I just wanted to share the steps to upgrade an Ubuntu server running on 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) to the new version 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). The “official upgrade path” explained at Ubuntu did not work for me - and maybe some other of you also run into the same problems Read the rest of this entry »

At Mozilla.org the brand new betaversion of the open source browser Firefox is ready for download and test. The new Proto-theme of the Mac OS X version is one of the palpable changes: The theme is quite stable now and it’s a visually step to a Mac OS X 10.5 user interface. In bright contrast to the bad habit of web 2.0 applications which encourage users to use the all-time-beta apps in productive purpose, Firefox should be explicitly not used in productive environments. It’s also not suited for that because many of the plugins are not ported to Firefox 3, yet.
So, it’s really all about testing … and everybody is invited and encouraged to join the Firefox beta 3 bug hunt … and report them at Bugzilla.

A short message to all Wordpress-bloggers: The actual security update version 2.3.3 is strongly recommended. Here at codedifferent no problems occure while upgrading.
Taking this upgrade as an opportunity - the anti spam plugin was also exchanged: In the future every commentator at codedifferent has to prove to be a pattern recognizing human. And by using the reCAPTURE-plugin we aditionally help others: The CAPCHA codes used here are not only some generated graphics - they represent words which could not be recognized by OCR-software. reCAPCHA was developed from Carnegie Mellow University and they actually support the project Internet Archive.

The people at Skyhook Wireless really did a smart job with their Wi-Fi Positioning System: They just use the highly distributed public and private Wi-Fi infrastructure of everyone as reference points for their location tracking. So basically every WiFi-enabled device can use their technology if Skyhook Wireless scanned and located the hotspots that specific area.
I did not find any competitors, yet. Sure, there are companies like innerwireless with their PanGo location management software, or Cisco with their Wireless Location Appliance, or the Finnish ekahau working in the field of Wi-Fi locating technology. But they all focus on closed business solutions where a dedicated infrastructure is used for tracking.
So the Skyhook Wireless WPS solution looks like an innovative and unique way - and an interesting way to realize navigation and location based services in metropolitan areas. Opening up their API for web developers was a brilliant idea - so let’s use it.

No need for handheld GPS devices which do not function properly in metropolitan areas

The cooperation with Apple in terms of iPhone and iPod touch also effects the Mac now: Today, Skyhook Wireless released their Loki 2.0 Firefox toolbar for Mac OS X and Windows XP. Now it’s possible to check the own location with Loki - if there are enogh WiFi-hotspots in reach known by Skyhook Wireless.
Quite amazing technology with a JavaScript-SDK for Web developers, too.