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Cheap Android Media Player
by Aryan Ameri 07 Dec '12

07 Dec '12

I'm thinking about a Android Media Player to use as a HTPC (and to bring Android to my TV). There are various devices on Deal Extreme, from HDMI/USB sticks costing about $50-$60 to more STB-like devices with remotes for about $130. Many of them (Like the Mele A1000/A2000 (which seem to be pretty popular) use the Allwinner A10 CPU (single core Cortex-A8) while some of the higher end ones use dual-core Cortex-A9 CPUs. Some run Gingerbread, many run ICS and some newer ones are even running Jellybean (4.1). My question is, has anyone used any of these? Are they any good? I know XBMC now has a (in development) Android port, is it usable? Is Android usable with just a traditional remote as its input method? Or should I just wait for something solid, like Ouya, to show up? Alternatively, does anyone use the Roku/Netflix+ combo here in Australia? Cheers -- Aryan

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cheap Android tablets
by Russell Coker 06 Dec '12

06 Dec '12

http://aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_24562.htm On Wednesday Aldi will sell a 7" tablet running Android 4.0 for $99. It's got 512M of RAM and 16G of storage but only a 800*480 screen (the same resolution as a lot of phones). I'm not sure whether I'll buy one at this time, getting another Android test device for a mere $99 is a good deal, but the resolution sucks a bit. http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/10-inch-tablet-pc-android-16gb/ Kogan has a 10" tablet with 1024*768 resolution for $189 plus shipping, maybe $210 all up. It's a fairly decent tablet (I own one and a couple of relatives have them), but a lot more expensive. http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/google-nexus-7-16gb/ Then there's the Nexus 7 for $229 plus shipping which has a 1280*800 display but it's only 7". It's a Nexus so there's got to be some nice features, and it has Android 4.1. I'll probably get a $99 tablet because even if I don't use it much I won't feel bad about wasting $99. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_S_3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Note_2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_DNA Next year when prices drop after Christmas I'll buy a fancy new phone. Currently I'm looking at the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, or something like the HTC Droid DNA aka J Butterfly. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Re: [luv-talk] which team for Ingress?
by Russell Coker 05 Dec '12

05 Dec '12

On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Someone <info(a)ameri.me> wrote: > Of course, the Enlightened! Please reply to the list and address the issue of why the possibly mind- controlling team is a better fit than the Resistance given the way we oppose MS etc. Note that I don't have strong feelings either way, but we need to make a decision on this if we are to be on the same team. It seems that Google have designed this to have the difference between the teams be fairly ambiguous. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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History lesson
by Mark Trickett 25 Nov '12

25 Nov '12

On Tue, 2012-11-20 at 17:26 +1100, Roger wrote: > History is now history of Asia and aborigines, not history of Australia. That is appropriate. Remember that all the "First Fleet" people, convicts and authorities, were "boat people" invading an already settled and occupied land, just not a European settlement. Except for those of "Aboriginal" ancestry, we are all either boat people or immigrants, or the descendants of such. Australia is geographically part of Asia, not Europe. A knowledge of the "local" history is a good thing, although I would also strongly recommend a breadth of global history as a good background. Mark Trickett

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ldap uidNumber allocation
by Brian May 25 Nov '12

25 Nov '12

Hello, I have inherited responsibility for a LDAP user management system written in Python/Django: https://github.com/VPAC/django-placard In my rewrite come across a sticky problem: how do I reliably and efficiently allocate unique uidNumber for new users and gidNumber of new groups? The current solution, as used by my predecessor, is to list every user or group in the system, sort or scan though the list looking for the highest id, add 1, and use that. Unfortunately, this seems to be lacking in efficiency (specially if there are a lot of users) and relying on the hope that two users will never be created at the same time. Race conditions could occur. Only solution I can think of is to create a special server that atomically allocates ids. Seems a lot of work for something so simple. Any ideas for other solutions? (not sure if this is on-topic or not for luv-main, so posting here just to be safe) Thanks -- Brian May <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au>

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Google - Don't be Evil ? = BS
by Brent Wallis 24 Nov '12

24 Nov '12

Hi, 2 things make me think that Google has forgotten (well...perhaps never really had it any way....perhaps it was BS all along) their Don't be Evil mantra lately: 1. Why present me with a dialogue box when I was checking out the "Dumb Ways to Die" vid on doobie toob that asked why I did not want to use my real name? (Without any way to tell them where to stick it!) 2. Why do they pay less tax in Oz by more than half than what my company does? Say what? Don't be Evil? Really? BW

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Curriculum design
by Jason White 21 Nov '12

21 Nov '12

Roger <arelem(a)bigpond.com> wrote: > From next year, every teacher from sport, English, math and science and > social sciences will have to teach IT. And the rationale for this is what exactly? (assuming that it's true - I haven't looked at any references). I emerged from primary school having been taught typing and basic word processing on the computers of the era. This was all primary school-level material and considered such. > History is now history of Asia and aborigines, not history of Australia. I remind you that Aboriginal history is an important element of Australian history, so half of what you said above is in fact "history of Australia". History when I was at school covered mostly Europe, proceeding from Greek and Roman civilizations through to the industrial revolution and, finally, the twentieth century up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was everywhere in the news in 1989-90 just as we were studying the cold war in secondary school history classes. So far as I can recall, Asia wasn't mentioned at all throughout, except in connection with Japan in World War II. I think that's a very serious omission, given Australia's geographical proximity to south east Asia, immigration patterns, social and economic relations, etc. Of course, it might have been rectified had I studied history in years 11 and 12, but I didn't. > They're not even maintaining the illusion. Grammar is off the table as > is spelling. So primary school children won't be quizzed about common nouns, proper nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns, etc.? It wasn't exciting; nor was it particularly useful. I learned more about grammar by studying a second language than I did in English class. That's probably because it wasn't taught either very well or very systematically. Spelling was covered, though, and it is important - again, as a primary school topic.

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Re: [luv-talk] was: Data exchange between Linux and iPad
by Lev Lafayette 21 Nov '12

21 Nov '12

Roger, > History is now history of Asia and aborigines, not history of Australia. Could you elaborate on what you mean by the above statement? Surely you must acknowledge that the aboriginal people are, by definition, a significant part of the history of Australia? All the best, -- Lev Lafayette, mobile: 0432 255 208 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt

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Re: [luv-talk] Data exchange between Linux and iPad
by Jason White 20 Nov '12

20 Nov '12

Trent W. Buck <trentbuck(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> writes: > > Part of the issue of Li-Ion battery life depends on how fully it is charged > > and how fully it is discharged. > > Granted. I thought Li-Ion batteries were designed not to suffer from the "memory effect". Is that a myth? > If the devices support user-servicable batteries, than I concede the > point. IME tablets do not have that property. Is there a legitimate reason why not or is it a case of planned obsolescence (most undesirable from an environmental point of view and costly to the purchasor over the long run). At the very least it creates an industry for repair technicians who can install new batteries for people who can't do it themselves.

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Re: [luv-talk] Data exchange between Linux and iPad
by Jason White 20 Nov '12

20 Nov '12

Russell Coker <russell(a)coker.com.au> wrote: > On Tue, 20 Nov 2012, "Trent W. Buck" <trentbuck(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > English lit, now that is a subject that's pure child-minding. Should go > > back to teaching rhetoric and grammar. > > The subject "English" should be about blogging, email, twitter, SMS, and > writing technical documents - with probably about that order of importance. Reading literature is valuable; so is essay writing for anyone who studies the humanities/social sciences. (Even in the natural sciences, beyond a certain point one has to be able to write papers/theses/dissertations). > > > > If we are going to maintain the illusion that school is teaching > > > skills that are relevant to work then we should be able to have > > > schools implement practices that work in a commercial environment. > > > > So... how to spend all day on facebook while pretending to use word? > > They cover that in the "IT" classes. That's laughable indeed. I think there's an important role for serious school education intended to prepare people for rigorous academic study at university.

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