Source of So Cal fire
It looks like the source of that fire in Southern California may have been a boy (thought to be under 13) who was playing with matches. The fire destroyed 63 buildings and burned 38,000 acres.
Google OpenSocial
The NY Times reports that tomorrow Google will release a new set of APIs to help developers write programs for Google's social network, Orkut. The APIs are an attempt to improve upon their incredibly feeble social network service and has included several other failed social networks like LinkedIn hi5, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning. If most of those names sound unfamiliar to you don't worry you're not alone. If you recognize the name Friendster its probably from the butt of a joke or two. These networks certainly don't hold a candle to monolithic services like Myspace, Facebook and Tribe but perhaps this will change. Sites like Myspace use a closed architecture so developers can't improve upon them. The Google APIs could be a direct rival to Facebook's API which allows developers to add custom features to the site. Depending on what Google means by "Open" the API could provide a way unify several distributed services throughout the net. Either way, one can hope that the new APIs will finally make Orkut something worth using, it couldn't hurt.
UPDATE: The movie about was posted a few hours ago. It looks like they got MySpace on-board!
Earthquake in the east bay
We just got rocked by an earthquake in Fremont. It looks like it was a 5.6.
Strip tease
This is a creative twist on a striptease. I love the way they tease the audience with the light. It's a shame that modern strip clubs don't do more of this.
AT&T reaction to San Diego fire
San Diego fire victims recount the conversation call they had with AT&T over their cable box.
Daylight widget
Though I simply refuse to wear a watch, I love it when people come up with new ways to indicate time. To promote the new Will Smith movie, I am legend, they've come up with this clever widget to tell time.
Gag gifts
knockknock.biz has a collection of really funny gag products. Their Dating Kit reminds me of a scene from the movie Cherry 2000. Some of their other products include the Personality Report Card and their book titled How To Drive Like A Maniac.
Java programming
In the Adobe Flash Player post I talked about how Flash can add functionality to the web browser. Java, while less ubiquitous as a browser add-on, is another piece of software that can add functionality to your web browser. Adobe had a census conducted in September 2007 and came up with the graph below which shows the relative market penetration of these two add-ons. These numbers are important because they tell an author using one of these technologies, how likely it will be that someone visiting their page will be able to run their program. The add-on for the browsers that PLAYS the objects are generally distributed for free; Adobe assumes they'll make the money on the software that EDITS the objects. Adobe charges $699 for their Flash editor. You can download a variety of Java editors that are available for free.
In this post I'd like to show you how easy it is to create a Java applet that you can include in your website or blog. We will be using free software and the process should be easy enough for anyone to follow. We're going to be creating the applet featured in the Internet file sharing post that displays the words "Hello world". First you'll need to make sure you have the latest Java version of the installed. If you don't have Java installed, you can find it at the Java website.
- Visit the eclipse site and download "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers".
- Unzip the contents of the zip file.
- Run eclipse.exe (it will ask you to specify the location for a workspace, press ok).
- Select the Workbench icon (you can return to this screen by selecting "welcome" from the Help menu).
- From the File menu select "New" then "Java Project". Specify "helloworld" as the "Project name" then click "Finish".
- From the File menu select "New" then "Class". Specify "HelloWorld" as the "name" then click "Finish".
- Paste the following code. To correct the indentation, select all by pressing Ctrl+A then Ctrl+I.
- Select Save from the File menu or press Ctrl+S.
- Select "Run" from the "Run" menu or press Ctrl+F11. You should see the Applet Viewer appear on your screen with your applet running inside displaying the test "Hello World".
- You will find the HelloWorld.class file by selecting "Window", "Show View", "Navigator". The class file is under the bin folder. You can publish the applet to your blog by uploading the class file to a file hosting service and adding the following tag to your own blog post. You will need to modify the code and the codebase attributes. Read my post on Internet file sharing for more information.
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class HelloWorld extends Applet {
static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawString("Hello world", 10 , 10);
}
}
<applet alt="Browser has Java disabled" width="425" height="350" code="HelloWorld.class"> </applet>
Internet file sharing
With the introduction of services like Google Picassa (my favorite), Flickr, Shutterfly, etc, hosting photos online has become pretty easy. Sites like YouTube, Blip.TV, MetaCafe, and others have likewise risen to the challenge of hosting video on the internet. But what if wanted to host a file that wasn't a photo or a video? If you wanted to share a program, for example, where would you go?
File hosting sites have been around for a while. As with any new service, we can look to the big players to get a feel for how mainstream the technology has become. Yahoo doesn't seem to have any stake in this market. Google has offered a Docs service that allows users to share documents but the types of files supported is limited. When you try to upload a Java program, for example, you get a nasty dialog with the message "Sorry, we do not currently support '.class' files." SkyDrive, Microsoft's recent purchase, surprisingly has no problem with files like Java programs.
The thumbnail above shows a Java applet hosted by the SkyDrive service. An image of the applet is included (labeled "snapshot") for those without Java support. The applet is included in this page using the following HTML code. For java Applets I copy the link from the SkyDrive "Download button" and use that for the codebase. I use name of the class file in the code attribute.
<applet border="1" alt="Browser has Java disabled" width="118" height="143" code="HelloWorld.class" codebase="http://ykgi6g.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pipM0-AxCEOFWt1bqbty2pa90XRBICS6TLDOF7gY3umPxkW-NaYImBiZV0e-kVDD4ZkX_cKoDBpk475OFjhd2ZJowN9JbNobK/HelloWorld.class?download"> </applet>
Global terror
GlobalIncidentMap shows a frightening view of suspicious activity that could be terrorist attacks.
Michael Swaim describes porn
When Michael Swaim was shot down for trying to upload porn he decided to do the next best thing.
CRACKED.com contributor Michael Swaim wanted nothing more than to host a little pornography on his video log. But when he asked for our permission, we said something like, "Hell no. We're all good Christians, here, and if any of our still-alive grandparents saw such filth on CRACKED, they'd literally die." So he settled on describing the pornography instead.
Gabe & Max's Internet Thing
Gabe and Max help novice Internet users out with "Gabe & Max's Internet Thing".
San Diego county fires map
The fires in San Diego County have caused over 350,000 people to leave their homes. The fire has burnt 356,000 acres and consumed more than 1,300 homes. KPBS has a Google map with information about the fire.
Convert audio between Microsoft and Apple
Here are a couple scripts to convert an iTunes audio file (m4a) to the ubiquitous mp3 format. The first script converts the file to a wav, the second one converts the wav to an mp3. The supporting software are nice because they're portable, they don't require you to install them. The scripts should work on m4b files as well.
- Download and extract mplayer.
- Download and extract lame into the mplayer directory.
- Download 1m4a2wav.bat and 2wav2mp3.bat into the mplayer directory.
- Drop the mp4 onto the first script (1m4a2wav.bat).
- Drop the resulting wav file onto the second script (2wav2mp3.bat).
@%~d1 @cd %~p1 "%~d0\%~p0mplayer" -ao pcm %1 -ao pcm:file="%~n1.wav" @pause
"%~d0\%~p0lame" --preset standard %1 @pause
Missing water main
You might recall that, back in July, someone tried to rip off the water main. This weekend they were successful.
Primer
The plot to this movie is so wickedly smart that I just had to share it. It's smart, so smart that the plot takes more than most movies to fully grasp. It's memento-ish in its plot direction. [Moviesfoundonline]
Cost of war in Iraq
The
nationalpriorities.org site has a counter to calculate the cost of the war on Iraq. The site provides a comparison of what that number could have bought in housing units, teacher salaries, etc.
Vampire prank
Yesterday's video taught us how to make fangs. Today's video finished the illusion.
Absolutely Hilarious Bathroom Mirror Prank - Watch more free videos
UPDATE: The film now has subtitles.
Vampire fangs
Bre Pettis and Eric Skiff have come up with a really good video on how to make your own vampire fangs.[LaughingSquid]
Improv Everywhere at Abercrombie and Fitch
Improv Everywhere organized 111 men to appear at an Abercrombie and Fitch store in NY. The store features a shirtless guy working inside the front door, photos of shirtless guys, a bronze status of a shirtless guy and a 4 story mural of shirtless guys working on boats. The group of guys shopped around with their shirts off. Some of them even got kicked out. [LaughingSquid]
Generate power using the same concept that destroyed the
How to steal a laptop
In the UK annually over 34000 laptops are stolen. About 10% of that happens in airports. Find out how to crooks use simple techniques to scam you out of your gear.
BRTC PBX with 7960
Once I had the soft phone working it was time to connect the Cisco 7960's to the PBX. The 7960's are wired (CAT5) to the Netgear router.
- SSH to the machine 192.168.1.5 to install "P0S3-06-3-00.bin", "P0S3-06-3-00.sbn" and "brctc.bmp". The first two files contain the phone firmware. When the phone boots it will connect to the PBX system and download the latest firmware. The phones I have are running a really old version of the firmware so loading these files on the PBX will allow them to update themselves when they come online.
- Follow the instructions in step 4 above and add the following options to the extension.
-
Configure the phone to point at the PBX.
- Press "Settings" then 9 (Unlock Config). Ignore this step if option 9 reads Lock instead of Unlock. Enter the password (cisco). Press "Accept".
- Press 3 to enter the Network Configuration menu.
- Press 27 (Alternate TFTP: NO). Ignore this step if option 27 reads YES instead of NO. Press "Yes".
- Press 7 (TFTP Server) then "Edit". Enter the IP address of the PBX (192.168.1.5).
- Press "Back" to exit the "Network Configuration" menu.
- Press 4 to enter the "SIP Configuration" menu.
- Press 1 to enter the "Line 1 Settings" menu. Enter the following values.
- Press "Save".
- Press the three keys 6 + * + settings at the same time to reboot the phone.
Name : 2001 Shortname : 2001 Authentication Name : 2001 Authentication Password : 2001 Display Name : 2001 Proxy Address : 192.168.1.5 Proxy Port : 5060
# cd /tftpboot # wget http://www.qicboy.com/files/2007/10/14/P0S3-06-3-00.zip # unzip P0S3-08-6-00.zip # mv OS79XX.TXT OS79XX.TXT.rel # cp OS79XX.TXT.rel OS79XX.TXT # vi OS79XX.TXT P0S3-06-3-00 # setup-cisco # mv SIPDefault.cnf SIPDefault.cnf.rel # cp SIPDefault.cnf.rel SIPDefault.cnf # vi SIPDefault.cnf image_version: "P0S3-06-3-00" logo_url: "http://192.168.1.5/cisco/bmp/brctc.bmp" # cd /var/www/html/cisco/bmp/ # wget http://www.qicboy.com/files/2007/10/14/brctc.bmp
FreePBX Ext : 2001 Display : Cisco Secret : 2001 Nat : no
BRCTC PBX with soft phone
I have the basics of the BRCTC system working at home. The server I purchased to host the software came in on Friday. I borrowed a CD ROM from a friend, inserted the trixbox-2.2 CD and let it do its thing. It took less than 15 minutes to get the system installed and running. The PBX is presently wired (CAT5) to my Netgear router. I also have a laptop connected to the router using WIFI.
- Purchase TK System from Ewayco ($342).
- Remove cover from TK System, connect CDROM, insert CD, reboot, respond to a few brief questions, let the software install itself.
- Log into the console as root. It will tell you the URL to access to administer the machine (e.g. http://192.168.1.5).
- Configure an extension. Before you can connect to the asterisk server from an IP phone, you need to configure the extension on the server. Here are the steps to configure a basic extension.
- Point your web browser at that URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.5). Click the link labeled "switch" in the upper right hand corner and use maint:password as the login:password combination.
- Navigate to "Asterisk | FreePBX | Setup | extensions".
- Add a generic SIP device and click submit.
- Add the following options to the extension.
Ext : 2000 Display : SysOp Secret : 2000
- Configure the IP phone. I prefer to use X-Lite because once it's installed, you can copy the folder onto a thumb drive and take it with you. Here are the steps needed to configure X-Lite to connect to the asterisk server.
- Start X-Lite.
- Right click on the application window and select "SIP Account Settings...".
- Click on the "Add..." button and
- Provide the following options.
Display Name : 2000 User name : Sysop Password : 2000 Authorization.. : 2000 Domain : 192.168.1.5 Proxy : 192.168.1.5
That's all there is to it. Using the soft phone is a realy nice way to troubleshoot problems. Once soft phone is connected properly I can add any number of other extensions and place an inter PBX call.
Mad TV did this alternate ending to the Wizard of Oz.
Power Risers
UPDATE: I have every reason to believe that the company is bogus. Do not order from them!
A few years ago, I saw someone at Decom wearing a crazy pair of stilts. He was jumping through the air as I tried to take his picture. I still have the picture at my desk. Today I finally ordered a pair for myself.
There are plenty of other videos on the stilts available elsewhere, just search on powerisers.
Dead body on 880
Traffic was a mess this morning. Apparently there was a dead body on 880 at A Street. They closed off parts of the freeway. I made if off to the frontage streets but traffic was just as bad there.
Finally, an honest QVC caller phones in to tell us the truth about his new PC.
Robot insurance
Does your insurance cover you if you're attacked by robots? Watch Sam Waterston's message on these unfortunate events.
Clerks Heroes is a superhero parody of the movie Clerks.
The little giant girl
This giant marionette was created by Royal de Luxe, a French theater company.
On the morning of Sunday 7th May the little girl giant woke up at Horse Guards Parade in London, took a shower from the time-traveling elephant and wandered off to play in the park.
Demographics
Microsoft is offering demographic predictions of websites. This is the breakdown on qicboy.com. They most likely only have very limited information on this site, namely, the stats from people who arrived at the site through a Microsoft search. Still, with enough information it could be a useful too. Unfortunately, since they don't show us the raw information it's difficult to gauge exactly how accurate the information is.
Arse Electronica, Bluegrass and Decompression
Arse Electronica starts tonight. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is also running in Golden Gate Park this weekend. Decompression is on Sun.
TV Free Burning Man
The series of videos by TV Free Burning Man shows an interesting glimpse into the different communities of the city. The video below explains 2007's theme: The Green Man.
What happened to the 60's
Larry Harvey, the founder of Burning Man, gives his thoughts on "What happened to the 60's" in this video.
Burning Man 2007 on CBS
CBS did a story Sunday on the Burning Man festival. I understand that some of this stuff might seem different to some people, but does the news reporter have to act as thought he's interviewing aliens from another planet?
Animals at play
Polar bears and huskies meet with unexpected consequences in this talk by Stuart Brown. The sideshow reminds me of "The Power of Play", a one-hour film made for Animal Planet that explores the importance of play to an animal's development.
Stuart Brown, a physician and clinical researcher who founded the National Institute for Play, describes Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear playing with sled dogs.
Simpsons references
Joey DeVilla has organized a table showing the Simpsons episode with its reference movie.