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Sorry gone for lunch...

You can now find me at this address

Edu-cast

I haven't written anything on this blog for a while. Honestly I've kind of retired this portion of my blogging web space.

However I'd like to leave this blog entry as the last entry on this blog. Great to see that Stanford University's educational podcast pilot seems to be spreading to other universities. Especially one that is close to my heart, The University of Alberta, Canada, Computing Science department.

Highly recommend Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer's talk on "Chinook The Unbeatable Checkers Program" wonderful insight into almost 20 years of research work and a glimpse into the real-life struggles and victories of academia research.
iTunes Link

One of the more interesting and important points from Dr. Schaeffer's talk he talks about at around 1:22:10 into the talk. There he talks about the most simplest and common of all computing errors:

"... and I learned this lesson long ago. If you have valuable data and you copy it, if you want to keep the data and make sure that you preserve it. You need to check that the copy file is the exactly the same as the original file. ...[When working with as much data as we were] it doesn't take much math to figure out that at least once a month there is a probability of getting a disk error. So I learned that every time I copied a file I would do a comparison of the original file and the resulting file."

Computers, we think are perfect. But they're not.

Hurray!!!

From slashdot.org this morning:

Mac users will continue to see the Internet as it was intended, thanks to the renewal of a font licensing agreement between Microsoft and Apple. At TypeCon2007 Microsoft and Apple announced they have renewed their font licensing agreement, giving Apple users ongoing use of the latest versions of Microsoft Windows core fonts. Back in 1996 Microsoft started the "Core fonts for the Web" initiative. The idea of this initiative was to create a a standard pack of fonts that would be present on all or most computers, allowing web pages to be displayed consistently on different computers. While the project was terminated in 2002, some of the fonts defined as core fonts for the web have gone on to become known as "web safe fonts," and are therefore widely used by Internet developers.

I've been waiting *like* forever to be able to enjoy the aesthetics of our most beloved comic sans font on my Mac..

More on Comic Sans

Taking over?

While installing the new Java JRE update I encountered a surprising intermediatery dialog (when enabling the "advanced" version of the install process).



In five years time, I'll bet that we're going to be cursing Google the in the same way Microsoft is the target of abuse today. Then probably in 20 years time IBM will be ready to take-back it's former title of the 1984 "Big brother"?...

You have to wonder...

Gone to London...

So long and thanks for all the fish.

I've moved to a new personal blogpage while in London: http://sverrirs.blogspot.com/
It has controlled access (due to my charming but rauncy demeanor), so email me if you would like access (requires a google account).

Tiltekt take #2

Enn og aftur stendur maður frammi fyrir því að vera að skrimta á síðustu lausu 10 MB á vélinni sinni. Sífellt að eyða út sömu skránnum til að gera eitthvað örlítið pláss... á engin heil lög lengur á iTunes, klippti þau öll niður í 1 mín og 24 sec... iss hvað þarf maður meira en bara rétt svona smá.. alveg hægt að humma afganginn af laginu... (svo er heldur ekkert orginal í gangi lengur).

Allavegana í framhaldi af síðustu tiltekt hjá mér þá ákvað ég að prófa aftur að keyra vin minn OmniDiskSweeper. Verð að viðurkenna að ég er minna hrifin af því núna en ég var áður, þannig að ég fann annað forrit sem er ef ekki betra (ef ekki bara fyrir þá staðreynd að vera ókeypis). Já notaði í þetta skiptið forritið WhatSize.

Nokkuð gott forrit verð ég að viðurkenna.

En að kjarna færslunnar, í dag hef ég nefninlega verið að safna saman og afþjappa niðurstöðuskrám úr tilraunum síðustu dagana. Í morgun þá átti ég >4GB laus á tölvunni minni og taldi mig nú bara nokkuð góðan fyrir skráarskammt dagsins. Ég nota klassísk þjöppunarforrit á linux til að pakka og þjappa skránum saman (tar og gzip) áður en ég flyt þær yfir. Makka megin þá hefur nægt mér hingað til að tvísmella á skrárnar í findernum og bíða eftir að stuffit afþjappi þær fyrir mig (sú bið getur verið löng).

En í dag þá lenti ég í því að skráarskammtarnir voru víst stærri en ég gat ráðið við, þ.e.a.s. afþjappaðar þá voru textaskrárnar mínar um 6GB sem að sjálfsögðu passaði ekki á diskinn minn. Það furðulega var samt að þegar stuffit kláraði plássið á disknum mínum og sagði mér að aðgerðin hafi ekki tekist þá hvarf samt all diskaplássið mitt. Þrátt fyrir að tæma allar temp, tmp og cache möppur þá tókst mér ekki að fá til baka þessi 4GB.

Það var ekki fyrr en ég í örvæntingu minni keyrði upp WhatSize að ég komst að því að stuffit hreinsar ekki upp eftir sig temporary skrár þegar afþjöppunin hættir vegna plássleysis. Í stað þess þá smíðar stuffit faldar möppur (nöfnin byrja á .BAH****) sem liggja í sömu möppu og þjappaða skráin sem var verið að reyna að afþjappa! Og hvað er í þessari möppu?



Ófullkomið afrit af upphaflegu þjöppuðu skránni!!! Þvílíkur munur!


... Þvílík heimska!

Mac OS X Update 10.4.9

The 10.4.9 Update is recommended for PowerPC and Intel-based Mac computers currently running Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.8 and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes or compatibility updates for the following applications and technologies:

- RAW camera support
- Handling of large or malformed images that could cause crashes
- Image capture performance
- Mouse scrolling and keyboard shortcuts
- Font handling
- Playback quality, and bookmarks in DVD Player
- USB video conferencing cameras for use with iChat
- Bluetooth devices
- Browsing AFP servers
- Apple USB Modem
- Windows-created digital certificates
- Open and Print dialogs in applications that use Rosetta on Intel-based Macs
- Time zone and daylight saving for 2006 and 2007
- Security updates

For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n304821.
For detailed information on Security Updates, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798.

Finally, USB camera support in iChat! (albeit how limited this will be at first, it is a step in the right direction) Hurray! Now if only iChat was able to talk to other clients than only other iChats and that stupid Yahoo! (Ad-spyware)chat client.

Fór í heimsókn til gömlu hjónanna um helgina...

Jamms, maður kíkti við í heimsókn til mömmu og pabba gamla. Get ekki alveg sagt að þetta hafi verið svona. En samt sem áður er vídjóið fyndið :D

Top 10 Reasons to Major in Computing

For the next time you're asked to give a good reason why to study computer science.
Taken from the ACM's Computing Careers site:

Top 10 Reasons to Major in Computing

1. Computing drives innovation in the sciences (human genome project, AIDS vaccine research, environmental monitoring and protection just to mention a few), so if you want to make a positive difference in the world, study computing.

2. Computing majors will provide you with a foundational knowledge of problem solving and logical thinking that will be helpful to you no matter what you choose to do in life.

3. Computing technology is part of just about everything that touches our lives; from the cars we drive, to the movies we watch, to the ways banks and governments deal with us. Understanding computer science is part of the necessary skill set for an educated person in this century. Whether you want to be a scientist, develop the latest killer application, or just know what it really means when someone says “the computer made a mistake”, studying computing will provide you with valuable knowledge.

4. Computing jobs are among the highest paid and have the highest job satisfaction.

5. Contrary to popular belief there are more, and not fewer jobs. U.S. IT employment was 17% higher in 2004 than in 1999. Computing also has the greatest potential for new jobs through 2014.

6. Contrary to what some people believe, computer scientists are real people. They have lives. They have friends. They do not sit in a cubicle pounding out code 18 hours per day.

7. You do not have to be a nerd to be a computer scientist. You do not have to to live, eat, and breathe computing to be a good computer scientist. You can have a life, relationships, a family.

8. Computing is not about being a lone wolf. It is about being part of a team that requires people with many different kinds of skills.

9. An increasing number of universities and employers see successful completion of a computer science course as a sign of academic well-roundness.

10. Computing is one of those fields where it is almost impossible to predict what will happen next. This is why we cannot even begin to imagine all the ways that you can make a contribution to it and it can make your life’s work exciting and real.

[ACM Site]

MacFUSE and NTFS on OSX

Well nothing written in a while, been busy with RL and future plans. :)

However I felt compelled to (at least) link to these great news. The wonderful peeps at Google have made an OSX port of the Linux originating FUSE (File-system in USErspace) mechanism. For those of you who just went "Huh? Wha? Whocaresdude!" FUSE makes (along with many other) it possible to have Read/Write access to NTFS volumes on a Mac.

Those who still shrug, NTFS (Windows NT File System) has become the industry standard file-system structure for Windows based systems ever since admins realized how crappy FAT really is... So what this has meant for us casual computer users is that all NTFS formatted disks (most Windows formatted disks) have largely been unavailable in OSX. Albeit a rather "flaky" read-access to NTFS, OSX has lacked a propper implementation of a NTFS bridge.

But now, thanks to a lot of hard-working people, we can enjoy unlimited access to all our drives. This has been a head-ache for myself since all my USB disks are NTFS formatted. So now I can finally use a single USB drive to store all my photos and videos, and plug it into both Macs and Windows machines at will. :D

See links below for more info on installing MacFUSE and NTFS-3G:
Article on MacOSXHints
MacFUSE project page and a tip on how to solve the "macfuse_required" error
NTFS-3g Project page and alternative download

Update troubles....

For some unknown (possibly stupid) reason I decided to update the fink package manager today to a newer version. After a painstakingly long update process (needed to compile the whole thing on my machine) I discovered to my horror that I couldn't run any of the terminal programs. The only thing that happened was the printout of this error:

Reason: Incompatible library version: tar requires version 6.0.0 or later,
but libiconv.2.dylib provides version 5.0.0

(Was trying to run tar)

So after some digging around I discovered that a conflict existed between this libiconv.2.dylib file I (for some reason) had in two separate locations on my machine.
One was at: /sw/lib
ls -all /sw/lib/libiconv.*

1270620 Feb 21 15:06 /sw/lib/libiconv.2.3.0.dylib
    20 Feb 21 15:06 /sw/lib/libiconv.2.dylib -> libiconv.2.3.0.dylib
    20 Feb 21 15:06 /sw/lib/libiconv.dylib -> libiconv.2.3.0.dylib
   804 Feb 21 15:06 /sw/lib/libiconv.la

The other was at:
ls -all /usr/lib/libiconv.*

    16 Aug 19  2005 /usr/lib/libiconv.2.2.0.dylib -> libiconv.2.dylib
987544 Oct  3 11:55 /usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib
   20 Aug 19  2005 /usr/lib/libiconv.dylib -> libiconv.2.2.0.dylib
  786 Sep 11 22:48 /usr/lib/libiconv.la

Asking otool (man otool) to list the names and version numbers of the shared libraries that the object file uses reveiled the following:
otool -L /sw/lib/libiconv.2.dylib

/sw/lib/libiconv.2.dylib:
    /sw/lib/libiconv.2.dylib (compatibility version 6.0.0, current version 6.0.0)
    /usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
    /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 88.1.7)

otool -L /usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib

/usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib:
    /sw/lib/libiconv.2.dylib (compatibility version 5.0.0, current version 5.0.0)
    /usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
    /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 88.0.7)

There is indeed a discrepency between the versions of the two libiconv.2.dylib files. So what did I try? Ofcourse simply renaming the old version to a backup filename and creating a symlink to the new updated file in the /sw/lib directory. Simple right?

Wrong! This had to be one of those times when I make a typing-error and don't double check it. So I successfully created this symlink in the /usr/lib/ directory:

/usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib -> /sw/lib/libconv.2.dylib

Notice the missing "i" in the target filename!

So after a hopefull restart I discovered to my horror that OS X was permanently stuck on the loading screen (apparently this library is used for some sort of character set conversions, don't ask). So, I was stuck. Couldn't log into my machine to correct the problem. Thank god I have a lot of higly skilled co-workers, one of which suggested that I'd try booting into OSX in single-user mode (omg, always learning something new!). So that gave me access to local computer through a simple the shell prompt. After some fumbling with unlocking the file-system (tip: 'fsck -y' then 'mount -uw /') I managed to undo my changes and reboot back into my normal system and by fixing the small typo and recreating the symlink, everything worked just fine.

A rather boring story I hope you agree, but a nice way of learning how to do a "safe-mode startup" on a Mac and re-mounting a read-write file-system.

Have phun kids :)

A worthy reminder...

Computer science is no more about computers
than astronomy is about telescopes.
--Edsger Dijkstra.

Today's Quote

"We built a radio just like the books specify,
but it did not play music...

[Only later did we learn that] the music was in the waves,
not in the radio."

-Zor and YenDor, R.U.R. (Dr. Rosalind Picard)

It is unscientific to believe in humans...

Found a wonderful dialog that Dr. Picard presented at MIT in 1997. If you have 10 minutes to spare, check it out :)

Machines That Can Deny Their Maker

Rosalind W. Picard

The following dialogue was presented as part of the lecture "Toward Machines That Can Deny Their Maker," given at the MIT Course "God and Computers" by Rosalind W. Picard during the fall semester 1997.
 
The dialogue was inspired, in part, by the 1921 play of Karel Capek, entitled "R.U.R.," which stands for Rossum's Universal Robots. This play is where the word robot originated, from the Czech "robotit," which means "to drudge." In R.U.R., humans have figured out the secret to making robots that are emotional and alive. However, the robots can only live for 20 years. Afterward, they expire (die.)
 
The robots in this dialogue share the following features with those in R.U.R.: They are affective computers, with an extensive set of emotional abilities. They do not know how to make themselves, nor do they know how to prolong their existence beyond 20 years. They do not have the "secret recipe" that is what gave them life. But, they have the desire to find it.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes...

Mucking about on Youtube is simply fun :)

Was searching for Bill Gates keynote at the CES this year (since they can't webcast it properly for non-windows browsers). Just wanted to witness the awful catastrophe I thought this keynote was with my own eyes.

Finally found all the parts of Mr. Gates keynote and forced myself to watch most of it ( Part 1 and onward). When comparing this keynote to the one held by Steve Jobs earlier this year at WWDC 2007 and last years WWDC 2006, it was simply dreadful. While Apple's CEO talked in moderation with lots of visual aids and actually demo'ed the technology and enhancements that he was talking about, microsoft's CEO talked in (at times) excruciating length about how their new flagship OS, Windows Vista, provided "interconnected device experience", how "intuitive and simple" their UI and navigation and how innovative the infrastructure is (honestly, what does that mean? and why do the users care?). Why not simply show it? Lengthy dictator-like sermons get tired really fast. Since it's so simple and intuitive, show it.. the users should get it right away right?!

It was simply sad to watch, how should the users trust Windows Vista enough to use if the developer, microsoft, is to afraid to show and demo its features live? Simply sad...

Also a historical stroll through bright and dark times at Apple watch these videos:
1983 Apple Keynote-The "1984" Ad Introduction
Macworld Boston 1997-The Microsoft Deal
Apple WWDC 2006-Windows Vista Copies Mac OS X
The Boston 97 event was just excruciating to watch, although Mr. Jobs rightly pointed out that "For Apple to win, Microsoft doesn't have to loose". I however had a hard time not laughing out loud when Jobs announced that "The era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I'm concerned" especially after watching the third video in the list. It's good to know that Apple and Microsoft (and others) are still competing, keeps us all healthy :)



The bottom-line, I honestly don't think I'd accept a job offering at microsoft at this point. I however would love the opportunity to work with Apple.

What closed the deal and finally won me over? It's the 15 minute long commencement speech that Steve Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005. This is a man I want my work to impress. If you only watch one video, watch that one.

Rotating a matrix CW/CCW in Python

Just for those of you who are wondering, like I was :)

import sys, os

def rotate( indata, height, width, rotate_ccw ):
 outdata = []
 for col in range( width ):
     newrow = []
     for row in range( height ):
         if( rotate_ccw ):
             newrow.append( indata[row][(width-1)-col])
         else:
             newrow.append( indata[(height-1)-row][col])
     outdata.append( newrow )
 return outdata

#Test the rotation
test = [[1, 2, 3],
     [4, 5, 6],
     [7, 8, 9]]
  
print test
print "Rotate CW"
rotated = rotate(test, 3, 3, False )
print rotated
print "Rotate CCW"
print rotate(rotated, 3, 3, True )

In under 15 minutes, hurray for Python!

I am the ROBOT!

For those of you who might be interested, I've finally posted the first (bare bones) version of my new pet-project project web page.


Visit: Rob the Robot Project Page

I still have to update the already completed phase pages (phase0 and phase1) with images, blueprints and code but all in good time :)

Meanwhile, happy new year!
I've got a good feeling about 2007... It's gonna be great :D

"Tilvalin jólagjöf 1.999 kr." (stendur merkt)

Hagkaup er með svarið, alveg tilvalið!

Gleðileg jól öll sömul
Merry Christmas everybody
:D

jesús...

Googlism for: sverrir

sverrir is one of a group of international and world
sverrir is the most acute actor i've ever met
sverrir is "epitaph" a collection of icelandic folk songs with a medieval ambience
sverrir is a third year student in business administration and he´s the chairman of mágus
sverrir is de lammeren maar gaan scheren want die zet'ie nu toch niet meer buiten
sverrir is found in the name of sverrir sigurdarson

Og Signý hélt að hún hefði verið með ömurlegt google-thingy... holy crap! This sucks monkey balls...

Hvað á þetta eiginlega að þýða:
"sverrir is found in the name of sverrir sigurðarson"...
barmafullir bakpokar batman.. þetta sökkar feit!

Finndu þitt googlesim (og vertu fyrir soul-crushing vonbrigðum)


Edit:
hihi.. þetta er fyndið:

Look mom! I'm on teh Intraweb!!!1!