Replicator service for spare parts, anyone? (mail order, reasonable price, scanning included)

I broke a small part of a classic table lamp recently, and am now considering the options of how to fix the damage.

Glue will probably not be strong enough. Wood will take time and not be 1:1 with the original.

Are there any 3d-printing shops available (within Finland, EU or globally) which would also offer the necessary scanning for actual replication of existing parts?

Ideally, they would extend the missing part, and give me perfect holder piece that lasts the next 40 years.

We thought this was science fiction. Star Trek has it. But the technology is there, and the business model is simple. I'm sure there's someone already out doing this - please find me. I'm your customer! :)

Contact either by comment here, email to akauppi(at)welho.com or twitter @bmdesignhki.

Addendum.

Got the parts done, in bright Xmas Red. Lamp says Thank you, Robin B!

Getting ScalaFX 2.2 demo up and running on OS X (with Oracle Java 7u7)

News 20-Oct-2012 - JDK 7u9 and a JavaFX 2.2.3 samples are out:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7u9-downloads-1859576.html

Use those files instead of the 7u7 mentioned below. The performance of some JavaFX Ensemble demos is now way better on the NVidia 9400 GPU (but not all). Also, there are new demos included in the bundle.

JavaFX is a 2d/3d GPU-accelerated graphics library that is going to be replacing the Swing as the main Java application UI library.

ScalaFX is a Scala language binding to JavaFX.

JavaFX development kit is distributed as an integral part of the general Java 7.x development kit (JDK), by Oracle.

Below are the steps to get a basic ScalaFX project started, developing on OS X.

You will need:

- OS X 10.7.3 or later ("Lion" or later) (a JDK 7u7 requirement)

- Basic experience on command line usage on OS X

- HomeBrew (or similar) command line tool installation system ('brew' is great and easy to install)

- Willingness to accept the Oracle 7.x JDK license agreement

Getting ScalaFX and JavaFX 2.1 running on OS X

Java SE 7 Update 7 (or later)

Download and install "Java SE 7u7" (or later) from Oracle:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7u7-downloads-1836413.html

Take these files:

jdk-7u7-macosx-x64.tar.gz

javafx_samples-2_2_0-macosx-universal.zip

The JDK (development kit) contains the JRE (runtime engine) so just a single install is sufficient.

Installation FAQ:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/webnotes/install/mac/mac-install-faq.html

Note for users with Apple Java 6:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/webnotes/install/mac/mac-preferences.html

JDK 7 Installation for Mac OS X:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/webnotes/install/mac/mac-jdk.html

In short, just install the .pkg file by double-clicking. It will not replace the Apple Java 6 (in case you have Java enabled). You will need Java 7 for JavaFX 2.2 to function on OS X.

<<

You can determine which version of the JDK is the default by typing java -version in a Terminal window. If the installed version is 7u6, you will see a string that includes the text 1.7.0_06. For example:

    % java -version

    java version "1.7.0_06-ea"

    Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_06-ea-b13)

    Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.2-b04, mixed mode)

To run a different version of Java, either specify the full path, or use the java_home tool:

    /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7.0_06 --exec javac -version

<<

JavaFX samples

Likely you already downloaded these (see URL and filename above).

Extract the files to some suitable directory.

To launch the .jar files, right-click and select 'Open in Jar Launcher > Run (or Open or something)'. This seems the way to bypass safety system preventing to launch .jar by a simple double click.

( On OS X, they don't (yet) support launching from the HTML files. Ignore them. )

The UI responsiveness may be sluggish at times. This may be because of lack of optimization for hardware (GPU) rendering. Oracle site says any GPU supported by Lion should do, but in practice my MacBook Air (integrated Core i7 Intel GPU) performs way better than 2009 Mac Mini with NVidia. Likely the situation will improve once Oracle gets more OS X tuning done. Hope so.

BrickBraker.jar

Nice retro game.

Ensamble.jar

Try making this into full screen mode (the '+' icon at upper right). Unfortunately it seems the 'real' full screen mode (Apple-F) is not supported by JavaFX (or this demo)?

The 3D-xylophone was probably hot in (…no, it never was). Now it mainly displays the lack of antialiasing in its rendering.

"Advanced media" demo looks like animated gifs when played in full-screen on my Mini (but good on MacBook Air).

"Audio spectrum data" demos are great - check the lyrics! :)

The song is available also in Youtube.

ScalaFX compilation

http://code.google.com/p/scalafx/

First, get 'hg' (Mercurial) and 'sbt' to the Mac (i.e. using HomeBrew):

    $ brew install hg sbt

This makes a copy of 'scalafx' repository (to local folder 'scalafx'):

    $ hg clone https://code.google.com/p/scalafx/

The instructions in  'README.txt' are outdated. Do this instead:

    $ export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_07.jdk/Contents/Home/

    $ sbt clean compile package

(without the 'package' sbt does not create the target/*.jar file)

To launch a demo of fading circles (makes other things on your computer crawl so don't leave it on :) ):

    $ sbt run

Making your own project

Create these files:

    build.sbt

    lib/

        scalafx-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

    src/

        mydemo.scala

'build.sbt' you can adopt from the one used in ScalaFX samples.

'lib/scalafx-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar' is a copy from the 'target' directory of scalafx compilation.

'mydemo.scala' is whatever file you wish to use (again, something from the scalafx 'demo' directory would be fine).

    $ sbt run

Please make a comment if you got things working, with this walkthrough.

iPhone Lite - Yes, They Should!

"Analysts" are telling this:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/01/apple-seen-as-unlikely-to-introduce-new-inexpensive-iphone-model

I'm telling Apple should introduce an iPhone Lite and here's how I would have it done. Heh, writing's Cheap! :)

In the new iPod Nano, Apple has introduced a form factor that also suits a phone. 7.6 x 4 x 0.5cm. You can fit three of those on a Samsung Galaxy III (almost; that's 13.7 x 7 x 0.9cm).

Ingredients to add:
- GSM/EDGE telephony (no 3G necessary)
- iMessage
- Twitter (with pictures)

That's it.

Since the device is so small, one can think of using it with earphones only (the same as currently).

Having such a wide gap to the existing entry-level iPhone 4 makes a clear differentiation between the models. At the same time, this makes iPhone Lite perfect as a child's phone. Or as an entry level developing world phone (Brazil et.al.) without tarnishing the Apple brand.

Apple already has this division between iPhone and iPod touch. They only lack a phone in the Nano size category. It should look *exactly* the same.
 

Apple ohoy - fix the iMess(age)

I got into a strange situation lately, and here's how to get "out" of it.

My wife upgraded to Mountain Lion and enabled iMessage for herself. Cool. Worked. But she does not have an iPhone.

When creating a message to her, on my iPhone, there is "iMessage" shadowed on the message field. But these will only reach her on the laptop.

There seems to be no way to select between iMessage/SMS to a certain recipient!

The solution I found (simply by trial and error + luck): copy her phone number from the address book. Create a message with this phone number as the recipient.

Now I have two discussion threads with her - one SMS, one iMessage.

Isn't this a MESS?

What Apple could do is to:

- acknowledge that people using Apple products might still have - say, ehem - an Android phone.
- allow users to switch between "send as iMessage/SMS" for a single message and/or for the recipient.
(I should probably suggest a way for how to do this - otherwise they'll patent even that?)
- keep whatever discussions I have with person X in *one* thread, where SMS's and iMessages are interleaved, by their time. They are already color coded, that is great (blue=iMessage, green=SMS). Just keep them in one pile, it's a one person!

btw, as a precautionary effort I switched the unused entry on my wife's address card from "iPhone" (which didn't have a number) to something else. Just in case the system checked whether a person "has" an iPhone.

Anyways, Apple WAS good at making complex things simple.

Missing that.

Apple *always* lets you down!

I upgraded to Mountain Lion, and expected to get laptop/desktop/phone integration. That's what they had publicized. A more "iOS" experience, also on the desktop. Yeah. Right.

Got an alarm just a few minutes ago. Clicked it "shut" on my desktop. What the h*ll... It's still ringing on the phone in the entrance!

I genuinly thought they'd make the things *integrated*. You react to a message on one device, it gets handled on the others as well.

Nope.

Apple always leaves something for the next update. But this one they should have covered.

While whining, how about incoming SMS'es. If I'm working on a computer, let me see the SMS'es there, and react to them. INTEGRATE.

Currently, SMS'es are still confined only to the phone. No technical reason they would need to be so.

I'm beginning to think Apple is losing the magical "it just works" that they were known for, in the time when using PC's was hard. Losing their innovation mojo. Please - do better!!!

App Store should meet Bonjour (= local caching of downloads)

http://twitter.com/bmdesignhki/status/231451046185148416

Some more details on that.

It feels stupid that after one 4.3 GB download, each family computer under the *same* App Store license must perform the exact same download again, from who knows how far on the Internet.

A better approach would be for App Store agent to keep a cache of recent downloads (or even partial downloads) and expose that cache to any other computers on the same network, via Bonjour. Technically, this should be easy.

Authentication would still happen via the actual App Store servers, just as now. Only once the download begins, local caches would be preferred over the actual server seeds on the Internet. This is much akin to torrents, but not quite. It would reduce the server load that Apple is getting by some (maybe 10-15%). 

What do you think? I find no down side to Apple doing this, starting in some future version of App Store. Luckily, we only have two Macs at home.

Nordic Crown - new currency for S, N, DK, Iceland, Finland - others?

There was an article recently that proposed Finland to be the first Euro country to get "enough" and exit the currency. It was called Finexit.

I fail to see this happening as such, but if connected to a larger Northern European change of currencies, it might actually make a lot of sense.

Currently, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland each have their crowns. None of these countries are in the Euro. They could fairly easily form a real economic union, learning from the mistakes of the Euro and not repeating them.

If *that* were to happen, it would be an easy choice for Finland to join in.

But it might not stop there.

Poland has been knocking on the Euro door, but not so much recently. We have joint history with wars, joint kings, all that stuff. And Poland is one of the nicely performing non-Euro economies, anyways. Call it the Baltic Union if you will.

Then there are Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia (another Nordic Euro country). Frankly, I don't expect Estonia to jump off Euro but the others might jump in the Crown.

Together with Poland, the Nordic area would have a population base roughly the same as the UK. This should be enough to have a stable, global currency.

Hopefully, the Finnish Bank (or someone) is working on this.

Disclaimer: As you can guess, I know pretty little of the banking world. Then again, so it seems the people working within the system do, as well. ;)

The Nordic Crown could take on the NOK abbreviation, or a more hip NK2.

What I feel would be great with such a monetary union is that it employs countries within and outside of the EU, as well as within and outside of the NATO.

Addendum.

The population estimates were rather correct. All the suggested countries (incl. Poland) would bring 63.6 million people into the Nordic Crown area. That is slightly more than either UK (62.8 M) or France (63.5 M).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_population

Historic exchange rates (last 2 years) of the involved currencies.

Comparison to Swiss franque tells something of the stability of the current NOK:

Addendum II

Inflation rates (May 2012):

Norway: 0.50 %
Sweden: 1.0 %
Finland: 3.1 %
Poland: 3.6 %
Denmark: 2.1 %
Iceland: 5.40 %

For comparison:

UK: 2.8 %
Euro-zone: 2.4 %
Switzerland: -1.0 %

Interest rates:

Norway: 1.50 %

Sweden: 1.50 %

Finland: 1.00 %

Poland: 4.75 %

Denmark: 0.45 %

Iceland: 5.75 %

For comparison:

UK: 0.50 %

Euro-zone: 1.0 %

Switzerland: 0.0 %

Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/