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?

A: To answer these questions, we must understand the drilling process, the causes of the BP accident and the kinds of automatic controls necessary for both the normal and the emergency drilling operation.

Drilling a test well on land is as simple as digging a hole. Drilling deep under the sea increases both the risks and the costs because of the high pressures and hostile environment at the ocean bottom. As the depth increases, the weight of the connecting piping between the sea floor and the platform above also increases. To reduce this weight and the associated cost, the pipe thicknesses had to be reduced, which could only be achieved if some of the drilling equipment was lowered down to the ocean floor where the pressure is high (2200 PSI in case of BP), the temperature is near freezing, and the environment is corrosive. Furthermore, the lowered equipment is inaccessible and has to be operated by remote-operated vehicles (ROV) or subsea robots.

Under these conditions, state-of-the-art technology, including automatic safety controls, trips and redundant equipment, should have been used, potentially making the drilling of deep sea wells uneconomical and in some cases consuming more energy than the wells produced. The industry and its regulator, the Mineral Management Service, in the absence of standards requiring such controls, concentrated on cutting costs.

Read the entire Article here

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 !

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Plenty of space for movies, photos, and a lot of fresh designed iPad “HD” apps. It’s all here , the entire iWork suite (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) is available for $9.99 / each , Real Racing HD proves the Apple A4 CPU / GPU 3D performance in gaming and a thousand more apps.

It’s still under review…..

Pros: good battery life , excellent LED touchscreen, very good performance (hopefully Apple will not “update” it to a slower version using iTunes , as it did with the iPhone 3G) , easy to sync using iTunes with your Mac.

Cons: no camera, no stereo speakers, apps are more expensive compared to the iPhone.

Yeah, it is. The Magic Mouse is much better than the Mighty Mouse, which people hated, and might actually be good enough that non-Mac users might want to pick it up as well, supposing that they don’t really care about ergonomics. Since it fills the gap between a tiny travel mouse and a full sized desktop mouse, the Magic is in a good position to grab users on both ends.

This was the biggest disappointment I had with Apple since now (that’s why I went for a second phone based on Android). Anyway, it seems thing are getting better now with the new release of Iphone OS 4.1 that solves “the Iphone 3G performance issues” as stated in the changelog.

Indeed folks after updating via iTunes (iTunes is updated as well ) to 4.1 the Iphone 3G went back to normal as it was on a 3.1.13 version without any delays or problems noticed since now.

Apple’s latest iPhone operating system is powerful, and the iPhone 3G is two years old at this point. The new operating system isn’t compatible at all with the earliest version of the iPhone — but it is supposed to be compatible with the 3G and 3GS, although some features, like multitasking, won’t work on the 3G.

A few days ago I got the HTC Desire (the so called european version of Google’s Nexus One). It’s almost the same phone and I really musta say this, Android is fasssst ! Really fast!

What you get ? Better camera, better Mail (and of course GMail), Google Maps integration, 1 GHZ processor 512 ROM and 576 RAM.

The 3.7 inch AmoLED display is way better compared to the Iphone’s LCD. Almost the same battery life for day by day use.

Still under review….but 8 people out of 10 (IT geeks of course) said the Android does worth the switch from iOS.

• Ms Office 2010 Academic Suite for only £49
• Ms Windows 7 Professional 64 bit Upgrade (you must have a valid license of XP or Vista) for only £30

I took advantage of my @northumbria.ac.uk account and in 5 minutes using Digital River’s shop I had the product keys and download links. Office 2010 is about 586 MB and Windows 7 Pro is about 3.2GB.

Be aware you need to have a Win XP or Win Vista license prior to installing Windows 7 Professional , this is just the upgrade version. However the price is unbeatable. Upgrading from XP it’s a bit tricky but if you have minimum IT knowledge you’ll be fine.

If you had a Office Trial before you can use the same .exe file and just use the new product key since the executable is the same (name, version and size ) so you don’t have to download it again.

Those of you who are interested should visit the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-gb/default.aspx

After 12h I have received an email from the website owner , Mr. Richard – the so called “code-director” (hahaha) telling me that he was unable to find a proper unlock code for my BB 8900 but I can choose another option from their website, and so on. Practically just bullshit …

Hi ,

This is just to inform you that a request on the server for your BlackBerry phones unlock code (imei : 359485027368XXX ) has returned “Code Not Found”

This could be because your imei is incorrect. Please recheck your imei and if incorrect forward to us for resubmission.(free)

This could also mean that the unlock service chosen wasnt the service that locked your phone.

YOU MAY have an alternative service….

For example if you chose Motorola unlock codes we try to obtain your codes from Motorola, if your phone returned Code Not Found from them it could be that your “network” that locked it, ie Vodafone or AT&T.  Its quite possible and happens quite often that if you re-place your order choosing the alternative service you can obtain your codes this way.  Alternatives are not always available it really will depend on your network and make of phone, you can check our list here:

http://www.foneszone.co.uk/nav/unlock_code_pricelist.php

When you order codes from us our form just automatically selects the CHEAPEST option available, not always the most reliable for your phone, If you would like to try another service please REPLY and I can set up new payment for another code.

Hi Spanoche,This is just to inform you that a request on the server for your BlackBerry phones unlock code (imei : 359485027368216 ) has returned “Code Not Found”
This could be because your imei is incorrect. Please recheck your imei and if incorrect forward to us for resubmission.(free)
This could also mean that the unlock service chosen wasnt the service that locked your phone.
YOU MAY have an alternative service….
For example if you chose Motorola unlock codes we try to obtain your codes from Motorola, if your phone returned Code Not Found from them it could be that your “network” that locked it, ie Vodafone or AT&T.  Its quite possible and happens quite often that if you re-place your order choosing the alternative service you can obtain your codes this way.  Alternatives are not always available it really will depend on your network and make of phone, you can check our list here:

http://www.foneszone.co.uk/nav/unlock_code_pricelist.php

When you order codes from us our form just automatically selects the CHEAPEST option available, not always the most reliable for your phone, If you would like to try another service please REPLY and I can set up new payment for another code.

I have submitted a refund request two or three times, no answer. I had to contact Paypal report it and after a couple of days PayPal refunded my account.

So please take care when you’re looking for “unlock blackberry” on Google, a lot of scammers like this one ( foneszone.co.uk ) show up. It’s better to be warned than sorry !

It’s called OpenProj and it’s an open source project management software intended as a complete desktop replacement for Microsoft Project.  This software is a serious alternative to Ms Project. OpenProj will do: control, tracking and management of projects.

OpenProj interface

OpenProj is ideal for desktop project management and is available on Linux, UNIX, Mac or Windows. It even opens existing Microsoft or Primavera files. OpenProj is an user interface and even opens existing MSProject files.

OpenProj shares scheduling engine with Project-ON-Demand and provides Gantt Charts, Network Diagrams (PERT Charts), WBS and RBS charts, Earned Value costing and more.
The OpenProj solution has been translated into French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Galician, Persian, Russian, Korean and Chinese.

Features:

•     Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) used to order and control the tasks of the project for people who manages projects
•     Resources Breakdown Structure (RBS) used to define the structure of the resources, teams, providers, etc.
•    Task Usage and Resource Usage are used to control your project and provide a good track on it.
•    The Report tool provides information about the current status of your project.

Microsoft Project retails for $999.99, is installed on 7% of all Office desktops and drives over $1 billion in revenue for Microsoft. OpenProj fills an important gap in the desktop market, as a key component in the Office family of products now has a replacement available on Linux, Unix, Mac or Windows. OpenProj was also selected for inclusion with Star Office suite boxes in Europe. The OpenProj solution has been translated into French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Galician, Persian, Russian, Korean and Chinese.

Both of the compression options are found in the Save As menu. First find a large PDF file that you want to shrink, any will do for this example. Go to File > Save As. In the save box there will be two drop down items. The second one is what we are interested in, Quartz Filter. From the drop down menu select none. This may be counter intuitive at first, however it allows the PDF engine to run and reduce any parts that it can. It doesn’t run any other filters. For the most part on an uncompressed PDF this will produce pleasing results. The image below show the drop down box on the Save As menu.

how to compress PDF files on a Mac

The option of having no Quartz Filter for the most part is sufficient. This can reduce the file size. This option is known as loss less, so it wont remove anything at all and keep things in high quality. This is needed for PDF’s with images. However for PDF’s with only text or simple geometric shapes to may be better to reduce the file size even more.

To apply a reduction in quality (however it still stays pretty good) in the drop down select “Reduce File Size”, I never notice it at first. This option will crunch images and remove parts of the PDF that are not needed, in a similar method of a jpeg images. There are slight problems with this method. Images turn out horrible and lose all quality. However for text and simple bands of colour it is perfect, and the reduction in file size can be massive.

Hopefully these two option apply to you. The first one, for the most part, doesn’t produce any decent results (one files size was larger) if the original PDF is made in Preview. However the second option always reduces the files size, usually by half.

Rent a movie , download it , get some popcorn and adopt my position….I don’t give a f**k about all this SL vs W7 prizefight. If you do go here