Sometimes [no matter how much I kick and scream] I have to use a Windows XP computer to do some coding. Not so much because I have to, but it's easier using a computer provided by a company rather than transporting my PowerBook everyday. Also, when developing applications [even web and intranet applications] it makes sense to test on the platform that is in use by the client. Add to that the fact that I don't want a bunch of worked related material dumped on my personal notebook and vise versa.

Recently I've been issued with a new DELL Latitude D505 and I needed to look for a small/light Open Source PHP IDE to do some development work. The most popular results when searching Google or SourceForge bought up apps that were either bulky and buggy, or products that we're Open Source.

After having such good experiences with Azureus I thought I'd have a looksee for a Java-based IDE that would fit the bill, and after passing on the Eclipes [because of the bulk], I downloaded and installed jEdit.

jEdit is a mature and well-designed programmer's text editor with 7 years of development behind it.

While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

It's working really well for me. I much prefer a nice light IDE - a text editor with the ability to open multiple documents and highlight code is enough functionality, as everything else I handle with external apps and scripts.

Give it a go if your ever in a similar situation.

The NASA Image of the Day site has some interesting [sometimes awe-inspiring] images. Subscribing to their feed allows you to have long photo viewing sessions when you have the time to sit back and enjoy.

I have a thing for high altitude photography, and this one really does something for me. View the higher res version for more detail and check out the NASA IotD page relating to this image for an explanation.

John Walker - founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD - has release a free book called The Hacker's Diet - How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition.

The Hacker's Diet, notwithstanding its silly subtitle, is a serious book about how to lose weight and permanently maintain whatever weight you desire. It treats dieting and weight control from an engineering and management standpoint, and provides the tools and an understanding of why they work and how to use them that permit the reader to gain control of their own weight. The book is intended primarily for busy, successful engineers, programmers, and managers who have struggled unsuccessfully in the past to lose weight and avoid re-gaining it.

The book is available is several formats, and worth a flip-through even if you don't want to go on a diet.

Whatever level of interest you have in Astronomy chances are, if you do some searching on the subject, one day you'll come across Universe Today. It's a great site for providing snippets of interesting material. Whether you're after the lastest astro-news or just want to see a nice space image every now and then, UT has it.

I've found it's one of those sites that's just perfect for aggregator distraction. You know...you're scanning through the usual sites you've aggregrated, notice that a new entry has come in from UT, and you just think - "Ahh...I'm sure there's going to be a nice little bit of interesting information in there".

In the last few months Fraser Cain [the author of UT] has started Podcasting interviews. I've only recently subscribed to the UT Podcast feed, but I've enjoyed them so much I churned through them all in the last two days. The podcasts are all under 10min in length so they're perfect for a small break at work or during a commute. And Fraser not only asks interesting questions, but was born with a radio/DJ/interviewer voice.

Interested in The End of the Universe, Solar Sails or Seas on Titan? If so, have a listen.

I dig Acts of Volition like a new born baby digs tit. I just can't get enough of it. I've been a dedicated reader for a few years now because it's just one of those blogs that's interesting, relevant & positive. The posts don't come all that frequently, but it makes it all the more exciting when my aggregator tells me there's something new from their feed. And today's post was right up there in the 'that's a @#$%^&* great idea' category.

Seems Steven has teamed up with some other kind folks to create The Tango Desktop Project...

The Tango Desktop Project exists to create a consistent user experience for free and Open Source software with graphical user interfaces.

While the look and feel of an application is determined by many components the initial work has been done on unifying the look of the individual icon sets.

Tango defines a standard icon style guidelines document that applications and desktop enviroments can adhere to. Work has started on creating a new base icon theme based on a standard icon naming specification. In addition, we provide transition utilities to create icon themes for existing GNOME and KDE desktops.

Nice eh? Get involved if you can.

As requested here's the JR Tokyo Subway Map for the PSP. The source file wasn't that cooperative so I screen-grabbed it, but it's still well readable on my PSP.

Download [656 KB]

Following up on Dave's great idea of having a NYC Subway Map on your PSP, I thought a Tokyo Subway Map for the PSP would be beneficial to anyone thinking about visiting the big city. I'm hopeing Tokyo Metro isn't as hard up for licensing fees as the MTA.

You can download it here [824 KB].

And just because I have a slight preference for Osaka over Tokyo [although they are both great places], here's an Osaka Subway Map [548 KB] as well.