Atelier Shiori

Melscrobble for Windows 0.1.2 Released

April 25, 2010 by chikorita157

Few days ago, I released a new MelScrobble for Windows. This fix addresses my booboos with the Scrobbling function because I can’t spell “attribute” right and adds new RegEx for Anime Detection so it will be more compatible with some weird file names. Note that “Episode” is no longer inserted in the Segment in Anime Detection. Episode will be inserted automatically when you post an update using that title.

To get the latest update, head over to the MelScrobble Github Download Page, download 0,.1.2 and install on top of the old version if it’s installed. Requires Windows XP SP3 with .NET Framework 3.5 Installed or Windows Vista SP2 or higher. AMIP plugins are needed for music detection.

New Theme is Up

April 22, 2010 by chikorita157

Like with my main blog, Chikorita157’s Anime Blog, I said sayanora to Wicketpixie and hello my custom made theme that I worked on for hours. The difference is the color scheme, but nothing else is different besides that. Tell me what you think about it, okay?

Nah… We are using P2 now…

Is Microsoft Dot Net really that bad as people put it?

April 19, 2010 by chikorita157

The answer is no. I have used Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 to build a Melative Scrobbler for Windows users in Visual Basic… The result… It took 2 1/2 days estimated to make a fully functional scrobbler that included music and anime detection and with Visual Basic 2008, it was pretty simple since the syntax is similar to RealBasic and I have used it back in 2006 when I was developing stuff on the same platform, except with a older version of Visual Studio.

The problem lies with people spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Microsoft .NET. MAL Updater go so far and bashing it saying it uses too much memory and requires a user to install a 30 MB .NET Framework on the computer. However, it is not a big drawback at all. Here are some common FUD spread about .NET.

.NET Uses too much memory! – This is bullshit on top of the gun. With my written application, MelScrobble, it only used around 8 MB – 11 MB on Windows 7, as much used in MAL Lite and also Melative Library, both programs that are not written in .NET, but in RealBasic 2009 which uses native code. Keep in mind that the memory shown in the Task Manager is not the actual memory used in the program since the newer versions of Windows preallocate the memory so that the program will run faster on the fly, just like in Mac OS X and Linux does with memory allocation.
.NET is bloated and requires one to install a huge .NET framework: Also, another fear tactic used by anti-DOT NET users and is hardly a issue these days. Vista Service Pack 2 and 7 comes with .NET 3.5 preinstalled. The only people that are complaining are the Windows XP users… so just install it… Other programs are going to use it anyways.
.NET is SLOW and Shitty: No it’s not… It runs just as fast for general purpose application. If you are writing a program that requires native code, you would be using C++ or C, not C# and VB.NET. It is hardly an issue since most people have fast computers and have 2-4 GB memory standard on their computers.
Lastly, you aren’t developing programs, I am. You shouldn’t dictate to me what I should use or not.

Dot NET is a powerful platform and can also be used in Mono as well, meaning you can use it on Mac OS X, Linux, you name it… not just Windows… so I don’t see what is the fuss with Dot NET…. Not convinced still, I will write MelScrobble in Delphi 7 to prove a point, but believe me… it is not going to be any different from the one written in Visual Basic 2008.

Melative Library and MAL Client OS X Future

April 14, 2010 by chikorita157

Melative Library is close to being feature complete and a Release Candidate build should be out, depending on if there is going to be any more API changes (not likely). In the next versions of Melative Library for Windows and Mac OS X, they will include native scrobblers which I have been working on a while and will be included in the Disk Image/Installer by default. All you need to do is enter your login information and start using them. Also, with Ryan returning in April 21, Melative development should accelerate…

Now MAL Client OS X. Just a few days ago, Manga support have been added to the Unofficial MAL API as listed below:

13 April 2010
————-
* Added the following manga API methods – thanks to Guillaume Cassonnet (gcassonnet):
  * /mangalist – Read a manga list.
  * /mangalist/manga/manga_id – Add, update or delete a manga in a user’s manga list.
  * /manga/search – Search for manga.

Since MAL Client OS X doesn’t have Manga support built in yet since this change was committed yesterday, I will have to spend some time adding that support, but it shouldn’t be hard. I have to figure out how to do a switch between Anime/Manga and how to use the existing windows to achieve this. This may take two weeks to implement, but once it is added, a beta release will be released. To upgrade to this beta release once it is release, check the “Check for Prerelease Builds” in Misc under Preferences. This will make Sparkle Updater use the experimental Appcast instead of the stable branch. Once everything is stable, I will release it as a final build. The build that have Manga support will be marked version 1.5.

However, this won’t impact the Cocoa rewrite of MAL Client OS X since I haven’t done much work on it since I still need to learn Objective C and Cocoa.

Adobe and their Crybaby approach on Flash

April 13, 2010 by chikorita157

Just recently, Apple changed the agreement over how programs can be made on the iPhone OS 4.0, only allowing C, C++ and Objective C to be used. This is obviously a change aimed at Adobe where they have this ability in Flash CS5 that allows one to compile a Flash application to the iPhone. Now they are crying fowl and want to sue Apple.

Excuse me? Adobe, you have treated Mac users as second class citizens. This is evident when they ditch Premiere on the Mac, delayed their transition for the apps on Mac OS X, don’t have Universal Binary of the Applications until 2007… Who is the lazy one now? The problem is that most creative people mostly use Macs and they are not going to ditch a Mac just to use your products on Windows. The problem is that you neglected the Mac and also the Linux platform for Flash just to focus more on catering for the Windows users. Do you think it’s fair? Why does Flash take more CPU on Mac OS X while playing a Youtube video. Why does Flash and Adobe Air suck so much on Linux? How come it took a whole year to fix that Flash crash bug that affected every OS? Because, they don’t care about those non-Windows users and more interested in filling their pockets with money by selling extremely expensive creative suites that are bloated on top of draconian DRM that does absolutely nothing to thwart piracy.

Adobe, the problem is that you can’t just sue Apple because they don’t allow flash. The AppStore is not a monopoly since there are other devices that have an AppStore like Android and Blackberry. Apple also don’t control the majority of the smartphone market share (They only control around 15%) let alone the whole cellphone market share. The problem with Adobe is that you are being a wuss and not fixing your software that has bugs and instead of moaning and say that it’s all Apple’s fault. Go ahead and pull your creative suite, you know that Apple will create replacements to bring more pressure like they did with Final Cut Pro. You aren’t helping yourself by mistreating all the creative professionals who depend on the Mac and also your software. Instead of wasting your time with a lawsuit that would otherwise fail, you should fix your software and make up with Apple. Creative Professionals that uses Macs (not the fanboys) shouldn’t have to be shafted because you can’t put fully functional software without bugs, so do yourself a favor… fix your software and stop whining… or be left behind…

So… Pokemon Heart Gold Friend Code

April 12, 2010 by chikorita157

One of the things I have neglected to do. Yes, there is a fair amount of bloggers who still play Pokemon on their free time besides watching Anime and such, and I do too when I have absolutely nothing to do and breed/level grind Pokemon use for online battle and Battle Frontier.

The friend code is 0818-6384-1156. To use this, you must contact me on XMPP, Twitter, Melative… Anything with your friend code so I can make arrangements. Since I have a WPA protected wireless network, I first have to turn the security off the guest network so I can battle you or do anything of that sort. Beware that when you battle, I do take time to train the Pokemon with the right stats and all that good stuff, so its a heads up so complainers won’t say I hacked my Pokemon, since I don’t use any such device.

Rules for battling is Level 100 Single, No Ubers (listed here), Sleep and Evasion Cause (No Double Team, etc). Also, Hacked Pokemon (Gameshark or Pokesav) is strictly prohibited.If you win the battle, you won’t get any prize of some sort and these videos will be recorded with the in game battle recorder and I will list these battle videos on a separate page.

Anyways, Have Fun!

MelScrobble 0.1.1 Alpha for Windows Released

April 11, 2010 by chikorita157

After an hour of figuring out how to obtain the playing file in Media Player Classic, I was able to do it with minimal work and some Regular Expressions tweaks, this is the final product shown in the screenshot above. Basically, MelScrobble takes the recently playing info from Media Player Classic from the registry and then regex the stuff out so we only get the segment and the media title. Like with the Mac version, some files may not work properly because of how they are named, so you have to manually edit it out, which shouldn’t be that hard, but that is pretty rare when it happens.

If you having trouble with the detection feature for Anime, go to Media Player Classic and go to the Preferences. In general, the settings should look like this:

Afterwards, play the file again and use detect. It should work as it did on the screenshot.

People might be wondering, why Media Player Classic only. Media Player Classic is mostly used player for people who play fansubs since the CCCP (Community Combined Codec Pack, not Soviet Russia) installs this by default and is well supported with most of the popular video formats. Other player support will be added in the future once I figure it out, but this is pretty much it.

If you want to try it out, head to the MelScrobble’s Github Download Page. Windows XP SP3 or higher and .NET Framework 3.5 is required to operate the program. Also, the appropriate AMIP plugin needs to be installed to take advantage of music detection.

MelScrobble 0.1 for Windows Released

April 10, 2010 by chikorita157

After hours of work, I got most of the functions down except Anime detection, which is a bit more complicated. Besides that, Music detection and manually typing in what you are watching works along with the scrobbling functions.

If you really want to test it out, the first alpha can be downloaded at MelScrobble’s Github Download Page. Once you download the file, click on the installer and follow the instructions. MelScrobble requires the .net Framework 3.5… It should be installed on Vista SP2 and 7, but XP users may have to install this if it is not installed already. The program will not run without it.

After you install it, find MelScrobble on the Start Menu and start it. Right click on the Melative Logo on the icon tray and click Settings. Click on the Login Tab and do what is shown below. It will verify your account info, create a cookie and save it in the Application. Your username and password is not saved in the program as a security measure.

To make the music detection working you need to install AMIP (Advanced mIRC Integration Plugin) to use the detection feature. It will support popular music players like Winamp, foobar2000 and iTunes (Yeah, iTunes… lol). Once you have installed the appropriate plugin, all you need to do is select “Music” from the media type menu and press detect. It should output the track name, album and artist. All you need is either type a message and scrobble/post it. If you attempt to detect an Anime mediatype, it won’t work since it is not implemented yet.

If you close the scrobble window, it will hide to the tray. Double click on the Melative Logo to bring it up again or right click and click on “Show/Hide Scrobble Window.” To exit the program, do the same, but select “Exit MelScrobble”

Anyways, the program itself is changing, so features are subject to change. Give suggestions on how to improve the program or such. If you encounter any bugs, file them at the project’s github.

MelScrobble for Windows on your way!

April 9, 2010 by chikorita157

As you might know already, I have been working on MelScrobbleX for quite awhile, but the only problem is that it only worked on Mac OS X and not everyone has Macs. RyanA’s ActionStatus is incompatible with Windows, so I decided to write one from scratch. This one will support media detection from Winamp/foobar2000 and Media Player Classic and written in Visual Basic .net 2008 Express. Yes, it does sound silly, but the interface will be exactly the same as MelScrobbleX. So far, I have done some major progress on it, but now slowed down because well, the detection is going to be different… but don’t worry, a alpha release will be release once I get it caught up to speed.

People can whine about .Net all they want… It’s included already if you are using Vista or 7… so it’s no excuse there… Also, I decided not to use RealBasic since I won’t be able to detect anything that way, so my only choice was Visual Basic .Net, like it or not… Anyways, if you want to experiment on what I’m doing, the source can be obtained from github and licensed under the GNU Public License V3. All you need is Visual Basic 2008 Express the bare minimum to compile.

Anime Nano turned to S&$%

April 8, 2010 by chikorita157

Well, if it’s called Anime Nano, shouldn’t there be stuff related to Anime, Manga, Light Novels and Visual Novels… Not this crap like this:
wpid-Safari.KcT7k7rvgZPv.jpg

And this:

I still wonder how many times this was repeated and this… :

They aren’t even related to what I mentioned above… They have no reason to be on Anime Nano and when I scroll through this crap… My blood boils… Anime Nano really needs to separate these blogs that have nothing to do with Anime, Manga, Light Novels and Visual Novels and create a separate section on “Japanese Sensationalism.” That will cut the clutter or better yet… build a BETTER Anime Nano that doesn’t have this crap on it and has the ability to use PuSH. The only reason I only use this is to check stuff on anime and such, but when I see this s%^& spewing over Anime Nano… I feel like I want to punch the crap out of the site and launch my RSS reader so I don’t have to read this crap. Maybe I need to use my RSS Reader instead of using Anime Nano, which the name is ironic since it has this crap on it.