Random charts

Different "flat" projections of the globe, using a new technique, "myriahedral projections." Source: Unfolding the Earth: Myriahedral Projections, in The Cartographic Journal. From the article... "Mapping the earth is an old and intensively studied problem. For about two thousand years, the challenge to show the round earth on a flat surface has attracted many cartographers, mathematicians, and inventors, and hundreds of solutions have been developed. There are several reasons for this high interest. First of all, the geography of the earth itself is interesting for all its inhabitants. Secondly, there are no perfect solutions possible such that the surface of the earth is depicted without distortion. Finally, factors such as the intended use of the map (e.g. navigation, visualisation, or presentation), the available technology (pen and ruler or computer), and the area or aspect to be depicted lead to different requirements and hence to different optima." Jump for more...

What price glory

Last month Lino Lacedelli passed away. He was a mountaineer who gained fame by being part of the first two climbers to summit K2, the world's second-highest peak (at 28, 251 feet second to Mount Everest, but a more dangerous climb). A triumph of the human spirit? Yes, but also a rather sordid tale...

Once in a while...

The August 7th, 2008 blog entry, 'Les Toros', cast a jaundiced eye on bull-fighting. Once in a while the bulls get in a good lick, such as seen below...

Source: 2009 in pictures (part 2 of 3) from The Big Picture. Highly recommended!

No luck

Following the posting of the December 13th, 2009 blog entry, 'QR codes to hit the U.S.?', a comment suggested trying out UpCode. So this blogger wandered over to www.upcode.fi to download the software. His Blackberry was not detected. After manually picking Blackberry, was presented with a list of models - 4.2, 4.6, to 4.7... Well the Bold 9700 has a 5.x O.S. which wasn't a choice, so tried 4.7. Received a browser "invalid address" error message. Tried again, entering 5.0 in the third box, but got another "invalid address" browser error message.


Navigated to a page that listed the models of phones supported, which included numerous models... They appear to have Symbian and Java versions. Attempted to download UpCode Java, but that failed with a "909 error", so fell back to UpCode Java Version 2 per the instructions. That appeared to download and install just fine, but then gave a "verification error" when started on the Blackberry (see screen captures below).

Next up, installed UpCode Java Version 3, had exactly the same result as Version 2. OK, so no joy so far! Lastly, downloaded UpCode Basic, which happily installed itself alongside UpCodeJava. The Basic version apparently is for cellphones without cameras, since when you fire it up it asks you to manually input the bar-code number (which is also on the bar-code, below the code figure). On doing this with a number taken from the examples provided on the UpCode web site it fired up the web browser and went to the appropriate site!

OK, so this probably works just fine if you have a model that is specifically supported... Having only been successful in installing the Basic version, this blogger can't really comment much on this software solution. And of course the company is much more than just its free bar-code reader software, so this isn't any judgment of their capabilities....

Random charts...

Charts showing the current massive energy use in the OECD countries, plus the unmet need in some parts of the world. All this adds up to is "economic recovery and growth, coupled with rising populations and living standards, will push energy demand up by 1.2 percent a year on average through 2030. By 2030, global energy demand will be almost 35 percent higher than in 2005. This assumes significant gains in energy efficiency. Without efficiency improvements, demand in 2030 could be about 95 percent higher." Source: Outlook for Energy: A View to 2030 by Exon Mobil Not a particularly good augury for future greenhouse gas emissions....

QR codes to hit the U.S.?

This blogger saw this article, Window Shop with Favorite places on Google and Mobile Phone,which discussed that Google is now pushing QR codes in the U.S. A quick visit to the Google Lat Long blog found that Google has "launched a new effort to send window decals to over 100,000 local businesses in the U.S. that have been the most sought out and researched on Google.com and Google Maps." These are to be designated as "Favorite Places" and be provided with a Google Favorite Place decal which will incorporate a QR code (see decal above). People who use their mobile phones to read the QR codes can visit the business' Google Place Page, which will have information on the business and possibly offer coupons, etc. Check out some Google Favorite Places here.

In the April 21st blog entry 'BB and 2D barcodes' this blogger discussed QR codes and looked at a number of reader packages for the Blackberry: NeoReader, Microsoft's Tag, i-nigma, and ScanLife. The August 22nd blog entry 'Misc update (BB/2D barcodes)' looked at Mobiletag. Blackberrycool's article QR Barcode Readers for BlackBerry Reviewed looks at NeoReader, Beetag, Upcode, and Okotag, and recommends NeoReader... as did this blogger.

The two earlier blog entries had bemoaned that there were not many real-world examples of the use of QR codes in the U.S. Perhaps this QR barcode push by Google, allied with the proliferation of iPhone, Blackberry, and Android smartphones ,will start to make their use more pervasive...

BB Bold 9700

Switched from a Blackberry Bold 9000 (see blog entries from December 2008 here and here) to the new Blackberry Bold 9700. Go here for full specs, and see reviews by the Boy Genius Report (part I and part II), by Engadget, by Brighthand, and by Crackberry. Some of the differences can be seen in the pictures below... The first is the size, with the Bold 9700 being smaller and more svelte than the Bold 9000 (at 4.29 x 2.36 x 0.56 inches and 4.3 ounces, compared to 4.5 x 2.5 x 0.6 and 4.8 ounces). It also has a trackpad rather than a trackball, and a micro-USB port rather than a mini-USB port, which means a different charger, different USB cable, and perhaps other accessories...

Other, less visible differences are the screen resolution (480 x 360 for the Bold 9700, versus 480 x 320 for the Bold 9000); an improved camera (3.2MP vs. 2.0MP); a better battery life rating; increased memory (256MB flash memory versus 128 MB); and the microSD card now goes under the back cover (but without needing to pull the battery), obviating the need to fiddle with the cover on the slot... Oh, and the Bold 9700 has the version 5.x OS...

So, is it worth "upgrading" from a Bold 9000 to a Bold 9700? Opinions vary. Other than the size/weight difference (which some find an improvement while other do not) this blogger didn't see much difference in performance to justify upgrading, and did so mostly because of a screen crack on his 9000.

Some 9700 screen captures: Main, Seesmic, SocialScope, Ubertwitter, Music player, Viigo