Schonhose

Over the last few weeks I made quite a few improvements to the Googlemaps addon for Pixelpost. Today I finally managed to do something that has been on the list for nearly a year now. When you click a clustered marker you will get an infowindow containing a Flickr like scrolling element.

For those of you interested in what it looks like, here is a screenshot:

Other improvements include a more logical way of clustering based upon K-Means++, clusters are stored in the database in a real nice hierarchical system, and real nice icons for the new cluster method. Ow, and did I mention it works in Firefox, Safari and the dreadful Internet Explorer?

I’m still thinking if I’m planning to leave the earlier clustermethod in the addon or if I delete it. I tend towards deleting the method and all options related to it since the K-Means is far more superior.

Anyway, I updated the version on my blog to the latest development version. Check it out here.

Please note this addon is not available to the general public, and I’m doubtful it will ever be. With the amount of support lately chances are pretty slim.

Yesterday I had some serious problems with my DVD-burner. I couldn’t burn any DVD or CD, Nero Burning ROM just gave up on it giving the dreadful “Power Calibration” error. So feeling quite adventurous I visited the website of the manufacturer, checked out their support site and found a ROM update.

In general my philosophy is “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it“, but in this case the burner wasn’t working as expected. So I went ahead with the ROM update, updating it from version 3 to version 9. After the successful update Windows needed a reboot (and another one after that). I started Nero Burning ROM, slid an empty DVD in the burner, selected the files and pressed “Burn”.

There it was again: “Power Calibration” error. So I decided to use some other software. I created an ISO file first, then tried to burn the file with the excellent tool ImgBurn. Immediately my computer became very unresponsive. It eventually came back but while the burning progressed the overall feel was kind of sluggish. But hey, at least the burning worked.

After the burning finished I checked the settings of the IDE controller. What do you know, there was the root of my problems. The primary IDE channel, on which the burner resides, slipped back into PIO mode which is slower than any of the DMA modes. So, setting the PIO mode to DMA would solve the problem.

Well, not quite. I was unable to change the settings and I ended up with removing the drivers of my IDE controllers as well as the drivers of the burner and other DVD player. Needless to say I needed several reboots after that.

After the final reboot all hardware was discovered and reinitialized. A check confirmed both drives are now on Ultra DMA 4. That will beat PIO anytime.

I gotta say it: Dwight Howard showed some creativity in this years Slam Dunk contest! I haven’t seen that much creativity after Cedric did it blindfolded in 1992. (Well, to be honest, Vinsanity was awesome as well in 2000)

Today I finally had the time to check the latest feeds in my RSS reader. I’ve been an avid fan of Scott Kelby over at PhotoshopInsider.com. The post with the title “Taken ‘The Day Before…’” gave me the chills. (Kudos to Scott for the blog title for this post and for Jeff Revell for pointing this out on his blog recently).

The image above is one of a series of powerful images representing the day before something significant happened. I trust I don’t have to tell you what the image above represents. I suggest you have a look at the full series which can be found on Cherryflava. I believe everyone has some images of buildings or places that don’t exists any more in today’s world.

There are some people commenting on other pages on the fact that this is a clever advertisement and some of the pictures (like JFK) were actually taken earlier. Not withstanding this it sends out the perfect message: “There one day, gone the other“.

I seriously was into “Twin Peaks” in the early nineties. I even bought the book “The Autobiography – of – F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper (My Life, My Tapes)” in which the following quote can be found:

All that existed that made this place mine is gone. The people, the buildings, the sounds and smells. What’s left no longer belongs to me. I’m a time traveler, slipping in and out like an archaeologist, hoping I will find clues to forgotten secrets, or guideposts to future destinations. I find neither. You can no more hold the past in your hand than you can see tomorrow.

Somehow this quote appeals to me and because of that it got stuck.