Blog tool

I have been looking for a useful / suitable blogging tool for my mac and it looks like this is it:
http://homepage.mac.com/soapdog/iblog/

check out the review on:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030701105451209

Although so far I have been unable to put a title in??

Also I have found since upgrading my mac today (29th June 2006) my Nokia E61 iSync plugin has stoped working, however downloading and installing - http://www.mactomster.de/isync/isync.html - was a snap (dispite not being able to read german) and that has fixed the problem.

isync plugin and Update

Reading a post on http://www.randomtype.com/ I can see there is another possible isync plug-in available which should work with the E61. So far the options are:

http://www.mactomster.de/isync/isync.html (German only site)
http://data.startrek.or.id/?p=164 (Free isync plug-in)
http://www.novamedia.de/sync/index.html (not-free plug-in)

I have got the 'Home server' up and running. Just a few things left to sort out - the 'name', securing it and getting a bigger hard disk.

The 'name' issue is partly sorted as it appears with a name on the network (Samba) but I can't access it using the 'name' through any other service.

Securing it is a bit of a problem, Ubuntu is secure by default but I have been installing stuff and now have a few ports open and I can't seem to find out what they are for, but I am working on it.

The hard disk is just a case of getting on Ebuyer and getting one when I have the cash. Or I could leave it and buy save DVD's to backup some of the stuff on the server and thus free up some extra space.

The next task is to sort out a antivirus for my Mac (I know, I'm just paranoid) and a firewall / antivirus for the server. Oh, and I still haven't got the E61 to work as a modem but this is not too much of an issue.

Home Network

Ok, now the MacBook is (mostly) sorted ( I still haven’t got the E61 to act as 3G modem yet), on to the next challenge – The Home Server.

I have been toying with the idea of setting this up for ages. I have a desktop which I have been using as a place to store stuff for ages but never really got it set up as a proper ‘Server’.

Now that Ubuntu has released 6.06 server and desktop I thought it was about time I took the plunge. Downloading the right version from - http://ftp.ticklers.org/releases.ubuntu.org/releases/6.06/ - was straightforward and I now have it up and running at home, sort of!

After 4 hours of playing around with it and following the instructions here - http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_ubuntu_6.06 I managed to get the ssh client working but so far that is it. Still on the list to do is:

Sort out a static IP address
Add file sharing for my Mac and PC laptops
Give it a server ‘name’ as opposed to the IP address
Make it as secure as possible (!)
Figure out a way of getting remote access (probable through ssh)
Get a bigger / another hard disk

All of these will be happening over the next week or two with the aim to have it fully running but the end of next weekend.

As an interesting aside I have found this - http://s2putty.sourceforge.net/ which should be good for remoting in with my Nokia E61.

I am gradually catching up with the studies but still working through last weeks stuff! Better get a move on as I should start preparing for my next assignment soon.

MacBook Day

At last, and after much stressing, the MacBook has finally arrived.

Before I get into how cool and brill this new toy of mine is I should explain to those who have yet to experience it, quite how tortuous it can be to order one of these things.

Firstly the Apple website gives me the wrong carrier. After a lengthy conversation with the courier I find that they haven't dealt with Apple for 8 years. So I get hold of Apple to find they have put the wrong info on the site! With that out of the way, the following day the UPS details show up. After trying to deliver it at 3:15 on a Thursday (I will go into my rant about delivery firms another time!) they agree to deliver it at the same time the following day when there will be someone at home to sign for it. Friday comes around and at 1:00 my girlfriend gets home to fine a note from the driver to say they tried to deliver it at 8:45! So after calling them back (twice) it was eventually delivered safe and sound, there in the hall waiting for me when I got home!

After spending the weekend playing with it I have managed to get all the software I want:

Firefox - http://www.mozilla.com/
Google Earth - http://earth.google.com/
DivX codec - http://www.DivX.com (After a bi of playing around I managed to get a CD with a divx movie on it to play through Front Row. You need to create a 'alias' for the CD in the users 'Movies' folder.)
Abiword - www.abisource.com
Widgets - www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

Some invaluable sites when setting all this up:

the.taoofmac.com
www.macosxhints.com

So far everything seems to be running ok. I have 'calibrated the battery' but am still supprised at how short the battery life is, still it might be that I am using it a lot!

The other big issue is the heat this thing generates. Initially I got quite worried but have been looking on the web and found that it doesn't seem to be getting any hotter than anyone else's! (For measuring the temperature I used -http://www.increw.com/downloads/speedit/ , with the appropriate Hardware monitor.)

That's it for now, 2 weeks behind on the studying now!

Take One

Mmmm, First post......What to say?............
From the title you can probably guess that I am a) a student and b) into gadgets. For the student part I am currently at the Open University studying Psychological Research Methods part time. For the gadget part I am into almost anything gadget wise. I have grown out of the need to have the latest gadget as soon as it is available (nothing to do with now having to pay a mortgage!) and spend quite a bit of time researching before 'taking the plunge' with a new bit of tech.

So the latest purchase is a Nokia E61 and MacBook (not the Pro). As far as the Nokia goes, with some initial teething problems I know have it working well with my IMAP - IDLE email account to give me almost 'push' email.
Some useful sites for info on the Nokia E61:
http://clieuk.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6456 - a good 3 part review.
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=177 - a good source of additional info if you have problems.
Of course there is the Nokia developers site http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/0,,018-2716,00.html?model=E61 or the basic Nokia phone info http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,82900,00.html .

As far as the Mac goes I have yet to receive it (delivery 24th June fingers crossed) so am busy looking up the info on the web! There are a couple of must have sites:
http://www.tuaw.com/

and

http://the.taoofmac.com.nyud.net:8090/space/HomePage

are great sources of information.

There are various other sites which are useful references for both these and as soon as I figure out how to get my 'favorites' on this blog I will.