Shaun Trennery

I've decided to take the plunge and move my blog over to www.wordpress.com

I've been with spaces for a couple of years now and have always been frustrated with it's limited functionality. After really battling to add a simple tracker image and having to resort to a nasty solution, I've finally made up my mind and decided to move my blog.

Please update your bookmarks etc to http://strennery.wordpress.com
My feed can be found at http://strennery.wordpress.com/feed/

I hope to see you over there!

I've just spent $9 for the "JavaScript with Prototype.js" training video from PeepCode. After I made the payment via PayPal, I was emailed the link to the +- 80mb zip file containing the video and some sample project files.

I've just started watching the 90 minute video and first impressions are good. I'm really enjoying how they use Firebug to demonstrate key JavaScript and Prototype features. This together with the great new online docs will hopefully make me a Prototype guru.

Be sure to watch the preview video for a good indication of what the training video is like.

Link

From a story on Webware

A story was posted that contained the hexadecimal decryption key that allows Linux users to decode and play HD-DVDs. The Digg staff received a request from the Advanced Access Content System License Administrator to remove the story, interpreting the request as following the law and as falling under Digg's pre-existing terms of use that prohibit the posting of infringing content. Jay Adelson explained this in his blog post at 1pm on May 1st.

The Digg user community was not to be silenced, and found a way to route around this censorship. Digg users posted links to hundreds of stories that contained the decryption key, and each one was Dugg up, until the entire site seemed to be nothing but a repository for this one string of hexadecimal digits. A few Digg users found their accounts suspended for misuse.

At 9pm, Kevin Rose reversed course, with another blog post: "...after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

Link to Webware story
Link to TechCrunch: Digg Surrenders to Mob

Update:
The story has made it to the BBC. Link

From the article:

... Once upon a time, Hillcrest was the Rip van Winkle of KZN’s prosperous Upper Highway area – a somnolent hamlet bordering the Valley of a Thousand Hills and surrounded by sweeping farmland, pastures and cane fields.

... Then, all at once – and to those of us who live in the area it really did seem to happen overnight – there was a volcanic eruption of building and commercial development that transformed the town into a seething commercial hub within the blink of a developer’s eye.

... Hillcrest homes now range from around R1.2-million to R3.5-million. At the lower figure, you can expect a compact, no-frills three-bedroom home with double garage on half an acre. 

... As for the traffic congestion, an estimated R60-million upgrade of the town’s main roads is underway. Some of the work – including road widening and new traffic lights – has already been completed, although officials say extensive roadworks in the greater Hillcrest region could take a good three to four years to complete.

... other factors that have led to the Hillcrest boom: first, there’s the release of large tracts of developable farmland around Inanda Road. There’s also the excellent schools and country living away from the urban blight of central Durban. And an avalanche of new developments sold free of transfer duty.

... Located 35 kilometres from the Indian Ocean and 650m above sea level, it isn’t prone to the suffocating summer heat of the coast. As a result, say environmentalists, the area has one of the healthiest climates in the world, with an average summer temperature of 24ºC and an annual mean of just under 18ºC.

Link to the full article

From a Forbes.com article.

1. Cleopatra (1963) - $290.2 million
2. Superman Returns (2006) - $268.5 million
3. Titanic (1997) - $250.2 million
4. Waterworld (1995) - $231.6 million
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - $223.1 million

Link to the complete list

Points of interest from the following MyADSL article: Link

• The R320.00 for the IPTV service does not include the ADSL access portion
• Telkom Media will be a totally separate company from Telkom
• IPTV will not be subject to capping
• IPTV and ADSL services will run concurrently and the IPTV stream will not be measured as part of the customer's monthly Internet usage.
• IPTV will rely on ASDL 2+ which Telkom is currently upgrading to. ADSL 2+ allows for download speeds in excess of 20 Mbps
• IPTV will not be limited to ADSL customers, Telkom are also planning a satellite service starting from less than R100.00 per month for 5 or 6 channels.
• Offerings from Telkom Media can be expected 12 to 18 months after receiving their license from ICASA.

window.onbeforeunload = function () {
     // This fucntion does nothing.  It won't spawn a confirmation dialog
    // But it will ensure that the page is not cached by the browser.
}

Just having an unbeforeunload event handler -- regardless of whether or not it actually does anything, regardless of whether or not you spawn a dialog box or not, even if the entire function declaration consists entirely of just { } -- just defining an event handler will prevent the page from being cached -- ever.

As a matter of fact, even if you allow page caching, the page will be not be cached. Having an onbeforeunload event means the page will be re-built every single time it is accessed. Javascripts will re-run, server-side scripts will be re-run, the page will be built as if the user was hitting it for the very first time, even if the user got to the page just by hitting the back or forward button.

Thanks to Ajaxian for this

Link

After a 5 week break Heroes is finally back! Only a couple of hours before I'm able to sit back and enjoy.

Initial web reaction seems very positive.

Telkom has just launched their new Do Broadband portal. The offering is to introduce the ability to get your broadband access from one supplier rather than Telkom and an ISP.

The site currently lists 3 levels:

• Level 1: R279 pm
  1 Gig @ 384kbps
  
• Level 2: R364 pm
  2 Gig @ 384kbps
  
• Level 3: R675 pm
  3 Gig @ 4Mbps

I think I know now why our ISPs are concerned about this. Other than pay-as-you-go ADSL, I'm not sure why you would opt to use an ISP.

From a myadsl.co.za article

The Do Portal will give customers access to a variety of Internet based value added services such as the ability to download the latest music tracks, viewing movie previews, booking tickets online and even going on a virtual game drive by accessing WildEarth on the Do Portal.

The Portal will give customers access to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Entertainment Africa, Webmail and access to the most comprehensive and popular gaming service in South Africa.

Update: myadsl.co.za has posted an article on how the new Telkom offering compares with other local offerings. They list a Cost/GB/Mbps breakdown for all local services. Seems like the new Level 3 plan from Telkom is the most cost effective. Link

This bug which I've had to live with for a couple of months turns out to be as result of setting the Virtual Path to /.

Well, a hotfix that correctly fixes the problem was released today.
You can download it here.

Another link to save to your favorites is this one. The site hosts all high-impact hotfixes for Visual Studio and .NET.

Links:

• Full hotfix download location - https://connect.microsoft.com/downloads/downloaddetails.aspx?DownloadID=6178&wa=wsignin1.0&siteid=210
• High-impact hotfixes - https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads

Telkom gave a demonstration on Friday to media that displayed the benefits of its IPTV offering. The standard IPTV bouguet will be in the region of R320 per month and it will include a dedicated news channel.

Besides PVR-like functionality, IPTV will allow user generated content to be uploaded to the network. Telkom will also have VOD movies available for instant rental at R10 - R20 depending on the movie.

Link to ITWeb Article

Here is a great preview video for the 5 new episodes starting April 23. I personally cant wait!

Link

In a trial, the BBC is to offer 20 000 people in the UK the ability to access full-length programmes as well as scripts and notes from their vast archive. The trial will make available 1000 hours of content drawn from a mix of genres to the closed group and about 50 hours for general access.

People interested should register at www.bbc.co.uk/archive

From the BBC Archive Website:

The BBC is looking for people to join a six-month trial in which 20,000 UK residents will get free access to hundreds of programmes from the BBC archive, including reports of historic events as they happened, ground-breaking documentaries, soaps, action-packed children's shows, sumptuous dramas, and comedy shows that thrilled the nation.

This is something Multichoice should really look at doing for the South African market. There must be a huge demand for all their archived footage. It's far better than having it lie in some library. Charging for such content might prove to be a really good business model.

Link to BBC News Article

6 months ago my wife and I took the plunge and moved from Johannesburg to Durban following the chilled, outdoor lifestyle. We wanted to settle in and see if costal living was for us before investing in property. After about 3 months, we decided to start looking for a house that we could see ourselves living in for the next 10 to 20 years.

After a couple weeks of looking and seeing a number of places, we found a great place in Gillitts. With it only being 30 minutes from work and having a great big garden and pool, we were sold. Our offer was accepted in December 2006 and we've been looking forward to moving ever since.

John Rocher, the previous owner, and I verbally agreed that we would take occupation on the 1st of April this year. He called me at the end of March asked for an additional 3 weeks as his new house was not ready. Agreeing to this, I postponed our movers, arranged an additional months lease at the place we were renting etc.

Now, having postponed everything for an extra 3 weeks, and having given up our lease, John decides that he is not moving out as previously agreed. We therefore have no place to go as of this Friday. According to the lawyers, we have no leg to stand on as all arrangements were verbal. There was no documented proof of this arrangement.

My wife and I are now forced to place our household contents in storage and move into a holiday flat in Umhlanga. John now agrees to the 10 May but we are yet to get this in writing. Paying for storage and 3 weeks (hopefully only 3 weeks) in a holiday flat are things we really never planned for.

I honestly cannot believe that anyone would act in such a manner. I suppose the expensive lesson is to ensure that all agreements are documented and signed by both parties. 

It is sad that we have to suppress our natural instinct to trust.

I managed to get my hands on a Joost invite this morning.

I only managed to play with it for about 10 minutes before leaving for work this morning. I downloaded the 11mb install and installed it on my wife's Vista desktop. The installation was quick and painless and I was up and running in minutes.

The UI is really slick and intuitive. It defaults to full screen mode and the menus are displayed over your video as you move your mouse. Widgets like chat, RSS feeds etc can easily be added over your video.

The only problem I had was that the video stuttered over my ASDL connection. I'd imagine that I need at least 1mb connection for a smooth play-back experience. The choice of available content was pretty impressive for a new service.

I'm looking forward to playing with it and getting a glimpse of the future.

PS: Drop me a email at shaun.trennery at gmail.com if you'd like an invite.

Link

From an article on ITWeb

Telkom is investing R7 billion in setting up a subscription TV service aimed at the mass market, as well as several multi-platform technologies such as IPTV and video on-demand

Telkom Media says its planned subscription TV bouquet will bring pay-TV “within the realistic price range of nearly 40% of South African audiences”.

The television offerings will include a 24-hour news station, headed up by Jimi Matthews (formerly of etv and the SABC), as well as channels devoted to sports, movies, music, education and home shopping.

Link

Looking at the Google Personalized Homepage css file, Zach Leatherman noticed that it is using YUI Grids CSS, released under BSD by Yahoo!. Google use it silently without mention of YUI or the BSD license which states clearly that "Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.". Here is an idea for the next YUI Implementation Focus.

Link

I proposed an idea of mine to Multichoice about 18 months ago. The idea was a simple one, allow anyone to produce and share content via the DSTV PRV decoder.

For example, a podcaster would be able to upload his show on cycling. He could either publish it publicly or privately. Cyclists, or anyone interested in cycling could then, via their remote subscribe to the show. Through the wonders of existing technology, the show would be pushed to the subscriber's PVR as and when a new episode became available.

The potential for the idea is huge and opens up endless possibilities. Just imagine a school publishing private learning material to each of their students, companies producing their own channels etc.

Interest was shown, but action was non existant. 

I read today that Tivo have introduced the same idea. The ability to broadcast home movies. The feature allows you to send home movies and photo slide shows from your computer directly into the "Now Playing" list of other Tivo users. All you need to do is share a generated code with the users you wish to share your content with.

Another awesome feature launched by Tivo is Cellphone programming. This feature allows you to record shows from anywhere in the world.

Other amazing features currently on offer include:

• Weather and traffic
• Movie Listings
• Internet Radio
• Podcasts
• Guru Guide
• Music and Photos

I can only wonder how many years it will take Multichoice to play catch up. Why do we South Africans always have to be a step behind. In this case, a couple of steps.

Ref: The New Your Times - TiVo Plays a Trump Card: Web Smarts
Link

"After months and months of speculation, we can finally reveal that SABC3 has bought the best television show on Earth (possibly ever), 'Heroes', and will start airing it from Tuesday 1 May, 2007, in its primetime drama slot at 20h31."

Read More

It seems crazy to me that MNet missed this one. Someone should be fired for a blunder like this.

After some uncertainty as to whether or not this year's Tour Durban will go ahead, it has just been announced that it will indeed take place. The date for the race has been set to the 22nd April.

All final details and road closures etc will be announced after this weekend's Argus. Watch this space...

Ever try plan your viewing on our local websites like www.dstv.com or www.sabc.co.za. If you like me, you gave up a couple minutes after you started.

There is finally a benchmark for how a online TV guide should be developed. www.couchville.com does it the right way. They provide a Google Maps like way of dragging your way around the schedule. You can easily jump to a certain channel and ahead to a certain date. http://tv.yahoo.com would be perfect if they implemented something like this.

I suppose its too much to ask for our local providers to have this level of functionality. Imagine this together with the ability to set your PVR over the web. Perhaps one day...

By Susan Westemeyer

Jan Ullrich is back on his bike; riding for charity in South Africa on Sunday, March 11. He will give the opening shot to start the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour and will ride 110 kilometres along with some 35,000 other participants.

Ullrich is participating in a new program called Race4Change, in which celebrities ride to raise money for various South African charities. Ullrich will be raising money for the Imibala Charity, which supports disadvantaged children in grade school, and the Starfish Foundation, which helps children orphaned by AIDS.

The public is encouraged to pledge money and sponsor Ullrich in order to support these charities. More information is available at the race4change.co.za website.

This is usually well out of the realm of things that catch my attention. But what the heck is going on with Britney Spears.

Link