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June 30, 2003
Registered
Just registered my copy of NetNewsWire. Ranchero is offering the product at a reduced rate of 29.95 $ until July 1st. It's a great tool and if you have Mac OS X then I recommend it.
Posted by Matthew at 07:44 PM | Comments (1)
June 29, 2003
Reboot videos
Videos of the talks given at Reboot 6 are here. I must try to get there next year.
Posted by Matthew at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
OSCON Wiki
There is a Wiki up for OSCON. Wikis are slowly becoming mainstream and being used for all manner of things. That's great and shows again how sometimes it's the small simple solution that will become popular.
Posted by Matthew at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2003
New Wireless Router
This afternoon I set up my new Belkin 54g wireless router. At first I was stuck because I had misplaced (lost) the piece of paper that had the password for my DSL account. Using the Apple Airport software it doesn't seem to allow you to access the password once it's been set. You can only change it. I turned the house upside down searching the piece of paper. No luck. Then I had an idea - perhaps the Windows software FreeBase would show me the password. So I downloaded and installed the software on a Windows PC and what do you know - it does.
Posted by Matthew at 08:48 PM | Comments (1)
Back in town
Arrived back from Vienna last night - the flights were good and I had a great audience for the training! The only thing that suffered was my voice.
Posted by Matthew at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2003
Travel worrier
I worry a lot when I travel. I get quite nervous about missing the plane, forgetting something important or the engines falling of the aircraft while we're over the Atlantic. That sort of stuff. I wish I could be more relaxed - it would make things easier. This time I worried that the little old lady who had to be nearly carried to the aircraft might suddenly pass away while we were in the air and we would have to land somewhere. And that's on a flight that only lasted an hour and a half. Mind you, the flight attendants did have to remove a mobile from a lady who thought she would ring home while we were landing. Yeah right.
Posted by Matthew at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
Using AIM
They have AIM installed on the PCs here. I didn't realize that your buddy lists are saved remotely. That's interesting. At first I thought that was cool - now I start wondering what they can do with that information. Using the stored buddy lists they can build up interesting relationship networks "you know alice", "alice knows bob"..etc.
Posted by Matthew at 07:08 PM | Comments (1)
Mobile movers
Walking around Vienna and I was struck by the number of people walking round with a mobile phone held up to their ear. More than I have noticed in German cities - why is that?
Posted by Matthew at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)
Vienna calling
I'm blogging from an Internet cafe in the middle of Vienna. They charge 1.40 € for the initial connection and then 0.08 € per minute. That's not bad compared to other offers I saw. The first day of the Cocoon traning went well although my voice seems have suffered. Last night I attended the Vienna Cocoon Stammtisch where there were about 15 other Cocoon fans. I left rather early though as I needed to make sure I was "awake" this morning for the training.
Posted by Matthew at 07:02 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2003
Vienna
Off to Vienna in a couple of hours - so don't expect any more blogging until the weekend. Talk amongst yourselves until then. Oh, and if you've got nothing better to do then at least go here and support Sam who's defining a new weblog syndication standard using a Wiki. A grassroots effort for a medium that is inherently grassroots. Support.
Posted by Matthew at 08:26 AM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2003
Canada calling
Thanks to iChat AV I was able to wish Steve a "Happy Birthday" personally - well at least via audio instead of just typing something. That was fun. Need - a - camera ...
Posted by Matthew at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
Getting a charge
Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna to do some Cocoon traning and go to the Stammtisch, so tonight I'm busy charging the batteries of my iPod, my digital camera and my mobile. It has to get easier than this...
Posted by Matthew at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
Blogging freedom
Since moving my weblog over here, I am experiencing what can only be called "blogging freedom". This morning I posted a message from my Powerbook while still at home (before breakfast), at work I posted another couple of entries using my work PC and I know that when I return home in a while I can post from there with no problems at all. After over a year of using Radio - this takes some getting used to.
Posted by Matthew at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
OSCON Sessions
I'm starting to look through the OSCON sessions to decide which ones to attend. Sam points to this one which looks very interesting. I'll be there Sam :-). It really is a pity that the XML DevCon is exactly the same time - but I've moaned about that before. I can't be in two places at once - even if they're not that far apart.
Posted by Matthew at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
Happy Birthday Steve
My favorite Mountie turns 32 today. Or so he says :-). Have one on me Steve.
Posted by Matthew at 08:06 AM | Comments (0)
Apple Keynote
I spent too much time last night watching and chatting about Steve's keynote at WWDC. Of course I updated Safari and iChat AV straight away. Perhaps tonight I can at least try out talking to someone via iChat. I don't have a camera as yet. This sort of stuff isn't actually new is it - but an interesting addition nonetheless. Why hasn't this sort of video conferencing become popular by now? According to Steve, it has to do with the fact that the bandwidth is only now becoming available. I'm not sure about that. As soon as you can see or speak to someone the communication is on a different level and becomes more "intruding".
Posted by Matthew at 06:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2003
Pottermania takes online book stores by storm
According to reports circulating the Net, the new Harry Potter book is making online book stores jump through some new hoops. To date nearly 800.000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have been sold through Amazon.com (check out their Harry Potter Meter). Even more interesting - maybe - is the fact that Heise reports that 80.000 copies of the English version have been ordered through the German Amazon.de. The German version is scheduled for November.
Posted by Matthew at 08:53 PM | Comments (1)
Silent Penguin logo
I'm still looking for a nice logo for The Silent Penguin. If you have an idea then feel free to send. Email suggestions to matthew at silent-penguin dot com. Credit will be given.
Posted by Matthew at 04:50 PM | Comments (3)
Adding pictures to weblog entries
Is there an easy way to automate the upload and linking of pictures into an MT weblog entry? I feel as though it should be possible to drag a photo from say iPhoto into the weblog editor window for NetNewsWire and then the picture gets uploaded and the link is automatically added to the entry. Hmm....
Posted by Matthew at 03:32 PM | Comments (2)
Feedback
Ok, now that I've played around with MT a while I'd be interested in hearing what you think. Should I play with the design a bit - or is the plain style ok? What's missing? I need to move the "about me" stuff over - but apart from that - add any comment to the - uh - comments.
Posted by Matthew at 03:29 PM | Comments (3)
Leaky Marketing
There have been a few leaks concerning Apple's WWDC which starts tomorrow. Leaking information about a product or happening beforehand is a form of marketing that pays getting into. Forget to leak and you may find your announcement goes unnoticed by the community at large. Using a "leak" allows you to raise the hype before the actual event and you can be sure that people who see the leaks will be following your every step towards the actual release date. Just make sure it doesn't become too obvious.
Posted by Matthew at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
How ASF membership works
Stefano Mazzocchi has written a great summary on how Apache membership works and also gives some of his personal views on the subject.
Posted by Matthew at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2003
Panther screenshots
Screenshots from the upcoming release of Mac OSX ( Panther) have been sighted.
Update: The shots have been removed while the world waits for the official unveiling of Panther tomorrow. Along with a couple of other things that were "leaked" it should be a interesting keynote. If you are able to watch it that is. There is a webcast - but not live (as far as I've seen).
Posted by Matthew at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)
WLAN bubble to burst
This German article on Heise quotes Forrester Research warning that the WLAN bubble may soon burst. The article goes on to say that currently only 10% of Europeans own mobile computers and in 2008 the number will only be up to 18%. According to Forrester, this figure is not high enough to justify the current investment in WLAN.
Update: Armin has added some English links in the comments.
Posted by Matthew at 06:00 PM | Comments (1)
Test with NetNewsWire
I'm now playing around with NetNewsWire, a client I used to use on my Mac. It's been a while since I used it an the new features (for me anyway) of posting to your weblog and the outliner really rock.
Posted by Matthew at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)
MT Client suggestions
Now that I have moved to MT, I'm looking for clients to use. At the moment I'm typing these entries into the browser frontend but I've also taken a look at Kung-log on the Mac. I need suggestions for both PC and Mac. Fire away.
Posted by Matthew at 04:13 PM | Comments (3)
New Apache Members
Carsten was voted Apache Member yesterday. As were Sylvain and Vadim. Congratulations all!
Posted by Matthew at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)
First impressions
Still getting used to my new home. Already the move has payed off I think with people commenting on some of my postings. Thanks for all the tips on speeding up my Windows system guys! Radio has a - sort of - comment system but I never liked it so I quickly turned it off.
Posted by Matthew at 02:24 PM | Comments (1)
Silent-Penguin
Well, we're up and running. Some more details: silent-penguin.com is being hosted at bloghosts.com and to date Jace and the crew have been giving excellent support. As to the name - well it just jumped into my head yesterday and stuck. Sort of a play on opposites I suppose.Posted by Matthew at 12:09 AM
June 20, 2003
Moved!
Thanks to Frank I managed to get all my posts moved over from Radio. The fine tuning comes next.
Posted by Matthew at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
Frustration
I just can't figure out how to move my Radio posts across to this MT installation. Perhaps I'll just leave it for now.
Posted by Matthew at 10:45 PM | Comments (1)
Exporting
Exporting: Currently trying to get my Radio posts exported so I can import them into MT.
Posted by Matthew at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)
Moving update
Moving update: Ok, my new domain is active, MovableType is running and now I'm going to work on moving the posts over..
Posted by Matthew at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)
Rocking
Rocking: Just upgraded my Powerbook from 256 to 640 Megs of memory. Now we're rocking.
Posted by Matthew at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
Speeding up a Windows system
Speeding up a Windows system: Over the years, my W2K laptop (700 Mhz) has become increasingly slower. It takes longer to start programs and the explorer takes forever to show the files on each drive. Everything seems to have slowed to a crawl. Short of reformatting the whole thing - what can I do? Are there tools available that will tell me why the performance has dropped and what may be the cause?
Posted by Matthew at 02:39 PM | Comments (2)
Looking for a logo
Looking for a logo: If you're good at quickly drawing up a logo that has something to do with penguins and could send me something pretty quickly then drop me an email. I'll then let you know what I'm after. Due credit given - of course.
Posted by Matthew at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)
New domain
New domain: The fog of my blogging move is starting to clear. I signed up with a new provider yesterday evening and already I find their support outstanding. I will point to them just as soon as everything else is set up (you never know). I will also be getting my own domain and using that as "home base". I have several domains already, but none of them fit. The new domain has something to do with penguins. More later.
Posted by Matthew at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
Rebooting
Rebooting: An event I would liked to have gone to if I wasn't zipping of to everywhere else in the next few weeks. Follow what's happening here. Ben, Dan Gillmor and others are there.
Posted by Matthew at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
Travel plans
Travel plans: It has become somewhat funky to announce travel plans via your weblog - so here you go: I'll be in Vienna, Austria next week from Wednesday evening until Friday. Doing a Cocoon training and also going the the Cocoon Stammtisch. After a week back home, I head off to Portland, Oregon for O'Reilly OSCON. On the Monday during OSCON I'll be heading down to the Valley for a day. Hooking up with Ovidiu hopefully for some sights and sounds. Then after a couple of days home it looks like I'll be heading to Bristol UK for a couple of days - but that is still tentative at the moment.
Posted by Matthew at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
Weekend reading
Weekend reading: How to find a man in Europe and leave him there. Read. In search of the perfect meeting. Read. (via Stefan)
Posted by Matthew at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)
Sam Ruby, Web services visionary
Sam Ruby, Web services visionary: I think this is the first interview with Sam that I've read.
Posted by Matthew at 08:59 AM | Comments (1)
June 19, 2003
Blog moving
Blog moving: I have decided to my weblog from the Radio based approach elsewhere. Radio is a neat tool if you don't need much flexibility. I've been using it for over a year now and I have grown quite used to it. But once you need to say blog from different computers or want additional functionality (trackback anyone?) then it lacks the features of other weblog tools. I have also grown increasingly unhappy at the companies attitued towards other blogging tools and the lack of updates in the past months. Is Radio going anywhere?
So, I'm moving. Stay tuned.Posted by Matthew at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)
Public holiday
Public holiday: Today is a holiday here so we're having a quiet day. Breakfast with friends and now I'm installing this and that onto the powerbook. Lazy.
Posted by Matthew at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2003
Free lunches
Free lunches? We all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. However, at OSCON this year - O'Reilly seems to be taking the concept to another level. Not only will there be free (sponsored) lunches on Wednesday and Thursday but take a look at the sponsor. Then read this and this.
Posted by Matthew at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2003
Orixo feedback
Orixo feedback: Quite a bit of feedback on Orixo - Bertrand, Steve, Eric, Ovidiu, Gregor, Arje, Tony, Stefano. Most of the feedback has been very positive towards what we are trying - which is great.
Posted by Matthew at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
What does Orixo mean
What does Orixo mean: Ovidiu wants to know. Orixo is a play on the Japanese word for "Weaver". Orico. We wanted to express the fact that apart from the obvious reference to the Web, we are also trying to carefully weave the business into (our area of) Open Source.
Posted by Matthew at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2003
Orixo background
Orixo background: I wrote up some background on Orixo here.
Update: The link was wrong. Corrected.
Posted by Matthew at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)
Orixo launched
Orixo launched: Commercial support for Open Source solutions just got better.
Posted by Matthew at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)
Countdown
Countdown: Counting down to Noon (MEST).
Posted by Matthew at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2003
The Interview
The Interview: Some time I ago I approached Tim O'Reilly about doing an interview for publication in a German IT weekly. He agreed and so I sent him about 10 questions dealing with Open Source in general and focussing on commercial involvement. After a while he answered the questions and sent me a total of 10 pages. I was quite surprised (in a positive sense) as he had obviously taken time to answer the questions very thoroughly with lots of additional pointers to further information. Unfortunately I had to translate the whole thing into German which proved to be rather time-consuming. Anyway, I completed the translation a week or so ago, got O'Reilly Germany to double-check and then on Friday sent the whole thing off to the IT weekly. We'll see how much of it they then publish. Hopefully both the original interview and the complete German translation will be online before too long.
Posted by Matthew at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2003
The later the evening
The later the evening: Now watching and listening to "Billy Joel - Live at Yankee Stadium". Can't beat that. (If you're my age :-))
Posted by Matthew at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
Evening thought
Evening thought: How does Hulk keep his pants on? Here.
Posted by Matthew at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
Gearing up
Gearing up: Today, while not preparing Victoria's birthday party (8 girls for a sleepover), I am writing and translating press-releases. Ugh. Things are made somewhat better by listening (and watching)to "Styx - Return to Paradise" on the Powerbook.
Posted by Matthew at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
Gianugo blogs
Gianugo blogs: Gianugo, my Italian weaver friend is blogging. Welcome!
Posted by Matthew at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2003
Deutsche Bank and Linux
Deutsche Bank and Linux: A presentation on how Linux is being used at Deutsche Bank.
Posted by Matthew at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2003
Weaving the future
Weaving the future: After nearly 3 years working as a commercial entity with Open Source and inside the actual projects - and with the growing acceptance for Open Source solutions inside large corporations - it's time for a "next step". A step that will bring Cocoon (in particular) even further onto the radar of the business world and show that Open Source solutions can stand up there with their commercial competition. Stay tuned.
Posted by Matthew at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
Money talks
Money talks: 101 ways to make money from Open Source.(via Frank).
Posted by Matthew at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
Ovidiu at JavaOne
Ovidiu at JavaOne: Ovidiu did a lot of blogging at JavaOne and saw some interesting sessions. His main weblog link doesn't seem to work (for me) - so start here and work your way through. And Ovidiu got an (email) invitation from Steve to go to WWDC - where Panther will be shown.
Posted by Matthew at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
Evening fun
Evening fun: Spent most of last night getting the Powerbook installed. Compared to the iBook - here are some things that stand out: Speed (obviously), Keyboard (better on the PB), Heat (the PB gets a lot hotter), Wireless access (according to the wireless symbol on the desktop, the iBook has better reception - but that may be misleading), Slot-In drive (a lot better than the iBook tray), Size and coolness (the PB wins hands-down).
Posted by Matthew at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2003
People at JavaOne
People at JavaOne: Quite a few people I know are either at JavaOne or going: Steve, Erik and Ovidiu for example. Last night I watched one of the keynotes via streaming and while we watched, the mobitopians were commenting on irc. Fun.
Posted by Matthew at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
It arrived
It arrived: My new Powerbook just arrived, so there will not be much blogging today.
Posted by Matthew at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2003
Cocoon based art site
Cocoon based art site: This site is done with Cocoon and presents a collection of fine art done by staff and students of UK higher education institutions.
Posted by Matthew at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)
Silicon valley guide
Silicon valley guide: Now that I've finalized my flight from PDX to SJC I'm looking for a good printed guide (map) of the area so that I can find my way around. The guide needs to cover roughly San Jose, Santa Clara and Palo Alto. Suggestions?
Posted by Matthew at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)
Projects on java.net
Projects on java.net: Already an interesting list of projects hosted on java.net. As Steven writes, people will now have to decide where to host their Java projects. I can see company driven projects moving to java.net because of the "perceived" support from Sun.
Posted by Matthew at 11:33 AM | Comments (24)
Going Powerbook
Going Powerbook: Just ordered. My wife gets the iBook.
Posted by Matthew at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
java.net launched
java.net launched: A new java community website will be launched today at JavaOne. But the cat is out of the bag. And Steve is involved. Now we know.
Posted by Matthew at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2003
Midnight at 4pm
Midnight at 4pm: At last the thunderstorms have found us. It has suddenly become just as dark as late in the evening and the wind is blowing various bits and pieces around the garden.
Posted by Matthew at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)
Thunder and Lightning
Thunder and Lightning: Today looks like being a big storm day. TV and radio are warning of heavy thunderstorms to hit us during the day. Follow what's happening in real time - here. If you want to look at what's happening where I live - then go here. Move your mouse round the map until "Paderborn" shows. That's on the right hand side in the middle. Color codes indicate severity. A bit of orange to the north of us so far.
Update: We've just gone purple. Time to check what's happening outside.
Posted by Matthew at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
Valley Trip
Valley Trip: While we melt in the heat here - I'm playing around with the various options there are that will get me from Portland to the valley. Seems like my best (and cheapest) bet is to fly PDX to SJC (San Jose). This option is quite a bit cheaper than flying into SFO. I will have to get a car in SJC and then will spend the day driving round "sightseeing". I have to be back in Portland in time for the BOF - so it's a tight schedule. I'll probably be jetlagged from the trip over to Portland on the Saturday so it's going to be .. interesting.
Posted by Matthew at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2003
Day Trip
Day Trip: I may be spending a day down in "the valley", while in Portland. A short flight (1 1/2 hours) to SFO and then drive round the valley before flying back to Portland late afternoon. I have a kind invitation to take a look inside one of the companies there and so am currently working out how I can micro-manage the trip (flights, car, time). If you happen to be in the area then give me a shout - maybe we can meet up and talk Cocoon, commercial / open source related topics or anything else really. Trip is still tentative at the moment.
Posted by Matthew at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)
Weblog consulting
Security and data access to blogs: Let's answer one of Ulrich's first questions: "But there is at least one open question: What about security of data and information stored inside a blog?"
If you're using a public blogging service like blogger then the information is stored on their servers and protected from access with user id and password. Blogger will allow you to do group blogs (i.e. several authors one blog).
If you are interested in using a blog to track projects then you would want to run the blogging software on one of your internal systems and then use the normal access control to protect access. Look at MovableType for a blogging product you can use. It also has more features than blogger currently does for things you would need like Trackback.
Hope this helps.
I'm available for weblog consulting - by the way :-).
Posted by Matthew at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
Welcome Ulrich!
Welcome Ulrich: Ulrich has a weblog! At last. Welcome.
Posted by Matthew at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
Tracking Steve
Tracking Steve: Steve is in California and to be more exact somewhere in the O'Reilly universe in Sebastopol. I wonder what he's up to?
Posted by Matthew at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
Birthday
Birthday: Victoria ist 7 today and so last night I made chocolate banana muffins, while following the #mobitiopia irc channel. I promised to upload a picture of the "ready-to-eat" muffins - but didn't get round to it. They came out well though - although the kids don't seem to like them. You just can't win sometimes.
Posted by Matthew at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2003
End of the world?
End of the world?: The sky has gone black. Thunderstorms pending. Will we make it through to the other side? Watch this space. :-). Actually I'm hoping that it will cool off a bit. Way too hot here at the moment.
Posted by Matthew at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
Another move
Another move: Steve keeps moving his weblog around. Updated.
Posted by Matthew at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2003
JBoss Group forks
JBoss Group forks: Old news out on the net but an interesting "happening" in itself. A substantial group of devleopers leaves the JBoss Group to "do their own thing". Core Developers Network is the name of the new startup.
Posted by Matthew at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2003
Fun times
Fun times: At last chatting is worth it! Great evening spent hanging out with other Mobitopians and interesting talks about geeky stuff and interesting people dropping in. Kept me from doing lots of other things - but there you go.
Posted by Matthew at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
Conference madness
Conference madness: So I get to go to Portland this year to go to OSCON and then I find that this conference is also on in the Portland area and at the same time! Looks like Sam is (also?) going to the XML conference.
Posted by Matthew at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)
Designer of the year
Designer of the year: Here's one for Mum - Jonathan Ive named Designer of the Year. Jonathan designed the iMac and the iPod for Apple.
Posted by Matthew at 07:23 PM | Comments (0)
irc crazy
irc crazy: What's with this new irc craze - off to join #mobitopia and #joiito. See you there.
Posted by Matthew at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
Cocoon book review
Cocoon book review: The current (printed) issue of XML Magazin contains a review of our Cocoon book.
Posted by Matthew at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
Mission to Mars
Mission to Mars: Watched Mars Express take off last night on the TV. And then I read that Ben was actually in Darmstadt blogging from ESA. How did he do that?
Posted by Matthew at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2003
Too hot to think day
Too hot to think day: Sweltering heat here and the brain is fizzled: Anyone know of a German translation for "meme"? Thanks.
Posted by Matthew at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)