Linux and the Macbook Pro Temptation

Category: Tech Today

I've been putting off buying a Macbook for more than eight years now, but I have to admit that aside from the normal excuse that I have zero disposable income and that I don't need another computer, it's useless to deny that now is the best time to get a Macbook Pro.

All my production machines run on a Linux distribution with one Windows 7 thin-and-light providing Adobe and Corel applications. All relevant production tasks are satisfied by my machines - remote access, networking, graphics, multimedia, entertainment, office and markup. But the newly priced Macbook Pro 13" with OSX Mavericks, 8GB RAM and 256 SSD with iWorks is hard to ignore. In fact, I can't imagine any reality where these machines won't be flying off the shelves. I will admit that any version of MacOSX has never been my favorite OS - I work with an aged iMac daily and I've grown accustomed to Apple's "most advanced OS". However, I admit to experiencing a sense of relief when I get home and boot up to openSUSE or Lubuntu.

Still, I'd go out and buy a Macbook right now if I had the cash.


This little girl is the next generation of Macbook Pro users (and can probably afford it before I can!).
Photo credit: Author

The Flipside

Two years ago my company paid for a very, very expensive video production training session (I had no right to be there). The trainer brought along a high-end Macbook Pro and proceeded to use Apple software to conduct his training. He made the mistake of implying that all the methods of cinema, professional movie-editing and special effects were best done on an Apple machine. The audience, which was composed mostly of digital video professionals who ran customized Windows and Linux-powered hardware with bespoke open-source software, was unimpressed. As a former technical trainer who has had his fair share of tomatoes and half-baked lectures, I was embarrassed for our Apple enthusiast particularly when a member of the audience asked about transcoding differences in MP4 and using containers in ffmpeg.  The lecturer, who obviously didn't know much about video conversion using the commandline, said he would check documentation for Final Cut Pro and get back to him. By the time the video training session was over, his Macbook Pro shared his poorly shot image.

I also have a notion that it would be odd to be teaching basic computer usage and office tasks to a bunch of underprivileged kids with a shiny Macbook Pro. I've ran network and office training with a humble EEEPC1000H netbook and no one gave it a second look. But if I brought a beautiful Retina Macbook Pro in front of a class, I would certainly feel embarrassed considering the price of the Pro can feed all the students for at least a month.

I have great respect for Unix but MacOSX is a different animal together. I wonder how long I would last running just pure MacOSX on a Macbook Pro. When I first bought my Lenovo Ideapad Z360 with Windows 7 for work, it took me less than a month before I just had to install openSUSE KDE on the machine. And even then I was cheating on Windows 7 by booting into Knoppix/Linux Mint using a LiveUSB.


Perfectly happy with Linux. Screenshot of Yast2 Hardware Information module.


The new Macbook Pro is a great machine and it's definitely way at the top of my "Someday I will own one" list. The Pro is several notches above Surface Pro 2 that's for sure (and yes, I do want Microsoft's premier product). Apple's strategy of including iWorks and lowering the price is irresistible. Perhaps I'll finally tote a Macbook Pro next year, proudly flashing that emblazoned Apple logo to anyone willing to look at it. But then again, I said the same thing 6 years ago.

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Linux and Toshiba "Sleep and Charge" on the NB520

Category: Tech Today

Users of Toshiba laptops or netbooks don't need to install or download the Sleep-and-Charge utility Toshiba provides for Windows. Even Linux users (like me), can take advantage of the Sleep and Charge feature by enabling the settings in the BIOS. With Sleep and Charge enabled, users can plug in their USB device like the iPod Touch or iPad and recharge while the system is powered down or while the machine is asleep.

The Toshiba NB520 has a single Sleep and Charge USB port on the left hand side and even with openSUSE 12.2 installed can charge USB devices with the netbook powered off or while the machine is in Sleep mode.

To enable Sleep and Charge on the Toshiba NB520:

1. Press F2 on boot to access the BIOS.
2. On the Advanced tab, select the Sleep and Charge item. Press Enter and click Auto mode.




3. Press F10 to save changes and exit the BIOS.

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Quick Fix: Identifying older SODIMMs/DIMMs

If you're handed down the task of sorting out memory modules from old industrial motherboards, legacy desktops and old laptops/netbooks, there's every likelihood you would need to identify the properties of the DIMMs and SODIMMs before you can reuse the parts. Although the basic properties of memory modules are understood by most computer users, sorting out discontinued but usable DIMMS/SODIMMS is not an easy or simple task. Hynix, Samsung and Kingston all have varying ways of labeling and classifying their memory products. Part numbers are broken down based on many properties such as country, voltage, production process, bit size, depth, buffered/unbuffered, size and many more.

Where the memory modules were purchased contributes a great deal as to how easy it is to identify the memory type - the printed sticker labels can be very informative. However, there will always be a part number which you can type in to Google or Bing to find the memory properties. Part numbers are alphanumeric and can easily be identified on the label. Bing Search was able to immediately pull up the data sheet for a Hynix SODIMM through the part number. Google, on the other hand, can pull up an informative Amazon page with basic memory information for a legacy Kingston SODIMM.


Use the Memory part Number option at the Kingston web site


If you really need specific details about the RAM or SODIMM, however, you can visit the Part Number Decoder web page found in the Kingston, Hynix and Samsung Memory Components website. Samsung's interactive part number decoder is exceptionally efficient at identifying all their memory products. By sequentially entering the sets of the memory part number, the web page provides the necessary information a user needs.


Searching through Samsung's Memory Part Number tool


Kingston, on the other hand, lets you search for the part number directly on their web site while the Hynix web site lets you filter across their whole memory product line. All three companies also provide downloadable PDFs for manually interpreting memory part numbers.


Hynix Part Number Decoder


Links for the part number decoders and memory search options for Samsung, Kingston and Hynix are as follows:

1. Hynix Memory Decoder
   
2. Kingston Memory Search
3. Samsung Part Number Decoder
   

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PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 3

Continued from PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 2

5. KDE 4.x on a diet is always a good thing and Texstar's MiniMe product is a great example of a judiciously put together KDE distribution. There are KDE Desktop Activity modules included with the release (standard KDE4.x fare) plus PulseAudio for occasions when buggy Kmix goes berserk on hardware.




And then there's Synaptic Package Manager for everything else. Unlike other lightweight distributions PCLinuxOS KDE Mini Me really is trim. Even the Network menu has only three items - KNetAttach, Konqueror and KPPP. In contrast, openSUSE KDE has 6 or more.




6. Comparing PCLinuxOS Control Center and Mageia Control Center would make for an interesting article.  They have more in common beyond the interface, but look a little deeper and users will notice deep customizations. Network Center, of course, is more stable now than it was in Mandriva 2010 thanks to an updated Linux kernel. Sharing, Network Sharing and Network Services, however, is as easy to use as before.




Readers have argued that the PCLOS/Mageia/Mandriva Control Center is more powerful than openSUSE's YaST. I agree it is considerably easier to use. I even wish Windows OS would have simple utilities such as PCLOS Control Center's Hosts definitions option. PCLOS, like Mageia, makes setting up SMB, NFS and WebDAV easy for new users, which is in itself a huge accomplishment (even Ubuntu can have issues with said file sharing protocols).




One important note in using PCLOS Control Center in KDE MiniMe needs to mentioned. Almost all of the features listed require installation of software packages. This in itself is not unusual since openSUSE, Mageia and specific releases of Fedora request the same thing. Besides, most veteran users prefer to know what packages are used anyway. Configuring proxy services in PCLOS, for example, uses the popular Squid package.

With a long history, a devoted support community and a stable, consistent project, it's hard to understand why MacOSX and Windows users constantly shun Linux projects such as PCLinuxOS. After several weeks of using two releases of PCLinuxOS, it's easy to recommend both PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and PCLinuxOS LXDE 2013.10 for home use. I hadn't touched the distribution in more than five years and coming back to it has made me realize how far Linux has evolved and improved.




Between the two, I found myself preferring the KDE MiniMe release over the LXDE versions. PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe was considerably more svelte than the LXDE release and it showed. At the end of a working day, a default installation of PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE may look dated next to Ubuntu Unity, Linux Mint Cinnamon or a heavily customized ArchLinux desktop, but like most Linux distributions, it is never about looks. Linux thrives because of the infinite customizations and the power behind the desktop, something smug MacOSX users who deride Linux will never understand. With quality projects like PCLinuxOS running strong and healthy, Linux users will be in good hands for the next decade to come - and beyond.

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Stories from a Tech Writer's Studio: The "Writer"

I was dozing off on a flight sometime back when a noise shook me to attention. The young lady beside me was tapping furiously at her iPad, trying to delete a video file from her video app for iOS.

"It keeps reappearing!" she muttered, jabbing at the same point again and again. Unsightly fingerprints were already appearing on the gorgeous display.

I stretched and bent down to reach my satchel, which was stowed underneath the front seat. I pulled out my Toshiba NB520 netbook and my iPod data cable. The throbbing in my temples matched the tapping of the lady's fingers on her tablet. I pressed the power button on the Toshiba and waited as openSUSE 12.2 booted up. I plugged in my headset in case I hadn't left the speakers on mute (KDE's desktop sound can be quite loud on the Toshiba Harman Kardon speakers).

"Can I give it a try?" I asked with a smile at the young lady.

She looked at me and then at my notebook skeptically - it sure didn't look like an Apple computer she probably thought. I reassured her with a wave of my iPod data cable.




She handed the iPad to me. I checked the name of the video app and then plugged the iPad to an available USB port. With PCMANFM, I navigated to the video app folder and showed her the list of video files.

"So, which one did you want to remove?" I asked, my head still a bit fuzzy.

"This one. And that one. My older brother does all this stuff for me. And that file. . . why does that keep reappearing? Can you delete that too."

I deleted the text log file too.

"It worked. How did you do that without iTunes?"

I gave her a lopsided grin, favoring the half of my face that wasn't smarting from the sudden onset of a headache. Most days, I would've done the whole "Linux evangelist" bit but I was too tired.

"So, what is it that you do?" she asked as I disconnected her iPad and handed it back to her.

I wanted to use my best MacGyver/Richard Dean Anderson voice and say, "I move around." It was much better than the real answer.

"I'm a . . . uhm . . . writer," I mumbled.

"A writer! Wow!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "So what do you write? Any Rowling, Clancy or R.R. Martin type of stuff ? Self-help? Textbooks? You look like a writer for children's books. . . not that there's anything wrong with that."

I should have answered scripter for the Amazing Spider-Man comic books in 80s.

"Uh...I'm a technical writer," I said slowly.

She looked at me as if she licked the inside of Michael Jordan's sneakers shortly after the Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship in 1998.

"You write manuals?" she said incredulously.

Official documentation, I mentally corrected her. I nodded.

"No offense, but no one actually reads those things, right?"

I shrugged and powered down my openSUSE desktop. Having lost interest in any type of conversation, she turned back to her iPad and started watching an episode of Arrow with Stephen Amell and his abs. That's me. Writer. Animal magnetism and smarts rolled into one package. Have to beat them off with a stick.

I pressed the recline button on my seat and put my baseball cap back on my head, promptly falling asleep. 


Thunar in Fedora Xfce browsing an iPad

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PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 2

Continued from PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 1‏

KDE MiniMe

It's long been my belief that a lighter KDE release should be provided by the openSUSE team, openSUSE being my KDE Linux distribution of choice. PCLinuxOS has had a slim release for years through its MiniMe version, which I've never tried until now. In the last few weeks of use, PCLinuxOS 2013.10 KDE MiniMe certainly felt slimmer than Mageia 3 KDE and definitely loads and powers down faster than my own openSUSE 12.2 KDE setup.

The KDE MiniMe release of PCLinuxOS is streamlined and frugal. True to its name, the KDE MiniMe version of PCLOS retains only the fewest of KDE utilities and applications and is in stark contrast to overloaded releases from openSUSE and Kubuntu. It's very rare that I get to try out such a lightweight KDE desktop so I was very pleased. PCLOS KDE, curiously enough, even matched the performance of the PCLOS LXDE on both the Toshiba NB520 and EEEPC1000H. Moreover, I preferred the application set preinstalled on PCLOS KDE over the somewhat overloaded PCLOS LXDE. The performance was very good even on my humble hardware (in VirtualBox too).




Another plus: although PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe is QT-based, I had no problems running VLC for QT whereas I had issues running VLC on openSUSE KDE 12.2. Users who dislike Nepomuk and related modules would also be glad to know Texstar's KDE has it disabled by default and I didn't receive a single notification about any KDE service while running the system.

Feature Set

A few things of note:

1. It definitely feels odd once again seeing Synaptic Package Manager on a KDE desktop, much less a non-Debian Linux distribution after so long. Having used Mandriva/Mageia's URPMI software manager for years, I like having Synaptic around on a distribution that was once a fork of Mandriva. Also, as much as I love YaST and Zypper, Synaptic has always been more dependable despite its age (and faster too).




2. The Drakx install process has changed very little from its Mandriva years and new users to PCLinuxOS might be put off by so little changes to the setup process compared to Fedora or even Ubuntu. Still, there's a reason why little has changed - it's still far friendlier than say FreeBSD or PC-BSD or going through the much-lauded Arch Way.




3. 800x600 on the Toshiba NB520 - Like Lubuntu, Fedora and PC-BSD, PCLOS failed to detect the maximum resolution of the oddly set up video chip of the Toshiba NB520. It's no dig against against PCLOS at all. Thus far, only openSUSE was able to configure X11 properly out-of-the-box on the said netbook.

4. It's poor practice to review a Linux distribution based on its theme though other reviewers often make it a main point. Some may find PCLinuxOS's default KDE theme, with the blue abstract wallpaper and KDE3-esque appearance somewhat dated. However, PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe makes up for it through a really slim set of applications and a customized KDE built for performance. Long-time KDE users also know that almost every aspect of a KDE desktop can be tweaked without installing any other packages, so looks can be deceiving.



Concluded in PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 3

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Quick Fix: Windows Movie Maker video card driver issues

Category: Tech Today

Windows Movie Maker is great for casual video editing with support for popular video formats (including the Sony NEX series' AVCHD). If you hardly work with video but need a simple competent video-editing application, Movie Maker is free for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Microsoft maintains a Windows 7 version of Windows Movie Maker 2012, which can be installed along with other existing Microsoft Live Essentials  applications. However, users might have issues due to outdated video drivers especially if the desktop or laptop has recently undergone a fresh install.




If you get an error message regarding system requirements, follow the steps below:

Note: The steps listed focus on the Lenovo Ideapad Z360 with the 1GB Nvidia Optimus video card, but the solution is similar regardless of machine brand or model.

1. In the Programs and Features window, compare the version of your Intel driver with the list on this Microsoft support page. If your driver version is older, you will have to update your Intel graphics driver.




The Lenovo Ideapad in this example requires two drivers, one from Intel and the other from Nvidia.  The original video drivers which came with the Ideapad and on the driver DVD were at least 3 years older than the driver required by Windows Movie Maker.

2. Visit your manufacturer's support site to install the updated Intel drivers. As an alternative, you can also use Windows Update to install updated Intel graphics drivers. Note that the driver from the manufacturer and the driver recommended by Windows will often not be the same version. You can choose the more updated driver if you prefer.





Note: Windows Update actually does a good job of checking for the latest Intel graphics driver for your operating system. Manufacturers such as Lenovo occasionally neglect to update the latest drivers on their support site especially if the model is pretty old - such as the Lenovo Ideapad Z360.




3. Installing updated Intel drivers is more than enough to run Windows Movie Maker. However, if you are running a Nvidia Optimus card, you may want to install the latest Nvidia drivers. You can download the updated Nvidia Optimus drivers from either the Nvidia support site or again from the manufacturer's site.

Note: When working with a Nvidia Optimus graphics chipset, always install the updated Intel drivers first before the Nvidia graphics driver or you might find yourself with a blank display on reboot. If that happens, boot into Safe Mode using F8 and uninstall the graphics drivers then reinstall them in the correct sequence.

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PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 1

Category: Linux

PCLinuxOS is an admirable Linux distribution in many ways, with a regular (and extremely informative) e-magazine, a devoted userbase and a committed developer all coming together under one banner. Texstar and the PCLinuxOS community recently celebrated their 10th birthday and it was with great anticipation that I downloaded the ISO and went about exploring the fabled distribution the last few weeks.

Note: The PCLinuxOS home page is one of the few Linux sites that is intermittently inaccessible in China. If you encounter a 403 forbidden error page, updated torrents for PCLinuxOS are available at Linux Tracker.

Disclaimer

I freely admit that I've never been a PCLinuxOS user. I dimly recall running an early release of PCLinuxOS on my portable in 2006 and for one reason or the other, was unimpressed and opted for Mandriva instead. Over the years, I've settled comfortably with either openSUSE, Fedora or Lubuntu on my machines despite glowing PCLOS reviews from veteran Linux users .

For this article, I opted to run PCLinuxOS via LiveUSB and through a virtual machine in VirtualBox. As a non-power user, I focused on user experience, stability on different types of hardware (desktop, laptop and netbook) and default desktop features.

PCLOS was tested on the following:

PCLinuxOS LXDE LiveUSB

• Lenovo Ideapad Z360 (Core i3, 6GB RAM, Nvidia Optimus 1GB)
• Toshiba NB520 (Atom, 4GB RAM)
• ASUS BM6630 workstation (Core i5, 4GB RAM)
• ASUS EEEPC 1000H (Atom, 2GB RAM)

PCLinuxOS KDE

• VirtualBox - Lenovo Ideapad Z360

PCLOS LXDE on a LiveUSB

I was tempted to try the MATE release of PCLOS, but opted for LXDE instead since I wanted to see if PCLinuxOS would perform better than Fedora 18 Xfce on my EEEPC 1000H. After running Unetbootin to create a LiveUSB, I booted to PCLinuxOS LXDE.

User experience notes:

1. Unlike distributions designed to run on a LiveCD or LiveUSB, PCLOS requires users to select the keyboard layout before loading the desktop which is great because this means PCLOS doesn't assume everyone uses an English keyboard. Unfortunately, some users might think this is just a slight improvement from the old days when Mandriva and other Mandriva-based distributions required users to configure the time, date, and keyboard before loading the desktop environment. It's not a huge nuisance but English-speaking users accustomed to Knoppix or Puppy Linux will find the brief setup inconvenient.




2. PCLOS LiveUSB boot up speed is unremarkable even on the ASUS BM6630 Core i5 system and has no leg up against Lubuntu and Knoppix.

3. PCLinuxOS LXDE is comparable to Lubuntu with the added benefit that PCLinuxOS already includes restricted packages such as codecs and drivers.  Lubuntu's installation process is significantly lengthened by having to install the packages separately. Multimedia support is also more consistent compared to installing the restricted packages on an openSUSE machine.

4. One of the great advantages of PCLOS is that it uses the same network manager regardless of your desktop environment. This means that despite running an LXDE release, PCLOS still brings up the familiar Network Control Center Mageia and Mandriva users are familiar with. I know it's a dated observation but I'm very happy that wireless cards and wireless FN keys are supported so well now. Running rfkill or iwconfig is unnecessary even on machines with a Ralink card. I do wish they would eventually change the appearance of the Network Control Center though - it's sporting the same look from a few years back.




4. Like most modern LXDE Linux distributions, PCLOS LXDE looks great on a huge 1920x1200 monitor and in displays larger than 13.3" However, PCLOS LXDE is somewhat cluttered on the humble screen size of the Toshiba NB520 and EEEPC1000H. Removing and customizing the top and bottom panels is easy of course but having used other lightweight LXDE releases, I was surprised that the default desktop had two Panels, two paging controls, and several other Panel add-ons by default.




5. Powering down PCLinuxOS is fast, but all my machines stopped at the init message and the power button had to be pressed manually. I've experienced this before with other LiveUSBs and some LiveCDs so it isn't unusual.




6. PCLOS LXDE is significantly more loaded than either a Fedora LXDE 18 spin or the last two releases of Lubuntu. In fact, I would go as far to say it has more preloaded utilities than both of the distros combined. Texstar includes some very unique PCLOS configuration utilities in addition to some interesting application selections. The configuration menu alone has more items than a default Lubuntu install. Some of the highlights that caught my eye are:

• GTK Theme Switch 2
• PCLOS Localization Manager
• LXDE Restore MBR
• LXDPMS for toggling Energy Star power saving modules
• Multimedia Keys for assigning specific functions on a keyboard
• Touchpad Toggle v0.32
• NTFS Configuration Tool (a utility I haven't seen preinstalled for a long time now)
• Icon Browser
• Lexmark, Epson and HP Print managers

In short, although PCLOS LXDE uses a lightweight desktop environment, the list of included utilities and PCLOS-only applications (e.g. PCLOS FLV/MP4 player) are worth a separate article on its own. Some of the selections are useful in a way that most users have never thought of. Others are dubious additions such as UMPlayer, DeaDBeef and MyMencoder. Two good utilities I've never seen included in a distribution are found in the File Tools menu of PCLOS LXDE: shred_GUI (for permanently deleting files) and Unison (for syncing files).




As a fan of lightweight distributions, I have mixed feelings about PCLOS LXDE. On the one hand, users have a whole library of utilities for configuring the LXDE desktop, a desktop environment that isn't all that friendly to new users who don't know what packages to install to customize their system. On the other, Synaptic Package Manager makes adding applications to the frugal list of primary applications easy. Most of the utilities are actually very useful especially on a laptop - but I'm not sure if I'll ever use them considering I've never had to on other distributions. Moreover, having several modules and configuration managers sort of defeats the concept of being lightweight especially if the user is more interested in getting work done than customizing Openbox or GTK.

Continued in PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review Part 2

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Quick Review: Bingo Waterproof Bag for Mobile Devices

Category: Tech Today

The problem with going to the swimming pool or to the beach on your own is that you often have to leave your money/wallet and/or your precious smartphone on the sundeck or towel. For loners, this is a horrible inconvenience and there's the constant fear of theft. Knowing that a waterpoof bag for a smartphone or MP3 player would prove useful one of these days, I visited the Chinese online shopping site 360Buy (renamed recently to JD.com) and purchased a Bingo Waterproof Smartphone pouch (which is probably an inaccurate Mandarin translation).




Obviously, I had to use Google Translate to search for the item and input it in the online shopping web site's search engine. Amazon and any other online store in the US carry similar items and there's very little price difference. However, the Chinese site one ups other buying sites by providing charming ads for the Bingo waterproof case with a couple sitting around the pool with the waterproof slip of neoprene (other sites sport a scantily clad Chinese girl at the beach) . Some manufacturers include a compass and neck strap and provide visual instructions on how the sealing mechanism works (you would understand the pictures even if you couldn't understand Chinese characters). My only real requirement was that it wouldn't rupture on my first try.

Now, just like most people, I was concerned about how good the product would be once exposed to the elements of the swimming pool or ocean. The pictures on the buying site are nice and all that but I was unsure if it was watertight. Even my Chinese colleague looked at me doubtfully when I told her I was going to buy one.

"You'd better get ready to buy a new smartphone," she warned with a raised eyebrow. Well, I don't have a smartphone. And I was going to use the waterproof container for my 4th gen iPod Touch.

Litmus Test

I should have ran informal tests in the bath before heading off to the beach or pool, but I was busy with work, confident that the resealable plastic bag that came with my goggles can be used to add an extra layer of waterproofing.

I first tried the product at the pool. I placed my iPod Touch inside the resealable plastic bag and then popped it into the Bingo waterproof case. The bag was designed for much larger devices than my 4th gen iPod Touch so there was plenty of space inside even with the 2nd layer of plastic I added. The construction is fairly simple and at first glance the material seems cheap but I had seen similar products before and pricier items used the same design. The twin hooks on top of the bag seal one end of the fairly thick neoprene similar to what divers use. The basic "trapdoor concept" doesn't compress the bag when you seal it and air can be trapped inside the bag causing it to balloon.

This was actually a good sign - this meant that it was fairly airtight.




I fastened the armstrap to my bicep and without hesitation dove into the pool. The product worked. My iPod Touch was dry and snug inside the bag. However, I knew that swimming at the beach and against the waves was a totally different situation. So I did some laps in the pool. It was awkward having the case on my arm as I executed a free crawl and the iPod Touch/airtight bag throws off your balance when doing a breast stroke but otherwise the bag not only held but it kept my iPod Touch dry even after four laps around the pool.

At the Beach

I brought the bag and my iPod Touch to the beach with the full intention of using the same method with the resealable plastic bag that worked so well at the pool. Unfortunately, my wallet was too big for the bag - thick as it was with receipts and coupons (not money). So, I did the next best thing, I took what little cash I had and stuffed it in the Bingo waterproof case with the iPod Touch. This time, I decided not to use the extra layer with the resealable plastic bag. Looking back, it was a an impulsive and stupid thing to do because if the Bingo bag ruptured due to the sand or waves, I would not only damage my iPod Touch but lose a great deal of travel money. However, I was ready for the first signs of leakage or moisture inside the bag.




The result was pretty fantastic. The velcro strap kept the Bingo bag on my arm the whole time while I frolicked with the powerful waves. I kept touching the bag on my arm just to check if it was still there. The currency I tucked in wouldn't survive the salt water so my concern was valid. I didn't do laps like I did at the pool but 2 hours and more than two dozen powerful waves and several rolls in the sand proved the Bingo bag's resiliency.




Conclusion? The Bingo Waterproof bag worked and I hadn't wasted my money on the non-branded product with the dodgy web ad at JD.com.

Notes

If you don't intend to do laps at the pool and just want to be have your smartphone handy while you're at the pool, the Bingo waterproof case actually lets you use the touchscreen. The web ad actually showed this prominently though I was skeptical because of the current technology of today's touchscreens. When I tried it, however, the touchscreen and the button of the iPod Touch surprisingly worked even through the thick plastic waterproof layer. Obviously, I didn't buy the bag for that purpose but I'm pretty sure smartphone addicts would appreciate that functionality.




As a final note, the release clasps on top of the Bingo bag can be difficult to open after a long swim at the beach. I struggled for five minutes to open the swimming pouch after my swim. Surface tension and the bag's material made it extremely difficult to pull open. No sand seeped inside the clasps so it wasn't stuck in the normal sense. Perhaps if I had waited for 10 minutes for the Bingo pouch to dry it would've been easier - but I was dying for an ice cream cone and my all my pocket cash was inside the nice and dry bag. 

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AirAsia e-magazine and chat support

Category: Tech Today

AirAsia, one of the more popular budget airlines in Asia, has a few hits and misses (including painful add-on fees from everything from seats to insurance). However, two services that I like are the chat support and the free e-magazine you can download from their site.

I've written about my love for airline magazines previously and suggested that airlines could cut cost by using mobile devices as a medium rather than publishing glossy magazines. AirAsia still has glossies onboard their craft but their 3Sixty magazine has a small warning indicating you aren't allowed to remove the magazine from the aircraft. You can, however, download a PDF version from the AirAsia 3Sixty website.

For a budget carrier, AirAsia's 3Sixty magazine is very, very good. The publication is definitely more substantial than Dragonair, JetStar, Philippine Airlines and the cheap Cebu Pacific Air inflight magazines. The articles in 3Sixty are intelligent, informative and well-researched with none of the snob and arrogance typically found in travel magazines. Both the e-magazine and the published version were produced by a quality team using Adobe InDesign CS5.5 and it's clear they knew what they were doing.




As a technical writer, I certainly appreciate their traditional layout and emphasis on content. The 3Sixty magazine, thankfully, doesn't have the confusing interactivity of British Airways' gorgeous free First Life magazine and isn't limited to the Apple Newstand app. While First Life caters only to a select wealthy clientele who can actually afford the luxury lifestyle and items featured in the articles, 3Sixty provides a more broad range of topics.

Chat Support

Making online reservations may be the norm today, but it's still good practice to check with the airline to confirm payment and that everything is hunky-dory. There are a few different contact points passengers can use for assistance though I found AskAirAsia unimpressive and Twitter of course is blocked in Shanghai. However, I found their chat support helpful - within four minutes I was able to confirm my credit card payment with a representative named Selina.




Having worked in customer service a decade ago, I had my confirmation number and to her credit, Selina was pretty fast and the experience was painless. It was a far cry from calling banks like HSBC or undergoing an IQ-draining automated system. In addition, AirAsia's chat service didn't require passengers to log on/sign up to the AirAsia website.

Cost and Services

AirAsia is similar to most carriers, budget or otherwise. At the end of the day, you have to decide between cost and services. According to CNN and BBC, more and more budget airlines will be popping up soon and prices will be even more competitive as cost measures are introduced and planes such as the Airbus A380 become more and more common. The e-magazine and chat support may seem insignificant in the larger scheme of the industry but passengers like me do notice and will remember the next time we book a flight.

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FrameMaker Basics: Inserting an Inline Image

Category: Tech Writer

The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications recommends adding a bitmap to instructions if the screen button or control is unnamed or too obscure for an end user. FrameMaker makes adding inline images easy through the Anchored Frame panel and Insert option.

To insert an inline image to text:

1. Position the insertion point in the statement or text.
2. Click File then Import. Click File... then navigate to the bitmap file and click Import.
3. In the Imported Graphic Scaling window, select the appropriate dpi.




4. Click Set.
5. In the Anchored Frame panel, select At Insertion Point in the Anchoring Position item.




Note: To display the Anchored Frame panel, click Special on the main menu then Anchored Frame...

6. Using the Select Object tool, click the frame of the bitmap and position the image on the line. If needed, input a specific value in the Distance above Baseline item on the Anchored Frame panel. To add space between the text and frame, enlarge the left and right sides of the frame.




7. To adjust the size of the image, hold down the Shift key and click and drag the control handles.


PDF final output in Adobe Acrobat

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Create a Photo Essay/Slideshow for Multiple Devices

Category: Tech Today

Unsolicited Question: What's the fastest way to create a nice photo slideshow/photo essay to stream/display to a desktop, portable, LEDTV, iOS, Windows Phone or Android device without having to use HTML5/Javascript or Adobe Flash?

In most cases, you can display your photos in devices without having to design a slideshow. But if you want to create a photo essay like those found in BBC or CNN with some text added then there are dozens of freeware for Windows and MacOSX you can download. Linux users, on the other hand, also has numerous options via their distribution's software package managers.

However, I humbly suggest Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and later versions for a few reasons:

1. You probably already have a neglected Microsoft Office Home and Student on your Windows laptop or desktop.
2. It's very easy to use.
3. iOS and Android have tons of free and paid apps that can run PowerPoint slides without losing fidelity. Windows Phone of course includes Office and supports Office documents natively. Some advanced displays (such as Samsung Smart TVs) also have apps that run Office documents. Moreover, you can convert the .pptx file from PowerPoint to .wmv for wireless media players such as the Western Digital TV Media Player, Xtreamer SideWinder, LG and Samsung Blu-Ray players.
4. The output looks professional and impressive enough for most viewers.




To quickly create a Photo Slideshow with text in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010:

1. On the Insert Ribbon, click Photo Album then New Photo Album...
2. Click File/Disk and navigate to the folder where all your photos are stored. Although PowerPoint does not support RAW, it does support .tif, .jpeg, .png and several less popular image file formats. Select individual photos or select all the photos in the folder.




3. On the Picture Layout item, select Fit to slide, 1 picture  or any of the other available layout options.
4. On the Theme item, click Browse and select a .thmx file for your slideshow.




5. Click Create. PowerPoint will create slides with the photos added according to the frame and theme you selected.

Note: PowerPoint 2010 provides some pretty nice themes you can use and with plenty more available for free from the Microsoft Office site.

6. Add text as needed for your photo-essay by using the Text Box option in the Insert Ribbon.





7. To rearrange the sequence of the slides, click the View tab then Slide Sorter.
8. To modify transitions, click the Transitions tab.
9. Click File then Save As... to save your slideshow.

Note: To change the picture frame, theme and layout, click the Insert ribbon and click Photo Album then Edit Photo Album...

You can actually share/stream the PowerPoint presentation to your devices or if needed, you can click File then Save As to convert your PowerPoint Presentation to Windows Media Video (.wmv), PDF or even Open Document Presentation (.odp).

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Using power plugs and adapters from other vendors

Category: Tech Today

Manufacturers will always warn users to use the bundled accessories of their products. However, users have become more and more resourceful when it comes to swapping chargers and power plugs. Moreover, because tablets, smartphones and mobile devices have become so similar in input/output voltage it's actually easy to "swap" chargers. Some combinations I've tried include Sony Playstation Portable charger working with the Sony PRS ereaders and ASUS tablet chargers working with my Creative Zen MP3 player.


The 5V 1.2A ASUS AC adapter actually works with MP3 players like the Creative Zen.


Obviously, care should be taken when attempting to use chargers designed for other products. Always check the voltage label on the charger or adapter. Besides, third-party power chargers and adapters that work with a multitude of devices are cheap and widely available in stores such as Newegg and Amazon.

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IMDB.com access in China

Category: Tech Today
 
For the last two years or so, I haven't had much luck accessing IMDB.com in Shanghai due to the Great Firewall. Yesterday, however, I stumbled on an IMDB.com link and it suddenly pulled up. Yeah, I know. Big hairy deal, right? All the pages were now accessible when previously Chinese censors inexplicably prevented access to the popular movie site. Now I can reread all the trivia about Arnold's old Conan movies and more recent movies like Star Trek: Into the Darkness. Hopefully, even the IMDB app will now work and access is permanent (I have no idea when they unblocked it).



 
 All I need now is access to Blogger.com. Let the wall fall!
 

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Download openSUSE 13.1 Images and Banners from Github!

Category: openSUSE
 
With the upcoming openSUSE 13.1 almost ready for mainstream release (RC1 is out now), show your true green colors by downloading images and banners from the openSUSE Github repositories!




As a committed user to openSUSE and still running openSUSE 12.2 despite excellent reviews of 12.3, I'm ready to move to 13.1 once its all ready to go. OpenSUSE KDE has reliably powered my portables for the last few years and the KDE desktop has improved greatly since the transition from KDE3.x to KDE4.x.
 
 Are you ready for openSUSE 13.1? Download the wallpapers and images now!


One of the openSUSE 13.1 wallpapers features a homage to Game of Thrones' "The winter is coming".
Screenshot of the openSUSE 13.1 wallpaper on my iPad 2.

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