Sergei Mutovkin’s Rumbling Mumbling

I was struggling to find an application that would be as simple as Flickr native Uploadr but would provide me with an option to change permissions before pictures are uploaded. Finally I’ve found Ross Burton’s Postr - GNOME Flickr Uploader.

Ubuntu 8.04 already comes with package called “postr“, however it is a very outdated version 0.9 from more then a year ago and did not have the features I wanted. Current version is 12.2 and it has a much improved feature set. It definitely belongs to Ubuntu backports, but as always with Ubuntu you will have to wait until the next stable release Ubuntu 8.10 (codename Intrepid Ibex).

For now you will unfortunately have to install it manually from console

tar zxvf postr-0.12.2.tar.gz
cd postr-0.12.2/
sudo python setup.py install


A bonus is that this program is written in my favorite Python.

Again, just after finishing watching another Blu-ray disk - “Road Warrior” I was greeted with a message that a new update is available, this time it was 2.42. No details available, though I really hope that it will resolve choppy MP4/AVI file playback issue that plagued my Playstation ever since I’ve installed long awaited 2.41.

Other than that I still have to inform the great Internet why I was out of blogging for so long…

I remember the days when I was waiting for new iRiver firmware for my SlimX and Rio Volt hacked to be iRiver iMP-100 before that, it was fun - new features were coming every month. Now SONY is providing me with as much fun bun but now for my Playstation 3 and all of a sudden after finishing watching a DVD I get a notification that Firmware 2.35 is available. Though there is not a word about it on SONY Playstation Network website that I’ve just checked… SURPRISE is in the box - Installing NOW

Update: After installation it did not let me know what new features I can try, thus I assume it was a bug-fix release, still Bravo SONY… PS3 is the best piece of hardware I own

I do not remember advocating here for use of Django before, so “Another” in the subject is my own mental point in the unordered list. This reason is the proper appreciation of web standards by the Django.

What’s more, there is a new book on Django is on the way to the bookstores, and one more is coming very soon. But don’t forget the classics which is also beautifully free.

All this makes me want to create the first functional Django site ASAP…

Today, Trolltech has released Release Candidate 1 of the featurefull Qt 4.4. Downloading it as I write this and I hope to play with its new Help Module, ultra cool feature removing the need to launch external assistant.

Now KDE 4.1 will be even faster and more stable.

It is just a small statement to support Earth Hour. It is my statement to let governments and people governed by them know that we need to start “thinking Green”. We need to stop waisting our natural resources and use best available technologies to generate our energy. But on a personal level we can also help by recycling, using power efficient products, encourage producers of currently more expensive “green” products by buying only “green”.

Blogs like mine don’t help to solve the problem, they actually make it more acute. Unfortunately, it is a pleasure to have some services available at all times and it is difficult to part from them. But at least we can switch off devices that are not used. For example, even if power supply is just plugged to a power outlet, most probably in this idle mode it sucks a watt or two while the device is completely shut. Even a power supply of your computer can be made more efficient, you just have to ask your supplier of choice be it Dell or Apple. You can use efficient CPUs, like the 45W AMD Athlon 64 X2 or upcoming Intel Atom. You can recycle your old CRT screen and get a small power efficient LCD, or even better buy a lightweight portable laptop and use it as your only computer.

Show them we want to be “Green”.

Great news, according to this overview OpenOfffice.org 2.4 will be contain some nice evolutionary improvements. In fact, OpenOffice.org 2.4 is already available on all major mirrors. My favorite Canadian mirror at University of Sherbrooke already hosts it for almost instant download. Unfortunately it does not look like Ubuntu 8.04 will have it bundled, the last Alpha 6 I’ve tried had 2.3.1…

Waiting for OpenOffice.org 3.0 for OSX (Native)… Give it to me, give it to me….

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find out that Sanyo has announced a new camcorder - VPC-CG9.

The cool thing about this device is that it should cost only $279.99 MSRP, meaning places like Amazon will probably get it in low $200. Will be desperately waiting for reviews with samples to check that they are playable on my Playstation 3. If they are - the device is definitely on my “Wish List” Even though HD camcorders are already all around they are still quite costly and adequate storage is too expensive, though the best two HD camcorders, in my own opinion, Canon Vixia HF10 and Panasonic HDC-SD9 are getting down in street price monthly.

P.S. The link to the camcorder though still unpublished by Sanyo was easy to figure out since just had to find out what was the latest product and add one more to the index.

It has been almost three weeks as AMD has announced the new chipset - 780G and a new power efficient CPU - X2 4850e. Motherboards are available for a couple of weeks already and are quite cheap. I’ve put my eye on this combo as my new server rig (with ASUS M3A78-EMH motherboard that features 6 SATA2 ports - feature that should be standard these days, but it is not). 4850e should be approximately as fast as 4800+ but only at 45W. Great? Isn’t it? But the CPU is nowhere to be found. Is this a paper launch again? Too frustrating…

All I want is a power efficient rig to run Ubuntu 8.04 Server LTS.

April 6, 2008 Update: What a disaster. I want to get AMD CPU first time in a VERY VERY long time and I can’t do it ANYWHERE on the internet one month after it has been announced. I totally miss the point of announcing it at all… It seems Dell is using it already in its business line, but nowhere else. If only there was any Intel based 6 SATA port motherboard I would have dumped AMD idea altogether. Then AMD complains that it can’t occupy its fabs enough… Now I know: it is because CPUs are not available at all, nobody can buy them to require any manufacturing at all. If only there was a cheap G33 based 6 SATA port motherboard except the expensive Supermicro board…..