NevOn Experimental

FeedDemon beta 3a gets close

Last month, I tried out the first public beta of the forthcoming new version 1.6 of FeedDemon, the RSS aggregator for Windows.

In my first impressions post, I commented mostly on the glitches I noticed, which weren't a big surprise given that it was the first beta.

Since then, beta 2 has come and gone and now beta 3 is available, which I've installed and am now using (and, today, installed beta 3a released yesterday). And I do like it - I've not experienced a single fault/problem/bug/crash so far.

I've been interacting with it a lot, doing all the things I usually do with the current release version 1.5 - things like toggling news items, copying them to news bins, blogging items, etc - as well as changing styles and generally giving the tyres a good kicking.

So if all this in one day is any indicator, it's looking pretty good. Many fixes, improvements and new things since beta 1 as you'd expect

A big improvement for me - the newspaper display issue that beta 1 exhibited (where the newspaper would not display news items in the same date order as the news items list, no matter what you did) has been fixed. Great!

Also it seems that one issue I had in beta 1 with synchronizing FD and NewsGator Online has been fixed. That issue was that if I deleted a channel in FD, it would get recreated when FD sync'd with NGOL. That behaviour doesn't seem to happen now - I deleted three channels yesterday; on sync this morning, FD did not retrieve those from NGOL (I haven't yet checked my NGOL to see if those channels are still there: I'd expect them to be deleted from NGOL as well).

One other thing - I have Internet Explorer 7 beta 1 for Win XP installed, which FD uses as its browser. Works absolutely fine, no issues with that. The only thing I've noticed is if I click on a link in a news item in the newspaper that takes me to the blog or site concerned, the status bar has an IE message saying that the phishing filter couldn't be loaded. But IE7 is a beta (as well!) so maybe it's more to do with that than with FD b3a.

Anyway, I think beta 3a is terrific, so looking forward to the next iteration!

Bland-looking but IE 7 works

For the past few weeks, I've been trying out the first beta version of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2, and I have to say that while its functionality is pretty good, I'm a bit underwhelmed by it.

Maybe my expectation was wrong but I was expecting to see something a little more visually exciting than it currently looks. All the talk about tabbed browsing being implemented and I was thinking that I'd see something that looks like Firefox, perhaps, even Maxthon, the IE-based browser I used for some years (when it was known as MyIE) before switching to Firefox last year.

No, it's all a bit bland-looking really.

That aside, it's pretty good in its functionality. Perhaps that's the key to how it might survive in a crowded browser market - it just works. And considering it's only a beta, I am impressed that I have had no crashes or failures so far.

Two new features that I like:

1. Integrated RSS bookmarking with a little orange button simply called 'Feeds.' It works nicely in adding RSS to your Favorites, although to make it work you need to make a change in the options settings (it would be smarter to make this behaviour the default). See this post on the IE7 developer blog for detail on IE7 and RSS. A good move to call it 'Feeds' - you and I know it's RSS but who really cares what it's called when all you want to do is grab the content? 'Feeds' is a much better name and will simplify all the techie-talk surrounding new media tools like RSS and thus aid its wider take up.

2. Phishing protection that alerts you if you're about to land on a potentially fraudulent web site. (Here's an explanation of phishing.) The IE7 documentation about the phishing filter and how it works is very good, clear and simply written so that just about anybody will understand what phishing is and why protection is a good idea.

So, initial impressions from using IE7 on and off over the past few weeks. It's not my default browser and not because it's a beta. I will stick with Firefox and probably consider at IE7 again once it's actually released, although using the betas will obviously influence my thinking. Meanwhile, I'll continue playing with it.

Looking over Windows Vista

Last night, I was reviewing the various documentation for the Windows Vista beta 1 programme - release notes, readme, and setup guide. Although I am a participant in this testing programme, I haven't yet installed the beta nor downloaded it from the beta site. It's a 2.4 gig download (yes, gigs not megs) and I need to find a good chunk of dedicated time to actually get it.

But I've not yet decided whether to install and test this first beta. Mainly, I'm not sure I can dedicate my test PC for this right now because I'll need to do one of two things:

1. either install Windows Vista as the sole OS on that machine; or
2. partition the hard drive and install it in one of the partitions and so have the machine as a dual-boot machine.

Unlike Windows XP Service Pack 2 which I tested prior to its release last year, the Windows Vista beta cannot be installed as an upgrade to XP - you have to install it fresh, so to speak, what the setup guide calls a 'custom' installation (meaning a clean installation).

And, my test PC is the one on which I've just set up my Movable Type learning experiment! I really don't want to have to start over with all that installation again.

Last week, I ordered a new desktop PC from Dell - a Dimension XPS Gen 5 - on which I was expecting delivery sometime early next week. But, the order status on Dell's website now shows estimated delivery as the first week in September (due, I gather, to delays with the flat-panel monitor which are in big demand in Europe). So I won't have all the hardware I need until then.

But maybe this is a good thing. By the time September comes around, there will be lots of learning reported about Windows Vista beta 1 which will be helpful to every tester. Meanwhile, Paul Thurrott has an excellent series of reviews of beta 1.

One beta I do intend to test straightaway is the Internet Explorer 7 beta 1 standalone version for Windows XP SP2 (it also comes as part of the Vista beta). I'm curious in particular to see how the RSS integration works and see how the tabs look.

MySQL and Movable Type don't tango

I really would love to get stuck into trying out Movable Type for myself if I could get it to run.

No progress since I successfully installed it a few days ago on a local Windows PC running as a server. As far as I can tell, what's preventing me running MT isn't MT, it's MySQL.

Running the mt-check.cgi script produces a successful result - it tells me that MT is properly installed and set up and ready to go.

When I run the mt-load.cgi script, though, it stops very early in its execution with this error message:

Bad ObjectDriver config: Connection error: Access denied for user 'mt_user'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

The only difference from the error I first had is that, this time, the error includes a complete user name as I have uninstalled and reinstalled MySQL a couple of times.

I posted a comment about the error in the Movable Type Community Forum. Received a helpful response that was useful in initial troubleshooting, plus a link to a thread on the MySQL bugs section which indicates that there is a bug in the version of MySQL (4.1.13) that I have installed. Based on the final comment in the thread, I downloaded and installed the v5 beta.

That didn't work, unfortunately. I'm reasonably sure there must have been a step I missed somewhere before installing the beta as it resulted in major system instability (100% CPU use, sluggish performance, lack of responsiveness in the MySQL Administrator). So I uninstalled every MySQL instance, restarted the PC a couple of times during that process and re-installed 4.1.13 again.

Still this error when mt-load.cgi runs.

I'm actually stumped now. I need to retrace all steps again to make sure that there's not something I missed somwehere or did incorrectly at any stage in the overall installation, including checking into IIS. Trouble is, that's a left-brain approach whereas I'm definitely a right-brain kind of person ;)

So back to square one with no imminent solution. There has to be one - I just haven't found it yet.

[EDIT 31/7/05] Ok, reading the comprehensive MySQL Reference Manual, section 5.6.8 Causes of Access Denied Errors, has this explanation:

If you specify a hostname when trying to connect, but get an error message where the hostname is not shown or is an IP number, it means that the MySQL server got an error when trying to resolve the IP number of the client host to a name:

shell> mysqladmin -u root -pxxxx -h some-hostname ver
Access denied for user 'root'@'' (using password: YES)

This indicates a DNS problem. To fix it, execute mysqladmin flush-hosts to reset the internal DNS hostname cache.

I did the flush-hosts command and got this error:

Access denied for user 'ODBC'@' localhost' (using password: NO)

A bit more investigating needed. Getting closer, I think.

Nice features in first NewsGator FeedDemon version

I'm currently trying out the first public beta of the forthcoming version 1.6 of FeedDemon, the RSS aggregator for Windows.

This is the first development following NewsGator's acquisition of Bradsoft, the company who makes FeedDemon.

As a first beta, it's not bad. It does suffer from some obvious glitches, the most noticeable of which to me is how the program doesn't display individual news feeds in the correct sequence no matter what setting you define. That looks to me to be the same as happened with betas for version 1.5 earlier this year. Not a major issue I don't think, just a bit irritating, and hopefully will be addressed in the next beta.

There's also some issues with feed synchronization with NewsGator Online, although I'm still trying to figure out NewsGator Online. But that is a great feature, the ability to sync your FeedDemon feeds with a web-based service so you can get at your info from any PC with a net connection.

As I encounter odd things or have questions, I'm posting my thoughts, etc, in the new NewsGator FeedDemon beta forum.

One other thing I'm playing with is NewsGator's feature to display headlines in your blog from one or more of the RSS feeds you subscribe to. In TypePad, you do this by creating a typelist. So I've done one which captures the ten most recent posts from Headlines from PR Weblogs and displays excerpts. Pretty cool. You can see it in the right column on my main blog.

More thoughts later as I continue.

Trying out Gizmo internet phone

Does Skype have a serious competitor? According to the Gizmo Project, it does:

What distinguishes Gizmo Project from the other services out there, and why is Gizmo Project a better choice?

Skype: Like Gizmo Project, Skype has excellent sound quality, and is able to connect calls even in difficult home networks. Unfortunately, its technology is completely proprietary and you cannot contact their members without installing skype on your own computer.

That doesn't sound like a compelling differentiator to me. I've been using Skype for almost a year now and I have yet to find any other VoIP service that comes close to it in terms of overall tech reliability and scale of its user network.

But you have to start somewhere and competition is good. From a user point of view, Gizmo has many similarities to Skype: a peer-to-peer system, free calls to other Gizmo users, ability to buy credit to call normal phones, get a phone number so you can receive calls, get voicemail, etc. See the full story at Gizmo.

So I'll take Gizmo for a spin and see how it is. I will keep Skype as a) I'm happy with it overall, and b) I have a lot invested in it now (two SkypeIn numbers, for instance). Any alternative would have to be so compelling from many different points of view - wholly-reliable service and price being just two - that switching would be a no brainer.

Trying out Odeo

Last week, I received an invitation to try out Odeo, a podcasting service currently in beta, launched earlier this year.

What is Odeo? From the FAQ:

Odeo consists of three major parts: A catalog of audio content, of all types, which is constantly being added to. The Odeo Syncr, which let’s you download anything in the catalog (and, optionally, put it on your MP3 player). And creation tools, including the Odeo Studio, which let you publish your own audio content, which will then show up in the catalog. (The creation tools aren’t ready for public use yet, though.)

If you want to know more about the company and who's behind it, see How Odeo happened.

So, I've taken my first real look at Odeo today. When I first logged in and created an account, one thought I had was re what else is already out there in terms of finding podcasts and how would Odeo differentiate itself. There are loads of directories. Indeed, you're almost spoiled for choice at the moment of where to find increasing numbers of podcasts. Then there's Apple's iTunes Podcast Directory which looks like it will contain thousands of podcasts.

As the FAQ says, it's a catalog, a directory, with MP3 files organized by tags or categories. Unlike other directories, though, you have a much easier way to choose the content you want to subscribe to as you can get concise descriptions of each show plus the option to preview them (listen) before you download.

This reduced-size screenshot might give you an idea of that:

To download podcasts, you use the Odeo Syncr, a desktop applications based on iPodder. Once you subscribe to some shows on the Odeo website, you set them up to be retrieved by the synchronizer app, which then behaves just like iPodder, ie, it fetches your shows. Is this real podcasting, ie, making use of RSS as the delivery mechanism? No, but does that matter to the average user?

For Immediate Release is listed in the business directory (that's the bi-weekly show I co-present - plug!) so if you use Odeo and want to subscribe, here's the link.

Odeo is an interesting concept. I can see some great possibilities as a paid-for service, giving it some exclusivity. Right now, though, I can't see what a differentiator could be if it's just another open-access podcast directory (once it's out of private beta), no matter how sexy-looking it all is. The Odeo Studio creation tool looks like the big thing, but that's not available yet and I haven't seen what it looks like nor what it can do.

I'll be trying it out a little more over the next couple of weeks, so more commentary to come.

Messy Firefox installation

Last week, Mozilla released Firefox version 1.0.2 which includes some security fixes.

While Firefox is a great browser, and continues to be the one I use above any other, where the developers fall down with Firefox is with what happens when you install it.

If you're using Firefox version 1.0 or 1.0.1, you'll see a little red icon at the top right of your browser. Clicking on this displays a window that tells you that critical updates are available. This is a great feature in any software and I wish more developers would include something simple like this.

So with Firefox, you'd tell it to go and get an update which it does and installs it. The trouble is, if the update is a program update, what this doesn't include is the advice that's buried in the release notes on the Firefox website not to install an updated version on top of a current installation:

Prior to installing Firefox 1.0.2, please ensure that the directory you've chosen to install into is clean and doesn't contain any previous Firefox installations.

Great to learn this after you've already installed the update on top of your existing installation!

A few days ago, I installed version 1.0.2 on my IBM ThinkPad T30, a machine that's not my day-to-day PC, by clicking on the update icon within Firefox. In looking in Add/Remove Programs in Windows a few days after the installation, I noticed the multiple installations of different versions you can see in this little snapshot image.

So I have three Firefox installations on this PC. Apart from the disk space each one takes up, I wondered whether these multiple installations might be the reason why Firefox 1.0.2 was behaving a little oddly and crashing a little too frequently.

So what I did was uninstall version 1.0.2 using Add/Remove Programs. This removed remnants of the two other versions and, after the uninstall, no Firefox information showed in that listing. During the uninstall, I did not remove all the Firefox directories thus preserving my Firefox configuration info. I then downloaded the 1.0.2. setup file from the Firefox website and ran then. Now I have an installation of just version 1.0.2 complete with all my settings. And no more crashes.

The auto-updating feature of Firefox is great, but what I'd like to see is this:

1. Auto-update tells you that you either a) need to uninstall the previous version before updating, or b) install the updated version into a different directory.
2. If you choose to uninstall, the updating feature will do it for you and then install the update.

It does something sort of similar with themes and extensions that a particular Firefox version doesn't support - it disables those themes and extensions so you can go and see if updated ones are available. At the very least, the Firefox updater should warn you re an existing installation before you install an update.

Simple, surely?

CeBIT kicks off to great expectations

The CeBIT technology trade show opened this week in Hanover, Germany, running until the 16th.

Keeping up with what's going on isn't too difficult.

There's CeBIT News, the show's official daily newspaper. Gizmodo is a good place to frequently check on new gadgets, mostly mobile devices. They are blogging commentaries from the show. Plenty of ongoing media reporting.

There's a great pre-show summary from eWeek on some of the product announcements expected at the show. Some highlights (see the eWeek story for additional show commentary):

• Three new DVD recorders from Hitachi with up to 250GB capacity and circuitry that can recognize (and skip) commercials.
• From Intel, "the world's smallest PC," designed to fit into a car radio slot, able to function as your car's navigation, communication, entertainment and switching center
• NEC is bringing the first HD-DVD drive, with capacities of up to 60GB, and a prototype of "the world's first PC drive for playing back HD-DVDs, DVDs and CDs."
• Panasonic will show what it says is the world's largest mass-produced plasma display (about 65-inches diagonally) and a compact digital camcorder with 30x optical zoom. Sharp will have an LCD TV of similar size, which Sharp says is the world's biggest LCD television, along with its BD-HD100, the first Blu-ray disc recorder with hard drive and DVD.
• In the headset arena, Plantronics's new CS60-USB is, according to Plantronics, the world's first wireless USB headset; the DECT technology has a roaming range of up to 300 feet from the user's computer, and the rechargeable battery should be good for up to nine hours of talk time. Siemens says it's got the first VOIP cordless DECT telephone; using Skype software, it supports several of the latest Siemens Gigaset cordless phones, and you can even listen to Internet radio using it.
• A wireless mobile hard drive, with battery, from Data Storage Institute.
• A combo VOIP phone and USB flash drive (64MB-4GB) from Inter-Active Media Pte. Ltd.
• The PCMCIA (trade association for PC cards) has a new tech standard "designed to be faster and cheaper than its predecessors," intended as a replacement for CardBus, to become the preferred solution for users of add-ins.
• Burn DVDs at 16x-two hours of video written in six minutes-with Must Tech Co's new 16x DVD+/-R.
• Watch (and record) broadcast TV on your notebook, using the TV-DVB USB stick, an external TV tuner from Avermedia Technologies

Dutch military develop colourful night-vision

Engadget reports:

A new night-vision system developed for the Dutch military may signal the end of those grainy green and grey images we’ve all come to know. The new system, created by the TNO research lab, works by drawing colors from similar scenes in the system’s memory then mapping them onto the night-vision images (seen in the three-step process above),resulting in a more natural looking image.

The researchers say the system will improve soldiers' reaction times and reduce fatigue that comes from staring at traditional night-vision images. Military for now, but we’re sure we’ll see plenty of other uses for the system sooner or later.

New version of Total Commander

One of my favourite utility programs for Windows, Total Commander, released version 6.51 a couple of days ago. Developed by Christian Ghisler in Switzerland, this neat utlity does for Windows what Norton Commander did for MS-DOS, and then some.

There are lots of Norton Commander-like utilities around - see this list, for instance - but for me, Total Commander does the file management job better than most as well as provide additional functions like FTP file transfer, integrated file viewer and much more. I've been using registered versions since version 1.2 about nine years ago. Shareware, free to try and 40 Swiss francs (€28) to buy. See this screenshot (which actually doesn't do the program full justice at all).

Back in the good old MS-DOS days, Norton Commander was one utility program that was absolutely indispensible. I stayed with version 2 for years during the 80s. Here's a great screenshot so you can see what it looks like (it says it's v5.5 but it looks the same as v2).

What this great program did was enable you to manage your file system (at a time when there was no real Windows, just a shell on top of DOS) - you had a command prompt (basically, what you see now when you type 'cmd' in Start > Run in Windows) and had to type instructions at the command line to run programs (one at a time), create directories, copy/delete files, see even hidden files, etc.

Thinking about MS-DOS utlitiies, another one I used in the early 90s was Lotus Magellan 2. What a great program! I still have the original disks and manuals. And I wonder what became of 1-Dir? Made by Borland, I think. I used that at times during the 80s.

But nothing beat the Commander for its simplicity and ease of use.

ADSL gets even faster

XS4ALL, my ISP here in The Netherlands, gives great service. I've been using their Fast ADSL service for the past two years and have no complaints. And it is fast.

So it's great to hear that my net experiences are about to get even faster. Even better to learn that this isn't going to cost me any more:

With effect from 1 February 2005 XS4ALL is substantially increasing the download and upload speeds of its Start, Lite, Basic and Fast ADSL accounts. The new speeds are detailed in the following table.

Start ADSL:
current speed: 416/160 kbit/s
new speed: 800/256 kbit/s*

Lite ADSL:
current speed: 1120/352 kbit/s
new speed: 1600/512 kbit/s*

Basic ADSL:
current speed: 2240/416 kbit/s
new speed: 3200/768 kbit/s*

Fast ADSL:
current speed: 4480/704 kbit/s
new speed: 8000/1024 kbit/s*

*) The maximum speeds depend on the quality of the copper wire, the distance from the exchange and the modem used.

The new speeds will be implemented from 1 February. The precise date of the speed increase for your ADSL connection is not known, but the adjustment will be completed by 31 March 2005.

If you're in The Netherlands, and want to do business with a reliable and cost-effective ISP, I'd recommend this one.