Category Computing

MacHeist ][

For the Macheads among us, MacHeist ][ is here with some pretty impressive applications on offer. For $49, you get apps such as iStopMotion, Awaken, TaskPaper, Cha-ching, 1Password, CoverSutra and AppZapper --- with CSSEdit, Snapz Pro X and Pixelmator becoming unlocked after a certain number of bundles are sold. I have been very critical of the previous MacHeist --- and I still don't think it was worth it --- but this time the addition of Snapz Pro X and Pixelmator (assuming they are unlocked) make it worthwhile. Given the retail prices and utility of some of these applications, even if you have one or two of the smaller ones, it's probably worth it.

Steal This Film II

The second part of this community documentary on copyright is out. While biased to some extent in its presentation, it contains several interesting historical facts, a description of the current state of affairs and a presentation of the absurd corporate response to the internet revolution in content exchange, content creation and, effectively the new economic and production model. It is definitely worth watching for anyone interested in the subject of information freedom, copyright and consumer rights. You can find the first part of this documentary on the same site.

Giving Fon a Try for a Year.

Early this past December, about two years after first hearing about it, I decided to give Fon a try. Taking advantage of a holiday offer available to me, I went ahead and ordered my own Fonera and Fontenna from their online store. Although I still have a lot of qualms about most of the security, […]

HRDL 1.06

HRDLYikes. Τα παιδία παίζει. Μόνον λίγες ημέρες μετά τη τελευταία τροποποίηση ο ΟΤΕ άλλαξε --- για μια ακόμη φορά --- τις σελίδες του whitepages.gr αναγκάζοντας με να τροποποιήσω και πάλι το widget. Ορίστε η έκδοση 1.06. Φαίνεται να δουλεύει σωστά. Προς το παρόν. Την κατεβάζετε από το γνωστό μέρος.

CounterPath

Earlier this month I wrote about eyeBeam on the Mac. Besides that it truly sucks --- it's probably the worst money I've ever spent on software, I am now convinced that this is the least courteous, customer-centric company I've had any dealing with in my life. A visit to their support forum quickly shows how their representative, Mr. Derek Jacobs, responds to customer feedback, problem reports and requests. Mr Jacobs is perhaps the worst customer liaison on a corporate forum, hotline or other form of communication I've come across. He is discourteous, arrogant, ignorant as to the company's products deficiencies, overzealous in his moderation of seemingly inappropriate posts and --- last but not least --- refusing to actually read, comprehend, convey and report on customer posts and the respective development effort. I am curious whether the company's apparent engineering and customer support deficiency is the result of Mr. Jacobs' inability to effectively liaise between customers and engineering, or whether the whole company is bent on pissing people off with subpar products and poor customer support. In any case, it is a shame CounterPath is probably the largest SIP softphone developer globally and the available options in this market are extremely limited. Despite this, my recommendation, whatever your needs may be, is to stay well clear of their products. Such companies are not worthy of your custom. Update: Hours after posting this I was contacted by CounterPath and was offered assistance with their products. I am happy to see that at least they are willing to make an effort --- albeit an insufficient one --- to engage with their customers' problems. Hopefully it will be followed by a respective update of the company's currently dysfunctional products.

HRDL 1.05

HRDLΔιαθέσιμη είναι η νεα έκδοση του HRDL. Δεν είχα σκοπό να ασχοληθώ μαζί του, καθώς το νεο widget που θα επιτρέπει αναζητήσεις και από τις δύο κατευθύνσεις βρίσκεται υπο ανάπτυξη εδώ και καιρό (και όταν βρώ χρόνο θα το τελειώσω), όμως ο ΟΤΕ με πρόλαβε, άλλαξε τις σελίδες του αναγκάζωντας με να κάνω κάποιες αλλαγές στο HRDL ώστε να εξακολουθεί να λειτουργεί. Συγκεκριμένα, ο ΟΤΕ πλέον επιστρέφει δεδομένα σε ISO-8859-7 (έλεος!) αλλά σαν να μην έφτανε αυτό έχει προσθέσει server-side καθυστέρηση 10 δευτερολέπτων (έλεος2) Το γεγονός πως το νούμερο της τηλεφωνικής υπηρεσίας καταλόγου της ίδιας εταιρίας εμφανίζεται 3 φορές στη σελίδα καθώς και το γεγονός πως η υπηρεσία αυτή κοστίζει στον πελάτη και συνεπάγεται κέρδος για τον ΟΤΕ, ίσως εξηγεί (μαζί με τη προφανή αποτροπή 'robot' από την όργωση των δεδομένων από τον ΟΤΕ) γιατί έκαναν τη, δωρεάν, δικτυακή υπηρεσία στο whitepages.gr από κακή, χειρότερη. Δυστυχώς η τεχνιτή χρονική καθυστέρηση επηρεάζει και το HRDL. Τα παράπονά σας σχετικά με τις αλλαγές στην ταχύτητα εμφάνισης των αποτελεσμάτων στο whitepages.gr στον ΟΤΕ. :/

A plan that will mandate the use of open standards and open source software government-wide

Say the Dutch. And that's excellent news. Government is perhaps the foremost market segment where open source can thrive, evolve and gradually be positioned so as to make inroads in the enterprise. Holland plans to be running open software by mid 2008 at a national (central government) level and 2009 for local and state organisations. Interestingly, according to The Register, the bill was not opposed in parliament, despite Microsoft's protests; on the other hand, I'm sure that many in the Netherlands may be somewhat frustrated by this, although in the longterm I'm sure they'll appreciate the difference. The message is clear: Open Up or be excluded. Who's next?

Αθηνόραμα Σινεμά OpenSearch Plugin

Athinorama Cinema SearchΓια τους σινεφίλ κατοίκους Αθηνών, ίσως κόψει μερικά δευτερόλεπτα από την αναζήτηση κινηματογράφου για την ταινία επιλογής τους. Απαιτεί browser με υποστήριξη OpenSearch 2.0. Έχει δοκιμαστεί σε Firefox 2.0 και Internet Explorer 7.0. Καλές αναζητήσεις!

Οπτικοακουστικό Αρχείο ΕΡΤ

Εδώ και κάποιες ημέρες, στη διεύθυνση www.ert-archives.gr, είναι διαθέσιμο ένα μικρό μέρος του Οπτικοακουστικού Αρχείου της ΕΡΤ. Η υπηρεσία διατίθεται δωρεάν στο κοινό και χρηματοδοτήθηκε από το πρόγραμμα ‘Κοινωνία της Πληροφορίας’ (κατα 80% από το Ευρωπαϊκό Ταμείο Περιφερειακής Ανάπτυξης). Η υλοποίησή της κόστισε €1.95Μ, ένα σχετικά υψηλό ποσό δεδομένου του έργου κατα την άποψή μου, […]

Nokia's Future.

I just read this article on The Register about Nokia’s view of the future of mobile phones, Web 2.0, mobile internet etc. I generally like Nokia, they’ve managed to overcome their long-established image as a relatively small, insignificant player from Finland and turned themselves into the goliath of mobile phones in less than a decade. […]