Best goals in history? Some are rather nice .....

Back and almost gone again ...

Back from Heerenveen where I was with my parents for Christmas. Tomorrow I will fly to Otley in England to meet some of my best friends, English though :-).

Otley is a Yorkshire market town of about 15,000 people, set on the banks of the River Wharfe. It is an ancient, friendly and picturesque town with a rich commercial and community life. The town lies in attractive countryside in Mid-Wharfedale at the centre of the rural triangle between Leeds, Harrogate and Bradford. Immediately to the south of the town rises Otley Chevin, which gives magnificent views over Mid-Wharfedale, and in the past provided much of the stone from which the town centre was built. Much of the town centre is eighteenth or nineteenth century or earlier and has Conservation Area status. Otley has been here from about the mid-Eighth century, when Otta made his Leah or clearing in the forest.
Since then Otley has evolved a rich and varied character. Its Parish Church houses some of the best examples of Anglo-Danish crosses in the country. Thomas Fairfax, Cromwell's general came from nearby Denton Hall. Thomas Chippendale, the world-famous furniture maker was born and learnt his craft in Otley. Turner often stayed nearby, and used the Chevin as the backdrop for at least one of his famous pictures (Hannibal crossing the Alps). The Wharfedale Press, which revolutionised nineteenth century printing, was invented and manufactured in Otley. And the town hosts the country's oldest agricultural show. The town continues to be a varied and resourceful place.
It is still very much a market town; with two cattle markets, agricultural suppliers, blacksmiths, paper manufacturers, printers, engineers, lens manufacturers, a busy shopping centre and popular open markets. There are events throughout the year, the Otley Show in May, the Carnival in June, the Folk festival in September and the Victorian Fayre in December to name but a few. The town centre is renowned for the number and quality of its pubs, and the surrounding countryside provides ample scope for walking, fishing, riding and other outdoor sports.

Exclusive: Apple to adopt Intel's ultra-mobile PC platform (Kasper Jade/AppleInsider)

Exclusive: Apple to adopt Intel's ultra-mobile PC platform  —  Apple Inc. will form a closer bond with once-rival Intel Corp. early next year when it begins building a new breed of ultra-mobile processors from the chipmaker into a fresh generation of handheld devices, AppleInsider has learned.

Source:   AppleInsider

Author:   Kasper Jade

Link:   http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/12/21…

Techmeme permalink

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Apple expected to announce sales of 5 million iPhones at Macworld (Cleve Nettles/9 to 5 Mac)

Apple expected to announce sales of 5 million iPhones at Macworld  —  Insiders tell us that Apple expects to announce sales of roughly five million iPhones at Macworld 2008 in January.  Of these, around one million are expected to come from Europe.  Apple is seeing very strong Christmas sales despite …

Source:   9 to 5 Mac - Apple Intelligence

Author:   Cleve Nettles

Link:   http://www.9to5mac.com/5-million-iphones-4235654546345

Techmeme permalink

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Possible new route

New planning for New Zealand

Well I was extremely disappointed that I had to cancel my trip (due to some reasons) to New Zealand in January 2008, but today it was agreed on not to bad terms I could reschedule the flight for later in 2008.

So it is now planned (Winter though in New Zealand) end of June en 2 weeks in July.

No San Francisco and Tokio as stop-overs, now both ways recharge in Shanghai (Summer around 30 degrees). I have never been there and will try to plan something on the way to New Zealand.

From Wikipedia:

Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; Pinyin: Shànghǎi; Shanghainese: /zɑ̃'he/; abbreviation: 沪; nickname: 申), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the People's Republic of China and the seventh largest in the world.^[4] Widely regarded as the citadel of China's modern economy,
the city also serves as one of the nation's most important cultural,
commercial, financial, industrial and communications centers.
Administratively, Shanghai is a municipality of the People's Republic of China that has province-level status. Also, Shanghai is one of the world's busiest ports, and became the largest cargo port in the world in 2005.^[5]

Originally a fishing town, Shanghai became China's most important city by the twentieth century and was the center of popular culture, intellectual discourse and political intrigue during the Republic of China era. After the communist takeover in 1949,
Shanghai languished due to heavy central government taxation and
cessation of foreign investment, and had many of its supposedly "bourgeois" elements purged. Following the central government's authorization of market-economic redevelopment of Shanghai in 1992, Shanghai has now surpassed early-starters Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and has since led China's economic growth. Some challenges remain for Shanghai at the beginning of the 21st century,
as the city struggles to cope with increased worker migration, a huge
wealth gap, and environmental degradation. Despite these challenges,
Shanghai's skyscrapers and modern lifestyle are often seen as
representing China's recent economic development.

The two Chinese characters in the name "Shanghai" (see left) literally mean "up, on, or above" and "sea". The local Shanghainese pronunciation of Shanghai is /zɑ̃.'he/, while the Standard Mandarin pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin is Shànghǎi. The earliest occurrence of this name dates from the Song Dynasty (11th century),
at which time there was already a river confluence and a town with this
name in the area. There are disputes as to how the name should be
interpreted, but official local histories have consistently said that
it means "the upper reaches of the sea" (海之上洋).
However, another reading, especially in Mandarin, also suggests the
sense of "go onto the sea," which is consistent with the seaport status
of the city. The more poetic name for Shanghai switches the order of
the two characters, i.e., Haishang (海上),
and is often used for terms related to Shanghainese art and culture. In
the West, Shanghai has also been spelled Schanghai (in German), Sjanghai (in Dutch), Xangai (in Portuguese) and Changhaï (in French), but since the 1990s the Hanyu Pinyin spelling of "Shanghai" has become universal in the West.

Shanghai's abbreviations in Chinese are Hù (沪) and Shēn (申). The former is derived from the ancient name Hu Du (沪渎) of the river now known as Suzhou Creek. The latter is derived from the name of Chunshen Jun (春申君), a nobleman of the Chu Kingdom (楚国) in the 3rd century BC
whose territory included the Shanghai area and has locally been revered
as a hero. Sports teams and newspapers in Shanghai often use the
character Shēn (申) in their names. Shanghai is also commonly called Shēnchéng (申城, "City of Shēn").

The city has had various nicknames in English, including "Paris of
the East", "Queen of the Orient", and even "The Whore of Asia", a
reference to the widespread corruption, vice, drugs, and prostitution
in the 1920s and 1930s.

Because of Shanghai's status as the cultural and economic center of East Asia
for the first half of the twentieth century, it is popularly seen as
the birthplace of everything considered modern in China. It was in
Shanghai, for example, that the first motor car was driven and the
first train tracks and modern sewers were laid. It was also the
intellectual battleground between socialist writers who concentrated on
critical realism (pioneered by Lu Xun and Mao Dun) and the more "bourgeois", more romantic and aesthetically inclined writers (such as Shi Zhecun, Shao Xunmei, Ye Lingfeng, Eileen Chang).

Besides literature, Shanghai was also the birthplace of Chinese cinema & theater. China's first short film, The Difficult Couple (Nanfu Nanqi, 1913), and the country's first fictional feature film, Orphan Rescues Grandfather (Gu'er jiu zuji,
1923) were both produced in Shanghai. These two films were very
influential, and established Shanghai as the center of Chinese
film-making. Shanghai's film industry went on to blossom during the
early Thirties, generating Marilyn Monroe-like stars such as Zhou Xuan. Another film star, Jiang Qing, went on to become Madame Mao Zedong. The talent and passion of Shanghainese filmmakers following World War II and the Communist revolution in China contributed enormously to the development of the Hong Kong film industry.

Many aspects of Shanghainese popular culture ("Shanghainese Pops") were transferred to Hong Kong by the numerous Shanghainese emigrants and refugees after the Communist Revolution. The movie In the Mood for Love (Huayang nianhua) directed by Wong Kar-wai (a native Shanghainese himself) depicts one slice of the displaced Shanghainese community in Hong Kong and the nostalgia for that era, featuring 1940s music by Zhou Xuan.

The blogging system I am running

From TechCrunch:

Although it's been long-expected, Six Apart finally transitioned itsMovable Type blogging software to an open-source license today. In many ways this is a response to the success of Wordpress, the open-source blog-publishing software that is increasingly popular, especially among bloggers who like to tweak their own code. (TechCrunch uses Wordpress, for instance).

Now, Movable Type can benefit from improvements to its code contributed by its most ardent users. The competition should be good for bloggers everywhere who choose to host their own blogs (as opposed to those who use hosted services such as Six Apart's Typepad or Automattic's hosted version of Wordpress or Google's Blogger). Six Apart's Anil Dash, who notes the company's commitment to openness in general, gives the low-down on how Movable Type took the open-source route. Movable Type Open Source (MTOS) is based on Movable Type 4.0. Dash notes:

--MTOS has every feature in Movable Type 4.0 along with several new minor improvements and bug fixes.
--All plugins, themes, templates, designs, and APIs that work with MT4 work with MTOS. MTOS also works with other Six Apart open source technologies such as memcached.
--MTOS is one of the only open source blogging tools with built-in support for an unlimited number of blogs, an unlimited number of authors, and sign-in with OpenID, with no plugins needed.
--We'll be adding additional paid benefits for people who've paid for commercial licenses for Movable Type, with benefits like improved technical support and custom add-ons such as plugins or themes.
--You can find out how to contribute to the MTOS project and the MT community at movabletype.org.
--Movable Type Open Source is being released under the standard GPL license.
--We welcome and encourage the distribution and reuse of all or part of MTOS in other open source projects.

You can find more details here.

Otley

Well I have canceled New Zealand and will "instead" stay for some days for a short holiday at friends in Otley.

Below info from Wikipedia:

Otley is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Wharfe. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town has a total resident population of 14,348.

The town lies in Wharfedale, and is divided in two by the River Wharfe. It is surrounded mostly by arable farmland.

The south side of the valley is dominated by a large gritstone escarpment overlooking Otley called The Chevin. In 1944, Major Le G.G.W. Horton Fawkes of Farnley Hall
donated 263 acres (1.1 km²) of land on the Chevin to the people of
Otley. This has now been expanded to 700 acres (2.8 km²) and is known
as Chevin Forest Park. It was from the quarry on The Chevin that the foundation stones for the Houses of Parliament were hewn.

To the east and west of Otley there are flooded gravel pits, where
sand and gravel have been extracted in the 20th century. The gravel
pits to the east are known as Knotford Nook, and are a noted birdwatching site. Those to the west are devoted to angling and sailing.

To the West are the nearby villages of Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston. To the East is the smaller village of Pool-in-Wharfedale.

Otley lies in the Leeds North West constituency of the UK Parliament and is represented by MP Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrats). It is part of the Otley & Yeadon ward on Leeds City Council and is represented by three Liberal Democrat Councillors Ryk Downes, Colin Campbell & Graham Kirkland. It is twinned with the French town of Montereau, south of Paris.

Otley and Wharfedale ward has a population of 24,000, and Otley itself has a population of 14,348, according to Census 2001.

The town hosts Wharfedale General Hospital which serves the surrounding area, and also Prince Henry's Grammar School, which holds Language college status.

The town dates from before Roman times, and belonged to the Archbishopric of York. Otley is close to Leeds and thus may have formed part of the kingdom of Elmet. The southern flank of the Wharfe valley which lies above Otley is known as The Chevin a term that has close parallels to the welsh term "Cefn", meaning ridge and may be a survival of the ancient cumbric
language. Remains of the old Archbishop's Manor House were found during
the construction of St Joseph's RC Primary School near to the River Wharfe. The town formed an important crossing point of the River Wharfe and was an administrative centre in the wapentake
of Skyrack in the early medieval period, and this importance continued
with its being the seat of the Mid-Wharfedale Urban District council up
until the local council reorganisation of 1974.

The first church was built there in the early 7th century. In All Saints Parish Church there are the remains of two Early Anglo-Saxon
crosses, one of which has been reproduced for the town's war memorial.
Buried there is an ancestor of the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the grandparents of Thomas Fairfax who commanded Parliament's forces at the Battle of Marston Moor
in 1644. In the graveyard of the parish church stands a replica of an
entrance to the Bramhope Railway Tunnel, a monument to those killed
during its construction.

Otley is a market town
and has held a regular market for over a thousand years. Market days
are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and there is also a Farmers' Market
on the last Sunday of every month. Documented history for the market
begins in 1222 when King Henry III granted the first Royal Charter.
Cattle markets are still held at the Wharfedale Farmers' Auction Mart
on East Chevin Road although the Bridge End Auction Mart closed a
number of years ago and has now been demolished.

Thomas Chippendale, the famous furniture maker, was born at Farnley near Otley, and his statue stands in the town next to the old Prince Henry's Grammar School in Manor Square that he once attended. The current site of Prince Henry's Grammar School is in Farnley Lane.

J.M.W. Turner, the famed painter, visited Otley in 1797,
aged 22, when commissioned to paint watercolours of the area. He was so
attracted to Otley and the surrounding area that he returned time and
time again. His friendship with Walter Ramsden Fawkes made him a
regular visitor to Farnley Hall, two miles from Otley. The stormy
backdrop of Hannibal Crossing The Alps is reputed to have been inspired
by a storm over Otley's Chevin while Turner was staying at Farnley Hall.

The Wharfedale Printing Machine was developed in Otley by William Dawson and William Payne. An early example can be seen in Otley Museum.

Famous Methodist preacher John Wesley
was a frequent visitor to the town in the 18th century. Famously his
horse died in the town and is buried in the grounds of the parish
church. Its grave is marked by an unusual toblerone-shaped stone, also
known locally as the "Donkey Stone". In his Journal for 1761
we read, "July 6 Monday; In the evening I preached at Otley and
afterwards talked with many of the Society. There is reason to believe
that ten or twelve of these are filled with the love of God." One of
the main streets in Otley (Wesley Street) is still named after him.

From Webware.com: JetBlue to start testing in-flight e-mail, IM next week

Low-cost airline JetBlue has equipped one of its Airbus A320 planes with an onboard wireless network and has forged partnerships with Yahoo and BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion to give passengers access to the companies' e-mail and instant messaging functions while in the air. The airline considers the plane, nicknamed "BetaBlue," to be an early-stage test as the company explores expanding in-flight communication options.

(Credit: JetBlue)

Passengers won't be able to surf the full Web. But if they bring Wi-Fi-equipped laptops along, they can access lightweight versions of Yahoo e-mail and instant messaging services; BlackBerry owners who have Wi-Fi-enabled handsets (the BlackBerry 8820 and BlackBerry Curve 8320) will be able to access their personal and corporate e-mail. BlackBerry models that have only cellular connections rather than Wi-Fi won't be compatible--the Federal Communications Commission still has a ban on cellular service in-flight.The plane will take its inaugural flight on Tuesday morning, making the cross-country trip from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to San Francisco International Airport. After that, "BetaBlue" will be added to JetBlue's regular flight lineup; a company representative told CNET News.com that there will be no way to specifically request the messaging-equipped plane, nor will any additional fee be charged for the service.
It's been known for well over a year that JetBlue had been planning some sort of in-flight wireless initiative. LiveTV, a division of the airline, was awarded a 1MHz air-to-ground wireless license from the FCC in June 2006, following an intense bidding war. After 120 bids, LiveTV paid $7 million for the license, which offers full coverage of the continental U.S. above 10,000 feet. Another company, AirCell, obtained a 3MHz license for $31.3 million in the same FCC auction.

Earlier this year, JetBlue representatives hinted that they were interested in exploring options for in-flight text messaging--but that would require a relaxation of the FCC's stringent regulations.

As the major players in the airline industry compete with one another in an increasingly tech-savvy world, carriers have touted in-flight tech innovations like satellite TV service and electrical power connections. JetBlue already offers DirecTV service, as well as XM satellite radio on some of its newer planes. When Virgin America first took off in August, geeks drooled over the USB and power connections, MP3 library, and a messaging service that lets lonely passengers strike up conversations with fellow travelers on the same plane.

But when it comes to communication services (Virgin America's intra-plane messaging aside), there have been some major momentum issues. Cell phone use on planes is still a contentious topic, but it's nevertheless likely imminent on some foreign carriers and some wireless companies see it as a potential source of profit.

Broadband Internet is a different story. Connexion, a paid in-flight broadband service from Boeing, was used by a number of foreign airlines, like Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, before it was officially shut down at the end of 2006. There's been no word from Panasonic recently on a rumored plan to succeed where Connexion had failed.

And when BetaBlue takes off on Tuesday, it will make the Forest Hills, N.Y.-based JetBlue the first domestic airline carrier to offer any kind of wireless service in the air. Virgin America's planes have Ethernet ports at each seat, but they remain inactive.

JetBlue representatives said that if BetaBlue proves successful, expansions to the program will become evident over the next year. This would possibly include either installing the Yahoo and RIM services on other planes, or expanding the wireless offerings.

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Ultra-portable MacBook display rumors surface

Filed under: Laptops

Apple rumor mill aficionados, prepare for action. According to reports that are making their way out into the public arena today, the Cupertino monolith has placed orders for a new type of 13.3-inch LED backlight unit, destined to be used in an as-yet-unannounced product... like, say, a new ultra-portable MacBook. The "news" here, as divulged by "industry sources" is that Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology (Nano-Op) have recently become suppliers to both Apple and Dell for the aforementioned goods -- meant to be used in "high-end models" -- with a shipment of over 90,000 units this month. Those numbers are expected to rise to 200,000 before year's end, and 300,000 during Q1 of 2008. Whether or not this tips the scales in favor of a new Apple MacBook is questionable, but it certainly provides some food for thought.

[Via AppleInsider]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Back from Berlin

I have been a week in Berlin, last three days at Online Educa in Hotel Intercontinental. We were staying from last Sunday in Sylter Hof, 

avery nice hotel conveniently located at the Kurfürsterstrasse, near the well known Kurfürstendamm.

From Wikipedia:

The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin, Germany. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten (Electors) of the Holy Roman Empire. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered theChamps-Élysées of Berlin - full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular most important famous designers have their shops there like Gucci, Bvlgari, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Cartier, Hermès, Swarovski, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms.

When Berlin was separated into East and West Berlin, the Kurfürstendamm became the leading commercial street in West Berlin. It starts near Bahnhof Zoo (that used to be a major railway station, before the Lehrter Bahnhof was opened which is now the Berliner Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station)) at the Zoologischer Garten, near the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and runs through Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.

 

KADEWE

After a busy day, partly work and some shopping and after a nice Glühwein at a Weinachtsmarkt, we ended up in KaDeWe (Kaufhauf Des Westens) at the 6th floor to have a perfect cheese dinner.

About KaDeWe (from Wikipedia).

The Kaufhaus des Westens (English "Department Store of the West", commonly abbreviated KaDeWe) is a department store in Berlin and the largest in all of continental Europe. With over 60,000 square metres of selling space and more than 380,000 articles available, it attracts 40,000 to 50,000 visitors every day.

The store is located on Tauentzienstraße, a major shopping street, between Wittenbergplatz and Breitscheidplatz, near the center of the former West Berlin. It is technically in the extreme northwest of the neighborhood of Schöneberg.

History

The store was originally founded in 1905 by Adolf Jandorf, who persuaded the famous architect Emil Schaudt to build his store. It opened in March 27th, 1907 with an area of 24,000 sqm.

In 1927, ownership changed to the Hertie company owned by Hermann Tietz.
The Hertie Company was responsible for modernizing and expanding the
store. They had the ambition to add two new floors but because of the
Nazi rise to power in the 1930's their plans came to a sudden halt. The
Hertie Company was mainly Jewish owned and because of the Nazi's race
laws they were prevented from maintaining their ownership. During World War II
the allied bombing runs ruined most of the store. One of the bombers
was shot down and crashed into KaDaWe in 1943. Most of the store was
gutted which caused the store to close. The re-opening of the first two
floors was celebrated in 1950. They completed the construction of all
seven floors by 1956. Once completed it became a beacon of hope for
Berliners. "KaDeWe" soon became a symbol of the regained economic power
of Germany during the Wirtschaftswunder economic boom, as well as emblematic of the material prosperity of West Berlin versus that of the East Berlin.

During 1976-1978 KaDaWe expanded from 24,000 sqm to 44,000 sqm. When
the Berlin wall fell in 1989, KaDaWe had record breaking amount of
people travel through the store. By 1996, the store's sales area
expanded to 60,000 sqm and a restaurant was added to the top floor.

In 1994, the KarstadtQuelle AG
corporation acquired Hertie and with it KaDeWe. Most of the floors were
renovated between 2004 and 2007 to prepare for their one hundredth
anniversary.

Features

"KaDeWe" The sixth floor food hall

KaDeWe has seven huge floors and each one contains different
merchandise. The first floor is all Beauty Accessories. A few of the
services offered are beauty salons and nail and foot spas. Most men
tend to avoid this level. Also the "Luxury Boulevard" is situated at
these floor, with own shops of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci, Chanel, Bvlgari, Cartier or Montblanc.

The 2nd floor is Men's Apparel. On this floor you can find mens
fashion whether you need a pair of jeans or a new suit for a night on
the town. Most of the clothing on this floor are designer made. If
you're looking for a cheap pair of jeans there are better places to go
than KaDeWe's 2nd floor.

The next floor up is devoted to Womens Fashion. This is the 2nd
floor for women, but this one focuses on designer clothing. KaDeWe has
a wide selection from a nice pair of pants to a little black dress for
the next party.

The 4th floor contains a little of something for everyone. Part of
the floor is children's wear. You can find fashion for newborns up to
kids. Another chunk of the floor is devoted to lingerie. The last
little bit contains items for your healthiness. You can get a brand new
bed or pick up some toiletries.

The sixth and seventh floor (added in the early 1990s) are entirely
devoted to food, and advertisements tout the place as having two
football fields of food. The sixth floor is called delicatessen and is famous for its wide variety of food and beverages.

On the top level one can find a winter garden with a restaurant surrounded by an all windowed wall offering a view over the Wittenbergplatz.

Its sheer size, large selection and fame for excellent quality and its central location in the heart of Berlin near the Gedächtniskirche ("Kaiser Wilhelm" Memorial Church) and the Kurfürstendamm makes it a must for every tourist visiting Berlin.

Berlin on bike

We had an extremely good weekend in Berlin. One of the entertainment options was going by bike. We had a very nice, but cold tour. Partly following the Berlin wall and/or what is left of it, first through Kreuzberg and the last half hour (of the 6 total) we also visited the more well known touristic spots. But I was glad .... as those spots I already visited several times. One of the bicyclists had a GPS (ported to Google Earth) so we have prove of our tour :-).

Below, an overview, the Postdammer Platz with the new Sony on the left (they left BTW)  building and lastly the Brandenburger Tor (right) and the Reichstag (left).

Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Germany

Well 3 are in, 1 not, sorry Belgium ...

Yesterday we lost, Portugal had a draw, today I was in Belgium (Gent) and tomorrow in Germany (Berlin).

Got below picture from my friend from Portugal .. and yes it's about football or soccer :-).

Nice creative ad ....

Video Sneak Peak: Fully customizable shortcuts in Pagico 3

This is a great product. I did the Dutch translation for it. Due to many new interesting functionalities it is a product to watch. Check some out at their website.

Well, how about you?

I have had no real problems installing and upgrading to Leopard, but many people had problems. Could also have been a PC commercial ....

Odiogo

Today I installed Odiogo, a fairly new product for text to speech. They describe it as:

Check out the automated podcast "to go": your site's RSS feeds, text articles and blog posts can be converted automatically to iPod-ready audio files ready to download and play anywhere, anytime, on any device. 

Turn readers into listeners, and transform your blog into a high quality, ad-supporting broadcast that can vastly expand your audience reach!

• Automatic podcast generation
• "Near-human" quality text-to-speech
• Listen Button feature deployed in next to no time for WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and Terapad platforms
• Detailed download statistics
• Make money from embedded ads

If you do not believe it, just click the button to the right and check some of the entries on Visit me Daily. 

Apple Releases First Leopard Update (10.5.1)

Apple has released their first update to Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.1) today:

The 10.5.1 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

Apple details the improvements in this technote. Some highlights include:

- Allows password-protected accounts on AirPort Disks to show up on in the Finder's Shared Sidebar.

- Addresses formatting issues with certain drives used with Time Machine

- Addresses a potential data loss issue when moving files across partitions in the Finder.

- Improves the reliability of Back to My Mac-enabled Macs appearing in the Finder's Shared Sidebar.

The final build number of Mac OS X 10.5.1 is indeed 9B18 as previously reported. Apple first released Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 on October 26th.

I installed it and no issues yet :-)

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Decision taken

Due to several issues I had to cancel my upcoming trip to New Zealand. Hopefully I will be able to travel to New Zealand in the near future.

From MacRumors: Filemaker Introduces Bento Personal Database for Mac

Filemaker has introduced a new personal database application for Mac OS X called Bento.

Bento
organizes all your important information in one place. So you can
manage your contacts, coordinate events, track projects, prioritize
tasks, and more -- faster and easier than ever before.

Bento is described as being designed exclusively for Mac OS X Leopard
and takes advantage of many Leopard-specific features, such as live
linking to iCal, Core Animation, Advanced Find, Time Machine Backups
and Multimedia features.

A free preview download is available. Filemaker, Inc. is a subsidiary of Apple and publishes FileMaker Pro for Windows and Mac OS X. Macworld provides a brief first look at Bento. Bento is expected to be released at Macworld San Francisco 2008 for $49 for a single license.

Leopard "the most polished and easiest to use OS"

In his 4.5-star (out of 5) review of Leopard, Edward Mendelson
(pcmag.com) maintains that Leopard is "by far the best operating system
ever written for the vast majority of consumers, with dozens of new
features that have real practical value." Mendelson "found Leopard to
be startlingly fast, brilliantly streamlined, and packed with
conveniences and innovations. Leopard's rich set of built-in software
runs faster than I imagined possible." Read article.

Halloween parade NYC

Leopard

Got Leopard by courier yesterday, so no lines for me as in NYC :-).

Upgraded in one hour and seems to be working perfectly, especially Timemachine is great for the future. Never having to think about making a backup.

What an imagination ....

Embedded Video

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Leopard, Apple's new Mac operating system, hits all the right spots (USA Today)

Leopard, Apple's new Mac operating system, hits all the right spots  —  When Steve Jobs unleashes Mac OS X Leopard on Friday, Mac fans and others considering an Apple computer for the first time will have questions.  Is the new Leopard operating system worth the $129 upgrade price?

Source:   USA Today

Link:   http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig…

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Dancing on the Backstreet Boys

Embedded Video

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From Webware: Flickr to use Picnik for online photo editing

Flickr plans to expand from photo sharing to photo editing through a deal with start-up Picnik, a major change in the nature of the Yahoo site.

"We are working on a relationship with Picnik, which will be available in the coming months," a Flickr representative said Friday, declining to share further details.

Picnik lets users perform a variety of basic editing tasks, including some color correction.

(Credit: Picnik)

News of the deal was reported Friday by TechCrunch from the Web 2.0 Summit. The site said Flickr will let users add edited photos to their accounts or, for pro account holders, they can use them to replace the online originals.

Picnik, based in Seattle, lets users perform a variety of basic editing tasks. Among them: users can crop and resize photos; change exposure, saturation, color temperature; sharpen edges; remove red-eye; and rotate pictures by 90-degrees or finer increments. It's got multiple undo levels, and edited photos already can be saved to a local computer or to Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket and Google's Picasa.

While that feature list is pretty feeble compared with what's possible with full-fledged desktop programs such as Adobe Photoshop, it does cover the basics of image editing. Picnik isn't alone, though; Adobe is working on an online Photoshop version and other competitors include Phixr, Snipshot, Pixenate, FotoFlexer, Wiredness, Pikifx and Fauxto.

Photo editing is a significant change in scope for Flickr. The option spotlights not only the increasingly sophisticated tasks that can happen in Web browsers--a technology generally called rich Internet applications--but also the gradual migration of features from desktop computers to online services.

It's been a newsy week for Flickr at the Web 2.0 Summit. The company also said it's planning to revamp its printing feature to make it easier to print a batch of photos and add new abilities to display geographically organized photos to take better advantage of pictures that have been geotagged with location information.

From MacRumors: Apple Posts Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Guided Tour

Apple has posted a guided tour of Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard."

Apple has been steadily expanding the flow of information about Leopard in the days leading up to its release, detailing all 300 features. Readers may also be interested in recent stories detailing some of the more less talked about features and under the hood improvements, as well as system requirements analysis.

If you haven't already ordered online, MacRumors readers are organizing meetups in their local regions.

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Flock 1.0 Beta Released: Surprisingly Very Good

Flock 1.0 beta has been released for public download and is available here (at the time of writing it’s not shown on the front page).

The new version of Flock, the first full release was first demonstrated at the TechCrunch 40 conference in September. The new version builds on previous Flock versions by offering a variety of social networking tie-ins.

I’ve been hard on Flock in the past, believing it to be nothing more than Firefox with a couple of fancy plugins. In some respects that was true (it’s based on Firefox code) but the new Flock offers something completely unique that for me at least makes it surprisingly very good.

Facebook Comes To The Sidebar

The big change to Flock is the introduction of sidebar social networking integration. Flock now comes standard with support for Facebook, Flickr (more so than previously), Twitter and YouTube.

Facebook addicts will love the new Flock. Sidebar Facebook access is not dissimilar to the Facebook iPhone interface, but with better options including the ability to upload photos directly to Facebook. Some options do take you directly to Facebook itself, but it’s still very handy having them at your command in an easy to use sidebar.

The Twitter app does a reasonable job and is not unlike the TwitBin Firebox plugin we have previously review, but like the Facebook app it comes with a better feature set, including action buttons allowing for direct messaging, profiles and nudging.

My only gripe with the Twitter client is that it doesn’t update as frequently as Twitterrific and there was no obvious way of changing the update frequency that I could find.

Account support is also available for Photobucket, Piczo, Del.icio.us and Magnolia.

flock1.jpg

Media Bar

The media bar is not new to Flock, but where as the service was previously focused on Flickr, Facebook support is now integrated, providing drag and drop uploads. Another feature Facebook addicts will love.

Web Clipboard

Flock now comes with what they call a “web clipboard” that allows users to drag and drop anything they see into it via the sidebar, including urls, text and images. The idea is that they can then be used when needed on other sites by drag and drop again, or via image upload as required. We’ve seen Firefox plugins before that do a similar job, but the way this is built into Flock does make it a more appealing offering. It also helps that it works well.

Blogging client

The blogging client has long been one of Flocks selling points but I’m afraid that it was really my only major disappointment with the 1.0 release. It’s a solid blog client (always has been) in doing the basics, but it fails miserably with image management. Flock doesn’t support the uploading of images to a blog and provides users with only two alternatives: upload the image to Facebook or Flickr for displaying in the post, or worst of all display the picture sourced from another web site; basically stealing someone else’s bandwidth. It really isn’t that hard to build in image uploading to WordPress or similar blog platforms, here’s hoping it’s something that Flock might address in future releases

Other features

Flock offers a browser based RSS reader which does a decent enough job for those who prefer their feeds served locally as opposed to a service like Google Reader.  The media bar has expanded from simply being a photo management tool to a browsing tool that includes YouTube videos. In the case of YouTube, user accounts of videos you view are added to the YouTube sidebar. I’m not sure exactly what the appeal of this feature is, but some will like it.

Overall

Flock launched 2 years ago tomorrow so they’ve been around long enough to get their product right. It’s been a difficult two years for the startup as they’ve had to battle against a marketplace that wasn’t that receptive to new browsers. The new Flock isn’t for everyone, but it will win new fans.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Flickr To Add Online Photo Editing Tools Via Picnik

Fotoflexer may be my personal favorite among the many online photo editing tools, but Flickr has chosen Seattle-based Picnik (profile) to handle the long requested photo editing feature for Flickr users.

Currently, you can rotate photos on Flickr, but the editing stops there. When the new tools launch, users will be able to edit photos more extensively using the Picnik Flash based tools (see our review here).

The deal has been signed and implementation will occur sometime in the next few months, Flickr told me yesterday. Users will be presented with an edit option on the photo page. Clicking it takes the user to a new Flickr photo edit page, with the Picnik tools integrated via an iframe. After editing, users can add the edited photo to their Flickr account or, if they are a Flickr pro user, overwrite the original.

Business terms around the deal are not being disclosed at this time. Picnik is self funded to date.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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Finally

Flock 1.0 Beta Release Notes

General

• Several performance enhancements have been implemented and several memory leaks have been fixed.

People

• Flock has been tested for users with up to two thousand friends. Beyond a thousand friends, unforeseen challenges may exist. Closing the People sidebar may return your surfing speed to normal. If you are incredibly popular with more than 2000 friends, we would love to hear about how the People sidebar is working for you. Please send your feedback to popularitycontest at flock.com.
• Flock 1.0 has added a "People" sidebar to support new service integration with Facebook and Twitter.
• Flickr and Youtube have been promoted to "People" services.
• Facebook associated avatars for friends will occasionally not show up.
• Due to a Facebook limitation, you can not upload more than 60 photos to your default folder.

Media

• Flock is unable to upload files with the “.jpeg” extension to Piczo.
• Accessing own private Photobucket photos when not logged in to Photobucket does not bring you to the Photobucket login page.
• If for some reason the upload process fails, perhaps a network connection issue, tags and descriptions associated with the photos will be lost.
• When using Hotmail in plain text, Dragging a picture from the media bar the email recipient will receive blank content.

Favorites

• Flock will not auto discover your account when logging into Magnolia using your Facebook account ID.

Blog Editor

• When customizing the blog editor toolbar, the customize window has duplicate icons.

Migration and Import

• Web clipboard content don’t always migrate when updating Flock
• Photos dragged to the uploader but not yet uploaded will not migrate when updating Flock
• When importing IE settings when starting Flock for the first time, if two or more sites are set as home pages, Flock will only import one page.
• Firefox live bookmarks not always handled properly during import.

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Mac OS X Leopard drops on the 26th

The Apple store went down this morning and the world held its breath as we waited for Apple to spill the details. As expected, Leopard has gone gold and you can now pre-order it for an October 26th release date. $129 for a single-user, $199 for the 5-person family pack and $0.00 for those of us with BitTorrent, Usenet and DVD burners.

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Luxembourg

Tomorrow I have an appointment in Luxembourg. Although I traveled through the country many times, I never visited the city Luxembourg itself. I may have some time this evening to do a small tour.

Some info from WikiPedia:

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), also spelled Luxemburg, is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of under half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi).^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Government and politics 3 Military 4 Districts, cantons, and communes 5 Geography and climate 6 Demographics 6.1 Ethnicity 6.2 Language 6.3 Religion 7 Economy 8 Culture 9 See also 10 References 10.1 Footnotes 11 External links

Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarchy, ruled by a Grand Duke. It is the world's only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish road when Spain was the principle European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 14th-17th centuries making the polity an important place.

Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, Benelux, and the Western European Union, reflecting the political consensus in favour of economic, political, and military integration. The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union.

Luxembourg lies on the cultural divide between Romance Europe and Germanic Europe, borrowing customs from each of the distinct traditions. Luxembourg is a trilingual country; French, German, and Luxembourgish are official languages. Although a secular state, Luxembourg is predominantly Roman Catholic.

For many people in other parts of Europe, Luxembourg is best known for its radio and television stations, Radio Luxembourg and the RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio and production company.

History

Main article: History of Luxembourg

The recorded history of Luxembourg begins with the acquisition of Lucilinburhuc (today Luxembourg Castle) by Siegfried, Count of Ardennes in 963. The current name of Luxembourg comes from the former name Lucilinburhuc.^[2] Around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a small, but important, state of great strategic value. In 1437, the House of Luxembourg suffered a succession crisis, precipitated by the lack of a male heir to assume the throne, that led to the territory being sold to Philip the Good of Burgundy.^[3] In the following centuries, Luxembourg's fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, and the French, among others. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands.^[4] The Congress of Vienna formed Luxembourg as a Grand Duchy in personal union with the Netherlands. Luxembourg also became a member of the German Confederation, with a Confederate fortress manned by Prussian troops.^[5]

The three Partitions of Luxembourg have greatly reduced Luxembourg's territory.

The Belgian Revolution of 1830-1839 reduced Luxembourg's territory by more than half, as the predominantly francophone western part of the country was transferred to Belgium.^[6] Luxembourg's independence was reaffirmed by the 1839 First Treaty of London. In the same year, Luxembourg joined the Zollverein.^[7] Luxembourg's independence and neutrality were again affirmed by the 1867 Second Treaty of London, after the Luxembourg Crisis nearly led to war between Prussia and France.^[8] After the latter conflict, the Confederate fortress was dismantled.^[9]

The King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the Dutch throne passed to his daughter Wilhelmina, while Luxembourg (at that time restricted to male heirs by the Nassau Family Pact) passed to Adolph of Nassau-Weilburg.^[10]

Luxembourg was invaded and occupied by Germany during the First World War, but was allowed to maintain its independence and political mechanisms. It was again invaded and subject to German occupation in the Second World War in 1940, and was formally annexed into the Third Reich in 1942.

During World War II, Luxembourg abandoned its policy of neutrality, when it joined the Allies in fighting Germany. Its government, exiled to London, set up a small group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. It became a founding member of the United Nations in 1946, and of NATO in 1949. In 1957, Luxembourg became one of the six founding countries of the European Economic Community (later the European Union), and, in 1999, it joined the euro currency area. In 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held in Luxembourg.^[11]

Government and politics

The Grand Ducal Palace, the official residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, situated in Luxembourg City, the country's capital.

Main article: Politics of Luxembourg

Luxembourg has a parliamentary form of government with a constitutional monarchy inherited by male-preference primogeniture. Under the constitution of 1868, executive power is exercised by the Grand Duke or Grand Duchess and the cabinet, which consists of a Prime Minister and several other ministers. The Grand Duke has the power to dissolve the legislature and reinstate a new one. However, since 1919, sovereignty has resided with the country.^[12]

Legislative power is vested in the Chamber of Deputies, a unicameral legislature of sixty members, who are directly elected to five-year terms from four constituencies. A second body, the Council of State (Conseil d'État), composed of twenty-one ordinary citizens appointed by the Grand Duke, advises the Chamber of Deputies in the drafting of legislation.^[13]

The Grand Duchy has three lower tribunals (justices de paix; in Esch-sur-Alzette, the city of Luxembourg, and Diekirch), two district tribunals (Luxembourg and Diekirch) and a Superior Court of Justice (Luxembourg), which includes the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation. There is also an Administrative Tribunal and an Administrative Court, as well as a Constitutional Court, all of which are located in the capital.

Military

Main article: Military of Luxembourg

Luxembourg's contribution to its defence and to NATO consists of a small army(currently consisting of around 800 people). As a landlocked country, it has no navy, and it has no air force, except for the fact that the eighteen NATO AWACS airplanes were registered as aircraft of Luxembourg for convenience.^[14] In a joint agreement with Belgium, both countries have put forth funding for one A400M military cargo plane, now currently on order. Luxembourg still jointly maintains three US Air Force Boeing 707 model TCAs for cargo and training purposes based in NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen.^[14]

Districts, cantons, and communes

Main articles: Districts of Luxembourg, Cantons of Luxembourg, and Communes of Luxembourg

Further information: Administrative divisions of Luxembourg

Luxembourg is divided into 3 districts, which are further divided into 12 cantons and then 116 communes. Twelve of the communes have city status, of which the city of Luxembourg is the largest.

Geography and climate

The largest towns are Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Dudelange, and Differdange.

Luxembourg's climate is characterised by mild temperatures and high precipitation.

Main article: Geography of Luxembourg

Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and ranked 175th in size of all the 194 independent countries of the world; the country is about 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi) in size, and measures 82 km (51 miles) long and 57 km (35 miles) wide. To the east, Luxembourg borders the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, and, to the south, it borders the French région of Lorraine. The Grand Duchy borders the Belgian Walloon Region, in particular the latter's provinces of Luxembourg and Liège to the west and to the north respectively.

The northern third of the country is known as the 'Oesling', and forms part of the Ardennes. It is dominated by hills and low mountains, including the Kneiff, which is the highest point, at 560 metres (1,837 ft). The region is sparsely populated, with only one town (Wiltz) with a population of more than four thousand people.

The southern two-thirds of the country is called the "Gutland", and is more densely populated than the Oesling. It is also more diverse, and can be divided into five geographic sub-regions. The Luxembourg plateau, in south-central Luxembourg, is a large, flat, sandstone formation, and the site of the city of Luxembourg. Little Switzerland, in the east of Luxembourg, has craggy terrain and thick forests. The Moselle valley is the lowest-lying region, running along the south-eastern border. The Red Lands, in the far south and southwest, are Luxembourg's industrial heartland and home to many of Luxembourg's largest towns.

The border between Luxembourg and Germany is formed by three rivers: the Moselle, the Sauer, and the Our. Other major rivers are the Alzette, the Attert, the Clerve, and the Wiltz. The valleys of the mid-Sauer and Attert form the border between the Gutland and the Oesling.

Luxembourg has a marine west coast climate (Köppen: Cfb), marked by high precipitation, particularly in late summer.^[15]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Luxembourg

Ethnicity

The people of Luxembourg are called Luxembourgers.^[16] The native population is ethnically a French and Germanic blend^[17]. The indigenous population was augmented by immigrants from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal throughout the twentieth century. Since the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Luxembourg has seen many immigrants from war-torn and politically unstable Balkan states, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. Annually, over 10,000 new immigrants arrive in Luxembourg, mostly from EU states, as well as Eastern Europe. As of 2000, there were 162,000 immigrants in Luxembourg, accounting for 37% of the total population. There are an estimated 5,000 illegal immigrants in Luxembourg.^[18]

Language

Main article: Languages of Luxembourg

Three languages are recognised as official in Luxembourg: French, German, and Luxembourgish, a Franconian language of the Moselle region very similar to the local German dialect spoken in the neighbouring part of Germany, except that it includes more borrowings from French. Apart from being one of the three official languages, Luxembourgish is also considered the national language of the Grand Duchy; it is the mother tongue or "language of the hearth" for nearly all Luxembourgers.

Each of the three languages is used as the primary language in certain spheres. Luxembourgish is the language that Luxembourgers generally speak to each other, but it is not much written. Most official (written) business is carried out in French. German is usually the first language taught in school and is the language of much of the media and of the church.^[19]

Luxembourg's education system is trilingual: the first years of primary school are in Luxembourgish, before changing to German, while secondary school, the language of instruction changes to French. ^[20] However, as proficiency in all three languages is required for graduation from secondary school, half the students leave school without a certified qualification, with the children of immigrants being particularly disadvantaged.^[21]

In addition to the three official languages, English is taught in the compulsory schooling (mostly from the eighth grade, i.e. at the age between 12 to 14 years) and much of the population of Luxembourg can speak some simple English, at any rate in Luxembourg City. Portuguese and Italian, the languages of the two largest immigrant communities, are also spoken by large parts of the population, but by relatively few from outside their respective communities.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Luxembourg

Since 1979, it has been illegal for the government to collect statistics on religious beliefs or practices.^[22] It is estimated that 87% of Luxembourgers are Roman Catholics, and the other 13% are mostly Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims.^[23] Luxembourg is a secular state, but the state recognises certain religions as officially-mandated religions. This gives the state a hand in religious administration and appointment of clergy, in exchange for which the state pays certain running costs and wages. Currently, religions covered by such arrangements are Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Greek and Russian Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Luxembourg

Luxembourg's stable, high-income economy features moderate growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. The industrial sector, which was dominated until the 1960s by steel, has become increasingly more diversified to include chemicals, rubber, and other products. During the past decades, growth in the financial sector has more than compensated for the decline in steel. Services, especially banking and other financial exports, account for the majority of economic output. Agriculture is based on small, family-owned farms. Luxembourg has especially close trade and financial ties to Belgium and the Netherlands (see Benelux), and as a member of the EU it enjoys the advantages of the open European market. Luxembourg possesses the highest GDP per capita in the world (US$87,995 as of 2006),^[23] the twelfth highest Human Development Index, and the fourth highest quality of life.^[24] As of March 2006, unemployment is 4.8% of the labour force.^[25] For the fiscal year of 2005 and 2006, Luxembourg has run a budget deficit for the first time in many years, mostly because of slower international economic growth.^[26]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Luxembourg

Luxembourg has been overshadowed by the culture of its neighbours, although, having been for much of its history a profoundly rural country, it retains a number of folk traditions. There are several notable museums, mostly located in the capital; these include the National Museum of History and Art (MNHA), the History Museum of the City of Luxembourg, and the new Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art (Mudam). The National Museum of Military History (MNHM) in Diekirch is especially known for its representations of the Battle of the Bulge. The city of Luxembourg itself is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, on account of the historical importance of its fortifications.

The country has produced some internationally known artists, including the painters Joseph Kutter and Michel Majerus, as well as the photographer Edward Steichen. Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition is now permanently housed in Clervaux, and it has been placed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.

Luxembourg is the first city to be named European Capital of Culture for the second time. The first time was in 1995. In 2007, the European Capital of Culture will be a cross-border area consisting of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland in Germany, the Walloon Region and the German-speaking part of Belgium, and the Lorraine area in France. The event will promote mobility and the exchange of ideas, crossing borders in all areas, physical, psychological, artistic and emotional.

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