Category: technology

Disqus Comment System

I saw an interesting tweet from Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid today about his new comment system. He moved to Disqus and he wanted some people to test it out. So I stopped over and left a few comments and decided to sign up for a Disqus account while doing so. This is a neat little system that lets you track your comments across all sites using this system for their comments. Your profile at Disqus is used for all of them and your clout (think karma) travels from site to site with you. This could both good and bad.

I do like the centralized storage and configuration for not only my comments, but all comments on my site as well. Everything is in one place and easy to deal with. The installation on a WordPress site is really straightforward. Just download and activate the plugin and you’re done. That’s the silver lining to this cloud. The cloud itself is that there is no way right now to import any existing WordPress stored comments into Disqus. You don’t lose them. They are still in the database. But since the plugin replaces the comments section on your site, they don’t show up any longer. Oh and did I mention Disqus supports Seesmic video comments?

I understand from my reading that they are working on an import mechanism and I am eagerly waiting for the release. There have been hints that it would be released this month so they better hurry…there’s only a few days left. I’m not overly worried about it for SBR because there weren’t all that many comments to begin with. Of course, part of my laid back attitude towards this has to do with their response for enhancements and fixes. All indications are they respond really really quickly. I’ve seen nothing but praise for their efforts to make their users happy.

Hey Comcast…perhaps you should have your techs study under these guys for a while. And while you’re at it, I think both Disqus and Comcast should head over to the Demo Girl site and read this. Why? There are links that are only available if you scroll to the very bottom of the page…things like HELP. Bad web designers. No cookie for you.

Evernote Goes Live

I was first introduced to the Evernote service by Leo Laporte. He mentioned it in a TWiT podcast and the concept intrigued me. Here is a service that will let you upload text, images, web pages, whatever into online notebooks that can be synchronized with desktop client software or accessed via web browser. The really neat feature of this service is the OCR. All notes are run through OCR so you can even search your images by typing any text that appears in the picture itself. Well, after a huge invite-only beta (much like GMail), they have gone live.

Free service with Evernote is still available. It will only allow for 40MB of uploads in a month and will not have priority access to OCR services. Storage allowed is still unlimited. There is also a premium membership which gives you the choice of paying $5 a month or $45 a year (a $15 savings). This service gives you 500MB of data uploads a month and first access to OCR services and other goodies like SSL for all data transmissions.

The service has been running along smoothly for the time I’ve had my account. I use the desktop client on both my Vista and Mac systems. Personally I love the clip tool of the desktop client that lets me select a box on my screen to copy into Evernote. This is wonderful for web clips. Then it’s just add a couple of tags and sync. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the next thing Google tries to gobble is Evernote. This is exactly the kind of information organization they stand for.

Hats off to you guys for a great product and here’s looking to a bright future.

Welcome to the 21st Century, Comcast

In the long struggle with my cable service there has always been one thing that has bugged me. Comcast is arguably one of the largest communication companies in the United States. So why are they about the only company in the United States that still doesn’t have an e-bill option? They give me internet and (sometimes) cable television and can even supply me with telephone service. But I can only get my bill via snail mail. Is it really so hard to send me an email?

I would imagine with all the money Comcast makes from the gouging prices standard in the cable industry they could afford a programmer or two to write a couple of scripts to generate a little email to all subscribers that opt-in saying that their bill is ready. I mean, damn, I can view my bill at the site and I can pay it there as well. All I want is a freakin’ email telling me it’s ready to be taken care of. I’m not asking for a full blown html bill with personal information that can be stolen…just a message that says “Your Comcast bill for is ready. Please visit Comcast.com to pay your bill.” I’ve got an eleven year old daughter that could probably write a script to do this.

That being said, I talked to a lady at Comcast today that said they were supposed to roll that very feature out yesterday but had a problem so it will most likely be a couple of weeks to a month before they try it again. So again I ask, what’s so hard about this? I’m making the assumption that billing information is kept in a database. So all you need is a script to run a query for a bill date and opt-in status that then generates the emails for those people and sends them out. You are planning on making a form on the site to opt in to such a thing, right? After all, I know I’m not alone in the people that have never used their Comcast.Net address.

I’m sure they want a fancy html laden beast of a message but I don’t think that people in general give a damn about how pretty it is or how much it looks like the site (which in my opinion is craptastic). Please hire some people to address this guys. I want email notifications of my bills so you can stop killing trees on my behalf. Besides, I use my inbox as a bill reminder system. Only unpaid bill emails stay there. Everything else is filed away. Anything that hits my physical mailbox is usually forgotten unless it comes from Netflix.

** If you’ve been following my service saga, I promise that I’m working on a new update post. I just need to give the latest developments a little time to simmer before I serve them up.

Home Media Makeover Part One: DVD Library

Technology abounds in every aspect of our lives. Computers are usually the center of a great many media types that we experience throughout the day. You can buy a computer pretty much anywhere these days for really reasonable prices. So the question on my mind has been, why are most people still using the old components of yore for their home theaters? Why not leverage some of this wonderful computer technology and versatility for the home theater experience?

Yes, I know there are HTPC options out there. Most of them run well over $1500 for the base model. I also know you can roll your own HTPC/DVR for about the same price. What I’m talking about is using a more distributed model, preferably leveraging systems you already have in place…just extending them to the HDTV in the living room. For my personal project, I have a 20″ iMac on my desk and a Vista laptop that usually sits on the coffee table. There’s a 50″ Samsung plasma TV in the living room that I really want to use to watch my media such as streaming video from the web with an XBox360 under it.

Ideally, I want to get rid of the DVD player and replace the set-top box from Comcast with my media system so I can drop the cable television service and thus save myself over $1000 a year. Now I realize that for my particular desires, I will not need a PVR/DVR setup and can thus skimp on some hardware. Actually, for step one of my media center makeover, I just want to stream ripped copies of my DVD library so my 360 will play the part of extender. For this setup, storage will be the biggest concern with network bandwidth running a close second. With today’s prices for hardware, neither of those should be a challenge to satisfy on a budget.

Let’s start by making sure there is plenty of storage for my media. My eventual completed media system will hopefully house rips of every DVD I own so I can just fire up my extender and select the title that it will stream to the plasma. For this I’m going to need something really large because I own a lot of DVDs. I will add an external 1TB USB hard drive to hold my movies. I will probably add a second one later on to house my anime. This is the nice thing about using external storage. I can add/remove/swap at will even while the system is running. These drives start at just over $150. So that’s reasonable.

Next I need to worry about network bandwidth. Everything in my house is running wirelessly on 802.11g. I was worried that video streaming would saturate the bandwidth, but after testing it last night with Pirates of the Carribean, I am confident that the G network will be sufficient for everything I will be doing in phase one. This is wonderful because I don’t have to spend the money on a new router and adapters for every system in the house. I now have more budget to work on other areas.

Now we have storage and bandwidth taken care of for less than $200. Time to hit software. I already have Handbrake which will handle the rip/convert process for my DVDs. I also have Connect360 ($20) to let the XBox see my iMac. Now I just need time. Handbrake 0.9.2 has a large selection of presets for different types of devices. Since I am using my Xbox360, I selected the presets for that device. It works wonderfully. Handbrake also has presets for everything from the iPhone to a PS3. It is a wonderful little program that costs nothing.

If you are using Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, you have what you need to connect to the 360…Windows Media Center. That would just leave the ripping/converting software. Many people take the inexpensive route of ripping the DVD with DVD Decrypter or DVDShrink to a single VOB file then changing the extension to MPG. Media Center will let you stream the renamed file to your 360 with full DVD Quality. Details for this method and some caveats are here. There is also TMPGEnc MovieStyle ($39.95) which can encode to different playable formats.

Do not be fooled. Ripping and encoding a full length movie is not going to happen quickly. It took nearly four hours for my iMac to get finished with Pirates of the Carribean. This is not a project for the impatient. You will easily spend a couple of weeks working on rips if you have a large library. I have about 400 or so DVDs from movies to anime and television series. I fully expect this conversion process will take me about two months. On the bright side, unless I lose a drive, I won’t have to worry about it ever again and adding new movies that I purchase will be mostly painless.

Now that my DVD library is taken care of in this design, time to hit up my other wants. I want to be able to stream from video sites such as SurfTheChannel and Hulu since this is where I get a lot of my television series fulfillment. That will be in Part Two.

Firefox Download Day is Here!

Today is the day. Mozilla aims to set the world record for most software downloads in 24 hours with their release of Firefox 3 which is expected today. So I say to everyone, the moment the official FF3 release hits the servers, go get it.

Update: According to Lifehacker, the release is set for 10am Pacific. Remember, to count in the record tally, you must download it from the official site in its entirety, updates don’t count.

No More iPhone Gripes!

By now most everyone on the planet has heard about Jobs’ keynote at WWDC. The new iPhone has GPS, 3G, and better battery life. It will be sold in 22 countries around the world starting with the initial release on July 11. AT&T is still the US exclusive carrier right now and they are offering it for $199 (8GB) and $299 (16GB). This is all awesome news. However, there is also a lot of griping on the intarwebs about the price hike of the AT&T data plan. It’ll be $10 more a month. I want to say something to the honking noises of the masses on this.

The total cost over the 2 year contract will be $40 more than it is now. That’s $200 off the price of the phone and $240 added back for the data plan price increase. Some people have felt the need to moan about how we are getting screwed by this new way of charging us and that the new deal isn’t actually a deal at all. I disagree. The phone has newer and more efficient hardware. The device is now fully 3G capable. It has a full GPS built into the unit. I’m pretty sure the market value of these changes equates to more than $40. So guess what, we’re still getting a deal on the phone…more of one in my opinion. If you don’t like it…go buy a RAZR. I paid $400 for my Tilt with a 2 year contract. The iPhone does almost all of the same things now in a much smaller package. Not to mention it is a far better media player than my Tilt.

I can’t understand what drives people to concoct these ludicrous conspiracy theories every time a corporation makes any kind of change. It’s just as bad as people whining about Windows security for a decade and then bitching because Vista takes on a security model not unlike that of Linux. Sure the Vista implementation is a little rough around the edges and always in your face when you try to install software or change system settings. Remember the market for Windows machines, though. These aren’t the people that are going to do a Stage 1 Gentoo install over an entire weekend. It has to be more intrusive because Microsoft has to deal with a lower common denominator of computer savvy.

This is the problem with the masses. You take things in the worst possible light at every possible opportunity. Relax a bit and just imagine what the iPhone might have cost if Jobs had decided to keep the same deal with AT&T. The iPhone could easily have been more expensive with the same plans. At least this way you aren’t forced to cough up the extra dough up front. You get to spread it out in micropayments made over the 2 year contract. So sit down, shut up, and be thankful there’s a plan in place to get more iPhones in more hands. The more we see on the market, the more applications we’ll see to make the iPhone an even better communication tool.

Mozilla aims for Guinness World Record

Looks like Spread Firefox wants to go for a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. To tackle this task, they have opted to record unique downloads on what they have dubbed “Download Day”. This date has not yet been set but if you head over to Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008 you can pledge to get your copy of Firefox 3 on that day (which will include signing you up to be emailed the date when it is set. You can also check out their map to see how many pledges have been made in each country so far. I’ve been using Firefox 3 since Beta 3 (I’m on RC1 now) and other than a little WordPress Stats bug (can’t log in…so I use IE Tab as a workaround) I have seen nothing but great things out of it. I’ve pledged my support to download it on “Download Day”. Will you?

Macbook Pro 15″ vs Dell XPS M1530

Things have been a bit busy lately which is why the laptop pricing comparison has taken so long. But I’m here with the results of building up two similar laptops. If you’ve been following my comparisons, you would probably think that I’m an Apple Fanboy (fanboi?). One would be wrong. Why? Well I still have my Dell Inspiron laptop and it’s still a better deal than a Macbook. Let’s look at the breakdown:

Macbook Pro 15″ – $2049

  • Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4GHz)
  • 2GB RAM (667MHz)
  • 250GB SATA HDD (5400RPM)
  • 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256MB)
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Ethernet 10/100/1000
  • 60 WHr Lithium-Polymer Battery
  • Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
  • Multi-touch Mouse Pad
  • iLife ’08
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • iSight Camera

Dell XPS M1530 – $1512

  • Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4GHz)
  • 2GB RAM (667MHz)
  • 250GB SATA HDD (5400RPM)
  • Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256MB)
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Ethernet 10/100/1000
  • 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
  • Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
  • Fingerprint Reader
  • Adobe Photoshop Elements + Adobe Premiere Elements
  • Webcam

So with the exception of GarageBand, multi-touch mouse, and a backlit keyboard, you get everything a Macbook has to offer in a $500 cheaper package from Dell. If any of those particular things are important to you, it might be worth the extra cash…but personally I’d rather have that money to spend on anime and sushi.

By the way, it is worth noting that this may become an obsolete comparison fairly soon. Dell announced ending their XPS line of computers to let the AlienWare division handle the design/manufacture/selling of gaming systems. I have not yet seen if this applies only to desktops or if it is the entire XPS line. I’ll drop an update in when I get some more information. But hey, either way the Dell is cheaper than the Apple when it comes to the portable systems. Go figure.

Horseless Carriage 2 – Electric Boogaloo

With gas prices skyrocketing and the economy riding the rollercoaster to oblivion, it’s no surprise that auto makers are looking at their products and redesigning their offerings. The public by and large doesn’t want the large, noisy, gas-hogs that have been the pride and joy of Detroit for the last half century or so. Everyone it thinking green because it’s the latest fad and people are trying to stretch their dollars like bungee cords. The result of all this is that we as consumers are about to be inundated with a multitude of options that promise to give us more mileage for the buck.

Take for instance General Motors. With the entire Hummer brand, large sedans, and Suburbans in their line-up, they have been one of the biggest offenders of green tech and oil conservation in the entire automotive industry. The company has been struggling to deal with huge losses now that nobody wants oversize plush versions of military vehicles that get single digits to the gallon and it looks like they’ve finally gotten the message. GM is working on a car called the Volt. Going on the information available thus far, it is probably their best chance to jump into a fledgling market and take control much like Apple did with the iPod. The Volt is touted to have roughly a 40 mile range on pure battery power which is backed up by a “range extender” gasoline/ethanol engine running an onboard generator. The 6-7 gallon gas tank in conjunction with the battery should provide an estimated 400 mile driving range before the need to refuel. Of course, for many of us 40 miles is more than enough to get us through our daily commute so we wouldn’t be burning any gasoline/ethanol. An enthusiast site, GM-Volt.com has a great deal more information.

Most every manufacturer has something planned. Toyota has been selling the Prius hybrid for years. Since it is probably the most popular new tech car on the market, I’m not going into detail on it. Honda will begin leasing in select SoCal areas their new FCX Clarity, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The select areas are locations that have fuel cell refueling centers. Honda claims that the FCX can run about 270 miles before refueling and then it is only a matter of a couple of minutes at a refueling station to fill back up. I’m pretty sure they’re working on getting more refueling stations in the wild. Of course, they’re also working on a home refueling station that will double as an electricity generator for the home.

These are some exciting times for the alternative fuel market but at the same time, the different technologies being employed have a chance at starting a standards war akin to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray or VHS/Beta. Why do I think this? Infrastructure. None of these technologies are going to get much use out of the run of the mill gas station you see every 2.5 meters when driving down the road. Hydrogen fuel cells, ethanol, and electrics all require different means of replenishing their energy supply and none of those use what we have in place today. However, I seriously doubt that any company is going to retool these stations with all of these technologies. The expense would be far too great. But to have widespread adoption, you have to have the infrastructure to support it. The classic chicken and the egg scenario. This is why I think if any electric car has a chance, it’s the Volt. With the ability to burn either gasoline or ethanol, the infrastructure is there. Add to that the range it should be capable of and I think you’ve got a winner. Oh, did I mention they think it should only run about $30k? Compare that to your dreams of the $106k Tesla.

Mac Pro vs Dell Precision

Continuing my previous post, I thought I needed to compare the higher end Apple systems with something from Dell or HP. The problem is…they each only have like one high end workstation with dual Xeon processors. It took a fair amount of digging around to finally get something similar to the Mac Pro from HP and Dell, but I manage. Guess what, the Mac Pro still comes out as the cheaper system…let’s take a look:

Mac Pro – $3048

  • (2) Quad Core Intel Xeon (2.8GHz)
  • 2GB ECC DDR2 RAM
  • 320GB SATA HDD (7200RPM)
  • ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB (Two dual-link DVI)
  • SuperDrive (16x Dual Layer DVD Burner)
  • No Monitor
  • AppleCare (3yr Support)

Dell Precision T5400 – $4197

  • (2) Quad Core Intel Xeon X5440 (2.83GHz)
  • 2GB ECC DDR2 RAM
  • 320GB SATA HDD (7200RPM)
  • 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia NVS 290, Dual Monitor DVI Capable
  • 16X DVD+/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD and Roxio Creator Dell Ed
  • No Monitor
  • 3 Year ProSupport for IT and 3 Year NBD Onsite Service

Look at that. Over $1000 in price difference between the two systems and hardware wise they are nearly the same. Yes, I know the video cards are not exact but the upgrade price to higher end cards that are similar run about the same price so I opted to just not mess with changing those specs. If you are really that curious, feel free to go configure these yourself and compare. Personally, I can’t afford either system so I’m happy to just see something close for a comparison.

Oh, and trust me…you do not want to see the numbers I came up with on the HP build. After about an hour of poking around their site, I only found one dual CPU workstation and it started at over $5300. Granted, it had a few upgrades from what I quoted above, but not enough to justify another grand or so on top of the Dell build. But then, I’ve always known HP is far more overpriced than any other manufacturer out there as I have ordered well over a million dollars in HP servers and desktops and notebooks over my career.

Anyway, the point is this: Apple computers are not overpriced. The entire problem that causes the perpetuation of this misconception is that they do not have any true mid-range systems. You have the Mac Mini, the iMac, and the Mac Pro. All of these are at very different price points and capabilities and there isn’t much you can do to get something between them. They are not a Dell with 50 or 60 models to choose from before you get into bolting on upgrades. The beauty of this is the simplicity. The downside of this is the misconception that they charge too much.

Still to come…Macbook and Macbook Pro vs Dell