Using Netflix with a Yamaha iPod dock

I’ve been playing with Netflix, like a lot of people, seeing what the new service is like. In short – you’ll be able to read a longer article next week on Register Hardware – I like it. For the sort of things I want to watch, the £5.99 is a pretty good deal.

There’s one niggle; my own TV set is one of the first generation Panasonic VieraCast sets, which doesn’t even support AceTrax, and isn’t going to get an update for things like that, so there’ll be no Netflix. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a Samsung 8000 series set here for testing, which is a great bit of kit, but sadly it’ll be going back soon.

Is that the end of my Netflix usage? Perhaps not; there’s an iOS app for Netflix, and I do have an iPod Touch. I also have a dock for my AV amp, which I’ve used in the past to play video from the iPod through the TV, taking advantage of the free weekly downloads from Orange.

That works pretty well, though I do have to alter the settings in the AV amp to stop video processing, if I want the picture to fill the screen. The amp is a Yamaha RX-V667, and I’m using the YDS-12 dock.

The problem

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work so well with Netflix; when you plug the iPod (or iPhone) in to the dock, you get an on-screen menu that can be used to select movies and music on the iPod. If you’re playing content, like movie rentals from iTunes, that appears in the menus, that’s fine – when you select a movie, the menus go away.

Start up Netflix and start watching, and you get this, instead:

Yamaha's dock menu overlays the video from the iPod - not much use for Netflix

I tried in vain using the obvious options to get rid of this, checking all the settings in the menus, and using that ‘x’ at the bottom right of the screen. No joy. The sound and video play fine, with the dock menu sitting on top.

The fix

Googling turned up the answer, and it’s thankfully a simply one: Just press the ‘rec’ button on the AV receiver’s remote control, and the menu disappears, until the next time you plug your iOS device in. I don’t know why they chose that, instead of the ‘close’ icon on the screen, but at least now you’ll be able to use an iPod touch or iPhone with your Yahama dock to enjoy Netflix full screen, if it’s not built in to your TV set.

Using Prey on the iPod Touch

If you’ve not heard of it, Prey is a great little security tool, that’s designed to help you retrieve lost computer equipment. It runs on a variety of platforms, and is designed so that you can mark a device as missing on their website, and then receive reports when it connects to the net.

Those reports can include location information and, depending on the platform, even a photograph taken by the devices camera. It’s free for up to three devices, too, so well worth a try.

I’ve had it installed on my laptop for a while, but been unable to get it to work on my iPod touch. I’ve marked the iPod as missing, moved it around, and still not received any reports. The Prey web site explains that you need to make sure ‘Location Services’ are enabled on the iOS device, so that the software knows when your gadget has been moved.

On the face of it, this is a simple thing to do. But the instructions on the Prey website omit to mention on important thing, which turned out to be the stumbling block.

If you simply install the app on your iOS device, and then mark it as missing on the Prey website, nothing’s going to happen. You can check the Location Services settings in iOS as many times as you like, but you won’t see an entry for Prey in there. It’s never asked for a location, so it’s never going to be able to send one – I even moved it between home and office, until I realised this.

What you have to do to make Prey work on iOS, it seems, is to mark the device as missing using the Prey app itself, at least once, rather than on the website. Do that, and then you’ll be prompted on the iPod or iPhone as to whether or not you want Prey to know your location.

Tap to allow it and then, hey presto, Prey appears in the ‘Location Services’ section of the Settings app, and everything works as it should.

This might seem obvious to some folk, but I bet there are quite a few who simply wonder why on earth Prey just doesn’t appear in the Location Services list, and it never seems to send any reports.

Mark your device as missing using the Prey app once, and then it will appear in the Location Services settings

Kobo’s 30% offer – what can you buy?

I read quite a lot, especially eBooks, so my attention was grabbed by an email from Kobo, offering 30% off “select” books. That’s quite handy. But a look at the small print reveals this text:

“Discount code is valid for one time 30% off any eBook purchase excluding those from the following publishers: In the UK – Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Wiley, and Zondervan, and all respective subsidiary imprints.”

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s pretty much all the major publishers in the UK, isn’t it? Sure, there are some independent and smaller companies that aren’t covered by that. But I think it’s actually quite likely that the vast majority of books that many people might decide they want to buy are actually going to be excluded from the offer by that bit of small print.

And, of course, a lot of people won’t actually be certain who owns a particular publisher – they’ll just want the latest title by their favourite author.

I can’t help thinking that a fair number of people are going to be disappointed when they try to use the discount code. Wouldn’t it have been better to say “30% off some independent titles” or something like that?

My highlights of 2011

I thought, at the end of the year, it was worth picking out some of the things that I’ve found most interesting to write about here over the last twelve months. So here’s my top ten, in chronological order, with a few comments.

In January, I looked at the little things that make a PVR special. Once you’ve had these features, you start to rely on them – and it’s a shame many new models still don’t come up to the mark.

As in previous years, the publishing industry continues to confound people; the sales of eBook readers may be rising, but some of the big companies remain resolute in their analogue ways. In February, it was the turn of Harper-Collins to miss the point, with a suggestion that library copies of eBooks should wear out.

April was an important date for Freeview HD; it’s the date after which any new kit tested and launched on the market should support all the features needed for things such as iPlayer and the new IP TV services being launched on channel 110 and above. That’s when version 6.2.1 of the D-Book became mandatory.

Prompted by an impending holiday, in May I considered upgrading my camera – whether to go digital, and if so, how to do that, and take my existing lenses with me. My holiday was also the inspiration for another post in June, in which I looked at how to get cheap mobile data in Italy. If you’re travelling, I hope you’ll find it useful.

July saw lots of publicity given to an Ofcom map of broadband around the country. It might look pretty, but read my comments, and see if you agree that, for many purposes, it’s actually not very useful at all.

Back in 2010, I started the process of migrating all my phones from the old ISDN line that I had to a new VoIP system, running over my broadband connection, and powered by a software PBX running on a small Windows PC. In September, after I’d been using the new system for a year, I was able to answer the question – was it worth switching to VoIP?

Value for money was presumably on my mind that month, as I asked the same question of robot cleaners, too, after reviewing the latest Roomba model for RegHardware.

Another thing that’s been on my mind is changing my mobile phone, for one that is a bit better at web browsing than my current Nokia E72. But there are some things the old Nokia does very well – and very few more recent phones do. I think. The problem is that most phone reviews just don’t tell me what I need to know.

And finally, in November I was lucky enough to attend an open day at the BBC’s research labs in Salford. There’s a lot more going on there than just the Daleks!

Feeling the heat

In common with many people, as the weather’s turned colder, I’ve switched on the central heating. My boiler’s not even two years old yet, and is a pretty efficient Vaillant combi model, but like many such systems, it doesn’t have a built in timer. In fact, some combi installations don’t even have a room thermostat, just an on/off switch for the heating.

Some years ago, I replaced the existing thermostat in the hallway with a Drayton DigiStat 3. Even if you’ve never tinkered with a central heating system before, it’s actually a pretty straightforward job, because in many British heating systems, the thermostat on the wall does just one thing – it turns a circuit on and off; that may be a pump that drives water round the central heating system, or it may be the boiler itself, or something a bit fancier, but essentially, the wall thermostat is just a simple switch; you could, if you wanted, replace it with a light switch.

This means that if you want something a bit more sophisticated than a mechanical thermostat, it’s a simple job to replace your existing one. The Digistat 3 that I’m currently using is powered by two batteries, and as well as reacting to the temperature, includes a clock. It can be programmed with different temperatures for different times of the day – morning, daytime, evening and night – and days of the week.

That gives you a lot more control over your heating (and energy use), and combines both the function of a time switch and a thermostat. And it’s possible to add something like this to just about any central heating system because all you have to do is turn on and off a single switch – the boiler doesn’t care why it’s being told to turn the heating on or off, whether it’s time or temperature. The Digistat is just a relay, powered by batteries, and controlled by it’s clock and sensors.

Modern technology

While a programmable 7 day thermostat is perfect for a lot of people, it’s not always ideal for me. For example, sometimes I’ll be working in someone’s office, or spend the day out of the flat. On those days, it’s actually going to be a bit wasteful to have the heating running when I’m not here; it could be turned off, or the temperature turned down a few more degrees, saving more energy.

But, smart though the Digistat 3 may be, it has just four buttons and a small display. Making a change for a single day is a bit fiddly and so, like many people I suspect, I don’t bother. So, whether I’m working at home or not, the heating carries on with the same program.

One solution to that – and perhaps I’ve been talking myself into a new gadget here – is a thermostat that’s remotely controllable via the home network. By providing a web or app interface, it’s suddenly much easier to control than fiddling around with those buttons. It’s even possible to set things up to give me remote control, so I could turn on the heating when I’m just leaving the office, for instance, or stop it coming on if I’m going to be working late.

I’ve been thinking about this because it looks like the faithful old Digistat is on its last legs; last week the relay appeared to be stuck in the ‘off’ position, and this week it died completely for a few hours, prompting me to search for a WiFi thermostat.

WiFi thermostats?

Yes, some of you are probably wondering if the world’s gone mad. But a quick search online revealed that there are several out there, though many are made for the US market, and while they may be available in the UK, or by mail order, that’s not ideal.

One of the main reasons for that is that in the US, systems that incorporate both cooling and heating are much more common; wireless thermostats tend to be a fairly high end product, and so they support all the options. And from a bit of cursory reading, it seems that as a result, the connections to a thermostat in the US tend to be a little more complicated. Of course, you can buy a fancy thermostat that supports aircon as well as heating, and tell it you just have a simple on-off control, but that does seem to be a bit of overkill.

And, you’ll still run into wiring issues; a wifi thermostat isn’t going to run on batteries. The US models that I’ve looked at expect there to be a 24 volt supply available through the thermostat wiring, and that’s not going to be much use to you in the UK. (Though oddly, there are terminals in my boiler that the manual indicates would provide the required power; they’re marked “not to be used in the UK”.)

Wiring up

Fortunately, there are WiFi thermostats available for the UK market too, including several models from Heatmiser, which I’ve been looking at; there’s even an app for remote control.  I was sorely tempted by one, with WiFi, 7 day programming and a touch screen. But there’s one sticking point – the need for a 230 volt supply.

Heatmiser's WiFi thermostat

To make the Heatmiser WiFi stat work, you’ll need at least three wires, plus earth, coming into the back of your existing thermostat. Then, when it’s connected up, two of those will supply live and neutral to the thermostat itself, and the third will feed back the live supply to the boiler when heating is required.

If you have three core plus earth cable, then you’re all set; you might have to adjust some connections at the boiler end, but at least you won’t have to run a new cable through.

Unfortunately, I don’t. Since my previous thermostats have only ever acted as a dumb switch, the wiring into my thermostat is standard mains cable – two cores, plus earth. I suspect that an awful lot of people are in that position.

It would be possible to replace the wire; it’s not buried behind plasterwork in my flat, but it does run along skirting boards, behind fitted kitchen cupboards, and through the back of a fireplace. Ripping out the existing one could be done, but it’s the sort of DIY that is just a hassle, even if it doesn’t involve the replastering and repainting that many people would find necessary.

Fortunately, it turns out that Heatmiser is working on a new version, which uses WiFi to allow control of the thermosat, but a separate wireless circuit for the actual switching. That means that the bit that actually turns the boiler on and off can be sited right next to it, and the touch screen panel WiFi unit replaces the existing wall thermostat.

Since it’s controlling the switch by wireless, all it needs is power, live and neutral. Which means that the existing two wire connection can be reused to do that, and I won’t have to spend hours trying to coax a new cable out from behind the kitchen cabinets.

They’re going to send me a unit to test, and I’ll write more when I’ve got it.

Inside the den of the hot geeks

Last week I had the pleasure of a trip to Manchester, where I’ve not been since the tail end of the 20th century. I was invited by the BBC to look round their R&D North Lab, which is one of the three locations where the Corporation works on a range of research, from digital production to ways of enhancing the experience of the end users.

There’s a team of technologists (or hot geeks, as I prefer to think of them); mostly young men and a few women, ranging from those on placement as part of a course to others who have been with the BBC for many years.

A full report of my trip is over on RegHardware.

Additional information about the “dalek demo” has just been posted on the BBC R&D Blog

What phone reviews don’t tell me

As regular readers here will know, I use a Nokia E72 as my main phone; it has a reliable, robust operating system in Symbian S60, and does pretty much all the things that I need of it. What it doesn’t do so well is browse the web.

For that, I sometimes use an iPod touch, which while effective for some things, drives me to distraction at times; iOS5 has made it a little better, but I’m still not convinced that it would suit me as a way to operate a telephone.

So what do I want from a phone, and which platform is going to give it to me? The first part is easy to answer, and that’s what most of this post is about.

The second is trickier, and I’d love to hear from people with experience of different platforms about how they handle some of these things, or if they’re actually possible. I very much like the design of the new Nokia Lumia, but can Windows Phone do all the things I want? Can Meego on the N9? Or Android? Or should I just carry on as I am until one of the platforms has matured enough?

I’ve read plenty of reviews of the latest phones, like the N9, or the Lumia 800, and various Android devices, and I’m none the wiser.

Here’s what’s important to me on a phone:

Good call handling

In my view, S60 is excellent at this. My address book is divided into groups, and every person is on a group like ‘VIP’, ‘Family’, ‘Friends’, ‘Work’ and so on. Each group has its own ring tone, so I know when the phone starts making a noise what sort of call it is likely to be.

And Nokia’s ‘Profiles’ allows me to handle things intelligently; the phone simply won’t make a noise unless the caller is in one of the groups, so I don’t get pestered by wrong numbers. The ‘Private’ profile additionally alerts me only to calls from ‘Family’ and ‘VIP’, and makes no noise for texts.

So, I can give my number to anyone; and a weirdo I met in a bar can call whenever he likes, or my bank can text a statement at some ungodly hour, and it won’t wake me up. But the phone can stay on, and the people for whom I’d be prepared to get out of bed in the middle of the night can always reach me. That’s standard Nokia functionality for S60; it’s augmented by an app called ‘Handy Profiles’ which automatically switches the phone to the ‘Private’ profile at around 11pm, and back again at 9.30am.

This is functionality I really don’t want to lose if I switch to a different platform.

Good VoIP support

My phone system at home uses VoIP, with standards-based SIP. That’s long been built into Symbian too, and it means that when I’m working in someone’s office, my E72 connects back to the phone system over the net; people just have to ring my usual number, and I’ll get their call; and I can call out from the phone via the home number too. It also saves a fortune in roaming fees.

Best of all, it’s properly integrated with the main phone book, not a bodged add-on. I can select a number and just press ‘Net call’ to call that way if I want. The voicemail button asks me if I want the mobile voicemail or my home voicemail. It’s about as seamless as it can get. Perhaps not quite a deal breaker, but a standards-based SIP client that uses the main phonebook is very important to me.

Excellent email

For email, I don’t use the standard Nokia app, but instead use the wonderful Profimail from LonelyCatGames. This is a brilliant IMAP email client, which lets me have all three of my main email accounts on the phone; it lets me hide IMAP folders that I don’t often use, but still access them when I need to. I can have different signatures for every account, and filter rules too, if I need them.

The IMAP support in iOS doesn’t even come close, in my view; it’s particularly annoying having to scroll through a list of hundreds of folders to get to the one I want. And I don’t want to have to switch email away from my self-hosted IMAP server.

[XHEAD]Compromises

Needless to say, better browsing than I get on the E72 is probably the main reason for wanting to change phone; a larger screen will help, and so would touch – though having a real keyboard is also something I appreciate at the moment, for the speed and accuracy of composing messages. I’d like to know how well other platforms trade these things off.

I do have some apps like the Zipcar and Ocado app on my iPod touch, and they’re kinda nice to have – but given how often I use them, I’m not actually convinced that it’s essential. I have absolutely sod all interest in playing games, except maybe a bit of Mah Jong from time to time.

It’s nice to have apps like PuTTY, so that I can do emergency server tweaks from the phone, but I imagine pretty much any platform will let me do that sort of things.

It’s those three main things I mentioned above that are the most important to me – proper call handling and filtering, voip support, and great email. Those are how my E72 helps me keep in touch, and on top of things. And they’re also the elements that are all too often glossed over in reviews of phones, in favour of information about what media formats can be played, or how many apps there are to download, and so on.

So, if any readers can tell me if their favourite phone platforms can do the things my E72 does, please let me know.