>Samsung HD735LJ

>Dear lazy web, does anyone know what SMART the attribute with ID 150 for the Samsung HD735LJ indicates? My tool says:

raw value = 150
status = FAIL
value = 1
worst = 1
threshold = 99
In addition, my atapi info source in my windows logs says that the drive controller is failing…

>Bad news…

>I’ve followed Formula 1 for more than ten years. I guess that the combination of engineering, danger, speed and serious noise got me hooked. Anyway, today BMW announced that they will leave the sport at the end of this season, and for me as a BMW fan, that is bad news.

So, for a little analysis from my part. FIA claims that BMW pulling out is another proof that their cost cutting measures are needed. I believe that there are more reasons:
– FIA and F1 is governed by an odd bunch. Mosley and Eccelstone really seem to like playing politics. And they have contriversial political standpoints, nothing one wants to be associated with.
– Constant rule changes and interpretations. For instance, why where huge changes made to the aero rules before the 2009 season, but then the double diffuser design was accepted. This led to higher speeds, not lower.
– No final rules for next season, meaning that they cannot get started on next years car now (as this year’s car really is a disaster).
– Cost and results, of course, paying millions of euros to score mediocre results doesn’t really improve the situation.
So, finally, two wishes for the future. First, lets find a way to keep Sauber F1 in the game. Second, I hope to see BMW on the race track in other high profile series (no, not S/B/WTCC – more like LeMans, F1 or perhaps DTM).

>Embedded Tutorial

>The LearnQt site has been up for a couple of months now. There is a lot of writing in the pipeline, I just have to do some polishing (the famous 80/20 rule seems to apply). I’ve been meaning to extend the site to reflect my interests. Right now, it contains the generic Qt tutorial, but I’ve added a category called Embedded Linux with articles on using Qt in embedded Linux (you guessed it from the category name, didn’t you :-P).

Also, there seems to be something odd with my WordPress template for the site. When looking at one individual article, instead of the main page or a Category listing, list bullets and block quotes break down. If there is any css wizard out there willing to help, I’d be more than happy. Do mail me at e8johan, gmail. The issue has been solved – thanks!

>Remember

>As China blocks, let’s remember.

Democracy is not chaos, it is wealth. Wealth to the soul as well as to the body and society. Churchill put it nicely into words: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

For all of us enjoying the luxury of being able to speak, organize, move and express ourselves freely, I have a small poem by Martin Niemöller (cannot find the name of the author, comment if you know it).

In Germany they came first for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

>Work – a Qt platform

>I’m feeling like a lucky guy – getting to work with Qt on a day-to-day basis. A couple of days back, BitSim, my employer announced a Qt-based embedded hardware platform. Highlights are PXA270, a Spartan FPGA and a radio module. Right now I’m waiting for our demo pair to arrive, so that I can create some sort of demo utilizing the two units and the radio.

Well, now I’m off to work again. Shell scripting this time…

>QtMobility

>Qt Software just announced the QtMobility project. This is great news. Especially the “…ONE application which can be deployed across MANY platforms (Nokia and non-Nokia platforms).” This is yet another confirmation that Nokia did not acquire Trolltech to turn Qt into an S60 API – cross platform (or, as QtS says deploy everywhere!) is still important.

>Wolfram|Alpha

>I just ran into the Wolfram|Alpha site (found it via NyTeknik). The site is amazing. Try, for instance, to search for a substance: caffeine. The result not only includes a nice picture of the molecule, but also quite a few facts about the substance.

Looking a molecules is fun, but the man behind W|A was also responsible for Mathematica. So, go ahead, enter a formula: sin(x)^2. The result includes period, a plot, derivate, integral, but also the steps taken to reach the results. I can imagine one or two maths students using this.

Well, sorry for bugging you with this – but I was absolutely stunned when I ran into the site. It has earned itself one of my bookmarks!

Update! This makes it less attractive: Groklaw – Terms of Use: A Real Difference Between Wolfram|Alpha and Google.