Contax – RIP or Resurrection - Thoughts on what could happen to Contax after Kyocera's withdrawal. Specifically, the 645 system is mentioned here, as it was allegedly developed by Zeiss and Kyocera was only the manufacturer - if this is the case, Zeiss could find another partner for production. Unfortunately, the 645 system is beyond good and evil for most financial possibilities ...
Linkblog - 29.3.2005 - 19.4.2005
Nikon Encrypts D2X and D2Hs White Balance Data - they really have a screw loose. What's the point of encrypting the image data so that the user is forced to use the camera manufacturer's software to read it? It's not as if Nikon makes money from selling software - they earn (and not badly) from the cameras. And especially with professional cameras, such paternalism towards the user is just brainless nonsense. The image data belongs to the photographer - and all of it, not just the parts that Nikon kindly leaves unencrypted ...
Parliament in Kuwait approves women's suffrage - I would like to have something positive here for once. Even if it is only a small step in that direction - for the region, the whole thing is almost revolutionary.
typoc(not to be confused with Typo3 the CMS) is a blog engine in Ruby and uses Rails. Could be ideal to play around with this stuff.
Bistro Intro is a Smalltalk variant that runs on the Java VM. I didn't know that before.
Seashore is an image editor that builds on GIMP things and uses the same format - but for OS X. You should keep an eye on it, could be quite nice for some simple purposes.
Westerwelle will no longer become Chancellor - this likely aligns with the will of 95% of voters
'Cool it, Linus' - Bruce Perens - a bit more information about the BitKeeper story. And I agree with Bruce - Linus should never have started this silly BitKeeper business in the first place. Andrew Tridgell is just doing what he does best - cracking proprietary protocols. It's silly to attack him for that.
Lafontaine is apparently about to leave the SPD - if you have nothing else to report and rather exude a lack of concept, then at least you can still celebrate your departure. One can only hope that the left-wing alternative won't have to endure this chaotic troublemaker ...
Growing resistance among cardinals against Ratzinger - it is allegedly just a rumor that rat traps are set up everywhere in the Vatican
"Auch Hondos B-Proben positiv " - well, that's that then
Opening of the House of Photography in Hamburg - then a visit to Hamburg will probably be due again ...
Homemade system as BitKeeper replacement - sometimes the arrogance of OSS programmers bothers me, who always think they can do everything better than others. How much more synergy effects would come into play if these programmers would concentrate their - undoubtedly present - programming qualities on a few projects? A good source management system with fast patch handling we could all use - but no one is served with two dozen half-baked solutions ...
Visa abuse already a topic in the Kohl cabinet? - the names are different, the faces the same. The slogans too. And we can be sure that this fact - that the Union government had exactly the same problems as the red-green government - will be deliberately ignored by the Union. Let's look forward to another election campaign of lies again.
It is now official: Contax brand comes to an end. No sale to another, no continuation - the name Contax as a camera brand is gone from the market for now. Maybe Zeiss (who probably own the name Contax themselves and only licensed it) will find someone else for it - the Contax rangefinder camera (not the G series, but the new one based on the Voigtländer device) already has another partner. But the Contax we have known since the late 70s is now history.
Dvddisaster is a small program that stores error correction data for DVDs and CDs on an external medium so that a CD or DVD that has problems due to aging can still be read under certain circumstances. For this purpose, control data amounting to approximately 15% of the original data carrier is stored elsewhere.
/IE7/ is a project that teaches IE6 CSS properly using a JavaScript library. This should also make :before and :after work in combination with content: - not entirely unimportant for HTML-free rounded corners or HTML-free link identification through symbols ...
Found in Netzbuch: Cameropedia - a wiki with camera information.
delicious:days is a visually stunning food blog from Munich.
The Studs MVC Framework is a port and extension of the Java Struts Framework to PHP. In doing so, frameworks initially map a J2EE-like basic structure for servlets in PHP. To me, that naturally sounds like fighting the devil with Beelzebub.
Berliner Symphoniker to be disbanded - Helicopters against graffiti artists are fine, but there's no money for the Berliner Symphoniker. Why culture, it's nonsense, people might even enjoy it ...
XFN Graph graphically displays link relationships that are provided with XFN attributes.
Schily will pursue sprayers with helicopters - now he has completely flipped out. Because we have way too much money and must throw it out the window for such nonsense.
VIA releases EPIA driver - might interest Jutta - the entire X area and the special chips are so far quite poorly documented and supported.
FeedWordPress is a plugin that turns a WordPress installation into a planet site: essentially a public aggregator, except that the entries go into a WordPress database.
The page for Ural and Dnepr drivers - you can find things like this when you search for old (programmer) colleagues on the net. Well, Marc has always had a weakness for crazy vehicles.
Source management system BitKeeper now commercial only - for me, the choice of BitKeeper was a stupid idea anyway. And the argument that the other alternatives were not far enough at that time does not hold - then one would have simply continued working with CVS and waited until SVN or other alternatives were far enough.
TheMonadReader is intended to become a regular publication about Haskell. The first issue is linked. The whole thing is supposed to be less formal than classic scientific journals, so it could definitely become interesting. There is also an article about Pugs (Perl6 in Haskell) in the first issue.
Pugs - pugscode is a Perl6 implementation in Haskell. Even crazier: the entire project is primarily coordinated in an IRC chat and the collaborative work is done with SubEthaEdit. Is this already Nirvana?
Jehovah's Witnesses: Soon a Church in NRW? - what nonsense. I'm already annoyed that this other sect - the Catholic Church - is recognized as a church and thus state-subsidized, but with the Jehovah's Witnesses it really stops. They are not just misogynistic and rigidly hierarchical like the Catholic Church, their structure is even more based on the suppression of the individual. But irrational nonsense is in high demand.
The Scientific American had an extremely bitter April Fools' joke: Okay, We Give Up -- We feel so ashamed. But I can somehow understand.
Papal Pontificate: Criticism from Politics and the Church - the critical voices should not be drowned out by all the papal eulogies that are currently rustling through the forests of pages ...
Systemhaus BOG files for insolvency - I already noticed it last week. It would be a shame if the store was gone - I haven't had much to do with them (only a few minor contacts when I still had to deal with cash register systems), but BOG has existed in Münster since I've been in the industry (even a bit longer) and somehow it's part of it for me ...
Javascript Windows simulate a desktop within a webpage. You have a launch bar and small applications that must be HTML-based, which then appear in windows that the user can move, minimize, maximize, and close - basically a desktop, but within a webpage. Crazy idea.
Epson R-D1 Review - I think I already said it, but does anyone have 3000 dollars for me?
The review of the HP Photosmart 8750 Photo Printer sounds quite good - well, the speed less so (13 minutes for an A3+ print is quite a lot), but time is my least concern when printing. And built-in networking is very nice - we have several computers to connect after all.
Html Validator for Firefox and Mozilla - wow. Great extension: it directly validates the displayed webpage and integrates into the source view for debugging errors. Very nice - and has been featured in several weblogs in recent days (I don't remember where I first saw it).
Lufthansa's anniversary offers bring web servers to a standstill - after suing various people because of the online demo I now wonder: is Lufthansa going to sue its marketing department?
RFC4041: Requirements for Morality Sections in Routing Area Drafts. A.... - exactly, this has been pending for a long time. We finally need to route in a morally correct way!
Security risk: Password protection for hard drives - yes, great, what a stupid idea by the manufacturers
upcoming change in PLT Scheme v300 - lambda, filter and fold out. Right. After all, Python's Guido has already demanded this.
America: Where A Bumper Sticker Gets You Banned - free speech means only being allowed to express the government's opinion. Dissent is punishable ...
Brussels heading for a showdown over data retention - yet another case where democracy and substantive concerns are simply ignored. Otto Orwell will be pleased, the citizens will have to bear the consequences. General suspicion of all EU citizens is indeed something fine, making the whole life of the investigators much easier - "in doubt for the accused" and other presumptions of innocence simply slow down too much when you are on your way to the police state ...
Stollwerck closes chocolate production - too bad.
class.jabber.php is a PHP class for programming Jabber services.
Preserve Code Formatting protects PRE and CODE blocks from wptexturize.
Friday 08.09.2000: Drips and drips - The three protocolists save their cynicism for the sequel - about the book Helmut Kohl, the power and the money from the Steidl publishing house. I'll probably have to get it.
Easier access for intelligence agencies to accounts and travel data demanded - what is a right-wing agitator against informational self-determination and data protection actually doing in the SPD? Oh yes, I forgot, Otto Orwell is also in the SPD. Strange party, calls itself "social" and has a bunch of asocial people sitting in Berlin ...
The SimCam: Film and Digital Camera Simulator is a camera simulation for photography beginners: you can play around with aperture and shutter speed and take virtual photos and then see how the result looks. Relationships such as depth of field, camera shake, correct exposure, film speed, etc. become directly tangible, even without a camera. Fun idea.