UniPod for Android

UniPod for Android

Annoyed at Android media players in general I’ve written my own.  The point?  To be able to play long running audio files like university lectures or audio books.  Available for free in the Apps -> Books and Reference section on Android market (or if you’re technically inclined, download the apk yourself).

Features include:

* no playlist, choose a course and go

* no album art, but you do get large text telling you what you’re listening to

* no shuffle to turn on accidentally

* what you are listening to is automatically updated, so even in the worst case if the app crashes it should restart where you were up to.  But in the best case you can always take up your listening from where you left off

* autoreview – it automatically rewinds

* customise these features as you desire.

* never see your music again!  If you want to just see (eg) lectures, you can filter out your music tracks.

* and more!

Known issues:

* some “application taking too long to respond messages”.  Hard to diagnose.

* this is a player only.  You need to get your media onto your phone first.

Where are the sample ballot papers? (NSW)

Where are the sample ballot papers? (NSW)

The first thing I want at any election is a sample ballot paper so I can think about who should go where.  It is the one thing which nobody ever seems to provide (at the last federal election some third party sites did set some up). The best I can find is a list of candidates, but:

* even that was a hard slog to uncover.

* everything is hidden behind javascript so I can’t give a direct link

* they do not actually give you a list of all the candidates.  Oh no, that would be too easy.  Instead you have to look at each group individually – or you can get a whole list in alphabetical (not group) order –  like that is any help in working out how to vote.

It’s quite deplorable.  Postal voting is much easier in this respect.

Partial solution (alpha by group: doesn’t show ballot ordering there’s 20 minutes of my life I’ll never get back:)

[cut and paste list into a text file, top and tail header]

cat legislativecouncil.txt | cut -f4,1,5 > legcounCut.txt

run this python code on it (see end of post  for script which runs a google search on each of the ungrouped candidates):

#! /usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

FN = "legcounCut.txt"
f = open(FN,'r')
candList = []

for line in f.readlines():
 s = line.split('\t')
 if s[1].strip() =="":
 s[1]="Ungrouped"
 candList.append(s[1]+'\t'+s[2].strip()+'\t'+s[0])

print '\n'.join(candList)

Then:

python process.py | sort

Gives:

A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       BLAIR Niall
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       CLARKE David
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       COLLESS Rick
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       CUSACK Catherine
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       GALLACHER Mike
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       GAY Duncan
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       GESTAKOVSKA Lili
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       HEATH Andy
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       JOHNSTON Sarah
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       LIANG Henson
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       MacDONALD Scot
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       MACLAREN-JONES Natasha
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       PEARCE Greg
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       PHELPS Peter
A       LIBERAL/NATIONALS       TYSON Ben
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY AYSHFORD Dale
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY BARRON Kevin
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY BEVERIDGE Carolyn
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY BEVERIDGE Sirena
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY BISARO Susan
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY BRAID Robert
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY FLEMING John
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY JOHNSON David
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY MATTHEWS Carol
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY MATTHEWS Charles
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY McDONNELL Joyce
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY MORRISEY Louise
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY MORRISEY Michael
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY MORRIS Robert
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY PATTERSON Helen
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY SCHLEE Caroline
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY SEELIN Troy
B       NO PARKING METERS PARTY SHAW John
C               ALLEN Dianne
C               AZZOPARDI Edgar
C               BISHOP Meg
C               BOEHM Darren
C               BROWN Tony
C               CIPOLLONE Peter
C               CORRIGAN Mark
C               FULLER Lindsay
C               GIBSON Chris
C               HATTON John
C               HEAD Julie
C               HUNT Alan
C               KING Mike
C               McINERNEY John
C               NAGY Joe
C               RICHARDS Deborah
C               SCANDRETT Ian
C               STEPHENS John
C               SWAN David
C               WALES Debra
C               WILSON Sandra
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        BEREGSZASZI Janos
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        BEST Ian
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        DESTRY Fay
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        DOLPHIN Robert
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        GABB Lucy
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        HENNESSY Bob
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        KENT Jason
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        KRUSE Virginia
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        LEYONHJELM David
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        NICKOLS Graham
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        PETTETT Angelique
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        PHIBBS John
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        ROSE Jennifer
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        WALSH Martin
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        WHELAN James
D       OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTY        WHELAN Peter
E       SAVE OUR STATE  BENNETT Jennifer
E       SAVE OUR STATE  BUTT Allan
E       SAVE OUR STATE  CAMERON Pat
E       SAVE OUR STATE  FREEMAN Colin
E       SAVE OUR STATE  HADAWAY Barry
E       SAVE OUR STATE  HADAWAY Rosemary
E       SAVE OUR STATE  HOCHMANN Robert
E       SAVE OUR STATE  HOCKING Gordon
E       SAVE OUR STATE  KNOX Hugh
E       SAVE OUR STATE  MEANEY Tony
E       SAVE OUR STATE  MINNS Mary
E       SAVE OUR STATE  POSEN Jean
E       SAVE OUR STATE  RECSEI Tony
E       SAVE OUR STATE  VAN GENNIP Margaretha
E       SAVE OUR STATE  WANGMANN Monica
E       SAVE OUR STATE  WARD John
E       SAVE OUR STATE  WEBBER Ted
E       SAVE OUR STATE  WOOD Tanya
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    BIRD Anita
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    CHAPMAN Devon
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    CRACKNELL Max
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    CROPPER Eddie
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    ELLIS Trisha
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    FALANGA Ula
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    FRASER David
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    FREEMANTLE Graham
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    GREEN Michelle
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    GREEN Paul
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    HANNA Magdi
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    HELMY-KOSTANDY Gamil
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    KWON Soon-Hyung
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    NILE Elaine
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    PEEBLES Robyn
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    SHEPPARD Elwyn
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    SMITH Ian
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    THEW Diana
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    WATSON Bruce
F       CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (FRED NILE GROUP)    YOUNG Graeme
G       FAMILY FIRST    BRETT Gavin
G       FAMILY FIRST    DUNCAN Ken
G       FAMILY FIRST    FLEXMAN Rejieli
G       FAMILY FIRST    GILES Patricia
G       FAMILY FIRST    GORRELL Arnold
G       FAMILY FIRST    GUY Graham
G       FAMILY FIRST    HABASHY Sam
G       FAMILY FIRST    KNOX Nett
G       FAMILY FIRST    KOIVU Wayne
G       FAMILY FIRST    LAMB Phil
G       FAMILY FIRST    MACK Joseph
G       FAMILY FIRST    MENTEITH Richard
G       FAMILY FIRST    MILLARD John
G       FAMILY FIRST    MOYES Gordon
G       FAMILY FIRST    PIGGOTT Nancy
G       FAMILY FIRST    SCOTT Ken
G       FAMILY FIRST    SHAM Grace
G       FAMILY FIRST    SWANE Gregory
G       FAMILY FIRST    TEONG Johnny
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     BRADBURY Natalie
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     COWAN Alexandra
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     DONNELLY Greg
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     FERGUSON Andrew
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     FLETCHER Sue
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     KELLY Tony
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     KNIGHT John
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     KOLOMEITZ Glenn
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     LY Kien
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     MINNS Anna
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     MIRAN Michelle
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     PRIMROSE Peter
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     ROOZENDAAL Eric
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     RUMBLE John
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     SHARPE Penny
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     SIANO Nizza
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     SMOLENSKI Richard
H       LABOR/COUNTRY LABOR     WONG Ernest
I       THE GREENS      BARHAM Jan
I       THE GREENS      BROOKS Melissa
I       THE GREENS      BUCKINGHAM Jeremy
I       THE GREENS      CHIN Leonard
I       THE GREENS      DAVIS Jan
I       THE GREENS      DE LEAU Lesa
I       THE GREENS      HARRIS Chris
I       THE GREENS      HEILPERN Sandra
I       THE GREENS      JEGATHEESWARAN Brami
I       THE GREENS      KOH Jason
I       THE GREENS      LATELLA Terri
I       THE GREENS      LEE Bronislava
I       THE GREENS      MACRAE Joel
I       THE GREENS      MARETT Anne
I       THE GREENS      MASON Brian
I       THE GREENS      MOORE Catherine
I       THE GREENS      PETROLO Anthony
I       THE GREENS      SAVILLE Lynne
I       THE GREENS      SHOEBRIDGE David
I       THE GREENS      SURACE Alex
I       THE GREENS      TYRRELL Pauline
J               ABEL Graham
J               BURSTON Brian
J               CANTWELL John
J               CRONIN Alan
J               DIBSDALE Kenneth
J               ELWELL Sharon
J               FARNSWORTH Ed
J               FREW Andy
J               HANSON Pauline
J               McCULLOCH Kate
J               MULCAHY Stephen
J               PARSONS Michael
J               SECCOMBE David
J               TAYLOR David
J               WALLIS Bev
J               WRIGHT Rosalyn
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      ALMARIO Luis
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      AUSBURN Kate
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      BARSSI Ibrahim
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      BASSI Raul
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      BLEILE Bea
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      BOYLE Peter
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      BUTLER Simon
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      COLEMAN John
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      CUNICH Simon
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      EVANS Rachel
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      FERTL Duroyan
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      FUENTES Federico
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      GEARY Ross
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      HARRISON Patrick
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      HICKSON Jill
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      MOORE Jess
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      O’BRIEN Steve
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      OLAYA Luis
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      PRICE Susan
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      SKIBICKI Stefan
K       SOCIALIST ALLIANCE      TOWNSEND Terry
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    BALK Casey
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    CHESTERFIELD-EVANS Arthur
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    CLIFFORD Pamela
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    ELLIOTT-HALLS Samantha
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    GAROFANI Perry
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    HASTIE Carolyn
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    HAYDON John
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    JOHANSON Georgina
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    LUXFORD Glenn
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    MATERAZZO Mayo
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    McFARLANE Robert
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    MELLAND Julia
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    PATERSON Brett
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    PRENDERGAST Carol
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    ROBINSON David
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    SERPANCHY Jaime
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    VILLAVER Ronaldo
L       AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS    WINTER Dean
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      BAIADA John
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      BROWN Ray
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      CAMMARERI Domenic
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      CHEN Shiyun
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      FARRELL Kieron
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      FRANSEN John
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      GATTONE Ron
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      O’DONNELL Michael
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      PICKETT Robert
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      RIORDAN Maureen
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      SMITH Alan
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      TOMLINSON Liz
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      TROVATO Ross
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      VELLENGA John
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      WALTER Brett
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      WHITE John
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      WILLIAMS Louise
M       BUILDING AUSTRALIA      ZHANG John
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       ADAMS Anthony
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       ADAMS Donna
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       CROSS Maureen
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       GISSELL Barry
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       GISSELL Jody
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       GOODWIN Amanda
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       GRIFFIS Toni
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       KING Yvonne
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       McCABE David
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       RADBURN Amanda
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       SLATER Kelly
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       SLATER Rodney
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       SQUIRES Peter
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       WALFORD Clifford
N       RESTORE THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS PARTY       WILSON Irene
O       THE FISHING PARTY       BILLS Frank
O       THE FISHING PARTY       BOND Russell
O       THE FISHING PARTY       CALLAGHAN Adrian
O       THE FISHING PARTY       DERRICK Paul
O       THE FISHING PARTY       GOODBAR Chris
O       THE FISHING PARTY       HARE Margaret
O       THE FISHING PARTY       HITCHCOCK David
O       THE FISHING PARTY       JOHNSON Kevin
O       THE FISHING PARTY       JOHNSTONE Alison
O       THE FISHING PARTY       JOHNS Vicki
O       THE FISHING PARTY       MACKAY Ted
O       THE FISHING PARTY       McCARTNEY Craig
O       THE FISHING PARTY       O’CONNOR Michael
O       THE FISHING PARTY       PATERSON Stewart
O       THE FISHING PARTY       PHELPS Rowan
O       THE FISHING PARTY       SHEPHERD Deanne
O       THE FISHING PARTY       SIEBER Bob
O       THE FISHING PARTY       SMALL Matthew
O       THE FISHING PARTY       SMITH Bob
O       THE FISHING PARTY       STOCKER Elizabeth
O       THE FISHING PARTY       SUTTON Brian
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    ALLISON Col
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    BAKER Arthur
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    BROWN Robert
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    CASTLE Max
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    CLAPHAM Kath
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    COOK David
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    FEATHERSTONE John
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    HIGGINS Darren
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    HOUSEMAN Karl
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    LEE Steve
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    McGLASHAN Al
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    McMANUS Tony
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    MUIRHEAD Jim
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    NOUJAIM Alain
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    SAUNDERS Peter
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    SHAW Bob
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    SMITH Pauline
P       SHOOTERS AND FISHERS    WAKEM Ron
Ungrouped               BAANSTRA Stuart
Ungrouped               BIGNELL Lindsay
Ungrouped               CAMPBELL Huw
Ungrouped               DOUGLAS Phil
Ungrouped               ESPOSITO June
Ungrouped               FRANCIS Alan
Ungrouped               LIM Danny
Ungrouped               LIU James
Ungrouped               MACDONALD Kyrsty
Ungrouped               MANEFIELD Bruce
Ungrouped               MARTON Darren
Ungrouped               MONTE Frank
Ungrouped               NUTHALL Ramsay
Ungrouped               PEAKE Robert
Ungrouped               SMITH Ben
Ungrouped               STANTON Richard
Ungrouped               STEFANAC Jennifer
Ungrouped               TULLIS John

 

*****

#! /usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import os
import re

FN = "legcounCut.txt"
f = open(FN,'r')
candList = []
googleList = []
google_base = "http://www.google.com/search?q=%22"
google_end = "%22&hl=en&num=100"
 
for line in f.readlines():
 s = line.split('\t')
 if s[1].strip() =="":
 s[1]="Ungrouped"
 ss = s[0].split(' ')
 name = google_base+ss[1]+'+'+ss[0]+google_end
 ffcmd = "firefox --new-tab "+re.escape(name)
 print ffcmd
 os.system(ffcmd) 
 candList.append(s[1]+'\t'+s[2].strip()+'\t'+s[0])
 
print '\n'.join(candList)

Inline those Word Comments with iwc

Inline those Word Comments with iwc

Microsoft Word has a somewhat repugnant feature called “comments”.  The concept of comments is not so bad, but the implementation in Word is definitely annoying.  Why?  Because to read the comments you basically need to be in Word with the document open and either use their awful “bubble” interface to read the comments (where the comments are shown in the margin), hover your pointer over the (nearly imperceptible) comment markers () or open up the comment pane at the bottom.

The upshot is that printing the doc and reading it in a more comfortable setting is a no no. If you *do* print it out, the comments are unhelpfully located right at the end of the document so you need to back-and-forth from the text to the comments.

So I wrote myself a short script to inline those damnable comments (GPLv3).  It requires the command line and is written in Python.  If there is a modicum of interest it wouldn’t be much trouble to write a simple GUI frontend.

The process is:

* using Word, “save as” the document to a .txt file (choose ‘unicode – utf8’ but default should also work)

* python iwc.py -i infile.txt -o outfile.txt

* open up outfile.txt with your favourite editor

Be warned – the quid pro quo for doing this is you lose a lot of your formatting :( Try using Word’s compare to see the markup between the original.doc and outfile.txt to show the comments.

Click here (or the link above) to get the script

Movie Studios are Evil

Movie Studios are Evil

Our littlest son is in tears now over a DVD.

Not having a TV, we don’t buy a lot of DVDs.  However, we do accumulate them through presents (most of which sit unopened on a shelf).  When desperate we can play a DVD on the computer.  Our relatives, not being able to bear the thought of our house being without videos, buy us portable DVD players from time to time.  These work until they’ve been dropped once too often.

We received one recently.  We can’t play one of my son’s DVDs on it now because the DVD is blocked by the player’s region coding.  It would be trivial, if a little time consuming, to rip the thing and reburn it, but part of not having a TV is wanting not to spend my time doing stuff like that (so I don’t).

Region coding has nothing to do with preventing infringement.  It is all about prohibiting the playing of legitimately purchased content. And breaking kids’ hearts.

So, there you have it, they’re evil.

As an aside, I was trying to think of some way of expressing my outrage in the title to this post.  However, I soon realised that popular opinion of them is so poor that it is not possible to demonise the studios in the popular psyche, so I just stated the obvious.