Warning: Invalid Card Data

Which seems a bit odd at first, considering the 48G model has no card slot (only the 48GX model has one). Luckily, there’s a simple solution: Execute the PINIT command by typing “PINIT” (without the double quotes) and pressing the ENTER key.

There’s a great, detailed explanation of this problem and the according fix in the “invalid card data at my hp48g” thread over at the independent HP calculator museum. If this warning message appears on a HP 48GX and the problem persists after applying this fix, take a look at step 3 described in the  article titled “Message, Invalid Card Data, is Displayed when the Calculator is Turned On” on HP’s support forum.

Wouldn’t it be a pity if a company with such a great history and so many great hardware products ceased to be a hardware company?

Google Maps Street View API Driving Directions Example

E.g. for driving directions on how to get from Zurich Airport to Printscreen GmbH‘s homebase by car^(*), enter

From: Zurich-Airport

To: Heinrichstr. 223, Zurich

Speed: Choose Medium or Fast

And hit the “Route” button to display a map and list with driving directions.

Then click on “Drive” to see an animated simulation of your drive on Google Maps Street View.

Great, isn’t it? Now imagine this would be a seamless video..

P.S. If you’re looking for ideas for a road trip, consider taking this Grand Tour in Italy (and Switzerland and France). (Even better: Go by train and other public transport and you won’t even need a car or driving directions ;)

(*) Note: I’d strongly suggest using public transport instead. It’s almost as fast (during rush hour even faster), cheaper and tends to be more relaxing.

The installation is pretty straightforward too, but here are a couple of hints for installing it on a Gentoo box:

1. Download the tt-rss-1.3.3.ebuild file and all other files and directories from http://overlays.gentoo.org/svn/proj/sunrise/reviewed/www-apps/tt-rss/ and place it in the www-apps/tt-rss directory (create it) in your local Portage overlay (usually /usr/local/portage).

2. Rename the file to tt-rss-1.3.4.ebuild (= the most recent version at the time of writing, released on Oct 21, 2009), execute ‘ebuild tt-rss-1.3.4.ebuild digest’, set the flags you need (e.g. for mysql and vhosts) and emerge the ebuild.

3. Follow the post-install instructions on the screen (bascially the official tt-rss installation notes)

If you intend to use the default, single-process update daemon, you can use the following init files I created (loosely based on Pierre-Yves Landure’s init script):

/etc/init.d/tt-rss:

#!/sbin/runscript
# Copyright 1999-2009 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2

depend() {
    use net
    use mysql
}

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
start() {
    ebegin "Starting $NAME daemon"
    start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --make-pidfile --background --chdir $DAEMON_DIR --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_ARGS
    eend $?
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
stop() {
    ebegin "Stopping $NAME daemon"
    start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --make-pidfile --retry=TERM/1/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
    eend $?
}

(replace “mysql” by “postgresql” if you use postgresql)

/etc/conf.d/tt-rss:

# Defaults for the Tiny Tiny RSS update daemon init.d script

# Location of your Tiny Tiny RSS installation.
TTRSS_PATH="/var/www/localhost/htdocs/admin/tt-rss"

DAEMON_SCRIPT="update_daemon.php"

DAEMON=/usr/bin/php
DAEMON_ARGS="$TTRSS_PATH/$DAEMON_SCRIPT"
DAEMON_DIR="$TTRSS_PATH"
PIDFILE=/var/run/tt-rss.pid
NAME=tt-rss

(make sure TTRSS_PATH points to your tt-rss installation)

4. Note that for using the default update method, PHP needs to be compiled with pcntl support. If required, set the pcntl flag and remerge PHP.

5. Have fun!

(Bloggy Friday will start at 8 PM, guess where ;)

[UPDATE 20080802: I probably can't be there due to military service :( At rather short notice as they managed to send the march order to an address that doesn't exist. No comment.]

According to the newsletter they’ll have several multimedia performances, serve sausages from USB-Grills (I wonder how that will scale ;) and open source beer brought to you by [project 21].

tweakfest group on Facebook

Flyer (PDF)

More information in German in this post on the tweakfest home page..

[UPDATE 20080802: I probably can't be there due to military service :( At rather short notice as they managed to send the march order to an address that doesn't exist. No comment.]

By now, the home page of the new coworking location “citizen space Zürich” (see my previous post) is up and gives some more details about the (currently) planned offers and pricing [1]:

An excerpt (in German):

[...] citizen space vermietet Arbeitsplätze an unabhängig arbeitende Menschen in den vier Meter hohen Räumen der ehemaligen Steinfelsfabrik in Zürich West. Tageweise, wochenweise oder unbefristet. Allein oder in Gruppen arbeiten? An fixen oder mobilen Tischen? In der Lounge? Alles ist möglich. citizen space ist von Montag bis Freitag von 9 bis 19 Uhr offen, ab 19 Uhr Barbetrieb oder Events, Infos auf www.citizen-space.ch
Tarife: Tagesticket für 30 Franken, Wochenticket für 170 Franken, flexible Monatsmiete für 450 Franken, fixe Monatsmiete mit Schlüssel für 680 Franken, Friendshipticket für 15 Franken pro Tag und Person.
Verpflegung: Kaffee, Getränke und Snacks im Haus. Take-outs, Restaurants und Bars in unmittelbarer Nähe. Zur Josefwiese oder zum Unteren Letten sind es drei Minuten zu Fuss. Öffentlicher Verkehr: Bahnhof Hardbrücke und Escher-Wyss-Platz befinden sich in drei Minuten Gehdistanz. [...]

So basically, this boils down to:

• Opening hours: Monday to Friday daily from 9 AM to 7 PM for work, after 7 PM, the bar opens or events are taking place
• Offers and pricing:
  Day pass: 30 CHF (in about 30 USD, 19 EUR)
  Week pass: 170 CHF (167 USD, 105 EUR)
  Flexible monthly ticket: 450 CHF (441 USD, 279 EUR)
  Fix monthly ticket with an office key: 680 CHF (667 USD, 421 EUR)
  Friendship ticket: 15 CHF (15 USD, 9 EUR) per day and person
• Coffee, drinks and snacks in-house (but there’s no hint whether these are included in the price of a pass)

At first sight, this looks quite pricey (more than double the price) compared to its namesake in San Francisco (citizenspace.us). Further, there doesn’t seem to be any “24h access”[2] option (not even for keyholders?) and whether coffee, drinks and snacks are included remains to be seen. Conceptually, there’s also a difference in that there are no free drop-ins (it costs 30 CHF for random drop-ins and 15 CHF for friends), but in addition to monthly tickets there are also weekly tickets. I wonder particularly what influence the “no free drop-ins” policy will have on the idea of mingling people (well, the mingling will probably be less spontaneous and less heterogeneous and coworkers likely more commercially oriented and less willing to contribute to the idea of coworking or do things for free. Which might well cost more in the end [3]).

BTW, office space in Zurich West isn’t as cheap as in less central and less trendy districts, but this also applies to many areas in SF. The thing that’s generally somewhat more expensive in Zurich is food and beverages.

Let’s see how this develops.. my guess is that these offers and prices aren’t carved in stone and will probably also depend on the feedback they get (i.e. on supply and demand). Will ask them ASAP..

Thumbs up for starting it, in the first place :)

[1] Please note that these figures have not been officially announced or confirmed yet. They’re just published on the public web site (which has not been announced yet either).

[2] Some coworking space providers even guarantee 24/7 access and are open for public access on Saturdays, too

[3] I’m currently reading a great book that, among others, deals with the very thin line between social norms and market norms. And it also discusses the (predictably irrational) appeal of anything that’s for “free” (knowledge that can be leveraged for marketing purposes and profit, of course). (Book: “Predictably irrational” by Dan Ariely; 2008; HarperCollins. I’ll probably post about it in more detail later..)

“10-15 grams of protein is probably adequate for any adult” (one egg has 6 g of protein, 2 oz [about 57 g] of chicken has >12 g)

Personal Best – Real Thought for Food for Long Workouts – NYTimes.com

[1] [EDIT 20080720: For comparison: The Isostar nutritionists recommend 0.8-1.5 g protein per kg of body mass per day, i.e. 64-120 g for an adult of 80 kg]

[..] bei Sportgrossveranstaltungen wie der UEFA EURO 2008™ ist es üblich, dass die Eintrittskarten erst wenige Wochen vor Turnierbeginn gedruckt und versandt werden. Dies ist im Sinne der Sicherheit und verkleinert das Risiko, dass die Tickets den Karteninhabern vor den Spielen abhanden kommen.[..]

Isn’t it nice how the “EURO 2008 SA” cares for us? ;)