Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sara Palin supporters speak out
Warning: the video you are about to watch is shocking.
Just kidding, I mean, do you expect Palin supporters to be articulate?
Just kidding, I mean, do you expect Palin supporters to be articulate?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sony, Samsung, Mitsubishi and Panasonic agree on 3D technology?
Ready or not, the latest 3D technology is coming home -- Engadget
I guess all those people who bought HDTVs early on have a good excuse to send those boxes to the landfill. I can't wait to get a 3D movie camera, what fun. Does this mean I'll also have to buy an Xbox 720?
I guess all those people who bought HDTVs early on have a good excuse to send those boxes to the landfill. I can't wait to get a 3D movie camera, what fun. Does this mean I'll also have to buy an Xbox 720?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Everyman Offers New Directions in Online Maps - NYTimes.com
Everyman Offers New Directions in Online Maps - NYTimes.com
The dream of the free internet, powered by, and uplifting to "the people" remains alive and well. Thank goodness for Google, and companies that are willing to do what others find insane: turn the whole ownership model on it's head and put data in the hands of the people. Things like this give a person hope.
The dream of the free internet, powered by, and uplifting to "the people" remains alive and well. Thank goodness for Google, and companies that are willing to do what others find insane: turn the whole ownership model on it's head and put data in the hands of the people. Things like this give a person hope.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Google Offers a Peek at the Chrome Operating System - NYTimes.com
Google Offers a Peek at the Chrome Operating System - NYTimes.com
Google started picking up operating system programmers a few years ago, fueling speculation that they'd come out with their own. Looks like it's happened! 7 seconds is a great boot time, but this thing sounds a little light. It'll be interesting to watch this play out.
I'm wondering when a new Linux based contender is going to come out. I'd been under the impression that Mac OS X was based on a Linux core, but prior to posting this I wanted to double-check that assumption and I discovered it's not the case. In fact, Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernal says the OS X core is a piece of crap, so I was very wrong in that impression.
Google started picking up operating system programmers a few years ago, fueling speculation that they'd come out with their own. Looks like it's happened! 7 seconds is a great boot time, but this thing sounds a little light. It'll be interesting to watch this play out.
I'm wondering when a new Linux based contender is going to come out. I'd been under the impression that Mac OS X was based on a Linux core, but prior to posting this I wanted to double-check that assumption and I discovered it's not the case. In fact, Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernal says the OS X core is a piece of crap, so I was very wrong in that impression.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
64 bit Windows 7
Windows 7. I've felt guilty about how much I like the product. I've sold my soul to Microsoft over the years, but I'd always held out something like disdain for the suite of products, feeling like my becoming a prostitute for Microsoft was a merely pragmatic decision.
Sure, I've loved C# and much of the Dotnet universe, but the operating systems were just a means to an end. I looked at the Mac operating systems since the olden days, and something there felt soft and fluffy, not like a real tool built for real work, other than artsy stuff.
Then Windows 7 comes along, and I feel guilty for my giddiness. You're not supposed to love an operating system! Get back to work dammit! But the love is there, and it has grown since I started using it when the Beta came out this spring.
I'm running Win7 Ultimate 64 bit on a dual core 2.8 GHz CPU with 4 GB of RAM. Who cares right? Those numbers aren't anything special. But last night, working late, I was tearing my hair out because converting video from AVCHD format to standard SD DVD using Sony Picture Utility was taking absolutely forever on my fairly beefy home machine running XP. Desperate, I installed the software on my laptop to see how it and Win7 would fare.
What did I find? Well it still takes about 45 minutes to convert an hour of video, but the great thing about the Win7 experience was that both cores were fully lit up. It felt like magic. On my XP box, only one core took the conversion thread and only one core was maxed out. But good old 64 bit Win7 used the whole chip, and I was delighted.
Today though, I thought to myself, isn't this what Mac users have had for years?
Sure, I've loved C# and much of the Dotnet universe, but the operating systems were just a means to an end. I looked at the Mac operating systems since the olden days, and something there felt soft and fluffy, not like a real tool built for real work, other than artsy stuff.
Then Windows 7 comes along, and I feel guilty for my giddiness. You're not supposed to love an operating system! Get back to work dammit! But the love is there, and it has grown since I started using it when the Beta came out this spring.
I'm running Win7 Ultimate 64 bit on a dual core 2.8 GHz CPU with 4 GB of RAM. Who cares right? Those numbers aren't anything special. But last night, working late, I was tearing my hair out because converting video from AVCHD format to standard SD DVD using Sony Picture Utility was taking absolutely forever on my fairly beefy home machine running XP. Desperate, I installed the software on my laptop to see how it and Win7 would fare.
What did I find? Well it still takes about 45 minutes to convert an hour of video, but the great thing about the Win7 experience was that both cores were fully lit up. It felt like magic. On my XP box, only one core took the conversion thread and only one core was maxed out. But good old 64 bit Win7 used the whole chip, and I was delighted.
Today though, I thought to myself, isn't this what Mac users have had for years?
Friday, November 13, 2009
Facebook vs "the ocean of Google applications"
I'm not a big Facebook fan, although I do have a Facebook presence. As a long-term web user, I chafed at FB when it came out because it just seemed too fluffy and dorky to be of any real value.
After using it a bit, I've been very impressed with the FB ability to connect me to people I used to know. I think that might really be the beginning and the end of the utility there though. There are some decent picture posting capabilities, but other than that the features have low value. How many times do you want to send someone a "virtual beer" anyway? It's nonsense.
In an effort to stop throwing money out the window, I started exploring alternatives to keeping a server running all the time. As a Dotnet consultant, the server was invaluable for demonstrating, developing and testing software. Now that I'm not doing consulting work, the server is just a waste, so I decided to host my site completely at Google, as I mentioned earlier.
It's been great. Moving to Google servers has increased the features I can access in my blog, and it's opened a panoply of interconnected services like Picasa image hosting, custom Gmail through Google Apps, the promise of Google Voice, and the integration of my presence across all these services- all very nice.
As I look back to Facebook though, I can see that most people aren't going to go through the work, simple though it is, to connect all these things. It seems like what Google needs is something a little more similar to a Facebook page. A little tighter integration across the offerings. I think they're getting there, and wanting to get there, but it's not "fall off a log" simple like Facebook is.
After using it a bit, I've been very impressed with the FB ability to connect me to people I used to know. I think that might really be the beginning and the end of the utility there though. There are some decent picture posting capabilities, but other than that the features have low value. How many times do you want to send someone a "virtual beer" anyway? It's nonsense.
In an effort to stop throwing money out the window, I started exploring alternatives to keeping a server running all the time. As a Dotnet consultant, the server was invaluable for demonstrating, developing and testing software. Now that I'm not doing consulting work, the server is just a waste, so I decided to host my site completely at Google, as I mentioned earlier.
It's been great. Moving to Google servers has increased the features I can access in my blog, and it's opened a panoply of interconnected services like Picasa image hosting, custom Gmail through Google Apps, the promise of Google Voice, and the integration of my presence across all these services- all very nice.
As I look back to Facebook though, I can see that most people aren't going to go through the work, simple though it is, to connect all these things. It seems like what Google needs is something a little more similar to a Facebook page. A little tighter integration across the offerings. I think they're getting there, and wanting to get there, but it's not "fall off a log" simple like Facebook is.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Onward, into the cloudy future
After hosting my own server for, well, years I guess it is, I've finally decided to make the switch to the cloud. Google now hosts my website at blogger.com, and I'm running my email through Google Apps, which brings all those nifty little Google App widgets like calendaring and contact management and whatnot.
I've also taken down my name servers and pushed that to Network Solutions, which was the only part of the proces sthat was ever so mildly painful. I also work with GoDaddy and life seems a little easier and less buggy there.
We'll see how it goes, but Outlook is working flawlessly with IMAP to my new Googley email server(s).
Whee.
I've also taken down my name servers and pushed that to Network Solutions, which was the only part of the proces sthat was ever so mildly painful. I also work with GoDaddy and life seems a little easier and less buggy there.
We'll see how it goes, but Outlook is working flawlessly with IMAP to my new Googley email server(s).
Whee.
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