News from the world of virtualization… February 28, 2006
Posted by James Webster in : apple, virtualization , 1 comment so farA couple of interesting recent tidbits fom the world of virtualization…
- VMWare have announced the VMWare Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge, an open-to-all-comers competition (with a total of $20000USD prize money) to create the most useful ‘virtual appliance’ (read: virtual machine) using the VMWare Player and Server products. Now of course since licensing is an issue, non-free operating systems are less likely to form the basis for any of the serious contenders. The packaging of servers and workstation environments as appliances really resonates with me, as a way to shortcut much of the existing pain in provisioning new systems, especially for development teams, so I’m looking forward to what sort of VMs are produced by the community. Check out some of the existing one’s over at the VMWare Technology Network.
- Some work has been done on getting Windows XP to run on Mac Intel hardware via VMware Linux running on a Knoppix distribution installed natively to the Mac. If you must dual-boot, please do it with Linux :-). Of course, this won’t stop people from saying, ‘but I want it to run natively so I can play games’…
The semantics of BYO… February 27, 2006
Posted by James Webster in : wine , 3 commentsAs more wine makers switch away from the venerable cork stopper to the more pragmatic yet unromantic screw-top cap, I wonder if BYO restaurants will start to charge ‘torque-age’ instead of ‘corkage’?
On returning to running February 12, 2006
Posted by James Webster in : gadgets, life , 1 comment so farFor quite a few years in my early 20s I was a keen runner. I would regularly compete in Sydney’s City to Surf and got as far as completing a half marathon. I valiantly tried to keep up running whilst living in London with moderate success, but after a while running gave way to inline skating with the FNS crew. Since being back in Brisbane I was quite sedentary for a while, but with the arrival of my 30th birthday I decided it was time to start pounding the pavement again.
After following Cool Running’s excellent Couch-to-5k running plan I have just reached the end goal of running 30 minutes non-stop. If you want to become a regular runner I cannot recommend this plan highly enough. It starts out as more of a ‘walking plan with a little running thrown in’ and in the early weeks you do wonder if it is doing any good. But it helps to build up your muscular and cardiovascular endurance so you can tackle the longer runs with more confidence.
Now, where’s the tech?
Well one of the most important aspects of running is having GOOD SHOES that have been properly fitted. Get them from a proper running shop, check out The Run Inn in Brisbane or The Runners Shop in Sydney. No point in skimping on these either. I’ve always picked asics over any other brand for getting the job done.
Another great tech resource for runners is the GMap Pedometer Google Maps mashup. No better way for measuring out the length of a course that you intend to run (assuming Google has reasonably high-def photos for your neighbourhood). Here’s the run that I have been doing lately.
Finally, I have my eye on the new Garmin Forerunner 305, its a combination GPS and heart rate monitor with all sorts of cool features. Garmin have redesigned the form-factor of the watch/GPS unit to have the antenna curve around the wrist, therefore as you are running the antenna faces up to the sky. Also they are equipping it with the SiRF Star III GPS chipset for quick acquisition of signal that most new GPS units appear to be coming with these days. Garmin also have a USB-based PC interface for uploading GPS and heart rate data from the watch to a PC application (a Mac version on its way apparently), which can then be uploaded to MotionBased (now owned by Garmin) and compared with other technorati running geeks in the area!
All that’s missing from this unit really is a Bluetooth-interface. What would be really cool (well, to a self-confessed technocrat like myself) would be a real-time mash-up of GPS and heart rate data uploaded to a website which plots a 305-equipped runner’s current location in a race. Add some low-res video streaming into the mix and it would be just like being there! Hmmm, maybe I’ll try and rig something up in time for the City to Surf…