Month: May 2007

Categories
Life Random Thoughts

Online Communities could provide a data source for Artificial Intelligence?

Facebook tagging - picture of me with some former colleagues

Heres a random thought pattern I had today – could Internet content one day be used a massive database for Artificial intelligence? Sure Google search or Wikipedia could provide facts etc but what about tagging friends on Facebook? In the future could a computer based system start to identify who people are in real life from this? (Think Terminator!)

I am aware that there is already face recognition on devices such as web cams (that can track your movements around the room for example) and also for CCTV systems (back at Essex Uni I was told about a research project for a system that could identify known thieves and track them through retail stores). But I am thinking more about an AI system using the richer content that is coming online to connect more stuff together. Also on this thought pattern is a reoccuring thought pattern that I’ve had since Uni and learning about Object Orientated Programming and Database relationships – representing the world as structured objects in a Virtual Reality type application (think Second life combined with Google Earth / 3D Live Maps and real world data on everything).

There is also a more real and here and now threat from this – the erosion of privacy which is obviously a topic of concern at the moment as a downside to all this Web 2.0 / community site shenanigans. So more likely is the fact that unfriendly strangers could use this information and photos to find you / scam you etc.

Categories
Linux Technology Wireless

(Debian) Linux support quoted on the box of a product

This is the first time I’ve seen this (see the line highlighted in Orange) obviously I’ve seen Redhat or SuSE before but this is good to see. Hopefully we’ll start seeing Ubuntu too. (Ubuntu is Debian based but many users won’t know that – or care for that matter!)

Edimax Wireless USB - Debian Linux Supported

I also think its comedy that they’ve mistyped Mandrake as Mandark! For those of you that don’t know Mandrake is another Linux distribution that aims to be easy to use.

Talking of things that are good to see hopefully the Dell Ubuntu Store will be in Europe before too long!

Categories
Life

One of life’s unanswered questions – How many packs of laminate floor can you get in a Renault Clio?

…. more than 18 it would seem! I could barely push the trolley out of the shop it was so heavy, when I got to the car I thought hmm maybe they aren’t all going to fit in. When we bought flooring before Kat & I fit about 8 packs in the old clio but this time I was alone I think the new model is a fair bit bigger – the bikes seems to go in it much easier anyway. Note that you can remove part of the back seats which helps fit them in!

18 packs of floor in the Clio!

Anyway thought this post might help / inspire owners of smaller cars to try getting larger items home in the car.

Note – I accept no responsibility for the damage to your car if you try this – the back of my car sagged quite a bit under the weight so I wouldn’t recommend driving far (I only had to go 3 miles home).

Hmm maybe this is a weird blog post – oh well at least its not about IT for once… 🙂

Categories
Life

Louise and Gary’s Wedding

So I finished L&G’s Wedding DVD before they got back from honeymoon! Which I was amazed about – as it took me a full 2 years to edit my wedding DVD!!!Louise and Gary’s Wedding DVD Cover

The photographers blogged about the day and have included some nice pictures here http://captureit.livejournal.com/16125.html

I have created a photo gallery for anyone with pictures of the day: http://devel.cronky.net/gallery/v/LouiseGaryWedding/ Feel free to register and upload photos to it.

Categories
Linux Sony Stuff Technology Ubuntu

Ubuntu on the Sony Vaio SZ3

Full post to come on this but a summary – 99% of the features of the laptop (nVidia Graphics, Wireless, Mouse etc) all work out of the box (no messing about at all – it just works!) with Ubuntu Linux 7.04 aka “Feisty Faun”!

Ollie’s Vaio SZ3 running Ubuntu

I am really impressed with Ubuntu 7 – its a very well polished piece of software and what with the news of Dell announcing Ubuntu as a supported/pre-installed operating system in the US I think its starting to reach a level of maturity that makes Linux more accessible to the average user – interesting times…

When I did a google I found a link to related model. I have yet to try out all of its suggestions (such as detecting what graphics card is switched on – from the Stamina/Speed selector switch and changing the X config) but as I learn more I’ll update this post.

Hmm looks like this question on Launchpad might get the Webcam working.

Categories
Linux Samba Ubuntu

Ubuntu Server Kernel Opps turned out to be faulty memory

The title of this one says it all really, but after spending hours scratching my head with a office file server I built for L.S.A. Ltd (www.travelf1.com) late last year I found the solution to the crashes that started occuring a couple of weeks ago.

See this Ubuntu Server Crash Output file – for the error message that was appearing basically it was a Kernel Oops that occurred when large files were being copied/transferred via samba. It turned out to one of the memory DIMMs going weird which I discovered after having the idea to run a Memtest on the machine (Memtest is available as a boot option when starting up a Ubuntu machine). At first I suspected the software RAID 1 but that’s actually been rock solid on this box and on my home Ubuntu server too.

Categories
MS Windows Vista 7, 8 etc Samba

Using Vista Offline Files with a Samba Share

So after tearing my hair out for the last week with Vista – almost to the point when I was going to put Windows XP back on – I have finally got Vista Offline files working with my Samba shares…

I like to move the My Documents folder on each of my machines from the C: drive to a network share that lives on my Linux file server – on my laptop I make that available offline – in case I am away from home etc. On Windows XP this was fine and worked pretty well. I recently upgraded to Vista and mapped the drive for my home directory – all good made it available offline (or “Always available offline” as Vista now calls it). It did its initial sync and all was good.

Next time I logon (and after making sure I am connected to the network) I go back to my network drive to make sure its working online – and nope it isn’t! I make sure I can ping the machine – thats okay and I can access the share online if I access the machine by its ip – \\192.168.1.4\share. Very weird and very frustrating!

Whilst searching for the solution I came across some useful info on making sure Samba is setup correctly for offline files (mainly to do with oplocks – see below for a useful link).

Anyway tonight I have a brain wave whilst looking at Vista’s user management stuff and reading some more stuff on the net. It turns out that Vista’s offline files works per user rather than per share and as a result is more reliant on usernames and passwords. My Samba share uses a different password to my vista login. So I made them the same – and hey presto it works!

So in summary if using offline files in Vista make sure your usernames and passwords match. I also think I’ve seen something under the user accounts section that lets you link in different user account details – but I haven’t tried that yet. Here is a screenshot.
Vista Network Password Screenshot

Vista Offline Files Samba Settings Link Broken as of June 08 ;-(

Categories
Technology

Ollie’s on the blogwagon!

I’ve held off for a while but now it seems that everyone has a blog these days! Scott Mills said on Radio 1 the other day that some people are even posting as their Cat’s on My Space… all very strange!

Anyway I’ve had quite a few things I’ve wanted to share on the web over the last few years but its always been such a hassle to get them online (mainly articles on techy stuff that others might find useful) hopefully using a blog will make it less painful!

Hopefully (if time permits) I plan on putting articles up on my experiences with Linux, Web Development, Mountain Biking & Life in general!

Let me know what you think of the design of the site – I’m not 100% happy with it – but it will do for now! The Blog itself is WordPress which I went for after trying LoudBlog which I came across on Hanni Ali’s Blog. The design is originally by AskGraphics.com I’ve just dropped in my Oliver’s Yard sign (Oliver’s Yard will be the name of my study/messy area in my new house!!) and tweaked it a bit.

Cheers

Ollie

Ollie!