Tuesday, September 28, 2010

HBO doesn't understand technology

So I tried to look at the "inside the episode" videos for Boardwalk Empire on HBO.com. Not good. You would think that a network that spends $20M on the 1st episode of a new series could spend 5¢ on their website. None of the videos would play. They would start, then just freeze up & move to the next video without my choosing it. Oh, BTW, it's not my computer because I watched a movie on Netflix this afternoon. Worked just fine. Never froze or anything.


I find that certain websites have issues with video. Slideshows seem to work fine, but the people designing the sites don't seem to understand how to put video up. Maybe they should talk to the You Tube people. I don't understand it, but I'm not a tech geek. Just a guy who likes to view video online. Heck today I watched River of No Return w/Marilyn Monroe (Hey Netflix, want to get some newer films on your streaming platform), & then Jon Stewart interviewing loudmouth Bill O'Reilly on Comedy Central's website. And later I'll probably watch Letterman on CBS' website.  But I'm not an expert on video, I expect the webmasters to be.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Is Putin reading this?

One of the things I like to do is keep track of where the readers of this blog are. Blogger Stats will list the countries where readers are from, & StatCounter will actually list the ISP. So today it has two listings from Investelektrosviaz Ltd in Moscow. How very interesting!  One view at 6:55 AM, & another at 8:19 AM.

So almost an hour and a half apart, someone in Moscow was on this blog. The funny thing is one of my counters had a direct link, but when I went on it, it was simply a Russian search engine. And my blog wasn't there. Maybe it was on another page, but I didn't feel like going through multiple pages looking for it. Strange. Possibly a robot search that somehow came up with this site. FeedBurner always has bots listed as hits on this blog. Hmmm.


OK, I would like to think that people in other countries are reading this, but Russia also has a reputation of being the Wild Wild West of internet crime. And both searches were of my post on not being able to download podcasts on my ipod. I wonder if this is an issue in Russia? Does Steve Jobs know about this? Will the government be bugging me? Gawd, I hope not!

I guess I will have to keep track of this. Besides I want as many readers as possible. Ego you know. That's why I registered with FaceBook, so those people would see it to. Everyone else, check where you're readers are coming from. Could be quite enlightening.



Sunday, September 26, 2010

Ubuntu fails again.

This morning while watching the Niners game, or at least as much as I could stomach, I was on 49ers Webzone, the top fansite. I was using Ubuntu rather than Windows. What a bad decision. I find myself using Ubuntu much less than before because it just doesn't do the job. Case in point, the horribly slow inability to surf through pages of a website that Windows 7 doesn't seem to have issues with.

I find it curious that the fanboys are still out there praising their great and almighty competitor. While an open source operating system is a good idea in theory, the reality is Linux will never be mainstream until it can handle the little things. I've used it to surf before, & it was ok, but as time goes by, you realize that Linux & especially Ubuntu is just not capable enough to do the job.

I would like to be able to choose what OS I use for certain projects or applications, but the reality is that, when you just want to get something done quickly without thinking, you have to use Windows.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Blockbuster files Chapter 11

Last week Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy. This is big news, but hardly a shock. Netflix is king of DVD rentals now, & Redbox is moving up. I haven't been in a Blockbuster store in a year at least, & there's one a block from my house. It's just so much easier to go online, look through the lists, pick a movie or two & just wait for it to come in the mail.

There is also streaming. But that still isn't as good, mainly because Netflix still has only a small number of films available that way. Mostly older films, & by older, I mean 10 years at least. As for Redbox, again a small selection. Also, not much different than Blockbuster, in that you have to return the DVD to the kiosk the next day. So even though it's cheaper than Blockbuster, & depending on which Netflix subscription you have, cheaper than them, you still have to physically go to a location to return the DVD, unlike Netflix, where you just drop it in the mail, or watch on your computer, or on a special box.

I may not use Blockbuster any more, but I will be sad to see them go, which will eventually happen. It was convenient & somewhat fun to walk through a store looking at all the movies they have. One little complaint about Netflix is you don't get the DVD box. And not the special features if they're on a separate disc.

One interesting item is that Blockbuster is not facing the same difficulties in Australia. I'm guessing DVD's by mail is not available there. Not sure why, but even in Canada Netflix streams but doesn't mail discs. Could be a legal issue that will eventually be solved.



 

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Late night tv's robot sidekick

There have been a lot of sidekicks on late night tv. Ed McMahon, Paul Schaffer, Kevin Eubanks, Andy Richter. But Craig Ferguson has the strangest. An actual mechanical talking robot.

Maybe you haven't seen this. After all, Ferguson's show comes on after David Letterman, at 12:30 AM. But thanks to the glories of the internet, I have been able to watch his show online. The first time I saw it, my first thought was "this has to be a guy dressed up". So I looked it up on Wikipedia. Nope, it's a real robot. And it was designed by Grant Imahara of my favorite informational show, Discovery Channel's Mythbusters.

This thing is incredible. It's a plastic skeleton with batteries & control boards. The skeleton head moves left & right, & one arm moves up & down. And because the show comes on after midnight, it does questionable things, like , well, masturbating. The eyes light up & it plays mp3 files. Those are the various pre-recorded phrases it says.

The robot's name is "Geoff Peterson", & he is funnier than Daves sidekick. Sorry, never thought Paul Schaffer was all that funny. According to Wikipedia & Popular Mechanics it originally had 7 phrases. That has changed, & now it has a lot of different statements. The Popular Mechanics article says Craig pushes a button on his desk to get "Geoff" to speak. It's hilarious. I was dying watching the show on my computer last night. Just hysterical. Amazing what technology can do, or what it will be used for.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Technology in the media

When was the last time you watched a tv show or movie that didn't have someone using a cell phone or a computer? I can't remember. It's everywhere. Some of it is just exposition, some of it is just a way to get lines for an actor. Some of it is just strange.

I just watched Angels & Demons. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm behind. Anyway a movie about "the illuminati" for some reason opens at the great hadron collider. Really Mr Brown? Steal anti-matter to blow up the Vatican? This should be in Star Trek. Last night I watched the new version of Hawaii 5-0. (Was this necessary?) Cell phones & explosions. Not a part of the original. Well at least Boardwalk Empire can't do that since the 20's wasn't exactly full of that stuff.

Then there's sports. My team, the San Jose Sharks, several years ago started having it's assistant coach carry a laptop on the bench. This way he could look at plays after the fact, to see what happened, & I suppose to draw up new plays. Ah, Silicon Valley.

Movies have been using computer animation for years. The reason Lord of the Rings wasn't filmed until 2000 was because there was no way to film it & not have it look ridiculous. CGI changed that. The problem is there is too much of it. It's laziness, & that's why there aren't many serious films anymore. Even films we don't think of as special effects films actually are.

The newspaper & book industries are changing, & I don't think for the better. I like having a newspaper in my hand. I'm not going to spend $500-$800 for an ipad, so I can read the paper through an app. Books are e-books now. One problem. If something happens to the device, I lose the book. If it's an actual book, it will always exist, maybe fade, but it will be there. Young people don't understand this. Makes me an "old fogey". Not really. Obviously I have a computer, & obviously I'm blogging. I just like having physical copies of stuff.

I wonder what will happen in the future. Books & magazines can't get viruses. Watching tv on my computer? Yeah I do it a little. Dave Letterman & Craig Ferguson because they come on so late. College football because I work on Saturdays. But that's it. Wikipedia because there's a lot of good articles on there, & podcasts because commercial radio is the pits. Wonder what will be next?

Monday, September 20, 2010

What's wrong with this picture?

So I go into Target today looking to buy some coffee filters for my 5 cup maker. A machine that, mind you, I bought at Target. Couldn't find any. So I ask one of the guys who's doing some kind of inventory, & he uses his scanner because the filters have a listing on the shelf. He looks it up and discovers, low & behold, the 4-6 cup filters have been discontinued!

So let me get this straight. You sell the small coffee maker, but not the filters for it. Uh, OK. Whatever. We have the technology to sell these, but we're not going to. Makes sense to me. LOL. This is like when I bought my printer. It is supposed to connect to my computer, but doesn't come with a cable to do that. Could we get these companies to get their act together?

This would be like selling a car that requires a tire size that nobody sells. Or a tv without a coaxial cable or the ability to connect to cable or satellite. Decisions are made that harm the public or even the company making the decision. Like I am now going to have to find the filters at the grocery store or a competitor like Wal Mart. Nice job.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The secret scanner

Since this is a new computer, I like to make sure it is secure. That is why I run Firefox with No Script, Ad Block Plus & Cookie Monster. To make sure bad stuff doesn't get on my system. That's also why I have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on my computer.

My computer also comes with, already built in Windows defender, a Microsoft program. But for some reason, this is a under-the-hood program that doesn't show up on my desktop, & supposedly runs a daily scan at 2AM. Just one problem with that. It is of course assuming that I never turn off my computer. That is incorrect. I know that a lot of people do that, but i don't like that idea.

I don't want programs running at night while I'm asleep, or while I'm out of the house. Maybe a truck drives by, or there's an earthquake that causes the machine to go completely on. That's electricity wasted. Plus, that makes it easier for someone to gain access to my system. Plus by shutting down, the RAM gets to reboot. Right now, I'm down 500 MB because I've had the machine on for 4 hours (I've been watching a college football game on ESPN's website). Once I shut down, the next time I turn it on, I'll be back up to 3GB.

So why does Microsoft do it this way. You used to have to manually start Defender, which I think is a better system. I just ran a quick scan. It was the first scan done in two months because of it's 2AM system. I don't have any issues, I just wonder why they do it this way.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The technology of shaving

We've had hundreds of years to come up with a solution, but have failed to. What exactly is the problem? Simple. Why the heck can't I buy a can of shaving creme that's good till the bottom? Instead, half way through the can it becomes shaving milk. Now I'm sure there is some reasonable explanation involving air pressure or gas or some other thing, but i can't figure out what it is.

Or maybe I can. Could it be that it isn't a problem after all. that maybe the companies purposely make the cans do this so you will have to buy another can? Kind of like how razor blades have a short life, so you have to buy more. And have you noticed how blades are a lot more expensive than they used to be?

This isn't actually technology at work, but rather marketing. The same as Apple changing the look, size & function of ipods every year. Or tv going from tubes to flat screens to 3D. I mean, does anyone really need a 3D tv? Especially when they need those stupid glasses. And why after 60 years do you still need those glasses?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Playing with the iwatch

Yeah, I said the iwatch. I saw this at the Apple store near my house. The 6th generation ipod nano is the size of a wristwatch. Why? Who knows. It's now almost as small as a shuffle, although it holds the same amount of music as before. The price has, of course, gone up. This, despite the fact that the new nano does less than mine, which is 2 generations old. No click wheel, no video, meaning no games. Can you use it as a hard drive? Not sure. How about a stop watch. Not sure.

I was playing with it, or rather trying to. I couldn't figure out how to use it. The one thing it has that I wish mine had was an actual on-off button. Until now you had to hold down the pause button, then lock the hold button. Stupid. The problem is, once I figured that out, I still couldn't figure out how you scroll through the menus. It seemed to be very limited it what you could do, as opposed to the previous ones which have a multitude of menus.

Here's my thought. Last year, before the unveiling of the 2010 line, rumors were that the classic would be dumped, & the nano would become the main line. Didn't happen. Now it seems clear that Jobs & company want the ipod Touch to be the standard. So why not make the nano less attractive. Eventually the line goes away, & you're left with the classic & the touch. More money anyway, unless you decide to lower the price on the touch, & I'm not sure they're going to do that.

Me, I like my refurbished nano. I don't have a lot a songs, & it's very easy to use. I don't need internet access, thats what my HP desktop is for. Plus it's size makes it easy to read. The new nano is just too small, especially for someone whose eyesight isn't what it once was. And it never was good to begin with.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Using my cell phone camera

A lot of people use their phones to take pictures now. Some of it is convenience. People today always have a cell phone with them. Nobody carries around a camera under normal circumstances. Even a small digital one takes up space, so people use the built in cameras on the cells.

Now generally we are talking about smart phones. But seemingly all phones have cameras now. That doesn't mean they're any good, just that they have them. I have a small Samsung Smooth. This is a prepaid phone. This means instead of having a monthly contract for, say $50-70/month, I instead buy a $30 card every three months to keep the phone active. The money rolls over if I add before the expiration date. Last time I got it up to almost $90. Right now it's at $80. I don't use it that much.

So I have tried to use the camera a few times. Once at the Chabot Space Museum in Oakland, & Saturday at the SF Zoo. The issue is getting close enough to the subject, since there is no zoom, & having good lighting to take a decent picture. Unfortunately, you don't know until you can view them in the Verizon online album if it is a good picture. The screen on the phone makes the picture look a million miles away, & thus, worthless. Some are actually good. I'm going to let you see what I mean, & you can decide.

Obviously having an actual camera would be better, & I do have an old Nikon SLR, but who wants to carry that monster around? And as few pictures as I take, I can't justify spending $100-200 on a new digital camera.
(JPEG Image, 640x480 pixels) - Scaled (42%)
(JPEG Image, 351x265 pixels) - Scaled (76%)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Addicted to Bejeweled

One of the things that came with my new computer were some pc games. What I didn't know at the time was that these were "trial" versions. That meant you could only play them a couple of times, then you would be told you had to buy the game. The system HP used included buying "wild coins", meaning instead of paying $20 to own it outright, you could pay $7/month for 50 coins to play with. now why you would want to do that is beyond me.

For a while i said nah, no thank you. but finally I gave in & bought Bejeweled 2, which I really liked because it was  a puzzle game, simple but complex at the same time. There are 4 different ways of playing it. Classic, where you just accumulate points, then go to the next level, although I've never gotten beyond level 2. Action, which is fast paced, & Puzzle, which I really don't like.

Then there's the Endless mode. You have a timer, but you keep going to the next level. Today i went up two levels, & now I am on level 22. Who knows how many there are. Bejeweled is, according to Wikipedia, one of the 5 biggest selling pc games ever. I can understand why. I'm not a big gamer, but I do like this game.

Football season started today, so I am playing a free pick'em game on ESPN.com. You pick every game, with or without spreads, (I'm not playing the spread). I've played this way at jobs. Just pick the winner of every Sunday game, & pick points on Monday for the tie-breaker. Not sure how much I can win, there are prizes, but I just want to see how it goes. It's fun, even if my Niners stunk up the joint today!

Will I play other games. Well, I've played both the Chess & Checkers games that are built into Windows 7, but wasn't too good, but maybe I'll play again. Not sure how good I would be in a trivia game, although I may look for one.

Why are my view stats so messed up?

I use 3 different sources to determine if anyone is reading this blog. Statcounter, Feedburner & Blogger stats. They all say something different & their stats don't even agree within the same program. StatCounter says nobody has read my blog since Tuesday, but Blogger says I've had views today & yesterday, & one was in China! Feedburner says 2 feedreaders & 4 bots have opened my blog. So which is it?


I hope someone is reading this, but I'm not so sure. I always ping google after posting, but so what? Blogger has a thing on each blog at the top that says next blog. Meaning you can just surf till you find something interesting. You mean no one has ever come across my blog. I check my settings. That is enabled. So whats going on? One stat says more views from Canada than here. But that was one day when somebody in New Brunswick loaded every post seperately. Hmmm.


I hope someone reads this. I have another blog on Fannation, a Sports Illustrated site. Because of where it's located, I get more views on one post there than I've gotten here on all my posts put together.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Google's low priority

So Google has come out with Priority inbox. I know I'm a week late, but anyway. What is the reason for this? The fact is i don't even use Gmail that much. Oh, it's my main e-mail account, but i usually look at my mail through Thunderbird, because I have multiple accounts on different platforms, namely one Gmail account & one att/yahoo one.

Plus I can't imagine that there are that many people getting that many e-mails that they have to star that much. I mean Google's new system is two different star accounts. So the most important e-mails go in starred inbox one, & the second most important in starred inbox two, & then there is everything else. Who has that many e-mails except a business?

And mind you. I don't think there are that many businesses using Gmail. Maybe a startup, or a very small operation, but most are using Outlook. Sorry to point that out to all the Microsoft haters, but that's just a fact.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Using my printer

Now as much as I like to play around with the stuff I have, I also like to get things done with as little hassle as possible. My new printer is part of that. Trying to figure out how to turn it off for instance. it comes on fine, but shutting it off is a chore. Thanks guys. And Oh, BTW- why is so hard to include a manual. The readme documentation does nothing. It's not a manual. it doesn't tell you how to do things, like setting up the printer, or problems you may have.

Now mind you. I haven't really had any problems. But why is it that nothing you buy has a manual anymore? Are we all supposed to learn by osmosis or by screwing things up (oh yeah, I guess I shouldn't do that)? This is everything. I had to go to the bookstore to buy a book for my new computer. Or rather, to understand Windows 7, not my computer. ipod? No manual. I mean my George Foreman Grill has a manual. That cost $20. My printer cost $30, my computer $600. A little common sense should be at play here.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Watching CBS video in Ubuntu

One of the reasons I will never use Ubuntu or any Linux fulltime are the continuing video issues. 20 years later & Linux still can't do something like video properly. Last night I attempted to watch an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman. Once again the same issue cropped up. When you go full screen, it works for a little bit. Then for what ever reason, it will go to the small screen, & then go black. You can still hear audio, but the picture has gone away, & the monitor starts to fade. I click it, & eventually the picture comes back

I don't know if it does this on other sites, because i haven't tried. I know that Letterman videos work fine on Windows. Whether it's XP or 7, they work. Flash seems to work, although I don't usually full screen something thats only a few minutes long. But again. Why is this even an issue? When does Linux get on the ball & have this stuff work all the time? This is one reason a free operating system has only 1% of the market. Yes, part of it is non support by the websites, but there are work arounds. And this isn't non-support by the website anyway, because if it was, you wouldn't be able to watch at all.

So again. If Linux wants to become mainstream, stuff has to work. I don't care about using different programs. I've used Open Office. I've used Evolution. I've used Rythymbox (BTW-it sucks). But a lot of Linux programs are garbage. A lot of the code is probably badly done. That needs to change. I shouldn't have to go back to Windows just to do one thing.
 

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

E-readers & the future.

So first it was a newspaper in Seattle shutting down the print edition & only having an online edition. Then it was USA Today. It was the London Times charging to look at their online edition. And it's Barnes & Noble looking for a buyer, & Borders having sales problems. It's also every bookstore selling e-readers because no one wants a physical book anymore.

Obviously I'm not against technology, after all this is a blog I'm writing on a computer. But do we really want to get rid of books & newspapers. I like having something that actually exists. I won't always have access to a computer or an ipad or a kindle. And you need to charge those.

Here's a story. A couple of years ago, when I was unemployed, I read a lot of books. Most I got from the public library. But others I had in a closet. They had been there for at least ten years. I simply picked one up, opened it & started reading. If a kindle sits there for a while it won't work. has to be re-charged. And if it's been sitting for a long time, maybe it won't work at all. Don't know. Don't have one, don't need one.

At breakfast I read the sports section. I'm not sitting in front of my computer. I'm holding something physical, a newspaper. At work, on my breaks, I read various sections of the paper. I don't own a laptop or an ipad. So this is the only way to do it.

This may come as a shock to all you techies who do everything online, but the majority of people on this planet can't afford computers or ipads. Or live in an area where internet access doesn't exist. Are they supposed to do without info because those that have, can't be bothered with "old media".

Every generation wants the next new thing, & throw away what they consider old. These people think any movie or song made before 1990 is ancient & worthless. Books? Who needs them? Well society does. Shakespeare is still read 500 years later. It's old, but does mean we eliminate it? I don't want to spend $200 on some device to read an e-book. I want a real book I can read, stop when I want & not worry about "did I save it?".

Monday, September 6, 2010

Who's reading this blog?

I am always interested in finding out if anyone is actually reading my thoughts. The problem is how blogger does things. They just set up a stats program that supposedly tracks the views. The problem is that it also counts any visits I make. Like yesterday I made several visits while changing the template color & overall look. I decided the dark look was probably offputting for some people. But of course when i looked at blogger's stats, it listed all those visits.

Here's the problem. Blogger places a tracking cookie that is supposed to block my own visits. The problem is that it doesn't work. I click on "don't track my visits". Click save & exit, & when I come back the cookie isn't there. And I'm not the only one. There are a lot of posts in the blogger forums about this issue. This was a new thing, & it just doesn't work.

Now Stat Counter is a website that does the same thing. the difference is that their tracking/blocking cookie actually seems to work. Except when I use CCleaner, which dumps everything. But this is an issue with that software. Because whenever i use it, i try to get it to not clean out all cookies, but , needless to say, everytime i use CCleaner, I have to re-log into Google. Frustrating. Still, I won't stop using it, because it is the best way to keep your system clean.

As for who is actually reading this. The stats say that most of my visitors (and there are not that many), most are from the U.S., but there are some from Canada, & apparently one from the UK. Most use Firefox, only 4 use IE, & the rest use strange things, or at least Stat Counter lists things like Java? Thats a language, not a browser, so I don't know what they're talking about.

Anyway I will continue to write, hoping someone reads this. Since I work 12 hr days, I only write on my days off. That means today thru wednesday this week. I was going to go to the zoo today, but after I tried to print a map, I realized it was too late. 11:00 AM means I wouldn't have gotten there until maybe 12:15, so I said "eh, wasn't that excited anyway". Maybe I'll go the Monterey Bay Aquarium one of these days, even though it's $30!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The case of the missing gigabyte or why does Windows 7 say I have a smaller Hard Drive than the ad said?

One of the biggest sources of confusion in having a computer is the stated capacity of storage. I had a computer that was supposed to have a 40 GB hard drive, except when you went into my computer, it said 37.5 Gb. Now I have a computer that was advertised on the company's website as having a 640 GB hard drive. But when you go into computer, it says 595.2 GB. What's going on?


Now it's not that I need that extra 45 GB. I just want to know why the discrepancy. Here's the story. It's hard to follow so bear with me. The computer industry & the hard drive manufacturers use different methods. The hard drive industry uses the definitions of the International System of Units (SI), which is powers of 1000. To quote Wikipedia "a 500 gigabyte hard drive holds 500 000 000 000 bytes". However, the computer industry, including information found on your operating system, XP or 7 uses "binary unit", which is 2³°. This means a gigabyte, instead of meaning 1 000 000 000 bytes, instead means 1 073 741 824 bytes, or 1024=2¹°. That's how you end up with this confusion.

One of the excuses is because memory has become so cheap. That's why we have 640 GB hard drives, instead of just a few MB. But according to Wikipedia, there have been a number of lawsuits, mostly against manufacturers of flash sticks. But this still doesn't answer the question. Why, if hard drive makers use SI, why do Microsoft & Apple list binary? It confuses the average consumer who never heard of these terms. To argue this is the standard is nonsense. The industry changes overnight. Why not make sure every one is using the same standards?