Uhh, this is cool, IM+ for the web. I’ve been using IM+ Pro on my beloved iPhone (a phone which I had to give to my wife for work reasons… *sigh*) and more recently been testing IM+ on an iPad (which makes the program  a whole lot more useful, actually).

I actually like the interface a lot more than my previous web messenger favorite meebo, but frankly I’m not even sure the future lies with web chat aggregation services. I don’t really use them much – maybe a little facebook chat and Google Talk chat when I am signed into those services (so not through meebo or IM+). For me, IM’ing isn’t the important communication medium it once was for me (…when I was studying and had all the time in the world…and no wife/girlfriend…)

Anyway, check IM+Web out yourself here if for no other reason than it being kinda cool lookin’

You might also be interested in reading:

1. Finally you can access your gmail account offline
2. Translate any page into any language or use the free ordbogen.com dictionary alternative

Well recently I have to say I’ve found ivacy to have improved their stability dramatically and their speed less dramatically but still getting better and better (since I wrote my last review they have doubled their speed on my connection which is very noticable).

Anyway I just recently  noticed today they’ve added another feature (on top of their already comprehensive list of features) – Anonymous SIP – how great is that? I had to test it out and, surprise surprise, it works flawlessly. I decided to test on my iPhone 3G. I already have fring installed (if you’re using a computer X-Lite is recommended to make SIP calls) so it was matter of adding a SIP account and turning on the already configured VPN connection on the iPhone (well, in reverse order of what I just wrote).

The usefulness of the SIP features are, as stated by ivacy themselves (when you would need this if you’re not doing anything nefarious online I can’t imagine, but still…)

• If both parties are making calls inside Ivacy Cloud, it’s impossible for third party to eavesdrop the conversation.
• If only you are inside of Ivacy and you are calling outside, it’s impossible to reveal your true identity, such as the country of living, your ISP, et cetera.

On my feature wish list still for ivacy?

• Well more speed obviously (I’ll keep mentioning that until they max out my connection, which I will keep upgrading…)
• Another thing would be to increase the retention on their usenet server – they curently only have 160 days of retention, where competing good quality usenet servers carry 300+ days, but 160 days is still good enough to get all recent stuff, but classic/rare stuff might be harder to find (I haven’t had any problems though). I use NZBMatrix.com to find NZBs to download and use Alt.binz as my usenet proxy software. Works like a charm with 20 concurrent conncetions it often maxes out my connection (which I find weird as e.g. a torrent does not max it out?)
• Currently a Firefox extension exist that makes it very easy to secure the connection in Firefox, but since I’ve recently found myself using Google Chrome almost exclusively, I find myself missing the feature (especially as I use the instant-torrents.site feature extensively). Even more so with the Chrome 4 beta supporting bookmark sync limiting the need to have XMarks/Weave installed.

So yeah, ivacy is EASILY worth the measly $15/month for unlimited access they currently charge (monthly fee seems to change slightly based on the value of the dollar vs. the Euro, but recently has stabilized @ $15). What do you think?

So now is the time to sign up

You might also be interested in reading:

1. IPREDator vs. Ivacy.com VPN service – fits my needs perfectly
2. IPREDator VPN for anonymous filesharing and an introduction to the alternative
3. Wanna chat with me? (Google Voice is cool)

It is just me or is Google Voice pretty cool? Now obviously it doesn’t work here in Denmark where I live, so I had to get a US number to play along (got it from ipkall.com, which forwards a call to my SIP account at musimi.dk, which again forwards to my cell phone…ain’t technology grand? works like a charm to), but I have to say, SOMEONE should be doing this in Denmark. Bibob, are you listening? Revolutionize the cell phone industry in Denmark as you have done before!! I beg you…

On an unrelated note, I have a bunch of Google Wave invitations to give out. If you want one, leave a comment (no need to write your email IN the comment, only in the “email field”, and I will hook you up! So what are you waiting for, call me and hear my brutish, manly, yet soft and sensual voice (I’m not gay, I promise…) while thanking me for the Wave invite I will be sending you.

You might also be interested in reading:

1. Set Up Syncing between Google and your iPhone or iPod Touch; continue not to impress chicks
2. Anonymous SIP – yet another reason to use ivacy.com as your VPN provider
3. OMFG, listen to Britney’s voice at a Las Vegas show, straight from the microphone

Hello barelyadraft,

Please keep us updated once you’ve received the unit.  We noticed and appreciate your blog online, we are looking forward to seeing pictures of your unit wall mounted.

Also, we see that congrats are needed.  Congrats on your recent engagement!

Thank you,

The HIDEit Mounts Team

Now naturally I want to show my new setup, but due to unforseen difficulties in setting the unit up, I am not finished yet. This is not because the HIDEit mount it difficult to mount on the wall, it’s really very easy, it’s only that my dad hasn’t come by and done it as fast I would have hoped. Yes, my dad i my personal craftsman. Whether it is plumbing, building new closets, wall paper….ing(?), or mounting of plastic on my walls, he’s the man. I highly recommend him – go to the BAD Contact page and give me an overview of what you need and I will discuss the matter with him (…).

Anyway, back to business. So before I didn’t anything, my whole setup was closer aligned to getting gadgets and features in the room than making everything look good. I have tried to illustrate it in the image below

The I finally managed to get my dad on board and we fixed the first part – getting the mounts up. This of course leaves a hell of a cable mess, but that is to be fixed when I (read: my dad) gets time to do it. I’m actually really looking forward to getting it done, since it’s been bugging me for years.

I will be sure to post the final final result when I around to fixing the last bit of cable mess by following this link when it becomes a link (or see below if I forget to update it).

On an additional note I would like to ask the HIDEit Mounts people to maybe consider making a wall mount for the Xtreamer media player, which is awesome (more on that in a post I’m writing concurrently with this one).

You might also be interested in reading:

1. I just bought expensive plastic!! A Nintendo Wii & Phone charger wall mounts
2. Mvix Ultio – part 3: I think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence
3. MVix Ultio part 2 – It’s great, but not quite as advertised… (English)

First of all, mad props to my newfound friends at Thinkgeek.com. They delivered the box in just 2 days (t-w-o!!!!) from US to Denmark. Incredibly fast I have to say! It doesn’t get more efficient than that. And the fact that the package didn’t get held up in customs (with would have added additional charges) only makes it that much better!.

The MVix Ultio box itself  seems a little flimsily built. It’s basically a motherboard with a casing. When I took the motherboard out of the enclosure I felt like I could easily break/bend/ruin something on it. The internal hard drive was, however, fairly easy to install and setup the – not for non-geeks, but easily as easy as installing a hard drive on a regular computer and the user manual instructions  on who to format and setup the drive on the unit were quite good.

Now the review to follow gets a little ugly at the end, so please read it all and stop while I barf gall over the post, because the bottom line is that the MVix Ultio is pretty good overall, but it’s clear from using it that it was made by engineers who didn’t come form Apple. Judging from the Ultio’s operation and features, they bear more resemblance to Microsoft mentality (more features is better. A dazzling user experience is notas primary a concern as Apple). It could also be the unit is mainly targeted at enthusiasts who can live without the sazz and final touches (and maybe I don’t quite fall into that category anymore?!). Read on and I will epxlain in detail.

The good: What works great

Luckily the main feature of the MVix Ultio work great – watching videos.
The remote, box and video, including subtitles, interacts, responds, displays and plays beautifully (when all setup correctly and the movie has started). You gotta give it that. Very nice! I can’t stress this enough how important this is. That the remote starts, increase/decrease volume, shows/hides subtitles instantly you don’t have to point the remote directly at the MVix Ultio, is a real real pleasure. It’s something you usually take for granted, but not all implementations are as good as this one! the operation and speed of shifting through menus etc. is in sharp contrast to the crappy performance of my previous YouSee cable PVR (a samsung unit) that I wrote about a while back

MVix is very silent. It gets relatively warm to the touch when operating, yes, but since I’m not gonna be touching it while watching movies on it, what do I care?! There is no active cooling in the unit either, but if it doesn’t need it, hooray! Let’s hope the crafty guys at MVix got good grades in math and physics so their calculations on head emissions are correct. So far the unit has completed its first Le Mans (24 hours straight) with no hickups (yes, I forgot to turn it off one night…).

Also great is that it’s been able to handle every codec I have thrown at it – even a video I couldn’t get to work on my PC! That we like long time!! The Ultio has another really cool feature in that it it can play ISO images. This is cool as I can make ISO images of all my DVDs and have the Ultio run them, including the menu structure and all the other features. Of course to complete my collection on the Ultio that I would have to seriously upgrade the storage capacity in the unit – currently I have a 200GB drive in the Ultio, but I could switch that to a larger drive. I saw that 1.5TB  (1.500GB)  drives can be acquired for as little as $130 some places at time of writing and that price is only going one way.

Finally, least but certainly not least. The customer service of MVixUSA has, throughout my dealings with them been absolutely fabulous. Open, honest and very responsive are three words that are very saying about my experiences with the company so far. So a big thanks and mad love should also go out/be sent to Marcus Sattler, Mark H., Cherize and Mark (could be the same Mark, but with the amount of answers he has provided I don’t mind mentioning him twice). If for nothing else I definitely give a “would buy again, A+++” rating with MVixUSA as a company (and the thinkgeek.com ordering experience didn’t hurt either). Great committed staff who seem so to want to help. Now if only they would also fix what is about to come in the rest of this post I wouldn’t be able to complain.

The bad: Could be better and lead to a better experience

MVix is advertising the possibility of “Managing all file operations  via the remote”, but I find this feature not worth mentioning. Yes it can be done, but you have to be a very patient person to do it. Copying large amounts of data from a USB stick to the HDD is very cumbersome and it is much more convenient to just take the unit, wack in a USB cable and connect it to a computer and transfer from there. This especially, as the MVix Ultio  GUI is basically a graphically souped up  command line prompt. It works, but structuring all the data (creating folders, sub folders, etc.) on  MVix Ultio is apparently the job of the user, not the unit

The GUI (Graphical User Interface) brings back (fond) memories of Commodore C64 and the Death Knights of Krynn series in that the GUI is not very impressive. It is somewhat helped when setting the input/output to “HDMI Autodetect”, but it is still a very very basic GUI. Where’s the XBMC or Boxee like slick GUI that makes you want to just browse through the menu system instead of watching a movie? I mention the WD TV later in this post, be be rest assured its GUI is pretty much as basic the Ultio’s – maybe a little nicer.

Also something I find weird is how subtitles are handled. It’s not described anywhere either. Luckily it does work by having the subtitle file (I used a .srt file to test) in the same folder as the movie being watched and having the exact same name as the video file (just with a different extension, so .srt instead of .avi). A side note, get your subtitles at e.g. opensubtitles.org

A feature I would like to see when/if the GUI matures out of what it is today, is integration with e.g. imdb (or similar service) to pull down information such as title, dvd image and lots of metadata, synopsis, plot etc. It’s that kind of polish that isn’t there presently in the box.

I would also have liked that the unit could be wall mounted easily, or that a solution would be provided to drill it to the wall (like holes in the unit, screws and rawlplugs), which I still intend to do, but it would have been nicer

The ugly: What bugs me

Advertised as having USB wifi, when in fact is doesn’t at all currently. I’ve wasted $40 on MVix dongle which they are even telling me might not get to work (but they aren’t excluding it either). So I’m stuck having to either use a f***ing long ethernet cable accross my living room or move and setup my extra aiport express (my main router is an airport extreme)’ to get the ultio wired to something. Either option is not optimal because one would be incredibly ugly (cable) and the other would require me moving an airport express unit which would mean I could no longer have it hooked up to my Apple Hifi speakers, which again would stop me from being able to listen to music on good speakers. Rats!!!

The big “grrrr” is, however, really about the fact that I can’t use in its current form for downloading torrents (e.g. the quality TED talks) or stream video files stored on my NAS storage unit or from one of the many other computers I have in the house that are UPnP enabled. This is especially annoying as I did buy the Ultio over the WD TV due to those features (well, and the internal HD – which works and is awesome!)

What’s the verdict?

Well, I bought the unit insterad of the WD TV because of its extensive codec support (admittedly the WD TV offers pretty much the same support in that regard), it’s internal drive, it’s included bittorrent client, it’s support for UPnP devices/apps and (very importantly), because it advertised wifi support on the specifications page.

So right now I can conclude that the codec support was no lie (and is implemented nicely), internal drive is also a check. But the “dealbreakers” that made be buy the unit instead of the alternative I can’t use or test because wifi is NOT currently supported on the unit. So I can’t check how and if these services work and how well (e.g. can you setup the bittorrent client to use a specific port that I have open on the router or not? how well doe sthe UPnP service work?). Hopefully the firmware will be updated soon and unit is made compatible with my MVix wifi dongle (or MVix will send me a new one that works…).

So I’ll give it 3/5 stars for now and it will definitely get 4/5 when the wifi starts working. The question is of course whether the implementation when it works is good enough for the full 5/5 rating. If you don’t need the wifi, but are able to plugin the the MVix Ultio in to a wired connection I am sure it is already working wonderfully and deserves 4/5 stars easily.

I remain hesitantly hopeful my issue(s) will be resolved over the summer period.

You might also be interested in reading:

1. Mvix Ultio: My new “Special Retirement payout (SP)” funded media center (English)
2. Xtreamer Media Player – a good replacement for MVix Ultio with a future (English)
3. Mvix Ultio – part 3: I think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence

Wow, no related posts exists on the site.

The internet is becoming bigger and bigger – unfortunately my language skills has not followed with the same pace and there a lot out there that I can’t read!! Luckily, everybody’s favorite don’t-be-evil company, Google to the rescue with Google Translate. Which is great. And come to think of it, google really has come out with some great apps and services lately (google reader, gmail offline access, google video chat springs to mind)

Translation sites have existed for many many years, the first one I remember was babelfish when it was at altavista.com (a long gone search engine that was big in the ’90s), but they’ve never been this good or covered this many languages (it’s the only one of the big translation services that covers the Danish language) which gives it high marks in my book (you, me being Danish and all). You can even translate this article in to the language of your choice, see below and choose your native language.

The free dictionary

Translation of websites is great when your just surfing the web. When you’re doing work (like my work – desk work on a computer a lot of the time, writing reports, business plans, strategies etc.), certain words escape in my English vocabulary but certainly not in my Danish so I need a dictionary (ed: please, don’t confuse this with all the spelling errors, missing words and weird sentence structures in all my posts – that’s just me being lazy).  So what options have there been translating words from English to Danish (or vise versa)?

• Old-school dictionary books (“free” from any flee-market – does anyone use these anymore??? I remmeber back in primary school, we spent time in class “learning” how to find words – and were timed and compared)
• The pay-for service www.ordbogen.com (~100 DKK / $20 a year -  really well made, but PAYING? c’mon guys, that ain’t hip!)
• Other, lesser known, usually hopelessly inadequate online dictionaries services (Wiktionary.org is a great example, with a “massive” (ahem!) 1000+ words for translation…)

Luckily Google is hip, and have (probably a long time ago, but I haven’t noticed until now) a dictionary for a lot of languages and in true “don’t be evil” , they aren’t charging for the service! The image at the top of this post shows some of the language its support.  Unfortunately it does not support Danish in the dictionary yet, but a lot of other languages are supported and when Danish comes you bet I’ll switch completely from ordbogen.com (which is still a great, albeit expensive, product). Check it out here

• MY wish: Gimme a Danish dictionary please!

You might also be interested in reading:

1. IPREDator VPN for anonymous filesharing and an introduction to the alternative

God I’ve waited for this for a LONG time! Finally I can access access my Google Apps account (which means gmail for most of you) offline – without internet access – and without the need for a windows client like Outlook or other inferior yet-another-application-to-contain-the-same-data-that-needs-synchronization application.

All you have to do, apart from flicking the switch to “enable” for the “Offline”  feature in the gmail settings under “labs”, is install Google Gears application. If you use Google Chrome to browse the web, Google Gears is installed by default and this step is unnecessary.

What happens when an unmet need is filled? You create a new one, because the first didn’t make you as happy as you thought you would. Heck, back when I had a company with my friend Jens, we made it a priority to invent artificial needs whenever, wherever and whenever they were filled, we found new ridiculous ones. This worked great for us and we bought a lot of stuff when had no use for then, now or ever – let alone a need! Anyway, gmail offline access leaves we wanting, sooooo…..

• NEW artificial need that must be fulfilled before I can feel truly happy concerning the communication (mail, calendar, etc.) experience: Make my Google Calendar accessible offline! Go Go Google…

This, on top of that other recent great addition to gmail, Google Video Chat – the add on application that allows you to video chat in the browser. It works surprisingly well (think of it as a youtube video of yourself – that’s just about how it looks in the chat window). I’m surprised that most people on my Google Talk contact list doesn’t have the plugin installed (the icon changes to a video recorder-type icon if they have it). Anyway, feel free to install it and contact me for a chat to see how it works. I look forward to it!
I would imagine I especially would love the video chat when I’m away traveling on business, as corporate policy in the company I work for does not allow for Skype to be installed on corporate computers (pending I can install Video Chat on my corporate computer?…)

Anyway, Gmail Offline access and Gmail Video Chat  = YAY for Gmail

…xOxO…

You might also be interested in reading:

1. Translate any page into any language or use the free ordbogen.com dictionary alternative
2. New page joins barelyadraft (English)

While browsing the net killing time I fell over the always interesting physorg.com and found an article about a study which has been published in the October issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. The study that has determined the characteristics of facebook pages which indicates you are narcissistic! Alllllright, so what are they you ask?

• Number of wall posts on ones profile page correlates positively with narcissistic traits
• Narcissists are more likely to have glamorous, self-promoting profile pictures
• Narcissists have are connected to more “friends”
• Narcissistic people are more likely to be active in several social websites
• Narcissists are friends with more narcissists (like attracts like I guess??)

So now all you have to ask yourself how you rate vs. your friends on facebook or whatever social website service you use (Hoffspace anyone?)

Bonus info: did you know it is very difficult to write the words narcissists and narcissistic quickly without error? Grrrr

You might also be interested in reading:

1. The 10 Commandments of Facebook that you should follow…
2. Which is your favorite: Facebook, MySpace… or HoffSpace?
3. The unbiased way to determine Your Best Face

I believe it was Chairman Mao that said:

What makes a Man a whole Man and a good Man, it his love and personal strive for development through higher and evermore sophisticated knowledge

(<= yes, it’s an obvious and superfluous lie that sets the scene, the quote is by me – just now!!)

I love my job, which should come as no surprise to the people reading this. It’s fun work and I (feel that I) make a difference. But the company’s policy to set aside funds to ensure that its employees continuously better themselves and stay up to date with current knowledge within their required fields. This year, this means I have been able to attend three courses at respectable places this year. Most recently I had my half-yearly evaluation (which went fine btw) where we also discuss personal development plans and my boss gave me permission to take a course at Wharton School of Economics in persuasion and the art of selling ideas. Wharton, you may know, is rated as one of the best universities within the field of executive education (that this course falls under). Fabulous! I’m looking forward to it!

Saving time by extracting the essence

But this post was actually about something else, while still in the personal development arena and still something I was allowed to spend educational funds on, namely the site and service getAbstract.com! It is basically a site that has hired a lot of people who reads books and makes 5 page abstracts that conveys the knowledge that specific book bring to the table. Currently there are over 4500 abstracts on the site, and it looked good, so I used some my educational budget to sponsor a subscription.

So would I want this? Because back when I took my Masters of Science in Innovation Management and Business Development (world’s longest title….*sigh*), the use of abstracts turned me from a C-average student to a A+ student who finished in the top 5% of my class. Anyone reading this that has experienced reading American Textbooks, knows how much fluff there is, which is an unfortunate side effect of paying writers are by the page. getAbstract to the rescue!

To try it out I read an abstract of a book I had already read (and b****ed to hell for containing fluff en mas) called “7 habits of highly effective people” people and it hit the spot. So I am convinced this will serve me well over the next year. Reading two books (abstract style!) a day on the train to and from work sounds good to me. The author of the book has made a book called “The 8th habit“. I am crossing my fingers for 9ths habit book which must be “read abstracts of this and other books”.

If it is, you heard it here first!

You might also be interested in reading:

1. Some random thoughts on a few of the reasons I don’t believe in God (English)