Month: December 2008

Shortly before Christmas, I decided to give my Nabaztag/tag another try, the rabbit that was so sweet and useful but drove me crazy due to a lot of system issues.

They changed their backend in 2008 so I thought to give it another try.

But I noticed connection issues, it would not react on any service and voice command after 30-60 mins.

I have figured the problems out and my Nabaztag/tag works better than ever now!

First of all: the purple light underneath the rabbit that tells you your rabbit is perfectly connected: Forget about it! Once, you got the Nabaztag connected for a few seconds, you cannot rely on that light anymore! Even if you pull the router from the wallet, the rabbit will still flash purple underneath!

There key is here, if it reacts like described here:

“I received my rabbit yesterday, and I set him up. Everything there is fine, he’s glowing purple underneath and the website says he is “awake”

however, when i press the button on his head to give him a command, he beeps like he should and the lights flash as I speak, then i let go of the button and he beeps again. After that his nose flashes red for 30 seconds or so and then nothing.

he doesnt react and doesnt speak. he wont read out messages, when i send something to him his nose flashes red and then it just stops. i then get the purple flashing nose to say i have a message waiting.”

… then the WLAN connection of your router to your nabaztag aborts at some point and then your rabbit reacts like half-dead.

First of all: Have a look at your router’s manufacturer’s ENGLISH website (English is most likely updated first than anything localized) whether there is a firmware update for yours.

For my Netgear WPN824v2 on the North America site (and only there!!!) there is a new firmware release from December, 16th which fixes some DHCP IP address assignment issues:

http://kbserver.netgear.com/release_notes/d103386.asp

It changes the GUI of my router to English but better than having problems!

Secondly: Assure the wireless signal is good! Put your rabbit into blue mode:

Nabaztag
Nabaztag/tag

Open the configuration page in your browser (http://192.168.0.1)

Read the signal strength’s. 6 or below? Too weak, re-position your router or rabbit and make it fit.

Then if the connection stands it stands and your Nabaztag / /tag will work perfectly. Once a day or so it still disconnects? Well, then the Violet server had a hickup but your rabbit will now successfully reconnect without issues!

Technorati Tags: Nabaztag, connection
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Violet announced this since the beginning and a lot of Nabaztag users and fans were waiting for it, the “smell” feature of the Nabaztag rabbit is here: It’s working with RFID ships and it’s called “Mir:or”:

more info regarding this can be found at the mir:or product page.

But it allows tons of actions!

As quoted from the website:

“How does this work ?

Mir:ror is very simple to use
Download Mirware, the Mir:ror’s software
It is available on line for Mac and Windows XP/Vista
Plug Mir:ror into one of your computer’s USB sockets
Mirware will automatically take you to the registration website. Register your Mir:ror on Violet.net and set up an account to start programming your objects.
Your Mir:ror is now ready to work
You can start programming it and using your Objects

Programming one of your Objects

Affix a Ztamp to an object

The Mir:ror bundle includes Ztamps and 2 Nanoztag micro-rabbits also containing Ztamps

Show the Ztamp to the Mir:ror

Mir:ror notifies you that this Ztamp has not yet been programmed and takes you to Violet.net

Add Applications

In the directory of applications on Violet.net, select the actions you would like to perform every time the object is detected

You Object is ready

Every time you will show it to your Mir:ror, it will launch the applications you have assigned to that object”

Violet also posted an announcement on their English Nabaztag Forum also posting a video of the creator of the Mir:ror interviewing why he invited it and how it works. It also raises the topic of privacy issues of RFID chips:

Technorati Tags: Nabaztag, RFID
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Joost will end their Windows/Mac clients from December, 19th on!

Here is what I received from Skype in newletter yesterday:

“Hi Joerg

In October, we introduced our new website – Joost.com. With our new website,
you’re able to watch all of our videos – TV shows, music videos, and films – right
in your web browser.

http://trc1.emv2.com/I?a=A9X7Cq1zZxaC8WIQ8an9anvj7w

At this point, we have decided to discontinue our original Joost software application.
As of Friday, Dec. 19th, you will no longer be able to watch videos in the Joost
software application – but you will be able to find all of our videos, and more, on Joost.com.

Log on to Joost.com today for a complete online video experience!

http://trc1.emv2.com/I?a=A9X7Cq1zZxaC8WIQ8an9anvj7w

Your friends at Joost”

More regarding the background of this decision can be found on Haziel’s blog here.

Technorati Tags: Joost, Flash
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2 days ago, I received the new Joost Newsletter.

Here is what they wrote:

Joost is on the iPhone! Take Joost on-the-go with the new Joost iPhone app. That’s thousands of hours of top TV shows, music videos and movies at your fingertips – and it’s FREE! All you need is an iPhone or iPod touch and a Wi-Fi connection./> Get the App Now

New Britney Video: Circus Last Tuesday, Britney Spears celebrated her 27th birthday and simultaneously released her sixth studio album, Circus – watch the new video on Joost now. Watch Now

---

Finally Joost is there! On the iPhone! Unfortunately it has some limitations like AppleBlog points out. It only works on wi-fi! EDGE and 3G (UMTS) are not supported, however this it’s not a restriction by Apple (unlike Fring – they forced them to become crippled this way).

However it’s anyway a huge back forward as this is their 2nd try! However according to the JoostTeam blog 3G support is about to come!

This is what they write:

“Mike Volpi told beet.TV that Joost will be available shortly on the iPhone over 3G cellular network connections. They chose to stick to WiFi to start with to make sure the technology would work as expected over solid WiFi connections. They will soon update the application with a version that will allow Joost video playback over 3G.

The list of supported video will be limited at first to the ones encoded with an mp4 profile suitable for the iPhone and 3G bandwidth… so don’t expect all 46,000 to be there day one.”

.

More info, the download link and screenshots can be found on the Joost iPhone info site

Technorati Tags: Joost, iPhone
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Technorati has gone through dramatic changes now!

Style and stuff wise!

First of all they have fired 6 staff members.

Accordingly they also removed the staff site and replaced it by links to their private blogs. So we can assume everybody who is not listed there is no longer with the company!

Quoting from their blog:

“There’s not much I can say about the economy that hasn’t been said a hundred times already. We’re facing the worst crisis of our lifetimes, and no one can say with certainty what lies ahead or how long it will last.

In spite of these challenging times, Technorati’s prospects haven’t changed, and in fact, have never been brighter. In the past year, we’ve launched several very promising initiatives, and our business has grown significantly. Our overall strategy is not changing, however, the economy has changed dramatically so we’re adjusting to meet it. I’ll start with the bad news so we can end on a somewhat positive note. To ensure we weather the storm, we’re making changes at Technorati.

Unfortunately, this means sacrifices. Technorati’s management team members are taking pay cuts ranging from 15-25% and employees are taking 10% cut. This also includes the reallocation of staff. We’re laying off six employees today – including two executives — and there are two additional departures we won’t replace. These are high performers who have worked long hours to get us where we are now. They’re also friends, and we’re very sad to see them go. We simply need a leaner and reconfigured mix to get us through 2009. “

On the positive side, they have re-designed their homepage a bit as it can e.g. Technorati blog infos. It’s more streamlined now and easier to read! 🙂

Technorati Tags: Technorati, blogs
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Opera 10.0 Alpha is out! is out and can be downloaded here.

I can promise you, this is one of the most stunning Opera releases ever because it features a lot of stuff the usership asked for for years!

The best improvements so far:

*Auto-update
*Inline spelling checker
*Opera Mail improvements, including rich text composition and delete after X days

Quoting them:

“Auto-update
The long awaited auto-update functionality is here! That’s right, Opera will now update itself as new versions are released.

Inline Spelling Checker
Opera now checks your spelling as you write! The inline spelling checker is enabled by default for multi-line edit fields and this Alpha comes with a US English dictionary. Use the context menu of input fields to change the settings, and to correct spelling errors.

Opera Mail Improvements
Rich Text Composition
Opera Mail can now send rich text messages! You can insert inlined images, styled text, links, custom HTML, and more! You can also forward and redirect rich text messages or reply to them with styled text.
In the account settings select “Prefer HTML formatting” in the outgoing tab so that you can start writing rich text mails by default in our WYSIWYG editor!“

And the best thing is: If you enble “prefer HTML formattting” also exsting HTML emails are being sent as such if you forward or reply to them!

Also auto-update is cool, so you can never forget to check for updates!

And also the inline spell checker is great as the old method didn’t work for me anymore since Windows Vista X64!

More information:

Full Opera blog post
Full manual of the new features and complete changelog 🙂

Technorati Tags: Opera, 10.0
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Use at your own risk, I haven’t tested it by myself!!!

I found the following in my email inbox the other day:

“I’ve just written a simple software to enable/force/configure/hack Skype to send high quality video even if you didn’t bought an expensive logitech webcam.
You may also send higher resolution than Skype’s HQ !!!

Here is the link http://www.nodewave.com/software/ForceSkypeHQVideo

Author: Michel”

Michael also adds the following notes on the homepage of this program:

“Note:
Skype standard resolutions: 160×120, 320×240, 640×480 (HQ)
other resolutions: 800×600, 920×720 (HD, seems to be the max limit)

Compatibility:
Windows XP, Vista (32 & 64 bit)
Skype 3.6, 3.8, … pretty sure it’ll work on 4.0 but I didn’t tested it yet … I don’t like to test beta software ;-P

Warranty/Support: Hummm, none… use it at your own risk.

License: WTFPL

Disclosure: There is no relation between us and Skype, don’t ask Skype for support, don’t bother them about this software. I’m pretty sure that this software avoids Skype’s warranty.

Version: 1.0

Publication date: 24/11/2008″

I hope it’s usesful as HQ/HD video of Skype is really cool, see here.

Technorati Tags: ICQ, skin
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