if it's owən | it's probably awesome http://owened.net more like definitely awesome Mon, 26 Nov 2012 05:24:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 CCNP! http://owened.net/ccnp/ http://owened.net/ccnp/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2012 05:24:39 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=892  

I’ve finally achieved my CCNP certification!

]]> http://owened.net/ccnp/feed/ 1 RaspberryPi project http://owened.net/raspberrypi-project/ http://owened.net/raspberrypi-project/#comments Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:58:27 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=882 A while back my RaspberryPi arrived to much anticipation. I wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to do with it. I’m still not.

Currently it’s acting as a kind of semi-interactive jukebox in the common area of my house. It’s hooked up to some speakers, a screen and a network connection. It runs Raspbian and I have installed and configured mpd (Music Player Daemon) and gmpc (Gnome Music Player Client). The music is mounted via NFS from my file server and the RaspberryPi is quite capable of handling the task. While the initial tag cache (file database) generation does take quite a while on my large-ish music collection, the day-to-day requirements of being a jukebox are well handled by the Pi. At the moment it does not see as much use as I would like as although attempts have been made to make it as user-friendly as possible, it is oftentimes easier for people to simply plug their own music sources (iPods, phones, etc) into the speakers. That way they already “know” their own music collection and are comfortable navigating it.

The hardware setup consists of an old widescreen LCD display, a RaspberryPi, some Logitech desktop speakers and the inner-workings of an Asus Xonar U1 USB sound adapter (that’s the exposed circuit board you can see). It’s all held together with a bit of blutac and some ingenious cable routing to make it a bit tidy.

When I can think of something else/better or can find more use for a setup like this, I will invest in something like this so that I can connect an old laptop LCD I have lying around and then fashion it into some kind of custom-built enclosure to really give it some polish. The limiting factor with these cobbled-together solutions is that none of the screens I have suppor touch. It is possible to buy a large, good touch screen, but when the potential use cases of the device are so niche, I really have no reason to do so other than “because I can” — which sometimes is good enough, but this time, isn’t.

At any rate, I will leave it as is for a while — until I think of something else for it to do.

 

What the jukebox setup looks like

 

A better look at gmpc’s UI

How it’s all cabled together (the black and orange cables are just resting so as to keep them tidy)

The lovely MPDroid mpd remote app for Android – this is used to control the music playback and volume

]]> http://owened.net/raspberrypi-project/feed/ 0 Pebble smart watch: an update http://owened.net/pebble-smart-watch-an-update/ http://owened.net/pebble-smart-watch-an-update/#comments Sat, 27 Oct 2012 07:23:56 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=875 The Pebble team has been regularly updating backers with interesting tidbits about the whole process of taking the Pebble from a design concept and turning that into a shipped product. I must say that having never seen the inner-workings of a project such as this before (and expectantly waiting on my Pebble) that the process is somewhat frustrating, but only in a “first world problems” kind of way: and I mean that in the extreme literal sense of the phrase.

I am hanging out as much as the next guy for my Pebble, and the reason I am so anxiously waiting is because I am kept up to date with everything I need to know about the product except for the one important detail: a ship date. I do appreciate the sheer size of the task which the Pebble team have undertaken. Initially they were a team of five people who planned to produce around 1,000 watches. What happened on Kickstarter could’ve been predicted by nobody; some 80,000 people backed the project and the number of Pebbles required to be produced quickly sky-rocketed to over eighty times the number the team originally intended to produce. The team has had to take on new hires and change their entire approach to a full-scale mass-produced production model, which involved flying in and out of China to inspect construction factories for the Pebble itself and the producers of the parts therein.

Along the way we have seen a few advantages come from this: certain components are able to be upgraded “for free” — at no extra cost to the end-user — because of the bargaining power afforded such a volumous purchase. From that we have seen the Bluetooth upgraded to 4.0 spec from the originally-targetted 2.1, which frankly would have been a paltry solution for a product with such a huge market and userbase.

The first developer e-mail was sent out a few days ago to inform of the goals for the SDK release. I was surprised because so many phone app developers have already pledged support for Pebble, yet apparently no SDK has even been released yet. I kind of just assumed it had been. In any case I will probably download whatever is able to be downloaded as it becomes available. I am not particularly interested in developing anything — well, I have some ideas, but probably not the patience to execute them — I am just keen to see what actually comes out of all this and get a better overall ‘feel’ for the product and how it works.

]]> http://owened.net/pebble-smart-watch-an-update/feed/ 0 Raspberry Pi http://owened.net/raspberry-pi/ http://owened.net/raspberry-pi/#comments Sat, 23 Jun 2012 11:33:43 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=858 My Pi has arrived!

]]> http://owened.net/raspberry-pi/feed/ 2 CCNP SWITCH – jitters (not the kind you can fix with QoS) http://owened.net/ccnp-switch-jitters-not-the-kind-you-can-fix-with-qos/ http://owened.net/ccnp-switch-jitters-not-the-kind-you-can-fix-with-qos/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:30:01 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=850 I am actually enjoying studying for CCNP SWITCH. Or; that’s what I have to keep telling myself, anyway. I enjoy the sense of satisfaction I gain from completing a reading and answering the chapter questions correctly, or being able to discuss finer details with colleagues. I think the reason that, overall, I am not particularly keen on the exam is because I am deathly afraid of failing. It took me too many tries to pass the ROUTE exam. I did eventually pass it, but not without a loss of motivation. In fact, I think motivation is not quite correct. I feel I have lost the thrill of completing something. It’s confusing me even as I write this blog (in an attempt to rationalise my internal dilemma); I simply can’t figure out why my desire to do the exam is so … missing.

I am happy to read the chapters and implement the things I learn all day every day; this kind of behaviour is a much more natural learning experience for me. Memorising tables, commands and state diagrams is not. Nor is playing dodge-ball with the sometimes extremely “Cisco-ified” questions wherein a slight misunderstanding of the wording can get you thinking in the wrong direction and ultimately missing the entire point of the question. This kind of misdirection in questions is the absolute worst way for me to incorrectly answer a question. It makes me feel cheated and contempt toward Cisco. Of course the cynical side of me would say that they have to do something to make the exams difficult, albeit the methods they use aren’t genuine. Single-word differences between two command syntaxes isn’t exactly testing the knowledge you would expect a CCNP-level technician to possess. The command interface on every Cisco device is interactive and has tab completion at a bare minimum, so as long as you know the first 3-5 letters of every command you wish to use, you can TAB-complete your entire 6,000 line configuration. Disingenuous. That’s a good word to describe this kind of exam question trickery.

Anyway, I should stop procrastinating on my blog and get back to it.

 

]]> http://owened.net/ccnp-switch-jitters-not-the-kind-you-can-fix-with-qos/feed/ 1 Formula 1 in Bahrain http://owened.net/formula-1-in-bahrain/ http://owened.net/formula-1-in-bahrain/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:53:10 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=843 On the race in Bahrain, I am undecided. China and Turkey are countries that also don’t ‘deserve’ to host a race if you take into account their atrocious history of human rights abuses. However nobody really seems to care about those countries because you don’t really hear much about what they’re doing/not doing. The only reason people are kicking up a stink about Bahrain is because the issue is on-going and directly affecting the Formula 1 teams (both Force India and Sauber have been inadvertently involved in attacks simply by travelling between the track and their hotel rooms).

Force India did not attend FP2 yesterday because the team wanted to pack up and leave the circuit before dark in order to ensure the safety of the team members. That to me indicates there is a serious issue surrounding the F1 circus as it exists in Bahrain.

In terms of how the race can affect the issues in Bahrain: the ruling parties are keen to see it happen so they can “prove” that Bahrain is a great place to be in order to save face. The protestors are keen to see it happen, and also not keen to see it happen; firstly because they can use it as an opportunity to get international recognition (although this is unlikely) and secondly for exactly the opposite reason the ruling party wants to see the race run; they fear it is working toward legitimizing the current regime.

You have to realistically look at the protestors point of view. I mean, we aren’t really used to that form of government backlash in this country. Australians are simply too lazy to protest much of anything. Yet in Bahrain we have people risking their lives, going against the fucking military for christ sake, and what for? There must be a serious message they are trying to deliver. It’s not worth risking your life for something trivial. There is a chance they can get a slight exposure to the international community by protesting during the F1 broadcast, but seriously it’s an extremely slim chance – with the military physically blocading and protecting the circuit, the protestors would literally have to overwhelm and invade the circuit for it to be shown on the television. Even if a massive shitstorm was occuring just a few kilometres away you can be sure the cameras would do their utmost to avoid accidentally capturing any of it.

]]> http://owened.net/formula-1-in-bahrain/feed/ 0 Australian F1 viewers: a call to arms http://owened.net/836/ http://owened.net/836/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:16:13 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=836 Following Channel 10′s announcement that they are effective this weekend going to downgrade their F1 coverage, I would like Australian F1 viewers to help me gather what information and support we can in order to try and reverse this decision.

Channel 10 announced on their Facebook page a few days ago (link) that F1 broadcasts are moving from the HD channel “OneHD” to the SD channel 10. Channel 10 have stated this is to allow a “wider audience” of F1 fans to view the broadcast. In addition to the channel swap, the programming itself will start from 9.30PM in all time zones – this effectively means that viewers in SA and NT will be delayed by half an hour, and viewers in WA delayed by up to two hours. This is apparently also an attempt to get F1 viewers to a “wider audience”.

How cynical you are will determine the  kind of theories you have about the true motives behind these decisions. Channel 10 have stated they want F1 to be part of their “Super Sunday” broadcast – effectively a marketing push to collect several hours of popular programming into a prime-time slot of Sunday afternoon through evening. This was first done for the broadcast of the Australian GP due to its convenient broadcast time smack-bang in the middle of “Super Sunday”. My guess is that the “success” of the Australian GP broadcast has prompted this move to shoehorn all other F1 broadcasts into this time slot. Not only were more ad breaks than ever before seen on the Australian GP broadcast, more vapid talking heads than ever before seen were also present, thus making the broadcast “family friendly” and apparently helping it to appeal to a wider audience.

As you can see if you have clicked the link to Facebook above, nobody is happy about this decision. Approximately 150 negative comments were made on their post in the first day. Channel 10 seemingly doesn’t care, they posted this message in response:

We are wanting to bring F1 to the widest audience possible, which is why it is on Ten. This allows all Australians to access the Formula One coverage in a consistent time slot every Sunday night. Sorry, guys. This is locked in.

Since that post, several hundred more comments have been posted. The most poignant of which states “your schedule might be locked in, but your viewers aren’t” with several people posting references and links to online streaming of the F1 coverage.

What I want to do is send a message to Channel 10 to let them known this is simply unacceptable behaviour. I am annoyed personally because I am losing HD broadcast, most certainly gaining many more ads, and for some races throughout year will also be delayed. I live on the East coast of Australia, but it’s worse for the people on the West coast: all of the above, plus a two hour delay! What is the point of F1 live timing, F1 twitter accounts, and following each team’s respective ‘live postings’ on websites etc if there is no live coverage?

F1 broadcasting in Australia has always been terrible due to the structure of our commercial television networks and the timezone difference between here and where F1 happens. For a short while (2010, 2011 and the first three races of 2012), OneHD for the most part did a good job of broadcasting – all races live, almost all qualifying sessions live, and contrary to many complaints, I do feel they took minimal ad breaks.

We were given a bone, and now they’ve taken it away.

I would like all Australians to help me boycott Channel 10 and their sponsors. The following is a list of sponsors of the F1 on CH10/OneHD:

- Mercedes Benz
- Ashley & Martin
- TAGHeuer
- Swisse
- Harvey Norman
- Pedders
- Shannon’s Insurance
- Colli Hardware

I will provide contact details for these companies later.

Here are Channel 10′s contact details: http://ten.com.au/contact-us.htm
Sydney
1 Saunders Street
Pyrmont, NSW 2009
GPO BOX 10, Sydney, NSW 2001
Ph:   02 9650 1010
Fax:  02 9650 1111

Melbourne
Como Centre
Level 4, 620 Chapel Street
South Yarra, VIC 3141
Private Bag 5000, South Yarra, VIC 3141
Ph:  03 9275 1010
Fax: 03 9275 1011

Brisbane
Sir Samuel Griffith Drive
Mt Coot-tha, QLD 4066
GPO BOX 751, Brisbane, QLD 4001
Ph:  07 3214 1010
Fax: 07 3369 3786

Adelaide
80 Hutt Street
Adelaide, SA 5000
Locked Bag 10, Adelaide, SA 5001
Ph:  08 8225 1010
Fax: 08 8225 1011

Perth
Cottonwood Crescent
Perth, WA 6062
PO BOX 10, Mirrabooka, WA 6941
Ph:  08 9345 1010
Fax: 08 9344 8076

A list of their Twitter accounts:
One HD: @onehd
Ten Sport: @tensporttv
Craig Baird: @cbairdo
Greg Rust: @Thrusta1
Darryl Beattie: @Hanginfive

Their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/TENsportTV

And a link to a discussion on Ten’s own forums about this very topic:
http://community.ten.com.au/community/other-ten-tv-shows/f/69/t/26774.aspx

Please can you all make every effort possible to contact Ten and let them know your displeasure at this move. Australians and non-Australians alike, please descend upon Channel 10′s contact points and overwhelm them with negative feedback. I would encourage people not to be vulgar or aggressive, merely state your displeasure and suggest you will be using alternative ways of watching the F1 coverage in the future.

]]> http://owened.net/836/feed/ 0 Channel 10 fail on Formula 1 broadcast http://owened.net/channel-10-fail-on-formula-1-broadcast/ http://owened.net/channel-10-fail-on-formula-1-broadcast/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:08:15 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=830 Channel 10 have announced that this weekends broadcast of the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix is going to be on their SD channel 10 and not on their HD channel 11. Why? No apparent reason – there is no more important broadcast on the HD sister channel, merely old TV episode re-runs and non-HD films. The announcement made on their Facebook page has attracted hundreds of negative comments, the likes of which I haven’t seen made against Channel 10 since … well, since their disgusting broadcast of the Australian GP, but that’s another issue. I have preserved the comments below for posterity – I am certain that come tomorrow morning the majority will be deleted by Channel 10 PR people.

Hi Guys,

Just a reminder that the F1 will be joining @Channel Ten’s Super Sunday line-up from this weekend with the Bahrain Grand Prix from 9.30pm local time. This will be LIVE in AEST.

Qualifying will be LIVE in all markets on @One from Saturday 8.30 PM AEST.

Check out the schedule http://bit.ly/HJfMDJ for more details.
Like · · Share · 6 hours ago

14 people like this.
2 shares
Paul Fewings Worst decision ever.
6 hours ago · Like · 4
Craig Taylor Why no more live coverage in Perth? And no HD too?

Seriously shitty decision guys.
6 hours ago · Like · 9
Damien Gilcrist Haters gon Hate
6 hours ago · Like
Spasa Pasa No HD and delayed. Terrible programming.
6 hours ago · Like · 7
Anthony Kernich Q live race not
6 hours ago · Like
Adam Flockhart And 10 thousand ad’s when all the action happens.
6 hours ago · Like · 2
David Rees i will be watching
6 hours ago · Like · 1
Anthony Kernich I’m not too fussed its only Bahrain the race that should never have been on
6 hours ago · Like
Craig Taylor The ads ten are running seem to imply this will be a normal thing from now on
6 hours ago · Like
Chris Thorno Any chance for the NBL GRAND FANAL going live? After all it is the GRAND FINAL!!
6 hours ago · Like · 2
Dimitra Treli WHAT! we get a 30min delay? there better not be any of that carp channel one and ten call a preshow and cut straight to the race!
5 hours ago · Like · 4
Rhys James Hillman Guys this is a HUGE mistake, for the sake of a few extra ad dollars you’re going to piss off half of Australia. At a minimum PLEASE at least show the race simulcast on ONE HD LIVE for the rest of us. How do you think all the proud WA viewers feel now that they have to watch their boy Dan on delay and in standard def??
5 hours ago · Like · 10
Rob Golding Remember when OneHD was a pure sports channel? Those were the days… When they actually cared about Sport, not showing rubbish on 3 channels… No wonder they’re loosing money.
5 hours ago · Like · 6
Sadie O’Shea I’m confused… Why is it not on One anymore? Sport should be in HD and the F1 has been LIVE for a while now… Why change something that is working well???
5 hours ago · Like · 6
Rhys James Hillman Why not show it on ONE HD live as well?? That way you can sell ad space on both channels? Seems that’s all you’re interested in – both parties win, you get $ and we the fans get LIVE HD sport like YOU promised.
5 hours ago · Like · 3
Ben Stevens I’m in Brisbane so will have live coverage, but for the sake of the guys who won’t, please cut straight to the race & get rid of the irrelevant pre-race show for them…
5 hours ago · Like · 1
Michael Pipicelli So it is true, we now have lost our only HD coverage of the F1 in Australia and to makes matter worst people in W.A will no longer be watching the race LIVE.

I remember at the beginning of the new ONE HD promise all F1 and Motogp Races live and in FULL HD… so why have Ten change there mind?
5 hours ago · Like · 9
Ryan Kim Hi Ten Sport. Just want to say, this is the worst decision you have ever made. Kind regards.
5 hours ago · Like · 6
Annette Smith For those of us NOT IN THE EASTERN STATES, Please forgo all the Pre-Race CRAP and then we will be able to watch the RACES LIVE!! Will MOTOGP going the same way???I hope not as we enjoy watching MOTO3 and MOTO2 as well as MOTOGP…
5 hours ago · Like · 2
Michael Williams Great lesson on how to stuff up a network. Good work morons.
5 hours ago · Like · 7
Michael Williams I hope your advertisers leave you after this decision. Good luck to all Ten staff, your jobs are at risk.
5 hours ago · Like · 4
Ben Johnson I watch all races and qualifying sessions religiously but will be switching off Ten’s coverage (and relentless advertising) of the Grand Prix in favour of a LIVE HD stream.

Build up a big viewerbase in Australia by showing qualifying and races in HD live.. then in an attempt to save a failing channel, alienate those viewers by downgrading your coverage. GENIUS MOVE!
5 hours ago · Like · 10
Fred Bear No delay – Qualifying Sat 21:00
Race Sun 22:00
5 hours ago · Like
Michael Pipicelli Fred if you live in W.A the race is delay. Saturday 8.30 PM AEST
5 hours ago · Like · 1
Kenny H’ng stupid decision. just dumb~!
5 hours ago · Like · 1
Tyson Rignall Delay the F1 for WA? Great call by your programmers! Who doesn’t want to watch a delayed and potentially know the result before the Rex has finnished… Bravo 10, bravo!
5 hours ago · Like · 6
Tiffany Hansen Put it on One HD and bring back RPM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 hours ago · Like · 2
Rhett Hislop Muppets. I hope your studios burn down.
5 hours ago · Like · 2
Steve Viktor Ovsienko Boo
5 hours ago · Like · 2
Lionel Davey Nice to see a motorsport at the forefront of technology being broadcast on yesterdays technology by a bunch of money hungry idiots.
5 hours ago · Like · 6
Sam Bateman Stupid move, veiwers in states other than the eastern states would like the race LIVE as well you fools.
5 hours ago · Like · 3
Tim White What a joke. You give us the worst commentators ever, then you give ads every 2 minutes, and now your not even broadcasting HD (and not live in some states)..? At least broadcast it on both channels as compromise..
5 hours ago · Like · 4
Lionel Davey Will stick to streaming the races online form now on.
5 hours ago · Like · 2
Kent Jones Nice work. Jackasses.
4 hours ago · Like · 4
Dan Ede Not only going to stream the race, but will boycott TEN for everything and encourage others to. Sick of being screwed over by networks, but TEN/ONE have stepped over the line in so far as they advertised their commitment to F1 in HD this time last year.
4 hours ago · Like · 6
Leigh Godson Show it on ONE in HD! Dont want to watch this SD crap. its F1′s we are talking about!
4 hours ago · Like · 6
Clinton Westall So still no answer or response as to why you are screwing over WA viewers with no live or HD coverage?
4 hours ago · Like · 6
Firmin Li Wow what a load of crap,F1 only on SD and not live. What next ? Commentary from Rust and Beatie ?
4 hours ago · Like · 5
Salmon Bento F1 was the last show i watched on FTA, but if its going to be in SD i will just go back to streaming it online for a overseas source
4 hours ago · Like · 3
Ursula C. Pavlou The WORST mistake you’ve possibly ever made… SERIOUSLY!
4 hours ago · Like · 4
Paul Wright people will just go back to online and your ratings will suffer – but Channel Ten you like your ratings suffering dont you
4 hours ago · Like · 3
Jillienne Hoyle Hahaha The ratings and ad revenue will continue to plummet with the muppewts in charge making stupid decisions like this. Thankfully the internet will supply what motor racing fans want.
4 hours ago · Like · 4
Nathan Wood Why not show in HD? Going to use the sport chan for HD movies are you??? Great….chan 10, this is a massive mistake. I really hope you change this.
4 hours ago · Like · 3
Steve Brady Appalling news … F1 needs to be in HD and live. You’ve just set television programming back 3 years. Network TEN might as well give up their HD licence altogether if you are not going to use it properly. I’m disgusted.
4 hours ago · Like · 5
Craig Taylor Just give up and pass it over to Foxtel. No ads during the race would be awesome.
4 hours ago · Like · 3
Travis Silvester Disgusted at TEN not showing the F1 in HD anymore. Why are TEN so contempt of their viewers? Put the movie “Domestic Disturbance” on SD (channel 10) and let the F1 be in HD (channel 1). Honestly, no wonder viewers are seeking out other ways to watch their sport.
3 hours ago · Like · 2
Justin Spencer Terrible decision. Why watch SD broadcast when I can get it through other means in HD, live and without Daryl Beatie. Poor form TEN.
3 hours ago · Like · 1
Blake Currall Hey channel 10 when can I expect a cheque for $2000 in the mail for my now useless HDTV?
3 hours ago · Like · 3
Rodney Thomson
HD would be nice, but I can survive without it.

However, not showing the race LIVE as promised at the start of the season? TERRIBLE.

We are living an online real-time world. When I watch F1 its not just my wife and I on the couch with the…See more
3 hours ago · Like · 6
Dan Ede They promised live and in HD Rodney. But yes, WA and SA fans copped it the most, but nothing other than live and in HD one ONE nation wide is acceptable imo. Guess this means Ricciardo’s WA based family members won’t be able to watch him live either?
3 hours ago · Like · 2
John Gorman What a disgraceful decision by ten showing a total disregard for f1 and sport fans. Ten was doing ok showing f1 live and in HD, which considering how 9 and 7 treat their sports coverage was actually very good. Now to scrap it on one HD, not even live in the west, while a rerun movie and netball repeats run in HD. Surely the f1 was one hd highest rating program?
Fuck u channel 10
3 hours ago · Like · 5
Michael Harris Come on Channel Ten, messing with F1 fans this weekend in WA isn’t at all nice – and flies in the face of One’s F1 Live marketing campaign.

How about you show us some respect and screen the F1 live like you always do:

http://allthingsempty.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/swf-rtl-fail-or-why-fans-matter/

3 hours ago · Like · 1
Trevor Page So I’m guessing you’ll switch to the F1 race at 9:30 in Darwin as well even though we’re not on AEST, and then make us watch the pre race show? In otherwords we’ll end up watching the ‘live’ race 30 mins late?
3 hours ago · Like · 1
Jacek Szymenderski I’m really disappointed in this decision. As someone else has mentioned, just hand this over to foxtel so that we can at least pay for the privilege.
3 hours ago · Like · 1
Mark Lloyd Disappointing… Now we get the F1 in standard definition and covered with ad’s.

1991 called, they want their broadcasting back.
3 hours ago · Like · 2
Juan Rodriguez In this day and age not showing F1 live with F1 live timing, social media etc is ridiculous. If I lived in WA I’d grab a VPN and stream it live from Europe, sans Rusty and crew.
3 hours ago · Like · 1
Simon Smithers Ch 10, you are idiots!
3 hours ago · Like · 1
Jason Brennan I predict, in five years time the Ten Network will no longer exist. It’s a shame, since I’ve grown up with Ten and have almost exclusively tuned in since I was in primary school. F1 was the last piece of programming I watched and now that is gone I no longer need them. All my TV comes through the net now. RIP Ten Perth 1988 to 2012.
3 hours ago · Like · 2
Kev H’ng
I watched a replay of the recent race on Ten the other night. F1 in SD is rubbish compared to the coverage on One. It is amazing that this change is happening when two highly regarded aussies are on the grid. How are we supposed to recognis…See more
3 hours ago · Like · 6
Dan Ede Guys the only way this will spread and have a hope of affecting TENs’s decision on this is if you post about it on your own Facebook pages and link to here asking them to comment if they watch F1…
3 hours ago · Like · 1
Paul Fewings I used watch the one hd coverage but will now boycott the SD delayed telecast here in WA. I will watch live net streams from now. I strongly urge.all others to do so too. By no one watching will force them to change it back. This is beyond appalling and a major step backwards. So how long before sky f1 hd channel is available subscribe to here? :)
2 hours ago · Like · 2
Judd Howie This has confirmed it for me, taking up the Sky Sports HD Streaming subscription. Good work Ten…
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Dale Christey so much for live and HD, just lost another viewer. sad as your AFL, and F1 coverage was about all i watched on C10. Now a viewer gone altogether.
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Owen Stickley
And the TV stations in Australia wonder why people keep going online for their entertainment – did anyone at Ten/One actually put some thought into this? If they did, it was surely malicious. Although I am a popular fan of the quote “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” – it’s a good job the TV stations in Australia have an effective monopoly, because that’s the only way people would voluntarily consume their rubbish.
2 hours ago · Like · 3
Josh Swain Unacceptable.

In WA, the race will be over before we watch it, with all the comments ‘f1 live on super Sunday’.

No. Just no. I take it that TEN are happy for us to use other means to watch F1 since they don’t care? #boycottTEN
2 hours ago · Like · 3
Johnathan Staverman Again with the ridiculous decisions. I’ll ensure I find alternative ways to view these sports, and try my best to encourage others to follow suit.
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Dale Hall What about the rest of the year dickheads, is it gonna be live or delayed come on chnl 10, sort it out, we dont care for the 3 muppets doing the pre race show crap, just show the racing live in HD…
2 hours ago · Like · 3
Damian Lewis Useless Chan10…..not going to bother watching on your SD channel, but will instead stream it LIVE on the Internet, which will still be better quailty than your SD Channel. Do you want to lose viewers?
2 hours ago · Like · 2
John Gorman Is a spokesperson for ten/one going to actually explain the reasoning behind this decision? They think more people will watch a netball repeat and a re-run movie?
2 hours ago · Like
Bruce Large GG Channel 10, way to piss off even more potential consumers … Keep this up and you will be just as bad as Channel 7.
2 hours ago · Like
Allan Langford no they will just delete this like “the circle” facebook page when everyone complained about them making disgusting comments about Australian war heros… maybe they should delete Ch10 management!
2 hours ago · Like
Michael Lawrence what a joke! Give us live F1 coverage in Perth and in HD
about an hour ago · Like
Luke Rayner And they will wonder why their ratings plummet due to the majority watching streams online. So what happens post europe rounds when the race is monday am time? Oh hang on, it will be delayed to the next sunday AFTER. Mega excited to watch canada and brazil in SD, chock full of ads and a week late!
about an hour ago · Like
Steve Leonard I rang Ch10 in Perth (WA) today to complain about the 2hr delay in broadcasting of the F1. Response was (to my comments about Eastern States knowing the result before the transmission starts here in the West) “Well, turn your phone off and stay off the internet”. Really? That’s your best effort? Ch10 need a reality check to think they could do this without upsetting MOST of the population.
about an hour ago · Like
Josh Swain
Unbelievable… TEN are aware that it’s 2012 right?

So we can’t use live streaming to analyse the race. F1 fans are passionate, we are interested in deeper details, and we hold grudges when we get stuffed over. Look at how NINE treated F1 with contempt.

TEN have now done the same.

#boycottTEN and their seven or eight sponsors that will get their ads repeated ad nauseam while we miss action.

I wonder how long it will be before TEN deletes the post like they did with the Circle…
about an hour ago · Like
Bastardfred Child National disgrace. Hang your heads in shame 10
about an hour ago · Like
Leighton Sublevel Will be boycotting all of your channels and advertisers…F1 deserves to be on HD and live for all states. For shame Channel 10, FOR SHAME!
about an hour ago · Like · 1
Ben Dunn Welcome to 2005. Thanks chn 10
57 minutes ago · Like
Tom Sindoni Boo hiss… I bet Rusty is behind this!
46 minutes ago · Like
Clint McKay The department head who made this call should be sacked…
43 minutes ago · Like
Anthony Bortolotto FFS really who makes these decisions? Do they actually watch or understand sport?
39 minutes ago · Like
Kenny H’ng un-Australian . . . so Webber and Ricciardo aren’t good enough to have the races on live across Oz and in HD? *shakes head* disappointing and dumb decision Channel 10~!!!
33 minutes ago · Like
Udana Athuraliya Fail on Channel 10′s part. They will find out the hard way when people turn to online streaming from VIPBOX etc etc…..it is what I will be doing the minute F1 is not broadcast live.

In this day and age of technology, the punters have many other avenues to watch their favourite sport.
30 minutes ago · Like
Paul O’Halloran
Very poor decision Ch10 and a double whammy for us in WA. Super Sunday isn’t something to rejoice but just a kick in the teeth for us loyal F1 fans. Especially when for the first time in 30+ years we have 2 Aussies on the grid with 1 from WA! Way to keep your fan base Ch10 – Will be looking to stream live this weekend until these shenanigans are finished or it goes to another channel, paytv or otherwise. Big thumbs down!
23 minutes ago · Like

Currently there is a long thread on the Channel 10 discussion forum wherein many people are also making complaint about the decision. Not to mention the outcry on Twitter with the associated hashtag #boycottTEN.

My post on the matter is reproduced here in (near) full:

Why can’t 10/One simulcast the F1 coverage like they have done for AFL in the past?

On that point, why do they bother simulcasting national sports anyway when they aren’t even broadcast in HD? Everyone can receive the SD channel 10, but not everyone can receive the HD channel 11 – that’s fair enough – so don’t bother polluting the HD channel with SD content. Leave HD content for the HD channel.

I actually thought the coverage by OneHD wasn’t too bad on the Malaysian and Chinese GP’s – the ad breaks were timed decently, with Greg Rust holding off on a break when Jenson came in for a pit-stop at a crucial point in the Chinese GP. Well done there. I won’t go into the quality of the Australian “commentators” because I’m sure they do the best they can with the information they have available – not much, it would seem, given their performance.

With respect to the Australian GP, any kind of coverage at all would have been an improvement over the absolutely disgusting broadcast we received from that race. No F1 fan cares about a bunch of talking heads blabbering on with cross-promotion and unrelated celebrity gossip. How unrelated chit-chat is meant to make F1 appeal to non-fans is also a mystery to me: surely if Ch10 wants to increase the F1 fanbase (and viewership) they should have packed the AusGP coverage full of motorsports-related material? Everyone has a mute button on their TV. Mine was used to full effect whenever anything that didn’t involve motorsport was shown. Funnily enough I used the mute button that weekend more times than I’d ever used it in my entire life – literally!

Anyway, as others have said if Ch10/One is going to start broadcasting F1 only on the SD channel there literally is no point watching their coverage at all. Spam removed

The small “spam removed” comment was one added by the site administrator in place of a reference I made to streaming the coverage online at the flick of my wrist via Google – which despite what is stated, had no connections to spam at all. I didn’t paste any links or even mention any sites in particular, the evidence of “spam” was missing entirely, though I guess we can’t have people getting ideas about online streaming on one of Ten’s own forums.

]]> http://owened.net/channel-10-fail-on-formula-1-broadcast/feed/ 5 Pebble smart watch http://owened.net/pebble-smart-watch/ http://owened.net/pebble-smart-watch/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:04:10 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=812 I am super excited about the Pebble smart watch for Android and iOS phones. This is where mobile technology is headed, and I like it. The watch measures approximately 5cm by 3cm and houses a 144 x 168 pixel resolution e-ink display (like the display used in the Amazon Kindle), a Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR radio for communications, an ARM microprocessor, 3-axis accelerometer and a vibrating motor. The watch can be customised to display a multitude of watch faces, but the pièce de résistance – as with smart phones – is the watches’ ability to run apps.

Once you pair the watch via Bluetooth with your Android or iOS based smart phone you can then load a multitude of apps onto the watch to let it interface with your smart phone – and through your smart phone, the internet at large. Out of the box, the watch will support incoming Caller ID, e-mail (Gmail or any IMAP email account), calendar alerts, Facebook messages, Twitter, weather alerts, and silent vibrating alarm and timer. The list of possible uses for the phone is much larger than this, however, with the accelerometer and connection to the internet via smartphone it is possible to create many unique interactive experiences.

The project aimed to raise $100,000 over 40 days – the response, however, was phenomenal. The initial $100,000 was raised during the first two hours of the project page being live. As it currently stands, eight days later the amount pledge is $2,900,000 – that’s $2.9 million dollars. This is despite similar products already being available, e.g. Sony’s SmartWatch, the Imwatch, and others. This is because despite the Pebble not being first to market, it is smartest to market. I would say this is due to two important factors: first, the Pebble is going to provide an open API for developers using a standard gcc toolchain, meaning that anyone can develop for the Pebble without paying any licence fees or investing anything at all into the platform. Secondly, the Pebble makes use of e-ink display technology to give an estimated seven day battery life, which is a far better option than competing products which last for a day at most. Although this limits the display to monochrome, the physical size limitation of such a device does not lend itself to high quality graphical output even if the display were a high pixel density colour display – it would be like trying to squeeze modern smartphone apps onto an old Nokia mobile phone; or like printing postage stamps with 500 dpi resolution.

The project is due to deliver a final product around September. Needless to say I am very excited and will have trouble waiting that long!

]]> http://owened.net/pebble-smart-watch/feed/ 1 New webhost http://owened.net/new-webhost/ http://owened.net/new-webhost/#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:02:54 +0000 Owen http://owened.net/?p=806 I have moved my blog to a new webhost. Things are going to be broken for a little while (mostly a lot of images).

 

My apologies.

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