The Blackout and Why it Won't Work.
By Asher Bramwell, in
General Hoodeywhatsits, posted: 17-FEB-2009 13:40
Come February 28th Section 92a will come into play and the blackout may all have been for nothing.
What is 92a? 92a, commonly called the 'Guilt by accusation law', is a new law designed to 'protect' copyright holders. If any user is accused of breaching someones copyright, their ISP will have to disconnect their internet connection. Yes you did read that correctly, you can be disconnected on accusation alone, which is crazy to say the least.
The blackout is a plan formed by 'Creative Freedom NZ', in which people will blackout their webpages, blogs, facebook etc, as a way of protesting against the law.
But will this succeed in doing anything other than inconveniencing a few people?
It could have a chance of working if higher profile websites did the same, such as Trademe, Stuff, NZHerald etc. But a day blacked out is a day less profit, which is a day too many for them. Think about it, if Trade me did a blackout for even an hour, it would bring the issue of 92a thousands of the general public and not just the tech community. We all know about it, but does Larry the 58 year old milk man from Masterton know about it? He's the guy that needs to know about this new law. I know that this is what the blackout is trying to do, but until it hits the mainstream, I don't think that it can succeed.
The blackout will raise awareness, no doubt about that. There has already been media attention thrown its way. And the more media attention it gets, the better. But will it get the attention of the short minded polititians that let it go through?
I hope the blackout works, I hope United Future is able to convince the other partys that 92a is in need of reform. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.
--
Geekzone has committed by planning a blackout on the 23rd of February.
What is 92a? 92a, commonly called the 'Guilt by accusation law', is a new law designed to 'protect' copyright holders. If any user is accused of breaching someones copyright, their ISP will have to disconnect their internet connection. Yes you did read that correctly, you can be disconnected on accusation alone, which is crazy to say the least.
The blackout is a plan formed by 'Creative Freedom NZ', in which people will blackout their webpages, blogs, facebook etc, as a way of protesting against the law.
But will this succeed in doing anything other than inconveniencing a few people?
It could have a chance of working if higher profile websites did the same, such as Trademe, Stuff, NZHerald etc. But a day blacked out is a day less profit, which is a day too many for them. Think about it, if Trade me did a blackout for even an hour, it would bring the issue of 92a thousands of the general public and not just the tech community. We all know about it, but does Larry the 58 year old milk man from Masterton know about it? He's the guy that needs to know about this new law. I know that this is what the blackout is trying to do, but until it hits the mainstream, I don't think that it can succeed.
The blackout will raise awareness, no doubt about that. There has already been media attention thrown its way. And the more media attention it gets, the better. But will it get the attention of the short minded polititians that let it go through?
I hope the blackout works, I hope United Future is able to convince the other partys that 92a is in need of reform. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.
--
Geekzone has committed by planning a blackout on the 23rd of February.
The 2009 Freeview HD Overview
By Asher Bramwell, in
TV, posted: 16-FEB-2009 23:38
Quite a bit has changed since my last entry, and things are much simpler than before.
Windows 7:
Windows 7, both 64 bit and 32 bit, have the ability to watch Freeview|HD straight out of the box. Just install the relavent drivers for your tuner(s), fire up media centre and you're away. Hardware acceleration also works for some video cards.
This is/will be one of the easiest solutions out there, because it is so simple.
You will need Patch 962236 to get Now/Next epg entries.
Currently there is no implementation of MHEG5, but a lot can happen between Beta 1 and RTM.
Xbox 360:
If you have Windows 7, you can stream live tv straight to your xbox. The picture quality is great, and its so simple to use.
Mac os:
Eyetv version 3 now supports h.264 video and aac latm audio. So just select 'New Zealand', scan and away you go.
For the EPG you can use an XMLTV script which grabs the shows for a week.
I think eyetv is the nicest piece of software out there, I always know that my schedules will record and that it will work whenever I want to watch tv. It does have one draw back though. It only uses CPU decoding, so if you have anything less than a 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo, tv 3 will have real problems.
Windows XP & Vista:
DvbViewer & gbpvr are your best bet. Follow my previous guide for setting up dvbviewer.
The channels:
Tv One HD
TV Two HD
TV Three HD
C4 SD
Tv Three +1 (announced, will be a clone of tv3, but running an hour late. eg. News at 7)
TVNZ 6 SD
TVNZ 7 SD
SportsExtra SD
Chinese TV 4:3 SD
Maori TV SD
Central SD
Parliament SD
National Radio
Concert FM
BaseFM
Freeview loop channel HD
All in all, its much simpler to get Freeview|HD working. This post is also relavent to Sweden with their DTT setup.
-- Asher
Windows 7:
Windows 7, both 64 bit and 32 bit, have the ability to watch Freeview|HD straight out of the box. Just install the relavent drivers for your tuner(s), fire up media centre and you're away. Hardware acceleration also works for some video cards.
This is/will be one of the easiest solutions out there, because it is so simple.
You will need Patch 962236 to get Now/Next epg entries.
Currently there is no implementation of MHEG5, but a lot can happen between Beta 1 and RTM.
Xbox 360:
If you have Windows 7, you can stream live tv straight to your xbox. The picture quality is great, and its so simple to use.
Mac os:
Eyetv version 3 now supports h.264 video and aac latm audio. So just select 'New Zealand', scan and away you go.
For the EPG you can use an XMLTV script which grabs the shows for a week.
I think eyetv is the nicest piece of software out there, I always know that my schedules will record and that it will work whenever I want to watch tv. It does have one draw back though. It only uses CPU decoding, so if you have anything less than a 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo, tv 3 will have real problems.
Windows XP & Vista:
DvbViewer & gbpvr are your best bet. Follow my previous guide for setting up dvbviewer.
The channels:
Tv One HD
TV Two HD
TV Three HD
C4 SD
Tv Three +1 (announced, will be a clone of tv3, but running an hour late. eg. News at 7)
TVNZ 6 SD
TVNZ 7 SD
SportsExtra SD
Chinese TV 4:3 SD
Maori TV SD
Central SD
Parliament SD
National Radio
Concert FM
BaseFM
Freeview loop channel HD
All in all, its much simpler to get Freeview|HD working. This post is also relavent to Sweden with their DTT setup.
-- Asher
Jailbreak your 1.1.3 or 1.1.4 iPod Touch.
By Asher Bramwell, in
General Hoodeywhatsits, posted: 24-JUN-2008 16:08
I recently restored and updated my iPod to 1.1.4, and then had the problem of Jailbreaking again.
There are a few options there for jailbreaking your iPod Touch or iPhone.
ZiPhone
iJailbreak
iLiberty+
All of these apps are pretty straight forward, take a clean iPod Touch or iPhone running 1.1.3 or 1.1.4, and with 1 press of a button your away. These all jailbreak and install installer.
I tried all three of the applications and found that iJailbreak was the easiest as it included the option to activate applications such as Mail and Maps.
As with anything, things can go wrong.
There are a few options there for jailbreaking your iPod Touch or iPhone.
ZiPhone
iJailbreak
iLiberty+
All of these apps are pretty straight forward, take a clean iPod Touch or iPhone running 1.1.3 or 1.1.4, and with 1 press of a button your away. These all jailbreak and install installer.
I tried all three of the applications and found that iJailbreak was the easiest as it included the option to activate applications such as Mail and Maps.
As with anything, things can go wrong.
New Freeview | HD (DTT/DVB-T) Samples!
By Asher Bramwell, in
TV, posted: 13-APR-2008 12:43
Get 'em while they're hot. These are new samples from the Freeview | HD service in New Zealand!
TVNZ 7 Sample. This is a 576i video with the new AAC (HE-AAC LATM) audio.
TVONE Sample. This is a 720p upscaled video with the new AAC audio.
Freeview | HD sample. This is a true 720p video with the new AAC audio.
TV3 Sample. This is a true 1080i video (boston legal) with the new AAC audio.
Check here for information on setting up Freeview | HD on your computer.
TVNZ 7 Sample. This is a 576i video with the new AAC (HE-AAC LATM) audio.
TVONE Sample. This is a 720p upscaled video with the new AAC audio.
Freeview | HD sample. This is a true 720p video with the new AAC audio.
TV3 Sample. This is a true 1080i video (boston legal) with the new AAC audio.
Check here for information on setting up Freeview | HD on your computer.
Rotten Apples
By Asher Bramwell, in
Annoyances, posted: 28-FEB-2008 23:26
Last Wednesday, the 20th of February, I bought the base Macbook pro. Which was 2.2 Ghz, 120gb HDD, 128mb 8600gtm. Then this Wednesday Apple released an update to the MBP line, bringing the base unit to 2.4 Ghz, 200gb HDD and 256mb 8600gtm. All for $149 less.
I was aware of a 1-14ish day apple policy which lets people trade up to the newer revision. So today I walked to the local apple authorised reseller here in Dunedin 'Studentit'. Asked about it, and got a big fat NO, and was told to ring apple. After a tangled maze of phone calls, this was established.
Apple NZ offers a 7 day upgrade, when you can trade your laptop in for the new one, if you bought it in the last week (which I had). But, it only applies if you buy from the Apple NZ online store. So if your someone, like me, who bought through an authorised reseller, you are unable to get this upgrade (or a price match).
The guy at studentit was helpful, but even Apple NZ shafted him. They got him to call Australia and try contact a department which doesn't even exist.
It's just disgusting.
I was aware of a 1-14ish day apple policy which lets people trade up to the newer revision. So today I walked to the local apple authorised reseller here in Dunedin 'Studentit'. Asked about it, and got a big fat NO, and was told to ring apple. After a tangled maze of phone calls, this was established.
Apple NZ offers a 7 day upgrade, when you can trade your laptop in for the new one, if you bought it in the last week (which I had). But, it only applies if you buy from the Apple NZ online store. So if your someone, like me, who bought through an authorised reseller, you are unable to get this upgrade (or a price match).
The guy at studentit was helpful, but even Apple NZ shafted him. They got him to call Australia and try contact a department which doesn't even exist.
It's just disgusting.
