Websoup

Da wird mal ein gemütliches Kaminfeuer brennen.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:39:00 GMT

Doch vorher gibt's noch jede Menge (ungemütliche) Dreckarbeit.
Die Burschen von der 'Cutting Crew' arbeiten auf Hochtouren und es ist schicht und einfach fantastisch, was da abgeht.
Bis vor ca. 20 Jahren wurde das ganze noch mühevoll gestemmt.
Echt goil, Mann.
:)

Introducing Ovi Browser Beta for Series 40 – Faster, Easier Web Browsing that Saves Data Costs

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:37:49 GMT

We’re excited to introduce the Ovi Browser beta for Series 40 phones to help meet the needs of mobile Internet users in emerging markets and around the world. We believe users of Series 40 should be entitled to rich web browsing experiences like those of smartphones, but without the same price tag.

The Ovi Browser is powered by patented Internet compression technology that delivers advanced web pages to your phone. The result is that pages show up quicker than ever, plus over the air data is reduced by up to 90%. Beyond performance, the browser includes an innovative user interface that makes it easy to access your favourite content directly from the start page without having to hunt through menus.

Ovi Browser is available as a beta download for popular Nokia Series 40 phones including: 2700 Classic, 2730 Classic, 3120 Classic, 3600 Slide, 5130 XpressMusic, 5220 Xpressmusic, 5310 XpressMusic, 5330 Mobile TV Edition, 5330 Xpressmusic, 5610, 6300i, 6303, 6500 Slide, 6500 Classic, 6600 Slide, 6700 Classic, 7210 Supernova, 7900 Prism and X3.

Keep in mind that this is a beta release, but you’ll see improvements coming as we prepare for a commercial release early next year. We’re in the process now of building up our global infrastructure to provide the best possible speed, performance, and reliability for millions of users. We’ll also be adding features to improve local search and personalization and extending support for more local languages and markets.

Download Ovi Browser beta version by going to http://browser.ovi.com on your current mobile browser and follow @ovibynokia on Twitter for tips and updates. Share your feedback by going to Options > Feedback within Ovi Browser or in the Nokia Beta Labs forum. Let us know what you think about the beta, and what needs to improve before the launch.

Thanks!
The Ovi Browser Team

GSoC: Annotations and FeedBooks.com-catalog

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:59:13 GMT

I’ve uploaded a new version (0.0.8-1) of MeBook to extras-devel. Users can now add annotations to books and search books from a book catalog (feedbooks.com). Here’s some screenshots of the new features.

The annotation dialog can be opened by long pressing the book area on the spot where you want to make an annotation.

One can search feedbooks.com for books and download them to the library, the search is very basic and there’s no browse functionality yet. The catalog can be accessed from the main view.

When a book is tapped a book info dialog opens.

2010-07-28 15:59 UTC with score 1

The Cutting Crew

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:55:00 GMT

Unglaublich und irre spannend, was heute am Bau so passierte: Diamant-Kreissägen mit 70cm Durchmesser schnitten die Trennwand zum Wohnzimmer auf, wodurch diese von einer Außenwand zu einer Zwischenwand mutierte. Super präzis, super laut, super flüssig: das Kühlmittel spritzte natürlich frohgemuts durch die Gegend.
Ist aber nicht weiter schlimm, hat doch unser Joesy vorsorglich und brav ein Tipi für uns aufgestelt...ääähhhh...eine Staubwand für uns gebaut. :)

Braaaaaaver Joesy, we luv u. :)

Okuda theme – futuristic look for N900

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:32:25 GMT

Captain’s log – Maciej Jablonski, stardate… well, today. Nokia N900 themes are developing quite fast recently. There is much commotion and progress with regular themes and highly customizable Black Plastic Theme Pack. Recently Okuda theme appeared with really nice futuristic look. If you watch science-fiction movies you can spot huge black touch screens or holographic displays with bright-coloured round-cornered interface elements flying around. This is exactly what Okuda theme brings to almost every single part of N900 UI. Stylish wallpaper with blue border, fancy icons for status area, custom system icons, everything ...

2010-07-28 15:32 UTC with score 0

The Future of JavaXPCOM

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:19:34 GMT

Firefox for Mobile

The Future of JavaXPCOM - http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog...

18 hours ago from Mark Finkle's Weblog » Mozilla - Comment - Like

2010-07-28 14:19 UTC with score 0

Auf Plätze, fertig, looooooooooooooos!

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:23:18 GMT

*grmpf*

:)

Ovi Calendar 1.6 beta trial concluded

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:28:53 GMT

We have now reached the end of the Ovi Calendar 1.6 beta trial period. Thanks to all those who participated in this trial. We received great feedback from you. Ovi Calendar 1.6 went live at the end of July and a lot of your feedback has gone into strengthening the commercial launch offering and in shaping future releases.

If you have been actively using Ovi Calendar 1.6 beta, the cut over to the live service will be seamless to you. All of your data will stay intact and you can continue to use all of the same cool calendar features you have come to rely on in the same URL that you have gotten used to. However, the Beta Labs pages and forum will be moved out of active status. Likewise, any support requests should now go to through normal customer service.

Thanks again for your support and continue to use Ovi Calendar 1.6 with shared calendar, to-dos and notes capabilities at http://calendar.ovi.com.

- Radhika Sarang (On behalf of the Calendar team)

Tracking QSharedPointer leaks

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:31:00 GMT

Smart pointers are a great thing. When used properly, they can really help make life easier, and simpler. But things can, and do, occasionally go wrong - and that is when the hurt comes in. Qt provides a number of smart pointer classes, some might say too many, but that's a topic for a whole different discussion, one of which is QSharedPointer.

From the documentation:
"The QSharedPointer class holds a strong reference to a shared pointer

The QSharedPointer is an automatic, shared pointer in C++. It behaves

exactly like a normal pointer for normal purposes, including respect

for constness.

QSharedPointer will delete the pointer it is holding when it goes out

of scope, provided no other QSharedPointer objects are referencing it.

A QSharedPointer object can be created from a normal pointer, another

QSharedPointer object or by promoting a QWeakPointer object to a strong

reference.

Essentially, QSharedPointer works through reference counting, which means if you somehow make a mistake with cleaning up your references, the object your shared pointer refers to won't be deleted, and you've got a hard to track memory leak on your hands. This is precisely what happened to me recently at work, amongst a jungle of a few different libraries, so tracing the problem by hand was really not going to happen, so I needed a miracle, or short of that, a reliable way to track reference count changes on a QSharedPointer instance.

Reading up on QSharedPointer's internals, it became obvious that the reference counting was stored in the dpointer of each QSharedPointer instance. The dpointer is shared amongst QSharedPointer instances referring to the same pointer. So, we should be able to set a watch in gdb to break whenever the refcount changes.

First, we need to find out the address of a QSharedPointer instance, so set a breakpoint just after we first create it:

(gdb) break main.cpp:22
Breakpoint 1 at 0x8048806: file main.cpp, line 22.
(gdb) r
Starting program: /home/burchr/qsharedpointer/qsharedpointer.
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]

Breakpoint 1, main (argc=1, argv=0xbffff444) at main.cpp:22
22>- QSharedPointer<MyClass> copy(initial);
(gdb) p initial
$1 = {<QtSharedPointer::ExternalRefCount<MyClass>> = {<QtSharedPointer::Basic<MyClass>> = { value = 0x804c438}, d = 0x804c448}, <No data fields>}

Now we have the address, we can set a watch on the QBasicAtomicInt in the dpointer, we can watch the refcount for changes:
(gdb) watch $1.d->weakref
Hardware watchpoint 2: $1.d->weakref

Continue debugging, and gdb will break whenever the refcount changes, telling us the old and new values, like so:
(gdb) c
Continuing.
Hardware watchpoint 2: $1.d->weakref

Old value = {_q_value = 1}
New value = {_q_value = 2}
0x08048953 in QBasicAtomicInt::ref (this=0x804c44c)
at /usr/include/QtCore/qatomic_i386.h:120
120> : "memory");

Much thanks to:

Arun Raghavan's comment on http://tecnocode.co.uk/2010/07/12/reference-count-debugging-with-gdb/
Mathias Hasselman's stellar guidance and poking me to the above post

2010-07-27 15:31 UTC with score -1

Vote for your favorite Design by Community sketch

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:32:37 GMT

The folks at Nokia Conversations have just released the long-awaited sketches of the "ultimate" concept device (dubbed the Nokia U) developed within the Design by Community project. Created by Nokia designers, the three sketches incorporate the suggestions gathered and voted on over the past months.

Now it's time to vote again! Which one catches your eye and deserves to be made into a 3D render?

Hop over to Nokia Conversations to compare the sketches, remind yourself of the specs, and - of course - vote for your favorite!

Where to get your Data while abroad with no contract

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:31:16 GMT

A little something for the mobile traveller, as the Pay as you Go Sim with Data wiki is pointed out to me. In it, a country’s network providers are listed, but only those that offer Pay as You Go data. A great resource for those who want to plan ahead before picking up a SIM when they land.

2010-07-27 07:31 UTC with score -1

Uff. Geschafft. Nun 6 Wochen Chaos.

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:32:00 GMT

Wo bis jetzt die gemütliche 'Cinova'-Garnitur gestanden ist, müssen wir uns die nächste Zeit mit den Lounge-Sesseln und dem Fatboy begnügen. Aber es hat so ein Totalumbau was sehr, sehr nützliches: da wird ratzfatz ausgemistet, was das Zeug hält.

Chaos pur, morgen werden Löcher in die Wand geschnitten. *Kraaaaisch*

;-)

Goodbye Berlin, Hallo! Ehe.

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:34:44 GMT

Kaum aus dem Flugzeug raus, geht's gleich zur Hochzeit von Melanie+Markus.
Eine kleine, feine Sache - super unkompliziert und voll Herz.
Die beiden Buben Matteo und Marco in 'Converse'-Outfit als 'Brautjungfern'...supercool. :)

Berlin, Lokaltipp Nr.: 2

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:23:00 GMT

'Monsieur Yvong' ist ein absoluter Lokaltipp in Berlin: dieser Vietnamese ist zu jeder Tageszeit gerappelt voll und das mit gutem Grund: Genialische Asia-Küche mit absolut frischen Zutaten und geschmacklichen 'Geheimnissen', die man während dem Essen zu erraten versucht.
Mitten in der trendigsten Gegend von Berlin, kann man super Essen und Shoppen kombinieren. Und, ach ja: sogar die Magdalena treffen.
The World is a nest. :)

Das 'Sarah Wiener Erlebnis'.

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:49:00 GMT

Gemeinsam mit Ursel haben wir endlich die Berliner Dependance des 'Sarah Wiener Imperiums' besucht: das 'Speisezimmer'.
Eigentlich das 'Speisezimmer im Exil'. Weil es gerade renoviert wird und daher samt Mannschaft ins 'Kaffeehaus' exportiert wurde.
Egal! Ein wunderbarer und sehr lukullischer Abend war's, Kellner Gerhard hat uns liebevollst betreut und es wurden einige Geschichtchen von der Chefin ausgeplaudert... ;-)
Seeeehr interessant.
Außerdem gab's zwei Premieren: Knusprige Schweinsbackerln und ein Rosé-Cuveé aus Merlot und Cabernet Sauvignon. Läcka! :)
Beim nächsten Besuch sind wir im neugestalteten Speisezimmer, das ist fix. Mjamm. :)

Frankencamera aims to make cameras open and programmable

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:05:02 GMT

Frankencamera, or fCam, the open source computational photography platform from Stanford's Camera 2.0 project was unleashed for the Nokia N900 this Wednesday. PhysOrg has a story outlining the significance of this:

Computational photography refers to the ways computers can extend the capabilities of digital imaging by combining multiple photographs taken with different camera settings to create an image that could not be taken in a single shot, or with an ordinary camera.

Some of these new ways of combining images can be done in Photoshop or another such program, but until now they could not be done inside the camera, Levoy said. That's because commercial cameras are closed to development by all but their manufacturers. Frankencamera, on the other hand, brings computational photography directly to the camera, by making the camera a programmable platform.

I installed fCamera and the HDR photo assistant from Maemo extras-devel yesterday, and the results (taking .DNG RAW images, automatically generating HDR pictures) seem quite impressive. Here is a quick example from our office. Sun is shining outside and the office is not lit:

For comparison, here is the same setting with the regular N900 camera application:

It will be interesting to see what developers will come up with, now that all these camera capabilities are available through an open API!

2010-07-23 11:05 UTC with score 3

Conversation experimental beta trial closed

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:02:50 GMT

Conversation was released at Nokia Beta Labs in November 2007 as an experimental prototype for organizing your messages into streams according to contact. It immediately proved to be popular and continued to get a steady amount of interest and feedback over time.

The team added support for more devices and then more after that, although - as was noted - the intention was more to pilot this kind of messaging experience rather than productize this as a stand-alone application. Since this beta trial began, a Conversation-like messaging experience can already be seen in Ovi Suite, in Maemo/Nokia N900, and in the forthcoming Nokia N8. (See the video below @1:54-@3:12 for a preview of what it will look like.)

Given that development of the standalone app has virtually ended, though, we feel it's time to close the Conversation experimental beta trial. Keeping a trial and forum open without matching levels of development and feedback responsiveness would be doing a disservice to you.

Thanks for your support and contribution to this trial, and apologies for any disappointment this causes.

AGTL Version 0.7.0.0 and the maemo coding competition

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Version 0.7.0.0 of the Advanced Geocaching Tool is here! New features include:

Text-to-Speech-Feature! - Select a target, activate TTS and put your earplugs in to enjoy completely stealth geocaching.
Search for cities - in the geonames.org database to navigate quickly
Download map tiles for selected zoom levels - for offline use
New Map drawing - scale indicator on map, on screen display for target distance, better visibility for icons and text
Better search features - E.g. search geocaches around your current position.
Instant update feature - Follow web site updates as soon as possible.
New user interface - featuring a "actions" and a "quick settings" menu
New About Dialog
Data purging - Clear the database from found geocaches, save space on your phone by deleting old images
New coordinate list handling - including editing and preview
HTML view for geocaches
Several minor new features and bug fixes

Known issues are:

Scrolling in HTML view has some problems.
HTML view doesn't show images
Uploading of field notes doesn't work.

I'll fix those as soon as possible with version 0.7.0.1!

This is also my official entry for the maemo coding competition. So, if you like the application, please vote in this thread!

There's also a quick start guide for AGTL now.

2010-07-22 22:00 UTC with score 0

ossi1967: Have to try #x264 settings for #h264 encoding tomorrow http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:26:04 GMT

Have to try #x264 settings for #h264 encoding tomorrow http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

150m über Berlin.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:36:23 GMT

Aber nicht im 'Rotating Restaurant' des Fernsehturms... Nee, nee. Es muß schon a bisserl Nervenkitzel dabei sein. So hab ich den Raini eingeladen und wir zwei sind abgehoben.
A GEILE G'SCHICHT!

'Kochlust' - das Berliner Kochbuchfachgeschäft.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:24:57 GMT

In der Alten Schönhauserstrasse gibt's ein wahres Eldorado für Koch(buch)geeks: das 'Kochlust'.
*Natürlich* musste ich was mitnehmen. :)

Madeleine Peroux + Kulinaischer Genuss @ Hackesche Höfe

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:03:04 GMT

Unser Lieblingsspot in Berlin!
Eine unglaublich tolle Band a la Madeleine Peroux (die ja auch als Straßenmusikantin begann) und super lecker Essen machen die Hackschen Höfe zu einem Fixpunkt bei jedem weiteren Berlin-Besuch.

Berlin. Tag 3. Die Velo-Tour.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:59:13 GMT

Nachdem die Füßchen schon ein wenig schmerzten, beschlossen wir beim Frühstück kurzfristig, Fahrräder auszuborgen. Daraus wurde eine 15km Tour quer durch Berlin, meist entlang der Spree (herrliche Architektur!) und nach einer wunderbaren Labung (Büffelmozzarella mit Fenchel, Kirschtomaten und Ingwerdressing) direttissima durch Berlin-Kreuzberg. Café Latte trinken und Leute schaun. LOVIN IT!

Endlich! Die originale Currywurst.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:46:27 GMT

Spät nächtens, wenn man in Wien vielleicht auf eine Käsekrainer geht, probierten wir die erste 'Original Currywurst mit Fritten'.
Fettig, g'schmackig, läcka! :)

Endlich! Die 'Bar Jeder Vernunft'

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:45:23 GMT

Meine Güüüüte...was haben wir nicht schon alles über die Geburtsstätte der 'Geschwister Pfister' gelesen und gehört! Und...endlich!... war es soweit. Benedikt und Dominik von 'Ass-Dur' bescherten uns einen großartigen, lustigen, musikalischen, zauberhaften und vor allem kabarettistischen Abend. Unterhaltung vom Feinsten!

Potsdamer Platz-wie Phönix aus der Asche.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:41:24 GMT

Es ist schlicht und einfach unglaublich, was sich am Postsdamer Platz in den letzten 20 Jahren getan hat: zerbombt im zweiten Weltkrieg und zu DDR-Zeiten sträflich vernachlässigt, hat sich hier Architektur von Weltgeltung etabliert. Hat mich speziell interessiert, denn moderne Architektur im Wechselspiel mit altem, traditionellem Bestand finde ich superspannend...

Berlin. Abend 1.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:35:15 GMT

Auf Lisi's Tipp hin haben wir uns gleich am ersten Abend in den Bezirk 'Prenzlauer Berg' geschmissen... und es nicht bereut. Vor allem die 'Hackeschen Höfe' sind ein wahres Juwel, architektonisch und zum Ausgehen. Über 10.000m2, verteilt auf 9 Höfe mit wunderschönen Innenhofgärten und modernen Geschäften, Galerien, Lokalen.
Pulsierendes Leben wie bei uns im Stil des MQ. Toll!

Zeitgeschichte: Die Berliner Mauer.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:32:24 GMT

Heute gab's ein bisschen Zeitgeschichte...der Besuch der Berliner Mauer bzw. was davon als Mahnmal noch zu sehen ist. Nach ein, zwei Stunden überkommt einem aber dann soviel Trauer und Bedrücktheit ob der Bestie Mensch, dass man schnell überlegt, was man als nächstes tut.

Freche Spatzen 'Unter den Linden'.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:29:07 GMT

Im Café Einstein unweit des Brandenburger Tores gab's zur Stärkung einen Kaffee und 'ne Weißweinschorle.
Wie bei uns im Schweizerhaus, sind die Spatzen hier extrafrech: haltet Euer Baguette, sonst fliegt's! :)

Farbenfrohes Shoppingerlebnis

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:11:32 GMT

In Berlin gibt's einen Flagshipstore von 'Desigual', eine frech-farbenfrohe Designermarke.
Tolle Sachen haben die!
(Raini continously smiling...)
:)

Berlin. Tag 1.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:03:41 GMT

Ankunft im 'heterofriedly' Axel Hotel. Ausstattung wie erwartet: cool, designed, sophisticatetly gay. Naja, die Betten passen und die Klima geht. Ab zum gleich um die Ecke liegenden KaDeWe, man hat ja schon viel davon gehört. Danach machen wir, was wir immer am ersten Tag machen: sich einen Überblick verschaffen. Und das geht am Besten per Sightseeing-Bus. :)
früher immer drüber gelästert, heute ein unverzichtbarer Teil unserer Urlaubsplanung... Danach werden Pläne geschmiedet! Lovin' it!

ossi1967: must read about #nokia http://ur1.ca/0taaz

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:49:29 GMT

must read about #nokia http://ur1.ca/0taaz

GSOC update - buttons

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:37:00 GMT

As someone commented on my last post, the buttons needed a bit of a touch up, so thought I'd show you guys the new buttons. :-)

Default buttons

Refresh button while getting updates

I'm using a "Qt Resource Collection" (qrc) file for storing the button images, which is quite handy. This way, the images get stored in the program's executable.

The images can easily be accessed through code after adding them to the resource file. I created a prefix called "desktopwidget" in my resource file, and have a folder called "images", so to access "cross.png", I only need to add ":/desktopwidget/images/cross.png" to wherever I want to use the image, as seen below:

QPushButton:disabled {

border-image: url(:/desktopwidget/images/cross.png) -3 -20 -3 -20;

}

That's it for now, but I'll hopefully be back shortly!

2010-07-22 00:37 UTC with score 0

Qt: Bootstrapping openness

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:43:00 GMT

I witnessed (and was pleased to take part in) some interesting discussions on #qt-labs this afternoon, all stemming from a contribution to Qt3Support being rejected.

A long story short, the contribution - despite looking reasonably valid - was rejected because Qt3Support is effectively unmaintained, and as a result, any changes to it could have negative impacts on users of the support API.

I understand that argument, yet at the same time - I can't help but think it's a bit of a backwards approach to be taking. Typically, a contributor will wander along, find a bitrotting module/project that interests them, throw patches at the previous maintainer - and shortly after doing so, find themselves a de-facto (or indeed official) maintainer through their efforts.

This is a natural progression of things and should really be encouraged, it allows what would otherwise be dead code to live on. However, in Qt3Support's case, the central point was that they'd love someone else to take responsibility for it, but don't want to expend the effort themselves to triage, maintain, and otherwise support it right now.

To me, it's a false saving.

Time you save not maintaining it now (and encouraging potential contributors/future maintainers along the way) is spent being forced to put the code on life support maintenance if you decide you want that code, for whatever reason, later on.

Not to mention that those people who might be happily contributing you ideas or patches (to code old and new) are instead going to be spending their spare time doing something more rewarding than having their hard work rejected in the future.

Openness doesn't just happen overnight. It isn't just in the licensing. It requires real persistent effort and culture change. This is something I plan to keep revisiting over my next few posts.

2010-07-21 18:43 UTC with score 0

Zeitgeist does location: what did I do while in Brussels?

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:16:00 GMT

Zeitgeist, the desktop activity logging engine is now becoming geo-aware. From Seif Lotfy's blog:

It allows you to ask Zeitgeist stuff like

“Get me the recent files I edited at university”

“Who do I contact most when I am at School?”

“Which pictures did I take in Brazil?”

“Where was I when an Email came in?”

“What files did I open during the conference?”

As I've been advocating since 2006, location is important for making applications smarter. While you might not remember where you stored some file, you probably remember where you were when working on it. Then Zeitgeist's location features, powered by GeoClue, will be able to get it for you.

This is especially cool since Zeitgeist is coming for Maemo as well. My laptop is quite mobile, but the N900 is even more so.

2010-07-21 17:16 UTC with score 0

N900 connection sharing the hard way

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:50:25 GMT

My N900 has a SIM card with a flat-rate 3G data plan. My laptop hasn't. What do I do when I want to use the Internet on my laptop somewhere that doesn't have WiFi? Well, there are many options:

Option 1: N900 as a USB modem

Use the provided USB cable to connect the N900 to the laptop. Choose "PC Suite" mode on the N900 when you get the USB connection menu. The laptop now sees your N900 as a bog-standard USB 3G modem. Use Network Manager to connect to the internet.

Pros: no extra setup required. The N900 and the laptop can both access the Internet at the same time.

Cons: you have to use a USB cable (I hate cables). You cannot ssh into your N900 (and ssh is my primary file transfer protocol between the laptop and the M900).

Option 2: N900 as a Bluetooth DUN modem

Install Bluetooth DUN support from Maemo Extras. Then use it like you would any other phone that has Bluetooth DUN.

Pros: no cables.

Cons: Bluetooth is the worst technology ever. I never had it work reliably. Plus, Network Manager in Ubuntu 10.04 doesn't support Bluetooth DUN (it supports only Bluetooth PAN, as far as I know).

Option 3: N900 as a WiFi access point with Joikuspot

I haven't tried this.

Pros: simple (hopefully), no cables required.

Cons: Joikuspot is non-free. I'm not an absolute zealot, but I will avoid closed-source stuff when open-source alternatives are available.

Option 4: N900 as a WiFi access point with Mobilehotspot

I haven't tried this either.

Pros: it's an open-source app available from Maemo Extras. No cables required.

Cons: requires a non-standard kernel (or so I've heard). Way outside my comfort level.

Option 5: N900 as a WiFi access point with shell scripts

Here's the shell script I run on my N900: share-wifi. It sets up an ad-hoc WiFi network, and starts a DHCP and DNS server (dnsmasq). Sadly, it cannot set up connection sharing (NAT), so I rely on OpenSSH as a SOCKS5 proxy. The whole setup is like this:

You want the latest firmware (PR 1.2) to avoid this bug.
You need to have OpenSSH installed on the N900. Also, setting up key-based authentication makes it more convenient.
The script assumes that you've set up sudo on the N900 so that you can run any command as root.
You need to have wireless-tools installed. It's in the main SSU repository so you should be able to sudo apt-get install it (if it's not preinstalled; I don't remember).
On the N900 run share-wifi in a terminal (optionally passing a WiFi channel number from 1 to 11, in case you need to avoid interference with nearby networks).
On the laptop connect to the new n900 WLAN and run ssh -D 1080 user@n900. You will get a shell session; the SOCKS proxy will be active while it is open.
Reconfigure your laptop to use a SOCKS5 proxy on localhost:1080. For GNOME systems I've a couple of shell scripts: proxy-on and proxy-off. For applications that do not use the GNOME proxy settings (such as Subversion access over SSH), use tsocks.
When done, hit Ctrl-C on the N900 to terminate the sharing script.

Pros: no non-free software or custom kernel required. No cables.

Cons: complicated to set up. No WLAN power savings available for ad-hoc networks, so battery life is extremely poor (~2 hours). But, hey, no cables!

2010-07-20 23:50 UTC with score 0

Qt’s Open Bug Tracker

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:26:17 GMT

Qt has had an open bug-tracker for a few months now. I am very happy about that. It has made life far more pleasant for Qt developers compared to the past. However, there are some problems. In summary, bug reporters are often treated like the enemy instead of contributors, and this could be fixed easily.

My company, Openismus, provides bugmasters to corporate open source projects such as maemo.org. We know how to make the best use of outside contributions, so enthusiasts stay loyal, and we know how to manage bug databases for the long term. See the overwhelmingly positive feedback for Andre and Karsten, maemo.org’s bugmasters. They acquired these skills while establishing GNOME’s bug squad, working on GNOME’s huge bug database.

I have linked to some Qt bugs as anecdotal examples of poor interaction with bug reporters. I am not interested in a discussion here of the technical aspects of these bugs. They are not meant to be technically critical. Also, half of them are for QtMobility, whose developers are generally very helpful, but even they haven’t learned the best bug-tracker habits. I don’t think I have seen enough Qt bug reports to have a fully representative sample, but my short experience does suggest that there are serious problems. I don’t mean to exaggerate or be unfair.

Awkward UI

Let’s look at a random bug. This view (not this particular bug) will be the first look at the bug-tracker for many people, as they follow a link to an existing bug. But it does not seem designed for humans. There are some particular problems:

How do I add a comment?

Typically, I’ll read the comments on a bug report to see what’s happening. But then there’s no obvious way to add my own comment. If I look around then I finally see a “Comment on this issue” link nestled among other less important action at the left hand side. I believe that many people won’t find that link, or will be discouraged by the awkwardness. I much prefer just writing a comment right into a bugzilla page.

Noise

The “all” page is too complicated, with lots of machine-generated noise. Instead of fixing that, there are tabs that show reduced views: All, Comments, Work Log, Change History, Transitions. This makes the whole page seem even more complicated.

The all page is so nasty that many people will switch to the comments page. But then comments lose their context. For instance, here (bug 7303) the Qt employee seems to be blaming the reporter though he is really just talking to someone that he has assigned the bug to. I’d rather just see a single page, as in bugzilla, without so much noise. The notification emails are similarly padded with irrelevant details.

Rush to close

We notice a strong tendency for the Qt employees to close bugs at any cost for any arbitrary reason as quickly as possible. Presumably they are under pressure to reduce the simple number of open bugs. But a bug-tracker exists to collect information that can gradually be used to improve software. If you think of everything as short-term and rush to ignore that information then you will not make the improvements and customers will assume that you don’t care.

Hard to check the fix

When I close bugs, I mention at least the commit message that I used. Sometimes I link to the commit’s web page on our gitweb or gitorious. But Qt bugs are often closed with a mention of the git commit ID (such as d65d3becc292523f0962aac9d2bf7b96d9c47c04), with no link. For instance, bug 8865 and bug 5729. I am thankful for the fixes but, particularly for documentation fixes, it’s best if I can verify it and reply quickly.

Viewing the change for a particular commit ID is awkward, requiring lengthy use of the command line outside of the browser. Even the gitorious web site doesn’t let me search for a commit ID, so I have to browse through pages of recent commits using the browsers find-on-page feature.

Actually, the person fixing the bug often cannot provide a gitorious web link at that time because that commit isn’t even public yet, because Qt’s gitorious repository is just a mirror, updated approximately daily from a secret repository. Things would be easier if they just worked in an open repository. In the meantime, Qt’s bug tracker should be hacked to recognize and link commit IDs, showing a “try tomorrow” page if the commit is not yet public.

Not supported. Not public

If the Qt developers decide (after the fact) that something in Qt is not supported then the bug may be closed, instead of leaving it open for someone to fix. But if something is not supported then it shouldn’t be in the release. For instance, bug 7334.

There’s also lots of Qt API that is used widely but not documented. Bug reports about the lack of documentation may be closed instead of leaving it open for someone to fix. But all API should be documented for the sake of implementation quality, regardless of whether it is public. And if API shouldn’t be used then its documentation should say that it shouldn’t be used.

Closing bugs because they require work

Bugs are sometimes closed because they would require effort to fix them. This makes no sense to me. Even if no Qt employee plans to fix them, they should stay open so others can fix them, and so that the information is kept in one bug report, with repeated reports being marked as duplicates. For instance, bug 5915.

Sometimes the idea of necessary work seems to be invented just as a way to close a bug. For instance, in bug 5729, a simple patch is not enough. The reporter is told that he must test it on multiple platforms, ignoring the possibility to test the harmless change widely during regular unstable releases.

For non-employees, the page even has some probably-unintentional machine-generated “You don’t have permission to work on this issue” at the left, just in case the reader didn’t feel unwanted enough already.

Out Of Scope

Likewise, if the Qt developers don’t personally see a problem as their priority then they will sometimes close it as “Out Of Scope”, regardless of whether the reporter cares about it or whether he might provide a patch.

Sometimes (bug 5729 again) this happens without the Qt employee even writing a comment explaining why. This is the bug-tracker equivalent of “Go away. We don’t want you to use our software”. Stopping this should be a top priority.

I’ve also seen one case (bug 6074) where this was used when the Qt developer meant “already fixed”. Until I asked for clarification (most people don’t) I assumed that they just didn’t care.

Can’t reopen bugs.

If a fix is not good enough, or the Qt employee has misunderstood the problem, I can’t reopen the bug. That is very frustrating. Most people will not beg for the bug to be reopened or even bother continuing to comment on the closed bug. Luckily we do have the option to submit gitorious merge requests when our bug has been incorrectly closed. For instance, bug 11496.

Can’t close bugs

There’s also no way for external contributors to close bugs. So Qt gets no outside help with bug triaging. This arbitrary separation between employees and external contributors is an obstacle to open development.

2010-07-20 12:26 UTC with score -4

ossi1967: On my way to the #dentist :(

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:47:52 GMT

On my way to the #dentist :(

Berlin, wir kommen!

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:35:00 GMT

So much to do, so little time!!! :)

Nachdem wir alle POIs festgelegt haben, bleibt (wie immer) die Frage der Photo-Ausstattung. (das mit dem Koffer packen ist ja eh´immer die gleiche Show, also uninteressant).
Nehm´ich die Olympus PEN mit? Oder nur die Lumix von Panasonic, die mir in der "Warmen Küche" immer Schnappschüsse mit perfekter Qualität geliefert hat? Hmmm... schwierige Entscheidung.
Noch dazu, weil wir vier super relaxte, easy cheesy Tage vor uns haben und mir vor dem Gedanken an diverse Ladekabeln, SD-Karten, eventuell sogar das Subnotebooks mit wieder Ladekabeln usw usw usw graut.
NEIN!
Nix da!
Es soll ja so einfach und fein wie möglich werden. Daher hab ich mich entschlossen, die Photos nur mit dem Nokia N900 zu schießen. Eine gar mutige Entscheidung, die ein gestrichen Maß an Vertrauen voraussetzt.
Was mich besonders reizt: Mit dem Geotagging - nur auf GPS-Basis - kann ich später einmal wunderbar einfach nachvollziehen, wo ich welches Photo aufgenommen habe. Das hat mich ja immer schon gestört bei der "After-Work" am geschossenen Bildmaterial: Wo war das nochmal? Hmm...
Ich bin neugierig, wie gut Berlin in Hinblich auf WLAN-Cafés ausgestattet ist: Der Upload auf ovi.com sollte beim genußvollen Schlürfen eines Café Latte doch möglich sein! :)
Zusätzlich hat mich ein Fund im Internetz sehr gefreut:
MetroMap - eine App für die Routenplanung per UBahn in Berlin.

Dabei hab ich so ein Riesenglück: Neben Berlin sind nur sechs andere Städte im Standardsoftwarepaket dabei... Die Chance, das passende Kartenmaterial für die nächsten vier Tage war daher sehr gering! Aber: Den Mutigen gehört das Glück! :)
Schon ausprobiert und für gut befunden. Feine Sache, diese App.
Ich freue mich auf den Einsatz in Berlin!

Der Urlaub beginnt heute.

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:11:00 GMT

...mit der Vorabend-Planung. Das ist schon Urlaub pur. Vor jedem Städtetrip wird am Abend in einem ganz unspektakulären Lokal, das aber große Tische haben sollte, gegessen. (Diesmal war´s die Genießerzeile am Naschmarkt. Immer wieder ein feiner Platz...!)
Dann werden Tipps von Freunden eifrig in den Stadtplan eingezeichnet und die nächsten Tage verplant. HERRLICH!
*Große Urlaubsvorfreude herrscht*