XBMC on a low-powered ARM platform ? Yes but its still very early days. Currently XBMC runs best on x86 processors but with ARM and RISC support slowly bubbling up, who knows where else we may see it in the near future. Your phone? Your watch? Those electonic billboards? That digital photoframe? Who knows?
Month: October 2009
Why XBMC is the best thing on TV
When people come to my flat there usually amazed by my mediacentre setup. They never knew XBMC could look so beautiful. Problem is I can describe the experience but its never the same as when you see it in action. So here's a video speeded up of XBMC in my living room.
So people keep asking what's the specs of the machine I'm running XBMC on? Well its pretty simple, so I'll do a detailed spec sheet.
Software wise I'm running Ubuntu Linux 8.04 on the 2.6.24-24-generic kernel. XBMC runs as the default option when Ubuntu logs in under the under-privileged user xbox. So the Gnome or KDE backend is not loaded. I would upgrade to 9.04 but there's issues with Pulseaudio which I know have been solved but I don't really mess with my XBMC box too muc
Hardware wise, I'm using a slightly under powered Compaq EVO D510 which is a Intel Pentium 4 with 512meg of Memory and 13gig of hard drive space. I tried to switch to using just a Flash drive but found it was actually much slower that using the hard drive (maybe obvious now). I use Samba Shares (SMB) for everything, so the box does nothing but play back media. Other boxes take care of the downloading and storing of media. I'm holding close to 4.25 Terrabytes across my network. Inside the XBMC box, I'm using a standard PC with a old 5x speed creative (no-region) PC DVD drive and GeForce 6200 128meg AGP card. The DVD drive plays everything pretty much and believe it or not is almost 10 years old, the AGP card is simply because the machine doesn't support PCI-Express and XBMC requires a card which supports OpenGL 2.0. The GeForce card can handle most things but doesn't really like 1080p.but 720p and 1080i isn't a problem. The whole thing is hooked up to my Samsung 40inch TV using a DVI to HDMI connection and the sound to my Onkyo 7.1 Surround sound reciever from a Trust 5.1 soundcard using a single optical cable. I have gotten Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES 6.1 out of XBMC, without too much problem. Finally I use a Bluetooth dongle with a wii-remote to control the whole thing. It looks impressive but requires little fiddling if none at all.
Storytlr, goodbye so soon?
I'm upset to hear storytlr is closing down, but not from lack of interest. I use storytlr to do my lifestreaming on www.ianforrester.org and was thinking about deploying it elsewhere.
we have decided to stop operating Storytlr in 10 weeks, on December 31st 2009. The reason is simple: our lives have moved on, kids were born, house were bought, new projects appeared and we don't have time anymore to operate this service properly.
We have spent the last months looking for alternatives, potential partners, and even thought about creating a startup around this project. Yet, in the end, nothing did really make sense for us and we have decided to pull the plug. It was a tough decision to make, it is a sad day, and we feel sorry for our passionate users who have put so much effort into their page and who have helped us improve the service through their many comments.
This is why we have also decided to open source the platform. Not today. It will involve first a major refactoring, since at the moment it looks more like a giant spaghetti than an easy to install package. We don't know when it will ready, but we will do our best to do it as soon as possible. Please get in touch if you want to help with this effort.
Open source it great. But my next thoughts are towards my data. Data Portability is always a worry when a service goes away or down. But they have done a excellent job of allowing data download into CSV files plus there will be a Zip file of any binary blobs like mp3's and pictures.
Nows a good time to find an alternative I guess…at least till the open source version is easily deployable. Sweetcron is looking more and more attractive.
The stoke of a fire mix
Been a while since I've published a mix on soundcloud. This is one I did while on holiday in of all place Stoke on Trent. The old style hotel had a fireplace and nice big chairs to get sucked into. So after most of the old people had retired to there rooms, I put down the ereader and slammed on the pacemaker. This mix is very warming and showcases some of the best trance over the last year. Enjoy!
- Flamboyant – Petshop Boys
- Invisible Touch (ferry Corsten touch) – Bobina
- Sinister – Airbase
- Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
- Rewire – Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi
- Key of life (Marlo remix) – Ohmna featuring Nurlaila
- Into something – richard durand
- Constellation (john O callaghan remix – Thomas Bronzwaer
- Summer Melodies (Frequence remix) – Frequence
- Embrace (ferry fix) – Embrace
- Surreal – John O Callaghan featuring Jaren
- Language (Santiago Nino Dub tech mix) – Hammer and Bennett
- Look ahead – Thomas Bronzwaer
- Radio Cursh (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten
- Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
- Ultra Curve – Cosmic gate
- Seven Cities (V-one's living city remix) – Solar Stone
- Flamboyant – Petshop Boys
Kill Bill Parts 1 & 2, in One Minute, in One Take (video)
Love this one, not so loved but good and worth also mentioning is 28 Days Later, in One Minute, in One Take, Forrest Gump in One Minute, in One Take and Star Wars in One Minute, in One Take.
Girlfriend Scared by Fake Head in Bed
I'm sure everyone's seen this video, its being played to death online but it still cracks me up when I watch it again. Yes its kind of cruel but you got to laugh when the guy pokes his girlfriend with the broom handle and the look on her face when she sees the head in the bed can not be faked. What would you do if you woke up to a stranger where your partner was meant to be?
The problem of the single story
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
Such a great talk from TED about the problems of single stories. How they breed stereotypes and although stereotypes are not always bad, they are usually incomplete. I remember in Freedom writers, a good speech about how the Nazi's started printing cartoons of Jews in newspapers as a way to point out the differences between people. Its the undermining of people in stories which is the thing which holds us back.
Second-Hand Sex Toy Competition
Not the usual thing I have on my blog but I couldn't help but find this one funny and entertaining. Details for the competition is available on from McBirdie's Blog. Here's a bit to tempt you in…
Sure, money’s tight with the never-ending recession–everyone is trying to finally get on board with re-using, recycling, and giving things they own a whole new purpose in life. Why should sex toys be any different? Not only does it mean you’ve managed to find a new use for something, it’s…just darned funny to see a sex toy floating out in the world in a completely innocuous role.
So what we would like to do is see you use your sex toys in a way that amuses, confounds, or just darn tickles us. Whether you find that your vibrator makes for a great milk foamer or a string of anal beads make for a lovely necklace, take a picture and send it in. If you’re feeling especially creative, you can put together a video (no longer than 3 minutes, please–we have no kind of attention span).
Don’t bring back the Bananas, please
I've been raving about the new kiwis, apples and limes innocent drink/smoothie for sometime. I'm not the biggest fan of Bananas and a smoothie without Bananas was always going to float my boat. Lovely drink and actually pretty good for you. Innocent drinks have been asking for feedback on this edition of there drinks, so I'm giving it two thumbs up. I've also learned if you mix it with a small amount of lime or apple vodka it makes a great little cocktail too. Not too much or it goes a little funky in texture.
If bbc backstage had run hackday like this…
The video was removed, so I had to replace it with a image from CocaChou
Found via VickyJo – Can you even imagine what would have happened if BBC Backstage ran a hackday/mashed or any kind of event involving poll dancers and strippers? Oh my goodness can you imagine the newspaper headlines, Eric Huggers apologizing to Mark Thompson, Mark Thompson apologizing to the Trust and the public. And of course I'd be fired and seeking employment elsewhere, maybe Yahoo would be the place to go. I know the culture is very different in Taiwan but as a global brand you've got to think about the reaction.
Seems Tuesday 20th October things have blown up. Not only have the videos been removed or made private but also there's a number of twitters talk about it and blog posts including from Cristano Betta and Simon Willison.
Yahoo finally feeling the pressure, tweeted. Hack Girls from Y!'s Taiwan event don't reflect our values. Was inappropriate, we regret offending anyone. We'll ensure won't happen again.