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There's no justice

20th October, 2009. 10:18 pm. Getting My Hands Dirty with DTV, Part 1

A few months ago, I was given a USB Tuner Stick. This is a small external device that allows a computer to receive over-the-air digital television signals. It has two obvious uses: (1) watching live TV; (2) recording programs for later viewing. (2) opens up the possibility of creating custom DVDs, which can provide better picture quality than a DTV Converter Box + a VHS VCR. Recordable DVDs are relatively inexpensive, and take up less storage space than videotapes. Having a digital copy of a television broadcast also makes it easy to skip unwanted material (which usually means commercial interruptions, but in the case of the Super Bowl means football).

Why is this interesting? Because, to the extent possible, I'm doing all this using only free, open-source software. My story begins with a secondhand PC, and a fresh installation of Ubuntu 9.04, a free Linux distribution. ( More... )

14th September, 2009. 1:05 pm. The only "green" BART wants is yours

BART's service reductions take effect today. While there's been plenty of media coverage about the schedule changes, the "buried" news story is that they've simultaneously discontinued all of their remaining offline "QuickPlanner" offerings (Palm, iPod). They still offer a PDF version of their Fares and Schedules brochure (which I'm sure is great if you have a Kindle DX, and not so much otherwise).

They seem to be assuming that, in these recessionary times, after imposing an onerous fare increase half a year early, their riders are now eager to shell out big bucks for a smartphone with an unlimited data plan ... or are willing to pay up the wazoo for WiFi (BTW, their new BFF WiFi Rail thinks you'll be happy to hand over as much as $10 a day just as soon as they can finish becoming the exclusive provider on BART property). [Uh, which part of "monopolies are bad" is the difficult concept here?] If, for whatever reason, you don't have Internet access at the very instant you want BART information, tough!

Fortunately, the "dead tree" version is still available free of charge. For now.

Current mood: infuriated.

11th September, 2009. 11:12 pm. Paved with Good Intentions

Users who install the latest Firefox 3.0.x release are greeted with a "what's new" page that invokes a script (http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/js/detect-flash.js) intended to check if the user is running an old, buggy version of Adobe's Flash Plug-in, and, if so, display this dire warning:

You should update Adobe Flash Player right now.

Firefox is up to date, but your current version of Flash Player can cause security and stability issues. Please install the free update as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, their script doesn't understand that Flash Player version 9.0.246.0 is a "fixed" version, and no update is necessary or appropriate. (Source: APSB09-10)

Shame on you, Mozilla, for needlessly frightening your customers.

Current mood: disappointed.

2nd September, 2009. 3:37 pm. Montréal Science Centre photos posted

(Read this post in [info]anticipation_09 if you haven't already.)

I made a brief visit to the Montréal Science Centre (I got in free thanks to ASTC). Photos are here. ( More... )

30th July, 2009. 11:52 pm. Enough with the downsizing already!

Two of my local supermarket chains have Post cereals on sale this week. I figured Cocoa Pebbles would make a great ice cream topping ... and was astonished to find Post's new overlords shrunk the mainstream product from Kraft's obnoxious 13 oz. to a measly 11 oz. (>15% less cereal / >18% price increase)

I walked away, disgusted.

Current mood: annoyed.

25th July, 2009. 11:47 am. Your Tax Dollars at Work: Linux-Bashing

The Federal Citizen Information Center's Publication of the Week is Stop. Think. Click., which admonishes readers:

Hackers also take advantage of Web browsers (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) and operating system software (like Windows or Linux) that are unsecured.

Of course, the fact that the PDF version was produced on a Macintosh in no way suggests a certain bias...

Current mood: shocked.

1st July, 2009. 3:09 am. What's the opposite of "Economic Stimulus?"

BART jacks up their fares today, with the biggest slap-in-the face going to air travelers.

BART from Civic Center station (i.e. 7th-8th St. & Market) to SFO (or vice versa) now costs a whopping $8.10 (a >51% price increase), and takes half an hour.

In comparison, the SamTrans KX bus from 7th and Mission (a block away) costs $4.50, and gets you to SFO in around 22 minutes.

Other than running twice as frequently — that is, until the announced service reductions that will take effect in September — what exactly does BART have going for it? Oh yeah, they'll transport baggage most airlines used to let you check for free. Big ouch there.

This isn't just another greedy soak-the-tourists revenue scheme; it hurts people who live here more.

Current mood: annoyed.

27th June, 2009. 7:59 pm. And Then, There Were Two

One of the more surprising things on June 13 was just how many analog stations were still on the air. Today, KFTL-CA flash cut to digital, and KNTV-TV's "night light" went dark. KAXT-CA and KMMC-LP are still broadcasting NTSC.

KFTL's digital signal is defintely harder to pull in than their analog signal was. At least they're still there. KTNC and KTLN popped in briefly during the past few weeks, but they're gone now. I never managed to get a signal for KTFK.

26th June, 2009. 10:43 am. It's old enough to be President

Bar code turns 35 today

Current mood: geeky.

23rd June, 2009. 3:59 pm. Linux users no longer feeling the love from Yahoo!

Yahoo! Messenger has started popping up this dire warning:

SYSTEM Message
Warning: This version of Messenger will expire on August 15, 2009. Please upgrade to the latest supported version: http://messenger.yahoo.com/download .

That link then offers me a Windows version of their software, even though my browser is sending a User-Agent: that clearly and unequivocally reveals that I am not running Windows.

I fired Microsoft years ago, and in the decades I've been using computers, I can't think of anything else I've ever done that has produced such a phenomenal increase in my "customer satisfaction," productivity, happiness and general well-being. Ubuntu Linux has proven itself completely adequate for all my mundane needs. (I also run FreeBSD to do "real work," and make frequent use of its excellent Linux emulation.) So, I'm deeply saddened that Yahoo! has chosen to abandon users of their official native Linux client and offer no reasonable upgrade path. (Do I really need to explain why their Flash-based "solution" does not qualify as "reasonable?")

( More... )

Current mood: sad.
Current music: Love Don't Live Here Anymore (Rose Royce).

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