Four Star Video has launched a subscription plan called KenFlix, and it appears NetFlix is about to lose the important Bernal Heights demographic.

The deal: $20/month for unlimited rentals, one out at a time.
Advantages of KenFlix: No waiting for DVDs to arrive in the mail. Video nerds can get 30 rentals a month if they go to 4star every day..
Disadvantages of KenFlix: 4star DVDs usually play in my player, unlike Netflix discs, which usually start to skip about half way through. This means whenever we pick a bad movie, we’ll actually have to watch the whole thing.

Filed under: 4star, bernal, kenflix, san francisco, video · 5 Comments

Here is how I compiled FlowPlayer on Hardy:

sudo apt-get install ant
sudo apt-get install java-gcj-compat-dev
#without java-gcj-compat-dev, ant throws this error: Unable to locate tools.jar. Expected to find it in /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.2-1.5.0.0/lib/tools.jar
 
sudo apt-get install mtasc
 
#need old version of swfmill; version in repo is 0.2.12
wget http://swfmill.org/releases/swfmill-0.2.11.tar.gz
tar xvzf swfmill-0.2.11.tar.gz
cd swfmill-0.2.11
./configure
make
#install in /usr/local/bin
sudo make install
 
cd ..
wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/flowplayer/flowplayer-2.2-src.zip
unzip flowplayer-2.2-src.zip
cd flowplayer-src
emacs build.properties #edit DEPLOY_DIR
ant

Filed under: code code, commandline, flowplayer, video · 0 Comments

Buenos Noches from Buenos Aires!, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

-Bob

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Cafe Tortoni!, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

A traditional breakfast of donuts (churros) with a submarino(a bar of
chocolate dunked in a glass of hot milk) here in Buenos Aires’ oldest
cafe.

Filed under: Uncategorized · 2 Comments

At the legion honor last nt, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

may

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Tonight’s sunset from mccabe and saz back yard, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

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“the best way to stay updated with the design encyclopedia is through our ass”

design rule #1: choose a font that doesn’t make you look like ass.

Filed under: design · 2 Comments

Chapek the robot cocktail maker, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

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Raj and the bot-alizer, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

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Lego saki robot, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

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Chassis the drink serving robot, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

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Da drinky robots are comin to us! :-)

What could be better in life than robots and cocktails? Well, nothing! Roboexotica is the premier cocktail making robot event which happens in Vienna each year. This week it comes to San Francisco. Join us for good music, cocktails, and robots that pour you drinks, insult you, and test your BAC….

Sat. May 10th 8pm-2am
Space, 354 5th St. San Francisco, CA

Filed under: drinkyrobots, tiki lifestyle, upcoming · 0 Comments

EFF Press Release:

FBI Withdraws Unconstitutional National Security Letter After ACLU and EFF Challenge

Gag Order Lifted on Internet Archive, Allowing Founder to Speak Out for First Time

San Francisco – The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive’s founder to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand.

“The free flow of information is at the heart of every library’s work. That’s why Congress passed a law limiting the FBI’s power to issue NSLs to America’s libraries,” said Brewster Kahle, founder and Digital Librarian of the Internet Archive. “While it’s never easy standing up to the government — particularly when I was barred from discussing it with anyone — I knew I had to challenge something that was clearly wrong. I’m grateful that I am able now to talk about what happened to me, so that other libraries can learn how they can fight back from these overreaching demands.”

• EFF’s overview of the Internet Archive, et al v Mukasey et al case, with links to partially-redacted NSL and other court documents
• ACLU’s overview of Internet Archive, et al v Mukasey et al and background on National Security Letters
• Full EFF/ACLU Press Release

Filed under: aclu, archive, eff, library, nsl · 0 Comments

Chianti by bike!, originally uploaded by tiki.robot.

Filed under: Uncategorized · 1 Comment

I usually get terrible customer service. Especially when I buy products from companies that I’ve worked at for 5+ years. Stupid Apple.

But lately we’ve had a couple really great customer service experiences. First, we broke our Wii playing too much Super Smash Brothers. Apparently, the GPU overheats(?) when you play too much, or when you play too much over wifi, or something. This caused our Wii to always show flickering black vertical lines. I called up Nintendo on a Sunday, explained the problem, and after 18.5 minutes on the phone, they said I would have to send it in for repair. They emailed me a FedEx ship label, which I printed out. I sent the Wii in on a Tuesday, and a fixed one arrived today, just three days later!

Even better was our experience with Philips. The charger to our awesome Sonicare toothbrush stopped working. Jess called up Philips, spent a couple minutes on the phone, and about a week later, an entire new toothbrush and charger arrived. YAY!

Filed under: sonicare, support, wii · 0 Comments