March 07, 2005
More Zen Micro Firmware Trouble
Last week I had a wierd incident with my Zen Micro. Dumping into my seat on AF7711 I wanted to listen to some music before take-off. Great was the confusion when my Zen proclaimed that I had exactly 0 files stored on my player. Mind you; it was only roughly 3GB of free space, but there was no music. Brilliant.
Once back on the ground I hooked it to my PC, and tried to transfer some songs. Nope. It couldn't find the device's certificate, and hence was not able to make the proper license for the DRM file I wanted to transfer.
Cause: I believe I unplugged it from my computer at some stage on Sunday, and most likely it didn't like the way I did it -- and it decided to wipe out the file table. :S
Solution: Reformat the player using the recovery menu (remove the battery, pull the power button to the left while inserting the battery), and once more transfer the files across.
As I have written before. Firmware 2.10.05 is in BETA, and is not remotely stable. Hopefully a fix will be out soon.
March 05, 2005
What Kind of Animals Does Norway Have?
Another question found in the referral logs;
What kind of animals does norway have?
The Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs has a brief overview in English.
The Department of Environment also has an up-to-date report on their website.
February 28, 2005
De-Icing With A Broom
Bad weather including snow is something that doesn't occur in southern parts of France very frequently. And seemingly, when it does people aren't all that prepared.
Today I flew Air France AF7711 from Nice to Paris CDG. Last night it snowed slightly in Nice and the wings of most aircraft staying overnight were somwhat covered in a slush of snow and rain. Problem 1: there is only one de-icing truck. Problem 2: After a few aircraft (and before our it was our turn) there was no more De-icing fluids left on the airport. (So much for planning ahead - the snow was forcasted many days ago.)
So how we got away; after a while the Captain decided that as there was no ice - only snow and water - the Airbus A320 could be de-iced manually. With a good old fashioned broom - Harry Potter style! Too bad I didn't get a shot of it, it looked hilarious...
February 27, 2005
Free.FR and My ADSL
Just got my ASDL connection set up in France this weekend after a few months of work to get it sorted. (Mostly because the provider Free.FR required proof that I am the rightful owner of the phone line I registered with - something which is not that easy when the phone line is brand new and noone ever cared to send me a proof of ownership.)
Anyways; I was seriously impressed by the entire thing. The ADSL modem plugged into the wall. And after having been turned on it went on and did its thing for about 2-3 minutes, and then when the display showed the current time it was ready to be used. Plug the laptop into the ethernet port and you are ready to go. No username or password, no poorly tested embedded web server that needs configuration.
Kudos to Free.FR for having made technology so readily available!
So simple even my parents could do it. :)
February 26, 2005
Zen Micro - "No License to Play"
Had my first issue with the Zen Micro / Napster To Go combo today. Suddenly many of my Napster downloaded files refused to play, citing "No Licence to Play, please sync with PC". Brilliant. So I tried to sync with the PC, but no luck, seemingly the licenses didn't copy over correctly.
I kind of blame the Zen Micro for this. I use the 2.10.5 firmware, the only one that is compatible with Napster To Go. It is in BETA. :( Well, hopefully Creative sorts this out. It will be more than a bit annoying.
Solution; delete all DRM files from the device and copy them across once more. A new license will be issued for the next two weeks (?) and you are back on the road. Naturally, with a 1" HDD inside this takes a while...