I have been in contact with the development team at Microsoft and I am confident now that the most obvious pitfalls in the application will be made null and void shortly. Most notably, the escaping / encoding for non-ASCII characters in XHTML mode will be changed so that it only escapes special chars like ampersand etc. As it stands, Swedish and other extended char set are replaced with entities which may not only ruin SEO, searching within a blog and make the XHTML quite verbose but also screw up plugins that read and process the text. Plugins like Transliterado which aims to solve the slug problem with certain non-ASCII chars.
Other suggested improvements that I and many others have requested include
- Image cropping and more attributes (title, class, id) for the IMG element.
- Real plain text pasting with no formatting hyperlinks, images etc preserved.
- Spell checking for more languages preferably using libraries that are widely available. Plus a thesaurus and a per account language option.
- General performance improvements in spell checker, load times and program redraws.
We’ll see how it goes. Microsoft has a real diamond in the rough with this software. Even in its current state I use it as my default desktop client. I have kind of given up hope that Microsoft will finish the somewhat half-hearted attempt at making Word 2007 a serious blogging platform, and my old software of choice w.bloggar seems rather quaint by comparison even if it of course enables flawless manual control over content.
Filed under Site by Björn Hallberg 2 months, 2 weeks ago | 60 views
Time flies, eh? I wish I could report on progress of some sort but alas there has been very little. I’m pretty much where I was a year ago. A little wiser and a little more bitter, sure. But that is the way of the world, is it not?
Filed under Uncategorized by Björn Hallberg 2 months, 2 weeks ago | 75 views
Cdpuvbhfzz! What do you know, Coppermine was the subject of a mass hacker attack. Again. It is described in more detail here. I suppose I could be faulted for not upgrading, but honestly, I was only like a week behind on upgrades and Coppermine isn’t the sort of script where one can expect upgrades. So no reason to visit their site really.
And regardless, what can you say about a script that is the target of attacks time and time again. No matter how much they patch the script seems like a black hole of security problems.
I feel very much compelled to move to Picasa or something. In the meantime, I upgraded Coppermine and removed the version info from the footer.
Filed under Site by Björn Hallberg 3 months ago | 97 views
The 5+1 master/slave netpower block is simply an outlet that automatically cuts off the power supply to the slave outlets when the supply current to the master outlet is severely diminished. Ideal for use with a computer to turn off devices like powered speakers that lack a proper power switch or have substandard transformers that can easily consume 10-15W in standby mode. For instance, my Creative P380 2.1 system consumes 13W regardless of what they’re doing and switching them off using the little knob on the back of the subwoofer doesn’t make any difference. Which leads me to believe that the huge, ugly brick of a transformer has something to do with it. There is however a small caveat when using these and other outlets that I have. In a way they work pretty much like the bargain bin UPS that I recently acquired. That is, their energy efficiency is relative to the load. The above outlet draws 6W even without anything plugged in. Just as the UPS draws a mind-boggling 55-60W with no load. But plug in an 11W bulb to the outlet and it draws 13W. And at 100W load the UPS draws 120W or so. The same trend roughly continues until maximum theoretical efficiency. In the case of a UPS it can rarely climb above 90% and that sort of efficiency may require a 3-400W load - more than most modern PCs.
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Continue reading ‘Killing the energy thieves’
Filed under Widgets by Björn Hallberg 3 months, 1 week ago | 80 views
Haven’t been doing much reading this last year, but perhaps that can change. Here are a few items for the season.
Also on back-order: Nato’s Secret Armies
Filed under Books by Björn Hallberg 3 months, 1 week ago | 86 views
It would seem I couldn’t stay away for more than 10 months or so. I still don’t think these journals are entirely worth the investment in terms of time, but in the end I felt like I was missing out on something. Originally I thought that I could just walk away and never look back. That my motives for writing and keeping up to date with the news would fade over time and that it would make me more at peace. Guess what … it didn’t. In the end it just kept building up inside and I noticed that I never really could let go, as I had intended. The expression just took on new forms.
So I’ll try a more laid-back approach this time around and try to harness the best of both worlds, offering a more selective and sparse commentary.
To some degree I suppose I also missed the meticulous tinkering of graphic design and web programming.
As far as the personal journal is concerned I’ll be starting by filling in the gaps of last year, retroactively posting some of the highlights.
As far as the site goes I have moved all the Wordpress blogs to the same server, running several blogs off of the same directory using distinct database table prefixes. Also known as a virtual multiblog. Far superior to the normal multi-user versions of Wordpress and with the added benefits that you still have your databases intact and free of any hacks and fixes. Other than that I have finally gotten accounts with some of the more obvious web 2.0 sites, like twitter, picasa etc and I am currently evaluating how to best integrate that functionality.
Filed under Uncategorized by Björn Hallberg 3 months, 1 week ago | 83 views
There are two main reasons for this upgrade. Firstly, I was unable to play 720p and 1080p video. And secondly, the new faster broadband connection put such a strain on the system when running bittorrent / utorrent that you could barely use the computer for anything else.
I decided to go with a 45nm E8200 CPU and a better than average main board. I also got a new cheap 55nm HD3450 card which accelerates all forms of HD video. Even though the CPU could technically have handled the task. But there are times when you have to do more than just be able to watch video.
Still using the Antec Aria case which admittedly is far too snug for comfort. The 92mm Zalman fan was the largest heatsink / fan that would fit. And with no more than a millimeter to spare.
Main gripes otherwise would be the apparent CPU bug which prevents proper core temp readings. I read somewhere that some E8XXX Wolfdale CPUs had this problem so this must be some version of that.
Other than that the HD3450 does get uncomfortably hot. But it’s no big deal I suppose.
Filed under PC by Björn Hallberg 5 months, 1 week ago | 59 views
I needed to complete my essential Miyazaki collection and since I couldn’t find what I wanted on P2P (except for Totoro) I had to make one last order. I also decided to get the director’s cut of Fearless.
Ironically, Howl’s Moving castle was suddenly on backorder and it ended up being canceled. So I had to go with the stripped down P2P version. Oh well. On to Bluray and better P2P networks.
Filed under Movies by Björn Hallberg 6 months, 1 week ago | 62 views
Got a new flashlight from Fenix after much deliberation. The L2D. A Cree 7090 XR-E LED flashlight with orange peel reflector and a maximum output of 180 lumens. The difference compared to other flashlights that I’ve owned is simply astonishing. The bright, white beam almost seems to light up the air around it.
- Uses two 1.5V AA ( Alkaline, NiMH, Lithium ) batteries
- Digitally Regulated for Constant Brightness
- General Mode: 12 lumens (55hrs) -> 53 lumens (10.5hrs) -> 107 lumens (4hrs) -> SOS
- Turbo Mode: 180 lumens (2.4hrs) -> Strobe
In the end I found that the Fenix brand was pretty much the best bang for the buck. And I was desperate to replace my old mini Maglight (that gives maybe 40 or so lumens). Here is a good video comparison of the difference in output between some of the more popular models.
I did look at some of the CR123 battery models, but the prospect of buying a new charger and maintaining a separate line of batteries didn’t seem tempting. So I went for a model that had pretty much the same form factor as the mini Maglight to maximize output and battery time, given that CR123 is the better battery. In the end something has to give.
One of the downsides with the L2D and indeed most Fenix models is the beam though. Most tactical flashlight, like Surefire, are designed to produce a slightly wider beam which is practical for locating objects outside the beam of a normal flashlight. Fenix on the other hand has a really narrow beam that projects extremely far.
Filed under Widgets by Björn Hallberg 6 months, 2 weeks ago | 76 views
I actually forewent any real winter apparel upgrades this year. The weather for these last two winters has been perplexing and so I wait for the spring collection which I think will be more useful overall.
Filed under Apparel by Björn Hallberg 6 months, 4 weeks ago | 64 views
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