Monday, July 28, 2008
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It seems that the arena of search has been relatively quiet since the search wares of the late 90s, so it has been a welcome surprise to see someone else rise up to challenge the search status quo since Google rose to the top. What's interesting is that Cuil, the new 'contextual' search engine, hails from Stanford lineage, like its Google predecessor. Even still, it's gray and blue on black color motif tries to distance itself both as much as possible from the giant. This only serves as a distraction, since it displays results in 2 or 3 columns, making it difficult to scan for results.
One of the issues that I've had with it are its inconsistencies. Last night I search for 'Wayne Hartman' and was greeted with a page that told me that it didn't have any results out of all the 120 billion pages it has indexed. When you compare that with all the leading search engines, something like that seems disappointing.
Another issue that I had was broken links--especially for their 'About Cuil' page. You'd think that if you wanted to be a serious player in the search business, you wouldn't have broken links--especially on your home page.
So will I use it? No. Half the time it isn't able to return search results, reading it takes more effort that its worth, and I really question the relevancy of results. Meh, I'll just stick with the king of the hill for now.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
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Today I added another Apple product to the ranks of computer junk I have. After adding upgrading my wireless access point to WPA, I found it to be sluggish, and at times, outright unresponsive. Sometimes it would take up to two minutes for my iPod to connect! I attributed this to the access point itself. The previous firmware revision for it didn't support WPA, and the latest (and likely last) firmware update for it didn't seem very stable. It all came to a head yesterday when I accidentally got locked out of my house and I couldn't join my access point outside my home because it decided to go on the fritz again.
So last night, I hatched a plan to get a new access point. The problem was that I didn't feel like going to my wife to ask for some money because I had to burn a bitter amount on calling the locksmith out, so I couldn't just go buy one outright. Then, I remembered that I still had a $300 gift card from Apple. At that moment I realized that I could get an Airport Extreme Base Station and wouldn't cost me a thing. The added bonus is that it supports printer sharing, too.
So I went out there today and bought one. Setup was a little tricky, but I was able to get it quickly up and running. Some of the features that I really liked is the ability to put in 'bridged' mode where it doesn't create a separate network, but wirelessly extends your existing one. That combined with WPA2 encryption with RADIUS support, just beefs up the security even more.
After plugging everything in and setting everything up, I found out that connecting to the AP was extremely quick! Problem solved! My iPod Touch instantly authenticated after supplying my credentials, and didn't have to wait at all for to surf or check email.
Connecting the printer, on the other hand, was a little more tricky. You can plug it in, and it instantly detects it, but getting clients connected can be a pain. I found that the Bonjour service was pretty much useless to connect because I would get an error message that said: "You do not have sufficient privileges to connect to this printer." Oh really? I was, however, able to resolve the issue by following the steps outlined in this article I found online:
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1004.html It completely eliminates the use of the Bonjour utility to add the printer to your computer.
After setting that up my network is now completely up! I get great wireless range, but as mentioned, the fast connect times are what really makes me happy this product.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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There are a few movie franchises that have certain nostalgic value to me over the years. Star Wars (the originals of course), to name one, the other being Indiana Jones.
I remember when I was young and Raiders of the Lost Ark came out on VHS. My parents rented it along with a VCR machine (yeah, can you imagine renting a DVD player?), and we watched it at home. It was a pretty cool movie for a young kid, until the very end. Watching the bad guys' faces melt, explode, and vaporize wasn't a delightful affair, but all in all it was a cool movie. Temple of Doom wasn't too bad in that regard, but The Last Crusade was definitely more tame.
This time around Indy has aged quite a bit, the Reds have taken the Nazi's place as the government of doom, but I have to admit that the WMD this go around was a bit campy. Aliens? C'mon! Indy isn't a SciFi any more than X-Files was about treasure hunting. And the hunt smelled too much of National Treasure (or is it the other way around?)
In the end, they could have made nearly the same movie, cut the alien crap, still criss-crossed the Amazon, gone to the same temple, and ended it quite differently with much more stunning results. But having some flying saucer unearth itself from the jungle and poof into another dimension was just a little too cheesy for me.
I loved the 1950's tie ins and the political turmoil from the Red Scare, but the bad guys never seemed too threatening. It seemed like Indy had too much upperhand time. I really liked RotLA because right when Indy got the upper hand, the Nazis got right back and vice versa. This time it seemed like he was in control the whole time.
But will I buy it on DVD? Well, I'm going to have to watch it one more time. I wasn't too impressed the first time around. This movie 'jumped the shark' in more than one place. The scene where Marion drives the boat off a cliff and safely into the water was just goofy.
Like my experience with the prequel Star Wars movies, maybe nostalgia played too much a part in my disappointment (I'm surprised that Jar-Jar didn't make cameo appearance, what with aliens and all), so maybe a second take would assuage my wounded fond memories of what was a great trilogy.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
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After nearly six months of waiting, the iPod 2.0 firmware now supports 802.1x authentication, meaning, I can beef the security back up on my wireless access point. I had to lower it last November because my Wii didn't support it, and later, neither my iPod Touch. I got a Ethernet adapter for my Wii which solved its problem (the wireless on it is pretty flaky anyway), but I still had to resort to plain old WPA-PSK because of the iPod.
Last night that all came to an end. I installed the latest 2.0 firmware which allows you to download/purchase applications, in addition to supporting more enterprise functionality such as Cisco VPN software, better email functions, and yes, 802.1x authentication. I'm pretty surprised that the iPod Touch came with those enterprise grade features, but I'm not going to complain. I was able to bring the stronger grade authentication scheme back up, connected my wife's lappy, and then connect my iPod Touch.
Shields up!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
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It's been well over a month since my last post. I've been preparing a new home, moving in, getting situated, etc.
CNet News has a good article on how Microsoft Windows needs a new start. I've been saying this since Vista came out, so it's nice to see someone in the industry speaking out on it.
To put it succinctly, Microsoft needs to start over. Windows has so much feature bloat that it really detracts from the experience. Windows XP pretty much had everything anyone could want as far as features, and if MS had built a new presentation layer just for it, we would all be set. MS intends to build Windows 7, the next release of the OS, on the same core as Vista, which seems like a big mistake.
You see, Windows has had to carry a lot of baggage over the past two decades from all the different design decisions they've made. Starting over has been all but impossible because of the need to maintain compatibility for all the software that has been written, which puts a damper on being able to something new and fresh from a technology perspective.
But a lot has happened in the past few years. Great leaps in technology allow end users to run previous operating systems on the same hardware in the form of virtual machines, making it possible to maintain the compatibility the software needs, as well as make a leap to a new platform for the future.
But, as the article points out, there hasn't been any real incentive for MS to do that--until now. Vista sales are lackluster, enterprises are opting out of upgrading to Vista and are looking to Windows 7, and Apple has made great strides in gobbling up greater market share.
This isn't the end for MS, but one cannot argue that since its release of Vista, MS has been in a bit of a funk. We'll see what the future holds.
Monday, May 19, 2008
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With the announcement that Firefox 3 had entered release candidate status, I finally decided to install it and check it all out.
Installation is pretty simple and for those who are already Firefox aficionados, there are only a few subtle, but powerful differences in this new edition of one of the best browsers out there.
One of the key differences in this latest release is FF's new look. Mozilla made a concerted effort to make the browser feel integrated with whichever OS it is installed. This means that FF on OS X *looks* like a native Carbon app. FF on XP looks just as integrated as Internet Explorer. FF on Ubuntu Linux feels like it was part of the overall desktop theme. This is cool *if* your OS has a good theme going on. I usually run the Windows Classic theme on Windows XP, and to be honest, FF looks like junk when compared to its FF 2 predecessor. It actually inspired me to change to one of the other XP themes, just so it'd look OK. Customization allows you to override that, of course, but at this point there aren't very many themes to download and install.
Another detail that they've enhanced from a functionality perspective has been the download manager. You can do real stop and resume downloading, as well as perform searches against downloads. Another cool feature is that the time remaining information has been integrated into the status bar of the main browser window so that you know the download progress without having to have the download window visible.
A more subtle improvement (that I particularly enjoy) is being able to resize the address and search bar. As a software engineer, I end up doing searches on error messages that can get lengthy, so being able to expand and contract the search box to fit my query is a nice touch.
One noticeable difference is what has been termed 'The Keyhole'. Most traditional navigation buttons like Back, Forward, navigation history, etc. share equal prominence on the toolbar. In FF3, however, greater prominence has been given to the Back button, while the other nav buttons take a more diminutive role in navigation. I don't know that I like/dislike the change, just that it's different. Whenever you change something that users expect, you cause quite a bit of psychological dissonance that UI designers should take great care to avoid. We'll see how this plays out.
So is it a keeper? YES! There will be some lag time between getting updated themes, extensions, et all, but that comes with the territory. I can't wait until the final release comes out!
Friday, May 16, 2008
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In a move sure to brazen other states into enacting laws to collect sales tax on out of state purchases, Amazon.com has stated that it "will begin collecting sales tax on items shipped to destinations within the State of New York". Lame. One of the main staples of Internet commerce is the fact that items purchased 'there' are not subject to sales tax, if the company has no presence in your home state. New York has a long history on overreaching its bounds on taxation issues, but this one seems to strike at the heart of ecommerce.
To be fair though, the tax exemption can't last forever. I realize that as people conduct more and more business online, the amount of money collected through traditional channels will certainly decrease. But, is this really the answer to the problem?
I think not. Exploring some possibilities, what if a tax was instead put on items shipped *from* a given location? This way, a state can get in on what it feels are its share of revenues on *any* commercial exchange within the jurisdiction of its own state? This feels more just because it targets all exchanges instead of singling out Internet originations. This has the interesting side effect of spreading the cost a little more evenly across all sorts of commercial interactions. In addition, it provides a tax 'loophole' for those that exchange in virtual or electronic goods, that, in my opinion, ought to enjoy tax free status for the time being anyway.
In the end, I think it unfortunate that Amazon is not taking a more aggressive stand on this because my own state legislature is licking its chops at the prospect of cutting into the revenue rich ecommerce taxation issue. We’ll see how long this all lasts.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
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I've had an iPod Touch for a little while now, and have found it to do pretty much everything that I had hoped for it. It didn't take me very long before I jailbroke it, and the fact of the matter is, you'll never maximize the potential of it until you do. Apple's core set of applications leave the device wanting, but jailbreaking it brings out all the things that peoplle want in a mobile device, especially one as innovative as this.
I bought the device primarily to surf the net. It does It fantastically with the caveats of a missing Flash plugin. That glaring mistake aside, the iPhone/iPod Touch brings new meaning to the pairing of mobile devices and the Internet. Surprisingly though, I find myself reading ebooks on this little thing. I first started out with 1984 and Brave New World, and quickly moved to more contemporary science fiction like Star Wars.
So, with the honeymoon over, what do I not like? Well, I don't care for the limited set of gestures that it supports. This hampers anything with dragable support on a web page, as well as limiting things like copy and paste. Of all the things to include in a device, you would think that's one of the basic to be included.
If I had had the opportunity to purchase it again, would I? Absolutely! The thing is such a joy to use, and I feel like I can multitask web, email, etc much better than before. Updates are coming in June, so I look forward to extending its functionality even further.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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Maybe I'm just getting old, but listening to music on the radio just doesn't do it for me anymore. The music they play just isn't up to me tastes and seems really repetitive. It doesn't help that the groups I typically listen to don't actively produce albums anymore, but the real lack of new, fresh talent is somewhat discouraging.
The other issue is the iPod age. It took me a while to get one, but once I did, I had direct control of all the music I listen to through out the day. I can take it in the car and plug it directly into the stereo (forget the radio transmitter or tape deck!), I can listen to it while I'm coding at work. I can listen to it while I'm hacking away on my computer at home. I don't have to listen to commercials. I don't have to listen to annoying DJs.
So what does this have to do with the music industry? Well, because I don't buy into the biggest channel for exposing new music, they're effectively loosing me as a potential consumer of new content. Because I can go online and discover indie artists who give their music away for free, I'm no longer dependent on them to listen to what
they want.
Yes, the radio industry's problems are just another symptom of what ails the recording industry: lack of choice, not only what we hear, but how we hear it. The radio is a means of keeping a captive audience listening. They control the content, they control the delivery. The iPod delivers independence from that. I choose when I listen, to what I listen, and how I listen.
And as those industries age, they're going to have to adapt and face the music.
Friday, April 11, 2008
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Over a year ago I posted an entry on how to
downgrade from Vista to Windows XP. To my astonishment, over 52,120 people have come to site to start down the path to a better operating system. Check out my blog stats below:
Thanks to all those who have contributed to the comments in helping everyone take a step back!