HBase thrift API - Mutation store a float in a column

[Nicolas Seyvet]

Hi,

Using the HBase thrift API, and Java as a programming language, it seems that 
when setting a value in a Mutation :

Mutation mutation = new Mutation();
mutation.setIsDelete(false);
 mutation.setColumn(StringUtils.bytes("data latitude"));

ByteBuffer buf = ByteBuffer.allocate(8);
mutation.setValue(buf.putFloat(12f));

The resulting value in HBase (as seen from the shell) is always:

1234##2013-05-123 03:49:13                            column=data:latitude, 
timestamp=1367587243318, value=\x00\x00\x00\x00

What am I doing wrong?