A few days ago I was pretty amazed by video’s of Microsoft’s new technology, which they call “Microsoft Surface,” see TechCrunch. Here’s what it can do:
Well, thankfully, I have seen the light since then, due to this video, thanks again to TechCrunch:
But I still think this technology is pretty amazing! Can’t wait for Linux people and hardware enthusiasts to make a competing platform for a fraction of the cost… I can dream, can’t I?
From my daily read of Lifehacker, I noticed a program called “recordMyDesktop” - this would be very useful for someone trying to demonstrate how to do something on a linux computer to a large number of users, for example when trying to make a video manual for a website. Ubuntu users can install recordMyDesktop and gtk-recordMyDesktop with:
sudo apt-get install recordmydesktop gtk-recordmydesktop
Thanks again, Lifehacker!
That’s right! It’s Uni results day! I’m sure you are all on the edge of your seat, so I shall put you out of your misery swiftly!
And a strong one at that: I averaged 83.2%! To see my individual results, see my main site, but basically my highest grade last semester was 90% and my lowest 62 (second lowest 82…). I also got the
That means I got the highest grade this year in applied mathematics at Southampton University!
Out of the 112 people on the mathematics board, I was one of 7 to get a prize! Quite an honour. Here are the prizes, with the other winner’s names smudged out to protect their privacy:
And here is my line on the results page:
That’s Benjamin Gillam, course: Mathematics with Physics (BSc), grade: First, and a prize.
Rumour has it the prize is £50, which would be nice!
I’m very happy with my grade, though I was aiming for 85%. Still, best grade in applied mathematics is pretty good!
I have enjoyed my stay at Uni, but now I really want to get into doing some really cool new technologies for Brain Bakery Ltd, and fortunately, that is what I will be doing!
When Microsoft released Windows XP’s SP2, they broke a lot of stuff. Amongst it was WebDAV Basic Authentication. They “disabled it by default” because it is a “security risk.” Well, that is true, but there is no option in menus anywhere to re-enable it. You have to do a registry edit! Well… I have just had to write the following excerpt for BrainBakery’s CMS product:
If you are using Windows XP SP2, and you cannot connect to WebDAV, then you need to enable “Basic Authentication” by running this command (all one line) from Start -> Run:\ \
REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters" /v UseBasicAuth /t REG_DWORD /d 2{style=“font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold;”}
\
\
And then restart your computer. More information can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841215.
Now, this is not live yet, as I have not tested it. I will test it as
soon as Jem stops playing The Sims 2, so I can use her Windows XP
machine. Here’s hoping it doesn’t break anything.
Incidentally, if you are wondering why I used “2” and not “1”, the reason is that 2 enables Basic Authentication over plain HTTP (not HTTPS) under Windows Vista. I don’t know if the same command will work for Vista though.
This post could be useful for users of the PEAR module HTTP_WebDAV_Server, as that only currently supports Basic Authentication, I think.
If you find this useful, please leave me a comment! Thanks.
So I have finally got round to getting the last few months worth of photos off of my phone. This is the badge that Jem made me.\
Continue reading below for some more!
The field had quite a few rabbit holes:
Here is the one on the right, in close up:
That is Jem’s foot next to it to give some scale (mind you, she has tiny feet…)
Here is the campfire that we all sat around, after it had been buring for a while. It was quite big, though not as big as two years ago. We sat around it eating fish (or sausage) and chips. Yum yum!
On Sunday, a young girl called Chloe made me a card to say ‘thank you’; here is the outside (consider it folded in half):
And here is the inside:
When we got home, there was a huge spider to greet us!
Of course, it was my job to take it outside, though I must admit I put it in an ice-cream box first! And I call myself a Scout…
Anyway that’s enough of that, I best get back to work!
So, I just received a missed call from 08450229900. It lasted 1 second. I immediately Google’d the number to try and find out what company it was, but I only got one hit, the comment at the bottom of this post:
http://www.ektopia.co.uk/ektopia/archives/2004/11/12/say-no-to-0870
The comment was also left today, just 20 minutes ago. I wonder what that was all about? I guess, like this guy, that it is a scam. Anyone else had this phone call?
Since I first saw the iPhone from apple, I have wanted one. But they are so expensive! I just can’t justify the cost. That is why I was so happy when I discovered that one of the iPhones features - the fullscreen internet browsing, which looks amazingly useful, is now available to Java-enabled phones by using the lastest version of Opera Mini 4 beta:
\
Thanks to Lifehacker for the heads up.
I have just got back from a weekend of camping with SCARF. SCARF is an organisation set up to help Special Children And their Relatives and Families. The weekend was good fun, it was great to see how much the children got out of it. On the camp we did lots of activities. A summary of them are below:
This was the responsability of Jem and myself. On Thursday night with the aid of 1st^ Poulner Scouts, we tied a large length of rope around many trees in order to make an interesting course. We kept the rope around 70cm from the ground - on the longest section of the rope we used a windlass to tighten the rope. We then tied another (slightly thinner) rope about a metre above this to create a hand rail.
On Saturday, we aided the children, 1 at a time, to complete the course. Many of them did not have the physical strength to hold on to the rope for long, so their parents helped support them. Even if they only did half the course, their faces shone with pride and acheivement. It was a great sight to behold.
The base next to ours was ran by my parents and Julie (a cub leader from 3rd^ Ringwood) and was cooking dampers over open fires. The leaders mixed up some doughy mixture from flour and water, and found some hazel wood to cook it on. The children then had to squeeze the dough over the end of the wood to make a sausage shape with its axis down the hazel rod. They would then hold it over the fire until it was cooked (turned slightly golden brown and when you tap them it gives a hollow sound).
Once the dampers were cooked the children could pull them off (twisting them to prevent breakage) and fill them with jam. Yum yum!
Mike, 3rd^ Ringwood’s Scout leader, ran another base where children (and adults!) could practice and develop their DIY skills. They constructed seats from wood that could be packed away small, but were comfortable to sit on and did not sink into the ground. Many of us sat on our own when we eat our fish and chips around the campfire on saturday night.
This post has turned out a lot longer than I had intended, so I shall have to move on. Perhaps I can tell you more another time.
So I have finally got around to setting up a blog of my own. I intend to categorize my posts into a few different subjects such as:
Business Code Linux Personal - Scouting - Wedding
The idea is then that you can pay attention only to the posts that interest you. \ For example, I doubt my family would be interested to know that in CakePHP you can express conditions not only as a SQL snippet, but also as an associative array. Nor would I expect coders visiting this blog to be interested in the stationary we are choosing for my forthcoming marriage to Jem.
Now please, whoever you are, feel free to comment on this blog. I have turned CAPTCHA on (thats those funny little letters at the bottom) purely in order to slow the entry of SPAM onto this site. Don’t let it put you off.