By @edent · tv · 2 comments · 2,100 words · read ~218 times.
After watching the BBC comedy series The Cleaner staring Greg Davies, I was surprised to learn that it was actually a remake of a German comedy series called Der Tatortreiniger1. I don't think I've ever seen a German sitcom before, so I found the US DVDs (which is the only way to watch it with […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 200 words
What if the heroine in a Jane Austen novel had visions of the future and the past? That's the rather compelling premise of Time Squared. But, ultimately, it doesn't really fulfil the promise. It starts as a fairly standard regency-style novel - which of the two dashing brothers will our orphaned heroine marry?!? Our protagonist […]
Continue reading →By @edent · history language · 7 comments · 650 words · read ~772 times.
It's one of those pithy little quotes which reveals so much about our two cultures. The average Briton considers anything more than a 45 minute trip a bit of a schelp, whereas Americans will seemingly drive half a day just to get some ribs from that one place they like. Conversely, I went to school […]
Continue reading →By @edent · 0f0 f00 HTML5 notemail · 3 comments · 300 words · read ~152 times.
In web-development circles, it is a well-known fact that trying to validate an email using a regular expression is… complex. The full set of modern email standards allows for such wonderful addresses as: chief.o'brien+ds9@spásárthach.भारत So determining whether or not your user has entered a valid email address becomes an ever-increasing challenge. But what if you […]
Continue reading →By @edent · mastodon MastodonAPI python · 3 comments · 1,150 words · read ~2,796 times.
I wrote a moderately popular post on Mastodon. Lots of people shared it. Is it possible to find out how many different ActivityPub servers it went to? Yes! As we all know, the Fediverse is one big chain mail. I don't mean that in a derogatory way. When I write a post, it appears on […]
Continue reading →By @edent · tools · 5 comments · 750 words · read ~340 times.
When I was seven or eight, I asked Santa to bring me a set of screwdrivers for Christmas. I wanted to take apart my toys to see how they worked1. I also thought they might be useful on our upcoming holiday; if the aeroplane needed repairing mid-flight I'd be able to help2! Santa heard my […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review Sci Fi · 3 comments · 400 words
Everyone smokes in the future. It is such an obvious truism that sci-fi writers can predict faster-than-light travel, yet fail to see that manly men won't be smoking pipes on board their spaceships. Someone recommended that I read "Autofac" which is the sci-fi version of "The Magic Porridge Pot". But the story was surprisingly hard […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review technology · 450 words · read ~193 times.
I was saddened to hear of Kris Nóva's untimely death a few weeks ago. I had her book "Hacking Capitalism" on my eReader for several months, but hadn't got around to reading it yet. Never put these things off. The book is a complicated but fitting legacy. It absolutely showcases Nóva's ideas, ideals, and potential. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · books bugs google · 3 comments · 300 words · read ~113 times.
Google Books is one of many projects that Google has forgotten about. There's no support available and, of course, it's impossible to send them a bug report. The best anyone can do is write a ranty blog post and hope it gets noticed. When I search for my name in Google Books, it returns books […]
Continue reading →By @edent · bluetooth HowTo windows · 1 comment · 200 words · read ~374 times.
Here's the problem: the current Bluetooth spec doesn't allow high-quality audio to be sent to a headset when it is also sending audio from the microphone. Instead, it switches to the Hands Free Profile (HFP) which only streams low quality mono sound. It makes Teams calls sound like garbage. The usual solution in Google Meet, […]
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