Ramblings about crap in my life.
Software
I found something to love about Windows 7
May 31st
I’ve been using Windows 7 for a couple of weeks now, and I don’t want to sound like an angry Apple fanboy, but I’m really not that happy with it. It all seems nice on the surface, but if you scratch it a bit you find the same old problems. Regardless, I found one feature today that I absolutely love. It’s very simple, when you’re copying or moving file(s), the progress is shown on the icon for Windows Explorer, like this:
Genius.
Windows 7 Likes to Tell You Stuff
May 14th
I recently installed Windows 7 for work-related purposes, and I think this screenshot is a pretty good represenation of my experience with the operating system so far.
Come on.
Optimizing Your Computer Use #1: Firefox Search Keywords
Apr 28th
I’m a huge fan of optimizing the way I use my computer, if I stumble upon a task I know I will be doing in the future (e.g. looking up opening hours for the local grocery store) I usually try to make this task easier. So I’ll write a couple of articles about what techniques I use to do these things, the first being Firefox search keywords, which I’ve talked about before.
Firefox has a built in function that lets you add keywords for search fields on websites by right-clicking them and pressing “Add a Keyword for this Search”. This makes it possible to make a search on a site by typing “<keyword> <search term>” in the address bar (e.g. “i die hard” searches IMDb for “die hard”). This obviously has a lot of possibilities, and it’s probably the one thing that saves me the most time on a day to day basis. I use the following keywords:
- Google
A standard Google search. Type “g <search keyword>”. - Keepvid
Download video from sites like YouTube, Metacafe, etc. Type “d <video URL>”. - Port Check
Checks if a certain port is open. Type “p <port number>”. - Google Maps
Searches Google Maps. Type “gm <location>”. - Google Maps – Directions From Home
Search for a direction from your home. Change “blegdamsvej 78A, københavn ø, denmark” to your own address. Type “gmd <destination>”. - Google Translate
Type “gt <text or url>” to translate something from English. - YouTube
Search on YouTube. Type “y <search term>”. - WikiPedia
Search on WikiPedia. Type “w <search term>”. - IMDb
Search on IMDb. Type “i <search term>”. - Kino
Search on Kino.dk Type “k <search term>”. - RottenTomatoes
Search on Rotten Tomatoes. Type “rt <search term>”. - Play.com
Search on Play.com Type “p <search term>”. - UrbanDictionary
Search Urban Dictionary. Type “u <search term>”. - Ordbogen
Search on Ordbogen.com. Type “o <search term>”. - Google Currency Converter
Convert money to Danish Kroner. Type “dkk <amount and currency>” (e.g. “dkk 50 usd”). - Google Currency Converter (USD)
Convert from US Dollars to Danish Kroner. Type “usd <amount in US Dollars>”. - Google Currency Converter (EURO)
Convert from Euro to Danish Kroner. Type “euro <amount in Euro>”. - Google Currency Converter (POUNDS)
Convert from Pounds to Danish Kroner. Type “pounds <amount in Pounds>”. - Dansk Wiki
Search on the Danish WikiPedia. Type “dw <search term>”. - Wiktionary
Search on Wiktionary. Type “wi <search term>”. - Amazon.co.uk
Search on Amazon.co.uk. Type “a <search term>”. - Filestube
- Search for files on Rapidshare. Type “f <search term>”.
You can follow these steps to import my keywords:
- Right-click on my Search Keywords bookmarks file and choose “Save Link As…” Place the file somewhere on your computer.
- In Firefox, from the Bookmarks menu, choose “Manage Bookmarks”.
- From the Bookmarks Manager File menu, choose Import. Choose “Import Bookmarks from File.” Browse to and open the file you just saved.
The next article will be about Greasemonkey scripts.
New Theme
Mar 29th
I’ve been using the old theme for a couple of years, and in that time I’ve changed the code a lot, and recently my changes have started breaking plugins, and I have no idea what the cause is. Today I was looking for a nice movie rating plugin, I found an amazing one, but once again it looked broken. So I finally decided to look for a new theme. I’m pretty satisfied with this one, although it probably won’t be the final one.
The movie rating plugin can be seen in action on the “I Watch” page.
Hvorfor DR’s streaming ikke retfærdiggør medielicens
Feb 27th
This is going to be in Danish.
Inden DR’s medielicens kunne danske borgere se DR’s programmer gratis (og lovligt) vha. en tuner i deres pc. Dette satte Brian Mikkelsen en stopper for i 2006, da han fremlagde et medieudspil, der lagde op til, at alle apparater, der kunne gengive lyd og billedprogrammer, skulle gøres licenspligtige. Dette blev bl.a. gjort for at fremtidssikre licensbegrebet, da planen var, at en væsentlig del af licensmidlerne fremover skulle bruges til at gøre indhold tilgængeligt over internettet. Medielicensen forpligtede dog ikke DR til at udvide deres serverkapacitet, og det lider vi nu, små fire år senere, under, hvilket jeg ville give et eksempel på i dette indlæg.
En lang række af DR’s programmer kan rigtig nok streames på dr.dk, men kvaliteten er så ringe, at det på ingen måde kan betale sig. Lad os tage et kig på “Det Nye Talkshow”. Streamer man programmet i såkaldt “høj kvalitet”, får man følgende:
“Det Nye Talkshow” streamet i “høj kvalitet”.
Ikke nok med at kvaliteten er skræmmende lav (478 x 359 pixels), så har DR sjovt nok også valgt at ændre formatforholdet til 4:3 ved at indsætte sorte bjælker (letterboxing), hvilket medfører at videoen set i fuld skærm på en widescreen-monitor vil være centreret med sorte bjælker hele vejen rundt. Det er ren dovenskab.
Jeg valgte tilfældigvis også at hente et afsnit af programmet via iTunes, hvor det også er tilgængeligt. Her er det downloadede resultat sjovt nok anderledes:
“Det Nye Talkshow” hentet fra iTunes. (Tryk for at se billede i fuld størrelse.)
Her er kvaliteten sjovt nok betydeligt bedre med en opløsning på 640 x 360 og det oprindelige formatforhold er bibeholdt. Én ting er at lægge en lavkvalitets-version op til streaming, en anden er samtidig at tilbyde en langt bedre version andetsteds uden at nævne det på programmets hjemmeside. Uanset er begge udgaver af så lav kvalitet, at medielicensen er en farce.
DR’s hykleri stopper dog ikke her. På hjemmesiden for DR’s HD-kanal står følgende:
“DR’s HD-kanal samsendes/streames ikke på dr.dk, da den desvære ikke kan udsendes på nettet i ægte HD-kvalitet.”
Hvilket naturligvis er klart, hvis man bruger licenspengene på Emmy-fester i stedet for nye servere.
Recent Comments