Scribbled on December 1st, 2008
I had an old Palm m515 lying around, and even though it's not that old, it is fairly obsolete. It can accept MMC/SD cards for expanded memory, but I just don't know what to do with it! The sluggy Motorola 33MHz Dragon Ball processor is just way too slow to do anything useful at all... JPG images (with 3rd party software, of course) packing a modest 640x480 resolution load in about 10 painful seconds, there is no sound (only an annoying piezo beeper), the screen is only 128x128px in size (thus - drawing on it is very limited), so it's only good for what it was meant to be used for in the first place - writing down quick notes, creating to-do lists and using it as a phone book. I'll pass.
Now, since this thing is still a gadget, I was thinking about bringing it back to life for the purpose of doing something actually useful. I came across some Winamp controller applications, but they required a COM port cable (and all I've got is an USB cable that is active only when performing HotSyncs), and besides, who the hell wants to lean towards a tiny Palm screen with a greasy finger/stylus just to play some tunes? Later on, I found PalmOrb - a fairly decent LCD+Controller emulator that actually works over USB!
I have changed the ugly default PalmOrb green background to plain white+black with the largest font available, so it's nice and visible from a bigger distance.
To rotate the screen, I used XMaster (or any other Palm-hack app will do) with FlipHack (since the ugly and bulky USB connector won't let you keep your Palm standing up without it disconnecting accidentally). This step is unnecessary if you have a dock.
And, finally, to control the whole thing, I am using LCDSmartie. Works fine, has loads of features and the support forums (although outdated) have some nice ideas for creating the perfect LCD status screen. It's free, too! If I were using Linux as my primary OS, LCD4Linux should do the trick, although I haven't tried it yet.
Note for the anonymous lurker who probably wants to try this: Be aware that LCDSmartie has not been updated since 2007, and PalmOrb is no longer maintained either, so don't expect any active support if you run into any kinds of problems. 
Oh, and enjoy the vid...
Scribbled on November 29th, 2008
I don't usually use any products that have "Live" sitting in their name tag, but this one is an exception. Amongst all available desktop blogging applications, this one is actually free *and* still very functional! (And it boasts a nice minimialistic Office/Vista feel, too) This li'l tool will integrate into LiveSpaces, Wordpress.com, any custom Wordpress blog, Moveable Type, etc., and saves me from having to log in and use the (let's face it) very doggy integrated TinyMCE that Wordpress has.
I do have to admit, I'm a bit tired of web-apps recently, since they don't use all the potential that Windows'/MacOS'/Linux's native apps have to offer, but instead rely on slow JavaScript scripting, slow HTML browser rendering and all sorts of hacks to do all the work. This doesn't cost bandwidth, it doesn't slow my browser down and still does everything I need. (In case anybody wondered, this whole thing works because of that mysterious and large xmlrpc.php file inside the default Wordpress directory, bless it's soul). Finally, blog publishing isn't confined to a browser tab anymore...
PS: An acceptable alternative to WLV would be ZoundryRaven.
Scribbled on October 16th, 2008
At the end of my usual lecture today, I sneaked to the back of the classroom to take a peek at some yummy old electronic components... Little did I know - a well known consumer computer, yet to be dubbed a PC/Mac, was just standing there, and my eyes just started to open wide...
Yup, it's an Apple ][ !
Show your face, dammit!
And, there you have it... The sparsely arranged arrays of integrated circuits on a PCB next to a huge power supply that make up a piece of art. This Apple ][ version has an "Europlus" suffix next to it since it was modified to run on the PAL system and on the European standard voltage - 220V @ 50Hz. Everything else is identical to the original one.
Scribbled on October 13th, 2008
I remember the old days when NiMH batteries powered my, now obsolete, devices... Proper battery care was essential, and even the most non-tech savvy users were quite knowlidgeable about this topic. The rules were simple - charge a new battery for 12 hours, drain completely, and make sure that any future charging was done only when the battery was nearly depleted. Simple. Even my old Siemens C35 mobile had a "battery care" option that depleted it completely and recharged it back.
And then "it" happened... Even though 6-8 hours was pretty much an adeqate time for the battery to charge and fully form, phone & gadget dealers kept increasing that period to 12 and up to 24 hours - freakishly insane! The fact that I had to wait that long when I was eager to engage in some gadget clicking with my new device was very frustrating, and yet the bar was still being raised...
Soon after LiIon battery packs were introduced, I thought that this waiting nightmare and memory effect problems were destined to get pushed in the history books. Unfortunately, even with today's LiIon batteries, that can be charged at any time and at any charge level, every store in my surrounding area almost orders me to pre-charge my gadgets for at least 12hrs before use. As an old Spartan used to say - "this is madness!"
What got me to write this thing is my friend's recent notebook purchase. Even if the battery that came with it is an Lithium one, the store clerk assured him that it is absolutely mandatory to charge the whole thing for 12hrs... THREE TIMES!
Pathetic. The pain won't obviously end soon...
Scribbled on September 2nd, 2008
Google has finally launched it's very own browser! This decision was completely unexpected, and carried a lot of doubts with it, and, not to mention - risk... The first ever version of Google Chrome is in it's beta stage, as expected (following the Google tradition), but it works remarkably well. It's fast, simple, and stable. The tabs are placed on the very top of the screen, and that, in my opinion, was a very good feature, since I don't have to "aim" for any of my tabs like in other major browsers, I simply shoot up with my mouse and click what I need to click. Since every tab is a separate process, Windows Task manager is filled up with "chrome.exe" tasks, which is kind of a sloppy solution, but it "works". The whole interface is simple, and gives me plenty of needed space, so any advanced options are well hidden (such as the internal task manager).
What I didn't like at first site is the default 404 page that is included with Chrome, because you have to look at the whole page longer than usual just to realize that it's actually a 404 page (pictured), and not a customized Google home page... Also, some websites don't behave as expected, but that will change eventually (I hope)...
I have just installed this thing, so I have yet to experience a crash, but it's running just fine for the time being. We'll see if this Google product will be comparable to something so successfull such as GMail, or will it die off like GoogleAnswers...
Check out the screenshots in the meanwhile:
Scribbled on September 1st, 2008
I love toying with old and outdated operating systems, it's a kind of an equivalent of listening to old records to get an "ahh, those were the good days" smile on my face. Windows 3.11 was my material this time, and it's the last Windows operating system to remain tightly in the grasp of DOS, but it was very useful and productive on machines that in today's world are considered completely obsolete. What's even more interesting is that Windows 3.11 is actually reaching it's "end of life" status in just a few months from now (it was sold to the embedded devices market for some time)!
Scribbled on August 28th, 2008
How's this for genious concept? The usual boredom of running combined with the fun of gaming brings a great way to do your workouts. Although this concept is still in sub-alpha stage, it sounds great, and the requirement to actually get pshysically active in order to win a game is tough, but awesome (and healthy). The Nintendo Wii has already made a huge step by introducing the WiiFit, and it would be nice if the gaming industry would follow this trend.
However, not everybody wants to come home from work (or from a workout) and "relax" by jumping around the living room just to play a game, but a choice between the two should be introduced. Also, I doubt that this will make a strong impact on die hard WoW gamers...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbG5O2NfUzM[/youtube]
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