Kimputer's Weblog

Happy Belated New Year to y’all. A full week too late, but hey, with at least a few Terabit internet connection lines (most notably SEA ME WE 3 and 4) severed before Christmas, the ping times reached over 1 second with all traffic from Tapei rerouted through the US first. Internet to overseas was therefore nigh impossible.
Now that I’m back in Europe, I can comfortably do everything I did before again. Watch out for more picture updates, now in 10 Mpixel ! Halfway through the journey, I picked up a new Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD, so I could ditch my old Panasonic DMC-FZ7 (other updated specs and improved functionality include 15x zoom, use of zoom _during_ filming, higher resolution movies (now at a whopping 1280×720), use of SDHC cards, use of AA batteries instead of proprietary, no need for full operation (extend lense, both unncessary and eating power) for view mode). And all that for barely the same price.

Many of you know I’ve had a pocket knife on me that’s probably older than most of my friends. At age 7, I managed to trade one of those flimsy thumb-sized souvenir styled pocket knife (you know, with a promotional picture on the sides) for a better equipped and larger pocket knife. While it was clear that knife was already older, I saw potential. As you can see in other post, over the past 24 years, I’ve lost it MANY times, sometimes I had to get around without it for days. However, now it’s final, after 2 weeks, I still can’t find it.
So, it’s time for an upgrade. I’ve had my cutleries already from Victorinox (and the damage it has done since, see here and here), and they seem indestructable (though it’s not invulnerable against sloppy pre-dish-washing-throws in the garbage can. Yes, I think I lost a few forks this way.)
While on a shopping stroll in a department store in Hamburg, I saw a Victorinox pocket knife stand, and I was sold. Most versions still fit the extra pocket in most Levi’s jeans, and the patented locking mechanism had me sold (which automatically ups the size from “normal” pocket knives to fulll hand-sized). If you have a dangerous job already, protecting oneself from potential damage is always a plus. Take a look here which version I bought, and that for just around 25 years (which brings the expense to just 1 euro a year if I don’t lose it again for another quarter century).
I recommend this gem of a tool to everyone, and dare you to undercut (pun intended) my record of hacking off live fingers with an average speed of 0.72 seconds (beating the old record of 0.93 seconds with my old knife). Of course, other job related records are also possible, if you can’t stand a little bit of blood. Things like cutting through electric or UTP cables, precision cable stripping and hard plastic package opening.

As can be seen in this previous post, plants don’t do well in my house.
But believe it or not, the Koriander v2.0 (re-bought after v1.0 died) has been upgraded to v2.1 by itself, growing new life, and hopefully a big bush of freshly tasting herb. (As can be seen to the right of the picture).
However, trying to get Koriander v2.1 a life companion in the form of Chives v1.0, which was standing quite nicely vertically, somehow decided after a few days of brave behaviour, to become a typical household downer. Again, I can’t help but wonder, what’s wrong with my tap water ?

I thought it was a funny title, but as I typed that in, I did a domain name check, and see it was registered yesterday.
But seriously, who do I really blame ? The American with their dumb mortgages and money grubbing creditors putting them on the streets ? The Icelandic population ? The world economy ? The world wide stock market who decide their prices on a gut feeling and follow each other like sheep ?
Nopz, I blame my own government. I went searching for a safe place to park my money, and not see it diminish because of tax. To do that, you have to find the bank with highest interest rate, and that was for the time being IceSave. Not only that, why would the government let it open a Dutch subsidiary if it had the knowledge the bank was not up to par ?
If last week, anyone who would say putting my money on Starbucks stock (SBUX on Nasdaq) was safer than a savings account, I would’ve laughed so hard in his face my leather belt would pop and my Levi’s jeans would fall on the floor.
Now all I can do is suck up to a certain Wouter Bos and look at the Dutch Bank with puppy dog eyes. Can I have my money back now ?

Yup, as a hardcore geek, I just couldn’t let it go. Even though I had a somewhat disappointing ultra mobile pc (or alternatively named, netbook) already, I just had to go for the superior MSI Wind.
While the screen has a lower resolution (HP’s 1280×768 vs MSI’s 1024×600) the screen is bigger by a full inch.something, and whoever designed full reflective screen (HP’s, but Toshiba also employs it in their whole range) must’ve bumped their heads on the way down a bungee jump once too many. I have yet to come upon a human being who feels seeing themselves in mirror image, plus light sources behind them comfortable while reading a screen. So, not only is MSI’s screen more readable because it’s screen size, it’s also because is has a more sensible anti-glare screen. It’s not as bright though, and colors seem oversatured. (On this picture, MSI’s screen looks better, but in real life, it’s slightly less good than HP’s)

On the technical side, the MSI clearly feels more responsive with it’s 1.6 GHz Intel Atom then HP’s sluggish 1.0 GHz Via C7. But feelings aside, while benchmarks gives the MSI about a factor 2 advantage, a simple DVD authoring session shows it finishing a whopping 9 times faster (just benchmarking though, remember these things don’t have optical drives) ! Even the HP refitted with Ubuntu will sluggishly play divx/xvid tv episodes, so don’t even try full HD downloads. As a side note, MSI also throws in bluetooth, expanding the connectivity option besides network and wireless network (while also adding one more USB port).
On the bad sides, are the keyboard, and only one key is responsible for it. While touch typing, the pinky will reach for the period (“.”), but with MSI keyboard, you will consistently hit the “/” key due to a whole row of downsized keys. The cursor keys are downsized too much too.
Another bad thing is the tinny speakers, with the HP blaring its speakers without much strain. Too be honest, even small mobile phone speakers or those in my iPAQ are better.
Battery life seems only a tad better, but not by more than 20 minutes.
All in all, for general purpose, it’s still okay (in my case, emergency use when at customer site on support cases). For media, it displays nice, but carrying a pair of good headphones would be a good idea to keep in mind. It beats the HP down by a KO, though picking up on those two negative points would make the 400 euro price point a must have. Now it’s only recommended for nerds and geeks.

I can’t seem to be able to keep plants alive, be it a supposedly human lifespan outgroing Bonzai, or now this nice herby Koriander (a highly underrated taste explosion for your own prepared food).

At only a measly 2 weeks since I brought it over from Germany, it’s wilted and showing brown spots.
Is it a curse ? Or it just doesn’t like my tap water ?

Low budget independent film that comically chapterises 5 unrelated sexual encounters. It provides nothing new in the screenplay, touching predictable topics, but with the unknown actors and quickly paced dialogue, it’s mildly entertaining. While the full title (abbreviation of Young People F***ing) might make you suspect a full frontal hard porno flick, but it’s all decent and the most outrageous thing on screen just be a pleasurising appliance.7.

Sure, the new Google Chrome browser is fast and lean, but it didn’t hit a home run. The main browser for me is still Opera. (Geert, please update to Opera 9.52, because your 9.02 version is reaaaaallly old).
Security-wise it might also be at the top, but Opera ain’t no slouch either. And small extra features like Inspect Element look cool.

But, here are the things that will keep me from using Chrome as the main browser (as well as any other, actually):

No integrated mail.
No mouse gestures or click+roll enhancement.
No handy toolbars with things like Find on page, Find Next, Fit to Width, Zoom percentage dropdown menu.
Handling of tabs still easier in Opera (Shift+Click to close, Duplicate opens new tab, not new windows like Chrome).
Browsing logic. In paged documents, pressing space repeatedly will drop you down until the end END after another space, you will move to the next page. No other browser will do this.
Blocking content per site.

It’s been over 2 months, and no picture update to be seen. Well, here’s on full page of pictures to enjoy from Taiwan. Let’s start with one of the biggest achievements I’ve made in my years. Many other Taiwanese haven’t done it yet, but I’ve been on top of the biggest mountain nearby Taipei (not of Taiwan, of course). Click here for a picture report.

Submitted through AH Klantenservice (http://www.ah.nl/klantenservice/veelgesteldevragen/albertheijn/article.jsp?trg=klantenservice/veelgesteldevragen/albertheijn/article.contactoverah.ah20)

Bij het kiezen van suiker (voor de koffie en thee, etc) ben ik deze keer op een keuzeprobleem gestuit. Dit komt omdat ik in plaats van mijn standaard willekeurig grijpen naar klontjes of zakjes met suiker, deze keer eens het hele assortiment nauwkeurig heb onderzocht. Zo viel mijn oog op een groene AH verpakking met de opschrijft Biologisch suiker (750 gram). Tot zover zeer aantrekkelijk om te proberen. Helaas is het onderschrift “Half-wit” wat mij in de verwarring brengt. Normaal kijk ik dan naar de inhoud dan wel ingredienten, maar bij deze verpakking ontbreekt deze in het geheel.
Nu is het dus gokken of het hier gaat om positieve discriminatie (suikers gewonnen uit riet dan wel biet), maar zelfs dan kan ik me de inhoud niet voorstellen. Is elk kristal voor de helft (horizontaal dan wel diagonaal) bruin en wit ? Is het lichtbruin ? Is de rest aanvulling van dat chemisch nep-suiker (aspartaam, sorbitol, iets wat een echte man dient te vermijden, laat dat spul maar aan de vrouwen over)?
Al zeg ik het zelf, ik ben een gedegen Googler, maar ik kan hier echt niets over terugvinden, dus ontvang ik graag opheldering in deze zaak.

Geachte heer,

Naar aanleiding van uw vraag over AH Biologisch Rietsuiker kunnen wij u het
volgende laten weten. Het gaat hier om 100% rietsuiker. Gewone witte
kristalsuiker, zowel riet als biet, is zo wit omdat de suikerkristallen
gebleekt worden met sulfiet. Deze AH biologische rietsuiker is niet
gebleekt, daarom is de suiker niet helemaal wit van kleur en staat er op de
verpakking halfwit. De term ‘halfwit’ kan inderdaad verwarrend zijn, onze
excuses hiervoor.

Wij hopen u hiermee voldoende te hebben geïnformeerd.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Albert Heijn Klantenservice

As you can see in the comment, mr. Geert had it correct again, what a know-it-all.

I’ve never done it, but having a girlfriend with bright ideas is really a virtue. So I took 2 days off, and before I’ve even finished uploading pictures from Taiwan, I’m off somewhere shooting new ones. For now, I’ll keep it a surprise, because I still need to finish the other batch.

Also, last time, the pictures you saw were resized. I re-uploaded them off-site, for bandwidth and speed purposes. Thanks to mr. Kreleger, who now goes under the dubious name of Sidnii (some kinda tax evasion scheme eh ?).
Still, be patient, per page you’re downloading some 30 MB in one go. Click on it for a larger scaled version, and again for full resolution. Have another go through this link.

And finally, the answer to the k-uiz. The k-uestion was “try to guess the coordinates where I’m taking the pictures between P1090567 and P1090713” and I haven’t seen the answer in the correct format from anyone. I literally asked for coordinates, and I hinted to Google Earth.
Here you can see the answer:

Any answer near 25.07N121.50E would’ve been evaluated as correct. Of course, that’s not to say that dear mr. Geert identified a whole bunch of pictures right on spot. Clearly a world traveler enjoying his retirement.

The only gadget I brought back from Taiwan (since the MSI Wind or the Asus EEE 1000 wasn’t available yet), after some rigorous testing, I can finally send out this warning.
Most Dutch websites are now taking pre-orders for higher version than mine, for a whopping 800 euros. For that much money, you should consider these points.
Mine was just 360 euros, but has only 1 GB memory and a slightly slower CPU. It was delivered with an awful Linux distribution (SUSE Desktop 10) and I worked with it for a week. Not only is installing simple software impossible (from xine to vlc, it just couldn’t resolve dependencies even when including 3 full repositories), but a full system freeze would occur on a daily basis.
After switching to XP Pro, I could start my review at a less rageful state of mind (no freeze-ups anymore too!). The keyboard at 92% of the normal size but still requires a bit of getting used to. Luckily, it’s far from the crampedness from Asus EEE PC. Of course, the small size means it fits in my backpack without problems. The full aluminum body also means it should last a big longer (I hope).
But not all is good yet. The 8.9″ screen (mostly advertised with the wrong resolution) is 1280×768, it’s really sharp, but letters will be really tiny on this already tiny screen. Battery life isn’t something to write home about either, usually lasting around 1.5 hours when working at a normal pace or watching movies. You will have to live without an optical drive, but that’s with all the competitors in this ultramobile pc business.
The most horrible point though, is the slow CPU. Ultra low voltage, but also ultra low processing power. Some highly encoded XViD movies will be shocky now and then, and for more intensive tasks, you have to wait a few seconds before the application starts.
For a 360 euro gadget, it’s not that bad (though you can’t get it here). But for the upcoming version in the webshops, you should really start thinking about it, because first of all, you can buy two normal sized notebooks with 10 times the speed. Second, the speed problems I’m having will quadruple. Even with slightly higher specs, it’s delivered with Windows Vista and will surely bring the notebook down to its knees (and bump you on the back of your head for good measure).
My advice is to save your money and get an MSI Wind or OEM clone (The Medion Akoya Mini when you’re in Germany, or the Advent 4211 when you’re in the UK) for around 400 euro. Heck, just for fun, when I might just get one myself.

It’s been over two weeks since I’m back home from vacation, and you haven’t seen any updates yet. That’s mainly because I needed more time to relax. Actually, I still need more time, so no written pages with pictures just yet.
But to keep you a bit occupied, here’s a flickr stream, mainly because it’s free and saves me a whole lot of bandwidth.

Downsides though:
– 100 MB limit
– 1024×768 image resolution limit
– no nice URL to give to friends.

Ah well, if anyone has a better suggestion, feel free to inform me (free to use and ad-free public viewing, and all mentioned downsides removed or upgraded).

Here ya go for the pictures I’ve uploaded for now: http://flickr.com/photos/28285142@N08/

(update: new link here)

Oh and a K-uiz for the less geographically challenged Google Earth oglers, try to guess the coordinates where I’m taking the pictures between P1090567 and P1090713. There should be enough clues already.

No update for a while, because I was doing a lot of things not involving me sitting behind a computer. And once again, I won’t be doing that a lot, so here’s just a picture of a hotel room I just checked in.

Jealous yet ?

Anyway, more pics and post will probably follow when I’m home in a few days (Tropical storm Fengshen (Frank) willing).

Oh, and I’m typing this on my newly bought HP MiniNote 2133 (1GHz ViaCPU, 1GB, 120GB HDD, 8.9″ LCD, SuSE10.1 Desktop). Not too fast, and battery life is probably nothing spectacular (I couldn’t track down the more advanced specified models), but at least it’s small and light, so I can carry it around more easily.