Check out this interview I did with Matthew Revell from Canonical (Ubuntu, Launchpad) on how we're using open source software at The Economist.

I challenge you to find an uglier logo.

When configuring a Samba server, remember that the discovery of machines on the network happens not only with DNS but also with a few other mechanisms. I recently setup a number of virtual machines for developers, that were created by cloning a single instance.

Mistakenly, I thought that adding a DNS config entry for each virtual machine on the host's /etc/hosts would be enough, but it's not. What we found was that everyone was connecting to the same VM (another requirement was that they be on the same subnet).

Since I don't have access to the network's DHCP server, the key is to change each Samba server's NetBios name to be unique.

A dump of useful settings:

David Strauss and I are presenting the load testing work our team did at The Economist. Here's a link to the session information.

I just finished reading Coders At Work, and found it to be one of the most interesting, motivating and enjoyable books on software that I've ever read.

If you're a developer who uses the XDebug PHP debugger, you probably already use a Firefox extension called XDebug Helper, which provides a convenient toggle switch for enabling debugging. You probably have Firebug installed too. Here is a method for setting up keyboard shortcuts to toggle them on and off (I use F1 & F2).

First, install the keyconfig Firefox extension (unfortunately it doesn't have an official page). Click Tools->Keyconfig... and you should get the following window:

So what does everyone think of my new surfboard? It's a custom 6'3" made by Clayton (site under construction) in Durban, South Africa, my home break. I took it for a test drive last week and it is a sweet board indeed! Very reasonably priced too, especially after converting British pounds into South African rand.

I'm currently based in London, but I'm planning a few surf trips to Indonesia and Western Europe in the near future. Look out for photos of Druplicon inside some sick barrels. I hope.

I received my Splitfish FragFX V.2 for Playstation 3 yesterday, and I'm very pleased so far! The response in games I have tested (Bioshock, Killzone 2 demo) has been awesome. So much better than using the analog sticks. I can easily strafe sideways while staying locked on a target, something that I find almost impossible using sticks. That said, it's not as good as a PC mouse, but I didn't really expect that. Ultimately the FragFX has to translate mouse movements into analog commands, and thus it will never give you perfect 1:1 movement. But it's good enough!

Only problem is that the frag button doesn't work, but according to Splitfish there will be a firmware update next week that fixes this. Until then, I think I'll be starting Bioshock from scratch. Awesome!

Versions has finally made it out of beta. It's a very intuitive GUI for managing subversion repositories and working copies. We've been using this application for a long while now, and found it to be user friendly and suitable for designers and developers alike. Recommended!