Coder on Fire. Blog

Andrew Mason's personal blog

Sony Need to Fix their PS3 Video Download Service

First let me say that I really like my PS3, it's an amazing piece of hardware and I've gotten many hours of entertainment out of it. So when Sony launched their video download service I was excited.

Having only FreeView in my flat, my choice of films are limited to whatever's on Film Four and the DVD's I have access to. An on-demand download service is exactly what I wanted and I didn't mind throwing a few quid Sony's way for good content. However, the important part of the on-demand service is the 'on-demand' bit. Choose a film, pay your money, watch and win. But not with the PSN Video store, oh no. It takes your money quickly enough, but then comes the download, well that'll keep you waiting.

Now I've got a pretty good Internet connection, 24Meg with Be Broadband, and can reach speeds of around 2.1MB/s on a good day. Downloading a standard definition film of around 2.5GB should take about 25 minutes. But on Sony's PSN video store it takes more than two hours, sometimes up to three hours. What's the point of sitting down to rent a film if you then have to wait three hours for it to download. Am I meant to plan ahead, download the day before? Where's the impulse purchase in that?

The reason I take issue with this is because Sony have no excuse for such poor download speeds. I appreciate Friday evening must be a peak time for them but that's what CDN's were invented for. Akamai, Cache Fly and Amazon S3 have all solved this problem. Hell, with so many PS3's hooked up to the network why not use P2P technology and let me download it from everyone else.

The reality is that it's faster to download the 4GB HD version of a film from 'alternative' sources than it is to get the SD version legit from PSN. When the dodgy way of getting content is better than the official way people choose the path of least resistance, especially when the selling point of 'on-demand' service is better served by alternative means.

Please Sony, invest more in bandwidth and a more robust CDN so we can enjoy the films you offer without having to wait an age to get them.

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Killing Floor Co-op Gaming Night

My regular Co-op gaming night is pretty much focused around killing zombies. So when Steam had the Killing Floor on sale recently, it was a must have purchase.

Similar to Left-4-Dead, Killing Floor is a team based co-op FPS with an emphasis on zombies. Think 28 Days Later meets Counter Strike.

Set in all manner of different locations, from the east end of London to the swamps of the Mississippi. The aim is always the same: survive round after round of zombies.

There's a nice mixture of zombies, from the standard bullet fodder to chainsaw wielding hard-knocks. At the end of each round a shop opens, allowing you to buy and sell weapons and armaments. Upgrading weapons is essential as in later rounds the number and difficulty of the enemy waves increases.

The Killing Floor is great fun that manages to get the balance between military zombie killing and B movie silliness just about right, plus it's available for Mac too.

         
Click here to download:
killing-floor-co-op-gaming-night-fensdwBbfBpkpabCellE.zip (1559 KB)

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iRiver Story eBook Reader Review

My iRiver Story eBook reader arrived on Friday. I've had the weekend to explore its features and see how well it performs. These are my initial thoughts about the device. Hopefully it'll help anyone else who might be considering purchasing one.
 
As I mentioned in my previous post, the main purpose of the eBook reader for me is to do away with my hefty O'Reilly books and allow me to read to and from work. Therefore, easy of use and legibility were my primary concerns.
 
First thing I was impressed with was the size and weight of the device. Being roughly the same size as a small paperback and around the same weight, the iRiver Story is ideal to carry around. It's a shame that it doesn't ship with a case, or even a protective bag, as the screen looks as if it could be damaged by the slightest pressure. However, being the size of a small paperback it shouldn't be difficult to find a suitable case.
 
I had ready online that eBook readers suffer from poor page turning speeds, apparently the Kindle is painfully slow. So I was pleasantly surprised to see speed isn't an issue with the iRiver Story. Loading a 500 page .epub book takes around five seconds and a page turn is half a second. Pages turn by re-drawing the whole screen, so there is a noticeable black flicker between turns, but this is a necessary occurrence due to the E-Ink technology being used.
 
Font size is handled well, with three levels of zoom available. I'm happy with the default zoom level that has a nice balance between legibility and the number words on the page. There is also the ability to add your own fonts, but unfortunately this only apples to .txt files and not .epub or .pdfs. I'm hoping this will be resolved in the next firmware update.
 
Transferring files onto the reader was very simple. The devices shows up on the computer as a removable storage device by plugging it in via USB. Dragging and dropping files is all that is required. Unplugging and switching the reader on again will update the internal database and you're ready to read.
 
It's still early days with the iRiver Story, and this week will be the real test as I use it every day on the busy London underground. But so far I'm very pleased with the purchase.

                 
Click here to download:
iRiver_Story_eBook_Reader_Revi.zip (4364 KB)

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Choosing an E-Book Reader

Making expensive purchases is always a big deal for me. I like to take my time, research and consider my options.

I've learnt from previous mistaken purchases that checking off a few essential requirements helps with buyer's remorse.

Aside from the obvious reviews and YouTube videos, I like to ensure I've check other things:
  • That I'll actually use it (Hello, my poor Nintendo DS)
  • Official support is efficient and effective. Sniffing around the forums is a good start
  • Hack-a-bility. When v2 comes out, support will tail-off and open-source hackers are your best friend
  • It supports open standards
My choices fell down to the Sony PRS-600, BeBook Neo and the iRiver Story.

I've had terrible experiences with Sony hardware in the past (expect the PS3), so I discounted that device outright. The BeBook Neo has a lot of additional features such as touch screen and wifi, but all I'm looking for is a simple e-book reader. Plus, I've got an Android phone for mobile Internet and desktop for everything else. A device I can use on the journey to work and back and read in bed is all I need. So, BeBook Neo's extra features are superfluous and come at a high premium.  

After reading good reviews on the Register, and seeing hacking beginning on the firmware I decided to pick the iRiver Story. This decision was spurred on by a Play.com sale (21st Jun 2010) selling it for £150.
It should arrive within the week, and I'll post a follow up review after it arrives.

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HTML5 Video Running in Chrome on Fedora 13

After installing Fedora 13, I started setting up some essential
applications, Google Chrome being one of them.

However, missing codecs comes with the territory when using Linux, so
there's no Flash or MP3 out the box. So I was pleasantly surprised
when I visited Vimeo and HD videos played perfectly.

I know YouTube is currently running a HTML5 beta, I just hope more
website adopt VP8 and other open codecs.

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Is Google Using its own SSL Certificates?

Checking my HTC Hero custom Android 2.1 ROM mobile this morning I was alerted to a security problem. The browser certificate on google.com was throwing up security warnings. On closer inspection it seems the certificate was issued by the "google interenet authority".

I really don't like the smell of this. Either Google are trialing something that has accidentally been exposed, or more likely, there is something malicious going on with the custom ROM.

       
Click here to download:
Is_Google_Using_its_own_SSL_Ce.zip (147 KB)

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World Cup Vuvuzelas Bookmarklet

So I'm really not a football fan of any kind, but the Vuvuzelas do amuse me. So, my probably one and only contribution to football is a Vuvuzela Bookmarklet that converts every bit of text on the page into Bzzzzzzzzzzz.

Updated: Now with sound thanks to http://www.vuvuzela-time.co.uk/

Pointless? Yes, but I guess that's my sentiment on football.

Update 2: It would seem Posterous is sanitising links and removing JavaScript from them. While is a very good thing, it makes posting Bookmarklets very difficult. So, for now try copying and pasting the following code into your address bar:

javascript:(function(){b=document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];e=b.getElementsByTagName('*');for(i=0;i%3Ce.length;%20i++){for(n=0;n%3Ce[i].childNodes.length;n++){if(e[i].childNodes[n].nodeType===3){e[i].childNodes[n].nodeValue='Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz';}}};s=document.createElement('embed');s.type='application/x-shockwave-flash';s.src='http://j.mp/cVTJJQ';b.appendChild(s)})()

Source code:

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So the central line throws me off at Marble Arch. That's OK, I'll get the bus. God damn it.

via twidroid

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Comics on the bus home

Reading the watchmen on the bus home.

Posted from Camberwell, United Kingdom

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Notting Hill Gate station

I love the bleak, distressed look of the advertising free platform.

   
Click here to download:
Notting_Hill_Gate_station.zip (1185 KB)

Posted from Kensington, United Kingdom

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