Archive for February, 2008

That number isn’t going down!

// February 27th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

Assuming you are reading this on the website and not in a feed reader (although you are more than welcome to do so) and glancing over to the right sidebar of this sites somewhat lacklustre layout will present you with a column entitled Resolution.

This is a simple enough concept, in my efforts to post once per day you have a running tally of the number of posts this year, vs the number of days (and therefore posts I should have). The idea was to motivate me into posting more often. This isn’t working quite as planned. The number is a helpful guide to how far behind I am getting this year but life is still getting in the way of more regular posting.

Of course I am still in a position where I am considering starting another 2 blogs (for very separate subject matter) but one has to wonder, if I can’t even keep up with one site what hope is there for any others?

On a semi related note – is any one still reading this? I seem to have a dearth of comments.

*Tweets are not included in this count as that would be cheating.

ROVF – Satellite Shoot Out, Slo Mo, Super Mario and Stewart (Patrick)

// February 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

Well I may as well admit that the ROVT is now more like ROVF on a regular basis.

This week (cos I’m in a hurry) you get four good ones:

Satellite gets shot down… you heard about this right? The US military recently discovered a serious need to test their missile defence platform safely destroy a lost satellite before it crashed to earth and poisoned everyone. Of course this immediately pissed off the Chinese, the Russians … hell everyone wanted a piece of the US – relax guys, it’s not like they’ve been developing anti orbital weapons, and the fact that they managed to hit such a small, fast moving target is simply an indication of the power of democracy … or something.

Things in slow motion are cool right? Well how about things going even more slowly? If I carry on at this rate then I’ll be posting a static image in about 3 weeks time :-)

Super Mario Galaxy – the Flagship Wii Mario game is an awesome piece of software and I’m going to play it now … … … ok – still here? Well apparently we didn’t need to wait until the Wii as we could have had all that 3d goodness in 2d on the SNES. (Bonus points to all who can spot the games the author nicked sprites and BGs from)

Finally, I’m sure I’ve posted this before. Not a fan of the office myself but love extras and this Patrick Stewart scene is by far and away the funniest moment in the whole first series.

Amyhoo, it’s Friday, I’m knackered and am going home to get a curry! See you laters.

Moved # 2

// February 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal, Tech

Right, the move should now be complete around the world, the SSL site is back (sorry for the annoyance if you’re using a browser that won’t permanently trust the cert – it’s temporary as I will be buying a genuine certificate as soon as I’m able) and all is right with the world.

I’ve also added a few performance tweaks to the site, namely a new version of WP-Cache, an OpCode cache on the server and some other happy bouncy goodness.

Please let me know if you see anything weird going on site wise. The email (as ever) is robert@xset.co.uk. Please bear in mind that my UPS is still on back order so if the power goes out to the flat (something of a regular occurrence) then this site goes bye bye until the power comes back up.

RIP HD DVD

// February 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

I’m not a big one for format wars – they generally only hurt the consumer and divide families. The Blu-ray HD-DVD war has been fought for a while and has finally been one by the backer with the most games consoles … of all things.

As such it is with sorrow* that I provide this link to commemerate the passing of HD-DVD

My thoughts are with those early adopters who backed the wrong horse – now relegated to the world of Laser Disc and Beta Max. May your next player be a combi.

*Well not so much sorrow as the people who actually own HD DVDs – I’ve been BluRay all the way baby!

Moved

// February 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

Well XSet has now moved to its new home … a small but perfectly formed webserver running in the hallway in the flat. So far as I can tell it seems pretty happy with the move. The SSL needs to be shifted over (which will happen at some point – at the moment I’m posting over an SSH link) but the DB and stuff is all there.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the performance though as it’s only got 512kbps to play with so may get a little tight should the reader base increase beyond … say 2

Just what the world needed

// February 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

There seems to be something wrong with Hollywood at the moment. Between, Sly churning out remakes of his golden age classics and a serious lack of “ooh! must see” stuff on the horizon (with one notable exception – Indy4*) it seems that the sun kissed west coast has lost its flair. Don’t believe me?

Then explain why the world needs a Smurfs movie?

It’s . just . plain . wrong!

Anybody notice that if you type this in all caps you get INDY$ … ? In it for the money eh Ford?

Blackberry Tips for Power Bilberry users

// February 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

A small collection of over 100 tips, software and general goodness for Blackberries through Pearl, Curve and … the others. Should keep you on top of you mobile mail curse for years to come.

Back online!

// February 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal, Tech

Finally, the web is now running once more into our simple home.

We have this situation in Jersey whereby the best deals are normally provided by a company called Newtel but the infrastructure is all owned by Jersey Telecoms. This means that Newtel don’t have access to diagnostic data. Combine this with there “Self Install” package and it can make for a confusing and frustrating couple of hours.

I’d got the connection details on Thursday evening but couldn’t get my modem to come up … grr. Friday evening and I’ve switched routers, unplugged phones, tried every config in the book ad eventually phone the support line. Because I’m self install (and more than a little tech savvy)  there is little they can do to help me but insist I jump through the hoops laid out on their Q&A sheet. My personal favourite was when she asked what version of Windows I was running ;-)

So after 2 hours on the phone I finally get them to check the line status (i.e. Newtel call JT) and lo and behold … when JT setup the circuit they’d failed to enable the PPPoA authentication. One tick box later and hey – we’re back online with a shiny business DSL link.

Of course this should mean more posts … which you just know isn’ t going to happen … but it also means I’m back in the land of the TV watching masses… or I would be if it wasn’t for the Strike and the end of season break.

The only change you may notice is that I’m moving XSet onto my home server (or will be as soon as I can bring the home server online … stupid DHCP) so it will probably run a little more slowly. But it’s required for a new project I’m plinking away with!

Here’s to the tubes!!!

Almost back online

// February 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Tech

For the past 2 weeks we have been without any kind of internet at the flat. This being despite having 4 laptops, 1 media server and a couple of different mobile phones – it turns out not one of the things has a modem in it :-)

So I’ve now worked my way through the setup waiting period from Newtel to get my shiny new business DSL line up and running (2048 down 512 up, no limit and static IP!) and was very excited to get the username and password through last night.

Of course it doesn’t work (it never does first time) but I’m confident that by 18:00 tonight I’ll be back up and running … I hope …

Then I get to move this site onto my own server at home … which is nice!

ROVT – The ABC / Late Edition

// February 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal

Of course it’s not actually on time but there is good reason for this (see the next post). It’s also a bit crap but there’s a good reason for that too.

Aircraft – Specifically, low flying RC jet aircraft. Be sure to watch the slo mo replay to see just how close that spectator gets to having a small jet in his head.

Blowpipes – Not one to try at home … unless you’re insane!This quick how to shows just how easy it is to make a very nasty blow pipe out of some common household bits and pieces.

Condoms – And finally for this week’s delayed and truncated installment – do you ever get the feeling that your manhood is being restricted by safe sex? Worry no longer … this vid shows you how to supersize a sheath to deal with the largest … erm … thing

That’s it for this week. See you in 6 days :-)