Geeky
Stick this in your Perl pipe and, er, run it:
@P=split//,".URRUU\c8R";@d=split//,"\nrekcah xinU / lreP rehtona tsuJ";sub p{
@p{"r$p","u$p"}=(P,P);pipe"r$p","u$p";++$p;($q*=2)+=$f=!fork;map{$P=$P[$f^ord
($p{$_})&6];$p{$_}=/ ^$P/ix?$P:close$_}keys%p}p;p;p;p;p;map{$p{$_}=~/^[P.]/&&
close$_}%p;wait until$?;map{/^r/&&<$_>}%p;$_=$d[$q];sleep rand(2)if/\S/;print
(from http://perl.plover.com/obfuscated/)
Striking Differences...
For the second time in the year and a half I’ve owned this HP/Compaq laptop, I found it necessary to blow away the disk and reinstall Vista and Linux on it (Linux was doing okay, but Vista was not … however, restoring from the original factory DVDs blows away the boot loader, partition table, and all data, so reinstalling Vista from “officially sanctioned” media means reinstalling Linux too).
There’s a bunch of really, really big differences between Windows Vista and Kubuntu Linux 8.10. They underscore the differences between all Windows builds and all Linux builds, too. Read the full story...
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The Incessant Whining Continues
Part of what motivated my unusually “targeted” rant a couple weeks ago about a random Internet Tough Guy I encountered, who turned out to also be a cop (pretty much perfectly explaining his idiotic, thought-free, aggressive behavior) is the incessant whining going on about the recently-released T-Mobile G1 phone.
Amazingly, despite the phone’s overall goodness (it is well-built, easy to use, fast and stable, and feature-rich), people have found all sorts of things to complain about. Read the full story...
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Well Now I've Done It
I’ve gone and done it now — actually committed myself to writing an app for Android, with the risk of embarrassing myself silly if I don’t actually finish it because I’ve done some things to make it public: Read the full story...
- Created a project — http://code.google.com/p/treedroid
- Actually sent in working code — http://code.google.com/p/treedroid/updates/list for the nitty gritty details
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nvidia-177 == Pure Evil
Okay, Ubuntu fans, if you’re having trouble with Xorg doing bad things1 and you’re running an NVidia graphics adapter in your system (with the nvidia-177 driver), reboot into single-user mode (in LILO, type “linux single”; in GRUB, edit the kernel line to add the word “single” to the end), uninstall that mofo and downgrade back to the nvidia-173 (sudo aptitude install nvidia-173), reboot once more, and resume regular work2.
That was an irritating way to start the day …
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“Bad things” in this context means “X never starts,” “very strange ‘CPU soft freeze’ errors appearing in your logs,” and “vein bulges out in your neck.” ↩
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One minor annoyance — if X pops up in “low-graphics” mode, hit [Cancel], log in as root, rmmod nvidia, then modprobe nvidia, and restart X again with “/etc/init.d/gdm restart” (replace gdm with kdm if you’re running kubuntu, or xdm if you’re running xdm). ↩ Read the full story...
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Check Those Little Jumpers!
For over a year now, I’ve had a nice Dell desktop running in my home, replacing the ancient box I used for nearly 7 years before it started showing signs of finally giving up the ghost. This new desktop, a Dell Dimension E521, shipped with FreeDOS (a free DOS clone) and did not include Windows, which was one of the reasons it was less expensive. Equipped with a sufficient (for my purposes) graphics adapter and lots of room for expansion, it has served me well. Read the full story...
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Google Open-Sources Android OS
Ah, what a fun day so far! My folks decided to kick in with an early Christmas gift this year in sending me the cash to order myself a shiny new T-Mobile G1, a smartphone that runs on Google’s new Android operating system. I placed that order yesterday, and though I won’t receive it until November 10, 2008 (d’oh!), it’s at least paid for. My T-Mobile Dash, acquired early last year, will still be put to good use; since they were kind enough to unlock it for me (for free) last year and I’ve since flashed a newer (WM6.1) ROM onto it which continues to work, I’m just going to reset it (erase its brain) and give it to my buddy Shannon to use with her pre-paid cell phone plan. Its internet-based features won’t work (pre-paid plans don’t include internet connectivity), but it will still function as a standalone PDA-style device and it’s still a hell of a phone.
In other news (more interesting to the rest of you), Google open-sourced all of Android OS today. Seriously. Want to download the source code for the base firmware that will be running the first generation of Android phones? You can. Go click that link, and you’ll be downloading the source code yourself in short order. Dig through it a bit and you’ll be able to understand yourself why something behaves the way it does.
This is fan-freaking-tastic.
I’m already eager to get started brewing up apps for this thing on my own, but the community is busy churning out some seriously amazing stuff right now (like a shopping list manager that can scan barcodes with the phone’s built-in camera and comparison-shop online instantly on anything you scan, that can also automatically pop itself up with the right shopping list once the GPS sensor detects you’ve just walked into that store).
With this release, it won’t be long before we start seeing some truly astounding understanding of the platform and some amazing applications emerging for it.
Rock on, Google! This is a very cool move. Read the full story...
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Carriers: Annoyed About "Free Spectrum"
Assorted wireless carriers are whining loudly to the FCC about the new upcoming free spectrum that is likely to carry free WiFi signals to a good chunk of the nation in a few years.
It’s funny, but as these carriers complain so much about the impending doom this will cause (no doubt because people will switch from sucky-ass cellular data connections to the free WiFi), one overwhelming thought comes to mind:
If you’re so worried about free competition killing your bottom line, try making your service better! Read the full story...
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Remember to Show Your Work
One of the more amusing facets of the ongoing battle against piracy is the hyperbole — gross exaggerations of how badly piracy is crushing our economy. The content industry likes to claim that piracy has cost the United States alone over 750,000 jobs (a quarter of a million — you read that right), and nearly $250 billion in revenue.
Yeah. So when you download some random CD that retails for $15 (that costs a buck to make, tops), you’re part of some colossal machine that’s stealing billions of dollars from the industry every year.
Or not. I love it when people make insane claims like these only to have someone actually do the damned math to see if there’s any truth to it or not. Guess what? In this case, there isn’t any. Read the full story...
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GrandCentral + SIP DTMF = Missed Calls?
Are you using a SIP-based VoIP gadget for your phone service and having trouble with GrandCentral’s “press 1 to accept this call” prompt ignoring your frantic mashing of [1] on your phone and dropping the call?1
Grab your configuration guide for your SIP adapter, and make sure you’re only sending DTMF tones via “SIP INFO” — that keeps voice prompt systems working (the kind you have to bang numbers into, like banking and automated support lines, etc.) and somehow pokes GrandCentral into working. Disable all other means of sending DTMF tones. On a Grandstream device that’s pretty easy. On other devices, it may be easy, or may require fun and games with telnet. Good luck!
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Yes, I’m aware this is a somewhat limited-scope problem. It affected me, though, so I’m sharing the fix. So sue me.2
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No, dammit, don’t actually sue me. ↩ Read the full story...
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Think You Understand the Whole "Piracy" Debate? You're Wrong
The Pirate Bay is, for those not “in the know,” one of several popular websites wherein a popular activity is supported and encouraged. That popular activity is what the content cartel calls “piracy.” Just about everyone else calls it “not a big deal” (and I tend to agree). The good news is the legal systems around the world are starting to realize that it’s also “not a big deal” too — recently access to the The Pirate Bay website was blocked for Italian users (by an Italian judge), and the website responded with an appeal. Read the full story...
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