Ive been away a lot over the last three weeks to the point where I have hardly been near my desk. The image shows the devices I’ve been using.

The problem is, each one has its uses and shortfalls and it highlights what a messy middle-ground we’re in with mobile technology right now. Either the operating system isn’t complete, the platform not good enough or there’s a unique feature that can’t be found on any other device. I’m getting frustrated!

I’m writing a more detailed article about this for UMPCPortal.com. It should be up on Monday.

This is a test. Video to come soon.

UMID BZ UMPC

Originally uploaded by umpcportal.com

The UMID is going to form an important part of my kit at MWC next week. It will be the hub for my photos in so far as I will be transfering images from my N82 via Bluetooth to the device and then uploading them to Flickr. From there I will be using the ‘blog this’ feature to push it out to my website. The blog process includes adding the article and links. E.G. this one

Videos will require an different process but its also possible to process and push basic videos from Movie Maker on the UMID.

This test, done as explained, took about 5 mins.

Possible issues:
Battery life on UMID and Mifi.

The great thing about getting hit with a Slashdot article is that it stresses your server with REAL traffic. Clearly my server wasn’t doing too well. With a Dual-Core 3Ghz CPU it was hitting CPU limits and with 100 concurrent Apache instances, out of memory and into swap space. Swap space is not something you want to be hitting on a web server.

After measuring network load, watching mod-status and top for a while I decided that I needed to reduce the number of Apache sessions to 80 which did a good job at keeping the swap partition unused. I then played around with some WordPress cache software. None of it really worked well.

After some research and a handy tip from Hanno, I checked out some PHP cache software. This is something I’ve been thinking about for at least 12 months as my product database is written with ‘Chippy code.’ That means it’s super inefficient and generates the page dynamically from the database for every view. For pages that don’t change from month to month, that’s a poor architecture!

I settled on a very simple, a surprisingly simple, Xcache install via apt-get on my server. The install was quick and smooth and almost immediately I was seeing a drop in CPU load.

For the rest of the day I watched the traffic flow and everything has been working really well. At least I think it is.

I though it might be a good idea to share the stats I’ve seen today. It could help someone to scale or measure their own server. Feedback on this will also help me too so here goes.

Server: Dedicated, E8300 (dual core, 3.0Ghz) processor, 2GB RAM.

Server Software: Mysql, PHP5, Apache 2.

Applications: WordPress (about 15 instances including WordPress Mu and Buddypress), OPenX, Gallery2 and a hand-written PHP product website. Small amount of FTP and Email.

Normal load: about 20-25K pages per day. Most including some PHP/Mysql.

Current stats (Today, since Slashdot impact)

Server uptime: 9 hours 11 minutes 42 seconds
Total accesses: 1255349 – Total Traffic: 16.1 GB
37.9 requests/sec – 510.1 kB/second – 13.5 kB/request

CPU load has been between 40 and 60% average.

Apache2.conf prefork MPM config:

StartServers         2
MinSpareServers      2
MaxSpareServers      5
MaxClients          120
ServerLimit     120
MaxRequestsPerChild  4000

Each Apache process instance grows up to 30MB. Average about 15-20MB over the 120 processes.

(I’ve tuned the above to fit within the 2GB of Memory that I have. Swap kills! CPU levels are OK)

The plan is:

Upgrade memory to 4GB and increase MaxClients to 200. I’m hoping that the server can handle up to 100 requests/second of PHP from my code, from WordPress, from OPenX (a significant part of my setup) and from various other LAMP components. I will also take a CPU upgrade though. Serving sessions and closing them off quickly is going to save memory. With an upgrade to a quad-core I’m hoping I can reach 150-200 requests per second on the single server.

I’m quite happy with the performance and the cost of the server which is about $160 per month from the very responsive and helpful Future Hosting service I’ve been using for about 2 years now but the question is, which part of my website is taking the most CPU and Memory. Is there 20% that is responsible for 80% of the load? If I knew how to find it, I’d probably be able optimise and double the capacity.

As I said, I’d be happy to have your feedback. How much traffic do you serve and what environment do you have?

N900 and B7610

There’s some nice chit-chat going on about the camera on the N900 right now. Ari Jaaksi highlighted the rather stunning set of photos appearing on Flickr which has prompted a lot of people to go ‘wow!’

I’m holding back on recommending the N900 as a good cameraphone choice based on issues I’m seeing outside the realm of pure image quality.

A smartphone is, for most people, a snapshot camera. It’s there to take photos of events as they happen. Family, friends etc. The most important thing is that it produces the best snapshots which means being able to do more than just get a technically correct white balance or depth of field.

I tested the N82 camera against the Omnia Pro recently and here are the criteria I used to asses it. If you’re looking for a cameraphone or reviewing a cameraphone, think about the following:

• General image quality (lens quality and sensor quality more important than megapixels)
• Low-light photography (without flash) A sensitive sensor means not having to use flash. A natural lighting wash is often better than a pinpoint flash. It also means that the camera can choose higher shutter speeds and therefore produce sharper images.
• Flash. For very low light images, flash is required. Xenon flash make a great choice not just for its power but for it’s short duration that can ‘freeze’ images. A long duration LED flash can result in blurry images if the subject is moving.
• Preview screen (both indoor and outdoor) I make a lot o mistakes on my N82 purely because I can’t see what is in focus and what isn’t. A big, high-brightness screen is a superb way to secure a better ‘hit’ rate.
• Access to controls. Touchscreen devices can make accessing camera options easy. CHeck out how many presses you need to make to turn the flash from ‘auto’ to ‘red eye.’ for example.
• Type of controls.  If you want to get creative you’ll need access to focus controls, iso, apperture, shutter speed and white balance but there are some other features that are good. How about automatically taking 6 shots at a time? Or being able to detect movemement. Some of these features are gimmicks, some are useful.
• Pre-focus. Make sure that the camera is able to pre-focus by pushing the shutter release button down half-way. If you’re able to prepare for a shot like this, the duration between pressing the shutter release button and the camera taking the image can drop dramatically. A near instantaneous press/capture is obviously ideal.
• Speed to remove device from pocket and start camera. THere’s nothing worse than waiting for a device to come out of standby and waiting for the camera application to start. Having a shutter cover rather than a case saves time. Having a quick unlock feature saves time. Fast software saves time.
• Quick review. Being able to see the photo you’ve taken is critical. Often the shutter sound does not correspond exactly to the time the image was taken. If the preview takes 2 or 3 seconds to appear it’s annoying for both you and your subject.
• Transfer of photos (online, usb bluetooth, tv) Think about where you need to send your photos. Do you use flickr. If so, think about a phone that uses 3G with a fast upload speed (HSUPA or HSPA for example.) Make sure the transfer process can be run in the background. Also think about USB transfer speed.
• Lens cover.  The value of a lens cover can not be understated. A greasy, scratched, dusty lens is the last thing you want.
• Geotagging. Geotagging isnt just for fun, it helps you to organise your photos based on places. A fast GPS lock or use of network location services can help.
• Overall size of device. If it’s too big you might put it in your bag.
• Price. Clearly price is a major consideration.
• Apps. Think about third party software. The iPhone has a number of good camera applications that can be used for different scenarios.
• Future. Phones can often get better over time. Firmware gets improved and a phone that may have been slow on first release might get upgraded. A phone older than 18 months is not likely to get regular firmware updates.
• Build quality. A cameraphone WILL take a beating. Think about moving parts, exposed ports and moving parts.

My experience with the N900 so far is that the lens and sensor quality is superb. The device has a lens cover and is relatively small. The problem right now is the firmware because it’s way too slow. Fortunately, the N900 will get firmware updates so if the camera is critical for you,  it would make sense to wait until the first firmware update until you make a decision on it.

You’ll fnd some more thoughts and some sample images in this comparision between the N900 and the Omnia Pro B7610

There is a mobile computing test that no-one speaks of. It’s called the Starbucks test. You simply take your mobile device into Starbucks, put it on the table and take a deep breath. There are only two possible results. You either feel good or akward. Today I feel good.

Thumbs up for the Archos!

Nokia N82 in the pocket: Camera, GPS, BT, HSDPA, Voice, SMS, MP3, mobile web in the pocket.
Archos 5 IT (Android) in the hand: Quick-snack web browsing, video, navigation, ereading, emergency computing.
Gigabyte Netbook on the table: Productivity, 3G and storage.

This is getting very close to my ideal setup. 3G in the Tablet would probably be as close as it’s possible with today’s technology.

I’m currently testing out the Archos 5 Android Tablet on UMPCPortal.
http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/10/archos-5-android-internet-tablet-first-impressions-long/
It’s a bit unstable but I’m hoping that firmware upgrades will fix it.

Notice that the Omnia Pro that I bought isn’t in the picture. I’m really leaning towards keeping the N82 based on it’s digital/internet camera capabilities and the fact that the Omnia Pro doesnt really give me the web experience that I need.

I think this is the setup i’ll take to Amsterdam next week – The Maemo conference!!!

Since I bought my full HD 1920×1080 monitor (LG W2261VP) I’ve been testing with Menlow-based UMPCs. Yesterday I managed to get the Kohjinsha SK3 driving it but it took a few driver updates to get it working at the correct reslution. Today i’m using the Fujitsu Loox U in it’s docking station and it’s driving the two displays in extended mode without any problems at all. I’ll use this as my desktop setup for today to see if I notice any issues, slowness, noise.

Despite a ton of competition from cheaper netbooks, this 800gm 1.3Ghz Atom-based convertible UMPC has me quite excited. I’ve tested the keyboard and it’s excellent but the main thing is the super-efficient build. Viliv are saying that it will playback videos for 7 hours on one charge. That means at least 5 hours online time. UMPCPortal should be getting one for testing soon so i’m really looking forward to it.

I remember how my Dad used to read the paper at breakfast. I used to do it too but now, things have changed.
Despite handling a lot of devices recently, the U820 has become a real workhorse for me in both my business and social life. It goes everywhere and always returns to the docking station when not in use. The docking station is important.

Tweetdeck, Reader, Techmeme and Gmail are the apps I reach for along with my wake-up drink every day!

Today I have the rare pleasure of being able to sit in the garden at 0900.