Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Museum Reads My Blog

It seems that every time I write something about a particular place I've visited, I then get page views from that site. it happened again today.

Yesterday I wrote about my visit to the Tech Museum, & this morning StatCounter had several listings from The Tech accessing my blog. This isn't the first time. See, commercial organizations are big enough to have their own internal IP address. Last time this happened was last year when I wrote about my visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Again their internal servers accessed my blog.

Now there isn't anything wrong with this. I assume they regularly search for web references to themselves. Just to see if there are criticisms, so they can improve. That's not what I do. Love the Tech, love MBA, love the Computer History Museum. But they want to know what people think, & searching personal blogs is one way of finding out.

It would be nice to get comments, but in 2-3 years of writing this blog I've only received 4 comments. Really. If someone could tell me how to improve it, I would. But I will just keep doing what I'm doing.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Tech Museum Upgrades

As a native of Silicon Valley, I regularly visit the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. I hadn't been there in a while. I didn't want to go there Memorial Day, figuring there would be a million kids there, so I went today instead. Guess what? There were a million kids anyway. LOL. School groups mostly.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have changed some of the exhibits. If you go somewhere enough times, you get bored with seeing the same things every trip. And since this museum has been here a few years, I've seen some exhibits more times than I care too.

Downstairs now has an exhibit on electric vehicles, including an electric truck, plus a hundred year old electric car! The internet info sections have been removed, probably on the idea that everyone knows this stuff. No more creating your own website, since anyone can do that at home anyway. I mean, that's what this blog is.

I would say that half the stuff is aimed a kids now. Which isn't a bad idea. You want them to understand the technology. Still, the tech tags that were supposed to create a web based souvenir didn't work for me. I used the tag at several exhibits, but when I got home, only one thing showed up. Fail.

The IMAX dome theater is a major attraction. This is claimed as the largest one in the west. I watched a film on the Arctic. Mostly followed Polar Bears. Huge screen, you feel part of the movie because of the immense size. Could have done without the awful Paul McCartney songs. Yes I'm a huge Beatle fan, but these were just bad recent songs that detracted from the film.

I was somewhat amused to see that there will be a special Mythbusters exhibit this fall. It will apparently be an extra, probably in the hall next door, like the Star Trek exhibit was a few years ago. As a fan of the show for several years I will certainly be visiting that. I noticed that there were a couple of small exhibits that used the two hosts on video. That made me smile.

This is a top notch museum. I highly recommend it along with the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, & the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Guardian Article On Browsers Fails

Yet another article on worldwide browser usage has failed because of the refusal to recognize Firefox.

An article in the Guardian refutes the StatCounter claim that Google Chrome is now the most used browser. It uses monthly rather than weekly stats. Fine. but then it uses something called the Open Heat Map to show what browser is #1 in every country, regardless of how far ahead it is of #2. Again, by itself this is fine.

What's not fine is this: The map isn't viewable in Firefox! Now this isn't the first time I've come across this out of touch behavior. In fact it happens way too much. But in an article on tech, & browsers in particular? Mind you, I use NoScript & made sure to allow all scripts on the page, & there are a ridiculous amount of scripts on the map. It still wouldn't load. So I loaded Internet Explorer. What a surprise. The map loaded immediately. I'm guessing that it also loads in Chrome.

I actually envision a day where I will be forced to install Chrome regardless of my dislike of Google's data collection, just because lazy website developers won't write for Firefox. They code for Chrome because it's Google. Mozilla shouldn't be a problem because it's been the #2 browser for years, but these programmers don't like having to code for separate browsers. But Google is so big that they do it.

Here's the kicker. While IE is still #1 in the US & Canada & the Pacific Region, Firefox is #1 in most of Europe & half of Africa. IE is #1 in China, Firefox #1 in Indonesia (largest Muslim country in the world) , Chrome is #1 in Russia.

So I don't know if the culprit is The Guardian or Open Heat Map. My guess is the latter. Amazing that a European news organization ignores something popular in it's local area.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Outdated Tech In Recent Films

Watching old movies can cause snickers based on outdated technology. Not so much on really old movies because you expect it based on knowledge or experience of that time. It's more recent films or TV shows that stand out. Like watching an episode of Miami Vice & chuckling at the outrageously large mobile phone Don Johnson uses.


A few days ago I watched the first Mission Impossible movie, made in 1996 ( I didn't realize it was that old). Tom Cruise spends a lot of time on his laptop in this movie. In doing research his character uses Usenet. This software based system has been superseded by internet forums, which don't require downloaded software. Plus you don't have to register to read posts.


Of course another reason for Usenet is that Google didn't exist in 1996. Or Wikipedia for that matter.


The other out of date technology you see in the movie is how files are kept. One plot point has Cruise, Ving Rhames & Jean Reno stealing data from the CIA involving the identities of covert agents. The data is placed on floppy discs! Mind you, a 3 1/2" floppy held 1.44 MB of data, as opposed to a CD holding 700 MB. But of course, in 1996 no computer had a CD drive. So you had to have lots of floppies.


So that's what you get when you watch a tech heavy movie from this period. Another movie I remember being out, although I never saw it was "The Net" with Sandra Bullock. I'm afraid I would probably laugh at that one.

 

Monday, May 21, 2012

Facebook IPO A Disaster

All the hype in the world can't hide a failure. Friday, after months of pre-release  stories on the Facebook IPO, it came out at $38 & at closing was at $38.23. Not exactly a major success. Now comes Monday morning & the stock tumbles even more. Ooops!

Within the first hour & a half, it fell to $33. The loss equaled Mark Zuckerberg's wealth. Think his new wife is having second thoughts?

This is supposedly one of the biggest, richest companies in the world. Despite the fact that it doesn't produce anything. Yeah, it makes money from advertising. And it has all your information. Which is, of course, the reason I deleted my account. I am now on NO social media. Not Facebook, not Twitter, not Google +.

This is a warning to other sites of this kind. Don't try to get rich off of your users. It doesn't work that way. Within five years Facebook will be forgotten, like My Space & the ones before that. Remember Geo Cities?

Sunday, May 20, 2012

PC World's Tech Tips

I'm really not good at this, so I was pleased with the suggestions on PC World's website. I was unaware of the stuff one can do with the windows key. Like open a Word document. Actually hit the windows key to open the start menu, then hold the windows key down while typing "wo", which opens a new Word document. that's cool. Couldn't find a quick way to open a new Excel document. maybe I will look in my Windows 7 book.

See, this is why I read so many different tech sites. There is always something useful in one of them.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

CBS-The Columbia Blow things up System

OK. This isn't exactly tech, but I had to get this in somehow. It appears that every final episode of a CBS drama this year (meaning this week) will have an explosion. Oh goody. Did CBS hire Adam & Jamie to write the final episodes of NCIS, NCIS LA, Hawaii 5-0 & Criminal Minds? 

I'm disappointed that the final task on Amazing Race didn't have explosions. And I kinda wish an explosion would have kept Colton from talking on the Survivor reunion. LOL. Hey, even Tim Allen had a tank on his sitcom! And that's on ABC.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Ars Updates Look

Ars Technica has changed its look. The problem is that it now looks like the Verge. Ultra busy front page with way too many stories. Supposedly there is a way to go back to the old style, but when I tried to use it, there was no change.

A lot of tech sites don't seem to understand that if we don't like what you've done, we'll go elsewhere. there are plenty of tech sites out there. Gawker is my pet hate. They got rid of the "blog view". Firefox has an add-on that worked for awhile, but then the multiple updates to the browser broke the extension. So no more Lifehacker or Gizmodo.

Now I guess I will try the new Ars & see if the articles are easy to find. Sometimes The Verge has good stuff. the problem with that sites setup is they have a tendency to have the same article listed several times. That's a waste of space. hopefully Ars won't go that route.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Threw Out My Printer Today

After having my HP 1660 printer for a couple of years I finally gave up. I spent 1/2 hour trying to get this POS to print ONE FREAKING PAGE!!!

I have had an issue for some time. It will say "no paper in tray". Well that's bogus (copyright John C Dvorak). There is plenty of paper in the tray. It just doesn't want to print. So I go into the HP solution center. "Unplug printer, then replug in", "unplug USB cord". Well I did all that & that just made it worse. Not only would it not pick up the paper, it finally just stopped working at all.

What do I mean? Before you could hear the cartridges moving to the center of the printer right before the printer would attempt to pick up the paper. Now it wasn't moving at all. Thanks HP. So now I have about 400 sheets of unused printer paper. Well I guess I have an unending supply of scratch paper. I will never buy another printer of ANY brand.

Monday, May 7, 2012

SJ Merc Writer Cuts Cord/Will Find Nothing Online

Chris O'Brien, the technology writer for the San Jose Mercury News had a column today about getting rid of cable. This is a big thing among certain geeks who think they can watch everything online. They soon find out that's not possible.

So he pays $8 a month for Hulu Plus, only to find out he can only watch 30 Rock online. Then he pays $99 for Apple TV. Now comes the hard part.

As a Directv subscriber, I can tell you what you can't watch without a cable or satellite service.

Nothing on HBO. You need an HBO subscription to watch their shows online. The current seasons aren't even available on Netflix or iTunes.

Nothing on Discovery. The network doesn't believe in streaming. Mythbusters is available on iTunes soon after the initial broadcast, but $3 an episode adds up.

No live pro sports. Well, Tennis is available on ESPN 3, but that's it. No Baseball, No NFL (except MNF on ESPN 3), No NBA or NHL. The local carrier for all pro sports except the NFL doesn't stream. The Olympics WILL be available on NBC Olympics.com like last time, & almost all college football games are on ESPN 3 live & video for replay. Except of course SEC games on CBS, which doesn't stream sports.

CNN doesn't stream, local news isn't online. That leaves network TV which is on Hulu or the network site. Hulu holds shows back 8 days, CBS has there shows up the next day. Last night Amazing Race 2 hour finale is up now.

So it's not as easy as some would have you believe. Network is there, but not cable. As a sports fan, I could never do it (Give up Niner games? Hell no!). Face it. The advertisers are the main reason this won't happen. Information channels like Discovery & NatGeo should, & of course, the news channels should. but they can't see the worth in it.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

No Script Tries To Con Me

I try to make sure my computer is safe from viruses & other bad stuff. This is why I use No Script & AdBlock Plus. But No Script is a pain. It updates as often as iTunes & tries to get you to install something called Registry Booster.

This supposedly corrects registry errors created from downloading programs. It's listed as a Microsoft Certified Partner. Sounds good doesn't it? Of course after you download this scanner it tells you that it can only fix 15 errors, & you have to buy the program to fix the rest. Shame on you Giorgio!

I said Giorgio because that's the guy who developed & operates the site that makes No Script. He's a Sicily based programmer. He should know better. We Firefox people will investigate crap you try to get us to install. 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Printer Doesn't Like Office

I have had this problem for awhile. Every time I try to print something I did on Word or Excel my printer says "no paper in tray". This is a lie. There is plenty of paper loaded.

There seems to be a problem with the software because if you go on HP's boards you find a lot of this issue being discussed. Plus videos showing you how to fix it. First step: unplug the printer to reboot it. This is also how to fix internet speed on my modem.

Apparently this is a software issue. So why hasn't it been fixed? Because if I try to print something directly off a website I have few problems. It's only Microsoft Office that I have problems with.

These are issues that shouldn't exist. There are multiple threads on the HP support forums on this. They involved whether the paper is jammed or bad, or the rollers are dirty. I barely use my printer so I don't think it is dirty. Plus, if it didn't have these issues I would use it a lot more. The paper is fine, new out of the package. So again, I need to reset the printer. Why? This is a cheap printer, but it doesn't matter. People are having this issue with more expensive ones. Shouldn't happen.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Hulu Desktop

On my computer I have two ways of using Hulu. Via the website, or through a desktop application that came with my computer.

My problem is that it has some issues. Like when you are browsing through the listings, it plays trailers, & there is no way to disable them. Why would you do this? It's annoying, so I am forced to lower the volume on my speakers so I don't have to hear them, but I can't pause them. What a stupid idea. This doesn't happen on the website.

Movies are listed alphabetically. That's an improvement from the website, which doesn't seem to have any plan at all. Unless it's like Netflix, which is in order of release to the site. But there are so many movies, most of which are junk, that trying to find one worth watching is a real bear. I ended up watching a MST3K flick, not the first I've watched recently.

I mostly watch TV on Hulu, since recent episodes are available. I wish Discovery Channel would put their shows on there, or at least on their own site.