Fix SickBeard “Pushbullet Notification Failed” Error

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pushbeardGetting the “Pushbullet Notification Failed” error from your SickBeard notifications?  Well, the fix is simple, and here is what you have to do:

1) Find pushbullet.py in your SickBeard install directory.  For me, this file was located in:

/volume1/@appstore/sickbeard-custom/var/SickBeard/sickbeard/notifiers

2) Open that file in your editor of choice, for me that is vi, and make the following change:

Find:

if method == ‘POST’:
uri = ‘/api/pushes’
else:
uri = ‘/api/devices’

And change to:

if method == ‘POST’:
uri = ‘/v2/pushes’
else:
uri = ‘/api/devices’

Note that the devices uri doesn’t change, you just need to update the pushes uri.  I could dig in to the in’s and out’s of the Pushbullet API if I really felt like figuring out why this changed, but I don’t really care that much.  I just wanted to get my notifications working again.

3) Write and Quit the changes and then restart SickBeard.  This will recompile your changes in the python code and then hop in to your notifications and send a test message to make sure that worked.

That fixed it for me! Happy Pushbulleting 🙂

UPDATE 9/14/2014: Well, Something broke again.  I couldn’t figure out what (I think it has to do with the JSON body but I didn’t feel like rewriting something that’s been fixed elsewhere), so I snagged the latest pushbullet.py from the troubled SickRage project and used that instead.  Note, I had to switch the devices uri back to the /api/devices value because the /v2/devices value doesn’t work for me for some reason.  Hopefully this doesn’t break again :-\

Fatherhood

Attention: This content is 10 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading as its contents may now be outdated or inaccurate.

Time flies when you’re a new Dad. Making time for old hobbies takes a quick back seat when you have a kid. To people without children, it may be seen as “your life is over” or you don’t want to hang out with them any more or some other similar nonsense. Why nonsense? Because that’s what it is. Life is far from over, and in a sense it is just beginning. Your hobbies might get put on hold for a bit, but it’s not really that big a deal because when you have a child, your child comes first because that’s what you want. It’s hard to explain, but you just know that you would do anything for your little one, and if that means putting hobbies or other things on hold for a while, so be it. If that means spending money on things you don’t want or spend time doing things you’d rather not, that’s fine as long as it’s for your child.  And you’re OK with that. Amelia is 21 months old… And it is wild how the past 2 years have flown, and how much she has changed, as well as I have changed. What I have found though is that the little one will be far more satisfying than any hobby out there. The first time they call you Dada (or Mama) is just amazing.

It’s scary when you’re getting ready to have your first child. “I don’t know what I’m doing!” and “What do I do when this happens??” type of thoughts easily fill your mind. All I can say is that it all comes one day at a time, and there will always be people willing to help you. It may seem overwhelming to think about it, but in reality, it’s not because it all is just one day at a time. You’re not having a 6 year old to take care of. You’re having a baby. Your home doesn’t even need baby-proofed yet (but it will soon). If you need a night out, someone in your family is surely ready to spend some alone time with the squirt. If you have a question, ask your parents, your friends with kids, or even just ring up your doctor.

It’s not all easy, as there are plenty of frustrating or scary times, but getting through those is part of the challenge of parenthood and what makes it far more rewarding than any other hobby. When I was younger I never really saw myself with kids as I just didn’t think much about it. But now that I have daughter, she is easily one of the best things to ever happen to me and I can’t imagine life without her.

I have friends in just about all stages of parenthood it seems. Some have kids, some getting ready to have kids, some who will have kids in the future, and some with no plans to have kids at all. You’re all my friends and I wish I had time to hang out with all of you every weekend, but the little ones soak up the free time. Would I rather be out riding, grabbing a beer, or playing with my daughter? I’ll pick daughter any day. At least until she hits those teen years where she hates me. Not looking forward to those, but one day at a time. Right?

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Fix Synology Sickbeard Shortcut When Using https

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sickbeardI have been working on getting SickBeard setup on my Synology DS1512+ NAS, and I’ve got pretty much everything worked out.  One of the final things I wanted to get working properly was https support with my self signed certificate I setup for my Synology.  I know, not really very important since I’ll only ever access it over my lan or via a VPN, but still… I went through the trouble of getting the self signed certificate working on my Synology, I wanted it to work here too.  It was a little tricky in a couple of regards.

First, I had to get it to use my certificate and key. I tried linking straight to the existing ones the Synology uses in /usr/syno/etc/ssl sub-directories but SickBeard just refused. I figured it was a permission issue since those certs were owned by root only. I decided the easiest way was to just copy over the 2 files I needed in to SickBeard’s directory and switch their owner:

Andromeda> cd /usr/syno/etc/ssl
Andromeda> cp ssl.crt/server.crt /usr/local/sickbeard-custom/var/server.crt
Andromeda> cp ssl.key/server.key /usr/local/sickbeard-custom/var/server.key
Andromeda> cd /usr/local/sickbeard-custom/var
Andromeda> chown sickbeard-custom server.crt
Andromeda> chown sickbeard-custom server.key

Then alas I was able to put in server.crt and server.key in SickBeard, restart it and it used my certs!  Woot!

I was pretty happy with myself until I clicked the SickBeard shortcut in the Synology menu and was greeted with my second issue:

The client sent a plain HTTP request, but this server only speaks HTTPS on this port.

Oh you son of a…

I’m way too anal about my things all working properly to live with that atrocity, so after a minute of poking around I quickly found the config for it the following file: /usr/local/sickbeard-custom/app/config

Pop that file open in vi and change the protocol line from http to https.  Save and quit, then simply reload your Synology web interface, and bam! Your shortcut will work once again, launching Sickbeard via https! Yay!

sbshortcut

Virginia Overstreet

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While the below is not written by me, I wanted to share it here as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

Grandma

On May 24th 1930, Virginia Overstreet was born to Frederick Dayton Westervelt and Neva Francella Ruggles in Three Rivers Michigan.  She was second born of three sisters, Dorothy being the eldest, and June the youngest.  She graduated in 1948 from Three Rivers High school.  She was known as Ginny to her friends.  In 1950, while working as a secretary in the office at Freeland’s she was approached by Gerald K. Overstreet, a factory floor worker, for a date.  She refused his attempts to get close, at least until he bought a new car.  She eventually fell in love with, and eloped with Gerry in 1951.

As time passed and she raised a family with Gerry.  She had four boys.  The boys in order of birth are; Thomas, Lerry, Robert, and ooops….Randall.

In 1967 Gerry got a new job in Springfield Illinois where they stayed and raised the boys for the next 12 years.  While in Springfield, Virginia began her lifelong attachment to supporting “Meals on Wheels”, a program for getting food to those that could not get out of their home.  She donated her time and delivered food for several years.

In 1979, Gerry took a new position in Miami Florida.  With only Randy remaining at home, Virginia had time to return work as a bookkeeper which she did continued to do until her retirement and move to Stonecrest in the area of the Villages Florida, in 1987.   By this time Gerry and Virginia had four grandchildren to visit and be visited by; Nicholas, Aaron, Elizabeth, and Lauren. In her much deserved retirement Virginia played golf, joined the Red Hat Society, traveled, and continued to enjoy life to the fullest.

While living in the Villages Gerry and Virginia both donated their time to Operation Homebound.  Virginia helped prepare the meals and Gerry delivered them.  She donated her time to the Homebound kitchen for many, many years.

In October of 2002 Virginia was dealt a terrible blow when Gerry passed away from cancer.
Even after Gerry’s death in 2002, Virginia did not slow down.  She continued working with Operation Homebound, and travel the world.  She visited the Holy Land, China, Egypt, Greece and England to name a few places.

In 2010, Virginia was diagnosed with kidney failure.  After much debate and almost waiting too long she agreed to take the painful three times a week dialysis program.  She was generous to fault and would not impose on people even if is was to her detriment.  In her remaining years, it was to her detriment, she often refused prepared meals and assistance from other members of the community, as she did not want to impose.  With her health failing and much debate she agreed that she could no longer live alone and moved in with Randy and his wife Rose, in Texas in February of 2013.  With her health continuing to fail, she was visited by her two great granddaughters, Amelia and Natalie.  Her legacy lives on.

Virginia passed away on September 21, 2013 in Kingwood Texas; from complications relating to kidney failure.  Virginia was 83.  She IS in a better place.

The family requests in leiu flowers to please donate money and time (both are needed!) to the North Lake Presbyterian Church’s program, “Operation Homebound”, 975 Rolling Acres Road, Lady Lake Florida 32159 (http://northlakepc.org/ohb.html), or to the local “Meals on Wheels” program in your area.  Please be sure to donation are identified as going to “Operation Homebound.”

Defeat the SJ-R’s Paywall with Chrome in 4 seconds

Attention: This content is 11 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading as its contents may now be outdated or inaccurate.

Print is dead.  You hear me SJ-R?

Central Illinois’ newspaper – The State Journal Register – was bought up by media conglomerate GateHouse Media back in 2006.  Since then the paper has been on a wildly out of control downward spiral.

GateHouse media’s latest “innovation” in the digital age is… wait for it…

A PAYWALL!

Jesus GateHouse… seriously?  It is the year 2013, and you think a Paywall is the way to move your business FORWARD?  Have you learned nothing from your bigger brothers like The Times which lost over 4 million readers back in 2010 thanks to their paywall?  Just as with TV Shows or Movies, if someone doesn’t want to pay for your media, they will simply not pay.  Trying to trick the user in to consuming the media how you think it should be consumed will never bring in money.  You will simply drive previous viewers away from you and to other services that remain free.

Your draconian thinking of what media is and how it should be consumed will be the end of you.

I was quite miffed today when I tried to read an article a friend had linked on Facebook and I was presented with this Paywall pop-up.  Clicking the X redirects you to the main page.  This really got on my nerves as all of the content was right there, sitting behind a cheezy looking pop up box.  How stupid.  So, I spent exactly 4 seconds, reloaded the web page, and read the content as it should be consumed.  For free.

I thought I should share my tip with others who may not be aware of this pretty nifty feature in Chrome.  You can selectively disable javascript on any website you visit.  Most sites use javascript for good… but some sites, like the SJ-R site, uses javascript for evil.

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How Gyft Stole My Personal Information

Attention: This content is 11 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading as its contents may now be outdated or inaccurate.

I’m going to start off this article by warning people, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR GYFT!  Do NOT install it on your phone!  Why?  Because they will steal your information and you can’t do anything to stop it.  Gyft is an app that is supposed to allow you to easily trade/exchange gift cards to stores for other stores, but their shady business practices make me want to NEVER give them access to anything worth any real world value.

The Android version of Gyft launched the other day, so I downloaded it to check it out.  Upon first launch, it asks you to sign in with your Facebook account.  So, I did so.  Upon trying to log in, I was presented with an error message.  Apparently their servers were swamped since it was launch day.  I assume nothing worked, since I never got any confirmation or was presenting with any terms of service or anything, so I uninstall the app and say screw it.

An hour or so later, I received an SMS spam message from them asking to click a link and confirm my number (I did NOT click this link).  My first though was WTF?  I NEVER authorized them to harvest my phone number!  It really pissed me off that they just ganked my phone number and I had no idea.  I never gave them permission to take it or use it for ANYTHING.  I reported the app to the Google Play Store at this point.

Then a few days later, and the reason I am writing this, I learned that they also apparently pillaged my Facebook information and saved it all.  Even though I unlinked the app from Facebook with in minutes of deleting the app from my phone, it was apparently too late.  I received an email today reminding me that one of my Facebook friend’s birthdays is coming up.  Another big WTF from me!  I never authorized the pilfering of my (nor my friends) data.  Plus, I had already unlinked Gyft.  Upon removal, Gyft SHOULD have to delete the data they collected from me, but that is obviously not the case.  So, Facebook friends, sorry about that.  All I hope is that they don’t spam you too.  Who knows how much information they were able to harvest.

I will give them some credit in that they deleted my account today within 5 minutes of me sending them the email request.  At least they got that right (although I am sure all of my information, including Facebook data, is still in their system).

Lesson learned here; pay attention to the apps you install and realize any time you sign in to an app or webpage with your Facebook account, they collect and store all of your information, even if you unlink the app or website, and they will likely keep it forever!

MS Surface Pro Tablet Redux

Attention: This content is 11 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading as its contents may now be outdated or inaccurate.

Five months is an eternity in the technology industry.  Five months ago I wrote about how I was excited for the Windows Surface Pro tablets to hit the market.  Today, I couldn’t care less about them.  A few key factors have caused my 180° turn around from my previous excitement.

First off, I ended up buying an HP Ultrabook.  I ended up with the Envy 4 model.  I couldn’t take the slugish Atom powered netbook any more (I’m surprised I lived with it for as long as I did), and I needed something portable and with power.  I snagged a third gen Core i5, 8gb of ram, a 32gb ssd with 500gb hd, and wifi and bluetooth built in.  It was pretty much exactly what I wanted, and performs close to my gaming rig desktop (aside from games of course, but the Intel HD 3000 graphics actually do an ok job).  With the acquisition of the Ultrabook, I don’t really feel the need for a Surface Pro tablet any more.

Second, Windows 8 is an absolute train wreck.  I haven’t written anything on Windows 8 yet, but I think it is a disaster.  The new “start menu” gui is just poorly done.  Microsoft breaks GUI design 101 at every turn of the corner in 8.  Microsoft is trying way too hard to be like Apple, but they’re forgetting one thing; they’re not Apple, and that is why they control 90% of the desktop market.  Abandoning clean user interfaces for cluttered up disasters is the absolute wrong direction to take Windows and it is going to cost Microsoft dearly.  Now that I have spent time with Windows 8, I want no part of it.

Third, the limited storage options are a disappointment.  I know it is a tablet and so should be SSD, but 64 or 128gb?  That’s it?  When the Windows 8 install eats up 16gb of that?  Down right pathetic.  For a device that is supposed to replace a laptop, crippling it with such minuscule storage is going to prevent it from ever taking hold.

Anything Microsoft Surface is a PASS on my list.

Why I Love Android

Attention: This content is 11 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading as its contents may now be outdated or inaccurate.

It is open.  You are given simple tools to manage your device how you want, straight from Google.  There are no back door hacks, no monkeying around.  You get to use your device how you want it.  That is what makes Android so powerful; its open nature and ability to do what you want.

The inspiration of this post… tonight I decided to flash the latest point release from Google with out waiting for the OTA update (hey, I’m impatient).

I downloaded the rom, extracted the boot and system partition images, and flashed them straight to my phone using fastboot.

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