Plex vs. XMBC on AppleTV
So now that XMBC is available for AppleTV2 it's time to compare it to Plex. I've played around with them for the past few days and can say that: Plex is worth the extra complexity. I've been told (never having used XBMC) that Plex was 'just a port' of it, so why not use XBMC itself?
The additional categorization and features from Plex easily outweigh the need to have a dedicated server (if you have a system sitting around).
Big issue with XBMC is that it's memory hog- it runs up ram and causes a LowTide reset often in the middle of movies. Plex rarely does this.
I'm working on a more thorough write up on the features, but TL;DR is that Plex wins hands-down at this point.
iPad – custom wallpaper from web
Want to change your desktop wallpaper to something you just saw on the web? It's pretty easy with the iPad.
Use safari to navigate to a page that has your image. Touch the image and choose to save it. Then go back Home and touch desktop and wallpapers. Now you will see a folder of saved photos. In there is the photo that you saved from the web. You can choose it and save it as your desktop.
EEE PC 1201N Motherboard Photos
Some photos I took when upgrading the HD on the EEE PC 1201N.
There is a spot for a 3G connector on the MB, but nothing is soldered onto the MB to accept a SIM chip.
1201N Motherboard top:
This is what you see after you remove the keyboard, unscrew the screws for the shield underneath the keyboard, unscrew the 4 screws at the bottom holding in the top of the case, and gently pry apart the top of the case all the way around the edge as it has little tiny legs on the top of the case that lock in with friction to the bottom of the case.
And a close up:
Droid Maker – free ebook
I stumbled across and amazing free ebook recently- DroidMaker (the link takes you to the authors blog, where he's release the PDFs). The story is an amazingly detailed history of the formation of Lucasfilm and the evolution of what became Pixar. I done some 3D modeling and rendering in the past (using Lightwave) and it's amazing to realize that these guys literally had to invent and write this stuff as they went along.
I was initially trying to convert the PDF to an ebook for reading on the iPhone, but found that nothing will convert a PDF nicely-- but that is for another post. What I did find is that the MacAir itself is a really nice ebook reader if you rotate the PDF to the right using Preview, and then hold the Air open on your lap like a book. It's small, light and thin enough that it really makes a great reader.
Conficter- sick
Next, Conficker A enters an infinite loop, within which it generates a list of 250 domain names (rendezvous points). The name-generation function is based on a randomizing function that it seeds with the current UTC system date. The same list of 250 names is generated every 3 hours, i.e., 8 times per day. All Conficker clients, with system clocks that are at minimum synchronized to the current UTC date, will compute and attempt to contact the same set of domains. When contacting a domain for which a valid IP address has been registered, Conficker clients send a URL request to TCP port 80 of the target IP, and if a Windows binary is returned, it will be validated via a locally stored public key, stored on the victim host, and executed. If the computer is not connected to the Internet, then the malicious code will check for connectivity every 60 seconds. When the computer is connected, Conficker A will execute the domain name generation subroutine, contacting every registered domain in the current 250-name set to inquire if an executable is available for download.
Lepoard Firewall – not your ipfw anymore
Browsing the net I came across a great site that answered some questions I had about the new firewall in Leopard. Using it now on the company macbook, and it's nice. Having the 4 gigs of ram helps also. My poor macbook was pushed to the limit with just 2. The site is worth checking out- there are lots of good Mac tibits.
Asus Eee PC $250 Linux Laptop
$250, 16Gb flash drive, 512Mb RAM, 7" LCD, 2 lb., full keyboard. Runs Linux. Has Firefox and Openoffice, Skype. 3 USB ports, VGA out, SD card reader, ethernet, wifi, webcam. Linux.
On sale worldwide in August from Asus. Is this going to be a hit or what? I'll pick one up for that. It's less than the Nokia 800, and it has a keyboard. For when I need to do more typing that I can stand on my iPhone.
Nice hands-on review and many pictures at Notebookreview.com
Amy Banse Interview on Wallstrip
Our boss at Comcast Interactive Media, Amy Banse talks about CIM:
3:00 into the interview is talk of fancast.com
Fancast announced
So the site we've been working on at my new job was announced yesterday, in conjunction with the larger announcement that CIM (Comcast Interactive Media) has purchased Fandango. Fancast has been consuming all my time since I joined Comcast back in September, and it's going to be cool destination.
As you can see, the announcement has caused quite a stir so far:
Posts that contain Fancast per day for the last 30 days.
Get your own chart!
I think the net is ready for something like fancast- and with CIM's weight behind it, its going to be a fun ride. If you are looking to work on something cool, and live in Philadelphia drop me a line- we're hiring and we have a lot more work to do on this.
Desktop Tower Defense
Normally, I don't like little flash games. Even normal games, for me, require a delicate balance playability and strategy before I grow tired and bored with them. But I stumbled across DTD a few days ago and gave it a shot. A few hours later, I realized that DTD is so addictive, so engrossing, that it is nearly indescribable. There is a nice Tutorial that is worth reading, but the game is one of those dead simple games that can played over and over again. I've spent whole afternoons trying to best my score of about 5500.
Blog Changes and Updates
So it's been a while since I've posted here- but it's nothing I'm sure you haven't read on dozens of other blogs. I'm in a gadget deficit, and I switched jobs to one that keeps me much busier than I was before. I'm now working back in an office, for Comcast Interactive Media, and I enjoy being back that environment, having spent the last few years working from home. Luckily, getting to work is just a 15 minute Trolley ride from my houst in West Philly. Of course as soon as I gave up the work-at-home and started back at a corporate gig there has been an interesting upsurge in communal working groups- there is one here in Philly. But for now, Comcast is cool and it's a small tight group, and we're working on interesting web properties that will launch soon.
The big change is that I don't have enough time or energy to mess with the pile of servers in my basement that have been hosting things for the past few years. And Comcast gives me free Cable & Internet, but I don't get static IPs. So I'm canceling my trusty ADSL and my longtime DCAnet static ips.... and moving my web properties to Dreamhost. So far they have a really inexpensive pricing and a decent web-interface to manage Domain regs, DNS hosting and web hosting. I'm moving all my domains (regs) away from the horrible NSI to DH. I also moving away from keeping my DNS at DNSpark (they have been the target of a few DDOS attacks which have crippled them). Soon everything should be neatly located in one web-control panel. In can get 1 year of web hosting (unlimited domains and tons of space) for about $120, and there are cupons all over the web that give you $97 off the first year.... cheap. Moving over Domain regs is just $10 for a year. Way cheaper than NSI.
I have lots of postings floating around, and I'll try to get them down. My biggest lust right now is the N800 of course, but so far I've been able to hold off, I hate to just get it because then I'll never use my 770 again. I guess I'll have to find someone to give it to.
The AppleTV looks cool, but I need to upgrade my old 4:3 TV and get a new HD LCD as soon as I can convince my wife we really do need it.
KRZR on Sprint in November
I've been with Sprint for a while, and have had good phones and bad phones... but now I've just grown tired of carrying around the big Treo 650. I want a small phone. With my new job I don't need access to my email -- they provide me with a BlackBerry. But I want a phone that is not a total piece of crap, that is, I want a small phone and one that will sync with my computer so that I have all my contacts on the phone-- I'm not going to type them all in via the interface on the phone. Also, it has to have good reception, as Sprint (and almost all carriers) in West Philadelphia is sketchy at best. I expect to get calls to my cell phone in my house. Which is asking for a lot apparently, in Philadelphia.
I was very happy to read recently that the Motorola KRZR, the smaller version of the Razr is coming to Sprint in November. So I'll wait for that. The current crop of Sprint phones leave much to be desired. They are probably fine phones, if all you want to do is make calls with them- but try attaching a Sanyo or Samsung phone to a Macintosh. Those two have never made any effort to provide connectivity with your PC- Mac or XP. All the Motorola's have had built in USB (as least, all the RAZRS and KRZRS).
So I wait.
My.Opera.Com – free portal for your 770
Want a really excellent web experience with your 770? Want 300 free megs to host your blog, pictures, email and probably more? Check out http://my.opera.com. You can sign up for a free account and get all that stuff- plus it looks perfect and feels responsive using the Opera Mobile Browser on the 770. It should of course, seeing how its Opera that's coding it.
Check out my page: nokia dreaming. Not too shabby eh?
If you join, link to me as a friend-- I'm dillera.
Theming for the Syncing Apple
I've settled on Blix for now. I really like how it has its CSS layout- the first layout that actually made sense to me. I've modified it a bit to better fit into the SyncingApple style, and I'll make further tweaks as time permits. I really love how it handles the code by wrapping long code into the extra area- saves that ugly overtyping from happening.
While Blix was designed a while ago for WP 1.5 it seems to be doing pretty well in 2.0. Too bad the author has abandoned it.
MarsEdit 1.1 is released
Don't forget to grab 1.1 - it was just released yesterday and it is a welcome improvement.
Updated to WP2
So I felt bad about all the people who maybe were going to use IE no matter what, so I just upgraded to the new WordPress 2.0, and the new K2 theme from BinaryBonsai.
So things are going to be in flux as I begin to mess with and screw up the CSS for this new theme. Enjoy.
This Site on IE
I just realized that this site looks ghastly in IE. If you are using that browser please come back here using Firefox. It looks much nicer.
Ebooks and the 770
I really got into reading ebooks with my Toshiba e805, one of the first PocketPCs that sported a near-VGA screen. Reading on it was pleasant and very easy on the eyes. So I've been anxious for the 770 to take over as my primary ebook device-- the beautiful screen is certainly up to it. So far I haven't been disappointed in the least.
We are lucky enough to have two options on the 770 - Plucker and FBReader. I've looked at both and FBReader is the clear winner for the 770. FB is super quick, supports plucker formatted books and has a deeper set of options on the 770 than does the current Plucker viewer. The killer feature is landscape rotation- just click the center button on the 770. It's amazing how fast the 770 and FB render pages-- this is the speed that I would like to see on the 770 for all applications.
There are a few good places I've found for content.
- Plucker Books - get your books already plucked
- Mobile Read's E-Book Resources Forum - this is a great place to watch for newly released works
- Manybooks
Project Gutenberg
can now dynamically create plucker formats!
There was an interesting, passionate letter written by Roger Sperberg to Nokia- wherein he addressed many salient points regarding the 770 and ebookery, namely, that Nokia should be working on pre-loading a ebook reader app (FBreader) and free ebooks with the 770.
Fbreader and Plucker screen shots.
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Liliputing News
- Fujitsu introduces 7 inch Android tablet for enterprise February 4, 2012 Brad Linder
- Android 4.0 comes to the HTC Flyer (unofficially) February 4, 2012 Brad Linder
- Nike FuelBand gets the FCC teardown treatment February 3, 2012 Brad Linder
- MSI introduces U180 Cedar Trail netbook, looks like the last 6 MSI netbooks February 3, 2012 Brad Linder
- Huawei MediaPad tablet hits AT&T’s HSPA+ network February 3, 2012 Brad Linder