updated: It's on my list

"It's on my list"

The App (a simple shopping list) was written for my step-father (main requirements: very easy to use and limited to basic functionality) and I started to use it myself after I got my own iPhone. Since my girlfriend also has an iPhone, I thought it would be nice to share the same list, so everbody could put items to it and whoever manages to go shopping will have the latest entries on his device.

Apple's iCloud service does not yet have a sharing option so I chose the Dropbox service to store and share the data. Because Dropbox offers an iOS API, integration was super easy.

The list only syncs the text data, not the images. Therefore it can easily be maintained and only transfers low volume of data. With Dropbox I am also able to just edit the sync-file with any texteditor on my Mac (or PC if you prefer).

Once enabled, syncing it done automagically :)

multilingual 5ud0ku

So now 5ud0ku contains czech language set in addition to italian, norwegian, russian, slovak, hungarian, polish, english, french, greek and german. If you don't own or want a smartphone, but still want to play a decent game of sudoku, try 5ud0ku (point your mobile to http://wintermute.de/wap/sudoku)

9 digits - sudoku variations

9 digits' helpers guide your next move and teach you solution strategies.

So go get your copy!

9 digits - website

9 digits - iTunes Preview

iPhone Action Sheet replacement

So I implemented a simple WMActionSheet feasile for iPhone (no iPad look implemented). It has some drawbacks such as it does not adhere to orientation changes and does not cover the status bar area, but still works pretty ok.

The source code is available at github

including WordPress posts into static website

Despite that, WordPress documentation about The Loop in Action tells you everything you need to know to get your posts into your static website.

Just make sure to start your php file with

<?php include ('./blog/wp-blog-header.php'); ?>

The trouble with the post-navigation was caused by the fact, that I installed WordPress into a subdirectory, while the posts actually would be shown on a page at the top-level directory. Now using the function

<?php posts_nav_link() ?>

Instead of checking out the original functions's php code I used hints from multiple sources and built up my self-made navigation. I haven't used php before, so there might be easier and much more smart ways to do this.

Nevertheless here is it in case you stumble across the same issue:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
	<?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry &raquo;'); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>

    <?php
    global $wp_query;
    /* set paged if not set (entry page) */
    if ($paged == 0) {
    	$paged = 1;	
    }
    /*add newer link to entry page without $paged parameter */
    if ($paged == 2) {
      echo "<a href=\"";
      echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'];
      echo "\">&laquo; newer posts</a>";
    }
    /*add newer link*/
    if ($paged > 2) {
      echo "<a href=\"";
      echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'];
      echo "?paged=";
      echo ($paged-1);
      echo "\">&laquo; newer posts</a>";
    }
    /*add older link*/
    if ($paged < $wp_query->max_num_pages) {
      /*add new-old separator if needed*/	
      if ($paged > 1) {
      	echo " &#183; ";
      }
      echo "<a href=\"";
      echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'];
      echo "?paged=";
      echo ($paged+1);
      echo "\">older posts &raquo;</a>";
    }
  ?>

<?php else: ?>
	<p><?php _e('no entries found.'); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>

exploring new shores

To understand and follow Apple's paradigms and approval processes I took the chance to 'port' my shoppingList to the iPhone.

It is a simple app, so after requesting approval, it got ready for the App Store within 3 days. I tried to give it a fancy name (german: Auf der Liste, english: It's on my list)

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch and don't mind having an actually simple and easy grocery list, give it a try. You can access it via its landing page at http://wintermute.de/itsonmylist

Date dependent content with Server Side Includes

Because that site is a simple static hosted website with only SSI available, I checked on SSI capabilities and inlcuded the content as follows:

<!--#config timefmt="%b" -->
<!--#set var="month" value="$DATE_LOCAL" -->
<!--#if expr="$month = Dec" -->
<!--#include file ="xmas.html" -->
<!--#endif -->

With some more tweaks you could rotate the look (e.g. with different css files) and content of your static website in regular intervals without too much work involved.

iTunes U

iPhone App Programming

After passing that, I might will have a closer look at the german presence (select Country in iTunes U Overview)

Berlin bei Nacht

Michael Kessler

rbb

Berliner Nacht-Taxe

Michael nutzt dabei - manchmal ein wenig gesetzeswidrig - seinen mobilen Helfer (ein Android Phone oder auch mal ein iPhone), um mit den Zuschauern des Streams Kontakt zu halten. Das ganze läuft dabei über seinen Twitteraccount. Um alle Kommentare zu verfolgen, sucht man bei Twitter nach kesslermichael.

Wenn die Fahrgäste ausbleiben, hält Michael die Laune der Stream-Zuschauer mit Selbstgesprächen, Anekdoten und natürlich Antworten auf die Twitter Anfragen aufrecht. Und wenn er mal abgelenkt ist und sich auf die Straße konzentriert oder Fahrgästen nachjagt, sorgt die Twitter-Community schon für genug Gesprächsstoff.

Leider werden nur zwei der insgesamt acht Aufnahmestunden gestreamt, aber zusehen lohnt sich trotzdem.

Ich bin schon gespannt auf das nächste Mal (Livestream am: 09.10, 10.10, 16.10. und 17.10 jeweils 22:00-00:00 Uhr).

Backup Dell mini 10 Using True Image 11 Home

1. I prepared a Kingston USB stick to boot from (using the True Image rescue media builder), but had no success.
   For whatever reason I tried the "HP Drive Key Boot Utility" (google for it) and did it work the USB stick. After that, I had rescue media builder do its job once more.
2. Dell mini booted from the USB stick (Check the "Legacy USB support" and the "Boot options" of the Dell mini - accessible by pressing F2 on startup).
3. True Image Home 11 did not recognize the internal HDD of the Dell mini when loaded as full version (incl. USB/SATA Support). I tried to change the kernel parameters (F11: acpi=off noapic), but that did not help at all. This might work with other versions of TI, so give it a try.
4. True Image recognized the internal HDD only, if I selected the safe mode start of True Image - but then I could not use an external USB HD to backup to. So I took an old USB HD and followed the instructions at http://www.wilderssecurity.com/supportfiles/acronis_bootable_usb_hd.pdf . In short, this guides you to backup the USB drive with True Image to a .tib file and restore it to the USB HD. Afterwards the leftover space on the USB HD can be formatted as primary NTFS partition to work as the storage drive.
5. So with the USB drive loaded with the True Image rescue system and having space for my backup, I booted into TI safe mode now using that USB drive instead of the USB stick.
6. Finally I could now backup my internal HDD to the USB drive's storage partition. As this method (safe boot) does not allow you to use USB 2 speed, the backup procedure will take ages (I started it up 3 hours ago and it tells me, I have 16 to go...).

browser decision

Firefox

Firefox Add-ons I use more or less regulary

• Better Gcal
• Better Gmail 2
• Cooliris
• Delicious Bookmarks
• Image Zoom
• Live HTTP headers
• Mobile Barcoder
• NoScript
• Stylish
• Twitbin
• Long URL Please
• PDF plugin (http://code.google.com/p/firefox-mac-pdf/)

• Bloglines Efficient
• Mac bookmark toolbar favicons
• spiegel.de clean
• Twitbin Remove Yello Burble

(FF/Safari icon by decompositionbeauty)

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