A recommended reading for all rechargeable batteries users:
Coding Horror: Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries
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Coding Horror: Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries
Coding Horror: Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries
Triops: the living gadgets
I would have tried this earlier but simply didn't know about triops existence until recently and, to me, they look like the best invention since the mogway!
So first, a short description for the late discoverers like me: the triops are small prehistoric crustaceans whose eggs can dry and stays viable for many years. They hatch in temporary water pools formed by rain, generally under warm climates. Their short life (around 3 months) is spent at eating almost anything small enough for them (including their siblings), and laying eggs. When they die of old age or because the pool dried, the eggs are waiting there, ready for the next shower.
I thought of them to add some originality into my Orca TL-450 aquarium (fresh water set).
The star of the tank, a superb small red crab, trapped himself in one of the filter chambers and could not climb it back.
So, no more crab.
The triops longicaudatus seemed to be good candidates for the succession so I bought a small "all-in-one" sachet on eBay.
However, while the sellers advertise them by saying "just add water", this is not enough to succeed, far from that!
There are several requirements:
- the water must be pure (distilled or bottled water). Tap water could be too chemical (Chlorine kills triops), some bottled water may contain chlorine too, so check for Cl in the composition.
- the eggs have better chances to hatch in a small quantity of water: 1 litre maximum.
- the temperature must be between C 22°-29°
- they need light, natural if possible
- and don't feed them after midnight! (or is that for Gremlins? don't remember...)
Of course, triop eggs cannot just be dropped into an established aquarium: the water is not pure enough for them to hatch (Being eaten by fishes is not an issue for the eggs, they can survive that kind of journey).
But still, where else can I find such a convenient nursery with controlled temperature and light ?
So I took a 750ml plastic food container, filled it with 500ml of Volvic, and placed it inside the Orca TL-450 tank, blocked between the top border and a big magnetic cleaner underneath.
With the water at right temperature and the the provided conditioner tea bag dipping for a few hours (punched of a few holes as directed by the notice) , I poured the almost invisible eggs from their little plastic box into the aquarium.
Then started the waiting...
The following is a diary of their first days of life. This is not a proven method, just my experiment trying to raise triops the most maintenance-effective way.
Day 1: The ever optimistic notice says it takes between 18 and 30 hours, but my triops decided that the conditions were met about 2 days later. Not many of them showed up, just three. Either the conditions are not perfect or there were just not many viable eggs in this batch.
Day 2: there's still 3 triops and at least two of them are very active and growing. I've added 2 crushed food pellets in the container. They're so tiny it takes ages to eventually spot them.
Day 3: I can see clearly the anatomy of the two bigger ones, no trace of the smaller one...They actively feed from the bottom of the tea bag. The water is getting dirty but I must refrain from changing it. I may accidentally "throw out the babies with the bath water"
Day 4: two vigorous triops are roaming the container. 
No need to search for them, they're now really visible and very active. No food given.
Day 5: still two of them, one is a bit bigger than the second...for the moment they even look like good friends, but it's a very relative concept for triops. I gave some baby fish food (kind of powder) and it's a delicate operation not to overfeed them.
Day 6:
I undertook a risky operation to seriously recycle the water. I managed to transfer them into a second container with clean water at good temperature. Hopefully enough water from the old container was transferred with the triops so they won't be too stressed.
Day 7:
They're still alive and shed their exoskeleton. This molting process is supposed to repeat several times during their life. I now give them a bit of food daily.
Day 8:
Now they can eat un-crushed pellets of triop food.When they find one, they grab it and go everywhere with it for a while.
I've added water from the main tank to prepare them for their transfer sometime next week when they'll be big enough to swim with the fishes.
Day 9:
They're almost grown up and there's a kind of routine settled: eating, molting, growing, ...getting freakier...
Next thing will be to let one of them go in the main aquarium, they'll soon be big enough.
Day 12: unexpected end of the experiment:
I released the last triop in the aquarium, thinking he was big and fast enough to survive with the fishes.
He looked okay at first but disappeared a few hours later. I never retrieved any trace of him.
Debriefing: I've done at least 2 mistakes in this experiment:
- the most obvious was the last one: releasing the last triop in the wild too early.
- another, that maybe led to the spontaneous cannibalism was to transfer them together into that breeder. I believe that this sudden change stressed them and expedited the fate of the weakest.
Things to do better next time (with my second sachet of eggs...):
- have a bed of clean sand or fine gravel in their nursery box. If I manage to keep them that far, that would be convenient for them to lay their eggs in it.
- don't release any of them in the main tank before they lay eggs.
- have a rigid plastic breeder to separate them if needed.
- think of a solution to have an area with sand floor in the main tank. I read that triops love to dig, and the gravel in my aquarium is too thick.
More information about triops:
mytriops.com
www.triops.com
wikipedia
Read More
So first, a short description for the late discoverers like me: the triops are small prehistoric crustaceans whose eggs can dry and stays viable for many years. They hatch in temporary water pools formed by rain, generally under warm climates. Their short life (around 3 months) is spent at eating almost anything small enough for them (including their siblings), and laying eggs. When they die of old age or because the pool dried, the eggs are waiting there, ready for the next shower.I thought of them to add some originality into my Orca TL-450 aquarium (fresh water set).
The star of the tank, a superb small red crab, trapped himself in one of the filter chambers and could not climb it back.So, no more crab.
The triops longicaudatus seemed to be good candidates for the succession so I bought a small "all-in-one" sachet on eBay.
However, while the sellers advertise them by saying "just add water", this is not enough to succeed, far from that!
There are several requirements:
- the water must be pure (distilled or bottled water). Tap water could be too chemical (Chlorine kills triops), some bottled water may contain chlorine too, so check for Cl in the composition.
- the eggs have better chances to hatch in a small quantity of water: 1 litre maximum.
- the temperature must be between C 22°-29°
- they need light, natural if possible
- and don't feed them after midnight! (or is that for Gremlins? don't remember...)
Of course, triop eggs cannot just be dropped into an established aquarium: the water is not pure enough for them to hatch (Being eaten by fishes is not an issue for the eggs, they can survive that kind of journey).
But still, where else can I find such a convenient nursery with controlled temperature and light ?
So I took a 750ml plastic food container, filled it with 500ml of Volvic, and placed it inside the Orca TL-450 tank, blocked between the top border and a big magnetic cleaner underneath.
With the water at right temperature and the the provided conditioner tea bag dipping for a few hours (punched of a few holes as directed by the notice) , I poured the almost invisible eggs from their little plastic box into the aquarium.
Then started the waiting...
The following is a diary of their first days of life. This is not a proven method, just my experiment trying to raise triops the most maintenance-effective way.
Day 1: The ever optimistic notice says it takes between 18 and 30 hours, but my triops decided that the conditions were met about 2 days later. Not many of them showed up, just three. Either the conditions are not perfect or there were just not many viable eggs in this batch.
Day 2: there's still 3 triops and at least two of them are very active and growing. I've added 2 crushed food pellets in the container. They're so tiny it takes ages to eventually spot them.
Day 3: I can see clearly the anatomy of the two bigger ones, no trace of the smaller one...They actively feed from the bottom of the tea bag. The water is getting dirty but I must refrain from changing it. I may accidentally "throw out the babies with the bath water"
Day 5: still two of them, one is a bit bigger than the second...for the moment they even look like good friends, but it's a very relative concept for triops. I gave some baby fish food (kind of powder) and it's a delicate operation not to overfeed them.
Day 6:
I undertook a risky operation to seriously recycle the water. I managed to transfer them into a second container with clean water at good temperature. Hopefully enough water from the old container was transferred with the triops so they won't be too stressed.Day 7:
They're still alive and shed their exoskeleton. This molting process is supposed to repeat several times during their life. I now give them a bit of food daily.Day 8:
Now they can eat un-crushed pellets of triop food.When they find one, they grab it and go everywhere with it for a while.I've added water from the main tank to prepare them for their transfer sometime next week when they'll be big enough to swim with the fishes.
Day 9:
They're almost grown up and there's a kind of routine settled: eating, molting, growing, ...getting freakier...
Next thing will be to let one of them go in the main aquarium, they'll soon be big enough.
Day 10: I've transferred them into a fish breeder that would share the water of the tank while protecting them from the hungry fishes. I've assisted to the molting of the bigger one. Shortly after, he made a snack of his little brother. 
It happened when I was away and took only a few minutes!
It happened when I was away and took only a few minutes!
Day 12: unexpected end of the experiment:I released the last triop in the aquarium, thinking he was big and fast enough to survive with the fishes.
He looked okay at first but disappeared a few hours later. I never retrieved any trace of him.
Debriefing: I've done at least 2 mistakes in this experiment:
- the most obvious was the last one: releasing the last triop in the wild too early.
- another, that maybe led to the spontaneous cannibalism was to transfer them together into that breeder. I believe that this sudden change stressed them and expedited the fate of the weakest.
Things to do better next time (with my second sachet of eggs...):
- have a bed of clean sand or fine gravel in their nursery box. If I manage to keep them that far, that would be convenient for them to lay their eggs in it.
- don't release any of them in the main tank before they lay eggs.
- have a rigid plastic breeder to separate them if needed.
- think of a solution to have an area with sand floor in the main tank. I read that triops love to dig, and the gravel in my aquarium is too thick.
More information about triops:
mytriops.com
www.triops.com
wikipedia
Homebrew and DSi v1.4
Nintendo has to do something against piracy, and unfortunately, the collateral damage is that homebrew initiatives are impacted too.Now don't get me wrong, I buy my games for DS, which is no big deal since there's hardly more than 10 titles worth owning (and DSiWare won't change that obviously).
While I don't feel the need to "chip" my Wii for the same reason above, it is convenient for a portable console like DS/DSi to have all the games and emulators in a single cartridge.
I've been a long time with R4DS, then DSTT and recently DSTTi, until that day...
DSi firmware upgrade 1.4 came up and blacklisted most linkers. I decided, this time, that I'd spend a bit more time to choose a future-proof one, something with an upgradable loader for instance.
All those cards look the same at first, but by browsing on EZ-Flash website, I had the impression of a very active community with a decent web site, FAQ, wiki and dedicated forum.
Not to mention, of course, my main motivation: since August 2009, their firmware update defeats the newly implemented Nintendo protection.
So my new acquisition from DX shop is the EZ-Flash Vi (around €15.-).
The card I actually received is the black one with its black packaging which is probably from an older batch (I'm pretty sure I selected a white card in a clear plastic blister on the web site), but, well, I'm not picky as long as it does what I expect from it.
When unpacking the card, the first visible particularity is that part of the electronics protrude from behind the sticker.
Again, I'm not difficult if the card actually inserts fine in the console.
I was prepared with the latest Kernel 1.90 "openbeta11" (just a ez5sys.bin file and moonshl folder to copy on a microSD card) and the firmware file "ez5firmwreUP_V14.nds" (also going on the memory card).
Turning the DSi on, instead of a EZVi icon, the card is actually represented by the icon of the game "Tak: The Great JuJu Challenge - THQ" (trick to bypass the DSi black list).
The loading is quite longer than I'm used to, mostly because Moonshell is part of the operating system.
First thing I did was to launch the firmware file, but it was not needed and confirmed that the linker was already at version 12. This is a good thing for people who already upgraded their DSi to 1.4.
Before being completely operational, I needed to do one more thing which was not needed with the previous linkers: clean up the content of my microSD card.
Nothing tricky: the save files must go into a SAVE folder, the cheat files must go into a CHT folder (support for both CHT/EmuCheat and ARDS/ActionReplay format), the nds can stay in the root.
The loading time for programs is somewhere between the slower DSTT and the fastest R4 (Formatting the microSD memory with a SDcard formatter is recommended for best performance). Some titles would require the DMA mode, and a few titles would lock with particular cheats activated. I guess all that is subject to improvement with future updates.Useful links:
- Cheat database: cheats.gbatemp.net
I also received feedback on a particular linker called iPlayer (see SKU 26437 on DX)
What makes this card unique is that it plays most popular video (AVI, RMVB, DIVX, MOV, MPEG, FLV, 3GP, ASF, WMV) and audio formats (mp3, wav, aac, wma) out of the box. This card is designed with a dedicated high-performance decoder chip inside with enough power to decode smoothly and on-the-fly!
This unique capability also makes the iPlayer one of the most expensive of its class: around 36$.
iPlayer is now compatible with DSi firmware 1.4 since they released the firmware 1.06. This information is not yet updated on DX web site.
One point also worth mentioning: the iPlayer will be able to self upgrade its firmware even if you DSi is already at fw 1.4. It will detect the DSi error message "An error has occurred Press and hold the POWER Button..." and start the update process. It is vital at this stage not to turn off the console and give it the 2 minutes needed for the operation to complete.
The user interface is particularly nice and clean, but that's the least you can expect from a card of this price, there's an interactive demo of it on the product web site.If you want to turn your DSi into a decent multimedia player that also runs homebrew software, this linker will be your choice.
(thanks to "+ KE LUZES" for bringing this item to my attention)
Yet another firmware for Foscam fi8908w!
Following the feedback on the updated firmware released a month ago, I took the liberty to send a recap of the remarks and suggestions to Foscam.
As before, they replied almost instantly and once again with some great stuff!
First of all, a newer firmware already!
(superseded by fw 11.14.1.46)
The obvious changes are:
- a colourful login page
- the ability to scan for available wireless networks:
- an option to turn off the activity led (Network Lamp)
...and a log of the visits!
While this nice update is definitely an added value to the camera, there seems to be a small problem: to me none of the settings can be validated from the server push mode page.
For instance, if I clear the tick box for the camera lamp, after the reboot, I'll find the option selected again (and the camera led still on). This is open to your feedbacks. Once confirmed it is not just me, I'll report this to Foscam.
The ActiveX interface still works fine for storing the settings, but if you have no IE to setup your camera, you may want to skip this firmware release until a fixed one comes out.
One more thing: there is no improvement for the uPnP option, that never worked for me.
Technical Documentation:
There is now an official Foscam CGI SDK documentation available.
I've put all this on a dedicated firmware page also.
Third Party utilities: Some compatible monitoring applications are detailed in this previous post.
Evolution:
- HTTPS implementation is planned for a future update, possibly this year.
- FI8908W cameras (black or white) produced since June 2009 have an additional audio connector.
- The units in production from this month include an improved lens filter (more accurate colour rendering).
Is your camera from Foscam ?
If you plan to use the firmwares on this site, you need to ensure that your camera is from Foscam.
If your camera looks like a twin of the Foscam camera discussed here, it may still be from another manufacturer and a Foscam firmware may brick it.
If your camera is not a Foscam, it's not the end of the world as it may be of a comparable quality with as many features but you should then obtain the firmwares from the appropriate manufacturer.
Here are a few details that can help identifying your camera origin, and it's not fool proof unfortunately:
Packaging: From official source, Foscam packaging of fi8908w is always red and
white as shown, and exhibit a picture of the older fi8901w on the reverse side.But... This is the least reliable way to identify a compatible Foscam camera:
there's been reports of cameras with the same box that were not from Foscam, as well as cameras in different box (like the white one below) that could be successfully flashed with Foscam firmware!!
The User Interface
: With that said and since not all the shops display the box, another clue is the look of the web interface. The login page of the newer firmware above is a bit more colourful but the rest remains mostly as described here.But... not all the resellers will show a sample picture in their description.
The stickers on the base: Obviously, if you were expecting to buy a Foscam in particular, you can only check this point once you actually bought the camera but it's an ultimate check point that may save your camera from a catastrophic firmware update.
In the example below, the labels on the base of the camera will show subtle differences:
On the Foscam:
- There are 2 round stickers, one with QC/OK and the other one, show the manufacturing date and a warning "warranty void if damaged".
- There are 2 rectangular stickers: one with
MAC ID: xxxxxxxxxxxx
User name(default):admin
Password(default): (blank)"
and the other with the FCC standard compliance and "Made in China"
There is no other sticker, and no Model or S/N.
Below is an example of a non-Foscam base (click on it for a close-up):
If you buy on DealExtreme, check their forum for recent posts about ip cameras and don't rely too much on the product page itself as product descriptions on this site is traditionally inaccurate.
Finally you can also consider contacting Foscam with a maximum of visual details to positively identify your camera origin before flashing it with anything from this site.
Below is the warning published on Foscam's web site:
What freeware would you bring on a desert island ?
...in other words, what are the absolutely necessary applications that you should install first on a fresh OS, or better, merge in your installation "master" (using nlite, vlite, PE Builder, ...) ?
Here's my top-10 list:
Avast Antivirus: I've been relying too long on my corporate virus protection until I rescanned some of my old backups with the free Avast edition and discovered how many viruses had just been left undetected. To me, this is one of the best and least invasive Anti-Virus, along with Kaspersky probably.
Orbit downloader: It's often faster to just go and re-download stuff than retrieving them from your archives. This powerful downloader (better than FlashGet and FreeDownloadManager imho) is particularly welcome for users with slow or unreliable Internet connection. It doubles as an excellent streaming media grabber utility.
7-Zip:
one of the most quickly needed tool is a good compression/decompression utility. This one is my favourite. It supports most formats for packing and unpacking (7z, Zip, GZip, BZip2, Tar) plus a bunch of others for unpacking only (Rar, War,...). Context menu can be arranged to your taste for faster handling of the archives.Notepad++: You'll need to edit config files, and check logs in the early hours of an OS installation
Miranda IM:
this multi-protocol instant messager replaces yor traditional ICQ, GTalk, MSN, ... in one program. Its force resides in its plugins. It takes some time at the beginning to setup Miranda with your ideal mix of plugins and interface customization, but it's worth it! (for non-Windows users, Pidgin is another nice alternative)
KeePass Password Safe:
this well-named freeware is simply the most clever and complete password database featuring strong encryption, auto-type function, rich import/export, plugins, and a portable version. The database can be used on J2ME, Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, PalmOS, Android, Linux and MacOS thanks to a collection of 3rd-party companions.Startup Control Panel:
This small tool will help you to keep under control the applications that slow down your system at boot time by stacking in the various autorun locations.TweakUIXP: a utility to safely customize and tweak your system without having to put your bare hands into the registry.
CCleaner
: A safe system cleaning utility that can be launched from you recycle bin shortcut menu. It will find the unused temporary files, registry entries left over by some careless uninstallers to keep your PC optimized. From the same house, see also Recuva for recovering deleted files.myPhoneExplorer: That phone manager is absolutely necessary for any Sony Ericsson user.
And finally: it's not an application but a simple registry tweak: it allows you to launch the command prompt from inside any folder. As a result, you'll see this new item in your contextual menu:
FSX, and now ?
There is one gaming area where computers still beats the dedicated game consoles hands down: Flight Simulators.Times have been tough for Flight Simulator makers. The first noticeable disaster was the end of the excellent Flight Unlimited series from Looking Glass Studios in 2000, then, the best Air Combat simulator for jets (IL2 still rules for WWII fighters) that was Jane's USAF showed unusable under Windows 2000, XP and above.
With Microsoft closing the ACES studio, makers of FSX, and while there's still a big enough community of contributors to keep it going for some time, I could not help wondering if any decent modern alternative existed.
Well, there's still the multi-platform X-Plane (there's even an iPhone version!) whose development has proven very dynamic throughout the years.
But, what about freeware ?
Since developing Flight Simulators is so demanding in resources and heavy weight software companies don't have time for fun anymore, it's seems to be the end of such games...
Well, not entirely, in Armorica one village bravely resist the Romans, and with success...(*)A well advanced project exist (started around 1996) in the SourceForge community called FlightGear.
This ambitious open-source flight simulator wants to offer features comparable to the big o
nes: realistic flight dynamics, wide choice of civilian and military aircrafts, IFR, GPS support, advance weather rendering (like fog and dynamically configurable 3D clouds), various viewpoints, ATC, world scenery, aircraft carrier landing, ...And did I say it is multi-platform ?
So start downloading it here and have fun!
There is also something nice cooking here: The Combat Simulator Project
Not to forget: Orbiter (space flight simulator)
Next big flying thing for game consoles: http://www.il2game.com/
Gmail offline backup tools
Server outages like this 1st of September are rare but always bring back some fears like "what if it doesn't come back online ?", "did I loose everything this time ?", "has a hacker managed to crack my inbox ?", and while "real men don't do backup", you kind of regret that you didn't.
There are other good reasons to consider an offline backup: in case you reach the generous online storage limit, but also to store your emails with private information (memberships, passwords, ...) away from a potentially hackable place.
While the Gmail offline feature can store your content locally, it is only ment to synchronize emails (that are less than 5 years old) so you can work offline until a connection is available. If you want to delete the older emails online, they get deleted offline too upon synchronization. So you have to look elsewhere for a backup solution.
A simple and yet powerful approach exists: MailStore Home edition.
This freeware will archive emails from about any source (Outlook, Thunderbird, ...), including POP3 and IMAP services and let you store the backup on CD/DVD or USB storage afterwards. The archive can be searched and emails viewed directly from the application (which is faster than using the original client).
Adding to the product power, and to your freedom, MailStore can also re-export your backup to any of the numerous supported formats! So if Gmail had to disappear or become a payware one day (remember Yahoo POP3?) you could still re-inject your part of all your data into Outlook, Exchange, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, or another POP3/IMAP server.
The new MailStore Home v.4, features a portable version and improvements detailed here.
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