Mobile Python under Mac OS X Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Well I've been playing with Python for Series 60 for a couple of hours now, and I'm in love. It is so much easier to use than Java ME to do the stuff I want to do that I've already hacked up a couple of quick useful applications, and I can see possibilites for eSTAR as well. After using the application I'm guessing the reason that Nokia went with Python rather than Perl is the console, it seems to make sense to have it around. Apart from PDL Perl doesn't really have a console, although it'd be pretty trivial implement one...

For those of you who might be interested in developing on Mac OS X, it looks like the only useful thing we're missing is the py2sis application from the SDK which is a Windows only tool.

If you're interesting in using the Bluetooth console facility to develop directly on the phone under Mac OS X, this is fairly trivially done. First of all you need to create a serial port that the bt_console.py script on the phone can connect to using the Bluetooth Serial Utility which is found in Applications > Utilities. Then you need to run a terminal emulation program on you Mac to monitor your newly created port, I'm using ZTerm to do that. Then just run the bt_console.py script on your phone as normal.

Update: I've now got xmllibrpc.py and PyBlogger working under Python for Series 60. Wasn't particulaarly hard to do either, which suprised me...

Update: A version of Perl for Symbian/Series 60 has now been released...

Apple and the headless iMac Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

ThinkSecret is peddling the rumour of a headless iMac soon to be available for less than $500, I'm less excited about this than I could be because it'll ship in the UK at just under £500 despite an exchange rate of almost two dollars to the pound.

Apple has stayed clear of the sub-$500 PC market for very obvious reasons, so I'm going to be suprised if such a thing as a headless iMac comes to pass, but there are lines of arguement not mentioned by ThinkSecret that do make it seem like an attractive proposition to Apple this time around. I'm going to be watching this one closely, even if it turns out that in the end I can fly to New York, buy a headless iMac, and fly back to the UK for less than the price of an "native" UK iMac. So much for the global economy.

Python for Series 60 Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

I've known that there has been a "secret" developer release of Python available for a while now from Nokia for Series 60 phones, such as my Nokia 3650 and 6600. However what I'd totally missed, was the public release of Python for Series 60.

I'd tried developing applications for the Series 60 using Java ME and found it hard going, despite having a fair bit of "normal" Java experience. It was especially hard going since I don't use MS Windows and couldn't take advantage of most of the infrastructre that has been written specifically to make things easier for the developer.

While I was struggling with Java the rumours of Perl for Series 60 leaked out of Nokia, I more or less stopped working on trying to get my head round Java ME at this stage, despite actually having a working toolchain and some tinkertoy level applications running. I was vastly disappointed to latter learn that Nokia was going to go with Python not Perl as their choice of high level language.

I've played with Python in past and I definitely prefer writing Perl. But even Python is a vast step forward over the intricacies of Java ME, so I was still somewhat cheered by the prospect of any decent high level language appearing for the Series 60 platform.

I'm currently downloading the SDK. I'm discouraged that it seems to be shipped in zip format, as I'm hoping the toolchain isn't platform specific. However, I've seen other people are talking about developing from Linux so I'm hoping I'll be able to do so from Mac OS X which is my prefered platform these days.

More information about the release can be found on the Python for Series 60 Wiki site.

Update: I managed to get Python working and developing under Mac OS X is quite simple. I even managed to get it to do something useful, well sort of, in a fairly short time scale.

Update: A version of Perl for Symbian/Series 60 has now been released...

The what foundation? Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

No sooner had I finished bemoaning the fact that we're not doing anything about the threat possed by NEOs, than Slashdot reports that the B612 Foundation has been established to do something about just that.

Of course the foundation was established in late 2002 and seems to consist of paper studies and a website, unlike the Planetary Society they don't seem to have hardware ready to launch. They also don't seem to have any money, at least at the moment. Time will tell...

Don't Panic... Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Copyright © 2004 Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

A teaser trailer has just been released for the forthcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. But it's just not long enough to get excited about, and we don't get to see any of the acting. I'm worried that the Hollywood interpretation just won't be as good as the orignal BBC radio or television series of the book. It's very easy to spoil a classic, especially something as off the wall as the Guide...

Google is as Google does... Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

An recent post to the Google Blog talks about something that interested me for a while. If you put my name into Google it returns a whole bunch of results and you'll find that I take up most of the first few pages, although you get the odd hit for the SNP politician of the same name. On the other hand, if you put my name into Google Groups you have to filter the returned hits a lot to figure out which posts are mine. Quite a few of the returned hits, pointing to Usenet posts which aren't mine, I wouldn't want to be associated with...

We rely on Google a lot, but where should this stop? The first port of call for someone who'd just recieved my CV will probably be Google. Over the years I've posted a good deal on Usenet, but I've used a lot of different routes to do so, and posted using several different email addresses. It might be hard for someone who doesn't know about my non-work interests to figure out which posts are mine, and which posts belong to someone else. Would they even go to the trouble of doing this? I could end up not getting a job because of what someone else with the same name said five years ago. That's pretty scary!

But what's more scary? What happens when you insurance company starts googling you before giving you a policy, you really shouldn't have mentioned your love of hamburgers on your blog. Or, maybe it isn't your blog at all? Want to try and convince your insurance company?

The Register had an article earlier in the year about the dangers of exposing material you didn't mean to be seen to the web at large, but what happens if it isn't you that's doing it? Identity theft is pretty scary, but in a world where your reputation is coming to mean more and more what happens if someone who isn't you can damage your reputation just by the accident of birth, by having the same name...

Close call... Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

I was expecting more reaction to my recent post about global warming and extinction level events, but I got much less mail about that than I did regarding my post talking about the recent Apple iPhone rumours.

Then you get a close call, and an asteroid passes near by and you end up with a bucket load of mail in your inbox.

While it was pretty small at only 5 meters, and would probably have entirely burned up in the atmosphere depending on the composition, 2004 YD5 passed below geostationary orbit and was the second closest asteroid approach ever observed. The closest involved 2004 FU162 that flew by last March which we didn't even spot until August.

2004 YD5 was discovered on December 21st by Stan Pope of the FMO project, but it was later calculated that closest approach had been two days earlier on December the 19th. So, like the other one we only saw this one after it had gone by as there is a significant blind spot for people trying to detect NEOs. As, just like all those old war films with aerial dog fights, they come at you out of the sun. This isn't very reassuring...

Like all the other near misses, this one illustrates that we really should be doing more to detect near-Earth asteroids before they become a threat. It's always suprised me that the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact with Jupiter in 1994 didn't cause more comment. After all, what sensible species would watch a rock the size of a large mountain strike a nearby planet and then do absolutely nothing about it?

More AG rollout Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Looks like I wasn't the only person blogging the AstroGrid rollout meeting at the NeSC. There were a lot of WiFi enabled laptops in the audience, so I'm not that suprised. Maybe I should wear my "I'm blogging this..." t-shirt next time?

Back home... Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Another day, another Dash 8, and another commuter flight home to Exeter. I fly enough that the whole experience of airports and airlines leaves me feeling a vague sense of horror, but it's certainly a lot better than the alternatives. I hate to think how long it'd take to get from Edinburgh to Exeter on the train...


Another communter flight, this one running somewhat late

Christmas in Edinburgh Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

I wasn't flying back directly after the close of the rollout meeting. Instead I was catching an early flight the next day, so I had an evening in Edinburgh to myself. I therefore did what any sensible person in my situation would do, I went Christmas shopping...


The Scott Monument on Princes Street
This was a mistake, I don't think I'm cut out for big city Christmas shopping. In the end I retreated to the hotel bar to lick my wounds, without having bought any presents. I've got a bad feeling that I'm going to end up doing the bulk of my Christmas shopping on Christmas eve (again) this year