Today I noticed that Amazon had introduced a new kindle (for more information, go here). They have the traditional form factors; however, in the smaller 6 inch form factor, there is a choice between a 3g and a wifi. I got the 3g version because the free 3g and surf the new from anywhere is too awesome to pass up.
Don’t worry though…it won’t ship until the end of August. Cyndi is going to be in the states in September and will pick it up. She won’t be back until my birthday…this works out well.
When I get it, I’ll post pics and a review.
[Update 12-02-2010 06:04:43] Edited the Kindle link to use my new affiliate link. For information why, see this post.
I’ve started writing an mp3 database, podcatcher, media player, rockbox syncher type thing. This got me to looking for some python modules on the internet today. I found one I was interested in called eyeD3. It looked good so I tried downloading it.
This is where I had the first problem. Usually, python modules come as precompiled exes for windows machines. There wasn’t one. No problem, I downloaded the .tar.gz file, used 7-zip to unpack it.
Now, to “install” modules this way, at this point, one usually runs something like “python setup.py install” from within the folder/directory where you unzipped the module. I tried that and got an error:
C:\eyeD3-0.6.17>c:\Python25\python.exe setup.py install c:\Python25\python.exe: can’t open file ‘setup.py’: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
ARG.
Well, I went looking…sure enough, within my eyeD3-0.6.17 directory, there was a setup.py.in file. Easy…I just renamed it to setup.py. Reran the command and got this:
C:\eyeD3-0.6.17>c:\Python25\python.exe setup.py install running install running build running build_py package init file ‘src\eyeD3\__init__.py’ not found (or not a regular file) creating build creating build\lib creating build\lib\eyeD3 copying src\eyeD3\binfuncs.py -> build\lib\eyeD3 copying src\eyeD3\frames.py -> build\lib\eyeD3 copying src\eyeD3\mp3.py -> build\lib\eyeD3 copying src\eyeD3\tag.py -> build\lib\eyeD3 copying src\eyeD3\utils.py -> build\lib\eyeD3 package init file ‘src\eyeD3\__init__.py’ not found (or not a regular file) running install_lib creating c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3 copying build\lib\eyeD3\binfuncs.py -> c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3 copying build\lib\eyeD3\frames.py -> c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3 copying build\lib\eyeD3\mp3.py -> c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3 copying build\lib\eyeD3\tag.py -> c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3 copying build\lib\eyeD3\utils.py -> c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3 byte-compiling c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3\binfuncs.py to binfuncs.pyc byte-compiling c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3\frames.py to frames.pyc byte-compiling c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3\mp3.py to mp3.pyc byte-compiling c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3\tag.py to tag.pyc byte-compiling c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3\utils.py to utils.pyc running install_egg_info Writing c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\eyeD3-_PACKAGE_VERSION_-py2.5.egg-info
First glance it looks ok. So, I fire up IDLE and try to import the package. SHAZZBOT! It won’t work. I get told there is no such module. A quick google didn’t turn up anything so I started poking around.
Look at the output of the install above one more time. I missed it too:
package init file ‘src\eyeD3\__init__.py’ not found (or not a regular file)
So, I went looking around. Sure enough, the file it was griping about was ALSO named.py.in. Double Shazzbot. What kind of package is this?! Well, I rename the file, rerun the import, and everything appears to work.
I thought I would blog about this just incase someone else has these problems later on. I didn’t find anything on the web that would help me out or point me in the right direction.
By now, I’m sure everyone knows what Nigerian Spam is….but if not, basically someone writes you, says they have a TON of money, they can’t move it, they need to move it, and they want your help. And you’ll get to keep some of it! Wow…what a great deal, right? Well, thrown into that, they typically say they need some funds from you (either outright or, we’ll send you a check, deposit it, forward this much on, keep the rest, etc….). All in all, it is a pretty common and well known spam tatic.
Today, I woke up and saw a an e-mail in my inbox with “Dragi prijatelju” in the subject. I wondered what it was, even though I didn’t recognize the sender (a DEN Stevenson with an e-mail address of den.stev@btinternet.com). The reply to address was mrdens0061@kimo.com. As I scanned it, it was in serbian but what it was became obvious fast.
I was looking at a Nigerian Spam in Serbian (Нигеријска спам на српском). I couldn’t believe it. If you want to see a screenshot of the e-mail, click the image in this post…it will take you to a larger version.
Here is the entire text of the spam message:
ENGLAND SUBSEA OIL COMPANY (ESOC). TITLE: PRODUCTION SHARING CONTRACT CONTRACT ID: PSC/JV/ESOC 01145-06 ENGLAND.
Od; Desk ugovora direktor Subsea Oil Company: Engr. Dennis Stevenson!
Dragi prijatelju, Ja sam navedenih osoba, ugovor direktor Subsea Oil Company. ao mi je za inconvinences moj mail moda ti uzrok, iako nismo imali bilo prije dopisnik ovaj mail, ali ja namjeravam to učiniti sa sve koji se tako moe zabrinuti.
No ja elim da dovedu do your primijetiti moje zanimanje with svoju pomoć na ovom great business priliku, negdje prole godine, na Rafinerija je generalno servisirano i mnoge druge ugovore gdje se dodjeljuju u naftnom sektoru after out prekida vatre.
Dolo je pomoć od Svjetske banke, MMF-a i drugih financijskih institucija za zamjenu otećene opreme i rafinerije u cjelini. U tom je razdoblju mnogo ugovor u kojem nagrađen tolikim međunarodnim izvođačima. Svi originalni izvođači upravo je dobio svoju zavrnu fazu njihova plaćanja, ostavljajući ukupni iznos od £ 17.5 million GB Pounds plutajući u th kartoteka od Federalnog ministarstva financija neostvareno, to je rezultat preko računa ja je za vrijeme dodjele ugovora. Ovaj Ugovor je ovjeren u redu;
Ovaj zbroj £ 17.5 milijuna kuna (sedamnaest i pet milijuna funti GB) ću kao i prenijeti na svoj račun odmah, to elim učiniti, je da mi provied svoje puno ime, adresu i svoj privatni broj telefona. kao cuntract direktor. ja će pripremiti sve dokument s imenom kao zbroj izvođaču radova koji je ovaj posao. A novac će biti prebačen u vae ime. U svoj račun. za svoje sudjelovanje u ovoj transakciji ja će vam ponuditi 30% od ukupnog novca, 10% izdvaja za međunarodne i lokalne expencess i 60% za mene i moje kolege.
tovie, ja ću doći u susret s tobom dan-dva dana prije dolaska novca na računu se brinuti o moj udio nakon to ste uzimajući vae proviziju od 30%. Ako će biti od pomoći da vidim da je ovaj novac prenosi svoj račun, i ja sam vas uvjerila da je ovaj posao 100% legitmate osigurana i pravna sigurnost bez rizika, za Vau informaciju, ako elite vie detalja ovog poslovnog ili elite biti apsolutno sigurni u to, vi ste ljubazno i vrlo očekuje za okruglim stolom razgovor hvala.
Čekam u očekivanju na suradnji u odgovoru .
Your’s iskreno, Eng. Dennis Stevenson Ugovor direktor podvodnih Oil Company.
Here it is after being ran through Google Translate (as if you need it):
ENGLAND Subsea Oil Company (ESOC). TITLE: PRODUCTION SHARING CONTRACT CONTRACT ID: PSC / PD / ESOC 01145-06 ENGLAND.
From; Desk Contract Manager Subsea Oil Company: Engr. Dennis Stevenson!
Dear Friend, I am the person mentioned, the contract manager Subsea Oil Company. Sorry for my inconvinences mail may cause you, but we did not have any correspondent before this mail, but I intend to do with all that it can be concerned.
But I want to bring to your notice my interest with its assistance in this great business opportunity, sometime last year, our refinery is generally serviced and many other agreements which are allocated in the oil sector out after the cease-fire. There was support from the World Bank, IMF and other financial institutions for replacing damaged equipment and refineries as a whole. In that period many of the contract was awarded many international performers. All the original artists had just received its final phase of their payment, leaving the total amount of £ 17.5 million GB Pounds floating in th files of the Federal Ministry of Finance unclaimed, it is because I was over the account during the contract award. This Agreement is certified in line;
This sum of £ 17.5 million kuna (seventeen and five million pounds of GB) will and transferred to your account immediately, I want to do is to provied me your full name, address, and your private phone number. cuntract as a director. I will prepare all the document with the name as a sum of the contractor who has the job. The money will be transferred to your name. To your account. for their participation in this transaction I will offer you 30% of the total money, 10% allocated to international and local expencess and 60% for me and my colleagues.
Moreover, I’ll get to meet with you a day or two days before the arrival of money in the account to take care of my share after you are getting your commission of 30%. If will be helpful to see that this money is transferred to your account, and I’m convinced you that this work 100% legitmate and legal security is assured without risk, for your information, if you want more details of this business or want to be absolutely sure of this, you are very kind and is expected to thank the roundtable discussion.
I wait in anticipation of cooperation in response.
Your’s sincerely, Eng. Stevenson Dennis Contract Manager underwater Oil Company.
I’ve gotten some questions about my HOWTO on email encryption over the past few days. I’ve already talked about how encrypting an e-mail is like an electronic envelope…But, here are a few articles you should think about:
I came to a cafe in Cacak named Zuta Kuca. Literally, it means yellow house (that’s why the picture of the yellw house). They serve coffee and other things; however, they have free internet. I decided to do a speed test and see how it measured up. See the results below:
I saw the video embedded above linked on this article on Bruce Schneier’s website. I don’t speak German, but from what I gather, the video shows a guy defeating a whole body scanner? Sure, it shows his mobile phone, a wire he was wearing, as well as a knife….but what about the bomb making “stuff” he was wearing? it didn’t catch that at all.
For more articles I’ve written about this in the past, you cancheckthemout. No, this isn’t just a knee-jerk reaction on my part. Everyone needs to take a giant step back and actually think about stuff.
Ok all…I just found out something totally cool about the Kindle (I got Cyndi one for Christmas). Even here in Europe, we can use the experimental web browser to get access to the www. For free! Very cool.
As I write this, I’m in a CoffeeShop Company coffe shop in Skopje, Macedonia. They have free wifi and I’m pretty impressed with the speed. Here’s the speed test results I just got:
For Christmas this year, I bought Cyndi a Kindle K2 International Edition. I wanted to let her have the opportunity to read as much as she could while being in the hospital, waiting on the baby, or recovering. However, living overseas, English books are expensive and hard to find at times. Yes, we could have people send them to us, but that is expensive too. And, in either case, we would have to have something to do with the books when we left. I saw Amazon had announced the international version of the Kindle (and reduced the price) so I jumped on it.
I preloaded it with tons of free books for her to have. Well, shortly after, Amazon released the Kindle for PC application. I said to myself “self! Why not download it and give it a shot?” And, given the fact that I have a tablet PC, I thought I could put it to use reading in portrait mode instead of landscape mode.
Well, after reading several books (for reviews, go here) I have some tips and thoughts I wanted to put out there in case you are thinking about using the app.
I want a kindle now. Using a laptop is just too cumbersome.
The tablet PC functionality is finally being used. I wouldn’t even consider reading on a standard screen. The page is way too wide and the text doesn’t flow naturally to my eyes.
If you are thinking about getting a kindle, jump on the kindle for PC app…NOW. Why? Well, if you check the site every few days, Amazon offers new free books. You can snag these now, then get them on your kindle later. What good is this?
Jump on free books now! Bits and Bytes are cheap. The price may go up tomorrow. Most of the freebies I’ve downloaded since Christmas are already up in the $6-$9 range. They only take up a few hundred kb (I know Alan…bloatware)
Reading on my tablet isn’t as easy as a book (the thing is way heavy and I have to watch out for the fan–I have an hp pavillion tx 1000 series and it gets HOT, but the battery life makes me take breaks because it is hard to ready while the thing charges (I get to ready about 2 hours)
I’ve read much more since Christmas than I have in the past year. Have all the books been great? No. Is it because I have the books instead of being limited by my small library I bright here? probabaly somewhat. But, Cyndi and I had a rather large library in the US (7 standard bookcases in our house in Richmond. And that was only about 1/2 our books) and I didn’t read this much. I wanted to, but didn’t.
Download the books to your PC after you buy them. This is the transfer via computer option. Why? Well, if Amazon pulls a 1984 stunt again, you still have your copy of the book (they say they won’t, but “they” say lots of things).
Do I care about the DRM in the books? Yes I do. I wish it weren’t there. I won’t go as far as Cory Doctorow and swear off the kindle because I think the problems will eventually sort themselves out. And if they don’t, I’m only out…well…nothing right now because I haven’t actually bought a book yet. I’ve only gotten freebies. I still like books (and used bookstores!).
As I continue reading, I’ll continue to post reviews and tips I come across. Hopefully they help someone else out too. BTW, if you have any ideas or questions, just post it in the comments.
(for more information, go here). They have the traditional form factors; however, in the smaller 6 inch form factor, there is a choice between a 3g
. I got the 3g version because the free 3g and surf the new from anywhere is too awesome to pass up.
)