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.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
iPad Mini
Steve Jobs said it would never happen. Yet a smaller Apple just fell from the iPad tree.
"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.
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.
Monday, October 22, 2012
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.
(AMZN), and Salesforce.com (CRM). And arms merchants to cloud providers, like storage giant EMC (EMC), also will prosper.
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.
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.
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
So who are the winners and losers in a post-PC world? Apple
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.
"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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
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)
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)
Thursday, October 18, 2012
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.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
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]
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]
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, August 17, 2012
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:
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:
Friday, July 27, 2012
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]
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]
Monday, July 02, 2012
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]
[10/6/14 - see also Particle Fever]
Friday, June 15, 2012
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).
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.
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.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Monday, May 28, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
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?)
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?)
Friday, May 25, 2012
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 :(
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
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]
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]
Sunday, May 20, 2012
electric car reviews
The Nissan Leaf is a fun car that accelerates impressively, handles
curves and turns smoothly, and just drives bigger than it looks.
The Leaf, at full charge, is supposed to go 100 miles. But that depends on how and where you drive it. The range gauge, which I affectionately dubbed "The Estimator," estimates how long you have left to drive on the current charge. But its estimates fluctuate wildly during a drive. Go up a hill and it will drop a few miles. Take your foot off the pedal as you cruise down a hill and it will rise back one or two miles.
I would totally recommend a Leaf — which sells for $27,700 after a
$7,500 federal rebate — for a family that lives and works in the
same 10-mile radius and that has a pretty set daily routine.
***
As is the case with other drivers
I've spoken to, it all comes down to "range anxiety," that fear that
you will run out of electrical juice and not be able to find
someplace to recharge, the worry about the time it will take make a
charge, or both.
Until there are more charging
stations in public areas and the technology advances to the point that a
full charge can be completed quickly, it's going to be difficult
for my wife and I, and likely many other households, to view a 100
percent electrical vehicle as a viable, full-time option.
The Leaf, at full charge, is supposed to go 100 miles. But that depends on how and where you drive it. The range gauge, which I affectionately dubbed "The Estimator," estimates how long you have left to drive on the current charge. But its estimates fluctuate wildly during a drive. Go up a hill and it will drop a few miles. Take your foot off the pedal as you cruise down a hill and it will rise back one or two miles.
The charge time is also a
problem. Using the standard 110-volt outlet in my garage, some nights I
plugged it in for 12 hours, and it was still not completely full.
Fortunately, the two 220-volt
recharging stations at Ewa Town Center have been open each time I've
been there, and that's helped immensely.
***
After a week of test-driving a
Chevrolet Volt — and with the deadline for this story fast approaching —
I knew I would have to be able to answer the question of whether I
would be willing to give up my gas-powered car and join the roughly 1
percent of Hawaii motorists who have made the switch to EVs.
Conceptually the answer is yes. I
loved the freedom of cruising past gas stations and not having to check
whether the price of gas had gone up or down from the day before.
It was also satisfying to know that even though most of the electricity
used to charge the battery was generated by oil, the EV was using
fuel much more efficiently than a typical internal combustion
engine.
The Volt's 40- to 45-mile range on a single charge was more than enough
for my 28-mile round-trip daily commute. And roughly 90 percent of
the electricity I used in the car came from free 240-volt charging
stations in town. The rest of the electricity I used was from a
120-volt home charger at an estimated cost of 8 to 9 cents a
kilowatt-hour, about half the fuel cost for a standard car getting
25 miles per gallon.
Realistically, however, there
are a few hurdles in my particular case that will keep me in my Nissan
Versa for the forseeable future. First and foremost, I have no
place to plug in the car at my townhouse complex. The one time I used a
"home charger" was actually at my father's house about a mile
away.
The other thing holding me back?
Financial considerations. Even after the $7,500 federal rebate for EVs,
the Volt would set me back $31,165 — more than the household
budget could bear at this point.
***
After I put up my first blog post
at evlife.staradvertiserblogs.com, I heard back from a six-month owner
of a Mitsubishi i-MiEV, who said, "Enjoy your week with the Miev
and smile as you drive knowing that you are not contributing to the air
pollution on Oahu!"
At that moment I wasn't smiling.
What was to have liberated me from frequent treks to pay parking meters
during my workday was taking up more time in a near-daily search
for an open battery-charging station and more energy calculating how
much power I needed to get through my day. All of us are
accustomed to jumping in our cars and going, and not being able to do
that became one more source of daily stress.
But on Friday, day five, when I
was asked whether I was giving up the car that day, I said, "No, I'm
going to be like the Hawaii News Now people and return it Sunday."
I have to say, the car had grown on me. The car is zippy and fun to drive. Its small size makes it easy to slip zippy and fund to drive. Its small size makes it easy to slip through spaces where other cars can't fit. Free parking at metered spaces is a plus and makes you feel as if you're getting away with something, so much so that you think you can get away with other things, like illegal U-turns. It feels like a toy rather than a "serious vehicle." Getting accustomed to the car was just a matter of learning its quirks, and I found, in just one week, it was changing my driving habits.
The main cause of stress in the beginning was a miles-to-go meter that, like an hourglass, counts down the miles until your battery charge is depleted. I left the Cutter/Mitsubishi dealership with 67 miles, but by the time I got to work, it was down to 30. Because the meter "predicts" future mileage based on your current driving modes, simply turning on the air conditioner immediately wiped out 10 miles.
The main challenge had been the hunt for open charging stations. There's a lot of competition for the few stations, where you must typically plant your car four hours for a full charge at a 240-volt station. I learned the EV/hybrid crowd is still a small, helpful and courteous community who will call the next person waiting for a charge.
There are not nearly enough stations to serve all EV drivers. I considered going to Kahala Mall on Saturday but didn't because I had no guarantee the charging station would be available.
During a workday, recharging is generally no problem, because I have eight hours to leave the car. On the weekends I'm not likely to linger in one place that long.
This should be no problem for car owners who can charge up their cars on their home electricity for 12 hours or install a faster-charging unit.
For me the cost of the EV cars — the i-MiEV sells for $21,625 after a $7,500 federal rebate — is still a factor in whether I would own one. My current BMW?Z4 cost $11,000, paid in cash, two years ago. My Chinese parents didn't raise me to be a financial fool, and the cost difference between running an EV car and gasoline-engine car is negligible when you consider that any savings in gas will, in the long run, go toward buying a new battery.
The main cause of stress in the beginning was a miles-to-go meter that, like an hourglass, counts down the miles until your battery charge is depleted. I left the Cutter/Mitsubishi dealership with 67 miles, but by the time I got to work, it was down to 30. Because the meter "predicts" future mileage based on your current driving modes, simply turning on the air conditioner immediately wiped out 10 miles.
The main challenge had been the hunt for open charging stations. There's a lot of competition for the few stations, where you must typically plant your car four hours for a full charge at a 240-volt station. I learned the EV/hybrid crowd is still a small, helpful and courteous community who will call the next person waiting for a charge.
There are not nearly enough stations to serve all EV drivers. I considered going to Kahala Mall on Saturday but didn't because I had no guarantee the charging station would be available.
During a workday, recharging is generally no problem, because I have eight hours to leave the car. On the weekends I'm not likely to linger in one place that long.
This should be no problem for car owners who can charge up their cars on their home electricity for 12 hours or install a faster-charging unit.
For me the cost of the EV cars — the i-MiEV sells for $21,625 after a $7,500 federal rebate — is still a factor in whether I would own one. My current BMW?Z4 cost $11,000, paid in cash, two years ago. My Chinese parents didn't raise me to be a financial fool, and the cost difference between running an EV car and gasoline-engine car is negligible when you consider that any savings in gas will, in the long run, go toward buying a new battery.
***
Visit HawaiiNewsNow.com for reviews on the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt by Dan Cooke, Steve Uyehara and Tannya Joaquin.
For video reviews on each car, visit the following sites: Dan Cooke's Mitsubishi i-MiEV: goo.gl/cgNZs; Steve Uyehara's Nissan Leaf: goo.gl/TqjJW; Tannya Joaquin's Chevy Volt: goo.gl/sWl8e
*** [5/22/12]
On a somewhat related note, I was always kind of interested in getting an electric scooter. Ever since I saw some a few years ago at the 99 Ranch shopping mall. They had it discounted to $100, probably because the store was going out of business. But I didn't know that and while I was mulling it over the store had sold out and/or closed.
Now I see an ad in the December 14, 2011 MidWeek about a place called Aloha E-Bikes. Their website is alohaebike.com. I see they have an electric scooter for $300. Might be fun to try out. No mention of charging time or range (unlike the $800 and $850 models). Their top of the line is their electric motorcycle which will run you $7600.
*** [5/30/13] The LA Times reviews the Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Honda Fit EV
For video reviews on each car, visit the following sites: Dan Cooke's Mitsubishi i-MiEV: goo.gl/cgNZs; Steve Uyehara's Nissan Leaf: goo.gl/TqjJW; Tannya Joaquin's Chevy Volt: goo.gl/sWl8e
*** [5/22/12]
On a somewhat related note, I was always kind of interested in getting an electric scooter. Ever since I saw some a few years ago at the 99 Ranch shopping mall. They had it discounted to $100, probably because the store was going out of business. But I didn't know that and while I was mulling it over the store had sold out and/or closed.
Now I see an ad in the December 14, 2011 MidWeek about a place called Aloha E-Bikes. Their website is alohaebike.com. I see they have an electric scooter for $300. Might be fun to try out. No mention of charging time or range (unlike the $800 and $850 models). Their top of the line is their electric motorcycle which will run you $7600.
*** [5/30/13] The LA Times reviews the Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Honda Fit EV
Monday, May 14, 2012
Antenna TV
Now see a new channel when I plug the cable direct to the TV.
Channel 122-13. Can't quite figure out what channel it is. There's a KHNL logo
on the bottom left and it's playing an old movie with James Coburn.
OK, now I saw a brief blurb as it cut to commercial. It's Antenna TV.
Apparently available only if you plug in the cable directly into the
TV. Don't see it on my cable box. And what's playing doesn't match this schedule. I guess I'll keep watching it to see what happens after the movie. Maybe KHNL is using it as a partial feed.
Saw the credits at the end. The name of the movie was Duffy. And now they're playing Valley of the Head Hunters starring Johnny Weismuller. Looking like they're using the Eastern Time Zone schedule. And the movie now is supposed to be Jungle Jim according to the schedule. Looking it up Valley of the Head Hunters was a series of movies in which Weismuller played Jungle Jim.
OK, did a google search. "Statewide, on or about May 16, 2012, Antenna TV (KHNL Multi-cast) will be added to digital Ch. 541, QAM Ch. 122.1" [actually it's on 122.13]
And more..
Statewide, on or about May 16, 2012, the following HD channels will be added: Hallmark Channel to digital CPST HD Tier Ch. 1452, Fox Soccer to DVP HD Tier Ch. 1230, HBO2 to digital Premium HD Tier Ch. 1612, HBO Family to digital Premium HD Tier Ch. 1614, Showtime Too to digital Premium HD Tier Ch. 1634, Encore to Movie Pass HD Tier Ch. 1666, Cooking Channel to DVP HD Tier Ch. 1322, and National Geographic Wild to digital DVP Tier Ch. 1561 [all right! Dog Whisperer in hi-def.]
Statewide, on or about May 16, 2012, MGM HD will move from digital Ch. 1561 to digital Ch. 1564.
Statewide, on or about June 7, 2012, ESPNews Ch. 23 will be removed from the analog lineup. ESPNews digital Ch. 225 and HD Ch. 1225 will move from CPST to DVP and will only be viewable with digital equipment such as a digital set-top box.
Statewide, on or about June 7, 2012, Oxygen Ch. 62 will be removed from the analog lineup. Oxygen digital Ch. 558 will be available on CPST-Digital format only and will only be viewable with digital equipment such as a digital set-top box.
Don't know what CPST and DVP is. Cable Programming Services Tier? And DVP must be the Digital Variety Pak.
Saw the credits at the end. The name of the movie was Duffy. And now they're playing Valley of the Head Hunters starring Johnny Weismuller. Looking like they're using the Eastern Time Zone schedule. And the movie now is supposed to be Jungle Jim according to the schedule. Looking it up Valley of the Head Hunters was a series of movies in which Weismuller played Jungle Jim.
OK, did a google search. "Statewide, on or about May 16, 2012, Antenna TV (KHNL Multi-cast) will be added to digital Ch. 541, QAM Ch. 122.1" [actually it's on 122.13]
And more..
Statewide, on or about May 16, 2012, the following HD channels will be added: Hallmark Channel to digital CPST HD Tier Ch. 1452, Fox Soccer to DVP HD Tier Ch. 1230, HBO2 to digital Premium HD Tier Ch. 1612, HBO Family to digital Premium HD Tier Ch. 1614, Showtime Too to digital Premium HD Tier Ch. 1634, Encore to Movie Pass HD Tier Ch. 1666, Cooking Channel to DVP HD Tier Ch. 1322, and National Geographic Wild to digital DVP Tier Ch. 1561 [all right! Dog Whisperer in hi-def.]
Statewide, on or about May 16, 2012, MGM HD will move from digital Ch. 1561 to digital Ch. 1564.
Statewide, on or about June 7, 2012, ESPNews Ch. 23 will be removed from the analog lineup. ESPNews digital Ch. 225 and HD Ch. 1225 will move from CPST to DVP and will only be viewable with digital equipment such as a digital set-top box.
Statewide, on or about June 7, 2012, Oxygen Ch. 62 will be removed from the analog lineup. Oxygen digital Ch. 558 will be available on CPST-Digital format only and will only be viewable with digital equipment such as a digital set-top box.
Don't know what CPST and DVP is. Cable Programming Services Tier? And DVP must be the Digital Variety Pak.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Google's Self-Driving Car
Google has managed to get its self-driving car licensed in Nevada, though someone must still be in the car at all times. Essentially, the automobile was not given a license, but rather a learner's permit. It's a start.
Google's whole robocar idea has been overlooked in general. This is probably one of the greatest inventions of the last 100 years and people are fairly ho-hum about it. In fact, it addresses numerous transportation issues and is simply revolutionary. Google is poised to make more money with this device someday than it ever has with search.
I predict that at some point in the future, nobody will drive cars. We'll get into these things and program (or tell) the car where we want to go. Fleets of cars could actually be shared the way limousines are shared. You could have your car drop you off at the airport and go home, then return to pick you up at a later date.
-- via libertarians_2000
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Hawaiiantel DSL
My DSL was running slow for a while (like a month or two). I had been getting about 1.4 Mbps, but then it dropped to like 500 kpbs. I called them and they told me to change the phone cord.
It didn't do anything, but somehow I got back to to 1.4 Mbps.
Then it dropped again and for awhile I was getting like 400 Mbps. I finally called them a couple of nights ago and they had be connect to the main phone jack. Same thing. So they're going to send me another modem.
And in the meantime, it dropped to like 200 Mbps.
The modem came yesterday and I hooked it up last night. The speed improved to 800-900 kbps. Which I guess is good in comparison, but not as fast as it used to be.
So call Hawaiitel again. The guy checked and said the blockage (or whatever was slowing down my connection) was fixed with the new modem, but they had to upgrade my connection (which was downgraded for connection problems or something). I asked him what speed I was supposed to be getting. He said I had standard (I have the cheapest possible) and it's rated for 3-6 mpbs and I might be able to get 4.
He did his thing and told me to run another test. Hey 3.5 mbps! I'll take it.
Thanks.
***
Looking at the website, Hawaiiantel.com can now go up to 50 mbps. And I see the price for the basic speed is down to $22.95.
***
testing later in the night (at 11:42 PM), speed now down to 2.9 mbps. We'll see if it starts spiraling down from here.
*** [5/3/12]
unplugged the modem and the computer last night. plugged it back in this morning. Now getting 2.89 mbps. Well, that's still twice my former peak speed. I can live with that.
*** [7/17/12]
tested my internet speed last night (or was it the night before). Was getting 5+ mbps from San Francisco and Los Angeles. But dropped off from New York for example.
tested today. Getting a more consistent 5+ across the board. However New York first got only like 0.9, but then 5+ on the second try. It seems the 5+ is the peak speed, but there could be more congestion when testing from more far away sites. (On the other hand, when I tested Sue's speed on Sunday, she was getting only like 0.7.)
It didn't do anything, but somehow I got back to to 1.4 Mbps.
Then it dropped again and for awhile I was getting like 400 Mbps. I finally called them a couple of nights ago and they had be connect to the main phone jack. Same thing. So they're going to send me another modem.
And in the meantime, it dropped to like 200 Mbps.
The modem came yesterday and I hooked it up last night. The speed improved to 800-900 kbps. Which I guess is good in comparison, but not as fast as it used to be.
So call Hawaiitel again. The guy checked and said the blockage (or whatever was slowing down my connection) was fixed with the new modem, but they had to upgrade my connection (which was downgraded for connection problems or something). I asked him what speed I was supposed to be getting. He said I had standard (I have the cheapest possible) and it's rated for 3-6 mpbs and I might be able to get 4.
He did his thing and told me to run another test. Hey 3.5 mbps! I'll take it.
Thanks.
***
Looking at the website, Hawaiiantel.com can now go up to 50 mbps. And I see the price for the basic speed is down to $22.95.
***
testing later in the night (at 11:42 PM), speed now down to 2.9 mbps. We'll see if it starts spiraling down from here.
*** [5/3/12]
unplugged the modem and the computer last night. plugged it back in this morning. Now getting 2.89 mbps. Well, that's still twice my former peak speed. I can live with that.
*** [7/17/12]
tested my internet speed last night (or was it the night before). Was getting 5+ mbps from San Francisco and Los Angeles. But dropped off from New York for example.
tested today. Getting a more consistent 5+ across the board. However New York first got only like 0.9, but then 5+ on the second try. It seems the 5+ is the peak speed, but there could be more congestion when testing from more far away sites. (On the other hand, when I tested Sue's speed on Sunday, she was getting only like 0.7.)
Friday, April 27, 2012
white bins being taken away
Consumers will no longer be able
to drop off their recyclable items at those familiar white bins in
school or shopping center parking lots after June 30, the city announced
today.
Signs notifying the public about
the end of the community recycling program on Oahu will begin appearing
on the bins this weekend by the city Department of Environmental
Services.
Some drop-off bins may be taken away as early as June 15, the city said.
Ending the program is expected to save the city about $1.5 million annually.
The city said it is continuing to expand its curbside and condominium recycling efforts.
Meanwhile, Rolloffs Hawaii,
which provides trash service to most of Oahu's public schools, intends
to launch its own program at schools while Honolulu Disposal Service,
which once held the city contract for the bins, expects to maintain the
recycling bins at about 50 of the locations.
The community recycling program first began with 20 bins in 1990.
The city is discontinuing the program as more Oahu households turn to curbside recycling.
The city estimated about 70
percent of items that once went into the white bins are now going into
curbside blue bins. A recent survey also showed 97 percent of households
are now recycling at some level, with more than two-thirds placing 75
to 100 percent of their recyclables into blue carts, the city said.
About 160,000 Oahu homes are
part of the curbside recycling program, and the city is intending to
being expanding to the remaining 20,000 households this year.
***
Well, if they take away Lanakila's bin, I guess I'll recycle via the blue bin.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
connecting Vista and XP on network
For a long time, I had a Vista computer outside and an XP computer in my bedroom.
The problem was that my printer was connected to the computer in the bedroom.
After several months, something triggered me (probably just fiddling around) to change the workgroup name on the Vista computer to the same workgroup name on the XP computer.
And what do you know, I was able to see the other computer on the network and connect to the printer.
So that worked for a few weeks (or whenever) until yesterday. When I tried to print to the other computer, nothing happened. Then I noticed the computers no longer could see each other on the network.
The only thing I might have changed was that I had switch from my hub to a wireless router (for testing the wireless NIC on a computer I was working on), then I switched back to the hub.
When I do an IPCONFIG on each computer, I notice they have a different IP address for the default gateway.
I'm unable to ping the Vista computer IP address from the XP computer. But oddly, I'm able to ping the XP computer IP address (and its default gateway) from the Vista computer.
After I discovered the problem, I turned on network discovery from the Network and Sharing Center but that didn't solve the problem.
Don't know what gives?
So what I did was upload the file on skydrive and go to the XP computer to print the file. But then I saw no printer was installed on the XP computer. Print spooler service is not running it said.
Then I shut down and reboot and the printer is back. And was able to print.
I dunno. Maybe I'll try putting back the router to see what happens..
Maybe it's because I'm using a hub and the modem assigned different default gateways to each computer. But if I use the router, it'll assign the same default gateway to the router?
Sounds plausible now that I think about it..
The problem was that my printer was connected to the computer in the bedroom.
After several months, something triggered me (probably just fiddling around) to change the workgroup name on the Vista computer to the same workgroup name on the XP computer.
And what do you know, I was able to see the other computer on the network and connect to the printer.
So that worked for a few weeks (or whenever) until yesterday. When I tried to print to the other computer, nothing happened. Then I noticed the computers no longer could see each other on the network.
The only thing I might have changed was that I had switch from my hub to a wireless router (for testing the wireless NIC on a computer I was working on), then I switched back to the hub.
When I do an IPCONFIG on each computer, I notice they have a different IP address for the default gateway.
I'm unable to ping the Vista computer IP address from the XP computer. But oddly, I'm able to ping the XP computer IP address (and its default gateway) from the Vista computer.
After I discovered the problem, I turned on network discovery from the Network and Sharing Center but that didn't solve the problem.
Don't know what gives?
So what I did was upload the file on skydrive and go to the XP computer to print the file. But then I saw no printer was installed on the XP computer. Print spooler service is not running it said.
Then I shut down and reboot and the printer is back. And was able to print.
I dunno. Maybe I'll try putting back the router to see what happens..
Maybe it's because I'm using a hub and the modem assigned different default gateways to each computer. But if I use the router, it'll assign the same default gateway to the router?
Sounds plausible now that I think about it..
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
displaying japanese kanji
Japanese characters appears as strange blocks on your computer. How to see?
The normal answer would be to install East Asian Languages. that works, but you need the Windows XP (or whatever you use) to complete that.
A quicker way would be to just install the Japanese Language pack (I think).
I can't test what I just said because I already enabled Japanese characters on this computer.
The normal answer would be to install East Asian Languages. that works, but you need the Windows XP (or whatever you use) to complete that.
A quicker way would be to just install the Japanese Language pack (I think).
I can't test what I just said because I already enabled Japanese characters on this computer.
Friday, March 16, 2012
HawaiianTelcom TV
Hawaiian Telcom officials said the company is receiving strong customer demand on Oahu for its recently launched Internet television service, which it hopes to have in 80,000 households within five years.
The state's largest telephone company, which launched the TV service in July, has been quietly building a subscriber base that totaled 1,600 on Oahu by the end of 2011.
When the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs approved Hawaiian Telcom's cable TV license in June, it noted that the service would provide consumers more choices in a cable market dominated by Oceanic Time Warner.
Hawaiian Telcom crews have been installing fiber-optic cables across Oahu to provide the bandwidth needed to deliver the TV service. By the end of 2011,27,400 households were "enabled" to receive the service, the company said in its quarterly earnings report released Thursday.
Of the homes enabled, 1,600, or 6 percent of the total, were receiving the service, paying an average monthly subscription price of $70, according to the company.
"We are excited about expanding this service to other parts of Oahu in 2012 and increasing our share of the significant TV and entertainment market opportunity," Eric Yeaman, Hawaiian Telcom president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
Hawaiian Telcom has not undertaken a marketing campaign to promote the TV service, instead opting to individually approach its existing customers who have sufficient bandwidth to support the service.
In a conference call with analysts, Yeaman said that the company hopes to have an additional 50,000 homes enabled for its TV service by the end of 2012, with the goal of enabling 240,000 households over the next five years.
The company's target penetration is 30 percent, which translates into about 80,000 actual subscribers, Yeaman told analysts.
The state's largest telephone company, which launched the TV service in July, has been quietly building a subscriber base that totaled 1,600 on Oahu by the end of 2011.
When the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs approved Hawaiian Telcom's cable TV license in June, it noted that the service would provide consumers more choices in a cable market dominated by Oceanic Time Warner.
Hawaiian Telcom crews have been installing fiber-optic cables across Oahu to provide the bandwidth needed to deliver the TV service. By the end of 2011,27,400 households were "enabled" to receive the service, the company said in its quarterly earnings report released Thursday.
Of the homes enabled, 1,600, or 6 percent of the total, were receiving the service, paying an average monthly subscription price of $70, according to the company.
"We are excited about expanding this service to other parts of Oahu in 2012 and increasing our share of the significant TV and entertainment market opportunity," Eric Yeaman, Hawaiian Telcom president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
Hawaiian Telcom has not undertaken a marketing campaign to promote the TV service, instead opting to individually approach its existing customers who have sufficient bandwidth to support the service.
In a conference call with analysts, Yeaman said that the company hopes to have an additional 50,000 homes enabled for its TV service by the end of 2012, with the goal of enabling 240,000 households over the next five years.
The company's target penetration is 30 percent, which translates into about 80,000 actual subscribers, Yeaman told analysts.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
the new iPad
SAN FRANCISCO >> Apple's new iPad model, with a sharper screen and a faster processor, will go on sale in the U.S. and six other countries next Friday, the company confirmed Wednesday.
The new features mean the iPad will be slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad 2.
Prices aren't changing from the previous models. They will start at $499. Versions capable of accessing cellular networks will cost $629 to $829.
However, Apple is keeping the basic model of the iPad 2 in production, and dropping the price to $399.
Apple said the new display will be sharper than the high-definition television set in the living room. The company says it will show more saturated colors than previous models.
The company said the iPad is powered by a new chip with four processing cores, for smoother graphics.
The new features mean the iPad will be slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad 2.
Prices aren't changing from the previous models. They will start at $499. Versions capable of accessing cellular networks will cost $629 to $829.
However, Apple is keeping the basic model of the iPad 2 in production, and dropping the price to $399.
Apple said the new display will be sharper than the high-definition television set in the living room. The company says it will show more saturated colors than previous models.
The company said the iPad is powered by a new chip with four processing cores, for smoother graphics.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Google goggles
People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.
According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.
The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS.
The glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly — although Google expects some of the nerdiest users will wear them a lot — but will be more like smartphones, used when needed.
As I noted in a Disruptions column last year, Apple engineers are also exploring wearable computing, but the company is taking a different route, focusing on computers that strap around someone’s wrist.
[via iluvbabyb]
According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.
The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS.
The glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly — although Google expects some of the nerdiest users will wear them a lot — but will be more like smartphones, used when needed.
As I noted in a Disruptions column last year, Apple engineers are also exploring wearable computing, but the company is taking a different route, focusing on computers that strap around someone’s wrist.
[via iluvbabyb]
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Kindle Touch vs. Kindle Fire vs. IPad
This past week, I got the Kindle Fire and the Kindle Touch in. My wife and I already both own Apple iPads to compare them to. One thing that jumps out almost immediately to me is that the Kindle Fire is to the iPad what the Mazda Miata is to an Audi A4. When price and small size matter, it’s a better choice, but only if they matter significantly more than functionality. In short: The Kindle Fire and Apple iPad appeal to different users.
To take that analogy a step further, the Kindle Touch is to the Fire what a scooter might be to that Miata. The Kindle Touch is even more limited, but it’s not only a better reader, it’s actually a good complement to people also own an Apple iPad. In the end, I think the Kindle Fire begs for a larger sibling that actually could go head to head against the iPad more evenly.
-- Rob Enderle
*** [10/5/11]
Since Amazon initially released the Kindle in 2007, it has successfully sold more than 18 million. In an attempt to further compete with Apple’s iPad and delve deeper into the tablet wars, and after much hype, last week Amazon debuted the Kindle Fire for $199.
“Kindle Fire brings together all of the things we’ve been working on at Amazon for over 15 years into a single, fully integrated service for customers,” says Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. “With Kindle Fire, you have instant access to all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, the convenience of Amazon Whisper-sync, our revolutionary cloud-accelerated Web browser, the speed and power of a state-of-the-art dual-core processor, a vibrant touch display with 16 million colors in high resolution, and a light 14.6-ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand all for only $199. We’re offering premium products, and we’re doing it at non-premium prices.”
The Kindle Fire is the only device that runs the Amazon Silk browser, a “split browser” architecture that accelerates the power of the mobile device hardware by running with Amazon Web Services Cloud. It has a dual-core processor and runs the latest Google Android software, so you can download apps from the Android Market. It also sports a 7-inch color touchscreen display, and you can watch videos from Amazon’s streaming Prime service and play your music from the Amazon Store.
While the Fire is smaller than the iPad’s 10-inch screen and doesn’t have a camera, it is lighter and supports Adobe Flash (a seemingly huge issue everyone keeps bringing up).
***
Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN -1.82%) were down more than 2% Monday afternoon as investors fretted about a report in the New York Times detailing a litany of woes affecting the Kindle Fire. The newspaper likened Amazon's new tablet computer to Ford's Edsel -- one of the biggest flops in the history of corporate America.
As the Times noted, the Kindle Fire is enduring a torrent of negative reviews on the company's website, of all places. This is a huge headache for Amazon, which is counting on the Fire to fuel future growth. "Slightly more than a third of the 4,500 reviewers of the Fire on Amazon have given it mixed to negative reviews, three stars or fewer," according to the newspaper.
My wife and I decided this weekend to buy an iPad. Although it is twice as expensive as the Fire, it is also twice as good. We found the Barnes & Noble (BKS +0.56%) Nook to be inferior to the Fire. Like many consumers, we are not oblivious to price. Quality, though, is important. The iPad, to many minds -- ours included -- is by far the best product.
After reading the Times story, I realized that we made the right decision. One surprising tidbit was that some people found the Kindle Fire's performance as an e-reader to worse than the original Kindle. Amazon, of course, told the Times that fixes were in the works.
The parallels to the Edsel, a car brand that flamed out during the 1950s, are hard to avoid. Like the Kindle Fire, Ford Motor's (F -1.63%) Edsel over-promised and under-delivered. The Edsel was hurt by quality problems that earned it the nickname: "Every Day Something Else Leaks." Owners of the Kindle Fire are complaining about the device's lack of an external volume control and the poor placement of the "off" switch, according to the Times.
To take that analogy a step further, the Kindle Touch is to the Fire what a scooter might be to that Miata. The Kindle Touch is even more limited, but it’s not only a better reader, it’s actually a good complement to people also own an Apple iPad. In the end, I think the Kindle Fire begs for a larger sibling that actually could go head to head against the iPad more evenly.
-- Rob Enderle
*** [10/5/11]
Since Amazon initially released the Kindle in 2007, it has successfully sold more than 18 million. In an attempt to further compete with Apple’s iPad and delve deeper into the tablet wars, and after much hype, last week Amazon debuted the Kindle Fire for $199.
“Kindle Fire brings together all of the things we’ve been working on at Amazon for over 15 years into a single, fully integrated service for customers,” says Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. “With Kindle Fire, you have instant access to all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, the convenience of Amazon Whisper-sync, our revolutionary cloud-accelerated Web browser, the speed and power of a state-of-the-art dual-core processor, a vibrant touch display with 16 million colors in high resolution, and a light 14.6-ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand all for only $199. We’re offering premium products, and we’re doing it at non-premium prices.”
The Kindle Fire is the only device that runs the Amazon Silk browser, a “split browser” architecture that accelerates the power of the mobile device hardware by running with Amazon Web Services Cloud. It has a dual-core processor and runs the latest Google Android software, so you can download apps from the Android Market. It also sports a 7-inch color touchscreen display, and you can watch videos from Amazon’s streaming Prime service and play your music from the Amazon Store.
While the Fire is smaller than the iPad’s 10-inch screen and doesn’t have a camera, it is lighter and supports Adobe Flash (a seemingly huge issue everyone keeps bringing up).
***
Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN -1.82%) were down more than 2% Monday afternoon as investors fretted about a report in the New York Times detailing a litany of woes affecting the Kindle Fire. The newspaper likened Amazon's new tablet computer to Ford's Edsel -- one of the biggest flops in the history of corporate America.
As the Times noted, the Kindle Fire is enduring a torrent of negative reviews on the company's website, of all places. This is a huge headache for Amazon, which is counting on the Fire to fuel future growth. "Slightly more than a third of the 4,500 reviewers of the Fire on Amazon have given it mixed to negative reviews, three stars or fewer," according to the newspaper.
My wife and I decided this weekend to buy an iPad. Although it is twice as expensive as the Fire, it is also twice as good. We found the Barnes & Noble (BKS +0.56%) Nook to be inferior to the Fire. Like many consumers, we are not oblivious to price. Quality, though, is important. The iPad, to many minds -- ours included -- is by far the best product.
After reading the Times story, I realized that we made the right decision. One surprising tidbit was that some people found the Kindle Fire's performance as an e-reader to worse than the original Kindle. Amazon, of course, told the Times that fixes were in the works.
The parallels to the Edsel, a car brand that flamed out during the 1950s, are hard to avoid. Like the Kindle Fire, Ford Motor's (F -1.63%) Edsel over-promised and under-delivered. The Edsel was hurt by quality problems that earned it the nickname: "Every Day Something Else Leaks." Owners of the Kindle Fire are complaining about the device's lack of an external volume control and the poor placement of the "off" switch, according to the Times.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
hacked?
got an phone call from someone asking about an email I sent them.
Only I didn't send them anything. Not on purpose anyway.
Apparently, my yahoo email has been hacked with a virus or something and send a virus email message to everybody in my contact list.
Here's what might have happened.
Although there is a possibility you were 'hacked', it is far more likely that your address was compromised by one of the powerful spam bot networks. They can also 'spoof' the addresses in the From: area to make it more likely that they will be opened. Remember all those who use the To: or CC: heading rather than BCC: for addresses? Remember all those who forward e-mails with countless addresses still in them? They open all those addresses to spammers - all it takes is one infected computer down the line somewhere! Merely changing your password will not be enough - your account has been seriously compromised, and more of this type of letter will keep happening. Deleting your Contacts list won't help - the addresses have already been harvested. You will not spread any virus unless naive people click a link or even open the mail.
And more..
Hi,somebody is sending emails to my contacts using my email address to which I haven't sent. How can this be? Have I been hacked into? I do have full internet security avg 9,could you please let me know what action to take if any as I find this quite worrying! I have changed my password so far, but that is all.
You should be worried.
I'm not sure that I'd say you've been "hacked into", but my guess is that your email account has indeed been compromised.
The big clue here is that email is being sent from you to contacts in your address book.
What more likely occurred is that your email account has been compromised - meaning that you probably have an on-line email account, free or otherwise, that someone has gained access too. By virtue of doing so they now have access not only to your email, but to your address book as well. It's all too common these days to hear of folks whose accounts have been compromised only to have all their friends get inundated with spam, threats, malicious emails or messages that try to impersonate you and scam your contacts out of money.
How this happened is difficult to say. It could be anything from a weak password that's easy to guess, to your account credentials being sniffed in an open WiFi hotspot, to your simply having shared the account information with someone you should not have.
As I've discussed before, changing your password is important, but it's not nearly enough. You also need to change any and all security related information associated with the stolen account. Why? Because the thief has access to all that too, and he can use that information to steal your account again. And again. And again.
[curse word]
Only I didn't send them anything. Not on purpose anyway.
Apparently, my yahoo email has been hacked with a virus or something and send a virus email message to everybody in my contact list.
Here's what might have happened.
Although there is a possibility you were 'hacked', it is far more likely that your address was compromised by one of the powerful spam bot networks. They can also 'spoof' the addresses in the From: area to make it more likely that they will be opened. Remember all those who use the To: or CC: heading rather than BCC: for addresses? Remember all those who forward e-mails with countless addresses still in them? They open all those addresses to spammers - all it takes is one infected computer down the line somewhere! Merely changing your password will not be enough - your account has been seriously compromised, and more of this type of letter will keep happening. Deleting your Contacts list won't help - the addresses have already been harvested. You will not spread any virus unless naive people click a link or even open the mail.
And more..
Hi,somebody is sending emails to my contacts using my email address to which I haven't sent. How can this be? Have I been hacked into? I do have full internet security avg 9,could you please let me know what action to take if any as I find this quite worrying! I have changed my password so far, but that is all.
You should be worried.
I'm not sure that I'd say you've been "hacked into", but my guess is that your email account has indeed been compromised.
The big clue here is that email is being sent from you to contacts in your address book.
What more likely occurred is that your email account has been compromised - meaning that you probably have an on-line email account, free or otherwise, that someone has gained access too. By virtue of doing so they now have access not only to your email, but to your address book as well. It's all too common these days to hear of folks whose accounts have been compromised only to have all their friends get inundated with spam, threats, malicious emails or messages that try to impersonate you and scam your contacts out of money.
How this happened is difficult to say. It could be anything from a weak password that's easy to guess, to your account credentials being sniffed in an open WiFi hotspot, to your simply having shared the account information with someone you should not have.
As I've discussed before, changing your password is important, but it's not nearly enough. You also need to change any and all security related information associated with the stolen account. Why? Because the thief has access to all that too, and he can use that information to steal your account again. And again. And again.
[curse word]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)