So I’m preparing to leave Facebook, and I’ll make sure to delete all my information in there in an attempt to protect my privacy. I’m going to focus on my own homepage and blog instead, so that people who really want to follow me can still do so.

Incidentally, here’s an article on Lifehacker describing what you could do, if you agree on the above.

Skip right to the good stuff — use this:

Google Public DNS
Primary DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Secondary DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

Read up on why this might be useful for you:

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

One such annoyance is Windows Explorer in Windows 7 and Vista. When you dive into sub-folders by double-clicking in the right-hand pane, the left-hand pane doesn’t expand to reflect where you are. That’s a pity, because that has been in there ever since Windows 95, a brief 14 year-long period of doing it right.

Here’s how to fix it:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Click the button “Organize” in the toolbar.
3. Select “Folder and Search options”.
4. Check the box “Automatically expand to current folder”. While you’re in here, also check the box “Show all folders”.

Why Microsoft chose to hide useful functionality like this is simply beyond me. But there’s the solution, go fix it yourself. Thanks to Ronnie at Technet for this info.

The previously mentioned 100 push ups challenge is coming along nicely. The idea was to train for 6 weeks and then be able to make 100 push ups. Well, I think the only ones who can manage that in just 6 weeks are those that don’t need the training in the first place. I’ve started my training five months ago and I’m now able to do 80 push ups in 15 minutes. I feel that this is an achievement I can be proud of! I’ll get to the 100 eventually, after all it’s not a race against anyone but just for my own fitness.

Having put the Psion Era behind me, I’ve now sold off my old Psion PDA’s with no small amount of sadness, but it had to be done. I sold a lot of stuff on eBay recently and am fairly pleased with the result – I was worried that it would be very bothersome to deal with difficult buyers, but most of them were very friendly and quick. As for the last 25% of the buyers, shame on them. It’s good to see that not all people on the Internet are crooks, but wherever you go you’ll find someone lazy or untrustworthy. I didn’t make any significant money on this (I won’t calculate the hourly wage) but that’s okay. I avoided having to throw stuff away that is actually working and has some value if you just ask the right people.

Junior is coming along nicely, too. I’m very glad to see that everybody is well and enjoying the amazing experience. ‘Nuff said.

At work, we just released a new software version with some huge major changes, and it went surprisingly well. We’re now gearing up for the next version but at the moment we can enjoy a brief lull in the otherwise busy work.

Summer vacation has started for the schools, so the Vienna metro is partially closed for construction projects and my daily commute is much longer than usual, often an hour and a half, often with additional delays even in places where no construction is going on. Not fun, but it will end eventually. And I have another hope, but more on that later.

A friend of mine is building a house, and the major external works were completed yesterday. We went to take a look and were blown away. They’re going to be so happy there, I’m almost envious. No I’m not, but I’m very happy on behalf of my friend and his family.

“A short message.” Sorry about that. You know me.

Compare the two screenshots below. First, the German layout is identical to the English except for the swapped “X” and “Y” keys. Germans like that, but they miss easy access to the German umlaut keys. To get to these, one must press-and-hold a vowel and select the umlaut from a popup menu.

Now look at the second image. Notice that there are more keys on the right-hand side – these are the Danish “umlauts”. How nice that they are directly accessible! Other umlauts are still available in the usual manner.

Question: when these umlauts made it into the Danish layout in OS 3.0, why hasn’t the German layout changed, too? (Perhaps it doesn’t matter because the built-in spell check properly replaces vowels with umlauts.)

It turns out that I misunderstood a detail about the initial test which determines how tough the training is going to be. My mistake caused my training to be too intense and essentially impossible. I repeated the test and found a proper training level which works very well.

Every training day requires more push ups than the last one, and the increase is moderate — most of the time. So far, the daily sum has increased by 3-6 additional push ups. Yesterday there was a significant jump, from a sum of 32 to a sum of 45. I checked it, and that’s really what the training requires. This turned out to be too much at once; for the first time I couldn’t complete a training set no matter how hard I tried. I decided on a simple solution: I will stay on this training set until I can manage it, and then continue from there.

So maybe the training takes more than six weeks, but who cares? It’s not about speed, it’s about fitness. I already feel fitter, and it shows, too. My biceps and triceps (front and back upper arms) have grown some, as have my pectoral muscles (upper front torso). I never imagined that muscles would develop so quickly — I was expecting months, not weeks for that to happen. I won’t be needing new shirts anytime soon, but it’s very satisfying to see a change already.

For this reason, my motivation is automatic. Like when I started running, I am actually looking forward to the next training. I don’t need to do anything special to persuade myself to do this. I think the motivation really comes from seeing that the training helps me, and makes me look better. And my wife appreciates that, of course!

Side note: The training sets thankfully have 60-to-120-second breaks at strategic points. What is one supposed to “do” during these breaks? Should I stand? Lie on my back? Stretch? I decided to mini-meditate. I sit on the floor with my eyes closed and my hands in my lap, thinking “in…out” in tune with my breath. This helps me relax and focus, and not start worrying about what I should do during the break or about anything else. The timer tells me when I need to do the next set, so I can relax very well that way.

Every training day, the number of required push ups is increased ruthlessly: First day, as many push ups in a row as I can (I managed ten). Second training day required 25 push ups (with strategic breaks), and let me tell you that was hard! Third training day:  42. And so on…

By the end of the training regime, I should be able to do one hundred push ups without breaks!

I’m curious to see how I’ll do. If I survive, I’m going to do two hundred sit-ups next. And then I “just” need to keep that going. It’ll be good for my back.

My plastic brain is dead. Long live my plastic brain! This post marks the official end of my “Age of Psion” that started eleven years ago,

Introducing…

Despite the uncertainties I have mentioned earlier, I recently decided to replace my plastic brain with an Apple iPhone 3G. It still lacks a real keyboard, but I have accepted that “a real keyboard” does not exist in so small devices anymore. To my delight, I have found that the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard is surprisingly useful and actually allows for faster typing than on cell-phone type buttons.

Why Apple? Well, let’s look at modern alternatives to my Psion: The market is divided between Nokia (Symbian), Windows Mobile, and Apple iPhone. The iPhone is surrounded by a lot of hype (and sometimes even too much) but the benefit is that vendors think of iPhone first and of other platforms later, if at all. Given that I am doing a lot of things online, the choice was actually quite easy — I chose the platform that gets the most attention. I didn’t even factor in the latest news about DRM-free music because I will be staying with the music I already own. And there are many, many useful applications that are free even without hacking or unlocking the iPhone.

Why now? I’ve been looking for a Psion replacement since 2001, and nothing on the market convinced me. But it’s not just a question of technology anymore, it’s also a question of phone bills. I wanted to switch to a new cell-phone contract in order to get flat-rate Europe-wide calls and cut my monthly phone bills in half. And when getting a new contract, there’s the chance to get a subsidized new cell phone too — including a choice of the iPhone. There even is a very generous data plan. In effect, by switching operator and getting this phone, I can now place calls and be mobile-online non-stop without a care as to the costs. And that’s a great benefit! 
(My phone number remains unchanged.)

First impressions? I was aware that I could not move my Psion habits right onto the iPhone, but it’s important to me that my new brain can do at least anything my old brain could do. Obviously it can do more (like music, Internet, camera, GPS etc.) but can I also use it for the things that I used my Psion for? Yes, it can. There are many differences in terms of how it works and such, but with a selection of (free) add-on software installed, I have a plastic brain that is in every way as good as the old, and then some.

Will anybody care? If you read this then please let me know using the form at the end of this article (preferred) or by sending me an email.

I’m feeling stressed in my private life. Yesterday Rice and I had a good talk about what we can do to change that, and one option was for me to spend less time with computers because frankly I do spent far too much time in front of a computer — at work all day and then at home for surfing, banking, reading — it adds up to fill the hours I could be spending a whole lot better.

No wonder I’m stressed, so this needs to change. We’re not throwing out all electronics from our home, but I will limit my computing to the bare minimum. This might not be permanent but I will start today.

I have no idea if I even have any readers here and I would like to get some idea. So if you’ve read this then please let me know, a simple hello and your name is enough.

So long. Thanks for reading.