Someone tweeted a mashup of the graphic novels with the trailer and then I watched the actual trailer. Two days later the movie was release. Two days after that I had seen it twice.

First off this movie isn’t for everyone, but it is my favorite thing ever, so far. If you like any of:

• The trailer
• Video games (8 bit culture)
• Canadian indy rock
• Toronto

You will probably really like it. Go see it. Go see it now. It is worth seeing “in theaters”.

When I say “my favorite thing” I do not say that lightly, this movie feels like it came out of my imagination circa the 1990s. The premise, the style, all of it strikes a chord deep with in my sensibilities. You probably won’t feel the same way unless you are in your twenties, male and a some what of a dork, but if you are say under 40 you will still probably really enjoy it.

As with movies based on prior art, people claim the graphic novels are better. That is probably true, but I think as a movie it stands alone. It doesn’t suffer the pacing issues most movies based on novels do. It is non stop, but that works, that is what 8 bit culture is all about.

Much thanks to those who were involved in creating it. I for one appreciate it.

Boxee is Awesome*

*Well, nearly awesome.

Empowering our HDTV to be ultimate media hubs has been a hot topic lately with the announcement of Google TV. There are other players in the market like Apple TV and Kaleidescape.

Boxee is an open source cum commercial venture design to make your TV awesome today. In my view Boxee is coming around the bend. It is based on the XBox Media Center (XBMC) and improves internet video support and social networking. I tried it a year ago but the social media aspects got in the way of my goal, watching videos which I have on my network. I stuck with my basic XBMC.

With their new Beta they have made a lot of improvements. There is still distance to travel, but what you can do with it is impressive.

Podcasts in the Living Room

One key feature which I think is under emphasized is ability to listen to and watch your favorite podcasts on your big TV on demand. Keep up with the news or the latest episode of Know Your Meme.

Doing it is a bit complex, so I hope it is improved. Meanwhile you can follow these steps:

1. Install Boxee on your local Mac Mini or other media computer.

2. Subscribe to your feeds which I think has to be done online through http://www.boxee.tv under the “Feeds” heading. They list “common” feeds but that isn’t really useful. With a feed url which you can find from the feed provide you can add it directly with the “Add an RSS Feed” link.

3. In Boxee you will need the RSS FEEDS App. It doesn’t seem to be installed by default so in the Apps section go to the library view and use the search bar to find the RSS FEEDS App and add it to your apps and add a shortcut if you like.

4. Launch the RSS FEEDS App and you should see all the feeds you added online listed with all the episodes indexed for you which you can enjoy on demand!

Almost Awesome

There are a few issues with Boxee. For me being Canadian there is a lack of Can Con. Boxee says they are working directly with CTV and CBC to get access to their content which is the right way to do it.

The other big issue is general awkwardness inherited from XBMC. I find adding local sources for media tricky at best. Often settings aren’t where you expect them to be. And something which should be featured and as easy to use like podcast support is kind of hidden. There is a “Video Podcast” App, but it is kind of waste of time since it only has certain feeds.

Still what you can already do with Boxee is fun, awesome, and free if you have hardware near your TV. We have come a long way towards media convergence in the last 5 years. The next 5 should be even more exciting!

Not quite. Apple has been in the news lately for interesting iPhone development policies and getting very upset over a lost prototype, but that’s not what I am here to talk about.

I have been thinking about a few quotes by Steve Jobs I recently read.

“I don’t think of my life as a career. I do stuff. I respond to stuff. That’s not a career — it’s a life!”¹

“I don’t think about legacy much. I just think about being able to get up every day and go in and hang around these great people and hopefully create something that other people will love as much as we do. And if we can do that, that’s great.”²

In my view these quotes exposes an interesting mentality. Maybe it is humility for the sake of the press, but even if that is the case I find the idea contained within fascinating.

Much is made of the power of competition in our society, especially when it comes to business. Is this new device an iPhone killer? Will the iPad beat the Kindle? Can you gain the most market share in your chosen area? Why aren’t your earnings higher this year? What is the competition doing? Why are we doing that? When will I stop asking questions?

But from the quotes it would seem that Job’s motivation doesn’t come from beating any one or being the best at anything, but more simply producing something he is proud of and something he hopes others will like. Far from the idea of free market competition this sounds more like the outlook of an artist.

When I said Apple rocks, I meant they rock like U2. U2 isn’t trying to garner the most fans, or release a better album than Coldplay nor is Arcade Fire trying to out do Metric. These bands, these artists, released albums which became very popular. When they go back to the studio they hope to do it again, but first and fore most they have to make something they like.

It is funny that people talk so much about Apple fan boys. Maybe that is how Apple prefers it. Like rockstars, Apple wants people to love what they release, but first and fore most they have to make something they like.

What would our world be like if more of the companies which produce the products we use focused on making ones which rocked rather than just trying to out perform their competition.

¹ Time Magazine
² Apple Insider

That isn’t quite true, I did have time to check my wp-config.php and to test my username, password, and database name to make sure they were right. Everything was correct but still all I got was “Error establishing a database connection”.

This error message isn’t being entirely honest. I was able to connect to the database, and from the logs so could WordPress. But all was not well with my database and no one was telling me.

So if you are in this situation and feeling unnerved because you don’t know why WordPress can’t establish a database connection, take heart the error message might also mean: “I can establish a database connection but one of the tables I tried to use isn’t working”. The top hits on Google deal with the easy configuration problems, which probably do account for most of the times that this error message appears, but the top hit doesn’t even indicate there might be other reasons. If you read the comments carefully there are some clues, but they are kind of subtle.

I figured out the real problem through the course of backing up my database just in case there was real trouble. When I tried doing a dump of the database I was told a certain table had crashed. A bit of Googling later, and a CHECK TABLE and REPAIR TABLE I was back up an running. Now if only the error message was more accurate or this information was higher on Google :).

By the way, this might be my 200th post ever!

About a year ago I started working with Django to make more complicated applications. It so easy I started producing little productivity web apps for my own purposes. I discovered Django was very usable for rapid development, but I still didn’t have the perspective understand how Pythonic Django was.

Currently I am working on a major project in Pylons, a loose framework based on WSGI. This experience has given me something to contrast Django with and now I see why Guido would describe it as Pythonic.

Though it has been mentioned that there is some magic in Django, I find when it comes to the important things Django is very explicit. In contrast to Pylons, Django is explicit in request, response, template context and helpers. In Pylons these objects are treated as global.

A view/controller, which in Django is just a callable instead of having to be a method of a class, receives the request as an explicit argument. The view’s job is to return a response object. Django provides shortcuts to make this as easy as rendering a template, but fundamentally Django takes a request and returns a response. In Pylons these objects are global, which makes concept like what if I call another view/controller while I am render a given view/controller unsettling. It is unclear what magic is going on behind the scenes.

More importantly in Django you have explicitly define the context you are passing into your template in one place. You can create a special context which includes some data from the request, but even this must be done explicitly. In Pylons the context is global and comes with baggage–various pre-defined objects which are handy to have in a template, but not really knowing how they get there makes things feel more magical. It also mean you have to look in many places to see what names are available in the context for a template. The interface between template and view/controller is probably the most important to be clean and clear, especially if you consider that the people writing the templates should probably be distinct from the people writing the code.

Finally sometimes you need to do more complex things in templates, and you need some help. In Pylons help in a template comes from h, which represents a projects lib.helpers module. This is a relatively un-namespaced holding area for every bit of helper code you might want. In contrast Django makes you explicit declare you are adding special template helpers (new tags and filters) to a given template. That means in a given template (or template hierarchy) you can know which helpers you are using. This is a place where Django could be even more explicit and use name space even more name spacing.

Fundamentally all of this plus clearer url dispatch means that Django is both more explicit and more able to handle re-usable apps. Since explicit is better than implicit, that would make Django more Pythonic. Now, I think would agree that Django is my favorite as well.

My girlfriend and I had a simple goal, to pay too money much to watch 19+ showing of a movie in nice comfy seats. Cineplex has a new class of service called VIP, which is , well very European. You get to pick your seats, drink alcohol, and eat food which is claimed to be slightly better. All and all VIP movies are interesting, and work really well for couples. I guess the “echo” generation is coupled enough for this kind of thing to work.

We thought we would buy the tickets online. It would be easy, we would avoid the lines and even get to pick our seats. Only problem is they make is that Cineplex don’t make it all that easy. I will admit that sane payment systems are difficult to write, but I think it is worth the effort.

First you have to create an account on their website, which isn’t so bad, and you only have to do it once. Next you can actually pick your seats in the cinema, which awesome, except their seat holding algorithm is flawed. Next comes payment. Since I don’t bank with a bank that provides online debit I am left to resort to my Master Card. I buy things online all the time using my Master Card, and normally it is really easy, but other times I see a little logo which reads “Secure Code” and a little part of me dies inside.

Security codes are awesome, except when they are used so rarely that the user you are trying to verify doesn’t ever remember them. For my Master Card I have a PIN I can’t change, this Secure Code, and my trusty signature. That is two separate things to remember, and I only need to remember my Secure Code maybe 25% of the time online.

The other problem with Secure Code is its implementation. Something magical happens and the merchant’s site passes control over to a site I might guess is generated by my bank. Then if I am really lucky control will be handed back and the transaction will continue. More often I fail after about 3 tries, being too suborn to admit I forgot the code, and I end up in the merchants failure case which in the case of Cineplex, is nothing. I don’t get bounced backed. I can’t try again. Don’t pass Go, don’t collect $200.

I could start over from the beginning, but when I get back the Secure Code page it says I have already failed! No chance to try again. Here I am reserving seats, and my bank already knows the transaction is doomed. I am thankful for the security, but I want to watch a movie here. Meanwhile Cineplex thinks the seats I just failed to buy are still taken, so every time we try again our previous favourite seats are unavailable. Even waiting didn’t seem to open up the seats back up. Which implies you could probably reserve a whole cinema who out paying for any seats if your tried hard enough.

In the end my girlfriend was able to buy us tickets. She also didn’t remember her Secure Code, but she admitted it sooner.

We made it to the movie and enjoyed our leather seats and drinks. But I am left wondering why did it have to be so hard.

Businesses which make giving them money easy, make more money and have happy, loyal customers. Look at Amazon or Apple, they are pros. I have probably spent well over $200 on iTunes since they removed DRM from the music library, and I barely realize it. The experience is instantly getting the music I want to hear, not trying to figure out how to pay for.

I found a Fido employee telling this strange to say the least, but I looked it up and I found there are urls you can go to with your iPhone the which will attempt to install a small configuration file on your iPhone. All you had to do is say it is trust this one small piece of unsigned code, and bang, you get the ability to turn on tethering. You don’t even have to jail break your phone! The trick is that the iPhone OS as of version 2 (I think) supported tethering natively, it just happens to be disabled. My iPhone OS was at version 2.x, I had tethering, all was well in the world.

Then came the update to iPhone OS version 3.x. I was excited to get some shiny new features so I bought in, hook line and sinker. Shortly after installing I noticed my ability to tether was gone. I looked around for some fixes, but there were none which worked. The update prevented the installation of unsigned configuration files under certain conditions, and the dream of tethering with Fido was dead.

I was willing to wait until the next hack. Something would appear that would let me use the device I bought from Fido in a way which they didn’t disallow. But then something surprising happened. Tethering starting to work again.

It is hard to me to be sure why tethering started working again, but based on the time it happened, I have an interesting theory. At the beginning of October I took a trip to The Netherlands to attend my brother’s PhD. defence. While in The Netherlands, I kept my data roaming off, but used my international roaming a bit. I synced to the local 3G network there. When I got back to Canada I noticed that tethering was working again. My theory is that being on a far more permissive network like the one in The Netherlands allowed the unsigned piece of configuration to take hold again.

So there is an easy fix to the Canadian iPhone OS 3.x tethering woes. Fly to The Netherlands. It will only cost several hundred dollars.

From now on, I am not going to update my iPhone unless I know there is a tethering solution. I wish didn’t have to worry and my carrier just allowed me to tether. Hear that Fido… I just want to be able to tether.

Tether.

After a fair amount of public pressure, the Canadian government is holding open consultations about copyright all over the country and online. There is a lot to be said on the topic copyright by people far more involved then myself. One of those people is Lawrence Lessig. When Professor Lessig talks about copyright he often discusses that mash up, the act of mixing existing pieces of media together to make a point, is fast becoming an important tool of expression. This can be compared to quoting text, something which is deeply fundamental to how we communicate today.

You might be skeptical about such an idea, but in the recent reaction to the leaked proposed new UW logo one can see how important it is becoming. The leaked logo appeared on Facebook and the reaction was large. It featured many statements of opinion and some debate, but the part people will remember, the part most people had the time to look, at were the hundreds of mashed up images. Let look at one featuring the draft logo.

Which compare to the classic coat of arms, the new logo is a bit… flashy?

It is very different

Which isn’t necessarly a bad thing. But it is kind 80s.

They wanted something modern, but we were left with lasers.

Lasers and robots.

Or you can combine 80s and lasers.

Or more abstractly.

Then it was beyond the internet itself.

Finally one of the best way to communicate the issue some had with the logo was probably the development of this cheer.

From uwlogo

Whatever you might feel about the logo, the point is there was a reaction, and the way in which people expressed themselves was through mash up. All of these images could be said to be breaking UW copyright. Under difference circumstance and certain copyright law an organization like UW could sue to get the expression censored. In a world where copy bits creates this new kind of expression we have to re think our copyright laws. Imagine if quote text was illegal. How well would our society function? Additionally my republishing of these images is done without the express permission of the creators. If anyone wishes me to remove their work, just let me know.

This huge reaction, mashed up images and all, even prompted the University to rethink their new logo. I want to suggest this form of expression needs protection in any new copyright system.

We are looking to sell various forms of electronics, appliances, and a bit of furniture.

The details can be found on my stuff stuff page. Or you can shop by pictures on one of my Picasa web albums.

Jess and I are moving to London, Ontario.

Jess will be doing her Masters in Molecular Biology at the University of Western Ontario. I will continue to work for McAfee in Waterloo. Commuting will be tough, but I am planning on some interesting strategies to try to make it work.

We are both very excited to be going on a new adventure and living a new place. We will miss our friends in Waterloo and are looking forward to visiting. In two years when Jess’ Master is complete, we intend to come back to Waterloo, but really only time will tell.

We are planning on having a house cooling party of sorts on the 8th of August. We also have a collection of stuff which we don’t really want to move. Some which we plan to sell, some of which just needs a good home.