The Bad Astronomer Strikes again!
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Nov 162009
The Bad Astronomer Strikes again!
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Jan 152009
Here’s a new little treat…
The Indigo Remote Log Viewer is a plugin for the Indigo server that allows you to view the log through any web browser. The only Caveat is that you must, of course, have the Indigo Web Server turned on….
It is available through PRISM, as well as direct IP connections….
More information is available from:
My Web site:
http://www.schollnick.net/wordpress/home-automation/indigo-remote-log-viewer/
The Indigo User Contributions Forum page:
http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3987
Please feel free to send feedback, and suggestions…
- Benjamin
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Jan 132009
Do you ever forget that first time, when the Grasers were shooting the deck out from under your feet?
Or how a simply click of the wrong button sends your new novel out to the rest of the world, instead of the preview chapter you intended?
Either way, the new Honor Harrington book will be out in March… It’s military Science Fiction at it’s best. If you haven’t read the series, then consider reading online or downloading from Baen’s free library a copy of On Basilisk Station… The first book of the Honorverse series….
Baen’s teaser is up on the latest book, and gives this description:
Perfidious Plots,
Courageous Resolve—and,
of course,
Starships Blown to Smithereens!The Solarian League Navy has been the premier navy of the galaxy for centuries. Indeed, no one can remember a time when it hasn’t been acknowledged as the most powerful fleet in existence.
Until now, that is.
A conference to end the terrible war between the Peeps of Haven and the Manticorean Star Kingdom is slated. Peace is finally within reach.
Yeah, right.
Not with the slaver conspiracy that calls itself Manpower, Inc. pulling intergalactic strings. The plan? To plunge the Star Kingdom into a two-front war with Peeps and Sollies—a process calculated to blast Honor Harrington’s home system to smoking ruin!
Assassination’s afoot. And out on the galactic frontier known as the Verge, big trouble boils over as Solarian League arrogance butts up against the steely resolve of Harrington protégé Michelle Henke, aka Admiral Gold Peak.
Too bad for the Sollies. For Harrington’s officers have a habit of coming through in the clutch and finding a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But most of all—whatever the odds—they never, ever give up the fight!
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Jul 082008
How did you get started in programming?
I started programming when I was 8 or 9…. I started using computers from the Apple ][ & ][e's that were at Sherman elementary with Apple Basic... After conquering that, I was able to start using a CP/M based system with Dual 8" floppy's, and started working on their version of basic...
About a year later, the Timex Sinclair ZX-80 was conquered... For fun, try to make a graphical version of monopoly on the Timex Sinclair... That has to fit within 16K, and runs off the cassette loader....
Other computers followed, but I did not started any serious projects until after switching to White Box PCs... And starting Matrix Technologies.... I started writing Bulletin Board Utilities, and eventually started helping maintain, and develop QuickBBS....
Sadly, due to a variety of issues... Most significantly my development box dying, work overload, and too much stress caused a re-evaluation of my QuickBBS development...
What languages have you used since you started programming?
This is tough. Apple Basic, QBasic, 68xxx Assembly, MS Pascal, Turbo Pascal (one of my favorites), C (Blah!), AppleScript, Python (my favorite). I have forgotten even more languages, including CBasic, QBasic, etc…
What languages do you plan to work on learning?
I keep planning on sitting down and working through Objective-C. But my dislike of C, and lack of free time keeps forcing me to back burner this….
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had programming?
I have had a lot of applications that I have enjoyed programming, even had fun with… The Indigo Security script has been a AppleScript pain, but has been fun in expanding my Applescripting experience…
The Software Licensing software kit that I worked on a few years back was a cross-platform Python bash! Involving ODBC, Windows specific code, Macintosh Specific code, Unicode, and ReportLab (PDF Library) riots… I learned a heck of a lot regarding Unicode, and while frustrating it was really satisfying…
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
While being cynical, it is something to be aware of. Just because you write your new software package, does not necessarily mean you will be able to make a living off a shareware software package.
Keep programming because of the love of product, and don’t allow yourself to become a slave to a particular project. My 4 year daughter keeps reminding me that there is a world away from the computer. It’s important to be able to get up from the programming chair, stretch your legs, and step away for a few minutes…
Also Document your code! I can’t say this enough… Documenting is the most annoying but needed part of any project. I eventually started a format that I liked, and it has saved me so much time and energy.
Help yourself in the future by adding a sniplet of code in your documentation that demonstrates how to use the function / module / subroutine… While this isn’t immediately helpful, in 6 months, you’ll come back and there maybe a nagging question on how the routine passes data… And the example will be helpful…
– Benjamin
The idea for this post came from Toxic Software’s blog ( http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/toxicsoftwarecom/~3/329523457/ )….
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Jul 012008
New Features include:
– Version History
– v1.65 – Added Speech Support
– - Added Speech support for Open Sensor, and Closed Sensor detection.
– - Added Ignore Flag (Alarm Matrix #6 Option)
– - Allows the owner to have the sensor in the list, but to ignore any input from the sensor.
– - Generally used if the sensor is sending out false positives (eg. High Winds, etc)
– - False equals Do Not Ignore. True equals Ignore.
– Speech Controls
–
property Speak_Alarms : false
property Sensor_Speech_Text : {“Sensor %s has Opened”, “Sensor %s has Closed.”, “Sensor %s Time Out”}
– %s is replaced with the Sensor Name.
property Speech_Voice : “Alex”
Please feel free to send any feedback regarding this to me….
- Benjamin
automationsecurity-sample-v1-65a.scpt.zip
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May 282008
This is the newest version of the Indigo Security Script…
This now includes code that will check for out of date heartbeats (ie. Defective Units, or low/out of Battery) and either warn via Growl, Indigo Log File, or even Email!
Some of these changes were suggested by Scott Buchanan… And some where added after examining the Battery Dead Notify script from the Perceptive Automation User Contributed Scripts web page.
version 1.5 Changes
- Added Heartbeat inactivity detection (5/28/2008)
- Growl Support for Heartbeat inactivity detection
- Email on Heartbeat inactivity
- Added optional switch (Update_Heartbeat_After_Actions) to allow heartbeat to be updated after every action.
Added the following variables:
- Inactivity_Heartbeat_Watchdog
- Update_Heartbeat_After_Actions
- SE_IBeat_Address
- Send_Email_on_Inactive_Heartbeat
The new properties are:
property Inactivity_Heartbeat_Watchdog : 7200
– The maximium number of seconds before a warning will start appearing for an alarm heartbeat. If you receive an inactivity warning, please check the batteries, and test the contacts. The Deafult is : 7200 seconds = 120 Min = 2 Hrs before a inactivity warning will start logging.
property Growl_Notifications_List : {“Opened”, “Closed”, “Check Alarm”} — List the Growl notifications that you wish to use
– Advanced Settings
property Send_Email_on_Inactive_Heartbeat : false
– Send an email if the security Heartbeats have not been detected within the Watchdog value.
property SE_IBeat_Address : {“[email protected]”, “[email protected]”}
– Send Email(s) to the following addresses, seperated by a comma.
property Update_Heartbeat_After_Actions : false
– Update the heartbeat after every action. Normal behavior is to not update Heartbeats after an action occurs. This forces the heartbeat to update after every action of the device.
Please feel free to use the script, I have just tested the email functionality…. And I have been using this script for the last few days, without any issues…
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May 132008
(See Macworld of the complete article…)
Macworld | Microsoft to bring back Visual Basic in Office for Mac
In summary, Microsoft will be adding VBA support back into Office, but the next version of the office suite (“VBA will return to the next full upgrade to the Mac version of Office”).
Wait a second, the next version of the office suite. Not a service pack, so we will have to wait until somewhere around 2010 – 2011 before we can use VBA on the Macintosh again.
First of all, the lack of VBA can seriously hamper interoperability between the Windows version & Macintosh version of Office. Is the finance dept really going to make a second version of your spreadsheet for Macintosh users? We have enough problems with people creating Web Sites that require Active X controls, I don’t think we will be able to win the fight over spreadsheet VBA usage….
If this is Microsoft’s level of commitment to their Macintosh users then we have to question the amount of resources that they are given, and their priorities.. This entire VBA fiasco is guaranteed to have a negative effect on Mac Office’s market share….
From Fortune, March 25, 2008 (http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/03/25/microsoft-looks-to-cash-in-on-the-iphone/).
The Mac unit’s work certainly isn’t charity – it delivers millions of dollars in profit for the company with its Mac version of the Office productivity suite. Microsoft doesn’t break out exact numbers, but we can extrapolate: Gibbons said the Mac Business Unit provides about a third of the revenue for the Specialized Devices and Applications Group, which also includes Windows Embedded, Microsoft Hardware, the Automotive Business Unit and Microsoft Surface Computing; the whole group did more than $1 billion in sales last year. So it’s reasonable to guess that the Mac unit provided about $350 million – and since Gibbons said the Mac group was one of the group’s more profitable units, it’s possible that Microsoft made somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million in profit from Mac software.
Maybe it is time to start to re-evaluate the Macintosh dependency on Microsoft, after all, Pages (iWork) can open Office XML files…. Same with Numbers, and Keynote. If Excel can’t open VBA, neither can Numbers, but Numbers is significantly more stable, and about 1/3rd of the price and supported by Apple.
– Benjamin
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May 062008
AP – Pull over and put down the dog. A California lawmaker wants to ban motorists from holding pets on their laps while driving and getting caught can net a $35 fine. The bill passed the Assembly on a 44-11 vote on Monday, and heads to the Senate.”
(Via Yahoo! News: Top Stories.)
Here’s my view on this….
A $35 dollar fine means that this is intended as a revenue gathering scheme instead of actually attempting to stop people from driving with their pets unsecured.
Quite simply most people that drive with their pets unsecured are not going to worry about a $35 fine, until it occurs. Even then, they may stop for a short while after being caught, but will probably not stop in the long term.
Here’s the California government attempting to mandate common sense. It just doesn’t work…
(More on FrontRow with Indigo later….)
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