Author Archives: daniel

ABC iView unmetered

It’s old news, but Aussies who have wondered why most ISPs continue to have ABC’s iView counted as part of your monthly downloads might like to read this explanation from Internode. In brief:

…the ABC moved to using Akamai for bulk content distribution, which includes the new iView service, and the use of Akamai happens to make unmetering in the conventional manner basically impossible. This wasn’t intentional on anyones’ part – its just that the ABC moved to using Akamai without appreciating the side effect that would have.

Apparently only iiNet has the equipment required to accurately unmeter iView traffic, which is why they’re the only ones offering it.

Update: Thanks to commenter MGM who pointed out this info is out of date. In fact the ABC has a list of ISPs now offering iView unmetered.

Facebook security issues

So here’s the thing. The other day I was looking at Facebook, at the Wall of a friend of mine, Jason.

And for a few minutes there, Facebook decided I was logged-on as Jason.

Except I wasn’t. I didn’t have any permissions to look at his private stuff, nor change things, but every time I clicked on the Profile button it showed me his Wall, not mine.

Facebook thought I was logged on as Jason

When I clicked Home, it thought I was me again. Clicking back to Profile, Jason again. I just couldn’t get to my own Profile.

In the bottom-right it said I had a bunch of notifications. But it wouldn’t let me see them; they must have been his.

Then I clicked logoff, and became me again.

I had a look at a couple of other friends’ Walls, it didn’t do it. But back on Jason’s, it got stuck again. I let him know, of course.

Makes me glad it didn’t just assume I was him and let me do and see anything he could. All I ever saw (apart from the number of notifications he had) was stuff I could see anyway as his friend.

All very odd.

FoxIt Reader’s false eBay icon

OK. This is a worry. I found it on my Start Menu (for All Users) and also on my Desktop.

False ebay icon

As you can see, it’s got an eBay icon, and the name eBay, but it points to somewhere very different: adon-demand.de/red/2303/

Searching around, I see that McAfee Site Advisor has a page on it, and says “We tested this site and didn’t find any significant problems.”

A post on the FoxIt forums alleges it’s put there by the FoxIt Reader installer, and that appears to be right — an update of that is the only thing I’ve installed recently, and no other user on this PC has the privileges to install these shortcuts.

I love FoxIt Reader, it’s much faster than Adobe Reader. It asks if you want the ask.com toolbar, but this, it doesn’t ask about. [See comments]

FoxIt, is not nice behaviour.

I wonder what eBay would say about their logo being misused like this?

Flickr printing for AU

At last, Flickr is offering printing for Australian users, via Snapfish.com.au. As it happens, I’ve used Snapfish in the past; they’ve been pretty good, and do a wide range of products. As someone who’s been using Flickr a fair bit too, this is good news.

Interestingly Snapfish US also appears to link into Google Picasa Web albums. I wonder if Snapfish AU will link up there in due course.

Getting used to the Mac

I usually use Windows, but I’ve been using Mac OSX a little bit, on a new iMac in the office of an organisation I do some work for. It’s nice, lovely design, though I think it’s pretty funny that it’s so damn streamlined that the On/Off button is hidden away at the back, so consequently there’s a PostIt note on the front of it to help people find it.

The Mac

I’ve got used to having to go to the menu to properly shut a program. I’m not really clear on why clicking the red dot on the window doesn’t do it. But that’s okay — another PostIt note reminds us Windows people of that.

So far there are two main things I can’t get used to on the Mac (apart from the lack of tactile response from the keyboard and the feel of the mouse):

Command-Tab switches applications, but not windows. I can’t figure out how to get around the various open windows of an application without using the Window menu, which is cumbersome.

Differences with navigation around a document, at least how it appears to me so far… maybe someone knows better.

PC Mac
Go to start or end of document Ctrl-Home or Ctrl-End Home or End
Go to start or end of line Home or End Command Left or Right
Go up/down a page Page Up or Page Down Page Up or Page Down
Go forward or back a word Ctrl-Right or Ctrl-Left Option-Right or Option-Left

But the thing that really keeps catching me out is that Home/End/PgUp and PgDown move you around, but don’t move the cursor. So you think you’re at the end of the document, but you start typing and it jumps to back where you were. At least, that’s what it does in Apple Mail. Very irritating; seems you have to click at the end to tell it you want to start typing at the end.

Is there a better/quicker/easier way?

You’re signed in. Sign in again!

The Yahoo Groups home page. It used to show you a list of your groups to start with, so you could quickly jump into them. Not any more.

Irritating Yahoo Groups home page

WTF? It already knows I’m signed in, it says so up the top.

And yet it ignores that and not only tells me what Yahoo Groups is (as if I didn’t know), it also prompts me to sign up or sign in. (And do you reckon newbies fully understand what the difference is?)

Idiots. I’m already signed-in. I’ve used YahooGroups for years. Why are you treating me like a new user?! Why are you making me hunt around for a tiny Sign In link, only to jump through more hoops than is necessary to see my groups?

Elite turns 25 years old

BBC: Classic video game Elite turns 25

Elite co-developer David Braben takes the BBC’s Daniel Emery on a flight in the BBC Micro computer game.

The space fantasy involved trading in slaves, narcotics and minerals as you flew around a fictional universe.

Pirate and police ships threatened to disrupt your journey or kill you.

I never got to the rank of Elite, but I did make it to Deadly.