Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sony, Hulu, and Net Neutrality
Neither Sony nor Hulu are Internet Service Providers, so you might wonder how they can be involved in the Net Neutrality dispute. Let me explain how they relate.
I purchased Hulu Plus today, with the understanding that a Hulu Plus membership is required in order to view Hulu-streamed content on my television via my Sony Playstation 3. (This is already a fair-use stretch for me, because I paid money for my Playstation, and think I should be able to use it like any other computer I own.) When I went to try to use it, I discovered that in addition to a Hulu Plus membership, you must also have a Playstation Plus membership to view the content from Hulu on a PS3.
"OK," you might ask, "I see how that's annoying, but what does it have to do with Net Neutrality?"
From Wikipedia, "The [Network neutrality] principle states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access."
I've paid for my Hulu Plus membership. Hulu is providing the same level of access to people using other devices, but not to me. I would need to pay for an additional tier of access to receive that content on a device that I own. Keep in mind here, nobody is asking me to pay for software or hardware that makes my Playstation able to view content it would otherwise be unable to view. That would be fair. But my Playstation 3 is capable of playing content from Hulu. In fact, Playstations used to do that and were later blocked deliberately. Asking me to pay more for services available to others who are not paying more: that is unfair and should be illegal.
Reply to this rant on Twitter -- @michaelasmith.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sorting algorithms in Bash 3
I've been working on a library of sorting functions implemented in Bash. Mostly I've been using the algorithms from "Mastering Algorithms in Perl" by Jon Orwant, Jarkko Hietaniemi, and John Macdonald.
Wednesday, February 22, 2007
Firefox Hook & Drag (Bug?)
Just a quick note to show off a weird discovery I made. Check this CSS-only page out in Firefox.
Update: this was true with the latest stable Firefox at the time of posting. It doesn't seem to be true with more recent releases.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Arbitrary-sort XSLT
I wanted to see if it’s possible to use xslt to sort an xml document in an order specified by another document. It is, but I’m not satisfied with my solution yet.
The problem is it takes too many iterations to sort in that order. I have to loop through the sortOrder document and then loop through the context document for each node. I should be able to just look up a node by some value.
Those of you who know XSLT will say “of course you can look up a node by its name! That's what xsl:key is for!”
You’d be right, too, except for the fact that to do this sort requires a loop over the sortOrder document, and inside the scope of that loop you cannot access the key! doh!
Anyway, I’m still thinking about this, but I’d love to hear it if anyone comes up with a solution. Just post it in a forum somewhere and I'll find it. ;)
Friday, February 2, 2007
God
Why is it so hard to write a sentence focused externally? It's so
easy to describe things in terms of myself. Well here's a step
outside the norm: God is. He is good. When I am not in Him (Christ),
I am not.
So what does it mean when I say, "I think this" or "That is my
opinion"?
I should be expressing God's perfect point-of-view, or at least
trying, but seriously, most of the time I'm just making
educated guesses from my <30 years of experience.
This is where trust comes in. With God all things are possible. It
seems that of those rare moments when people actually
listen, God gives them the ability to understand,
too. So at least I don't need to worry about it.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
CSS Child Selectors
I drew up a quick note on how to handle
CSS child selection, even though it’s not properly
supported by Internet Explorer 6.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Apples and Oranges
In response to eWeek's
review of a few Linux distributions.
This sort of review (and there are a lot of them) is misleading
because there's no sense making a comparison between
the release schedules of binary-based and source-based
distributions. Fedora and Ubuntu don't have strict requirements for
a build toolchain, so they have less stringent requirements for,
say, gcc.
For Gentoo, stabilizing a toolchain package means it has to be able
to complete several cycles of building every system package in
addition to closing the bugs in a tracker bug
like this.
I don't object to descriptions like "Gentoo isn't for the everyday
user" or "Gentoo exchanges transparency for configurability," but I
get defensive when I'm told it doesn't keep up with distributions
who have fewer tests to do on a much smaller range of hardware.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Truth
I had an interesting discussion with Joyce's parents about the
current state of North Korea. That led to a discussion of their
childhood in Cultural Revolution China.
It’s frightening how effective brainwashing is. Joyce's mom
said everyone at that time loved Chairman Mao and would do anything
for him. At the same time, many people in China were starving, while
China devoted most of its resources to weapons proliferation and
improving ties with Africa.
On the other hand, my wife and her parents are well-adjusted
critical-thinkers now, so I should be heartened that brainwashing is
not a permanent state-of-being.
All this comes just ahead of the State of the Union address, which
I've recorded, but haven't watched. I don't really think I'm
brainwashed, not while my opinion seems to be distant from that of
our Head of State.
...but then you never know, do you?
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
DVD to IPod Script
Here is a perl script that interacts with mplayer on the commandline to rip DVDs to an iPod-usable format. It is untested so if it breaks something, sorry.
Download it
Monday, January 22, 2007
Multi-Platform
I have two Macs, three Windows machines, and a Linux box. My hosting company uses FreeBSD. Therefore I feel somewhat qualified to discuss multiplatform development and administration.
I'm not impressed with Windows Vista. It doesn't really seem to bring anything new to the table for the end users. It requires a lot more work on the computers' ends, and there are more editions of Windows Vista than any earlier Windows release. The attempt to make it secure by allowing users to run it without administrative privileges has fallen short of ideal. I can't even get my antivirus software to automatically update without entering the admin password.
I guess I'll wait on buying Windows Vista. Maybe I'll have two Windows machines and two Linux machines after the Vista trial expires. I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Convenient Security
SSH has been a world-class solution for secure administration over untrusted networks since its inception. Remote administration connectivity tools fall into two categories: Commandline and graphical. (SSH transcends this boundary and is well able to handle graphical administration, but that's beyond the intended scope of this post.) No other commandline tool is encrypted, and no graphical tool can compete in terms of speed over a slow connection. SSH encrypts the entire connection, so your password is protected from snoopers, but it’s a hassle to have to remember and type several passwords when you’re working with many remote machines.
I recently set up most of my ssh connections with ssh public key authentication. It’s exciting: My connection is secure. I only have to enter my password once, when I log in to my local machine. In fact, my password is never sent over the ’net at all, even in encrypted form.
Passwordless logins is not a hard concept to implement. You could accomplish the same thing with a key on a USB stick, for example. Now instead of forgetting your password you can just lose your keys.
Still, for someone with many computers, it'd be a delight to have to type a little less, especially given the obscure, unergonomic nature of good passwords.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Sufficient Reason
The existence of hell is insufficient reason to turn to God. Life on Earth
is astronomically further from heaven than it is from hell. Look at
it this way:
- earth > hell;
- heaven >> hell;
- heaven >> earth;
- hell / heaven = 0;
- earth / heaven ~= 0;
In other words, staying out of hell isn't a worthwhile goal – getting to heaven is the goal.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Martin D. Smith, My Father, has Died
Apparently of arteriosclerotic heart disease, possibly secondary to diabetes.
Here is to the memory of a great dad, world-class horn player, and someone
who really understood. Be seeing you soon (but not too soon, I hope),
Pop.
Friday, May 27, 2005
T-Mobile Internet, Part I: HotSpot
I'm writing this in the Starbucks Irondequoit in Rochester while Joyce
finishes her health/drug testing for her new job. I just signed up for
the T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot and GPRS Internet for $20/month. Not
a bad deal, I get all the minutes I can use and Internet for a total
of $60. I'll let you know how the GPRS works after I get my new BlueTooth
phone, the Motorola V330. This Internet connection is fine, if insecure.
I've only had a couple of minor problems:
- I can't seem to send mail -- it appears to be prevented somehow by
T-Mobile.
- There's a way to make the connection secure, but it only works on
Windows -- boo!
That's all -- I'm not unsatisfied, and as of right now I'd recommend the
service for anyone who travels frequently or spends a lot of time in
Starbucks.
Security on an insecure connection -- some ideas
For those of you who are technical enough or interested enough to figure
this out, there are ways to make a completely insecure connection safe
for sensitive information. SSH, the "Secure SHell" is the
most obvious one if you have access to an SSH server. For example, I
solved my email problem above by SSH-ing into my computer at home in
Pittsburgh. SSH even allows you to connect to your graphical user interface.
If SSH is inconvenient, you can still rest easy if you can encrypt your
email and chat programs. gnuPG or PGP are two asymmetric-key methods
to send encrypted email.
Just make sure your computer's individual firewall is enabled.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Photographs!
I put some miscellaneous photographs up until I have time to add more. Take
a look.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Internet Explorer?
Please, get a decent browser. It's
for your own good. If you have Firefox you can update the style of this
website so it doesn't look like crap. Go to the Style page
and select the style Kanji.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Anniversary!
Well, we've made it an entire year with very little bloodshed, Joyce and
I. She's working today, which is not her fault, but the fault of some
evildoers, no doubt. Here are a couple of stories.
I bought Joyce some flowers for our anniversary. I wanted them delivered
at the hospital while Joyce was at work, and the website led me to believe
that they could be delivered on a Sunday. I would have been willing
to pay a little extra to make it happen. Instead, Joyce got a page yesterday
after she got home. The flower guy wanted to know where she was so he
could deliver the flowers. I ended up going out in the rain to get the
flowers for her, because they had to deliver them early. When I got
there, the guy said, "I hope you have a pen, you can't get these
flowers without a signature."
I asked him why he didn't have a pen, and his reply was nonverbal, but
fairly off-putting. Anyway, we accosted some poor fellow on the street
for his pen, and I got the flowers.
When I got home, I gave them to Joyce. She opened the romantic card that
was included. I had expected a computer printed card with the romantic
message that I had typed into the website. Instead, there was a handwritten
slip of cardstock. It was signed "Thomas Michael". Best $70
I spent all day.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Fancy Graphics
I had a discussion with my mom over her website the other day. I had built
a demo website for her to show how I would organize her company's information
into a sensible and easily navigated design tree. Her reaction surprised
me. She was looking for shiny colors and eye candy (which weren't there),
and was fairly unresponsive to the clear design and structure that had
been my point. It got me thinking: I need to make sure my clients understand
that unlike music, in web design, lyrics come first.
Iterative Design
An iterative design process requires the basic website to be structurally
excellent. Without that underlying fortitude, how can you iteratively
improve the lesser parts of a website? I liken it to trying to add onto
a house with a cracked foundation. Websites that are constantly growing
and changing require a really good plan to keep scope and direction
sensible to the real customer, the website's visitors. I consider this
planning to be the most important part of my work. Anyone can improve,
add onto, or polish a website when it's well-planned.
So how can I get my customers to understand that before you can build
a website with fancy graphics, you have to build a website that works?
Well, I guess I'll have to do that iteratively, too. I'll start by telling
them. Of course, what kind of web designer would I be if I
didn't have something to prove? So in addition to this blog, I'm also
going to try to throw in some stylistic improvements as the days go
by. Stay tuned.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Design with Meaning
What's the point? At first glance this question seems like a
cliche, but it's not asked often enough. The point of an informational
website is to make a statement — not a visually artistic statement,
but an argument that is, first and foremost, persuasive in its wording.
Visual design is important, but it's not fundamental to the meaning of
an informational website. That is why the modern language of the web
is distributed into three parts: The meaning, the design, and the behavior.
A website that has only verbal meaning is basically complete. It's a structure
that can fulfil your viewers' needs from any sort of device, be it web
browser, cell phone, screen reader, or printer. This is where we start.
CSS dressing will make your (X)HTML salad taste good without sacrificing
any of its inherent healthfulness. If one day you decide you don't like
the way your site looks, you can change it radically in a few minutes
without disturbing your structure at all.
It is possible to keep them separate without sacrificing
looks, and the benefits are real, but often overlooked by management.
It's a rare manager who can forego the instant gratification of an easy
table-based website for a long-term view.
My company has what they call a "web style guide." It's intended to present
a uniform view of the company across our myriad of websites, product sites,
subsidiary sites, regional websites, intranets, and transactional sites.
It primarily dictates layout, leaving content up to the particular site.
Prior to my arrival at the company, all the websites had been built with
old-school table layouts, tons of javascript to clean up the design
flaws of older browsers, and occasionally, enormously expensive content
management systems. During the three years that I've worked there, the
company has changed the web style guide three times.
Many of the older table-based sites have not caught up with the first
change, after two-and-a-half years. After each change, the enormously
expensive content management system had to be updated at additional
expense. That took several weeks.
My sites were all updated within an hour of the release of the new web
style guide.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Well, it's been a while, I guess I didn't keep up with my promise to keep
the site up. Here's a blog. I'm now doing my personal work from my Macintosh
(Powerbook G4 17"). I still have to use Windows at work. Oh well,
at least I don't have to use Windows everywhere.
I've begun playing chess again. I haven't played in years, and it's certainly
frustrating watching the computer slowly chip away at my pieces. I remember
it differently. I remember thinking I was winning and then, suddenly, boom, checkmate.
Maybe my attention has improved.
How anyone's attention can improve in Pittsburgh, though, I don't know.
Saturday, October 9, 2004
I've spent a few days fixing up the site. Thanks to IE7 and
the Mozilla DOM
inspector for making web design possible.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Joyce has been doing thirty-six hour shifts in the Medical Intensive Care
Unit (a.k.a. M.I.C.U., pronounced mick-you), and I guess this
is the part of being married to a resident that's so famous. Honestly,
though, I don't think it's all that bad. Of course we'd rather have
time off and see each other more, but if something's going to strain
our marriage, it's not going to be this.
On the other hand, I'm sure it's not all roses for her. I just hope her
patients fare as well as I.