Data retention and a plea to Wikipedia

Hi all, this post is not so much about development but it's all about attention and I get more traffic here than on any other blog, and it's related to the internet as a whole... So I've been mopping about the new Australian mandatory data retention plot<ahem>scheme<chough>plan... whatever, for a while now and it looks like we're going to get it... At least they did hear from some community representatives (I'll report back on how it went when I find out), but they will probably be ignored.

I recently found out that lolcats help boring stories move along, so:

lolcat

At least now everyone is getting in on the action... first off the bat is the UK, who sparked quite a bit of public discourse with Jimmy Wales labeling it a "snooper's charter"... and like everything in Australia ours is a little more venomous.

Thanks to the conversation sparked on Slashdot user rmgoat let us know that the Canadians are up to the same sort of shenanigans. Now I'm sorry to use words like shenanigans on the internet but I'm too angry for polite words. Anyhow this sham is already being renamed from the Lawful Access Act' to the C-30 Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. I'm sure they'll throw in some thing about For The Love Of You-Know-Who by the time they're done.

For those in the UK there is at least an online petition, no good for me but it deserves the publicity.....LINK

Is there some such thing for Aus? Anyone?

 I love Wales response (below) and plea for him to do the same for Australia... I'll double my donation this year :D promise ... I would write to my local minister instead of Jimmy, but I know there is actually a chance that Jimmy might listen to the public, whereas I doubt there it an MP in Oz who will do a thing about this (except maybe the Greens... go you good thing).

"If we find that UK ISPs are mandated to keep track of every single web page that you read at Wikipedia, I am almost certain we would immediately move to a default of encrypting all communication to the UK, so that the local ISP would only be able to see that you are speaking to Wikipedia, not what you are reading.

"That kind of response for us to do is not difficult. We don’t do it today because there doesn’t seem to be a dramatic need [...] it’s something that I think we would do, absolutely."

 "technologically incompetent"
     -Jimmy Wales
 
"Bluntly these are as dangerous as we expected, and represent unprecedented surveillance powers in the democratic world."
     -Jim Killock, of Open Rights Group c.o. Wired


Now finally lets close with an example of what some really smart people can do with "trivial data": Estimating the atom @ 60 Symbols


REFS:
-comment from ars - Ranting.Me : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/jimmy-wales-threatens-to-encrypt-wikipedia-if-uk-passes-snooping-bill/?comments=1&post=23244652#comment-23244652

 -and pan.sapiens responds: ...but two years instead of one, plus a load of other intrusive stuff. Yet few people who I talk to in Oz seem to have even heard about it, and those that have heard of it have no understanding of how intrusive the proposed laws are. Mr. Wales, can you please please encrypt our traffic too? If nothing else we could really benefit from a bit of publicity about these laws from a high-profile site like Wikipedia to help get us laid-back Aussies off our arses and into the streets. 

ars article: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/jimmy-wales-threatens-to-encrypt-wikipedia-if-uk-passes-snooping-bill/

huffington: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/06/jimmy-wales-wikipedia-snoopers-charter_n_1860293.html

wired: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/14/communications-bill

guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/sep/05/wikipedia-jimmy-wales-snoopers-charter
-The Guardian had the most charming commentators I've seen on the web. Kudos to the moderators I'm sure ;)

-Image kudos: http://nopsa.hiit.fi/pmg/viewer/photo.php?id=1387109

Just read an interesting article about embedding page data right into the link and some kind fellow on Slashdot created an example ... just wondering if I can host the <<same link here on Blogger>>. For some odd reason or another the link does not show up in the normal way so i have surrounded it with guillemets... and I'm running FireFox on Linux: it won't work on me so I need your feedback... Does it work for you?

--edit to highlight link

Orbitals 2 ready for release, ADBassist conversion and OSIA

Hi all,

   Just a little update on Orbital Live Wallpaper (source), after messing around with the internals (there was some shifty maths going on in the background) I've been able to separate out the transition away and the transition back to orbit. This allows the transitions to form some interesting patterns. I have also added a new transition (I was hoping for two, but just want to get the updates and fixes out) and a couple of color schemes. Hopefully I'll be releasing this weekend.

   Secondly, I've finished converting ADBassist from gtk to swing... I choose gtk initially to get brownie points in the Ubuntu App Challenge and also with the ulterior motive of learning something new. The Java wrapper for gtk was certainly easy to use and I think some things like images and layouts were a touch more user friendly to use but all in all I felt limited in what I could do and was uncertain how well it will handle background processes when I get them going soon. I also felt a touch bad making an application with platform dependencies that were not strictly necessary... that is, I wouldn't've minded using gtk if I got any extra capability, but it seemed not to offer anything I was using (dbus support is the only thing that springs to mind, and I wasn't using that).

   Finally there is also an upcoming open source event in Melbourne (so if you're not from Australia you might not be all that interested) this week. It totally looks more like an event for managers than techs, but it has potential to be interesting and most importantly there's free food! Although there is zero chance of me being there by 5:30, but I'll defiantly rock up at some stage before 8. Well, I'd better go rsvp and try to prepare the release of orbitals. Details below:

"What does the NBN mean to the Open Source Software Industry"
Date:  Wednesday 22 August
Time:  5.30 pm for 6.00 pm start to 8.00 pm
Venue:  NBNCo Discovery Center
            1010 La Trobe St, Docklands

Please help make this event a success by promoting it through your own channels as appropriate.

Event Program:

1. Presentation by NBN Senior Staff on opportunities that likely to arise from the NBN.  
There will also be other NBN personel who will be able to answer questions.

2. Presentation by Kanchana Wickremasinghe, Senath Ltd.

Kanchana will talk about Senath's use of Open Source software to deliver the Cloud based PaaS Durga Platform.

3. Update on OSIA activities.

4. Networking opportunity with other guests

Refreshments available.

Following the event, you are also invited to join others for dinner somewhere in Melbourne.

** Please note: RSVP by 20 August is essential. Email osia-events@osia.com.au. **

Ubuntu app showdown

I think there's about 4 days left in the Ubuntu app showdown and my entry is finally starting to resemble a functional program :)
For my entry I have chosen to write a GUI wrapper around the Android sdk tools, mainly adb, but also the sdk manager and the virtual machine manager. It's called ADBassist, check out the code: https://code.launchpad.net/~puzzleduck/adbassist/trunk.
At the moment all it does is download the sdk, update them to get adb, run adb and create a new tab for each device... now I've got to keep the tabs up to date (I will probably poll adb every 5-10 seconds for a device list for now, but monitoring dbus for USB events would probably be a smarter/better way to go).
I will also spend the weekend setting up the individual device tabs with useful functions such as an apk and other files upload facilities (adb push), file download and backup (adb pull), device status (adb shell df -h for example) and advanced functions like reboot and mock locations... maybe even screenshots and/or remote control.
Finally a release mode testing would be super... In turn each possible avd is downloaded, a virtual machine created for each, apk is installed and run on the virtual device in turn... It's a nice dream anyway :)
Oh, and in other "big" news ADBassist now has a logo... Bask in the glory:

Open Stack meet up.

Hey all,

Just found out about an Open Stack meet up happening through Linux Users Victoria. It's on tomorrow (Tuesday May 15) at 6.30pm.

I'm not sure what to expect as I haven't been before, but I'm defiantly going to head on over and check it out... I've included all the details below:


6:30-8.30PM, Gryphon Gallery, 1888, Building 198, Graduate Centre, corner of Grattan and Swanston, University of Melbourne.
We will have John Dickinson, Swift Project Technical Lead giving us a talk about Swift via WebEx. We'll also have WebEx available to remote or persons that cannot attend. Food and drinks will be provided, Looking forward to seeing you there.

 I'll do my best to remember to report back ;)
Cheers,
   Ben.

Announcing the first release of the Orbitals Live Wallpaper app for Android

It's been a rollercoaster of a ride but it's here:
The Orbitals Live Wallpaper.


Orbitals LWP is the second spin-off from my original Target Live Wallpaper app.

Orbitals introduces a windows 8 style loading bubbles along with standard and knotted orbits (inspired by the Trefoil knot).

The color schemes are mostly tech/oss inspired and include Ubuntu, XDA, Slashdot and more.

The color scheme, trail length and speed of the orbitals will vary randomly and changed after every touch.

Let me know what you thought out even better let every one know by rating in the Google Play Store or donating.

So get cracking and check out the video below, the source code and the app itself in the market (or have a look at my other work)

Screens:

 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83A9zcTSBV0

Source: https://github.com/PuZZleDucK/Orbital-Live-Wallpaper/

App: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=orbitlivewallpaper.puzzleduck.com

Installing a custom rom on the Huwei U8510 ... using nothing but my linux!

All the instructions for rooting and installing custom roms for the Huwei U8510 seem to be for windows users, so here it is the world exclusive ;) Huwei U8510 rooting and custom rom guide for linux!

Sanity checks:
1. Android SDK & tools installed (i.e. "adb" and "fastboot" work)... check!
2. Prerequisite knowledge: you knew "adb" and "fastboot" were terminal commands... check!
3. "adb devices" returns the u8510 and only the u8510 (just a precaution i like to take)... check.

Roms:
- Spanish
- deBranded
- Zad

Recovery (kudos: Lebo):
- Recovery

Other info tying it all together but with busted links (kudos: Leandros):
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/18158/how-do-i-root-a-huawei-x3

Step 1: Download roms and Recovery.
Step 2: Replace SD card (goldcard may be required... I'm using mine), copy roms onto sd card.
Step 3: prepare phone, go to settings > apps and disable "fastboot".
Step 4: Unplug USB.
Step 5: Boot into fastboot mode (reboot and hold Volume Down + Power).
Step 6: Plug in usb. Verify fastboot with "sudo fastboot devices". Your devices serial number may be "??????????"... mine was.
Step 7: "sudo fastboot erase recovery".
Step 8: "sudo fastboot flash recovery recovery.img".
Step 9: "sudo fastboot reboot" ... Steps 7, 8 and 9 should result in "OKAY" feedback.
[Optional]. Backup. and Wipe.
Step 10: Start flashing roms... WOOT!!!

Step 11: Smile smugly to yourself because you did it and didn't need to touch those nasty Windows and you'll never again have to see that ugly Vodaphone logo.


Rom1: De-branded
Faster, cleaner UI, nicer lock screen, faster camera, Android 2.3.5, 2.6.35.7-perf kernel, SU, navigation and market.

Rom2: Eclipse
Feels faster again, same lock screen, same Android and kernel, english-as-second-language, androidlost, goomanager, market, brut-maps, SU, xda-app, nice status bar update (numeric battery display).

Rom3: Zad
Custom boot animation <3, same lock, Android 2.3.3, same kernel, horrible jellybean app drawer (can't wait to drop ADW over this ugly sucker), astro, market, xda, brut, SU, Titanium, goomanager, cpu master and MerkaMarket (Spanish market?). ADW improves things somewhat.

Rom4: Spanish
Fail to install... maybe one day,

but for now,

 the winner is:

...

Eclipse... only the Zeam version... I never use it (except for in demos), but I like Zeam. :D