- http://twitpic.com/r913y Test! #
- Testing openbeak from my new Blackberry 9700 Bold #
- How Greens could take office - http://bit.ly/5MqqRM #
- Harper heads for Copenhagen after all - http://bit.ly/4Zr5Pn #
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Sunday, November 29, 2009
A week of Twitter updates: 2009-11-29
Sunday, November 22, 2009
A week of Twitter updates: 2009-11-22
- I just got Voice Candy for Mac for free from tap tap tap. They're celebrating the release of Voices on the iPhone http://bit.ly/i56Un #
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Samsung Luxia 7000 and 8000 series white screen problem
We just had a 46" LED HDTV (UN46B8000) sprung upon us for Christmas, which is a nice but dizzying surprise! We were worried though when we initially set it up, because when we turned it on, our image was almost entirely washed out. Playing with the settings did nothing, and even the self-diagnostic said to contact Samsung.The support rep at Samsung was helpful, but couldn't do anything for us because the TV was a refurbished model (we knew this before hand, I just called Samsung first to find out if there was a trick we could pull to fix it). So we called the outlet that we got the TV from, and they had the answer to solve the problem.
When you mount the TV on the supplied stand, Samsung gives you screws to attach the stand at the back. These screws are seemingly too long. When you put the screws in all the way, it tweaks some component, and you lose all color! Loosening the screws fixed the picture immediately.
So if you've got a new Samsung Luxia, and the picture is washed out and you can hardly see anything; check your stand, and loosen the mounting screws! I get the impression from Samsung that if I had not found out about the screw thing, they would have just made me replace it.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
A week of Twitter updates: 2009-11-15
- RT @rossrader: yay! public bicycling in toronto is almost here! http://rossrader.com/torontobixi #
- Et tu, Toronto? Traffic a problem Caesar couldn't solve - http://bit.ly/17owKW #
- Read George Smitherman's statement - http://bit.ly/1gFWZr #toronto #
- The Social Ideology of the Motorcar http://bit.ly/3T3Zz0 #
- Complete Streets Update Public Meeting http://bit.ly/2Hvk5p #
- Empty MySpace office blow for News Corp. - http://bit.ly/3vdstq #
- Grits caving on climate - http://bit.ly/40Ptp #
- Copenhagen already a success - http://bit.ly/1F0ssU #
- Smitherman resigns, will run for mayor of #Toronto - http://bit.ly/3QLQb5 #
- Big Oil makes case for carbon-capture subsidies - http://bit.ly/1PXrgN #
- RT @SteveCase: Why Doesn’t Exercise Lead to Weight Loss? (NYTimes) http://bit.ly/4sFdh3 #
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
What will #biking in #toronto look like by 2015? [#PanAm #green]
[caption id="attachment_4580" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo via Daily misery @ Flickr, (CC)"]
[/caption]
There are interesting things happening in Toronto if you're a cyclist. I'm hoping in this case, "Interesting" means good, and not bad.
So let's begin! Speculation on George Smitherman's possible Toronto mayoral candidacy has been a hot topic since mayor David Miller announced he would be stepping down. Today George Smitherman made it official.
That's one interesting thing. Even if Mr. Smitherman doesn't make it all the way to mayor, the ripple and excitement his running has created hints at (hopefully) a push towards a more progressive and dynamic future for Toronto.
I don't know how strong an advocate of bicycling George Smitherman is, but as a senior Liberal party member, and the former Ontario minister of Energy and Infrastructure he has had exposure to what the energy landscape is going to look like in the coming decades. If you do some research on this topic it can range from slightly depressing to panic inducing. With his working background on the provincial level, I'm going to assume he's a progressive when it comes to transportation matters.
The next interesting thing? Look at this article on the 2010 City Budget [Toronto Star].
My personal obsession of course is with improved bicycle infrastructure, and as highlighted by Joe at BikingToronto, the budget for bike lanes and paths is more than double that of 2009, and eclipses previous years! Right on. I'm very eager to see how that pans out.
One last interesting thing; The upcoming Pan American (Pan Am) Games in 2015 will be hosted in Toronto. It's a decent sized multi-sport event - and yet another turbo boost to Toronto tourism and international exposure. As a city, we have five years to further shape our metropolis into a progressive showcase for sustainable living.
Bicycle infrastructure projects from places like New York City, Portland, Chicago, and Copenhagen (where the UN climate change conference is going to be held in December) might give us some pointers as to where we should be headed.
To give you some ideas of what is possible; recently, Roger Geller, Bicycle Coordinator in Portland's Office of Transportation came to town to overview what Portland Oregon did to become a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community. The PDF of this presentation is here, and it is well worth the read. (via, again, Joe at BikingToronto)
I expect European cities to be progressive and open towards bicycle transit but places like New York City and Chicago, putting Toronto's (arguably weak) bicycle infrastructure to shame? Amazing. Considering we Canadians are supposed to be the big progressive socialists in North America, I'm very surprised at how stuffy and resistant Toronto has been towards expanding bicycle infrastructure in the last decade.
It doesn't help that some of our local councillors have been shamefully characterizing extending our bicycling infrastructure as a "war on the car". These flames have been fanned by goofy, sensational editorial pieces in our local newspapers as well.
Hopefully, with what I'm seeing on the horizon, we'll witness an even more bike-friendly turn around in 2010, and we'll make some amazing changes in the next decade. I love this city, and watching it evolve into a progressive and future-proof human transit leader would make Toronto complete for me.
Points of Interest
[/caption]There are interesting things happening in Toronto if you're a cyclist. I'm hoping in this case, "Interesting" means good, and not bad.
So let's begin! Speculation on George Smitherman's possible Toronto mayoral candidacy has been a hot topic since mayor David Miller announced he would be stepping down. Today George Smitherman made it official.
That's one interesting thing. Even if Mr. Smitherman doesn't make it all the way to mayor, the ripple and excitement his running has created hints at (hopefully) a push towards a more progressive and dynamic future for Toronto.
I don't know how strong an advocate of bicycling George Smitherman is, but as a senior Liberal party member, and the former Ontario minister of Energy and Infrastructure he has had exposure to what the energy landscape is going to look like in the coming decades. If you do some research on this topic it can range from slightly depressing to panic inducing. With his working background on the provincial level, I'm going to assume he's a progressive when it comes to transportation matters.
The next interesting thing? Look at this article on the 2010 City Budget [Toronto Star].
The city's total capital spending for 2010 will be $2.4 billion - expected to rise to $2.5 billion in each of the next two years.
...Among the items on the city's shopping list:
- Next year Toronto will spend $217.6 million on new subway cars that will hold more passengers - the beginning of a 10-year program to buy a total of 360 new subway cars;
- The city will spend $72 million on new buses, part of a 10-year program to buy 390 new buses.
- Construction of the Sheppard East light rail line will gather speed, with spending of $163 million.
- Plans call for $22.6 million of spending next year on new bike lanes and paths.
- A new radio communications system for police, fire and ambulance services will get $28 million, the first stage of a three-year, $69-million upgrade.
My personal obsession of course is with improved bicycle infrastructure, and as highlighted by Joe at BikingToronto, the budget for bike lanes and paths is more than double that of 2009, and eclipses previous years! Right on. I'm very eager to see how that pans out.
One last interesting thing; The upcoming Pan American (Pan Am) Games in 2015 will be hosted in Toronto. It's a decent sized multi-sport event - and yet another turbo boost to Toronto tourism and international exposure. As a city, we have five years to further shape our metropolis into a progressive showcase for sustainable living.
Bicycle infrastructure projects from places like New York City, Portland, Chicago, and Copenhagen (where the UN climate change conference is going to be held in December) might give us some pointers as to where we should be headed.
To give you some ideas of what is possible; recently, Roger Geller, Bicycle Coordinator in Portland's Office of Transportation came to town to overview what Portland Oregon did to become a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community. The PDF of this presentation is here, and it is well worth the read. (via, again, Joe at BikingToronto)
I expect European cities to be progressive and open towards bicycle transit but places like New York City and Chicago, putting Toronto's (arguably weak) bicycle infrastructure to shame? Amazing. Considering we Canadians are supposed to be the big progressive socialists in North America, I'm very surprised at how stuffy and resistant Toronto has been towards expanding bicycle infrastructure in the last decade.
It doesn't help that some of our local councillors have been shamefully characterizing extending our bicycling infrastructure as a "war on the car". These flames have been fanned by goofy, sensational editorial pieces in our local newspapers as well.
Hopefully, with what I'm seeing on the horizon, we'll witness an even more bike-friendly turn around in 2010, and we'll make some amazing changes in the next decade. I love this city, and watching it evolve into a progressive and future-proof human transit leader would make Toronto complete for me.
Points of Interest
- George Smitherman at Wikipedia
- Tory and Smitherman set the stage for battle to come and Tory V. Smitherman (video)
- 'Furious George' Smitherman has to form a campaign identity
- The Toronto PanAm Games 2015 site and the Ministry of Health Promotion site
- Complete Streets Update Public Meeting - Mon, Nov 23
- New York City lessons and Toronto’s fairy tale War on the Car
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Blogging with Ecto 3, and a quick tip.
I was a prolific user of Ecto when I first stumbled upon it back during the version 2.4 days. Ecto is now up to version 3 and it is as awesome a blogging tool as ever. It looks like http://ecto.kung-foo.tv no longer works, but that's ok, because the Ecto software and forums are now hosted at IllumineX.
If you are an Ecto 2 licensee, your license for Ecto 2 will get you access to Ecto 3 free of charge.
One snag I came across when I started using Ecto 3 was an error coming back from both the Amazon Helper and the Flickr Helper.
For the Amazon Helper, the error was;
"The request must contain the parameter Signature."
For the Flickr Helper, the error was;
"Failed to get data from Flickr!"
So a quick search rendered the following forum post at IllumineX, which led to the following page explaining how to install the new plugins.
So basically both Amazon and Flickr have updated their API, and therefore the plugins need to be updated.
Here are the quick links to both.
Follow the instructions here and you'll be rolling again within a minute.
Ok let's test the plugins;
Amazon
Flickr
That's really nice!!
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