28 August 2010
At the beginning of this month, I gave a talk at the South Coast Linux Users Group called Python-iView in a flash. (Pun intended.)
While attending the talk would have given you the real deal, I’ve put my slides up for anybody who is interested.
I use SVG graphics in the presentation, and because Google and Mozilla can’t agree on a way to get transparent SVG working consistently, you’ll only see images if you use Google Chrome (sorry about that). It’s because I only get transparency in Chrome if I use <img />, but I only get SVG at all in Firefox if I use <object />.
Tagged: Python-iView, real life, talks | No Comments »
13 August 2010
This week, I got an Android phone. A Motorola Milestone, to be precise.
I’ve been looking at smartphones for a while, although not quite seriously up until now. In fact, I’m quite surprised with myself that I actually took the plunge and bought something.
Actually, the main push for me to get an Android phone was Dad, who wants me to get into app development. I initially held back because I like the concept and hackability of the Nokia N900 and the Maemo OS. Maemo uses a normal X11+GTK/Qt kind of stack, and is generally hacker friendly.
However, I don’t just want to hack for myself; I want to be able to release stuff, and if I do, I want people to be able to use it. Not only that, but with the merger of Maemo and Moblin becoming MeeGo, and the fact that MeeGo won’t be officially supported on the N900 creates furher turbulence and fractures where Android is still going strong.
The main selling point for me on the Milestone was the massive screen size, and the positive reviews of its screen size; both of which, in practice, have been fabulous. I was holding out for a glimpse of the HTC Wildfire pricing, but I decided I didn’t want a tiny 240×320 screen no matter how cheap it was.
The version I got was a UMTS 900/2100, which means it is not Next G compatible (which needs UMTS 850/2100). As I’m a Telstra user, that consequently means my coverage is not too crash hot. However, I could fix that simply by moving to Optus.
I’m not going to write a full-on review of the phone — there are plenty out there already. Any more you hear from me about this phone will be something I’ve hacked up for, hopefully, you to try.
Tagged: Android, hardware, Linux | 2 Comments »
16 July 2010
I have updated Python-iView to un-break changes the ABC made to iView the other day.
If you’re using the Python-iView PPA, then you should have the update available already. If you’re using Bzr, as always, type the following to get the latest update:
$ bzr pull
Changes in this release include:
- Supports iView version 359. The changes were trivial, but broke compatibility.
- Remove dependence on PyGTK for
iview-cli, meaning you don’t need GTK+ installed to use it. This also means warnings aren’t thrown if you run it on a headless system.
- As a free bonus, for you hackers out there, I have thrown in a script called
iview.cgi. To use it, read the (simplistic) installation instructions (for what is a simplistic script) in the actual file, but basically the lowdown is this: when the CGI script is active, you can retrieve iView videos over HTTP via a URL like http://localhost/cgi-bin/iview.cgi/730report_10_01_01.flv. As you can see, that would be very handy for integrating into your home media centre and the like. Obviously you need to adjust your web server ACLs to only allow localhost and RFC 1918 addresses to access the script. The script is not designed to be user-friendly — it’s meant to be versatile.
- Just a minor change, but some extra metadata is parsed out of the programme. The frontends don’t make use of it (…yet), but it’s there.
- Another minor change is that
set_local_only(False) is set on the iview-gtk save dialog. This lets you save to GVFS locations (e.g. sftp:// or ftp://). Why that is not default in GTK+ I am really not sure.
On a side note, Whirlpool purged all material related to alternative iView access on their wiki and forums this week because they are of the opinion that alternative iView access constitutes bypassing copy protection and is thus illegal.
While I am not a lawyer, and I doubt Whirlpool consulted lawyers to reach that conclusion — and it’s better ask for forgiveness than permission — the fact remains that Python-iView is a project solely for interoperability purposes, not copyright infringement.
I pour my heart and soul into Python-iView not because I enjoy writing software, enjoy reverse engineering copy protection, or anything like that. I write Python-iView because it fulfills a need I have, and I released the software because I know there are fellow power users like me who are in the same situation and would benefit from the software in the same way.
Enjoy the new release, and viva la non mainstream!
Tagged: coding, IANAL, python, Python-iView, web | 6 Comments »
9 July 2010
Last night I threw together a utility called De-farm Flickr. It lets you convert a static Flickr photo URL like so:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4246714624_76febcc67d_z.jpg
…into its original photo description page.
The conversion is done in two (dead easy) stages: (1) fishing the photo ID from the URL with a regexp, and (2) sending you to http://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=<id>.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but while the photo description URLs contain the photo ID, they also contain the username which is impossible to reverse engineer from the static photo URL. That’s why I send you to the photo.gne script: it can accept just a photo ID as a parameter, and send you to the right page.
Tagged: coding, hacks, web | 2 Comments »
18 June 2010
So, my website at jeremy.visser.name is now SSL–enabled, and I am in the process of updating links and images to use the correct https:// scheme.
Why? Because Stephen Conroy’s dunderheaded attempts to encroach on our relatively open Internet will require ISPs to sniff HTTP traffic on IP addresses that happen to fall on the ACMA blacklist. Because the blacklist is secret and subject to change without notice, my US–based Linode could have all its HTTP traffic sniffed on a whim.
Aside from the Australian Government creating a root CA and getting that included in major browsers (like what the Chinese did), it is not possible for them to sniff SSL–encrypted traffic to my site. So, to improve the privacy rights of my readers, those who use my code, and myself, all pages and bzr repositories available on the jeremy.visser.name domain are now HTTPS–enabled.
GoDaddy have an free SSL certificate scheme for open source projects. Because I write a lot about my open source goings-on, and host code on this site, I wondered if I would be eligible for the scheme. Turns out my request was a little unorthodox, and their identity verification system wasn’t properly equipped to deal with third-level registrations on the .name domain, but after some consideration they went ahead and provided me with a free SSL certificate. Thanks, GoDaddy!
I should mention that I am using TLS-SNI to serve the HTTPS version of this site, which means if you are using Internet Explorer, Chrome or Safari on Windows XP, you will get certificate errors. Sorry — nothing I can do about that, unfortunately. Also, I have been told Safari users on Mac OS X are getting certificate errors. Sorry about that, but the certificate is trusted on every other TLS-SNI supporting browser I have tested it on, so not sure what’s going on there.
I’m not redirecting users from the HTTP to HTTPS version just yet for two reasons: (1) I’m not sure what the best approach with regards to Google juice is, and (2) in case users cannot access the HTTPS version, they can still force the HTTP version. I’ll probably start redirecting in the near future though.
Paranoid? Maybe. Far-fetched? Definitely not.
Tagged: censorship, internet, musings, openinternet, web, WordPress | 10 Comments »
