean I would need to unrar files before I could play them on the xbox 360, that just sucks. However the other interesting news is the break through on the PS3's graphics sub system (link is extremely hacking geeky, skip to bottom) (cheers JohnT) is something very special. Think about all the progress thats been done on xbmc already, add the fact the PS3 can already run linux without a problem, then throwing some real access to that cell processor and its heavy weight HD graphics subsystem and boy oh boy you have an amazing machine. Knowing Sony, I'm sure the next update of the virtualiser will lay another wall between Virtual machine and hardware.

If Sony knew what was good for them, they would let the hardware hackers do what there doing, even help them out! These guys are adding value you to your market failing console! Microsoft just released xvid/divx support and the wii is about to outstrip both ps3 and xbox 360 in the next 5 months in europe and japan. Sony needs something and let me tell you Home isn't it. Bear also in mind these hardware hackers are not bypassing the copy protection of the games or even hacking the sony master virtual image. So no intellectual property is being broken here. If running xbmc on it means another 10000+ people run out and buy a PS3. Thats a good thing…! Put another way, the xbox 1 still commands a reasonable price online because people are picking them up and running xbmc on them today. Go figure Sony., then send some hardware developers to help them.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Digital Djing finds its niche? Welcome the Pacemaker

Pacemaker

Ok I saw this for the first time on the Gadget Show of all places the other day. They only showed it briefly but in that short 2mins I was blown away.

The Pacemaker is simply a digital mpeg3 mixer in portable form. In actually fact its dual mpeg3 players with a koas pad and mini mixer in one portable little unit. Simply amazing… what kills me is this device seems so perfect. Maybe this is the future of digital mixing? Finally something to separate the analogue djs from the true digital djs. The only thing which could make this device better is a drop in price, a real time waveform display, bluetooth 2.0 audio/input support and some tactile feedback.

Anyway enough chatter, go to the site and check it out. I'm number 2157 2738 in the queue for this amazing device.

Your queue number is No. 2738

This pre-booking is a non-binding reservation that guarantees you a specified place in line. To convert your pre-booking to a mutually binding order, we shall require delivery address information and full payment.

Your pre-booking includes the Pacemaker 120 GB pocket-size DJ system, line-out/RCA cable, power adapter, USB cable and quick user guide.

The price is 520 Euro, plus taxes and shipping costs. First shipments are scheduled for February 2008.

Before delivery, we will contact you with a request of delivery address details and final payment. Should you wish not to proceed with this purchase, your pre-booking will be cancelled and your queue number will be lost.

To view your queue number and booking status, log in at the Pre-booking section on www.Pacemaker.net

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Finally an half decent blogging app for Linux

So after much searching a decent native blogging application graces the Linux platform. Finally I can get rid of BloGTK and I've now switched to QTM. Its at least has technorati tag support and basic things like undo and redo. QTM is open source and can be made to run on every single platform including even Windows. If your serious about your blogging and don't want to blog in a browser window everyday, give QTM a try. Right time to start some serious blogging…

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]