Baiduspider grab the bandwidth plug? April 22, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, gnash-teeth, OSX, Castle , add a commentThis spider from Baidu (translated by google - hence the blog title) crawls my site religiously and feverishly from a dozen different IP’s. I really doubt anyone in China cares about what I have to say. They should, especially with the Olympics coming up, but I know they don’t.
So with that I’m blocking you Baidu. I’m not editing my robots.txt, no not for you. All your various IPs will reach nothingness as my firewall goes ninja on you - mexi style.
字
(Chinese for “word”).
i don’t even know french April 21, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : gnash-teeth, Castle , add a commentI was driving this afternoon when I suddenly realized I’d been listening to a French Canadian radio station for about 10 minutes.
I’m a lot more tired than I thought. I also feel dirty.
bellingham public library audiobooks block ipod users April 20, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, gnash-teeth, Must Listen, OSX, Travel, Web Design & Dev, iPhone , 1 comment so farThis evening I finished reading a book and was investigating whether the next book I’d like to read is available from the Whatcom County Library. I notice on their horrifically designed and sluggish website a blurb about audio books, now available. It is with some joy that I follow the link to Northwest Anytime and read more. Then the let down comes crashing down like a Bengal tiger to the groin.
At this time, OverDrive Media files cannot be used on iPods or Mac computers.
Our media titles, provided by OverDrive, Inc., use DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection technology from Microsoft Corporation. Unfortunately the iPod (and Mac) currently support neither DRM-protected Windows Media Audio (.wma) files nor Windows Media Video (.wmv) files.
OverDrive, along with hundreds of online media providers, is hopeful that Apple and Microsoft can reach an agreement that would enable support for Microsoft-based DRM-protected materials on the iPod/Mac.
To review a list of devices that are compatible with OverDrive Media, click here.
You may also want to check device documentation to determine if a device supports DRM-protected Windows Media content.
Reading through their FAQ…dear god. This wonderful software that you are required to use supports everything from Windows 98 on up. Oh, and in case you didn’t catch it, the company/product name for this wonderfully backward media software is called OverDrive. Is this a joke? Someone has to be playing an elaborate joke on me.
OverDrive has this tidbit on its website.
The OverDrive Team is a group of innovative, passionate masterminds who build and distribute technology solutions for the real world.
What twisted dimension did these guys crawl out of? Ok, I’m straying a little here. Back to the Library and its suckiness.
Ah here we go, apparently iPods are far too modern. Lets support the Palm!
Can I use OverDrive Audio Book titles with my Palm device? OverDrive Audio Book titles may be transferred to certain Palm devices with the help of a third party application called Pocket Tunes….
The iPod (& iTouch, iPhone, Shuffle) is decidedly the most prevalent portable music listening device on the market. Why then is the Bellingham Public Library, choosing to use a Windows Media Audio format and DRM solution that locks out the most widely used device for Mac and Windows users?
Yes, I would agree that Windows is what is running on the majority of desktops, but who really listens to audio books at their desktop? In your car and on your mp3 player are the more likely of places. Why the sites main blurb contains this statement.
Transfer audiobooks to your MP3 player or burn selected titles to a CD for listening on the go.
The press release for this service has this mention.
“This service is great for travelers, commuters, and for those who like to listen to books while they exercise,” said Joan Airoldi, Director of Whatcom County Library System. “With so many best-selling titles available, there’s sure to be something for every listener.”
Again, the majority of people are using iPod family products. The release goes onto say,
Beth Farley, Head of Information and Reader’s Services at the Bellingham Public Library, listens to audiobooks when she goes on vacation. “No more piles of CDs to keep track of on the airplane,” she enthuses, “I’ll be able to fit several entire novels on one tiny MP3 player.”
Alright, what the hell? I fly a lot and I’ve never seen anyone with a stack of CDs on a plane. And please tell me Ms Farley what sort of MP3 player do you have? Sounds to me like most bureaucratic organizations and companies, someone out of touch with the market and technology is making the decisions.
I really wish I wasn’t so agitated and it wasn’t so late. Otherwise I’d write a more coherent piece on why not only this is a very poor implementation of great idea, but also on the correct course of action the library, publishers, and most importantly authors should have taken.
Damn You Delta April 16, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : gnash-teeth, Castle, Travel , add a commentI just received this email from Orbitz.
This is an update from OrbitzTLC to let you know that Delta Air Lines plans to begin charging most passengers a $25 fee each time a second bag is checked.
The new fee, which takes effect on May 1, 2008, is not included in your ticket price and can be paid when you check in at the airport.
Delta Medallion members and passengers traveling in first- and business-class cabins will still be allowed to check up to three bags at no additional charge.
Delta recently withdrew, after cutting back the number of flights and raising the prices, out of Bellingham International Airport. I used to fly from Bellingham to the Salt Lake City hub and then from there to the east coast or where ever.
These days I drive to Seattle now and fly coach. I hate SEATAC.
Yesterday on NPR I was listening to a discussion of how Delta will be merging/acquiring Northwest Airlines and how there’s still a labor dispute of getting the pilots onboard (pun). With fuel prices rising, airlines cutting back on routes, and now nickle ‘n dime charges. I’m even less happy with Delta than I was before. It’s not like their first class seats are very good either, but in comparison to the dingy chicken cages they provide for the economy experience, it can be marginally better depending on how old of a plane you get.
I also only carry one checked bag, so really this doesn’t apply to me, but I wanted to bitch about them anyways. All I ask is that I get unlimited sunchips, Sprite n’ vodka when flying first class. And guess what? Last time they ran out of sunchips.
More Info On The Black App April 16, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Squirrels, gnash-teeth, OSX, TimeWaster, Marketing, Castle, Web Design & Dev, iPhone , add a commentThe Black App - A possible iPhone application of unknown coolness. For more info, you could go to the website. That was a joke.
They Hype::
All the references and blubs are essentially the same, I’m guessing it’s by their own people digging themselves and such. Since they hit dig, twitter and a few other places, it’s been syndicated and quoted all over the place.
No one knows anything though.
The Companies ::
Epic Apps is the company producing this and purchased the “theblackapp.com” domain via proxy in an effort to hide. They’re hosting at Media Temple, Inc. who provides services to big names and high traffic sites.
theblackapp.com was registered for only one year on Mar 31st 08
epicapps.com was also only registered for one year, 7 days later on Apr 6th 08 - redirects to theblackapp.com
epicapps.com ping responses come from godaddy.com though.
The Code ::
Since the web page is really simple there’s nothing to gleam from the markup accept that they are using google analytics. I’m sure they’re collecting a lot of good marketing data.
The registration page, now this is interesting, is posting to theblackapp.wufoo.com
Related ? ::
wufoo.com was registered Jan 16th 06 to Chris Campbell - http://wufoo.com/about/
So three guys with an idea and venture money from Ycombinator started Infinity Box Inc. and built wufoo.
What is wufoo?
Wufoo is an Internet application that helps anybody build amazing online forms. When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, backend and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun. Because we host everything, all you need is a browser, an Internet connection and a few minutes to build a form and start using it right away.
Chris also has a site called particletree.com, which is hosted and links to mediatemple and their venture backers.
Chris Campbell is too common of a name. I’ve yet to find anything relating him to even owning an iphone. I’ve also yet to dig around about his two other partners. So we’ll prematurely jump to the conclusion that this is probably just a tangent.
Or they were simply hired to setup the whole site. Which could mean that Ycombinator (the venture company) is also working with Epic Apps and recommended wufoo to them.
————
This is all from wee hours digging last night. I did find a few articles about social networking apps for the iPhone, nothing too exciting. As you can tell I’ve lost interest.
Let me know if I’ve got something wrong, you have more information or if Chris actually does own an iPhone.
Macports - make not found April 13, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, gnash-teeth, OSX , 1 comment so farTechy tidbit for those that run across this. I have the latest Xcode 3.0 installed on this Macbook Pro along with the latest Macports but when trying to issue a
sudo ports -v install php5
I received
Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command ” cd “/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_archivers_bzip2/work/bzip2-1.0.5″ && make all PREFIX=”/opt/local” ” returned error 127
Command output: sh: make: command not found
My environment path was correct [ echo $PATH ] and the make, gcc, files were all where they were supposed to be, but yet there was still unhappiness.
I ended up reinstalling Xcode 3.0 and whatever was broken is now fixed.
Tags: macports, osx, xcode, ports php5, make
500 dollar brick March 28, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, gnash-teeth, OSX, Castle, iPhone , add a comment
so i ended up bricking the iphone tonight. like bad bad.
[bricking is a term to describe where your iphone becomes so useless it has reached the level of a paperweight, or brick.]
first it was in this endless cycle of restarting, unusable from the touch screen, but it still had ssh access. to you none techies this means that i was able to access the files on the phone via a DOS like interface from my laptop over the wireless connection in my home.
this led me to start deleting some files that might have caused the problem… well in my panic i deleted the ssh loader, the part of the phone that lets me access it remotely. then i rebooted the phone from the remote connection.
now it just showed the boot loader silver apple logo. wasn’t even completely starting anymore. itunes didn’t detect it, other apps i have also were not able to see it.
the standard reset technique of holding down the power button and home button simultaneously had no effect.
a dozen searches were simultaneously happening for people who’ve done the same and recovery options. everyone i found either could still use their iphone in some crippled fashion and restore it with itunes. or they had admitted defeat - returning it to apple for repairs.
at this point i had transcended all senses of panic and loss.
i had accepted the brick.
i would not send it away to apple.
i began looking for papers to weigh down with it.
then as i was about to close my browser i found one of my keyword searches pulled up something new to try.
1 iphone connected to my computer
2 itunes running
3 hold down both buttons as you normally do when resetting, for approx 10 seconds.
4 then let go of the power button and hold the home button until itunes says an iphone in recovery mode is detected.
5 restore from backup.
6 happiness.
flock buggery & tricks March 28, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Puter Stuff, gnash-teeth, OSX, Web Design & Dev , 1 comment so fari should point out, since it took me a minute or two to figure out, that if you host your own blog as i do you need to deal with a bit of oopidity.
most of you probably use a service like wordpress or blogger and the setup is really as simple as the url to your blog, username and password.
if you host your own, its the same questions, but it always fails for some reason. looking at my server logs i see its getting a status 200 which means everyone should be happy, but for some reason not so much.
the key is to enter any url when it asks for your blog url. when it fails to find the api it’s looking for you can simply continue to do the setup manually.
all it really needs to know is where the api is, so in this manual configuration you’d enter something like http://myblog.domain.com/xmlrpc.php
then your username and password.
tada.
Tags: browserwars, social networking, flock
Crumbs In My Bed February 17, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : gnash-teeth, Castle , add a commentIt’s almost 3:30 in the AM. Taking naps at four in the afternoon kinda muck with the whole natural flow of things. There’s nothing on TV, I’m too brain dead to actually do anything, and too lazy to cook now that I’ve realized I haven’t eaten.
…few minutes later…
The crumbs from my fine meal of Cheetos and Ruffles refuse to get out of my bed. I just washed my sheets yesterday too. Sigh. I wish they were chocolate chip cookie crumbs instead. That sounds REALLY good right now. So does some fried chicken. And hot coffee. Maybe a McDonalds bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit or three.
Ugh.
Ultra LOL Cat February 3, 2008
Posted by Al Castle in : Squirrels, gnash-teeth, Picture of the Day, TimeWaster , add a commentYeah I have no idea, but it’s frighteningly hilarious.
Especially since he misspells WTF.
