James Purser

Revue Update Update and a Rant

James Purser — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:45:23 +0000

So yesterday I had a bit of whinge about the fact that I couldn't update my Logitech Revue because for some bizarre reason, they had geo locked the update.

Well last night I figured rather than wait around until Logitech or Google or whoever was responsible got to fixing the issue, I would utilise one of the many vpn services which allows me to pretend I'm actually a USanian for the purposes of accessing various web sites.

I connected using a free trial account with the openvpn guys and lo and behold the update worked (in fact half a dozen apps that had until now refused to update, updated).

So now I have a nice shiny new Google Play Store on my Revue but unless I either setup my own vpn setup or pay for one of the commercial ones, I'm still restricted as to what content we get to view.

This is nuts.

In order for me to do the right thing and pay for content I wish to consume I have to do the following:

Purchase the services of a commercial VPN provider (who will allow me to pretend I'm from either the US or UK)
Acquire a US Credit Card
Acquire a US address for both said Credit Card and access to say Amazon or Google Movies/Music
Then pay for the service itself

The next time someone bitches to me about "piracy" I'm going to point them at that process and then I'm going to tell them that the shocking thing isn't that people pirate, it's that people actually do the above. They WANT to reward the content producers for their work, they WANT to access services in a way that means they aren't breaking laws.

At some point, something is going to have to break. "Traditional" content producers, the ones who are locked into this geographical market madness are going to be replaced by the new online producers. The TWiTs and Revision3's of the world, the ones who view the internet as a single market and plan accordingly are going to grow and increasingly threaten the position of the main stream.

So there ya have it. Until such time, people are either going to download shows from the intarwebs or find some way to actually pay people, who really do not seem all that fussed about taking your money.

Blog Catagories:

Tech

Media Bits

googletv

Not happy Google/Logitech

James Purser — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:37:33 +0000

For those of you playing at home I have a GoogleTV based Logitech Revue. It is a thing of beauty, being snappy, well integrated and with added App goodness.

However, over the past few days I have been less than pleased with it.

Why? I hear you ask?

Mainly it relates to the recent move by Google to bring all their Market type stuff into one brand: "Google Play". This meant of course, that all Android Market apps needed to be updated to reflect the new branding and the new, integrated services.

So the first cab off the rank was my nexus s. It's running Ice Cream Sandwich and updated to Google Play without an issue.

Great I thought, then I noticed that the revue was reporting that it had updates waiting. I decided to kick off the update when I went to bed (I run the mythtv output through the revue so figured it would better to start when no one was watching). Having done that, I fully expected it to be up to date when I woke up the next morning.

Except it wasn't. It was still trying to run the update.

Sigh.

At first it was thought that someone had closed down the update path prematurely, but after much digging around by frustrated revue owners it was discovered that only those outside the US had the problem. Those within the US had upgraded and were happily accessing all areas (movies and music especially, the bastards).

I've checked, and for whatever reason if I access the update URL via a US IP address, I can access it without a problem. If I do it from my australian IP address, I get a cannot be found page.

Double U Tee Eff

That's my rage for the day.

Blog Catagories:

Tech

google

googletv

Blogging makes me feel like real media and other goodness

James Purser — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:54:11 +0000

Thought I would put something up for the end of the week.

Over at angrybeanie.com I've put up a quick look at the Independent Media Inquiry report and their brilliant idea to start counting page hits to determine whether your site counts as real media or not. 41 hits a day is the magical number by the way.

Julia Gillard and Bob Carr gamed the Press Gallery and the Opposition in a major way this week. To be honest I am not displeased by this. Bob Carr would actually make a half decent Foreign Minister (I'd try and keep him as far away from infrastructure and transport as possible though), and it's about time that the Government got itself on the front foot.

I've dragged out the sourcecode for the OpenAustralia Search Droid and started hacking around on it again to make it work on later versions of Android. Hit an interesting bug, I've found that if I do single word searches of hansard everything is fine, but phrase searches cause a BufferedInputStream not open error. I can't see any differences between the json that I'm getting but I might be blind.

I'm searching for the issue, but the closest I've come is the fact that single word searches return a "ChunkedInputStream" while phrase searches return an "UnknownLengthHTTPStream".

Note this happens on every version bar Ice Cream Sandwich.

I've also been experimenting with the features on my nexus s and have started playing with the Timelapse setup. Below is the latest one I've done:

http://youtu.be/TquF6wlxjAA

So that's it for now. Will blog later.

Blog Catagories:

My DIY Media Setup

James Purser — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Okay, I thought I should follow up the previous post with something completely different.

This morning I finally got around to integrating my Logitech Revue (a severely under-appreciated tool by the way), with the rest of my home entertainment system. As such I thought I would put down on bits what I have :)

Lounge Room

1 x AWA TV (42 inch/1080p capable) - $500

1 x Samsung Sound System (5.1) (2nd hand, around $200 when we got it)

1 x Logitech Revue (GoogleTV) - $90 at the time, prices have gone up since Logitech stopped manufacturing them

1 x Office/Home Entertainment system

Various Consoles (most of which were recieved as gifts with the exception of the XBox 360).

Setup

Consoles: The consoles are fed into the AWA TV via an RCA switch, while the audio is directed into the Samsung sound system.

Media Consumption: Most of our media consumption up until now has come via the MythTV setup. It contains all of our media and music. However this morning I finally got around to buying a DVI -> HDMI cable and fed the video from the Myth box into the Logitech Revue. I have also mapped the Logitech Keyboard controller so that the Revue relays all commands to the MythTV IR reciever, which means that I can now control both the Revue and the Myth from the same device.

It's early days yet, but with everything much more centralised, and with direct access to things like Youtube, TuneInFM and other web based media services, we're a lot further along the way to leaving terrestrial tv behind.

Blog Catagories:

I am a grown man and I am not a victim of your boobs

James Purser — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:19:02 +0000

Bettina Arndt has released another of her apologist opinion pieces proclaiming that men are poor tragic victims helpless in the light of the great and powerful boob.

According to Bettina, the women of today are

"stepping out dressed provocatively but bristling if the wrong man shows he enjoys the display."

Leaving us possessors of testicles

"in a total state of confusion"

We poor, defenceless men are apparently broken down into three groups:

"There are cocky, attractive, successful men, alpha males, revelling in this unexpected bounty, boldly eyeing off the assets of women they fancy as their prey."
"Sensitive males are wary, not knowing where to look. Afraid of causing offence."
"And there are angry men, the beta males who lack the looks, the trappings of success to tick these women's boxes. They know the goodies on display are not for them. These are the men most likely to behave badly, blatantly leering, grabbing and sneering. For them, the whole thing is a tease. They know it and resent it."

So there we have 50% of the population of the planet divided into alpha sleaze, wimp or potential rapist.

Seriously?

This whole article manages to demean both men and women.

For women, it paints them as painted harlots, using their bosoms of doom to confuse and bedazzle men. For the men it paints us as weak willed simpletons, too much a victim of our base desires to ever be trusted in polite company and in need of protection from the afore mentioned painted harlots.

Bullshit.

Last I checked, I had the required gear to be classified as a man, also, according to the law, I am considered responsible enough to participate in deciding who shall lead this country, pilot a one and a half tonne vehicle and guide young minds in their development. I am married to a woman, and in my daily life I am generally surrounded by people, half of which are of the female gender. Some of them even dress in ways that might be called daring.

You know what I do in situations like this?

I deal with it and move on. I am able, through the exercise of my thinking brain to move past the boob and deal with the person behind them.

Perhaps I am in the minority, thought I doubt it, I'm willing to bet there are many, many men out there (not counting the gay ones who have even less to fear from the boob) who are able to operate around women without drooling or pawing and groping their way through life. I'm also willing to bet that there are many, many men out there who are more than willing to take responsibility for their own actions and not blame them on the fatty milk producing glands of the opposite sex.

Sigh, so that happened

James Purser — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:40:56 +0000

So two things happened today.

The first was a near riot that necessitated the evacuation of the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader from an awards ceremony meant to highlight the work of emergency workers.

The second was WIN Television blowing it again.

If you haven't caught up on the events today then I heres a brief timeline I've put together from various sources:

Earlier today in Sydney, Tony Abbott made comments indicating that he thought it was "time to move on" from the thinking that led to the Aboroginal Tent Embassy being set up forty years ago.
Tony Abbott travels to Canberra to attend the awarding of the inaugeral National Emergency Medal along with the Prime Minister.
People at the Tent Embassy hear of Tony Abbotts comments and are, it could be said, greatly miffed. They are then told that he is actually in Canberra, not far from the Tent Embassy itself.
A number of people decide that they're going express their anger at the Opposition Leader and Prime Minister. They surround the restuaraunt, a glass walled building and start yelling and slamming on the glass.
Police are called and the Prime Ministers security detail advises her that the situation is getting dangerous and that she should leave. The PM agrees and also indicates that they should escort the Opposition Leader as well, as he doesn't have his own security detail.
The PM and Opposition leader are rushed out of the building surrounded by the biggest scrum of security personel. The PM trips on the way out and it appears the opposition leader is helped along by the security personel via the method of grabbing his belt and pushing.

That's it in a nutshell I think. I've probably missed something but that's what I've managed to pull out of the media.

Needless to say as I watched the tweets fly by with all sorts of claims and details (the original tweets I had seen claimed that the PM had been crash tackled by a protester), I waited for any sign that the MSM had picked up the story. It didn't take long for the papers to run with it, and the TV networks at least squeezing in an extra news bulletin to cover the basic details.

Well, most of the networks.

WIN Television's Wollongong station couldn't even be bothered following channel 9 by putting on an extra news bulletin after Wriddhiman Saha lost his wicket. Instead WIN simply continued on with it's pre-planned ads and it wasn't until it broadcast the 9 news bulletin at 6pm that the news finally reached the airwaves.

I basically have three things to say:

To Tony Abbott, on this day of days, a day which a large part of the indigenous community views as the day they started losing their rights, to suggest that perhaps the Tent Embassy wasn't needed was either a dog whistle of epic proportions, or simply a case of shoving both feet in at the speed of sound.

Oh and as for the snide little raised eye brows and snark when Gillard offered to remove you from the situation, that just makes you look like a petulant little child.

To the protesters, you did yourself and your cause no favours today. You managed to rise to the bait and make yourselves look like a rabble. And getting cute by offering to give the PM back her shoe tomorrow if she comes by the Embassy just really doesn't help.

Finally, to WIN Television. Convergance is coming, and it's not going to be nice to those who aren't ready for it. You've known about this for years now, unless you start doing something soon, you will be left behind.

Anyway, that was my Australia day, how was yours?

Blog Catagories:

Politics

media

convergance

On Bogans and Racism

James Purser — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:29:46 +0000

So, last night I got into one of those twitter arguments that I tend to (I have a bad case of "Someones wrong on the Internet").

In this case it was triggered by the following tweet:

Redglitterx: how do you know if youre an elitist, smug, over-priviledged racist? you make bogan jokes

Now, if you're not sure what a bogan joke is, a bogan is a name for someone who is considered ill-educated, with low income and not only ignorant, but revelling in their ignorance. As you may have noticed, this is actually a stereotype, a cardboard cutout that people use to mentally slot a group of people into the social heirachy. In this way, calling someone a bogan is very much LIKE racism.

However I have never considered the term itself to be racist.

This may be one of those cases where a term is whatever anyone wants it to be, but I really think that it doesn't help anyone to try and conflate anti-boganism with racism. If nothing else, "bogans" don't face the same extreme issues as those who suffer from racism. Bogans are not likely to be physically attacked because they are bogans, there is not a continual low level campaign by large sections of the media to seperate them out from the rest of the population, and let's be honest, there is a hell of a lot of government policy that is aimed at placating and winning the votes of those who might be called bogan.

As I said at the beginning, calling someone a bogan is like racism in that you are using a stereotype to mentally sort that person, just like calling someone an eastern sububs nancy boy, or a north shore soccer mum.

Talks to catchup on

James Purser — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:06:43 +0000

Okay so I missed #lca2012 this year. However because the LCA team is awesome (continuing the grand tradition of awesome LCA teams), the talks have started appearing on the linuxconfau2012 youtube channel.

Squeeee.

Now I have a number of talks to watch on the googletv thing:

Tux in Space: High altitude ballooning - Joel Stanley,Mark Jessop

Lego + Kids + Arduino - James Muraca

Making video streaming interactive, heckling user groups from the clouds!

Android Accessories Made Easy With Arduino - Philip Lindsay

Desktop Home Hacks - Allison Randal

Now these are just the one's I want to watch immediately. If you have a love of hackery, FOSS and all things shiny then I think you need to go through those talks and queue them up on your device of choice.

Also remember, the videos will be made available on the Linux Australia Mirror shortly, so you will be able to grab all of the talks and watch them whether you're online or not.

As I said before: Squeeee

New Purser Explores The World Episode is out

James Purser — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:57:21 +0000

Man it's been a little while since I last posted here, need to fix that.

First up though, there is a new episode of Purser Explores The World out:

Ice Hockey in the land of Sun and Surf

Australia is famous for its sporting prowess. Everyone knows that when it comes to sports such as Cricket, Rugby (of either variety) and Swimming, Australia is up there with the best in the world.

However what people may not be aware of is that Australia, the land of Sun and Surf is home to a thriving and competitive Ice Hockey community.

I'm going to take you into the world of the Australian Womens Ice Hockey competition and we're going to find out what it takes to be a player on a team that can challenge European nations.

Links will be put up in the Angry Beanie Reddit as usual

Audio:

Torrent:

Blog Catagories:

purser explores the world

angry beanie

Who's going to lead the IT revolution in the Illawarra?

James Purser — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:30:48 +0000

The Illawarra Mercury ran an article on the weekend entitled "IT tipped to boom in Illawarra", the basic premise being that as manufacturing winds down, Information Technology and Communications are tagged to grow and fill the gap.

Excellent, I personally think that Wollongong and the Illawarra makes a perfect spot to setup an IT shop if you want to be close to sydney without the costs of being based in Sydney.

However we have a little problem. Naturally, the Illawarra faces competition from other regions in NSW (and Australia) who are facing the same pressures, if we're going to succeed at making Wollongong synonymous with ICT, then we're going to need people fighting for us who have some idea of what they're talking about. This means our political reps need to be on the ball when it comes to this internet thing.

With that in mind, I thought I would do a quick poll of the state members that represent the Illawarra (from Heathcote through to Kiama) and see what sort of web presence they have.

Before I give the full details here's a quick summary:

2 MPs have their own website, the rest rely on their state party sites which are essentially brochure pages.

3 MPs are on twitter (and use it actively)

4 MPs use facebook, althought Anna Watson may as well not have bothered setting up her page and Lee Evans uses his page to simply redirect people to his website.

Based on this, I'm not super convinced that our state reps really have an understanding of the opportunities offered to the region by the expanding online world, or of the challenges that will need to be faced if we really want to see a real ICT boom in the Illawarra.

Update:

Since posting this article I've since been informed that I missed Lee Evans presence on twitter, facebook and his own website. However even taking this into account, I'm sticking to my original thoughts. It's only a minority of our state reps who actually get how this stuff works, the rest either don't get it at all or view it as simply another broadcast exercise.

Heathcote:

MP: Lee Evans

Party: Liberals

Website: http://leeevansheathcote.com.au/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/heathcotelee

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LeeEvansHeathcote

Keira:

MP: Ryan Park

Party: Labor

Website: http://www.ryanpark.com.au/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ryanpark_keira

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RyanParkforKeira