Missed Call Reminder

One thing I miss with the HTC Desire HD is that when I have a missed call or SMS it will not remind me of it at all.

I need to check the notification area to see if I missed a call or SMS.

Missed Call Reminder is a small application that runs in the background and it will notify you on a soft configurable time interval when you have missed calls or SMS messages.

It really works well.

3g Watchdog

The new HTC smart phone is brilliant but it is really heavy on the data side. I install this great little application that keeps track of the amount of data I use.

The QR code is available if you also want to use this amazing application.

HTC Desire HD

So I took possession of my new HTC Desire HD on Monday. Now it could be because of the way the market has changed, but this is the best phone I ever owned.

I suspect it is the market and not just the phone. My last smart phone did not have Facebook, Twitter or Google integration, but 4 years ago no smart phone had it so the fact that this phone has it doesn't mean it would have had it 4 years ago.

I also suspect that you have to be an online junkie to really enjoy the phone to the fullest.

PSP 3000

I decided to buy the PSP 3000 God Of War: Ghost of Sparta edition.

I decided on the PSP because not only can it play games, but I can buy and read my comics on the device as well.

It can also play Nintendo and Super Nintendo Games. So Super Mario and Ninja Gaiden are definitely going to get a play through.

Droid Comic Viewer

I love comics. I usually subscribe to them even when I stay in South Africa, miles and miles away from the civilized world. The only problem I have is, these comics take up a lot of space, so storing them is usually a mission.

When I want to re-read some of my comics then I need to go and dig it all out again, so when it comes to archiving my comics I like the .CBZ format and re-reading my comics on my PC.

Luckily the Android has a similar application called Droid Comic Reader. It allows you to read .CBZ comics on the Android.

Here is a nice video showing the off the capabilities ...

NESoid for Android

Something else I discovered while researching what phone to get was this little application. It is called NESoid, and it is a NES emulator for the Android. With the QWERTY keyboard on The HTC Desire Z, I think this little application will work great.

Here is a video showing off the NESoid capabilities ...

HTC Desire Z

So I decided to get a new phone. My new phone will be the HTC Desire Z. It is an Android 2.2 smartphone.

This phone has all the Android features like GMail integration, Google Docs, Google Calendar and so on.

The other benefit is, it has the HTC Sense software, which I like a lot. The waiting list is about 2 weeks long, so hopefully by the beginning of December I will have my new phone.

Delphi logging by Exception

I had to help a friend out the other day. He is taking over some Delphi application from someone. That someone decided that the Delphi application is too much work. Now this friend of mine warned me that the code was not very good but I did not expect this piece of beautiful code. Beautiful as in, "What the Hell was this guy thinking".

So we start off with this piece of code

procedure TfrmMain.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
 status         : integer ;
 sc_no          : integer ;
 tmpstr         : string;
 cnt            : integer ;
 comms_protocol : integer ;
begin
  Application.OnException := HandleException;
  ...
end;

So this is not bad, we just register on the top level exception handler in the form's constructor. This event handler code looks like this

procedure TfrmMain.HandleException(Sender: TObject; E: Exception);
var
  filename: string;
  logfile : textfile;
begin
  filename := changefileext(application.exename,'.log');
  assignfile(logfile,filename);
  if fileexists (filename) then
    append(logfile)
  else
    rewrite(logfile);
  writeln(logfile,datetimetostr (now)+':'+e.message);
  if cb_debug.checked then
    application.showexception(e);
  closefile(logfile);
end;

Now in this section I would have liked more begin;end; blocks but some people like to make reading code difficult so not too big a problem. Essentially this code just logs the error to a file. So still not bad.

And then the "What the Hell" moment

try
  raise Exception.create('Program Started');
finally
end;

So this guys wants to log that the application started. Instead of refactoring the log procedure to support program logging he just raises an Exception and does nothing with it. Even worse, in Delphi debug mode, Delphi would stop by default, so now you have to switch off the break on exception option in Delphi just to run his application.

So there you have it, how to log messages by using exceptions in an application and please do not try this at home, this guy was a trained professional*

* A trained professional idiot that is.

PC Upgrade 2010, Part 2

I eventually got all my parts and upgraded the PC. It was not without its own set of drama. The first problem I encountered was with my memory. I bought 4 x 2Gb OCZ Gold DDR3 1333MHz memory. After I installed Windows, I could only use 4Gb, the other 4Gb was 'reserved'. Three hours later I found a post on the OCZ forum suggesting that my BIOS detected my DRAM settings wrong and they were right. I manually had to set my DRAM settings in the BIOS, but at least that worked.

i7 Stock Cooler

I then decided to run memtest86+ just in case, and the horror! I had errors in test number 8 in memtest86+. I took out all my DIMMS and reinserted them again, ran memtest86+ and no errors, and just to be sure I ran 5 passes of the tests and another 2 passes the next day.

Cooler Master H212+

My next challenge was heat. The i7 870 with its stock cooler was not good enough. The i7 under load went up to 90C which is not good. Idle temp was at 35C, not bad, but not good either. I wanted to replace the stock cooler with the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ but no one had immediate stock so I had to take whatever was on stock at the first computer shop that had any CPU coolers.

Zalman S9700

This turned out to be a Zalman S9700 LED, which is a massive heat sink and heavy, 790g heavy, so mounting that vertically in my case seems a bit excessive. The good news though is my CPU idle at 22C and with average use it goes up to 35C. I still need to stress test the new cooler.

I will also run some benchmarks. The current feeling is that this machine is very very fast. Running a VM and developing on the host at the same time is no problem at all.

PC Upgrade 2010

My current development PC at home is getting close to 3 years old now. I decided it was time to do an upgrade.

I browsed and read lots and lots of blog posts and articles around the different CPUs available and eventually settled on the Intel i7 870.

I like the new Turbo Boost functionality on the i7, but the i7 870 was priced well. I also prefer dual channel instead of triple channel so the 870 seemed to be a good fit.

Dual channel also means my motherboard was cheaper than the triple channel versions.

I am not into over clocking at all, so I settled for a motherboard that does what I need and nothing more. I did investigate its performance on some of the well known benchmarking websites.

The MSi board performed on par with all the other expensive boards, the only thing about the MSi board is that over clocking is not its claim to fame, which is fine with me.

The RAM in my new machine will be OCZ DDR 3 1333MHz, a full 8Gb. I bought the OCZ RAM because it was on special at Take2.co.za.

The RAM also looks nice.

I also decided to make an investment in the new SSD hard drives. This SSD was expensive compared to what I could get if I bought a normal hard drive, but according to all the benchmark tests the difference in speed will be huge.

Only problem is I will only have 60Gb space, so I will need to micro manage my hard drive usage again like back in the 90's.

Hard drives are so big and cheap lately, that I almost never delete files any more.

My PC components should arrive on Monday, so Monday night will be PC building night.

Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins

I bought Mass Effect 2 for a mere R 99.00, it was on special and it is the full game and fully legal. I was just at the right place at the right time.

I also got Dragon Age Origins for R 150.00, again the same shop, just lucky enough to walk in when the special was still running.

Also I feel the need to mention that I was actually on a mission to buy milk and coffee for the house, when I found this. So basically I went out to buy milk and coffee and I came back with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins.

Australian Computer Society, Part 2

So it would seem the ACS is not striking like the rest of South Africa. Probably because the ACS is in Australia, the land where people work to make a living.

I got my results back from the ACS assessment. They accessed me as a Class A Software Engineer. This means I can now apply for my Visa as a Software Engineer.

The  only obstacle now is obviously the South African government. I need to get an unabridged birth certificate and an unabridged marriage certificate. The South African government is striking at present. So hopefully they will stop their nonsense soon, so I can get my stuff and get on the plane.

The Samsung 24" LED LCD (BX2450)

I just saw this amazing Samsung at Take2.co.za, and I am impressed. More than impressed, I want it.

The monitor is really very easy on the eyes. It has the standard HD resolution that everyone has standardized on, but it has no DVI port.

My current graphics card, the NVidia 8800GT does not have HDMI out ports.

I did find a conversion dongle at Amazon. So I can use this with my existing graphics card.

Debranding my C905

I have a general hate relationship with Vodafone. I am not a Vodafone subscriber, I am a Vodacom subscriber. Vodafone bought some shares in Vodacom and now most if not nearly all Vodacom cell phones are now Vodafone branded.

I bought a Sony Ericsson C905 and one feature that everyone was talking about was the conversation thread you could have on your SMS messages. Vodafone in their wisdom decided to take it out of their Vodafone branded C905 cell phones.

Another thing that bugged me endlessly was the fact that my Java applications was so slow, very slow. I assumed it was the C905 that was not too good with Java applications.

I eventually decided to debrand my C905.

I found a nice post on debranding my C905. It took a while to get all the software ready and in place but after following the easy steps my C905 is now working the way it should be.

Not only do I now have SMS conversation support, my Java applications are much faster too. So Vodafone even broke the JVM on the C905.

I unfortunately did manage to reset my MAC address to 00-00-00-00-00, so no Wi-Fi for me. The fix is quite easy, but I will do it at a later stage.

Source Code Highlight in Blogger

I always wanted to have syntax highlighting in my blog posts but I thought Blogger didn't allow it. Thankfully I was wrong.

The code snippet below shows how pretty it can look. I am using SyntaxHighlighter version 3.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace Core.EFT.XXX
{
    /// 

    /// This class will decode the XML from the XXX service.
    /// 
    public class XXXTCPResponse : TCPResponse
    {
        #region Properties
        /// 

        /// The request type.
        /// 
        public string RequestType { get; set; }
        #endregion
    }
} 

I will probably start posting more C#, C++ and Java code snippets on this blog.

New Lenovo G550

My old Hewlett Packard desktop replacement laptop was starting to show its age. It was time for a replacement, but I did not want another desktop replacement laptop.

I found for development I prefer a desktop. I can easily add more monitors and upgrading the desktop is much simpler and easier. Cost wise it is also many times cheaper.

I found a special on the Lenovo G550. The initial reviews on the internet were good enough and for the price it was excellent. So I bought the Lenovo G550.

Over the next few days I will install my favourite applications like Firefox, Directory Opus etc.

Australian Computer Society

I completed all my documentation and I mailed it to the ACS. So within the next 12 weeks I will know if they like me or not.

Another tick on the list.

IELTS done.

I finished the IELTS tests. My overall score is 8.0 and I only needed to score a 7.0, so I qualify for the 25 bonus points on the Visa.

The next application I need to do is the ACS certification of my degree and work experience.

I also need to start the process of acquiring my South African documents, like my marriage certificate etc. That will have to happen in the next two months.

Cell phone carry bag part 2.

So I bought this carry bag last year. It lasted all of six months. Totally forgot about it. Really not a good product at all.

IELTS Part 1, done

So the past weekend I did my first part of the IELTS test. I need to do the IELTS test because South Africa's official language is not English. South Africa has 11 official languages but listening to the politicians I would have sworn the official language is talking poop.

Back to the test. No one really knows what language we speak in South Africa, so in order to go to Australia I had to take the IELTS test. It is a lot like Grade 7 English, maybe even easier, so all in all a waste of time and money.

Part 1 of the test was reading, writing and listening. Part 2 will be the speaking test which I will be doing this coming weekend.

So one more tick on the checklist. I picked up our passports yesterday, so the next stop will be the ACS assessment of my degree.

New Skilled Occupations List

The Australian government created a new skilled occupations list (SOL) that will come into effect on 1 July 2010. Luckily for me I am still on the list. They reduced the occupations from something like 400 to just 181, or something in that line. So basically a more than 50% reduction in occupations.

I am only concerned with the IT related occupations. On the old SOL the following occupations were catered for:

• Computing Professionals (Catch all)
• Applications and Analyst Programmer
• Computer Systems Auditor
• Software Designer
• Systems Manager
• Systems Programmer

The new list only lists the following IT related occupations:

• Systems Analyst
• Analyst Programmer
• Developer Programmer
• Software Engineer

So they basically removed the Computing Professionals option. Many IT occupations came through on that catch all description, anything from a database administrator to a network administrator could be seen as a Computing Professional. It would seem the Australian government plugged that hole now. Basically if you want to go to Australia as an IT specialist your occupation must be closely related to actual programming or building of systems from scratch it seems.

Australia

I haven't blogged in a long while. I had some nice Trinchado at different places the last few months but I will blog about that later.

My family and I decided that it will not be suitable for our little girl of 14 months to grow up in South Africa anymore. A few weeks ago a small baby of 12 months was assaulted by criminals and she is still in I.C.U., so we decided that if the criminals do not even spare a baby, then we need to leave.

I started the whole process but it will take some time. Currently we are trying to get a state sponsorship from Victoria in Australia. We want to settle in Melbourne. We have a few reasons for this but just the fact that 1/3 of all IT people are employed in Melbourne makes the choice easier.

So I guess I will be blogging about the whole Visa application for the time being instead of nice food.