Matt Smith, One of us?

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

What\’s the most important thing so far that we have learned about the Matt Smith version of the Doctor?  Well, is it the recently released pictures of the redesigned Tardis Control room?  No…
The great trailers and other content that have put me mostly at ease?  Nope..
He\’s a Doctor Who Fan Fiction writer…
Source (The Press Association: Matt pens own Doctor Who stories.)

Matt Smith has apparently revealed he has written his own Doctor Who stories – to help him understand the character.

The 27-year-old, who replaces David Tennant as the Time Lord in the new series starting on April 3, told the Daily Mirror: \”I wanted to feel like Doctor Who, understand where he\’d come from, so I wrote stories of the Doctor and Einstein in Egypt, which focused on their roles in the creation of the Pyramids.\”

That\’s the most human and surprising thing I have heard yet…  I really think I am going to really like this Doctor…

My only question is will I like the new redesigned control room?  We will have to see…

Start your engines!!! 10.6.3 is out….

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Full changelog for Mac OS X 10.6.3 update:
General operating system fixes and improvements provided for:
* performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode.
* printing reliability.
* sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand.
* a color issue in iMovie with HD content.
* glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera.
* an issue in which the Finder reports a -36 error when copying directories to a drive formatted as FAT32.
* reliability of photo screen savers.
* compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications.
* an issue in which shadows in PDF of Aperture book are black instead of gray.
* an issue in which the microphone level in iChat may not increase the volume after reducing it to prevent a feedback event.
* the reliability of certain third-party USB devices.
* the Accounts preference pane can now limit login to members of groups hosted by a non-Apple directory service, such as Active Directory.
* DNS server ordering as specified in Network Preferences and DNS reliability. For details about how Mac OS X v10.6 handles unresponsive DNS servers, see this article.
* the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X.
* Data Collection: Mac OS X v10.6.3 can collect diagnostic and usage information from your Mac and send it to Apple for analysis automatically. The information is only collected with your explicit consent, and is submitted anonymously to Apple. For more details, see this article.
See More after the break…
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Eye TV 3.3.3 update released…

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

EyeTV 3.3.3 update – Version 3.3.3 is available via EyeTV\’s in-app update check. Here\’s what\’s listed as changed per the (v3.3.2) in-app update window:
\”Bug Fixes
EyeTV 3.3.3 fixes video playback problems with EyeTV 3.3.2 in certain countries\”
The EyeTV 3.3.3 readme file (zipped) has a longer list of changes, but other than the above it seems to repeat the changes noted for EyeTV 3.3.2.
Here's some comments from an EyeGato support post Friday with a bit more detail on the v3.3.3 fixes:
\”We\’ve just released EyeTV version 3.3.3 which fixes a couple bugs that were discovered after the release of version 3.3.2.
Fixed bad decoding/playback of channels which use frame/field switching. e.g. in France
Fixed occasional crashing in the AAC decoder.\”

Indigo Venstar Thermostat Monitor v1.00 released…

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Folks,
Update — The detailed  instructions, etc, are now available from Venstar Thermostat Monitor.
I have just created a new plugin that will allow Venstar Insteon Thermostat users to monitor their daily usage of AC, Heating, and Fan usage…  This is a basic plugin designed to extend Indigo…
When installed, the plugin is most noticeable in the Log file…
Received INSTEON   \”Furnace Link\” off (button 2)
Thermostat         Insteon Thermostat Event being processed
Thermostat         Thermostat requesting Heating – Off
Thermostat         Furnace Heat Ran for  14 Minutes
Thermostat         Thermostat Event Processing Done

Several new variables are created to track usage, Heating_dailymins, AC_dailymins, and Fan_dailymins will track the number of minutes that Heating, AC and the furnace fan have been on.
Please note, you will need to make a new timed action that runs thermo_reset.scpt whenever you want to reset the counters…  I would suggest midnight, so that you are capturing the 24 hrs period…  The script will append to a csv file in your documents folder that contains the value that are in the AC, Furnace and Fan variables, and then reset the variables to 0.

  • [download id=\”7695\”]

Audit Finds Vulnerability of EnergyStar Program

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The Government and it\’s agencies are suppose to be trustworthy and have our best interests at heart, but the lack of oversight is astounding!  Sometimes, it\’s due to overwork, sometimes, due to general incompetence…
But, evidently the Energy Star & related programs, have been approving devices with little oversight and no much more than a casual glance at the application.

Does a “gasoline-powered alarm clock” qualify for the EnergyStar label, the government stamp of approval for an energy-saving product?
Like more than a dozen other bogus products submitted for approval since last June by Congressional auditors posing as companies, it easily secured the label, according to a Congressional report to be issued Friday. So did an “air purifier” that was essentially an electric space heater with a feather duster pasted on top, the Government Accountability Office said.

Source: Audit Finds Vulnerability of EnergyStar Program – NYTimes.com.