The iPad frenzy is in full swing. Shipments are being tracked, store reservations are being confirmed, Apple marketing is trying to set new records in superlative usage, and yes, my iPad is due to arrive on Saturday. I did have an urge to cancel my pre-order. Mainly because the price puts it in the luxury category for me, even at the base version. I take issue with Apple’s superlative laden adds that keep calling it a “magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price.” Ok, they don’t say “low price” [...] Read the rest »
My Primary Windows Computer
My primary Windows Computer is a home built one I put together about a year ago. It started out as a Vista PC build but soon got some significant upgrades to bulk up its processing power. Most of those original parts were recycled in a PC I built for my parents. Still, despite being recently purchased most of the parts are no longer available, having been superseded by newer models. Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2.40 [...] Read the rest »
The New Handbrake Rocks
I’ve been using Handbrake to encode video for a couple years and love it. The open source Handbrake works on Windows, OS X and Linux. I’ve always preferred and used the OS X version. It had been about a year without a new version of Handbrake but the drought was ended in November 2009 with the release of Handbrake 0.94. I was a bit slow to upgrade since the old version was working fine for me. Finally I upgraded. I had an issue (it wouldn’t encode) and kept using the [...] Read the rest »
New Mac Mini Joins The Quest
I decided to replace my late 2006 iMac and had been pondering its replacement since the beginning of the year. By February I decided to go with a Mac Mini. I decided against another iMac because: I didn’t want to give up the desktop real estate I didn’t want another all-in-one. I wanted the flexibility of separate components Price (I didn’t need a monitor or keyboard) which eliminated the Mac Pro with it’s $2,500 starting price I didn’t want a laptop as my primary Mac, this would be desk bound [...] Read the rest »
Comcast Bandwidth Meter Arrives
When Comcast announced their 250 GB bandwidth cap there were legitimate complaints that Comcast users had no way to tell how much bandwidth they had used. So Comcast promised a bandwidth meter, and they’ve finally begun to deliver (they’re calling it a usage meter). The email I received implies it’s a phased rollout as the usage meter is available “in my area”. The Comcast usage meter is available from the “Users & Settings” section of what Comcast calls “customerCentral” where I can manage my account. While a bit of a [...] Read the rest »
Apple iPad Pre-ordered
Well, I went ahead and pre-ordered an Apple iPad on Friday. I usually don’t pre-order a $500 piece of tech site unseen. OK, I pre-ordered the iPod Touch 3rd gen when it was announced but I’d seen and touched the earlier versions and was simply waiting on the latest upgrades before buying. So first I had to justify pre-ordering a new piece of technology. I trust Apple to have thought about the design and function of the iPad to create a usable interface. Sure it looks nice in the video [...] Read the rest »
Windows Home Server Add-Ins I Use
I was recently asked what Windows Home Server Add-Ins I us and figured it was a good topic for a blog post. So this morning I took a look and see that I have six loaded. I don’t use a lot of add-ins for two main reasons: In general I like my important systems to be as clean as possible. My Windows Home Server is no different. I don’t do a lot of hacks on any computer I use day in and day out. Adding a ton of WHS add-ins [...] Read the rest »
A New Web Host – Linode
Just before the New Years holiday I moved this site to a new web host, Linode. I’ve been with Slicehost for just over two years and don’t have any complaints and think they’re great. There’s an interesting thread on the Slicehost forum about how other vendors have matched and exceeded Slicehost’s offerings. In the thread even Slicehost has admitted they stagnated and haven’t taken advantage of the resources available to them through Rackspace which purchased them about a year ago. That’s part of my reason for shopping around, the same [...] Read the rest »
