Anyway, I need my phone to detect when I am going down, quickly. Why? For a few reasons:

• I always want to use my phone after being in the elevator. After all, if I have to be in a closed space with other people I want to balance out the experience by immediately being antisocial on my phone.
• My phone could “know” (assume) when I leave my condo and could go into ‘work mode’ or some other setting which is more useful when I go outside.
• It’d be pretty awesome to use the phone as an INS to “map” buildings (the bounds people actually visit inside) – I am not exactly sure this would be useful outside of just gathering data but it’d be cool.

Oh yeah, I also need my phone to Bluetooth/RFID with my umbrella. When I go to work in the morning and go down in the elevator, my phone needs to check if I have left anything behind.

I suppose I could also just put a “end of dwelling” marker in my place, too; that is so much less exciting and so much more Roomba-esque.

1. My iPod/iPhone/iHeadphones (whatever) have a mic built-in. I really wish my device would use this microphone to measure the ambient noise around me and then would adjust the volume accordingly.
2. In combination with the item above (or in place of) I wish my phone would use it’s GPS to “zone” ambient noise (or obey the volume I choose in that zone) to set the playback volume accordingly.

These are two minor gripes and I am not sure they’d always work; however, I’d surely be fidgeting with the stupid volume control a whole lot less.

Oh yeah, also, I reactivated this blog without all of the emotional crap.

Internet Explorer is a backdoor for the Chinese government.

Safari is alright but seriously lacks in features (extensions, history)

Chrome …

So, for the past few weeks I have been using Chrome; Google just released the developer build of Chrome which will run extensions on OS X (4.0.295.0 as of today). I have to say – this browser is getting pretty damn good. Here is a specimen with a few tabs and extensions open on my machine.

A Chrome window with a few tabs and extensions

With a few extensions and a some tabs open Chrome feels more responsive than Firefox, actually works unlike IE and has more functionality than Safari. Chrome does crash a bit more than any other browser; however, it is very nice to have the crash isolated to one tab and not the entire browser.

At this point, I have to say, in my opinion, Chrome is winning my vote.

The development channel for Chrome is available here.

This post is for informational purposes only and shouldn’t be used to circumvent intellectual property rights or laws. I take no responsibility for what you do with this information; rest assured, I use it only for legal purposes. Of course, one could use this information to download unbelievable amounts of … stuff.

Preface

Awhile back I decided to compile the latest possible version of the Transmission client (1.51) for my AppleTV. I posted about this experience before and offered a download link.

While using Transmission on an AppleTV to grab torrents works just fine, getting the torrents themselves to work is sometimes a challenge. Specifically, some torrents are hard to find, download slowly, require registration or have other issues which protract the time it takes me to get what I want.

I had used newsgroups (Usenet) in the past and I started to wonder if it might be easier to just pay for access again and use my AppleTV as a Usenet client. Eventually, after some frustrating torrent downloads and prodding by friends, I decided this was the way to go.

About Usenet

Unlike most BitTorrents you generally have to pay for Usenet access. The average plan costs about $15 per month for unlimited access. I use Newshosting but many of my friends rave about Astraweb.

Here are the pros and cons of Usenet.

Pros:

• Generally very fast – I download, on average, at speeds > 1.5 mbps
• High availability – my usenet server is available 99.9% of the time
• Easy – I don’t have to scour the internet to find something I want
• Secure – I can use SSL for all communications between me and the Usenet server
• Long retention – items are available through Newshosting for 494 days
• Downloads are often more resistant to corruption since they include PAR (recovery) information
• Availability – items are often on Usenet before BitTorrent and cough sometimes before they air on TV on the West Coast (yeah, f@&# you TV networks, all East Coast-centric)

Cons:

• Like BitTorrent, you are generally at the mercy of others – you can only download what other people (or you) upload
• Usenet is extremely and completely disorganized and hard to use without using a News Index service like Newzbin or NZBMatrix (those services totally negate this negative, though)
• Cost – you have to pay for the Usenet subscription and also (if you are smart) the news index service (runs about $11 for a lifetime index service and $15/month for Usenet access)

AppleTV and Usenet

Ultimately, if you are doing a lot of downloading (legal, of course) and your time/sanity is worth the cost of a Usenet subscription, I’d highly recommend using Usenet over BitTorrent. With this in mind, I’d also recommend the AppleTV as an excellent Usenet client. My AppleTV is an always-on, low-power and attractive Usenet client.

In my setup there are a few components I used.

Hardware

• AppleTV
• iPhone (3g[s])
• External USB hard drive (connected to the AppleTV)

Software

• Python 2.5 (for the AppleTV) – free
• SABnzbd 0.5 beta 2 (Usenet client) – free
• myNZB (for Apple iPhone) – $2.99 on Apple App Store

Services

• Newshosting (Usenet service) – $15/month for unlimited access
• Newzbin (Usenet index service) – ~$2.50/month
• Nzbmatrix (Usenet index service) – ~$11 for lifetime subscription

Overview of my setup

Basically, my setup works like this:

My AppleTV is running SABnzbd which is responsible for downloading content from Usenet. This software is configured to download everything to an external drive connected to my AppleTV. To get SABnzbd to run, I had to install Python on my AppleTV.

SABnzbd is configured to connect to my “index” services to automatically grab posts/items I bookmark for download. This generally occurs every fifteen minutes.

I am also running myNZB on my iPhone which allows me to control SABnzbd anywhere. Moreover, myNZB will search one of my index services (Newzbin) and allows me to add items to my download queue right from my phone. Therefore, I can find and download items on my AppleTV on the go.

Why SABnzbd?

There are many Usenet clients, so a fair question is – why SABnzbd?

Mainly, SABnzbd is written in Python and will run on the AppleTV. Almost as important is the fact that SABnzbd has an excellent web/browser front-end which I think is quite possibly one of the best I have seen for a “download” client. For example, here are a few screenshots of SABnzbd with one of the stock themes.

SABnzbd frontend with one item queued

The rich configuration section(s) of SABnzbd

I am using the 0.5 beta of SABnzbd for the screenshots above. I was using Safari (latest available) and the web server is serving data via HTTPS. As you can see from the second screenshot, SABnzbd is highly configurable.

Finally, I will mention that SABnzbd will automatically repair, decompress, move and delete (as configured) items when they are finished downloading. This means I really need to take no action once items have been downloaded. It simply works.

myNZB?

Ok, I don’t need to be able to control my AppleTV’s Usenet connectivity via my iPhone but it really is nice. To accomplish this, I use myNZB which is available for a small price on the Apple App Store. The screenshots below show me searching for a TV show (Nova) and adding it to my queue (for legality I deleted the download, of course.) The show in the screenshots below would have been saved to my AppleTV, decompressed and added to my media library, automatically.

Searching for "Nova"

Added show being downloaded

Implementation Details

Getting all of this running is actually very easy.

1 – Patch AppleTV

First, you need an AppleTV which has been “patched” so you can SSH into it. More than SSH, however, a “patched” AppleTV can play a plethora of media formats and is actually a pretty useful media center.

If you want to patch your AppleTV or need help, follow the directions here.

2 – Install Python onto AppleTV

To run SABnzbd Python needs to be installed onto the AppleTV. To do this, follow the directions here.

3 – Install SABnzbd onto AppleTV

Installing SABnzbd is really easy and requires a very small amount of configuration on the SABnzbd application. You can follow the directions here.

As a note, I have been using the SABnzbd 0.50 beta and unless you are scared of using the “bleeding edge” releases (you have a hacked AppleTV – seriously) I’d recommend you use it. The linked article above takes you to the stable release. The beta releases are available here.

4 – Configure SABnzbd

Once SABnzbd is installed on the AppleTV you can visit the embedded web interface by visiting:

http://appletv.local:8080

If you are using a non-OS X machine, then you likely need to use the IP address instead of appletv.local.

SABnzbd has a ton of configuration options; there are a few which I will explicitly mention as very useful.

General

In the general section I’d recommend turning on SSL and setting a username/password.

Folders

Unless you have your AppleTV set up in a weird way, you will need to change the folders. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! The /Applications folder on patched AppleTVs is size-limited (I believe) and you can’t make much use of SABnzbd if you don’t change the download locations.

In my case, I have my AppleTV connected to an external hard drive named “Mongoose” so my download locations are set to the following.

My folder locations are set to my external hard drive

Servers

You will need to configure your Usenet server here. I recommend using SSL if your service supports it.

Index Sites

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU USE INDEX SITES (and configure them here).

5 – Configure myNZB

You will need to configure myNZB on your phone (if you use it). You can do this by going into ‘Settings’ (the application) and then choosing the myNZB option.

As a note, if you are connecting from outside of your network, you will also need to configure your router to allow access from outside to your AppleTV on whatever port SABnzbd is listening. If you listened to me and used SSL with SABnzbd this means your router will need to tunnel requests on port 9090 to your AppleTV.

Finally, I recommend you always use the API key with SABnzbd.

6 – Enjoy

You now have a pretty awesome download machine. Enjoy it!

Questions / Comments?

Leave a comment and I will get back to you.

*If you don’t get the subtle reference, consult this piece of old internet fame.

Anyway, we aren’t here to discuss pieces of internet awesomeness which most people seem to have missed. Nay! I want to rant on dating websites some more. I should note, before I begin, I really don’t use dating websites; they are generally pure amusement at this point. After all, finding a decent date on a website is a lot like ordering out of a catalog. Sure, you can see all the sizes, colors, materials and see the description of the product; problem is, when it’s hanging on you it looks totally different.

The redundant duplicated profile profile page listing

I like to think I have a handle on the English language. Well, now that I have typed that, I see why many profiles just make me rage. In any case, if someone lists something, I usually assume they like a general topic and leave it there. Interestingly, people often duplicate what they list – are they trying to cover up the fact that they generally have few interests or cannot be descriptive?

For example:

So, she obviously loves animals but since she lists it twice, is she trying to imply she loves and “loves” animals? Likewise, how in the hell is one “into” nature without the act of walking inside of it tacitly implied?

I can only think what going to dinner with this person must be like.

Her: I will have the spaghetti – with noodles, cooked. I will have the pasta. Can I have some water please because I’d like to hydrate myself with water.

Punctuation fail

This one, really… does not need me! to explain. I believe punctuation can say a lot about a person, even if it screams - I AM COMPLETELY RETARDED IN THE HEAD.

For example:

Let’s review – in this case the question asks about literature, cinema, music and cuisine. The response includes more commas than words. I can only imagine their resume listing education:

i love recess and days off from school!,,,”specially chrismas,,,,,,,valentine dayz………..

Enough said.

Stupid tests

Truth be told, I have come to think that a guy (or girl) can learn a lot about someone on a dating website based on the number and types of tests they take. Really, the same also applies to Facebook but, I also don’t look to date people on Facebook. (Whew, nice save, James.)

If I see a girl has taken a bunch of retarded tests, I start to wonder if she has too much time, a sick sense of humor or whether she is really just, you know, retarded.

For example:

First, what the hell is a “TYPE P” sexual style? Is that some sort of cute code for someone specializing in golden showers? Alternatively, does it mean this person is happy with a guy or girl – as long as their lover has some part beginning with a P?

Second, is this woman a virgin? I am pretty sure I found my sexual style by watching 80′s cop movies (Die Hard, mad props) and actually having copious amounts of sex. Sigh.

Think about this -

A bunch of doctors, nurses and support staff are in an operating room working. Wouldn’t it be cool if the equipment could see who was looking at it and change it’s context (display) accordingly. More specifically, the equipment would know who was looking at it via face, color or other pattern recognition.

Specialized equipment could be cross-functionally programmed so if someone needed “another person’s information” the display could make that information easier to see while remaining unchanged for the original user/primary consumer.

Well, I think it’d be cool, at least.

Background

This year I am planning, with the help of some awesome people, to basically go out and distribute gifts to the homeless on 12/25. Planning that project/event led me to think about the whole process and, inevitably, those ideas started to mix with my geeky-professional side.

As I started to think about what I was doing, how I wanted to do things and how people were responding to me, I realized that there is a giant opportunity. Specifically, I see the need for a highly-specialized effort to combine gift-giving, social networking and real networking.

Every “Christmas” (in quotes, well, for a lot of reasons) I always see a few gift-related institutions pop up:

• Secret Santa / gift exchanges
• Gift collections
• Donations

All three of these systems seem to work relatively independently and well, however, I think they could be unified, in a way.

An idea – The Open Project

The Open Project is basically my idea for a web platform which enables users to engage in giving. This is somewhat tricky to explain; I do not want to enable to give in the ways we traditionally see. Really, I want Open to actually bring people together in real life, so giving is connected with actual people. The whole process, of course, would be facilitated by a very easy-to-use, intuitive and helpful web platform.

As I see it, Open would encourage, facilitate and bring people together for two different “types” of giving:

• Half-circle “forward” giving – in this arrangement a gift is basically given from one person to another one-way
• Half-circle “forward” giving – in this arrangement a gift is exchanged between people; the exchange is bi-directional

The astute reader will be asking, or should be, Ok, James, then what the heck is Open really going to do?

Good question, reader.

Open would offer the ability for people to:

• Create “projects” where half or full circle exchanges could occur
  • These projects could be oriented around specific groups, topics, places – whatever
  • For example, I could create a one-way gift exchange around leaving medical supplies for the homeless or, I could create a two-way exchange around giving DINOSAUR (awesome) gifts
• Identify themselves as in a project – they could chose to wear a pin, shirt, specific color shoes – whatever
• Encourage people to give within or out of a system; for example, it could allow people to collaborate to give gifts to random strangers
• Offer integrations with other social platforms, such as Facebook
• Hopefully allow users to leverage their purchasing, consumer or other power with other groups – non-profits, corporations and so-on
• Be a strong voice and encourage responsible giving
• Allow people to see what giving occurs (or does not)
• Facilitate giving for any time, for any reason
• Allow the people exchanging gifts to know more about each other through the security and controls of the platform
• User profiles could be tied to respect, ratings or some other metric which would, hopefully, allow decent (and moderated) feedback and trust ratings for people
• Offer users pre-defined rule-sets around which exchanges could occur

A practical example

I would love to meet someone random by exchanging dinosaur-related gifts.

Seriously.

I could use Open and create a full-circle exchange around giving dinosaur gifts. The exchange could be city-specific or could have parameters for long-distance exchanges. In this case, lets say I create a Seattle Dinosaur Gift Exchange for June 1, 2010.

Users could then join the exchange – we could all agree to meet at Westlake.

We could set our own rules:

• Give one, receive one
• Re-gifting is ok
• All gifts have a sticker (or number) to ID who it originally came from (to assist in finding the giver of the original item)
• Value limit is $20

Would this all work?

I have no idea. Likely with my conception of it all right now, no.

If anyone has read this and has ideas, I would love if you shared them!

On the other note, I discovered last night I can throw down some amazing Perl (5) when I have had a few drinks.

http://www.moodyunicorn.com

This is a prototype but you get the idea.