michaelwyres.com.au | musings of a geek

No Screwing With My Colours Google!

After seeing a few mutterings on Twitter in regards to Google changing the colours on the various calendars people have set up in Google Calendar, I thought I’d check my own.

Yup. New colours. Completely different to my old settings.

And you know, it is great to have more colour choices – (previously there were only about 10) – as the colours make it easy to categorise calendar entries.

But seriously Google – don’t just change them! The colours I chose for my particular calendars have particular meanings.

When I see green, I know an appointment is work related – I didn’t see any green this morning. Fortunately I had nothing calendarised for today – but I didn’t see any green for tomorrow either, and there is work stuff there – and I might not have seen it if I’d not seen the colour changes.

Not the end of the world – and not difficult to change back – but not a great way to endear people to your changes either!

Holy Levitation Batman!

I was just pointed towards this really cool video about quantum levitation.

The possibilities for transportation systems alone are mind boggling.

Awesomesauce.

Bathurst and Advertising – Again

At this time every year, we hear people moaning about how much advertising is shown during the annual Bathurst 1000 motor race, with “they show too many ads” being the common catch cry.

Long time readers of this blog may remember the analysis I’ve done over the years in regards to just how much advertising the Seven Network actually do show during the race – culminating in this article after last year’s race.

Read over that article to understand that the difference between the current amount of advertising is not particularly different to the traditional amount of advertising shown during the race.

Until this year, the average segment length across pre-1997 Channel Seven broadcasts, race-to-race was 707 seconds, or 11 minutes and 47 seconds; the average segment length across Channel Ten broadcasts, race-to-race between 1997 and 2006 was 721 seconds, or 12 minutes and 1 second; and the average segment length across post-2006 Channel Seven telecasts race-to-race was 694 seconds, or 11 minutes and 34 seconds.

The 28 segment lengths for this years broadcast were: 17:24, 8:25, 8:56, 7:12, 9:51, 10:29, 4:49, 5:13, 5:09, 12:21, 8:24, 8:05, 15:13, 6:33, 8:19, 9:51, 20:44, 3:38, 13:00, 4:28, 13:34, 9:15, 10:54, 16:49, 4:07, 18:55, 3:14, and 32:04, which is an average of 10 minutes and 36 seconds per segment, a little down on the average.

If only the second to last, and last segments were combined – only a slight change, and creating a 39:18 minute segment once you add the commercial break between them – the average would have lifted to 11 minutes and 8 seconds.

Very little change makes a big difference to the average. Most of the really short segments – (4 minutes or less) – coincided with safety car interludes, where nothing was happening, and Seven took a chance to save up some airtime for green flag running.

There are specific legal limits as to how much advertising they can show, and I’m quite sure they didn’t exceed them.

In 2011, the race ran for 6 hours, 26 minutes, and 52 seconds – 14 minutes more than the 2010 race, when the average segment length was 11 minute and 18 seconds. Both races were broadcast over 28 segments.

In 2010, we saw 18984 seconds of coverage. In 2011 – a longer race – we saw 17816 seconds of coverage.

Of course, in 2010 we saw Channel Seven time slip the coverage by about one extra minute at every commercial break allowing more of the race to be shown. It was controversial, and the broadcasting laws were changed to prevent it from happening again.

Overall, there was a little more advertising in 2011, but the segment lengths themselves weren’t all that different statistically. It’s just without the time slipping going on, we got to see less race, even though the race itself was longer.

What the 2011 coverage proves – given that we saw less on air time, over a longer race – was that in 2010, Seven’s claim that they slipped the race to show more of it is absolutely true. On average the segments were about 45 seconds shorter in 2011.

People demanded that the race was truly “live” – and this was the result.

The biggest problem is that nowadays, with services like Twitter becoming mainstream, people have become impatient, and expect instant and complete coverage of everything.

In a commercial world, where Channel Seven have to pay for the massive undertaking that is the annual Bathurst broadcast, instant and complete just isn’t possible.

If you want instant and complete, go to the race.

(DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely no affiliation with the Seven Network, nor any other media company. As a long-time devotee of motor racing, I have chosen to use the information available from my library of motor racing vision to illustrate what appears to be the case.)

Setting Your iOS5 Device Up For Wireless Sync

So, you’ve managed to update your iDevice to the newly released iOS5 – hopefully you didn’t have the problems that some have had.

Now that you’ve done it, how do you setup one of the coolest new features – wireless iTunes synchronisation? You’ll never need to connect up your device to your computer with a cable ever again.

Well, you will at least one more time!

The first thing to do is to connect your device with your Apple cable to the computer you normally sync with. Once iTunes finds your device, go to its summary page and make sure that “Sync with this [iDevice] over Wi-Fi” is ticked, like so:

Click “Apply”, and do a normal sync to save this new setting to the device itself.

Now, disconnect the device – and you may never need to connect it by cable again. Make sure your device is connected to your wireless network.

Go into your “Settings” app, and under “General” go to “iTunes Wi-Fi Sync”, like so:

Once inside you can click the “Sync Now” button – watch what happens in iTunes on your computer. Your device will also sync automatically whenever you plug it into your charger, and you can tell it to sync from within iTunes on your computer, and it will find your phone on the network.

Pure magic – and about time!

Apple Search Engine?

Okay.

Right from the start, I’ll put my hand up and say that this has all been speculated before, and that I don’t have any REAL lead on this, but is Apple seeking to launch its own search engine to compete with Google and Bing?

The simple answer is “who the hell knows?”

However, over the weekend I noticed some interesting activity in the logs for this website, with the apparent repeated polling of it from a single IP address over the last couple of weeks.

Now, I’ve blanked out the complete IP address for privacy’s sake, but the 17.x.x.x range from which this polling came from belongs to Apple themselves.

Notice that the polling is quite regular – every 20 minutes. They’ve only hit the main page, and nothing below, so maybe whatever it is about is just in testing.

Or it’s about nothing at all.

Every 20 minutes does seem a really small interval. Yahoo – (who crawl my site far more often than even Google) – doesn’t usually come by anything more than a few times a day.

Given the pendulous regularity, it does look like some kind of robot activity. I’ve not had an Apple related article on my front page for quite a long time.

It might mean something – though it probably means nothing. It’s just curious.

Anyone else seen similar activity?

How America Consumed Our Great Race

The motor sport world is still buzzing in the aftermath of the 2011 Bathurst 1000 – and for the first time ever, the race was broadcast live and in full to the United States in Saturday night prime time.

So, how did the race look to the US audience? Here’s the start and first two laps as shown on Speed – complete with a traditional “boogity boogity boogity” from Darrell Waltrip:

And how did it look in comparison to our domestic coverage on the Seven Network? Here’s a comparison between the coverage of the most dramatic incident in the race – (David Besnard’s massive crash and fire) – between Seven and Speed:

One of the main differences – (apart from different commentary, of course) – is the lack of the race management radio channel in the audio of the US version.

Judging by the response from US viewers on Twitter during the race, many of them are now hooked on the series, and waiting for the next event from the Gold Coast in two weeks.

Of course, in 2013 there will be a V8 Supercar event at the new Circuit of the Americas at Austin, Texas.

After yesterday’s astounding finish, I think we’ve just guaranteed them a big crowd!

Waltrip: Bathurst A “Geological Oddity”

NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip made the long trip to Mount Panorama for our greatest race, the Bathurst 1000. Along with Mike Joy, Calvin Fish, and expat Aussie Leigh Diffey, Waltrip came to sample the race while sending the live broadcast back to the US via Speed TV.

Being the welcoming type that us Australians are, we had to gently introduce Waltrip to our circuit, and our cars – with hilarious results:

It was television gold, and DW seemed genuinely stunned by the experience.

More importantly, Waltrip, Joy and Fish have fallen in love with the place and the event – and I’m sure that they’ll be back next year.

They’ll be very welcome.

Wood and Johnson: Separated At Birth?

Racing driver Dale Wood and Geelong AFL player Steve Johnson could well have been separated at birth.

Click for a larger view:

You be the judge!

NBN: No Evidence of Trial Site Favours

Ever since the National Broadband Network (NBN) became the catalyst for the formation of current government, with parliamentary support from independent members Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott getting the ALP over the line, there have been accusations that trial sites for the network were chosen on political grounds.

Certainly, it is curious that one of the early sites is in Armidale – in Windsor’s electorate of New England – so there may have been some “thought” put into the selection of this and other sites, as another of the sites is in Townsville, in the electorate of another federal independent, Bob Katter, who chose to side with the opposition in parliament.

Curiouser.

It is however important to realise that these sites were chosen months before the 2010 election, so while their location might have been selected in anticipation of a close election, the government could not have known just how the election would finally have been decided.

The Fairfax press has today run an interesting article in regards to a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request for documentation regarding the selection of these sites, and it found no evidence of anything to suggest that the sites were chosen for any other reason than operational ones.

“The company has been accused of selecting trial sites that would give the Labor government a political advantage, particularly late last year when independent MP Tony Windsor cited the NBN as a reason for supporting the Gillard government. The Armidale test site lies within Mr Windsor’s electorate.”

“However, the internal planning documents show sites were chosen for their engineering, telecommunications, geographic and geological conditions and to test aerial and underground roll-out techniques.”

Of course, it depends on whether or not you believe the documents, but given the calibre of the people charged with building and operating this network, it seems their release casts a shadow over claims of political interference.

Never say never, but as anyone involved in the delivery of major projects can tell you, you can’t shift goal posts too much and still remain on track.

There may have been a list of preferred areas from which the sites were chosen, but the final selections were apparently made on operational issues.

The article also seems to be trying to suggest that the electorate of opposition communications spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull was perhaps overlooked due to Turnbull’s opposition to the NBN.

Of course, the sites were chosen before he assumed the role.

NBN Co is due to release its initial three-year rollout plan for the main network build shortly.

Dodgy Fuel or Dodgy Wheel Arches?

With the latest chapter in the history of the Bathurst 1000 due to be written this coming weekend, I thought I would take a moment to look back at probably the most controversial incident in the history of the race – the post-race disqualification of the Eggenberger Texaco Ford Sierras that finished first and second in 1987.

There has always been some confusion amongst many as to the exact reason they were rubbed out of the results – was it dodgy fuel, or dodgy wheel arches?

Here is a short snippet of Neil Crompton revealing to the television audience of the suspicion of illegal fuel running in the black Sierras:

I was at the 1987 race – (getting very wet) – and my memory of the cars were that they did sound different to every other Sierra on the circuit that day. That doesn’t mean they were doing something under the desk, but something was certainly different about them.

As it turned out, a CSIRO lab in Melbourne cleared the fuel samples on the Monday or Tuesday after the race. While the fuel was found to be “different” to that which should have only come from the official fuel supply at the circuit, it was deemed to still be within the regulations.

There were rumours of “tanks inside tanks” adding something to the fuel while the car was running, but stuff like that was never substantiated.

The real reason the cars were rubbed out – (and it took nine months of protests, and counter protests) – was for illegally modified wheel arches, which allowed for larger wheels and tyres to be fitted to the cars.

Take a look at these two pictures from the 1987 Great Race Yearbook – (click for larger version) – of one of the Texaco cars alongside an Australian-built DJR Shell Sierra in the scrutineering bay on the Tuesday before the race. They SHOULD be the same as each other.

In particular, note that on the black Texaco Eggenberger car, the top of the wheel arch meets the crease in the quarter panel, yet on the red Shell car, there is clearly a gap between the top of the wheel arch, and the crease in the panel.

Clearly different.

Also note that the wheels – (and see that both cars are fitted with the BBS rims that were common at the time) – on the Texaco car are clearly of different dimensions, and that the tyre is more “signficant” than on the DJR car.

That’s what tripped them up, and lost driver Klaus Ludwig and Klaus Niedwiedz the World Touring Car Championship – the points they lost from the disqualification were enough to hand the title to BMW’s Roberto Ravaglia.

Had they kept the points, Ludwig and Niedzwiedz would have finished equal on points, and ahead of Ravaglia.

Shall we say, lets hope for a less controversial finish this weekend!