Category: technology

Using a grid for collaborative project management would seem to be a wonderful idea. So what tools are available. I’ve spent some of today messing around with www.accessgrid.org. There are many reasons. In the designers’ own words

“The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments, and interfaces to Grid middleware and to visualization environments.
These resources are used to support group-to-group interactions across the Grid. For example, the Access Grid (AG) is used for large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials, and training. The Access Grid thus differs from desktop-to-desktop tools that focus on individual communication.”

To the uninitiated the software provides a way to setup secure group-based meetings incorporating advanced multimedia exchange (sound & vision) while integrating with other grid-based frameworks such as globus and the J2EE compliant ogce. Meetings between remote nodes take place using conferencing facilities created throughout the grid which create “virtual venues”. SIP compatibility is available through Virtual Room Videoconferencing System.
Wish me luck.

Installing wordpress is generally one of the easiest things to do for anybody with a clue about internet software. All you need is access to a mysql database, an ftp client, a webserver and text editor. What could go wrong? Well, I’ve noticed that in the latest version (2.0) of the tar.gz download the configuration file seems to be incorrect. I’ve opened this in several editors on windows and linux and everything is lumped onto a single line. Therefore when you go to the http://www.yourdomain/wordpress/wp-admin/installation.php config page it will produce a rather unhelpful "failed to open file" message. Here’s a proper version of the file.




I remember the warnings during the 80s about listenting to loud music on the original sony walkman. I paid the warning little heed and whether it was that or the booming base in nightclubs that damaged my hearing I don’t know. Either way, I have less than fantastic audio acuity which is embarassing in several social situations. Anyway, The Reg leads with this article which points out that in-the-ear phones can amplify sound by a factor of around 8 times. (yes, I’m converting from dB here so no silly comments) The artilce acutally proposes some safe listening habits suggested by Dean Garstecki, A North Waestern University audiologist.

So what can we do? One solution Garstecki suggests is the 60 percent/60 minute rule, whereby people use their MP3 devices for no more than about an hour a day and at levels below 60 percent of maximum volume. “If music listeners are willing to turn the volume down further still and use different headphones, they can increase the amount of time that they can safely listen,” Garstecki added.

. This is good practice and I’d urge any reader to take this on board. Unfortunately, I’ve a state of the art Pioneer in-car headunit with an iPod adapter bus so my iPod booms away in my ears even without the phones. Some people never learn 🙁

Couldn’t find a way to turn autoplay on XP off then I realised it was probably in the Group Policies for XP. After some searching I typed gpedit.msc at a prompt and this will make the group policy editor appear. The setting is in Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System
Very useful. Many users will have noticed that occassionally auto-play makes you want to tear your hair out when it tries to install a large program or play a large media file bringing your computer to a standstill.