This is a question I've posed in the Ubuntu forums, but I haven't found the answer yet. I've got a great little IP security camera - the Y-Cam. It's Internet accessible, so it can email me photos of any suspicious behaviour. It will also stream video and audio to a number of devices - including mobiles. Under Linux, it's very easy to get the video and audio via mplayer. mplayer…
Continue reading →
Two quick patches which should be in the next version of Calibre PHP. Adding File Size This shows the sizes of the eBook files. Screenshot shows a demonstration using the free "Hacking The BBC" eBook. (more…) …
Continue reading →
(These are mostly notes to myself!) I love Calibre, it's the perfect eBook management tool. It comes with a built in WWW server so you can easily access your library on the go. The only problem is that this really only works if you have a single machine dedicated to Calibre. For various reasons, I don't have a single machine. I have a desktop, laptop, and server. The Calibre Library is just…
Continue reading →
Every so often I find a device which - inexplicably - doesn't include Linux support. I've been very impressed with how well Ubuntu runs on the Lenovo ThinkPad X200. Everything worked out of the box - with the exception of the fingerprint reader (AuthenTec AES2810). Now, I know that fingerprint readers can easily be defeated by jelly-babies, but it annoys me when something doesn't work. The…
Continue reading →
For the last few weeks I've been unable to run Spotify in Linux using WINE. I was continually getting a crash with this error message: Unhandled page fault on read access to 0x00000068 at address 0x7bc34e57 After lots of fruitless digging around, I discovered that the issue is with the Facebook integration! The fix is simple. Visit the Facebook Applications Page, remove Spotify. I've noted…
Continue reading →
New! Read my 2018 guide to setting up the Evoluent in Linux The Evoluent Vertical Mouse 4 costs close to £100. Let's get that out of the way. This is a pretty expensive mouse. Considering they give away basic USB mice with cornflakes, why would anyone spend the cost of a Kindle on a pointing device? Let me explain... "The two things you've got to spend your money on in life are your bed …
Continue reading →
Sauntering down Oxford Street, Mauricio Reyes spotted Nokia's secret Android plans. Nokia phones "running" Android Is this just a hapless Photoshop mistake - or a sign of things to come?!?!?!?! (more…) …
Continue reading →
I'm a huge fan of Paul Battley's iplayer-dl. In brief, it downloads videos from iPlayer by pretending to be an iPhone. The .MP4 files it grabs are suitable for playback on most mobile devices (480 x 272 and stereo audio). It also downloads radio programmes as .MP3 files. I was having a bit of trouble installing it on my XNAS - running Xebian Linux, so I've written this as an aide-mémoire. I …
Continue reading →
I wander around the world in a perpetual state of confusion. Why is the world the way it is? Why do people make bad decisions? Why - when there are so many better alternatives - do people choose the worst of all possible worlds? Rather than getting bogged down in philosophy, I refer to the reason people choose Microsoft Windows to do anything public facing. Advertisers obviously care…
Continue reading →
Feast your eyes on these beauties. Amarillo Roll is a 3D game in the same style as Super Monkey Ball. You tip your phone to move the armadillo around the course. The graphics are stunning. Reminiscent of early Xbox games. The one thing the photos don't do is convey the speed of gameplay - it's fast! The game is a tech demo from Qualcomm. You can download Armadillo Roll directly from the…
Continue reading →
My new gaming addiction is Prime by 59Pixels. The premise is very simple. There are blocks bouncing around the screen. You have a limited number of shots to remove a set number of them. Each shot creates an explosion which, if it touches another block, causes that to explode. This can cause a helpful chain reaction. One of the many wonderful things about this game is how it pits you …
Continue reading →
