Google Talk's Voice and Video plugin available on Linux

If you go to GMail Chat and try to do a Voice and Video chat, you should be prompted to install the plugin. Sadly, it gives you a .deb (Debian (and thus Ubuntu)) package to install with. If you're using Fedora, you can follow these handy instructions.

I ran into an issue with SELinux,

[3695:3695:2615825547:ERROR:base/native_library_linux.cc(28)] dlopen failed when trying to open /opt/google/talkplugin/libnpgoogletalk.so: /opt/google/talkplugin/libnpgoogletalk.so: cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied
[3695:3695:2615892549:ERROR:base/native_library_linux.cc(28)] dlopen failed when trying to open /opt/google/talkplugin/libnpgtpo3dautoplugin.so: /opt/google/talkplugin/libnpgtpo3dautoplugin.so: cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied

As I posted in a comment at the link above, I overcame it with this:

$ chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /opt/google/talkplugin/*

Joy!

I have only used it for voice so far, as I don't have a webcam with me. I used it with Google Voice's new free calling to the US and Canada. Something I didn't realise, though, was that it doesn't yet have an option for a dial-in number if you do not have a Google Voice account, in which case you can still call out and you'll show as the number 1 760 705 8888 or something like it. (8.8.8.8 is also the IP address for one of Google's two public DNS servers.) I am eagre to have a Google Voice number, once availability exists in Canada.

Coding and Enjoying It

I haven't allocated time for pleasure programming recently, but today I did. GThumb and F-Spot don't import from my Nexus One as I'd like them to. I previously wrote a programme that would take a directory's contents and then split them across folders by the day they were created. I turned that into a small library today and wrote a very small programme that imports my photos and video from my Nexus One and splits them and deposits them on my desktop. Yay.

Oh, and I'm also writing a Top Sekret project with codename OG right now. Mwahaha.

Nightmares

Nightmares.  They really wake you up.  Especially when you then dwell on them.

Protective case for the Nexus One

Are you too seeking out a protective, rubber plastic case for your Google Nexus One phone somewhere in Toronto?  After questing about around the downtown for a bit, I eventually found a store that sold a bunch of different colours out near Eglinton and Yonge.  (There be a subway stop, avast.)  The store is called Sim Wireless.  It cost me $12 and came in my girlfriend's favourite colour :)

I took their card, so here's there info if you wanted to check:

Sim Wireless
1 647 344 4SIM
1 647 344 4746
simwireless@ymail.com
220 Eglinton Ave. E, Toronto, ON

They also handle cellphone repairs and that sort of stuff.

Yay for finally finding a case!

Waves crashing against the shore

That's annoying.  Google has opted to discontinue Google Wave, amusingly due to a lack of user interest.  Really?  You might think they'd get it into a usable state before balking at the lack of user interest.

I know some people have had more luck than I with it.  However,  I was really looking forward to it reaching a state where

• it wouldn't consume all my systems' resources if I left it open in a tab for half an hour
• it would stop crashing when I tried to post messages, causing me to lose my hard work
• it would stop failing to sync interminably without my realising it wasn't syncing for the last 20 minutes (causing me to lose all my work; data loss Is Evil)
• they'd abandon that annoying, clumsy vertical scroll method
• my user icon would stop getting lost, along with my friends
• I could actually manage basic user functionality like removing someone from a wave
• they'd actually notify me of updates to waves in real time rather than 2 hours later
• advertised functionality like inserting images and videos would actually work
• it goes on

I mean, Google Wave has encompassed many good ideas.   Yes, Google Wave itself is somewhat directionless and lacks identity, but that is a separate problem.  I am annoyed at their giving up because people like me weren't using it while it was in a state where it was unusable to people like me.  Argh.