Pimp My Widgets

You think you are good? Why don't you try to win a Segway or some N810. Head straight to:

http://trolltech.com/pimpmywidgets!

Update: our pimp announced the contest right after dinner here at DevDays 2008:

through my fingers into cold sunlight

"The view from up above is enchanting, especially the view from the Marienbrücke of the castle,..."

-- King Ludwig II

the map of my world gets smaller as I sit here

Last weekend, when the weather was just about perfect, there was "Norwegian food in the streets" (official website is www.matstreif.no). It comprised quite a number of stalls that sell (and offer you to sample) products such as honey, fresh organic vegetables, crabs, organic salmon and many others.

magnificent skyline out of my reach

As I mentioned before, few hours more until Qt Developer Days 2008 at Hilton Munich Park. Feel free to contact me at ariya.hidayat@gmail.com if you are around!

/me is getting ready for the flight.

I fashioned you from jewels and stone

These days, here at Qt Software (nee Trolltech) we are as busy as working bees. Not only due to a point release, but also because the exciting, upcoming Qt 4.5 is in the horizon. Some of us have blogged about its new features, such as Cocoa support and Qt Falcon. As part of the QtWebKit team, we integrated a fresh version of QtWebKit into 4.5, which you might notice already when you monitor our snapshots. In the past few months, we wrote a bit about QtWebKit development, but hopefully we can still present an overall summary once time permits.

From my side, I just completed the first 6-month period in Trolltech. Things are exciting as ever. In one week, I will be in Munich. In three weeks, Redwood City is the next stop. Yes, I will be there for the Qt Developer Days 2008. I'd have two talks in the technical tracks: QtWebKit: Present and Future and Beautiful and Blazing-Fast Graphics with Qt. See the abstracts for details. Actually, just skip the abstracts and enjoy some demos that I will premiere there.

So, if you are around and want to have a snack or a chat, just let me know!

waiting for a revelation, for someone to count me in

Just welcoming the autumn equinox, several things happened in Oslo. Some worth noticing were river walk by torchlight along Akerselva, the 8 km river in Oslo, Culture Night with its closing fireworks, and of course Oslo Marathon right at Aker Brygge.

Also, check out the photo sets for torches and fireworks.

(Credit: photos are taken by this girl)

Eid Mubarak

Happy Eid Al-Fitr to all!

fresh waffle

By popular request, here is a quick and easy recipe for making waffles. It is so easy, it would never fail.

Ingredients:
2 whole eggs, beaten
300 gr all-purpose flour
160 gr butter
140 gr sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 ml milk
vanilla, to taste

Of course, you also need a waffle iron.

(Photo is taken by this girl)

on passion and reason

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

-- Benjamin Franklin

on CrossOver Chromium (a way for Chrome on Linux)

CrossOver Chromium is a nice and easy approach to run the famous Google Chrome browser under Linux (while waiting for the official Linux version and if you don't want to mess around with Wine). I tried it on my OpenSUSE machine, it works pretty well. There are minor glitches, like maximized window could not be restored anymore (because Chrome skips normal window management), a status bar that does not appear and disappear properly, the omnibox rendering problem, and similar other small annoyances. But all in all, for 11 days of work, it is an amazing achievement.

Checking its JavaScript performance using SunSpider, it is only up to 40% slower. However, it still feels smooth and fast. Definitely worth a try.

curiosity kills the cat

The unverified reason Irn-Bru is not available in Germany is because the ingredients label and so on are only English, not in German. Usually this is remedied by sticking another label in whatever language it should be. No idea why it doesn't work out.

Apparently, this famous Scottish soda is available in Norway.

on karma (in this zen-like moment...)

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

-- Wayne Dyer