Saturday, September 05, 2009
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Arduino Weather Station - Working Prototype
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Quicktime X is Alienating My Enormous Brain.
Firstly, loving the new site layout.
Secondly, the enigma that is Quicktime X (or 10 for those of you who are uneducated). In the time that I've been using Snow Leopard I've found out about the Pro's which are few in number, and the Con's which are many. One of the Pro's i'm sure you'll all agree is the new Quicktime icon.
Amazing bit of graphical design, just like the new UI. Minimalistic and generally fit for purpose. Style is all very well of course, but what about the substance. Unfortunately, that question is unanswerable in more than about a paragraph, and this is my main gripe. The export settings have been completely raped. All you have now is the option to export in iPod/iPhone, Apple TV or iTunes format. This is obviously because Apple are attempting to both attract buyers into buying their shiny new toys and to make exporting video to their devices quick, simple and easy for their new users who are still ridden with PC AIDS. Two birds with one stone. How noble of them.
But what about us, the mainstays of the Apple fanbase over the last 10+ years, who know their way around OS X, and specifically those who want gloriously complex export settings that can be used to transcode their movies into anything that their heart desires? With Quicktime X, unfortunately, this just isn't possible. To make matters worse, Apple have done their best to prevent users from running previous versions of Quicktime along with Quicktime X on the same system. The only way this can be achieved is to take advantage of one of the many bugs in an early build of Snow Leopard which involves .PKG's, and then updating to the Gold Master.
This coupled with the fact that Visualhub has now been discontinued is already adding minutes to my often futile attempts to play newly downloaded movies on the plugin lottery that is the PS3.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hu?
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Hidden Google Triforce
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Install signed app's on the college computers
- Go find yourself a self extracting, "setup.exe" style app (important), for example, spotify. The app probably can't have access to any of window's "lib" files, so for example, apps with the windows theme seem to not run (of what I have seen so far) - which is why spotify is perfect for this example.
- Run down to the library and go to the computers, and log on to the computer 3rd in. This computer doesn't stop you opening installers!
- Make sure you install it in "my documents" or whatever, because otherwise it will default install onto that, and only that, computer.
- Have fun! So far, I have spotifty, utorrent, chrome (although it currently only is on that library computer)
Friday, July 03, 2009
Run OSX/Linux/XP and in the darkness bind them.
This picture shows a screen-capture of me simultaneously running Mac, Windows and Linux. Yeah!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
www.dooyoo.co.uk
Dooyoo.co.uk
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
HardWired on Film: Star Trek (2009)
That out of the way, Star Trek is a stunning work of cinema. Don't make the mistake of assuming that you are reading a review written by the average "action is the only and best genre" teenager. I'm a film student and therefore can appreciate any and every film genre, in any context. This being said, however, many of the technical film reviewers have complained that the lens flair has been overused in this movie, and I wholeheartedly agree. There is a line with this kind of effect, and Abrams molested it good and proper, but this is the only bad thing I have to say about the entire film.
Let's start with the casting. Trekkies around the world have been sweating ever since the reboot/prequel was announced, and the main worry was that the casting wouldn't accurately depict the original crew of Kirk, Spock, Bones, etc. Many have even suggested that finding new actors to play the established characters would be impossible. Luckily, they couldn't have been more wrong. Chris Pine was amazing throughout. Funny, angry, womanizing and intelligent, often all at the same time. The best part of his depiction for me was the way in which he managed to mirror the characteristics of Shatner's Kirk exactly, as well as adding his own legacy to the depiction. Zachary Quinto (Heroes) also does a great job with Spock, despite competition others playing the role throughout the film. As a character, Spock is one of the most difficult characters to play, as you need to portray emotion effectively without physically showing it, and Quinto does about as well as anyone else has in the past (or present). The rest of the cast are all excellent, Bones is the perfect casting and he sounds exactly like the original in every way. Simon Pegg as Scotty didn’t get as much screen time as I would have hoped (that’s probably just my bias towards the actor), but in the small amount of time he is given he delivers the famous Scotty one-liners as humorously as the first time they were said.
Concerning the storyline, J.J Abrams uses the famous Roddenberry effect (Google it for spoilers), which allows him a lot of room in which to tell the story of this film and that of subsequent sequels. Fast-paced and full of action and comedy, Star Trek is highly enjoyable for both action fans and those who are looking for more of a personality in their movies, with intricacies such as character development based on past events (as it turns out this aspect in particular is key to the narrative throughout). The enemy is as ruthless and fearsome as we have come to expect from most Hollywood antagonists, and he has the mother of all motives, which always helps improve the realism.
All in all, Star Trek is a giant of 2009 action cinema and cinema in general, and is easily the best Star Trek film to date (yes, it’s better than The Wrath of Khan). Perhaps most importantly, however, it will please both die-hard Trekkies and new audiences alike.
9.5/10
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Your salvation is here !
At first from all the mixed opinions I have heard of this film I must say I held reserved feeling towards the film but soon not long after the curtains opened and the screen lit up I ate humble pie and big fat slice too.
From an average Joe's point of view the film is 'quite good'. However from my point of view (being a film student) it really is a good piece of work, with a few interesting opening scenes (no spoilers here) I couldn't help but take in the techniques used and think to myself "I haven't seen any other film use this for awhile." We have some crafty uses of great camera angles, filters, CGI and a good use of a Christian Bale.
Despite what you may think of Batman fighting machines instead of the joker is.... *AHEM*. I mean Christian Bale pulls off this character of a war worn and battered John Connor quite well if sometimes, a little OTT in doing so with a few uses of the infamous Batman voice (doing it again).
I was most impressed with how the film was syncronised with the others and how well it fit, as I can safely say I did spend a good 80% of my concentration trying to pick apart it's fitting with the other three films but was happily pleased with it. More importantly though I personnaly love a film which features cameos or references to others, in one scene we hear "You could be mine - by Guns 'n' Roses" appear which was the soundtrack to Terminator 2 and as your well aware if you've seen the trailers, Connor's line of "I'll be back", enough said there really.... and a really good few others which I'll save for myself ;)
All over I would reccomend screwing the bad reviewers with a giant 70ft mech with a 70" cannon for a head (like in the movie), or if you can't manage that going to see the film will do just as well as this really is worth your money in your pocket to go see.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Weather report - Update
#!/usr/bin/python# Filename : weather1.pyimport datetimefrom datetime import dateenableser = bool(input("Enable serial, (True or False) : "))if enableser:import serialser = serial.Serial('/dev/tty.usbserial-A8004Iyv', 9600)import timedef getday():dayshift = int(raw_input("Enter dayshift, (eg 0 for today,1 for tomorrow.) : "))now = datetime.datetime.now()year = now.yearmonth = now.monthday = now.day + dayshiftdayofweek = ['Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday', 'Saterday', 'Sunday']daytoday = dayofweek[date.weekday(date(year,month,day))]return daytodaydef findcolon(no):for x in range(1, len(strweather)):if strweather[x] == ':' :no =no -1if no == 0:return xdef parseline(str):if 'xml' in file.name:minus = 6else:minus = 1strsky = str[ findcolon(1)+2 : str.index(',') ]print strskystrmax = str[ findcolon(2)+2 : str.index("C") -minus]print strmaxstrmin = str[ findcolon(3)+2 : str.rindex("C") -minus]print strmintoday= getday()fileoverride = bool(input("Override default file, (True or False) : "))if fileoverride:newfile = raw_input("Enter the path for the file : ")file = open(newfile, "r")else:file = open("Next3DaysRSS.xml", "r")for line in file:if today in line:strweather = lineoccurs = Truebreakelse:occurs = Falseprint "The day is", todayif occurs:print strweatherif enableser:ser.write("Y")parseline(strweather)else:print today, "is not in the file"if enableser:ser.write("N")
Friday, June 12, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Diving right into python.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Doom 1 - Retro Goodness!
Friday, May 08, 2009
Yay! working laptop
Although to activate this I did have to fool Mircosoft into believing I was paying to my Copy of ultimate on no more than one machine only :) not that I would of put it on my desktop, my familys desktop e.t.c...
Sunday, May 03, 2009
FoodFail
Not much
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
The worst laptop ever.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
E71
Just got offered the nokia E71, and its pretty good. Battery that asts more than a day, quick interface, FREAKING MMS, you can actually send stuff over bluetooth. Y'know, things any phone can do.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
April Fools Roundup
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The iPhone OS is too broken
- Notifier - displays text message, email, voicemail, missed call notifications in the menu bar. Just like every single other phone on the market.
- MyBattery - simply displays how much battery you have left, in %
- iBluetooth - send photos + files over bluetooth
- Lockdown - My essential application, locks applications (text messages, eBay, anything else)
- WeatherIcon - updates the weather icon with the action weather
- LiveClock - makes the clock real, it works, it ticks, it tocks
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Second MacBook has died
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Hello All
So, what I want to talk about today is more to do with flying but there is a huge element of tech involved.
On the weekend I did something quite amazing: I flew in a Boeing 737-300 Classic "ZFT" simulator. (ZFT stands for Zero Flight Training. This means that the pilots do all of their type training in the simulator, and don’t actually fly the real thing until they have passengers (or cargo) in the back!) The simulator itself costs around £20milion and so it is very similar in price to the real aircraft, but considering the amount of training that goes on in this sim, it doesn’t surprise me!
I signed up for a shared "Future Pilot Program" flight with Virtual Aviation (www.virtualaviation.com) which included half an hour of briefing, two hours in the sim with three other people (so 30mins on the controls) and then another half hour de-brief. This package in total cost £450 ish - which, to be honest, I thought was a great deal!
I arrived at BMI, London Heathrow at 11:45 bang on time but was told that I was over an hour early. After much confusion the nice people told me that there was a mix-up and I had actually been upgraded to a singular course, which meant I would get only one hour in the sim, however I would have the controls for that full hour! This course was worth £650 ish and I was being upgraded free of charge!
I had just sat down and started to make myself comfy whilst waiting for my turn when one of the pilots approached me. He said that, because I had been upgraded, there was actually space on the course I was originally meant to be on! He then said that, because I was so early, it would be fine for me to go on both courses!
In total I ended up flying a massive £1100 worth in the sim and paid only £450! Now that’s a bargain by anyone’s standards!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the simulator at BMI and I would strongly recommend it to any other pilot, or aircraft enthusiast! The 737 is a real man's aircraft and requires you to be quite physical at times. She was generally a joy to fly, and a huge difference from my usual C152s!
Thanks,
Ben Bishop
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
iPhoto '09: Faces...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Afro Ninja - Movie!?
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Crazy Monkey Men
"You f***ing piece of log im gonna scream and hit you with my belt untill you die"
A lot of fun would ensue upon dubbing this monkey madness.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Arduino Synth
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
From new to old
Firstly - brand new gripe with blogger... You can't reorder the photos? I was going to do this post REALLY pro, but it looks like that's not going to happen.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Gentlemen, your attention please...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Quartz Composer - VJing Potential
Monday, February 16, 2009
Design Flaws
My topic is the human body. There are many people (who are mostly religious) who would have you believe that the human body is the perfect one, no faults whatsoever. How could anybody believe this?
It is quite extraordinary for something like the human body to survive as long as it has. There are so many weak points it is hard to account for them all. A simple knock to the head in a sensitve spot can kill you. A pinch of a pressure point can have you unconscious for hours. Falling on a slightly jagged rock the wrong way has the potential to a) create a hole in you, and b) really hurt. And that's just on the outside.
Inside there's no end of absolute rubbish going on, some of it also potentially fatal. A small clot in the bloodstream for example. There is no point in the appendix. Humans have not eaten grass for thousands of years (probably), yet everyone has one of these timebombs in them at birth, waiting to burst. Evolution has a lot to answer for. Why didn't we get rid of this and keep something good, like gills perhaps.
Think of all the other useless stuff. Easily blocked airways. Sweat. This one is borderline ridiculous. The scientific explanation for sweat is that it is meant to cool you down. Does it? Has anybody ever thought 'Thank goodness I'm sweating.' No, you take a drink because you're losing precious bodily fluid, and you'll feel terrible if you don't rehydrate. And excretion is riddled with faults. Couldn't excretion be converted in a way so that all extraneous waste was boiled, removed of colour and released odourlessly as a gas through the pores instead of sweat perhaps? Honestly...
I can only conclude that I have no real way of finishing this well, but I felt some of these things needed saying and that if only our body was better designed, think where we could be now. Presumably not living in danger of the (very real) threat of dying of an infected papercut.
Feeding your mac coffee, even while the lid is closed
Humble readers of this blog, I have a question...
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hello
I have been asked to contribute to this blog, and am perfectly happy to when the feeling takes me. I may not be consistant, reliable, punctual or good, but I will be there.
Thank you,
John Russ
Speed up spotlight
Movies
- Watchmen
- Terminator: Salvation
- Transformers 2
- Star Trek
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Gay quote of the day award goes to....
For wanting to do up a double decker bus and call it the "Dudemobile"... Xzibit style.
Landyachtz B-Ride - A Newbies Review
The B-Ride also doesnt care for curbs
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Reading and Leeds - Week 2
So these are my updated predictions based on a further 6-and-a-half days of headliner speculation. Despite the announcement of a new album and a "summer tour", Green Day stay below the bubble line due to speculation from eFestivals that they were initially going to sign for the festival but the deal fell through at the last minute.
Obviously, the stunning revival of Blink 182 has propelled them from 10th to 3rd, and many (some reluctantly) are now dusting off their baggy jeans and lip rings in preparation. Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon both remain strong favorites.
Don't forget to check the official festival website for the latest rumors and updates.
EDIT: Apologies, I did an update on another website 2 days ago, which is why the position changes don't make sense when looking at last weeks. Oh well, what the fuck are you going to do, kill me?! No, so shut up! Yeah!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Seen Eurotrip?
Well i've decided there should be a song called
"Tommy does know"
Had to be said.
Obviously this is just speculation (I'd like to think relatively well-informed speculation), and the rankings will change each week as explained earlier. Bands like Slipknot and Lostprophets are almost dead certs to be playing, but they are lower down on this list as they are unlikely to headline. Oasis and Blink 182, however, are both very unlikely to appear in any form, especially since one of them is split. Some rumors suggest otherwise, however, so I have included them.
Movie Hybrids
Happy Feet : The Return Of the King
March Of The Penguins : The Empire Strikes Back
Somone please make these films.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Snow!
Sunday, February 01, 2009
ME ! ...and..umm... ME again ! YAY!
Im Matt, 17,Hereford UK, 6th form college.
Well not much for me to say here except Im going to try and keep my posts about music, games (both PC & Consoles...... PC > Consoles :) and anything else which takes my fancy.
Also yes I play guitar and make short films.
One more thing...
INNERPARTYSYSTEM Live is the most intense and amazing experience of anyone's life so far. Right next to your fist orgasm which like INNERPARTYSYSTEM is over too soon...
More about the gig soon + pictures and a video.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
My first useful + informative post
OK, firstly, for the useful bit.
Go here : http://alexburgess.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/retro-toaster-screensaver/
And download the screensaver. It will be the best thing to happen to you, since you realized how to torrent.
And now the informative bit.
Does anyone get any blogger bugs with safari? For example, I'm having to use firefox to write this, because I can't paste anything into the box without it appearing somewhere at the bottom. And I have to double click on the 'insert images' to get the pop up to open. And it always seems to fail to publish.
That is all
Friday, January 23, 2009
Music!
About Me...?
Soooooo... About Me...
Heya my name is Richard but some of you may know me as QleQ if u play alota CoD. Im 15 and live in the land of sex and drugs (holland =D).
Basically im gonna be introducing you into the 1337 world of gaming which these mac lovers wont know anything about (i hate Macs) For the record im into FPS and MMOs i like all the CoD editions except the french made CoD5 i like CnC ZH and WoW (which has a bad reputation but try it b4 u hate it...)
Man! Stuff sounds gay when you write it down... Oh and ppl who play FPS on consoles are fags
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Essential Apps for the Casual User - Week 1
Monday, January 19, 2009
Private Sub btnGo_Click()
Dim strInput as string
Dim intOutput as integer
strInput = textbox1.text
intOutput = convert(strInput)
textbox2.text = intOutput.tostring.
Private Function convert(strOld as string)
dim intdays as integer
dim intweeks as integer
dim intNew as integer
intweeks = strOld.substring(0,1)
intdays= strOld.substring(2,1)
intNew = (intWeeks * 7) + days
return intNew
End Function
Converts weeks and days into days. Not that i couldn't do that with my brain.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Free Alternative Games
Bastard games
Thursday, January 15, 2009
"The Bastard" Online FPS announced. By me.
I am pleased to announce that development has started on thegreatest game that will ever exist. Aptly named "The Bastard", the games will be based on the Half-Life 2 engine and will containseveral of the most challenging and ridiculous maps ever concieved.Oh, and I forgot to mention, it will be capable of up to 1000 playersonline in a single server.
More updates to come.
- Tommey.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Arduino!
I recently purchased a great bit of electronics kit. The Arduino is essentially a programmable development PCB. As i gather from their website, you can make it do a lot of cool (although sometimes pointless) things. But apart from the practical applications, this makes a great learning tool. All the code on it is essentially an adapted version of C/C++, much debugging fun awaits. Soon i will post some of my amateur attempts at creating something with it.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Sonic Disturbance (The Speakerbag) V1
OK, so a while ago i prototyped an invention of mine, the speaker-bag. My idea is hardly original and commercial alternatives exist, but essentially i was looking for a cheap quick portable music solution. (Skull-candy charge a bomb for theirs.)
Essentially my prototype was a rucksack fitted with 2 speakers (one sewn into each side-pocket), couple of 9V batteries and a small amp (stolen from disused computer speakers). The entire things was pretty-much held together with gaffatape and safety-pins. I just ran a line-in connected to an iPod for audio input. It worked nicely and was well received by my friends, who all fought over control of the music.
As you can see in the pic, it is an absolute monstrosity.
Gaffataped grill on side is a feeble attempt to waterproof it.
Now i am looking at making a more efficient less sketchy (plain crap) version. DJM and i have a nice amp kit built and it should be made soon.
Amp + Speakers + Battery + Bag = Speakerbag
And yes, the bag, pictured actually works.
I am interested to see if anyone else has made anything similar or is now inspired to do so. I have a few wild ideas about wirelessly linking multiple bags (think portable 5.1 surround system!) but i am constrained by budget.
Happy making.