Hurray!  My little radio station (hobbyist) turns 5 on July 1st.

We're not doing much to celebrate.. but thought you'd like to know! ;-)

http://www.thecheese.co.nz

Unfortunately our on air PC has seen better days, demonstrated by it's failure this morning ( the day after relaunching on FM in central Lower Hutt)

I'm now seeking corporate sponsorship to cover the cost of a new on air PC for The Cheese.

The Cheese is a radio station launched in July 2006, playing music from the 80s, 90s and Today.  Our official website is located at www.thecheese.co.nz

Sponsorship will get you a top of hour name credit and tagline for your business for the next 6 months, on the hour every hour. On top of that, your logo on our website which can be seen on every page with a link through to your own website.

Audience reach:

Cable TV: 45,000k+
FM: Central Lower Hutt
Internet: Worldwide reach and listed on most radio directories.

Please email me at: studio@thecheese.co.nz for more details or send me a PM via Geekzone.

We had six four legged visitors overnight.  Anyone have any recommendations for fixing a 'rooted up' lawn? :)
 

Got an email from the ex Fine Young Cannibals frontman Roland Gift on Tuesday.  He's released on i-Tunes a single.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=304668203&s=143444

Very soulful sound.  Still has that fantastic voice.

Show support by purchasing the track and you never know we may see an album from him sometime soon.

In protest of Section 92a of the New Zealand Copyright act, my website www.thecheese.co.nz will be in black on Monday 23rd.

This is my personal protest (along with many other people's) on the stupid change due to occur next week.
I always believe in 'innocent until proven guilty' and the changes to the Copyright Act will mean a person is automatically judged as guilty, with no re-course for proving your case.  This sucks.

...Mr and Mrs Thoms

A wonderful day was had by all on Saturday 27th December at Church Road Winery, in Taradale Napier.

We're gathering up photos taken by rellies and friends and will post more once they're all sorted out. :)


*update* some photos now up on the net:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197886&l=07f2f&id=852080144

Taken from various people's digital Cameras.

An outline..

Looking for some software to keep a remote PC (slave) with another PC (master) over the internet via FTP, I stumbled across GoodSync .

This software looked suitable, says it would do what I wanted and best of all it was affordable.

I purchased the software back in late November 2007, and with an original few teething problems got everything running well.  Any files updated would be synced over the internet (via cable modem) to the remote (slave) pc which in turn was connected via cable modem.  Any deletes would be propogated on the slave side, as well as file moves and file additions.  The sync is scheduled and occurs every three hours.

But this is where it gets interesting.  Come December 1st Goodsync decides every day, usually at its 3pm scheduled sync, that several thousand files (totally 2 or 3 gigabytes) have changed and require syncing.
I don't notice this of course until I start to wonder where all my bandwidth is going.

Scanning for internet nasties on both PCs delivered nothing so I ended up trawling through FTP server logs on the host PC to discover that GoodSync is downloading several thousand files everyday, usually at 3pm.

This obviously isn't right.  The files involved have not changed since 2007, they haven't been modified in any way and the modified and created dates and times remain, as they always have.

Several frustrating attempts at getting assistance from Goodsync later, and I'm given the link to a 'logging' version to track the issue.  This is followed by several more frustrating messages to-and-fro via their online support system.

The latest that I've been told is 'Yes, this is a known FTP issue where files older than 1 year do not have a creation time sent'.  What?  Apparently I'm told this is true.  Goodsync's answer thus far is to stop using FTP for syncing and instead use a 'windows share'.  Sure, this would work if the slave pc was local but it's off-site and approx 15 minutes away from here.

The help file consists of a confusing and lack-lustre list of options but nothing in-depth to get things up and running.  You're left to trial and error to get the software working for your requirements.

So the question is, how can a product advertise syncing over FTP when there is a flaw with files older than 1 year not displaying a creation time when queried via the ftp process.

Goodsync openly state on the front page of their website:

GoodSync is an easy and reliable file backup and file synchronization software. It automatically analyzes, synchronizes, and backs up your emails, precious family photos, contacts, MP3s, financial documents, and other important files locally - between desktops, laptops, servers, external drives, and Windows Mobile devices, as well as remotely through FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and more.

I have since quizzed them about this, including a Visio diagram to demonstrate just what I am trying to do (and what their product is supposed to support).  I have also suggested they add an option to only sync if the file size changes (this would get around the FTP limitation).  It will be interesting to see if they take this suggestion on.  My suggestion of 'email notifications' from well over 6 months ago which was going to be considered has yet to appear.

In short, don't believe all the marketing spin you read.   I don't usually rant, but this one really has me fired up.

------
Update 9:25pm

Support have finally given a link to a new version which 'tries to figure out minute roundingn time shifts between left and right side'.  Time will tell if it makes any difference and it will be under close scrutiny!
I hope it does as I'm reaching the end of my politeness :)

Tommorow sees a day of fun.  Yep, time for my bachelor party!

We're heading off to the indoor go-kart raceway tommorow in Porirua for some head-to-head racing. 
Owning a car that operates best downhill, with help from a southerly gust it will be great to screech around the corners in a kart without the fear of flashing lights and sirens :) 

Then it's off to Laser Strike in Lower Hutt.  I haven't been there before so not sure what to expect.
The aim will be to shoot or be shot.. Thank goodness it's not paintball!

No strip joints or drunken debauchery.. I think I'm getting too old for those now... there's just something about getting over a hangover three days after the event, and wondering where all your $10 notes got to ;)

Everyone seems to be doing forums these days.. so I thought why not me. :)  Managed to find some forums software that works well with Go Daddy (my website host) so gave it a crack.  All appears to be working now, still obviously a work in progress but live at: www.thecheese.co.nz/forums

The forums will take on a music/radio bent, with discussion also on general stuff.  I hope that once more and more people join there will be a good little Cheese forum community up and running.

Consumer electronics (Kitsets and so forth) still exists.  But if you went into any store of DSE then you'd be hard pressed to get any assistance.

Just one of those stores in question being DSE Lower Hutt.  I thought I'd expand my brain cells a bit with a bit of a project.  Problem #1, kitset I wanted not available (that, I could accept).  Ordered 2x LED Level Meter Kits from OZ to do the job.  Went into DSE Lower Hutt to try to get some LED's (A common component by most standards) and going through all their parts bins only 1 or 2 LED's to be found.  Sad.  Couldn't find any IC sockets or PCB mounts either.  Very Sad.  One of the un helpful assistants was raised after waiting for some time with the response being 'try Jaycar in Wellington'.

Sad DSE, very sad.  You used to be great, but I will now have to save up my gadget/parts shopping needs for one trip and go to your competitor in Wellington.  You've lost a once loyal customer.


So this is my plea.. Please, Plleeeessseeee Jaycar.. open a store in Lower Hutt.
The site of your catalogues causes me to break into joy and dribble with delight over your kits, electronics parts and gadgets!