bioneural.net » music

An OS X player for More FM Wellington

Bruce — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:29:13 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

Good radio stations can be hard to come by. My personal preference is for a mix of older and contemporary tracks, with a healthy dose of variety but nothing too far outside mainstream. One such radio station is Wellington's More FM, to which you can listen live using your web browser. I'm not keen on Internet radio delivered via a browser window because I usually end up closing the tab/ window by mistake! This Saturday morning project produced an OS X app to keep in the Dock for when the urge to listen to More FM strikes; it opens a network stream and commences automatic playback, using either of the VLC or QuickTime players. Tested under Mac OS X 10.5.6 using VLC 0.9.9 (Intel) and QT 7.6. A browser-based player Windows Media Player 10 content as streamed by More FM won't playback via your Mac within Safari unless you have downloaded and installed both Windows Media Player 9 for Mac OS X and Windows Media® Components for QuickTime from Microsoft: A VLC-based player This Automator application for OS X uses the Play Movie from URL automator action by Jason Prell, available from Apple here. You'll need to have installed this action and of course the veritable VLC to use it: If Play Movie from URL is not pre-installed you'll see an error: A QuickTime-based player QuickTime is installed with Mac OS X by default. This app uses the default Run AppleScript action included with Automator, but QuickTime needs the help of Flip4Mac WMV to handle the WMA2 audio ...

iPhone ringtone for homesick Kiwis

Bruce — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:17:07 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

Thanks to the kind folk at Kiwibank, and in preparation for the imminent official arrival of the iPhone in New Zealand, Kiwis can now set a whistled version of God Defend New Zealand as their ringtone. You can download it or preview it here. I've also updated my Kiwi icons iPhone wallpaper set to include a kiwifruit and koru.

Bose know customer service

Bruce — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:59:46 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

If you've ever spent 24 hours on a long haul flight you may know what a blessing noise cancelling headphones are. While the headset Apple ship with the iPhone is OK (the all-in-one answer/ hang up, pause/ play, and next song button is great), they do sound tinny after experiencing the depth and background quiet of the QuietComfort 3 from Bose. Unfortunately the pre-iPhone set I bought in New Zealand weren't accommodated by the iPhone's recessed jack—nor was my wife's Sennheiser PXC 250. Apple say: iPhone has a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack, so it is compatible with most portable stereo headphones. Some stereo headphones may require an adapter (sold separately) to ensure proper fit. But when you pass most through the Apple reality distortion lexi-transmographier, that recessed design means hardly any. In the wake of the iPhone Bose modified the cords of some of their headphones. Although the airplane adapter that came with my QC3 does fit (sort of) into the iPhone jack, using it in this way is clumsy and seems to degrade audio quality. There are plenty of audio adapters now available (Apple Store, eBay, etc.) that use less plastic in order to bury themselves deeper into your iPhone, but I decided to ring Bose UK (0800 085 9021) and find out if I could purchase a replacement cord, or "official" adapter. The Guy from Bose was obviously familiar with the problem. Bose UK's Parts Dept. sent me a legacy adapter "because you want to be able to continue enjoying them", no ...

New Zealand progressive on fair use laws

Bruce — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:12:48 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

As reported by Ars Technica, the New Zealand House of Representatives passed a bill on 8 April 2008 reforming copyright law for the "digital age". Most netizens even outside the US will have come across the American DMCA: any mention seems tainted by the taste of bile. The DMCA criminalises circumvention of digital rights management (DRM) technologies and access controls—many folk argue at the expense of "fair use". Do the NZ reforms provide workable compromise? Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand [© iStockPhoto] Ars cite a Canadian law professor as saying: The anti-circumvention provisions are arguably the best of any country, since they are compliant with WIPO, limited in scope, and seek to preserve fair dealing rights. Having looked at the new Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill I find myself almost as confused as I was before; it raises at least as many questions as it answers. Time and format shifting I've always wondered exactly how recording a TV programme to VHS tape, DVD+RW, or PVR hard drives sat with current copyright laws. It must be pretty unusual to walk into a living room and not find the home owner's favourite TV series or movie archived on recordable media for repeated viewing at their leisure. Fortunately the bill specifies that anyone watching TV that isn't "live" is no longer engaged in a criminal act (recording of an on-demand broadcast isn't allowed). It does mean, however, that domestic recording libraries are still illegal: you must watch your recordings within a "reasonable" time frame and then delete them. No ...

iTunes freebies are worth checking out

Bruce — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:15:54 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

While generally in life you get what you pay for, there are rare instances when the reverse is true. Since their launch I've been fairly regularly checking out the free Single of the Week on the iTunes Music Store (UK and NZ editions). A 30 second preview is enough to decide if it's worth a download or not, and I have discovered some real gems from artists I hadn't previously heard of. Here are the "keepers" from my Freebies playlist; I hope you find something that tickles your fancy too. The following list is a bit eclectic, with a good proportion not sung in the English language. I'm no music critic—I either like it or I don't. I don't have the knowledge to describe the merits of each track or even what it is that appeals, so I won't try. Music doesn't have to justify itself. In no particular order: iTMS link Track and artist NZ Say You'll Stay by Luke Thompson NZ Be Bad by Low Rider NZ To the Light (Acoustic Version) by Newton Faulkner UK Hot Tears by Sarabeth Tucek UK Nobody's Fault But Mine by Beth Rowley UK More Rock 'n' Roll by Ruarri Joseph UK Cler Achel by Tinariwen UK Lalala by Julien Civange and Louis Haeri UK Thin Blue Flame by Josh Ritter UK Multiply by Jamie Lidell UK Mi Tierra by Guitarra De Pasión UK Congoleo by Angélique Kidjo UK Counting to Sleep by Wallis Bird UK Totally Underwater by Shelly Poole UK The Nomad by Niraj Chag UK Come & Get It by Lady Ragga NZ Mama by Kate Miller-Heidke Surely there's at least one track on that list you have to have? If I had to pick "favourites", they would ...

Rugby, anthems and patriotism

Bruce — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:12:38 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

Inspired by seeing Wellington's Hurricanes win against South Africa's Bulls, and in fulfilment of Simone's wish to see the All Blacks perform the haka live, we went to see New Zealand face France last night. I'm not a rugby fan, but I sure felt patriotic and shared in the excitement of seeing the national team thrash France 61 to 10. Here is a short movie (2min 46sec) showing the All Blacks entering the stadium, the singing of the national anthem, the haka (Ka Mate), the first try, and a Mexican wave: All Blacks v France video download (8.6 MB H.264-encoded movie, zip archive) You can read about the game here. If you need a French translation of the haka, watch this. There's a very energetic Italian ad featuring the haka here. To support the home team lots of folk waved flags bearing the silver fern (not the Union Jack). All we need now is a new national flag. New Zealand's national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, was something I was taught at school. Well, the first verse anyway. This is often sung twice, once in Maori and once in English: E Ihoã Atua, O ngã iwi mãtou rã ãta whaka rongona; Me aroha noa Kia hua ko te pai; Kia tau tõ atawhai; Manaakitia mai Aotearoa God of Nations at Thy feet, In the bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land. Guard Pacific's triple star From the shafts of strife and war, Make her praises heard afar, God defend New Zealand. The tune has been played often on TV recently as part ...

Outdoor pursuits

Bruce — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:34:59 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

Visit 100% Pure New Zealand and you'll be sold the scenery but also a host of activities that make the most of it; New Zealand equals access to The Great Outdoors. The government actively promotes this image: most Kiwis live within 30 minutes of the coast; there are 14 national parks; you can ski 10 commercial fields; the country has more golf courses per capita than anywhere else; etc. We've been attempting to experience this ideal since our arrival, making the most of the warmer weather to enjoy various outdoor pursuits. Running round the bays As one of 10,100 participants in Wellington Round the Bays 2007, I finished in position number 1258. I'd never run 7km before and almost had myself convinced I wasn't going to manage it—at least not without stopping to walk a while. At the gym my "limit" has been 30 min on the treadmill at 11km/h (around 5.5km). Without the machine to pace me, how would I fare on the tarmac? My time was 38min 26sec which, over 7km, is virtually 11km/h! While these figures are by no means exceptional, 3 months previously I couldn't have achieved them. All those visits to the gym paid off! Bruce finishes the Round the Bays run A 71km tramp The Queen Charlotte Track is a 71km walk between Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds in Marlborough, at the top of New Zealand's South Island. Access and accommodation options are good whether you plan to carry your own kit over several days or send it ahead ...

Great New Zealand music on YouTube

Bruce — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 01:58:42 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

I haven't paid much attention to YouTube—until now. There was a song on the vid screens at the gym by a New Zealand artist I'd not come across, and a Google search led me to the video on YouTube. I decided to see what else was there. Some of the videos available are for songs I currently love (q.v. Bic Runga) but never got to see the video for until now (maybe they weren't on UK TV). But there are also old favourites to remember and new discoveries to appreciate. Here are a few personal highlights from the past 3 decades: enjoy! Pokarekare Ana by Hayley Westenra Poi E by Patea Maori Club (Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy by Shona Laing Deciphering Me by Brooke Fraser Walkie Talkie Man by Steriogram Computer Games by Mi-Sex Distant Sun by Crowded House Don't Front On Me by Deceptikonz I Got You by Split Enz Listening For The Weather by Bic Runga Sway by Bic Runga Tip: YouTube Downloader provides a cross-platform way to save the videos to your hard drive (if like me you need to overcome a pathetic Xtra broadband connection that is incapable of streaming). You can watch these .flv files on your Mac or PC using VLC. The quality of the videos isn't that good, and often the audio and video are out-of-sync. But when you're done viewing, you can buy some of these tracks via the recently-opened iTunes Music Store (NZ).

Adding a site preferences panel

Bruce — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:03:40 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

I recently spent an extortionate amount of time adding a site preferences panel to my site design. It's a solution composed of many parts, put together piece-by-piece with the knowledge and assistance of several Netizens. It is by no means perfect and certainly not indispensable—but it sure put my tinkering skills to the test. It surprises me how obscure information about adding site preferences is; Google searches on the subject have a high signal-to-noise ratio, and a couple of e-mail enquires to webmasters went unanswered. In keeping with my blog's tagline, here is the "stuff worth sharing". But mostly, as usual, I document the process mainly so I can remember how it was put together! The site preference panel as been remade. Details here. Requirements The panel should be hidden by default; It should offer a way to read with musical accompaniment; It should allow CSS to be disabled (e.g. for small screen viewing); It should allow stylesheet switching, and be resize-able; It should allow the user to change font size; It should be constructed and laid out using valid XHTML and CSS; It should work (well enough) in Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer 6+. Toggle the panel on/off I wanted to create the effect of the prefs panel sliding out from under the navigation menu in the header. Likewise, it should slide up into the menu when the panel is closed. The K2 theme for WordPress already includes a (partial) script.aculo.us JavaScript effects library. Kristin Pishdadi blogged her method of utilizing this to toggle site navigation items, and adapting the same ...

The elusive multi-device video format

Bruce — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:16:15 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net doi:tSglPpAB7a8nfM :

The world has too many video formats. We mere mortals are dazzled by the cacophony of audio codecs, video codecs, and file containers. Too frequently the "same" format becomes incompatible as you move from one player to another, or go cross-platform. Some Windows Media files play fine on Windows, yet trip up Windows Media Player for Mac. An MPEG-4 file made on a Mac may not play on a Windows machine. Your QuickTime files on the desktop become wasted space on the SD card in your Palm or Pocket PC. Now we have the iPod that does video, with a predilection for H.264. So here is the challenge: What combination of video codec, audio codec, and container will produce a video (with sound) that can be played back on a Mac, a Windows PC, a Palm, a Pocket PC, and an iPod?... Was that an artery I just burst? I have some video segments on disks created with iDVD that I'd like to re-purpose. The video is in the form of .VOB files, containing MPEG-2 video and PCM audio. As elsewhere mentioned, my preferred tool for converting such .VOB files into other formats is MPEG Streamclip. As of version 1.5.1 MPEG Streamclip includes an iPod pre-set button to simplify the creation of content for use on a video iPod. These iPods don't handle just any video—they're particularly fussy, recognising just two flavours: H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC ...