/tech/MobileNote
So I'm working on my very own mobile application. It's a simple package to write short notes - grocery lists, musicians or authors I hear about and want to look into, etc. My Nokia 3100 lets me attached notes to people, and to dates, but there's no way for me to just write down a simple note. Until now. (Actually, there might have been before...I didn't really look, since I needed a project to learn about J2ME anyway.)
Yes, that's right folks, you can install your very own copy of MobileNote v0.2.0! Just point your Java-capable phone's web browser (your phone does have a web browser and Java, right?) to http://rob.infinitepigeons.org/mob/MobileNote.jad, and let the internet do its magic. Then tell me all the ways it went wrong.
It's totally pre-release, don't trust it for anything. There's a synchronize feature that lets you upload your notes, but currently that's pretty much only for my use. It'll be all fixed up RSN, though.
I'd also dig suggestions for names. "MobileNote" is the working title. "MobiNote" is next in line.
New Albums from the Gallery
/tech/Free Software Foundation Associate Member
This blog entry was lost by my ISP and they did not recover it. A fairly complete copy existed on blog aggregators, but it may have lost formatting or links.
You're reading the blog of the Free Software Foundation's newest member. The FSF is responsible for much of the software in the Linux operating system that I use. More importantly, they are the defenders of the GNU General Public Licence (GPL). The GPL is a clever trick with copyright that basically uses copyright to do the opposite of copyright -- protecting people's ability to use, examine, modify and share software legally. (The term defender is not an exaggeration. The FSF frequently pursues organizations who violate the GPL, and has been named in the Microsoft-funded SCO lawsuit against everything Linux. Those evil Mic... oops. Just ran out of ZealoutJuice"!. That's never happened to me before, I swear.)
I was enticed into the membership by a "free" copy of Lawrence Lessig's new book, Free Culture. Lessig is a well-known intellectual property lawyer. Last year he argued in front of the US Supreme Court that continued copyright extentions (now at life + 75 years, I believe) violate the US constitution. Unfortunately they didn't agree, although they were clearly swayed by some of his arguments.
The membership was 60USD/year. I rationalized it because (1) I've been wanting to support the people that build and defend the software that I use and (2) I found much cheaper flights home than I've been expecting. Still, I'm concerned about the world of spending that my credit card has opened up for me, even if it's "the good kind."
/tech/Email Address Changed
This blog entry was lost by my ISP and they did not recover it. A fairly complete copy existed on blog aggregators, but it may have lost formatting or links.
I've switched to calling rob@infinitepigeons.org my official, authoritative, definitive, canonical email address. I expect and hope that it will be around for a long time, so please update your address books.
raewasch@ee.oulu.fi will continue to work until June 15 or so. raewasch@*.uwaterloo.ca will work until about the end of this summer, as I understand it. After that, I get a raewasch@alumni.uwaterloo.ca, but I don't know if I'll be using it.
/tech/Banners and Web advertising
This blog entry was lost by my ISP and they did not recover it. A fairly complete copy existed on blog aggregators, but it may have lost formatting or links.
Strangely, in the last while -- maybe six months -- I've found myself following advertising more. Today I just clicked on a banner ad from The Onion for some music (update: That link was not supposed to point to my sisters blog, but rarther to "Sigur Ros" as it now does.) that I had never heard of.
One thing that has contributed to this is the fact that I finally got a credit card, so more of them are at least potentially accessible. But I think they're getting better, too. At least The Onion seems to have good ads for movies and music and stuff that I'm interested in.
This is good. The quantity of faux-button ads seems to have gone down too. Maybe people realized that tricking people is not the best way to start a customer relationship.
And the influence of Google shouldn't be ignored, I think. Their obstinacy sticking to simple, clear text-based ads usually in a good context has proved that honesty works. Google's finances aren't public, but most people seem to think they're turning a healthy profit.
/tech/U of Oulu to U of Waterloo route entirely academic
This blog entry was lost by my ISP and they did not recover it. Only a partial recovery was possible from external copies on blog aggregators.
I work on a computer hosted at the University of Oulu. My friend Rob works on a computer hosted at the University of Waterloo. The set of routers and cables connecting our computers spans five different networks, each of which is dedicated to universities and research organizations. I think that's neat.
/tech/Scheme
This blog entry was lost by my ISP and they did not recover it. Only a partial recovery was possible from external copies on blog aggregators.
One of the professors at UW has suggested an alternate stream for first year students taking CS courses (this includes CS majors, but also non-CS math majors)
This is my "statement" on the proposal:
