Hacking The IT Crowd Series 2 DVD – Part 2

I think I may be onto something big here!

I recently came across the website http://www.ilovewillies.com

This site is owned by FremantleMedia and contains some great tips for the Easter Eggs.

I have now managed to extract some very useful information from the file in Episode 1. It is a JPEG containing EXIF data, with some Geolocation coordinates:

File: - G:\Copy of test.jpgImageDescription - OL]MPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Make - OLYIPUS L€TåCAL CO.,LTD

Model - Þ      OL]MP

Orientation -

XResolution - 144

YResolution - 144

ResolutionUnit - Inch

Software - 42-0120

DateTime - 2007:05:04 23:15:35

YCbCrPositioning - Co-Sited

ExifOffset - 296

ExposureTime - 1/30 seconds

FNumber - 2.00

ExposureProgram - Normal program

ISOSpeedRatings - 80

ExifVersion - 0210

DateTimeOriginal - 2007:05:04 23:15:35

DateTimeDigitized - 2007Ò0%:0
 23:1:3

ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr

ExposureBiasValue - 0.00

MaxApertureValue - F 2.04

MeteringMode - Multi-segment

Flash - Fired

FocalLength - 10.00 mm

UserComment - You'vu found an Easter Egg!

FlashPixVersion - 0100

ColorSpace - Uncalibrated

ExifImageWidth - 1024

ExifImageHeight - 768

InteroperabilityOffset - 670

FileSource - DSC - Digital still camera

GPS information: -

GPSLatitudeRef - N

GPSLatitude - 51  32  56

GPSLongitudeRef - W

GPSLongitude - 0  32  4

Now what are these coordinates?
51 32 56 N 0 32 4 W
Well it just happens to be:
Pinewood Studios!!!

The comment in the file is “You Found an Easter Egg“

I am still working on decrypting the rest of the JPEG, it’s slow but I’m getting there.

Update: October 31st

I now know that the JPEG is a photo of Maurice Moss standing in the doorway of the basement holding something…
I have another 20 or so lines to decipher before I can unscramble what he is holding in his hand, although I do have a suspicion I already know what it is!

Update: November 9th

I have better things to do than try to finish decoding these subtitles, I seriously can’t be bothered anymore, and finally there are other people out there who have begun working on the project.

Here’s the photo I decoded so far: Maurice Moss

It’s Moss, and he seems to be holding 2 Easter Eggs.

Update: November 9th (again)

Yes I know the photo is blurry and pixelated. I only decoded part of it, hence why I said “here’s the photo I decoded so far”. The photo is only partially decoded, and I don’t have a more clear version for you. The photo, when you click the link, is pixelated, and I don’t have a finished copy of it for you. Please don’t ask me for a more clear version, because I only partially decoded the image above and that’s the most I’m going to be doing on it. It’s enough so that you can see what it is.

To recap: That’s the image, yes it’s blurry, no I can’t fix it.

Thankyou.

Monty Python at their finest!

A series of Monty Python clips all involving the infamous “Gumby” character(s)

Training, Servers, TV and Movies!

Today was my last day of a 5 day training course at work to learn the new computer software…very boring!

I was just about to go home when I checked my emails and saw that my server was having a fit. One of the MySQL tables decided to crash itself, so as soon as I got home I contacted my hosting company and they saved it for me. Just as well, I really didn’t want to lose 4 weeks of forum posts!

Luckily this server is almost about to be turned off, it’s been thrashed over the last 2 years and I’ve got a new one now. Most of my sites have been migrated across, and they run great, but there’s still a handful left on the old server. I’ve disabled the forum and I’m in the process of getting everything put onto the new server, just planning out my strategy to make sure it goes well.

Tonight saw Channel 10 launch their brand new series “Friday Night Download”, from the “genius” creators of the “masterpiece” show called “Big Brother”… If you haven’t guessed, I’m being sarcastic. If you watched the show and enjoyed it, then I seriously doubt you know what sarcasm means, let me translate for you.
“Sarcasm like means like that you say something, but you really don’t like mean what you’re like saying, you know?”
I’ll finish that statement by saying “I hate you”.
It’s basically just an hour-long show of three F-List celebrities watching Youtube clips that we all saw 6 months ago. And it’s not like they used the time to track down a high-resolution version, they actually play the tiny blurry videos fullscreen! At least that’s what I got from the commercials. If I watched the show then I’d be too ashamed to show my face in public.

Anyway instead of watching that gigantic pile of trash tonight, I watched 2 hilarious episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (slowly working my way through the whole 16 disc boxed set!). Then I finally got around to watching “Ocean’s 13″, I hadn’t seen it at the movies but recently bought the DVD.
Now for the record I thought “Ocean’s 11″ was fantastic. I enjoyed “Ocean’s 12″, the story may have been a little confusing and at times far-fetched, but the music, the locations, and the characters were amazing! Most of the reviews I read for “Ocean’s 13″ said it was “not as good as 11 but better than 12″. I have to agree in this case, I really enjoyed this movie.
The opening was a little confusing as the plot was setup, and at times you wondered what they were doing, but it all makes sense (just like the first 2 movies). The music, again, worked well (I loved David Holmes’ usage of parts of the score from “Ocean’s 11″). The cast work great together, and you actually care what happens to them, plus they have a great humour about themselves. There was really only a few moments where I thought “that’s impossible!”, and I cringed when they mentioned “Artificial Intelligence” (although seeing the computer in action was much more believable). But just like a James Bond film, I went in knowing what to expect and enjoyed what I got.

Ocean’s 14? Bring it on!

Hacking the IT Crowd Series 2 DVD

Well 2 days ago my copy of the great series “The IT Crowd series 2″ arrived on DVD from the UK (Region 2 DVD).

Series 1 had a whole bunch of cool geeky features, however series 2 has gone above and beyond this time.

When you select “l33t” subtitles and watch episode 1, you see this:

The subtitles are actually a base64 encoded file! This is the same format used for attachments in emails.

Hidden Files
Episode 1 – “EasterEgg1.jpg”
Episode 2 – “Barber.z5″
Episode 3 – “EggDump”
Episode 4 – Not a file, but some programming code (see below)
Episode 5 – “EasterEgg3.part.2″
Episode 6 – Not a file, it is some kind of encoded light pattern in the bottom of the screen.

Programming Code (Episode 4)
Episode 4 contains the following programming code:

10	REM > Sophie's Choice

20	MODE 0

30	*LOAD EggDump ffff3000

40	ENVELOPE 1, 3, 1, -1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 30, -10, 0, -40, 127, 80

50	PROCPLAY2

60	END

70	DEF PROCPLAY2

80	RESTORE 290

90	REPEAT

100	A = 1

110	READ C, N$, D

120	P = 37 + INSTR("A BC D EF G", LEFT$(N$,1)) * 4

130	N2$ = MID$(N$, 2, 1)

140	IF N2$ = "#" THEN P = P + 4

Etc…
It appears to be in BASIC language, a game called “Sophie’s Choice”.

The JPEG image in episode 1 will probably reveal more though.

The main problem with DVD Subtitles is that they are not text, they are images. The only way to convert them to plain text is to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The best program I’ve seen to do this is SubRip, however this unfortunately truncates the subtitles and only translates the first 8 or so lines.
Currently I’m using a program called Avidemux, it’s the only one I’ve found (out of about ten) that works. The drawback is that although it’s accurate, it also takes much longer to train the OCR.

I’ve written a base64 decoder with PHP, so far I’ve only extracted enough of the subtitles to know that the JPEG photo was taken with an Olympus Digital Camera E-10 at 11:15pm on May 4th 2007.

Update: Part 2 Continues here

John Howard vs Kevin Rudd – Waste of Paper?

(This photo is one of my own, feel free to share and repost if you wish, no link is required)

ThinkGeek :: Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

Here at ThinkGeek we’re pretty lazy when it comes to technology. We expect our gadgets to do all the busywork while we focus on the high level important tasks like reading blogs. That’s why we hate to have to crack open our laptops just to see if there is any wi-fi internet access about… and keychain wi-fi detectors, we would have to actually remove them from our pockets to look at them. But now thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Finally you can get the attention you deserve as others bow to you as their reverential wi-fi god, while geeky chicks swoon at your presence. You can thank us later.

Product Features

* Glowing animated shirt dynamically displays the current wi-fi signal strength.
* Shows signal strength for 802.11b or 802.11g
* Black 100% Cotton T-Shirt
* Animated Decal is Removable (with hook and loop fasteners) for Easy Washing
* Battery Pack is Concealed in a Small Pocket Sewn Inside the Shirt
* Runs for hours off three AAA Batteries (not included)

ThinkGeek :: Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

Shaun Micallef presents Newstopia

Hi all!

Just a quick post about Shaun Micallef’s new series “Newstopia”, which starts on SBS at 10pm on Wednesday.
There’s a great article about it here at The Age:
Micallef rewrites headlines with comedy Newstopia

Some of my favorite quotes:
“It’s strange to have a segment consisting entirely of American newsreaders mentioning our name,” says Shaun Micallef, anchor of upcoming comedy news program Newstopia, on SBS. “With Port Arthur there was almost this sense that we’ve made it; that we’re up there with any number of mass shootings across the world.”

This is pretty spot on, if something big happens they’ll not only cover the incident, but also the press coverage of the incident!

This perverse pride is not the only quirk of our TV news. There’s our tendency to laud disaster victims as heroes even before they’ve demonstrated courage. (“All you have to do is survive,” Micallef says). World news is crammed into a 90-second overview. And how many other countries devote half their bulletins to sport?

Isn’t it amazing how only 10 minutes of newsworthy events happen on the weekend around the entire world? And then at 6:10pm we have to hear about how some football player stubbed his toe and might miss a few games. Or 5 minutes of discussion about some guy’s groin…

It’s not a foul mouth or rampant political bias that polarises viewers. Few actually take umbrage to his jokes. It’s just that a lot a people – if letters to the editor are anything to go by – simply don’t get him. Every new foray prompts another flood of correspondence, all echoing the same refrain: what’s so funny about this guy? To which an equally large number respond: everything. (Micallef seems to inspire a rusted-on loyalty that other comedians only dream of.)Why? Well, his absurdist, Python-esque flourishes are a world away from the f-words and Frankston jokes of most Australian comics. He doesn’t even do stand-up. As producer Gary Reilly once put it, he’s a “come-to-me” comedian.

This is probably the best part of the article. He’s a genius, but his sense of humor is way out of what most people comprehend. You either get it or you don’t. Who else would start their brand new variety show by walking onto the stage, and then taking a look back at the series so far? (Youtube link)
Or who else would call their show “The Micallef Program”, then rename it to “The Micallef Programme” when people complain about the incorrect spelling of the show, then deliberately rename it “The Micallef Pogram” just to annoy those same people…
Who else would invite Tim Rogers on their show to promote his new CD, only to accuse him of plagiarism! (Youtube link)

I hope the country gives Newstopia the chance it deserves, we need more intellectual comedy in this country!

Stargate SG-1 vs Star Wars

Stargate is NOTHING like Star Wars….on second thought maybe it is!

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