Tad bit rude.

I have been reading a msdn blog about how people use technology these days here.

In a round about way it make me thing about smart things. I use a laptop, iPod classic and a Nokia (2g non-smart variety). I also have a micro HiFi, which is really just a iPod dock and CD player.

Surprisingly for a Gen-Y tech nerd doing a Comp Sci degree, I don’t have a smart phone. Why? Well:

• They are expensive.
• 3G internet would be expensive (and distracting).
• I don’t like the choices. (Android being nice, but the OEMs tend to do funny things with it)
• My phone is quite capable of talk, text and email (using 2.5g, but I haven’t set it up. Using my phone with my current email accounts would be prohibitively annoying)

I tend to get annoyed by people assuming I can get a FB message at any time and expect me to react on it within 2 hours. I can only access the internet on my laptop when connected to Wifi (or the glorious Ethernet). This really forces me to have things arranged before hand (which I don’t tend to actually do enough)

The features of a smart phone I would probably not like is… It’s features. While on the train, waiting for a bus or waiting before a lecture is probably some of my favorite times. I can think (something I love doing, hence this blog), listen to music, read or do maths. If I could go on FB, reddit, Youtube, HN, etc. I would probably do none of these idle tasks. I would rather think/read/music but would not notice when entranced in the activities of Vacuum cat and friends.

Also problems (I have) with smartphones in general:

• iPhone: Closed system. I’m much prefer the more open things in computing. iOS is not one of them.
• Android: Not many problems, but the splintered market is a problem. Also OEMs + Telcos introducing bloatware.
• Win 7: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

I was planning to blog about problems with Win8 but I should probably try it first.

EDIT: Grammar and spelling.

I’ve been using an apt cache on my server at home. It’s great as it means I don’t have to download new software 3-5 times. However it comes with a slight drawback.

My cache in only accessible on my home network. So when I’m at uni I can’t access it without going to System > Administration > Software Sources. Manually disabling all the apt cache sources and enable all the internet ones. This get’s tedious immediately.

Solution: create 2 sources.list files and a script to swap them.

All the information about the software sources are stored in /etc/apt/sources.list file. When you use the “Software Sources” interface it modifies this file. So we can copy it to preserve settings:

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.swap

Now all we have to do is create a script in ~/bin to swap between the two.

~/bin/swap-sources:

#!/bin/bash
gksu mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.tmp
gksu mv /etc/apt/sources.list.swap /etc/apt/sources.list
gksu mv /etc/apt/sources.list.tmp /etc/apt/sources.list.swap


Now all I need to do is to swap the two souces is type

swap-sources

Now set up with your cache. Run swap-sources and then set it up with the internet. Now everytime you run swap-sources it will swap between the two settings.

Nvidia Drivers haven’t been loading in the new Kernel (2.6.32-41-generic)

SO I go the the Internetz for advice and I get:

Reinstall Nvidia Drivers

So I do that.

BAM now none of the kernels work.

So after shaking my fists at reality for a while I try it again. I read the error messages:

Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed.

OH SHIT WHAT DO I DO NOW. Google that message and I go here:

http://kmacphail.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/problems-with-nvidia-on-update-to.html

Install Kernel headers BUT I DID THAT FIRST THING! (It’s happened before)

I go look through Synaptic just in case. I had the WRONG ONE. (I needed generic and I just had the anonymous headers. Whatever difference that makes)

jtotheizzoe:

Recursive Drawing

Drawing programs don’t always have a “point”, even if they are fun. Recursive Drawing, however, aims to use a simple and addictive user-interface to explore how drawings could be translated into programming. 

On the surface, it’s a purely fun tool (which you can, and should, play with!) to draw crazy-awesome things like Fibonacci trees (like in the video). But deep down, it’s an experiment in translating visual objects into programming commands. That’s called a spatial or visual programming environment, and it’s a way to disconnect the syntax of programming from the logic and math.

Environments like these also let non-English speakers and young people get introduced to programming skills without having to master the language itself. But if you don’t want to pay attention to all that, it’s just really FUN!

Previously: A dangerously addictive online fluid dynamics simulator and a particle/gravity simulator that really looks more like fireworks.

isomorphismes:

It is never in good taste to express the sum of two quantities as

• 1+1=2.

[Everyone] is aware that

• 1=ln e

and further that

• 1=sin²q+cos² q

In addition, it is obvious to the casual reader that

• .

Therefore equation (1) can be rewritten more scientifically as:

• .

by John Siegfried in the Journal of Political Economy. Hat tip: @unlearningecon

Funny. Sarah (SJ) gave me a nokia phone once.

clientsfromhell:

While figuring out the sizing of a poster for a client.

Client: Wait… I see the 24”x36” option, but below it also says centimeters on it! Where are the centimeters? I don’t see them. Do they make it bigger that 24”x36”?

Me: No. We work with other countries and include metric measurements for…

Metric backwards… :O