1. Story:

I noticed something strange in facebook’s “Promote post” system. I started promotion for article in one group and stopped it before it was approved. However, surprise was that they charger me 5$ for that  I claimed it via paypal and received money back. In Facebook they didn’t even try to respond to my claim. So i had to wait for 20 days to get 5$ back.

I’m wondering, if anyone else noticed the same???

2. Story:

I recently published web site (http://www.adriablues.com) for a friend and he asked me to promote it on facebook. As usual, i placed analytics code in page on the very same  day. We didn’t try to promote web site anywhere else. Strange thing happened. Facebook add was linked directly to web page URL however, i noticed in Google Analytics three time less page views than clicks for which facebook charged us. And when i viewed referrer clicks, it was even less from facebook.

Please, review print screens together with dates and number of clicks reported by Facebook and by Google analytics.

I would not comment any more for now. It’s just what happened!?!?!?

UPDATE  18. APRIL.2013 (12:32)

I just logged in my FB account, and i got this FASCISM message.  FACEBOOK DON’T LIKE IF YOU COMPLAIN WHEN THEY LIE ABOUT YOUR CLICKS. BIG BROTHER HA HA HA

Boards named in title of this article are not very much comparable.
Actually, Raspberry Pi is the one that breaks harmony

The one thing which is in common for sure is the fact that these boards are popular among EE students and hobbyists. Or at least, they tend to be. Of course, there are many other boards, but i have only these.

However, what i can compare is maybe quality of how these boards are made and shipped, what i like and don’t like about that.

1. Raspberry Pi A or B [the interloper]  (35$ + shipping which can be up to 50$…very suspicious)

• Hard to order lately
• Development environment quite handy
• IT DOESN’T COME WITH nice rubber pads  You really need to spend 6-20$ more for proper casing and cables
• As it’s real computer with many different ports, i don’t know what you can’t do with it

2. MSP430 (4.3$ with shipping, they tend to get become popular platform so you even get VERY FAST shipping)

• The cheapest – almost free !!!
• Development VERY tricky, not Linux friendly and that is the main reason you don’t want to spend even 4.5$
• Seems to be the top quality board in terms of material of all four (How i know it? )
• Not many example projects for easy get into development

3. Arduino Uno (arround 35$ + shipping)

• The most popular – which makes learning very easy
• Development very friendly for all platforms
• Many different shields available
• You would not get far if you only stick to it (although i have heard of companies that use it for serious industrial projects ccc)

4. Debug Express board PIC 16F887 (around 60$ but comes with programmer and debugger!!!)

• Comes with PICkit 2 or 3 Programmer and debugger which can be used to program most of  PICs you could imagine as student or hobbyist and with PIC16F887
• Since Microchip published MPLABX and appropriate cross platform compiles, development became multi-platform friendly which is quite surprise for LInux users
• IMHO it’s decent small platform but it would be my favorite if they added small breadboard instead. Would not change cost much and would be much more approachable to go through exercises.
• Fastest opening doors towards serious microcontroller development (IMHO)

Boards with couple of Arduino shields.

This post is about what can you expect right now, installing Debian on Thinkpad T430.

Just out of box + Debian squeeze install?

Almost nothing works ok. Default kernel is something arround 2.6.3 or so and most of your hardware will simply not work. However, i noticed that the webcam was working fine and drivers for wireless cards are in non-free squeeze repos

After adding Backports to repository & upgrading to 3.2 Kernel?

nVidia graphics, Bluetooth and Audio card starts working just buy upgrade.

Missing:
Sierra Gobi 3000 (mobile broadband + GPS + Sending SMS-es) [Partially solved, mobile broadband is functioning]
Fingerprint reader [Found solution, seems like there is a way for new device 147e:2020 Upek to be recognized by libbsapi]
Microphone Mute led indicator [There is solution, need to modify and rebuild thinkpad_acpi.ko]
Fn + Display brightness doesn’t work. [I especially don't like it when it comes on from "sleep" mode. I have no idea how to fix it currently...]

[Solutions and tips to be added ...]

The configuration:

I was so excited when i find this little toy on ebay. I really believed that it’s impossible for such “simple” TOY to be so bad.

As most people who bought something from China via ebay know, it’s common to wait about 30 days for item to arrive. So that was first horrible experience.

Just when i opened the box, i was very excited. Everything seemed to be well packed, in proper box and even with simple manual. But as i started assembling it, i realized that this 25$ ware not well spend. Here is short list of what i find out.

1. There are two DC motors, each one for 4.5V and b default, there is 3xAA battery case.
2. Screws for battery case stick out so batteries would not connect properly. So i bought new 4xAA battery box, with ticker plastic, made different wider holes.
3. Shafts connecting wheels and motors are the worst quality mechanical parts i have ever seen on models like this one.
4. HORRIBLE thing is that there is no simple way to remove top board in order to reach batteries. So every time you want to charge batteries, you should unscrew three hardly reachable nuts and remove the board.
5. Horrible manual with wrong instructions
6. TERRIBLE plastic pinions, probably the weakest point and the most important one in this platform.

I think that any other comment is unnecessary.

Just few images down there:

The point is obvious, but why do’t we talk more about this?

Few years ago, my last LaserJet 6P broke after probably millions of copies.  Unfortunately i can’t find any repaired or refurnished now, so i had to switch to some newer models that even have “Professional” in their name. So i bought HP Laserjet Pro P1102w.

What is the problem?

Well, refilled toner for my old LaserJet 5P and 6P printers costs about 20 euros where for new LaserJets it’s about 23 euro. That would all be fine if there was no terrible efficiency difference.

LaserJet 6P was able to print about 7000 to 7500 copies per toner, where any other newer LaserJet is not able to reach even 1500 properly.  

I don’t know exactly if i have right to publish this video. It’s and old but very cute one .
I believe you will find it as worth spending 1 hour.

The future of “computer * ” dr. Yale N. Patt

IEEE Computer Society

60 Anniversary Reception

14. June 2006

For a number of years i use ThinkPad. Since i’m big fan of IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad and since it has been almost 20 years as IBM / Lenovo started producing ThinkPads, i decided to post something about that.

Some reasons why ThinkPad is so great:

I like about it:

1. It’s made of finest plastic and has very robust casing.
2. In most cases you will never have problems with linux drivers and there is even www.thinkwiki.org for linux users. (community supported with plenty of tips, tricks and tutorials).
3. There is plenty of additional accessories like docking station, etc…
4. You can customize fully customize it if you purchase it online. Choose monitor, fingerprint reader, bigger battery, wi-fi chip, processor etc.. (i just wish that i could choose keyboard with big  Enter button, it’s a fail).
5. IBM/Lenovo leads with innovations in Laptops through the long history of almost 20 years.
6. It’s so good that it is even being used at ISS (Image from ISS)
7. At most of developer conferences to which i attended i saw people carrying ThinkPads, it’s the maybe the best proof that ThinkPad IS GREAT LAPTOP

Sad about it:
Very expensive..

This would be “best birthday present” IMHO

Saga about Google+ and forcing users to use real name continued.

I got an email from google which support my previous claim about Google+ name policy. (* see why)

Just to remind you all chronologically what had happened:

1. Google started new social network called Google+
2. Policy of Google+ was that you MUST provide your real name or something really close to it. (* see why)
3. Very soon after establishing Google+ service, Google bans huge number of users because of not obeying to Google+ name policy.
4. For no reason, without any explanation,  probably worried that many users will avoid it and not use it, Google reactivates all banned accounts (or most of them including my)
5. After approximately 9 months, Google starts banning campaign again preceded with warning email.

Conclusion, i’m very glad they have banned me and i hope they will erase all my user data

(*) Google had one very important weakness in comparison with facebook. And that is the fact that most Facebook users “spontaneously” used real names (although it complies with facebook policy, which is not so strictly enforced by facebook) where Google+ users started using nicknames. As a consequence facebook users have much more valuable contacts network and it’s much easier to find some old pals if you are using facebook than Google+. Obviously that affect the business and credibility of intelligence information.

I was playing with new NIKON:

Devboards:
Arduino,
Microchip PICkit 2 Debug Express 2011,
Texas Instruments – MSP430 LaunchPad
and the black one is some stupid breadboard mountable power supply board.

Orthodox Church in Sarajevo 2011 (gimp done the final touch)

Since kids like play with exploits and make WP sites hacked i was offline for a month or so. I hope they will not get a chance to do it again. PLS don’t push me to move to some custom CMS.