Last week (25th May 2008), the Libertarian party voted Bob Barr as their Presidential nomination, over Mike Gravel and another dozen or so candidates (article here). The full results have been published on the wikipedia page here: 2008 Libertarian National Convention.

Following the outcome of these results, Gravel decided to end his career in Politics (clip from the night). It’s not a surprise at all really, seeing as the guy is 78 years old now, but its a damn shame for America!

The only thing I can say is, who the hec is Bob Barr? I live in a country as far away from America as timbucktwo, and out of all the running Libertarian’s, Mike Gravel is all I can honestly say I have heard of!

Like most people, I’ve had a mobile (in some shape or brick form) for almost a decade now.. Anyways, last week, I bought a new phone due to the speaker on my old Panasonic VS2 dying. I had it for a good 2 years & 6 months, so it got a fair bit of use.

The new phone I decided on was the Nokia 6300. It’s by no means an expensive phone - I’m not one to waste money on gadgets I don’t really need.. But this phone had what I wanted (mp3, fm radio, bluetooth, gprs, etc), had a nice design, and was around my budget (~$200). I only spent a few hours browsing around the shops, and on ebay, until I made the decision and ordered a new unlocked version over ebay - which saved me about $50.00 (15%) over buying it in the shop.

Anyway, I’ve never really had much more use for my phone besides calls and sms.. but with this new phone, I’ve discovered a whole heap more.. yes, I’m a noobie ! The point of this post, was simply to share a few links that I found useful, reading a few sites, and talking to some friends:

• The Nokia website has a facility, which can send you a bunch of presettings (via sms) for things like MMS, GPRS, Internet Access and so on. It saves you having to call up Optus to get them to explain how to se these things over the phone. Check the page out here: http://www.nokia.com.au/A4521246
• If you want a really decent web browser for your phone, (the default nokia one sucks), try Opera Mini (its free).
• Check out the gmail and gmaps java applications and the rest of the google mobile applications.
• Symbian is the most common form of mobile OS, and if you want a phone that does most stuff well, try get one that runs the S60 OS, which is what most new Nokia’s run. (Unfortunately, my phone just runs the S40 OS, so it can’t run all those cool apps you get off the torrent networks).

Happy mobile computing!

One of the hobby projects I’ve been working on these last few weeks, is a wireless hotspot for the multi storied apartment building, my Dad Manages.

There were lots of offers by various companies to setup and maintain this sort of thing, but most of them involved a revenue sharing system that had fairly large setup fee’s.

So I investigated the possibility of setting it up ourselves, and last week, things finally went live.

The setup includes:

• 2 * Linksys WRT54GL routers running CoovaAP ($115 each new off Ebay)
• DLink PoE Adaptor ($70 from a local wholesaler)
• 2.4GHz ComTenna ($100 from CityTechnology.com.au)
• 1M of weatherproof Cat5E cable ($20 for 20M from freenet antennas)
• Cat5E extension from reception to 2nd floor (installed by certified Electrian: $550).
• Monthly fee for Worldspot service of about$15.00.

The WRT54GL’s are setup in bridged mode (i.e. the one outside, where most people will get access to, has its cable plugged into a LAN port, and at the other end is plugged into the LAN port of the master WRT54GL (which has access to the Net).

We now have wireless access with a signal strength of between 30-50 dB in each room (60+ rooms over 6 levels). The signal goes out to Malcolmn street too, so you can actually get a signal of about 15db from Parliament House, if you like, yes, I tested this for fun

The property gets 100% of the revenue, and this equipment should last at least a few years.

None of it would have been possible, without the the Linksys WRT54GL Wireless Router and CoovaAP firmware.

As some of you would know by now, Hillary Clinton has surprised most, and won just about all the primaries and caucuses voted for today in the American states of Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It’s a pretty big come back for her, since Obama had won the last 12 or so, states in a row, and he was therefore expected to win these. Overall he’s still ahead slightly, but this still means the Democrat nomination is still up for grabs, and we probably won’t have a nominee for a few more months, until the remainding states vote, and the eventual decision of primaries and their superdelegates, vote. Check out the scorecard over on CNN.

This really sucks, because, while this is happening, McCain (Republican Nomination winner) can prepare and focus his efforts on the presidential election in November. And we all know where another republician president will lead the world.. into a war with Iran, into a more unstable US currency and US economy, and eventually the fall of an empire that has and currently keeps the world pretty stable, as its the only super power.

Update 12/03/08: It looks like Obama has actually ended up winning the state of Texas, as he won more Caucus Delegates - full explanation here.