Bend in the Weather

Firefox the quickest growing Web-Browser is about to get a major upgrade.

The Mozilla Foundation is rumoured to release Firefox 1.5 on Tuesday 29^th of November. That will mean a Wednesday release (tomorrow) for us in Australia.

What's new in the 1.5 series over the 1.0x series?

• Ability to drag-n-drop tabs into the order you prefer.
  


• 'Intelligent Caching' so the pages one is most likely to visit are preloaded; with no visible performance impact.
  


• User preferences have been redesigned to provide a cleaner tabbed interface.
  


• Application and extension updates are now pushed to the background - no need to do it manually.
  


• Improved support for CSS2 and CSS3.
  


• XForms and XML events, as well as many DHTML, JavaScript and DOM enhancements.
  


• APIs for scriptable and programmable 2D graphics through SVG 1.1 and <canvas> tag.

One feature that will catch out some users is that the extension system (one of Firefox's biggest features) has had a complete rewrite, so this will mean that every extension will need to be updated. Extension developers have known of this and have been working hard to get their extensions working prior to the release... though be warned.. a few extensions may be a few weeks off.

The new version is still lean and mean, and expected to come in around 5MB on Windows.

The interface itself looks very familar for existing 1.0x users, so current users will feel right at home.

The Mozilla developers aren't resting however with the release of 1.5.
They are also hoping to improve its consumer focus by offering a major release every six to nine months, rather than every two years--as was the case when it was part of Netscape. In keeping with this new strategy, Firefox 2.0 is scheduled for release in the middle of 2006 and Firefox 3 is planned for the first quarter of 2007.

If you want a peek of what Firefox 1.5 will look like... PCMag has a slide show preview of the RC3 release... the final tes version prior to the official 'Gold' release.

If you really can't wait until tomorrow... you can download the 1.5RC3 release. It will automatically update to the officially released version automatically once it is released!

Yesterday we celebrated Pauline's Mum's 70^th birthday.

It was a fantastic night with all her children and grand-children there to celebrate it. (though Geraldine was unable to make it, as she was in Shanghai, China).

We had a great 3-course meal in at Hoppers Crossing,
Everyone had plenty to eat and there were plenty of photo occasions.

I'll put some photos up when I get sent a few (I unfortunately forgot the camera!).

Happy Birthday Silvia! Hope it was a fantastic day.

Today I got a nice workout.

At 11:30am I wanted to go down a few floors, but the elevators weren't working.

The familiar sound of Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! resonated through the floors below.

Looks like my timing was awful... today is fire drill day.
I knew I should have had today off!

With that the only way down was via the stairs. So the stairs it was... it was only a few floors so no drama.
Problem was, I couldn't get out on that floor.

That meant I was now officially part of the fire-drill!

So trudging down 31 flights.... a whole 10 minutes later and goodness knows how many steps I finally arrive out to the ground floor.

It's not the best way to work up a sweat, stuck in a cement corridor with hundreds of others.

I wandered back in to watch the cricket in the foyer... though eventually at midday we were shuffled out of there as well... so up to the proposed evacuation area it was.

The day would have been much better if they put on a BBQ! The weather certainly suited it.

This afternoon sees me limping however, my left calf was niggling prior, and it appears the staircase journey has inflamed it... So both my hip and calf on my left side are no throbbing in time with my heartbeat.

Next fire-drill... I'm staying home!

Today the Toothpaste wars finished...for the time being.

For weeks I've been battling with a tube of toothpaste getting the last scrap of paste out of the tube. I've found numerous ways to get the last dollops out of the tube.

Though, the battle is now over.

I walked into the bathroom this morning to find a new pristine tube gleaming in the morning sun sitting in the toothbrush cup.

It appears my wife finally gave in, and swapped it over. Such a shame, I was only just mastering my 'paste search-n-rescue' methods!

Looks like the battle is over... though I suspect the war will be back in a month or so.

Melbourne is currently hosting the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Artistic Gymnastics is the form of gymnastics where competitors compete on various pieces of apparatus and are judged by a score of 10.0.

You will see competitors on the Vault, Pommel Horse, Uneven and Parallel Bars, Rings and Balance Beam.

The event runs from 22/11 - 27/11. Channel Seven are telecasting the event from tonight until Sunday night at 8:30pm. (though Sunday starts an hour earlier).

Those in Melbourne can also benefit by viewing the competition live by purchasing tickets at Ticketek. Ticket prices are quite modest and is a good lead-up for many prior to the 2006 Commonwealth Games that are being held also in Melbourne.
The event is being held at Rod Laver Arena (used most often for the Australian Tennis Open), so viewing should be quite good from all angles.

Australian's are sports made, and Melbourne, Victoria is the capital for sporting events. (They also hold the Australian Grand Prix, Australian MotoGP, Australian Golf Open, The Melbourne Cup and the AFL Grand Final, also hosts the MCG and Telstra Dome stadiums).

Melbourne is the perfect city for me. I'm a mad sports nut and it's fantastic to get out to some of these events.

If you can't get to the event, make sure you check in and watch some of the Gymnastics. These dedicated athletes are bound to leave you speechless as the pull off performances and feats you didn't think was humanly possible!

I marvel at the endurance and strength as well as agility that these athletes bring. It's also important to remember that most of the female competitors are quite young with several only teenage girls.
The stress and nerves competing at the highest level at such a precise sport is also astounding.

Good luck to all athletes and hope it's a successful event for each competitor!

Adobe PDF files is a great way to save, print and send files.

It ensures the end user does have to have the same application you used to created it in.. and is perfect if you want a 'read-only' view.

Problem is Adobe Acrobat (used to create PDF files) is expensive to purchase. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is however free... perfect for those wishing to view such files.

So how can you create PDFs without forking out hundreds of dollars? Quite simply really... install PDFCreator

PDFCreator is a free PDF Creater (as the name suggests), that installs as a Windows printer. (see pictures below). This means you can create a PDF document from any application that can 'Print'.
Instead of printing to paper, a dialog box appears and asks you for a filename, and it will then save the file to the location you specify. It couldn't be simpler!



Best of all is it's OpenSource making it extremely cheap and easy to use.

Adobe Acrobat is far more advanced, and allows you to edit your created PDFs, add/remove pages, etc... whilst PDFCreator doesn't. Though for most uses you'll find that PDFCreator does all that most people want.

You can download PDFCreator from SourceForge - a website that holds thousands of top quality OpenSource software packages.

You will want to download and install the 0.8.0 version of PDFCreator and then download the Patch to upgrade it. (Apply it after the original version is applied). 0.8.0 is the stable release.. those that are a little more adventurous may also use the latest Release Candidate version (0.8.1) which is an enhanced version.

So you can stop sending those MS-Word, Excel, Publisher files now and having your friends and family complaining they can't open the files... just install PDFCreator and send them the PDF... Just remember to send them a link to Acrobat Reader - the free PDF viewer and everyone can view your documents!

I'll post details tomorrow how those on Linux can also achieve the same results (a free PDF creator).

Some of my biggest gripes with iTunes is this:

1. No support under Linux.
2. Runs like a dog under Windows.
3. Unable to move between different PCs without deleting my iPod's content.
4. Unable to take songs OFF my iPod onto a PC. (such as a computer at work to listen to my songs without the need for my iPod.. and draining the battery!)

As you can see I'm now big fan of the iTunes software.

Though ... I need to find some software that makes it easy to do the following:

1. Works in Windows AND Linux and runs smoothly.
2. Allows me to copy my songs off my iPod if I choose.
3. Able to connect it to different computers without erasing the iPod.

I've struggled to find such an application.. but can say I've finally found a solution.

Welcome to YamiPod!
The beauty of YamiPod is that it's a standalone application, that requires no installation. It makes it perfect for running of removable media like a USB-Key, making a portable and useable solution.

I carry both the Windows and Linux client on my USB-Key, as it means I can instantly sync my music with a desired computer.


Click on an image for a larger view






Best of all, YamiPod is free software, but is full of features:

• iPod is automatically recognized
  


• All playlists including Auto Playlists are supported
  


• Able to remove duplicated tracks
  


• Built in Music Player
  


• Find lost music files
  


• PC/IPod sync
  


• mp3 and AAC files can be copied to/from iPod
  


• Lyrics support

Feature wise it matches or extends on that found in iTunes. And even better, it's no-where as large a download or memory footprint compared to the bloating iTunes software.

This weekend (Sunday) was my gorgeous wife's birthday.
I've been buying pressies for her for weeks, and giving some of them to her leading up to her birthday (I'm hopeless at waiting until the day!). Though I did leave the largest until the day.

So Pauline ended up with some digital scales for the kitchen, a ceramic hair-straightener, a latte coffee set, and a George Foreman Grill.

EBay is excellent to pick-up some good bargains, particularly if you aren't in a hurry and plan in advance. You'll notice I got some very good bargains.. which meant I could stretch the dollar further and get more stuff for her. All items were brand new, and shipped/packed extremely well.

I'm happy to say so far everyone I've dealt with on E-Bay have been sensational.

Pauline's happy with the pressies which is the main thing!

On Saturday night we had dinner at Pauline's folks home, and had a fantastic meal made by her Mum. She even spoilt Pauline by baking a and making some very yummy chocolate mousse!


Pauline wanted to go to the Melbourne Zoo for her Birthday, and she was lucky... as the weather was perfect for it.
We headed off at around 11:00am (Yeah we slept in!).
We stopped at Subway on the way, and picked up a 6-inch Sub each for lunch, and brought some bottled water and some fruit.


The monkeys were good, though many of them were either hiding, sleeping or out of plain sight. Being around midday I imagine that they had decided to take a midday nap.
These two were most of lively of the lot. It looked like we were their entertainment, with them perched in front of the viewing platform watching the various people come past.











This is probably one of the best photos. You can get up nice and close to thousands of Butterflies in the Butterfly House.
The butterflies fly around you, and if you're lucky will perch on your head, shoulders or hands. We spent ages in there just watching the various butterflies with their rich colours and patterns.




Pauline demanded I take a shot of the sign. She found the phrase "Platypusary" quite humorous. I must admit it does sound rather funny.
The platypus inside was quite interesting, and it's set up so you can see above and below water.
The platypus is an animal unique to Australia and quite interesting. They are worth reading up on...particularly if you've never seen or heard of them.

We also saw the lion's. We were perfectly located in front of one of their drinking containers when one came past from a drink.
It was quite funny as the lion sneezed prior to taking a drink, and I watched as about twenty people jumped back in fright. I think they forgot there was a fence between them and us!

My most favourite exhibit was the seals. You can view them from above and below.
We timed our visit perfectly as the zoo keepers came in and fed them as well as played with each of the seals whilst we were there. They are remarkable animals and quite intelligent. On such a warm day I was a little envious of them jumping and swimming around!

We headed home shortly after and got home around 3pm.

At 6:00pm, we have Paul and Susan (with their two kids) come over to see Pauline for her birthday.
We had some birthday cake after singing after Pauline blew out the candles.
It was good to see our former next-door neighbours, and we had a chat and caught up.
We all headed out for a bite to eat at LaPorchetta around 7:30pm.

We each had pizza (yummy!) and then called it a night (was getting late for the kids around 9pm). Pauline and I headed to the cinema, but there was nothing we wanted to see... so we headed off home and finished the night with a McDonald's McFlurry (it was Pauline's birthday after all!).

So an action packed day, and lots of fun.

I hope you had a fantastic day Pauline... cause you deserve it.

It's been a big week at Telstra.

With some of the new details of the corporate wide review now making the press through public statements, Sol is out selling his new vision.

This Sunday both Business Sunday (Channel 9 - 8:00am) and Inside Business (ABC - 9:45am) have interviewed and discussed the new direction and transformation of Telstra he is undertaking.

Interesting viewing for those all interested in telecommunications and what Telstra is pushing ahead with.

I learnt a valuable lesson today.

Don't pickup your burning previously toasted sandwich (now a smouldering piece of charcoal) with your hands. The remaining liquid contents (that were solid to start), tips out over your hands, you try to flick it off and manage to put your fingers onto the hotplate.


That reminds me... I use a similar program on my Linux servers to avoid getting my fingers burnt under by script-kiddies running automated tools to use brute force to break into UNIX machiens running SSH.

DenyHosts, is a clever program that monitors the SSH log files and picks up login errors and numerous failed attempts by the same IP and will then block the IP via tcp_wrappers. It even allows you to define a period of time you ish to deny them access (say 3 days), to stop automated attacks.

The only requirement is that you have Python and your version of SSH is compiled with tcp_wrappers.

This is easy to check:

Notice the libwrap line? It means TCP_Wrappers is compiled against SSHD. So we're right to go.

One can run DenyHosts in daemon mode and ensures it picks up such attempts automagically.

Using this ensures you are not open to such attacks, avoid root-kits being installed.
As a general rule disable root logins remotely (always su up to root when required).

Using something like DenyHosts ensures you're fingers won't be burnt and your machine compromised.