Monthly Archives: August 2007

News, Software

Netvibes now available on your mobile

Yesterday Netvibes launched a version of their service for mobile phones available at m.netvibes.com. I’ve been playing around with it using the RIM browser and Opera Mini on a BlackBerry 8700g for a day now and the first impressions are good when using the RIM browser. The site doesn’t seem to work in Opera Mini at all, though. That surprises me. I’d like to know why.

Some widgets like Google Maps and flickr streams don’t work. I can understand that the AJAX laden Google Maps would not work on the RIM browser, but I am at a loss why RSS streams with images won’t show up.

I haven’t registered much noise on the ‘net about the launch yet. The Netvibes blog doesn’t didn’t mention it [yesterday].

Take it for a test spin on your mobile devices and let me know how you fared!

Update 1:
Samy wrote a comment to let me know that there is a separate address for the iPhone version. He also mentions that there is a list of supported widgets at m.netvibes.com/help.php. The iPhone version at iphone.netvibes.com. However the iPhone version does not work very well on the BlackBerry 8700g. Thank you, Samy!

Update 2:
When trying out the iPhone version of Netvibes I just discovered that there are some access issues. When several people behind our proxy are logged in on Netvibes at the same time, I get the start page of the other person who logged in most recently when accessing iphone.netvibes.com. That is to say I can see all the tabs of this user and all the pages they may have already accessed/loaded in that same session. Is it just me being paranoid or do you also think this is a major security issue? Perhaps we should take a look at some phone security statistics and get real. It’s good to be apprehensive, although technology is a safe way of doing things these days, it needs to be secure from hackers.

Update 3:
The Netvibes development team says in an email that they’ve fixed the proxy security issue and that they knew about it before launch. Nice that they responded that fast, but I find it a bit careless to knowingly launch new services with such issues unresolved.

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Rants, Social

So, where are you from?

I hail from the southern most town (no, I didn’t write it and I wonder why there’s nothing about the imense drug problems there) of Norway called Mandal. It’s a tiny little place internationally speaking with its ca. 14.000 inhabitants. Like many other people growing up in tiny places I moved out as soon as I could. That was 13 years ago. Much has happened since then and I currently find myself living in Cologne, Germany.

For those of you who may not know, Mandal is a coastal town, surrounded by beaches, small islands and the ocean. Growing up and living a five minutes walk from the coastline, I fell in love with the ocean at an early age. (For those of you who may not know, Cologne is like 200 Km from the (Dutch) coast). I do travel back to Mandal once a year to see family and friends, but from time to time I find myself missing the beaches, the islands and the ocean – even just the smell of it all.

As I find myself going through the images I shot of the coastline visiting Mandal last Christmas, the thought occurs to me that you too may have left somewhere. That you too may be missing some aspects of what you left behind. I thought I’d share what I’m missing by posting the images on flickr and invite you to have a look.

I would be thrilled to know what you’re missing by sharing your story – perhaps even with links to images – in the comments!

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Frivolous Friday, Music

Frivolous mp3 Friday – The Sequel

This is the sequel to my Frivolous Friday Premiere post.

Do you remember the times before the daily hustle and barter for new invites to the next social killer site? The time before myspace and flicker? When AJAX still meant detergent? Before mashups and mixups? Before DRM? The early days of Napster and mp3.com?

Back then I used to host music from talented unsigned friends on my own server. I recently saw that the pages and the mp3s are still there beneath layers of dust and mold, so I thought I’d share the remains with you – as is.

Feel free to use the music as you like as long as it is not for commercial purposes and please remember proper attribution.

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First up we have three tracks from Lover’s Lane, featuring Marius Asp from ex Bello Semen and Erik Andreas Røkland among others. The style is rather pop-ish and definitely catchy.

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Then there’s 17 (!) tracks by John Ebinger from Sailauf and the dark Spessart forest in the south of Germany. This one guy act can probably be described as dark electronica. My favorite is probably the Blumfeld Mix and Computerliebe – just can’t get them out of my head.

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Lastly there’s that guy TBG again from my last post revisited! I discovered some additional mp3 files laying about and decided to upload them for your listening pleasure.

Enjoy the week-end and be sure to leave a comment on how you love or hate the artists!

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News, Weird

Fist to the face!

As I was walking home last night from the BarCampCologne2 party in Lichtstrasse I got p0wned!

I was dead tired and minding my own business, but as I was passing Live Music Hall some motherfucker apparently mentally challenged person decided to take a swing at me, flooring me with a hook to the left cheek.

I guess the guy hits like a girl – nothing broke. Retaliation was not an option as I was drunk and dead tired he had his minions at his side.

I have no idea why it happened. I did however notice that my t-shirt was getting a lot of strange attention earlier in the day:

Dead Kennedys logo

Maybe some ignorant Germans thought this had something to do with fascism or Neo-Nazism? I don’t know. And I thought Dead Kennedys were all about the polar opposite? Well, I stand per fist to the face corrected. You really showed me there. There’s nothing quite like re-education by fist!

It left me a bit shocked. Cologne is usually a peaceful city and I’m never concerned that something like this will happen. Has anything like this ever happened to you? Have you been the victim of random violence? Please share your experiences in the comments!

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