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Can Process Control Prevent Oil Well Blowouts?

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

deep water bopOil Drilling Accident in the Gulf of Mexico: What caused it? Could We Have Prevented the Blowout with Properly Designed Process Control Systems?

Q: I’ve received a number of questions about the oil drilling accident in the Gulf of Mexico: What caused it? If properly designed process control systems were used, could the blowout have been prevented? What contributions could process control have made to stop the flow after the blowout? [Read more...]

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Forget about “reminders” for iOS. I introduce you: Remember the Milk !

January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It was a real pain in the ass to keep all my daily / weekly tasks in sync on all my gadgeds. I needed the same app on my iPhone, Android Device, iPad and also at home on my MacBook. Since “reminders” for iOS 5.0 does only a part of the job, I have found a nice and interesting application that may fill the gap.

Remember The Milk (yeah I know, sounds funny) is more than a simple task manager. You no longer have to write your to-do lists on sticky notes, whiteboards, random scraps of paper, or the back of your hand. Remember The Milk makes managing tasks an enjoyable experience.

 

I would like to write a lot about this nice web app, but here is the link to their website http://www.rememberthemilk.com/tour/ . Have fun !

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Samsung CA750 wireless 27 inch monitor

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Samsung CA750 monitorSamsung’s CA750 is not just a 27 inch monitor is a hub, a wireless and USB hub.

I was impressed by :

  • wireless connection between the notebook and the monitor (using a simple and small usb dongle)
  • 2 USB 3.0 ports and another two USB 2.0 ports integrated
  • fast charging feature available for 2 of the 4 USB ports (this is really cool if you charge your phone as me via the USB cable while you stay in front of your computer )
  • HDMI connection for 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution
  • ethernet connection – the monitor is able to share it via USB with your computer/laptop
  • bright, sharp & nice colors … using the latest LED technology
 It’s a dock and monitor in one, providing not only a larger display but a healthy helping of ports and connections as well. All that is done wirelessly too, but only if the device it’s paired with is within 1 m (approx. 3 ft.).
Obviously this device is aimed at laptop and netbook users, but since its adapter plugs in via USB, desktop computers can get it on the action too. The extra ports are located at the back and on either side of the monitor’s base. There are 4 USB ports (two of them are USB 3.0), an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and an audio output jack. Ironically the Central Station also has a VGA connector. When it comes to computers redundancy is always welcome, but the connector sticks out like a sore thumb, as if it doesn’t trust that the wireless connection will serve us well.
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Copy BlackBerry contacts to Samsung Galaxy phone – HOW TO

December 17, 2011 By

There is an easy way to copy your BlackBerry contacts (with full info – email, phone number, name , company etc.) to your android device over the air without any PC or any cables needed.

Here is a simple tutorial that I hope you will find useful:

With an active Internet data connection on your BlackBerry device, go to http://m.google.com/sync. It should detect that you’re on a BlackBerry phone and have a link for you to download the Google Sync app for Blackberry. Download Google Sync and install it, after that it should show up in your list of apps on the Blackberry.

Open the Google Sync app on your BlackBerry, login to your google account, and there should be a Sync Now button at the bottom of the welcome screen once you login. Click Sync Now and wait for 2-3 minutes.

Once this sync is done, on your Android phone click the Menu button and go to Settings > Accounts & Sync, make sure the Contacts setting is checked, hit the menu button again and click Sync Now.

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Font smoothing problem with a MacBook (Pro) external monitor

August 14, 2011 By

It happened to me with two Samsung (one LCD , one LED) 22″ monitors. After I have connected them to my MacBook Pro via the MiniDisplay port to VGA adapter, I saw that everything was fine on the bigger screen , apart from the fonts….they looked fuzzy, abnormal, hard to read, not sharp at all !

Here is a way to quickly solve the problem with font smoothing on your Macbook  (Pro) external monitor:

Open a Terminal window ( CMD + T  and type “terminal” )
Type this into the newly opened Terminal window:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

The number 2 here corresponds to Medium – Best for Flat Panel. You may also use 1 for light smoothing, and 3 for strong smoothing, as per the original OS X font smoothing options.

Should anyone need to remove the preference, restoring the default, use:

 defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing

 

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Upgrading the software version on BB Torch , a real pain

August 11, 2011 By

Software update is not so smooth as it looks like

I am using  BB Torch 9800 for my daily email needs , when I do not carry my iPad with me. It’s great to have a keyboard that you can actually feel instead of a touchscreen. However, I am not happy at all with RIM’s way to upgrade, apply software updates, this phone.

It took over 1.5 hours to update the Phone to the latest BB software version ! It can’t be done over the air (like Android and soon iOS 5) , required BB desktop software latest version, gets stuck after 50% of set-up….phone starts with 507 errors on the screen , barely usable.

I had to:

1. update BB desktop client to latest version

2. install I don’t know what module that allows the phone software update to be done

3. start the software upgrade with the phone , plugged in

4. disconnected the phone in the middle of the installation because the BB software said so.

5. rebooted the phone, then got 507 “reinstall software” error

6. reinstalled the software update, took 45 minutes

7. started the phone….. however it was in the out of factory condition

8. restored email accounts, contacts, media from a previous backup

9. 90 minutes of pain, compared to Android’s 15 minutes over the air upgrade and apple 20 mins USB cable upgrade. RIM you should start looking ahead, the wheel is there you do not need to reinvent it! during 1.5 hours of phone updates & errors of course no one can call you , and not all BB users are IT guys.

 

 

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UNISON another nice to have Mac app. from Panic

July 26, 2011 By

Okay, I must admit I have not been a Usenet user … never. I really mean that, I have never used it. It looked stupid, old, and plus I had to pay for it.

In fact even today facts are the same Usenet is still using old technology, it’s old compared to really well organized discussion boards and web forums and the disappointment  comes when you find out you have to pay about 19 bucks per month for it.

I decided to give it a try however. Sign up was fast using the Giganews service. However for starter plans you will have to either get a free Usenet client or buy one. If you are looking at the second option by far (statistically) you’ll use UNISON developed by the Panic team (see previous post about their Coda software). I’m talking about Mac OS X here – if you’re Bill Gates addicted stop reading this post, in fact you can forget the entire web address and even block it in your firewall (if you can , if your Windows machine won’t crash or you will spend 2 hours and a half to figure it out ).

usenet. it’s filled with interesting things. but it can be overwhelming.

unison 2 makes it easy to read, look, listen, and download.

 

 

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Coda 1.7 for Mac

June 15, 2011 By

I have started using Coda (v 1.7) for Mac. Initially I was a little bit  sceptic about Coda , but now I must say I love it. Nice CSS Editor built in, syntax highlighting and so on. FTP client integrated … and a lot more for only $99 .

I was using TextMate (for Mac) before Coda. However switching to Coda wasn’t painful at all in fact some of the developers coming from Windows will find it pretty attractive and easy to use on a daily basis.

 

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Ar Drone easter fun

April 15, 2011 By

I had some fun this Easter with the Ar Drone developed by Parrot (yes the guys that were making nice bluetooth car kits ).

Filed Under: Photography, Social life

Focus on essential applications

November 19, 2010 By

BackDrop is a Mac OS X utility that will help you to stay focused only on the essential applications you are using. It blacks out everything else.
Recommended for report writing / blogging / essay writing / web development / programming and so on …

Here is the download link (freeware): http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/

Filed Under: Tech stuff

VirtualBox from ORACLE – review

November 4, 2010 By

Oracle VM VirtualBox is the most advanced free desktop-based virtualization utility and the most advanced open-source version virtualization software, too. It’s not the best or easiest to use virtualization option out there, but if you don’t mind tinkering or don’t have any room in your budget for virtualization, it’s a solid choice.

There are many virtual machine applications available on the market; available both for free and as shareware.   These applications include VMWare, Parallels, Microsoft Virtual PC, and VirtualBox.  VirtualBox truly has the upper hand, mainly because it is freely available.   I personally like VirtualBox because of the fact that it is cross-platform, unlike most of the other freely available virtual machine applications.  This means that a Mac or Linux user would have the same general experience as a Windows user.   This makes it a truly versatile tool, ensuring the greatest overall compatibility down the road.

These virtual machines (VMs) have lots of advantages. If you’re a power user or developer, you can run software in a Windows XP virtual machine that won’t run on your actual Windows 7 system. In my case I’m not able to use the Wonderware InTouch suite 9.5 inside Win 7 64bit so I had to run it using a Windows XP sp3 VM.

Same thing applies to Simatic Step 7 v5.4 from SIEMENS. Most Step 7 programmers already know that v5.4 will only run in Windows XP – hence VirtualBox is the best solution to do it without the need for hardware virtualization that other similar products require (see the Microsoft Virtual PC / Windows XP Mode bullshit).

I also feel that VirtualBox makes the virtual machine creation process super easy, which ultimately means that more people can take advantage of virtual machine technology.  Lastly, and most importantly, VirtualBox has gained a reputation for having an excellent support site filled with documentation and troubleshooting information.

VirtualBox is available for free at www.virtualbox.org

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Skype for Android is available

October 22, 2010 By

After a lot of disputes lately regarding the availability of Skype for Google’s Android platform, yesterday I had a nice surprise.

Skype for Android is available from Skype.com or via the Android Market. With the new app, you can make free Skype-to-Skype calls, and send and receive IMs for free, one-to-one or with a group. You can also call phones at Skype’s great rates – over WiFi or 3G.

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