Scoot’s thoughts on all things technology, design, photography and life in general !
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Finally got my Native Instruments Traktor software reinstall post the hard disk replacement earlier this year. After playing a bit I saw that there was an update and decide to move to the Traktor Pro version. For more information on the capabilities see the product site here
This is what it looks like:
The quality of this version can’t be faulted, it provides a really nice interface and works a treat with my Numark Total Control MIDI/Mixer unit. The FX are fab and the extra one you get over the Duo version give some more flexibility. I now need to spend some more time messing with the software with the mixer and soundcard to capture some beats to see how go. One thing that also works really well is the looping facility as you can get some really neat samples.
The final hurdle I need to overcome before I can play some more is to finish re-importing my CDs, which were also lost during the disk failure and finding that extra time.
This week I have had my Canon S90 compact camera for six months and every time I pick it up I am never disappointed. Unfortunately in six months I have also dropped it twice so it now has some dents and scratches.
So in six months I have taken 3692 photos and that equates to roughly 20 pictures a day which doesn’t sound a lot until you take into account my other camera that has clocked up another 4135 photos in that period so about 43 pictures a day.
The size of the camera is perfect to carry around with me on nearly every occassion and this has meant that can keep some variety in the photos I have taken as part of my Photo2010 project www.scouller.biz
I am impressed with the quality of the pictures, they are always clear and sharp except where I get it wrong 
As promised a longtime ago here is a brief update on Oracle Beehive 2.0 that was released in February 2010. The main changes that will be immediate to people is the revised team collaboration client that provides a richer web2.0 / enterprise 2.0 experience. Here is a screenshot of my homepage to give you an idea of the new client:
You can then drill into one of your workspaces to gain access to the content within including documents, the wiki, calendar, forums, tasks, announcements and participants.
The final piece is the profiles tab that allows you to see peoples information, see their presence within IM and contact details plus the reporting line.
After a frustrating time during the snow when my hard disk in my thinkpad crashed big style I have successfully moved to an ubuntu build with a vmware for those windows based applications I need to use and demo. That week started with snow thus no access to the office, but with the beauty of spare technology I was able to swap the duff drive with the one from my original Macbook that is not being used being only 80GB
With my Macbook Pro I connected back to the office and downloaded the VPN software, whilst downloading the standard build in VMware format and the Ubuntu Karmic Koala 64bit. Within a day I was back up running with the exception of some quirks with the vpn build needed for access to work, but this was only a minor issue as I could still connect via the vmware image.
It was interesting when I rang IBM support to get the old drive sorted on warranty. Basically they wouldn’t except a linux disk test error message stating exactly how many bad sectors I had, instead they insisted that I download a Dr PC window version tester to test the disk that only reported a vague disk error message. This proved a challenge as I had to borrow a windows PC to burn the bootable CD to test the disk, great fun, what if I didn’t have access to a window PC. When I rang back with the error code the agent was only interested that I had a disk error message to satisfy his requirements to send out a new disk. This turned up the following Tuesday so it was a good job I had that spare otherwise with the snow I would have to use the Macbook…
Lets hope this disk can last more than 8 months…….
Now had my salomon boots for a month or two and have to say they have impressed me. They are very light, sturdy but strong and also very capable given the current weather conditions.
Image from Salomon Website
http://www.salomon.com/uk/?#/footwear/footwear/trekking/cosmic-4d-gtx
The boots have great grip and have coped very well in the snow and ice conditions whilst providing excellent ankle support plus have kept my feet nice and warm even with normal socks. In comparison with my timberland boots these have provided greater grip and have provided much better weather protection. Note the timberlands are old so to be fair I am sure the newer boots from Timberland would be able to cover these two issues without problem.
I decided to get these boots after seeing them twice on the Gadget Show where they came highly recommended so this really swayed my decision. They are quite expensive, but so far I cannot fault them The one thing that caught my eye was how the presenters were able to jog in these boots. Although I won’t be jogging in them they certainly allow you to run in them if needed, and this prove useful when I needed to run up our snow covered road to help push LCJ’s nanna car that had got stuck. They also help with grip whilst pushing the car as well.
Highly Recommended 9/10
Just purchased the business card reader application for my iPhone 3GS and I must recommend that it works a treat. I purchased this because I had a growing number of business cards scattered around the office and in my bags etc.
Business Card Reader
So far I have used it on about 10 cards and only had two issues. The first was due to worn print on the card which the software made a couple of recognisation issues, but these were limited to the @ symbol and one other character. The second one was related to bracketed 0 in phone numbers, for example +33 (0) 12345. But this is easily fixed with the editing option.
I would give this app 8 out of 10, but beware it really needs autofocus of the 3GS or an adpater for older versions of the iPhone.
Have been playing with Google alerts over the last few days and decided to set one for my surname as its not very common, unlike smith and jones.
Interesting to see the results, of course I only appear when I blog, but some interesting entries do come up for other scoullers. I wonder if any are related to me ????
So far we have a reference to the Alexandra Technique, which is something to do with helping with posture. Then someone joining facebook, an entry for a pastel on paper by Lara which looks nice here , a reference to article about an equity fund and finally a link to a masonic lodge newsletter.
A very bizarre mixture !
Here I am in a google real time search
Finally got our lab server from the US, it is a beast in terms of power all delivered by Intel in a blade size 1U unit It hums along with its 48Gb RAM, Multiple Multi-core processors and a mere 800Gb of diskspace. This week we have had two Oracle DB instances running on it with a full Oracle Beehive install plus a complete Oracle WebCenter Spaces install and experiencing lightening quick response times.
In addition to the server we have a tree…
Xmas Tree
Day 1 – Started with forecast call and history of the area, plus introduction to the area where the urban coyotes that live across the street from the office. The real sessions started at 1pm after a quick lunch.
We meet with some of the development team and the business leaders who walk through the evolution of Beehive and the business unit. This moved into how we use it internally and finally moving into the business pitch for some of the new capabilities. Once the product is released I will go into details.
We finished day 1 with dinner at Champps watching the Denver Broncos getting beaten by Pittsburgh 28 – 10. Had a steak burger and a few Flat Tires (nice local beer).
Day 2 – Early start at 8am and loads of very interesting content on the roadmap, more details on capabilities of the product and the team and introduction on how to sell collaboration to your mother Finished the day exhasuted at about 6.30pm and headed for a technical team dinner at the local mexican. Very good food and cheap. Got to chat with the Sales Manager for Oz and also the Channel GM for Beehive. Back to the hotel by 9pom to revise for the presentation I would need to certify against.
Day 3 – Looked at the On demand and competition plus more roadmap details before each running through a certification pitch in addition to listening to the industry pitches. Very exhausting day but also very interesting. Finished around 6.30pm and headed to get quickly changed before heading to dinner. Journey to restaurant proved a challenge as the map and directions were wrong. Barry ended up ringing the boss and asking for directions, only in the US can you be at a retail park with a Cinema and the restuarant be a mile up the road on a retail park with the same Cinema chain
Dinner was at Jing an Asian fusion place and the food was excellent and so was the wine. The clientele were not from IT and this place seems to be a hangout for the beautiful people of Denver. Great starter and Kung Pao Chicken for main.
When finished 10 of us headed to a local steak house that has a smoking room and bar. We spent a couple of hours drinking after dinner goodies such as 20/30yr Port and par taking of the cuban cigar
Day 4 – Final day so finished with sesisons on case studies, Channel/alliances and then a test. Wow my writing was v bad Finished by lunchtime so headed to the airport with Brian, Richard and Rob. Checked in and upgraded again to economy plus for those extra inches of leg room.
Managed to grab LCJ a pressie and boarded a very full flight to Washington for our connection. Landed early in Dulles and the wait was very short only an hour before we were on the way home. Watched UP again plus started Harry Potter but fell asleep for a couple of hours.
Landed early again at LHR, so this is a first 4 out 4 flights landed early, must be the Oracle magic. Beat CJ & LCJ to the arrivals but very very glad to be home and to see my family.
BTW – this is officially the first time I have been to the US where I havent done any shopping, surely thats a crime
