quack - does it echo?

iTunes 8.0.1

2008-11-19T11:54:40Z

Now that Requiem 1.8.2 is out, I can finally upgrade to iTunes 8.0.1!

Upgrading my iPhone should be fun. I have a few Cydia apps, and I understand there is a special way to deal with those in upgrades.

RIP Bonita

2008-10-30T17:29:46Z

06/06/1971 - 28/10/2008

One of the most amazing people I have ever met, and will always be glad I was able to call her a friend. We shared some fantastic memories, and I will forever be grateful that we got to spend time together.

I love you Bonita, I will miss you dearly.

"Dude... I totally just ripped that." - An in-joke that Bonita and I shared back in July 2005.

Movable Type 4.21

2008-10-23T15:31:29Z

I am attempting to upgrade my blog to MTOS 4.21, but I am have real trouble with the comments so I have had to disable them for now.

Hopefully I will be able to work out exactly what's going wrong and I can re-enable them.

Flash 10 (And sIFR 2)

2008-10-16T10:09:00Z

Adobe have just released Flash Player 10.
Update your Flash Player now to get all the fancy new features!

At the time of writing the version number of Flash is 10.0.12.36, and Shockwave is 11.0r465.
You can check what versions you have here.

I discovered after upgrading my Flash to 10 that the sIFR I use on this site (to style my dates), and on a few others was no longer working. This was because older version of sIFR I was using only detected single digit versions of Flash, so I had to upgrade to 2.0.6 to get it to work again.

Amanda Palmer @ KOKO

2008-10-11T13:16:00Z

Amanda Palmer with Jason Webley, Zoe Keating and The Danger Ensemble played KOKO in Camden last night. I've seen her so many times this year I feel like a stalker... first at the ICA, then at the football game in Shepherd's Bush, then at the Leeds United video shoot, then at Brighton, then London and in November I'll be in Toronto.

I had managed to leave my ticket at home so I had to leave work early and drive home to get it, instead of going straight from work to the station, which would've gotten me to Camden a lot earlier. I was a bit stressed most of the day, until I actually got to Camden and through the doors.

So as I posted on The ShadowBox:

After a hurried drive all the way home from work, then changed quicker than Superman, and back out to grab a train, I managed to get to the gig about 7:15. Not exactly when I wanted to arrive in Camden but at least I made it!

About the show itself? What can I possibly say?
NEIL FUCKING GAIMAN! ON TAMBOURINE! SINGING BACKING VOCALS WITH JASON FUCKING WEBLEY! ON OASIS!!

Although I was quite a way back from the stage, I still managed to be in the middle of the show, as Amanda brushed past me on her way to the stage with her veil, and Mark from the Danger Ensemble was stood right next to me holding a laptop all the way through Blake Says. Pretty cool!

So apart from the stress of forgetting my ticket and the rush home, it was one of the best gigs I have ever been to. And to finish... BRING ON TORONTO IN NOVEMBER! So cannot wait to do it all again, with my girlfriend by my side.

I'll upload some photos from KOKO to my Flickr later.

Damn You Apple!

2008-09-30T10:29:00Z

Right now I'm in a situation that I really hate.

I have an iPhone (locked to O2 [boo] and running OS 2.0.2) and I have iTunes 7.7, but I hate DRM*.

I still buy music from the iTunes Music Store in spite of the DRM, but thanks to Requiem I can strip the DRM off and then I can play the music on anything I want to.

Now there's iPhone OS 2.1 and iTunes 8.

You can't install OS 2.1 without iTunes 8 being installed, and Requiem is not updated for 8 yet (if it ever will be), and there are applications in the App Store that require you to have OS 2.1 installed - including 3 apps I already have installed and now cannot update them!

I am really hoping that Brahms can update Requiem to cope with iTunes 8, or else I'm stuck not being able to buy music from the Music Store any more - and I like the simplicity of the store, in spite of the majority of tracks still having DRM added to them.

* All DRM (in any form) manages to achieve is to penalise the PAYING customers. It does NOT stop people downloading files illegally.

UPDATE: Requiem 1.8.2 is now out for Windows users!

Firefox 3 userChrome.css Tips

2008-09-27T18:33:44Z

Here are some userChrome.css tips for Firefox 3:

Show Go Button on Firefox 3 address bar

#go-button { visibility: visible !important; }

Hide Bookmark Star on Firefox 3 address bar

.ac-type-icon, #star-button { display: none !important; }

This tip works on any version:

Replace Adblock Plus icon and replace with text

#abp-status image { display: none !important; }
#abp-status label { display: -moz-box !important; }

Disable Firefox 3's Automatic Virus Scan

2008-09-26T08:00:07Z

The built-in virus check is there for your own protection. This advice is for expert users only!

Type about:config in the Firefox address bar
Now filter the following browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone
Set the parameter to False

Le Band Extraordinaire

2008-09-21T09:19:40Z

I first saw this band supporting Amanda Palmer at the ICA, and I thought they were great. So last night I travelled up to Finsbury Park to see them perform a short gig in The World's End pub.

I recorded one of their songs, Ill At Ease, on my phone (which explains the terrible sound quality, the mic on the Nokia N95 is terrible).

The "Who Killed Amanda Palmer" Video Series

2008-09-09T20:20:00Z

Part 1: Intro
Part 2: Astronaut
Part 3: Ampersand
Part 4: Runs In The Family
Part 5: The Point Of It All
Part 6: Strength Through Music
Part 7: Guitar Hero
Part 8: Another Year (Credits)

Nerd Tests

2008-08-29T14:45:00Z

Bye Bye SideBlog, Hello Shorts

2008-08-23T23:24:00Z

I have wanted to get rid of the SideBlog feature of this blog for ages, I never really liked that name when I chose it, but I couldn't really think of anything better at the time. So now I've come to a decision to rename that section "Shorts", since that's basically what it is. A collection of short entries and links.

Hopefully I've redirected all the URLs correctly, but there may be people on the old feed URL who won't get updated, so you'd probably have to resubscribe if you want to keep up with any entries I put on there.

Update: I forgot to update my 404 error page with the new name/link. Oops!

Exchange 2007 Not Processing Forward/Redirect Rules

2008-08-21T13:44:00Z

I wanted to have certain emails forwarded to my Gmail account from my Exchange mailbox as they arrived, as email arriving in my Gmail account are pushed to my phone, not unlike a Blackberry. I soon realised that the rule was not working, and so did a little research.

What I discovered is that automatic forwarding to an external domain is disabled by default so I had to turn that option on. Internal forwarding is enabled by default.

To do this, open the Exchange Management Console, open up Organisation Configuration, select Hub Transport and go to the Remote Domains tab.

Normally there will be only one entry in the list, so select this and go to Properties.

Click onto the Message Format tab, and check the Allow automatic forward option, and click OK.

Now your forward and redirect rules should work to external domains!

TL;DR - EMC > Organization Configuration > Hub Transport > Remote Domain Properties > Message Format Tab > Allow automatic forward

Generation Kill - The Killer Elite

2008-08-21T10:08:00Z

I've been watching the HBO mini-series Generation Kill recently, based on journalist Evan Wright's experiences in Iraq travelling with 1st Recon Battalion of the US Marine Corps. It's a very interesting look into the mindset and lives of a Marine unit during a time of war. It's a shame that it's only 7 episodes long, with 1 left to air, as it really is quite gripping.

I started reading The Killer Elite, Wright's 3-part article on the Rolling Stone website, on which the book and later the TV series were based. It just goes to show just how close to the original story the TV series has stayed, only a few minor details changed here and there.

If you get a chance to watch the TV show, I highly recommend it.

Plurk Syntax

2008-08-19T15:42:17Z

I couldn't find this information on Plurk's website, so I've put it here for future reference.

Bold:
Use double asterisks before and after a word: **word**

Italics:
Use an asterisk before and after a word: *word*

Underline:
Use double underscores before and after a word: __word__

URLs:
Type the URL and put the title you want in brackets: url (title)

Videos & Images:
Paste the direct URL into the text box

Link User Names:
Use the @ symbol before the user name to link to their profile: @Username