stuart test blog

I’ve been trying to figure out why image uploading doesn’t work for some Blogtown NZ customers, and I accidentally found the issue. I’ll run some test posts here and see how it goes…

This image does not have a link:

That worked, now lets post an image that links to a URL:

That also worked, now lets post an image that links to the source image which is resized:

Good – that also worked. Now the one that breaks it: lets post an image that links to the original-sized source image:

Hmm – that worked, I wasn’t expecting that! How about if I upload a larger file and try to link to the source image: (just changed the size of the thumbnail too, and removed the drop shadow)

OK – I’m stumped! This breaks on my personal blog (http://stuart.amanzi.co.nz) but not on Blogtown NZ. Hmmm, further investigation required…

I’ve been trying to figure out why image uploading doesn’t work for some Blogtown NZ customers, and I accidentally found the issue. I’ll run some test posts here and see how it goes…

This image does not have a link:

That worked, now lets post an image that links to a URL:

That also worked, now lets post an image that links to the source image which is resized:

Good – that also worked. Now the one that breaks it: lets post an image that links to the original-sized source image:

Hmm – that worked, I wasn’t expecting that! How about if I upload a larger file and try to link to the source image: (just changed the size of the thumbnail too, and removed the drop shadow)

Here’s a photo I took of my brother in Amsterdam waking Elliot up. I set up the notebook and webcam with Skype so that Andrew could see her and she could hear him. It was so funny listening to him call out, “Elliot….. Elliot… Elliot…”, trying to wake her up for the 10pm feed!

Schmap the online travel-guide website just got a little better… That’s because they’ve included two of my photos in their guide to the ‘Western Suburbs’ of Wellington. I’m not too sure that Hawkins Hill should be classified as being part of the Western Suburbs but it does border on the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary so perhaps that’s why.

I took the two photos on a mountain bike ride up to the radar station.

You can view my photos on if you click on the Hawkins Hill link on the Schmap site. And it looks like other Wellington bloggers are in the guide too.

I placed an order for a new notebook last week as soon we will be needing two of them around the house. Obviously I will get the new one and the 3 ½ year old notebook will get passed down to Deb to use.

A little side note here before I continue – although the old notebook is 3 ½ years old it still has a reasonable specification and can run Vista with the Aero interface comfortably. This is because when I bought it, I avoided all of the cheap, entry-level notebooks, and bought one that should last for 5 years.

That side note is important as when I came to buy a new notebook for myself I wanted it to be able to last for about 5 years. So the only way to do that is to spend as much as you can so that you get all the latest components. My budget for the new notebook was around $2500 (ex GST). I posted a while back about the specs in a notebook I was looking for:

My requirements so far are:

• Must be compatible with my docking station – i.e. it must be an HP.
• Must have high resolution.
• Must have at least an Intel T7200 processor.
• Must have at least 1GB RAM, with a free slot.
• Must have dedicated graphics card with dedicated memory.

Some “nice to haves” are:

• 802.11 n (or draft-N?) wireless connectivity
• Must be reasonably mobile, i.e. no 17 inch monster displays on this notebook.
• 100GB or bigger SATA drive.
• Fingerprint reader, or other enhanced security.

Despite the fact that I said that it had to be an HP to fit in with my docking station, I did look at IBM and Apple notebooks too. IBM have some very good notebooks that matched the specs above but none so good that warranted buying a new docking station too. The Apple notebooks are beautiful works of art and have great specifications. There’s also the added benefit of getting to play with OSX too, but the MacBook Pro was just a tad too expensive and the cheaper MacBook wasn’t as good as I wanted.

While shopping around I further refined the specs I wanted to this:

• 14.1″ screen size with 1440×900 resolution
• T7500 processor
• 1GB RAM with a free memory slot
• 7200RPM hard drive – 80GB or larger
• Dedicated graphics card

Unfortunately, in HPs latest notebook range (with the Santa Rosa chipsets) there wasn’t a 14.1″ screen with 1440×900 resolution so I was a bit stuck. I could go up to a 15.4″ screen which but I wanted the portability of the smaller form-factor. I had some hope restored, though, when I spoke to the HP notebook product manager in NZ and he let me know that they did have the 1440×900 screens coming out soon in their 6910p notebooks.

Although this model isn’t yet on the HP NZ website, I’ve placed an order for the top-of-the-line 6910p which has the following specs:

• 14.1″ screen size with 1440×900 resolution
• T7700 processor – 2.4GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 cache
• 2GB RAM (2 x 1GB)
• 7200RPM hard drive – 120GB
• Dedicated graphics card – ATI X2300
• 802.11abgn, and Vodafone 3G Broadband
• Fingerprint scanner
• along with the usual stuff found on a notebook…

This notebook exceeds all of the specifications I wanted and adds some of the “nice-to-haves” too, such as the N-draft wireless access, fingerprint scanner, and even wireless broadband if I sign up for a data plan with Vodafone. All this in a compact and light (2.0kg) form factor.

So is this my perfect notebook? Not quite – I suppose that all notebooks could get thinner and lighter but this is pretty good for now. The only feature that I can think of that this notebook is missing is a built in camera. I really like the idea of always having the camera ready and waiting without the need to plug in cables.

Update: Mauricio has just blogged about an interesting request that HP have put out to the blogosphere:

The HP product design team wanted to reach out to users and invited some bloggers and industry experts to relay to them what consumers want in a laptop.

My response to that would be a thinner, lighter 6910p, that matches the specs above but with a built-in camera.

While the NZ dollar has been so strong over the last few weeks, it was a great opportunity to do some shopping online on Amazon. Here are the books I’ve bought recently:

Geek books:

• Active Directory, 3rd Edition by by Joe Richards, Robbie Allen, Alistair Lowe-Norris
  This is the Active Directory bible as far as I’m concerned and the 3rd edition was updated to include ADFS and ADAM as well as the AD-related changes in Windows 2003 SP1 and SP2. I’m not even close to finishing this but it’s also useful as a reference guide so I don’t feel pressured to get through it soon.
• Microsoft Windows PowerShell Step By Step by Ed Wilson
  I haven’t started this one yet, but getting some in-depth knowledge on PowerShell is way up on my priority list.

Productivity/Life/Business books:

• Getting Things Done by David Allen
  If you haven’t heard of this book then you haven’t been reading enough blogs. GTD is considered to be a life changing book that teaches you how to organize, process and do all the stuff that comes your way. I’m hoping that this leads to a more stress free personal and business life – I’m only a few chapters into this and can already see the light!
• The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris
  This is another book that I first heard about through the blogosphere but to tell the truth I don’t know too much about it. Nic Wise pointed me to an interview that Robert Scoble did with the author Tim Ferris but I haven’t had time to watch it all yet. From what I understand it’s all about getting a good balance between work and home life which is something I definitely need at the moment.
• The Dip by Seth Godin
  I love reading Seth’s blog and I learn something new every day reading about his business and marketing advice. This book takes an interesting twist on business advice by teaching you when to quit. The idea is that the top business people in the world quit before it’s too late and focus their energies on their project. I’m looking forward to reading this and hope that if I do have to quit my business venture, I don’t do it too late.

It’s not the first time I’ve been published internationaly, but this is kinda cool!

Hi Stuart,

I am writing to let you know that two of your photos with a Creative Commons license have been short-listed for inclusion in the third edition of our Schmap Wellington Guide, to be published mid-August 2007.

www.schmap.com/shortlist/p=95555995N00/c=SE51022406

Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos have been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photos from our final selection phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse online or download the second edition of our Schmap Wellington Guide.

Our submission deadline is Wednesday, August 8. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently – photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).

Best regards,

Luke Ritchie,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

I’ve been noticing this a lot more recently – Google seems to be indexing web pages in near-realtime. I posted a blog entry at about quarter past two on Windows Script Host 5.7, and less than 45 minutes later that post showed in Google’s results for “Windows Script Host 5.7” This is impressive when you consider that in the “old days” Google and other search engines used to index once a month or longer.

And if you’re wondering how I noticed that it had turned up in Google’s index so quick… I have to confess – I’m an Egosurfer and have set up alerts on Google so that I know when my name is mentioned!

From Wikipedia:

Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.

Interesting links:

• Datamancer.net
• Steampunk on Boing Boing
• Flickr group – Steampunk
• Flickr photos tagged with Steampunk