X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/7b04edb41d1f6a8d8ee3a21f493f732b5d372398..6827c20a65667b2d54f665b5c49539dd75f228c0:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 4bba4c119a..4408d5a52e 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,38 +20,46 @@
-
Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert
-
9th July 2015
-

I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys -WhatDoTheyKnow. -Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble -annonsert -av NUUG via blog, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer. -Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få -på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært -primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og -oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem, -og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før -ferietiden slo inn for fullt.

- -

Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der -tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke -til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren, -før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se -om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende -inn via Mimes brønn.

- -

Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til, -anbefaler jeg deg å se -TED-foredraget til -Heather Brook om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære -hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende -historie.

+
The new "best" multimedia player in Debian?
+
6th June 2016
+

When I set out a few weeks ago to figure out +which +multimedia player in Debian claimed to support most file formats / +MIME types, I was a bit surprised how varied the sets of MIME types +the various players claimed support for. The range was from 55 to 130 +MIME types. I suspect most media formats are supported by all +players, but this is not really reflected in the MimeTypes values in +their desktop files. There are probably also some bogus MIME types +listed, but it is hard to identify which one this is.

+ +

Anyway, in the mean time I got in touch with upstream for some of +the players suggesting to add more MIME types to their desktop files, +and decided to spend some time myself improving the situation for my +favorite media player VLC. The fixes for VLC entered Debian unstable +yesterday. The complete list of MIME types can be seen on the +Multimedia +player MIME type support status Debian wiki page.

+ +

The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? It is VLC, followed by +totem, parole, kplayer, gnome-mpv, mpv, smplayer, mplayer-gui and +kmplayer. I am sure some of the other players desktop files support +several of the formats currently listed as working only with vlc, +toten and parole.

+ +

A sad observation is that only 14 MIME types are listed as +supported by all the tested multimedia players in Debian in their +desktop files: audio/mpeg, audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-mpegurl, +audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mp4, video/mpeg, +video/quicktime, video/vnd.rn-realvideo, video/x-matroska, +video/x-ms-asf, video/x-ms-wmv and video/x-msvideo. Personally I find +it sad that video/ogg and video/webm is not supported by all the media +players in Debian. As far as I can tell, all of them can handle both +formats.

- Tags: norsk, nuug, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: debian, debian edu, english, multimedia, video.
@@ -59,268 +67,118 @@ historie.

-
MPEG LA on "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" licensing and non-private use
-
7th July 2015
-

After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) -why -they can broadcast and stream H.264 video without an agreement with -the MPEG LA, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA -if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it -does not.

- -

I started by asking for more information about the various -licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK -did not need a license for streaming H.264 video: - -

- -

According to -a -MPEG LA press release dated 2010-02-02, there is no charge when -using MPEG AVC/H.264 according to the terms of "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is, and wondered if you could help me. What -exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?

- -

The only source of more information I have been able to find is a -PDF named -AVC -Patent Portfolio License Briefing, which states this about the -fees:

- -
    -
  • Where End User pays for AVC Video -
      -
    • Subscription (not limited by title) – 100,000 or fewer - subscribers/yr = no royalty; > 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr = - $25,000; >250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000; >500,000 to - 1M subscribers/yr = $75,000; >1M subscribers/yr = $100,000
      • - -
    • Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; >12 minutes in - length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title
      • -
    • - -
  • Where remuneration is from other sources -
      -
    • Free Television - (a) one-time $2,500 per transmission encoder or - (b) annual fee starting at $2,500 for > 100,000 HH rising to - maximum $10,000 for >1,000,000 HH
      • - -
    • Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) - – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License
      • -
    • -
- -

Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the -categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is the category for things that do not fall into -one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source -explaining what is ment by "title-by-title" and "Free Television" in -the license terms for AVC/H.264?

- -

Will a web service providing H.264 encoded video content in a -"video on demand" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no -subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to -get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent -Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get -access to personalized services?

- -

Note, this request and all answers will be published on the -Internet.

-

- -

The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate -with the MPEG LA:

- -

-

Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We -appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.

- -

As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License -which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of -the AVC/H.264 Standard (MPEG-4 Part 10). Specifically, coverage is -provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H.264 -technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and -video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for -paying the applicable royalties.

- -

Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally -defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over -the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service -which allows users to upload AVC/H.264 video to its website, and such -AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would -receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC -Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC -License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a -free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free -AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given -access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then -no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.

- -

On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a -specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such -video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC -Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such -content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers -Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would -be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.

- -

Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free -through an "over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission", then -such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be -subject to the applicable royalties.

- -

For your reference, I have attached -a -.pdf copy of the AVC License. You will find the relevant -sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections 2.2 through -2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section 3.1.2 through 3.1.4. -You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video, -Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet -Broadcast AVC Video in Section 1 of the License. Please note that the -electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot -be used for execution.

- -

I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional -questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel -free to contact me directly.

-

- -

Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing -that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made -me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong. -But I still had a few questions:

- -

-

I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get -a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The -reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright -clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses -typically look similar to this: - -

- This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for - the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode - video in compliance with the AVC standard ("AVC video") and/or (b) - decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a - personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was - obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No - license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional - information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C. -

- -

It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into -an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if -there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will -differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is -MPEG LAs view on this?

-

- -

According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for -non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:

- -

- -

With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by -clarifying that the Notice from Section 7.1 of the AVC License -reads:

- -

THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR -THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT -RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC -STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED -BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM -A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED -OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE -OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM

- -

The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the -personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included -with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the -product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become -licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to -deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet -Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party's AVC -Product as their own branded AVC Product).

- -

Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC -Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free -Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to -conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were -payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a -Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their -own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced -above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC -Products by the licensed supplier.

- -

Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in -countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including -Norway.

- -

I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further -assistance, just let me know.

-

- -

The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I -asked for more information:

- -

- -

But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly, -you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent -Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the -list available from <URL: -http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx -> incorrectly, as I believed the "NO" prefix in front of patents -were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi -Electric Corporation expired in 2012. Which patents are you referring -to that are relevant for Norway?

- -

- -

Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents -in that list:

- -

- -

Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio -Patent in Norway expired on 21 October 2012. Therefore, where AVC -Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no -royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License. -With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC -Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before -the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify -that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the -country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.

- -

Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in -a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example, -Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need -coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are -initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio -Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to -conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a -country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell -such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent -Portfolio Patents.

-

- -

As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe -Premiere and other video related software with a H.264 distribution -license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for -anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a -Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the -content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where -none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the -copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because -the patents are not valid in Norway?

+
A program should be able to open its own files on Linux
+
5th June 2016
+

Many years ago, when koffice was fresh and with few users, I +decided to test its presentation tool when making the slides for a +talk I was giving for NUUG on Japhar, a free Java virtual machine. I +wrote the first draft of the slides, saved the result and went to bed +the day before I would give the talk. The next day I took a plane to +the location where the meeting should take place, and on the plane I +started up koffice again to polish the talk a bit, only to discover +that kpresenter refused to load its own data file. I cursed a bit and +started making the slides again from memory, to have something to +present when I arrived. I tested that the saved files could be +loaded, and the day seemed to be rescued. I continued to polish the +slides until I suddenly discovered that the saved file could no longer +be loaded into kpresenter. In the end I had to rewrite the slides +three times, condensing the content until the talk became shorter and +shorter. After the talk I was able to pinpoint the problem – +kpresenter wrote inline images in a way itself could not understand. +Eventually that bug was fixed and kpresenter ended up being a great +program to make slides. The point I'm trying to make is that we +expect a program to be able to load its own data files, and it is +embarrassing to its developers if it can't.

+ +

Did you ever experience a program failing to load its own data +files from the desktop file browser? It is not a uncommon problem. A +while back I discovered that the screencast recorder +gtk-recordmydesktop would save an Ogg Theora video file the KDE file +browser would refuse to open. No video player claimed to understand +such file. I tracked down the cause being file --mime-type +returning the application/ogg MIME type, which no video player I had +installed listed as a MIME type they would understand. I asked for +file to change its +behavour and use the MIME type video/ogg instead. I also asked +several video players to add video/ogg to their desktop files, to give +the file browser an idea what to do about Ogg Theora files. After a +while, the desktop file browsers in Debian started to handle the +output from gtk-recordmydesktop properly.

+ +

But history repeats itself. A few days ago I tested the music +system Rosegarden again, and I discovered that the KDE and xfce file +browsers did not know what to do with the Rosegarden project files +(*.rg). I've reported the +rosegarden problem to BTS and a fix is commited to git and will be +included in the next upload. To increase the chance of me remembering +how to fix the problem next time some program fail to load its files +from the file browser, here are some notes on how to fix it.

+ +

The file browsers in Debian in general operates on MIME types. +There are two sources for the MIME type of a given file. The output from +file --mime-type mentioned above, and the content of the +shared MIME type registry (under /usr/share/mime/). The file MIME +type is mapped to programs supporting the MIME type, and this +information is collected from +the +desktop files available in /usr/share/applications/. If there is +one desktop file claiming support for the MIME type of the file, it is +activated when asking to open a given file. If there are more, one +can normally select which one to use by right-clicking on the file and +selecting the wanted one using 'Open with' or similar. In general +this work well. But it depend on each program picking a good MIME +type (preferably +a +MIME type registered with IANA), file and/or the shared MIME +registry recognizing the file and the desktop file to list the MIME +type in its list of supported MIME types.

+ +

The /usr/share/mime/packages/rosegarden.xml entry for +the +Shared MIME database look like this:

+ +

+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info">
+  <mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden">
+    <sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/>
+    <comment>Rosegarden project file</comment>
+    <glob pattern="*.rg"/>
+  </mime-type>
+</mime-info>
+

+ +

This states that audio/x-rosegarden is a kind of application/x-gzip +(it is a gzipped XML file). Note, it is much better to use an +official MIME type registered with IANA than it is to make up ones own +unofficial ones like the x-rosegarden type used by rosegarden.

+ +

The desktop file of the rosegarden program failed to list +audio/x-rosegarden in its list of supported MIME types, causing the +file browsers to have no idea what to do with *.rg files:

+ +

+% grep Mime /usr/share/applications/rosegarden.desktop
+MimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition;audio/x-rosegarden-device;audio/x-rosegarden-project;audio/x-rosegarden-template;audio/midi;
+X-KDE-NativeMimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition
+%
+

+ +

The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the +MimeType= line.

+ +

If you run into a file which fail to open the correct program when +selected from the file browser, please check out the output from +file --mime-type for the file, ensure the file ending and +MIME type is registered somewhere under /usr/share/mime/ and check +that some desktop file under /usr/share/applications/ is claiming +support for this MIME type. If not, please report a bug to have it +fixed. :)

- Tags: english, h264, multimedia, opphavsrett, standard, video, web. + Tags: debian, english.
@@ -328,62 +186,36 @@ the patents are not valid in Norway?

-
New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback
-
5th July 2015
-

Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my -need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to -thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of -fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to -do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the -machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it -with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live -for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did -not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts -using FrancEcrans, but it -might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.

- -

One tip I got was to use the -Skinflint web service to -compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than -prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar -keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not -very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook -keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further. - -

When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the -newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons -(which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with -Debian Sid/Unstable according to -Corsac.net. The reports I -got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard -is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good. -Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250 -keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I -keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to -replace it. I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk -activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I'm -also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit -noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian -Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.

- -

I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was -Pro-Star, another was -Libreboot. -The latter look very attractive to me.

- -

Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot -as I keep looking for a replacement.

- -

Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the -lapstore.de web shop for used laptops. They got several -different -old -thinkpad X models, and provide one year warranty.

+
Tor - from its creators mouth 11 years ago
+
28th May 2016
+

A little more than 11 years ago, one of the creators of Tor, and +the current President of the Tor +project, Roger Dingledine, gave a talk for the members of the +Norwegian Unix User group (NUUG). A +video of the talk was recorded, and today, thanks to the great help +from David Noble, I finally was able to publish the video of the talk +on Frikanalen, the Norwegian open channel TV station where NUUG +currently publishes its talks. You can +watch the live stream using a web +browser with WebM support, or check out the recording on the video +on demand page for the talk +"Tor: Anonymous +communication for the US Department of Defence...and you.".

+ +

Here is the video included for those of you using browsers with +HTML video and Ogg Theora support:

+ +

+ +

I guess the gist of the talk can be summarised quite simply: If you +want to help the military in USA (and everyone else), use Tor. :)

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, frikanalen, nuug, video.
@@ -391,38 +223,67 @@ thinkpad X models, and provide one year warranty.

-
Time to find a new laptop, as the old one is broken after only two years
-
3rd July 2015
-

My primary work horse laptop is failing, and will need a -replacement soon. The left 5 cm of the screen on my Thinkpad X230 -started flickering yesterday, and I suspect the cause is a broken -cable, as changing the angle of the screen some times get rid of the -flickering.

- -

My requirements have not really changed since I bought it, and is -still as -I -described them in 2013. The last time I bought a laptop, I had -good help from -prisjakt.no -where I could select at least a few of the requirements (mouse pin, -wifi, weight) and go through the rest manually. Three button mouse -and a good keyboard is not available as an option, and all the three -laptop models proposed today (Thinkpad X240, HP EliteBook 820 G1 and -G2) lack three mouse buttons). It is also unclear to me how good the -keyboard on the HP EliteBooks are. I hope Lenovo have not messed up -the keyboard, even if the quality and robustness in the X series have -deteriorated since X41.

- -

I wonder how I can find a sensible laptop when none of the options -seem sensible to me? Are there better services around to search the -set of available laptops for features? Please send me an email if you -have suggestions.

+
Isenkram with PackageKit support - new version 0.23 available in Debian unstable
+
25th May 2016
+

The isenkram +system is a user-focused solution in Debian for handling hardware +related packages. The idea is to have a database of mappings between +hardware and packages, and pop up a dialog suggesting for the user to +install the packages to use a given hardware dongle. Some use cases +are when you insert a Yubikey, it proposes to install the software +needed to control it; when you insert a braille reader list it +proposes to install the packages needed to send text to the reader; +and when you insert a ColorHug screen calibrator it suggests to +install the driver for it. The system work well, and even have a few +command line tools to install firmware packages and packages for the +hardware already in the machine (as opposed to hotpluggable hardware).

+ +

The system was initially written using aptdaemon, because I found +good documentation and example code on how to use it. But aptdaemon +is going away and is generally being replaced by +PackageKit, +so Isenkram needed a rewrite. And today, thanks to the great patch +from my college Sunil Mohan Adapa in the FreedomBox project, the +rewrite finally took place. I've just uploaded a new version of +Isenkram into Debian Unstable with the patch included, and the default +for the background daemon is now to use PackageKit. To check it out, +install the isenkram package and insert some hardware dongle +and see if it is recognised.

+ +

If you want to know what kind of packages isenkram would propose for +the machine it is running on, you can check out the isenkram-lookup +program. This is what it look like on a Thinkpad X230:

+ +

+% isenkram-lookup 
+bluez
+cheese
+fprintd
+fprintd-demo
+gkrellm-thinkbat
+hdapsd
+libpam-fprintd
+pidgin-blinklight
+thinkfan
+tleds
+tp-smapi-dkms
+tp-smapi-source
+tpb
+%p
+

+ +

The hardware mappings come from several places. The preferred way +is for packages to announce their hardware support using +the +cross distribution appstream system. +See +previous +blog posts about isenkram to learn how to do that.

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: debian, english, isenkram.
@@ -430,82 +291,62 @@ have suggestions.

-
MakerCon Nordic videos now available on Frikanalen
-
2nd July 2015
-

Last oktober I was involved on behalf of -NUUG with recording the talks at -MakerCon Nordic, a conference for -the Maker movement. Since then it has been the plan to publish the -recordings on Frikanalen, which -finally happened the last few days. A few talks are missing because -the speakers asked the organizers to not publish them, but most of the -talks are available. The talks are being broadcasted on RiksTV -channel 50 and using multicast on Uninett, as well as being available -from the Frikanalen web site. The unedited recordings are -available on -Youtube too.

- -

This is the list of talks available at the moment. Visit the -Frikanalen video -pages to view them.

- -
    - -
  • Evolutionary algorithms as a design tool - from art - to robotics (Kyrre Glette)
    • - -
  • Make and break (Hans Gerhard Meier)
    • - -
  • Making a one year school course for young makers - (Olav Helland)
    • - -
  • Innovation Inspiration - IPR Databases as a Source of - Inspiration (Hege Langlo)
    • - -
  • Making a toy for makers (Erik Torstensson)
    • - -
  • How to make 3D printer electronics (Elias Bakken)
    • - -
  • Hovering Clouds: Looking at online tool offerings for Product - Design and 3D Printing (William Kempton)
    • - -
  • Travelling maker stories (Øyvind Nydal Dahl)
    • - -
  • Making the first Maker Faire in Sweden (Nils Olander)
    • - -
  • Breaking the mold: Printing 1000’s of parts (Espen Sivertsen)
    • - -
  • Ultimaker — and open source 3D printing (Erik de Bruijn)
    • - -
  • Autodesk’s 3D Printing Platform: Sparking innovation (Hilde - Sevens)
    • - -
  • How Making is Changing the World – and How You Can Too! - (Jennifer Turliuk)
    • - -
  • Open-Source Adventuring: OpenROV, OpenExplorer and the Future of - Connected Exploration (David Lang)
    • - -
  • Making in Norway (Haakon Karlsen Jr., Graham Hayward and Jens - Dyvik)
    • - -
  • The Impact of the Maker Movement (Mike Senese)
    • - -
- -

Part of the reason this took so long was that the scripts NUUG had -to prepare a recording for publication were five years old and no -longer worked with the current video processing tools (command line -argument changes). In addition, we needed better audio normalization, -which sent me on a detour to -package -bs1770gain for Debian. Now this is in place and it became a lot -easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.

+
Discharge rate estimate in new battery statistics collector for Debian
+
23rd May 2016
+

Yesterday I updated the +battery-stats +package in Debian with a few patches sent to me by skilled and +enterprising users. There were some nice user and visible changes. +First of all, both desktop menu entries now work. A design flaw in +one of the script made the history graph fail to show up (its PNG was +dumped in ~/.xsession-errors) if no controlling TTY was available. +The script worked when called from the command line, but not when +called from the desktop menu. I changed this to look for a DISPLAY +variable or a TTY before deciding where to draw the graph, and now the +graph window pop up as expected.

+ +

The next new feature is a discharge rate estimator in one of the +graphs (the one showing the last few hours). New is also the user of +colours showing charging in blue and discharge in red. The percentages +of this graph is relative to last full charge, not battery design +capacity.

+ +

+ +

The other graph show the entire history of the collected battery +statistics, comparing it to the design capacity of the battery to +visualise how the battery life time get shorter over time. The red +line in this graph is what the previous graph considers 100 percent: + +

+ +

In this graph you can see that I only charge the battery to 80 +percent of last full capacity, and how the capacity of the battery is +shrinking. :(

+ +

The last new feature is in the collector, which now will handle +more hardware models. On some hardware, Linux power supply +information is stored in /sys/class/power_supply/ACAD/, while the +collector previously only looked in /sys/class/power_supply/AC/. Now +both are checked to figure if there is power connected to the +machine.

+ +

If you are interested in how your laptop battery is doing, please +check out the +battery-stats +in Debian unstable, or rebuild it on Jessie to get it working on +Debian stable. :) The upstream source is available from github. +Patches are very welcome.

+ +

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

- Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video. + Tags: debian, english.
@@ -513,125 +354,34 @@ easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.

-
Hvem fører Medietilsynet tilsyn med?
-
28th June 2015
-

I en global verden med eierskap på tvers, trengs det informasjon om -hvem som har kontrollen i selskaper og bedrifter. Og for å få tilgang -til slik informasjon for alle som ønsker å analysere eierskap, holder -med ikke med nasjonale databaser over eierskap, det må globale -samledatabaser med åpne data til. Heldigvis finnes det en -internasjonal bevegelse for å gjøre selskapsinformasjon for alle land -offentlig tilgjengelig. En slik database heter -OpenCorporates, der -informasjonen er gratis tilgjengelig med en "del på samme -vilkår"-lisens. De samler inn selskapsinformasjon, eierskap, -konsesjonstildelinger og lignende. De manglet ganske mye for Norge, -da bruksvilkårene til Norsk offentlig informasjon i stor grad -blokkerer OpenCorporates fra å samle den inn.

- -

Men jeg er jo involvert i -Frikanalen, som har -TV-konsesjon, og tenkte det kunne være fint om informasjon om alle -mediakonsesjoner var tilgjengelig i OpenCorporates, så jeg sendte -avgårde følgende spørsmål til Medietilsynet 2015-06-22:

- -
-

Hei. Finnes det en oversikt over enhetene som Mediatilsynet fører -tilsyn med som åpne data? Jeg lette etter den på -<URL:http://data.norge.no/> og -<URL:http://hotell.difi.no/> uten å -finne noe der, og fant heller ikke noe under -<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/>.

- -

Jeg tenker på alle som har fått kringkastingskonsesjon og alle som -er omtalt under -<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/>.

- -

Jeg skulle gjerne hatt dette maskinlesbart, og inkludert -organisasjonsnummer og hva slags forhold mediatilsynet har til -organisasjonene. Tanken er å importere det i -<URL:https://opencorporates.com/> for analyse, så det bør ikke ha -bruksbegresninger som gjør dette umulig.

-
- -

To dager senere fikk jeg svar, med de datasettene de hadde -tilgjengelig. Svaret fra Hanne Sekkelsten hos Medietilsynet var -informativt og imøtekommende.

- -
-

Vi viser til din e-post av 22. juni, der du ber om å få tilsendt oversikter -over aktører Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med.

- -

Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med kringkastere og audiovisuelle -bestillingstjenester som omfattes av kringkastingsloven, og med -eierskap i aviser, fjernsyn radio og elektroniske medier etter -medieeierskapsloven. I tillegg vil Medietilsynet etter at -beskyttelsesloven trer i kraft fra 1. juli ha tilsyn med en rekke nye -aktører. Nærmere informasjon om den nye loven finnes på Medietilsynets -nettsted, her: -http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/ -. Vi har ikke utarbeidet oversikter over alle aktørene, men vi sender -deg her de listene vi har utarbeidet, hentet fra våre databaser. Vi -har dessverre ikke ferdige rapporter som inneholder -organisasjonsnummer. Dersom du ønsker flere opplysninger ber vi om at -du tar kontakt med oss slik at vi kan finne ut av hvilke opplysninger -du trenger, og hvilke vi kan fremskaffe.

- -

Vedlagt følger: - -

    - -
  • Konsesjoner - lokalradio FM pr. 31.12.2014 [PDF (original)]
    • - -
  • Konsesjoner - lokalfjernsyn i det digitale bakkenettet for fjernsyn, pr. mars 2015 [DOCX (original), -PDF]
    • - -
  • Konsesjoner - DAB-radio, status mars 2015 [XPS (original), -PDF]
    • - -
  • Registreringspliktige kringkastere - status mars 2015: [XPS (original), PDF] - -
      -
    • Kabelsendt fjernsyn -
    • Satellittsendt fjernsyn -
    • Nett-tv -
    • Kabelsendt radio -
    • Satellittsendt radio -
    • Nett-radio -
    • -
- -

Vi må ta forbehold om at det kan være enkelte feil i oversiktene -siden disse ikke er oppdaterte pr. dags dato. Vi vil foreta nye -oppdateringer i august.

- -

Med hilsen

- -

Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten -
Seniorrådgiver | Senior Legal Adviser -
Medietilsynet | Norwegian Media Authority -
A: Nygata 4, NO-1607 Fredrikstad -
T: [telefonnummer fjernet] -
E: [adresse fjernet] | W: www.medietilsynet.no -

-
- -

Desverre er formatene for ustrukturerte til maskinell behandling og -mangler endel informasjon, men det er gode oversikter over hvem -Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med. Filene er på formatene PDF, XPS -(XML-basert PDF-lignende format fra Microsoft) og DOCX, så det vil -være en stor jobb å strukturere informasjonen på en måte som kan -importeres i OpenCorporates. Svaret er ikke i tråd med -Forskrift -om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltning som sier epostvedlegg -skal sendes som PDF, så jeg har gjorde PDF-utgaver av XPS og -DOCX-utgavene tilgjengelig for å gjøre det enklere for alle å se -innholdet.

+
French edition of Lawrence Lessigs book Cultura Libre on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
+
21st May 2016
+

A few weeks ago the French paperback edition of Lawrence Lessigs +2004 book Cultura Libre was published. Today I noticed that the book +is now available from book stores. You can now buy it from +Amazon +($19.99), +Barnes +& Noble ($?) and as always from +Lulu.com +($19.99). The revenue is donated to the Creative Commons project. If +you buy from Lulu.com, they currently get $10.59, while if you buy +from one of the book stores most of the revenue go to the book store +and the Creative Commons project get much (not sure how much +less).

+ +

I was a bit surprised to discover that there is a kindle edition +sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC on Amazon. Not quite sure how +that edition was created, but if you want to download a electronic +edition (PDF, EPUB, Mobi) generated from the same files used to create +the paperback edition, they are +available +from github.

- Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -639,79 +389,67 @@ innholdet.

-
Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure
-
15th June 2015
-

It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies -in Norway. The information is publicly available, but one need to -recursively look up ownership for all owners to figure out the complete -ownership graph of a given set of companies. To save me the work in -the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the -ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format. The data source -is web scraping from Proff, because -I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of -the ownership data, Brønnøysundsregistrene.

- -

To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, fetch -the code from git and run it using the organisation number. I'm -using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its -ownership structure is very simple:

- -
-% time ./bin/eierskap-dotty 958033540 > dagbladet.dot
-
-real    0m2.841s
-user    0m0.184s
-sys     0m0.036s
-%
-
- -

The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line, -allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image. The -resulting dot file for the example above look like this. The edges -are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the -organisation number as their name and the name as the label:

- -
-digraph ownership {
-rankdir = LR;
-"Aller Holding A/s" -> "910119877" [label="100%"]
-"910119877" -> "998689015" [label="100%"]
-"998689015" -> "958033540" [label="99%"]
-"974530600" -> "958033540" [label="1%"]
-"958033540" [label="AS DAGBLADET"]
-"998689015" [label="Berner Media Holding AS"]
-"974530600" [label="Dagbladets Stiftelse"]
-"910119877" [label="Aller Media AS"]
-}
-
- -

To view the ownership graph, run "dotty dagbladet.dot" or -convert it to a PNG using "dot -T png dagbladet.dot > -dagbladet.png". The result can be seen below:

- - - -

Note that I suspect the "Aller Holding A/S" entry to be incorrect -data in the official ownership register, as that name is not -registered in the official company register for Norway. The ownership -register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking -of the ownership links.

- -

Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources. -The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.

- -

Update 2015-06-15: Since the initial post I've been told that -"Aller -Holding A/S" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not -have a Norwegian organisation number. I've also been told that there -is a web -services API available from Brønnøysundsregistrene, for those -willing to accept the terms or pay the price.

+
I want the courts to be involved before the police can hijack a news site DNS domain (#domstolkontroll)
+
19th May 2016
+

I just donated to the +NUUG defence +"fond" to fund the effort in Norway to get the seizure of the news +site popcorn-time.no tested in court. I hope everyone that agree with +me will do the same.

+ +

Would you be worried if you knew the police in your country could +hijack DNS domains of news sites covering free software system without +talking to a judge first? I am. What if the free software system +combined search engine lookups, bittorrent downloads and video playout +and was called Popcorn Time? Would that affect your view? It still +make me worried.

+ +

In March 2016, the Norwegian police seized (as in forced NORID to +change the IP address pointed to by it to one controlled by the +police) the DNS domain popcorn-time.no, without any supervision from +the courts. I did not know about the web site back then, and assumed +the courts had been involved, and was very surprised when I discovered +that the police had hijacked the DNS domain without asking a judge for +permission first. I was even more surprised when I had a look at +the web +site content on the Internet Archive, and only found news coverage +about Popcorn Time, not any material published without the right +holders permissions.

+ +

The seizure was widely covered in the Norwegian press (see for +example Hegnar Online and +ITavisen +and +NRK), +at first due to the press release sent out by Økokrim, but then based +on +protests +from the law professor Olav Torvund and +lawyer +Jon Wessel-Aas. It even got some +coverage +on TorrentFreak.

+ +

I + +wrote about the case a month ago, when the +Norwegian Unix User Group (NUUG), +where I am an active member, decided to ask the courts to test this seizure. +The request was denied, but NUUG and its co-requestor EFN have not +given up, and now they are rallying for support to get the seizure +legally challenged. They accept both bank and Bitcoin transfer for +those that want to support the request.

+ +

If you as me believe news sites about free software should not be +censored, even if the free software have both legal and illegal +applications, and that DNS hijacking should be tested by the courts, I +suggest you show +your support by donating to NUUG.

- Tags: english, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: english, nuug, offentlig innsyn, opphavsrett.
@@ -719,59 +457,25 @@ willing to accept the terms or pay the price.

-
Measuring and adjusting the loudness of a TV channel using bs1770gain
-
11th June 2015
-

Television loudness is the source of frustration for viewers -everywhere. Some channels are very load, others are less loud, and -ads tend to shout very high to get the attention of the viewers, and -the viewers do not like this. This fact is well known to the TV -channels. See for example the BBC white paper -"Terminology -for loudness and level dBTP, LU, and all that" from 2011 for a -summary of the problem domain. To better address the need for even -loadness, the TV channels got together several years ago to agree on a -new way to measure loudness in digital files as one step in -standardizing loudness. From this came the ITU-R standard BS.1770, -"Algorithms to -measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level".

- -

The ITU-R BS.1770 specification describe an algorithm to measure -loadness in LUFS (Loudness Units, referenced to Full Scale). But -having a way to measure is not enough. To get the same loudness -across TV channels, one also need to decide which value to standardize -on. For European TV channels, this was done in the EBU Recommondaton -R128, "Loudness -normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals", which -specifies a recommended level of -23 LUFS. In Norway, I have been -told that NRK, TV2, MTG and SBS have decided among themselves to -follow the R128 recommondation for playout from 2016-03-01.

- -

There are free software available to measure and adjust the loudness -level using the LUFS. In Debian, I am aware of a library named -libebur128 -able to measure the loudness and since yesterday morning a new binary -named bs1770gain -capable of both measuring and adjusting was uploaded and is waiting -for NEW processing. I plan to maintain the latter in Debian under the -Debian -multimedia umbrella.

- -

The free software based TV channel I am involved in, -Frikanalen, plan to follow the -R128 recommondation ourself as soon as we can adjust the software to -do so, and the bs1770gain tool seem like a good fit for that part of -the puzzle to measure loudness on new video uploaded to Frikanalen. -Personally, I plan to use bs1770gain to adjust the loudness of videos -I upload to Frikanalen on behalf of the -NUUG member organisation. The program seem to be able to measure -the LUFS value of any media file handled by ffmpeg, but I've only -successfully adjusted the LUFS value of WAV files. I suspect it -should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.

+
Debian now with ZFS on Linux included
+
12th May 2016
+

Today, after many years of hard work from many people, +ZFS for Linux finally entered +Debian. The package status can be seen on +the package tracker +for zfs-linux. and +the +team status page. If you want to help out, please join us. +The +source code is available via git on Alioth. It would also be +great if you could help out with +the dkms package, as +it is an important piece of the puzzle to get ZFS working.

- Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video. + Tags: debian, english.
@@ -779,332 +483,49 @@ should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.

-
Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale med MPEG LA?
-
10th June 2015
-

Helt siden jeg i 2012 fikk beskjed fra MPEG LA om at -NRK -trengte patentavtale med dem hvis de distribuerte H.264-video til -sluttbrukere, har jeg lurt på hva som gjør at NRK ikke har slik -avtale. For noen dager siden fikk jeg endelig gjort noe med min -undring, og sendte 2015-05-28 følgende epost til info (at) nrk.no med -tittel "Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale -med MPEG LA?":

- -

-

Jeg lurer på en ting rundt NRKs bruk av H.264-video på sine -websider samt distribusjon via RiksTV og kabel-TV. Har NRK vurdert om -det er behov for en patentavtale med -MPEG LA slik det står i -programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe -Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X?

- -

Hvis dere har vurdert dette, hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering?

- -

Hvis dere ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om å vurdere behovet -for patentavtale?

- -

I følge en artikkel på -NRK -Beta i 2012 har NRK brukt eller testet både Apple Final Cut -Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X til bruk -for å redigere video før sending. Alle disse har bruksvilkår -understøttet av opphavsretten som sier at de kun kan brukes til å lage -filmer til personlig og ikke-kommersiell bruk - med mindre en har en -lisensavtale med MPEG LA om bruk av patenter utstedt i USA for H.264. -Se f.eks. bruksvilkårene for Avid, Adobe Premiere og Apple Final -Cut Studio og søk etter "MPEG LA".

- -

Dette får meg til å lure på om det er brudd på opphavsretten å bruke -disse verktøyene i strid med bruksvilkårene uten patentavtale med MPEG -LA. Men NRK bruker jo tilsynelatende disse verktøyene uten patentavtale -med MPEG LA.

- -

I følge forfatteren av Open Broadcast Encoder finnes det to typer -H.264-relaterte avtaler en kan få med MPEG LA. Det er én for å lage -programvare og utstyr som produserer H.264-video, og en annen for å -kringkaste video som bruker H.264. Dette forteller meg at selv om -produsentene av utstyr og programvare som NRK bruker har en slik avtale -med MPEG LA, så trenges det en egen avtale for å kringkaste video på det -formatet.

- -

I følge Ryan Rodriguez hos MPEG LA, da jeg spurte ham på epost i -juni 2012, har NRK ikke en slik avtale med MPEG LA. Han sa videre at -NRK trenger en slik avtale hvis NRK tilbyr H.264-kodet video til -sluttbrukere. Jeg sjekket listen med -organisasjoner -med avtale med MPEG LA og NRK står fortsatt ikke der.

- -

Jeg lurer dermed på hva som gjør at NRK kan bruke de overnevnte -videoredigeringsverktøyene, som tilsynelatende har krav om avtale med -MPEG LA for å kunne brukes slik NRK bruker dem, til å lage videofiler -for distribusjon uten å ha en avtale med MPEG LA om distribusjon av -H.264-video? Dette er spesielt interessant å vite for oss andre som -også vurderer å spre H.264-video etter å ha redigert dem med disse mye -brukte videoredigeringsverktøyene.

-

- -

Samme dag fikk jeg automatisk svar om at min henvendelse hadde fått -saksid 1294699. Jeg fikk deretter følgende respons fra NRK -2015-06-09:

- -

-

Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som kunne -svare på dette.

- -

For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks -NRKs nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike -tjenester uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd -noen patentavtale.

- -

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

- -

Med vennlig hilsen -
Gunn Helen Berg -
Informasjonskonsulent, Publikumsservice

- -

NRK -
Strategidivisjonen -
Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 -
Post: NRK Publikumsservice, 8608 Mo i Rana -
nrk.no / info (at) nrk.no

-

- -Da dette ikke helt var svar på det jeg lurte på, sendte jeg samme dag -oppfølgerepost tilbake: - -

-

[Gunn Helen Berg] -
> Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som -
> kunne svare på dette.

- -

Takk for svar. Men det besvarte ikke helt det jeg spurte om.

- -

> For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks NRKs -
> nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike tjenester -
> uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd noen -
> patentavtale. -
> -
> http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

- -

Spørsmålet er ikke kun om MPEG LA krever patentavtale eller ikke -(hvilket ikke helt besvares av pressemeldingen omtalt over, gitt at -pressemeldingen kom i 2010, to år før MPEG LA ansvarlige for -internasjonal lisensiering egen Ryan Rodriguez fortalte meg på epost -at NRK trenger en lisens.

- -

Det er uklart fra pressemeldingen hva "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video" konkret betyr, men i følge en -presentasjon -fra MPEG LA med tema "AVC PAtent Portfoli License Briefing" datert -2015-05-15 gjelder "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" kun kringkasting -på Internet som ikke tilbyr valg av enkeltinnslag ("not -title-by-title"), hvilket jo NRK gjør på sine nettsider. I tillegg -kringkaster jo NRK H.264-video også utenom Internet (RiksTV, kabel, -satelitt), hvilket helt klart ikke er dekket av vilkårene omtalt i -pressemeldingen.

- -

Spørsmålet mitt er hvordan NRK kan bruke verktøy med bruksvilkår -som krever avtale med MPEG LA for det NRK bruker dem til, når NRK ikke -har avtale med MPEG LA. Hvis jeg forsto spørsmålet riktig, så mener -NRK at dere ikke trenger avtale med MPEG LA, men uten slik avtale kan -dere vel ikke bruke hverken Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere -Pro, Avid eller Apples Final Cut Pro X for å redigere video før -sending?

- -

Mine konkrete spørsmål var altså:

- -
    - -
  • Hvis NRK har vurdert om det er behov for en patentavtale med MPEG LA - slik det er krav om i programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple - Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X, - hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering? Kan jeg fÃ¥ kopi av vurderingen - hvis den er gjort skriftlig?
    • - -
  • Hvis NRK ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om Ã¥ vurdere behovet - for patentavtale?
    • - -
  • Hva slags saksnummer fikk min henvendelse i NRKs offentlige - postjournal? Jeg ser at postjournalen ikke er publisert for den - aktuelle perioden ennÃ¥, sÃ¥ jeg fikk ikke sjekket selv.
    • - -
-

- -

Det hjelper å ha funnet rette vedkommende i NRK, for denne gangen -fikk jeg svar tilbake dagen etter (2015-06-10), fra Geir Børdalen i -NRK:

- -

-

Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

- -

Jeg har sjekket saken med distribusjonssjef for tv, Arild Hellgren -(som var teknologidirektør da bakkenettet ble satt opp). NRK v/ -Hellgren hadde møte med MPEG LA sammen med den europeiske -kringkastingsunionen EBU før bakkenettet for TV ble satt opp -(igangsatt høsten 2007). I dette møtet ble det avklart at NRK/EBU ikke -trengte noen patentavtale for h.264 i forbindelse med oppsett av -bakkenettet eller bruk av MPEG4 h.264 som kompresjonsalgoritme fordi -tjenesten «in full»(nor: helt) var betalt av utsendelseselskapene og -ikke av forbrukerne.

- -

http://www.nrk.no/oppdrag/digitalt-bakkenett-1.3214555

- -

Det er også klart slått fast at selskaper som leverer video basert -på MPEG4 h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett, heller ikke påkrevd noen -patentavtale – så lenge de leverer slike tjenester uten betaling fra -sluttbrukere.

- -http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y - -

“MPEG LA announced today that its AVC Patent Portfolio License will -continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to -end users (known as “Internet Broadcast AVC Video”) during the entire -life of this License. MPEG LA previously announced it would not charge -royalties for such video through December 31, 2015 (see -http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf), -and today’s announcement makes clear that royalties will continue not -to be charged for such video beyond that time. Products and services -other than Internet Broadcast AVC Video continue to be -royalty-bearing.”

- -

Vi har derfor ikke noe behov for å vurdere noen patentavtale med -MPEG LA.

- -

Understreker for øvrig at NRK ikke er låst til MPEG4 – h.264 som -utsendelsesformat – og at vi har brukt og bruker flere andre -alternativer i våre tjenester. Ulike «devicer» har ofte behov for -forskjellige løsninger – og NRK har forsøkt å levere med best mulig -kvalitet /økonomi /stabilitet avhengig av -plattform. Produksjonsformater i NRK spenner for øvrig over en rekke -forskjellige formater – hvor MPEG4 bare er en av disse. Når NRK kjøper -teknisk utstyr er betaling for kodekstøtte ofte en del av -anskaffelsesprisen for denne maskinvaren (enten dette er spesialiserte -enkodere eller forskjellige typer produksjonsutstyr).

- -

Vennlig hilsen -
Geir Børdalen

- -

________________________________________ -
Geir Børdalen -
Investeringsansvarlig NRK / Hovedprosjektleder - Origo -
Avdeling for utvikling, innovasjon, investering og eiendom -
NRK medietjenester -
Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 -
Post: NRK, AUTV (RBM5), Pb. 8500 Majorstuen, 0340 Oslo -
nrk.no -

- -

Et godt og grundig svar, som var informativt om hvordan NRK tenker -rundt patentavtale med MPEG LA, men heller ikke helt besvarte det jeg -lurte på, så jeg sendte epostoppfølging samme dag.

- -

-

[Geir Børdalen] -
> Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

- -

Hei, og takk for raskt svar. Er min henvendelse journalført slik -at den dukker opp i NRKs postjournal?

- -

Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du skriver -at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via bakkenettet -gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge. Hvilke saksnummer fikk dokumenter -som ble opprettet i forbindelse med det omtalte møtet NRK v/Hellgren -og EBU hadde med MPEG LA (dvs. referater, avtaler, etc), -f.eks. dokumentet der formuleringen "in full" som du omtaler -finnes?

- -

Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. Det ene er -hvorfor NRKs forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" dekker -ser ut til å avvike fra det som presenteres i -lysark -fra MPEG LA i mai, der MPEG LA på lysark med overskriften -"AVC/H.264 License Terms Participation Fees" og undertittel "Where -remuneration is from other sources" skriver "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) – no royalty for life of -the AVC Patent Portfolio License".

- -

Her leser jeg MPEG LA dithen at det kun er kringkasting uten -abonnement via Internet som er dekket at vilkårne omtalt i -pressemeldingen, mens jeg forstår deg dithen at NRK mener NRKs -nettsider som også har enkeltfilmer og innslag (som jeg forstår dekket -av formuleringen "title-by-title") dekkes av "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video" fra MPEG LA. Hva baserer dere denne tolkningen på? Jeg har -ikke sett noe skriftlig fra MPEG LA som støtter NRKs tolkning, og -lurer på om dere har andre kilder enn den pressemeldingen fra 5 år -tilbake, der NRKS forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" -dekker er beskrevet?

- -

Det andre er at eposten din ikke nevnte spørsmålet mitt om -bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene som NRK bruker. Disse -har som tidligere nevnt krav om at de kun skal brukes til private og -ikke-kommersielle formål med mindre en har avtale med MPEG LA, og uten -avtale med MPEG LA kan det jo virke som om NRK bruker verktøyene i -strid med bruksvilkårene. Hva gjør at disse bruksvilkårene ikke -gjelder for NRK?

-

- -

Noen minutter senere får jeg foreløpig siste svar i -føljetongen:

- -

-

Hei igjen

- -

Vårt dokumentarkiv har fått en kopi (journalføringsnr kan jeg -dessverre ikke gi deg).

- -

> Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du -
> skriver at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via -
> bakkenettet gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge.

- -

Svar: Kan ikke svare for andre enn for NRK/EBU - og for bakkenettet -i Norge er det kun NRK som er et lisensbasert selskap. Kan ikke gi noe -svar på saksnr på dokumenter eller ytterligere informasjon da jeg selv -ikke var del i dette.

- -

> Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. ...

- -

Svar: Kan ikke gå ytterligere inn i dette fra min side og mitt -fagfelt som er produksjon/publisering og systemstrukturene bak -disse. For øvrig ligger det etter vår formening ingen begrensninger -for NRK i mulighetene til publisering mht til kodek i -produksjonssystemer. Som tidligere skrevet mener vi at NRK ikke -trenger noen avtale med MPEG LA og støtter oss til det vi allerede har -kommunisert i forrige epost.

- -

Mvh -
Geir Børdalen

-

- -

Det syntes vanskelig å komme videre når NRK ikke ønsker å gå inn i -problemstillingen rundt bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene -NRK bruker, så jeg sendte takk for svarene og avsluttet utvekslingen -så langt:

- -

-

Tusen takk for rask respons, og oppklarende forklaring om hvordan -NRK tenker rundt MPEG LA.

- -

Jeg vil høre med NRK-arkivet for å se om de kan spore opp de -omtalte dokumentene. Jeg setter pris på om du kan dele titler, dato -eller annen informasjon som kan gjøre det enklere for arkivet å finne -dem.

- -

Når det gjelder hvordan bruksvilkårene til -videoredigeringsverktøyene skal tolkes, så skal jeg høre med MPEG LA -og produsentene av verktøyene for å forsøke å få klarhet i hva de -mener er rikgig rettstilstand.

-

- -

Jeg ble litt klokere, men fortsatt er det uklart for meg hva som er -grunnlaget til NRK for å se bort fra bruksvilkår i -videoredigeringsprogramvare som krever MPEG LA-avtale til alt annet -enn privat og ikke-kommersiell bruk.

+
What is the best multimedia player in Debian?
+
8th May 2016
+

Where I set out to figure out which multimedia player in +Debian claim support for most file formats.

+ +

A few years ago, I had a look at the media support for Browser +plugins in Debian, to get an idea which plugins to include in Debian +Edu. I created a script to extract the set of supported MIME types +for each plugin, and used this to find out which multimedia browser +plugin supported most file formats / media types. +The +result can still be seen on the Debian wiki, even though it have +not been updated for a while. But browser plugins are less relevant +these days, so I thought it was time to look at standalone +players.

+ +

A few days ago I was tired of VLC not being listed as a viable +player when I wanted to play videos from the Norwegian National +Broadcasting Company, and decided to investigate why. The cause is a +missing MIME type in the VLC +desktop file. In the process I wrote a script to compare the set +of MIME types announced in the desktop file and the browser plugin, +only to discover that there is quite a large difference between the +two for VLC. This discovery made me dig up the script I used to +compare browser plugins, and adjust it to compare desktop files +instead, to try to figure out which multimedia player in Debian +support most file formats.

+ +

The result can be seen on the Debian Wiki, as +a +table listing all MIME types supported by one of the packages included +in the table, with the package supporting most MIME types being +listed first in the table.

+ +

The best multimedia player in Debian? It is totem, followed by +parole, kplayer, mpv, vlc, smplayer mplayer-gui gnome-mpv and +kmplayer. Time for the other players to update their announced MIME +support?

- Tags: h264, multimedia, norsk, opphavsrett, standard, video, web. + Tags: debian, debian edu, english, multimedia, video.
@@ -1112,92 +533,29 @@ enn privat og ikke-kommersiell bruk.

-
Blir det virkelig krav om fingeravtrykk i nasjonale ID-kort?
-
12th May 2015
-

Noen finner det vanskelig å tro at Stortinget faktisk har vedtatt å -kreve at alle norske borgerne må avgi fingeravtrykk til politiet for å -fungere i samfunnet. Jeg er blitt spurt hva som er grunnlaget for -min -påstand i forrige bloggpost om at det nå blir krav om å avgi -fingeravtrykk til politiet for å fungere som borger i Norge. De som -spør klarer ikke lese det ut fra det som er vedtatt. Her er en liten -oppsummering om hva jeg baserer det på. Det sies ikke direkte i -hverken proposisjon, innstilling eller vedtak, men fremgår når en ser -på indirekte formuleringer.

- -

I -stortingsproposisjon -66, avsnitt 6.3.5 (Avgivelse av biometriske personopplysninger) -står det

- -

- -

Departementet foreslår at både ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk skal - kunne opptas og lagres som identifikasjonsdata i de nasjonale - ID-kortene, på samme måte som i passene. Lovforslaget er derfor - utformet i tråd med passloven § 6 annet ledd, som fastslår at det - til bruk for senere verifisering eller kontroll av passinnehaverens - identitet kan innhentes og lagres i passet biometrisk - personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk (to - fingre). Dagens ordning med lagring av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk - i et kontaktløst smartkort i passet er basert på internasjonale - standarder. Fingeravtrykkene i nasjonalt ID-kort vil bli beskyttet - på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene i passene.

- -

[...]

- -

For norske forhold understreker departementet at innføring av - nasjonale ID-kort sammen med innføring av nye systemer for sikrere - utstedelse og kontroll av pass og relaterte dokumenter gir mulighet - til å utforme ordningen slik at den best mulig møter utfordringene - forbundet med identitetskriminalitet. Det tilsier at fingeravtrykk - opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort.

-

- -

Departementet sier altså at sin anbefaling er at fingeravtrykk skal -opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort. Det skrives som om det -blir valgfritt, på samme måten som det skrives passloven, der det i -loven sier at det kan -«innhentes -og lagres i passet biometrisk personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto -og fingeravtrykk (to fingre)». Men på tross av bruken av «kan» i -passloven er det innført krav om å avgi fingeravtrykk for å få et pass -i Norge. Proposisjonen sier i tillegg i del 1 (Proposisjonens -hovedinnhold) at ID-kortene skal være like pålitelig som pass og ha -samme sikkerhetsnivå som pass. Departementet foreslår altså at -ID-kortene skal gis etter samme regler som for pass.

- -

Formuleringene fra hovedinnholdet i proposisjonen er videreført i -innstillingen -fra stortingskomiteen, der det konkret står «De foreslåtte reglene -vil gi befolkningen tilbud om et offentlig utstedt identitetsbevis som -vil være like pålitelig som passet, og mer praktisk å bruke som -legitimasjon» og «Det nasjonale ID-kortet skal også holde samme -sikkerhetsnivå som passet». Komiteen har altså ingen kommentarer -eller innsigelser til dette forslaget, og gjorde i debatten da saken -ble vedtatt det klart at dette var en god sak og at en enstemmig -komité var glad for resultatet. Stortinget har dermed stilt seg helt -og fullt bak departementets forslag.

- -

For meg er det åpenbart når en leser proposisjonen at «like -pålitelig» og «samme sikkerhetsnivå» vil bli tolket av departementet -som «med samme biometrisk informasjon som i passene», og departementet -forklarer i tillegg i proposisjonen at de har tenkt at -fingeravtrykkene «vil bli beskyttet på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene -i passene». Jeg ser det dermed som åpenbart at den samme -tvangsinnhentingen av fingeravtrykk som gjelder for pass vil bli -viderført til de nasjonale ID-kortene.

- -

Det eneste som kan endre dette er massive protester fra -befolkningen på at folk som ikke er mistenkt for noe kriminelt skal -tvinges til å gi fingeravtrykket til politiet for å f.eks. kunne få -bankkonto eller stemme ved valg. Det kunne få departementet til å -snu. Det tror jeg ikke vil skje.

+
The Pyra - handheld computer with Debian preinstalled
+
4th May 2016
+
A friend of mine made me aware of +The Pyra, a +handheld computer which will be delivered with Debian preinstalled. I +would love to get one of those for my birthday. :)

+ +

The machine is a complete ARM-based PC with micro HDMI, SATA, USB +plugs and many others connectors, and include a full keyboard and a 5" +LCD touch screen. The 6000mAh battery is claimed to provide a whole +day of battery life time, but I have not seen any independent tests +confirming this. The vendor is still collecting preorders, and the +last I heard last night was that 22 more orders were needed before +production started.

+ +

As far as I know, this is the first handheld preinstalled with +Debian. Please let me know if you know of any others. Is it the +first computer being sold with Debian preinstalled?

- Tags: norsk, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: debian, english.
@@ -1212,6 +570,23 @@ snu. Det tror jeg ikke vil skje.

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