It is that time of year again. Every December before the new year, I evaluate the technology I have. I typically look at my laptop and determine if it needs to be upgraded first then look at my other machines.
This year I decided that my trusty ThinkPad T410 did not need to be replaced. Instead it was going to get a few new items. First an upgrade of RAM. It had 4Gigs of ram and I just added 4 more to make 8Gig.
When I purchased the T410 I also got a CD ROM replacement caddy. This allows for the CD/DVD to be replaced with a hard drive. I am planning on ordering a SSD drive for the primary OS and then use the current Hard Drive as Data storage.
I have also ordered a new device that I’ll be blogging about in the next few days. I purchased a ASUS AT3IONT-I deluxe Intel ATOM motherboard from NewEgg.com. It is a mini-itx motherboard that comes with an Atom processor and also a power supply. The combo was a big deal for me. I don’t plan on using a case for this, just wall mounting the board behind plexiglass. This will be my new firewall / router. I am currently deciding what firewall to run either untangled or smoothwall. I’ll document the process once all the hardware arrives.
My intent is to have a more powerful and useful device than those plastic blue devices that most people have . More to come…
I am amazed at some of the great videos I have seen recently of biking events and situations. This one is called 3 way street (tracking scary traffic). Watch the bikers weave in and out of traffic and the pedestrians.
This video is from woodoocycles. They are just beautiful. I’m not sure how they ride, but wow.
On a different tune, here is a video of a NY bike messenger race. I have not rode in NY city but I get the feeling this is what it may be like. I’m amazed at the traffic and the crazy riders. Between cars and people, I can’t image the focus you need.
Messenger again: Police chase at the end.
check out this guy. He is riding wheelies in traffic, his goal “not to get in anyone’s way”
Since my last post I have been getting email and real life comments from people about using headphones while biking. So far my back of the napkin calculation is that it’s 60/40. 60% of those I talk to say it’s OK, and 40% are concerned.
It is all over the map in regards why people are either for or against. I’ve found that the majority of people who are worried about using headphones while biking are mainly concerned about the ability to hear or notice the surrounding environment. The ones who are set about using headphones are always cautious to say that it should not be too loud. Though I have not heard anyone say what "too loud" is.
The article is by Neil Bezdek. He does a good job discussing the topic in regards to other items like hearing issues, distractions, the pure feeling of a long ride, and the temptation to compare this with wearing a helmet. I found the article is similar to some of the conversations I have had about headphones and biking. What really struck me were the comments.
Take some time and read through everyone’s responses. Again, I was shocked at how similar the responses were to the discussions I have had regarding this topic.
So what is your opinion or thoughts? Do you use headphones while cycling? Only on the bike path, not on the streets?
There is a fantastic photo that shows all the statistics of what is happening on he web every 60 seconds. The article is title “Incredible Things That Happen Every 60 Seconds On The Internet” The internet is so vast that everyday people use it for so much. Imagine when you extrapolate that 60 seconds for the entire day. The youtube videos, status updates, photos… there is so much.
It states that the apple app store is the place to be for your applications if you are looking to make some money. The report claims that apple’s store produced near 4 times the revenue than google’s app market.
The report goes on to discuss the use of the freemium model for apps. It is interesting that the apple store shows the iPad and iPhone as separate areas.
I can’t wait to see what this report will look like next year. Overall, it seems that if you are looking to make some money you should build apps for iOS devices.
I have to say, I am jealous of these workspaces. I have been standing up at work for the last 6 months. I can’t say I would ever go back to sitting all day long. My standup setup is not great, but it works.
If you have developed a mobile application you know the hassle it is to create icons. I have recently used the Quirco icon generator : www.quirco.com/iPhoneIcon
Give it a try. A very easy way to generate a nice looking logo for an iOS device.
I have been doing a lot of mobile development lately. One tool I have found to be irreplaceable is Mite (http://mite.keynote.com/)
What a great tool. Mite is a mobile web tester. It allows you to view multiple device views of your site. It also does performance evaluations, scripting, and testing. I can’t say enough good words. It allowed me to find a bug and other UX issues on multiple platforms. Though I typically use jquerymobile, Mite found an issue with windows phone 7 that I was able to correct.
I am a fan of Hak5. I’ve been watching them for a few years now. Darren and Shannon do a great job with a show for tech lovers. “Your Daily dose of techno-lust”. Recently Paul, who runs their AV and does all the behind the scenes work did a segment on what is used to record the show. I’ve always been an AV geek at heart. This is good to watch.
I love to see a great 404 page when things go wrong. The twitter fail whale has become a great example of how to make a statement on an error or 404 page. It has become an art of both design and communication when you do something like a 404 page.
Here is a great list of interesting and great 404 error pages.
The fact that the Huffington post wrote an article on this topic means that the common non-technical person also understands what a 404 (page not found) error is. Or at least they know what it means to them
One of my favorite tools builtwith.com was out of commission today. It was showing a 503 error Service Unavailable.
The builtwith blog mentioned that they were working on the issue. It looks like they are back and running now. I feel for the team, I’ve been there. It’s not fun. Their twitter post explained it: https://twitter.com/builtwith.
I am not a designer. In fact, I’m pretty bad with design. However, I can tell when something looks good. It is just my way of saying I appreciate good design, I just suck at it. Here is a great video showcasing how design (brands) work. This is great work done by Erica Gorochow
After trying out the application is works great. However, it does not sync with my work OneNote. It syncs with your skydrive. I am going to have to see if I can sync with my corporate onenote through skydrive.
I recently took a trip to Las Vegas for a conference. I took my ipad for both note taking and also to do work. It performed perfectly. I have to say that the majority of people at this conference had tablets and the clear winner in shear numbers was the iPad.
To prepare for the trip I loaded a few magazines, books, and movies on my iPad. To do this here are the top apps that I used:
2. VLC- Video Lan Client. I used this to watch a movie. Since I use windows media center at home. I just moved an .AVI to the VLC application and watched a movie while in the flight. (I would recommend better headphones or noise canceling)
3. Built in iBook reader : I read the last chapters of the recent james bond novel
(Close second is Kindle)
5. iSSH - Remote access to any of my servers while traveling
6. PPTP – Built in vpn. If you are traveling and not using a vpn be warned. You will have your packets watched or stolen. I suggest using a personal vpn if you don’t have access to one from work. Try wifi-vpn.com only $4 per week (or $9 a month)
It is that time of year again. Every December before the new year, I evaluate the technology I have. I typically look at my laptop and determine if it needs to be upgraded first then look at my other machines.
. More to come…
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