Scott Manley's blog on imeem

Just Debugging Something

Scott Manley — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:08:58 -0000

Portable Mp3 Player Turns 10 This Month

Scott Manley — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:37:38 -0000

I had one of those PMP-300 players and I thought it was the first one on the market, but apprently it was beaten to the punch by a lesser known player.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/10/ft_first_mp3_player/

Forgotten Tech The MP3 player is ten years old this month. The first commercially released personal music player capable of handling MP3 files was the MPMan F10, manufactured by Korea's Saehan Information Systems and launched in March 1998.

The F10 contained 32MB of Flash storage, enough for a handful of songs encoded at 128Kb/s. It measured 91 x 70 x 165.5mm. It connected to an old-style parallel port on the host PC from which songs could be copied to the player. There was a tiny LCD on the front to give an indication as to what you were listening to.

The device made its debut at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany. It was a prototype, but Saehan must have garnered enough interest to put the player into mass production, which it did in May 1998 before going on sale in the US and Europe through importers in the summer.

In the US, local supplier Eiger Labs wanted $250 for the F10, though the price fell to $200 the following year prompted by the release of the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300, which was priced at $200.

The PMP300 - widely but wrongly held to be the world's first commercial MP3 player - also had 32MB of storage fed through a parallel port. But it boasted a larger display than the F10 and also featured a Smart Media slot to allow users to increase the gadget's storage capacity.

The Rio was released in September 1998, but by 8 October had become the subject of a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), which claimed the player violated the 1992 US Home Recordings Act. By that point, Rio had already teamed up with MP3.com to offer songs from the website.

The RIAA asked for a sales ban, and got one on a temporary basis on 16 October, only to have it withdrawn on 26 October. In December, Rio countersued the RIAA, claiming the organisations actions were an attempt to impede the growth of a market - digital music - which it didn't control.

It was later ruled that Diamond had not infringed the Act because it was not responsible for the actions of its customers. The RIAA appealed against the verdict, but lost there too: the Court judged that the PMP300 was not a recording device and so did not fall within the boundaries of the Act.

The RIAA and Diamond would eventually settle their differences in August 1999, but by then Rio was a household name, especially among internet users busily sharing MP3 music on the internet using newly created peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software.

Thanks to its lesser known name, the F10 avoided such legal entanglements, but at the cost of all the free publicity its rival gained through from the lawsuit. Saehan soon established MPMan as a sub-division, and as such it later appeared among the roster of members joining the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), an cross-industry attempt to develop a universal digital rights management (DRM) technology.

SDMI ran out of steam in 2001, largely because of a highly publicised cracking of its encryption technology, leaving the way open for Microsoft's Windows Media DRM technology to fill the gap. And it might have done if Apple's release of the iPod in the October of that year hadn't proved ultimately so successful.

In the interim, MPMan had continued developing and offering MP3 players, but Apple's move to allow Windows PC owners to use the iPod, from April 2003, resulted in explosive growth. MPMan, Rio and other pioneers couldn't keep up.

The Great Flood

Scott Manley — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:10:45 -0000

Orion is currently in that state where he knows just enough to really get himself into trouble - like yesterday where he turned on the water in the bathroom, closed the drain, flooded the room, which in turn caused the ceiling to collapse downstairs and get all sorts of important things wet, including the wireless router I use for my internet. Funnily enough it looks like the wireless part works, it just can't talk to the wired ethernet, it's one of those LinkSys boxes which runs linux internally so there's a little part of my brain trying to figure out how I can make a purely wireless box useful, perhaps I can figure out a way to make it into a wireless repeater to extend my coverage?

Monty Python vs QTrax

Scott Manley — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:03:27 -0000

Scene: Mr Mousebender walks into Mr Q-Trax's Free Music Emporium

QTrax: Good morning, sir.

Mousebender: Good Morning. I was sitting in the public library on Thurmon Street just now, skimming through 'Rogue Herries' by Horace Walpole, when I discovered my iPod in a tuneless state

QTrax: tuneless, sir?

Mousebender: empty.

QTrax: Eh?

Mousebender: (broad Yorkshire) Nothing to listen to!

QTrax: Oh, empty.

Mousebender: (normal accent) In a nutshell. So I thought to myself, 'an excursion into pitch, melody and harmony will do the trick'. So I curtailed my Walpolling activites, sallied forth and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the acquisition of some new music.

QTrax: Come again.

Mousebender: (broad nothern accent) I want to download some tunes

QTrax: Oh, I thought you were complaining about the cheese!

Mousebender: (normal voice) Heaven forbid. I am one who delights in all manifestations of the fermented curd.

QTrax: Sorry?

Mousebender: I like some nice cheese

Mousebender: (normal voice) Now my good man, some music, please.

QTrax: Yes certainly, sir. What would you like?

Mousebender: Well, how about a little Led Zeppelin.

QTrax: I'm, afraid we're fresh out of Led Zeppelin, sir.

Mousebender: Oh, never mind. How are you on Twista?

QTrax: Never at the end of the week, sir. Always get it fresh first thing on Monday.

Mousebender: Tish tish. No matter. Well, the new Chromeo album, then, if you please, stout yeoman.

QTrax: Ah well, it's been on order for two weeks, sir, I was expecting it this morning.

Mousebender: Yes, it's not my day, is it? Er, Alicia Keys?

QTrax: Sorry.

Mousebender: Scott Walker?

QTrax: Normally, sir, yes, but today the van broke down.

Mousebender: Ah. Springsteen?

QTrax: Sorry.

Mousebender: Daft Punk? Beatles?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Any Norwegian Artists?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Cat Power?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Arcade Fire?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Whitesnake?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Delta Blues?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Double Trouble?

QTrax: ..No.

Mousebender: Scientists?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Any Nation of Ulysses?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Bjork, Goldfrapp, Pharoah Sanders, Joy Division, Sun Ra, Juan Atkins, Gil Scott Heron, Black Dice, Captain Beefheart, Public Image Limited, Justice?

QTrax: Ah! We do have some Justice, sir.

Mousebender: You do! Excellent.

QTrax: It's a bit noisy, sir.

Mousebender: Oh, I like it noisy.

QTrax: Well as a matter of fact it's very noisy, sir.

Mousebender: No matter. No matter. Hand over le musique de la Belle France qui s'apelle Justice, s'il vous plaît.

QTrax: I think it's noisier than you like it, sir.

Mousebender: (smiling grimley) I don't care how incredibly noisy it is. Hand it over with all speed.

QTrax: Yes, sir. (bends below counter and reappears) Oh...

Mousebender: What?

QTrax: The cat's eaten it.

Mousebender: Has he?

QTrax: She, sir.

Mousebender: Goldie?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Yes?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Radiohead?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: The Association?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Soft Cell?

QTrax: No, sir.

Mousebender: You do have some music, do you?

QTrax: Certainly, sir. QTrax is a music site. We've got...

Mousebender: No, no, no, don't tell me. I'm keen to guess.

QTrax: Fair enough.

Mousebender: Chicago Trax?

QTrax: Yes, sir?

Mousebender: Splendid. Well, I'll have some of that then, please.

QTrax: Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you said QTrax.

Mousebender: Göttsching?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Beach Boys?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Moby Grape?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Paris Hilton?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Any Danish Techno?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Slovakian Gypsy Punk Music?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Peruvian Nose Flute Music?

QTrax: Not today sir, no.

(pause)

Mousebender: Well let's keep it simple, how about Madonna?

QTrax: Well, I'm afraid we don't get much call for it around these parts.

Mousebender: Not call for it? She's the single most popular singer in the world!

QTrax: Not round these parts, sir.

Mousebender: And pray what is the most popular artist round these parts?

QTrax: William Shatner, sir.

Mousebender: I see.

QTrax: Yes, sir. He's quite staggeringly popular in the manor, squire.

Mousebender: Is he.

QTrax: Yes sir, he's our number-one download.

Mousebender: Is he.

QTrax: Yes sir.

Mousebender: William Shatner, eh?

QTrax: Right.

Mousebender: OK, I'm game. Have you got any, he asked, expecting the answer no?

QTrax: I'll have a look, sir...nnnnnnooooooooo.

Mousebender: It's not much of a music site really, is it?

QTrax: Finest on the internet, sir.

Mousebender: And what leads you to that conclusion?

QTrax: Well, it's so clean.

Mousebender: Well, it's certainly uncontaminated by music.

QTrax: You haven't asked me about Modern Lovers, sir.

Mousebender: Is it worth it?

QTrax: Could be.

Mousebender: OK, have you...will you stop eating that cheese (the cheese eating stops)

QTrax: (to cheese eaters) Told you so.

Mousebender: Have you got any Modern Lovers?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: No, that figures. It was pretty predictable, really. It was an act of purest optimism to pose the question in the first place. Tell me something, do you have any music at all?

QTrax: Yes, sir.

Mousebender: Now I'm going to ask you that question once more, and if you say 'no' I'm going to shoot you through the head. Now, do you have any music at all?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: (shoots him) What a senseless waste of a million dollar launch party.

What Are The Odds?

Scott Manley — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:37:11 -0000

It does't get any more random than this... In September I was at our local park with the kids and I managed to lose a part of Amy's camera - the rubber eyepiece cup - it costs about 12$ to replace (http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Rubber-Eyecup-Digital-Cameras/dp/B0009HAHD4) and it's not exactly essential to the camera function so I never bought a replacement.

Well bizarrely enough I was at the park with the kids today and I found it sitting in the woodchips under the swings, It needed a bit of cleanig but it's as good as when I lost it.

Mars Almost At Closest Approach

Scott Manley — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 08:24:45 -0000

You might have been seeing it in hte east after dark, a red point of light that is steady, not twinkling like the stars around it, that would be Mars, making it's close approach to the Earth like it does every couple of years. Tonight I spent a bit of time trying to take a picture of it, and this is what I got.

Cool Astrophotos

Scott Manley — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:59:08 -0000

The Dark Side Of The Earth

Comet 17P/Holmes Dust Cloud is now bigger than the sun

I grabbed some photos of my own from my back yard, but they can't compete with NASA and ESA, except on cost, my setup cost

Kids Toys Pulled From Market Because They Contain Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid

Scott Manley — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:55:29 -0000

Most other news outlets are going all sensational on the title with phrases like 'Chinese Toys Laced With Date Rape Drug', but lets be fair more people are using GHB recreationally than anythign else, indeed the most common 'date rape' drug' is plain old alcohol.

Howeverthe story is still the same, it started with an Australian toy company which created a craft toy that consisted of coloured beads coated with a water based adhesive, you laid out your pattern and sprayed them with water and they all stuck together. In Australia they were marketed under the name 'Bindeez' and were recently awarded the 'Toy Of The Year' prize, in north america you can find them sold under the name Aqua Dots, yesterday most of the online stores were still selling them but I can't find any links now. At some point in the design and manufacturing the non-toxic adhesive was substituded with something else which contained substances that would metabolized into GHB.

But who would eat glue?

Oh yeah kids.

A whole lotta bad luck

Scott Manley — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:46:51 -0000

Amy and the kids dropped by imeem today, mainly because we had planned to sign some financing documents at the bank. Amy was lucky enough to get a free parking spot near the office but beyond that things just didn't seem to go right, the agent who I'd been working with at the bank wasn't there because she'd had an accident, the papers had some major mistakes in them, I started getting sick and headed home early. Then after dinner Skye managed to split her chin open on the side of the bath and Amy decided to take her to the emergency room to get stiches, this was complicated by the neighbour who had decided to park their car in front of our driveway which delayed us by maybe a few minutes, but more imporantly there's a strike by nursing staff at most of the hospitals in the area so after 5 hours Amy and Skye are still waiting to get seen....

Still it was nice to have lunch with the family and the Margaritas at Tres Agaves were very nice.

No More Heroes

Scott Manley — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:25:09 -0000

It seems that the last few weeks have seen the passing of a few of my heroes (and Amy's beloved cat Baboo).

Alfred Peet - "the Dutchman who taught America how to drink coffee." - Founded Peet's Coffee in Berkeley's "Gourmet Ghetto" in the 1966, dismayed by the quality of coffee in the US. Peet taught his style of roasting beans to Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker, who took the technique to Seattle and founded Starbucks in 1971. Alfred died on August 29th

Michael Jackson - "The Beer Hunter" - no relation to the singer - Wrote volumes on beer and whisk(e)y while championing beer as a drink with the same potential for pedigree and vintage as wines. His book 'The World Guide To Beer' established much of the terminology used by microbrew culture and his promotion of craftsmanship in beer brewing has no doubt helped local brewers make beers that I won't turn my nose up at. Michael died on the August 30th

Colim MacRae - The scottish rally legend, in 1995 he became the first british world champion and also the youngest, an achievement that saw him honoured by the Queen in 1996. He won many other titles during his career and his name has been lent to one of the most successful video game franchises of the last decade. He was killed in a helicopter crash near his home in Scotland on the 15th of September.

$200,000 Bar Bill

Scott Manley — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:16:05 -0000

Even at my most extravangant I still managed to spen 100 times less than this guy

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/25/large_bar_bill/

An unnamed businessman and around 18 friends last Saturday set an "all-time record" in alcoholic extravagance by working their way through £105,805 worth of booze in London's Crystal nightclub, the Telegraph reports.

During the marathon spendfest, which kicked off with a bottle of Pinot Grigio (£25), they quaffed £80,000 worth of champagne, including a six-litre methuselah of Cristal (£30,000), two three-litre jeroboams of the same (£9,600*), four bottles of Cristal Rose (£2,400), six magnums of Dom Perignon (£4,200), 36 bottles of Cristal (£12,960), 12 bottles of Dom Perignon Rose (£4,200), 15 bottles of Dom Perignon 1999 (£3,600), and three magnums of Dom Perignon 1995 (£2,700).

The revelers also appear to have indulged in a bit bit of vodka and Red Bull action, blowing £1,400 on a single bottle of the former and a modest £76.50 on 17 hits of the latter (that's £4.50 a can, in case you're wondering). Mercifully, they evidently gave their livers a brief respite during the booze marathon by ordering eight bottles of upmarket H20 Voss Still - an absolute bargain at £6.50 each.

The final tally was £81,471.50, plus £13,951 in tax and a cool £10,382.74 for service. Nightclub spokesman Fraser Donaldson admitted: "I have been in the nightclub business for 20 years and this is an all-time record."

The identity of the high-roller is unknown, although he's reported to be "based in Dubai". According to the Telegraph, other Crystal members include Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, who has herself been known to enjoy a energetic night on the tiles. ®
Bootnote

*This and other figures are the total price, so that's £9,600 for two jeroboams of Cristal, and so forth.

Gordon's Alive?

Scott Manley — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 05:37:09 -0000

I caught a trailer for the Sci-Fi channel's new version of Flash Gordon featuring a pretty good cover of the awesome Queen music, there wasn't much to see, but the music brought me back so many memories that I'm marking my calendar for this new show. Ideally I'd love them to base their remake on the gloriously campy 70's movie, with it's cool outfits and art deco design all over the place. The movie is of course one of those cult affairs that really was awful in so many ways and yet utterly transcends the poor acting and cheezy action scenes to be something that's eternally watchable.

I just hope they stick with the Queen theme tune, it's a pretty competent cover.

http://www.scifi.com/flashgordon/gallery/index.php?p=38&cat=episodic

Orion is 1 Year Old Today!

Scott Manley — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:35:31 -0000

Wow how the time has flown!

Holiday Stuff

Scott Manley — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 03:43:10 -0000

So we spent a few days at a birthday party on top of a mountain in Healdsburg, we didn't actually stay at the party house for all 3 days, instead we headed into town to sleep in a motel, at least until monday night when the rest of the ravers left and we could get some good old fashioned rooms. The party was great and people seemed to like the fact that I stepped away from wall to wall trance and kicked off my dj set with The Cult. Skye and Orion both helped me out and were a hit in their own way, as the party was winding down I made a point of playing a second set using the Pioneer CDJ's. I've never really had the chance to learn to use these properly and I think I'd need another few hours to really get to the same level as vinyl.

Then we headed out to the Sonoma coast to a house we've rented. The great thing about renting houses is that they usually come with decort, books, movies and music which reflect the owners tastes and you can get a bit of insight into their tastes, and expand your own by checking out what they've left behind, sometimes you end up with very little respect for the property owners, but sometimes you want to meet them and thank them for enriching your life....

Anway, I think we did well here, in addition to a ton of books which I'd like to read, but won't have the time to read the music has served as a worthwhile background for our short break.
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Philip Glass - Songs From The Trilogy
The Roots - Things Fall Apart
The Shins - O Inverted World
First Ladies Of Jazz
The Welcome Matt - Right Outside Your Door
Beck - Mutations
Josh Fix - Steinway, The Hard Way

Anyway, the weather on the coast has pretty much been overcast, the sun breaks through enough to give you sunburn if your not careful, but we've been lacking nice sunsets since we came to the coast. Yesterday we heded even further north to Mendocino, you may never have been there but the odds are you've seen it on TV and not realised it. According to Wikipedia over 250 episodes of 'Murder She Wrote' were filmed there as well as a ton of mediocre movies like 'Karate Kid III' and 'Dying Young'.

The town is more artisitic than its screen pedigree would suggest.

Ant Attack!

Scott Manley — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:53:08 -0000

Ant Attack was one of the first 3D Isometric Games - the only obvious prior use of the graphics technique is Zaxxon, but Ant Attack was a 4 way scrolling affair which wins ia a lot of innovation points. Anyway the programmer, Sandy White, has put together a web page for all the retro gamer geeks who remember being amazed by this.

The best bit of all though is some of the source code, hand assembled on paper, this brings me back to my early days of coding things byte by byte, before I'd ever heard of an Assembler.

http://www.sandywhite.co.uk/fun/ants/default.htm