daniel.ord

Xbox 360 slim in the works?

Daniel — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:02:33 +0000

Kotaku has posted a shot of what might be the motherboard for an Xbox 360, slim-edition. I thought I'd just pass that info on, because I love my Xbox. However:

It's noisy as hell
It's ugly / huge
It has no wireless
The harddive is tiny (20GB) but they upgrade cost is just plain insulting

So in other words I'd buy one. There have been rumors before, but this makes a lot of sense considering the impending Natal release. Bundle the new version with Natal, a few minigames, low price = instant Wii-competitor. It would move units towards the holidays - perticularly if they make it small, white and with a tennis game on the box. Mums won't know the difference anyway.

Original story @ Kotaku

Slow internet / DNS problems on OSX Leopard

Daniel — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:43:46 +0000

My girlfriend's Macbook has yet to be updated to Snow Leopard (hey, I'll get round to it), so recently when it started loading web pages incredibly slowly, my first instinct was to update it. However, I then figured that wasn't the best solution and I spent a few hours surfing the web.

I'll spare you the details, in the end I could find no fault. Updates were in order, Airport was working, speed was fine on other routers. It even connected to Skype and MSN fine. It turned out to be a DNS issue - I just have no idea why. By making OSX use OpenDNS instead of my ISP's we seem to have fixed the issue.

So if you having similar problems, try this.

Go to System Preferences --> Network --> (Airport) Advanced --> DNS tab
When here, click the "+" symbol at the bottom of the page to add a manual DNS.
Enter the OpenDNS IP 208.67.222.222
Click "Ok" and "Apply".

Restart, to be safe. This fixed things for us. The OpenDNS IP should redirect to the closest relay to your location, ie. Europe, the US etc.. Now, if only someone can tell me why this suddenly messes up in the first place?! My Snow Leopard Macbook still works great!

Thunderbirds are go!

Daniel — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:07:59 +0000

Finally! This site’s been down for like a month, because my host upgraded to the new version of php. I have no idea what went wrong. At first I assumed it was related to the database, because the site was still up. Only the content was gone, i.e. posts and pages.

I contacted One.com (the host) who have been somewhat helpful, although in the end I found a solution on my own. I was getting error related to plugins and / or various php-stuff. Even after I deleted all the plugins. It turns out there is a certain situation in which they don’t deactivate in the database. This post helped me, it’s on WordPress.org.

Anyway, it seems everything is back to normal. I have to reinstall all my plugins, which sucks, but better than losing all the content. One will be upgrading the server that my other site pcblog.dk is on next week. I really hope it goes better, I have years worth of content on that site!

The error was the following, for those interested (at least it was some of the time):

wp-includes/plugin.php on line 166

Doctor Who Season 5 Trailer

Daniel — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:16:49 +0000

I have a soft spot for Doctor Who. I don't know why, it's just so ... English. I'm happy to say that the second part of the The End of Time special was a lot better than part one. Lots of nerdy details. Tennant will be missed. Here's the trailer for season 5 with Matt Smith to keep people tied over. Looks good, slightly more serious?

A Few Cool Augmented Reality Apps

Daniel — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:36:27 +0000

I've been talking a lot about augmented (AR) reality lately. Partly because I'm a technology geek, but more importantly because I feel it has the potential to become an integrated part of our lives. Maybe not any minute now, but it’s slowly creeping in on us. There are many more or less useful apps in the iPhone’s App Store now and I’ve collected a few of them here. Some are fun, some impressive and some show promise.

NearestWiki

The first augmented reality app I picked up was NearestWiki and I still find it to be one of the best to show newcomers. It doesn’t mess around with a lot of extra features and it does what it says on the tin.

It brings in content from Wikipedia and overlays in onto the “real world” through your phone’s camera. Very clever and potentially expandable (it’s Wikipedia, duh). I know Wikitude and Layar etc. get more attention, but I feel this one is better. Less clutter.

TAT Augmented ID (Polar Rose facial recognition)

This one is still a concept, but show you what NearestWiki could potentially become. It uses the camera again (as do all these apps) but is designed for recognizing people, not things. Via Polar Rose (facial recognition, cool stuff, check it out) it would identify you and display info you decide near you corporeal form. Great for work, but also for those socially awkward “I seem to have forgotten your name” moments.

WhereMark

Not out yet and there are probably others, but this is the one I stumbled upon. Reminds me of most of the other “browser” type apps, but promises to be readily able to be edited on the go. I.e. I could “tag” my house and leave a nice big floating bubble there for everyone to see. This obviously needs “the people” to create content, but image walking in the woods, finding a ruin and pulling up info via your phone, because someone already tagged that location and ruin.

Twin Towers Wikitude Extension

Yes, I know, potentially touchy subject, but look past the current use. Images walking through Rome and being able to overlay the ancient version of the city. Or how about London, Berlin, Athens... You get the idea.

NearestSubway

This is out in multiple versions. Basically gives you x-ray vision, letting you see the subway beneath you, distance to the nearest station etc..

Car Finder

This I have missed! Tag the location of your car when you park in those giant car parks, and this app will guide you back to you vehicle. Simple, but such a good idea.

What's Your Fave?

I'm sure there are tons of other greats AR apps out there. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them ...

Don’t Block Your Users

Daniel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:23:49 +0000

Seriously. I mean, this isn’t rocket science. If you are the publisher of any form of content you shouldn’t be making people work to access it.

I’m talking about the “largest european newspaper” (Bild.de) not allowing iPhone users to access their website via the phone’s Safari browser. Lunacy, you say, yes, but there is a certain amount of logic behind it. You see, they have an iPhone app out - that you have to pay for.

While I know newspapers are struggling to find new revenue streams, and they should be applauded for it, they shouldn’t force people’s hands like this. It’s just not very polite. I always have problems when I’m forced to do anything. Install toolbars, autotweet junk etc., nobody likes not have the choice. Forcing people to buy an app to read your newspapers just sounds like a stupid idea all round.

I don’t read that newspaper (it’s german) but they’d better be ready for some backlash. If there’s no backlash Germany needs to get their protesting hats out of the closet...

Other stupid examples of blocking are the lack of BBC iPlayer on certain mobile tariffs in the UK. Why do I have to be on wifi to watch some low bandwidth flash video? (Because they are stingy with their bandwidth.)

And why can’t I download large files on my iPhone via iTunes when I’m on the go? No large podcasts, which basically means no video podcasts before you are on wifi again. (Same reason as above, I suppose).

Anyway, rant over. I don’t like it when people block (access to) content.

Rebel!

Why Twitter is Releveant for Journos

Daniel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:41:27 +0000

Stumbled upon this pretty good video from CNN on why Twitter is relevant for journalists.

So What IS Google Wave?

Daniel — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:12:07 +0000

No, I didn't get in to the beta, but here's a good, if goofy, video by the devs. It actually shows what Wave is all about.

Augmented Reality for the Masses

Daniel — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:31:43 +0000

AR for the masses is coming, point in case being NearestWiki for the iPhone 3Gs. I taped a quick video, which is viewable below. It explains it fairly well. While AR is still in the "gimmick" fase it has huge potential.

Karen26 Looking For a Guy She Slept With

Daniel — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:17:10 +0000

I've blogged my thoughts on the recent Karen26 debacle on my Danish blog here: http://pcblog.dk/2009/09/13/danish-mother-seeking-mediestunt-fra-visitdenmark/

It's in Danish, but there's a Google Translate link there!