I’ve been looking for an application for the BlackBerry Curve that can change the active profile based on the time of day, location or both for a few months now.  I’ve found a couple of profile managers that change the profile based on time, including one that can use calendar entries to determine what profile is to be used, but none that are location driven.  Similar programs exist for Symbian-based phones, such as Handy Profiles for the Nokia N71, so this shouldn’t be rocket science.

The ideal application would allow a BlackBerry Curve to automatically change the active profile based any of the following…

1. the last-known location as determined from the GPS using proximity to a waypoint (eg: “when I am within 200m of this location, use the Quiet profile”).
2. GSM cell ID (eg: “when I am ‘here’, use the Loud profile”).
3. time of day/day of week ranges (eg: weekdays between 0900 and 1700, use the Normal profile).

Multiple conditions should be supported (eg: more than one location condition).  It should revert to the profile that was active before a condition was met.

Other BlackBerry users would probably be interested in this, too, so maybe a bounty will provide a little encouragement to the BlackBerry authors out there.

I’ll put $50 in the pot to get things started.  If you’d like to sweeten the pot, PayPal some cash to paypal AT dewis DOT ca with “BlackBerry bounty” in the comments.

Terms:

• The working solution must run on a BlackBerry Curve 8310 on Rogers.
• If the solution is not made available for free (i.e. is packaged as a commercial product, which includes “crippleware”), anyone who contributed to the Bounty must be given a free license.
• The solution must be found by 23:59 UT on October 28, 2008.
• If no solution is found by that time, I will refund the Bounty contributions (via PayPal).

A tip o’ the hat to Alex King who blogged about offering a bounty for tethering a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac.

I’ve had my amateur radio license since the mid-1990s, but I took a hiatus from the hobby for a couple of years for various reasons a few years ago.  When I got back on the air a couple of years ago, one of the first people I talked to was Don, VE3DRO.  An older chap, I actually met him in person one Friday morning at a gathering of local hams in a Tim Horton’s in Orleans just a few weeks after getting back into the hobby.

Since then, I’ve talked to him periodically, mostly on the VE3RIX repeater.  (I’m not on the air every day, so a fair bit of time can pass between conversations with other hams.)  He always seemed to be in a good mood and was a nice guy to talk to.  The hobby needs more people like him.

Last night I received an email that Don had become a silent key — he passed away a couple of nights ago.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the memorial service today, but I heard that it was standing room only.

Rest in peace, Don.  Your voice will be missed on the air.

73 de Gordon, VE3XGD

Have you noticed that it’s become fashionable for cities to ban bottled water?  It started earlier this summer with Vancouver declaring war on bottled water.  They feel that since tap water in their city is perfectly fine more people should be drinking it at home rather than buying bottled water.

If a city council wants to lead by example and ban the sale of bottled water on their premises, that’s not a bad thing.  In fact, it’s to be expected.  But they need to provide alternatives such as water fountains.

A lot of cities have vending machines in their buildings that offer a wide variety of soft drinks, power drinks, sports drinks, and bottled water.  Arguably, bottled water is the probably the healthiest drink in that list.  If you take away bottled water, people going to the vending machines will almost certainly be choosing the less-healthy alternative.

Last week, London announced it was jumping on the bandwagon by banning the sale of bottled water in city facilities.  Their rationale was that over the last few years they noticed that garbage trucks were getting lighter, rather than heavier.  They should have been getting heavier as time marched on and more trash was diverted to the recycling stream.  But they were getting lighter because the number of empty plastic bottles being thrown into the trash rather than the recycling boxes.  A non-trivial problem and since they can’t ban the sale of bottled water in their city, they chose also chose to lead by example and ban the sale of bottled water in city facilities.

North Bay, on the other hand, has indicated they’re not jumping on this particular bandwagon because they’d rather deal with some unrecycled plastic bottles in their landfills and have people pick a bottle of water over a bottle of pop.

“If people have the choice between bottled water and pop, we would rather they choose a bottle of water” — Alan Korell, North Bay’s managing director of engineering and environmental works (from an article in The Nugget)

It’ll be interesting to see which other cities hop on the anti-bottled water bandwagon and why.  Guelph looks like they’re getting ready and a couple of councillors in Ottawa have been making noises, too.

Any bets as to who’s next?

Joseph Mallozzi, one of the executive producers of Stargate Atlantis, has confirmed in his blog that Stargate Atlantis is coming to an end after 100 episodes and 5 years.  Rising costs and the decline of the US dollar are two reasons he mentions.  As sci-fi television series go, SGA has had a decent run, so it’s not a complete shock that it’s being wrapped up — all good things must come to an end sometime.

Viewers won’t be left wondering what happens next at the end of the final episode.  We’re assured that they “will not be ending things with a cliffhanger.”  And there’s talk of one or more SGA movies, similar to the SG-1 movies that have been released after the end of the ten-year run of that series, so the stories should continue.

So, to the cast, crew and writers: Thank you!

It appears that the weather has been exciting at the airport, too:

METAR CYOW 182000Z 22011G19KT 15SM SCT050CB SCT075 BKN230 27/19 A2969 RMK CB3AC1CI2 DIST LTNG SHS NW-NE SLP053=
SPECI CYOW 182003Z 31021G27KT 15SM TS FEW023 SCT045CB BKN075 BKN230 23/ RMK SC1CB3AC1CI1 OCNL LTGCG SHS NW-NE=
SPECI CYOW 182012Z 35023G32KT 12SM -TSRA FEW025 BKN045CB BKN075 BKN230 21/ RMK SC1CB4AC1CI1 OCNL LTGCG=
SPECI CYOW 182024Z 34023G29KT 1SM +TSRA BKN040CB BKN230 17/ RMK RA3CB3CI1 OCNL LTGCG CB OVHD=
SPECI CYOW 182024Z CCA 34023G29KT 1SM R07/4000VP6000FT R32/P6000FT +TSRA BKN040CB BKN230 17/ RMK RA3CB3CI1 OCNL LTGCG CB OVHD=
SPECI CYOW 182031Z 35011G16KT 3/4SM +TSRA BKN040CB BKN230 17/ RMK RA4CB2CI1 FQT LTGCG CB OVHD=
SPECI CYOW 182031Z CCA 35011G16KT 3/4SM R32/2800VP6000FT/D +TSRA BKN040CB BKN230 17/ RMK RA4CB2CI1 FQT LTGCG CB OVHD=
SPECI CYOW 182038Z 06009G16KT 4SM TSRA BKN040CB OVC140 17/ RMK CB5AC3 OCNL LTGCG CB MOVG SW VIS LWR S=

At one point, it looks like the wind was gusting up to 32 knots (59.2 km/h).

It’s stopped raining here, or at least let up enough that I won’t be soaked to the bone in three seconds with only my tired umbrella and my Tilley to keep me dry.

This popped up on my email a few minutes ago:

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ISSUED For Ottawa BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA

BULLETIN ISSUED AT: 3:57 PM EDT MONDAY 18 AUGUST 2008
AT 3:40 PM THE RADAR IS INDICATING THAT A WEST TO EAST LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 80 KM/H. LARGE HAIL GREATER THAN 2 CENTIMETRES IN DIAMETER AND STRONG WINDS GUSTS OF 90 TO 120 KM/H ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. THERE IS ALSO A RISK OF A TORNADO.  THIS IS A WARNING THAT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. REMEMBER SOME SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE TORNADOES..LISTEN FOR UPDATED WARNINGS. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ONTARIO RECOMMENDS TAKING COVER IMMEDIATELY WHEN THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.   SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR OTTAWA NORTH – KANATA – ORLEANS CONTINUED  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  THIS IS AN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.  MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE IMMEDIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.

 

The Franktown radar at 15:40 Eastern showed:

The view from my office window is very impressive.  I can see a sharp line along the edge of the clouds to the south.  A couple of minutes ago I watched as the bottom layer of clouds was swirling in a vertical manner while the layer above it was moving south.  And there’s thunder rumbling and we’ve seen a couple of flashes of lightning.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone reports a funnel cloud because it sure looks like there might be a "comma" or two in the radar image.

Oh, and it’s just started to pour rain, to the extent that I can’t see the edge of the clouds any more.

Back in February, I wrote a couple of entries about taxi cab cameras and how they are a Good Thing.  At the time, taxi drivers were complaining because they cost money (which they were able to offset by some jiggery pokery that allowed them to keep the difference as the GST dropped).  Studies out there suggested that they had a positive impact on reducing crimes against taxi drivers.

Well, there was a taxi driver who was lured by a fare into an out-of-the-way spot behind a school and robbed by a group of men.  Fortunately, the driver was not hurt and had one of the camera systems in his taxi.  The police released a crystal clear faceshot of the fare (photo since removed as the person is a minor) on August 13th and CBC has reported that a 15-year old boy has turned himself in to the police as a result.

Hopefully, this will be enough proof to the naysayers that they do, in fact, work.