Published on
July 22, 2009 in
Techy.
“My name’s Matt Haney, and I have an iPhone”. But then, looking around on the train to and from work nowadays, it seems everyone else has one too.
One of the reasons I got the phone was so that I could watch videos on the train without using the not-designed-for-video-playback screen on my old phone, or having to carry a PSP around. So, here, for the sake of my own memory more than anything, is how I go about getting moving pictures from overpriced shiny round things onto my overpriced shiny iPhone.
Software used: DVD Decrypter & Handbrake
Basically, the process is ‘Decryptwith DVD Decrypter, then encode with Handbrake’. This can be a pain for multiple episode DVDs (TV Series boxsets, for example), as you can’t just set it off and go to bed. This is where the ancient art of batch scripts comes in. Both of these pieces of software can be run from the command line, so I use a batch script like the following*:
Continue reading ‘DVD to iPhone via Windows’
Published on
July 21, 2009 in
General.
…apparently – look, my desktop says so, so it must be true!
Oh no! Panic! What should I do? I know, I’ll click this handy ‘System Security 2009′ shortcut which just happens to have appeared on my desktop at the same time as my wallpaper changed – that sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?
Sigh.
How hard – really – can it be, to at least make your poxy ’shock horror’ fake warnings look like they were written by someone who speaks English? “Your’re in danger”? These things could “break” my life?
Sigh.
Anyway, on with life. That diagram, by the way, was just part of an explanation of how different versions of data will relate to each other in a system which is just about to go live. Alternatively, it was a way of saying I had nothing to blog about… Boxes A, B and C represent 3 versions of one set of data, and boxes X, Y and Z represent 3 versions of another set of data. Thrilling, and just a little bit obtuse. Sorry about that.
(I didn’t really expect anyone to answer…)
Published on
March 29, 2009 in
General.
Sometimes I come back to diagrams I’ve drawn as part of the day job, and they’re just a bunch of boxes and lines…
What’s this all about then?
In my recent mini-rant about the snow breaking our trains, I said that the train company didn’t even bother apologising for not running any trains. I was wrong – they did apologise via their website, here.
They’re even offering some sort of compensation for season ticket holders, as long as you still have the ticket that was valid at the time – another reason to always ask the nice man at the station if you can hold onto your old ticket when buying a renewal… The form to fill in if you want compensation is here.
So, sorry to Southeastern for saying you didn’t apologise. Your spokeswoman could probably still do with a spot of media training though…
Published on
February 7, 2009 in
Blognews.
Akismet is really, really good. Here’s a nice little picture to show how much work it does on my little blog, with no input from me:
Published on
February 7, 2009 in
Rant and Work.
You may have missed it, but there was a bit of a nip in the air last week – Garry has already mentioned the effect it has on the, shall we say, “intellectually challenged” amongst us. I was amused by the BBC’s footage of people insisting on walking down the icy bit of the steps outside Waterloo Station – for pity’s sake, use your eyes!
As it was the first time my commute to London had been affected by cold weather I was mildly surprised by the train company’s attitude: “It’s snowing, we’re not running any trains. kthxbye!”. Not a hint of “We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience this will cause” or anything similar, just a stark “no trains today” announcement. Now, I can usually work from home if need be, but I’m guessing I’m still in the minority there. Approximately 143,000 people commute into London on Southeasern Railways trains every day (it says here), and every one of those people was inconvenienced in one way or another on Monday and Tuesday.
Obviously, those of us who pay in advance for our train tickets don’t get any recompense for paying for something that didn’t actually exist – there’s some customer charter somewhere that says that because I pay *cough* pounds a month for my ticket I have fewer rights than someone who only travels occasionally. I’ve never quite understood that…
I don’t think they could or should have done anything different, it’s just the way they act as if we should think ourselves lucky if they actually provide the service we pay through the nose for. Just one little sentence with the word ‘apologise’ or ’sorry’ in it would have gone a long way for this particular commuter.
With thanks to neilalderney123 at Flickr for the photo – I was far too warm and cosy at home to venture out with the camera!
Nick’s Gorrilas photo (‘Tiff’ on Flickr) has been featured in The Daily Mail and The Express, and on the Daily Mail’s website. Well done Nick – it is a fantastic photo 
Don’t forget the little people when you’re rich and famous, will you?
EDIT: And yes, it’s on the Express’s website now too.
Published on
January 22, 2009 in
Family.
I have just sat with my good lady wife whilst she added a veritable forest of content to the Drupal installation we’ve been procrastinating about for ages. It’s cool to see the site starting to take shape and even cooler to see Mary tapping away at HTML with the odd pause and question like: “so the ending tag has a slash, right?”.
I think I may need to throw a few spanners in the works. She’s picking it up way too easily, and at this rate she’ll start wondering whether this web stuff is difficult at all!
