Tattooed skulls

My friend Sheltand has some sketches of tattooed skulls and skeletons. I like it.
Reminds me that I need to update the theme of this blog…

Panorama of Kyoto

Jude took some hand held shots from the top of the Westin Miyako in Kyoto.

Panorama of Kyoto taken from the top of the Westin Miyako

See how she did it on her new blog.

I now have a new desktop wallpaper :D

Sony PS3 removing Other OS functionality…

Sony are removing “Other OS” functionality from the PS3
with update to firmware 3.21 (source). As someone who uses “Other OS” functionality, and still wants to be able to play online, and play new games and watch new films etc. This pissed me off. Removing functionality from a product after it has been bought sucks big time.

So, instead of just moaning to Jude, I thought I should write to them. Here is my letter.

Hi,
I own a PS3 that, when bought, advertised the ability to run an
“other os”. This is a feature I use, and a contributing factor to me
buying the PS3 instead of another console. As of yesterday (1st of
April 2010), you released an system update (2.31) that disables this
feature. I have not installed this update, as I do not want to lose
this feature. However, not updating means that I lose other features
that were advertised and contributed towards my decision to purchase the
PS3.

“…you can choose not to upgrade your system. However, doing so
will mean that the following features will not be available:

* Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network
features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as
online features of PS3 games and chat.
* Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that
require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later.
* Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a
media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings).
* Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3
system software 3.21 or later.”
– Sony -

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/03/29/ps3-firmware-3-21-coming-april-1st/

So, my choices are,
1. Upgrade and lose the “other os” feature
2. Don’t upgrade and lose the ability to:
A. Play games that I have already purchased online, or any
games that require network access. (Some games are
designed to be played online, and have little offline
content)
B. Get updates/patches to games that resolve bugs.
C. Access new demos, games or videos available on the PSN.
D. Play any new games that I purchase in the future.
E. Play back videos from my media server.
F. Receive any future updates.

Both of these options remove features that were advertised and
contributed towards my purchasing decision. When I bought my PS3, it
cost ~£350, and now 1/3 of the features I paid for are being removed.

I think that this is unfair that you have removed 1/3 the value/features
of the PS3 for me. The only choices I have is which 1/3 to lose.

As a loyal Sony customer (owning all 3 PlayStations, and several HiFi
components), I’d like to know how you would recompense me for this
removal of functionality. Please contact me by Friday 9th April 2010.

Kind Regards,
Anthony Batchelor

I received a reply from them in about a day. However, it was a generic response… It didn’t look like they even read my email as it just reiterated what I was complaining about. :(

Dear Mr Batchelor,

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding PlayStation 3.

I am sorry to hear of your disappointment regarding the recent announcement to remove other operating systems (OS) from the PlayStation 3 from System Software version 3.21 or later.

Whilst it may be an inconvenience this decision has been made to ensure the continued security of the PlayStation 3 console and the PlayStation Network as a whole. This update is not mandatory and you can continue to use the ?Other OS? feature if you do not update your system software. However, if you choose not to update the system software of your PS3 system, the following features will no longer be available:

- Ability to sign in to PlayStation®Network and use PSN features that require signing in, such as online features of PS3 software titles and chat features (You will be able to watch video content downloaded from PlayStation Store without connecting to PSN, but will not be able to transfer it to a PSP system. You will be able to play games downloaded from PlayStation Store, if the application does not have a feature that utilises PSN, but will not be able to transfer it to a PSP system).

- Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later (system software also updates the Advanced Access Content System cryptography key provided for the BD and if the key is updated in the near future, users will not be able to playback BD installed with this new key).

- Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under (Settings) > (System Settings) > [Enable DTCP-IP]).

- Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later.

Please note that if you are using another OS and choose to update the system software you will first need to back-up any data stored within the hard drive partition used by the ?Other OS? as you will not be able to access this data following the update.

Once again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may cause, however it is necessary given the need to maintain a secure environment for PlayStation and its users.

Should you have any further queries, please call PlayStation Support on 0844 736 0595, quoting your reference number: 1864575, and an advisor will be happy to assist you. Our operating hours are 8am – 10pm Monday to Friday, 10am – 6pm Saturday, Sunday and all Bank Holidays.

Yours sincerely

Ryan Martins
PlayStation Team
Sony Computer Entertainment UK
PlayStation Support: 0844 736 0595,

Well, that was a lot of help. My next step is to call them… Will update again when I have done that.

I’ve also written to Trading Standards, to see if this counts as “not as described” and would be eligible for a refund, or if there is anything else that can be done.

Long time no post…

So, it looks like me and 161,000 other people all thought of this hilariously original title for a blog post… Much like the rest of them, I intend to blog some more in the future… So I guess it’s time for a quick catch-up.

Things that have happened to me in the past 8 months

• I stopped working for ASMALLWORLD an invite only social network aimed at globe trotters and fashionistas.
  Good luck to my former workmates, I hope you guys can make ASW the number one social networking site for its audience.
• I started working for the Scottish Agricultural College on the Scottish Animal Health Planning System. I’m heading up the future development of SAHPS, and look forward to what promises to be an exciting year ahead…
• I’m learning to drive! Only 11 years later than I should’ve… I’m sitting my test on the 21st of April, so fingers crossed!
• I’m learning to play the Ukulele.
  After 21 years of guitar playing. Shit. I’m old. When did that happen? It’s a really fun instrument, so cheery and happy. Turns out the string you think should be the lowest, is the second highest. Ukulele Hunt has been a good resource for learning things.
• I’m trying to save up enough money to go back to Japan! (was there on honeymoon, but seem to have neglected to mention that here… P.S. I’m married :))
  Jude took loads of photos there and has entered a competition with some of them… Good luck!
• Speaking of photography. I’ve got Jude’s old camera as a hand-me-down. So it looks like I’ve got a new hobby. Jude and I have been out a couple of times to take photographs. I’ll post some later on.
• I have been studying SEO for Jude’s site and have been implementing changes to make the markup more meaningful and improve the searchability of it. It seems to be working well as her site is moving up the rankings, and the results shown are more accurate than ever.
  So. if you need to buy hair dye, or just want advice on hair dying, you should stop by at HairCrazy.info.
• I’ve started brewing my own beer! Jude bought me the Balliihoo Complete Starter Kit for my birthday. Unfortunately, there was a crack in the pressure barrel and the first batch didn’t get fizzy. Balliihoo were good about replacing the barrel and sending me a free Pilsner Lager kit. That batch is nearly done, so I will be ordering some Wheat Beer to brew next.

Well, that’s enough for now. I plan to blog more regularly in the future, but you never know.

Speeding up Liferea

Liferea was taking a couple of minutes to open for me, so I thought I’d look for a solution to that. I have >100 feeds, but I’m not about to cut the amount down (not addicted, honest).

Liferea stores a lot of information in an sqlite database. If sqlite databases aren’t vacuumed every now and then, they bloat and slow down.

Most people know about speeding up Firefox by vacuuming the sqlite databases every now and then. Well, the same can be done with Liferea.
Close Liferea and paste the following in a bash terminal.

sqlite3 ~/.liferea_1.4/liferea.db "VACUUM;"

Open up Liferea and you should notice it load much faster. Unless of course, it was fast to begin with.

I am not THAT Anthony Batchelor

I am not THAT Anthony Batchelor. ok.

Handy Hints: Emptying log files

When emptying log files, don’t just rm log_file.log as the disk space won’t be freed until the application that is logging is restarted.

It is better to use > log_file.log as that will allow the file system to free the space that is used by the open file.

Handy Hints: What is using up my disk space?

Here are some commands I use to find out what is eating all of my disk space on a remote server:

df -h Shows how much disk space is available. The -h means that you get G for gigabytes, M for megabytes etc.

sudo du -k / | sort -n Shows which directories are biggest (starting at the root directory /). The biggest ones will be printed at the bottom of the list. The sudo allows du to check directories that your user doesn’t have permission for. To check your home directory only use du -k ~ | sort -n

du -ka | sort -n Shows the size of all the files and sub-directories of the current directory. The biggest ones at the bottom of the list.

watch 'du -ka | sort -nr' Shows the size of all the files and sub-directories of the current directory. The biggest ones at the top of the list. The list is updated every 2 seconds. This is useful for watching disk usage in a particular directory, such as an upload directory on a web server.

The Shadow Factory

The Shadow Factory is now the name of the band. We nearly have a website, it can be found at http://theshadowfactory.net. New songs will be posted there, and the ones on this site will be migrated over.

DEMO: To Live With Rich People

A slower heavier one again. Like the last one, there wasn’t too much to do in the way of mixing. There are some “bass farts” where it seems like the bass saturated the mic when we recorded it. (If you listen closely, there are some in 2001 too).

To Live With Rich People –

I think I’d like to add a deep swirling bass synth in there sometime.