I've posted a new blog post over at my site, detailing how to get a human readable error message out of WCF services in Silverlight. So, instead of being told 'NotFound' for every issue that occurs, you will actually see that you've got permission issues, or missing file issues.
Linky
I've just posted a new article about how to get the DigiBlue camera to work for stop motion animation in Ubuntu Linux.
As the DigiBlue cameras are very Windows oriented, I decided to try and get one to work in a similar fashion in Ubuntu. Sadly, the process isn't quite as fluid but it is a lot more flexible as there are a plethora of software packages available for stop motion editing and video editing, some being ultra-simple (Luciole), others being more complex (Cinelerra).
So, if you ar
http://localzuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Exquisite-network.pngVersion 1.2 is now available. It now includes SSH, SFTP, Telnet, 'Run' and customisable choice of VNC Viewer.
Available for download from here.
I've now adapted the program to include the following tools:
Ping
NSLookup
Trace Route
VNC
RDP
The application now also checks for updates. To go straight to the updated files, simply double click on the new version available shown in the tool window.
Available here
http://localzuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Exquisite-network.pngI’ve finally got round to rustling up a little utility to allow me to ping a computer without having to open a command prompt. Instead, all a user of lzPingLaunch has to do is press Alt+Period/Full stop, enter the address in the box and press enter.
I intend to grow this app to have a bit more functionality in the future but whilst keeping to a rule of ‘never more than a couple of key presses away’ for any functions I add.
One of the things that bugs me in education ICT is the massive amount of poorly designed GUIs floating around.
We've all seen them, pieces of software which are so poorly laid out, or confusing to configure that you want to pull your hair out.
I'll give an example - TextEase 2000. The interface for dragging and dropping things on to a page is fine. But what about if you want to print, and do something other than the default. The GUI to do that is near impossible to fathom. Or the fact that
I thought that now would be a good time to put a post about licensing Microsoft software in schools. Considering many schools are approaching the end of their Schools Agreement, and with Becta's advice stating that the subscription based model involves over the top buy-out costs, and due to that involves vendor lock-in. Becta Publication
Combine that with the fact that Becta referred the whole issue to the Office of Fair Trading.
So, my trail started by compiling some numbers. I counted up
Last night, 111 people (mostly kids, a couple of members of staff) took part in the 2008 'Thrill the World' record attempt for the largest number of simultaneous people dancing the 'Thriller' dance.
Overall, there were more then 3,700 people dancing around the world, in the USA, Canada, Germany, Ireland and many more.
If anyone is interested in seeing our school do the dance, take a look at the youtube video:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fczVxyzxGwc]YouTube - Thrill the world 200
I've been thinking lately about school phone usage and wondering why we aren't moving to VOIP in schools.
For example, at the moment, if we wish to call our LEA or a local school, we have to dial out via a PSTN line and pay a call charge. Whilst at the same time we have a perfectly usable high quality fibre-optic internet connection. Surely introducing a VOIP phone system across schools would be fairly simple - I could outfit all our local schools with suitable Asterisk based systems for less
So, now that it is out, should I go and buy myself an Xbox 360 and GTAIV?
Or should I be my normal self and wait until it undoubtedly appears on PC? What do people think?
I've finally got my Tuxedo card topped up and have just went on a mini-shopping spree and bought myself a few 'new' games on the EA Games site.
How easy! All you do is choose what you want, enter your card details and voila, you can download the games! I like technology!!!
*Goes to play C&C TW: Kanes Wrath, Medal of Honour Airborne and SimCity Societies*
All the recent chatter about the various space missions, ion thrusters, potential for giant balls of metal to crash into the planet etc... has made me think. Why do countries such as thr USA, UK, Japan etc... all run individual space programs, and only occasionally collaborating (such as the international space station).
It is plainly obvious that full collaboration creates amazing advances so why don't we do it more often? And why don't we do it with other industries?
But then, that just
A week or so ago I got a call from BT offering me their BT Value pack, which equates to getting the BT V-Box (A Phillips DIT9719 HD DVR, worth £200), an on demand pack (worth £6 a month) for free for 6 months and a pair of 200MB powerline network adapters.
The only issue was that I had to renew my BT Broadband subscription for another 18 months (and considering I'd only been with them for a couple of months, it only means I've extended by a couple of months).
The service offered by BT, it
Well, one of the methods I use to decide whether or not Linux is getting to a state of almost flawless beauty and usability is hardware compatibility - or more specifically, webcam and wireless compatibility.
I own a cheap, no brand webcam from ebay. Absolutely nothing amazing about it in any way, other than it costing me £4. Every Linux distro I've tried in the last few years has failed to accept it, and no amount of fiddling, faffing or poking could get it to work.
However, it now works
As many people will already know, Ubuntu, and therefore Kubuntu and the other *buntu releases, will be releasing version 8.04 (aka. Hardy) in just under 2 weeks.
Now, if you're like me and prefer KDE over Gnome and also want to have a play with the new KDE4 version, you may need to know one thing:
Scim interferes badly.
Now I hope they have it fixed by release date, but if they don't, then here is what happens.
Every single KDE related application takes 40 seconds or more to open. Re
I just have to say one thing about people attacking fire crews - WTF????
These people are trying to save lives! What is wrong with these people?!?!
I don't know about the police being given tasers, or cs gas, but the fire crews seem to need them in certain areas!
Truly sickening. I'm a lefty liberal and I'd give any little prat engaged in this behaviour a good kicking.
The 'new' concept of on demand TV shows via your broadband seems to be upsetting ISPs in the UK due to its ever growing bandwidth usage.
ISPs are claiming that the cost of needed infrastructure improvements, estimated at £830m should be paid for by the BBC due to its iPlayer service being the main culprit.
I don't understand this. Why should a company, which pays to host its servers like everyone else does, have to pay to upgrade infrastructure for other companies who have done everything
So, here I am, every other person in the school is on holiday but I'm still at work. Supervising people installing projectors until 7pm.
Yet people have the nerve to comment when I promptly leave at 4:30 during term time.
What I wouldn't give to be able to see 'Easter Holiday' or 'Summer Holiday' on the school calendar and not have to think 'well, I'll need to take down X to update Y' and 'I hope no muppets are in messing with things when I'm trying to recable the core cabinet'.
Ah, tha
Well to start off my blog, I'll post some images of a crash that happened about 10 minutes ago outside my school, in front of our police station...
Why do people who buy this type of car insist on speeding? Yes, the car is pretty damn good but you can still end up upside down and looking like a muppet.
