Dylan Verheul

Bootmap - Generate static, dynamic and editable maps from semantic HTML

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:45:00 -0800

I started a small open source project called Bootmap (http://dyve.github.com/bootmap/) on GitHub. The idea is to generate maps from semantic HTML without the need for JavaScript.

To make this work you have to include jQuery and Bootmap files in your pages, but you do not have to write any JavaScript code yourself.

Live examples are available on http://dyve.github.com/bootmap/. The GitHub repository is at https://github.com/dyve/bootmap.

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South migrations for geospatial field types

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:43:00 -0800

Problem:

When converting a Django app to South fails with the message:

! Cannot freeze field 'FIEDL_NAME'
 ! (this field has class django.contrib.gis.db.models.fields.PointField)

 ! South cannot introspect some fields; this is probably because they are custom
 ! fields. If they worked in 0.6 or below, this is because we have removed the
 ! models parser (it often broke things).
 ! To fix this, read http://south.aeracode.org/wiki/MyFieldsDontWork

Thanks to Reinout van Rees for figuring this out.

Solution:

In order for South to work, you have to add django.contrib.gis ro the INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py.

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Mac Mini and Apple TV 2 Setup

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:11:21 -0800

Here is my current setup for finding, downloading and viewing TV shows.

Devices

It uses 2 devices, a Mac Mini and an Apple TV 2. The Mac Mini is run headlessly (without a monitor, without a keyboard) from a closet. The Apple TV is connected to the big screen in the living room. The Mac Mini and the Apple TV are "connected" using iTunes Home Sharing.

I use both the original Apple TV remote as well as the Remote App for iPad and iPhone. The Apple TV 2 is also connected a 5.1 surround receiver. Using AirPlay I can play music from iOS to the Apple TV (which is my main way of listening to music).

All of the devices run the regular Apple software, no jailbreaks applied.

The Mac Mini's jobs are:

Keep a list of TV shows I like.
Find new episodes of my TV shows and download them.
Convert downloaded TV shows to iTunes format, if possible by remuxing, if needed by reencoding.
Accept manually added torrent files from trusted locations.
Download added Torrent files.
Keep iTunes running.

The Apple TV 2's jobs are:

Be quiet and unobtrusive.
Play audio and video when told.
Do AirPlay magic to TV and receiver.

Software

The Mac Mini uses this:

uTorrent
- downloads torrent files from a ShowRSS feed (TV Shows)
- downloads torrents from a shared Dropbox folder (anything else)
- stores finished downloads in a folder for incoming media
iVI
- converts incoming movies to MP4-format
- adds TV- and movie information
- adds downloaded subtitles
- adds the file to iTunes
Subler
- for manually adding/removing MP4 audio and subtitles
iDentify
- for manually adding TV-show and movie information
HandBrake
- if iVI fails to convert a video, HandBrake comes to the rescue
Hazel
- for automatically moving files
jBierSubDownloader
- for downloading subtitles
Screen sharing so I can access the Mac Mini from my iPad, MacBook, et cetera.

The essential apps in the above list are uTorrent and iVI. My setup is a little complicated because my wife prefers to watch shows and movies wih English subtitles.

No jailbreaking

I spent a lot of time hacking and jailbreaking an Apple TV 1 to do it all. The results were pretty good, but the setup was prone to crashes, overheating. Also, every Apple software update meant my setup would stop working. So when the Apple TV 2 came out, I bought a use Mac Mini. It was an investment, but it's working like a charm. Also, it doubles as my e-mail backup machine (POP3 Gmail), CrashPlan backup location. Now every time a software update appears, I can just install it, and the setup continues to work like a charm.

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elBulli: No Reservations

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:24:39 -0800

And also on YouTube, the more recent second visit of Anthony Bourdain to elBulli. A final goodbye, this was recorded when elBulli was serving it's final season of customers.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Interview

http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/01/anthony-bourdain-elbulli-interview.php

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Anthony Bourdain: Decoding Ferran Adrià

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:58:00 -0800

Amazing stuff. I wish I'd had dinner there once. elBulli is closed forever now though.

Part 1 of 4

Part 2 of 4

Part 3 of 4

Part 4 of 4

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Leafsnap: An Electronic Field Guide

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:16:00 -0800

via leafsnap.com

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The Magic of Reality for iPad

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:42:00 -0800

via youtube.com

I have this on my iPad since a few days. Great book, great visuals. My 5 year old daughter likes it almost as much as I do, she loves the stories as well as the explanations and the interactive parts.

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Fix iPhone home button

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:08:00 -0700

Found this tip in comment here: http://www.tipb.com/2011/01/04/tipb-bug-home-button-working-iphone/

1.) Open any application

2.) Press and hold the power button until the slide to shutdown swipe bar appears.

3.) Release Power button

4.) Press and hold Home button Lightly 
until screen returns to icon screen

5.) Enjoy your functioning home button!!!

This procedure recalibrates the home button after normal wear or heavy use.

via gist.github.com

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Downloading TV Show torrents

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:11:08 -0700

Recently I noticed I wasn't getting my TV show torrents from ShowRSS anymore. A little investigation revealed that they were not serving 720p episodes when they became available.

Googling for a better solution led me to this:

I now use http://www.dailytvtorrents.org/
I take their feed for all shows, with a preference for 720p (http://www.dailytvtorrents.org/rss/allshows?prefer=720&wait=4)
I have a filter in uTorrent that selects the episodes to download

Works like a charm, and I'm getting all my shows again.

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Bootstrap support for Django projects: django-bootstrap

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:38:00 -0700

django-bootstrap

django-bootstrap is a Django application for easily incorporating the Bootstrap framework in Django projects.

via github.com

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CrashPlan iPhone / iPad App

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:22:00 -0700

via itunes.apple.com

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What Twitter Looked Like When It Was Born

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:42:00 -0700

via readwriteweb.com

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Beautiful Growl Notification Style

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:16:00 -0700

via premiumpixels.com

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Ollekebolleke

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:18:52 -0700

Lang zal hij leven ja
Ons doctorandusje
Nu tweeënnegentig
Hiep hiep hoera

Verzon dat vervloekte
Ollekebolleke
In vierenzeventig
Ik kan er niks mee

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Airport Extreme and encrypted disks

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:14:19 -0700

My Macbook's Time Machine backs up to an encrypted USB disk. I was contemplating moving the disk to my Airport Extreme to free up a USB port and have Time Machine work when I am not connected to my Cinema Display (which acts as a hub for all my peripherals). However, I couldn't find any documentation on whether or not Airport Extreme accepts Lion encrypted volumes as Air Disks.

So I did what any sensible geek would do. I unplugged my encrypted 1TB backup disk from the USB hub and plugged it into the Airport Extreme.

The results were interesting. Airport extreme recognized the physical disk (it showed up with its make, model and size specified), but not the encrypted logical volume. After switching it back from the Airport Extreme back to my USB hub, the Macbook recognized the encrypted volume and started backing up as usual.

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Origin of the Apple AirPort logo revealed

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:59:06 -0700

Few people know this, but the Apple AirPort logo is is based on
Richard Chamberlain's iconic 1980 Shōgun kimono. Don't tell anyone!

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xgettext on Mac OS X

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:17:33 -0700

brew install gettext
sudo brew link gettext
(this assumes you have Homebrew running)

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Merge adress books, sync contacts

Fri, 13 May 2011 03:48:00 -0700

Can someone point me to a solution that does this:

connect multiple sources of contacts
automatically merge identical contacts
alert me of possible conflicts
provide an API so I can sync my iPhone, Address Book etc with it

We've got this stuff for e-mail, it should be available for contacts.

If this is too much to ask, then maybe Google has a solution to sync/merge the contacts I have on 2 Google Apps accounts and my private Gmail account?

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MacBook with external display, lid open, screen off

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:21:00 -0700

I've been trying to use my MacBook Air in clamshell mode (internal display powered off) with the lid open (so I can access the keyboard). After seeing various sites describe how to do this, I kept failing. Until I found the official resource at support.apple.com. It turns out having your MacBook plugged into a wall socket is required to perform this trick. Unbelievable, but true!

Instructions to use your MacBook with an external display, the lid open and the internal display turned off:

Make sure the computer is plugged in to an outlet using the AC power adapter.
Connect a USB mouse to your computer.
With the computer turned on connect the Apple portable (using the appropriate Apple adapter if necessary) to the appropriate port on the external display or projector and turn the display or projector on.
Once your computer's Desktop appears on the external display, close the computer's lid.
Once the lid is closed, wake the computer up by clicking your mouse button.

That's it!

Some sites note that you should enable mirror mode in your display settings at step 3 but I did not need that to get this to work.

Dylan Verheul

Bootmap - Generate static, dynamic and editable maps from semantic HTML

South migrations for geospatial field types

Mac Mini and Apple TV 2 Setup

elBulli: No Reservations

Anthony Bourdain: Decoding Ferran Adrià

Leafsnap: An Electronic Field Guide

The Magic of Reality for iPad

Fix iPhone home button

Downloading TV Show torrents

Bootstrap support for Django projects: django-bootstrap

django-bootstrap

CrashPlan iPhone / iPad App

What Twitter Looked Like When It Was Born

Beautiful Growl Notification Style

Ollekebolleke

Airport Extreme and encrypted disks

Origin of the Apple AirPort logo revealed

xgettext on Mac OS X

Merge adress books, sync contacts

MacBook with external display, lid open, screen off

30 Tricks to Get The Most From Your Mac