Mark's Blog

YARS is meant to be the start of a plattform for automated RSS processing. I wanted to download a podcast automatically, some tv series and watch for specific words in a RSS feed. And so was YARS, after a rainy afternoon with hacking. You can find the latest version of YARS here, at Github.

Currently it requires Redis as database but soon I will extend it so it can use textfiles and the such. Remember: it is a start. You’re welcome to contribute code, use-cases and ideas for further development.

And this is what you can do with the first version: Read more »

Tags: python, tools, yars

Those kind of maps are a must if you do astro-photography or simply want to see the dusty milky way by your own eyes. Frédéric Tapissier’s maps can be found on his pages, for France and Britain, too.

Unfortunately downloading them takes very long. Therefore I have mirrored some of them: Read more »

Tags: astronomy

About a month ago I have unbranded my HTC Desire following the usual instructions. The German one I used has been distilled by Ulrich Wolf. These howtos need you to create a Goldcard – which is not necessary by the new method I found today.

Additionaly, you can root your Desire (or EVO 4G or Droid Incredible, Aria or Eris) by one click and have Nandroid Backup installed in the course. In one word, I found it stunning! Read more »

Tags: Android, backup, know-how

When programming for Android you will soon notice, there is no suitable ORM “mapper” available. Of course, you could use Hibernate, JPA and the such – but the size is too big. Most unfortunately Google has not provided one.

GWT ORM does not look usable to me and some of its logic seems to be missing. Active Android gives a good first impression, but lacks properly licensing and is still too rudimentary. Something I can program on a weekend. That’s what I thought and ultimately did. Here is how it looks like currently: Read more »

Tags: Android, java, know-how