Tech Talk
I’m Baaaaaaack!!!!!
Thursday, July 10th, 2008So, how long does it take to move a blog from Google’s Blogger tool to WordPress?
Well, I don’t really know, but I’m here to tell you that it can take 38 days, if you’re crazy enough to do what I did.
Categories: Blogging about Blogs, Tech Talk | 7 Comments »
Jeff Porten Buries the Lede
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008So I pay my daily visit to The Vast Jeff Wing Conspiracy (highly recommended, by the way, if you’re not already a regular reader…), and I see the title of his recent post: Back in TidBITS, and Jeff gets Boinged.
So right away, I’m thinking, “Wow…Jeff has shared too much. I hope this is safe for work.” Then, I click on the link to his TidBITS article, and I read the first line:
When I was reporting from CES in Las Vegas last January, one of the more interesting technology experiences I had was away from the show floor, back in my hotel room.
Oh lord, this doesn’t look good. But, we persevere:
There were a few dozen local and cable channels . . . most amusing: the $40 daily package for both wireless Internet and the entire library of, ahem, adult entertainment.
Ugh…maybe I shouldn’t be reading this on my lunch hour, and just check it out at home. After the kids go to sleep. And maybe the wife. Ah, what the heck, let’s keep reading:
But I had other options, in case . . . the remote control was too far away from the bed.
Note to self: point out to Jeff that nothing, repeat, NOTHING should substitute for a remote control. Especially in an article like this…
I love technology, but this is just whack
Alright, enough of that. I’m kidding, of course. The article is actually about the social implications of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Here’s a quote that’s much more representative of the article:
We have been carefully and methodically trained to believe it’s our fault when important technologies make us feel inadequate and incapable. We have accepted the creation of a category of digital have-nots, who either rely on tech-savvy friends and family, or who do without.
But too often, the “value” [of entertainment content] is based upon an indirect conspiracy to make it difficult or impossible to use the media you’ve already paid for, making the end result a tax on the technological have-nots.”
Jeff makes a very interesting argument here. If the tech-savvy of the world can (legally) access content for free, is it fair that the non-tech-savvy have to pay for it? Are the content providers simply taking advantage of their ignorance, rather than serving them better by showing them how to access it, or making it just as easy for everyone?
I hesitate to comment before reading Part 2 of his article, but I’ll throw out one question for Jeff to chew on in the interim: Is the form factor of entertainment content really independent from the content itself? If I buy a Spider Man 3 DVD, am I really buying a license to watch the movie whenever and however I want (akin to purchasing a single-seat software license, where I can copy the software onto multiple devices as long as I only use one at a time?)? Or is the form factor more like a service level (akin to paying extra for the service package to that software, where I get more features/service for paying the extra price)? So perhaps the DVD is a service level that includes the “carry it with you and play it whenever/however you want” feature, while the On-Demand version only comes with the “watch it on this TV as many times as you like for the next 24 hours” package.
Food for thought…
Categories: Tech Talk | Comments Off on Jeff Porten Buries the Lede
R2D2 gives new meaning to Blu-Ray…
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008For anyone who has $2,800 to spend on a DVD player:
http://www.nikkoamerica.com/nhe/dvd_projector_video.html
(I’m looking at you, Bennion…)
Categories: Movie Talk, Tech Talk | 1 Comment »
The things you find when you’re packing…
Sunday, April 27th, 2008As some of my loyal readers know, I’m about to move out of my house for 4-6 months to undergo a major home renovation. As exciting as it is, it means this weekend is dedicated almost entirely to packing up every single thing we own, so we can move it into a storage container on our driveway while the wrecking ball has it’s way with our beloved home.
It’s amazing the things you find when you have to physically handle every single one of your possessions. This one’s for Jeff Porten:
(Click image to enlarge)
That, my friends, is the manual for the Fat Mac (now with 512K of memory; hard drive not yet invented). The actual machine itself is in the guest room closet, right next to the ImageWriter printer. That closet is on tomorrow’s list – maybe I’ll post some updated pics here when I get to it.
Oh, and just so everyone doesn’t think I’ve gone over to the dark side, this was on the same shelf:
(Click image to enlarge)
Ah yes, Windows for Workgroups and MS-DOS 6.2. Man, those were the days… ;-)
Categories: Tech Talk | 4 Comments »
Problem Getting into Webkinz World?
Sunday, April 27th, 2008If you’ve got kids, and they’re anything like my kids, then Webkinz world is a familiar place. Both of my sons login regularly to feed and play with their virtual pet, and to complete the hourly, daily, and specially highlighted tasks that can earn them KinzCash, with which they can buy their pal anything from food to furniture to medical attention.
So imagine the disappointment when, suddenly and without warning, a visit to the Webkinz URL, http://www.webkinz.com/, started returning an HTML error and wouldn’t let them on the page? I mean, it’s like the kids’ equivalent of Blogger doing down for twelve days!
Anyway, Webkinz technical support here with a solution. Use the following URL:
Voila! Problem solved.
For the geeky, tech folks out there, here’s what’s going on: the main URL, www.webkinz.com, is receiving a parameter that tells it what location you’re in, for the purposes (I believe) of displaying the site in your native language. But the programming logic that interprets this parameter is not working, causing the “Error on Page” message. By deep linking directly to the United States/English page (www.webkinz.com/us_en/), you bypass this faulty logic and proceed directly to the site itself.
It’s been about a week now, and no one at Webkinz seems to have noticed, even though the number of kids logging in has to have dropped dramatically (has everyone figured this out on their own?). As I said earlier, it’s like someone decided that customer service and technical support were just going to shutdown around the world, and no one told me…
Anyway, enjoy your Webkinz. I’ll accept my fee in KinzCash…
Categories: Family Matters, Tech Talk | 7 Comments »
iPhone Gets a new Outlook on life…
Friday, March 7th, 2008Back in April of 2006, I said this:
Not only have studies predicted the potential sale of an additional one million machines (22% increase in sales, 80% increase in market share) [if Apple could run Windows natively], but these studies don’t even address the corporate market. If the architecture on these machines is pure (i.e,. the Windows environment is an exact duplicate of what you’d find on a Dell or Compaq machine), I believe Apple can expect to quickly capture some portion of the much larger, and more sustainable, corporate PC market.
And now, almost a year later, we have this:
Apple on Thursday unveiled a list of upcoming features, including support for Microsoft Exchange e-mail server, that Apple hopes will convince corporations to adopt the iPhone as the device of choice for mobile workers.
During a news conference at the computer maker’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs promised that the iPhone in its upcoming software update in June would contain “the long list of important features that enterprise customers have told us they need to really drive iPhone use.”
The list included the ability to push e-mail and calendar items from servers to the iPhone, synchronize contact lists, and enforce security policies. In addition, the iPhone would support Cisco’s client for secure connections to an IP-base virtual private network, and would have technology that a company could use to remotely wipe out data on a lost or stolen iPhone.
One of the most requested corporate features is support for Exchange, Jobs said. To meet the demand, Apple licensed Microsoft’s ActiveSync protocol for connecting the iPhone’s e-mail client directly to an Exchange server. As a result, e-mail, calendaring and contact items can pushed directly to the smartphone, a feature that Apple demonstrated at the event.
This is huge. Not only has Apple finally thrown its hat into the ring with Dell, HP, and others for the corporate desktop, they’ve now entered into the much faster growing, much more dynamic corporate handheld market. Who’s going to buy a Blackberry when they could have an iPhone that does all the same things and more?
The article also says that Apple is releasing a SDK for enterprises to build their own iPhone applications. This allows companies to brand their own access, implement their own additional security features, etc., essentially removing many of the possible excuses for not buying the product. And since a WindowsMobile device has yet to take hold in this space, the issue of “standard software architecture” has not yet been achieved on handhelds, forcing corporate IT departments to support heterogeneous environments (i.e., RIMM running on their Exchange servers).
The only downside is price. iPhones are much more expensive than Blackberry’s right now, but as the volume increases dramatically, the cost will decrease. And when people start getting them at work, the cost/features of the backend network & data plan will become less of an issue. Witness how many people have Blackberries that they pay for themselves. Almost no one. QED.
It’s refreshing to see Apple play the game in front of them, rather than constantly insisting that the game is unfair, or that the rules ought to change. I think this is going to be huge…
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
I don’t have a home right now, but if you leave a message…
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008Google’s latest cool thing isn’t even a piece of software. It’s persistent phone numbers and voicemail boxes for homeless people.
Folks can sign up for the numbers at shelters across the city. The numbers will be local and personal — i.e., each person will get a unique [San Francisco] area code number that will never expire. The number will ring a voice-mail box that will play a personalized greeting; homeless people can check their messages by dialing in from any phone.
Google announced the plan at an event with Mayor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday. The service, Newsom said, will help people who are filling out job applications or are awaiting medical test results. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Google has already handed out more than 4,000 numbers.
This is one of those rare win/win/win opportunities for everyone involved. The homeless win because they now have a significant lifeline out of the vicious cycle of homelessness – a tool to help get a job, medical services, etc.. The prospective employers, doctors, etc. win because they have ways of reaching people who ordinarily would be “off the grid.” And Google wins, because they can now build this service into their existing suite of tools, driving even more traffic to their properties, increasing and expanding the value of their advertising placements. Also, there’s the increase in good will with the general public that will likely result.
Now, if only their awesomeness would return to their stock price…
(full disclosure: I’m a shareholder)
Categories: Tech Talk | 1 Comment »
Proof that anything is cool if you do it with your iPhone
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Like, for instance, typing with your nose. According to CNET, it’s a useful skill when you want to dial a phone number, but you don’t want to take your gloves off on the ski lift.
Categories: Tech Talk | 1 Comment »
Mac Attack
Thursday, February 21st, 2008Last weekend, my friend Jeff Porten and I were in the same physical location, which basically means we got to stare at the same computer screen, rather than two separate ones.
In this case, I had an Excel spreadsheet to show him, which I had stored on my USB flash drive. I put the drive in his MacBook, and we were able to bring it up in Excel with just a couple of clicks. Excel threw a couple of warning messages at us, but the spreadsheet seemed to work fine, so we didn’t investigate.
Anyway, today I tried to use the flash drive on my Windows machine. Well, well, well…
I’ve got four hidden folders on the drive now, containing a total of 84 files that take up 17.5MB on the drive (to be fair, the spreadsheet has a bunch of bitmaps in it, so it’s 14MB on its own). The folders are named as follows:
| .fseventsd | .TemporaryItems |
| .Spotlight-V100 | .Trashes |
The one with the word “Spotlight” in it has 50 of the 84 files, all with inscrutable filenames, so I’m guessing the Mac tried to index my flash drive and stored the index on the drive itself.
The one called .TemporaryItems has several sub-folders, but eventually I come to a local copy of each bitmap in my spreadsheet, stored in .png format.
The other two folders are empty.
Everything deleted with no issues, and the spreadsheet still works, but it’s yet another example of how 100% compatibility is a false hope, as there’s always something that needs to be done whenever Jeff and I try to share/swap files.
No big deal for me, but I’m glad I’m not the guy on the other end of the tech support line when a novice user calls in asking if the Mac gave his flash drive a virus…
Categories: Tech Talk | 3 Comments »
Post Breaks in Blogger – The Real Answer
Sunday, February 10th, 2008The other day, Jason Bennion posted a blog meme called the Really Big Survey, consisting of 148 random questions about his life. Then Ilya posted it as well. I was going to participate, but demurred because I don’t have Post Break logic in Blogger (you know, where the first part of the post is visible on the main page, and then you click through to read the rest?), so 148 questions would push every other post in the blog to the archives.
Then, I started thinking, “Well why the heck don’t I have Post Break logic in Blogger?” Enter my good friend, Google.
The most definitive entry on the topic was this one from Blogger’s own help pages. It gives very detailed instructions about adding the Post Break to your main page, and then hiding the rest of the post’s text until the user clicks through to the detail. I eagerly implemented the fix, but soon realized that by modifying the blog template the way they did, the Post Break link wound up appearing on every single post, whether there was more text behind it or not.
Since the convention is to put that link only on posts that have more to read, I deemed this result unacceptable. On the upside, however, the instructions gave me enough of an understanding of how the logic works to write it myself. And so, (drumroll, please…) if you’d like to know how to put Post Break logic in your Blogger blog…
Categories: Tech Talk | 3 Comments »