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Monday, May 27th, 2013 11:13 am
the internet is for apps
Missing e on Tumblr stopped working--again--so my tumblr reading off my phone is limited. I can accept certain drawbacks using my phone to do anything, but dude, my laptop is all seeing and all knowing, and by God, I will be able to see dates Just saying. I also lost my glasses--somewhere--so currently wearing prescription sunglasses while sitting outside on a cloudy day and ignoring the way that the page has rainbow sparkles. It's like posting while tripping, but without the paranoia, claustrophobia, or certainty I understand what the leaves are thinking. So not an improvement; leaves are awesome.
Android users!
Wi-Fi Mouse, turns your phone into a laptop. I've tested it a few times, but I think this is more useful for those whose touchpad is either acting weird or hates touchpads. However, it is a surprisingly sensitive mouse and works very well using wi-fi once you get through the (short) adjustment curve. This does require your laptop and your phone be using the same wi-fi network.
Bubble UPnP - for all your home media server needs. If you use anything at home with UPnP for sharing purposes, this can pick it up. I use Mediatomb off my home server and it not only picks it up brilliantly, it makes video playlists. I almost cried.
General
I have yet to find anything free--or paid, for that matter--that works as well as Mediatomb. I had a temper tantrum with the javascripting and decided to use something else. I found nothing that would work for a semi-headless server, so went back and fixed all but one part of my javascript so now it works as well as can be expected.
I'm finding this annoying. I've said before Mediatomb is easy, and it is, provided you want to do the hour of hand-compiling the various aspects to get the javascript coding to create your own hierarchy. It's totally worth doing, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a professional coder, I just play one for fun, and the minimum level of understanding is probably just around or below what I can do blind without a reference text. That is not friendly to non-geeks or even most geeks who aren't pros or really used to doing their own hack work, and the thing is--this is a truly, truly good piece of software. It would be great if they fixed the goddamn javascript sorting and added playlist functionality, which could also be done with javascript. If my C+++ was even marginally better--yes, I did read the entire goddamn code from the ground up--I'd be asking to work on this. With the release of the new Youtube API, full youtube functionality could be added back.
Mostly, I resent the fact that as-is, provided you compile yourself, it's really good and I could be and am perfectly content with using it, but outside the geeknet, this isn't gonna catch on, and it should. As a UPnP, it's the best I've found once installed for a user, it's clean, and it's never to my knowledge so much as bugged during playback. Once it's running, it's fine; your only actual jobs are opening the web-based interface and clicking to add things--the javascript sorts and organizes everything.
I do think a part of the attraction for me would be a negative--the sorting problem does require javascript if you don't have a nailed down hierarchy of where all your folders are and your files, and even if you do, no one wants their titles to read supernatural.1.01.avi or captain.america.HDTV-700.LOL.avi. I have a whole bunch of short prototypes to take care of it (titles: Supernatural 1.01, Captain America), but getting ep names without changing my file names--which would be disastrous--would be nice, and the scripting to pull from a database isn't beyond me, but I'd need a lot more extended free time than I have just to create my own database with IMDB right there, teasing me if I'm willing to learn how to access teh API.
Yes, my problems are server related today. I have exactly six days until deployment of the latest build and I am stressed. Below, screenshots, because I will evangelize someone else into using this and feeling inspired with javascript. I need help.
( screenshots from web interface )
Android users!
Wi-Fi Mouse, turns your phone into a laptop. I've tested it a few times, but I think this is more useful for those whose touchpad is either acting weird or hates touchpads. However, it is a surprisingly sensitive mouse and works very well using wi-fi once you get through the (short) adjustment curve. This does require your laptop and your phone be using the same wi-fi network.
Bubble UPnP - for all your home media server needs. If you use anything at home with UPnP for sharing purposes, this can pick it up. I use Mediatomb off my home server and it not only picks it up brilliantly, it makes video playlists. I almost cried.
General
I have yet to find anything free--or paid, for that matter--that works as well as Mediatomb. I had a temper tantrum with the javascripting and decided to use something else. I found nothing that would work for a semi-headless server, so went back and fixed all but one part of my javascript so now it works as well as can be expected.
I'm finding this annoying. I've said before Mediatomb is easy, and it is, provided you want to do the hour of hand-compiling the various aspects to get the javascript coding to create your own hierarchy. It's totally worth doing, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a professional coder, I just play one for fun, and the minimum level of understanding is probably just around or below what I can do blind without a reference text. That is not friendly to non-geeks or even most geeks who aren't pros or really used to doing their own hack work, and the thing is--this is a truly, truly good piece of software. It would be great if they fixed the goddamn javascript sorting and added playlist functionality, which could also be done with javascript. If my C+++ was even marginally better--yes, I did read the entire goddamn code from the ground up--I'd be asking to work on this. With the release of the new Youtube API, full youtube functionality could be added back.
Mostly, I resent the fact that as-is, provided you compile yourself, it's really good and I could be and am perfectly content with using it, but outside the geeknet, this isn't gonna catch on, and it should. As a UPnP, it's the best I've found once installed for a user, it's clean, and it's never to my knowledge so much as bugged during playback. Once it's running, it's fine; your only actual jobs are opening the web-based interface and clicking to add things--the javascript sorts and organizes everything.
I do think a part of the attraction for me would be a negative--the sorting problem does require javascript if you don't have a nailed down hierarchy of where all your folders are and your files, and even if you do, no one wants their titles to read supernatural.1.01.avi or captain.america.HDTV-700.LOL.avi. I have a whole bunch of short prototypes to take care of it (titles: Supernatural 1.01, Captain America), but getting ep names without changing my file names--which would be disastrous--would be nice, and the scripting to pull from a database isn't beyond me, but I'd need a lot more extended free time than I have just to create my own database with IMDB right there, teasing me if I'm willing to learn how to access teh API.
Yes, my problems are server related today. I have exactly six days until deployment of the latest build and I am stressed. Below, screenshots, because I will evangelize someone else into using this and feeling inspired with javascript. I need help.
( screenshots from web interface )
