Ran in to this the other day. The bootstrap script and the config.status file that’s created on ./configure contains dos ^M chars which cause the bootstrap and config to fail before building. A quick workaround:

dos2unix bootstrap ./bootstrap ./configure #this will fail
dos2unix config.status ./config.status
make
sudo make install 

I’m guessing someone with check-in access to the source runs a windows machine?

Update: it is actually just easier to install the MacPorts version then my steps above. Don’t know why I didn’t check the repository first!

Update2: the MacPorts version actually doesn’t include the mp4 encoding options?!? Stick with compiling it yourself.

For some background, Google just bought DoubleClick for $3.1Bil. They were in a bidding war with Microsoft and AT&T for the online advertising company and it was expected to sell for around $2Bil. Google basically just upped the bidding 50% over value to ensure their getting the company. Obviously, Microsoft and AT&T didn’t like this practice.

From toptechnews.com

Google’s one-two-three punch might be too much for the competition’s tastes. Some industry watchers expect Microsoft and AT&T, which were also vying for DoubleClick, to ask the Department of Justice to scrutinize the Google-DoubleClick deal in an antitrust probe.

Am I the only one that finds this funny? Two companies that were actually found to be monopolies by the U.S. Government complaining that Google is a monopoly. I understand this is a new AT&T but the front page of their website states “AT&T, BellSouth, and Cingular are joining together to form AT&T Unity.” Seems like the old Ma Bell is back.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t actually believe Google follows their motto “Don’t be evil” but I do believe they’re smarter about it. They’re actually doing some pretty cool things in their labs and are well respected in the CS community. Sounds like the old guard doesn’t like it very much.

I’m a fan of the This Week in Science (TWiS) podcast. However, there are only two ways to get it: an iTunes feed and an email. In the email contains a link to a feedburner mp3 file. Why in the world they don’t simply have an RSS feed is beyond me.

The nice thing about this little hack is we’re just linking to the content, not actually redistributing it (similar to linking on a webpage), so it should avoid most copyright issues.

The script I have in mind should be simple:

1. Procmail forwards the weekly email to a script
2. The script parses out the mp3 link and updates an RSS XML file on the server

That’s it folks. Anyone should be able to subscribe. I’ll post the code and a link to my working version on both my blog and the TWiS forums when finished.

Download

• podcast.sh
• example crontab

Requirements

• MPlayer (with codecs)
• Bash
• Perl
• Cron

Description

There are some radio programs that I would like to have as podcasts on my commute. Not all of these are available as podcasts but all are on the air and on internet streaming radio. After looking around the internet, there doesn’t seem to be much available. This Linux Journal article came really close, so I used that as a basis for my script. StreamRipper did not meet my needs since not all streams are mp3 based and it doesn’t play nice with cron.

This script is able to:

• Record multiple streams simultaneously
• Transcode those streams to mp3
• Maintain an RSS 2.0 XML file

I modified the Linux Journal script to work on a shared host (Dreamhost, but any with a shell should work.) It was a pretty simple and all the credit should go to the original authors.

Just a quick tip. This was driving me crazy and it doesn’t seem to be answered anywhere on the web. Even worse, there is some mis-information saying you need to use iMovie, etc.

To have multiple songs in a slideshow in iPhoto, just select an iTunes playlist instead of an individual song. You may have to create a new custom playlist in iTunes, but it works flawlessly without resorting to a lot of importing and exporting.

I’d like to pose a question to my 6+ readers out there:

Do you set aside time from your hectic schedule for hacking personal projects?

I think it is important to write code for yourself in addition to your job. Problem is most of our schedules do not allow for tons of personal time and the free time you do get must be divided in to things like reading, recreation, hacking, etc. So hacking as a hobby as an adult needs to be more organized than in college.

Do people have tips for maximizing time spent coding? For me personally, I get lots of good ideas for software I’d like to see which makes it hard to stay focused on any one project. As a result I end up half completing them. The trick is to write those ideas down somewhere and pick them off the list one at a time. I’ll probably start maintaining that list on this site to collect my thoughts.

The other idea is to really set aside time for personal coding. Sometimes I’ll be solving problems at work all day that I continue to work on those same problems in to the evening. As a result, my personal projects suffer. I’ve made it a habit to try and set aside at least an hour a day for personal coding. It really isn’t that hard to do if you actually schedule it like anything else.