Monthly Archive for January, 2007

WordPress 2.1 Ella issues

Published on January 31, 2007 in Geekery. Comments Tags: , , , .

Just a quick list of some issues I experienced after I upgraded to WordPress 2.1 Ella:

Insert a link/image into your post won’t work: an old cached version of the Rich Text Editor’s JavaScript file causes the problem. Clear your browser cache to reload the new JavaScript file and everything works fine (found here).

Ultimate Tag Warrior (UTW 3.1415926) tags vanish after comments are added to a post: resolved here.

Same happens to GeoPress locations, they disappear after comments are posted. To fix it search for

function update_post($id)

within the file geopress.php and add the following lines right after the opening curly bracket:

if (!is_admin()) return $id;
if (!isset($_POST['addr'])) return $id;
if (!isset($_POST['locname'])) return $id;

(obviously the same issue as above with UTW tags)

In my case those fixes worked perfectly and I’m a happy WordPress user again.

More registrations

Published on January 31, 2007 in Geekery and Random Box. Comments Tags: , , , , .

Yet another reason why I’d wish OpenID to take off and being applied by some big players:

From: FlickrHQ
…
On March 15th we’ll be discontinuing the old email-based Flickr sign in system. From that point on, everyone will have to use a Yahoo! ID to sign in to Flickr.
…

So, until 15th of March I have to get a Yahoo! ID in order to use my (paid) Flickr account any longer. I hardly can keep track of my existing registrations and tons of user accounts across the internet already.

New aerial imagery

Published on January 30, 2007 in Geomensch. Closed Tags: , , , .

ÖIRIf you have been on 24th of June 2005 taking a sunbath somewhere here in Vienna, there is a good chance that you can find yourself now in the online city map: today the city of Vienna added new aerial imagery to it, all taken on that one sunny day and providing a resultion of approx. 0.5m.

Still, the usability of the online city map could need some improvements too…

Missing icon

Published on January 30, 2007 in Geekery. Comments Tags: , , .

Hmm, I’m missing an icon here. The Sharing icon in my System Preferences has disappeared. Instead of the icon I see this half-switch-picture:
Preferences

So, first I thought some images were messed up and checked the Sharing-package. Strangely enough, everything looks fine there. The image file (SharingPref.tiff Sharing Preferences Icon) is where it should be and contains the right icon. Frankly, I have no idea why the application won’t show me the correct picture. Anyhow, it’s not a big problem since it didn’t affect any functionality yet (crossed fingers!!), but it’s annoying and I’d like to fix it. Any hints resolving this issue will be highly appreciated!

Btw, what would be the reason for placing QuickTime-preferences in between Network- and Sharing-preferences? Considering another than a random system preferences arrangement…

Shoe box pics

Published on January 28, 2007 in Geekery. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

rewind holgaesqueHow does a photography aficiado and Mac developer distract himself from regular project work?

Right, he writes a nifty little program which adds Lomo effects to your perfect digital photos and makes them look like those you find in old shoe boxes somewhere hidden in your parents closets (read the thread here).

Nothing new and already seen in various Photoshop actions, but who needs Photoshop when Apple blessed us with Core Image.

Too active community

Published on January 26, 2007 in Geekery and Geomensch. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

A part of the Viennese Flickr community is apparently active enough to play semantical tricks on the algorithm behind Yahoo!’s TagMap World Explorer, a mapping application based on Flickr’s geotags and associated other tags (read more here).

If you see the map below (or open up that map) you’ll find the tag guessedvienna as large as some other popular place names, mostly sightseeing attractions where probably many different users apply the same tag for their photo taken at that particular place (assuming that this is, in short, the idea how TagMap World Explorer works).

Guessedvienna results from the Guess Where Wien (Vienna) Flickr group, a very popular group among local Flickr users here. Basically it’s a game where users post a picture and other users have to guess where it has been taken. All guessed photos are tagged with guessedvienna. It’s fun to play because it lets you discover many unknown and interesting spots in Vienna. Geotagging is of course a welcome feature in this group, it makes it a lot easier to indicate exactly where the photo was taken.

Btw, the tag Zentralfriedhof (the main cemetery of Vienna) surprises me too. I knew of some conspirative Flickr meet ups there, but didn’t expect it as one of the most popular tags in Vienna.

However, I think it’s a good example where folksonomy makes sense for certain users, while it can be completely useless information for other applications or people.

mel

Published on January 23, 2007 in Random Box. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Apocalypto

Mel Gibson surely had some fun during the shooting of his last movie Apocalypto: for a short moment he appears in the teaser trailer. Pause the trailer and go through that scene image by image to see yourself…

Business toys

Published on January 21, 2007 in Geekery. Comments Tags: , , , .

Just had a quick look at 8apps, well at the screencasts since it’s an invitation-only beta. Turning Web 2.0, mostly fun, applications into business tools looks interesting and, from my point of view, definitely has potential to ease and improve certain work flows.

The only concern that came to my mind was about the storage. Companies won’t be very happy if employees start working with sensible business information on company-external servers. (seen in the nonsmoking area)

Five things you don’t know about me

Published on January 21, 2007 in Geekery and Geomensch. Comments Tags: , , , .

A week ago I have been tagged by Jeff, so I’ll continue the blogosphere’s meme of early 2007 and post 5 things you possibly don’t know about me, unless we’ve met in person:

1. Like an authentic Austrian I grow up having snow under my feet. In the year I did my first steps I got my first own pair of skis too. As child I was taught skiing, as teenager I switched to snowboarding, it was just more fun. We went every free minute up to the mountains snowboarding, even in summer we spent a week or so at some glacier. Then I went abroad to study a year in Madrid. It was my first winter without any snow, actually it was no winter at all, sun was shining, weather was warm and pleasant. I completely stopped snowboarding there and did never again even a single step into snow.

2. After graduating from an engineering school I had enough of cold steel and construction and decided to study something more related to people. I chose regional and spatial planning then, ending up in the world of GIS and regional information systems. After all, I’ve made my first contact with CAD already at that engineering school.

3. I’m a cat person. Human beings can be part into cat and dog persons, so I prefer cats over dogs, always had one and I really enjoy their presence.

4. In my place you’ll always find a piece of chocolate. It makes me kind of nervous if there is no chocolate left. So If you intend to corrupt me, try it with chocolate, preferable dark Belgian chocolate.

5. Heights are not my cup of tea. Chances that you’ll see me doing a Bungee Jump are very low.

To go on I’ll tag nona Alex, nonsmoker Michael, Geograffiti Textkoch, Mr Google flat Greg and Tagzania’s Luistxo.

GPS FON hotspots

Published on January 15, 2007 in Geomensch. Closed Tags: , , .

As FON user you have now another option to find the closest FON hotspot to your position:

  • go to FON Maps Liberator
  • navigate to your area
  • download the FON hotspots as GPX
  • and feed your GPS device with the data.

If you don’t call a GPS device your own you still can use this FON hotspot directory or mobile maps (they offer a GPS tool too, btw) on your cell phone to locate FON hotspots on the way. (via TecnoMaps)