Posted by Jerry on April 13th, 2005 — Posted in Journal, Technology
I’ve been using a Macally single button mouse with the iMac ever since we got the iMac about five years ago. Yes the mac is still going strong, and so is the mouse. But when my daughter discovered that the mouse worked really well in her Apple iBook laptop that she picked up second hand, there has been a bit of a bottleneck for use of the mouse.
So today we headed out at lunchtime, marched into the Apple store and took advantage of the curious salesperson who strayed too close to us and inquired whether we were just browsing… “No.” I said. That flumoxed him for a moment and he turned to leave us to browse. “I’m after a rodent” I declared. He regarded me curiously as though I might perhaps be looking for a pet shop before I rejoined “a simple mouse – USB please”. “well,” he started, “we have the apple white mouse at AU$50…” “Sounds fine to me” I said before he could tell me it had no visible button and there are various scrolling multi-button mice just over… “I’ll take one thanks”.
I don’t think he was used to people behaving decisively, but he managed to rescue his composure long enough to dig out a small box. The transaction was done in five minutes flat and we then had time to find a good eating spot.
The mouse is unusual – great looking as is all Apple stuff. The ergonomics are okay – once you get used to putting your hand’s weight on the back end. So much better than the infamous puck mouse served up with the original iMacs!
And now no more bottleneck!
cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 9th, 2005 — Posted in Journal, New media, Technology
Yes it was time to update the old Ericcsson brick – it was a museum piece given to me by a friend who was tired of not being able to reach me. I looked around and found little choice in Canberra for vodaphone prepaid – basically it was a choice between Nokia and Sagem. One shop told me that many customers had trouble with their Sagem phones – then I went to their website and found it full of Nokia promotions – a bit sus. So I checked out the Sagem reviews and found a generally pretty favourable response. Some didn’t like the reversed stop and go functions -hey it’s French – what do you expect? Second, was that some people had trouble with the infrared transfers. This was a critical one for me – especially when I found that the CD only had WinCrap PC software – and no mac version. How was I to download images from the neat 3 x zoom camera if I couldn’t connect to the mac? Answer? The faithful Psion 5MX!
I said to the retailer that I would only consider it if it would connect with the Psion – I would bring it in the following day and test it in the shop.
So today I went in, Psion 5MX in hand, went up to the bloke and asked to test the infrared transfer. He put in a sim, plugged the Sagem into a power adapter and took aim with the phone camera. I opened up the Psion, switched it on and hit the menu – went to the IR receive mode and at the same time the retailer put the phone down with the IR ports facing each other. It took less than a second for the Psion to say: “receiving file from Sagem…” and shortly after it had completed the transfer. I quickly opened the jpg image in the Psion’s web browser – in the process impressing the hell out of the retailer who had never seen a psion before – and I had made my decision. Transferring files between the Psion and the Sagem is a breeze! And I can upload the image onto the mac via the compact flash card reader – so no need for WellPhone software.
First impressions – this phone has an amazing array of features – fully polyphonic ring tones, colour screen, easy to navigate menus, light weight, compact size and great quality images straight from the 0.3MP (640×480) camera – like this flower in my garden:
And the price was only AU$179.00 (and in Australia the Sagem MY-55 phones are unlocked 🙂 )
I guess I’ll have no excuse not to begin moblogging now eh?
I haven’t yet figured out if I can connect the psion to the internet via the IR port in the phone, but it could well mean the Psion will have a new lease on life as a sub-sub-notebook computer that fits in a pocket. At the very least it will be a handy go-between to transfer files. All up I’m so far very happy with this phone.
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 2nd, 2005 — Posted in DIY, Journal, Technology, Woodwork
I’ve written elsewhere of my attempts to build a readily assembled model of Leonardo da Vinci’s helicopter, and since a number of people have written asking for more detailed instructions, I thought I’d finally put some instructions on my site. And for those who thought it would never generate sufficient lift to raise itself off the ground, perhaps a small video of two models will show that it really works!
Click on the image to go to the page with the movie and the instructions
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 1st, 2005 — Posted in History, Journal, Technology, Travel
What an amazing find! Apparently some archeologists became curious at the longevity of China’s ancient walls – especially as the country is somewhat prone to earthquakes. It seems that the answer lay in the glutinous starch in rice porridge which was added to the mortar according to a report by Xinhua news agency. During recent maintenance work on the city wall of the Shaanxi provincial capital Xi’an in the north-west of mainland China, workers found that plaster remnants on ancient bricks were quite hard to remove… and tests showed the mortar reacted to reagents consistent with the reaction of rice, and the molecular structure was consistent with the presence of rice starch. At the molecular level, sticky rice displays good adhesion and flexibility due to the length and quantity of molecular filaments – the very thing that makes rice (and rice glue) sticky.
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on February 24th, 2005 — Posted in Journal, Technology, Writing
The other day I was confronted with a message on my computer:
“Please do not press any keys or move the mouse while the installation completes…
… Click to continue”
now, what are we to make of this? Should I collapse in a heap of indecision? If I click the mouse will I damage the installation process? *sigh* I sat immobilised for perhaps five minutes before deciding that the click was designed to continue the process, and that – as long as I refrained from other mouse moves or further key strokes – the installation of the offending software would be unaffected.
But supposing English were not my first language, and that I had not had the benefit of a university education in the subject – this contradiction (literally speaking in opposite directions) would at best be confusing, and at worst would decrease my confidence in my competence at operating a computer. If it were an isolated case, it might pass off as a minor aberration, but it was from the same software company that insists we click to shut down. . . Need I say more?
Cheers
Jerry
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