Jim's blog - Stuff

Guilty until proven innocent

nospam@example.com () — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:42:23 +1300

I picked this up from Geekzone and likewise quote Rick Shera's article.

Despite Labour and various lobby groups patting themselves on the back, saying a compromise has been reached that makes the amended copyright law workable and fair, it looks like things have in fact taken a turn for the worse.

Please make sure that you read this: Internet law guru Rick Shera is ringing the alarm bell about a completely new provision being introduced into the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill at the very last moment by the Commerce Select Committee.

Called Section 122MA, the provision essentially presumes an account holder is guilty if accused and must prove his/her innocence. Rights holders infringement notices are considered as conclusive evidence however. There is no sanction against rights holders who present erroneous or false evidence in the proposed new law either.

This is really bad from every perspective, and I fully concur with Rick that Section 122MA must be deleted. It's not necessary, not for rights holders, and not for copyright protection either.

As it stands, S122MA can be used maliciously~~, and applied to not just file sharers~~.

Update: Rick sent a correction - "The new regime can ONLY be used to target file sharing (you suggest that it could be used for something else). Section 92C of course has exactly the same problem with guilt on accusation. Irony is many submitted that the new regime and section 92C should be made consistent. Little did we know that they would retrofit the new one!"

The irony here is that I remember David Farrar, wearing his InternetNZ hat, saying during the S92A debacle that it was necessary to engage and help shape the new law. If not, something much worse than S92A et al could appear.

Clearly, there have been many, many submissions on the new copyright bill and plenty of public opinion expressed too - and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone with the possible exception of rights holders have advocated that we remove the principle of innocent until found guilty from our laws.

So why did the Select Committee insert Section 122MA? This needs to be explained.

iPhone down track

nospam@example.com () — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:18:48 +1200

I like most of the features of my iPhone especially now that I have discovered

- Wellibus - Wellington bus timetables on line.

- Metservice app - weather forecasts on my phone including marine and tides.

- MyKeyPass - a password safe I can sync with my PC so that I can access online services on the go.

I am reading the news while travelling on the bus (Google Reader speeds that up) and sometimes even listen to music at the same time.

Still don't like iTunes to backup and I have had several problems with it.

I am running it on XP under VirtualBox (thanks John). Virtual box appears to have better hardware compatibility than VMWare but I still have problems.

The first IOS security update hung and then timed out. The phone then wouldn't do anything except wait to sync again through iTunes - at which point it would repeat again. I found others on the web with the same problem without VirtualBox being in the loop so decided that VB wasn't the problem. I eventually found a simple solution that partly solved the problem. Using task manager (XP) to kill iTunes during its update before it times out, and then restarting it, results in it completing its update. Crazy. Unfortunately it loses all installed apps so another 15 minutes or so has been needed to install those.

It has happened with two updates so far so I expect it will happen again when I update to the latest release.

Update Just tried to update to IOS 4.2 and have the same problem except I haven't been able to get it working after several hours of trying.... bugger.

I'm becoming an iPhone fan-boy

nospam@example.com () — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:27:36 +1200

Well not really. There are some things I don't like about it but mostly I love its ease of use and functionality.

My Nokia N95, after a brief period of random failing stop working at all in early June. When booting it comes up with a message that it has failed and to contact my retailer. Quoted week at a Vodafone store to have it sent away for repair (or for checking out to see if repair is possible) I decided to buy an iPhone. It took a day to get to a store that had one in stock and about 20 minutes to go through the paperwork.

The interface took all of a couple of minutes to get used to and I had installed a LinkedIn app, along with Freshbooks and Highrise apps and Google Earth in no time at all. I don't use the iPod functionality at all and having to go through iTunes on my old PC (see below) to copy music onto would be a huge disincentive anyway. Does anyone know how to just connect an iPhone as a storage device on Linux and copy mp3 files to it - I would use it on occasion to download podcast but the hassle isn't worth it.

Two main beefs that I have with it are:

1. iTunes - it goes against the grain to be locked in to a proprietary tool to be able to even able to start using the phone as a phone be cause of having to register it and the iTunes store for downloading apps. What really grated was needing to give Apple my credit card number in order to download even free apps although I have now spent $1.29 on a Keepass, a password safe.

2. The other major gripe is that I can't save my contacts back to my SIM card. I have always kept all my phone list on the SIM card so that if the phone dies I can plug it into any compatible phone and be in touch. Now I am tied in to backing up through iTunes and can only restore onto another iPhone.

The only PC I have that runs Windows (out of about 6) and hence iTunes has only been used for running an accounting program. It has never before connected to the Internet apart from when first registering the accounting package. I therefore haven't worried too much about keeping it patched. It was a mission to get it into a state where I was comfortable with allowing it to talk off the LAN and it is slow and tedious to use - and now the only thing it is used for is iTunes... we have taken the accounts to Xero.

If the iPhone lasts only as long as my last Nokia I'll probably not replace it with another iPhone and will have to go through a complex process of restoring my contacts to my SIM to use in whatever I get next - may be a Google Nexus.

Another minor glitch is the battery life although I am using 3G Internet more than previously and I have to charge it pretty much every night.

Anyway mostly I am very happy with it.

Linux printer compatibility - Ubuntu rules....

nospam@example.com () — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:08:32 +1200

I have been very impressed lately by the ease with which I have been able to install and use 3 different printing devices on my Linux (Ubuntu) laptop. Years ago I struggled with compatibility lists and struggled to identify devices that had good support under Linux. Mostly it was hit and miss.

A couple of years ago I installed an HP2605DTN colour laser printer on my office network. The process was totally painless and I have all the normal options on the print menus in OpenOffice.org and other GUI Linux apps.

When I needed a fax machine last year I picked up an display model HP4300 fax/scanner/printer for under NZ$100 including a new ink cartridge. Plugged it into my USB port and it was correctly identified immediately and just worked. Printing and scanning plug & play. I haven't tried printing to the fax function yet.

A couple of weeks ago I dropped by a friends house and as I was leaving he pointed to an Epson R350 photo printer, said he was dumping it as he had upgraded, and did I want it. Not having a decent photo printer I put it under my arm, took it home and plugged it into my PC. Again it just worked. All the right paper and colour options on application menus in the right places. I am really impressed with the photos it prints on decent paper. I may be less impressed when I find out how long ink cartridges last but that is not a problem Ubuntu can solve for me.

What I am really happy about is that I didn't need any of the various driver disks for XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Mac that came with the devices I bought. Everything has just worked.

That is how things should be. Thanks Ubuntu.

I seldom bother with the hardware compatibility lists now except when I find things like the whizzy 3G card in my new(ish) netbook that needed special attention to get it working reliably (no thanks to HP) and whose GPS functionality is still an undocumented black hole.

Ticketmaster (lack of) service

nospam@example.com () — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:06:55 +1200

Having decided it would be pretty good to see the Simon & Garfunkel concert in Auckland in June I got prepared.

Tickets were to be on sale through Ticketmaster this morning. Not having dealt with Ticketmaster before, I spent a bit of time last night registering to use the site and checking out the Vector Arena seating plan to minimise the time it would take to select seats. 9a.m. this morning I was logged in to Ticketmaster and ready to go. Ticketmaster wasn't quite as ready but a minute or two later I was selecting 2 tickets/any price - let's see what the options are.....

Type in the robot prevention words and presto - nothing available that met my selection. OK - try some of the other selection options - same result. Try another PC and two different browsers - same result. Repeat until bored (actually I decided that I couldn't bill my client for the time I was spending and the lost income was mounting up to a significant percentage of the ticket price.)

Try phoning the local outlet a few times - busy every time as expected - that's why I want to do it on line. Actually I got the same result this evening too - one ticket any price. It doesn't say none are available/sold out/you have done something wrong/etc. Just nothing that matches my one ticket at any price criteria.

I guess the answer is to queue at a real outlet - but that is a time consuming process too and no more guaranteed to produce a result. The Internet should be a real alternative. Either sell me a ticket (or 2) or tell me there are none available. Don't screw me around.......

Time to get your act into gear Ticketmaster - booking systems aren't exactly rocket science and the customer experience should encourage not discourage returns.

====

Update I have since found out that about 75% of the tickets had been sold in advance and the remainder sold out in 17 minutes. The transaction rate of 1 per second per 1000 tickets sold in 17 minutes is not exactly high performance. If the Ticketmaster systems can't handle that level of load they need sorting out.

Why couldn't they say "Sorry - sold out" or "Sorry the system is overloaded please try later".

Extreme weather readings

nospam@example.com () — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:01:28 +1300

My weather display software is logging outdoor temperatures as low as -80C at times now. Given that our NZ summer rarely gets below +10C its obvious something is pretty bad. The desktop display seems to read OK. Not sure whether its the software or the Irox ProX station returning the wrong data.

Also the desktop display unit has its temperature sensor reading stuck on sensor 3 which is in my spare bedroom. It won't cycle around the other sensors as it used to. I can only cycle around them manually using the remote. May need to consult the manual on that.

In another area my Owl remote power monitor appears broken. Have checked the batteries and reset it so I'll need to check out how to get a warranty repair done.

Weather data

nospam@example.com () — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:34:15 +1300

The new button at the top of this page shows latest weather information from my weather station located in Berhampore, Wellington, NZ.

I am using the jpgrapg php library to present data captured from my Irox station by Brian Hamilton's Weather Display software. Still very experimental and may at times not work properly (or at all).

Heavy weather

nospam@example.com () — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:06:04 +1200

I love the seasons as they go by.

The weather in Wellington over the last 24 hours has been pretty wintery. Went out last night and the temperature was down to 3C before 7pm and it was raining quite heavily. By the time we were on our way home about 1.30am it had warmed up to 8 degrees and was blowing a strong gale. My weather station reported 23 knots in its somewhat sheltered position - I believe the winds were over 60knots in places. The wind continued until mid-afternoon today.

Swell from the south breaking on the rocks off Island Bay

Jo and I went for a walk down to Island Bay and watched the big swells rolling in from the south. I heard that they had been up to 10 metres in Cook Strait but the Wellington marine forecast was talking about 4 metres. There was a bit of snow on the Orongorongos and ferries were cancelled overnight.

Weather station

nospam@example.com () — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:15:53 +1300

I have installed several updates of the Weather Display software now and each seems to work a bit better with my IROX weather station and Linux. Unfortunately I am running it on my laptop and that spends most days disconnected from the docking station so I'm not really getting the full use of it. I plan to get a small system that was originally sold as a firewall running as a datalogger. It is running a Linux based version of Checkpoint firewall software currently.

It has keyboard and monitor connections on the motherboard but not on the case its in so I need to either figure out a new OS install using the serial console or find some cables that will connect to the motherboard. I have got a two port USB expansion connector for it already. Once I get an OS on it it has 3 network ports to play with so I won't need to log on to it directly.

Continue reading "Weather station"

Stuff

nospam@example.com () — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:27:43 +1300

Lots been happening and nothing much at the same time.

I managed to pull a muscle in my left leg while walking to work a couple of weeks ago. Physio is sorting that. Then I tripped on a kerb and fell, grazing my right knee and elbow.

Can't get Hookey in and out of the garage since a load of compost was delivered for the new garden space. The garden has progressed with a decent number of veges planted and I have run irrigation around most of it although its still not all in a position to be automatically switched on/off when we are away. No new cheeses on the go yet although the last cheddar is smelling great. Has dried out a bit and cracked on the outside though so cosmetically not great. I have finished off the last of the Cheshire I cut into a few weeks back. Truly up to expectations and hopes.

Labour weekend behind us...

nospam@example.com () — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:35:39 +1300

And despite the weather forecast Wellington turned on a splendid weekend. Pretty windy at times but warm and sunny. That long dry summer may be on its way.

I made a couple of cheeses on Saturday - another cheddar and some camembert with the new lot of culture that arrived earlier in the week. I used more milk (4 litres) for the camembert than the recipe said and spent a busy time trying to make some extra moulds for it. Later I found out why they should all be exactly the same height and why I should drain them on a flat surface rather than a recessed one when I came to turn them over. Anyway I now have a couple of good looking hard cheeses ripening and 5 camemberts of various sizes.

It was a pretty social weekend as well with the kids coming over several times, a movie Saturday night ("I do" a french comedy - worth seeing), a walk and pizza with friends Sunday night.

Got the garage almost cleaned out, did a bit in the garden, listed a couple more bits and sold a laser printer on Trademe.

A good weekend although didn't get out in the boat - the wind was a bit gusty and strong at times for it to be fun although we did see couple of guys out in a small cat at Plimmerton - (only sail boat in sight) and they were moving pretty swiftly.

How the Lord of the Rings should have ended....

nospam@example.com () — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:02:29 +1200

An amusing alternative LOR in 2 minutes

Other stuff

nospam@example.com () — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:00:25 +1200

that hasn't been categorised yet