Currently, I had to solve some optimization problems remembering me to my early studies in computer science. To refresh my memories I was looking for some resources about the knapsack problem. Here I found a book as free download (22.5 MB) dealing with the knapsack problem, written by Silvano Martello and Paolo Toth.

Source: http://www.or.deis.unibo.it/knapsack.html

Finally,I set up my Technorati Profile. And this is just the blog claim posting...

Synchronizing my laptop folders with three servers on different locations makes it difficult to keep track of what is already copied. SyncToy 1.4 should help me in getting this managed since I haven't used it on my new machine yet and my XP machine still running version 1.2.

Source: Download

DasBlog does finally support Gravatars [1]. One step more away from the anonym beginnings of the web. Check the comments of this blog entry to view how they work. Definitely another Web 2.0 application. Gravatars can be easy added to any weblog:

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

[1] http://site.gravatar.com/

Just 24h after I have upgraded my site to the DasBlog engine 1.9.7174.0 daily build, build 1.9.174.1 was release as stable. The work is going on and Clemens [1] gives a first impression on what is happening in the future:

Once the project switches over to be "native" on the CLR/BCL 2.0 (we're discussing the actual target framework version), I'll rejoin the effort and I already have several truckloads of new features or changes in the wait loop. You'll be surprised what that little engine will learn to do over the next several months.... ;)

[1] http://vasters.com/clemensv/PermaLink,guid,62191618-0f0f-4017-bfe4-f6577c8db0f6.aspx

Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac [1] r0ckz. Listening music on the Mac mini, sometimes I had to do things on my server. Consequently, I had to start one of my machines to connect to to the server remotely. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Client that's a thing of the past. there are some c00l features, not seen on the Windows client, yet (maybe I should have a better look): Copy and paste seems to be working from and to the host system and you can print on your Mac printer while being in the remote session.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient

Just getting the microcode update [1] since I am running only Intel processors. Read [2] for more information about the patch. 

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...
[2] http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=936357

While a dozen RSS feeds are subscribed in your favorite feed reader, you might be interested only in some particular feeds being updated during the day. Windows Live Alerts [1] give you this new experience. If you want to get a alert within Windows Live Messenger when aheil.de blog is updated, simply click the Windows Live Alerts button on the menu pane. Definitely a Web 2.0 application.

[1] http://alerts.live.com/

dasBlog" src="http://blog.aheil.de/content/binary/dasBlogupgrade_DEA/DasBlogReflection50x56Gray_thumb5.gif" width="50" align="right">It has been a bit quite on this site for the last time. However, aheil.de is not sharing the half life of many other web sites. aheil.de is now running a weblog for more than 4 years. So it was time to upgrade the dasBlog [1] engine to a recent daily build. Just a few minutes ago aheil.de was upgraded to the dasBlog 1.9.7174.0 build. A complete backup of all previous posts was necessary in order to get the new build correctly running. Former posts will be uploaded step-by-step in the next future.

[1] http://www.dasblog.info/

I literally fight an epic battle with my Toshiba m400 since the first day I got it. For that reason I was not surprised when my colleague Frank Prengel [1] from Microsoft Germany had some trouble with his m400 while preparing a demo with the Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) [2].

His first idea was about some issues with the April CTP 1.5 of the MSRS. Indeed, he got some errors like

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <s:Fault xmlns:wsa="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing"   
                xmlns:d=http://schemas.microsoft.com/xw/2004/10/dssp.html
                xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
- <s:Code>
<s:Value>s:Receiver</s:Value>
- <s:Subcode>
<s:Value>d:OperationFailed</s:Value>
</s:Subcode>
</s:Code>
- <s:Reason>
<s:Text>Unabled to configure Lego NXT</s:Text>
</s:Reason>
</s:Fault>

Indeed, the error is a unfortunate result of a unhappy soft- and hardware combination. So, let's see what we already have

• A Toshiba m400
• Windows Vista
• Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 April CTP installed
• A Lego NXT

Actually, the NXT documentation tells the NXT requires the Bluetooth stack from Widcomm or XP SP2. However, I know my m400 much much better than the people from Lego. Maybe you will realise that after installing the Lego software (either for RCX or NXT) you'll get a message that the Lego software does not work with the Toshiba BT stack!? I.e. there is something special about the Toshiba BT stack... Fortunately, using the MSRS you don't need any drivers or software to run the NXT. The build-in services provided by the MSRS are the one and only bits to run the NXT.

1. Un-install the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack
2. Install the latest Toshiba m400 BIOS available from [3]
3. Install the Toshiba BT Stack for Windows Vista avaialble from [3]
4. Install the Toshiba BT Monitor available from [3].

Now you can easily pair your BT capable devices with your m400. In the following you can see a iRobot Create and a Lego NXT paired with my m400.

Frank confirmed that after following the steps above his demo now "works as a charm".

[1] http://blogs.msdn.com/frankpr/
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/robotics/
[3] http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modSel.jsp