WiredBob's Bloghttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/en-GB2010-09-03T10:35:27ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/)The Big Wheel Test continues...http://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2010/4/20/the-big-wheel-test-continues.htmlRobert Conn2010-04-20T18:16:46Z

A major test this weekend for the new Harry Rowland wheels - towing a Chariot child trailer with baby inside. No problems yet after 4 commutes with alot of curb bumping and the towing. Whilst heavy, the wheels are definitely strong and smooth. I reckon it'll take about 3 months for a full long term test but so far I'm impressed.

As far as the trailer goes, it's amazing! Really comfortable for the baby with good safety harnesses. Folds down and wheels are removable to fit in the boot. It is a bit heavy but that just adds to the training!

]]>Time to get back on the bikehttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2010/4/12/time-to-get-back-on-the-bike.htmlRobert Conn2010-04-12T06:43:51Z

First time that my Thorn commuting bike is back on the road since October last year. I'm giving the new Harry Rowland wheels a big test with all that weight on the back!

]]>For Sale - Apple TV, iPod Nanohttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2010/4/11/for-sale-apple-tv-ipod-nano.htmlRobert Conn2010-04-11T20:34:55ZApple TV For Sale Nano appleI have a couple of Apple items for sale - drop me a mail at bob.conn@btinternet.com or tweet @WiredBob if you are interested.

iPod Nano 5th Generation (the one that does video)

Very good condition (about 5 months old and still under warranty), one small scratch on the top edge.

http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodnano

£80

Apple TV 40 Gb

As new condition (9 months old, still under warranty)

http://www.apple.com/uk/appletv

£140

]]>New Harry Rowland Wheelsethttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2010/4/5/new-harry-rowland-wheelset.htmlRobert Conn2010-04-05T10:07:44ZCycling cycling wheelsI've just received a set of handmade Harry Rowland wheels for my commuting bike.  For a while I've been putting up with a set of factory build wheels from SJS Cycles - but they are cheap and of poor quality.  For the weight I carry they have continually broken spokes so I felt it was about time for an upgrade to something a little better.

Harry Rowland is a well-known wheelbuilder - you only have to do a quick Google to find positive comments and reviews of his work.  I had a chat with Harry and he recommended a set of Rigida 36h rims with Sputnik hubs for my weight and commuting requirements.  You can see the wheels in the photos below.  

First impressions are that the wheels are really strong and running perfectly true (as you'd expect).  I'm going to get these on the bike shortly.  With wheels a long term test is required - so i'll post my thoughts in a few weeks time.


 

 

]]>Reviewing Videos on Apple TV with Automatorhttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/8/31/reviewing-videos-on-apple-tv-with-automator.htmlRobert Conn2009-08-31T21:53:46ZApple Apple TV Applescript Automator Snow LeopardThe new Services support in Snow Leopard has got me interested in "really smoothing my Mac workflows", a term used by the demonstrator with the crazy hair at the last Apple keynote.

I take a lot of home movies with a Kodak Zi6; it's a cheap, but cheerful, HD handheld video camera that produces great looking images with not so hot audio.  I want to use my Apple TV to quickly review the home movies I produce on the camera - but that can be awkward.  The Quicktime wrapped files produced aren't quite compatible with Apple TV directly and so I've had to use a manual workflow of opening the files in iMovie, exporting to Apple TV, importing to iTunes and then syncing to finally get them onto the Apple TV.

With Quicktime 10, and the new Services support in Snow Leopard it is now possible to build a simple Automator workflow that allows me to -

  1. Select any number of Zi6 movies in the Finder.
  2. Right click, and select the "Review on Apple TV" service that i've built using Automator and some Applescript.
  3. The service will pick up all the selected files and send them to Quicktime for output in "Apple TV" format.
  4. It then uses some Applescript to import the converted files into iTunes, ready for syncing with my Apple TV.

The workflow is attached to the article for download.  Unzip the file and place it in your ~/Library/Services folder and then you can immediately right click any movie file and select the option to "Review on Apple TV".  It can also be opened in Automator and freely modified.

I still haven't perfected the workflow.  I want to add some metadata (specifically genre = "For Review") to the converted files so that I can quickly find them on the Apple TV.  I also want to trigger a sync on the Apple TV automatically but I can't see how that is possible in Applescript.  For now though, it works pretty well as a simple first start.

Download the Service here

]]>Keynote Remote with Macbook Pro Ad-hoc Networkhttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/8/27/keynote-remote-with-macbook-pro-ad-hoc-network.htmlRobert Conn2009-08-27T22:49:59ZApple Keynote iPhoneI'm giving a presentation in about a month and I'm planning to use Keynote on my Macbook Pro.  I was hoping to use the iPhone Keynote Remote app, to act as a very modern version of a slide changer (if that's what you call it?).  Keynote Remote expects both the host computer and the iPhone to be on the same network; but there are numerous reports of connection problems between both, not to mention the fact that you don't always have a Wifi network available at presentation venues.

Then, I had the bright idea of using the ability of Mac OS X to create an ad-hoc wireless network by clicking the Airport icon in the menu bar and clicking "Create Network...".  When I tried to connect the iPhone to the new network (Settings/Wifi) it appeared to connect - but the menubar network icon still showed a worse than Edge connection (I get terrible reception here).  Keynote Remote would work for a few slides, but then the connection would drop out - making it useless.

After the usual Googling, I stumbled across this Apple thread which suggested turning Airplane mode on in Settings, and THEN connecting to the ad-hoc network.  For some reason the iPhone now shows a Wifi connection and Keynote Remote seems to be working reliably.  Excellent tip!

]]>Eclipse Working Setshttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/5/23/eclipse-working-sets.htmlRobert Conn2009-05-23T22:56:20ZJava Programming eclipse java programming tomcatEclipse is a fantastic IDE, especially for developing Java code. However, recently I've been getting a little irritated by its speed. This is probably exacerbated by the fact that the code I'm working on has about 20 Eclipse projects in it's source tree and thousands of source files. Eclipse gives the developer plenty of help - it does code completion, resolves dependencies, performs automatic imports and refactors across projects - all of which come at a cost. I'm not sure how much time i've spend waiting for my workspace to build, but it can be 10% of the day at worst! Even navigation through that many files becomes a productivity issue.

Recently i've found what is probably a fairly obvious feature of Eclipse but if you haven’t found yet it the concept of “Working Sets” should be useful.

Working sets are a way of choosing only those projects and files that are relevant for the task in hand. It's an alternative, more focussed way to view source files and resources that the Project Explorer - that can really get out of hand if you are working with more than, say, 10 projects. At the simplest level, working sets allow you to configure multiple profiles of visible projects that you can select from depending on the task you are performing. For example, if you are only working on the Eclipse projects that deal with order management in your system, you can select the “Order Management” working set and it will show only those Eclipse projects in the Project Explorer.

You can also bring working sets much further - you can select individual packages and files to form part of the working set (you can even create a working set of breakpoints), so you can be very specific about what you want to split out and see in context. All-in-all it is a useful way to make your Eclipse environment significantly easier to navigate.

To manage working sets use the dropdown arrow on the Project Explorer.

Click New... to create a new working set and select the type of set you want. The default Java type is usually fine for Java programming.

Select the various resources that should be part of the set, and give it a name. The resources can be anything - files, packages or projects.

Finally, use the dropdown menu on the Project Explorer to change active sets.

See the video tutorials here for a walkthrough http://www.peterfriese.de/eclipse-working-sets-part-i/.

]]>New iPhone Apps to be tested on iPhone OS 3 Beta 5http://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/5/8/new-iphone-apps-to-be-tested-on-iphone-os-3-beta-5.htmlRobert Conn2009-05-08T22:06:20ZiPhone iPhone Programming sdkAny new iPhone apps submitted to the App Store for evaluation will from now be tested on iPhone OS 3, beta 5.  Developers need to make sure their apps are well tested on the new beta before submission, otherwise they could fail the process.

Beta 5 of both the iPhone OS and the SDK are available on ADC if you're a registered iPhone developer.

 

]]>Squarespace to do iPhone Apphttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/5/5/squarespace-to-do-iphone-app.htmlRobert Conn2009-05-05T23:26:15ZSquarespace apps iPhoneI've been looking around on the iTunes Store for an app that does some basics for Squarespace - blog posts, basic comment management, viewing of stats etc. It appears there is an official one on the way. I know that Ego is an excellent app for browsing various site stat services - Feedburner, Google Analytics, Mint, Squarespace and Twitter are supported, but it doesn't do most of the extras a Squarespace specific app will do.

]]>iPhone Tweetie Style Navigation Frameworkhttp://www.wiredbob.com/blog/2009/4/20/iphone-tweetie-style-navigation-framework.htmlRobert Conn2009-04-20T22:36:00ZTweetie XCode apple iPhone iPhone Programming navigation