#“App Inventor Source Code Now Available”
Thrilled to see that thecode is now available for anyone to grab and modify. Once MIT is up and running well, they’ll start accepting contributions.
My challenge to all the developers out there - port all of AppInventor to iOS. This would be far far more important and valuable for a child’s education than some overpriced e-Books on a single vendor platform.
#“And like that, poof, he’s gone. RIP Jaiku 2006-2012”
A few minutes ago, Google shut down Jaiku, just after I posted a #goodbye.
My last proper post there was 3 years and 5 months ago. For a short period in 2007, many thought it would overtake Twitter during the relentless fail-whale era, but it never got the traction.
I always said everything could have been different if Google had made it the Social Address Book in Android back in 2008. But siloed-thinking couldn’t join the dots.
My full archive is now over on Jaiku Archive.
It’s too late to run any of the other backup scripts.
We should probably be as angry about Google not archiving this properly, as we were with Yahoo and Geocities, but obviously the scale is minuscule by comparison. And some of us have that archive above.
But do remember, what happened to Geocities and Jaiku could happen to Twitter or Facebook in 2015. So please make sure to install ThinkUp somewhere so you can backup and own your own content.
#“UK and Ireland Businesses to Lose 4 Billion Work Hours Due To Olympics”
I figured I’d get the nonsense headline in before anyone else :-)
How many of these non-stories about the London Olympics are we going to see between now and the end of the year?
#“My Technology.ie podcast with Conn - All about Home Media & Netflix”
I had a great auld natter with Conn Muneachin last week all about the launch of Netflix in Ireland and the cobbled together home media setup we have in the house. It’s amazing what you can build with some old gear, Cat-5e cable and Open Source software. Hope you enjoy.
(Oh and if you aren’t already subbed to both the Technology.ie blog and podcast, you are really missing out!)
Thanks Conn and thanks to the guys in Blacknight for sponsoring. This blog is hosted on BK.
#“DeLorean DMC-12 EV at CES. Wipes drool off keyboard.”
You will be mine. One day.
#“Apple to unveil revolutionary upgrade to multi-touch on iPad 3”
In response to many complaints from users of the iPad 2 that the 8finger-2thumb gesture to switch between Apps was too simplistic, we can exclusively reveal that Apple will shortly announce their Multi-Toe Interface.
Recent research has shown that 82% of iPad usage is on the sofa in front of the TV. Apple further discovered that over 73% of people watch TV with their shoes off. New CEO Tim Cook joined the dots and Multi-Toe was born.
Now you can simulate the Android Back button by simply applying both hands and feet to the iPad simultaneously. Milton Bradley has already announced support in their upcoming iTwister game.
Rumours are also swirling that the follow-up iPad 4 will come with Bum-Touch where ass-dialling becomes a feature, not a bug.
#“Changing over to a Bluetooth car stereo to work with your phone”
I blogged about this before ages ago but had some recent questions on it so I thought I’d do a quick update. If, like me, you drive an old car, your car stereo probably doesn’t have an audio jack and almost definitely doesn’t have bluetooth.
If you have a Ford from 1999 onwards then you have the added problem of a double height stereo whose CD player is probably knackered at this stage.
It turns out to be quite easy to replace any of the above with a dirt cheap stereo from Lidl or Aldi which gives you A2DP high-quality bluetooth audio through your car speakers when you pair your smartphone to it. As an added bonus you get an acceptable hands-free system built in too.
The steps are as follows:
Only word of warning is that the radio reception on our two Lidl/Aldi ones is rubbish in West Cork compared to the factory-fitted models.
#“How could I forget the coolest Christmas Hoodie ever?”
I keep forgetting to blog this despite the fact that I wear it every day.
My mother-in-law got me a fantastic Christmas present in Wild Side Sports in Bandon.
It’s a Rusty Hoodie with, wait for it, built-in machine-washable headphones!
There is a separate pocket for your phone/MP3-player and a headphone plug in there. It runs up to the in-ear headphones which are actually the toggles at the end of the hood draw-string.
Not only is it a brilliant product but I will also single-handedly make hoodies the most uncool thing any teenager can wear. You’re welcome.
#“Cyanogenmod - The Community Android Firmware - Now 1 million users!”
As a longtime Cyanogenmod user even I’m a bit shocked by this number.
We at CyanogenMod are thrilled to have reached 1 million unique and active users.Thank you.
— Keyan (@kmobs) January 12, 2012
In case you aren’t aware of it, Cyanogenmod is a community built version of Android AOSP (Android Open Source Project). Every time Google releases a new version of Android, they release the source code shortly afterwards so that anyone can build a phone or phone software using it. There are hundreds if not thousands of community projects which take this code and port it in different ways to all the different handsets.
Cyanogenmod is the best known and usually the best. You get lots of great extra features, usually a speed improvement and most importantly, it excludes all those HTC/Samsung/Motorola bloatware UIs that those manufacturers insist on adding to their phones.
Cyanogenmod is also fantastic for getting the latest version of Android on to old unsupported phones. I’ve even run Gingerbread 2.3 on my old HTC G1 which was the first ever Android phone.
But I’ve always seen Cyanogen as a niche geek thing that would never have big numbers. I assumed the hassle of rooting your phone so you can install it was too much for most people. But 1m users is stunning. I could see this number going through the roof if a bunch of no-name Chinese phone makers use it and release $50 no-contract Android phones this year.
Well done to Steve Kondik and all of the Cyanogenmod teams out there. We’re all eagerly looking forward to CM9 which is the Cyanogenmod version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
#“My requisite Netflix Ireland & UK linkbait post”
It’s been over 36 hours and I haven’t blogged about Netflix launching on this side of the pond yet. Twitter was non-stop about it yesterday and rightly so. I’ve seen every extreme of opinion expressed there so I thought I’d lash down a few thoughts and findings.
We are probably the perfect target demographic for Netflix. We cut the cord on Sky back in September after we got sick of paying for a pile of old crap we never watched. Since then we’ve used FreeSat and Saorview backed-up by Amazon Unbox downloads for US TV Shows (which requires a horrendous amount of messing so that you can give people your money) and some RTE Player, Hulu, TV3 Player and iPlayer. We adults have been happy enough but the kids have hated losing all their fave shows and struggle to live with just CBeebies, CBBC, CITV and RTEjr (and WTF is RTE doing with only showing RTEjr Mon-Fri? What is this, 1974?).
I’ve been massively looking forward to Netflix over here so that I could get all our fave US shows without paying the Rupert tax or messing with VPNs. The reality turned out a bit differently. There is almost nothing I could find in the TV section that was up to date. Damages was 2 seasons old. Ditto Weeds, Californication etc etc. I have to assume the existing buyers over here (RTE, Sky, BBC, ITV) have deals preventing Netflix from showing anything more up to date. I can only hope that they kick some serious arsein this space in the coming years and particularly block RTE from buying up shows that they never broadcast or only broadcast at stupid times.
Once I got over the disappointment I realised I still liked it. Firstly, they have a huge back catalogue. So even if they don’t have the latest and greatest, you can find lots of stuff you’ve never seen, particularly Indie movies or shows like Breaking Bad which I keep meaning to start watching. But more importantly for us, with 5 kids, the amount of kids TV is great. Lots and lots of stuff to keep them amused for months. Hopefully they’ll add more Disney and Disney XD shows like Wizards of Waverly Place that some of our gang love.
For those reasons I think 6.99 a month is a bargain and I’m pretty sure we’ll keep the subscription after the trial month.
Now for the techie bits. I’ve installed (or attempted to install) Netflix on the following:
UPDATE: Just discovered that two Wiis cannot play simultaneously, which strikes me as a bizarre limitation given that iPad/Android was fine. We’ll just have to get XBMC or Media Center working sooner!
My biggest complaint, and it’s a major one, is the complete lack of fine-grained access controls. You can set an overall rating on your account from Show Everything down to Show Only G-Rating but that’s it. I want to enable Everything on the PC whilst having the Wiis set to 12A or General. It’s impossible. Netflix really needs to fix this. Right now I have the entire account set to 12A so if I want to watch Breaking Bad, I’ll first have to change the parental setting online, then watch the show and then switch it back again. Netflix needs to either have sub-accounts with different access levels or just settings per device.
But it’s actually worse than I originally thought because even if you set 12A, it still displays all shows of all ratings in Browse/Search but just prevents you from playing them. Let’s hope they don’t offer Debbie Does Dallas for streaming. “Daaaaaaad, who”s Debbie and what is she doing in Dallas?”
Apart from that huge hole, I’m a fan. If all Netflix does is disrupt the incumbents, it’s a good outcome for consumers.