#125 posted on Mon May 7 22:01:56 2012

I made a Firefox add-on, and it was easy

So I moved to Firefox recently from Chrome and realized there is no working add-on to share to Diaspora* (I don't like bookmarklets on a desktop). To my surprise making a simple add-on has been made really simple via the Add-on Builder. Half an hour and I had my add-on published, amazing work by Mozilla!

Basically currently the add-on is just a button on the add-on bar to share the current tab via the Diaspora* Advanced Sharer by Bartimeo*. In the future I would like to implement the following:

Move the icon to the navigation bar
Include chosen image to shared post
Query user about hashtags
Allow option to set pod via settings instead of using D*AS.

Install Diaspora* Advanced Sharer -add-on here

To create your own add-on quickly - check out this quick tutorial, then register and get hacking!

[ programming // mozilla // firefox // browsers // diaspora ]

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#124 posted on Sun Apr 8 21:13:05 2012

Sharetus sharing plugin for Nokia N9 version 0.5.0 out

Just pushed version 0.5.0 of Sharetus out for testing. Still some features to be implemented before I submit the application to Nokia Store.

Important! Please install the package via the N9 browser so that dependencies are handled automatically. You need to have external sources for application packages enabled in settings to install.

INSTALL

or type http://goo.gl/Atzwo in the browser URL bar.

Sharetus is a plugin for Share UI and enables sharing to many popular social networks and bookmarking sites directly from the browser. Currently supported targets:

Diaspora*
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
Tumblr
DZone
Ping FM
Delicious
Google Bookmarks
Google Translate
Digg
StumbleUpon

Todo list before releasing to Nokia Store:

Add settings removal on package remove/purge
Add image support for Diaspora*
Add post excerpt for supported targets
Retrieve tags after app load to decrease startup time
Enable on/off setting for all targets
Add possibility to add custom targets
Fix issue with application image

The code can be found on Github. If you find any issues, please let me know!

[ downloads // programming // python // nokia // maemo // open source // meego // applications // social networks // n9 // harmattan // pyside // qt ]

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#123 posted on Sat Apr 7 22:07:32 2012

Weekend project - cable cleanup

I've always been bad with organizing cables. I'm terrible at it. In addition I prefer to have a desktop as my main computer so I have lots of them. Add to the basic set up speakers, a couple of external hard drives, phono preamp, USB hub, webcam and various other bits and pieces and there's a lot of cables. Usually I do a proper cleanup a few times a year, taking everything apart and then trying to set up the cables properly. This time I decided to overdose on cable ties and here is the result:

Quite clean looking by my standards, and semi-easy to dust under the cables.

How do you fight the cable mess?

[ hardware ]

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#122 posted on Sat Mar 10 20:33:33 2012

From Subversion to Git, from Github to Bitbucket

I've recently moved my code from the Subversion world to Git. It's difficult not to use Git these days as most projects that I run into seem to be using it. So when I submitted my first bugfix for Diaspora*, I had to give it a try.

As a Subversion user, it seems awfully complex at first, but the concept is very interesting and I've been promised no more pain with merges.. So far I wouldn't call myself a master at Git, but I'm learning as I go. Some of my own codes have already been migrated to Github, the ones that I've thought about working on at least. Github is nice, easy to use and great UI. There is one problem though - if you want a private repository, you will have to pay a minimum of $7 a month.

Luckily a work colleague pointed me to Bitbucket.org. They offer unlimited private repositories with up to 5 users each. Since I'll probably be the only one working on the projects I want to keep private, this is perfect for me. With an added bonus, they offer easy migration from Github which is nice.

Where do you host your code?

[ programming // subversion // argonaut // git ]

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#121 posted on Sat Mar 3 00:01:03 2012

Playing around with Tizen SDK beta

So Tizen SDK beta has been updated. Thought I'd give it a try. As you probably know, Tizen is the bastard son of Moblin, MeeGo and Bada - and doesn't really have anything in common with the first two except that the Linux Foundation is involved, and I have no idea about the third. The idea though is interesting. An open platform with applications designed with HTML5, JavaScript (+jQuery) and CSS. Easy and fast development.

So how does the SDK work?

First thing that I noticed is that it requires Oracle Java which is a big minus. I gather this is due to the beta SDK emulator being based on Android though I am only guessing. I really hope this doesn't end up being some kind of final SDK requirement.

The second thing that I realized (after installing Oracle Java) is that the beta SDK doesn't work with 64bit yet. Maybe I should have read this on the download page. So VMWare to the rescue with a new 32 bit 11.10 Ubuntu instance. While the install proceeds it's a good time to browse through the Tizen developer documentation, which seems to be in quite a good shape for a beta stage.

Once VM has been installed, quickly go through the process of installing Oracle Java and then the Tizen SDK itself.

No problems here, but how do I start it?

Command line to the rescue.

It's our friend Eclipse, tuned for Tizen. Nothing wrong with Eclipse, use it for Java coding myself.

So, following the guides in the developer documentation, wrote a quick Hello World application with just HTML content in a single page. So far very easy and nice.

How do I run it? Developer documentation tells me how to set up the configurations for the target but Eclipse says no target can be found. End up finding the emulator manager and launching it.

Launching a target works and it eventually (after a very long time) boots up to a setup screen. So now my target is running and everything should work? Wrong, still no target found.

Emulator manager can be launched from Eclipse as well, maybe that will help. No luck here, emulator doesn't show up in Connection Explorer in the IDE as it is in the developer documentation. Tried also removing the whole SDK and carefully cleaning any configurations. Reinstall and the same result.

Maybe it's the Ubuntu version, it is after all the latest stable which might not work.. Let's try 10.04 LTS. VM install, Oracle Java install and Tizen SDK install. Same result, no connection to target from IDE. Asking around on FreeNode #Tizen and web searching don't offer any help, so for now the option is to give up. I guess it could be possible to transfer the packaged widget to the emulator via the provided command line tools, but I was here to test the SDK functionality, which in this case doesn't seem to work on my setup.

Anyway, apart from not being able to see my widget in the emulator, it can be seen in the IDE itself. I like the idea of making apps using purely web technologies. Of course there are limits to these, which I am not sure how Tizen will counter. In my mind it's a promising platform if the Tizen project gets hardware manufacturers behind it AND manages to stay open. I think especially the last part is the most relevant here. If Tizen ends up being just another Android (which is not open), then for me at least it's not very interesting.

Personally I would anyway still prefer the Qt/Qt Quick combination which offers really unlimited power on what your applications can do - oh and you can embed JavaScript in to Qt Quick just like to a web page.

Waiting for the next SDK release, or some hints on how to get my setup running. Maybe then I can see my Hello World on a real (emulator) device :)

[ linux // open source // tizen ]

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#120 posted on Mon Feb 27 19:19:40 2012

Python meetup in Helsinki 7th March

Received this message today:

From: Mikko Ohtamaa

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:33:25 +0200

Subject: 1st Helsinki Python meet-up 7.3.2012

Dear Pythoneers,

Python Finland is excited to announce 1st Helsinki Python meet-up:

7.3.2012 Wednesday
18:00-
Bruuveri cabinet
http://www.bruuveri.fi/

The event fill be held in both English and Finnish depending on the
audience context.

In the program:

* Talks (30 minutes each, please reserve beforehand by contacting
halli...@python.fi)

* Company pitches

* Lighting talks (5 min each, no need to reserve beforehand)

* Great editor wars

Be there and unroll your loops.

We thank our wonderful sponsor Reaktor for making this event possible.

Yours truly,
Mikko Ohtamaa
Secretary
Python Finland

Planning on going - you should too if you're in Helsinki and interested in Python!

[ events // python // helsinki ]

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#119 posted on Sun Feb 26 13:46:56 2012

Nokia N9 Share UI plugin 'Sharetus'

Sharetus

My first application for the Nokia N9 is in the stage where I feel comfortable releasing it to public testing. The application is a kind of bookmarklet launcher since the default N9 browser doesn't support them. Bookmarklets are available for many sites on the net and are very popular in doing things like sharing links.

Sharetus currently has a small list of targets which will grow later as I get feedback and requests. Also the list will be made configurable so you can disable sites you don't need from the list and add your own.

There is also hashtag support for Diaspora*, Twitter and Ping FM. You can choose tags from the device central tag database (Tracker DB) and also add new tags. Diaspora* target includes markdown bolding and I am also planning other custom features per target, where supported. These include image and post excerpt where available.

Installing

Since the application is not ready for Nokia Store submission yet, you will need to install it via the device browser. This will ensure automatic dependency handling. Make sure first that you have enabled custom application sources.

Shortened install URL (from GitHub): http://goo.gl/35Rba

There are some issues still and the UI is a bit rough looking. Also I couldn't get a custom icon to the Share UI so currently I'm using the stock 'share' icon that is used in many other applications. Any help on this issue is appreciated!

Code

The application is mostly PySide Python code and the UI is made using QML. Share UI integration is made with C++. You can view and clone the code from GitHub. If you want to participate, please feel free to fork and do pull requests.

Feedback

If you have a GitHub account, please use the issue tracker there for issues and feature requests. Otherwise you can contact me via email or social media (links in the Social box on the right). You can also leave comments to this post but please note my blog doesn't support comment notifications yet..

Licence

The code is licensed with a MIT style license - you can do whatever you want with it as long as you keep the original license intact. See more at GitHub.

Happy sharing and please let me know if you find this application useful and how I can make it better! Also big thanks to Tuomas Kulve whose command line sharing plugin I used as a base for the C++ classes in this application!

[ downloads // programming // python // nokia // maemo // open source // meego // applications // twitter // diaspora // social networks // facebook // n9 // harmattan // pyside // qt ]

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#118 posted on Thu Feb 9 22:18:56 2012

Mass convert documents to PDF with LibreOffice

The need: Convert ~30 Word documents to PDF (for my wife).

Immediately went to Google and stumbled on a few blog posts about the "hidden" batch conversion features of LibreOffice. It's fast, simple and works directly from the command line:

libreoffice -headless -convert-to pdf:writer_pdf_Export *.doc

This will convert all the *.doc documents in the current path to PDF files using the Writer exporter. Similarly you can of course convert any other supported format, and also define output path.

See libreoffice -help for more switches.

[thanks]

[ tips // libreoffice ]

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#117 posted on Tue Jan 24 12:19:24 2012

Haaste: Lahjoita sinäkin Pekka Haavistolle

Vaalit 2012. Kansainvälisissä luottamustehtävissä kokemusta kerännyt kansanedustaja Pekka Haavisto nousee aktiivisen kansanliikkeen siivittämänä toiselle kierrokselle ammattipolitiikko Sauli Niinistöä vastaan. Kuinka tämä tapahtui?

Raha ei ole missään nimessä ainoa eikä tärkein merkitsevä asia siinä kuka menestyy vaaleissa. Sen todistaa jo Haaviston menestys ja pääsy toiselle kierrokselle. Kuitenkin, raha mahdollistaa sen että ehdokkaan mielipiteet saadaan julki isommalle määrälle ihmisiä.

Niinistön ennakkoilmoitus vaalibudjetista on yhteensä 1 miljoona euroa, josta jopa 322 000 on yrityksiltä ja 631 000 hyväosaisilta yksityishenkilöiltä. Haavistolla ei ole samanlaista rahapiiriä takanaan, vaalibudjetiksi oli ilmoitettu 250 000, josta 35 000 yrityksiltä ja 115 000 yksityishenkilöiltä.

Haaviston menestys perustuukin meihin aivan normaaleihin kansalaisiin, jotka tahdomme tasapuolisemman, tasa-arvoisemman ja välittävämmän Suomen. Kansalaiset ovatkin ahkerasti tehneet pieniä lahjoituksia kampanjatiimille. Tämän kirjoittamisen aikana yksityislahjoittajia on yhteensä 3417 kpl ja keskivertolahjoituksena 25 euroa (tiedot täältä). Haavisto on yhteisbudjetissaan kuitenkin kaukana vielä Niinistön kampanjatiimin käytössä olevasta rahamäärästä.

Tämä on haaste. Lahjoita sinäkin pieni summa Haaviston kampanjaan ja auta tällä yksinkertaisella ja halvalla teolla kansainvälisessä toiminnassa kokeneen ja meistä normaaleista kansalaisista välittävän presidentin valitseminen!

Meidän perhe lahjoitti juuri 20 euroa - paljon sinä lahjoitat?

http://haavisto2012.fi/lahjoita/

[ vaalit2012 // haavisto // suomi // finland // politiikka ]

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#116 posted on Sun Nov 20 19:15:17 2011

It's Ubuntu Community Appreciation day!

It's November 20th, the first Ubuntu Community Appreciation day!

As primarely just a user, I don't have anyone specific that I could thank. However, I would like to thank everyone who is constantly working on to provide excellent releases time after time! You guys and gals are absolutely the best and I love you all!

I <3 Ubuntu

[ linux // ubuntu // operating systems // open source ]