* To all my friends who have received the SPAM mails recently, I apologies profusely.

It’s quite annoying when you receive SPAM from one of your own email addresses.  In my case, it was plum202@hotmail.com.

It’s an address I registered and used way-back-when - and hasn’t seen me using it for the last 5-6 years.

Anyhow, I logged onto it, and tried to close my account.  However, I could not do so as there was a ‘billing account linked to your Live ID.’  I was advised to goto https://billing.microsoft.com to resolve this issue.

However, on landing at https://billing.microsoft.com - I was greeted with a message to say “This Live ID does not have a billing relationship with Microsoft.  Please Click Here to join.

Silly Microsoft.

Anyhow, I phoned their customer support… three different numbers I was passed between til ending up with some Hotmail specific department.  I spent over an hour on the phone in total, and finally ended up with the support guy passing an email onto someone else to take a look.

The best thing about it - the guy set a gmail.com address as the reply-to: address.

I thought I’d ask him a few questions and get him to give me some advice on hotmail versus gmail.  He duly obliged, telling me to goto google.com and sign up there ‘or something like that.’

Yeah.. bear this in mind when you next choose a Webmail provider.

In the UK recently there have been a number of widely reported stabbings and murders among the youth of our country.  It’s a sad state of affairs that youths are now using knives to attack and end innocent lives, but it’s a symptom of a problem - not the problem itself.

Today, the government announced that it will be pushing stricter penalties on those who carry knives, and that possession is equal to ‘intent to use.’  This is the point at which I am very concerned.  Although I think it’s abhorrent that a few people in our society would wish to attack or defend themselves using knives - this type of law has no place in a developed society.

There are a number of people who rely on a knife in order to do their work - and the majority of people I’ve worked with in the trades carried a knife.  It’s a ‘tool’ that is very necessary for many people to carry - it’s also a tool that may come in use in unforeseeable situations.  They’re also a very natural and historical tool - that have been carried around by gentlemen for centuries.

Last year, I wrote about a trip I took to the Nontron Knife Festival, at which I bought myself a knife.  I wouldn’t say I have particular need for a knife - but there are situations (such as when I’m fishing, camping .etc) when a knife is a useful tool to have.  I’d take a photo and put it up, but I’ve left it at a friends after a camping trip.

With the proposed law (and current situation), should my friend and I decide to rendezvous on foot in order for me to take back my knife, the chances are that if we were seen one of us would end up in court.  However, should I drive up to Sheffield (from my home in Birmingham) and pick up the knife in my car - my chances are massively diminished.

The other point is that playing with my knife is sometimes therapeutic.  In January, I was eating an apple at my desk and cutting it up with the knife in my hand to eat it.  It’s a pretty normal thing to do with a knife, and 100% legal.  However, after eating the apple and cleaning my knife, I dropped it into my pocket.  I wasn’t leaving the house any time soon, and didn’t want to leave it in the kitchen draw.  Only later on in the evening did I realise I still had it on me, so I left the pub I was in and took it home, before coming out again.

Now I’d consider this a responsible action, however, should I have been stopped in the pub or on the way home by the Police - I’d be facing a court appearance and custody.  A disproportionate response to an innocent misadventure.

It’s a shame that the law-abiding citizen has to suffer for the minority of idiots that choose to wield knives in an ungainly fashion - and then the majority of ‘illegally used’ knives are kitchen knives/cleavers.  Do we ban these too?

It’s a silly precedent that the government are setting - they should be looking at the wider social picture, rather than at an easy-to-target symptom of the problem.  Curbing civil liberties is going to have little affect on the people who wield their knives illegally.  I do understand there is a problem with knife crime in the UK, but better policing and targeting of unruly youths is the answer - not creating new laws to limit the general public’s freedom.

Just discovered a pretty random ‘feature’ on Facebook Chat.

I don’t know how many of you use facebook’s relatively new chat feature.  It’s a small box in the bottom right of the browser.  Anyhow, yesterday I logged into my account on the iMac downstairs.  It’s a private PC that only me and my family use, so I left my facebook account logged in downstairs.

Earlier this afternoon, I spoke with one of my friends on the facebook chat.  We had a short conversation, without any confidential/personal information being discussed - but a chat nonetheless.

Anyhow, I just turned the screen on the iMac, and the facebook page was still up in Safari - and to my horror, the chat that I’d had upstairs on my own PC was shown up in the bottom right of the screen in the Safari browser.  Therefore, I can only assume that what I typed upstairs was broadcasted to my logged in account realtime - without me knowing.

Normally when I log into a site, I expect it to log me out elsewhere - especially with Instant Messenger.

Watch out for the same thing catching you out!

Take a look at this, then read the blog.

Chaos

In a recent conversation, I was discussing how the internet has given anyone the ability to broadcast their ideas/message. On the whole, I saw it as a good thing. The ‘blogosphere’ is full of interesting articles and opinions on things that interest me. I directly work in the software industry, therefore the majority of posts are relevant. Those related to software itself; development and ethics - but also the ability for non-tech minded people to produce and utilise software/internet to get their message across.

Whilst for academic level writings there is an argument that information should be ‘peer-reviewed’ before being published - with the internet there is very rarely self-critical analysis before something gets published. I know I rarely read through a post more that once after it has been typed. So what effect does that have on information?

Many, if not all of the lecturers that I knew at University were adamant that searching for information on the internet was a bad idea. Groups on facebook like “I’m going to Wikipedia my degree” probably didn’t help with their perception of the value of the internet. We were forced into using Library and Archive information that could be accredited to ‘respectable’ institutions.

Whilst this may make it easier for the lecturers to qualify the references when looking through the bibliography, it massively undermines the value of the internet. There’s so much noise out there that I think it can provide an inspiration. We’re all from massively different backgrounds with so many differences and similarities that there’s a mine of experience to tap. It’s often the case that academics sometimes have to look outside their ‘circle’ of expertise in order to answer certain questions. Fermat’s last theorem was only solved through incorporating what was seen as a completely unrelated method into the solution. This is where the magic on the internet can really have tangible effects.

As educated lay people, many of us read into obscure subjects at a very shallow level. For example, whilst never being capable of solving Fermat’s last theorem myself, it was interesting to read Simon Singh’s book on the topic. I hold a degree in Psychology and Business; yet work in the realms of Free/Libre Open Source Software. They’re hardly what one would call a ’standard’ set of experiences. Yet there’s so many more dimensions to my personal experiences. The power of them relies in linking them.

Thinkers and do-ers.

It’s about time now that I realised that I’m not going to solve World Hunger, or attain World Peace and disarmament and make the world a better place. I’m not likely to come up with an idea that’ll make the happen. I’m also not going to create a search algorithm to match that of Google - or achieve something major on the internet in a sector that hasn’t even been conceived yet. However, I have the power to link people - to make people talk and bring ideas together. I have the ability to make friends with people and get them talking. I have the ability to critically evaluate other people’s ideas and make them better.

So then, you may not hear of “Andy Loughran” as some genius that has just released a new software package, or solved massive social issues. But I’ll carry on doing my little bit and hoping that lady luck finds me in the right place sometime in the future.

I was having a discussion with a few mates in the pub this evening about my blogging ‘antics.’ They’ve berated me for blogging before, but as it’s becoming more and more widespread I can see them getting more interested in my motivations for ‘blogging.’

One of the friends commented that it was purely the fact that he knew me that made the blog interesting. For someone that didn’t know me, the blog would be pretty dull and of no consequence. At this point, another chipped in saying - “Only bloggers read blogs.” Is this true? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.

My motivation for starting the blog was that it was a place where I could share my technical insights. Not profound insights such as the advent of structural-object-abstract programming methods that I’ve just decided are going to be the Web 3.0 - but short howto’s and the like, and to publish a few ‘Gotchas’ - problems that have few symptoms and a nice easy solution - but take hours of work to solve. I blog advice - There’s nothing quite comparable experience.

(un)Fortunately, which ever way you personally look at it - my blogging has branched out to cover all sorts of things. From the time when some guy smashed the window of my car, to re-living and walking through my car accident in 1999, to a short article on why to avoid Red Hat’s bundled openLDAP implementation because it’s crap.

I think it’s an interesting concept, for non-bloggers and bloggers alike. Who reads blogs? If you have a regular commentator on your blog, do you add him to your blogroll as a thanks for lifting your self-esteem by having him visit your blog? Do you think you have a regular readership, or just random visitors popping in and out after being directed from Google?

I don’t think it’s a negative thing that bloggers read blogs. It’s great. From the attendance at the spontaneous meet-up last Friday, it’s clear to me that there’s a nice little community of bloggers in Birmingham. However, this is a meeting of a cross-section of the readership who it’s worth meeting face-to-face in order to better your own blog.

Is blogging journalism? Is it art? Is it a cry for help from some pathetic moron wanting to share his story with the world? Is it ‘new media’? Does it matter?

I blog tech because I think some people read it and it helps them - and also as an easy reference for me. I blog ‘about me’ as a way to vent some thoughts and get some feedback from an audience who I think would be interested. This audience is dynamic, therefore I categorise my posts different to respect that.

When doing my Psychology degree, one of the things we covered was ‘online personalities and freedom of information.’ This blog is in the public domain. If it were a diary, having it leaked would immediately bring headlines of ’scandal and gossip.’ My blog is sort of a base for my online identity. ‘andylockran’ lives here. I happen to pop up on a mailing list or a forum or IRC and you want to know more about me. Much of it is here. It’s a bit like ‘CV 2.0.’ The web is my field - if I don’t market myself well on the web, how the hell can I expect anyone to be able to trust me to market their products on the web?

The best thing about it for me is the feedback, both positive and negative. Setting up a blog exposes you to both - and it gives you the opportunity to have a voice.

Once in a while there is a fairly new and inventive solution to an old problem.

First we had networks.. then we had wireless networks.. and now we have wireless wired networks?

Ok, they’re not technically wireless - but install of having a central wireless access point in the centre of your home, you can now buy the Devolo HomePlug - and have networking points wherever you have electricity.

You see, electricity flows through your power cables at a certain frequency. The HomePlug sends your data through the wires at a different frequency. It’s quite simple really.

Anyway, you can but 14Mbps to 200+Mbps adapters for the HomePlug - and it’s n open standard, so you don’t need to just buy from devolo.

They also have wireless plugs, so instead of the plug interfacing to a network connection on your PC/laptop - you can plug in a devolo wireless homeplug adapter and get a low-range wireless base in your house too.

However, they are pretty expensive ~£80 for 2. They’re also very addictive. So much better than wifi that soon you’ll be buying them for all you computers (like I did…)

Oh well.. the more we buy the more the price will start to drop.. right?

So BUY!!!

What a silly idea - but It’s not mine.. it’s someone elses.
Why not have a cross-platform document library that can be ‘open sourced’ and thus developed by no-one single vendor as a means of standardizing file formats.

The specification of the file format would become less important - as any changes to the format would be available for all to see.  The whole process could be overseen by a few developers repressenting a number of different vendors on a “development council.”  This would also allow the format to develop logically and smoothly, rather than the archaic method of jumping up to a new format - leaving those using the old one behind.

The idea of a document format becoming obsolete/unreadable always seemed to me to be a problem for the future.  However, I recently read that a Service Pack to XP will make some document formats unreadable. A church in America is moving to the Open Document Format in order to provide continuing accessibility of their priests’ sermons.

Is it practicable?

Can it be done - well.  Hands up if you don’t think a group of volunteers can create software than runs 75% of the internet.   Doing this is probably more practical than continuing with the current approach.  The move to XML is meant to be one that opens up documents - and allows greater cross-format compatibility.  I can produce a spreadsheet and a word document using XML.  I can integrate and sort things better than I’d ever have thought possible.  Freedom of Information is just beginning.  Let it continue.

It’s ironic really.  Tomorrow the ISO council are likely to vote OOXML to be fast-tracked to a standard.  There’s been good coverage on Groklaw and by Zeth Green.  One of the problems with technical decisions like this is that they really don’t get the average person in the street interested.  It’s only when problems occur that they realise there’s an issue - and they expect their IT guy/friend/consultant to be able to fix it for them.

Well, today I had a call from my mate - saying that he’d sent a company his CV, but they’d written back to request that he send it from Microsoft Word.  He did.  He was using Office 2007.  I smelt the problem right away.

He was using OOXML, and they weren’t.  At this juncture, one has two options.

a) Try and get the organisation you’re sending the document to to download the “OOXML Compatibility Pack.”   Your chances of success are small.

b) Save the file in a different format.  RECOMMENDED!

Here’s how:  See the list at the bottom of the page for recommended (and not-recommended) defaults.

To change default file save options in Office Excel 2007

1. Double-click Microsoft Office Excel 2007, double-click Excel Options, and click Save.
2. In the right pane, right-click Save Excel files as, and select Properties.
3. In Save files in this format, select Enabled.
4. In the drop-down box, select a default file save format.
5. Click Apply to save the settings.

To change default file save options in Office PowerPoint 2007

1. Double-click Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, double-click PowerPoint Options, and click Save.
2. In the right pane, right-click Save files in this format, and select Properties.
3. In Save files in this format, select Enabled.
4. In the drop-down box, select a default file save format.
5. Click Apply to save the settings.

To change default file save options in Office Word 2007

1. Double-click Microsoft Office Word 2007, double-click Word Options, and click Save.
2. In the right pane, right-click Save files in this format, and select Properties.
3. In Save files in this format, select Enabled.
4. In the drop-down box, select a default file save format.
5. Click Apply to save the settings.

The possible value for the default file save format include:

For Excel:

• Office Excel 2007 workbook (.xlsx), (NO)
• Office Excel 2007 macro-enabled workbook (.xlsm), (NO)
• Office Excel 2007 binary workbook (.xlsb), (NO)
• Web page (.htm, .html),
• Excel 97-2003 workbook (.xls), (YES)
• Excel 5.0/95 workbook (.xls)

For PowerPoint:

• Office PowerPoint 2007 presentation (.pptx), (NO)
• Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled presentation (.pptm), (NO)
• PowerPoint 97-2003 presentation (.ppt) (YES)

For Word:

• Office Word 2007 document (.docx), (NO)
• Office Word 2007 macro-enabled document (.docm), (NO)
• Office Word 2007 macro-free template (.dotx), (NO)
• Office Word 2007 macro-enabled template (.dotm), (NO)
• Single file Web page (.mht), (NO)
• Web page (.htm, .html),
• Filtered Web page (.htm, .html),
• Rich text format (.rtf), (YES)
• Plain text (.txt),
• Word 97-2003 document (.doc), (YES)
• Word 97-2003 template (.dot),
• Flat XML document (.xml),
• Word 6.0/95 document (.doc),
• Word 6.0/95 Chinese (simplified) document (.doc),
• Word 6.0/95 Chinese (traditional) document (.doc),
• Word 6.0/95 Japanese document (.doc),
• Word 6.0/95 Korean document (.doc),
• Word 97-2002 and Word 6.0/95 rich text format (RTF) (.doc),
• Word 5.1 for Macintosh (.mcw),
• Word 5.0 for Macintosh (.mcw),
• Word 2.x for Windows (.doc),
• Works 4.0 for Windows (.wps),
• WordPerfect 5.x for Windows (.doc),
• WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS (.doc)

Of course, if you want to make sure you don’t come across this problem in the future - choose an open and free format - and ask your friends/colleagues/clients to do so too.  There’s already a documented format standard in *.odf.

Download your cross-platform Free Office Suite (completely legally) from OpenOffice.org 

Archbishop Vincent Nicholls

I’m sure that you’ll have heard of this bill if you’ve been paying any attention at all to the British Press.  It’s attracting lots of attention.

I happened to be at the Mass at the Cathedral where he gave the speech, as I’ve been going there even Monday for the last 16 years with my Dad and Granddad’s.  It was definitely an interesting topi, but can be boiled down to the following statements.

There is more concrete evidence that supports ‘adult’ stem cells having more success, specifically for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis than the ‘embryonic’ stem cells that this bill would promote the use of.

I can understand the personal anguish of individuals wanting to be able to find a cure right away, which is why I find this topic so dividing/difficult.  However, since the current evidence suggests that ‘adult’ stem cells (those not requiring the ‘destruction of an embryo’ to obtain and utilize for scientific purpose may be better suited to use surely suggests that this avenue should be thoroughly researched before we have to take the drastic step of destroying fertilised eggs.  I use ‘fertilised eggs’ deliberately, as I’m sure the majority of the readers of this blog aren’t Catholic, and want to try and avoid adding complexity to the situation by bringing in Catholic Doctrine that says life begins at conception, and to take a life is wrong.

Needless to say, this isn’t even the problem.  The problem is that New Labour won’t give it’s MPs a free vote.. and says they must tow the party line.  The purpose of the free vote is to allow ethical and moral decisions to be made in parliament.  Not allowing it’s members this freedom is disgraceful, in my opinion. Sure, members may abstain, but if all negatives are put in the abstain count, it will only serve to strengthen the positives.

Please act now, and allow the government to let your MP vote freely on such an important issue.

I personally would like to vote against the bill, but that’s not my place to say.  I want the British Public to be able to have their elected Parliament decide on this important issue.. not just a single, dead-in-the-water political party.

I’ve moved back home and have just set up my desk. I quite like what’s going on at the moment therefore I thought I’d share a couple of pictures.

I have my fishtank to the left, then a mac mini running OSX Tiger - useful for checking cross compatibility. Then I have my sound-dock which is connected to my PC via my “unique connector.” I then have my Webcam, followed by my 19″ Dell Monitor running Gentoo & my virtual machines (Windows and Centos). Centos I use as it’s my company’s choice of server distribution, and Windows for cross-platform testing and to connect to my o2 XDA Stellar (shown under the screen). I also have my work VoIP phone, which is very useful, and my HP Compaq nc4000 lightweight notebook running ubuntu.

All in all a quality set-up.