Tech-inzichten door Niek de Greef. Reflecties op technologie, software development en de impact van digitale innovaties op cultuur en maatschappij.

Understanding Ponyo’s Puff-Puff Boat Mechanism

I really like the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Since we just visited Japan, we are re-watching his films (on Netflix).

In the film, after a flood, Sosuke and Ponyo go in a special little steamboat powered by a candle in search of Lisa, Sosuke’s mother. This time, the propulsion of this little boat caught my eye. I googled it, and it turns out to be a puff-puff boat (or pop-pop boot in Dutch).

I didn’t understand how this mechanism worked, but of course, you can always find someone who can explain it clearly. The remarkable dynamic balance that is created by heated in a boiler, pushed out, and sucked back in due to the underpressure that is created.

https://kayakaa.com/how-does-ponyo-boat-work/

PS. I found the first link died. Here is (an even more extensive) description.

http://www.nmia.com/~vrbass/pop-pop/aapt/crane.htm

And for those who like to go down the rabbit hole:

Putt Putt (Pop Pop) Boat Home

Right To Repair

Cory Doctorow is an activist I admire. One of the things he has his sights set on is ‘Right to repair’.

Me iPhone 8 was still fine but the battery went dead within a day. Especially on vacation that sucks. We take long walks and I have several apps open then: AllTrails, GPX Tracker and Relive or Polarsteps. Sometimes Google maps or a local hiking app, too. Each of them don’t use a whole lot of battery power, but enough to drain a faltering battery quickly.

I looked up the cost of a new battery. It’s 55 euros at Apple, 40 euros at someone around the corner, and 20 euros for the battery itself. That was not too bad.

But couldn’t I do it myself? The company ifixit.com accurately documents what you need to do and tells you what parts you need.

Now, the iPhone’s battery appears to have been secured in the device with glue. I immediately understand what Cory Doctorow means. That is an engineering sin. There is no way that is a qualitative reason for that. Apple just wants to make it difficult for you to repair the device yourself.

I ordered the set from iFixit, which, including the tools I didn’t already have, cost me 61 euros, including shipping. That sounds a lot, but I can also use those tools to repair a MacBook Pro 2021, which Apple says should cost 700 euros to repair a screen cable.

I will report how I fared.

I am continuing my search for a repairable laptop. And found it: https://frame.work/nl/en.

Ubuntu runs like a charm on old laptop

This Saturday I installed Ubuntu Linux on my mother’s old laptop, a Dell Vostro Intel Core i3 with 4GB from I don’t know what year, I think 2013. The installation was a breeze, using balenaEtcher to write an image to a USB stick.

Now to see what I will do with it. Host a website that I program all by myself in Django/Python?

Ubuntu means as much as being open to others, devoting yourself to others, showing compassion and respect.

Who is open to my Ubuntu laptop ?

Get Bug hunting

Nice idea: Make a list of bugs, prioritize them and fix them.

I started the list.

At the same time: cancel email newsletters that I never read anyway but collect out of FOMO.