rsmck

pids

Digital Signage iPhones

The perfect device for low-cost Digital Signage might just be a broken iPhone.

techbodgery

Simple Pi Signage

I've done a lot of quite complex digital signage projects in the past, mainly using Raspberry Pis but also some other platforms, talking to box office systems, scheduling systems, providing dynamic wayfinding etc but a recent project called for something simple. We need a few screens that can

theatre

What a bunch of amateurs.

"We're not «insert big theatre name here»" or, why shouldn't amateur theatre strive to be as good technically as the pros?

theatre

The Safety of a Theatre

Донецький академічний обласний драматичний театр (Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater)Theatres, whatever their size, are special places to me. Not only because I happen to like theatre, and some have fantastic architecture, but also for what they represent. Many are akin to grand cathedrals built not to worship a deity,

covid-19

Arts vs Religion

The Scottish Government have, again, decreed that gatherings of over 200 people indoors are prohibited, supposedly because of the need to protect us all from COVID-19. An admirable aim, perhaps. However, the guidance [https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-staying-safe-and-protecting-others/] (the Regulations haven&

customer service

BMW - Get a handle on this!

BMW are ignoring a safety-critical issue in the F10/F11 5 Series cars caused by... a door handle.

security

Glacial DNS

The original working title for this was Ice Cube DNS, however given the glacial pace with which Namecheap [https://rsmck.co.uk/blog/namecheap-scam-submit-a-ticket/] move, taking an average of 47 hours to disable malicious websites [Source: NCSC] [https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/10/ncsc_active_

namecheap

"Submit a ticket"

Now, let me start by saying I love ticket systems. They are the order amongst the chaos in the IT support world, and when supporting customers often the correct approach is to ask them to raise a ticket. However, when a member of the public brings to your attention a

rants

I need some DIY done.

Today's pet peeve... and I've seen it in many places; > "I need some DIY done..." No you don't. You need some WORK done. The whole point of DIY is you Do It Yourself, it's literally what the initialism represents.

streaming

Adaptive HLS Streaming with Nginx

This is a follow up to my Simple(ish) Self-Hosted Streaming [https://rsmck.co.uk/blog/simple-ish-streaming-with-nginx/] with Nginx guide. If you haven't read that, read it first, this will make a lot more sense. That basic guide illustrates how to make your

streaming

Simple(ish) Self-Hosted Streaming with Nginx

Most of the more technical posts on here serve two purposes; to share with a specific group of people, and to remind myself when I need to do it again in a few years time. This one is no exception! The background behind this is a community group looking to

scam

HMRC Callback Scam

I've ranted about CLI and CLI Spoofing on many, many, occasions but more and more often scammers are using it as an extra step in their scam to "prove" they're genuine. In the example below the scammer directs the victim to the HMRC website,

security

MutationObserver and Refund Bank Scammers

A significant number of refund scammers rely on remotely accessing the victim's computer, having them log into their online banking, and then surreptitiously editing the content of the displayed web page to make it look like they have a higher balance (due to their erroneous "refund"

aviation

Living Aviation Art, the METARchart

The chart is illuminated by individual LEDs at each airport that change colour to reflect the weather at each airfield in near real-time much like the map on popular EFB applications. See the weather locally, and further afield, at a glance.

qlab

QLab HTTP Trigger

This is a quick (and rather dirty!) hack to trigger cues in QLab by an HTTP request, I wouldn't recommend using it in a production environment.

consumer rights

TEKnically Incorrect?

It became illegal in 2017 to charge payment fees per the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (As Amended) - Why do CCTVTek.co.uk ignore this law?

javascript

Local RTMP Server

Some time ago I stumbled upon Local RTMP Server for macOS [https://github.com/sallar/mac-local-rtmp-server], a simple RTMP server for macOS that lives as a menubar application and makes it easy to get streams from RTMP-capable devices (such as my DJI Mavic Pro and apps

theatre

(Re-)Opening the House

I am not an epidemiologist, just someone with a good understanding of risk assessment and generally pragmatic approach putting a few personal thoughts out there on re-opening some of the things we love aiming to provoke discussion, here I look at theatre and how we can safely return.

aviation

Cleared for Takeoff?

I am not an epidemiologist, just someone with a good understanding of risk assessment and generally pragmatic approach putting a few personal thoughts out there on re-opening some of the things we love aiming to provoke discussion, and how General Aviation can perhaps safely return to the skies.

zoneminder

Zoneminder SMTP Triggers

My CCTV server died recently, so I took the opportunity to try an alternative from my tried and trusted ZoneMinder [https://zoneminder.com] installation, and looked to Shinobi [https://shinobi.video]. For the most part it's great, it feels much more modern than ZoneMinder, it's architected

brexit Featured

I’ll miss EU.

This morning I don’t know what is more on my mind. Five months to find a new job, or eleven to find a new home, if I can find any way to do it. I’m not sure if I’m more depressed or angry. For my entire lifetime

Why does the blog look different?

I love consistency, I've always loved consistency. I'm also rather pedantic and known at work as the resident pedant (although there are now many more to take my place) Anyway, I use the excellent Ghost [https://ghost.org] platform for this blog and - due to various

qlab

On-Stage Telephone Ringing with QLab

There is an excellent article in the QLab cookbook [https://qlabcookbook.com/2013/01/03/telephone-ring/] for how to simulate a ringing telephone in QLab - and it's far better than playing back a simple sound effect. However, sometimes you can't beat an actual phone. Indeed,

Droning on... Forestry Commission Scotland

Well done Forestry Commission Scotland Hot on the heels of the ridiculous attempt by Ashdown Forest [https://rsmck.co.uk/blog/ashdown-forest-and-drones/] to try and regulate airspace, Forestry Comission Scotland announced that drones were not permitted in their forests; > Flying drones (unmanned aircraft) as an informal

Paxton Net2 + Slack Hack (Updated)

A couple of years ago I documented our hack that is used to get Paxton Net2 to send messages when doors are opened into Slack [https://rsmck.co.uk/blog/paxton-net2-meet-slack/], recent changes to Net2 break this and require some changes; Changed endpoint The endpoint changes from