Hand Coding

TiVo software v4.0 has been released (since April 6th). New features include:

• USB Network Adapter support (wired and wireless) [list of supported USB wireless adapters]
• Sorting and Grouping in Now Playing
• In the Program Details screen (use DISPLAY, INFO, or ENTER key to get to it from a program listing) you can now see “Similar Programs” (the name is sometimes deceptive, it actually seems to be “People who like this program also like these other programs”)
• New Part Index added to details screen [“Part 1 of 2”, and so on]
• Channel Up/Down and Skip To End keys work when reordering things in Season Pass Manager
• Skip to End key works to jump to beginning/end of Season Pass Manager and Now Playing (but not in To Do List, Recording History, or Wishlists)
• Skip to End key jumps back to the beginning in the live buffer the same as it does in recorded programs
• Performance improvements in Now Playing scrolling
• Now Playing list remembers where in the list you were when you return to it, even after Standby
• Keep At Most now goes up to 10 episodes
• Auto-scan of channel lineup during Guided Setup (to find channels that actually have signals)
• […]

Though the roll-out has started, I’ve read that it may take “up to 8 weeks” (from April 6th) for it to propagate to all TiVo owners. However, if you’re really jonesing for it, you can jump to the head of the queue through TiVo’s 4.0 Priority Request page. There, you just need to enter your TiVo’s 15-digit service number and your TiVo will be pushed further ahead in the queue (presumably right behind anyone else that’s already signed up).

Mr Bean: The Whole Bean is now available on DVD, as a 3-disc set (woo!). If your’re not familiar with the character, this DVD review describes Mr Bean like this:

In every episode, Mr. Bean (played by the accomplished Rowan Atkinson) would be confronted with an unusual situation (usually his fault), and somehow get around it to accomplish his goal. For instance, Mr. Bean decides he wants to go to the beach, but doesn�t want to go back to his car to change into his bathing suit. So, he puts his bathing suit over his trademark brown trousers, and then tries to take the pants off, leaving only the bathing suit.

The beauty about Rowan Atkinson’s performance as Mr. Bean is that an entire episode can go by without him even muttering a word. His use of physical comedy, including body language and facial expressions, is amongst the best I’ve ever seen in my life. He can be the most obnoxious person in the world one second, and an empathetic person in the next.

I’m not usually one to by tv episodes on DVD, but I might make an exception this time. My father enjoys the British sense of humor and he and I might enjoy watching some of the episodes sometime. Then again, he doesn’t have a DVD player, so I’d have to figure out that one :-/.

(Due creidt: DVD Talk)

It seems like the streaming-media market is made up of evils and lesser-evils (Ogg and MP3 excepted, for the most part). And, when presented with a choice, I’ve never been sure whether it'd be more ethical to choose Windows Media or RealPlayer (since public support tends to legitimize a format).

Recently, I’ve been going with RealPlayer over Windows Media since at least it’s available as a cross-platform application. All the same, RealVirus (as some like to call it) is still one of the most user-hostile applications I’ve ever seen.

JetAudio may be the answer, or at least a small help. As described in the LangaList newsletter (subscribe), their JetAudio player can handle most of RealPlayer’s core codecs:

It plays .RA, .RAM, and .RMI files (which isn’t all RealAudio content, but it meets my simple needs.) It appears to be free of spy-, ad- or nag-ware, and (outside of some initial twiddling with the file associations) it appears to work perfectly. I tested the software on Real’s test site.

[…]

For a bit more info, see the discussion in “alt.comp.freeware” with the subject line “Real Audio Codecs”. It began on 4/15/2003. This link might get you there.

If it works as described, I’ll be able to listen to Marketplace and Fresh Air without guilt (woo!).

Update: Real also provides archived versions of its software — RealPlayer 8, anyone?

I stopped by Target to replace some of Jason’s items that he took along with his move:

• Mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Spatula

Pancakes, here I come!

For what it’s worth, a whisk is one of the secrets to good pancakes. Just be sure not to overmix — you want the batter mixed just enough so that there’s no liquid pooling beside the dry ingredients. It’s ok to have some lumps, as they’ll generally cook away.

Via Zeldman, Dan Benjamin talks about what it’s like to be unemployed and he describes it so aptly:

When you consume food, you do so not to enjoy it, but rather because your physical body requires it to create the energy you need to talk to recruiters, potential employers, go on interviews, read and post to the job-boards, or perform the work which generates the money you need to pay bills.

There is no rest, no breaks, no cigars, no enjoyment, no hanging-out, no weekend, there is only this: find a good job or project as soon as possible. […]

If this piece were made into one of those spoken-word songs, I wonder what music might be chosen to accompany it. Classical guitar, perhaps?

Since he’s moving soon (I’m not sure of the exact date), there’s a happy hour for Jon Chan at Ben’s Half Yard House on Friday:

“sorry about the short notice but there’s a ‘good riddance’ gathering friday night at ben’s half yard house around 8-8:30pm and it would be nice to see you there.”

I quite enjoy Ben’s and I’ll be there. All the same, it’s a bit sad for so many friends to be moving away.

Terry Gross interviewed Alex Berenson on Fresh Air yesterday:

Alex Berenson is a financial investigative reporter for the New York Times. In his new book The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America, Berenson examines the corporate scandals at Worldcom, Halliburton, Computer Associates, Tyco, and others, looking at practices that were common to all.

I usually enjoy Fresh Air, and I especially enjoyed yesterday’s show. The interview is about 20 mins, but it really goes into some of the nuts and bolts of “creative accounting” methods — but in terms that regular people can understand.

I’m sorry about the lack of updates recently but work has been keeping me really busy lately (I was at the office until 11pm last night). But, they’re paying me by the hour, so… whatever.

Anyhow, I recently ran across this recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies on AllRecipes. The reviews were positive, so I decided to try the recipe.

It worked out great (soft and rich, but with a delicious chocolate and walnut accent), and these may be my second-favorite among cookies (the chocolate chip cookies that my mom makes are probably first). I’ve added just a few comments as well:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats [quick cooking = the 1-min cook “instant” oats]
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips [this is about 6oz, or about half a standard bag]

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F (165° C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. [I found that it worked better to let them cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack, as they were still a bit soft after 5 minutes.]

This Slashdot article on the new Gnome fonts from Bitstream got slightly off-topic on the subject of Arial/Helvetica vs its clones.

Ever wondered about the differences between Arial and Helvetica? That article points out the key means of distinguishing the two. Of course, the examples are at 72pt or such and I’m not sure I’d be able to spot the differences at a more common font size ;).

This post on the OSX World Forums points to this article with the rumor that Mac OSX 10.3 (Panther) might include “piles”:

Mac OS X 10.3 will finally see the implementation of the “piles” interface concept patented by Apple back in the dear, dead days of Copland but never delivered to the desktop. The feature, which has been lobbied for by Bruce Tognazzini and other interface curmudgeons, is designed to ease the clutter of windows in the Finder: The Blade’s sources indicate that extraneous windows will shrink and jump out of the way automatically, rearranging themselves into scaled-down tiles in response to the user’s movements.) […]

Cool! And if Tog likes it, I look forward to the feature all the more. Of course, it’d help to have a Powerbook as well ;).