Bus error: Jake Billo's weblog

Rogers now considers themselves the premium carrier in the Canadian marketplace, with a 45% increase in earnings – and let’s face it, no other GSM competition in the country is a significant contributor to this state of affairs. One of the most PR-spun phrases I’ve seen since the Todd Holmdahl Xbox 360 interview needs some attention:

“We’re not fans of unlimited plans,” Rob Bruce, the president of Rogers’ wireless division, told analysts during a conference call.

“We want to make sure … that we create plans that are helpful and don’t become barriers to adoption.”

I think Adam said it best recently:

Why do they have to make this so complicated? I don’t keep track of my usage of e-mail and Web to the MegaByte, and why should I? Ugh… No company is getting a dime from me for data usage until a true unlimited plan is released.

So if unlimited plans aren’t in Rogers’ future, what’s this entire post about? A recent HowardForums thread gives the lowdown on some upcoming changes to BlackBerry and PDA plans, which eliminate the current packages and replace them with a tiered system. Thanks to Tyler_QB and O_ssie for the information. Check out the original post if you’re interested in PDA or Windows Mobile data rates.

Effective March 25, 2008 – or more than likely a few days afterwards – Rogers will begin offering two different BlackBerry packages that support both BIS and BES. Prices and details are subject to change before launch, but seem realistic in my opinion.

BlackBerry “Flex” Plan: 3-Year Contract Required
This package is only available with a three year data term. Early termination fees are either a maximum of $100, or $5 per month for the number of months remaining in your term (minimum $25.) Data contracts start and end independently from your voice plan, unless you sign up for both of them at the same time.

Possibly the most interesting feature of this plan is its tiered structure. The base package costs $15 per month, for up to 10MB of data. If you use more than 10MB in a month, you are bumped into the next plan bracket; use less than 10MB in a month and pay $15.

Usage over 500MB is charged at 5 cents per MB. Therefore, blowing through 2GB of data on a BlackBerry would cost $65 for 500MB, plus $77.40 for the extra 1.5GB – totalling $142.40.

BlackBerry Plan: No Contract
For users not interested in signing a 3-year data contract, a month-to-month plan is also scheduled for introduction. These plans do not automatically transition to the next tier and have significantly increased overage rates, which makes sense given that there’s no required level of consumer commitment.

For comparison purposes, the cost of 2GB of BlackBerry data on a non-commitment $50 plan would be the original $50, plus $924 for 1848MB – a total of $974. Considering that the maximum data cancellation fee is only $100, heavy users will definitely want to grit their teeth and sign for three years.

The Extras
Allegedly, both these plans will also include unlimited email through BIS and instant/PIN messaging – so only actual Web browsing or application data (for example, Google Maps) will contribute to your usage for the month. This isn’t really a huge deal for most people, since email is significantly compressed before arriving on the device. I’d also be willing to bet that attachments aren’t included in the “unlimited” portion, but it might save heavy email users some precious kilobytes.

So what’s the score? I’m reasonably impressed with the changes but at the same time, Telus has the superior data package for $45 per month, with unlimited data and text messaging included. If you don’t mind SureType and CDMA, picking up the Pearl (8130) for under $100 seems to be one of the better options in the marketplace today.

For those of you who got in on the Telus $15 IM/Personal Email plan back in December through to January, it was a wise move. Telus recently released a new set of data plans which distinguish between purely email and Web usage.

Essentially, Web browsing on a Windows Mobile or BlackBerry device now costs an extra $15 per month; or for the same $30, you can have email, BlackBerry Messenger, unlimited text messaging, caller ID and voicemail (without the Web.) Bumping up to a $45 data plan gives all the fruit (Web/IM/text/CID/VM/email), which is actually a very reasonable deal in the spectrum of Canadian wireless pricing.

The related HowardForums thread indicates that existing clients on the pre-February $15 Unlimited IM/Personal Email rate plan will be able to keep the “unlimited on-device browsing” bonus for the duration of their contract. Changing rate plans (for example, going to the $30 email/text/CID+VM package) at this point will remove the bonus, as noted in the conditions post.

What’s interesting is that the Telus plans are specifically set up to charge $8/MB for data usage over and above standard email/Web access; this would indicate that clients on BlackBerry devices are being set up as fully functional subscribers with the BIS-B (BlackBerry Internet Service – Browsing) service enabled, and that Telus is doing the necessary work to distinguish different types of traffic.

I’ll keep a close eye on my personal bill to see if there are any extra charges for services – like many other new subscribers in December and January, I was told that “unlimited data, provided it’s not abuse or tethering” was fully included for the duration of my rate plan.

While I don’t think 2008 will be the year of truly unlimited BlackBerry data plans (including BES access or tethering), things are definitely looking up for consumers.

Up until this point, Inside Xbox (a new feature of the Fall 2007 dashboard update) was restricted to American and UK accounts – although not ISP-locked, since my American profile could access the content with no problem. Now, the feature seems to be available for Canadians, and actually offers some exclusive Canadian content in the blades. Here are a few pictures of the interface and updated dashboard. Click for larger versions.

Note that the official Xbox.ca site doesn’t seem to have details on this development yet, but it’s welcome news for Canadian accounts (which previously had Messages and Friends as two separate UI icons, as before the Fall Update hit in the US.)

As per the main WordPress site, another upgrade has hit. The security fix refers to our wonderful friend, xmlrpc.php. I highly suggest disabling this file (just delete it from your WordPress directory) if you’re maintaining a locked down installation of WordPress. This file seems to be present in every security issue lately, and a brief scan of the source seems to indicate that it offers support for pinging update services, sending pingbacks and allowing remote control of the service – none of these features are generally critical for sites valuing security more than blogosphere wankery.

DreamHost doesn’t seem to be offering the official upgrade yet, so I’m just downloading the fixed xmlrpc.php file for my installations requiring it, and replacing the file until the one-click install option comes online.

The big news today (well, yesterday by the time this goes live) was that Windows Vista SP1 had released to manufacturing. Annoyingly enough, this doesn’t mean it’s available for public download yet, and end users will have to wait until in mid-March from Windows Update, or mid-April through Automatic Updates. I’ll keep my eye out for a validated copy from sources with access to the original MSDN files, because SP1 allegedly fixes some of the network copy issues I’ve been having recently.

As background, the network copy issues seem to involve Vista’s auto network tuning utility. I have a gigabit Ethernet connection between my Windows Home Server box and my primary Core2Quad system, and get about 40-50MB/s read speed without tweaking them using XP SP2 or Leopard clients. Vista, on the same Core2Quad and a 10K RPM Raptor drive, taps out at about 9MB/s and is often much slower than that, which is incredibly painful when working with 4+GB MKV files.

SP1 releases, at least with recent Microsoft products, have heralded new standards of stability and less crashiness. (SP2 really went above and beyond in fulfilling this role for XP, but it was an exception since it added additional security capabilities.)

The more interesting post of the day, though, is from Mark Russinovich’s blog in which he discusses the lower-level details of file copy operations. It’s definitely worth a read if you’re of the computer science mindset, and goes a long way to explaining some of the more intricate changes to Vista SP1.

With the release of the Xbox 360 ‘Fall’ Update, MPEG-4 ASP support (commonly known as DivX or XviD support) has been added to the integrated video player.

The primary missing feature is the ability to play high-definition H.264/x264 MKV streams. While H264 support was added in the previous Dashboard upgrade, unfortunately, the decoding implementation isn’t perfect: the dashboard doesn’t natively read MKV. As well, high definition files can only contain a 2-channel AAC soundtrack, not full 5.1+ surround. This prevents using the Xbox 360 for most H264 content available on the Internet.

There is still a way to view HD content (with 2 channel sound) on the Xbox 360: transcoding the audio track and repackaging the MKV file into a MP4 container. This process takes significantly less time than converting both video and audio, and the visual quality is maintained. You do lose the additional 3.1 channels, but it’s better than having to install a Core 2 Duo E6750 under your TV just to play these files.

For a while, AAC recoding has been somewhat of an arcane art, known only to those who’ve spent years looking on the Doom9 forums. I’d looked into this a few months ago and wasn’t too impressed with the available solutions. Skimming the Xbox 360 information thread from the Something Awful forums today, though, I found a solution that should work for people prepared to install a few free utilities.

Getting Set Up for Encoding
You’ll need a few free utilities to get your system in the best shape possible for repackaging the MKV contents into an MP4 container. Here’s the sequence I followed on a fresh XP installation:

• Download and install the newest version of CCCP, which includes a stable version of ffdshow and Haali Media Splitter. A new edition was released on January 24, 2008 so I’d advise an upgrade if you’re running something older.

• Download and install AC3Filter, which is a good utility to have anyway if you’re planning on listening to 5.1 audio or outputting optical/coaxial audio from your sound card.

• Download a copy of Nero AAC Encoder and extract the contents of the win32 folder where you can find them later. If you use the package I provide below, the files are already included.

The Magical Tool of Whimsy
The tool that makes Xbox playback possible is called GOTSent, which boasts “easy and fast x264 .MKV to PS3 and XBOX 360 compatible MP4 and PS3 compatible VOB/AC3 conversion.” It’s essentially a wrapper around several open source video encoding utilities, but it certainly does the job as intended. The current version is 0.23B10, which has been mostly stable in my experience. Make sure you’ve already downloaded and installed Nero AAC Encoder, CCCP and AC3Filter before grabbing this file.

Before You Begin: AC3Filter Gain Level
In my experience, the AAC audio in the newly muxed file is at a significantly lower level than most non-HD sources, so you may have to increase your volume to properly watch the videos on the Xbox 360. The more permanent way to solve this issue, though, is adjusting the gain control in AC3Filter. These instructions assume you’ve installed the newest CCCP and AC3Filter already.

• Start the original H.264 video file that you’d like to convert in Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic, Zoom Player, or any other player that uses DirectShow media filters. (Most players except VLC fall into this category.)

• In your system tray, right-click the red FFDshow icon – highlighted in yellow in the following image. Select AC3Filter from the popup menu.
  

• In the AC3Filter dialog, slide the Gain slider up until the sound from the original video file matches your normal system sound or MP3 volume. Try seeking to a loud section of the video to get a good idea of where this setting should be. I needed a fairly hefty boost on my system (which has onboard Intel HD-compatible sound to standard stereo out, on an Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard) of about +16.6dB to match standard iTunes output, but going any higher resulted in clipping and distorted sound.As you adjust the slider, you should immediately hear the difference in the video file. Ideally, make this setting as close to 0dB as you can tolerate to avoid distortion. Looking at the input levels equalizer may also help in determining the right setting.

Once you’ve selected your gain level, click OK and close the current video file.

GOTSent Tips and Tricks
You’ll definitely need to use the “Split >4GB option” so that the Xbox recognizes the output files, and try converting one file at a time to get a general idea of how the process works. I’ve been able to avoid using the MPEG2 Recode, Safe Sync, Mux to Vob (PS3) and 25 FPS options, so leaving them unchecked should work.

Once the GOTSent process is done, rename the output file to Filename.avi – while the Xbox 360 should detect the original .mp4 extension from Zune or Windows Media Player 11 sharing, Windows Home Server standard media sharing requires .avi extensions for the files to be properly seen. Add the faux-AVI files to your video library as usual, and you should be up and running watching HD content from your Xbox 360.

Caveats and Setbacks
Not all files I’ve found will work with GOTSent, but it’s certainly got a high level of compatibility with exotic downloads. For example, certain x264 HDTV files simply cause GOTSent to chew up CPU and refuse to enter the demuxing phase of the job. You can tell if this is the case, because a command prompt window appears in the tray during the first step GOTSent takes.

It appears as if all the tools included with GOTSent are single-threaded and Win32 binaries; for those of you with high end 64-bit systems intending on taking advantage of extra CPU cores, there’s not too much optimization coming your way with the utility. You’ll still be able to perform normal computing tasks while the program works, though, so not all is lost.

I’m looking forward to any new updates and fixes for this program, and will keep you informed as to any developments I’m aware of. sentry23 (the original author) has done a great service releasing this tool and it’s certainly sped up the process of converting files for me.

I’m currently reinstalling XP Pro on my main system in preparation for some upcoming video editing work, and I’m just getting used to certain tweaks I have to perform. The most common offenders that eat up screen real estate and menu placement are the Office 2007 extensions for OneNote – Open as Notebook in OneNote and Groove Folder Sharing, which appear in certain context menus. I also remove the 7-Zip folder extension and cascade the WinRAR compression options.

To get rid of the Groove menu, which places itself nearly everywhere you might possibly right-click, it’s easiest just to uninstall the program from Add/Remove Programs if you’re not using it. Browse for the Office installation in the list:

Select the Change button, then in the next dialog, choose Add or Remove Features, then click Continue. Beside Microsoft Office Groove, click the dropdown menu and select “Not Available.” Complete the setup process and the menu will cease to appear.

If you want to remove the Groove menu without removing the Groove application itself, this forum post gives a description of the registry keys where you can find and remove the Groove entries. For posterity, they are:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Getting rid of the OneNote context menu item involves removing the following registry key (as mentioned in the comments on Daniel Escapa’s blog:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\OneNote.Open

You could take the same approach as mentioned for Groove by completely removing OneNote from the Office 2007 installation, but I actually use OneNote on a regular basis and want to keep it around.

7-Zip is much easier to deal with. Just launch the 7-Zip File Manager, then click Tools / Options. Navigate to the Plugins tab and click the Options button:

Deselect the “Integrate 7-Zip to shell context menu” checkbox, then OK out of the option boxes and close 7-Zip.

Finally, WinRAR has a similar removal method: start the program, then click Options / Settings. Under the Integration tab, uncheck “Integrate WinRAR into shell”, or if you prefer a single-item entry in the context menu, check the “Cascaded context menus” box.

You can also reduce the number of items displayed in the menu by exploring the “Context menu items” dialog. For example, I generally remove the “Compress and email” options since I switch email clients fairly regularly.

Once done, OK out of the settings dialogs and exit WinRAR. You’ll have a much cleaner context menu to work with.

Edit: Fixed a registry path and removed a blockquote tag.

I experience this issue every time I go to seek a pre-Windows Vista driver for an Asus motherboard: their download servers always peter out at about 100KB/s, regardless of which mirror I choose. I have half a mind to set up mirrors of the most popular drivers – even if a LAN or audio driver isn’t necessarily the latest version, it’ll still help people get up and running sooner rather than later.

nVidia and ATI have persistently fast download speeds, even for the size of their respective driver suites. It’s just the motherboard and chipset manufacturers that have this problem. I recall waiting for a 4KB/s download from an audio chip manufacturer because nobody else had the right drivers.

Build it in to the cost of your high-end products if needed. I’m sure the people buying “gamer edition” motherboards, who are the ones updating their BIOS weekly and wasting time asking technical support about how to overclock their RAM and set unsupported timings, should be shouldering the cost. I just like to have drivers available and at fast download speeds when I need them.

It’s time for one of my favourite angry posts on the Social Utility That Could.

Facebook recently announced a new developer policy for applications publishing content to the Mini-Feed (which filter up to the global News Feed depending on quality.) The News Feed is the default page upon login, while the Mini-Feed is the area on your own profile, where people can see the recent things you’ve been up to – like changing your “Looking For” status to “Random play.” I no longer have the “random play” option myself; apparently at some point in the past, my employment or affiliation with the IBM or RIM networks triggered a flag that says that since I’ve worked for the man, I apparently no longer can openly advertise my desire to engage in non-committal, promiscuous activities.

Either that, or it read my “Male at the University of Waterloo” details, and summarily decided that my interests could not possibly contain meaningless, playful contact with the opposite sex. I’m amazed I wasn’t forced into looking for “like-minded friends who enjoy a spot of anime, ramen noodles and debating .999=1.” Instead of “random play”, I have to settle for the much less scandalous “networking” option, which my good friend Phil promptly mocked:

Networking is now an option in looking for?! Christ what’re you gonna do walk up to a chick and be like “hay can i interface w/ ur data p0rt lol if u get wut i mean kekeke”

I would not be surprised if someone at UW has actually tried this as a pickup line, although a much more likely attempt would involve LOLcats or the ORLY owl.

The long and short of this new Facebook policy is that applications can no longer report passive actions, such as users receiving new posts on their installation of SuperFunLuckyHappyWall. (Now with bonus Zwinky!) Observe:

Rather, the new policy indicates that only actions taken by a user should be published. So if you posted a new Happycat using Internet Meme Generator 2.0, then it’d be fair game to see “Jake posted a new Happycat image macro” in the Mini-Feed. This should hopefully help clear up the state of items such as “Forty-seven (47) of your friends sent a Wet Willy to one another.” Facebook’s not naming names, but the two biggest offenders are Slide and RockYou. It should be a bit more pleasant to see things cleaned up.

As an aside, you can still find my favourite applications to block if you’re interested in improving your experience.

Lil’ Mama has been usurped, and the new contender for worst song in the world is one by DeAndre Ramone Way (no, I’m not joking – his real name is DeAndre), in which listeners are instructed thusly:

Soulja Boy off in this hoe
Watch me crank it
Watch me roll
Watch me crank that Soulja Boy
Then superman that hoe
Now watch me YOUUUUUUUUU
(crank that Soulja Boy)

Then later on, after we’ve heard the steel pan backing track for a while, we continue the exploitation of women for entertainment. Why hasn’t someone gotten offended about this and made a big public stink?

I’m jocking on your bitch ass
And if we get to fighting
Then I’m cocking on your bitch ass

This only serves to reinforce that the Urban Dictionary definitions of “superman” are indeed what DeAndre is referring to.

(Note: I actually had to search for a good ten minutes, and then edit significantly, in an effort to bring you lyrics that Weren’t Written Like This, Because The Target Audience Of This Song Capitalizes Every Word. It’s The Same Audience That Thinks The Future Of Technology Is “I Can Watch YouTube On My Cell Phone And Download Ringtones.”)

Entertainment Weekly describes the album, which is actually titled Souljaboytellem.com:

”Crank That” is diverting enough for three and a half minutes, but most of his debut, Souljaboytellem.com, is a teenage wasteland filled with monotonously looped chants and agonizing blunt-force beats. At least he owns a cool domain name. D

What’s even more ridiculous than the song? Watching the obligatory meta-tastic music video on YouTube, which is like looking into an M.C. Escher illustration: it involves a record executive looking at Soulja Boy’s music video on a simulated YouTube site. Yes, thank you! People watch videos online! I don’t need to see a frame and five stars and a faux progress bar to know this.

If you’re actually going to listen to this song, check out the Kosha Boy remix (there’s even the Fiddler on the Roof!)

And while musicians lament the state of the industry, where ringtones are the target market, Soulja Boy has the following to say:

“When I did my album, I went into the studio (thinking), ’I gotta have each song on here where it will be good as a single,”’ he says. “I believe I came out with an album full of singles, so I’m good.”