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Software Inventory

April 5, 2009 in Computers by Ezra F | 1 comment

A list of the software I have been using lately. This is a mental reminder for what to install on the new laptop. 

Must Haves

  1. Mozilla Firefox (placemark for pre-installed)
    1. Better Flickr
    2. Diigo Bookmarks and Web Annotations – Use it to cross-seed bookmarks
    3. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer - keep consistent across computers (need one for every browser)
    4. Live HTTP headers - helpful for identifying URLs for log mining
    5. NoScript - stay safe ono the net
    6. Password Exporter - only use for switching computers
    7. Search Engines - 
      1. Creative Commons - 
      2. Wikipedia - 
  2. Mozilla Thunderbird  (placemark for pre-installed)
    1. Headers Toggle – Hit “h” to see full headers
    2. Message Filter Import/Export – easily move filters between machines
  3. Notepad++ – text editor
  4. Java JVM - Bb CE/Vista Java applets
  5. Silicon Circus PenguiNet – SSH / SCP
  6. Pidgin – IM client
  7. Tweedeck – Twitter client
  8. WinMerge - GUI diff
  9. Xming - local X for Oracle installs

Probably will get re-installed eventually

  1. Google Chrome - faster browser
    1. Manual bookmark export / import?
  2. Picasa - for editing photos for boss
    1. picasa2flickr + Flickr Uploadr – upload quickly and easily to Flickr
    2. Picasa Uploader for Facebook - 
  3. Adobe Reader
  4. Apple iTunes + Quicktime
    1. Last.fm Scrobbler
  5. Free PDF to Word Doc Converter – make a PDF editable

Probably coming with install

  1. Helpdesk software
  2. Office Software
  3. Meeting software
  4. Zip software

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Blackboard iPhone App

March 27, 2009 in Blackboard Vista by Ezra F | 6 comments

People have been contacting me all day about the Blackboard iPhone App. Both Blackboard and the Chronicle of Higher Education posted blogs about its release.

I find it interesting Jessica mentioned a Georgia student is the inspiration in the Bb blog post. There are over 200,000 students in Georgia who cannot use this application because it relies on Blackboard Sync which only operates for Academic Suite (Classic) products. Blackboard says the Sync product isn’t available to the CE/Vista products used by all but a few schools in the University System of Georgia.

The odds are good the poor student who needs the app can’t use it.

Also, the USG is exactly the kind of client who Blackboard says should wait and see before migrating to Learn.


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LC Oddities

March 24, 2009 in Blackboard Vista by Ezra F | No comments

IMS XML for Blackboard Vista 8:

Say Division1 exists. We want to create Group1 inside Division1. Ignore that Division1 already exists and write XML to create it again. Create Group1 with relationship tag info for Division1.

Starting with Group1 doesn’t work unless command-line overrides starting learning context to be Division instead of Group.

Luminis XML for Blackboard Vista 8:

Starting with Group1 fine because divisions are unsupported. 

Don’t ever use Luminis XML as a model for IMS. Ever!


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Better CE/Vista Web Server Log

February 26, 2009 in Blackboard Vista, unix by Ezra F | No comments

Some support tickets are more easily solved by knowing both user behavior and environment. An often helpful piece of information is what web browser they used. To add this, shut down the cluster, edit /VISTA_HOME/config/config.xml with to include the cs(User-Agent), and start the cluster. This line will need to appear for every node. At startup, the nodes will download a new copy of the file. 

 <elf-fields>date time time-taken c-ip x-weblogic.servlet.logging.ELFWebCTSession sc-status cs-method cs-uri-stem cs-uri-query bytes cs(User-Agent) x-weblogic.servlet.logging.ELFWebCTExtras</elf-fields>

Command: 
cp config.xml config.xml.bak
sed -s s/bytes x-/bytes cs(User-Agent) x-/g config.xml.bak > config.xml

Probably this could be edited in the Weblogic 9.2 console. I haven’t looked yet.


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Mail From Address

January 29, 2009 in Blackboard Vista by Ezra F | 3 comments

It appears CE/Vista has several locations for defining the email addresses it uses for SMTP.

  1. $WEBCTDOMAIN/config/config.xml:
    mail.from=
    From address for messages sent.
  2. $WEBCTDOMAIN/customconfig/startup.properties: 
    WEBCT_ADMIN_EMAIL=
    Some internal errors have a mailto: prompt to contact the server administrator.
  3. $WEBCTDOMAIN/serverconfs/log4j.properties: 
    log4j.appender.EMail.To=
    Report fatal errors.
  4. $WEBCTDOMAIN/serverconfs/log4jstartup.properties: 
    log4j.appender.EMail.To= 
    Report fatal errors.
  5. $WEBCTDOMAIN/webctInstalledServer.properties: 
    WEBCT_ADMIN_EMAIL=
    Installer picks up this value for populating #2 and possibly #3 and #4.
  6. $WEBCTDOMAIN/webctInstalledServer.properties: 
    MAIL_ORIGIN= 
    Installer picks up this value for populating #1.

What really disturbs me is the Vista 8 installer created log4j properties files with the  SMTP server set up for miles.webct.com and sending from vista.monitor@webct.com? I cannot seem to find anything in the Vista 8 documentation or wiki or Google index about the “Vista Trap Notification” subject line, from address, or SMTP address which the log4j appender appears to be designed to send. 

This Vista Trap Notification appears designed to send an email to the address any time a fatal error is encountered. That’s fine. Just use the smtp host and From address requested in the installer. 

Don’t get me started about giving end users a mailto: prompt to report errors.


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Bb Suggestions

January 19, 2009 in Blackboard Vista by Ezra F | No comments

WebCT used a suggestion form to collect product improvement ideas from the various users (instructors, instructional technologists, administrators, etc.). I’m not sure if the switch to opening enhancement request support tickets under Blackboard was something new to improve the support model overall or just a change for former WebCT customers as support integrated. Interestingly, Blackboard recently returned to the suggestion form.

So… Send in your feature requests. I am too busy working on getting the bugs fixed to work on new features.


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The Digital Switch

January 18, 2009 in Books / Novels / Writing, Movies / Films / TV by Ezra F | 1 comment

The Long Tail claims consumers, given more options, will reflect their widely varied interests. Physical stores cannot fill all of the demand, so bytes stored on disk are the fastest, cheapest method for getting stuff to consumers. We see a mostly example of this shift in the shift to digital music.

Vinyl records were the first physical music media form I used. Later, cassette tapes (1980s) and compact disc (1990s) achieved dominance. In 2001, I started the transition to digital music. There were some stumbles along the way because of technology changes and trusting vendors saying Digital Rights Management is good for consumers. At present, I only listen to digital music when using my own collection. 

Digital video seems more complicated. Web sites streaming and on-demand television have the potential to fit the Long Tail model where consumers have access to insanely varied content when they want it. DVRs neither fix the when (just shift the airing to another time) or the insanely varied content. Movie rental distributors like Blockbuster and Netflix are moving toward distributing digital movies and TV shows in setups similar to on-demand. Nothing has even come close to winning.

Digital books may yet get some traction. Computers screens cause eye strain. Laptops don’t feel like a book. PDAs, Blackberrys, and other handhelds with small screens require a ton of scrolling. A recent solution to this is “epaper” which doesn’t constantly refresh. The Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader are the biggest players. (The Long Tail is not available for the Kindle but is for the Reader. WTH?)

Remaining issues for me:

  1. Ownership is dying. 
    • I really like the idea of playing music on my iPod or from CDs. I play DVDs on my computer because I can’t play my DVR stuff in a hotel. So streaming and on-demand only solutions bother me as long-term solutions. If it is easy for distributors to store it because it is just bytes, then it is easy for me to do so as well.
    • I have books from 20 years ago I can still read. Technology changes too much to depend on something I buy today working tomorrow. So maybe “renting” is a way better approach for digital media? 
  2. The black markets for music and movies prove consumers want everything any time. Companies must embrace consumer demand and make it easier for consumers or suffer. I think companies changing to accommodate consumer demand is the only reason the music companies have survived. Litigation cannot solve it.
  3. Hardware investment gets expensive every few years. 

My solution? Wait and see.


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Christmas Blog Post 2008

December 25, 2008 in Personal / Relationships by Ezra F | No comments

Last night I read Uncle Bill’s Christmas letter. He mailed it, but he apparently doesn’t have my postal address so I got the electronic version. Woohoo! His letter recaps the year for his family. Do any of you have such a tradition? Or a family member who does? Oddly my blog doesn’t provide much basis as it is devoid of personal information.

So here goes….

Family

Mom went off to Houston in January to consult with one of the best doctors in the country about a health issue. How things fell into place to allow her to get better amazed me daily. I got to grandparent sit for a week where I made Nannie tell stories so I could post them on Youtube. :D

William married Nicole, his high school sweetheart. I finally have a sister. It rained on us briefly, so if you are into superstitions, that means either: 1) kids, 2) money, or 3) good luck.

I met Dad’s girlfriend, Sally, this year. She is definitely very nice. I’m happy with the match.

Friends

My only New Year’s Resolution for 2008 was to read 25 books this year. I completed that goal back in October. I’m thinking for 2008 to do a similar resolution. This time I’ll count up the number of pages and set a goal to read 20% more pages. 

Some fellow Flickr users started an Athens Flickr Meetup. I’m hoping this is something to continue in 2009 as the weather improves. (Though who knew Georgia would be 20 degrees Farenheit above normal in December?)

RingsAdrianne and Britt asked me to be the photographer for their wedding. I spent hours looking at professional photographer portfolios for ideas about what I should capture. You see, while I do have a camera, I had never really taken photos at a wedding. Heck, few people invite me to weddings, so I was a little unclear what happens. In the end, I think it all turned out pretty well. Adrianne is happy. So I am happy. Working in computers became a profession because it was a hobby. Maybe photography will end up the same in the end? Posted 840 photos to Flickr this year. Started freelovephotography.com to show off my photography.

Las Vegas in July? Dumb. Star Trek: The Experience made my geeky heart soar.
NCC-1701-DNCC-1701-D @ ST: TXP


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Brainwashed

December 16, 2008 in Computers, Psychology by Ezra F | 1 comment

People do weird things. Often these are due to the operant conditioning or classical conditioning inflicted on them. Its funny I’ve been seeing references lately to these to describe….

  • Email – Like Skinner’s pigeons, we hit the button to check for new messages hoping to get something. The intermittent reinforcement of not getting a new message with every click just helps strengthen the behavior.
  • Twitter – Similar to email, click the button and hope for something good.
Are we our habits? Or are we something more?

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Division Issue in YAPB

December 15, 2008 in Wordpress by Ezra F | No comments

Problem PHP in Yet Another Photoblog causes “Warning: Division by zero in exifReader.inc on line 859” (the problem line is in bold):

 

case TAG_SHUTTERSPEED:
  // More complicated way of expressing exposure time, so only use
  // this value if we don’t already have it from somewhere else.
  if ($this->ImageInfo[TAG_EXPOSURETIME] == 0){
    $sp = $this->ConvertAnyFormat($ValuePtr, $Format);
    // Temporary Workaround for divizion by zero problem
      if (!empty($sp[0])) {
        $this->ImageInfo[TAG_SHUTTERSPEED] = (1/exp($sp[0]*log(2)));
      } else {
        $this->ImageInfo[TAG_SHUTTERSPEED] = 0;
      }
    }
    break;

 

Looks like YAPB is attempting to create a value if one doesn’t exist for TAG_EXPOSURETIME by inventing a new value. In my problem picture, the exposure time is 0.003 seconds which != 0. So why is the ($this->ImageInfo[TAG_EXPOSURETIME] == 0) condition evaluated as true? 

Interestingly, just prior to this is some code dealing with TAG_EXPOSURETIME which seems to be affecting this. Changing the 0.5 to 0.0005 (less than my current value removes the problem.

case TAG_EXPOSURETIME:
  // Simplest way of expressing exposure time, so I trust it most.
  // (overwrite previously computd value if there is one)
  $tmp = $this->ConvertAnyFormat($ValuePtr, $Format);
  $this->ImageInfo['h']["exposureTime"] = sprintf(”%6.4f s (%d/%d)”,(double)$tmp[0],$tmp[1][0],$tmp[1][1]);
  if ($tmp[0] <= 0.5){
    $this->ImageInfo['h']["exposureTime"] .= sprintf(” (1/%d)”,(int)(0.5 + 1/$tmp[0]));
  }
  break;

With this conditional, the exposure time is “0.003 s (1/400) (1/400)” without “0.003 s (1/400)”. Didn’t see a reason to have it twice, so I’ve dropped it.

Also, I figure it would be better to call ImageInfo['h']["exposureTime"] instead of ImageInfo[TAG_EXPOSURETIME]. With this change, it seems to have resolved the issue for me.


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