Official Warning
So, once again, I phoned them again (having already remind them that I don't in fact own a TV). The phone system at TV Licensing just struck me as 7 different ways of saying 'Please pay for a TV licence here. Now'. So, I hit the ubiquitous 'Press 8 if none of the choices apply to you'. And was routed to another menu. And pressed 8 again, only to be routed to yet another menu system, this time voice controlled. After the second of these menus, I chose to just hold for an operator (if I hadn't been rather angry, I'd have probably held to begin with - I'm convinced the menus have no effect as to which department you speak to). Finally, after 5 minutes of navigating, I reached someone:
TV Licensing Phone-Mug: Good afternoon, TV licensing, can I have your TV License Number please?
Me: I don't own a TV licence so can't give you a reference number. I'm not sure which option this fits into, but I received a two letters today, one dated January 2007, that inform me I'm under inspection. I have also previously phoned to let you know I don't own a TV.
Mug: OK, please tell me the reference number on the top of the correspondance.
Me: (Reads out 20 number & letter reference number)
Mug: Can you confirm your address for me please?
Me: (Runs through address at great pace)
Mug: So you don't own a TV? (After having seen I live in University Halls of Residence)
Me: No, I don't own a TV.
Mug: I've noted that in our database. If your receive any further letters from us, please ignore them. Your address will be visited to ensure this is correct and if it's not, you will be fined and or cautioned.
(Now Irate for being branded a liar) Me: That's fine, I have no TV. Thank you, goodbye.
(Hangs up phone)
Shouting, Me: Fuckwits. How dare they accuse me of lying. What's the f**king point of contacting me to say ' You're scheduled a visit from our highly popular inspectors' and then asking me to let them know if I have no TV, only for them to say they're going to have to visit anyway?!?! I may as well have simply ignored the letters, let them do their investigation, and told them where to shove their letters. (Don't worry, that idea is noted for next year).
Needless to say, the kettle isn't on for when the TV Licensing people eventually arrive. Bastards......
RapidWeaver Tip #3: The Tools We Use
What will you likely need to work with?
- HTML
- CSS
- Graphics
- Theme .plist Editor
- Webspace
- Browser Compatibility
Free Pick: TextWrangler, from BareBones software is worth considering. It has many of the same features as skEdit.
CSS
Graphics
Theme .plist Files
Webspace
Web Browser Compatibility
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If you think I've missed a crucial part of your RapidWeaver workflow, then let me know! All Icons are the property of their respective owners.
RapidWeaver Tip #2: Google Analytics
This tutorial assumes you've now got an account for Analytics, and have some code that looks like this:
< script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">< /script>
< script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-xxxxxxx";
urchinTracker();
< /script>
The xxx being a series of numbers. Don't worry if there's no spaces after each < (I've done that to ensure that the code doesn't work and instead is displayed in this tutorial!). Other than the the Analytics code, you're also going to need a text editor for one of the steps (this tip requires some pasting into an HTML file). I use skEdit (shareware) but the very excellent, and very much free, TextWrangler from BareBones software is my free pick. The tutorial will modify a copy of your theme file used in the RapidWeaver file. As a result, you will need to re-publish the entire site to get the code to be placed on every single page. There is no way to get around this, so it might be worth doing the code bits before lunch and leaving RapidWeaver to publish whilst you're away as, depending on the site size, and the speed of your net connection, it could take a little while.
Disclaimer
This tutorial is produce in good faith. This technique is used on my own site, and I routinely recommend it to people who wish to use Google Analytics with RapidWeaver. However, you follow the steps at your own risk. I can offer no support if you undertake this tutorial, unless through the RapidWeaver forums. Please ensure you have a fresh backup before doing any modifications to a RapidWeaver site that is in development or in production! If there is any error with this tutorial, please let me know!
The Tutorial Starts Here!
- 1. Open the RapidWeaver file you want to work with.
2. Open the Theme View.
3. Right click your currently used theme, and choose 'Duplicate Theme'
4. Enter a new name for your theme.
5. Select the duplicated theme as your site's theme. You will have to re-set all (or any) Theme Variations in the Theme Inspector (Cmnd + 1).
6. Right click the new theme in the Theme View and choose 'Show Contents'. A window like the one below will appear.
7. Right click the file index.html, and choose to 'Open With' -> 'TextWrangler'.
8. In TextWrangler, hit Cmnd + F (Find) and search for '/body' (without the 's).
9. You'll find the term almost at the very end of the file like this:
10. Paste the Google Analytics code above the < /body> tag, but below the code above it. You should end up with it like so:
11. Save the HTML file, ensure your project has all the Theme Variations correctly re-added, and then we're set to publish. Before you do so, however, you should ensure you Clear Publishing Cache (at the Publish dialogue) to ensure all your pages have been updated.
12. Sit back and allow Google Analytics to collect the information - and be patient. It can take some time. (Note, if you're on Tiger, there's a damn neat dashboard widget called Dashalytics which allows you to view summary information from the OS X Dashboard).
EMI says 'No' to DRM-free music
'Risk'? According to Cory Doctorow, it takes just 180 seconds to get iTunes protected purchases into non-protected format. What risk is worse than that? As ever, DRM continues to plague legitimate customers, whilst doing absolutely nothing to stem the flow of pirated media. All DRM will do, as the word about it spreads to the masses, is piss off legitimate customers and send them to 'other' sources for their content. And the record labels will continue throw money at certain companies to figure out more ways to criminalise those of us who choose to buy legitimate content.Bloomberg says that EMI was asking for the payment to compensate it for the 'risk' of releasing unrestricted MP3s. It claims that operators including Apple, Microsoft and Real Networks had countered with a lower offer, but this was rejected.
Another Petition: Stop the Vista Overcharge
I blogged about this overcharing a few weeks ago - so sign the petition right here. I'm glad to see someone's trying to do something about this extortion.We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to bring pressure on Microsoft to stop them overcharging the UK for its Vista Operating System.
RSS Lock 'n' Load: New Blog for you!
Music on the Web
(Via Dan Lurie, from TUAW)
Top Gear Rocket
Do we Really Need another Sainsburys Local?
On a slightly better note, Mancubist has posted a link to a Google Maps Mashup of free WiFi in advance of the proposed city-wide WiFi coming in 2008.
Road Charging Petition - Signed by 1.8m people
- "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to recognise that music and dance should not be restricted by burdensome licensing regulations." [Link]
- "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to prevent the BBC from making its iPlayer on-demand television service available to Windows users only, and instruct the corporation to provide its service for other operating systems also." [Link]
NetNewsWire 3.0d
Macrovision: Drinking the DRM Kool-aid.
By working closely, he more likely means 'effecting every last possible item on the RIAA and MPAAs requirements list'. If you're wondering what all these innovations in consumer-screwovers come from, take a look at the back of your DVDs. Macrovision is there. So, this company has quite a history. Next choice quote:Macrovision has been in the content protection industry for more than 20 years, working closely with content owners of many types, including the major Hollywood studios, to help navigate the transition from physical to digital distribution. We have been involved with and have supported both prevention technologies and DRM that are on literally billions of copies of music, movies, games, software and other content forms, as well as hundreds of millions of devices across the world.
DRM is not an enabler. It just isn't. DRM is there to screw over the (minority) market of online downloads. DRM doesn't prevent piracy, as there's already a medium available to pirates to rip and share: CDs. All DRM (and I'm talking mainly music here, as DRM has been part of DVDs for over a decade) does is penalise those who legitimately purchase music through an online service. Next:It is critical that as all forms of content move from physical to electronic there is an opportunity for DRM to be an important enabler across all content...
Re-read that quote. Ask yourself 'How?'. And then join me in laughing.DRM increases not decreases consumer value
Read: We're on the verge of shipping shitloads more DRM-infected systems, Microsoft took the bait and shipping Vista with all our crap in it. Let's go screw yet more honest consumers. Finally, one of the funniest quotes ever:We are on the verge of a transformation in home entertainment that can be as significant as the introduction of the PC into the home or the invention of the television.
Apple will never give up FairPlay to a company that's been in bed with the RIAA and MPAA since the start. Apple having leverage in the DRM market makes sure that consumers interests are remotely more represented, even if Apple does have an agenda with iPod+iTunes, because Steve Jobs and Apple know what people will buy and accept. The others just don't. Whilst this letter looks like a valid response, the more I read it, the more it becomes clear it's a sign to everyone except Apple:At Macrovision we are willing to lead this industry effort. We offer to assist Apple in the issues and problems with DRM that you state in your letter. Should you desire, we would also assume responsibility for FairPlay as a part of our evolving DRM offering and enable it to interoperate across other DRMs, thus increasing consumer choice and driving commonality across devices.
Dear RIAA, MPAA and our shareholders: We're fully aware there's a guy trying to break down our business model, but don't worry. We're here, and DVDs are still protected. And we're in it for the long run. Hell, our salaries depend on it! Much Love, Freddie.
How do the folks at Macrovision sleep at night?Also worth a read: Engadget.
[Initially published 16/2/07 - 15:25. Update 17/2/07 13:45: I just knew Gruber would have something to say about this. As usual, he hits the nail on the head here.]
Date for your Diary
Here it is on Upcoming.org: 11th March 2007, 1pm in St. Annes Square. Discuss, and post photos here! See you there folks..... let's hope we spot a different celebrity this time! (Shot below taken at the October meetup).
Shattered Sounds
OMG WTF?!
As you may have noticed, I'm linking to Amazon via their referrals scheme more and more now. Instead of solely text ads, I've placed a single graphical ad in the blog sidebar. It's chosen *almost* at random. By 'almost' I mean that it's chosen from a database of ads that I've gone into Associates and manually generated. All the ads are created by me to run (hence why you'll find iPod ads, Harry Potter, 24 and CDs all in there). It's random in that a PHP script serves it up from this 'preapproved' (or as it were 'endorsed') database of ads. If you ever want to see exactly what I'm running (and I intend to update it semi-frquently), the complete database can be viewed here. Pretty much every ad is for a product I own and vouch for. Sadly the iPod Nano RED and 4th Gen iPod are no longer available, so their other siblings and successors are linked to instead.
Top Gear in the USA... Run for the Border!
Since posting, the clip I blogged has been taken offline by the BBC. Damn the YouTube police. If you missed the US special of Top Gear on Sunday, don't miss the repeats on BBC TWO or THREE this week. Clarkson, Hammond and May causing trouble in the USA.
What IS Microsoft Thinking
I've heard more in the last few days about the successor to Vista than anything else. OK, Vista has technically been out since November, so features (not to mention reviews) have dried up. But if people are already being warned something better is just two years away (not the 5 or 6 Vista was), is it going to make the, frankly extortionate, Vista prices any more stomachable? (Vista Home Premium is £115-135 / £163-203, Vista Super Splendid Uber Freakin' Awesome Edition - or Vista Ultimate - costs £188-222 / £284-330 from Amazon. If like me, you're going to need a full install DVD, then perhaps this is the answer for Parallels ;) ).What the fuck is Microsoft thinking by talking about Vista’s successor barely two weeks after Vista’s launch?
I'll repeat it now. What IS Microsoft thinking?
Note to Self....
'Music and Lyrics' was alright. The stabs at pop culture, which whilst very welcome, were constant, and perhaps lost their appeal by the end. A couple of people I went with actually fell asleep - not I though, despite a few lulls in the films pace that were not really needed. The fact that the songs were performed by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore (who is looking disturbingly like Kate Winslet) is impressive, particularly Grant's apparent piano playing. The biggest laughs of all, for me, were the continual attempts by Alex Fletcher (Grant's character) to ensure that Barrymore's character (whose name escapes me) didn't leave anything on the top of the piano. As someone who is part of the 'Don't Damage the Piano' hitsquad, I couldn't help but cringe at the bag going on top of the piano, then Fletcher removing it from the piano instantly. Brilliant, but then with the credits rolling, a postlude of Barrymore going to place her bag on the piano, but then remove it before touching the lid of the polished ebony piano. And when the actors wake up under the piano, and both smack their heads on the underside, I couldn't help but think 'poor piano', not 'ouch'. But that's just the musician in me ;)
'Music and Lyrics' may be a somewhat flimsy film, but it was mostly a good laugh despite the lulls. I won't be buying the DVD but for a feel good film with a few laughs, I'd instruct you to go see it. But please, if you fall asleep, don't ask me to refund your ticket - if I can stay awake, so can you.
As for what I'd rather see, try Hot Fuzz. From the makers of Shaun of the Dead, this looks like a royal laugh.
Facebook: The Song
Thanks Ross! If you're not sure what Facebook is, check out its Wikipedia entry :)
The Fratellis: Live from London
I Hate Macs
The ads are adapted from a near-identical American campaign - the only difference is the use of Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them), but a curious choice in another, since they are best known for the television series Peep Show - probably the best sitcom of the past five years - in which Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur. So when you see the ads, you think, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.
Nice guy, Charlie Brooker. Macs are smug preening tossers? OK, so the article is pure flamebait, but it does just cause more ruckus over the ads, making more people exposed to them. But seriously, 'Fisher Price activity centres for adults'? C'mon. The rant about 1 button mice is now hideously out of date - desktop Macs (except the Mac Mini) ship with a two button Mighty Mouse. He then berates the Mac for not being suitable for 'fun stuff'. Sorry, but to me photos, music and video are fun stuff. Games, well I simply don't have the urge to play those (and if I did, I'd get a Wii or Xbox 360 that's designed for the job, just as my Mac is designed to run Aperture, iPhoto et al, not a jack of all trades, master of none system). OK, so Macs aren't suited for everything (or, clearly, everyone), but I've found that my Mac was pretty well suited to everything I did, and after a while was perfectly suited to everything I did as I took advantage of what the Mac offered.I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don't use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.
Too bad.This week: Charlie ...... listened to the Windows startup jingle every 10 minutes as his PC repeatedly rebooted itself.
Update: Simon Liu of BitCartel software picked up on this too, and provides a link to yet another flamebait article.
Fog
Weird Localised Fog Today gave me an unusual shot of the Beetham Tower from the kitchen. I've just discovered that BBC Manchester has a blog. How I missed it before I'm not to sure, however thought I'd give them a plug.
Flickr Fallout & Popularity Contest 2.0?
The one thing this whole saga has hi-lighted to me is that people are completely abusing Flickr (and in ways that Flickr can really do nothing about). The whole social network of Flickr has reared its 'popularity contest' side, which is a terrible shame. In Northern Bytes #13, I mentioned a guy who has over 19,000 contacts on Flickr. Yes, you read that correctly. Nineteen thousand contacts. Read the whole fallout here.
This particular person seems to simply add as many people as a contact as possible to ensure maximum exposure for his own work. It's not even a subtle way of doing things. If people are adding me simply to garner themselves some more hits for their own ego-boost, then they have no place on any photo-sharing site. Flickr is about the photography, and I think people would do well to remember this. I've added people in the past who've never reciprocated. I've added them purely because I love their photography, and don't mind if they don't reciprocate. If I ever got to the stage where I couldn't add any new un-reciprocated I'd be a little pissed off. Thomas Hawk, who is not only CEO of Flickr rival Zooomr, but also perhaps one of my favourite photographers, offers these words:
Today I have 5,034 contacts on Flickr. The vast majority of these contacts are people that have added me because they want to follow my photography. I've always believed that the polite thing to do was to add them back as contacts so that I could also periodically go through their photos and fave, comment, etc. But now I am going to have to drop about 40% of my contacts whose work that I monitor. So if you notice that I drop you as a contact at Flickr don't take it personally. Blame Yahoo, they are the ones forcing me to do it. I enjoyed monitoring your work while I was allowed.
And before the Flickr brainswashed defenders say, c'mon, how can you really monitor that many people's photographs, I will tell you that I have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours monitoring others photos on Flickr. I have personally favorited over 18,000 photographs from my contacts on Flickr because I love their work. And if they are checking out my stuff I should be able to check out theirs. Yes, the more contacts it gets the harder this is. But almost every day I take time to go through the most recent photos by my contacts and fave and comment on their pictures.
Thankfully the first part of that quote is now unnecessary as I'd imagine that most people add Thomas as a contact. As a footnote, I ought to say how much I admire Thomas Hawk's continued ability to comment on Flickr in a way that is the epitome of professionalism. As CEO of Zooomr, some people may think he should be simply relishing the opportunity for Zooomr to win customers through Yahoo!'s changes. Instead, he's continued to be level headed and up front with his views; Flickr has listened and changed; and has this quote about the changes:
That's why I'll enjoy his photography even more in future, and why his blog is staying in my RSS reader - even if I don't like Zooomr that much (FlickrExport is the killer part of my Flickr-based workflow).Thanks Stewart for listening to the community on this one. Flickr is a better place with reciprocation than without. And thanks for spending hours of your own time these past few days personally responding in the forums on all of these changes. It's this personal level of attention that means the most and it's also a big part of what makes flickr such a great place.
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I'm not commenting on the Y!-id issue above as I'm not 'old-skool' - I use a Y! id for Flickr. It strikes me that protesting 'old-skool' members seem to think that their Flickr accounts are some kind of status symbol that they're not willing to give up. One thing I'd love to see, however, is the ability to link multiple Flickr accounts to one Y! id. Something useful for those who maybe use more than one Flickr account (I don't currently but know of at least 3 people who do). One More Thing: Check out this awesome shot!
Adium 1.0
This evening saw the release of Adium 1.0 - a massive release, as you can tell from the release notes above! For those of you unaware of Adium (where ya been? Living in a cave?) - it's an open source, multi-service IM client. And it rocks. Get it for Mac OS X here!
Harry Potter 7: 21st July
Urgent - Don't Let The Beeb Use MS Content Delivery, Just Don't
I cannot, cannot, emphasise how important this consultation period is for Mac users. If you are a UK Mac User, then you simply MUST fill this form in. Even if you're a Microsoft Windows user, please please PLEASE consider filling the form in against the use of Microsoft's DRM Content Delivery that's being proposed. The BBC is a Public-funded body that has 'access for all' as part of its pretext for operating. They must not leave out the ever-growing body of Mac users - especially with the continued growth of Apple's marketing presence in our country - this is completely against the idea of the BBC's public funded status.