Yes, indeed, XBMC-TV should in fact work with Plex for OS X. In fact, it should work with any XBMC port that retains STRM functionality.

Unfortunately, due to a fire which destroyed the apartment above ours in late June—and left ours an almost total loss due to the water, mold, and smoke—my own XBMC-modded Xbox was destroyed, and until further notice no updates will be made to XBMC-TV. (Once I get 10.5 on my Macbook, I’ll likely install Plex and resume compiling and testing XBMC-TV using that instead.)

You can get the latest pack here.

I’ve been playing a little bit^* with this expired and expiring domain script in my after-hours free time to get a good workout using SimplePie now that I’m pretty much ditching another parser at work. It’s pretty nifty, even though it isn’t 100% perfect.

Check it out and see if you can’t find something better for yourself than thisismydomainitreallyrockshellyeah.com.

* Ok, I totally rewrote it.

The WX Station reporting to Weather Underground for Wicker Park, along with its respective camera, will be going down in the next 24 hours to prepare for relocation.

There is currently no ETA for either to return.

Using Google Sky, I actually feel the urge to keep zooming endlessly.

After selling off another good chunk of video games from my collection over the past few months, I decided to add a used Axis 207MW megapixel network camera to accompany my existing (but relatively aged) Axis 2120.

So far, I’ve been rather impressed with its size, image quality, and flexibility compared to its older cousin—the 2120—even though the latter has the advantage of standard, interchangeable C-mount lenses and an ability to handle a wider array of lighting conditions. One of my primary concerns going into the purchase of the 207M was its limited 2-lux low-light capability, but in my tests it shouldn’t pose much of an issue considering it’s meant to be an indoor camera. (The 207MW’s MPEG-4, multicasting, and audio capabilities are also worth noting.)

Time for another round of camhacking; the VAPIX API looks like it has a lot of potential to suck up some of my free time.

From the Reason Foundation comes their newest venture, Reason.tv. The first episode of their Drew Carey Project called Gridlock was launched at Reason.tv today. Video below.

Also, Drew made his debut on The Price is Right today.

Seth Fogle has an interesting write-up about the hackability of Axis cameras, in this case the 207W. I can personally confirm that the 206M also falls for the exact same exploits, which likely means the entire 206/207 line is at risk and perhaps even the 205 (which I haven’t been able to confirm, but they share much the same if not exactly the same platform if memory serves me correctly).

As I also have an Axis 2120, I was originally led to the above by a great CNet article highlighting the fact that many government agencies and other organizations still make use of the 2100 model which, like my 2120, has long since been discontinued (and can be often found on the aftermarket still, on sites such as eBay). Axis said in the article they were working to patch the model, but a check on their site tonight still displayed the last available firmware as 2.43—last updated in 2004.

Since I’m not insane enough to expose the 2120 to the Internet at-large, I’m not all that worried. However, what these two generations of cameras share is a weak system open to XSS attacks and a lack of security foresight to use encryption to protect the system from backdoor exploitation. Then again, it’s not as if everyone who buys them even knows the basics of configuring them, rendering advanced attacks unnecessary to begin with.

As it stands right now, it would appear that Big Brother-esque camera systems are potentially far less secure than the governments implementing them might think. Very, very interesting findings indeed.