Sep 10
Streaming music and media to an iPod/iPhone
As an extension of setting up my MythTV media centre I've been searching for ways to stream my music from the central server to speakers around the house or to my iPhone or iPod Touch. One option is through a uPnP server or similar running to a wireless music device such as a Logitech Squeezebox which I think might be a nice solution but I'm also sure that there must be a way to avoid buying anything else and stream to my iPhone while it's in a speakerdock. The two services that I'm trying are Libox and Zumocast which extends the capabilities to worldwide access via 3G although at the moment neither of them will run on a Linux system so I might need to pay a small amount for one of the uPnP apps in the Apple AppStore such a PlugPlayer or AirPlayer and content myself with wifi streaming. I'll update this with how I get on!
Sep 1
this is getting scary now...
I can't decide if this is all just an amazing new way of promoting a band but whatever it is, it's pretty cool.Manchester band Hurts (last.fm or spotify links) have teamed up with fellow Mancunian writer Joe Stretch to create the first interactive story on Spotify - the story, narrated by actress Anna Friel, unfolds with you as the central character and allows you to make decisions along the way by typing in short search strings into Spotify to bring up the next chapter. It can get a bit odd at times and I've died in the story more than once but survive long enough and you'll be rewarded with preview tracks from the band. There's a huge number of routes you could take through the story and I've not explored them all yet but judging by some of the comments on the Spotify blog there is some kind of ultimate ending where you can save the world from the mad Guy Lockhart. This is a great update of the classic 'choose-your-own-adventure' books that were around as a child, combining an edgy story with some new music - I've enjoyed it so far but it's not for the feint-hearted! If you've got a Spotify account you can join the game here.
Aug 23
Book burning in the modern age
From the ever funny xkcd.com.
On a similar topic, it’s nice to see the new Kindle getting some good reviews – Wired ran this yesterday. I know what I want for Christmas!
Aug 20
Beware... Security Tool
Yes, I've had another little break from posting... I think if you're still following this blog then you probably realise by now that I'm far from a regular blogger so I'm not going to feel guilty about it!
It's entirely due to my job at Amazon - not only is it incredibly busy throughout the day but my commute is also twice as long now so my chances to post anything are reduced. I should say that this is a good thing since it's far preferable to being sat at work bored. The thing that prompted me to come out of online seclusion is a malicious bit of code called Security Tool which may initially appear to be a virus checker but is in fact a dodgy bit of malware which hides it's processes under numbered id's and is rather persistant when you try to remove it. It also blocks you from running any of the usual tools you might want to open to aid you with this task. Nice work guys, cheers. Anyway, there's obviously plenty of others who have been hit by this so there are some good guides to removing it - after a bit of delving into the registry and some detective work to identify the problem files and I'm cured but I was definitely worried for a few hours. Thanks to these guys for their help. And before you say it I do run anti-virus software. McAfee apparantly didn't help in this case - I've recently moved to Avast! which seems a pretty good, free alternative which has marginally more protection than the widely known AVG.
May 15
A little update
Once again time has flown by, mostly because since I started my new job back in January I've barely had a moment to think about anything else. In fact, this isn't such a bad thing as I'd far rather be busy with work that I enjoy than have plenty of time but hating the job. So I'm still here but all the things I wanted to do with my spare time have stopped, mostly because I have far less spare time than before! I promise I'll post some more pictures (and take some more first!), and now the weather's getting better I'm sure I'll spend more time outside, probably on my bike or at the allotment. The MythTV project is still a work-in-progress too - I've got a fully functioning linux computer housed in a very funky hi-fi style case, the dual tuner TV card works a treat, the remote has finally been programmed and MythTV itself is as good as I'd hoped. The only problem is that I can't seem to get the audio output to work via HDMI... which means that I can't just plug the damn thing into my TV and forget about it like I could with the old HDD recorder. If anyone out there knows anything about Linux/Myth/HDMI audio then please get in touch!
Apr 14
My new Myth DVR is starting to look a little inadequate!
Check this out... It's a DVR that records 50 channels at once!
Apr 12
CIT 550W Silent ATX Power Supply
Asus AM3 M4A785TD-M Evo motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 3GHz 2MB Dual Core Processor
Kingston 1333Mz DDR3 memory
Sony DVD writer
DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4
The case is pretty funky; it's nicely styled and will fit into my hifi stack very well - it's a solid piece of kit too with the front panel made from brushed metal.
It's well laid out inside too which has made installing everything pretty easy although for a microATX case it's pretty bulky; the width of my hifi kit but a bit deeper and taller. The built in IR receiver, VFC display and bundled remote control are all pretty promising too. The DViCO card had twin Freeview-HD tuners onboard so I can record two programmes at once - my TV's got another normal freeview tuner so I can also watch that while recording. Everything else is fairly standard - I made sure that the motherboard had decent onboard graphics with an HDMI output and that things were as silent as I could make them without spending a fortune. It needs to be a fairly meaty system to playback HD recordings otherwise a MythBox can be far simpler and cheaper.
My MythBox so far
So the MythTV project continues; I've been gathering the bits and building it when I've got some spare time. Things got a little delayed by me buying the wrong memory for my motherboard... they used to be generic I'm sure! Anyway; the setup is: Antec VERIS Fusion caseCIT 550W Silent ATX Power Supply
Asus AM3 M4A785TD-M Evo motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 3GHz 2MB Dual Core Processor
Kingston 1333Mz DDR3 memory
Sony DVD writer
DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4
The case is pretty funky; it's nicely styled and will fit into my hifi stack very well - it's a solid piece of kit too with the front panel made from brushed metal.
It's well laid out inside too which has made installing everything pretty easy although for a microATX case it's pretty bulky; the width of my hifi kit but a bit deeper and taller. The built in IR receiver, VFC display and bundled remote control are all pretty promising too. The DViCO card had twin Freeview-HD tuners onboard so I can record two programmes at once - my TV's got another normal freeview tuner so I can also watch that while recording. Everything else is fairly standard - I made sure that the motherboard had decent onboard graphics with an HDMI output and that things were as silent as I could make them without spending a fortune. It needs to be a fairly meaty system to playback HD recordings otherwise a MythBox can be far simpler and cheaper.
Apr 12
That's where something like the HP USB Network Print Adaptor comes in.
I did a little checking on some tech forums and the advice seemed to be to install your printer as normal via USB and check that it all works. Then install the gadget as described in the booklet (just plug it all into your router) and install the software provided.
The device also comes with a short USB cable and a network cable (something I thought I was going to have to buy). I renamed the new printer installation to something like "HP Wireless" and set it to my default printer. Now when I want to print I just make sure that the printer's turned on and click print... the software automatically reconnects to the printer on my wireless network and does it's thing! I've also checked and the scanner works fine over the network too - I can go into my software and acquire the scanner as usual; it can preview and scan perfectly which other gadgets like this seem to struggle with and which was something that had put me off getting a device like this before now. This is not a wireless print server (or a wired print server for that matter) but it is a great device to connect an HP printer or all-in-one to a network.
Wireless printing
I've been wanting to use my printer without having to pickup my laptop, walk into the other room and plug in the USB cable I've got hanging off the edge of the shelf... These days printers have built-in wifi or your modem/router might act as a print server too but if you're like me and the rest of your network has been setup and working for some time you've not got those extras.That's where something like the HP USB Network Print Adaptor comes in.
I did a little checking on some tech forums and the advice seemed to be to install your printer as normal via USB and check that it all works. Then install the gadget as described in the booklet (just plug it all into your router) and install the software provided.
The device also comes with a short USB cable and a network cable (something I thought I was going to have to buy). I renamed the new printer installation to something like "HP Wireless" and set it to my default printer. Now when I want to print I just make sure that the printer's turned on and click print... the software automatically reconnects to the printer on my wireless network and does it's thing! I've also checked and the scanner works fine over the network too - I can go into my software and acquire the scanner as usual; it can preview and scan perfectly which other gadgets like this seem to struggle with and which was something that had put me off getting a device like this before now. This is not a wireless print server (or a wired print server for that matter) but it is a great device to connect an HP printer or all-in-one to a network.
