We are on the edge to write a new Icelandic saga. In a few days, we will embark on a plane direction: Iceland.
10 years ago we were leaving Iceland after an incredible time there. Now we are going back with our bicycle to explore it differently.
Iceland is an amazing place, but it is a difficult one too, especially on a bike. The weather is harsh, the wind strong, the roads are tricky and bridges only exist on road #1! But Iceland is a magical place, it’s wild, it’s colourful, it’s warm and cold.
How do computer geeks have fun? Warning: If you are not a geek, you better not read further for 2 good reasons:
you will not find that funny at all!
you will be scared about the psychic health of geeks and ask the police to arrest them.
While installing a software, I stumble on this small message:
If you are a hardcore computer nerd staring at this file through your favorite text editor, you are probably hunting [the build instructions!] Well it’s not here. […] Because all the build instructions are now in Apache’s cool web-site.[…]
Since Google released its Public DNS, I was curious about how it would really perform. Thus, I have looked around and I have found a script on the internet that I ran at home, here are the results:
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| Domain | My ISP | Google | OpenDNS|
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| lifehacker.com | 17 ms | 68 ms | 68 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| facebook.com | 18 ms | 69 ms | 68 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| manu-j.com | 19 ms | 79 ms | 70 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| reddit.com | 58 ms | 88 ms | 66 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| tb4.fr | 16 ms | 64 ms | 67 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| bbc.co.uk | 55 ms | 65 ms | 67 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| lemonde.fr | 58 ms | 63 ms | 78 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| dailymotion.com | 58 ms | 66 ms | 68 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| faz.de | 57 ms | 65 ms | 99 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
| gmx.de | 56 ms | 62 ms | 68 ms |
+------------------+--------+--------+--------+
Google Public DNS and OpenDNS performed quite similarly. However, my own ISP is still quicker to respond, a possible answer is that Google DNS in Europe are located in Frankfurt, Germany.
N.B.: these tests were performed on a wireless link under Mac OS X Leopard in Toulouse, France. If you want to run the script on a Mac, you should change the first line of the script to #!/bin/bash
After making the chromes shine on Ubuntu, let’s make them flashy! In the previous article you learned how to have Google Chrome and Chromium installed, now that you have used them for awhile, you perhaps find out that you cannot play video on youtube.com or dailymotion.com, that you do not have annoying advertisement, etc. Yes, Google Chrome and Chromium Linux versions do not yet support Adobe Flash!
However, since you are not afraid to try a test version of these browsers on your favorite OS, you will not mind activating a test feature: plug-ins.
First of all, as a free(dom) software advocate I am obviously biased towards all proprietary software makers. Anyway, this position can sometimes make me see things from a different perspective.
Now here is the big news these days: Microsoft had Windows 7 in pre-order for a bargain price, but only a limited amount of licences (e.g. 76 000 licences for France). And they were overwhelm by demands from users!?!
Wait a minute, how come overwhelm? Basically, many users (no numbers were published) connected to Microsoft servers to go through a couple of pages in order to pre-order Windows 7. Basically, this is just a few requests to some servers to download web pages (a few kilobytes). Does Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or even Windows Live (Hotmail, MSN, etc.) services just collapse because people are using them? In comparison, Facebook handles 120 millions connections per day!
So there are three solutions to the fact that Microsoft servers could not handle the amount of requests :
Microsoft Windows servers are too poorly performing for such a job as handling web pages: obviously wrong as Windows Live seems to be able to handle such loads ;
Because of the rarity of the amount of licences on sale, people rushed to be able to buy one. Thus, servers could be overwhelm by demands for a really short peek periods ;
Microsoft purposely under-scale its servers for the big sell, so the web will relay the info.
First solution seems wrong. Perhaps it is a mix of the second and third solution, both can create a buzz around Windows 7 sales, and this is what exactly happened as many news related Windows 7 high popularity because so many people tried to buy it that even Microsoft could not handle their requests. Congratulations to the marketing guys, the operation reached its goal!
Counting until 4 is accessible to most people, and ought to be mandatory for any computer related software or web pages.
It seems that this is not the case for Twitter!
Twitter indicates 4 followers, but only 2 are listed.
First of all, no I do not boycott Opera, but some persons do want that for the reason that Opera Software triggered the whole antitrust browser case in Europe. In support of Opera Software, I am now writing this news using their browser!
I have to say that I am happy and delighted to hear this news. My point is that Microsoft should only be shipping a raw Windows. The computer manufacturer should then integrate Windows with a software solution of their choice, a software solution that integrates of course a browser and other tools. Just like Windows does not shipped with an office pack, but major computer vendors are adding office software applications to their computers offers.
Online services (e.g. Google Maps, Airline reservation, etc.).
From an IT person or software developer perspective, it means that you deploy your application on a (potential virtual) infrastructure or platform on the internet:
Virtual infrastructure or grid (e.g. Sun Grid, Amazon EC2, though both have their own specificities) ;
The article on ZDNet is about why Michael Krigsman (CEO of a IT consulting company) loves Windows 7, hates Linux and thinks the Mac is lame. The article is pretty short and gives 3 reasons to be satisfied by Windows 7, by presenting an old screenshot of Linux to present it in a miserable way and displaying a fake version of Apple Mac vs. PC advertisement. All a good laugh if it was not serious.
After reading Michael’s post, I cannot help but remember this: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
One month ago, we were back from our trip around the world. That was an amasing experience, it is so much a different way of travelling and getting to know other cultures! You may have read all about our experience along our way or seen our photographs from so many countries: Russia, Mongolia, China, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Sydney, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Easter Island, and the northern Chile and Argentina.
And we did not get it enough from it! There are still so many places that we want to see, so many things to experience. So we decided to go again on the road.
Not too long, not too many countries this time, and changing of means of transport. Our next adventure will be in Patagonia (southern tip of South America, a region that encompass Chile and Argentina) on our own bicycle.
We will be touring Patagonia for a little less than 3 months with the up and down of the road, weather and our physical and mental strengths. But we anticipate it as a great and rewarding journey.
As with our world trip, we will try along the road to write some of our feelings and experiences on our blog, a dedicated section will open soon. And if the internet connections are not too bad, we will even add new photographs!
We are on the edge to write a new Icelandic saga. In a few days, we will embark on a plane direction: Iceland.
