Thoughts and Ramblings

So, as I said earlier, I have started using Google Analytics. Google now suggests some new code to use in running the analytics. The problem: it’s broken! Here’s their code:

<script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? " https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write("\<script src='" + gaJsHost + " google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'>\<\/script>" );

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); </script>

Now for what is broken:

1. There is a space between the " and google-analytics.com. This causes browsers to load the wrong (and invalid) address
2. Code that is dependent on code in the ga.js is executed immediately after the html is written to load the external javascript. There is no explicit indication as to the order this should be done. Race condition!

So, here is the fixed code:

Well, it’s official. Sapphire, one of the best AppleTV plugins, has released beta 4. This is a major upgrade from beta 3, adding support for movies and improvements overall. One of the most interesting features is that this version also works as a frontrow plugin in Leopard. As far as I have been able to find out, this is the first plugin to do this, which means it could open up a whole new world for frontrow. Previously, it was limited to those with an AppleTV, but now, anyone with a mac can use it. The only question is how many would find it useful?

So, lets break down the problem. I use RSS feeds a lot to read the news. For the uninitiated, RSS feeds (which stands for Really Simple Syndication), are a nice way to aggregate multiple sources and see changes from said sources in a convenient manner. Basically, I can see the headlines from many locations in one place and read the articles I want. Sounds good, right?

It would be, but most sites have only a single sentence description for the “article” which means you have to load the full site to realize that, more often than not, the article isn’t something you wanted to read, or so horribly written you wish you hadn’t read it. To make matters worse, some even go as far as to insert ads into the RSS feeds. Often the ad is bigger than the article description itself. Guess that means their articles aren’t good enough to bring traffic to their site so they feel they have to make money by inserting ads into their RSS feeds. This is akin to watching a commercial trying to get you to watch a new television show and inserting an ad in the middle of the commercial.

• I have hacked my ATV and installed Perian.
• I also have installed Sapphire to play back the content.
• And lastly, I have installed the USB kernel extensions to allow use of an external hard drive, but this piece is not a necessity.

The second piece I used is Handbrake to actually rip the DVDs.

Most people try to make the choice between AVI or MP4 file formats. There are problems with both of these approaches.

It has been a while since I updated this. I promise a followup to my previous post about open source attitudes is coming up. I realized from the comments that a few of my statements didn’t come across exactly as I had intended them.

Well, with the Perian donations, Chris and I went to buy some AV equipment. This enables us to test out Perian in other situations than we had originally intended. Each of us got an AppleTV and a 5.1 system. As a result, I have already figured out a way to do AC3 passthrough in a much less hacky method, which means it should be more reliable. However, I found out that with some decoders, like the one my dad has, even this method still fails. Apparently, some decoders require that the SPDIF header specify that the data is encoded digital audio instead of searching for a correctly formatted header in the PCM data. Oh well.