dengel

Google Profile

2009-10-12T21:35:00.001-05:00

http://www.google.com/profiles/daniel.engel

Programming Languages

2009-06-08T08:21:00.000-05:00

I love studying languages. Both human and computer. I make an effort to learn a different programming language every 3 months or so. This time is Scala. A mix of Object Oriented and Functional design in a concise and elegant way. A great resource is Scala By Example (PDF).

If you are a programmer, make sure you try different languages. They all have unique properties and methods that will expand your skills and critical thinking techniques.

New Domain

2009-04-03T20:57:00.002-05:00

Registered dengel.me and setup blogger to take http://blog.dengel.me/ which is better than the longer alternative. There was no way to get zero.org back, it will be missed. For email, I'll stick with gmail... it has done me good :)

Chile 2009

2009-03-12T18:55:00.001-05:00

Another great trip back home to visit my paternal family.
Best selection of pictures here :)

Powder Mountain

2009-02-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

Makes me want to get back into snowboarding...
Captured with a Canon EOS 5D MarkII and a 15mm fisheye lens inside a protective bag.

Spike Cam

2009-01-19T17:07:00.000-05:00

Got a Network Attached Camera to spy on Spike... I known he knows I'm looking at him looking at me.

Windows 7 beta

2009-01-12T18:23:00.001-05:00

Got a hold of the Windows 7 beta ISO image to try it out. I fired up a Virtual Machine and booted off the image. The install is more graphical and polished. Very easy guides take you through a simple install. A couple of reboots later (required by the installer) and the system came up fine.

My first order of business was to install Google Chrome... an easy and sure way to get into the Internet. Next was Dropbox, a free web based storage system where I keep part of my movable configuration. Once I had access to my Dropbox folders I installed FireFox 3 with the FEBE extension. Moving my entire FireFox 3 environment was easy.

So far no glitches... everything working fine. Started browsing the web and using it as it was a new PC. There are a few nicities here and there, and overall it feels faster and more responsive. Even running inside a VM it performs well. I've not tried any games or large applications.

The User Interface looks clear and more intuitive. The new status bar is nice, I could easily get used to it.

A good experience, I'm glad Microsoft did an open and public beta program. I will be providing my feedback :)

Europe 08

2009-01-10T07:46:00.002-05:00

The trip to Europe was great! We arrived in Venice for xmas, then went to Lisbon visit a cousin, and finished the trip in Paris for New Year. We got some great pictures.

Dell Mini 9 - Euro travel review.

2009-01-09T17:15:00.001-05:00

Took the mini 9 on a trip to Europe (instead of my 12" iBook G4). After testing a few OS choices, y decided to keep a slim and clean Windows XP and use the drivers provided on the CD (I used an external USB drive, also used to boot from).

Overall.. it was great. The weight and size are very manageable. I was able to put it in my messenger-style bag no problem. Going through security at the various airports was much easier as well. One hand was all it took to move it around. I was able to open it to a comfortable angle and place it on the tray in front of me...

The screen is bright and vivid, although glossy. I used mplayer and had no problems playing my media off a mounted SD card. Battery life was about 4+ hours. The power adaptor is light and small. Plus, it has no keyed polarity so a simple US/EU adapter did the trick. It self regulated the voltage and did not get too hot.

They keyboard... it's one of the largest in the category, and I did well typing at nearly normal speeds. Although with more mistakes due to the relocation of a few keys. Which brings me to one of my major issues with it... the key (pipe) is moved under a Fn key combination and quotes are down by the spacebar. Important for programmers and UNIX shell users.

The audio was just OK off the built in speakers, and the microphone did great with Skype. I tried the integrated webcam as well, picture was good but seems it used too much bandwidth or cpu/ram. Not sure, but I had to turn it off. WiFi was adequate, I was able to easily connect to networks. Wired access was even easier.

A very good buy for the price. I recommend it (or wait for the rumored mini 10).

Perspective

2008-09-22T06:50:00.000-05:00

Perspective... the appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer.

Rio

2008-09-12T06:17:00.001-05:00

Brazil was awesome! Some pictures here...

Dopplr

2008-09-10T11:01:00.003-05:00

Another social website, this one focused on travel. Check out http://dopplr.com/ or my travel profile. It would work much better if my friends would use it as well...

Collider

2008-09-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN will shoot the first beam on Wednesday. Sept. 10th. Unlike existing toroidal analyzers for electro-ion collisions, project ALICE will capture the most violent of encounters witnessed by mankind. Watch the live webcast here.

FireFox3

2008-06-17T16:51:00.001-05:00

FireFox3 is finaly out! Help set a world record and download it now!

Afro Samurai

2008-05-20T12:54:00.001-05:00

An unexpected treat... Afro Samurai by Takashi Okazaki. If you have a chance to check it out, it's a short 5-episode miniseries that is well worth the time watching.

Sun

2008-05-10T12:34:00.001-05:00

Flipped, reversed, Sundown.

Save Netradio

2007-04-19T14:49:00.001-05:00

I'm a big fan of streaming music, and a regular user of Pandora, last.fm, and di.fm. Recent government action has dramatically increased the fees internet radio companies must pay to play the music you enjoy and threatens the future of internet radio. We can all help, check out savenetradio.org.

35

2007-04-12T07:11:00.000-05:00

Turned 35 yesterday. It feels good. Another good year to live :)
A big "Thank you" to everybody that called, emailed, sms, etc.

Magno

2007-03-07T23:32:00.000-05:00

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing.
Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.”

- Raymond Chandler

World Calendar

2007-02-28T14:01:00.000-05:00

A good read on why February has only 28 days... bottom line, because of the Romans. A more efficient proposed calendar is the World Calendar, which is stable, uncomplicated, balanced, ordered, and perpetual.

Radiation.

2007-02-19T08:35:00.001-05:00

The new Supplementary Radiation Symbol. It's important to be familiar with warning symbols. This one in particular is interesting, read the IAEA press release about it. So, are they saying that you can outrun radiation?

Valentine

2007-02-14T07:53:00.001-05:00

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

Happy Valentine's Day!
Read about it...

Dalai Lama

2007-01-31T07:57:00.001-05:00

The Dalai Lama teachings:

Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.

Read all of his Instructions for Life.

2007

2007-01-01T17:48:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

No DRM

2006-10-04T09:10:00.000-05:00


Support a DRM free world. For the first time in history, your music answers to someone else.