How to remote control your music collection from your PDA, laptop, meedio etc…

To be able to control my music collection from all the devices in my house I have set up NetRemote. It works very well towards J. River Media Center that I use to manage my music collection. In addition to this, there is a J River Plugin for Meedio, so my TV Screen will always be updated with what I am playing, and I can always change music with the remote in my living room.

To the right you can see the remote I use most of the time. My good old HP Jornada PDA. It has been upgraded with a WLAN CF-Card and works very well.

I am running the client on my laptop, my desktops and the touch screen in the kitchen. All the screens updates live if I change music from one of the devices.

Touch Screen Netremote

And, last but not least – Meedio, controlled by a Snapstream Firefly remote from the couch.

To make the point clear: I use NetRemote to control what is playing in my living room. In our flat the living room is the hub of the home, so it actually makes sense to control the music playing there from my laptop sitting at the balcony or while making food in the kitchen.

Still, the main functionallity is the ability to control my music collection without having to turn on the television screen.

When I want to listen to music in another room or at a completely different location I use Slimserver to recompress, stream and control the music at that location.

How to remote control your music collection from your PDA, laptop, meedio etc…

Experimenting with automatic email notifications

Using a plugin called subscribe 2 I have set up a system that lets my readers subscribe to automatic email notifications.

Not everybody are using RSS yet, so for the people that want another way to get notifications this system seems good.

I have only found one bug, and that is not a bug in the plugin, but a bug in WordPress. If you post by mail or by using software like w.Bloggar people will not get a notification.

You can register for automatic updates from eirikso.com here.

Experimenting with automatic email notifications

Kite update

It has been a memorable weekend and here are some pictures of the norwegian winter at its best.

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1. Anarkistix checking da weather.
2. The bus on its way to the kite spot

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Da instructor and da lunch.

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1. The road over Hardangervidden is spectacular. If you at any point plan to drive from Bergen to Oslo or Oslo to Bergen, then try this road. It is the most scenic route between these cities.
2. Myself beeing nice to the group carrying 5 kites in a slighly large backback.

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1. Da kite in da air
2. Da bus driver

You find a related post here.

Kite update

DialUp in the US

Last year I was travelling in the US all of january, and needed a dial up connection to the internet. I was not ready to buy a plan at a local host that needed subscription or a monthly fee. I just wanted a host that covered all of the US with local numbers and the ability to pay for an amount of time without registering with an american adress etc..

I ended up using BudgetDialup. And, because I do not bother to scan through all the different companies again, I post it here. Mostly as a reference for myself. For anyone else looking for a easy way to get access to the internet through a dialup connection while in the US, I can recommend Budget. They worked fine and acceptet my norwegian credit card.

DialUp in the US

Snowkiting at Hardangervidden

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Click on the pictures for a larger version.

Basic training this weekend. Not very windy, but fantastic weather. I have never tried this before. After one day of training I must admit that this is seriously fun! And we haven’t even tried with our skis on yet…

And for the people that want to take a little tour of some very nice pictures, here is some pictures from a friend of mine, Anarkistix:
– – Anarkistix Kite Photo Gallery – –

Snowkiting at Hardangervidden

How to create a random banner in WordPress

Update:
At the bottom of this page you can find a simpler solution to this question.

Update2:
I have currently removed the random banner from my design. Not because it didn’t work well, but because I wanted a simpler design.

As you might have noticed, the banner at the top of this site changes as you navigate the site. To implement this in WordPress is quite simple.

You need this plugin:
Random Banner
Random banner how to install

And a couple of banners. I made mine with a template I made in Photoshop. You can download my template here:
Template to edit the default banner in WordPress

Or you can make a couple of banners using this tool:
flickr-to-WP-banner

When you have set up Random Banner and made some top banners, place them in the random banner folder as noted in the instructions for the plugin.

Activate the Random Banner plugin.

Now you need to edit line number 27 in “header.php” for your current theme. You should replace the existing line 27 with this one:
#header { background: url("") no-repeat bottom center; }

NOTE: I have not bothered to install a plugin that lets me print pure PHP-code on my page, so you can not copy line 27 directly from here. You need to delete the space between < and ? before "php random_banner…"

…and off you go!

You can read about my current banners here.

How to create a random banner in WordPress

WordPress 1.5 so far

I switched from MovableType 3.14 to WordPress 1.5 a couple of weeks ago. I actually paid for a license of MT, but still I was tempted to try WordPress. Both because DreamHost offer One-Click install of WP and because I never really felt like home in PERL-based MovableType. Its like a friend of mine, Trond Isaksen says “PERL is 20% programming and 80% Magic”. Well, Trond is a wizard, and masters PERL perfectly well. I am not a wizard. I am not even a programmer. I have done my share of basic, assembly, pascal and C, but I am not a programmer.

And what do I feel about the switch? I feel good! I feel that I have much more control of what is happening now by using WordPress. I have even done some modifications and can conclude that PHP is not so much about magic. It is actually possible to understand.

Plugins like BAStats, Exhibit and the rest of the stuff from Owen Winkler alone makes it very difficult to choose another publishing tool.

BAStats gives you nice and accurate trafic data right in your WordPress administration GUI.

©2005

Exhibit gives you an excellent tool to upload and manage pictures in your blog. Also directly from your WordPress administration GUI.

The fact that WordPress actually is free makes the world a better place to live. So, if we could get world peace and no hunger then we are all set. 😉

A friend of mine, Øystein has set up a good starting point for people that want to try out WordPress: Customize wordpress.

WordPress 1.5 so far

An update on BotCheck for WordPress 1.5

It seems like I wasn’t that stupid after all:

Thanks to Eirikso for catching a mistake in the new install instructions for Bot-Check in WordPress 1.5. The old instructions have you remove an if statment that checks for a logged in user. A new download has been put up with correct install instructions.

To fix:

Add

Right before the line

Logged in as …

So, now I am up and running with the latest version of BotCheck and can recommend this little plugin for everyone running WordPress 1.5!

Related post:
BotCheck for WordPress 1.5

An update on BotCheck for WordPress 1.5

Make your own mustard with chili and honey

(You can find this article in Norwegian here.)

Today I made a new batch of our favourite mustard. And why not snap some pictures while I make it an share the recipe? Well, I did:

©2005 ©2005

2 tbsp mustard powder
2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tbsp brown mustard seeds
2 tbsp water
6 dried red chilies

2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil

Run the mustard seeds and chilies in a grinder. Add the mustard powder. Add the water and mix into a dry mixture. Let it stand for 10 minutes, developing the mustard tastes.

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Add salt, honey, vinegar and olive oil. Run in a blender. Keep in the refrigerator for years. The taste will change and after a while it will be much more smooth than in the beginning. Still, this mustard will keep tasty and interesting for a long time.

©2005 ©2005

If you want to be completely without any compromises when you make this mustard make sure that the honey is pure Devon honey from England or the best Acacia Honey from France. The salt should be sea salt from Maldon in England or Aigues-Mortes in France. The olive oil should be fresh extra virgin from Italy. Selvapiana 2004 is an exeptional oil.

Make your own mustard with chili and honey