Voidstar: blog

Only 7 sleeps to go till Glastonbury.

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:13:00 GMT

One of the stories we were being told during and after the Tottenham riots was that Blackberry BBM was...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:21:00 GMT

One of the stories we were being told during and after the Tottenham riots was that Blackberry BBM was secure and controlling the riots was harder because this was the comms tool of choice for the gangs and rioters. How does that square with this story; So GCHQ can intercept BBM, but the Police can't?

Meanwhile, Apple claim that iMessage and FaceTime services are encrypted from end-to-end. (http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/06/17/apple-says-it-received-4000-5000-data-requests-from-us-officials-in-last-6-months/) Yes. Well. That's what Skype said. Originally we believed them. Now I'm not so sure. Perhaps the NSA revelations will make end to end security a major feature requirement again in chat and voice message systems. So how about it, Google Hangouts/Messanger/Chat and Facebook? Unfortunately that requirement works against cross platform and web based chat systems which we also want for convenience.

GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits »
Exclusive: phones were monitored and fake internet cafes set up to gather information from allies in London in 2009

[from: Google+ Posts]

Slightly off topic. Does anyone know a good place for listings of free or very cheap festivals? I'm sure...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:23:00 GMT

Slightly off topic. Does anyone know a good place for listings of free or very cheap festivals? I'm sure in previous years http://www.efestivals.co.uk/ had something like this, but a search for "free" isn't very effective. A Google search for free festival turns upÂ http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/ but that's about the 60s, 70s and 80s. Fascinating but not very useful for 2013.

ps. We probably did this already, but this is where it started. http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/glasmenu.html

- rock & dance festival information, news, festival tickets, line-up, photos, reviews, listings, info, competitions »
Festivals - information about Glastonbury, Reading Festival, Leeds Festival, V Festival, T in the Park, Download, Isle of Wight, Creamfields, Reading & Leeds, WOMAD, Latitude, Bestival, Global Gathering, Wychwood, Sunrise, Kendal Calling, Boomtown Fair, Shambala, Beat Herder, Secret Garden Party, Festival No 6, 2000 Trees, Lovebox, Camp Bestival, Bearded Theory, Field Day and loads more. Tickets, line-ups

[from: Google+ Posts]

Sonic Attack

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:43:07 GMT

Gosh, this one's, err, deep. Eagerly awaiting Young Echo - Nexus now due June 30.

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 06:43:00 GMT

Gosh, this one's, err, deep. Eagerly awaiting Young Echo - Nexus now due June 30.

Also looks like several of the Young Echo collective will be at Glastonbury. Ishan Sound, Dubkasm, Kahn, Gorgon Sound, Peng Sound Mashup
https://soundcloud.com/factmag/fact-mix-386-young-echo-jun-13
http://www.factmag.com/2013/06/10/fact-mix-386-young-echo/

FACT mix 386 - Young Echo (Jun '13) »
The UK's best online music magazine and home to the weekly FACT mix series.

[from: Google+ Posts]

Gosh, this one's, err, deep.

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 06:45:00 GMT

Eagerly awaiting Young Echo - Nexus now due June 30.

Also looks like several of the Young Echo collective will be at Glastonbury. Ishan Sound, Dubkasm, Kahn, Gorgon Sound, Peng Sound Mashup
https://soundcloud.com/factmag/fact-mix-386-young-echo-jun-13
http://www.factmag.com/2013/06/10/fact-mix-386-young-echo/

FACT mix 386 - Young Echo (Jun '13) »
The UK's best online music magazine and home to the weekly FACT mix series.

[from: Google+ Posts]

Today's public service announcement:

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:39:00 GMT

Today's public service announcement:
- Love the Farm
- Use the loos
- Use the bins
- Take your stuff home
- Leave no trace.
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/green-glastonbury/love-the-farm-leave-no-trace

That's just reminded me how crunchy the ground is as you cross the Other or Pyramid fields at 5am on the way back to the tent. See how many working lighters you can find!

Information - Love the farm, leave no trace »
The Official Glastonbury Festival Website. Love the farm, leave no trace

[from: Google+ Posts]

Some Green Fields Tibet - India fun.

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:47:00 GMT

Some Green Fields Tibet - India fun.

Tibetan Monks blowing the horn while wearing some proper festival headgear.
http://www.factmag.com/2013/06/13/dalai-lamas-tibetan-monks-to-perform-at-glastonbury/

A friend of mine is also performing with Shakti Sings - she says: we are the 'green' choir! It is amazing, if somewhat cheesy and a bit mother earthy, but it is a lot of funÂ
WEDNESDAY 26TH JUNE
9-11pm SHAKTI SINGS FOR GLASTONBURY
Opening Ceremony in Stone Circle Field (35 min performance at 10pm)

THURSDAY 27TH JUNE
Including 4pm Bandstand at Croissant Neuf & public singing at 5pm 9-10pm SHAKTI SINGS
Live performance at the Inter stage/Backstage Party, 3 songs
( performance at 9.30pm)

FRIDAY 28TH JUNE
All afternoon â€“ small choirs communicating our message to the public across the site including 2pm Greenpeace Field

SATURDAY 29TH JUNE
All afternoon â€“ small choirs communicating our message to the public across the site including 2pm Greenpeace Field

SUNDAY 30TH JUNE
All afternoon â€“ small choirs communicating our message to the public across the site including 5pm TOAD HALL LIVE, Green Futures Field

Dalai Lamaâ€™s Tibetan monks to perform at Glastonbury »
FACT is the UK's best online music magazine and home to the weekly FACT mix series.

[from: Google+ Posts]

So farewell then RSS, XML and Atom from Twitter and the old v1.0 of the API. We knew you well.

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:04:00 GMT

For a short while there, years ago, I quite liked Tweetdeck.

So I'm afraid for me, Twitter remains and becomes even more a fairly irrelevant Write-Only-Network.

Twitter Finally Kill Off TweetDeck on Mobile and Other Apps »

[from: Google+ Posts]

Stealth competitor from the UK. ~2Kw, full-sus, downhill bike.

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:49:00 GMT

Stealth competitor from the UK. ~2Kw, full-sus, downhill bike.

The Voltz is kind of like the Stealth. Curious to know the tech specs, like battery details and motor source. All those wires really need hiding away. And of course, there'll be people up in arms because it doesn't fit anywhere in the legal framework except as a true off-road MX competitor so there's limited places where you can use it.

Voltz Bikes - eTrail »
The eTrail is a full on downhill bike that is capable of tearing uphill too!

[from: Google+ Posts]

2 guys riding electric motorcycles across America in opposite directions. One solo in 5 days, the other...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:33:00 GMT

2 guys riding electric motorcycles across America in opposite directions. One solo in 5 days, the other as a team in 3.

Terry Hershner used his new Vetter streamlining to make it from California to Florida in 5 days single-handed, (despite having to stop en route for 40 hours), while Team Moto Electra rode an electrified Peter Williams replica JPN Norton to go the other way in only 3 days, with a back up team and two riders.

http://www.plugincars.com/electric-motorcycle-pioneers-blazing-electric-trails-127426
http://craigvetter.com/pages/2013%20Streamliner/2013-vetter-streamliner-Hershner-p65.html
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moto-Electra-Racing/110022072362813
https://www.facebook.com/lifeoffthegrid?directed_target_id=0

Pioneering Electric Motorcycle Riders Complete Two Cross-Country Trips This Week | PluginCars.com »
Two electric motorcycle teams made cross-country trips across the U.S. this week. Terry Hershner, a green energy and electric vehicle advocate, took a solo trip from San Diego, Calif. to Jacksonville, Fla., riding a modified 2012 Zero S. The other, Team Moto Electra, took a replica vintage ...

[from: Google+ Posts]

iPod Classic Upgrade

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:06:00 GMT

iPod Classic Upgrade
After much research, I think I need:-

- An iPod Classic 160Gb 7th Generation (ie the current 160 Classic).

- Sourced from the USA or at least outside the EU to avoid the hard coded EU volume cap.

- Upgraded with a high capacity battery for added life

- Upgraded with a Toshiba MK2431GAH 240Gb hard disk
This should be good for 32K tracks. Unfortunately the shuffle function uses a signed int so is limited to 2^15. Provided you keep down the metadata on each track it will handle >32k tracks in total but won't shuffle all which means breaking it down into multiple playlists of < 32k. The metadata problem is that itunes.db needs to fit in the available 64Mb of RAM. Apparently, gnupod and possibly other utilities can be used to strip the metdata down to essentials and so squeeze the database. I routinely clean unused tags from my MP3s and remove cover images anyway so may not have a problem. There is actually a 320Gb disk coming on line that would fit, but these firmware limits mean it's not really worth trying.

I've seen a few other people asking about Super high capacity PMPs (portable music players) but it doesn't look like anyone has a good solution. The need is still out there but nobody wants to serve it, and especially not Apple.

Apparently my early iPod 160 Classic uses an incompatible twin platter hard disk with an incompatible disk interface. It also won't run the latest Apple Firmware. So rather than being dead it's simply obsolete.

Meanwhile the iPod Touch battery has died and it's a 3g Touch so wont run iOS 6 or 7. So frankly the only thing it's good for is as a permanently plugged in winamp remote!
[from: Google+ Posts]

So does iRadio look like a competitor for Google Music and Music All Access and vice versa?

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:51:00 GMT

[from: Google+ Posts]

Take the following devices and try and work out what they have in common.

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:07:00 GMT

Take the following devices and try and work out what they have in common.
1) Nokia "throw away" PAYG phone
2) Apple iPod Touch 3G
3) Apple iPod Classic 160 6g
4) Minirig portable boombox
5) X-mini portable speaker
6) Garmin GPS
And the answer is they all charge from +5v, 500mA. But they almost all use a different charging cable and/or a different sync cable.

In fact in total, I need 2 Sync cables and 4 charging cables to handle all of that. How did it come to this? This is why there is an EU directive that all such devices should be abble to be charged via Micro-USB socket. Except that the only device that has one of those is the Nokia and that can't charge from USB. And Apple only support this directive in their latest phones via a Micro-USB <-> Lightning connector. Even though I hate it, I do kind of understand why Apple does this and why they think they're special. And of course they can get away with trying to get you to spend extra money on genuine Apple accessories. But what's everybody else's excuse? And that's before we start adding in Android phones, iPads, tablets and other devices that charge from 5v but need more current than the standard USB 500mA. Or the new USB 3.0 connectors.

Can we please just sort this all out because I'm sick of it.

1) Nokia throw away PAYG phone
No charging via Micro-USB. USB is only for sync. Charging uses their small tip as opposed to the old 3.5mm large Nokia tip. Their nominal 5v charger is actually 6.5v. They'll happily charge from 5v but then won't report charging complete, battery full.Â

2) Apple iPod Touch 3G
Will charge from any old USB charger with an Apple sync cable. But won't charge from a custom charger aimed at supporting Apple's enhanced USB not quite standards aimed at supplying > 500mA

3) Apple iPod Classic 160 6g
Will only charge from an Apple charger with a normal USB sync cable. But will some times charge from other people's chargers depending on the smarts of the charger and of the cable. Won't charge from a Computer or USB hub unless the computers is on.

4) Minirig portable boombox
Requires it's own USB lead as they use a 6mm plug.

5) X-mini portable speaker
Charging and line in/out on a mini-USB. Hooray! Except that the built in audio jack lead always breaks, so you need the combined USB-Jack lead or a jack to jack AND a USB-mini-USB.

6) Garmin GPS
Charging on a mini-USB. Hooray!

This rant is because I've just bought this 4 port USB charger, to discover that while I only need to carry one plug, I still need a pocket full of leads. Grrrr!
http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-quad-usb-uk-us-eu-mains-charger/

PortaPow Quad USB Mains Charger »
Universal chargers which power your gadgets at home and on the go using solar, battery or mains power.

[from: Google+ Posts]

http://retromaniabysimonreynolds.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/why-he-no-longer-gives-away-his-music.html

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 19:22:00 GMT

http://retromaniabysimonreynolds.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/why-he-no-longer-gives-away-his-music.html
The problem here is that I can't see the connection between music obsessives discovering that you can obtain music for free and exploiting that fact; Â and a movement trying to work against the exploitation of interns and freelancers by for-profit organisations.
Follow the links to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/digital-economy-work-for-free

Bruce Sterling is fond of saying "what happens to Musicians will happen to everyone". The theory being that Musicians discovering that there is no money in the game for 99.9999% of all players is just the bleeding edge and everyone else will be discovering the same thing about their niche in quick time. But maybe this is just recognising that most art is an activity with no monetary value and always has been. If we still think it has value to our lives and society as a whole, then we need to find some other way of compensating it's creators than simply putting a monetary value on it's content.

As for education loans, endless internships, going the extra mile, free freelancers, and all the other euphemisms, it's economic slavery, no? By all means leverage a bit of free work or barter into a longer term contract, but if you consistently use people's willingness to do this to keep your costs down, then go to hell.

So are you still buying stuff from Amazon? I know, I know, it's just so convenient.
[from: Google+ Posts]