Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

We Shall Overcome

Leonid Mamchenkov — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:19:11 +0000

I caught myself singing something really weird today. The words went like these:

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day

I then realized that I have absolutely no idea what that is and where do I know it from. Wikipedia to the rescue. Apparently, these are the lyrics from the “We Shall Overcome” song.

“We Shall Overcome” is a protest song that became a key anthem of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968). The title and structure of the song are derived from an early gospel song, “I’ll Overcome Someday”, by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley. The song was published in 1947 as “We Will Overcome” in the People’s Songs Bulletin

[...]

The song became associated with the Civil Rights movement from 1959, when Guy Carawan stepped in as song leader at Highlander, which was then focussed on non-violent civil rights activism. It quickly became the movement’s unofficial anthem. Seeger and other famous folksingers in the early 1960s, such as Joan Baez, sang the song at rallies, folk festivals, and concerts in the North and helped make it widely known. Since its rise to prominence, the song, and songs based on it, have been used in a variety of protests worldwide.

That is very helpful. Yet it still doesn’t explain where I know it from. I guess it might have been used as background music in a movie that I’ve seen or something like that. Because I really doubt that it would resurface from my high school memories, when I learned tonnes of weird stuff.

Galaxy Nexus

Leonid Mamchenkov — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:28:35 +0000

I’ve been a happy owner of Motorola Defy for more than a year now. It is a fantastic phone – small, well built, water resistant and powerful enough. The only thing that bothered me about it was that Motorola stopped releasing Android updates for it and it was stack at pathetic 2.2 when the rest of the world was enjoying Android 4.0.

There was a way, of course. People have been hacking phones for as long as … well, forever. And there is a well established path of rooting Motorola Defy and upgrading it to the newest version of Android. I’m not the hacking type (when it comes to phones at least), so I was delaying the upgrade for as long as possible. But with the recent hype about Galaxy Nexus phone and how awesome Android 4 is, I couldn’t any longer.

I didn’t read much of the instructions, and I didn’t quite got how the process works. Heck, I didn’t even verify the versions of all the firmware and kernel and apps that I’ve downloaded to install. So obviously my attempt failed miserably. I bricked the phone. At first, it was responding to recovery boot option only, but there was nothing useful in there, so I formatted everything and pushed the original firmware. Which was for a different phone or country or something else. After that, the phone didn’t even respond to the power button anymore. Dead.

I gave it to a friend, who is more experienced with these things, to see if he can revive it. But in the meantime, I couldn’t stay without the phone, so I rushed to the shop and bought myself a … Galaxy Nexus.

The price for this phone varies from place to place. If I had more time, I could have gotten it for about 350 EUR. But since I was in a hurry, I was robbed off 600 EUR. Yeah, that’s the way it works. But I wanted it so much for so long that I didn’t really care. I’ll care next time, I promise.

Before I go into any detail, let me just say this – Galaxy Nexus is everything I wanted from an Android phone and even more. Now that I have it for almost two weeks, I can say that the positive feeling I had about it on the first day still lasts, and the more I have it, the more I can do with it and the more I like it. Now, for the details.

First things first. This phone actually has a Google logo on the back of it. For a long time Google fan like myself, that by itself is worth the phone price. It’s especially cool having that logo on the device that is so tightly integrated with all the awesomeness of Google services – Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Search, YouTube, Google Picasa, Google+, Google Maps, and so on.

Secondly, the thing that stands out immediately after unboxing the phone, it’s its form factor. Compared to Motorola Defy, it’s huge! It’s was almost awkward holding it, so big it was. But, for that size, it was surprisingly thin and light. I guess it’s made of plastic not glass and metal. After using it for a day or two I totally got used to its size and it wasn’t awkward anymore.

Thirdly, the screen. The moment the phone is turned on, you know that you gonna love it. There is no way not to love it with that screen. As mentioned before – it’s huge. 4.65 inch diagonal, 1280×720 pixel resolution, and the brightest and vividest colors that I’ve ever seen on a mobile device or tablet – an absolute pleasure.

Fourthly, the performance. It’s super fast. It’s super fast compared to Motorola Defy. It’s super fast compared to my laptop. It’s just super fast. It’s so fast that it needs some getting used to. Every single phone I ever owned, was slow compared to this. Browsing through address book, making phone calls, editing the calendar, checking email, surfing the web – all of it is flying.

Fifthly, the software. I’ve been introduced to the variety of the software for Android for some time now. But the tricky bit with Android Market is that it limits the apps based on the features your phone supports. For example, if you are browsing the market with a device which runs Android 2.2, you won’t see any apps that require Android 2.3 or Android 4. Same with some other features – large screen, WiFi connection, etc. But with Nexus Galaxy you will pretty much see everything! It looks like that it supports and runs every single app in the market. And there are really awesome apps.

Now that I’ve praised and boasted about Galaxy Nexus, you probably want to know the downsides. Are there any? Yes. Everything has a downside. Galaxy Nexus has two – one easily solvable, one not.

The easy one is the USB. The one of the biggest differences between Galaxy Nexus and other devices is that it does not support an external SD card. Internally, therefor, it keeps the operating system, applications and all files on the same media. Which is dangerous to give access to non-technical people. Things can get deleted or overwritten via USB. So it doesn’t support USB mass storage protocol. Instead, you need to access it via MTP, which requires additional software or drivers. Which I didn’t want to bother with for my Fedora Linux. The easier way is to install AirDroid application on the phone. When you install and start it, your phone will provide a desktop-like web interface to all the features, using a WiFi connection. With that, you can do pretty much everything – upload and download files, reorganize folders, browse through contacts, and even send SMS.

The other issue is with volume and power buttons. They are on the same level, on opposite sides of the device, which makes it nearly impossible pressing just one of them using one hand. The index finger presses on the volume button at the same time as the thumb on the power button. Somehow, I keep switching the screen off every time I need to adjust the volume, and volume up every time I wanted to send it to sleep. Not a biggy though.

So, would I recommend Galaxy Nexus? Absolutely! It is the best mobile device I’ve had my hands on. It works well both as a phone and a small tablet – for games, web browsing, and reading. It is super fast. It lasts more than a day on the battery, even with heavy usage. It’s not that expensive, if you are not in a hurry. And it has a Google logo on its back. It is brilliant.

P.S.: the friend to who I gave my bricked Motorola Defy managed to revive it. And not only – he upgraded the Defy to Android 4.0 as well. Now that I have my Galaxy Nexus, I’m not going back to Defy, but my wife will get a much needed phone upgrade for her 7-year old Samsung. So all is well.

Weekly digest – 2012-05-13

Leonid Mamchenkov — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:59:00 +0000

I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/BfqYuVME MEGUSTA! #
Galaxy Nexus http://t.co/VT7joJke #
@lufandever жесть вообще! #
@lufandever за 44 дня от города и населения ничего не останется #
@lufandever на президента надежды нет. Пока опять кого-нибудь не затопчут, никто ничего делать не будет. #
500px: CUP OF COFFEE http://t.co/i9DdDMAl #
Трактор Боулинг – ну уж очень бодрая музыка. Проснулся с первых же двух трэков. #
Dear @googlecalendar , please integrate with Gmail contacts to provide details for events like "Call John" or "Meeting with Mary". #
@jujav4ik what's that? :) #
Earthquake in #limassol #cyprus #
My first PC had a 10 MB hard disk. And now I'm downloading a 237 MB game on to my mobile phone. The world has changed indeed. #
Had a blinking accident at home right after work. Blinked without taking enough care, and slept through 3 hours. #
Self-portrait at 3:30am http://t.co/PqMCFaip #
Going to bed isn't as easy as they say. #
Waky waky, ham and baky. #
Club sandwich with chips and Coke http://t.co/gIU7HEm8 #
Hard at work http://t.co/TBhYBXcZ #
New note : Build Your Mobile Site http://t.co/5B6lTH6r #
My Motorola Defy got fixed and upgraded to Android 4.0.3. I'll introduce my wife to the world of smart phones. :-) #
Friday! Friday! It's Friday! Happy Friday everybody! :-) #
New note : Varnish Cache – HTTP reverse proxy http://t.co/0HRvVTTe #
Apparently there is a huge difference as to which browser you use to access Outlook Web App. Firefox works like MSIE. Google Chrome doesn't. #
Funny toilet signs #signs #toilet http://t.co/SmbE9Tpf #
Big Mac Wall #hefe #mcdonalds #ads #red http://t.co/eYZNkQS8 #
I find myself using @instagram way more than I expected. #
@Raikhman Nope. It's hot here as it is. No need for hot water. #
Michael #friends http://t.co/7COWy34u #
@Raikhman when it's hot, even a cold shower becomes steamy. :-) #
Большой обзор: альтернативные клавиатуры | Droider.ru http://t.co/d2v5TAe5 #
Wanted to go out for a pint. Football fans are there again. That'll spoil the fun. Will drink at home then. #
Won't be drinking home alone afterwards. On my way to Ship Inn. All because I have awesome friends. :-) #
Draught Microbrewery instead #
A pint of lager please, thank you very much. (@ Draught Microbrewery) http://t.co/sXxHA6BK #
Black Angus #food #beef #steak http://t.co/81wD6PBv #
A pint of lager http://t.co/OQcyGTfu #
@MrDickoDotcom I didn't mind you guys at all. Until recently. Now I hate you with passion. #
Lights #lights http://t.co/NvCzIyEI #
New note : A Guide to the Instagram Filters You'll Soon Be Seeing on Facebook – Megan Garber – Technology – The … http://t.co/wRfHkP3I #
Playing Grand Tironic #kids #children #parenting #gaming #ps3 http://t.co/aaapb6tj #
The young gamer #kids #children #gaming #ps3 http://t.co/Y00Fof1L #
Guinness pint #rise #beer #guinness http://t.co/5o1zQZOu #

Instagram – compulsive photographer’s heaven

Leonid Mamchenkov — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:53:04 +0000

Instagram is a very well known service in the iPhone world. But recently an Android application was released as well, so I had to try it. Instagram is basically like Flickr, but for the mobile. With an Instagram app you take a picture and then apply one of a few predefined filters to make that picture look way better than it originally did. Then you upload the picture to Instagram, where other people can see it, comment on it, favorite it, and do all the usual social networking stuff with it.

What makes Instagram awesome a combination of simplicity and and great resulting pictures. I’m not much of a photographer myself, but I am somewhat familiar with image editing in Photoshop and Gimp. And yet if I’d be asked to produce the same results using those powerful programs, I’d be at a loss. It’ll take me days or even weeks to find all the options, plugins, and tweaking necessary. With Instagram, it’s literally just a single click. Of course, Photoshop and Gimp provide for a complete artistic freedom, where Instagram does not, but for mere mortals who just want to snap a quick shot and have it look good – Instagram gives plenty of choice.

The first few days that I tried the app, I didn’t think much of it. But all of a sudden I realized that I’m using it a lot, both for taking pictures and for browsing them. Interestingly, Flickr app for Android has very similar functionality – predefined filters that can be applied right after shooting. The Filters themselves are very similar as well. And yet I find myself using Instagram, even though I have a Flickr account for years now.

I think that’s because Instagram is simpler, faster, and still produces better images. Flickr app has other things in it as well – recent activity, sets, etc. Instagram is very straight-forward. Instagram is also much faster than Flickr. It takes me about half a second to get to the camera with Instagram, and almost three seconds with Flickr. Also, when the images are uploaded, Instagram enforces a smaller size, while Flickr gives user a choice between small, medium, and large. For me, it’s difficult to say “smaller” when a larger option is available (compensating for something?). So I keep choosing “large” and then swearing while waiting for the upload to finish on a slow 3G network.

So, for now, I decided that I’ll be using Instagram a lot with my mobile. Once in a while, I’ll upload all images to my Instagram set on Flickr, since I’m using Flickr as my main storage and backup. But as for Flickr mobile app – it needs to get faster and better before I will switch from Instagram. (Unless, of course, Facebook, which recently acquired Instagram, will screw up the services.)

I’ve also added a widget to the sidebar of this blog, that will cycle through the last 20 or so Instagram pictures of mine. Enjoy!

Foursquare’s adorable puppy

Leonid Mamchenkov — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:02:08 +0000

One thing I like about people who love what they do is that they usually don’t take themselves too seriously. They can smile and joke about the things they passionately love. Today I came across an example from Foursquare. In the Settings screen about the notifications that Foursquare sends to you, there is an option to “Also include an adorable picture of a puppy in my weekly update“. Here is a screenshot in case this will disappear with time.

Easy Forex, here I come

Leonid Mamchenkov — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:58:52 +0000

For the last few month I’ve been consulting Easy Forex on one of their migration projects. Recently, when the consulting contract ran out, I’ve been offered a full time position of web developer and team leader. I’ve accepted that position and today all the paperwork has been finalized.

I’m looking forward to working with the young and enthusiastic team, and getting my hands into a few more project pies. My job is an interesting mixture of things I’ve done before, things that I’ve done before but not to the same extent, and things that I haven’t done before. For my career, it’s a rare combination of hard earned confidence with a humbling opportunity to learn. Much more often I had either one or the other.

In addition to all the upcoming technical challenges, there is something else that I want to understand and learn – company culture. As I’ve mentioned a few times previously, Easy Forex has the friendliest office atmosphere of all the companies that I’ve worked for – and I’ve worked in some really friendly environments, cause I’m picky that way – especially considering the size of the company. I want to understand how Easy Forex managed to keep and improve the attitude of a small company, and how one could re-create such culture in other companies.

With that, wish luck and I’ll keep you posted.

RFC 6585 – Additional HTTP Status Codes

Leonid Mamchenkov — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:51:34 +0000

If you’ve missed it like I did, RFC 6885 has been published recently. It introduces four additional status codes for the HTTP protocol. The codes are:

428 Precondition Required
429 Too Many Requests
431 Request Header Fields Too Large
511 Network Authentication Required

Here is a blog post that gives a nice summary of purpose for each of the new status codes.

Weekly digest – 2012-05-06

Leonid Mamchenkov — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:59:00 +0000

Monday. Kicks me in the nuts every single time. Today is not an exception. #
I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/7CU65l1q What if Dexter had been a sitcom? #
Blogs about privacy concerns are hypocritical, aren't they? :) #
Resistance is futile. Once again I've tried to scroll to the end of the page on one of those websites with infinite scrolling… #
I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/4XNXduc4 Old Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Er #
Am I the only one who thinks that celebrating Labor day with a day off is weird and confusing? :) #
Google search for "zerg rush" is fun to watch. https://t.co/ytkpXhGr #
MetaQuotes sues Xogee … http://t.co/vB9JSKsq #
There are many brands and flavors of ice cream.Some are OK, others better. But only when you open a Haagen-Dazs, you feel the difference. #
@GyuzelZari кхм … Гюзель, так нельзя. Так ты скоро на людей бросаться начнёшь. :) #
Weltenburger Kloster Bier http://t.co/auIoThJd #
Welcome to Friday! I'll be right back – gotta get a quick nap before work. :) #
http://t.co/a8ieD0lr #
Coca cola http://t.co/WuSCFYrr #
Stella Artois http://t.co/5eGH6Eja #
@Raikhman gotta learn who that is now :-) #
I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/ggk8QHQH Osprey — the ultimate fisher #
That's what I call a proper sleep. 15 hours and 30 minutes … I feel so refreshed and rested now. :) #
We are so eager to find life on other planets. But why, I ask you? Probably to destroy it too. #
Upgrading my Motorola Defy phone to Cyanogen 9. Really hoping it won't brick. :) #
And there we go … no mobile phone for me for now. :) #
Watching dots multiply after the word "formatting". Singing "Unbrick my heart". #
Goddammit #AEL fans! Get a life already. It's the end of the second day already. Enough, re! #
The recovery mode is gone now too … All I have is a black screen and a white led. No reactions to reboots or any buttons. #
If this brick won't boot by itself until tomorrow, I'll get myself a new Nexus. Wanted Android 4 on my phone anyway. :) #
@ektagon Motorola's mobile division belongs to Google now, so they will make more. And Motorola Defy is the best hardware device I've had. #
@ektagon I don't think anybody will buy RIM … #
@alex_mamchenkov I don't think there is any hope for this one. So I'll get a permanent Nexus. :) #
I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/tQ9RZ4RS Уральские пельмени 2012. Танк для генерала #

New shoes

Leonid Mamchenkov — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:05:31 +0000

Got myself some new shoes … just kidding.

Flickr update

Leonid Mamchenkov — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:04:16 +0000

For a while now I’ve been on the fence in regards to the Flickr vs Google Picasa battle. With both services constantly changing and improving, it’s difficult to make a decision and stick to it. But I think finally I’ve decided. Flickr it is. They’ve caught up with the features that I wanted so much for so long, and just in the last month released two of my “most wanted” – a much improved uploading tool, and quick and easy image editor.

Both of those additions pushed me to finalize the upload of all my pictures to Flickr. So now, all I had from my digital camera, is there. And I’ve enjoyed making the pictures better, more attractive with the editor – all it takes is just a few clicks to convert an average picture of which I have thousands into an eye candy.

Flickr has also recently released and improved its Android app, which once again makes me think about my mobile pictures. I will probably start pushing them into my Flickr stream as well.

And as far as Google Picasa is concerned, I think they’ve spoiled it quite a bit with such a tight integration with Google+. And their URLs are still ugly, making it pretty much impossible to migrate links from the blog via automatic redirection. Bad Google, bad. And while I’m sure they will improve, I don’t think I will change over any time soon – the decision process tired me down.

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We Shall Overcome

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