tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19046982591434042112024-03-06T06:08:33.327+00:00Kev's WebTechnology fan and Apple user, I like finding solutions to technology problems I get, which I usually write about here. If you have a related problem please let me know and I'll see if I can help.Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.comBlogger245125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-66229593162295581862016-04-28T03:32:00.001+01:002016-04-28T03:32:02.327+01:00How to stop google maps movingIt's annoying when you have a google map on a website and you try and scroll by it, but end up dragging it on mobile.<div><br></div><div>Well a solution!</div><div><br></div><div>In the gmap.js there is a function call called setOptions, in the parameter passed set 'draggable' : false, and that does the trick.</div>Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-17669020228339260282016-04-23T23:14:00.003+01:002016-04-23T23:14:41.458+01:00Preventing a Denial of Service attack on WordpressPreventing a DoS or Denial of Service attack on Wordpress is hard. These are the steps I took to prevent / stop a huge amount of traffic to Wordpress site which was causing it to crash after just a couple of minutes.<br />
<br />
1. "yum list updates" - check to see if the Linux server is up-to-date<br />
2. "sudo yum update" - make sure the Linux server is up-to-date<br />
3. "yum install fail2ban", the config file is located here; "vi /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf"<br />
4. Install fail2ban wordpress plugin<br />
5. "sudo curl https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wp-fail2ban/trunk/wordpress-hard.conf > /etc/fail2ban/filter.d/wordpress.conf" you may have to create is locally and do another sudo to move it in.<br />
6. Edit the "/etc/fail2ban/jail.d/wordpress.conf" file as follows;<br />
<br />
[wordpress]<br />
enabled = true<br />
filter = wordpress<br />
logpath = /var/log/auth.log<br />
port = http,https<br />
<br />
7. Restart the fail2ban service; "service fail2ban restart"<br />
8. However if you've auth protected Wordpress this may not be enough so do the following;<br />
9. in the jail.conf add the following;<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
[http-get-dos]</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
enabled = true</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
port = http,https</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
filter = http-get-dos</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
logpath = /var/log/httpd/access_log</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
maxretry = 300 </div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
findtime = 300</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
#ban for 500 minutes</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
bantime = 60000</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
action = iptables[name=HTTP, port=http, protocol=tcp]</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
[http-post-dos]</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
enabled = true</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
port = http,https</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
filter = http-post-dos</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
logpath = /var/log/httpd/access_log</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
maxretry = 15</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
findtime = 300</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
#ban for 500 minutes</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
bantime = 60000</div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
action = iptables[name=HTTP, port=http, protocol=tcp]</div>
<br />
10. Create a <span style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px;">ttp-get-dos.conf</span> file<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Author: http://www.go2linux.org</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
#</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
[Definition]</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Option: failregex</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Note: This regex will match any GET entry in your logs, so basically all valid and not valid entries are a match.</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# You should set up in the jail.conf file, the maxretry and findtime carefully in order to avoid false positives.</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
failregex = ^<host> -.*GET</host></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Option: ignoreregex</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Notes.: regex to ignore. If this regex matches, the line is ignored.</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Values: TEXT</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
#</div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
ignoreregex =</div>
<br />
11. Create a <span style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px;">ttp-post-dos.conf</span> file<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Author: http://www.go2linux.org</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
#</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
[Definition]</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Option: failregex</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Note: This regex will match any GET entry in your logs, so basically all valid and not valid entries are a match.</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# You should set up in the jail.conf file, the maxretry and findtime carefully in order to avoid false positives.</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
failregex = ^<host> -.*POST</host></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Option: ignoreregex</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Notes.: regex to ignore. If this regex matches, the line is ignored.</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
# Values: TEXT</div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
#</div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;">
ignoreregex =</div>
<br />
<br />
12. Restart the fail2ban service; "service fail2ban restart"<br />
<br />
That should start blocking those nasty DoS attacks quite well.<br />
<br />
References<br />
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/rhel-centos-fedora-linux-yum-command-howto/<br />
<div>
https://www.maketecheasier.com/fail2ban-protect-apache-ddos/ - protect against DDoS</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-77681550567979854592015-08-02T15:50:00.002+01:002015-08-02T15:50:59.816+01:00ApplePay and saving money at Lidl versus TescosJust shopped at Lidl for the first time. Firstly, was really impressed with range and quality of produce and fresh produce that they had. What blowed me away was how much cheaper it was than Tesco!<br />
<br />
Just take a look;<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOZbZFmTKJNoOV5v7cAh5L4hD_0pBlnP5oz-zbxI6kWmRf1FTrjh4XjzSZAlbcmCbYjIN4OyLj1ssXqDWMRyiZ4EPjSeuhMQhbY7kaZQPZoWeAQcYIVwGJMH4cG6UYKCBAEQQKSiCwm8/s1600/cost+of+lidl+versus+tesco.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOZbZFmTKJNoOV5v7cAh5L4hD_0pBlnP5oz-zbxI6kWmRf1FTrjh4XjzSZAlbcmCbYjIN4OyLj1ssXqDWMRyiZ4EPjSeuhMQhbY7kaZQPZoWeAQcYIVwGJMH4cG6UYKCBAEQQKSiCwm8/s320/cost+of+lidl+versus+tesco.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I saved £5, on a £20 shop in Tesco it only cost me £15 at Lidl, very impressive that is a 25% saving. If I did that each week for a year that would be about £300 a year saved! Or on a £100 shop, I'd be saving £25.<br />
<br />
Wow.<br />
<br />
And they accepted ApplePay.<br />
<br />
And it worked perfectly!<br />
<br />Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-2958887851512317922015-07-31T07:45:00.001+01:002015-07-31T07:45:22.267+01:00ApplePay anecdotesSo I almost ran into the AppleWatch ApplePay, ran out of battery fail at mignight on Wednesday.<div><br></div><div>However before I went through the barriers to the overground train I discovered my last train had gone. Between there and the tube my AppleWatch ran out of juice! Lucky I had not swiped in!</div><div><br></div><div>Therefore I had a chance to use ApplePay on the iPhone 6 Plus. I didn't realise the NFC field would activate it, so I opened Passbook and fiddled for a while, as I couldn't work out how to make the card ready.</div><div><br></div><div>So I just placed it on the contactless reader on the gate and put my finger on the scanner. It took a while and was rather cumbersome, but it did work, and on the other end too.</div><div><br></div><div>Love the AppleWatch ApplePay tibe/overground/tfl experience, but I shall be avoiding doing it on my phone whete possible.</div>Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-30472462171621816072015-07-27T13:17:00.001+01:002015-07-27T13:17:54.110+01:00Setting up new ApplePay cardAfter HSBC failed to launch ApplePay, I opened a Santander mastercard account. Today I got back from holiday and setup & activated my new credit card.<div><br></div><div>Pre-ApplePay, because it was a new card; I did a PIN transaction, then a contactless transaction, and only then did I add it to passbook.</div><div><br></div><div>Adding to iPhone Passbook was seamless, adding to AppleWatch, slightly more difficult. To add to AppleWatch you have to go via the AppleWatch app on the iPhone. On adding the Santander card, it did not appear on the AppleWatch, even after making it default.</div><div><br></div><div>An iPhone reboot did not resolve the issue.</div><div><br></div><div>Then I tried turning the AppleWatch off and on again. And just like that; it suddenly appeared on the AppleWatch. </div><div><br></div><div>I then tried paying with the double click AppleWatch ApplePay - frictionless, wahoo!</div>Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-79499367225225995492015-07-16T08:41:00.001+01:002015-07-16T08:41:47.609+01:00Hidden feature for ApplePay in AppleWatch!Quick post; just discovered you can double tap the side button on AppleWatch - the one that usually brings up friends/favourites/contacts, and you have your ApplePay card ready and active immediately.<div><br></div><div>OMG so convenient, this is the killer feature. No more navigating to Passbook, or using Siri to "Open ApplePay".</div>Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-29817883635247450972015-06-01T23:16:00.000+01:002015-06-01T23:16:02.333+01:00Create your first Apple Watch App in XcodeI had to upload to the latest Xcode for this to work.<br />
<br />
Then you go to the main project settings window, click the + and add a new Apple Watch app, and mark all views (including glances).<br />
<br />
Then add a label to the storyboard so you can see something output.<br />
<br />
Then run the app, in simulator you can see the Apple Watch, by going to hardware > Apple Watch.<br />
<br />
To run on your phone, you choose the WatchKit app schema to run, and choose your phone. The latest xcode will fix any signing and provisioning profile issues. If it does not, close Xcode and load it again, especially if it says that the Watch is not paired.<br />
<br />
That's it, first Apple Watch App working.<br />
<br />
<br />Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-5884829687488409492015-05-24T10:49:00.001+01:002015-05-24T10:49:38.111+01:00Migrating AWS EC2 WordPress install to micro instance issuesAfter migrating my AWS (Amazon Web Services) EC2 instance from small to micro - in order to stop getting charged for it. I found all the urls were pointing to the old domain.<br />
<br />
On the face of it, this looks like a Linux hostname issue, and I spent a while setting up the ssh access to the box and searching for the hostname or server name - what I found turned out to the be private hostname / ip address, and therefore wasn't causing the issue.<br />
<br />
I suddenly had a brain wave that maybe it was stored in the DB.<br />
<br />
I then found I could login to the DB using the 'mysql --user=username --password=password' command. This allowed me to login.<br />
<br />
I then found the schema for wordpress; <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/images/9/97/WP3.8-ERD.png">https://codex.wordpress.org/images/9/97/WP3.8-ERD.png</a><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIw7-ZPiHv7alCLYOqAW67snRIaMmZtg5toHfTiUgW3888Yr0dODRIV_I_kI8v4b-nBL1AqdIS1AQQ5CoxPGEbRJjXjiDqIp8iKIkk_t461VdB2pye9s2A3jeHl-JmsO5mp9x7qrsk6E/s1600/wordpress-schema.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIw7-ZPiHv7alCLYOqAW67snRIaMmZtg5toHfTiUgW3888Yr0dODRIV_I_kI8v4b-nBL1AqdIS1AQQ5CoxPGEbRJjXjiDqIp8iKIkk_t461VdB2pye9s2A3jeHl-JmsO5mp9x7qrsk6E/s320/wordpress-schema.png" width="229" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Which I made a guess that it was the wp_options table.<br />
<br />
I then did select * from wp_options, and put the result in a text editor and searched for the old domain name, and there it was under the option_name 'home' and 'siteurl'.<br />
<br />
So I then used the following two command to update those values;<br />
<br />
mysql> select * from wp_options where option_name = 'siteurl';<br />
+-----------+-------------+-----------------------+-----------+<br />
| option_id | option_name | option_value | autoload |<br />
+-----------+-------------+-----------------------+-----------+<br />
| 1 | siteurl | ***URL** | yes |<br />
+-----------+-------------+-----------------------+-----------+<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px;">
update wp_options set option_value='http://newdomainame/wordpress' where option_name='home'</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: #8e3528; color: #d7c9a7; font-family: Monaco; font-size: 10px;">
update wp_options set option_value='http://newdomainname/wordpress' where option_name='siteurl'</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And ran a commit for luck, and it all started working again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-1330315654808850352015-03-13T17:53:00.004+00:002015-03-13T17:54:16.551+00:00Designing Your Future with the Connected CarThe company Frog Design are currently hosting a session on "Designing Your Future with the Connected Car".<br />
<br />
It was good to meet the leads from Frog; Cobbie and Michael.<br />
<br />
The introduction circled around the goals of the session; exploring User Centred Design, and the Connected Car.<br />
<br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">What is the connected car?</span></h3>
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<br />
It's predicted by Telefonica that by 2010, 90% of all new car sales will be for connected cars.<br />
<br />
What are connected cars;<br />
<br />
- Wirelessly connected<br />
- GPS<br />
- Sensors<br />
- HCI / HMI changes<br />
- Wearables<br />
- BIG data<br />
- Machine Learning<br />
- AR<br />
<br />
Apple's Car Play, Google's offering and lots of other tech companies are trying to get into the in vehicle space. And lot's of car companies are trying for the self driving car.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">User Centred Design</span></h3>
The session then focussed around the human element of cars - that everyone has a car story and interactions with cars are an emotional experience.<br />
<br />
What are the needs / issues we are trying to solve with technology?<br />
<br />
A process they follow is;<br />
<br />
1) User research<br />
2) Synthesis and brain storming<br />
3) Storyboarding the best concept(s)<br />
4) Illustrating the idea with a photo prototype<br />
5) Pitching the idea<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Idea in and around the connected car</span></h3>
Makes lives safer<br />
- Proximity sensing<br />
- Object identification and response / avoidance<br />
- V2V comms<br />
<br />
Show us the way<br />
- Nav-D project on the road<br />
- Search a map<br />
- AR overlay on road / ghost car<br />
<br />
Save Time<br />
- Sync device e.g. nest<br />
- Self parking<br />
- Self driving cars<br />
<br />
Make life richer<br />
- In car comms<br />
- Ride sharing<br />
- Spaces / places to connect e.g. CES Mercedes swivel chairs<br />
<br />
Help us explore<br />
- Podcasting<br />
- Exploration tools / road trips<br />
- Contextual interfaces<br />
<br />
Knowing us<br />
- Personality & name for the car<br />
- Driver (and passenger) emotion monitoring<br />
- Health monitoring / biometrics<br />
- Awareness and AI e..g Google car that looks 'adorable'.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of the Tech involved</span></h3>
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<br />Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-79026533375247677322015-01-26T06:57:00.001+00:002015-01-26T06:58:20.878+00:00Business tech creation weekend<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">This weekend I did plenty of tech delivery;</span></div><div> </div><div>1) Added article to Kevsweb on friends new website <a href="http://www.kevingordon.org.uk/articles/prittlewell-ringing-centre.html" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://www.kevingordon.org.uk/articles/prittlewell-ringing-centre.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>2) Rebuilt the following website as a responsive design http://www.mrchhoystuktuk.com meaning it looks good and works well on mobile and tablet, as well as desktop</div><div><br></div><div>3) Built to further responsive proof of concepts</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDON8ckd6_KyxPWpuVHtGTTxQ9WCVmKWfL0OHfMB34WEVp3m-wIlm-6rSnJ16-W5jtDbqpSYDcskQ_mUmV4x9AAGr-m7-8O2Dsd3NAi_Gn7Ugv8Oych0d9ka8HMq0eLrZ33L6Pkb36-M/s640/blogger-image--1931766148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDON8ckd6_KyxPWpuVHtGTTxQ9WCVmKWfL0OHfMB34WEVp3m-wIlm-6rSnJ16-W5jtDbqpSYDcskQ_mUmV4x9AAGr-m7-8O2Dsd3NAi_Gn7Ugv8Oych0d9ka8HMq0eLrZ33L6Pkb36-M/s640/blogger-image--1931766148.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PQkyNNMQsW4EokImsGTqPA5pYfLThclzpDYRCoTfQB2TpTJQ1GCX0bLcZ5iZT6qUBRTE8lAEBNMczluC-Vg256b_CgKNUfSmyzQNv2ucDg-c_uldNOKYfXljCyTtxrm6ujQ7EP0F8k4/s640/blogger-image--775773882.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PQkyNNMQsW4EokImsGTqPA5pYfLThclzpDYRCoTfQB2TpTJQ1GCX0bLcZ5iZT6qUBRTE8lAEBNMczluC-Vg256b_CgKNUfSmyzQNv2ucDg-c_uldNOKYfXljCyTtxrm6ujQ7EP0F8k4/s640/blogger-image--775773882.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhobo3Suvg94mieAEW-vs8-DvrWqZkm8sIFOvE5vC7k48pWqDW2q8YsM9FpastRM49eLx86NVEIH_r223tTJKwkBNb8nZnUyomMwrIycAQvaB5MM-3A8SARkT6PGUfNOJxA6cD4UDXoBiI/s640/blogger-image-1229509903.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhobo3Suvg94mieAEW-vs8-DvrWqZkm8sIFOvE5vC7k48pWqDW2q8YsM9FpastRM49eLx86NVEIH_r223tTJKwkBNb8nZnUyomMwrIycAQvaB5MM-3A8SARkT6PGUfNOJxA6cD4UDXoBiI/s640/blogger-image-1229509903.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">4) Built an augmented reality business card</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">5) And lot's of app development planning</div><br></div><br></div><br></div>Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-83251201712427525762015-01-17T00:14:00.001+00:002015-01-18T00:58:44.840+00:00New website design businessAs a new year's resolution I have decided to start up a web design business; <a href="http://www.digitaltechnologylabs.com/">http://www.digitaltechnologylabs.com</a><br />
<br />
Sevices offered include web design and build.<br />
Bespoke software built<br />
App development<br />
Augmented Reality expertise<br />
On-line marketing<br />
Social media setup<br />
<br />
Wish me luckKevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-73031928754169599472015-01-17T00:10:00.000+00:002015-01-17T00:10:03.155+00:00How well did I predict the iPhone 6?<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1115580092090765212" itemprop="articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 300px;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Want I wanted to see;<br /></span><ul style="margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Larger form factor & bigger screen - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Better camera - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Faster wireless mobile / cellular data capability - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Enhancements to Siri - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Better battery life - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Faster processor / more memory / better graphics - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Additional multitasking functionality / dual screen functionality - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More reliable / robust / less buggy / lower failure rate - ?</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Beautiful new design - check</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Smart bezel to have some interactivity with the bezel of the device with the screen - nope</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Larger choice in colour? - nope</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Better quality speakers / higher volume capability - ?</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Reversible USB / Lighting connection - yep</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Enhancements to the iBeacons technology / reliability / frequency reading capability - ?</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">NFC capability to enable the digital wallet in your phone - nope</span></li>
</ul>
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Not bad, most of my predictions were correct!</div>
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Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-11155800920907652122014-08-24T20:01:00.002+01:002014-08-24T20:01:45.635+01:00iPhone 6 predictionsWant I'd like to see;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Larger form factor & bigger screen</li>
<li>Better camera</li>
<li>Faster wireless mobile / cellular data capability</li>
<li>Enhancements to Siri</li>
<li>Better battery life</li>
<li>Faster processor / more memory / better graphics</li>
<li>Additional multitasking functionality / dual screen functionality</li>
<li>More reliable / robust / less buggy / lower failure rate</li>
<li>Beautiful new design</li>
<li>Smart bezel to have some interactivity with the bezel of the device with the screen</li>
<li>Larger choice in colour?</li>
<li>Better quality speakers / higher volume capability</li>
<li>Reversible USB / Lighting connection</li>
<li>Enhancements to the iBeacons technology / reliability / frequency reading capability</li>
<li>NFC capability to enable the digital wallet in your phone</li>
</ul>
<div>
Let's see how many of the items I get right!</div>
Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-51198499747672068692014-05-26T16:16:00.000+01:002014-05-26T16:16:35.549+01:00It's been seven months since my last postWow, it's been 7 months since my last post.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since then I've been in a new role looking at things like Augmented Reality (Aurasma), Virtual Reality (Oculus Rift), app development (iOS / Objective C), and much much more. It's been fabulous, but has also taken up all my time, so my digital blogging has fallen by the way-side.</div>
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Additionally I helped setup and support several events this year, including the First FordStore, the Ford Go Further Event in December, the Geneva Motor-show, Ford's presence at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the UCL Champions League Festival in Lisbon, Portugal and many smaller events in Barcelona & Germany.</div>
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The job is quite phenomenal, and as the assets I develop get rolled out around Europe I'll be blogging about them.</div>
Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-40204162098385721662013-10-06T15:03:00.001+01:002013-10-06T15:03:19.378+01:00www.kevingordon.org.uk - Kev's Web re-designHere is an early design of www.kevingordon.org.uk;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOJZPG5dl_omCdsExT9Gvcmzc4JssI1R_QpCAlts5EKeYwnK09FaOcQQcLbPDtpyJHX12oalNxUUXwBoVC32GCsVcgWhPrcuYSq58PGzqZGG4Yg2JThyphenhyphenxGQ06nb-lJAA8yvsJ6NleuyY/s1600/IMG_4678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOJZPG5dl_omCdsExT9Gvcmzc4JssI1R_QpCAlts5EKeYwnK09FaOcQQcLbPDtpyJHX12oalNxUUXwBoVC32GCsVcgWhPrcuYSq58PGzqZGG4Yg2JThyphenhyphenxGQ06nb-lJAA8yvsJ6NleuyY/s320/IMG_4678.jpg" width="203" /></a></div>
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It evolved from that, and I dropped the Sonic image at the top and replaced with a different header. Since 2010 I had a new design for the site planned, see the sketch below - it was based on a website I saw that I really liked;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuK_ILhkqg_S_KsyzK6-S6JmBYIXgSSdJjQsThLY2z5j9BgP1hgmuIJSBTe7EZYdYYOpdabwo4dPiOnrhrd5fK9adu5aXgoHGaAh-6y98y4UHhvnfZ351sMpe2GSCeBQAMBSymsDKhQo/s1600/IMG_4679.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuK_ILhkqg_S_KsyzK6-S6JmBYIXgSSdJjQsThLY2z5j9BgP1hgmuIJSBTe7EZYdYYOpdabwo4dPiOnrhrd5fK9adu5aXgoHGaAh-6y98y4UHhvnfZ351sMpe2GSCeBQAMBSymsDKhQo/s320/IMG_4679.jpg" width="195" /></a></div>
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So this month (October 2013) I finally got round to making the changes to the website, and this is what it looks like;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6zcSNycFdZzs1QXCxBloTr2vZDkpkp0kB9JJOWTM3TV3PxRHp-fXursT2RDhGjAjR5L99RNWZvJARa_jjnoZk5j3vZ2dQUQAG8xsXGARDdwu3Q-FGc-xDR3bhLltdOlKXESDpLpmROk/s1600/news-design-kevsweb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6zcSNycFdZzs1QXCxBloTr2vZDkpkp0kB9JJOWTM3TV3PxRHp-fXursT2RDhGjAjR5L99RNWZvJARa_jjnoZk5j3vZ2dQUQAG8xsXGARDdwu3Q-FGc-xDR3bhLltdOlKXESDpLpmROk/s320/news-design-kevsweb.png" width="180" /></a></div>
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<br />Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-89294913164745379142013-10-04T21:23:00.001+01:002013-10-04T21:23:25.705+01:00Internet and Raspberry Pi enabled model railway @ kevingordon.org.ukI have been busy writing up my Raspberry Pi project, which is an internet and Raspberry Pi enabled model railway, see it here at <a href="http://www.kevingordon.org.uk/articles/raspberry-pi-railway-web-controlled.html">http://www.kevingordon.org.uk/articles/raspberry-pi-railway-web-controlled.html</a> In this article you will find the follow;<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The process I went through to create the project</li>
<li>The source material</li>
<li>The architecture diagrams of the design as it developed</li>
<li>The source code, both for the Raspberry Pi (python) and server-side (PHP)</li>
<li>Videos of the railway working at different stages/progress of the project</li>
<li>Other relevant images</li>
<li>The XpressNet API guide for download</li>
</ul>
<div>
I hope you enjoy, would love to hear if you use this to base your own project off of!</div>
Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-10683205822275198102013-09-30T23:44:00.001+01:002013-10-01T12:25:06.907+01:00TheNotebookStore pilot projectI'm trying out a pilot to sell Notebooks at <a href="http://www.thenotebookstore.co.uk/" target="_blank">TheNotebookStore</a> (The Notebook Store). You can buy them on eBay here; <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/kguk43/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3686" target="_blank">eBay sellers page</a>.<br />
<br />
As a pilot I'm trying to see the popularity, selling process and margin that can be made, I welcome feedback on this project.<br />
<br />
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPadKevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-27150809362418723102013-09-26T20:44:00.002+01:002013-09-26T20:44:11.092+01:00Practical Study of Parallel Algorithms - by Kevin Gordon<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the paper I wrote for my final year project at the University of Warwick. I include it here for personal reference, and also in the hope that someone else will also find this useful.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1276236593"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></a>
<a href="http://www.kevingordon.org.uk/projects/bsp/experimental-parlallel-computing-final-report.pdf"><span style="font-family: inherit;">http://www.kevingordon.org.uk/projects/bsp/experimental-parlallel-computing-final-report.pdf</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Abstract
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This project gives an introduction to the field of parallel computing and the parallel
computing model: BSP (Bulk Synchronous Parallelism). The aim of this project was
to carry out the implementation and analysis of two BSP problems. The parallel
broadcast problem and parallel matrix multiplication were implemented, several
experiments were run, and the results were analysed. Analysis of the results revealed
that the experimental results didn’t always match what the BSP model predicted, and
this was highly dependent on both the type of architecture running the code and the
optimisation of the code.
</span></span><br />
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Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-50813704489772713852013-09-26T20:23:00.003+01:002013-09-26T20:23:55.337+01:00Where is the missing search feature in iOS 7?Some people have asked me how you can search in iOS 7, because you can no longer swipe all the way to the left to search.<br />
<br />
Well all you need to do is on any of the home pages, swipe down anywhere in the middle region of the screen and the new search feature will appear.<br />
<br />
Voila, done!<br />
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<br />Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-41812299693136346242013-09-26T20:20:00.003+01:002013-09-26T20:20:50.508+01:00iOS 7 some of what I like about itThe lock screen now looks great, and really awesomeness you can access the notification centre and control centre right from the lock screen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviHdBNGHZVRTKfuuADhNQqeBbfKn2Spw-sLQS6JMW7Dh56QNlLUT2xVAAFedN6gpkv6Wmwtx8MhaZRYYXczNeeYCwrDCTSFwlZq2x8w2YXQvkdhnWo4U-DXYwO2drJFKKHvinxmqM-sg/s1600/IMG_4614.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviHdBNGHZVRTKfuuADhNQqeBbfKn2Spw-sLQS6JMW7Dh56QNlLUT2xVAAFedN6gpkv6Wmwtx8MhaZRYYXczNeeYCwrDCTSFwlZq2x8w2YXQvkdhnWo4U-DXYwO2drJFKKHvinxmqM-sg/s320/IMG_4614.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Slide across and you get the much more attractive unlock keyboard;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOw3BzBYWwNbfw71PpE7xxjBzsckB-Y9LKxg1Ape1RYgA1og8WTqLRr9mtl6Zmx11VpHq4BXh999_beXSnhjK9yN35tK_xUJ3r9gkcc4q1VNy8ufGPYuQdPYBRNsik9VooDTpgNSH0xI/s1600/IMG_4615.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOw3BzBYWwNbfw71PpE7xxjBzsckB-Y9LKxg1Ape1RYgA1og8WTqLRr9mtl6Zmx11VpHq4BXh999_beXSnhjK9yN35tK_xUJ3r9gkcc4q1VNy8ufGPYuQdPYBRNsik9VooDTpgNSH0xI/s320/IMG_4615.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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The new home screen looks fantastic, it took a little while to get used to, but it actually looks a lot better than it used to look.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWYAGjnacp_6n6152Ogw6kinFa7URlbmrVIDdtPEk9lOsCYwF7wo0tbz-ASa9yKehGSCeoIOVsnpX8gbrps_58J0ddpTA0JC2NlqkK5uV-gHK26zsSIOZ9VPtgBRseKFlycR884Dh_YQ/s1600/IMG_4616.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWYAGjnacp_6n6152Ogw6kinFa7URlbmrVIDdtPEk9lOsCYwF7wo0tbz-ASa9yKehGSCeoIOVsnpX8gbrps_58J0ddpTA0JC2NlqkK5uV-gHK26zsSIOZ9VPtgBRseKFlycR884Dh_YQ/s320/IMG_4616.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Swipe down from the top and you get the notification centre;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhw1onlvKLomH4UwLx5GhIVBb459koRKSZfXwffRh18GkFh-koFYVVQonuaKCZhqClLZ5m581Gk3x8epRUSjk4B1-_7uoOJP9x-K1jue-2BuonNqTbXkAUy72TWV1ShXuAhLt1Sf1ItNY/s1600/IMG_4617.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhw1onlvKLomH4UwLx5GhIVBb459koRKSZfXwffRh18GkFh-koFYVVQonuaKCZhqClLZ5m581Gk3x8epRUSjk4B1-_7uoOJP9x-K1jue-2BuonNqTbXkAUy72TWV1ShXuAhLt1Sf1ItNY/s320/IMG_4617.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Swipe across to get Today view, which although doesn't give the graphic weather output, it actually gives something much more useful - that is a current weather forecast and outlook in text, which I actually use, whereas the old weather widget for me just looked pretty.<br />
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It's really good to have the calendar accessible via notification centre and the lock screen, fab. And you get a list of how many events you have tomorrow - would have been better if it listed what those events were but, it's still very good. Also would be good if you could swipe to get the whole of the day's calendar view, not just the next few hours.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWEUpIjoW7KKvDmSFYvJuMOenr7dC0qWrUiMwcodjz8lKH5fgtmZdOGqz6cUyIbf6Rf9MZqPbsyQX_W8pOFYxtSdhV3FFodd6n6tYr-1MfHHTsQw9mVv9H7qa6eW0Cy-OV4n2fTJ2VDI/s1600/IMG_4618.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWEUpIjoW7KKvDmSFYvJuMOenr7dC0qWrUiMwcodjz8lKH5fgtmZdOGqz6cUyIbf6Rf9MZqPbsyQX_W8pOFYxtSdhV3FFodd6n6tYr-1MfHHTsQw9mVv9H7qa6eW0Cy-OV4n2fTJ2VDI/s320/IMG_4618.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Swipe up for the control centre, this is very good - gives you control of music player, airplay, and allows you to quickly turn on/off Airplane mode, Wifi, Bluetooth, Do not Disturb, and the orientation lock. You can also control the brightness, and quickly open the flashlight, clock, calculator and camera, friggin great!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxDDfzi8iy168kJc4zBmDLeGyQrsClJMoYhXXUZmgNvGXlGgRfR32fpfg4QFbNSJY0AUkEA9k3XA96mljmSd1AMDioZlpeJqkgiRXsOlcok1K4IRpZtqEBfuA-Q6oEP5z8eIgZEZqvFY/s1600/IMG_4619.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxDDfzi8iy168kJc4zBmDLeGyQrsClJMoYhXXUZmgNvGXlGgRfR32fpfg4QFbNSJY0AUkEA9k3XA96mljmSd1AMDioZlpeJqkgiRXsOlcok1K4IRpZtqEBfuA-Q6oEP5z8eIgZEZqvFY/s320/IMG_4619.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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And the icing on the cake is the new multitasking view, by double clicking the home button, which brings up a window of the apps, and allows you to swipe up to close, very Touchpad/WebOS inspired, and I really like it, and it is useful, and much more fun to swap to different apps this way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzTogEiHRM_y_kTFJqzYQvV9B5PtVpgWwGVsfYHQ-NdNhY4lhlsCWam8PH_rAXB9CVUIc2e5pxHUdVNQBiCNrokEacisBpcTCp__WMeYvtwUZ0vdgbikHixIejM9MOHKmdJAMqmCkTo4/s1600/IMG_4620.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwzTogEiHRM_y_kTFJqzYQvV9B5PtVpgWwGVsfYHQ-NdNhY4lhlsCWam8PH_rAXB9CVUIc2e5pxHUdVNQBiCNrokEacisBpcTCp__WMeYvtwUZ0vdgbikHixIejM9MOHKmdJAMqmCkTo4/s320/IMG_4620.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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And the notification banners that appear are now much more pretty, and integrated better. Overall I'm very happy with the new iOS 7.Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-53072263717834205782013-09-26T20:07:00.003+01:002013-09-26T20:09:00.613+01:00Getting iCloud calendar to sync with HP Touchpad<span style="font-family: inherit;">So you want to display your iCloud calendar from your iOS device on your HP Touchpad (webos).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well there is an easy way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the calendar on your Mac - right click on the calendar and share the calendar / make it public, and copy the url.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Paste the url into this website;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->
<a href="https://icaltogcal.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://icaltogcal.com</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then click continue, and copy the new share url.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Add this to your google calendar;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/178357?hl=en">https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/178357?hl=en</a> - How to add the calendar to google</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Sign in to your Google Apps account in a web browser and open your Google</span><strong style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Calendar</strong><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">In the left sidebar under </span><strong style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Other Calendars</strong><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, click the </span><strong style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add</strong><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"> menu. Then choose one of the following:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<strong style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add by URL: </strong><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Adds a team or company calendar someone created. Enter the calendar's address (ends in </span><strong style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.ics</strong><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Now it should process the url and add the calendar. It takes a few hours to start syncing, so it will be blank for a while, but after a few hours (I left it for 24 hours) it will start syncing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Then on the Touchpad add your Google account to the calendar, and voila the calendar will appear on your Touchpad. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Done.</span></span><br />
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Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-27109776008175060192013-09-26T19:59:00.001+01:002013-09-26T19:59:22.290+01:00Not seeing correct character encoding in SQL developerSo you're seeing characters from different languages or "special characters" not displaying correctly in SQL developer but you know they are definitely correct in the database, you are sure? Well go to Tools > Preferences and make sure the character encoding is UTF-8, that should fix it and you should then be able to see the correct characters. If the characters are still wrong there is a good chance that the characters are corrupted in you database.Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-41600361141711859582013-09-26T19:53:00.001+01:002013-09-26T19:53:09.414+01:00Listing the unique file ids of filesI'm looking to link a set of files to a set of meta information, and I want to uniquely identify the files - and have some perl do processing to combine the files with meta data - so I can cross reference them with a unique id.<br />
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So I found that if you type "ls -i" it gives the unique file ids for the files - on OS X in the terminal.<br />
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Very useful, I'll remember that.Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-35689777394874114542013-09-26T19:48:00.002+01:002013-10-01T06:20:36.431+01:00Use of Siri in iOS 7I'm happy with Siri, and iOS 7, what I particular like using Siri for is when I am travelling in the car and I use it mainly for i) Setting reminders; ii) Reading notifications; iii) Responding to text messages; iv) making phone calls; v) Playing music.<br />
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It comes with certain issues the main issues are;<br />
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a) Occasionally, and actually quite often I get the message "Sorry I can't take any requests right now" or "I'm currently having a problem" or something to that effect. Normally it goes away after a few seconds, today it continued for 10+ minutes, it would be good to have a way to know whether Siri is working or not.<br />
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b) When I set a reminder I can set it to remind when I arrive "at home" or "at work" but when I say at a place such as "arriving at Basildon" it doesn't understand what I'm saying and makes that part of the reminder description. The same thing happens when I set it to remind me at a time, it sometimes gets confused and includes the time as part of the task description. Now when I want it to remind me I say "remind me at 1.30pm" and then it says "what would you like me to remind you about" and then I say "remember to feed the fish" or something, and then it allows me to create the reminder at 1.30pm.<br />
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c) Notifications sometimes gets confused when I'm trying to get it to playback my voice mail. So I think saying something like call voicemail, or listen to phone voicemail does the trick most of the time.<br />
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d) Playing music doesn't seem to understand when I say an album name and artist together .e.g. "play Counting Crows" works, and "play Recovering satellites" works, but not "play counting crows recovering satellites). Also at the moment I've got a bug where playing certain music, it says "playing xxx..." but then nothing plays, which is a bit annoying.<br />
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It's getting better though, and it's really useful. Especially replying to text messages is great.Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1904698259143404211.post-35764067685380531302013-09-26T19:37:00.000+01:002013-09-26T19:37:01.455+01:00Changing to a network disk on the mac in terminalChanging to a network disk on the mac in terminal - e.g. if you've got a windows PC on your network, that you share disks on. Then open the network location in Finder, and then double click to open the disk.<br />
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Then in the terminal type "df -h" and it will list the location in which the drive is mounted.<br />
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e.g. //xxxx@xxxxxwin7pc/H 931Gi 611Gi 320Gi 66% 0 18446744073709551615 0% /Volumes/H<br />
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Then all you need to do is type "cd /Volumes/H" to change to the disk.<br />
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Voila, done.Kevin Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07984034588028988964noreply@blogger.com0