Month: October 2008

How to know…

..that you’re dealing with someone who’s been to Africa:

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Prahlad, the Nepalese intern, confirms that these (Made in China) umbrellas are also sold in Kathmandu, Nepal – but!, Ahabwe – the intern from Uganda who’s come to join us for the next two months – brought this typical low-budget umbrella (I’ve so far only seen abroad, but never in Europe) from Cape Town (SA) the other day.

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That’s a lot of love for an umbrella that actually only costs EUR 2,40 (~ 30 ZAR) and isn’t available in Northern Europe (where the current weather suggests that umbrellas should be given out for free…).

I guess that’s what happens when you’re responsible for a wife and a baby and have to save on just about everything.

filed under: necessity vs. comfort

netbook vs. subnotebook?

My colleagues at work are using Fujitsu Siemens (FSC) Lifebook S Series laptops, which are more or less thin 13″ computers with the usual flexibility and relatively low weight (1,7kg). Some strange policy by the government requires them to buy FSC machines as well as T-Mobile contracts for their mobiles — whereas I, as a freelancer/consultant, have to rely on my own system (and consequently also have to finance it myself).

My own system is an HP nx8220 15,4″ notebook since autumn 2006 – a very reliable machine that also survived rural Kenya (~ power failures) and which I’ve disassembled a few times to exchange parts like another CPU, more RAM, new HDD(s), another screen, new keyboard, new touchpad and also a new battery. The only issue I am afraid of is that many other broken HP nx8220s for sale on eBay & Co. do have a faulty Northbridge controller chip below the touchpad, which would result in a costly repair (200-250,- EUR, reballing the chip) and what should hopefully never happen to my computer. To prevent this failure, and because my notebook actually weighs 2,8kg (plus the power supply cable), I’ve started using it at home only and relying on other machines at the office.

However, as I would like to be more mobile, I thought about going for one of those new netbooks to have a 2nd, very portable computer.

And this is where the story actually begins. I know a lot of other friends who are often travelling and attending conferences are tired of carrying their heavy MacBookPro around – which becomes obvious when you see ProBloggers like Ethan Zuckerman using (simple) 13,3″ MacBooks.

What would I like my future portable computer (notebook/netbook) to have?

  • small screen, maximum 12,x”
  • WXGA resolution (1280×800)
  • efficient & power saving CPU
  • min. 1 GB RAM
  • decent (multi-)touchpad or stick with good buttons
  • nice keyboard (ctrl + Fn key positions)
  • battery runtime of min. 4h
  • Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi a/b/g/(n)
  • internal HDD
  • if possible: internal 3G or 3.5G modem
  • 3x USB
  • weight: below 1,8kg (maximum!)
  • affordable price

While going through the specs of all current and upcoming netbooks on the market, my five netbook favourites are so far:

  • Samsung NC10
  • Asus Eee PC 1000H (Go)
  • HP Mini 1000
  • Dell Inspiron Mini 12
  • Lenove Ideapad S10

These netbooks actually provide enough flexibility for me on the road, and if they all stay below 400,- EUR and weigh not more than 1,5kg each, I could easily agree on one of them (ask me in a month from now and I’ll probably name three other ones).

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However, netbooks are netbooks, and the Intel Atom N270 CPU and their chipsets aren’t that great – compared to full 12,x” notebooks that come with the same powerful CPU my own notebook currently has (Intel 750 – no CoreDuo etc.).

What I am talking about are used subnotebooks like IBM’s X40/41, T40p (Steve! :-), HP nc4200, nx2400, Dell Latitude D400/410. These business models that intially sold for 1.500,- EUR and above to the corporate world, are now often selling for something like 300,- EUR. Despite of a worn out body, display and keyboard, they also often have an old battery, so you easily end up adding another 80,- EUR on a new battery. But still, these old subnotebooks are often still better than new netbooks. Especially the screen resolution is by far superior to the tiny screen on a netbook, even though some of the latter ones have a modern LED backlight screen.

Depending on what you want (or rather: are able) to spend on a 2nd computer, I think it makes sense to consider going for a used subnotebook instead of a new netbook. I also buy my HP printers according to this philosophy: new cheap consumer printers = expensive cartridges, older business printers = cheaper cartridges. It’s like buying a used Mercedes instead of a cheaper, fully-equipped Korean car.

The only part I still have to figure out is how to sync two computers – because I can only work on one machine at once and would still want to have my 50 GB of private data with me all the time.

So here’s my question to anyone who ever wanted to have a lightweight computer for travelling: what would you do? Keep on carrying the old 2,8kg around until it falls apart, go for a restricted new netbook or buy one of those older subnotebooks for more or less the same amount most netbooks are currently selling for (300,- – 400,- EUR)?

(@Mac-Fan-boys: I’d even consider an Apple Netbook, but not the MacAir :-)

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Other than that – what I really like about netbooks is that they provide affordable computing – much like the OLPC which apparently was the initial reason for Asus to start producing netbooks. I think we are yet to see in due time how quickly netbooks will replace mobile phones as the major online platform in Africa. Much like local WiFi networks started substituting 3G UMTS connections in the past (because it was simpler and easier to set up a local Wifi network than to wait for all network providers to update their infrastructure), I think netbooks have the potential to substitute the ailing browser development on mobile phones.

WAP alone has been around for so many years now, and still the iPhone is the only phone with a decent online browser. Consequently, netbooks – because they are cheap and will in future also have a SIM card holder for an internal 3/3.5G modem – could imho be the ideal mobile platform – all over the world.

Datenrettung

Nachdem mir gestern der Inhalt einer 30 GB Partition auf einer älteren, externen Festplatte – einfach mal eben so – ins Datennirwana aberauscht ist, kann ich jetzt für WinXP ein gutes Datenrettungsprogramm empfehlen, das wirklich hilft:? GetDataBack von Runtime Software, dass es jeweils in einer FAT und NTFS Version gibt.

Auf der 60 GB Festplatte hatte ich seit ca. einem Jahr diverse Publikationen aus dem Bereich Water & Sanitation ausgelagert, größtenteils also PDFs und Office Dateien sowie ein paar Videos, die man zwar zu 70% wiederbeschaffen könnte (= von CDs zusammenkopieren und ausm Inet herunterladen), was aber auch viel Arbeit bedeuten würde.

Leider hatte ich die Festplatte in einem billigen USB Gehäuse untergebracht, dass ich vor ca. drei Jahren bei eBay gleich 2x erstanden hatte und dessen Fehlfunktion ich immer auf einen defekten Controller in meinem alten Rechner geschoben hatte. Jedenfalls scheint da bei einem Schreibvorgang die Stromzufuhr unterbrochen worden zu sein, so dass das “Inhaltsverzeichnis” der Festplatte nicht mehr neu geschrieben worden konnte.

Für Laien: Wie bei einer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit, hat auch eine Festplatte ein Art Inhaltsverzeichnis, in dem genau steht, an welcher Stelle die jeweilige Information zu finden ist. Wenn man dieses Inhaltsverzeichnis herausreißt, findet man die gewünschte Information nur noch dann, wenn man das Buch Seite für Seite durchliest und ein neues Inhaltsverzeichnis anlegt.

Ein Datenrettungsprogramm muss also in der Lage sein, trotz aller Vorgaben stur die Festplatte abzugrasen und passiv auszulesen, was dort steht. Genau das schafft dieses GetDataBack.

Nachdem ich nämlich fünf verschiedene Programme ausprobiert und schon fast aufgegeben hatte und GetDataBack erst gar nicht starten wollte (defekter Bootsektor auf der Festplatte), hatte ich es dann später doch nochmal versucht und GetDataBack tatsächlich dazu überreden können, die Festplatte abzugrasen. Nach ca. 3-4 Stunden war es dann soweit – es wurden die alten Daten angezeigt, die man sich dann über einen Viewer anschauen konnte. Leider werden Doc Dateien dabei verfälscht angezeigt? – erst nach der (kostenpflichtigen!) Wiederherstellung sahen die meisten (nicht alle) Dateien wieder normal aus.

Vorteil also: es funktioniert tatsächlich, wenn auch nur zu ca. 95% (bei mir zumindest);

Nachteil: GetDataBack ist richtig teuer und die Vorschau auf die rekonstruierten Daten hatte mich eher abgeschreckt. Die Datenrettung kostet dabei mehr als eine Festplatte – eine professionelle Datenrettung jedoch mind. 10x so viel.

Schön wäre es, so ein Programm auch noch als Freeware und für Linux Distributionen zu bekommen. TestDisk ist auch nett, aber hatte mir leider nix gebracht.

Mit einem der diversen Datenschreddertools habe ich es mir danach nicht nehmen lassen, die alte Festplatte komplett mit “Yesu ndiye mkombozi wa maisha yangu” zu überschreiben (statt Nullen und Einsen) – was als Kunst und dreifache Codierung zu verstehen ist (~ geheime Botschaft auf alten Festplatten versteckt, die für jeden einzelnen eine andere Bedeutung hat).

Falls hier jemand Ahnung von Filesystems hat, würde ich mich über eine Aufklärung darüber freuen, welches FS stabil ist und für sich selbst läuft, d.h., bei Verwendung auf externen Festplatten nicht so anfällig ist. Bisher hatte ich dafür immer Fat32 (wg parallel installiertem Ubuntu) verwendet und alle Partitionen (außer WinXP Boot Partition) über 32GB Größe (WinNt/2k/Xp Limit) mit GParted eingerichtet. Thx!

Foniclious

Due to a more or less funny reason, we ended up being bila a working internet connection this morning – 1&1 killed the line within minutes after realizing that a bill of about 50,- EUR (for the 16k DSL line here) hadn’t been paid for by the landlord.

As money transfers usually take some time, I quickly realized I’d have to do something about this state of being without a working internet connection because I currently really need this access for research & work.

fonic

Some weeks ago, the German mobile phone provider Fonic (that resells capacity on the o2 network) introduced a daily flatrate, meaning: you aren’t charged 0,24 EUR /MB, but instead pay 2,50 EUR per day and can surf for as long as you want! The only limitation is that they’ll reduce the speed from HSDPA (!) to GPRS once you’ve downloaded more than a GB of data / day.

Now, paying 2,50 EUR/d for a whole month is too much (30x 2,50 = 75,- EUR), but you’re only charged for the days you’re actually surfing the net. So, obviously, this offer really makes sense for those who want/need to have a location-independent internet connection for a few days only, e.g. if you’re travelling around or if you’re DSL line is offline.

To introduce this offer, they started selling a Huawei E160 UMTS/ 3.5G USB stick, containing a fresh SIM card and with a microSD slot for the proud sum of 99,95 €.

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Too much for me, but I do have a 3.5G-capable Nokia N95 which never really lived up this speed until now, as my other SIM card operates on the E+ network which does not provide HSDPA coverage.

Following my aged posts on how-to-use-gprs via Suffericom two years ago, I thought about covering my experience with Fonic as well. Also, I thought it would be interesting to see this direct comparison between Safaricom in Kenya and o2 in Germany – both networks that expanded their own capacity at a similar time. But while operators like Safaricom, Celtel and Zain do not have so much fixed-line competition, DSL via your old-fashioned telephone line is the de-facto standard in most German households. As a result of that, data connections in Germany are not as badly overcrowded as in Kenya.

Getting online via Fonic is quite simple:

  1. bought a Fonic SIM card for 9,95 EUR at a local supermarket
  2. You have to charge it with a minimum amount of 10,- EUR after purchase
  3. called their hotline, activated the SIM and kindly asked them to activate the daily flatrate for me (took less than 2h).
  4. back home on my computer, I just installed the Nokia Bluetooth drivers, set up a Dial-Up BT connection to the phone, entered *99# as the telephone number and went online. Simple as that!

I mean, for the first time ever this really just worked out (= out of the box!) the way I had wished for, so now I am happily browsing the net again and currently searching for a portable UMTS modem that I can use on my computer to substitute the phone (which I urgently need for the other line).

Fonic currently also has a special deal where you enter the telephone number of an existing customer and both – in my case: me & fellow blogger Mzeecedric – are rewarded with a 5,- EUR bonus.

I know that Fonic recently provided free (Huawei E160 surf stick) sets to some bloggers here in Germany. I may have missed that – but all I want is that it works – and right now it does that without any hassle. Let’s hope it stays that way over the weekend! :-)

Oh – did I mention that the Huawei E160 has an extra socket for an external antenna? These sticks are still too expensive here, but something like that is what I actually need. Or maybe a PCMCIA card (albeit being real battery drainers…).

JKE is GTD, part 2

Following my first prototype for an improved X17 organiser and a stolen parcel that was later on found soaked in the shrubbery next door…

erstes-paket

…I eventually managed to modify the ordered Texon-based X17 timer according to my needs.

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As you may remember from my first post on this, X17 is a small company based in Saarbrücken, close to the French border, that also produces the X47 system – an advanced organizer system based on a spring-load mechanism that substitutes the “six-ring loose-leaf binder system” as seen on all other traditional filofax system. Filofax are nice, but! they waste a lot of space – as opposed to these X17 planers that on one hand offer the full space of a normal A5 (A6, A7) note book, and on the other hand are still exchangable. Obviously, it was time to send my filofax into early retirement and put my hands on a better system. I am not saying that X17 is the best system out there, but the best alternative I’ve come across so far and one which is also affordable: the timer itself costs 14,95 EUR in it’s cheapest version (hard paper oder Texon cover).

While waiting for the parcel to arrive, I had already made some plans on how to modify the system, e.g. include side pockets for important stuff and also add a few coloured strings that I can use as bookmarks. Simple modifications that just add user value to this already smart system which is btw based on elastic rubber as the binder mechanism.

So this is what I did with my new Texon-based X17 timer:

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I first sawed the bookmark strings to the back….

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…where you can already spot the distinctive “half holes” at the side which provide stability & guidance to the rubbbers…

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…and fixed simple side sleves inside.

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Please also note the pen holder at the right side which is very important to me. I prefer fountain pens btw, and the paper calendar inside is strong enough (80g/m²) to withstand the ink (an important detail!).

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Next task was to add the back cover, whereby I had make sure that I just glue it to the back (outside) cover and don’t use any visible seams.

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I used a screwdriver to squeeze the remaining cover behind the side pockets inside.

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Now, as you can probably see from this direct comparison between these two X17 timers, the half holes were missing on the modified Texon-based version, but it still works because these rubbers have enough tension to find their own way into the material.

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This is btw also the very reason why I went for the Texon (= soft material, right) version instead of the hard papered version as pictured above (left): the cardboard version only provides three holes, thus only three “rails” for rubbers, whereas the soft Texon version offers 4 holes. Unfortunately, this isn’t indicated on their website (yet – I guess I am the only freaky customer who further modifies his purchases and then blogs on them like a little kid :-).

I’ve btw given the cardboard version to my wife who already loves this system (she also only had a filofax before..).

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Now, can you see the difference between the conventional filofax system and my modified X17 timer? I’d say it just rocks!

More space also means you’ll have extra room for weekly notes – which is very important for a proper management and substitues the many post-it notes that used to fly around.

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all three versions directly compared: cardboard X17 for three A5 booklets (left, below), old filofax system on the left and my modified X17 organiser containing four A5 inlays.

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Et voilà , my very own new timer that provides enough room for notes, keeps them ALL in ONE place, has bookmarks, two side pockets that contain extra stuff and a pen holder for my fountain pen.

This is the system I always wanted to have.

Verdict: If you’re not that happy with you existing Filofax system, X17 provides an interesting and affordable alternative. If you want to spend more money, you can just as well go for the X47 alternative (which is really sexy and has a beautiful finish).
I would also like to recommend the RoterFaden system, which in my mind is a bit more jua kali and maybe more practical for those who usually keep a mixture of notes inside their timer. I prefer the X17, though.

It would be interesting to know if there are any other, papered organisers out there that provide similar comfort. If you know of any, pls feel free to drop a comment here. Thx!

P.S.: It would also be interesting to know if a franchise/spin-off for the X17 could be arranged with African makers, e.g. X17 covers produced in Kenya with natural materials that could be certified with a Cradle to Cradle certification and then equipped with these high quality inlays from Germany. Ah, I guess it’s a matter of import taxes and maintaining quality standards among others, but still – the money is on the paper content, not the covers which are only purchased once. Or? (Eurogadget vs. Afrigadget?).

6:06 minutes

…or why I would sometimes like to place my colleagues at work in front of a few selected videos that will help them understand why we urgently need to rethink our knowledge management strategy (or even better: develope a strategy!):

[via]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to explain the future of the web (and how we can actively contribute to it by positioning our ideas/products) to non-techies?

This may be due to my bad rhetorics (e.g. speaking too fast), but still – another colleague told me the other day: “Oh, I think we shouldn’t put too much energy in knowledge management, but instead implement more projects”. – “No!”, I immediately replied, “I believe that a better distribution of our knowledge and approaches will also contribute to the dissemination of the basic idea we’re already giving out for free” (here: sustainable sanitation concepts).

I mean, they are still only relying on Google to search for interesting information (and are consequently overhelmed by the following information overload) while I am already relying on social bookmarking services (e.g. delicious.com), (CC)-by-sa licenced photo sharing websites (e.g. flickr.com) and blogs to find qualified (= pre-selected by human beings) materials we can use for our mission.

A lot of ppl out there constantly create great content without really thinking about how they could actually share it with the rest of the world. If you want your works to be found online, you’ll have to do something about it and not just put it somewhere on the internet and hope that Google will index it one day.

The world would be so much better if all scientist who publish their works online could just index it somewhere on delicious & co. The other day, someone even asked me if Google could come up with a dedicated service for his special topic…. WTH? – “Go and tag your works at delicious.com”, I replied, “and your files may remain on your server and thus generate even more traffic for you”.

Give them more semantic value!