Geek Links of the Week - 25June2012

Wow, it's been too long since I posted this...
This week's links cover everything from DNA research, XBox forensics, and gadget hacking! I usually try to limit it to 5 links but it this week I just couldn't do it! Here ya go with 7...

My Geek Links of the Week!

Link #1: Microsoft Surface: a gentle kick in the teeth of the OEMs

“To allow Windows 8 to compete with iOS, Microsoft needs hardware to compete with the iPad. Bad hardware would jeopardize Redmond's ability to play in the tablet space, but the PC OEMs have established for themselves a track record of producing little else. And while many of the OEMs have produced Android tablets to try to compete with the iPad, they've also consistently failed to match its quality. ”

 - Peter Bright, Ars Technica

I have mixed feelings about this, having been a consumer of the Windows ecosystem for some time. Building PCs in the mid-90's was a real kick and the best way to create your dream machine for (typically) less money than buying off-the-shelf systems. Those days are long gone but not entirely forgotten (my sister built her own cheap PC a couple months ago).

This move by MS shows just how broken the old Windows OEM model is when compared to Apple. Is this move by MS a permanent one or, as the author suggests, a kick in the pants of the OEMs to get moving and to start out-innovating Apple at their own game?

Link #2: Every Watt Matters!

“Data center operators are touting metrics like PUE to demonstrate energy efficiency leadership, but there is more to consider. Data centers exist because they can more efficiently and economically scale to house servers that host online services used by enterprises and consumers. However, we need a more holistic approach to ensure that we are minimizing the energy consumed to run these services. Performance matters, but so does the energy consumed to deliver that performance”  

- Dileep Bhandarkar, Distinguished Engineer, Microsoft Global Foundation Services

Most people don't know much more about internet than to say it is, "In the cloud somewhere." Ted Stevens wasn't that far off when he esoterically described it as a "Series of Tubes." And then you see pictures like these from Datacenter Knowledge...

When you dig down into it all major internet services start in a datacenter where the equipment is hosted. Those facilities are big business, difficult to run, and incredibly expensive.
So it goes without saying that building facilities requires a lot of engineering and cost-benefit-analysis to justify building such a large facility. This article goes into a lot of details around power utilization, PUE, and other metrics that show how well MS datacenters are using the power they draw. Very interesting analysis.


Older stuff...

Link #3: 30 best features of Windows 8

“The Metro start screen may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it does have undeniable benefits”

I have been using Win8 since the Consumer Preview last December and I have to say I love it, even on a laptop and in "desktop mode" (where I don't really use Metro apps). The list of features I like is quite long: split touch keyboard, new task manager, Skydrive integration, split screen metro apps, universal search, the advanced file copy features... too many to mention! When you run it on a device with a touch screen it really shines! Remember those touch screen tablets (i.e. laptops with swivel screens) that no one really bought? Now you can use one to run Win8 and it will amaze you. Just make sure you put an SSD in it before you start!

Link #4: Radioactive man? Milford resident pulled over by state police

“Mike Apatow was minding his own business Wednesday, driving to an appointment for work in Washington Depot when a state police car appeared suddenly and signaled for the Milford resident to pull over. Apatow, 42, was entering Interstate 84 in Newtown when the cruiser appeared, and he had no idea what he'd done to merit police attention. It turns out he didn't do anything. But earlier that day, Apatow, who'd experienced a recent spike in his blood pressure, had a nuclear stress test at Cardiology Associates of Fairfield County in Trumbull. In the test, a small amount of a radioactive material is injected into the veins and used to help track blood flow to the heart.”

- Amanda Cuda, ctpost.com

So a guy is driving down the road in his vehicle and the State Police can detect if he is radioactive? First off, that's amazing but it makes you think for a minute. Yes, the technology to detect low levels of radiation, in an effort to find possible unauthorized people transporting active materials (i.e. terrorists/criminals), but do they really need it? Do we live in a world where this is necessary or is it cheap enough that they decided to do it because they could?

Link #5: The Floppy Disk means Save, and 14 other "old people" Icons that don't make sense anymore

“What happens when all the things we based our icons on don't exist anymore? Do they just become, ahem, iconic glyphs whose origins are shrouded in mystery?”  

-  Scott Hanselman, hanselman.com

This one made me think for a minute. There are all sorts of technology that my kids will never have to use that were necessities only 10 years ago. This article takes a different spin on it: look at the icons on your computer that mean things like the save button, radio buttons, folders, etc. Will my kids even understand what those icons mean? Will they know why we call them "radio buttons"? What is a folder? What is CC:?
OK, I'm old.

Link #6: US self-defence expert banned from entering UK

“Tim Larkin tried to board a plane from his home in Las Vegas on Tuesday, but was given a UK Border Agency letter saying "his presence here was not conducive to the public good". Mr Larkin, who was due to host seminars, told the BBC the move was a "gross over-reaction". The Home Office said he was subject to an exclusion order.” 

- BBC News Service

The British consider an unarmed civilian to be a threat to the public good because he is trained in self defense and the use of lethal force? Or it is because he is critical of the self-defense laws on the books? There are many limitations on speech in the UK so this should surprise no one.


}B^)

Geek Links of the Week - 16Jan2012

Snow day! Yes, it's a snow day in Seattle, the biggest one we have had in 3-4 years.

This week's links cover everything from DNA research, XBox forensics, and gadget hacking! I usually try to limit it to 5 links but it this week I just couldn't do it! Here ya go with 7...

My Geek Links of the Week!

Link #1: CSI: Xbox—how cops perform Xbox Live stakeouts and console searches

“In June 2009, a Massachusetts state trooper was gathering evidence in a case that involved a suspect having sex with an underage girl. He hoped to find one crucial piece of evidence—video of the encounter—on a digital device from the suspect's home. But the device wasn't a computer; it was the suspect's game console. The investigator was stumped as to how to sift the device for clues, and he turned to a digital forensics mailing list for help. ”

 - Nate Anderson, Ars Technica

Earlier in 2011 someone in the hacker group Anonymous hacked the email account of a computer forensics expert and posted all the emails online. Part of that email cache was a lot of traffic from an email mailing list for digital crime specialists.

This article spells out many of the different scenarios in which law enforcement is using electronic devices such as game consoles, cell phones, and even mobile gaming devices to track down and prosecute criminals. Excellent read if you are interested in such geeky stuff.

Link #2: DNA links 1991 killing to Colonial-era family

“DNA may help Seattle-area sheriff's deputies find a suspect in a 20-year-old killing after a comparison with genealogy records connected a crime-scene sample to a 17th-century Massachusetts family.” - CNN Wire Staff

You may be asking yourself, "Say what? How is this Geeky?" Follow the logic: a cold-case murder from more than 20 years ago has a clue from a link to a genealogical society's DNA records. Did you follow that?  Here's how it works-

1. People voluntarily send in DNA samples (usually a cheek swab or blood sample)
2. A private company sequences the DNA and sends it to the genealogy society
3. The genealogy society enters the DNA sequence in their database and does a little research
4. The society sends a report to the original DNA donor giving them an idea of which family they may be related to to give them a better idea of where to do their own family history research

How is this related to a cold case? These DNA databases are the same type of databases used by law enforcement! They can be easily cross-referenced (with a court order, of course) for forensic purposes. In this case a Sheriff's deputy in Washington state (not far from my home) got a lead on a 20-year old cold case using this very method.

This brings up all sorts of privacy and ethical issues. When you send in a DNA sample to a genealogy database you are effectively giving your DNA to law enforcement. 

The proverbial "good guys have no reason to fear" argument does apply but what happens when government oversteps its bounds? The possibilities are endless.

Needless to say what might happen if that DNA DB is hacked and leaked on the internet. Be careful out there!

Link #3: Can You Predict The Price Is Right Wheel?

“So, here is the question: Can I come up with a strategy to make the wheel land at a particular spot? Clearly, there are a couple of things: Where does the wheel start? Where do you want it to end? How fast do you have to spin it and where do you let go?”

Rhett Allain - Dot Physics, Wired Science Blogs 

OK, confession time: I'm a sucker for The Price is Right and the Wired Science Blogs. My favorite Wired Science Blog story was when they analyzed the physics of a baseball throw from an actual baseball game (yes, it was an AMAZING play).

Is it possible to predict where the big wheel will stop? Is it possible to spin it just right to reliably land on $1 or a combination of two values that total $1? Rhett goes to great lengths to find out, starting with vast data collection (with the help of Youtube), kinematic equations, and more physics and math than you can shake a stick at.

But is it possible to "play the wheel"? You'll have to read the article to find out (i.e. I'm not giving it away).

Link #4: ExoPC EXOdesk hands-on pictures and video

“ExoPC's EXOdesk was originally a touch-enabled panel running Windows 8 and powered by a Core i7 processor. Well, after stopping by ViewSonic's booth here at CES 2012 we've learned the company has other plans for the EXOdesk. ExoPC has ditched the processor and computer components to help reduce cost, and what we're left with is merely a 1920x1080 32-inch touchscreen monitor fused to a desk. Like the original, this EXOdesk has 10 points of touch, but it simply serves as a secondary monitor for Windows (Mac support is being worked on) rather than a standalone PC. We're told EXOdesk will be shipping at the end of 2012 with a targeted price of $1299. However, ExoPC said, "price is pending a few factors: customer feedback to size, desired touch input, usage models, apps, user interface."”

- Sam Sheffer - TheVerge.com

I gave my wife an ExoPC Slate for Christmas 2010. So far she uses it a little bit and hasn't gotten used to the entire idea of a tablet. It doesn't help that Windows 7 isn't the best tablet OS out there. Win8 works much better on her tablet but the Win8 Developer Preview wasn't very useful for anyone not a software geek.

This is a fabulous idea! The EXOdesk serves as a second monitor for a PC and can be used for just about anything. The UI is very interesting and has all sorts of uses. It even got "Best Gadget of CES 2012" by PC Mag.

Link #5: German Hackers Propose Uncensorable Global Grid — With Satellites

“The members of the Stuttgart Hackerspace have taken it upon themselves to launch their own space program. The immediate goal of the Hacker Space Program is to create an uncensorable internet in space beyond the control of terrestrial entities using a network of ground stations and communications satellites. In the longer term (think the year 2035), they'd like to put a hacker astronaut on the moon!”

Tired of meddling government censors and traditional boundaries, a hacker community has announced plans to create their own satellite network and even put a astronaut on the moon. Their goals aside (being able to share any content at any time with no governmental controls) this is the kind of project that really interests me. I don't care about breaching copyright or sharing kiddie-porn but a grass-roots effort to launch satellites and actually have them work sounds like a super-human project. I'm sure in 25-30 years this may seem trivial but with today's technology it is a HUGE task. In some ways I hope they pull it off but the governments of the world will never let it happen if it challenges their ability to censor and control content.

Link #6: Raspberry Pi's $35, 700MHz Linux computer enters manufacturing

“The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced this week that its $35 Linux computer has entered the manufacturing stage. The system, which is an open board with a 700MHz ARM11 CPU and 256MB of RAM, could be available for sale within a matter of weeks. The foundation, which is located in the UK, was originally founded in 2009 with the aim of developing an affordable computer that children could use to learn computer programming. The organization produced two batches of sample boards last year for testing purposes prior to the recent transition to full-scale manufacturing.” 

Ryan Paul - Ars Technica 

Wow, a $35 PC (no monitor, of course). It runs on ARM so it has to run an ARM-compatible OS like Linux but, since Win8 will eventually support the ARM platform, eventually it will be available with other OSs as well. I may have to buy a few of these just to support the effort (this is a grass-roots, open source project).

Link #7: Learn to code, get a job

“It's time Americans begin treating computer code the way we do the alphabet or arithmetic. Code is the stuff that makes computer programs work -- the list of commands that tells a word processor, a website, a video game, or an airplane navigation system what to do. That's all software is: lines of code, written by people.”

Douglas Rushkoff - CNN 

Was "learning to code" one of your new year's resolutions? If so, there is some good news: the Code Academy has online tutorials and classes available to teach you to be a software developer within a year, with a lesson per day. Why is this important?

With cloud computing on the rise it is apparent that many IT professionals will soon need a new job (like me). My current job of IT systems design is going out the window in the next 5 years as people move to generic systems architectures like Microsoft's Windows/SQL Azure and Amazon's EC2. Re-learning C and C# is on my list and this site is helping me. Maybe I'll post some code examples if I actually stick to it.




}B^)

Geek Links of the (Last Several) Week(s) - 9Jan2012

Yep, it's been a while. The holidays were crazy, I bought/sold my car, <insert excuse>, etc. Enough of that...

My Geek Links of the Week!

Link #1: The Chinese Town That Turns Your Old Christmas Tree Lights Into Slippers

“A single strand of burnt-out Christmas lights weighs almost nothing in the hand. But a bale of burnt-out Christmas tree lights the size of a love seat? That weighs around 2200 pounds, according to Raymond Li, the general manager of Yong Chang Processing, a scrap metal processor in the southern Chinese town of Shijiao. He would know: on a recent Saturday morning I stood between him and three such bales, or 6600 pounds of Christmas tree lights that Americans had tossed into recycling bins, dropped off at the Salvation Army, or sold to a roving junk man. He had bought that 6600 pounds for my benefit, to show me how his company's Christmas tree light recycling system works.” - Adam Minter, The Atlantic

This is probably the coolest story I read over the Christmas break. There is an amazing trend in the recycling industry to change the framing of the recycling vision from a sorting problem to a mining problem. By treating recycling as a sorting problem you assume that you can accurately sort different materials to be obtain enough raw materials in a clean state to allow for efficient re-use. When you change your perspective to a mining problem it changes the parameters of the issue completely. Now, instead of error-prone manual or automated methods for sorting, you shift to mining and extraction methods that have been in use for centuries. This allows for much cleaner extraction of the raw materials and more material is recycled.

Link #2: The Coming War on General Purpose Computation

“The last 20 years of Internet policy have been dominated by the copyright war, but the war turns out only to have been a skirmish. The coming century will be dominated by war against the general purpose computer, and the stakes are the freedom, fortune and privacy of the entire human race. .” - Cory Doctorow

Interesting take on the future of computing. If the copyright-infringement debate continues "as-is" it is only a matter of time before the general purpose computer, at least the way we see it today, is no more.

Link #3: Dancing in Star Wars: The Old Republic can make you invincible

“The recent Ilum exploits in Star Wars: The Old Republic pale in comparison to the the glitch shown above, spotted by RPS, in which a bounty hunter discovers that dancing instantly interrupts all enemy attacks, effectively rendering him invincible as long as he never, ever drops the beat.” - Tom Senior, PC Gamer

This seriously makes me want to check out SWTOR just to try it. The video above shows what happens when a player uses the command "/getdown" during a battle.

Unfortunately they patched this flaw as of 1/5/2012. Well, that saves me some time.

Link #4: Apple’s First iPhone Was Made in 1983 [PICS]

“The first iPhone was actually dreamed up in 1983. Forget that silly old touchscreen, this iPhone was a landline with full, all-white handset and a built-in screen controlled with a stylus.”

Wow, that is one cool phone, even by today's standards. I would LOVE to have had that phone back in 1983.

Link #5: Publishers vs. Libraries: An E-Book Tug of War

“LAST year, Christmas was the biggest single day for e-book sales by HarperCollins. And indications are that this year’s Christmas Day total will be even higher, given the extremely strong sales of e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. Amazon announced on Dec. 15 that it had sold one million of its Kindles in each of the three previous weeks.”

E-books in the library are an interesting business model. This is strikingly similar to the argument for/against MP3/Video piracy. Publishers and libraries will have to come to some sort of agreement on this issue or it won't be long until we will see a world with no libraries (did you see the movie "I Robot"?). Either that or the publishers go away, which is already happening.

Link #6: The Science of Santa

“For decades, mystified scientists have chalked up Santa's power to the inexplicable wonder of magic, but North Carolina State University aerospace engineer Larry Silverberg, team leader on a first-of-its-kind visiting scholars program at Santa's Workshop-North Pole Labs (NPL), says that Santa is, in fact, a scientific genius and that Silverberg looks forward to Christmas each year, so he can ponder the remarkable accomplishments of one of the greatest pioneers in his field.”

For years there has been an article circulating to debunk Santa from the standpoint of science but this article goes the other way: how would you use current scientific thought and even unproven theory to postulate how Santa might actually pull off his holiday magic? Fascinating read.



}B^)

My recent (positive!) Frontier story

Sometimes a company pulls out all the stops and does something good for a change.

Sometimes a company does the opposite of what Clark Howard calls "customer no-service".

I was fully prepared to write about how Frontier rested on their laurels and lost another customer. Instead, I was amazed.

The Backstory...

Back in '99 DSL was THE thing to get if you wanted fast internet speeds so when we bought our first house I took the plunge and hooked up 1.5 Mbps down, 384K upload speed. That was 12 years ago and our speed hasn't changed since. At that speed today's internet seems like a 56K-dial-up-modem crawl. YouTube and Netflix videos take FOREVER to load and buffer frequently.

In 2005 cities near me were some of the first to roll out Verizon FIOS with synchronous speeds up to 15 Mbps. In 2007 Verizon came to a city council meeting in my town, talked up their new service, and applied for a cable TV franchise license. How did I feel about this? Ecstatic would be an understatement. I signed up to be notified when FIOS would be available in my service area.

And then the waiting game started. I checked the Verizon website every 6 months or so to see if their FIOS announcement had been made. And then I signed up to be notified when Verizon FIOS would be available in my service area.

And then in 2009 Verizon sold off their "rural telephony business" to Frontier Communications. More waiting... And then I signed up to be notified when Frontier FIOS would be available in my service area.

Several times I went on the Frontier support site and submitted a support request to ask when I could upgrade my service. Each time they told me that there was nothing they could share with me. Did I mention that I signed up to be notified when FIOS would be available in my service area?

Comcast: The company I love to hate

In the mean time my wife's parents have a Comcast TV/internet bundle. Every time we visit I love seeing my download speeds go to 14-16 Mbps. Why didn't I make the jump? I don't exactly enjoy bandwidth caps, speed inconsistencies, blocked ports, and other weirdness that comes along with Comcast's network. So I soldiered on.

Speeds at work are FABULOUS. I can download files from 3rd parties at speeds approaching 100 Mbps (with some limitations, of course).

So when I get home and slow down to 1.5 Mbps it feels like walking back in time 12 years.

Frontier Hits it Out of the Park

One day, while doing my typical "have they changed service in my area" test on the Frontier website I found a customer service page with contacts for 3 people in Frontier's West Coast region: the President of the West region, the Regional Director of Marketing, and Manager Communications for the West Region. This wasn't just a web form to fill in, it displays their emails and mailing address in Elk Grove, CA. After thinking, "What do I have to lose?" I sent of a quick mail to all three of them...

I have been a Verizon/Frontier customer in Sammamish, WA, for over 10 years with both phone and internet service. While my DSL service is quite stable for many years (no service interruptions!) the speed just doesn’t cut it anymore. I have had the same DSL speed for 15 years and I need something faster.

I have the 1.5 Mbps download, 384K upload DSL, which is the fastest available due to my distance from the CO. I would love to be able to get something faster, perhaps 10x faster, and I’m willing to pay for it.

When will Frontier build out FIOS service in the Sammamish, WA, area? I am interested only in phone and internet, not TV service. I like the pricing and bundles available on your website but have been waiting for a LONG time. I’m not sure I can wait much longer.

Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

I expected a response within a week and to be sent back and forth to sales and support and, in the end, nothing really happening. Boy, was I wrong.

The very next day I received this mail from Denise B., President of the West Region for Frontier, along with her office and cell phone numbers (not posted here for obvious reasons). Here is what she had to say-

Mr. Dunnahoo,

Thank you for reaching out to me regarding your Frontier services and I appreciate the opportunity to serve you. Frontier Washington has a very aggressive plan to enhance the high speed internet experience over the next six months. Rich Klena is the Washington State VP, and Jason Gamble is the local General Manager. They will reach out to you to share more specifically the plans to enhance your neighborhood.

Appreciate your business for the last 10 years and I want you as a customer for life!

Denise B.

Frontier Communications

President - West Region

Not many people spell my name correctly on the first shot so that was quickly forgiven. }B^)

She CC'd Richard K. and Jason G. Within 30 minutes of that email Richard's office assistant sent me this...

Mr. Dunnahoo,

Jason G. is out of the office today. He will be in contact with you tomorrow morning.

Thank you.

Linda P.

Four hours later I got an email from Tim B., a Frontier Technical Supervisor located not far from my home.

Lee,

I am a Frontier Technical Supervisor located in Kirkland.

My understanding is that you would like to upgrade your internet speed with Frontier. I would like to investigate what options we may have available to you.

Can you please provide me with your billing telephone #, address, and a contact # where I can reach you? 

Thanks,

Tim B.

Frontier Technical Supervisor

After a couple of emails back and forth with various technical folks they informed me that my best option was for 7M download, 768K upload bundle package. The message included the best news I've heard all year: "By rebundling your service, you will be saving money over your current plan."

Let me get this straight: If I renew my 2 year contract (which is only 6 months old to begin with) I get DSL speeds 4.7 times faster than my current line and it will end up costing me less per month? Where do I sign up?

After a quick verification the order was processed. Within a couple of days my line was re-provisioned at the new speed. They even sent me a new DSL modem to replace my ancient model. The results were immediately apparent-

1. I can now stream Youtube videos at 1080p, where before it was stuttering on 480p.
2. I can now watch a Netflix video on my XBox while someone is downloading their email in the other room (couldn't do it before).
3. Remote access to my work computers is MUCH faster.

So there you have it: a great example of how a big company listened to a customer and did the right thing to improve their experience with their product. The entire process took less than 2 weeks. Now I only wish I had done this a couple of years ago.

Thanks Frontier!

}B^)

The 12 Days of Christmas Movies NOT About Christmas

I missed this by a couple of days but here it goes anyway...

The top 12 non-Christmas movies that happen during Christmas, mention Christmas, or have some portrayal of Christmas. Watch one movie per day until Christmas. You might have to double-up on a few to finish them all in 2011. These are presented in "top 12" order.

Day 1: Edward Scissorhands - not many people knew what to think of this movie when it came out, my parents included. Hence I didn't see it until I went to college. Still one of Johnny Depp's best roles.

Day 2: Ghostbusters II - The much-lessor of the Ghostbusters movie, this one is kind of fun with a good message.

Day 3: Any of the "Harry Potter" movies - They all have a Christmas scene. Watch one of them and you're covered. Watching all of them is not required, unless you are on Christmas break with nothing better to do.

Day 4: Nightmare Before Christmas - Gotta love a Halloween movie about Christmas. We watch this one just about every year. And then I have to put up with a week of my kids singing the Oogie-Boogie song.

Day 5: Trading Places - One of my favorite comedies of all time. Works on the question of nurture vs. nature with comedic results.

Day 6: Lethal Weapon - Gotta love an action flick with Christmas in it.

Day 7: The Family Man - Arguably the most ultra-pro-family movie EVER. Yes, I cried the first time I saw it. And the second. Very well written and acted. Best Nicolas Cage movie by a long shot. An interesting take on the "It's a Wonderful Life" formula, but with life choices.

Day 8: Die Hard, Die Hard 2 - Explosions, guns, Alan Rickman, and Christmas. How can you top that?

Day 9: Red - This is how you beat Die Hard. To the amazing Bruce Willis you add Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Karl Urban. Even Ernest Borgnine gets into the act. Amazing.

Day 10: Gremlins - The first nightmare I ever remember having was about this movie. It still holds up after all these years, except for the special effects. The book has the best chapter ever, only 2 words long: "Billy forgot."

Day 11: Catch Me If You Can - One of my favorite movies of all time. The Christmas scenes are quite touching and emotional, showing how isolated and alone each of the main characters really are.

Day 12: The Star Wars Holiday Special - One night when I was young my parents let us stay up late to watch a show that had "Star Wars" in the title. After a few minutes my folks lost interest and left me and my sisters to finish the entire show. We were blown away as only pre-8 year olds can be with Han, Leia, and Luke. The following morning my parents thought we were insane when we told them about the rest of the show (song/dance numbers, a cartoon with Boba Fet, Chewbacca's home world). My father continued in disbelief for decades until I found a boot-leg copy at a flee market and showed it to him. Now we have the interwebs to help us remember what Anthony Daniels joking calls, "The horrible Holiday Special that nobody talks about."

"OK" Choices
These will work in a pinch but I can't totally recommend them for various reasons...

Sleepless in Seattle - What some people call the ultimate chick-flick. It has some charming moments but you won't see me running out to watch it again.

While You Were Sleeping - Hmmm, another movie with Bill Pullman? Yet another chick flick but with a very pro-family message. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

Steel Magnolias - The movie my wife quotes the most. What does she quote the most? Tom Skerrit's line, "I have to get rid of about a zillion birds before Shelby’s reception this afternoon, or I will have to deal with my wife. And I make it a point never to deal with my wife!"

Home Alone - I remember watching this in the theater as a teenager and having a good laugh. Years later it doesn't hold up that well but I'll eventually show it to my kids.


Bad choices - Some folks like these movies but I cannot recommend them.

Batman Returns - Wow. Like so many other Batman films, it had so much potential but was squandered in the end.

Bridget Jones Diary - Not going to dignify this one with a link or trailer.

Now go out and celebrate Life Day!

er, I mean Christmas!

}B^)

Geek Links of the Week - 19DEC2011

It's never really "safe" to come back to my site (i.e. go on the web), but don't take my word for it. Now for the good stuff...

My Geek Links of the Week!

Link #1: Universal Says It Can’t Be Sued for Bogus Megaupload Video Takedown

“Universal Music acknowledged late Thursday that it was responsible for taking down from YouTube the infamous Megaupload video in which pop stars — from Mary J. Blige to Kanye West and others — sing the praises of the notorious file-sharing service. But the record label said there’s nothing Megaupload can do about Universal Music taking down the video, even if Universal doesn’t own the rights to it.”

This is the story that keeps on giving. It started when the website Megaupload released a promotional video on YouTube featuring many popular artists, including Will-i-am, P Diddy, and Jamie Foxx. Universal Music decided, for some strange reason, that the video infringed on some rights of theirs and used the YouTube Content Management System (CMS) to delete it. When Tech News Today, a daily tech news podcast and one of my favorites, played part of the video their newscast was censored from YouTube by UMG as well.

Universal has clearly overstepped their bounds and they have partially admitted that they were wrong but have also said that Megaupload has no recourse and should not be able to sue for damages. I think most judges will disagree.

Rich Warren and daughter

Link #2: Father’s open letter to Google: ‘Thanks for making my daughter cry’

“Father Rich Warren sounded off Sunday on social media sites Reddit and Google+ about his upsetting morning: He had woken up to find that Google had suddenly, without warning, shut down his daughter’s e-mail account and blog. His daughter had used her Gmail to send e-mail to her grandparents, friends and classmates, and had started the Blogger blog as a class project.” - Elizabeth Frock, Washington Post

This is a tricky one. How do you weigh the online protection of a child while allowing them to express themselves online? Google has responded (see original article), saying that their policies are not to allow children under the age of 13 to sign up for Google services unless it is done under the guise of their educational product suite through their school. There are some laws on the books, particularly COPPA, that do limit the amount of information that can be collected about children under 13 unless supervised by a parent/guardian.  My young kids, all under 10 years old, already asking about getting Gmail, Windows Live Messenger, and Facebook accounts. 13 sounds like a good age to start, in my book, but there should still be parental supervision.

Link #3: How to thwart the high priests of IT

“There are a lot of good IT pros who earnestly want to help their employer do well by providing and maintaining the technology systems that conduct so much of business today. Then there are those who are the company's enemies, whether they realize it or not.”

Disclosure- I'm an Elder, not a High Priest. And I'm have been in IT at a Fortune 500 company for nearly 11 years, 4 more at a start-up in the dot-com era.

I hesitated to even include this story but I can't help myself. This train wreck of a blog post, which would be mistaken for a comment-troll on my blog, is arguably one of the worst IT hit-pieces of recent memory. The comments from the article and on on the Slashdot article are not kind but reflect the same sentiment I have for the article and its author.

I think this guy is fishing for readers and hoping to increase his ad revenue: that's the only scenario that makes sense. I have yet to find a serious IT or programmer who agrees with him. Even the /. nerds are crucifying him, which says a lot about just how ridiculous his premise ultimately is. His aim in starting the blog was to talk frankly about the "consumerization of IT" but instead his opening salvo has not only missed the target but gone outside the firing range and hit the very people he was trying to persuade: developers and technology enthusiasts.

My favorite comment from the article: "Author needs less amphetamines. Someone's been up for days raging because they couldn't bring their toys in to work."

Link #4: Paul Allen space venture begins with 'largest aircraft ever constructed'

“Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Tuesday launched a speculative space-travel business that calls for building "the largest aircraft ever constructed." The twin-fuselage, composite-plastic plane, using systems cannibalized from two 747s and powered by six jumbo-jet engines, is intended to fly to an altitude of about 30,000 feet before launching into orbit a rocket slung underneath its wing.”

This is just TOO COOL. Paul Allen and company are going to build the world's largest plan, longest runway, and do it all in the name of privately-funded space industrialism. YES! Finally someone with some really big plans is stepping up and it isn't NASA or affiliated with any governmental organization. I love the idea of using existing engineering (i.e. cannibalizing existing planes and engines) and laying new designs on top of it to reduce cost (why re-invent the wheel?). I hope they are successful. This could end up being the grand-child of the space-shuttle program.

Link #5: Silicon Valley Library Lends Google Chromebooks

“If you find yourself in Silicon Valley and you need a laptop, try the library. In a first-of-its-kind pilot project, the Palo Alto, California Library will soon be loaning Google Chromebook computers to library patrons for as long as one week at a time. The program highlights the Chromebook’s ability to operate as a kind of “disposable computer,” as Google puts it. With the Chromebook, most all data and applications reside on the Web — not the local machine — so it can easily be passed from person-to-person. It’s a very Googly setup, and the search giant hopes it will reinvent the way businesses use computers.”

I like it. It was only a matter of time before a library somewhere picked up this idea. Using it as a platform that can be checked out is like a tool checkout at a workplace: you use it and give it back when you are done, up to a week in this case. When it is returned the user state information is easily wiped since the whole point of the Chromebook is to store everything on various cloud-based services, like Google or iCloud.

While this is a good idea I'm not sure how far this will spread until tablet/laptop prices fall below $200, maybe even sub-$100. The best market for devices like this are poor areas but they usually lack the funding for expensive tech projects. Sounds like yet another pet-project for a state-senator somewhere...

}B^)

Geek Links of the Week - 12DEC2011

Just when you thought it was safe to come back to my site, I bring you...

My Geek Links of the Week!



Link #1: The MythBusters Cannonball Saga Explained

By now you have no doubt seen the video or read the news story about the MythBusters team and their unfortunate incident with the cannon. No, I'm not talking about a Canon, like my PowerShot A710, I'm talking about a real, home made cannon that fires projectiles at high speeds to cause varying levels of destruction and mayhem. If not read the story above and check out the map to see just how out of control this little experiment became.

Having been a big fan of the MythBusters for quite some time, it is obvious that they take safety very seriously. The most unfortunate part of this entire incident is that, according to the news story above, the episode with the cannon will not be aired. Bummer. I love their explosion episodes.

Now check out the explanation of the math involved to see just how much force was exerted to make the cannonball go that far, that fast, and through that many objects.

Link #2: Sorry, Folks, Bill Gates Is Not Coming Back to Microsoft

"While it is fun to play “what if” games, the fact is that Bill Gates is not planning a return to Microsoft, the software giant he founded with Paul Allen decades ago."

 -Ina Fried, All Things D

Earlier last week Fortune Magazine published a story from a "prominent Chief Executive" who heard that uber-geek himself might be staging a come-back to help a struggling MSFT. Yes, Fortune published a story based on the word of someone who "heard from someone close to Gates that he might be considering such a move."

An un-named source heard it second hand? Wow, that's authoritative. While I would LOVE to see BillG back at MSFT I doubt it will ever happen. He has his sites set on Malaria, AIDS, and Education, three of the biggest challenges in the world today. Probably not going to happen but it would be cool if it did happen.


Link #3: How to Gamble If You're In a Hurry

"The beautiful theory of statistical gambling... has mostly been studied under the unrealistic assumption that we live in a continuous world, that money is indefinitely divisible, and that our life is indefinitely long. Here we study these fascinating problems from a purely discrete, finitistic, and computational, viewpoint, using Both Symbol-Crunching and Number-Crunching (and simulation just for checking purposes)."

Short summary: how to win at gambling if you don't have infinite money or time. Check out the math if you are into that kind of thing. Gambling is a fun practical application of math, of which I always do poorly, hence my tendency to avoid participation. I do enjoy watching others lose participate. Now someone has taken that love of math and come up with a pretty good analysis of how to gamble optimally in a short amount of time.


Link #4: 2012: Siri Is a Stunner, Amazon Is Amazin’ and Security Gets Spendy

"It means a whole lot of stuff that needs to be integrated. We don’t need anything new at all. There’s so much work that needs to be done with the existing tool sets. Steve Jobs didn’t really invent anything at all. But he was great at integrating things into a product. There’s a lot more of that work to do. We have to do it in the phone world and the TV world and the health care world. We have lots of devices and lots of chips and lots of operating systems and lots of content. The bigger question is, how do human beings use it all efficiently?"

- Mark Anderson, CEO of Strategic News Service

Things he missed-

• Death of Nokia? I'm not totally sold on this one. Perhaps they are in the smartphone world but they own the down-market phones (i.e. almost-smart phones). His line about smartphones taking over the world is right on but combine this with Nokia's brand recognition and market penetration in the non-smartphone world and you have a great story. If they can take Windows Phone 7 and make a smartphone for "every-man" now you are talking serious $$$.
• Voice differentiation - He makes a big deal about voice recognition taking over the world but there is one thing he is missing, as seen in the Dilbert comic below: differentiating voices. How do you get your phone/car/TV/device to recognize your voice if there are other voices present. Imagine trying to talk to your car while your pre-teen in the back seat is belting out the latest Justin Beiber tune. Or trying to get a drink recommendation at a bar filled with people. If you can solve that problem then I believe that tech like Siri can solve world hunger.
• An Amazon monopoly? Amazing is a growing behemoth that is taking over and owning a large piece of the online shopping world with its sites on online entertainment. Combining markets and products can get you into big trouble. Just ask Microsoft, Google, etc.

Link #5: Are You Better At Math Than a 4th (or 10th) Grader? (linked via Slashdot)

“A longtime friend on the school board of one of the largest school systems in America did something that few public servants are willing to do. He took versions of his state’s high-stakes standardized math and reading tests for 10th graders, and said he’d make his scores public.”

-Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

This is interesting but kind of sad at the same time. I like the fact that a public official is trying to set an example by taking the standardized test and publishing his results. The sad part is that he failed to correctly answer any of them without guessing. I took the sample questions myself and came out with a perfect score. If the score wasn't perfect I would have committed grievous bodily harm to my keyboard. Remembering back on my high school math classes these questions are perfectly appropriate and worded well. We need to have our students pass tests like this if they are to compete in the real world. The math questions were not too hard. An adult school administrator with poor math skills? Say it isn't so!

Math is right up there with reading and speaking abilities when it comes to success in life: the more complex the math that you can understand the more likely you are to get a higher paying job than someone who doesn't.


Link #6: World's first 128Gb 20nm NAND flash could pack 2TB into a 2.5" SSD

"Intel and Micron's joint venture IMFT has announced that it has produced a 128Gb die. A package combining eight such dies together would be small enough to fit on a fingertip and boast an unprecedented 128GB capacity. Mass production will start in the first half of next year, and devices using the new dies are likely to start shipping in 2013."

HUGE SSD drives are on the way. SWEET! It's only a matter of time before SSD drives of various types take over for the various types of spinning hard drives we use every day. Now that consumer devices like tablets and phones are starting to use them the prices are falling precipitously.

}B^)