J2ME Jabber client that doesn't suck?

Now that I can do GPRS at only mildly extortionate rates ($0.0058 per kb from Exetel, thanks to Graeme's tip) I've been playing with Jabber clients on my mobile. It can be kinda handy, and it's kinda cool. Problem is, all the clients I've found are either seriously crap or lilwannabebillgatesware.

So does anyone know of a Jabber client for J2ME (or native Symbian) that is free/libre and doesn't suck?

I also wonder if you can get one that gzip compresses the Jabber stream. The Jabber protocol is _incredibly_ verbose XML, which means it could cost quite a bit uncompressed but would be easily compressed.

Safari for Windows: that didn't last long

I just downloaded Safari, Apple's web browser, and installed it on the Windows machine here at work. It didn't stay on my hard drive long.

First problem is it doesn't support proxy servers. Presumably this is a beta "feature" which will be fixed soon. Second thing is it refuses to act in a Windows-ish way, instead having all the sizzle and CPU-burning features of OSX. Bollocks to that! If I wanted all that crap, I'd run OSX.

This is a pretty common thing for Apple to do. It's also the reason I don't have Quicktime installed. I can't stand applications that unilaterally decide to ignore all the UI standards of the host OS. Imagine how rabid the Apple fanbois would be if a Windows application didn't do things in an OSX-ish way?

Regardless, all I wanted to do is be able to test sites in Safari. It'll have to wait until proxies work.

A lesson on why you should use free software

Much of my work uses Skype for instant messaging and since the development is in completely the wrong timezone, I have to run it. This meant I installed it on my laptop at home. Recently though it's been crashing my entire machine. Full, hard lockup. Not sure what freaky stuff they're doing, but it's a good reminder to stick with free software.

Looks like I'm not the only one too.

Church sticks nose into state

A delusionary man who believes in fairies has stuck his nose into NSW politics threatening our representatives with "consequences" if they support a law expanding stem cell research. Evidently this theist doesn't recognise the need to separate church and state.

What's happening here is quite clear, but they'd never admit it out loud. They lost the argument on abortion. Abortion is widely supported in the community, including by many of the less rabid theists. Now they're trying to achieve the same aim by other means.

This from a man who says abortion is worse than pedophilia. At least with the latter, being in the Catholic church, he's likely to have some first-hand experience.

Telstra could use existing infrastructure

Things are hotting up with the FTTN (fibre to the node, a technology that puts a fibre to the end of your street and uses high-speed copper for the rest) debate in Australia. It's quite worrying because Telstra's spin is all aimed at forcing the government to make a rash decision before the election. Such a decision would almost certainly re-entrench Telstra's monopoly.

Some are asking why we need FTTN. It promises amazingly fast speeds, and is a stepping stone to full FTTH (fibre to the home). That's all well and good, but there's nothing to say we really need it right now. In fact, a relic from the early 90s battle between Optus and Telstra could be used to demonstrate why we need FTTN speeds.

Running past my house are two cables for cable TV and data. The latest standards allow up to 160Mbit/s downstream and up to 120Mbit/s upstream on these cables. The architecture of this cable is that as bandwidth demands increase, they can add more capacity by running fibre closer and closer to homes.

So if Telstra really wants to push this agenda, why are the maximum speeds available through their cable only capable of 17Mbit/s down and 256kbit/s upstream? As always Telstra are huffing and puffing, but they could deliver FTTN and faster speeds to a fair number of consumers today!

Fuck you Virgin Mobile!

Where on this page does it say that you can't get 3G internet access with this company's pre-pay SIM cards? That's right, it doesn't.

I churned over because $5/month for 50 megs would be much cheaper than Vodafone's extortionate $1 minimum per use of the Internet, and $1/minute (despite the fact it's a packet-switched service). But if it becomes $20/month plus the $5/month, which would be the minimum to go on a post-pay plan, that suddenly becomes bloody expensive!

I shall be getting my $20 for the SIM card refunded once I've churned somewhere else. Anyone got any suggestions for pre-pay phone providers who don't rape you for modest data requirements? All I want is to be able to sync my calendar and occasionally do some light browsing while waiting for a bus or whatever.

This does not inspire confidence

Just tried to transfer some money from one of my bank accounts to the other using St George and got this message:
Your transaction may have been unsuccessful.
Please logout of Internet Banking and login again. Before making this transaction again, please view your transaction history to check if this payment or transfer was processed.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

That does not inspire confidence. Your transaction may have been unsuccessful. What kind of computer system can't be sure?

More reason why I don't have comments on my blog

61.238.244.86 - - [30/May/2007:06:55:35 +0100] "POST /blog/index.cgi/me/Comment_less_Blogs.html HTTP/1.1" 200 7516 "-" "-"

This is someone randomly trying to post spam to a post I wrote ages ago about why I don't have comments on my blog. Yet more reason, you ask me. You'll fight a losing battle with the spammers, especially if you use off-the-shelf software with >5 other users. Even with something you write yourself, like my my crappy script you need something non-standard to keep the spammers away.

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