Family travelling

We just returned from a great trip to Genève where we visited my parents. Some days enjoying the spring was a great break from winter in Oslo. And with up to 20 degrees we really felt the summer coming. The return to winter in Norway yesterday was not that fun; so tomorrow we’ll help the spring my moving some snow around with the boys.

Time has changed; in the last years I have travelled a lot because of work – but with my current assignment I stay in my home city. So when we travel by air – it is pleasure. I have lost my Star Alliance Gold card. And to Genève the only airline flying direct is Norwegian (the low price company). And I just have to say they make it work. I don’t like the way they price the “additional services”; like seating, paying by credit card… but when you have your ticket and passport – it just works. It probably work this well because this is a point-to-point travel. Travelling with children makes point-to-point travelling even more important.

And yes, we did bring home both coffee, chocolate and cheese.

Office 2010 activation error

Have you installed the beta of Office 2010? Then you’ll probably get the activation error as the key you get when you download the beta software can’t be activated. You need to replace the product-key with one from this page. Good luck!

Do you remember Knol?

The nextweb wrote in 2008 that Knol would beat Wikipedia:

“Even Google noted that Knol is not designed to compete with Wikipedia, but you have to admit that from a online knowledge-base perspective, the sites are quite similar. Knol might become the preferred choice in this field within a very short time.”

So… do you remember knol?? I don't. But it is still out there. You can find it on: knol.google.com. I don't think Google think it will be the next "search", and I guess they have moved on to voice, buzz and phones. But it is funny to read what the big web 2.0 sites wrote about these services 2-3 years ago.

Seamless IE6 in windows 7 using XP mode

I like to use cutting edge technology. I work in a company that enables me to use both Linux and OS X, but based on the applications I need to use – windows is the easiest choice. But I don’t use the standard image. I use the latest build of the latest OS from Microsoft. Windows 7 has been a very stable and good OS – maybe the best ever from Microsoft. And one of the features making it really great (especially with the shared hardware functionality) is the XP mode. It is a virtual XP workspace. One of the web applications I need at work has the following requirements:

• Windows XP
• Internet Explorer 6.0

And this is easily solved with Windows XP mode in windows 7. I have even made the application available in my windows 7 start menu. This is done by creating a short cut in the following folder in the virtual XP machine:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu

The short-cut I created was

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" http://my_url

Cutting edge technology - now and then

Cello in parts
Originally uploaded by Violinmaker Jacob von der Lippe

One of my friends (Jacob) is a violinmaker (or as I like to say cellomaker). Browsing his site makes me think about different ways of work. His work that creates beautiful instruments is something totally different than my technology focused work. But when the first violins where created – it was cutting edge technology.

So now you know what I will buy if I win the lottery :-)

First week with Dual-SIM Mobile from #Samsung

I ordered my Samsung C5212 in the start of February, but it took some time before it arrived. The phone isn’t a smart phone, it isn’t a multimedia phone – it is “just a phone”; or maybe more correct it is “two phones in one”. It has the basic functions, talking, SMS, MMS, email and a camera. It even has a FM-radio. It has a browser (not a very good browser. I would say you WAP and not browse pages). It has GPRS/EDGE, but not 3G. The menus are easy but simple. Battery capacity is good, and the voice quality is great. But this isn’t way this phone is the perfect phone. The possibility to have two SIM cards is great. I use one number for work and one number for friends and family. Only having one handset is perfect. Bot numbers are available; and you easily change between the two numbers when you make a call or send a message. You can turn off one of the numbers, have different ring tones and (not that I think it will ever be needed) have two calls to each number.

This phone, or more to the point, this functionality is brilliant for travellers. When you travel to another country – you can put a local SIM card in your phone to use more attractive rates. Or you can use SIM cards from different providers to ensure that you get the best deals for calls or data traffic. This is why this type of phone will have problems winning the market. The big operators like AT&T, Vodaphone, Telenor, TeliaSonera etc – will not like you to have this option. Samsung’s experiment will be interesting to follow. Because if this functionality is accepted by the consumer as a key feature that will enable them to get more choices – then we’ll see smart phones with this functionally. Having you iPhone loaded with two SIM cards… one that gives you free local calls, and one with fixed data traffic – that will change the business model for the mobile industry.

This phone isn’t the perfect phone – but this functionality is.

Opt-out plugin for Google Analytics on way from Google

Google tells us in a blog post that they are developing a browser plug-in that will enable users to change how Google Analytics is collecting data when they browse Google Analytics enabled sites. This is a big change for sites owners as Google Analytics provides key data not only on number of vistors, but also trends in how users use/visits their sites. This complex tool collects a lot of data; and I understand from a privacy perspective that some users are worried about how the data about them are used. But the data collected by Google isn't hidden even if Google develop a browser plug-in that stops the browser from telling the Google Analytics server. All the data is available in the browser request - so the only way to stay "hidden" is to hide. You can hide by using a proxy; or by no visiting a site. For blogs reading the RSS feed is one way; but keep in mind that services like feedburner (another Google service) keeps track of reader stats too. So I guess if privacy is an issue - hide ;-)

I use both feedburner for my RSS-feed, and Google Analytics for my sites. I don't use the data collected to track each user, I use the data to see trends in numbers of page views, visitors, time on site etc. I see that when I write about topics like twitter, google, apple (iphone, itunes etc), web 2.0 in general and hacks in specifics - I get more readers. When I post daily - readers return more often. If I am away for a week, it takes a long time before my regular visitors return. And the numbers of subscribers increase more than the number of web visitors - telling me that the web 2.0 crowd I see as my audience subscribe if they find my stuff interesting the first time they visit.

So what to do? Don't visit sites you don't want to be associated with.

Do you want to post to twitter via a Norwegian Mobile number?

Do you want to send SMS to twitter? Now you can with the SMS service from RyghSMS. RyghSMS posts your SMS twitter (and/or identica). The beta has been closed for a long time, but RyghSMS will today have it's sign-up form open for all.

What to do?

• Register here: Signup RyghSMS
• Send your tweets via +47xxxxxxxx

 Enjoy!!

Moving your itunes libary to a new computer

I have reinstalled my laptop, and I want to move my music and video files over. I have a backup of all my CDs... so it is more than 100gb I want to import. I don't want them to be copied over to my laptop, but I want the files to be available when my external drive is connected. To do this I used iTunes Library Updater. This nice tool compares the current library with the folders you want it to check, and then syncs in the new media files. This is good when you want to import 24000 files. A normal "add folder" in iTunes will make the application "not respond".

Nice features like "Get Album Art" is next!

Enjoying my days at home

I have paternity leave these days, and the days go by so fast. I really enjoy these days with my family. As a project manager I have a lot of people I need to talk to each day. Communication is the key factor in everything I do. I have an one2all communication relationship. It didn’t take long to adapt to the new life. That is the great thing with kids. They just expect you to be there for them. And it is great. The only sad thing is that the time goes by so fast.

New design on blog!

I was working with the setup of a new site for some friends last night, and then I found a new blogger template. I just had to change my blog design. So I just changed it – please let me know how you think it looks! I will do some small changes to it over the next days as this new template is more dynamic than the old one.

SharePoint designer 2010 and Expression Web 3

I installed office 2010 beta on my laptop - including SharePoint designer. But to my surprise it didn’t connect with my web hotel from fastname.no with FrontPage extensions. A quick search gave me the information that SharePoint designer will only support SharePoint sites – so you’ll need a different tool from Microsoft named Expression Web 3 if you want to continue to utilize FrontPage extensions without SharePoint services.

Yes, I could drop all the Microsoft services and extensions; replace it all with PHP etc, but I have so many nice web applications developed in ASP 3.0 that I use for small and big projects. I don’t want to move these applications to a new language – I just want it to work. The reason that I have used FrontPage extensions is because it is an easy way to connect directly to the files. I use text view – and it marks the coding. It is an easy way to connect to the IIS-server.
I have done some scripting in PHP, but my language of choice is ASP. I guess it is because it is so related to Visual Basic.

Playing the cello

This post is a bit on the side from what I normally blog about – it is not about technology; but about music – and about disconnecting from the hectic work life.

I started playing the cello when I was 7 years old. It is my cello you see on the picture, and my grandfather playing on the same cello on the photo on the image. I guess my mother started saying I would play the cello even before I was born – and so I do. At some point of the cello was my most important activity. It was my way to disconnect from the world – When I was ready for a concert, playing some symphony – life was all about that moment. It is in the parts of the music where I really need to concentrate that my mind drops everything else; that is why I love music. That is why I love to play it myself.

Last night I played a concert with my orchestra downtown in Oslo. We played well, and I enjoyed it. We are a group of amateurs, mixed up with former professionals, who have this as our number one hobby. And even when I am not playing – I consider myself a cellist. That isn’t something you will be, or trying to be – that is a feeling. We call it cellist-by-night.

I’ll include a YouTube video of the Symphony we played last night. Enjoy it (this isn’t from last night – but the same symphony with a great maestro). This isn’t my favorite Symphony (maybe I’ll write a blog post about that later) but it worked as music to relax.

Paternity leave!

As of this moment I have started two months of paternity leave. I am really looking forward to spending time with my boys. I will probably already on Monday experience how much my wife do at home – but until then I’ll just enjoy the idea of not having to go to work every day for some months! More from me later! Happy weekend everybody!

What do you need installed on your laptop?

I run Windows 7, and have just reinstalled the OS; and I always start with the folder of applications I used the last time. In this folder I keep the latest version of the applications I install. But the list increases; so I try not to install everything when I reinstall the OS. What is your minimum application list? Mine is as follows:

• Antivirus/firewall: Symantec (currently running: SEP 11.0)
• VPN: Lotus Mobile Connect (currently running 6.1)
• Microsoft Office 2010 Beta (including Visio, Project and Sharepoint)
• Lotus Notes (with Symphony) (Currently version 8.5.M2)
• Lotus Sametime 8.5 (internal chat client for IBM, AOL/gchat and VoIP)
• SwiftFile (a nice add-on to lotus notes to manage my email)
• Microsoft Live Messenger (latest version)
• Java, Flash, Adobe, CutePDF-printer, itunes and Nero Express.

This is my list. There are several tools I will install when I need it, like DVD backup tools, WinDVD or whatever tool I need for a specific project. But the basic list is what I will include in a ghost copy of my drive. What is on your list?

Windows 7 Activation Error: 0x8007232B

I have used Windows 7 Ultimate for some months, but as the license delivered with the computer is a Windows 7 Professional - I had to downgrade. You could say that going from x86 to 64 bit is an upgrade  - and the additional functions in Ultimate will not be missed.I tried to activate my newly installed Windows 7 64bit edition today. and got the following message:

Code: 0×8007232B
Description: DNS name does not exist. 

This is a strange error. Read about the solution here.

This solved my problem, and now my Windows 7 configuration is up running. Now I only have to install all applications and copy over the documents. Maybe I this time should make a disk image of the setup :-) I really recommend having a virtual disk with the key applications you need installed. I have that running providing me with access to VPN, mail, intranet etc. This way I stay available even if my setup is not ready.