tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38997100682753326562024-10-02T20:19:28.859+02:00Blogging about astronomy, my projects, java, android, ...Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-11137800210756945582013-08-29T17:28:00.001+02:002013-10-01T09:20:55.847+02:00

Although I don't read *every* cellphone comparison, it's clear the LG Nexus 4 offers great value for money, moreso because it just got discounted 100 dollar (and consequently 100 euro as well, at least the funny currency conversion works in our advantage for once). Of course being in Belgium, you can't buy these devices from the Google play store. You can buy them from mediamarkt (who add 100

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-1902007161871305102012-01-08T21:59:00.005+01:002012-01-08T22:02:36.206+01:00

After a long absence, here's a new short post about a new project I'm working on: Design and Interior. It's a market place for buying/selling design furniture.For the tech geeks among us, it was made using Vaadin and hosted on Google app engine. The experience was mostly pleasant, although the NoSQL database of app engine has quite a learning curve. Now it's time to attract visitors, otherwise

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-25724238847448201352008-10-12T22:13:00.004+02:002008-10-14T20:09:15.584+02:00

At the left you can see the result of some weeks of hacking on the train. This is a fully working application, if you had a phone running android (like the G1, sold starting 22nd October) you could begin using it.The screenshot shows various settings and the current cloud status (CLOUDED). This cloud status is collected by connecting from time to time (defined by the feed, usually about 5 mins)

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-33942442347248386502008-09-20T14:36:00.003+02:002008-09-20T14:46:54.415+02:00

The Android application I'm developing needs sound, unfortunately I couldn't get sound to work!How to check sound:The easiest way to test whether you have sound working is to click on the volume buttons (right-hand side of the emulated phone).Another way to check if something is wrong is the message "using stubbed audio hardware" in the startup log. My solution doesn't remove this line

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-2511006257620033112008-09-05T16:46:00.007+02:002008-09-10T18:25:38.295+02:00

Just an update on cloudwatch.net uptime: the hosting is back at my place but now we're renovating which does bad things to the fulltime availability of electricity. And did I mention the telephone cable was ruptured (so no ADSL for a few hours)? Nonetheless I expect the worst to be over.In other news, I've been developing an Android phone application which will connect to the cloudwatch.net

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-76998495817295024722008-07-12T16:48:00.001+02:002008-07-12T16:50:04.024+02:00

Good news, the cloudwatch.net website is back online. It's a temporary hosting solution, because my internet is still not fixed. I put the server at my parents' place :)

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-12428939759764612222008-07-01T12:18:00.005+02:002008-12-09T09:22:56.122+01:00

Practical announcement:- I'm moving on friday the 4th of july. This means some cloudwatch.net downtime! Minimal downtime is from 08:00 UT on 04/07/2008 to 15:00 UT on 04/07/2008. This is presuming the internet connection switch goes as expected. I would not be surprised to be out the entire weekend.Unpractical thoughts on this:This means my testing webcam in Ghent will move as well, to

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-50834473292218828702008-01-25T10:37:00.005+01:002008-12-09T09:22:56.287+01:00

The last few years I've been typing in the Dvorak layout, first on regular qwerty keyboards but now mainly on the typematrix 2030 keyboard.Below you can watch a youtube video about the keyboard (looks a bit cheesy but gets the point across).First a bit of theory: the basic premise of the Dvorak layout is that the home row (the one your hands rest upon) is more used than the other rows/keys. This

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-49637523975323753682008-01-19T00:53:00.001+01:002008-01-19T01:07:49.851+01:00

I started this blog as a way to do regular braindumps about hobbies and my main site (cloudwatch.net).Now, in order to detect clouds at night (which is what the main site is all about) you need a webcam pointed to the sky. It seemed kind of a waste not to use the webcam during the day!The linux webcam capture software motion was used to gather the images, and then I wrote some scripts on the

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-50856661199373579862007-12-18T09:33:00.000+01:002007-12-20T10:06:00.581+01:00

Every time the earth is in a specific location of its orbit around the sun, people start making lists.End of year lists they call it.Mostly an annoying phenomenon, but not when they list the top astronomy pictures of 2007!If you're looking to brighten up your computer desktop with some astronomy related wallpaper, this is the top 12 from the famous Astronomy Picture of the Day website (worthy of

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-79993590605393990132007-12-16T00:17:00.001+01:002008-12-09T09:22:56.454+01:00

Of course it was cloudy during one of the best meteor storms of the year. Using the word 'best' for an event which is guaranteed to freeze various bodily parts is maybe a bit masochistic, but that's how we amateur astronomers are.Seeing the cloudwatch chart above immediately tells you I will try to plug the website and yes indeed, this shows the cloud chart during the night of the Geminids. Small

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-55251078347375363352007-12-15T00:29:00.000+01:002007-12-15T00:32:45.363+01:00

I just deployed a new version of the website.Changes:updated hardware page: goes into much more detail on how to setup your own webcamlink to this blog so people can find it!Meanwhile the clouds cleared for a little while, but not enough to enjoy the Geminids meteor shower which is peaking tonight. Ah well, at least I got some work done on the website :)

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3899710068275332656.post-2595240116826930402007-12-14T20:17:00.000+01:002007-12-15T00:34:17.107+01:00

This blog was mostly started out of a desire to communicate with the visitors/contributors of my cloudwatch.net site. So in the beginning most posts will be about that, unless I get the blogging virus and start blabbing about other things!Good news from the cloudwatching front, the first non-Belgian webcam contributor (to be honest the first one besides myself) has been added to the map. Check

Mikerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966325660997548230noreply@blogger.com0