July 16, 2008
Remarkably stupid workaround
This is a remarkably stupid workaround for a remarkably stupid problem: If you're running a Turkish version of Windows, you can't safely read XML documents;the encoding in the XML PI is read with culture sensitive code, and in the turkish charset 'i' and capital 'I' aren't the same letter - so any encoding that has an 'i' in its name and you're out of luck. The workaround suggested: Uppercase your encodings.
I'm sure I'm reading to much into this, but its clear from the workaround that at least the writer does not think naturally of data as something derived from the internet, but rather something local that you can control. It's easy to read a corporate failure into this: Microsoft does not understand the distributed nature of the internet. Anything that is not tight coupling and full stack is just alien to MS.
The real workaround is prudent advice even if you're a Dane and don't suffer this particularly arcane problem: The localized windows versions can't really be used to develop software at all.
July 5, 2008
4$ Sensor bar
I recently bought a couple of Wiimotes for physical interface experiments at the lab. To make the most of it you need some IR light source for the camera to look at. The simplest thing one can do is light some candles - they show up fine. However, they flickr and are annoying to move around, and you can't turn them upside down. I found some Infrared LEDs that run fine on just a 1.5V button cell battery, and since I have no soldering skills I made a silly looking, but fully functional sensor bar replacement with some tinfoil and clothepins.
