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Category Archives: Tech
Saves Watts logo
Givoogle (for every search they donated money to charity, see my earlier blog post about it here) appears to have been shut down by Google “Don’t Be Evil” Inc. The Givoogle founders have set up a new site which is slightly lame now.
The new site which has been set up, Saves Watts says the following:
“WAIT! What happened to Givoogle? After raising $6,569.89 to fight cancer, Google’s lawyers shut down the site, which, they said, was in violation of Google’s terms of service.
We faced a dilemma – what to do with the more than 1 million monthly Givoogle visitors who want to save the world through searching?
We can’t raise money for charity, but we CAN save energy – SavesWatts has a black background, which uses less energy than white.”
It’s the weirdest replacement site idea I’ve seen for a while. Bit of a stretch. Why not just supply a new theme for Google which switches the colour? Why do you need a new site for that?
I’ve just added a new commenting system on my blog called Disqus – http://disqus.com/. I was looking for a way to thread comment replies correctly and then decided just to add Disqus and get a huge range of new functionality!
So now:
- People can reply to comments already posted on my blog
- You can log in using your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo or OpenID to post comments
- “Reactions” where you’ve posted a link to one of my blog posts on Twitter will be shown underneath the comments
The one thing it seems you can’t do is post comments using your WordPress login? I could be wrong but it seems like it doesn’t recognise when I’m logged into the site, so I’m guessing it’s not totally integrated… maybe there’s a setting I need to change somewhere…
Anyway, if people could post comments just to let me know if it’s working or not, that’d be great!
UPDATE: I’ve removed Disqus because it wasn’t linking as I’d expected it to with my WordPress site (new comments weren’t appearing in the latest comments sidebar area, they weren’t being put into my WordPress comments at all. They just get saved on Disqus instead). Instead, I’ll just have to implement threaded comments manually in WordPress but will need to adjust my theme for that and don’t really feel like doing that right now…
This is a spontaneous post right now. I’d wanted to blog about something, had no idea what to blog about and then this really irritated me enough to bring up a topic to discuss within a seconds!
I was enjoying watching So You Think You Can Dance clips on the Channel Ten website when I thought one was pretty good and decided to click an “I like it!” button I noticed below. It had 0 votes so far and I thought it definitely deserved more. The page I’m talking about is here – http://dance.ten.com.au/video.htm??vxSiteId=d9d2e1e6-3a8f-46ad-8803-45a79b957d70&vxChannel=Wk03SundayPerf&vxClipId=2305_sytycd310-cutvseg8&vxBitrate=700&vxTemplate=Dance_2010_Main.swf&vxClickToPlay=false
To my irritation, the link went to a new page asking me to sign in, getting completely out of the video I was watching while it was playing. Going back just took me to the first video I’d watched, not the one it had left. I now understood why it had no votes. I’m not an expert in web design and usability (yet) but I sure know terrible design when I see it. Don’t change the page when your visitors are watching a video. For all you know they could have spent 30 minutes on dialup downloading that (in fact one of my friends upon hearing my story said that something very similar occurred to him involving the loss of a Biggest Loser clip he spent ages downloading from Channel Ten on dial up). Thank goodness I’ve got ADSL2!
The button and Matt Lee making a funny face.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the population in possession of speakers and the internet, must be in want of free music. Finally it seems that in 2010 free music services are getting innovative and actually including Australia (which is nice of them). Two services I’ve tried out this year are Jelli and Guvera and I thought I’d give my thoughts on each.
Jelli
Jelli's logo
When it comes to brilliant and innovative ways to listen to music online (and for free), Jelli has got to be my new favourite concept. On Jelli, online radio stations are set up with a list of songs and listeners vote online for which ones they’d like to hear. The more votes a song gets, the higher up in the playlist the song goes. Apparently each song is only decided in the last 30 seconds of the song before it. Songs can even be killed off as they play if enough people dislike it while it’s playing (that awful parody of Tik Tok was killed off really quickly, such a great moment).
If there’s a song you really want to hear, you also have a limited number of “rockets” which can send your song up the list (I managed to get the Glee song “Don’t Stop Believin” played within about 5 minutes of logging on, good achievement I think!). You also have a smaller number of “bombs” which you can use to stop a song being played.
You can also favourite songs for your own list ready to vote for them each time you listen to the station. Definitely a useful feature! Overall I’ve found the songs played are actually pretty good and there’s a huge amount of choice.
Guvera's logo
Guvera
If downloading music is more your thing, Guvera is a new service which lets you download songs for free (well, paid for by big companies who want you to see their ads instead). Each advertiser has their own page with songs you can download (pages are set up so that the advertising is actually easy to put up with and fun). You earn credits to download songs by putting in information about yourself into your profile to help advertisers meet their target demographic (not sure how you gain more credits after you’ve used those yet). It’s a good site with huge promise but was a little confusing to me at first. I love their mission statement though:
Make music free for the people, prosecute no-one, pay the artists full price, share the love.
Overall, it’s really good to see legal alternatives to stem the tide of illegal downloads. I’m really interested to see where things go from here, surely things can only get better 
Surprisingly enough, Mystery Google appear to be calling it quits, the site now shows this above the search bar:
This will be the last week for Mystery Google.
To continue the fun please check out Mystery Missions.
Looks like the site is turning to what appears to have made it famous – mystery google missions. People began to use the service to type in a mission for someone else to see. So creating a site which is set up solely for this purpose sounds like a great idea. I can’t try it out because it’s only for American users. The site requires you to register by entering in your phone number and your country, of which the only option is America.
So yeah, this looks like Mystery Google will be the first “site of the day” I’ve posted which has closed down! Just over a month after I blogged about it too. Totally understandable though as it really seemed like the site’s original idea had been flooded with people requesting missions and posting their formspring addresses (see my earlier post on Formspring if you are wondering what i’m talking about).
Farewell Mystery Google! It was interesting while it lasted.
Who Tweeted That?
I spent the weekend fulfilling an urge to make something, anything. In the end, I made a game using the Twitter API called “Who Tweeted That?”. I don’t think it’s perfect yet, there are a few bugs here and there but it’s playable and hopefully enjoyable for those bored on the internet!
Basically, it gets random tweets from celebrities and you have to guess who tweeted the tweet. It can be a pretty big challenge at times and other times insanely obvious. Have any hilarious options appeared below a tweet while you’re playing? Let me know!
In the end, it was a great way to experiment with the Twitter API a little and find out how it worked. There’s no high score list yet but I might add one later. It seems a little pointless though because a high score list will just encourage people to cheat and look up the tweets on twitter…
Anyway, let me know what you think and if you find any bugs
Who Tweeted That? – http://patrickcatanzariti.com/whotweetedthat/
My Nokia E63
Yep, so I searched around for a phone for a while and eventually settled on the Nokia e63. It was free on the $19 cap with Three mobile (24 month contract) which was insanely cheap.
My other option I was considering was the relatively unknown phone called the “iPhone”. It’s by a company called Apple who look like they’re going to do well. Rather than going for the iPhone, I worked out that I could get the E63 plus an iPod Touch for less than an iPhone would cost me, so I figured the E63 was definitely the better option. Upon getting the E63 and using it for about a week or two, I don’t even feel I need an iPod Touch now. My iPod mini (yes, the older ones which can’t play songs in colour) plays me music perfectly and has lasted for almost 5 years. The E63 plays videos relatively well and has plenty of other apps which do pretty much everything I was looking to do (Calendar, To Do list, Radio, Web browser, Video Player, WiFi and even a Tetris game called Global Bloxx). It’s also got a music player but I haven’t really used that yet. Sure, I don’t have the whole Apple App Store but I haven’t felt the need for any new apps. I’d love if the iPhone app which shows Cityrail train timetables was available as a Nokia App but I’ve gotten around that by downloading the pdf versions of the cityrail timetables and viewing them on the PDF reader that came with the phone (works pretty well!).
Overall, I’m even happier with my E63 than I was expecting to be. The radio on it has been brilliant. It works without needing a special set of headphones – any normal 3.5mm pair of headphones work without any issues (even on the train moving constantly). Past phones have struggled a little and have needed to readjust themselves occasionally, the E63′s radio hasn’t done that for me and has played without interruptions.
The QWERTY keypad looked quite small but it’s actually been pretty easy to use. It’s just taken me a little while to get used to where the enter key, backspace key, ! and ? keys are. Overall I’ve been able to type quicker than on my old number pad phones which has been great.
The wifi has been good too, I was able to set it up to access my home wifi connection and download stuff pretty easily. It’s been great for quickly checking things on the net without having to turn on my PC and wait for it to load.
The Email on 3 offer which provides free email for three months didn’t work for me at first but that was because I had set up using the email program on the phone rather than downloading the Email on 3 application (could have sworn it said “Email on 3″ in the option I clicked but apparently not). I haven’t used the Email on 3 application much yet as I only got it working today after calling 3′s customer service. It seemed a bit dull though and I wish that I could just use Gmail.com for free instead.
While it’s nothing major, the phone even has an option to say a caller’s name while the phone rings. So say Bob rings me, my ringtone goes off as usual but it also says “Rob” twice. I find it pretty funny to hear it try to say names in my contact list.
Anyway, overall my Nokia E63 gets a 9/10 from me already after only about two weeks. It’s got so many features and uses which I haven’t mentioned and is just so amazingly cheap! If anyone is considering getting the phone, have a look at some YouTube video reviews of the phone and see if it looks like your kind of phone. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for something relatively cheap but still with a range of capabilities a PDA type phone provides.
There have been a few times when I’ve need to find out what version of flash player I had installed on my PC. For example, WordPress’ older flash file uploader doesn’t work correctly after a certain version, so it’s always good to know which version I have (sadly, I didn’t have the version that WordPress’ flash file uploader works in). I’m pretty sure WordPress’ newer flash uploader works though I haven’t tested it out yet.
For anyone wondering how to find out what version of Flash Player you have, you just visit this link and it tests it for you: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html
So, Google have finally revealed much more about their plans for a new operating system – Chrome OS. As someone who loves the web, bringing an OS which focuses solely on the web is a pretty interesting idea.
I actually had heard Microsoft were looking into doing something similar and found Windows Azure. From what I can tell both focus on cloud computing (pretty much involves having programs and all on the web rather than on PCs, all managed in one central location). They have different uses though and aren’t the same at all.
Google Chrome OS
Google’s OS pretty much involves taking away everything from your computer apart from the web browser. No applications or anything, just a browser. So the sole use of your PC becomes getting onto the internet. Every application you use from creating documents to email are all opened instead through the web browser (e.g. Google Documents, Gmail).
Overall, it’s an interesting idea. Google knows that it’s not for everyone (I can’t see myself being able to work with just a web browser, especially when I’m doing web design or playing games) but it’s brilliant for those who just want a fast and secure computer. For those who only use their PC for Microsoft Office, email and the web – Google’s OS will definitely be a simpler (and I’ll assume cheaper) option.
Here’s Google’s little animation explaining the Chrome OS for anyone who hasn’t seen it:
I also found a concept video which Engadget had on one of their Chrome OS articles, which shows what Chrome OS is likely to be like:
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft’s OS is being released in 2010. It’s mostly a developer release so far, so that developers can begin to develop programs for it. Its idea seems to revolve more around Microsoft hosting applications/data and managing it all for developers. Users then access the programs from the Internet.
Pretty similar to the cloud computing idea of Google’s Chrome OS except Microsoft Azure isn’t an OS for the users, it seems to be an OS that will be running at Microsoft for users to connect to using their own PCs with their own OSes. More like a back end OS from what I understand.
Interestingly, the main similarity is that both OSes use a sketch style video to explain themselves. Here is Microsoft Azure’s:
Personally, I liked Google’s video better. Microsoft’s video is aimed more at developers, whilst Google’s video is aimed at the average person. Google’s video is way more interesting and understandable.
Either way, it looks like we’ll be hearing even more about cloud computing over the next few years (maybe under a different name if the IBM and HP CEOs get their way). Thank goodness Mozilla isn’t looking to create their own operating system just yet.
If there was ever a piece of news to frustrate the Internet community, it was this one.
Hulu, the site which broadcast TV shows and movies for free using advertising to support itself, appears to be getting ready to start charging for content. Apparently – “It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online” (the iTunes store seems to have been ignored in that quote). The service which so many praised for finally getting things right is about to turn away from its audience. Seems like perfect timing for me to let out my huge frustration with everything that’s currently wrong in the copyrighted and complicated world of the internet and copyright. I mean, as an Australian, I wasn’t even allowed to watch Hulu anyway.
Me and illegal downloads
As most people know, I’m a pretty moral guy. Despite being an IT student and having the ability to illegally download movies, music, software and games from the internet for free like so many others, I pay for them. I’ve refused free cracked copies of software despite not being able to afford it any other way. I like to do the right thing.
The iTunes Store
One of Hulu’s competing services which actually charges for content, the iTunes music store, definitely doesn’t make it easy to do the right thing. Whilst I download my music from iTunes and find it to be quite a good service, the DRM (digital rights management) protection they place on my downloads just treats the customer who is doing the right thing as a criminal who can’t be trusted. It places a limit on the number of computers you can have the file on, the number of copies you can make of it onto CD and so on. Upon getting a new hard drive for my PC and installing Windows again from scratch, I had to reinstall iTunes and transfer over my songs. Rather than making it easy, I was forced to authorise this “new” computer. Once again, I was the criminal who could not be trusted. How dare I try to play music I have bought legally on a new version of Windows! Sure, it wasn’t that difficult to authorise the PC, but why is it even necessary? Why should I have to prove myself every time I want to play music on a new PC?
When you can’t buy content even when you want to
Copyright issues on iTunes have even prevented me from purchasing content I willingly was going to pay for. When Channel Ten went from announcing the return of Supernatural to removing it from their schedule indefinitely 5 days later, I decided to see if I could purchase it elsewhere. Channel Ten had already put the show on hold for weeks without notice last season, so I really didn’t want to have to put up with this all over again.
Americans could watch the new season for free on CWTV but of course, due to copyright restrictions, Australians aren’t allowed to watch. Sure, I could trick the site into thinking I’m in America, but for now I have decided not to go down that path due to the whole being moral thing.
I then saw a link to download it on the iTunes store. Perfect! Or so I thought. Upon clicking the link and finding the episodes I wanted to see, I tried to log in. Rather than getting the chance to download it, I was told my account could only be used in the Australian iTunes store and was redirected back to the Australian iTunes store (felt more like I was kicked out as there was no option to stay where I was). I then searched for Supernatural in the Australian iTunes store but had no luck (of course).
I then googled to find out if I could get an account with the American iTunes store. Apparently not without having to enter in some false information, purchasing an American iTunes gift card from overseas and slightly breaching the iTunes Terms of Service.
Exclusive rights?
So even when I’m eager to pay to view these episodes, I’m not allowed just so Channel Ten can wait until they can gain the most from their exclusive rights to the show. Whilst so many around the world are enjoying the new season of Supernatural (including many in Australia illegally), I’m having to wait due to my morals and the decisions of television networks. In a digital age, do Channel Ten really have the exclusive? When so many Australians will have watched it on the Internet, where is the motivation to watch on commercial television? Sure, there are those like Hamish and Andy, who mentioned on their show that they’d illegally download these things but just don’t know how (they mention pirating stuff after the Pizza Hut bit in that link) but even those who don’t know how to find it usually know someone who do. It’s no longer an exclusive. That was exactly the point of networks “fasttracking” TV shows to show them at the same time in the US. That was a great system but I haven’t noticed Channel Ten doing it anymore.
Should I just watch it and pay later?
The simple solution I’ve heard to all this is to watch it online “illegally” now and then buy the DVD later. I’d get to watch it and keep up with the rest of the Supernatural fans and the team still get the money from the DVD sales. I’ve known people to do this and whilst not technically legal, really shouldn’t be that much of a crime? Though to be honest, people shouldn’t have to go to all this trouble. If people are downloading your shows for free, there is one simple solution – find a way to make money from people watching your shows for free. Get them to watch these shows for free from you, rather than from someone else.
The solution
Already when networks like Channel Ten show repeats of shows online, they make sure to put advertising in between. Surely it wouldn’t be so hard to broadcast shows online to a global audience and target advertising to suit each region. The only issue in all this is getting the television production studio rights to all of this content. I’d assume it would be nearly impossible – iTunes still can’t do this globally despite requiring users to pay for their content.
What logical reason is there for regional restrictions? Why doesn’t globalisation apply to television? Why not have one single release date for a show globally? Is it solely because the networks are holding onto giving traditional TV networks around the world first chance at broadcasting? If so, shouldn’t you take this chance away if they don’t use it effectively?
In summary
If people can’t see the shows they’re looking to see (e.g. Supernatural) and are turning to the internet, then the traditional TV networks in Australia are obviously failing in their job to deliver this content when people want it.
If moral people like me turn to the Internet and still can’t legally acquire the shows they want (whether for free or not), then television production studios are failing to pick up where these traditional TV networks are failing.
Is the point of copyright law to make things so difficult with restrictions? Or is it to ensure the author gets their fair share for uses of their work?
In the end, I’ve gone without seeing these new episodes of Supernatural with no idea when Channel Ten plans on actually broadcasting them (likely to be next year) despite the fact I could easily watch them if I found it illegally right now. Why be moral when every effort to do so seems to discourage it? How much longer will people like me be patient enough to wait and put up with it all to change?