Rob's Blog - November 2006

Links for 2006-11-27

• Y-Browser - File manager for Symbian OS A free file manager for s60 devices, including the N93
• Photos: Top 10 mobile design classics - PDAs - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com Lots of classic mobile phones.
• BBC NEWS | Entertainment | No copyright extension for songs Sir Cliff Richard and Jethro Tull had been among artists lobbying for copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50. The decision means that from 2008 Sir Cliff's earliest recordings will start to come out of copyright.
• BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Online video 'eroding TV viewing' Some 43% of Britons who watch video from the internet or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result.

Links for 2006-11-22

• Text.it | The UK's definitive text related information source. The latest mobile internet usage stats
• Flickr: Camera Finder The cameras used to post to Flickr. The interesting part is the use of cameraphones. The Nokia N73 is showing massive growth, probably helped by it's built in Flickr posting functionality.
• Flickr properly mobile again Flickr goes mobile, and this time nicely optimises images to cut down on bandwidth.

Kerrang Magazine Now Using Mobile Barcodes

I think we have a UK magazine first at work.

Kerrang magazine have started to print 2D barcodes (QR codes in this case) in the magazine to drive people to mobile content. They are being marketed as K! codes. The first act to be showcased this way is Fightstar.

The magazine is pushing the Kaywa Reader via a shortcode (text "Kerrang" to 86145 in the UK )to be able to use the barcodes.

I've tried the barcode with the builtin barcode reader on my Nokia N93, but unfortunately it isn't compatible at present. I've had a word with the mobile team (they're only a few desks away from me), and they are looking to fix for future issues, which is really cool!

Look out for more Emap magazines and media using mobile barcodes in the future!

Nokia Lifeblog Posting Protocol Update

Nokia seem to have updated their Atom upload protocol in recent versions of their phones.

I've just got hold of a Nokia N93 and tried posting to this blog using Lifeblog and the new Web Upload functionality in the Gallery with use the Atom protocol.

These postings were failing with a bad password error. I know my username and password are correct and they worked using my old phone.

As I had written my own blogging software, and it's Atom upload functionality I was able to debug the messages being sent from the phone to the server.

It turns out that newer versions of Nokia Lifeblog encrypt their passwords differently to older versions.

They use a method called WSSE. See my previous article on how to use WSSE with Perl for more details on how this works, plus example code.

Very quickly, the password isn't sent, but a digest of the password and the values to generate the digest yourself are. These are then encoded using base64 for transmission over the internet.

Older versions (pre Lifeblog 2.0) expect a value called the nonce to be used as sent while the password digest is generated. Newer versions (Lifeblog 2.0+) expect the nonce to be decoded from base64 before the digest is generated.

Once I had worked out what was going on, it was simple to modify my code to check against both possible versions of the password digest. This means I can now post using old and new versions of Lifeblog, or the web upload functionality.

Here's a very quick bit of example Perl code. Assume $my_digest is the digest with the original nonce left in place and $my_alternative_digest is the digest with the nonce decoded first. $digest is the digest sent my incoming Atom request.

I don't think this change has been communicated very well amongst the development community. It has probably come about due to changes in the Atom spec, but (admittedly only quickly) checking the documentation I've not found it.

I will be updating my WSSE validation example accordingly, and a new version of AtomServer.pm that allows posting from Lifeblog 2.0 to Movable Type shortly.

Links for 2006-11-21

• BBC NEWS | Business | Libel ruling boosts net providers Bloggers and US internet providers cannot be liable for posting defamatory comments written by third parties, the California Supreme Court has ruled.
• BBC NEWS | Technology | Mobiles hope to be 'smart wallet' Mobile phone are closer to becoming smart wallets, following agreement among mobile operators on an approach to near field communications (NFC).
• SMS Service Centre numbers A list of the SMS Service Centre (SMSC) numbers for the main UK operators.

Lifeblog Post From A Nokia N93

Here's a test shot of my bookshelves from a Nokia N93 and posted using Nokia Lifeblog.

Links for 2006-11-20

• BBC NEWS | UK | Jack the Ripper's face 'revealed' An e-fit showing what detectives believe serial killer Jack the Ripper looked like has been revealed.
• BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Worm' attacks Second Life world Virtual world Second Life had to close its doors for a short time on Sunday after a worm attack called grey goo.
• Simon Willison: Freeing the postcode Simon sums up the UK postcode database situation, and gives some links to some free services instead of the Royal Mails costly official one.

Links for 2006-11-16

• 3 signs Symbian SlingPlayer exclusive | Reg Hardware Slingbox maker Sling Media has completed the Symbian version of its SlingPlayer Mobile application, and today announced UK mobile phone network 3 will bundle the software with two 3G handsets when they ship on 1 December.
• 3 calls in internet big guns for mobile credibility | The Register At a flashy launch in London today, 3 said it was marking a "historic day" for the mobile internet. Canning Fok, MD of parent company Hutchison, vowed 3 would press ahead with pioneering the web on mobiles, ruling out a sell-off. He told reporters: "The t
• BBC NEWS | Business | Mobile internet 'upgrade' launch The promise is that users will be able to make free internet phone calls, watch their home television on their phone and tap into their home computers on the move. The price for all these services will be a flat-rate monthly fee

Links for 2006-11-15

• BBC NEWS | Business | End in sight for 'free' current accounts? Like red telephone boxes and policemen on bicycles, the "free" bank current account is a peculiarly British institution which may soon become part of our nostalgic folk memory.

Links for 2006-11-14

• Emap's half-year hit by advertising downturn - Industry sectors - Times Online EMAP reported flat pre-tax profits of £95 million for the first half of the year after the media group was hit by the downturn in the UK advertising market that has already punished other media groups
• BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Searching for 'our alien origins' In July 2001, a mysterious red rain started falling over a large area of southern India.
• Microsoft(R) Firefox | We've Made it Better What if MS "helped" out with Firefox

Links for 2006-11-13

• ? Google Earth in 4D | Googling Google | ZDNet.com Google skipped right past the third dimension and landed directly in the fourth (time) by offering historical maps on Google Earth.
• Teen breaks SMS world speed record | The Register A 16-year-old Singaporean student yesterday broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest SMS when she entered 160 characters in just 41.52 seconds, Reuters reports.
• Forum Nokia Blogs - Sun Open Sources Java ME under GPL Java ME (J2ME) goes open source.
• Alleba Blog ? Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make a Web 2.0-Style Logo A nice tutorial on making a web 2.0 style logo

Links for 2006-11-08

• BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow and West | Leaflet recall after donkey error Scotland's fire services have scrapped hundreds of leaflets after a mistake urged members of the public to jump on a donkey when fleeing a house fire.
• United States Patent Application: 0060242139 Cal and the guys are Flickr are applying for a patent for "Interestingness ranking of media objects"
• The Technology Chronicles : The Top 10 Lies of Web 2.0 It's in beta.
• Dolphin With Four Fins May Prove Terrestrial Origins Japanese fishers have found an unusual bottlenose dolphin with an extra set of fins that could be an evolutionary throwback to the time when the marine mammals' ancient ancestors walked on land.
• BBC NEWS | England | West Yorkshire | Chippy smells of chips complaint Also checking suspected bear faeces found in the woods

Links for 2006-11-06

• YouTube - Hahaha Is it really that funny?
• Kate's Journal: The Beauty of Mathematics 123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321
• Virgin pulls competition on b3ta website - vnunet.com Marketing idea backfires badly on Bransonites
• BBC NEWS | Technology | Zune problems for MSN customers MSN Music Plays For Sure, except from next month when it doesn't. You then have to decide if you want a new player, or no new music on your device. The joys of DRM.

Links for 2006-11-03

• BBC NEWS | Magazine | The secret life cycle of gum The five ages of chewing gum, from wrapper to stain on the pavement.
• My dad's got restless legs - Spasm kicks off domino effect - on Bore Me A very nice marketing video

Links for 2006-11-02

• YouTube - Weird Al - Weasel Stomping Day Happy Weasel Stomping Day!
• perpersson.net Per Persson worked on the Nokia Sensor application
• Harveys The official website of Harveys Brewery.
• BBC NEWS | Business | Greene King boss faces a roasting Lewes Arms regulars are campaigning against the Suffolk-based brewery, which wants to withdraw locally-brewed Harveys Best Bitter from the pub.
• BBC NEWS | England | London | Probe into terrorist's Tube work Police are investigating whether a convicted terrorist managed to access any sensitive areas of the London Underground (LU) while working there.
• BBC NEWS | Business | Google ad revenue 'to surpass TV' The US internet search giant's 2006 UK revenues are expected to surpass Channel Four's predicted £800m ($1.5bn) returns.

Links for 2006-11-01

• Microsoft forges ties with open source maker Zend?|?Tech&Sci?|?Technology?|?Reuters.com Microsoft Corp. and Zend, a key supplier of tools used to design open-source software that competes with Microsoft Windows programs, said on Tuesday the two companies have struck a long-term partnership.
• BBC NEWS | Magazine | Whistle while you work More people are listening to MP3 players at work. Why do some people need music as they work, while others can't concentrate with it?
• Telegraph | Entertainment | How to be funny Why are comedians such good liars? How hard do they work on their jokes? And how important is... timing? Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves explain the rules
• Calling a .NET Component from a COM Component Walks through the details of how to call Microsoft .NET servers from COM clients
• Easiest Halloween Costume Evar | Greenhorn He's a frakkin Cylon!
• English Russia ? Moscow 1908 That’s Moscow back from 1908. Same Russian snow, same Kremlin and same… Russian people

Links for 2006-10-31

• Architectures of Control in Design ? The Tell-Tale Part Does your mobile phone have a potentially warranty voiding water detection sticker inside?
• London Underground geographic maps - Wikimedia Commons London Underground maps that are free as in speech
• BBC NEWS | Technology | Virus writers target web videos Security firms are reporting more and more instances of booby-trapped Windows codecs - file compressors - required to play some video formats.
• Flickr: Photos from SlinkyKat Katia Prokopova's Flickr photos