Review – Prodigy 3D Black 3D Media Player

The Samsung 3D PS50C680 is a very good TV but misses on some features of being a fully smart TV though it is a Series 6 TV. I have searched quite a few websites for information on how to change the FW and get it upgraded with a similar model C700 or something but haven’t found confirmed results. Again, there is a huge risk of bricking the TV so I am a bit hesitant at this point in time to take such a risk. So the next move was to get a small smart media player or IPTV box which provides me with the smart capabilities. After going through a lot of dilemma on whether buying a Boxee box or IOMega TV, I settled on Prodigy 3D black because of only 3 reasons:

– It was cheaper by 200 SEK compared to Boxee box or IOMega TV
– It boasted of more features then the other two
– It was featuring itself as the first 3D media player and it had Android enabled

When I went through the box it had a lot of nice pictures and a lot of stuff written on it. Of course I didn’t like the remote that was shown, but I thought that the features listed could overcome that defect. I read the HW description and was not that impressed by the stuff in there. It has a Via 600MHz processor with 750MB of RAM which didn’t impress me as much. And the reviews on other websites besides the prodigy ones were not that impressive either.

But I took my changes and got the Prodigy black. And now starts my rant on how stupid and senseless that product is. I took it out of the box and was not impressed by the size at all. I plugged it into the TV with the HDMI port and started it up. The startup was painstakingly slow. But expecting something better, I was still a little enthusiastic. Fired up settings and connected it to my WiFi. It connected properly but there was no support for automatic data-time sync. They have that function executed at startup before connecting to the internet. On the UI, there was no feasible way of changing the dates.

Anyways, I continued to the Youtube widget to play some songs. It was painstakingly slow to type in with the onscreen keyboard and the stupid remote. I got a listing of videos and selected one of them. To my surprise I got a brief message that the video could not be loaded and it skipped to the next one in the search list. After skipping about 5 of the videos, it played one. I restarted the unit and tried again with the same results. This was the first blow I had on the device’s capabilities. I tried with a 3D movie which ran like shit. I tried to bring up Android and it ran once every 5 launches.

I then tried to upgrade the FW and it busted 2 of my USB sticks before taking in the FW from the 3rd one. This was the final blow that pissed me off. So after my close brush-up with a stupid product that was not even worth 100 SEK (I think the byteonnet of 100SEK is much better than this stupid black box which cannot even stream properly). The next thing I did was pack it up and give it back to the shop. The shop guy was not surprised since all the boxes that he had sold ended up being returned. I trust a Chinese guy more on alibaba than the extreme prodigy boxes.

So my final advice to anybody who is looking for a smart media player, DON’T BUY ONE! I would much better go for an HTPC or an EEBOX or something like that including a Linux based IPTV player which is much better than the media players.

Enough of my rant and I have taken out my frustration so “Peace out”…

Configure “Delegate” as a Forward Proxy

Delegate is a very simple and nice proxy which can be configured into many different kind of proxies depending on the use-case you are trying to implement. Best of all, it is open source i.e. free and works across various operating systems including our most hated Microsoft Windows platforms. But before I start to write out on the solution, I will write a bit about the problem I was trying to solve.

As you probably know from this article, my company has implemented a simple but stupid form of authentication i.e. HTTP Basic Authentication, for accessing the internet from behind company servers. The problem with that are manifolds when considering security like transmissions of username:password combination using only a Base64 encoding in request headers, etc. But the biggest problem as a legit user is the browsers popping up an “Enter your username and password” dialog everytime a new browser instance is opened. And all other programs which do not support HTTP Basic authentication or which only supported connection with a proxy did not work. The good part was that browsers were able to save the username password combination and all you had to do was press “ENTER” when such a box showed up. Of course when I changed my login password, it was a real mess.

Also my ubuntu running in Virtual Box was not able to access the internet. A simple solution in ubuntu was to explicitly set the http_proxy environment variable to http://username:password@proxy-server-address:port/ the problem with that being that your password should not have an “@” symbol. As you probably have guessed, I use secure passwords and do have a lot of weird characters in my password including “@” symbols. So that trick does not work for me. Hence I modified the cntlm proxy to support HTTP Basic authentication. This of course did not work with Windows since I have to re-compile and use the totally messy cygwin libraries. Besides taking a lot of space on my windows system, it also creates problems with my mingw installation. Anyways, so I lived in Windows with the stupid pop-ups but my Linux VM was working great.

 

All was well when our IT department suddenly thought that they would still use the HTTP Basic authentication but instead of asking that as a HTTP AUTH request in the http request header, they will simply ask it through a web interface (Smart eh! :P). Now instead of getting a browser based popup, I used to get an ASP page which asked for my username and after clicking submit, it took me to another ASP page which asked for password. After entering both of them, I was allowed to browse. I guess they have a cookie stored in my browser and the authentication or proxy server is now adding my HTTP AUTH credentials based on the cookie stored. Well, I don’t know why people implement systems which are pain in the ass. I haven’t checked out but I am pretty sure that the cookie stores my credentials without any encryption (whoops!) or for a better sake I maybe wrong.

In any case, I was so tired of doing this just for 3 days, that I decided to see if I can install a local proxy and bypass the stupid authentication process. I positively did not want to use Apache for it since it is huge, messy and too complex for such a task. So I thought of using either nginx or Delegate. nginx started out pretty fine but since I cannot deactivate caching, I was not able to put in the proper configuration. So I switched over to Delegate and voila, no more pain in the ass entering username password stuff on two different ASP pages every morning/with every browser. I also do not need to change any settings in any programs when I change my password, etc. It took me a bit of time to do this since there is virtually no information on how to setup Delegate as a forwarding proxy, I thought maybe I can share my experiences with you.

 

So enough of bla-bla, lets get on with the (not) dirty work. First of all, download the latest Delegate server from the site. I use version 9.9.7, so if things don’t work out for you, try with this version. Extract the zip file to your root folder inside Delegate directory. Goto the bin directory and create a new batch file. Write the following in there:

dg9_9_7.exe -Plocalhost:80/udp SERVER=http ADMIN=naresh@localhost PROXY=proxyServer:proxyPort MYAUTH=username:password REMITTABLE="http,https/443,gopher,ftp,wais,udp,tcp" CACHE=no

Save the batch file to whatever you want in the same directory. Now all you need to do my friend is double click the bat file. It will create a service in Windows and set it up to start automatically at system boot. Just keep pressing “ENTER” to all the questions this bat file asks. If you are using Windows Vista or later, right click on the batch file and run it as an administrator.

Now go to your browser/system settings and make your settings point to localhost in the server address and port 80. Voila, no more annoying pages where you have to enter your username and password day-in and day-out again.

If this method works for you, like this post. Leave your comment if it doesn’t. Also if someone is feeling like it, can you please re-compile my modifications to cntlm for Windows?

 

Piss out till I see you again…

First day in India – 2nd Dec 2011

I decided to go to India after 2 years and landed in India on 2nd December 2011. A lot of things have changed since I last visited India in 2009. The first things I noticed was the people, lots and lots of them. Even my baby was a bit upset and frightened to see so many people going along their own business and the constant hustling with a steady noise stream. The good part was that things were moving quickly. Of course all the paper work to be done when landing in India is a pain in the a**. I filled up all the forms with a green colored gel pen. When I reached the immigration counter, I was asked to fill up the forms again using either a black or blue pen. And nowhere was it written that green ink was not accepted. Anyways, I had to waste another 20 minutes filling up those stupid forms.

 

I again had to stand in the queue. We were really very tired after the long journey. I had allowed a lot of people to pass by me since I was filling up the forms. Now I asked the people to return the favor but instead of helping me, everybody wanted me to get back in the long line. And then there was a pakistani diplomat who was creating a lot of fuss at the immigration counter. Luckily a good man allowed me in the queue. Once out of the immigration, we rushed towards the belt. And guess what, 3 international flight luggage was being deployed on the same small belt.

 

There was chaos everywhere. The number of trolleys on the airport was not enough to cater to the number of people who were expecting their luggage. Also there were quite a few people who were asking for money in exchange of allowing to us a trolley. Finally after waiting for 10 minutes and quite some searching, I was able to get a trolley with a broken wheel. I got my luggage and then started the arduous journey of going out towards customs exit and then to the Mumbai domestic airport. At the customs screening, there was a long queue again. Fortunately the customs inspector present was a good guy and after some initial questions, I was allowed to go through without any screening. I reached the domestic transfer terminal. A bus was being run to transfer the passengers from the terminal.

 

When the bus arrived, people rushed passed me and went into the bus. All rules of queue were broken even by non-Indians. I was able to get onto the next bus but not peacefully. I had to hit a guy in the leg to get my luggage onto the bus. He was the one who broke the queue and was trying to get ahead of me. All the heat was making me sweat. At the domestic terminal, I went to the Jet airways counter to get my tickets. I don’t know if this was intentional but there were calculating my weight in a manner which showed excess baggage of almost 40KGs. I asked them to do it again and then realized that the helper boy used to put his leg on the weighing scale while weighing so excess weight was recorded. I complained and finally the excess weight was 8KGs. Even though I had nothing in my hand luggage, I was asked to pay for the excess check-in or else carry the luggage myself into the cabin. Finally I coughed up the money and we were expecting our flight.

 

The worst part was not over yet. Our flight was delayed by more then 4 hours. I finally was able to board the flight at around 1300 hrs. I reached Baroda at 1400 hrs. It took us 10 hrs to reach from Copenhagen to Mumbai and it took the same amount of time for us to reach from Mumbai to Baroda. Imagine that! It was a tiresome journey. I slept for most of that day and the next. But not all in India was bad. I saw that the people in India are suffering. They are suffering from lack of services, humane values, trust and compassion. It is a dog come dog eat world out here. Most of the people I saw were honest. I also saw dishonest and greedy people. All the poor and working class people were more or less honest. The rich ones were greedy and dishonest. The young ones have become arrogant. Also when it comes to service industry, it is a disaster. Hospitality is an idea of the past.

 

The last time I visited India, I saw a different world. This time I saw quite some changes. The India of my dreams does not exist in reality anymore. Well only parts of it survive. The moral values and codes of the old have been lost. The youth has been distracted by uncontrolled imitation of the western values. Spiritual and humane ethics have been replaced with material values. I personally think that India is a volcano about to erupt. I will write in more details about those thoughts in my next rant. Stay tuned…

Android Applications released!

This post is a bit of marketing for the applications that I have been doing since the last couple of weeks. I have now release three applications on the Android Market. The first one is a re-write of my open source application Conference Manager (GPLv2) for Maemo. This application is also available in the Maemo Extra repository. I was hoping to port it to MeeGo but Mr. Elop had other plans. So I have stopped contributing to MeeGo all-together. And the best thing that happened was that I got an Android device (HTC Desire HD) about 3 months ago. The first thing I did was root it and then load some custom ROMs.

After much experimentation, I am now stable on HoneySense 3D 1.1. It has excellent battery life, no FCs and is a very good ROM. I am in no mood to change my ROM anytime soon. So now I have focused on the application aspect. The first thing I did was a complete re-write of Conference Manager for Android. This one is licensed under proprietary license and the source is closed. I am also planning to launch a PRO version with added capabilities like directly looking into Calendar and creating profiles, editing/deleting of templates, sync of data with users google mail account, etc. The free version will have all the capabilities of the Maemo Conference Manager with support for getting templates from server, creating templates and creating profiles from templates. I will release this version in a couple of days.

The second application that I have developed is SMSBiljett (GRATIS) and SMSBiljett PRO. This application basically is a ticketing application that can be used all across Sweden. Most of the Swedish states and cities have stopped accepting cash on trains and buses and replaced it with SMS Ticketing. My applications help people to get the ticket without remembering the cryptic codes and numbers to SMS, etc. It is also very flexible to buy tickets for more than one person in a single go. The GRATIS version is only working with Skånetrafiken.

The PRO version works with a lot of different city traffics including Skånetrafiken, Stockholm Transport, ÖstgötaTrafiken, Västmanland Public Transport, Västtrafik, Hallandstrafiken (Urban), Umeå (Urban), Upplands Region Traffic, etc. I will also update the application with support for SMS parking, traffic routing, etc. in later phases in the PRO version.

Hopefully it would be fun and people will help me with some cash motivation(!) :). But please feel free to download the applications, take them for a spin and give me your valuable feedback and comments. I would also like to hear about the features that you might want to get in. Separate application ideas are also welcome. So take care and peace out. Hopefully you will like my Marketing post!

Anna & Team – Caught and in Tihar Jail

In the latest developments in India, Anna and team are put behind bars on 16th August, 2011. There has been a huge uproar in the nation and across the media. The irony being pointed out that Anna and team (completely clean and non-corrupt people) are put in same jails as their corrupt counterparts (Raja and Kalmadi). My rant today is not on whether Anna & team should be caught or should be allowed to roam free, or whether Article 19 and 144 of the Indian Constitution has been misused or whether the Indian Police acted in a corrupt manner or everybody in India is corrupt except Anna and team (according to one of my friends).

My rant is basically on the incapability of Indian public to think in logical terms. Anna and team has done a pretty good job in selling a DREAM to India. A DREAM of corruption free India once the Jan LokPal (JLP) law is passed! I am pretty amused at the delusional visions and rabid ranting of all the supporters of IAC as well as the Indian media. Nobody in their right thinking capacity would get sold out to a DREAM.

We have thousands of laws and a big fat Indian constitution which could not stop corruption. So how can a new separate entity stop it? I still have all my questions unanswered from my previous post. In any sense, all the people who are out shouting at the top of their throat will not go and exercise their right to vote. All Anna is trying to do is bring in a JLP! Also his team and the media has coined the word “Civil Society”. I still don’t understand who will represent the Civil Society? What will they be accountable for? And most important of all, why is the assumption that a LokPal will be a clean person?

What a bunch of fools are we? If we can’t elect clean MPs & MLAs when we have a right to vote, we expect a Civil Society and some people with government recognized awards (and who are not accountable to the public) to bring in a LokPal who will be clean! I had a discussion on this with one of my arm chair supporter friend. He was clueless and started personal attacks! But what he didn’t realize is that bringing in a JLP is a feel good factor. It will not work as suggested in the DREAM. Of course some Civil Society members will get dictatorial powers which will hinder the basic framework of democracy. And imagine someone like sonia gandhi becoming a lokpal just without getting elected. And this is not entirely impossible, since she is the chairman of NAC (National Advisory Committee), a non-constitutional body just like the JLP.

I have the following questions for IAC and Anna supporters as well as all the arm-chair protestors and twitteraties.

– Why does Anna not start a political party?

– Anna has got the support of 1Billion+ Indian people. Atleast thats what I am hearing in the media. So starting a political party would be the right move.

– Why hasn’t Anna announced candidates for the 2014 elections? Infact, why doesn’t he contest one?

– If Anna can go on fast and try to create a law, does that mean that anybody with clean character can ask the government to create laws?

– If that be the case, we should promptly dissolve all the houses of parliaments and instead just rely on the presidential model of democracy instead of the representative model that we have.

My last and final suggestion is that Anna and team should contest the elections and win. And then do a re-write of the Indian constitution as needed. All the people should vote and stop paying bribes. My dear friend whom I mentioned before himself has been paying bribes to get his work done. And I do assume that since corruption is wide-spread in India, all the supporters of Anna and team have been affected by it. How many of them have not offered a bribe (that is beside the point though)?

Anyways, I would like to see India after JLP is formed. And nobody else would be happier than me if JLP can solve the corruption issue. But I think it is a DREAM. Miracles didn’t happen with Jesus, they didn’t happen with a religion after that, they didn’t happen with Satya Sai and they will not happen with Anna and team. But again, there are no laws that forbid dreaming. So DREAM ON INDIA. Unless and until all of us Indians take concrete steps to remove corruption from grass root levels and stop giving bribes to get work done, no LP or JLP will be able to make India corruption free.

JAI HIND. VANDE MATRAM.