istop.com
Posted by rae in web site
at 10:52 pm on Friday, 31 October 2003
at 10:52 pm on Friday, 31 October 2003
Well, we’ve moved our internet connection over to istop now.
Instead of paying Luisa’s employee-discounted rate for Ultra-speed Sympatico, complete with ever-changing IP address and blocked SMTP port, we are now paying a few dollars more a month for non-discounted service of the same (well, advertised as slightly higher) speed service, a static IP and no blocked ports.
There are some one-time charges starting up.
We chose to buy the DSL modem ($80) and pay a one-time fee for the static IP ($50).
We could have paid a few dollars a month extra for each, but they pay for themselves if we stick with istop for a year, so hey.
See
istop’s residential price grid
for more details in what you can get for how much.
To see how istop’s network is going, see
their status page.
To see if you can get DSL for your phone number, try out their
elegibility test
As an extra bonus, they have add a DNS entry so that my static IP address now maps to tnir.org. i.e. a reverse-dns-lookup on tnir.org points back to tnir.org.
I think that’s cool, but it’s hard to come up with any concrete benefits of this.
If anyone knows of any, post a comment!
Btw, I made up the logo because, well, they’re a bit short on graphic design on their web site. 
programming: main() isn’t so main() these days
Posted by rae in development
at 10:29 am on Wednesday, 29 October 2003
In the C language, main() is the name of the function that gets called first when your program starts. Well, actually your global variables get initialized first, so if you say things like:
at 10:29 am on Wednesday, 29 October 2003
int fred = 43;
main()
{
printf("fred is %d\n", fred);
}
BigObj jumbo;
main()
{
printf("jumbo.foo() is %d\n", jumbo.foo());
}
BigObj object “jumbo” has to be constructed before main() is entered, which means the method BigObj::BigObj() gets called and code gets run before main(). This has gotten to the point where you get hundreds or thousands of lines of code run before main() is called.
Today I discovered that Objective C has a similar setup. The class method +load gets called before main().
I mentioned this to Mark, and complained that maybe main() should be renamed to mostly_main() or perhaps main_except_for_a_few_fiddley_bits(). He came back and said: how about “Victoria Park” as it is right after Main.
I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Okay, not really, but I got a big stupid smile.
Yes this is a big long post explaining about code just so you could get a joke.
Thlppppt.
Where to get cheap books
Posted by rae in the Net
at 12:01 pm on Wednesday, 22 October 2003
There is an
excellent thread on slashdot
today about the “textbook racket”.
Apparently textbooks cost a lot more in the US than they do elsewhere.. including Canada.
I checked some textbook prices on amazon.ca and they were quite a bit lower than amazon.com. Actually, they quoted the price as converted from UK pounds (why not Euros?).
Interesting.
at 12:01 pm on Wednesday, 22 October 2003
Hope for genetic disease cure
Posted by rae in science
at 4:55 pm on Tuesday, 21 October 2003
This article
brings amazing news.
I didn’t realize that the mechanism of these diseases was so well-understood, let alone that a treatment is in the offing.
Wow.
at 4:55 pm on Tuesday, 21 October 2003
Tree fell on our car
Posted by rae in Reid
at 2:40 pm on Friday, 17 October 2003
Wednesday night it was really windy in Toronto.
Luisa says she woke up in the middle of the night and could hear the wind howling.
I slept like a log myself.
When Luisa went downstairs for breakfast at 3:30am (or whenever ungodly hour it is that she gets up), se saw more light than usual outside.
Upon further investigation, she discovered that one-third of the birch tree in front of our dining room window was lying horizontally across the roof of our minivan.
Fortunately, there were two branches pointing down, supporting some of the weight of the tree, so the minivan wasn’t damaged at all really.
It did mean that we had to do something, though, because the minivan was pinned down by the tree.
Well, it probably could have brute-forced it out of there, but the rickety fence next to it, on which the tree was also resting, would likely have been damaged.
So we got out our circular saw (we don’t have a chainsaw) and cut off the top of the tree, close to the minivan.
After a quick chop though a couple more branches, we were able to clear the driveway and head to work.
I would like to mention that a complete stranger (to me anyway — maybe Luisa knows who it was) stopped his car and got out and helped us move the tree pieces off the minivan.
Quite the helpful neighbour!
I think he was on his way to work.
When Luisa got home that night she started cutting up the remains of the tree, and when I got home about an hour later I pitched in too.
It was all cleared away by around 7:45pm.
I remember because Iain was supposed to drop by at 8:00pm and I was glad we were done in plenty of time.
We took pictures with the analog camera, so I will eventually have pictures to add to this story.
at 2:40 pm on Friday, 17 October 2003
Basic Rules for Driving in Toronto
Posted by rae in entertainment
at 2:26 pm on Friday, 17 October 2003
Making the rounds..
at 2:26 pm on Friday, 17 October 2003
- Turn signals will give away your next move. A real Toronto driver never uses them.
- Under no circumstance should you leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, or the space will be filled in by somebody else, putting you in an even more dangerous situation.
- The faster you drive through a red light, the smaller the chance you have of getting hit.
- Never, ever come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it and it will result in you being rear-ended.
- Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive bodywork. Ontario is a no-fault insurance province and the other guy doesn’t have anything to lose.
- Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS kicks in, giving a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it’s a chance to stretch your legs.
- Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It’s a good way to scare people entering the highway.
- Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as a suggestion and are apparently not enforceable in Toronto during rush hour.
- Just because you’re in the left lane and have no room to speed up or move over doesn’t mean that a Toronto driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn’t think he can go faster in your spot.
- Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone changing a tire.
- Learn to swerve abruptly. Toronto is the home of the high-speed slalom driving thanks to the Provincial Highway Department, which puts pot-holes in key locations to test drivers’ reflexes and keep them on their toes.
- It is traditional in Toronto to honk your horn at cars that don’t move the instant the light turns green.
- Remember that the goal of every Toronto driver is to get there first by whatever means necessary.
- In the Toronto area, ‘flipping someone the bird’ is considered a polite Toronto salute. This gesture should always be returned.
- At least four more cars should proceed on a left after the light turns red. If you fail to do so, you will be rear-ended.
- The highways can also be used to dispose of any messy garbage that may be lying around. These items are better off cluttering the side of the road then cluttering your car’s interior where they may distract you and cause an accident.
- If someone cuts you off you should return the gesture by speeding around them on the right, pulling in front of them and slamming on the brakes. This works even better when your car is of lesser value.
- Never make eye contact with another driver when passing through Scarborough. Nuff said!
iTunes for Windows
Posted by rae in software
at 2:54 pm on Thursday, 16 October 2003
Here’s MacNN’s version of events:
at 2:54 pm on Thursday, 16 October 2003
- Event begins at 1 PM ET.
- 1:03: Reporting from Apple Store Palo Alto. Roughly 20 people present.
- 1:07: Steve Jobs takes the stage.
- Jobs begin talking about the iPod and the new “3G” (third-generation) iPods. Up 10,000 songs in your pocket. Sold millionth iPod in June. Last quarter sold 336,000 iPods or one 2.5 minutes. 1.4 million iPods sold to date.
- iPod unit marketshare is 31%. Revenue marketshare is 56%. No 1 in both unit and revenues.
- New features for dockable iPods. All dockable iPods will do voice recording using Belkin’s $49 device. Automatic sync’ing with new version of iTunes. Up to 4 weeks of voice recording.
- Photo Storage: Belkin accessory: flash card reader for iPod, supports all flash memory. Up to 20,000 photos that automatically sync with iPhoto.
- New features require iPod Software 2.1 for dockable iPOds. Available today at apple.com.
- Apple shows new iPod commercials that have been airing. Produced by Chiat-Day. Jobs also shows new iPod commercial that begins airing tonight (”Rock n’ Roll.”)
- Apple will be competing with illegal downloading using better recording quality, faster downloads, cover art, and other features, including searching, one-click purchasing, etc.
- Apple has sold over 13 million songs in less than 6 months, including record recent weeks that offer an annualized run rate of 30M–over 600,000 mong. By end of month there will be 400,000 songs available through iTMS.
- Apple iTMS marketshare is 70% of all music downloads.
- Apple has signed up 200 independent labels by end of month. 400,000 songs on iTMS.
- Second generation iTunes will feature audio books in conjunction with Audible. Over 5000 books available in multi-year exclusive deal. Free previews of each content. Pricing ranges from $11-$16 based on examples by Steve Jobs. Users can also browse for books based on category–built into iTunes.
- Audio books feature perfect round-tripping with your Mac–remembering where you left of on the iPod or the Mac. Automatically updates.
- The new iTMS will offer gift certificates on iTMS from $10 to $200. Integrated directly into iTunes. Email notification of gift certificate. Credit limit/Gift Certificate total shown next to account name after user clicks on “Redeem” link.
- Store offers “allowance” for Parents. Parents can create kids accounts directly and send “monthly allowance” without giving kids the credit card number.
- Store offers “Celebrity Playlists.”–songs recommended by music artists.
- One more feature: second generation iTunes runs on Windows. Exactly the same interface and functionality. “iTunes for Windows is the best windows app ever written.” Runs on Windows XP and Windows 2000. Offers jukebox functions–even if you don’t use the store. Jobs compares with Microsoft and MusicMatch offerings. Both have crippled and/or limited features, looking to drive paid upgrades. iTunes best the competition by more MP3 encoding options, CD burning, iPod integration, music sharing among several computers.
- iTMS is built directly into iTunes for Windows. Same store, same functionality. “Best” personal Content rights are the same (own music, unlimited CD burning, burn unchanged playlists up to 10 times, etc. Jobs offers iTunes demo on PC, including Rendezvous sharing with a Mac and sharing streaming.
- iTunes Music Store notes: Classic music sorted by time period. Jobs still demoing various iTMS features, navigation, audio books (Robin Williams interview with Billy Crystal, George Lucas). A lot of new content. Jobs shows Celebrity playlists (and biography) of celebrities: Dave Brubeck, Sting. Jobs sends $60 gift certificate to Phill Schiller. Demonstrates receipt of iTunes Gift Certificate (same as Windows..brings up iTunes and adds credit limit with notifcation pointing to credit area.) Jobs demo’s Sara McLachlin recording from last week.
- Apple has exclusive Grateful Dead albums. Currently 8 albums available. Jobs plays portion of one song.
- Available on both platform for free starting today at iTunes.com.
- Apple offers “Hell froze over” poster (referring to introduction of iTunes for Windows) and $20 gift certificate for iTMS. iPod is No. 1 music player and iTMS has 70% of all downloads. Apple sold 1 million songs in first week. Apple sold 10 million songs in 4 months. Apple now wants to sell 100 million songs in first year (by April 28, 2004). “Very high bar.” Mac customers are expected to purchase 30 million songs. Next thing Apple will be doing is taking to Windows. Apple will make it easy for 25 million users.
- Apple announces exclusive partnership with AOL. Later this month, a new iTunes button next to every song on AOLmusic. Also iTMS will integrate directly with AOL database. Users can enter AOL name and password for instant account. No need for credit card. Jobs introduces AOL CEO John Miller who takes the stage. Over 16 million users come to AOL music (for discovering and listening to music on the internet). AOL has 25 million users. Instant database.
- Apple will give away 100 million songs. Apple will produce 300 million bottles with yellow caps. 1 in 3 is a winner. 100 million winning bottles. Winners get a one free song at iTMS. Every bottle has directions for downloading song and what do with number. Will begin on Superbowl ( Feb 1, 2004). Pepsi will run large advertising campaign. It will run for 60 days (Feb/March).
- Apple shows video of Dawn Hudson, President of Pepsi-Cola North America (who couldn’t make today). Created “Big promotion. The biggest ever.” Users must buy Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, or Sierra Mist.
- Jobs emphasizes goal of 100 million songs by end of April 2004.
- Artists. “Things start and end with artists.” Lots of exclusive content. REM, Black Eye Peas, Eagles Album (”The very best.”), Grateful Dead, Cold Play (new exclusive), Rolling Stones EP, Sara Mclachlan EP. Jobs says he will talk with artists on the road using iChat video conferencing. First Apple “will go Dublin” to speak with Bonno from U2: “Pope of software meeting up with the Dalilama of integration.” U2 has 15 albums on music store, including “Stuck in the moment”–No. 8 best selling song of all time on iTMS. Bonno praises iTMS and Apple and is “here to kiss the corporate ass. I don’t kiss many corporate asses.”
- Dr. Dre (via iChat). Offers congrats on iTunes and iPod (”No more carrying around duffle bags of CDs.”).
- Mick Jagger from Rolling Stones. “Took so long” for new digital medium.
- Jobs acknowledges hard work by Apple employees asking them to stand. (applause).
- Sara Mclachlan on stage to give live performance (two songs).
- Jobs thanks Sara and also everybody else: “Thank you. We love doing what we do.” Thanks Apple employees and other people. Reminds attendees of poster and $20 gift certificate.
- 2:24 Event ends.
10th Anniversary!
Posted by rae in Reid
at 11:46 am on Thursday, 16 October 2003
Today is the tenth anniversary of
Luisa
and I getting married.
W00t!
Last night we celebrated by using a chainsaw to cut up a birch tree blown over onto the minivan the previous night.
Isn’t that romantic? at 11:46 am on Thursday, 16 October 2003
From ipfw to ipchains to iptables .. to pf?
Posted by rae in software
at 10:56 am on Thursday, 16 October 2003
I ran across
a reference to pf today while reading
a MacSlash article.
Here iwas thinking that at 10:56 am on Thursday, 16 October 2003
iptables
was the latest-and-greatest firewall tool, replacing ipchains.
Now I have to take a look at pf!
Canadian music download site
Posted by rae in the Net
at 9:49 am on Thursday, 16 October 2003
Lusia mentioned to me last night that music downloads were available in Canada now.
I immediately assumed that she meant that the iTunes Music Store was now available in Canada.
It turned out she was talking about another service, PureTracks.
There is
a story in the Star
about how the company’s website was completely overwhelmed and is now almost impossible to get onto.
Users are also complaining about incomplete album downloads, etc.
I hope they get it working properly.
I’m guessing that whoever set up the site wasn’t experienced in dealing with high-traffic websites with large bandwidth downloads.
I don’t know anything else just now (since their website is unavailable).
Are they using mp3s? wma?
Can you burn to CD? In audio (AIFF) format?
Inquiring minds want to know!
So feel free to post a comment with any info you have. at 9:49 am on Thursday, 16 October 2003