Enca is a (normally *nix) application which attempts to detect the text encoding of files.

It’s only supplied as source which isn’t too helpful for windows users.

Enca is particularly useful at guessing the encoding of text files where the language is known.

Here is version 1.12 compiled into a native windows binary: enca_1-12.zip
(I’ve compiled this from a downloaded source, so no responsibility is taken for it’s suitability for use, being free from viruses, etc. In other words, use it at your own risk)

I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 in early December, but yesterday was the first time I tried to use headphones since then.

It turns out that plugging headphones into the headphones socket doesn’t automatically mute the speakers anymore.

Here’s a fix.

Open a terminal (Alt+F2 > gnome-terminal)
alsamixer (enter)
Use the arrow keys (left/right) to highlight Headphon
Press ‘m’

This should fix it. You can now hit Esc to exit and exit the terminal.

If you get the error “Not available in the current data” in the Ubuntu Software Centre, try opening a Terminal and running this:

sudo apt-get update

Update: This should also fix the error “Not available for your hardware architecture” as well

The full moon on the 30th January will occur only three hours before perigee (the point where the moon is closest to earth). This will be the closest full moon of 2010.

On top of this, the earth is at perihelion at the moment (the point where earth is closest to the sun), so the moon will also be extra bright.

Calculations show that the moon should be 33 arcminutes and 30 arc seconds (just over half a degree) in size.

While you’re at it, put a reminder in your calendar to photograph the moon on the 24th August – this is a full moon at apogee (the point where the moon is farthest from earth), where it will appear to be only 29 arcminutes and 24 arcseconds in size.

When you take your photos, I suggest noting down the zoom, iso, shutter speed and aperture so you can compare both the size and relative brightness with August.

Here is a link to a previous post about this.

Source: Wikipedia

It turns out, back in June I was photobombed while having my photo taken with Rob Brydon…

On the 13th and 14th December, we’re expecting the best meteor shower of the year.

The Geminids are a meteor shower caused by 3200 Phaethon which should result in around 120 to 140 meteors per hour. On top of this, the best dates to view it are two days before a new moon so the sky should be nice and dark.

The meteors should radiate from the constellation Gemini, which is right next to Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation.

For more information on the Geminids, try the spacedex website.