I’ve been using MythTV which is the open source DVR and home theater system for Linux for years. I originally set it up because I wanted a TiVo but disliked the concept of a monthly fee to use something that I paid for. Of course, I’m a geek, so it’s reasonable for me to put together a new box, install Linux, and install and configure a fairly complex product that was, at the time, early in development.
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Easy, just work for the company. In all seriousness, unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve likely heard that the Playstation 3 was released to North America (Japan was last week and Europe is next year). While I’m not any kind of über-gamer, I am a geek and a company man so, of course, I wanted to make sure I got a system.
SCEA executives were quite generous and even though units are quite constrained and significantly lower than was originally hoped or planned, they are allowing any full-time employee that wants one to order one. Not only that, they assure us that we’ll receive them before Christmas. We are also getting them for a discount. No, it isn’t much (and it would be inappropriate for me to say what it is), but I don’t have to buy a HD tv (like some CompUSA’s and Circuit City’s are requiring) nor did I have to wait in line.
As a sign that I’m more parent than gamer, the feature that I’m most looking forward to is the wireless controllers. I’m tired of tripping over and wrapping up the cords and extenders. That’ll be nie. It’s also nice that every game supports widescreen (a feature that any PS2 title could support but few do).
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We went to Blue Man Group’s How to be a Megastar 2.0 concert Saturday night. It was largely the same as their Complex Rock Tour from a few years back which wasn’t surprising as they haven’t come out with a new album since then. Everyone enjoyed it and it was the kids’ first rock concert.
My shirt was a fun addition. I originally thought that it wasn’t sensitive enough when I first turned it on when I got it at the office, but it turned out to be perfect for the sound level of the concert. I was also afraid that I would be an annoyance to those around me but with so much going on on the stage, it didn’t seem to bother anybody.
I took some snaps with my phone. Click the picture to the right to go to the gallery. Sorry for the quality.
I also had to point out a pretty interesting drum kit that Tracy Bonham‘s drummer used during her opening act performance. It’s called the GigPig and looks to be an interesting and compact kit. Part of me really would like to pick one up.
I’d write more, but I’m writing this while in a hotel room for LOPSA’s SysAdmin Days in Phoenix, AZ. I’m tired and can’t really think of much more to say (intelligently, at least).
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I’ve mentioned before that I’m a Blue Man Group fan. They are currently on tour and the family and I are going to see them in San Diego. I ran across a shirt that is just too cool and will be perfect to wear to the concert. It’s called the T-Qualizer and it is a live equalizer. It should be here Tuesday and I’ll be sure to let you know how it works and how the concert is.
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Now that I have a new ride, there are some mods that I’m going to have to investigate to make everything just the way I want it. Since I listen to so much content on my iPod, I’m trying to find out the best way to connect it to the stock stereo. Sure, I can get an FM adaptor but they’re generally not very good. Historically, I used a cassette adaptor which I was quite satisfied with, but the new stereo does not provide a cassette.
Honda makes an iPod integration kit but it’s expensive (about $500 installed) and reviews I have found indicate it’s clunky. I found the Axxess wire-tunes at my local Circuit City but it doesn’t available for the 2006 Civic. I’m also considering getting a TomTom GO 510 as it provides an iPod connection and control but I’ll need to see one in use first.
Not sure what all options are. I’ll probably hit a few pro audio stores (e.g., not big-box stores) to get some ideas and advise.
UPDATE: After some research, I’ve ordered a USA SPEC iPod Interface from Crutchfield (using a $20 coupon from DealCoupon. It lets you use your iPod through the CD changer interface so the controls work on the stereo. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support the text display. Stay tuned for installation experiences.
An old collegue of mine from Gryphon Software (the founder and the guy who hired me, in fact) IM’d me today with news he’s at a new venture. Chumby Industries is working on developing a new device which, in essence, is going to be a new generation of clock radio. It’s a small device with WiFi that can display content based on Flash widgets. Weather, horroscope, headlines, music, and, of course, the time.
They’re just getting started but they seem to have thought about all the options and are going down a good path. They are going to provide premium fee-based content but will also support custom and/or cummunity developed widgets. Unlike a Tivo, if you don’t want the service, it will still work but you’ll forego the content you’d get from the service.
While killing some time between sessions at WWDC, I saw that my mother-in-law was online so I thought “Hey! what a good time to back up her data.” So took but a moment to start a rsync backup that I do of her user directory on her machine to my system at home. To keep things from getting out-of-hand with regards to space, I use the –delete option which removes any files not in the source directory.
Like all mistakes, they happen because you don’t pay attention and that is exactly what happened to me. I was in the wrong destination directory and was syncing the files to ‘.’ (the current directory) so it happily started deleting files that weren’t in the source. Unfortunately, I was in my home directory at the time. Once I realized, my mistake, I stopped it but not before it had deleted my mail repository, my website, and my blog (this one).
Fortunately, regardless of my horribly rookie mistake, I also back up my user directory two different ways every day. A few restores later and I had all but a few hours of email restored and the entire website and blog.
Good for me, I guess, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Lesson learned, use explicit paths.
This is really no big deal, but I just submitted my first Digg story. It was no big deal, just an article on CNET regarding a new beta of Parallels‘ Virtual Workstation for OS X (a very good product which I’ve blogged about before).
At the bottom of the artical was a "Digg this" link which I did and it turns out it hadn’t been submitted yet. I revised the provided text a bit and clicked submit.
Does that make me cool? Probably not.
Another favorite of mine is Blue Man Group. I first saw them years ago on the Tonight Show (I believe back when Johnny Carson was hosting). Becky and I saw them in Vegas and really enjoyed their show.
From the ever fun Podcast About Nothing I found a website that shows you how to make many of BMG’s PVC-based instruments. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to doing it, but it’s good to have plans.
What I’d really like is a set of BMG samples to be used in Garage Band. That would be fun.
Last night, I was trying to finish up 24: The Game which I had borrowed from work and while I was almost done with only one "hour" (of 24) left (maybe 30-45 minutes of gameplay) it was late and I had a little headache so I went to bed.
About 90 minutes later, I woke up with a very uncomfortable headache. You know, the kind where it feels like your entire head is in a rather large vice. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, so I took two Tylenol and got back in bed. Unfortunately, it was too uncomfortable and my tossing and turning woke Becky up so I decided to go downstairs and wait for them to kick in.
It really was miserable. Even after 30 minutes, I could barely sit still. I passed the time by installing Ubuntu Linux in Parallels and paced the floor sipping water while it was doing it’s thing. Becky checked on me once to make sure I wasn’t dead from an aneurysm and went back up after I told her it was unecessary for both of us to loose sleep.
Long story short, I started feeling good enough to get back in bed around 4 AM. I slept until 8 and then took a nap during the day since I was still feeling a bit wiped out.
If that is what a migraine is, my heart and prayers to anyone who suffers. I’ll presume it was just some one-time thing (maybe a reaction to the sulfites from the wine I had that evening).