101 Gadgets/Inventions that changed the world

This was/is on the H2 Channel today.

Followed by 101 inventions that changed the world.

I can google the gadgets list and it's even out on DVD.  Interesting. But radio over TV?

But for some reason, this 101 inventions list is nowhere to be found.  (Here's an alphabetical list.) Maybe because it's the premiere.  It'll probably show up in a day or three.

Anyway, here's the top five as it happens (and the number in the alphabetical list) [I rewound and got 10-6 too]

10. internal combustion engine (40)

9. bronze (not listed)

8. fire (31)

7. computer (not listed, well I guess it's partially 60, the PC)

6. lever (amazingly not listed)

5. transistor (91)

4. steam engine (not listed, see internal combustion engine)

3. light bulb (47)

2. printing press (67)

1. wheel (100)

iPhone vs. Android

why "I won't be going back to Android."

my Digix tablet

On Black Saturday (the day after Black Friday), I set out to buy an iPad.

But first I stopped at Radio Shack on the way because I remembered they had a 10" tablet on sale for $150.    It was the Digix 10" tablet.  They didn't have it in stock, but said they could order it.

Never mind.  Off to Target for the $499 iPad with Retina Display plus they were offering coupons for credit buying other stuff.  (Actually the previous generation also had a retina display too.  So what's the difference?)  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), they had sold out.

Back to Radio Shack at KSC.  They said they didn't have it, but they called the Nuuanu store and they said they had itt.  But they were closing soon.  So I zoomed over there before closing time, but the door was already locked.  When I stayed at the door, they said their cash register was locked.  Only when I mentioned that call from the KSC store, they let me in.  They forgot the call from 10 minutes ago saying a customer was coming over for the tablet.

So I got the tablet.

This is the first tablet I ever owned or used extensively.  It took a while to charge up (like overnight).  And when that was done, it took a while to boot (like over 5 minutes if I remember correctly, but it booted up faster after the initial boot maybe a minute or two).  But when I finally got it going, it was fairly intuitive to use.  I started getting used to it.  But then noticed some flaws or annoyances.

Most annoying was the web browser.  It was excruciatingly slow.  One might suspect that my home wireless internet speed is too slow, but it seems fine on my Roku box.  It wasn't as bad using the gmail app.  Or the NBA Game Time app (where's the rebound column?).  Or the Yahoo Fantasy basketball app.  So I have to mostly blame the browser app.  Maybe it was because this tablet doesn't have enough RAM so it has to thrash to the storage memory.  Maybe I should have tried installing another browser.  But even the gmail app was slow at times, especially when loading graphics email.

The second annoyance was the battery life.  It seemed to last only about 3 hours.  What was worse was the tablet would suddenly power down even when the battery indicator showed it was above 50%.

The third annoyance is that the screen is virtually unreadable outdoors.  Even on a cloudy day.  Don't know if this is the case with all tablets (as I remember it was hard to see Kahoa's iPad display outdoors).  [Maybe I should get some polarized sunglasses.]  Here I see that the new iPad (the iPad 3) seems to be readable outdoors.  And according to this review the Google Nexus 10 "performs well in direct sunlight".

So what is it good for?  Well, I used it for reading/deleting gmail when I had to step away from my computer to keep the dog company when he was barking.  Slow but mostly tolerable.  It was good for Angry Birds.  I downloaded a couple of books in pdf format and used Adobe reader.

But I found the slow browsing/non-browsing unacceptable [the wait time was often minutes, not seconds] and decided to see if I could return it.  Hey, no problem Radio Shack took it right back and credited my credit card.  So despite the return, I wouldn't be averse to buying something from Radio Shack again due to their return policy.

***

I'm sure I'm going to buy a tablet one of these months/years.  The iPad is on the top of the list.  But the Google Nexus is also a candidate.  As well as the Kindle Fire (though the lack of apps might be the deal breaker).

But maybe I'll go for a laptop first.  That laptop with touchscreen at Costco is tempting.  Though about double the price of the low-end laptops I've been eyeing.

*** [12/30/12]

Alvin brought over his iPad2.  The Safari browser was pretty responsive on my wi-fi.  Yep, it was the tablet that was slow, not my wi-fi.

10 sites

10 sites you have to check every day (but then this was written four years ago).

cnn
espn
tmz
cute overload
engadget
slate
college humor
twitter
consumerist
facebook

what's on Roku (and what's not)

[11/29/12] Well, got my Roku.  It has its good points, but far from a replacement for cable by itself.

Probably my favorite channel is a newish private channel called VideoBuzz.  It allows you to view youtube videos and playlists.  For best effect, create a custom playlist on your computer and you can now easily view it on your TV.  Youtube isn't officially supported by Roku so who knows how long this channel will last.

Among my other favorite channels:  NBC News (formerly MSNBC) has a lot of video clips, including the Today Show. CNBC  (which has a live stock ticker and newish videos).  Smithsonian has some intresting programs.  Crackle has some movies and TV shows.  KDrama has a lot of Korean Dramas.

[12/3/12 - I wanted to see if Jim Cramer's Mad Money was available on Roku.  A google search brought up Viaway. But the video didn't play when I tried it.  And the reviewer on Rokuguide was not able to link up the Roku with viaway.  So I didn't try to link it.  However the review said viaway appears to access the same podcasts as iTunes PodCasts and Nowhere TV.  And sure enough, both channels allow you to view the last few full episodes of Mad Money.  They also feature the full episode of NBC Nightly news.  And lots more.  Both now go into my list of favorite channels.  Later, I created a Viaway account and activated it, but it still didn't link up with Roku as there was a message saying "Viaway Basic service is not available on your device. We are working hard to offer it you in the near future."  (Viaway Basic is the free version of Viaway.)  OK, so forget Viaway.

Nowhere TV is pretty cool.  It's a channel created by Nowhereman.  He had created a youtube channel for Roku which was later nixed by Google.  He was so good that Roku decided to hire him.  Oddly youtube is apparently officially supported by other devices such as Apple TV.]

There are a few live streaming channels too. Two in my list ares CNN International and Huff Post.

But there's a lot more available on the computer that's not on Roku.  Here's some that I have noticed.

Bloomberg [12/3/12 - now I see a private Bloomberg Channel for Roku]
Hawaii News Now (weekdays: 430am-8am, 5pm-630pm, 10pm, weekends 5pm, 10pm)
KHON (no live video, but lots of video clips with closed caption)
ABC Chicago (at certain times)
CBS News (at certain times)
CBS New York (apparently at certain times)
Fox 5 (at certain times I assume)

ESPN

NCAA

Justin.TV (the Roku channel apparently isn't working any more)

***

Not to mention the many major video sites available on the PC, but not on Roku.  Just looking at the list below, tells you how lacking the channel selection on the Roku is in comparison to what's actually on the internet.  So I'd say you're be much better off hooking up a laptop to your TV.  (Or just don't watch TV so much, which might be the best option.)

Hulu (though Hulu Plus is)

ABC
CBS
NBC
Fox
PBS

(The five just above are available over the air live, if your antenna can catch it in your area.  But not live is actually better in many ways.)

Also:

The CW
Comedy Central
CNN
USA Today
National Geographic
Animal Planet

Throw in Netflix and maybe you got something..

What's missing from internet video?  Well the NBA game playing on TNT right now.  (I see now that the first game was on TNT Overtime.)  Other live sports (though a number available over the air and on watchespn.com).  UH sports on OC Sports, apparently only available on Oceanic and HawaiianTelcom.  [Wait, here it is.]  Plus you get HD on cable vs. very mixed quality on the internet.  Plus no closed caption.

So if you're not a sports nut, you could be tempted to cut the cable (especially when you look at the bill every month).

more:

Kim Komando
Kevin Sintumuang
Matthew Moskovciak
Barbara Thau
lifehacker (for the techie)
Yahoo! Finance: spreety

***
[3/5/13] The Roku 3

***

[4/17/13] VideoBuzz taken down :(

So I guess I'll either get a laptop or another device that supports youtube.  It doesn't appear that roku will be getting a youtube channel any time soon.

[4/18/13] workaround for watching youtube videos.  post it to your facebook page.

EDIT (February 28, 2012): While new users can no longer sign up to the Nowhere Man’s channel some commenters on this post have found a slightly complicated workaround. If you have the Facebook  channel you can post any Youtube link you want to watch to your Facebook wall and then watch it from within the channel under Newsfeed Videos. If you don’t want to spam your friends with random cat videos just set the post to be visable ‘Only to Me.’ Thanks to Paul and Meghan in the comments!

[4/22/13] or try plex or myplex

plus plex supports (free) hulu and cbs too.  ok gotta try this.

[6/3/13] nope hulu didn't work.  But what you can do is download with freemake video downloader then watch the video via plex.  Or just pony up for hulu+ (though you can't watch all hulu content on hulu+ -- however there's more stuff on hulu+ that you can't watch on hulu).

[6/3/13] VideoBuzz reincarnated.  I wonder if they're able to take down private channels?  which this sort of is.

[11/16/13] WatchESPN comes to Roku.  WatchDisney soon.

[12/24/13] Finally, Youtube has come back to the Roku.  Right now it's only on the Roku 3, but is supposedly coming to the older models (Roku 1, Roku 2, Roku LT) sometime next year.  I have a Roku HD bought last year, so not sure if it'll roll out on that model.

What's neat is that allows you to pair the Roku to your tablet and phone, so you can "beam" the youtube video to the Roku.

Here's a smackdown between the Chromecast, Roku 3, Apple TV.  Notable is that Netflix takes longer to load on the Apple TV.

Buried in the article is a way to watch videos from other countries using a proxy.  In particular, Hide My Ass.  Tried it on slice.ca but didn't seem to work.  Notice they have servers in the US, UK, and NL, but no Canada.  So doesn't appear the .ca domains will work on this.

[4/24/14]  Hey, noticed youtube as one of the featured channels on my Roku HD.  It has finally arrived!  It's apparently a pretty big application as it took a while to load.  And it's pretty sluggish.  After I activated it on my computer and logged in, it takes a while to scroll to my subscription list and playlists.  However once it got going, I noticed there is a cc icon toward the bottom right.  With the option to customize the captions somewhat.  So they're not using the Roku system captions.  But it works!  So another plus for the Roku.  The Apple TV app doesn't support captions for their youtube app.  So I assume that the youtube app on the Roku 3 would be the same.

[5/5/14] check out my Roku 3 post for more comments.  Summary:  Hulu Plus plays much better on the Roku 3, but uses their own captions.  Youtube much more responsive on the Roku 3, but captions for some videos are cut off.

the iPad 4 (and other tablets)

To no one's surprise, Apple introduced the iPad mini (lower case m, btw) at its special event last month. It also introduced a beautifully thin, new iMac, an updated Mac mini, and a 13-in version of the MacBook Pro with Retina display. All of these announcements were expected, but the major product surprise has largely been passed over, and that was the launch of what's being called iPad 4, or more accurately, the iPad with Retina Display.

I watched the event via live streaming on CNet and both CNet Executive Editor Molly Wood and CNet Senior Editor, Brian Tong, who covers Apple were more than surprised by the iPad 4, they were almost apoplectic. Coming just six months after the introduction of the new iPad (nee iPad 3), both Wood and Tong thought that Apple had completely screwed its customers. I beg to differ.

The most significant difference between the iPad 3 and iPad 4 is the addition of Apple's new A6X chip, the same one that was introduced on the iPhone 5. Suddenly, the iPad 4 has "twice the speed and graphics performance" than the iPad 3. This is important for a number of reasons: Gaming, video, FaceTime, Siri and other application function like GPS or, yes, even Apple Maps.

My son received an iPad 3 as a graduation present from his aunt and uncle back in June, and I doubt that he is upset that Apple has refreshed the iPad just four months later. He (and I since I borrowed it a lot before he left for school) loves how well the iPad functions as everything from a reader to a game platform. One of the reasons why is that the iPad 3's greatest improvement was the introduction of the Retina display as well as a faster chip than the iPad 2.

***

Here's CNet's summary:

The good: The newest iPad's faster A6X processor adds extra system speed and graphics power. Improved worldwide cellular compatibility makes the LTE model a more appealing proposition. And the iOS App Store remains best in class, with the widest selection.

The bad: The fourth-gen iPad is otherwise identical to its recent predecessor -- same size, weight, and Retina screen. It's heavy to hold in one hand, and most older accessories won't work without investing in a pricey Lightning adapter.

The bottom line: The latest iPad adds several tweaks and improvements to secure its position at the top of the tablet heap. It's better all around, but third-gen owners need not apply.

***

I kind of want to get one for mom (or a Kindle Fire) so she can read the newspaper on it for one thing.  (Or I can.)

[11/21/12] Or the new Google Nexus (hardware by Samsung).   Reviews: cnn, ZDNet, TheVerge, theguardian, techradar, ubergizmo, androidcommunity, engadget, businessinsider, cnet.

This looks pretty good.  The disadvantage to the iPad are the lack of apps.  The hardware is comparable (or better).  And it's $100 cheaper.  It's a question of whether you like Apple or Google (I like both).

Advantages: HDMI and youtube.  Disadvantage: not Apple (which is the standard), but then I work with PCs

***

Surface vs. iPad vs. Nexus 10 (Puffin browser allows you to run flash on iPad and watch hulu, but choppy)

***

I think if I were to get one device, I would get a Google Nexus 10.  But if money is no object (or not a huge object), I'd want to get a iPad 4 and a laptop running Windows 7.  I'd better go fast, don't know if they still sell Windows 7.

***

A tablet comparison: iPad mini, iPad with retina display, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Nook HD, Nook HD+, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Surface RT

*** [12/25/12] wound up buying a cheapie android tablet from Radio Shack on Black Saturday and returned it a few days ago

*** HP coming out with a $169 Android tablet (half the price of the iPad mini)

*** [3/11/13]

NBC News' compares the iPad Mini to the competition (it's good, but the iPad Mini 2 will be much better)

*** [3/19/13]

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 is now on sale at Costco for only $169.99.  TechRadar reviews it and others such as the Google Nexus 7 and  the iPad mini.

your slow PC

Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, yet sometimes it feels like they exist only to cause us endless amounts of frustration. Popular advice for slow computers includes antivirus, RAM upgrades, or even reinstalling Windows from scratch, but these make a lot of assumptions about what's wrong with your computer (that may not be true).

Upgrading your RAM will help if you have 1GB or less in your system. If you multitask a lot, you'll probably even notice a difference upgrading from 2GB to 4GB. You're best off checking the resource monitor(or Activity Monitor on OS X)" to see how much you use on a regular basis. If your RAM usage isn't running up against its limit, then you're probably fine.

Now let's talk about antivirus. It's not only important to have antivirus software installed, but it's important to have the right kind. Check and see if you have a trusted, updated antivirus program running on your machine. If you do, and it says your computer is uninfected, then you're probably safe. Next, find out what antivirus software you're using. Some programs, like Norton or McAfee, are remarkably slow and bloated. In fact, they're probably one of the reasons your computer is so slow. We recommend ditching other antivirus apps and using Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, lightweight, and will let you know if you download anything suspicious. (Note that Windows 8 users already have Windows Defender built-in, so they don't even need to install anything). You should never have two antivirus apps running at once.

So we've spent a lot of time telling you what not to do, but your computer's still slow and you want a solution. You can start by running a few diagnostics, but chances are, you just have too many apps running at once (especially poorly made ones). Here's what we recommend you do:

Stop Running So Many Apps at Once: Take a look at your system tray (or menu bar). If you have more than a few icons there, you have too many. If something is running that you didn't start, take it out of your startup queue. If you don't know what something is, find out if it's something you really need. If it's something you know you don't want, then uninstall it completely.

Of course, this all assumes you have a relatively new computer that can handle the work you need to do. If you're trying to run the newest version of Photoshop on a 10 year old machine, no amount of responsibility will make it run fast—you'll need a new computer (and you can repurpose that old one). But, barring really old hardware or other special circumstances, you should be able to take any computer and get it running fast again with a bit of care and common sense.

cloaking device built

Scientists have made the impossible possible, disappearing a cylinder by guiding light around it before putting those photons back on their original path -- essentially bending light around the object. This new approach achieves invisibility where others have failed. With a catch, however: It only works from one direction.

The math is incredibly complex and the materials necessary difficult to produce. And while the underpinning concepts allow invisibility in microwaves and hold promise for radar, it won't be easy to make it work at optical wavelengths, cautioned Duke University’s Nathan Landry and John Pendry of London’s Imperial College, who published their results in the journal Nature Materials.

Still, it's a breakthrough six years in the making. The team made their initial discovery in 2006, a new approach to “transportation optics”: artificially structured stuff called meta-materials designed with specific properties. In this case, they move light around in particular ways to shape an electromagnetic signature, hiding an object from radar and some types of cameras.

“We built the cloak, and it worked,” said Landy, a graduate student working in the laboratory at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “It split light into two waves which traveled around an object in the center and re-emerged as the single wave minimal loss due to reflections.”

There are drawbacks to even this research effort, of course. It can only hide objects so small they are not visible to the naked eye, and that success has predominantly been in wavelengths longer than what the eye can, see such as infrared, microwaves and radio.

creating a photo slideshow on DVD

Billy wants to show photos on a big screen TV at his office.

At first, he was going to use a computer and hook it up to his TV.  But then his computer at home was giving him problems, so he took it home.

And now the plan is to burn the pictures to a DVD and show it on the TV with a DVD player.

Sounds good, but I've never done it (nor has he).

He bought this Magix software from Amazon and got an error message.

But now I see free software that should be able to do the job (lmgtfy).

Some likely candidates are:

Smilebox (free software)

Kizoa Slideshow Maker (where you create the project online)

Windows Media Center

Windows DVD Maker (included with Vista and Windows 7)

And here's an intro from HP.

Now to actually try it.

Climate of Doubt

PBS Frontline: Climate of Doubt

featuring Coral Davenport (with a named like Coral..)

***

and the unbiased response

Frontline repeatedly implied that there is an overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that our CO₂ emissions are driving us to a global climate catastrophe. They cited 97% as the fraction of the climate science community who agreed with climate alarmism.

That number is easily dismissed. It comes from a 2009 online survey of 10,257 earth scientists, conducted by two researchers at the University of Illinois. Strangely, the researchers chose to eliminate almost all the scientists from the survey and so ended up with only 77 people, 75 of whom, or 97%, thought humans contributed to climate change.

***

which mirrors Larry Bell

[so what is it?  like 90% instead?]

***

here's what skepticalscience wrote.

We should also consider official scientific bodies and what they think about climate change. There are no national or major scientific institutions anywhere in the world that dispute the theory of anthropogenic climate change. Not one.

In the field of climate science, the consensus is unequivocal: human activities are causing climate change.

***

Now, from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment, comes a fresh study on the question of scientific consensus. Its findings offer something new: scientists appear actually to underestimate the extent to which they, as a group, agree on key questions related to climate change science.

***

Wikipedia article on the scientific opinion on climate change

iPad Mini

Steve Jobs said it would never happen. Yet a smaller Apple just fell from the iPad tree.

Apple execs have finally unveiled the company's long-awaited iPad mini -- something Jobs once declared the company would never do. The new $329 product is meant to compete with smaller, 7-inch tablets from companies like Google and Amazon that are nipping at the tech giant's heals.

"You knew there'd be something called Mini in this presentation," joked vice president of marketing Phil Schiller before revealing the hotly anticipated gadget. Apple has sold 84 million iPads since their debut in April 2010, he said.

"So this iPad mini is just 7.2 mm thick. That's about a quarter thinner than the fourth-generation iPad. Thinner than a pencil," CEO Tim Cook told the crowd earlier. The new product has the same resolution as the larger display 1,024 × 768, but it should look sharper thanks to the smaller screen.

It's the iconic hardware that Apple is known for, of course, and the company wasted no time unveiling it. Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for the company, joined Cook on stage to tout the company's victories in that arena, as the pair noted that Macs are the number one desktop and notebook in the country.

To continue that momentum, Schiller revealed a new 13-inch MacBook Pro that he said is 20 percent thinner than the previous generation, and a pound lighter. The new laptop features a 2.5-GHz Intel processor, a high-resolution Retina display with over 4 million pixels, and a solid-state drive rather than a spinning disk. It will start at $1,700, he said.

Schiller also described updates to the company's Mac Mini and iMacs, the later drawing oohs and aahs from the assembled crowd. The new iMac, which starts at $1,299, is a razor-thin all in one computer that starts shipping next month, he said.

"There is an entire computer in here," he said, despite the product's incredibly tiny form.

"We sold more products in the June quarter than any PC manufacturer sold in their entire PC line," Cook said as he returned to the stage.

Bye Bye PCs

When Microsoft introduces its long-awaited Windows 8 operating system Friday, it will be the first Windows rollout to face real competition since, well, forever. Today, smartphones and tablets do almost all of the day-to-day tasks a PC does -- including sending e-mail, surfing the Web, and editing photos -- and do some of them better. Already, tech investors, long accustomed to a lift from Windows, are primed for disappointment.

At the same time, big data -- massive data centers that can marshall tremendous computing power -- is upending the traditional network, pushing information-processing into the palm of your hand. And it's happening faster than almost anybody expected, as last week's spooky earnings surprises at Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) and chip makers Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) made clear.

So who are the winners and losers in a post-PC world? Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), and Samsung Electronics (005930.Korea) certainly stand to gain, and EMC (EMC) will be a winner in the big-data world. Obvious losers include PC makers Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL). Intel and Microsoft, which straddle both the PC and post-PC worlds, are tougher calls. Their high dividends and cheap valuations make them hard for investors to rule out.

On-demand computing, which is to say, the cloud, will benefit Amazon.com (AMZN), and Salesforce.com (CRM). And arms merchants to cloud providers, like storage giant EMC (EMC), also will prosper.

SEPARATING GOOD INVESTMENT IDEAS from bad, however, isn't as easy as picking winners in the marketplace. Companies such as Salesforce and web-hosting outfit Rackspace Holding (RAX) may be essential to this sea-change, but their valuations are scarily high. Salesforce, at about $149, fetches 99 times fiscal 2013 earnings estimates, while Rackspace, which operates massive data centers for cloud services, trades at 86 times. Are their opportunities really that much greater than those at Apple, which fetches 11 times estimates, or at Microsoft, which trades at 10 times?

Probably not, argues Barron's Roundtable member Fred Hickey, publisher of the High-Tech Strategist. "Companies like Rackspace and Salesforce are classic story stocks," he says, "and it is very dangerous to own such stocks when everything they might produce in the way of earnings and cash flow is already priced in." Also in that boat, he argues, is Amazon.com, which stands to prosper if its Kindle Fire can elbow its way into the tablet computer market. But at 104 times earnings, that's a big if.

IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD FOR Microsoft. Smartphones were still relatively primitive when Windows 7 was introduced in 2009, and tablet computers didn't even exist. Now, as the charts "Game On!" illustrate, they threaten the PC hegemony. Neither Microsoft, HP, nor Dell is a force in smartphones or tablets.

"It is becoming a mainstream idea that your PC is not the center of everything," says Kevin Landis of Firsthand Funds, who has owned Microsoft, off and on, for years -- and is nervous every time he does.

That said, Microsoft is putting its vast resources behind its Windows 8 operating system for phones and tablets. And at 12 a.m. Friday, it will begin selling a tablet computer of its own, known as the Surface, setting up a midnight madness event. So we'll know soon how the excitement stacks up against iPhone and iPad madness.

On Thursday, Microsoft reported flat year-over-year revenue, led by a 9% drop in the division that contains Windows. The numbers included pre-sales for Windows 8. Excluding them, sales in the Windows unit dropped by a third. At nine times next year's expected profits, Microsoft shares are very inexpensive, considering the strengths of the company's other businesses, including server software, databases, and collaboration. But unless Microsoft can show that Surface and all the other Win 8 devices will turn the tide for that part of the division, its stock will continue to suffer. Microsoft closed the week at $28.64 and yields 3.2%.

THE INEXORABLE SHIFT AWAY from PCs is causing havoc for manufacturers. This year, worldwide sales of personal computers are projected to drop about 2%, to 357 million units, according to IDC's David Daoud. In dollars, they will fall 5% to 6%. More telling: Smartphone sales are expected to surge 42% this year, to $294 billion, topping PC sales for the first time. And sales of tablets are expected to rocket 65%, to $59 billion.

To Dan Niles of Alpha One Capital Partners, this sounds very familiar. He worked in the 1980s at minicomputer titan Digital Equipment Corp., whose founder, Ken Olsen, famously said there was no reason anyone would want a computer in his home. DEC was later acquired by Compaq Computer and vanished without a trace.

Smartphones and tablets are similarly underestimated now, Niles asserts. For that reason, he's inclined to avoid Intel and Microsoft. "Go ahead, gamble they can make the leap to this new world," he says. "I don't want that bet."

As the PC market fades, Intel is trying to maintain its lead in server chips, while becoming a force in phones and tablets. Last week, it reported that PC growth had slowed last quarter and this quarter to half its usual seasonal rate, disappointing investors waiting for spiffy new "ultrabook" laptops to make a splash. At the same time, CEO Paul Otellini said Intel's new Atom chip would be in 20 tablets this quarter, including the Surface.

The problem is that Intel has more to lose from the PC decline than to gain from selling cheaper chips for tablets and smartphones. The company's shares, which closed the week at $21.27, trade at nine times next year's estimates and pay a rich 4% dividend. While Intel may never be a growth company again, it probably won't hurt investors who own it.

Apple, trading at 9.1 times this year's projected profits, after backing out $117 billion in cash and investments, is priced quite reasonably, given its expected 24% growth in revenue this year. Even as one of the world's dominant phone makers, it has just 7% of the mobile-phone market, according to Gartner, giving it ample room to grow.

Samsung, the dominant global phone producer, shows no sign of stopping its gains at the expense of smaller companies. Its stock is also undemanding, at 7.5 times next year's earnings' estimate. The Korean-listed shares traded Friday at 1.302 million won, about $1,200; its unsponsored American depositary receipts are thinly traded.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POST-PC world is the cloud. On route 101 in Silicon Valley, Wal-Mart has posted signs reading "WALMART DATA," offering jobs to engineers in its San Bruno labs. That's a sign of just how mainstream it's become for companies to sift through enormous amounts of information.

Wal-Mart's quest, and others like it, are changing the very nature of data, says Paul Saffo, a tech pundit who runs Discern Analytics, a big-data outfit in Silicon Valley.

Big data ultimately will redefine the database. To track customer information and behavior in real time, and to respond to it instantaneously, companies are turning increasingly to databases that put information in the random-access memory chips of a computer, rather than on the disk drive, as has been done traditionally. Database-giant Oracle (ORCL) is fending off new competition from SAP (SAP), which sells just such an "in-memory" database. And start-ups also are targeting the database market. Among them: MemSQL, a Silicon Valley company started by former Facebook engineers.

For the moment, Oracle's traditional databases are benefiting from the surge, but that could change by this time next year.

Google is a player par excellence in big data. Sales of smartphones using the Android OS don't make the company any money upfront—it doesn't charge for use of the system -- but ultimately, all the activity on those phones is sending back to Google real-time data from the world that makes its searches more valuable to advertisers.

Google CEO Larry Page said on last week's call that the company was on pace to generate $8 billion a year from mobile devices. And some day, Google's self-driving car will bring the company real-time readings of traffic conditions -- another way to feed Google's rapacious appetite for big data.

And what of Facebook (FB), which, like Google, is building its own computers from scratch to redesign the data center? Facebook defenders take a typical Silicon Valley attitude, trusting it will try a number of ways to monetize the increasing use of mobile technology and eventually hit on a solution. Firsthand's Landis, who's owned the stock since before its IPO and confesses that he's sitting on a loss, says, "Even if they hit one out of 10 products right, that's enough." 

Amazon.com is one of the most striking players in the post-PC world. Its Kindle Fire, starting at $159, is a truncated tablet -- little more than a means for users to feed at the Amazon trough. Two weeks ago, CEO Jeff Bezos told the BBC that the company breaks even on the hardware, preferring to "make money when people use our devices, not when people buy our devices."

Amazon has overcome many doubters over the years, but with a triple-digit P/E ratio, there's still a lot of doubt to overcome.

EMC is a less expensive way to play the cloud, says Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital. "EMC's focus is on the hybrid cloud," he says. It has products that help enterprises shift parts of their data-processing into the cloud, reaping greater efficiencies, while maintaining full control of their critical data.

AS THIS FATEFUL YEAR for the personal computer grinds on, some investors probably will bottom-fish for stocks. One that might be worth a look is Seagate Technology (STX), which trades at four times next year's earnings, less than one times sales, and pays a 4.6% dividend. Seagate has a chance to shift from the PC world to the post-PC world, by selling devices for the cloud and tablets. Unlike HP, which has a similarly cheap valuation, Seagate has a strategy for this and the means to implement it.

A factor that's important for all technology stocks is what happens after November's elections. Any progress on tax policy could unleash massive amounts of cash held by tech companies overseas. That, says Paul Wick, portfolio manager of Columbia Seligman Communications & Information fund, could lead to increased share buybacks and higher dividends. It could also encourage mergers and acquisitions, putting some beaten-down names in play.

But unless that happens, expect PC names to struggle as they adjust to a world in which smartphones and tablets are increasingly seen by consumers as capable of providing most, if not all, of the computing power they need.

In short, the traditional economic engine of the personal computer has broken down, and it's unlikely to get back in gear.

Windows 8

[10/20/12] The release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock.

Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to get things done.

Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer.

Windows 8 is supposed to tie together Microsoft’s PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it’s a move that risks confusing and alienating customers.

Tony Roos, an American missionary in Paris, installed a free preview version of Windows 8 on his aging laptop to see if Microsoft’s new operating system would make the PC faster and more responsive. It didn’t, he said, and he quickly learned that working with the new software requires tossing out a lot of what he knows about Windows.

“It was very difficult to get used to,” he said. “I have an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, and they never got used to it. They were like, `We’re just going to use Mom’s computer.”’

Windows 8 is the biggest revision of Microsoft Corp.’s operating system since it introduced Windows 95 amid great fanfare 17 years ago. Ultimately, Windows grew into a $14 billion a year business and helped make former Chief Executive Bill Gates the richest man in the world for a time.

Now, due to smartphones and tablets, the personal computer industry is slumping. Computer companies are desperate for something that will get sales growing again. PC sales are expected to shrink this year for the first time since 2001, according to IHS iSuppli, a market research firm.

The question is whether the new version, which can be run on tablets and smartphones, along with the traditional PC, can satisfy the needs of both types of users.

*** [9/25/13, article from 12/22/12 retrevo email]

Windows 8 just takes some getting used to (then it's not too bad)

tablets up, PCs down (not good for Windows 8)

NEW YORK » While Microsoft is touting next week's launch of Windows 8 as the savior of the computer industry, PC makers and analysts are increasingly skeptical that the new operating system will lure consumers away from tablets and smartphones.

Even Intel Corp., which makes the processors at the heart of 80 percent of personal computers, doubts that Windows 8 will have a big impact on sales. CEO Paul Otellini said this week that he's "very excited" about the new operating system but expects the usual holiday bounce in PC sales to be half of what it usually is. Otellini suggested that PC makers are being cautious about building big stocks of Windows 8 PCs.

"We haven't had a chance to really judge how consumers will embrace this in the PC space or not," Otellini said on a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Research firm IHS iSuppli expects the industry to ship 349 million PCs this year, down 1 percent from last year's all-time high. Although small, the decline would be the first since 2001.

In the U.S., a mature market where consumers are gobbling up tablets, PC sales have already been declining for two years.

Meanwhile, Apple has been doubling sales of iPad tablets every year since the first model was introduced in 2010. In the April to June period, Apple shipped 17 million iPads, while Hewlett-Packard Co., then the world's largest maker of PCs, shipped 13.6 million PCs, according to Gartner analysts.

Smartphones, which were a niche market before the 2007 launch of the iPhone, outsold PCs last year, even though PC sales were at a record high. Some 488 million smartphones were sold in 2011, according to research firm Canalys.

The PC market is still big, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the Seattle Times last month, "and Windows 8 will propel that volume."

Windows 8 is a response to the popularity of tablets. It tosses out many Windows conventions in favor of a radical new look that's designed to be easy to use on a touch screen. With Windows 8, PC makers are releasing a slew of laptops that double as tablets, either with detachable screens or with screens that fold down over the keyboard [don't they already do that?].

But Citigroup analyst Joe Yoo is even more pessimistic than Intel that Windows 8 will spur a turnaround in sales of desktop and laptop computers. It could turn out to be a "non-event" in terms of getting people to buy PCs, he said.

eMachines monitor resolution

My old 17" CRT monitor (CTX that I got from someone, Jeff?) finally went out.  It had been getting a vertical line in the middle of the screen for a while, but I always managed to get it working again by turning off the monitor or pulling out the power plug for a while and plugging it back in.

The problem would occur when I would switch off the monitor to conserve electricity and then when I tried it switch it back on the vertical line would occur.

This time the line occurred while the monitor was on.  After a few attempts to get it back, I figured it was time to let it go.

I hooked up the eMachines monitor that I used in the past (from Evelyn?).  This is a widescreen monitor that measures about 18" diagonally (16" horizontally and about 9-1/4" vertically).  But the resolution looked off.

The resolution for the old CRT I believe was 1024x768 which is a 4:3 ratio.  This other monitor I suppose should use a 16x9 ratio.  So I went to the display properties and chose the highest resolution which is 1366x768 which is pretty close to 16x9 (1.7786458 to 1.7777777).  It looks OK, but the contrast seems a little more harsh than the CRT.  I guess it's an digital picture vs. an analog picture.

The control panel detects it as a generic PnP monitor.  But the Nvidia control panel identifies the monitor as E182H.

Googling that brings up this cnet page which says it's 18.5" monitor with a max resolution of 1366x768.  OK, I guess that's the resolution to set it at.

I still don't like how the colors looks on this monitor.  Let's try some different color schemes.

(Using Vista) Control Panel.  Personalization.  Window Color and Appearance.  open classic appearance properties for more color options.  I see it's set a Windows Aero.

OK, tried that.  Tried changing the brightness and contrast from the monitor controls.  Still don't like it.  I think it's because the white background is too bright.

Tried changed the windows background color to light gray, but it's still white.  I think it might be determined by the browser.

OK, on firefox I changed the settings.  Went to options, options, content, colors, background, and uncheck allow pages to choose their own colors.  Looks less harsh, but the google buttons now look strange (just words surrounded by boxes).

[10/11/12] Changing the background color of some of the documents in google docs (or whatever they call it now).  OK, that's a little better.

cracking your PIN

If you lost your ATM card on the street, how easy would it be for someone to correctly guess your PIN and proceed to clean out your savings account? Quite easy, according to data scientist Nick Berry, founder of Data Genetics, a Seattle technology consultancy.

Berry analyzed passwords from previously released and exposed tables and security breaches, filtering the results to just those that were exactly four digits long [0-9]. There are 10,000 possible combinations that the digits 0-9 can be arranged into to form a four-digit code. Berry analyzed those to find which are the least and most predictable. He speculates that, if users select a four-digit password for an online account or other web site, it's not a stretch to use the same number for their four-digit bank PIN codes.

What he found, he says, was a "staggering lack of imagination" when it comes to selecting passwords. Nearly 11% of the 3.4 million four-digit passwords he analyzed were 1234. The second most popular PIN in is 1111 (6% of passwords), followed by 0000 (2%). (Last year SplashData compiled a list of the most common numerical and word-based passwords and found that "password" and "123456" topped the list.)


Berry says a whopping 26.83% of all passwords could be guessed by attempting just 20 combinations of four-digit numbers (see first table). "It's amazing how predictable people are," he says.

We don't like hard-to-remember numbers and "no one thinks their wallet will get stolen," Berry says.

[via scalenet]

Star Trek doodle

how to play

U.S. CO2 emissions at 20 year low

PITTSBURGH -- In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.

Many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for "cautious optimism" about potential ways to deal with climate change. He said it demonstrates that "ultimately people follow their wallets" on global warming.

"There's a very clear lesson here. What it shows is that if you make a cleaner energy source cheaper, you will displace dirtier sources," said Roger Pielke Jr., a climate expert at the University of Colorado.

In a little-noticed technical report, the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said this month that total U.S. CO2 emissions for the first four months of this year fell to about 1992 levels. The Associated Press contacted environmental experts, scientists and utility companies and learned that virtually everyone believes the shift could have major long-term implications for U.S. energy policy.

While conservation efforts, the lagging economy and greater use of renewable energy are factors in the CO2 decline, the drop-off is due mainly to low-priced natural gas, the agency said.


 The International Energy Agency said the U.S. has cut carbon dioxide emissions more than any other country over the last six years. Total U.S. carbon emissions from energy consumption peaked at about 6 billion metric tons in 2007. Projections for this year are around 5.2 billion, and the 1990 figure was about 5 billion. China's emissions were estimated to be about 9 billion tons in 2011, accounting for about 29 percent of the global total. The U.S. accounted for approximately 16 percent.

Apple TV or not Apple TV?

Remember a few months ago, when everyone was hyperventilating about the forthcoming Apple TV?

This was the magical "sheet of glass" powered by Siri that Apple was going to start selling for twice the price of a regular TV.

Apple was going to go do big deals with the TV content companies, disrupt the cable companies, and drive its stock straight to $1,000 by revolutionizing the TV business.

Well, no one talks about the Apple TV anymore.

We're not sure why.

We doubt it has been shelved completely. (We hope not, anyway). Maybe it has just been eclipsed by the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.

But now Jessica Vascellaro and Shalini Ramachandran of the Wall Street Journal bring news that might explain the recent silence about this exciting new Apple product line.

Apparently, Apple has been meeting with cable TV companies recently pitching a new idea: A cable set-top box that is built or at least powered by Apple technology.

This would presumably either be sold directly, via Apple stores, and replace cable customers' current cable boxes. Or it would be bought by the cable companies and rented to subscribers, the same way cable companies rent today's set-top boxes.

The advantages to this sort of deal for Apple are obvious:

two suns?

Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky — a story that was later debunked — two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns — one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb — appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other.

Previous sightings of horizontally-aligned double images of the sun and moon are recorded in a book called "Light and Color in the Outdoors" (English edition: Springer 1993) by the famous Flemish astronomer Marcel Minnaert, which remains the most complete reference on double suns. "So many other instances have been reported that there is no longer any doubt about ... observations of sun and mock sun(s) being at exactly the same altitude," Minnaert wrote.


Just what is it? An optical illusion? A practical joke? Or has Betelgeuse, the bright star in the constellation Orion, gone supernova, dooming us all? (That rumor made its way around the Web in January and had a lot of astronomers hurrying to calm people.)


"Many photographs are sent to me each year that look like the China sighting," said Les Cowley, who runs a British website called Atmospheric Optics. "Some have more than two suns. They are almost invariably artifacts, the result of shooting through windows or using plane filters on the camera." 


"In brief," he said, "it is almost certainly a reflection owing to shooting through a window."

[7/27/12 - Roy mentioned this to me today and I looked it up]

scientists see The Footprint of God

GENEVA >> Scientists working at the world's biggest atom smasher plan to announce Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to show that the long-sought "God particle" answering fundamental questions about the universe almost certainly does exist.

But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, aren't quite ready to say they've "discovered" the particle.

Instead, experts familiar with the research at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson — all but proving it exists..

For particle physicists, finding the Higgs boson is a key to confirming the standard model of physics that explains what gives mass to matter and, by extension, how the universe was formed. Each of the two teams known as ATLAS and CMS involve thousands of people working independently from one another, to ensure accuracy.

Rob Roser, who leads the search for the Higgs boson at the Fermilab in Chicago, said: "Particle physicists have a very high standard for what it takes to be a discovery," and he thinks it is a hair's breadth away.

Rosen compared the results that scientists are preparing to announce Wednesday to finding the fossilized imprint of a dinosaur: "You see the footprints and the shadow of the object, but you don't actually see it."

[10/6/14 - see also Particle Fever]

recording streaming flash video

I wanted to record the UC Irvine graduation ceremony and I was looking for a program to do it.

I came across this site which describes a variety of programs. (Or something like it.)

The first one I tried was WinPCap.  Didn't work.

Then I tried freecorder.  It installs as a toolbar in your browser. Didn't work for the UC Irvine video.  And what's more, it hijacked my new tab page to their applian search page.  It did however record youtube videos.

The third one was WM Recorder.  This one worked, but the freeware version only allows 5 minutes of capture.  OK, keep this one for now.

Uninstall freecorder using the uninstall item from the start menu.  It didn't uninstall cleanly as the items were still in the start menu.  And was also still showing in firefox.  Had to manually delete the items in the start menu.  And uninstall separately in firefox.

The programs and features in the control panel seems to be locking up.  Not sure if it's related to the programs I just installed.  Wouldn't be surprised.

Uninstall WinPCap.

Might as well try the first one on the list: Replay Media Catcher.

Crap.  It's another applian application.  Seems to work though, but it allows you to save only 50% of what you recorded (is how I interpret their limitation).  Uninstall.

I guess I'll stick with WM Recorder.  For now.

[later that evening] Now WM Recording is giving an error when clicking the button to go to demo mode.  Uninstall.  Maybe because I uninstalled WinPCap (which apparently WM Recorder uses).

maxmyspeed.com

Just saw (actually heard since I wasn't watching) a commercial for maxmyspeed.com on CNBC.

People are calling it a scam.

As a Networking and IT professional this is complete BS. There is NO one click fix to cure an infected computer. It seems that this company just changes names and commercials whenever they please. Be warned they will have you installing a nasty program that will be only make your PC perform worse.

This person recommends easycleaner instead (free).

[6/16/12] mycleanpc.com too.

adjusting to a wide-screen monitor

Switching to a wide-screen (16x9) monitor from an older monitor (4x3) will make your picture distorted unless you changed the resolution.

Most computer on older monitors are set to 1024x768 or 800x600.  Both are 4:3 aspect ratios.

It is suggested to change to resolutions such as 1280 x 720, 1366 x 768, 1440 x 900, 1680 x 1050, 1920 x 1200 and of course, 1920 x 1080.  Those are closer to 16:9.

The same goes for connected a computer to a wide-screen TV.

If you don't see those resolutions when you go to change it, I suppose it's possible a newer driver might work.  But mostly likely your video adapter is too old and you're out of luck.

[6/11/12] Here's more.

The Story of Math

(aka The Story of Maths) I noticed this being auctioned on eBay and decided, WTH, to place a bid.

It gets good reviews on Amazon where they're selling it for $40.93.  Hmm.  I was thinking of maybe like $7 or $8, so I ain't gonna get it.  (Right now the bid is up to $4.25 + $2.95 shipping with 3 days left.)

But then now I see that the video is available online though with Spanish (actually it's Portuguese) subtitles.  It's also on youtube (well technically the first one is on youtube too).

The following uploads seem pretty good (we'll see how long they stay up):

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

History of Maths (playlist)
Maths (playlist)

I see the DVDs has SDH subtitles, so that's one advantage.  Plus The Music of The Primes, a bonus documentary. Hmm.  I might up my bid to $10.  And it's on the wishlist of five members at paperbackswap.

***
More documentaries

Cosmos
Episode 1 (with subtitles)
Episode 2: A Personal Voyage
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 13
etc.

[Actually I see now it's on hulu.]

Connections (with James Burke)
Episode 1: The Trigger Effect
etc.

free phone calls

I remember Roy showing me he could make phone calls from his ipod touch.

I didn't remember how he did it, but looking at this chat session to me on google, evidently he does it with talkatone.com.

It doesn't work over the computer though, it works with your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.


From the faq:

What is Talkatone? How do I use it?

Talkatone gives you free calls, text messages and real-time location sharing on your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad via 3G or WiFi connection. Talkatone uses Google Talk and Google Voice services and bridges the gap between instant messaging on your computer and regular cellular calls on your mobile device.

Basic Talkatone product is free. Wherever you can find data connection you can make a call or send a text message. In order to get most out of Talkatone you need to have Google Voice Account and setup Google services.

Another reason to get an iPad or iPod Touch.

[7/26/12] And still another reason! Turn your iPhone into a 1960's Star Trek Communicator. Pretty cool!

Also now available for Android.

***

[7/26/12] Hmm..  Maybe if I get a Clear Spot, it could replace my cell phone, my regular phone, my DSL, and (somewhat) my cable.

If I want to use a computer (or laptop), I guess I could use it in conjunction with Magic Jack.  But then I'd have to carry around a telephone to plug into my computer.

turn your laptop into a dvr?

Can you do it?  Apparently it's easy according to this page.

Apparently all you need is a HDTV tuner stick. 

The thing is that they say to connect the cable directly to the tuner stick.  Which would mean it can record only unscrambled channels.  What I'd like to be able to do is record the output from my HD cable box since it unscrambles the HD channels then feed that to the computer.  Then play back from the computer.

I guess one could connect the coax cable from the cable box to the stick.  But then you'd only be able to record SD.

They have a link to this HDTV stick from Amazon.com.  It's the Hauppauge 01200 WinTV-HVR-850.  However, it gets mixed reviews.  The reviews are better for the Avertv Hybrid Volar Max TV Tuner, though it still gets a fair number of poor reviews.  Even cheaper is the Diamond TVW750USB ATI Theater HD 750 USB TV Tuner (on the box I see it says ATI TV Wonder HD 750).  Strangely I don't see a coax connector.  But a lot of negative reviews here too.

another computer scam

My cousin and my neighbor got hit by this scam.

A person cold calls you to tell you that there is something wrong with your computer.  They tell you to type something in and they tell you yeah that's the information they're seeing at their end.

Not to worry though, for a modest fee they will fix the problem for you and ask for your credit card info.

More information here and here.  The second link mentions logmein which I recall was on my neighbors computer.  I uninstalled it the last time I was there just to be safe.  But she told me they called again.  I told her to hang up.

Googled logmein scam and came up with these links

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/257822,how-the-microsoftlogmein-support-scam-works.aspx

http://community.logmein.com/t5/Rescue/SCAM-artists-using-LogMeIn-for-nefarious-ends/td-p/65824

http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailscams/a/Your-Pc-Is-Infected-Phone-Scam.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuCFlR-YNdc

[12/26/12] The Click Chick writes about the scam.

[7/15/15] Bob Jones writes about the scammers (Midweek article to be archived later?)

Compaq Presario 5000 and DVD drive

My dentist wanted a computer just to put a slide show of his photos for his waiting patients.  He got a long VGA cable to connect the computer to the flat sceen TV (Dynex 32").  The problem is that it wouldn't fit.  One connector was male and the other was female.  But then it turned out that there was included adapter to turn the female into male, so no problem.

So I hooked up his new Windows 7 computer which I had set up at home on my LCD monitor (instead of using the picture screensaver I used Windows 7's feature of rotating the desktop background).

All seemed well as it was booting up.  But then the picture went blank.  It seemed the the Windows 7 was kicking into a video mode that the TV couldn't handle.  It's definitely a problem with the computer.  As I hooked up and old laptop and even his DOS computer running his dental software and the picture appeared.

One possible solution would be update the video driver.  But why waste a new computer for such a routine task.

Hey let me try this old Compaq Presario 5000 that my uncle gave me since they were going to throw it away.  They removed the hard drive, so I put in an old 3 GB hard drive.  And what do you know, the thing booted up Windows ME and installed most of the drivers.  Even the video driver and network adapter.

I hooked it up to my router and could connect to the internet.  But Internet Explorer kept crashing with an error.  Maybe because it's version 5.  Well, it's not supposed to be an internet computer anyway.

Luckily Windows ME supports flash drives.  So I put in the flash drive with the photos.  At first it didn't seem to recognize it. Uh oh.  But a few minutes later, suddenly the drive started installing.  And I was able to copy the pictures over.  And the slideshow was working.

I even hooked it up to my 42" plasma and it seems to be OK.  Disappointingly the picture on my 720p screen didn't turn out as crisp as I would like it to be with the VGA connection.  But I guess it's ok for video at a distance.

Next I wondered if I could watch DVDs on it.  Unfortunately the DVD drive (and the CD drive) doesn't open.  So let me see if I can replace it.

The problem is how to get them out.  The Compaq Presario 5000 has an oddball case that is tricky to open up.

I finally found this website that gave me the answer.  You have to open the lower front panel (just push it in and it should open).  Then pop off the upper front panel.  Then you can just pull out the drive from the front.

Unfortunately I didn't have any spare DVD drives lying around.  (Though I might have one or two in an old computer lying around.)  So I opened up the DVD case to see if there was a DVD in there before throwing away the drive.

Sure enough there was a broken belt.  I wondered how difficult it would be to replace the belt.  And looking at this video, I was suprised to see you can replace the belt with out opening the inside mechanism of the drive.

Now how do I get a replacement belt?  This site says you can use an o-ring, but they even tried a rubber band.  OK I got plenty of them.  Now let's see if this guy works.

Put in the drive and a new mouse (I want to keep the good mouse).  Power up.  Nope drive don't open.  And now not getting any video :(

ripping a DVD

[5/22/12] Believe it or not, I've never ripped a DVD.  I've never had a reason to do so as I believe in buying rather than copying DVDs (the rationale being that the people who created the movie deserve to be paid -- I guess that attitude comes from my long-ago aspirations of making money by creating software).

But now I'm thinking of ripping DVDs of TV shows I recorded from TV (hey they're generally not for sale anyway -- at a reasonable price anyway..).  So I can watch them on my computer.  And possibly uploading them to youtube (or whatever) so they can be viewed on the internet.

Here's one possible solution I might try: WinX DVD Ripper.

[6/10/12]
Here's a tutorial using Hand Brake.

And you can even do it with VLC!

[4/16/13] I tried VLC using this tutorial on youtube (created by a 12 year old).

It was only a like a 5 minute video (a bonus featurette on the Dog Whisperer Season 3 DVD set).  It worked.  The file was automatically saved to the videos folder.  It was a MPG file 300 MB in size.  That's quite big. I see some of my videos of hour shows that are smaller than that.

I assume there's a way to make it smaller.  (But don't see it.)

How about converting the VOB file to supported video format?  I found this utility called Convert VOB to AVI.  Looks simple enough.

OK, it's going.  The file I converting is 1.04 GB.  The created MP4 file turned out to be 556 MB.  But the file plays horribly in VLC.  Very blocky and stretched horizontally.  Actually playing a VOB file from VLC is also very blocky and choppy.  But playing the DVD is fine.  What gives?

Forget it.  Let's try ripping a DVD.  I note the VLC is also supposed to be able to rip a DVD (instead of recording it as above).  Let's try.  This tutorial looks fairly straightforward.  It's going, but it looks like it takes a long to rip the DVD as to play it.  Whereas I don't think that's the case with other software.

[4/27/13]  Hey VLC worked!  I ripped my first DVD, or part of it anyway.  The Dog Whisperer bonus features.  However it takes as long to rip as it does to play.  And it didn't do well with my Chop Socky DVD-R which I recorded on my DVD recorder.  Maybe I'll try another DVD-R or try another program.

[4/27/13] Here's a list of five DVD ripping tools.  Still want to try Hand Brake and I guess DVD Shrink since I've heard so many people use it (or used to use it).

[2/22/14] here's an easy guide using Handbrake [via Roy]