månadsarkiv: juni 2009

Swedish

Svenskt Tangentbord till HTC Magic

En del har ogillat placeringen av de svenska tangenterna på HTC magic och att de inte ligger helt lättåtkomliga på det fullständiga QWERTY-bordet.

Det finns nu en uppdatering till applikationen Scandinavian Keyboard som kan laddas ned via Android Market och installeras.

När detta är installerat går man in i ”Settings” letar upp ”Locate & Text”, kryssar i ”Scandinavian Keyboard” där. Sedan under fliken ”Scandinavian Keyboard” väljer man svenskt tangentbord.

Det sista man behöver göra är sedan att man står vid ett inputfält och gör ett långt tryck. Då kommer en meny upp där man kan välja ”Input Method”. Välj detta alternativ och sedan ”Scandinavian Keyboard”.

Nu har du ett ersättningstangentbord som kanske fungerar bättre.

English, Swedish

How to calibrate the HTC Magic compass

7 kommentarer
If you have like me used the HTC Magic built-in magnetic compass for a while you might have noticed that it is not always properly aligned. Here is a procedure to re-calibrate the compass and accelerometers in the mobile so that it should give you pretty accurate readings once more:

  1. It does not matter if you are running any special software or not but I recommend you put the phone in the desktop home state.
  2. Make sure you are standing in an open space, preferably out doors, away from power lines, rail roads, large magnetic objects.
  3. Hold it flat with the display facing the sky. Hold it steady and make sure you do not drop it in the next moment!
  4. move it in front of you in large figure-8 patterns in five complete rounds.
  5. Hold the phone upright with the display facing your belly.
  6. Repeat the figure-8 movement again for five complete rounds.

The calibration of the compass and accelerometers should now be pretty good.

If at any time you feel the compass is not showing you the right direction or seems ”stuck” even if you are turning, then repeat this calibration and it will come alive again. Certain applications such as the metal detector application may also screw the calibration and you might need to repeat this after using such software.

 Om du som jag har använt dig av HTC Magics inbyggda kompass ett tag så har du kanske märkt att den inte alltid visar så rätt. Här nedan följer en procedur hur man kan få den kalibrerad enkelt och visa rätt igen:

  1. Det spelar ingen roll om du kör någon sorts mjukvara eller inte men jag rekommenderar att du stänger av program och låter den vara på den vanliga desktopen.
  2. Se till att du står bra i ett öppet område, helst utomhus och inte i närheten av kraftiga magnetiska fält eller objekt.
  3. Håll telefonen platt i handen med displayen rakt upp mot himlen. Tappa den inte i nästa moment!
  4. För telefonen i stora åttor framför dig i åtminstone fem hela varv.
  5. Håll telefånen nu med högtalaren rakt upp och displayen mot din mage.
  6. För telefonen återigen i åttor framför dig.

Accelerometrarna i telefonen skall nu ha hittat sin jämvikt och kompassen bör stämma relativt väl. Du behöver göra om denna kalibrering ca 1 gång om dagen i normalfallet.
English

HTC Magic

What I have used before…

So this is my new friend and toy. I have previously been an Ericsson fan until they released the ridiculous K600i telephone and then I switched to Nokia N95 for a short while and I detested the Symbian OS completely. So then I tried a Windows Mobile based HTC the Dual Touch model and my current work provides me with a HTC S740 which is also a windows mobile but with some nice features like GPS and so on. Last thursday however I went and bought myself the first big Android phone released in Sweden, the HTC Magic through the operator 3.

Just WOW!

I can honestly tell you that this mobile has become one of the best gadgets and most useful tools I have ever possessed and in a very nice package. The mobile looks a little bit like an iPhone, slightly smaller display area and with a few more buttons on the front side. However when it is started it is obvious that it har borrowed even more from the iPhone in terms of the interface but also it is far from the special locked down feeling that I get from all Apple’s stuff.

The great Google Mobile!
The great Google Mobile! Picture shows a Vodaphone mobile, mine is without that logotype but otherwise the same.

Connector

First of all the multiconnector contact on the phone is a slightly modified USB connector. The modification is only there so that you won’t insert audio connectors into a normal USB but they will fit your phone. However normal USB cables will fit the phone so you can connect it to any laptop or desktop PC or mac just like that with any normal USB connector.

The phone charges over USB and syncs really well. This has been the standard for HTC phones for quite some time now and I hope that other makers of phones will abandon their special connector solutions and just use a normal USB plug or a lightly modified one like HTC does.

Battery time

The battery is depleted quickly if you are surfing a lot, streaming music running the GPS and so on but if you are using it in stand-by mode it will keep you happy for a couple of days at normal use. In the beginning you will probably – like me – need to charge it nighly because it is just so fun to try all the features and bring up the GPS assisted maps, stream YouTube when you are bored and so on. Of course using heavy applications and lots of 3G and HSPA data networks will definitely use up the battery quickly.

But I have no complaints really, if you are conservative with you will probably not have to charge it more than every second or third day. It also recharges pretty quickly if you use the wall plug charger. Charging over USB from a computer that can only deliver 500 mA maximum takes of course much longer.

Software

The software for syncing and backing up is included on the phone. Connect it to your computer using the USB cable, then mount the SD card that comes with it and the sync application, manual et cetera is showing up on a removable disk volume. Just install the software straight from the phone and you are ready. Or look something up in the manual.

Adding your MP3 music is just as easy, just drag them to the music folder on your phone, allow the copy to finish and then you are done. The copying is pretty fast as well, seems to be USB2 which is so much faster than my older HTC mobiles that was taking forever to store music.

Oh, and the mobile can be used like normal whilst connected to the PC with the USB.

Android OS and Interface

The Android OS is developed by Google and this is obvious from start when setting up the phone since it asks for your Google online username and password. Once given to the phone it syncs the calendar and mail account with the online GMail and Google Calendar and many other services you might be using such as GTalk and so on. Lovely stuff if you like the G approach to online life then this phone is definitely for you! It also have mail applications that can handle Exchange mail and normal POP/IMAP accounts as well of course though I have not had much use with these yet and gmail is doing the job rather nicely for me.

The interface is smart, sleek and very fast. I have not been able to make the phone slow down yet with the applications I have been running. The menus just slides out and back again really smooth and nice. The settings in the phone is very logically arranged and it just takes seconds to find something you don’t have to hunt around in an obscure menu system and most of the things just works out of the box.

The on-screen keyboards

There are several of on-screen keyboard to chose from and whenever you touch something to type the phone gives a tactile response by a very short vibration. This is really great because most touch keys are difficult to see if you hit or not because even if the key gives a visual response the finger usually blocks the view! Great thinking here.

Swedish keys are located on one of the keyboards directly and in the others you will have to press the A button or O button down to bring up a row of accented characters and then slide your finger off to the Å, Ä or Ö characers as desired.

Sky map

sky-map

The mobile features a GPS receiver, a magnetic compass and accelerometric sensors that can tell how you are holding the phone. And of course google has released a real killer app to go with that, the google stars. Go out on a starry night, give the GPS a few seconds to locate your position (or use the cell towers to triangulate your position down to a few hundred yards accuracy) and then start the Google Stars app and hold the mobile up to the part of the sky you are viewing. Instantly the mobile will show you the stars and their names, constellations, where the polar star is and show you the positions of the planets and so on. I can’t really tell you how fun this is – you just got to try this out yourself. Incredible!

Navigation for car and by foot

Oh I already mentioned the GPS. It loads information over the network where the satellites are so it aquires a position within seconds when outdoor. If it can not find a GPS fix it will still give you pretty accurate position based on information from the cell towers if your operator supports this. The magnetic compass shows where you are heading and the GPS plots your current position on Google Maps. Now just find where you want to go and it will take you there. Really good for finding addresses, stores, shops, people… searching on the map ties in to many other databases on the Internet and usually gives you really accurate information. I am a jogger as you might have come to know by now.

One of the more esoteric application is a metal detector that detects ferro-magnetic materials. It’s quite funny and uses the compass of course to do this but it is great fun. It may even be useful to locate  stuff in walls…

Geocaching

The phone with GPS and magnetic compass also have applications for Geocaching through the Application Market (where most apps are free) and I have tried out the GeoBeagle application which is a really great app. Press a key and it will take you to the Geocaching online site listing the closest caches for you that you have not already found. Select one of them and then press view as a google map and GeoBeagle snatches it up, shows you a directional compass where to go, distance, accuracy of your position and you are ready to go.

When you find it you just press a key to log your find (or DNF, did not find, as it may be) and you have logged another cache. So simple

Cardio Trainer application

Yesterday I found another killer app that you can use that plots your running on a google map, keeps track on your progress in tempo (minutes per km or mile) and distance and time in km or miles and minutes. The application can also be set to regularly announce the tempo you are currently keeping and how many kilometers you have been doing so far and on what time. So, with the built in MP3-player and this application I sat off. One minute later the mp3 music fades slightly, then a voice announces that I am doing 6:30 minutes per km. Later on when I reach my first km running the voice tells me that I have now done 1 km in 6 minutes and 52 seconds and so on. Makes you really aware on how fast you are going, if you are keeping a good tempo or slacking off or if you are pushing harder than you wanted. When finished you can upload your track to the web to have more information about it there, share with people or just compare several runs with each other.

I really really like this!

English

Public Records Office II

I had the grand fortune to be able to re-visit the old public records building. I found when I came home from the first time that I had unfortunately missed many details that I remembered and I also did not find the basement with the elevator machine room and the attic where I think some nice pictures could be made.

Therefore – here is my re-visit to the Public Records Office here in Stockholm. If you have not seen the first article then you should read that one first.

Now you are welcome to follow me into this fantastic place. The building is bein re-made into a place for children, which I think will be really great – very Harry Potter-ish in many ways. So welcome into the magic world of designed offices from the 1880:s.

The Corner Stairs
Corner stairs again. This time the sun was shining right outside and I wanted to get a special effect from the light to show the relative strength of the sunlight. I think I got it where I wanted to. It looks like an H-bomb just went off outside...
Door handle
This is the lock and handle on the doors that separates the different archive rooms from eachother. They are built in very sturdy boiler plate stell to provide safety from fire. Most doors also have signs telling people to keep them closed to make it harder for a fire to spread through the archives.
Atlas Window
This is a detail from a window frame where the Swedish compandy ATLAS here in Stockholm can be made out.
The ventilator
An adjusteable ventilator. There are ventilation shafts within the walls of the building in some room to provide for fresh air to circulate.
Cartons
Some of the old binders and collectors remain, but they are empty. I wonder why they have been left here when everything has been removed from all of the other shelves. Perhaps as a reminder of what it might have once looked like when the shelves where full of these things...
Stairy Case II
A stair case leading down into the basement. We found this when we went exploring the darker and more dungeon-like parts of the archive and had to go back and get the camera and tripod. Was looking for the engine room for the elevator.
Single Light
This is the last level of the archive before we actually get to the attic of the building and it has a different design. Here there are no big windows letting light in and there is a large wooden cupboard at the end that used to hold some special volumes. I am guessing that not everyone had access to this part of the archive. Maybe here is where the dark secret magic books where kept?
Attic Wall and Roof
This is a part of the attic, the wall and the roof and concrete supports. I just liked the various textures here. It was really hot up here even if the temperature outside was not so high but the sunshine on the roof made it easy 30-35 degrees in here. Hot and dusty.
Water Expansion Cistern
I believe this is part of the heating system in the building, the expansion tank. As you can see it is designed in such a way that a small leak here would lead the water away over the floor to an outlet that would let it drain through the wall without harm. I don't think this part is being used any more, the wood looks old and cracked and not in use.
The Atomic Radiator
This radiator looks like something out of a Russian movie. Perhaps somethingt from the battleship "Potemkin" but in fact it is another type of radiator used to heat the building. This one is located in the attic of the public records building and the design is modular. It is apparently so that you can put more of these modules together if you need more heating power.
Attic
This place looks like something out of a computer game such as "Unreal" or similar. I am just expecting someone to enter with a rocket gun, circle strafing around me firing rockets high and low. A really strange feeling. Imagine what fun you might have with some paint ball gear around here... :-)
Attic Skylight
Here is another shot from the same room as in the previous picture.
Light play on the floor
Some nice patterns of light and shadow on the floor of one of the upper levels here.
ATLAS STOCKHOLM
This is the details on the base of one of the column radiators. Again it is the ATLAS company here in Stockholm that delivered these.
Decoration Detail
Details of the iron support pillars. These pillars are very nice and you find them pretty much everywhere in the third floor with the offices.
The Archivist's Room
The state archivist's office. This is the grand office in the building with doorways to the left and right to study rooms and secretary rooms. Two huge windows for letting the light in and a very nicely decorated ceiling designed in a way to provide a natural attenuation of sounds in the room. The electrical light is not typical for the times but added later, perhaps in the 1940s or so. The same for the radiators which is a much more modern type of radiators compared to the ones found in other places in the building. I really like this photograph myself, one of those I will always remember shooting. I have corrected lens distortion in photoshop and used three different exposures at 14 bit RAW before combining them to this image.
State Archivist's Office
The entrance to the archivists office. The offset in colour temperatures between the outside and the indoor lamp light is rather obvious here.
Archivator's Ceiling
The ceiling in the archivist's room. I was laid flat on my back when taking this photograph.
Staircase
I love these stairs that are build in several places in this building. They are also made by the ATLAS company and actually I saw one exactly like this in a coffee shop on Ringvägen close to Skanstull metro station when I went in there for a cup of coffee a couple of days ago. I did not ask if they had put their stair case in or where they got it from but the design was exactly like this one although the rail was a little bit different I think.
ATLAS-STOCKHOLM
A close-up shot of the stairs of the stair case in the previous picture. Complete with the company name.
RIKSARKIVET - TEVIKRASKIR
This is the window above the entrance to the building with that yellow light that seems to be always shining. You can see the letters RIKSARKIVET but mirrored.
Arch
A painted arch above the doorway on the third floor of the building. These paintings are pretty much everywhere in the "nicer" part of the building.
Elevator Machine Room
This is the entrance to the machine room for the elevator in the building. Originally the building had no electricity but then it also seems to be proud over that it was the first public bulding in Sweden that did have an electrical elevator. I am not sure when it was installed but they installed it in a separate room with a boiler plate steel door in order to be able to contain any electrical fire that might result from it.
Elevator Machine
The elevator engine, drum and controller. I believe the engine was modernized in the 1950s, it does not by far look as old as the rest of the machinery and probably the wire has been replaced as well. However the controlling mechanism seems to be original.
Elevator Machine
All these three pictures from the elevator machine room was taken in darkness shot with a hand-held flash light used to light paint the room into the right mood. I really like this technique.
The Corridor
Corridor in the basement.
Toilet Stalls
Three toilet stalls. On the middle one it says "Tryckeri" which means printing but there is also a second more litteral meaning in Swedish and it means "a place where something is pushed". Suiteable for a toilet. Lit by a key chain diode lamp and long exposure.
Courtyard Looking Out
Part of the court yard and gate into the back side of the public records building.
Gate
Just look at the iron works of this gate...
Window Drain
An interesting solution here. Especially in the winter time condensation on the windows was a common problem and the solution here was to catch the water before it could drip onto the floor and instead lead it onto the radiator where it would be evaporated. Nice solution!
English

WordPress 2.8 Editor Problem

1 kommentar

After the upgrade to version 2.8 of WordPress my visual editor, the TinyMCE editor used to edit most of my posts disappeared and did not want to start at all. I tried four different browsers with the same problem, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, MS Internet Explorer and Opera and they all had the same problem.

I found other people on the web with similar problems with various solutions but nothing they did helped me so after some trial and error this is what I did and it worked for me:

  1. Disabled all plugins.
  2. Removed the site from ”Gears” in firefox browser.
  3. Cleared the entire browsing history, cookies, and all user data from the browser except for saved passwords.
  4. Logged in to the site and went to ”Tools->Upgrade” and did a re-install of the 2.8 version of wordpress.
  5. Re-enabled the plugins I wanted.
  6. The visual editor now works.

This solved the problem also in Google Chrome but required a restart of the web browser. The Gears is disabled in the ”under the hood” settings of Chrome.

I hope others may have some help from this because it was rather annoying. I think it was a problem with saved cookies in combination with the google gears.