Let’s make it quick: I AM ALIVE! I am still bloggin’ and I will still share my mental constitution with you!
But first: I wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I’ll be back with new posts, new nonsense and many MANY links to click on! First new entry tomorrow!
Oh yes, I like 
! I like it more than IE7, Konquerer, Opera or any other browser (even if I have some weakness for Opera every time again). It is a handsome, fast and good designed browser that comes with everything I need. Everything, I said? No, not everything!
Most of all I like Firefox’ great Plug-in structure and its massive Plug-in community support. And of course it is Multi-Platform. So as it is my favorite browser at the moment, I give you my Top 5 of what makes Firefox my very own perfect Internet Browsing eXperience (IBX, I think I am going to patent this ^^’).
All-in-One Gestures
Mouse Gestures may be standard in most browsers today but I still prefer one of the first extensions for the Firefox, the All-in-One-Gestures. There may be newer ones, there may be better ones but I am totally fine with this one. It has everything I need. Customizing gestures, add gestures, mousetrace, gestures on links and much much more.
I don’t know what to state but this is one of the finest extensions ever.
BugMeNot
Everyone knows the situation: You’re at a site, just need to read a topic because it is your ultimate problem solution, or you just want to download a file, maybe the newest driver, but err… LOGIN REQUIRED! And that’s where BugMeNot comes to play…
BugMeNot is a site where people can post their logins (most likely with temporary or fake emails of course) for different websites and other can grab them for their own needs. It is a very large community and additionally rates the success rate of login attempts (users can rate them). Just enter the website you like to log in and BugMeNot gives you all stored logins with there success rates.
This fabulous website has an even more terrific plug-in. With the BugMeNot Extension you just easily right click on the username or password field of the current site you need to get into and from the context menu you pick “Login with BugMeNot”. The extension will now fetch logins and automatically fills them in. It submits and if a login has not worked it will try the next… fully automatically (with most websites)!!! Need I say more…
AdBlock+
Bender: Behold… The Internet!
Fry: My god! It’s full of ads!- Futurama – A Bicyclops built for two
Yep, the net is for porn… uh, I mean for ads. Many many ads, popups, flash-ads, textads, Google and more. Yeah, I know, it’s for financing and stuff but damn it, must it be just directly over the whole text I want to read? Does it have to be flashing so that people get an epileptic seizure? The answer is no!
I show you who’s your daddy, it’s AdBlock+. But do not be mistaken, this is not the AdBlock+ you will find of you Google for it. There are several AdBlock+ versions out there, but no one can keep up to this one. It’s straight, it has everything you need and it will clear your sight.
Uh, “AdBlock+” you say? Well, golly gee, you mighty blogger of the future have shown me whats the fuzz about. Right you are, so now go ahead, install the extension and get an ad-free IBX (patent pending).
Web Developer Extension
Another great extension, especially for webdevelopers is the Web Developer Extension. A must have if you are writing websites.
Basically its another toolbar that gives you extensive extra features while surfing with Firefox. To name some functions, it’s able to let you alter the CSS while rendering, outline table cells, disable images, show id information and the very important private cache clearing ^^’. As you can see a very very helpful toolbar.
Nice to have is that you can customize the toolbar and add an extension button to it to hide the toolbar. For those who cannot stand more and more toolbars.
ReminderFox
My last most favorite extension is the ReminderFox. It is my personal small ToDo list application that helps to keep track of some issues.
In addition to its simple Reminder features it allows you to store the information on an external ftp or WebDav enabled location. I have a Firefox running on the several systems that I use so it is very helpful.
You can set a time reminder, have it floating every now and then to remind you etc. Actually it is nothing special but based on Firefox it gives you access to a small timetable from different machines with different Operating Systems. Most ToDo or Reminder software on the market is either with costs or does not work on different systems. So this is a good choice. And if you are like me, you have Firefox open the whole damn day ^^.
I know, I know… I haven’t posted for a long time. But be honest, would you have read it? See!? That’s the reason why ^^’
OK, so why do I break the silence? I am currently setting up a linux system as base for my diploma thesis. As I like Debian but wanted to have some more comfort I installed Ubuntu in its newest version 6.10, called Edgy. Dapper Drake (6.06) still is the LTS release and Edgy is known to have some problems but overall everything worked fine for me.
I downloaded the DVD, started the Live Ubuntu version and installed Ubuntu to my harddrive just by simple clicking. Some 30 minutes later everything was ready to run. And it runs fine!
Debian’s APT/DPKG system is just superb. Combined with the nice given user interface its just plain great. You can select from a large amount of good software to install without the need to compile or configure anything. Ubuntu is currently probably the best approach for a Desktop Linux overall. And in my opinion with all its comfort and the typical Linux software features it can stand up to Windows, MacOS X etc and outperform them.
I do not know how to describe it, but I am some kind of addicted to Ubuntu now. It just gives me everything I need and more. Features I haven’t even thought about that are just there without slowing down the machine while eating up my performance. I am happy…
…until now! For development I am using Eclipse. A great and free IDE especially for Java development and more. Fast and supportive with a large amount of plug-ins to use (a post about those is coming, too ^^). Again, Eclipse 3.2.1 made absolutely no problems during its installation with Ubuntu’s own program installer/deinstaller.
As I am developing in Java I needed a JDK. JDK 1.4.2 was already configured and ready to use but is out-dated. As JDK6 is the newest installment I wanted this package. Apparently, even if final for some time now, Debian still counts it as unstable. So your only chance is to get the binary from Sun’s official homepage with an own installer given (so no problem here) or to add the unstable packages sources to your source.list and install the “unstable” package (runs fine!!!).
Everything worked, you might say. What is he complaining about, you might ask. Those were no real problems, you might state. And you are right. BUT development is nothing without code. And code is often stored in a repository, in this case a Subversion repository.
Tigris, the Subversion developer, brings an own Eclipse Plug-In called Subclipse. It offers easy access for checkout, commit, update, delete etc. By using the Eclipse Update Manager it is an ease to install it. Strictly speaking Eclipse is doing the work while you are getting another java (damn… I couldn’t withstand this joke!).
Subclipse uses the JavaHL adapter by standard, which is part of the Subversion project and used as native API (per JNI) to access Subversion. Again, it’s just package that can be installed with the synaptic package manager. I did so, installed it, installed the libapr0 as needed too and thought everything will run fine now. WRONG! Eclipse did not start anymore.
What has happened? System is clean. 5 seconds ago it was still running. Now it crashes while loading the Subclipse perspective. Why, oh why?
First of all I cleaned Eclipse from the Subclipse installation. Eclipse started again but after installing Subclipse again I had the same problems again. So I reinstalled the complete Eclipse SDK after cleaning every configuration. After updating to Subclipse Eclipse was still running and could be started. But after changing to the Subclipse perspective it crashes. Damn, I thought. What is the problem?
I asked my magical crystal ball (also known as Google) what the problem could be. And it gave me an answer straight away. It was neither Eclipse nor Subclipse but libsvn-javahl in addition to libapr0 that caused the error. Ubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06) had no problems with its JavaHL compiled package. Eclipse, Subclipse and JavaHL work fine. But since Edgy the package seems to have problems with apr. Those problems are well known but still the package was officially opened to Edgy (at least so it seems).
So long story short: After trying to figure out what the problem was, I could locate JavaHL as the root of all evil. I deinstalled it and am using the Subclipse Java SVN API. That may not be the best solution but it works. There are some “howto’s” that explain ways to compile your own JavaHL with another apr that will work with Subclipse but I am just too lazy.
So, what do we learn from this? Never trust a running system: If it’s running, it can still crash! And of course, always ask Google before complaining on a Mailing List.
…this week was my 24th birthday. Yep, twenty-four! 20 + 4! Some will say: “Damn young lad! Has to grow up yet!”, others will get corny about their mid-twenties: “Oh yeah… 24! I remember… she even had no teeth!” Tscha, that’s it. I am getting old. Older every year and I damn you, whoever you are that figured this out!
I begin to feel like I have a Startlife-Crisis. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy’s Law is all over. Every time I see this young folk party, getting drunk and speak with a funny accent I start questioning myself: When will I die? Is an upper power watching over us? Will there be a life after this hell? And did I look as stupid as these kids when I was drunk? Who knows… I do not care any more!
What’s to sum up of the last twenty-four years I spend living… at least more or less. Prepare for fast-forward. Prepared for fast-forward? Fast-forward… Now: Born on the 17th of November in Bremen, Germany I started to puke all over this world. Lived in three different locations till now. Did nothing else but went to school. Damn it! That’s pretty much it! I went to school! I go to school for 19 years. NINETEEN!!! OK, the schools changed but always school. Elementary school, grammar school, college-preparatory and nowadays I study at the University of Bremen, trying to get my degree in Computer Science. Since I am 16 I work additionally to my school. And do not forget my 9 month with the German Bundeswehr as military service is duty in Germany (at least for the cool guys ^^’).
That is my life until this day in fast-forward. Nothing special as you can see. Nothing big that I have achieved. Just living and trying to get along. And if I have a look at other people my age or born at the 17th of November I get headache. Christopher Paolini, born November, 17 in 1983. Has written Eragon and Eldest. Great books, at least Eragon. Haven’t read Eldest yet but Eragon will be a major movie this December in cinemas all around the world. Or Jessica Biel. Born March, 3rd in 1982 she performs since she was 14. Next big movie will be The Illusionist with Edward Norton. Also in 1982 William DeVries transplanted the first artificial heart. Barney Clark was his patient. ICQ, Carl Zeiss, Danny DeVito, Martin Scorsese, Phrack and so many more have their first appearances, inventions, downloads et cetera on a November, 17.
Conclusion
What’s to conclude here? I am getting older but on the other side I still have so much time and so much to do. At least I have a blog. An achievement I… ahem… I… jeez, every idiot has a blog. But we had our little party this Friday with some good beer and fun (at least I think so). We will back us, anyone each other while we are getting older and someday we will look at the blogs of the future on our fluid displays and we will laugh at all those young internet freaks that have to share their life with the internet because they have no friends… ahem… I… think I have to go ^^
Movies, Movies, Movies
I have one more. A lot of movie news came up the last week. Many new facts and many new trailers. First of all I am looking forward to the Casino Royale start. I had my doubts but Daniel Craig seems to prove that a new, rough and emotional Bond has been born. The best of both worlds (Connery and Brosnan) from what I saw and read. I hope I won’t be disappointed.
I watched Children of Men this week because of the good reputation of Alfonso Cuarón and I liked it very much. It was a realistic look at a future filled with emotions that has become quiet. A very touching and emotional film that also was very brutal. But Alfonso Cuarón showed his expertise in filming. Great single shot sequences that will blow even those away that just want some action movie.
Two important trailer found their way into the net. Spider-Man 3 and The Simpsons Movie. After a good first comic adaptation the second Spider-Man got me kind of disappointed. To heroic, bad Octopus, worse love story between Peter and Mary-Jane so I was pretty happy to find out that the third one will be darker, has Venom in it and takes up the moral of the comics. And The Simpsons Movie… yeah, its The Simpsons so it will rock ^^’
I eventually wanted to give you a peek at Grindhouse, the new (two) Movie(s) by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez but The Weinstein Company don’t want us to see it. I watched it and I must say: This movie will kick ass and chew bubblegum. Horror-, suspense-, splatter-movie with a 70′s atomic cataclysm style! One hell of a movie with Rose McGowan and her M16 as leg ^^’
Another big event this weekend was the After Dark Horrorfest. After Dark shows 8 films to die for in selected theatres in the United States. Only this weekend from November, 17 to 19. 8 movies that would not have been released! There are six trailers at Apple.com and they look good. At least for people that like such freakin’ fuckin’ movies. I do!
So that’s it from me for this week. I will go take my drugs and cuddle myself into my rheumatism blanket. Until next week folks!
…this week was my Wii reservation. A made that reservation at Amazon.de and thought as soon as they know how and when to order the Wii everything should be fine: I get my E-Mail, place the order and will be the happiest freakin’ man at the 8th of December. But I was very wrong. At Thursday this week Amazon.de emailed every person that put a reservation on the Wii. It said “Now: Order your Wii. Limited quantities available.”. “Ok, then go on and order it!” you might think but I attended a seminar at the time I got that E-Mail. “So what? Order it later that day!” you might say and I tried so but the presale was online for about 20 minutes. That was a timeframe I could not make. “Poor man!” you think (at least I hope so ^^’) and yes you were right but I could not stand the fact to not play Zelda at the 8th of December.
I went to my local retailer and asked for their help. With teardrops in my eyes, crawling on the floor I begged for mercy to give me the chance of holding The Sceptre of Light in my hands at the first day of the new dawn. And they had mercy. The Wii is as good as mine and you will hear from it many many times ^^
Doom your AcrobatReader
This Friday I had to make some changes to an old program I worked on. It is about programmatically report generation, so nothing very fancy or interesting but it had to be done. There is a “GuideProgramming” for this amazing report generator but due to the fact that it does not really apply to the library it is somehow worthless.
What’s with Adobe Acrobat? Ah yes! So I had this “NoGuide” and more and more reports for testing reasons. My whole system got slow, simple browsing or text editing with my editor was impossible. I was in a really bad mood and got more and more annoyed by the AcrobatReader. Always 10-15 seconds of waiting just to open a 2 sheet paper I want to read. Filling up the memory with 40-50MB. I thought “Damn it! It can’t be!” and started to look for alternatives.
I asked a friend and googled for alternative solutions. A simple PDF Reader cannot be too much to ask for, can it? The first thing you will find if you look for a “pdf reader” in Google without looking for Adobe products, is the Foxit PDF Reader. I found some more PDF Reader but every single Software was Shareware or had something else that pissed me off. So I tried Foxit and I instantly was happy. I clicked on a PDF and it opened up in less then a second even with Eclipse and VS running. Some titles and the page displays font was bold but the speed was so marvellous that I made it my standard PDF Reader.
There is one thing I hope they will implement very soon: Foxit opens an instance for every PDF, even if another clean instance is running. With more and more PDF Reports opening up for testing that can get a bit messy. But nevertheless everything else works fine and the idea of clicking on a PDF and actually see it at the same time makes this program worth a big recommendation. So download and install this rapid PDF Reader.
Intel Demo Competition
INTEL has called out for the first “Intel Demo Competition”. In cooperation with ASUS and Digitale Kultur e.V. Intel summoned probably the five best European Demogroups from all different countries. The contestants are as follows:
The rules are pretty simple. To show off that Intel is the best hardware manufacturer (and as supporter of the Demoscene for some years now) every group got an identical machine, an Asus Intel Centrino Duo Notebook to make a Demo on. A Demo has to be between 30 and 40 seconds long and has to run on that machine. How long the Demo has to be was determined by DJ Hell. He produced five tracks for these five Demos. All contestants had about 10 weeks time to finish their work and now is the time to vote.
All Demos can be seen online at the Intel Demo Competition Website or downloaded from the same source. There is a voting running to decide which group made the best Demo of them all. The voting is open till December, 1st. Then we will know who will be the first European Intel Demo Competition Champion. So go ahead, watch them all and vote for your favourite.
Blue Screen of Death
Oh hell yeah, Windows nostalgia. The Blue Screen of Death is back and we missed it, don’t we ^^!? And who if not Microsoft can give it back to us. No, Vista has not been publically released yet. But it is MS who brings you the BlueScreenSaver. A small ScreenSaver for your crash proven Windows PC that will make you reminisce about the good old Windows95, Windows98 and WindowsME times. It gives you just a simple BlueScreen with a more or less real error message. Actually there is nothing special about it, just 640×480 pixel of Windows history but I love it ^^’.
Fanboys
To end this wonderful, delightful and splendid post I would like to present you the Fanboys Trailer. A journey for friendship. A journey to give their dying friend his only hope to see Star Wars – The Phantom Menace. Fanboys shows us this journey of four guys that are way too much into Star Wars. See them rock the Skywalker Ranch and Role over the enemy, the antagonist, the villain Star Trek ^^.
Go, go, go and watch the trailer over at IESB! Itse very nice man!