defza :: def - ZA

8 Reasons CellC could go down?

2008-02-16T21:46:31Z

I predicted this in 2005.

You can read in the news how CellC seems to be performing poorly.

Cell C’s signal fading fast
CellC Downgraded [financially]

I sent them these emails back then, which they said they would forward to management, but probably didn’t. Which leads to the second reason they will go down - their 1) customer service people are useless.
(2) Not to mention they call them “Client Liaison Consultant”s, bleh)

Google visiting in South Africa

2007-09-06T17:22:29Z

Just got an email from our Computer Science Department -

Hallo

Google besoek ons Dinsdag 12:00.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/computer-science-resources-for.html

Translated from Afrikaans:

Google is visiting us Tuesday 12:00.

Awesome!

From Windows to Ubuntu Linux

2007-09-15T10:17:11Z

I use Linux a lot - for programming mostly.

It’s capable of everything else too though.

I’ve been using Mandriva Linux (previously known as Mandrake) for a few years now. A pity, the thing just has not been getting better.

I always wonder, “Why are there so many different types/brands of linux?” (called distro’s, short for distributions).

Most people use Windows (XP). It’s a fact. Developers, office workers, you name it, they all use Microsoft Windows.

It’s not easy for them to exactly try something else.

Well, try this: Ubuntu Linux

How?

Go to the Ubuntu site and you can get a free copy to install (or test) on your computer for free.
They will send it to you free of charge too.
shipit.ubuntu.com

* If you are someone who likes to explore or play around with your computer, then this is a great way to start learning linux, etc.
* Scared of the black screen command line? Don’t worry, with the new Linux desktops out, you won’t even have to see one.

Comon, let’s stop using a hundred different (distrowatch.org) linux distributions, and start focusing on making one great and popular, Ubuntu!
Microsoft has a Windows fits all. Why can’t there be a free Operating System (OS) like that?

Ubuntu is free. Windows is not. Just by the way.

UPDATE: Even easier to try Ubuntu:

Use a virtual machine - A program that runs a whole computer in a window. So you are in Windows, but you can switch to a window where Ubuntu is running and it thinks it’s its own computer. (Make it full screen, and you won’t even know it’s just a program in Windows.) Try VMWare or Virtual PC, both Free VM’s
Wubi, Install Ubuntu the easy way - No need to change your hard drive partitions either, install Ubuntu in windows as a program (into a folder). Then when you reboot, it’s an option to boot into Ubuntu. Here: wubi-installer.org

There’s plenty of help for Ubuntu users on the internet. And it’s really easy to get help should you want to find out how to do something!

iTunes U: Free Audio and Video Lectures (Education)

2007-07-05T12:52:49Z

In a previous post I made on audio books etc, I listed some free sources of audio books and MP3’s for you to listen to on your iPod (MP3 Player), or Mobile CellPhone or any portable device. For those times that you spend waiting/travelling.

NEW: Apple, the legends, iTunes brought out iTunes U , U stands for University I guess.

iTunes U has arrived, giving higher education institutions an ingenious way to get audio and video content out to their students. Presentations, performances, lectures, demonstrations, debates, tours, archival footage — school is about to become even more inspiring.

Great, another place where you can get world class information for free.

Isn’t it amazing that the internet can allow me to get content from the top universities in the world, for free, from the comfort of my own country?

apple.com/itunesu/ - University and educational material (MP3’s etc) via iTunes!

Some universities’ iTunes U sites:

Mostly American universities.
Who will be the first South African university to have an iTunes.domain? itunes.sun.ac.za? or itunes.uct.ac.za?
apple.com/education will help you.

Google also broadcasts the talks that are given at the Google Offices to the world for free. Again, without technology, those talks would have fallen only on the ears currently in the room. Now anyone can be there, without actually being there.

Check out my previous page: time management i for some more links.

Opera Mini: Verification of server certificate failed. Please check the date setting in your device.

2007-05-21T14:51:29Z

Getting this error message on your mobile phone with Opera Mini?

Verification of server certificate failed. Please check the date setting in your device.

Some solutions you could try:

Check that the date on your phone is OK, i.e. the correct year and not last years date.

Check your Date/Time setting and make sure it is set to update from the network.

Lastly, try downloading Opera Mini again from mini.opera.com.

Phones that have experienced this: Nokia 6020.

the suicide of your virtual self - How to Share

2007-04-26T18:22:24Z

An interesting article appeared in the Sunday Times newspaper the other day. A topic that I have been wanting to comment on; so it saves me having to write an article, great.

Here is the article
sundaytimes.co.za “The blog graveyard”.
Article seems derived from the original article at The Sunday Times, England - technology.timesonline.co.uk

What’s it about?

“Hey guys, I’m soooo sooo sorry I haven’t written in a while!!” she wrote.

It has been a long wait for any Lohan fans who may be hoping for an update. That entry was posted in October 2003. Lohan’s blog has since taken its place in the Internet’s fastest growing graveyard — of an estimated 200-million blogs that have been started, then abandoned.

The extraordinary failure rate of online diaries and claims that interest in blogging will soon begin a precipitous slide are sparking an intriguing debate about the future of self-expression on the Internet and whether blogs, once seen as revolutionary, are destined to become a footnote in the history of computing.

To the embarrassment of millions of Internet users — from Hollywood celebrities such as Lohan, Melanie Griffith and Barbra Streisand to countless ordinary parents, workers and would-be poets — the evidence of failed diary-keeping cannot be easily erased from search engines that continue to provide links to blogs that have lain dormant for years.

Some Internet analysts call them “ghost blogs”, lingering reminders of a cultish enthusiasm for self-expression that is rapidly wearing off. Others liken the abandonment of blogs to “the suicide of your virtual self”.

Why am I saying this?
Show me how many people have had an active personal’ish site for a few years? A few maybe? Good.

I reckon that if you have something to share…

If it is obtainable elsewhere (another site for example):

If you like it:

Link to it or bookmark it online. Use del.icio.us bookmarks, some place that other users will be able to find it.
Make suggestions or comments on what is lacking or can be improved. Or some praise even.

If you don’t like it:

Make a suggestion to the creators of the site. Maybe something is missing, then you can complete it.

Can’t find it anywhere?
If the site/source is really bad and has no hope of being revived by the author or it isn’t possible to take over the management of the site/source/page, then you have some options:

Add it to wikipedia - it’s maintained and will be around for a while. In contrast to your personal domain which ceases to exist when you get bored and stop paying the registration fee.
Wikipedia not appropriate? Consider using a Google powered free hosting service like blogger.com or googlepages.com to power your new site/information.
Need more tools? Try finding a site that provides or deals with similar information - can you maybe partner with the site or create a new section for it? Please don’t create another forum.. unless you really have to. Learn to search.
Lastly, you could get your own domain name and hosting for your website and do as you please.

There are many options, no excuse to pollute the web.
Collaborate to make it better and cleaner. If we don’t do it, who will?

This isn’t specific to blogs, it’s the same for any site, website, forum, what ever you want to call it. A html site is a html site no matter what name you give it.

Motorola wap dropdown list (<select>) + Motorola ADK

2007-02-08T15:49:03Z

OK, Motorola’s wap / xhtml browser on their phones has a few issues. (Scrolling issue I pointed out)

The Problem

I noticed that dropdown boxes (

Motorola shows it “wrongly” like this instead:

Which does waste a lot of space on the limited screen size of a mobile cellphone.

The Solution

Proof that Yahoo! Googles

2007-01-18T09:22:58Z

This is hilarious.

Yahoo! uses Google too!?

Specifically, the Ask Yahoo! service used Google search results and forgot to change the word Google to Yahoo!

It starts here: How many countries are there in the world? - Ask Yahoo!

Notice the line

We realized the chances of finding a Yahoo! category on the subject were about as small as Andorra, but we were confident the Google search results would point us in the right direction.

MMm… someone left the word Google there?
While the link actually points to a search.yahoo.com result page.

Internet Archive - Wayback Machine

I then went into the Internet Archive (yes, Yahoo archives the entire internet…) and looked at this Ask Yahoo! page in the past.

And I found that the “Google search results” link originally pointed to “google.yahoo.com” search results.
http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=how+many+countries+in+the+world&hc=0&hs=1123

Strange, Yahoo used to have a google.yahoo.com subdomain …
google.yahoo.com in the past.
It used to just point to a Yahoo search page. But from 2002 onwards it just became a page with just “Do you yahoo?” on it before the subdomain was removed from yahoo in about 2003.

You can still see the “do you yahoo?” page archived here.

Digg this || Post page to del.icio.us

Google Calendar has free SMS notifications (for South Africa too)

2007-06-01T10:55:38Z

Google Calendar - probably the best online calendar you will find.

UPDATE: Get sms notifications of events on ANY calender! In fact, now you can schedule reminders for events on your personal calendar or any other calendar to which you’re subscribed.

NEW: Google calender mobile cellphone version!

Visit calendar.google.com on your mobile web browser.

Multiple calendars on one account - so you can separate the different parts of your life/schedule (work, home, etc)
Share events and calendars - You can let a calendar be show to the public or share a calendar with someone.
Planning an event? - You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar.

Now, the main reason for this post is the SMS/text notifications you can setup for any event! And it costs you nothing!

Staying on schedule
You can set up automatic event reminders, including mobile phone notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.

And they support all three networks in SA - MTN, CellC and Vodacom.

How to enable SMS notifications

Login to Google Calendar with your Google Account details (same as your GMail)
Click Settings at the top right.
In the Calendar Settings page click on the Notifications button.
Then enter your cell phone details and follow the instructions.
You’re done. Now any notifications you put on an event will come in an SMS/text to your cellphone. All for free!

Poor Google has to foot the bill for all the SMSs sent. I wonder how viable it will turn out to be?

Google Calendar Tour
mycee.co.za - The guy who told me about this cool feature!
goosync.com - You can sync Google Calendar to your mobile device for free as well.

def Gets his Degree

2006-11-22T20:30:26Z

And so it has been done.

Febuary 2003 - November 2006
Place: Stellenbosch University

Degree: BSc Computer Science / Physics (with E&E Engineering Subjects)

Modules / Subjects (years)

Applied mathematics (1,2,3)
Computer science (1,2,3)
Computer skills (1,2)
Control systems (3)
Electrotechnique/Electronics (1,2,3)
Engineering drawings (1)
Mathematics (1,2)
Philosophy for engineers (2)
Physics (1,2,3)
Systems and signals (2)

It has been great!

Next up, Honours (Computer Science).

I put some University material here : uni.defza.com
Free knowledge.