VW Polo GTi 6n2 electric window switches refurbishment

The electric window switches on my 2001 6n2 VW Polo GTi recently had always been a bit hit and miss – they’d work about 75% of the time, then one day, they just stopped working completely. It’s a common problem on these cars – and actually, I’d wager it doesn’t just afflict Polos, probably any of the Golf/Seats/Skodas etc. that use the similar components. The problem in my instance was not electrical (well not really) – that is the windows and the switches themselves were fine, the problem was that there was a build-up of “green corrosion” on the electrical contacts – a side effect of the oxidation of the soft metals used in the contacts. The end result is that the green sucks away the power running through the switch, so enough doesn’t get through the circuit, and hence the switches don’t work.

Needless to say, you don’t need to replace the switches to get them working again, it’s just a case of removing the corrosion and letting the juice flow through the circuit again – and that means saving yourself around £50 (if you replaced all three in the front). And it’s dead easy to do.
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Shake to sh… confuse

My iPod was doing a curious thing lately. Every now and then, it’d make a low pitched sound, then skip to the next track. Sometime it would do it in quick succession. I’d try to go back to the previous track, but no dice. Most confusing. I was getting really worried that it was a problem somewhere – iPod screwed, was it a couple of tracks in my library… what was causing it? It was a mystery… until I did what most people never do… read the manual. (Well, more accurately, I fired up ye olde Google.)

And… it’s actually a feature called “Shake to Shuffle” which is OS3.0 is switched on by default.

So if your iPod Touch or iPhone is acting a bit odd, fear not… you can turn it off.

Facebook connect application creation errors

If you’re in the process of developing a new website nowadays, chances are you’ll want to link it to Facebook in some way. Facebook Connect is the Web 2.0 API style way of doing things, if you’re willing to get handy with yet another markup language… FBML. I’ll leave you to work out what it stands for*.

But anyone trying to get started is likely to stumble over two of the most bizarre, yet simple errors, right off the bat. I was trying to get things working with one of my sites, Saint Saviours Cricket Club, when I encountered these two errors:

1) Facebook Connect “Invalid URL” message

Crazy. You can try every version of your URL which you know is correct:

http://www.mydomain.com

mydomain.com
www.mydomain.com

http://mydomain.com

etc.

What works?

http://www.mydomain.com/

Notice the trailing slash. That they didn’t include a little bit of help on that is ridiculous.

2) Facebook Connect signup page closes out to a blank page

You get the page to submit, but nothing happens, and you just get a blank page. This is most likely due to a problem with the site name you’ve specified. I haven’t worked out exactly what causes the error, but it might the existence of spaces in the name. You can get through it by picking a random number (e.g., 6 digits from your mobile number) – that worked for me. And you’ll then notice that all your other attempts to submit actually got through – and you’re free to use them (and delete all the ones you don’t need).

I’m gobsmacked that there are such weird little bugs in such a big system. Have they not tested these things?

* Footnote: if, like me, you’re doing this on a Wordpress install then be sure to check out the Simple Facebook Connect plugin. He’s done *all* the grunt work for you – you’ve just got to turn it on!

Tweak your Facebook privacy settings

Facebook and Privacy is a bit of a misnomer – it’s well known they’re deviously after any last bit of information they can get from you to use in their nefarious ways. Still, they do offer quite a full-featured website for free. Anyway, you can can quickly check exactly what sort of personal information you’re releasing to the world with this quick tip:

1. Log in to Facebook
2. Paste in the title bar:

javascript:(function(){var%20script=document.createElement(’script’);script.src=’http://static.reclaimprivacy.org/javascripts/privacyscanner.js’;document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0].appendChild(script);})()

3. Hit return. A frame should load above Facebook, showing you the various areas of your profile. Hint: if you’re of a Firefox & NoScript persuasion, you’ll need to temporarily disable.
4. You can then tweak your settings to suit your mood.

Heads up via oneandone.

Guernsey 30in30 cycling for Les Bourgs

So for the second year running, I’m taking part in the 30in30 – a charity cycling event, raising money for a local (Guernsey) hospice that looks after the old folks. The challenge gets its name from “30 days, 30 rides” although was supposed to mean 30 people, 30 rides, 30 days. It’s actually 41 people this year. And what it really really means is that for the next 30 days, I have to cycle for at least an hour every day. Here’s the website from last year… hasn’t yet been updated for this year.

Anyway, predictably, it’s all about raising money… in the two years it’s been running, it’s raised around £75k – so the obvious target is at least £25k this year to make the £100k.

So… send me some cash!

Updating Alesis DM5 drum machine firmware

I recently updated the firmware on my Alesis DM5. The update has been around for ages, but I didn’t have the interface between the DM5 and my PC. I was in limbo about it all – I was looking at the Midiman Midisport 2×2 but I felt a bit aggrieved spending some thirty quid on something I was likely to use once. (I already have a M-Audio Pro 44 keyboard that hooks the kit in to my PC.) I finally bit the bullet and trusty old eBay turns up a nice and cheap USB Midi interface – I was dubious about something for £0.98 – whether it would really work.

Well, it did – no issues at all. You don’t need to spend £30 just to get this working!

On OSX, the process is dead simple. With the interface plugged in to your Mac and the DM5, and the DM5 switched on:

1) Download Sysex Librarian
2) Download the DM5 firmware update
3) Unpack the firmware update
4) Launch SysEx librarian
5) If your interface is working OK, you’ll see “USB cable” in the list of sources
6) Click Add, and add the downloaded update file
7) Ignore the warning message
Press play
9) It will start transferring the files to your DM5; the screen on the DM5 will change
10) Wait, and cross fingers

After that, the DM5 has been updated.

The pros of the update are more than the cons. The triggers are more responsive and there’s seems to be far less crosstalk between the triggers, and they seem to work far better with Surge cymbals. The major cons are that you have to reset any custom changes you’ve made which is a bit of a drag – and although there are all new kits on there, they’re all a bit weird. One of the defaults is a quite nice “double kick” – where the input for the hi-hat is converted to a kick sound, so you can double kick if you want.

Ultimately though, it seems like it’s worth doing.

DM5 pro kit

How to remove a Datatool System 3 from a Honda CBR600FX

Way back when, I thought an alarm on my motorbike was a good idea. I got it shortly after it had been vandalised by a drunk and I had got a bit paranoid. And, in fairness, since having it, my bike has never been stolen. Admittedly, I’m not certain there were actually any attempts to steal it, though. The times that the alarm did get triggered was always me (or an ant looking at it and setting off the motion detector) and even on those occasions, any passers-by in the vicinity barely gave it a glance before moving on and ignoring the apparent attempted theft of my bike. Had I been trying to steal my bike, then I doubt the alarm would have done much to prevent it. Seems to me that alarms arepretty ineffective nowadays. Moreover, I can think of at least one easy way to completely disable it with very little fuss.

So when I recently had to replace my battery again due to its inability to maintain a charge – no doubt caused by the permanent drain that the alarm system puts on it – enough was enough, the thing was coming out. It was surprisingly easy to do, which made me wonder about its status as Thatcam approved and all that. It took the installer quite a few hours to put in – he did do a proper job – but I’d say it took me around 20 minutes to get it out. Not something you’d do on the side of a road in order to nick it, but still, surprisngly easy. And to think I paid around £400 at the time.

This isn’t supposed to be step by step instructions and I won’t describe how to dismantle your bike or get at the particular pieces – if you can’t work out that much on your own, you probably shouldn’t be doing this. And needless to say, but it needs to be said, this is what I had to do to my own CBR600… no guarantees it’ll work for your bike or be the same or anything. And I’m by no means an electrician. So if you permanently immobilise your bike – it ain’t my fault! And note that my alarm was functional but I had taken a rather unconventional route to completely disable the bike before I did this (took out the main fuse for the bike) – so the alarm actually wasn’t alive.
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