Two “secret” format strings for strftime are documented here:

• %k - hour (24 hour clock) leading zero replaced with space
• %l - hour (12 hour clock) leading zero replaced with space

Stefan and Felix rolled out an upgrade to [[Plazes]] today (see it in action at plazes.com). New and improved features include integration with Google Maps throughout, and a new Where is Peter Rukavina? feature (that works for other people too!).

A reminder that Stefan and Felix are dropping in via iChat to the Confederation Centre of the Arts next Wednesday, August 3 for a live introduction to Plazes. They’re good speakers, and they’re passionate about the system, so it promises to be a good event.

Frequently Asked Questions about living on Kwajalein, a U.S.-controlled atoll located in the western Pacific Ocean.

From [[Doc Searls]] comes a pointer to more audio from reboot 7.0. These are in addition to the audio of the Saturday sessions released earlier. There’s some really good stuff there.

From Dan Misener comes a link to the MicroTrack 2496, which the company describes as:

…a rugged high-fidelity mobile 2-channel digital recorder that records WAV and MP3 files to CompactFlash or microdrives… Record via balanced line inputs or built-in high-fidelity microphone preamps complete with 48V phantom power for studio-quality microphones. Connect MicroTrack to a PC or Mac via USB and simply drag and drop recordings to your computer for immediate editing or Web posting. Power derives from a lithium-ion battery, and the unit can recharge via the computer’s USB connection or optional USB power adapter.

This sounds perfect for mobile digital recording.

As a “pay as you go” customer of Rogers Wireless, using an unlocked [[T610]] I bought on eBay (aka “a non-Rogers phone” in their parlance), I inhabit a murky nether-world where Rogers treats me as a full customer as regards billing, but as a sort of pseudo-customer as regards customer service.

Partly this is because their “pay as you go” offering is the bastard child of their mobile service — something that, from all appearances, they offer grudgingly and view as an entry-level drug for real “3 year contract” service. And partly it’s because I have a phone that they didn’t get to program, that they don’t sell, and therefore that they don’t support.

I know my [[T610]] is a data-capable phone because I used it successfully to browse the web, send and receive email, and even as a wireless modem for my [[laptop]] while I was in France on the Orange network.

Rogers has a brief FAQ about WAP settings on their website, but it’s just generic enough that I could never get it to work. Tonight, however, I found this very helpful forum post that contains the same information but with helpful annotation. Worked like a dream, and I can now press the mysterious silver button on the top right side of the phone and get the Google WAP-specific page loading up in the phone’s tiny browser window.

I followed the instructions on the same page to set up “MMS” (multi-media messaging?), which my [[T610]] calls “Picture Messaging.”

Next, I wanted to know how much all this would cost me (there’s no information about data rates on Rogers rates page). So I visited the front page of Google (but didn’t search for anything) and then I send a picture to myself using “Picture Messaging.” Here’s what appeared a few minutes later in my Rogers transaction history (read up from the bottom):

The first charge is a mysterious $2.00 charge that was refunded a minute later (later experimenting suggests Rogers does this every time you use the data features of the phone). This was followed by a 2 cent charge, which I assume is associated with loading up the Google front page. I also assume that the 50 cent “Data Usage Charge” is what it cost me to email a photo to myself (that seems to be confirmed here).

The “picture messaging” (MMS), which Rogers brands as My Pix but my phone, perhaps because of its complicated provenance, calls “t-zones,” is a freaky proprietary-seeming system that sticks a Rogers branding wrap around the photo, and then emails it. Here’s what the photo I emailed myself looked like when it arrived:

Much to my surprise, Flickr’s send photos from your phone system was smart enough to rip out all the Rogers crap and grab and post my photo, which is neat (that one cost me another 50 cents, of course). Fortunately, my phone has Bluetooth built in, so I don’t need to MMS myself all my photos!

The grim reality of all this is that now that my access is enabled, I’m still faced with the prospect of browsing the web with a tiny screen and numeric keyboard for data entry, but I imagine there will be times when even this little window to the net will be helpful in a pinch.

If, like me, you’re a fan of the late CBC Television series Street Legal then you might want to start watching Bravo Canada where it’s now airing at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Atlantic every weekday. They’re airing the episodes this week where the partners agree to sell to evil corporate lawyer R.J. Williams, played well by Donnelly Rhodes.

Depending on your point of view this is when the series either moved up to another level, or descended into L.A. Law parody. In any case, it did mark the entry of the brilliant Albert Schultz to series television.

[[Steven Garrity]] and [[Jennifer McQuaid]] are getting married today. Steven posted a well-worded description of why on his Acts of Volition blog earlier in the week, perhaps his first post that comes close to being “on topic” as regards the blog’s name:

vo·li·tion

• The act or an instance of making a conscious choice or decision.
• A conscious choice or decision.
• The power or faculty of choosing; the will.

As fate would have it, I’ve been stricken with a case of strep throat and so as to avoid infecting the wedding party, and thus indirectly most of the western world, I’ll be in the Parkdale after-hours clinic as Steven and Jennifer say their vows. I wish them all the best at the start of their Great Adventure.

If you did a Google search for windows vista this morning, here’s what you would have seen:

I pity the poor folks at Vista Windows in West Columbia, SC — they’re about to fall completely out of Google now that Microsoft has announced that the next version of Windows will be called “Windows Vista.”

I guess I’m lucky they didn’t call it “Windows Reinvented.”

Update 12 hours later; here’s the same Google search after the Microsoft news hits the Googlebot. The (vinyl) windows folks won’t know what hit them.

I have taken refuge here in [[Mavor’s]]. It’s hot and muggy in the office: there’s plenty of AC here, free Wifi, and a tasty iced chai at my side. While I was sitting here, brother [[Stephen]] left me a message at the office; thanks to the magic of [[Asterisk]], the message flew over to my email where I picked it up here.

Steve wanted a call back, so I fired up [[Skype]] and called him in Montreal using [[SkypeOut]]. The call wasn’t “CD quality,” but it worked. We chatted for a couple of minutes: total cost, €0.051, or about 8 cents.