Blogged on October 15, 2007 at 21:41
I’ve talked about this project sometime ago (post in Portuguese), and I’ve kept it dearly. It’s a great project and concept, and a key feature in desktop Linux. Everybody interested in Gnome, Linux and Open Source in general *should* take a look!
On their latest version, they’ve added YouTube and Google Calendar support, along with bug fixes and some other cool features.
They’re still a development product, and they’re releasing versions with some known bugs (and warning you about them!) but the idea is to get user’s input into the making of the product. If it were a webapp, they’d call it “Conduit Beta”… :p
You can get some screenshots and even a screencast on their website.
Blogged on August 5, 2007 at 12:24
And so I picked on Robert’s gem and blogged about some days ago. Now I went back to check the follow up on the comments discussion. There was some criticism on the kid. Shallow, selfish, full of himself, etc, were some of the accusations on the kid. To my surprise, Daniel replies to most comments and ends up revealing a whole lot of maturity and growing in my consideration.
At a certain point, somebody raises up an interesting point: if his parents apparently don’t buy him Apple products because their against their price tags, why should people donate and get the kid what his parents *chose* not to give him?? The result of this is incredible: Daniel chooses (if it were me, I’d feel “forced” to do it and, stubborn as I might *sigh* be, would not do it, or at least not this way!) to offer the donated money to charity. If this is not enough, and you’re one of the “weird” donators who don’t want to donate towards Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (the organization he chose to donate to) he offers to refund you of your donation.
I mean, I’m guessing this kid has nice guidance. The option of deliberately not giving him a Mac from his parents reveal education on their behalf. When looking at a 14-year old, we should give credit to his parents for raising him in a proper, educated and though-provoking environment. Those are sine qua non conditions for such a brighter teenager.
Should he ask his parents for a PC now? 
Maybe even install Gentoo on it and, who know, become a fan and blog/podcast about it?? (I sooo want kids to starting getting into Linux in their teens!!!)
Daniel, you should be proud of 2 things: the generation you stand for and the parents you’ve been given. (I am on mine! ;))
Blogged on July 30, 2007 at 17:11
Well… This post will come out in English as it refers to a new phase in my life where English will have a prominent part of it!
As I’m getting ready to move on with my life, moving abroad gets in the way! (in a good way!) For that reason, I’m considering selling my current desktop PC (a close to 2-year old high-end machine) and buying a new computer in my new location. Now, a big dilemma pops in: being a long-last Apple fan and a computer enthusiast at the same time generates this mixed feelings on what to pick as my next workstation (that includes personal stuff too: entertainment, leisure, etc…):
1. Having fallen in love with Macs by using them for Audio/Music production a while ago (basically, OS9 - and then OSX - with ProTools LE on a Digi001, running on a dual 450Mhz G4), I have since then used them in various usages, choosing OSX to be my OS of preference, as to interface and stability.
2. I’ve been an Open Source/Linux geeks for a while. Since ‘99, when a Portuguese magazine distributed a RedHat 5.2 CD with it’s monthly issue, I’ve gone through tries and trials, learning ins and outs of the system. I have since then, become a huge fan of Gentoo, although I also enjoy Debian, and recommend Ubuntu for newcomers.
3. I’m a hardware/overclock enthusiast… And I love building, tweaking and juicing up my systems. At the same time, I hate burning DVDs/CDs with crap… I rather keep in my disks. So I have a big storage array… (I’ve done the math… it’s not that much more expensive to keep things on disks than on DVDs… I don’t use cheap DVDs as they tend to loose whatever I put on them, so, if buying some decent branded DVDs - I pick Memorex usually - it’s not that much cheaper than just buying internal SATA disks…). And I love the ability to just switch a video card if I can; add more disks; add more whatever…
4. I’m an internet/computer freak. I *LOOVE* the ability to read my feeds, check my mail, watch a TV episode, etc… when I’m in line waiting for something,when I’m on vacation, etc… While I do have 5g 80Gb video iPod, I’ve noticed I don’t watch video on it as I enjoy some HD-loving… So I could use a good, big laptop screen! And while I’ll buy a new cellphone and seek a decent internet plan, there are just things you can’t do, or feel good doing, on a cellphone…
SOOOOO… I’m here to humbly ask your opinions on one of these two options:
A. Switch… And get a Macbook Pro… And maybe a 22” screen later on, for desktop use. (still don’t know whether the 15” or the 17” high resolution MBP… :S) PS: I’d run OSX & WinXP (gaming) on it… maybe third-boot to Linux…
B. Stick to the desktop PC’s. And get a high-end PC… customized, custom built, blistering power, amazing graphics… and run Windows and Linux on it! But lose the mobility aspect…
PLEAASEEE help… :/
Blogged on July 16, 2007 at 03:20
Terminal-screen at Kiruna (Sweden) airport.
Como fez o Carlos nota no blog dele, nem sempre as coisas correm como devem… Isto da informática… tem destas surpresas!
PS: Não que qualquer uma das duas tenha directamente a ver com “segurança” (ou falta dela!), mas engraçado é o facto de nem os “outros” OS (neste caso um *nix, que eu tanto defendo e fomento :)) estarem a salvo de preciosidades destas… Como diria um colega meu: “… os erros são quase sempre causados pelo utilizador/administrador, e não pelo software em si!”.
Nem sempre… 
Blogged on July 11, 2007 at 20:02
Um dos grandes problemas com que me deparo na utilização full-time de Linux é a falta de capacidade de sincronização com mobile devices (tanto telemóveis como PDAs). Sinceramente, o gnokii não cumpre ou não funciona com devices mais recentes e outros programas que tenho visto, não tem uma interface “decente”!
Há umas semanas deparei-me com um projecto em desenvolvimento que à primeira vista, parece bastante promissor: Conduit. Ainda não experimentei porque estou com a instalação de Linux (Gentoo) neste PC um bocado… ahmm… “atravancada”. (o problema de não ter as drives configuradas pra montar com os UUID’s para evitar alterações de mount points quando ligamos outras drives, p.ex. externas por USB). *TODO :p
Ainda não está concluído, nem sequer feature locked. É um projecto em curso, mas é pode ser considerado como um - que os fundamentalistas OSS não me desejem mal por dizer isto - ActiveSync for Linux… on steroids. Fiquei extremamente entusiasmado com a página deles em que referem os objectivos do projecto. Pretty nifty, huh? Não transcrevo nenhum porque gostaria mesmo que dessem uma olhada ao todo e não a destaques. =) Ainda por cima é Gnome/GTK… he he
Se alguém já tiver experimentado e tiver opinião, que a partilhe.
Hey! I‘m Levi Figueira, an ‘82 portuguese tech enthusiast a.k.a geek! My interests range from design, photography, multimedia, production and music to linux, networking and development! *Personal tastes are subject to change without prior notice* :p Enjoy! =)
