photo of Michael Link

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Home grown!

No Knead Bread

I've spent years trying to make a crunchy, chewy, holey load of bread. It turns out that it is really quite simple.

Spring in the garden


Porsche 928S (Testing email blogging)

I had one of these as a toy when I was about 6 years old. That would have been a 1982-1983 model. Perhaps I'll have to get the real thing one day, hopefully a few more years before a midlife crisis kicks in whistle

SwiftKey replacement Android Keyboard

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I have had a couple of gripes with the default Android keyboard. As I use the keyboard lots - for writing SMS messages, Mails, entering URLs and filling out web forms - it is important that it is effective to use.

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Installing Froyo on the HTC Hero

I did this yesterday and am not going back. The phone is faster, smoother and so much better than I ever expected. You will loose the HTC Sence stuff, and wont miss it for a second. It takes about 30 mins to do this process.

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Macbook Pro dissection

Well, my Macbook Pro refused to charge any longer. I tried another battery, but that didn't help. It runs nicely on mains electricity, though. After a significant number of screws, it turned out that the battery connector was shorting out. New one in the mail from ifixit.com. bigsmile

Navigon Fresh, Android, Ubuntu and Wine

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I decided that I wanted to try out the Navigon GPS software on my Android phone, a HTC Hero. Downloading the free Navigon trial from the Android Market initially appeared to go smoothly, until I started the application.

Navigon - for Android

On starting the program, it turned out that the maps and voices still needed to be downloaded and that the "right" way to do this was using a program called "Navigon Fresh" that is downloadable from Navigon's website. So far so good.

When arriving at the site, it turned out that there was not a Linux version available for download to my Ubuntu computer. This is particularly odd, because Navigon Fresh is a Qt based application and one of the major benefits of Qt is being able to support multiple platforms easily. Also, many of us have chosen Android phones because they run Linux and it is a shame to then have to get a Windows computer to install things. Step in Wine

Installing Navigon Fresh using Wine went very smoothly, the application started and all seemed good. However, for some reason the software could not see the cell phone's memory card and was uninterested in letting me download anything until this hurdle was overcome.

The recipe for success turned out to be:
1. Connect the phone to the computer and choose to mount the USB disk on the phone's notification menu
2. On the computer, start winecfg, choose "Drives", change the settings for the USB disk from "Autodetect" to "Floppy Disk" and press "Ok"

Restart Navigon Fresh and the device will be detected correctly and the maps and voices can be downloaded.

cups-pdf and incompatible PDF files from Ubuntu 9.10

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I use Ubuntu on my office computer. I like the working environment, it has all the applications and functions I need and is a free alternative to proprietary software from the likes of Microsoft or Apple.

The easiest way of producing PDF files from any application that does not support this itself, is to install the cups-pdf "printer" that appears in any application as if it were a normal printer, but in reality prints to a file.

Installing cups-pdf is simple, either from the command line or from the software installer in the menu.

user@computer:~$ sudo aptitude install cups-pdf


However, I stumbled over an interesting quirk today. Normally cups-pdf will simply output a file to your home folder, in a subdirectory called PDF. These files can be opened by pretty much anything - from a Windows PC to a Canon office printer with the "Direct Print" function in the web UI.

Many programs let you choose a "Print to File" option in the print dialog box. Choosing this option with cups-pdf results in PDF files that can be opened in some applications such as evince and Google Docs, but not in others like the official Adobe Acrobat Reader on Windows Vista/7. The lesson here is don't use "Print to File" and just let cups-pdf write files into your home directory.

Locale for Android phones - change your phone behaviour based on location

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I've just discovered a great Android app called
Locale

The developer says:

In March 2005, Judge Robert Restaino jailed 46 people when a mobile phone rang in his New York courtroom and no one would admit responsibility. So we invented Locale. Problem solved.


Locale can use the GPS, Mobile networks and Wifi networks nearby to determine where you are. Based on different situations/locations, you can ask the application to change settings on your phone or do other actions.

I've come up with three useful scenario's on my phone so far:
- If I am at home, between 23:00 and 07:00, my phone is automatically put in "silent mode."
- If I am shopping at the local shops, the ringing tone is automatically increased so that I can hear it ring
- When I am at work, turn up the volume (regardless of the setting) if the kindergarten calls

I always make a quick call to my wife when I am headed home from work. I wonder if Locale could send an SMS for me when I leave the office, between, say 16:00 and 18:00?