15 Jan
To keep 2010/01/15
Video about robotic:
http://www.silicon.com/technology/hardware/2010/01/13/video-artificial-intelligence-noel-sharkey-on-the-inexorable-rise-of-robots-39745322/
Good podcast about cosmology:
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/01/15/easy-listening-and-learning-with-deep-science-podcasts/
15 Jan
Since Karmic is out, I couldn’t find a good way to make TweetDeck working.
I decided to try troubleshooting it for just 5 minutes and found a simple solution with the help of several blogs:
First make sure you have the proper 32bit required libraries already installed: http://www.ossramblings.com/tweetdeck_in_64_bit_ubuntu
sudo apt-get install lib32asound2 lib32gcc1 lib32ncurses5 lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 libc6 libc6-i386 lib32nss-mdns
sudo cp /usr/lib/libadobecertstore.so /usr/lib32
sudo ldconfig
But that wasn’t enough. By simply launching TweetDeck in a terminal you could see the app can’t access to th gnome-keyring library. So I used getlibs to grab the right version as explained here (http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-956824.html)
sudo getlibs -l libgnome-keyring.so.0.1.1
And suddenly works like a charm 
“Simple” 
12 Jan
I have recently read an article interviewing the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, about privacy and Facebook in which he basically says that privacy is dead and useless for most people.
Well, I’m sorry dear Mark, but you are dead wrong. Most people I know cherish this important notion of life that is privacy. Not everybody wants to publish each state of its sexual life or last payment you did to IRS.
Actually dear Mark perhaps you should start now your own RSS feed supplying such details, including bank account numbers and last time you saw a doctor and why. After all, who needs privacy. Perhaps we should install a camera in your bedroom too. Or even one in your bathroom in case somebody would like that…
This thought is indeed scary. Privacy is usually what makes us human at some point, and also what prevents a police state to come and rule us. A great conference performed at Singularity University about security and privacy explains why.
Now perhaps that the future will unveil a world in which privacy is tough to keep (with so many sensors, cameras, you name it), but nonetheless I think it’s an important notion to protect and cherish. At least let’s try to prevent the coming of a police state …
1 Jan
Happy New Year everybody. I hope new year eve was good for you.
Now it’s time to draw the plan for 2010 or at least to know what needs to be done.
Lots to do in opensource projects:
Then a couple of web projects:
Then I need also to take care of a few contents at home like:
Then since I’m a proud owner of an old house (built circa 1925), I have obviously a bunch of home repairs, updates and stuff like that …
Ah I was about to forget also to learn how to play recorder
Well, I guess 2010 just begun and the list is already filled
In the meantime Happy New Year again / Bonne Annee !
21 Jun
I recently bought a netbook: Eee PC 1000HE, and so far I’m extremely happy with it.
Eee PC 1000HE under Ubuntu 9.04
I was searching a small device not too heavy (I have enough of breaking my shoulders with the laptop in the bag…) powerful enough to sustain development tasks (erlang, java, eclipse) and in some extent to support video playing (for encoding I can use something else obviously).
After talking with a few friends at work, they all said that any devices based on the Intel Atom processor must be really slow and completely useless for serious development (some even told me to get an Apple laptop …).
Well, I’m sorry to say but you were dead wrong dear friends. So far, this device is a pure pleasure to all my tasks.
First of all, it’s pre-installed with Windows XP which surprised me to not use every bit of memory I have (1G). Nonetheless I installed immediately an Ubuntu Linux next to it (better to have 2 systems up and running).
Once Ubuntu installed (the 9.04 version) surprise again to see all the goodies such as extra graphics effects or goofy animations working and not one frame every 5s.
Eclipse running in the Eee PC.
I continued by installing java, eclipse, erlang and was delighted to see eclispe running without problems. Of course, the application is slower than you could imagine, but it’s not like the last comment I got: “Oh it will be so slow, it will be unusable”…
The last point I wanted to test was the long battery time claimed by the builder: 9.5 hours! OK I didn’t really reach that, but I never really let me run for that long to begin with. Now What I can say is after let it charge during the night, I picked it up during the morning, switched it on (it was around 7am), put it in my bag in suspend mode, use it during the day (mixed periods of use and suspended mode) and finally came back home with more than 40% left!!!
At this point you are indeed wireless!
So, after a whole week of use, I’m just in love with this small device which finally doesn’t break my shoulder (3.2lbs).
Oh yes, by the way, I’m writting this post from it see you around.
20 Jun
In a previous post I was talking of this great course provided by MIT on electromagnetism with Walter Lewin as the teacher.
After searching among books about astrophysics, I finally found one that could bring me to finally grasp the mathematical/physical meaning of the last theories out there: “The Road To Reality – A complete guide to the laws of the universe” by Roger Penrose.
This book takes the bet to explain you the laws of the universe even if you are allergic to math equations. Liking maths and wanting to know more it’s the perfect match. My goal is to read a bit each time I’m in the train and reach the last pages obviously (which contain exotic theories such as the M or the holographic one…).
First chapter: the roots of science. After all this is the first step. What are the law governing our universe. What is the goal of science. What kind of truth is there.
The 3 main worlds
28 Feb
I have been following an excellent course on my iPod in the train about Electromagnetism. The courseware published by MIT is performed by the brilliant Walter Lewin during 36 memorable lectures.
I’m still finishing following course #29 but since course #22 I can be happy to master and understand Maxwell’s Equations:
It was a great pleasure to follow that course. Mr Lewin structures each course the same way:
It’s a lot of fun and you learn quickly to integrate complex notions with some work on the side (other than just watching the video in the train…)
Here is the lecture #22 which concludes the first part:
MIT offers lots of very interesting free courseware, and I encourage you to look at the full list.
Next one: Quantum Mecanic by Leonard Susking from the Stanford University (also on iTunesU !).
1 Jan
Happy new year to everybody!
This year was clearly special in many ways.
Goals for the new year to come:
- share more info on Internet
- use a different way than a blog …
- listen more classical music
- learn piano!
And more
19 Sep
I recently read an article about a study made by a team of researchers from Penn State University showing that beeswax and bees are contaminated by pesticides with a maximum of 31 of them!
It seems you have here a kind of combination of multiple molecules creating a highly toxic compound.
As usual in biology, the cause of a problem is rarely coming from one factor but from multiple.
Of course, this study doesn’t prove that combination is the cause of CCD but it certainly contribute. They want know study the difference of organic vs non-organic bee keeper.
Source (en): http://live.psu.edu/story/33989
Source (fr): http://www.apivet.eu/2008/09/les-pesticides-ont-ils-une-responsabilit%C3%A9-dans-le-ccd-commencent-%C3%A0-se-demander-les-am%C3%A9ricains.html
19 Sep
YES it’s true here is the proof …
Sorry I couldn’t resist ! Too hilarious !
