Category: Tech

There’s a Web site called Movavi that provides free video format conversion. Sounds great, but I have no use for it, because the original file must be no more than 100 MB. That Popeye cartoon in my last post was converted to FLV from AVI. The original file is 1.5 GB. To convert to Flash Video I use Riva FLV Encoder. [Link]

Before my database blow-out I had a couple of posts, now lost, about getting FiOS TV installed. I’d mentioned that Verizon screwed up two install dates, which didn’t please me, but my initial impressions of the service were positive.

Now that I’ve had it for a few weeks, I am plenty pleased with Verizon FiOS TV. A columnist at Network World magazine (which I drive past every day on my way home from work), Paul McNamara, has some complaints with his service [Link], but so far my experience has been 100% positive. Over on the DVR Chatter site there’s a lengthy positive review of FiOS TV. I agree with his comment about the standard definition picture quality. It’s perfect! [Link] Totally clean and noise-free, with dead-on accurate color.

I’ve put some screen shots below. Click the thumbnails to see them in full 640×480 size. To avoid making them look soft I didn’t de-interlace them, so keep in mind that the jaggies aren’t seen when watching TV, except when freezing the image using the DVR.

Comcast gave me a real sell job, albeit a soft one, to keep me as a customer. I had their analog service without premium packages, and no set top box. Reception was horrible on all of the local channels. Often they wouldn’t tune in at all. Yes, I had called for service, but they could never improve it and I gave up. Those same stations on the analog band that FiOS provides in addition to the digital channels come in perfectly. There’s just no way I’ll go back to Comcast.

When I canceled service with Comcast I asked for a final total to close out the account. They gave me the amount and I sent it in. A few days later I received this note, along with a business card. Obviously, I must represent a trend. I could practically smell Comcast’s fear! Then today I got a bill for two months’ service! Grrr. I called Comcast and they acknowledged that payment had been received, but the rep said I still owed two dollars and change! Sorry, I told her, but I was given a total and I’d paid it. She agreed and said she would cancel the charge.

Sigh. Another Tuesday with numerous critical security updates from Microsoft. If you have automatic updates enabled you probably already know this.

My friend Tom Tastewar (yes, that’s a handle) pointed out that Apple has released Beta 3 of its Safari browser for Windows. [Link] Click the thumbnail picture to enlarge a screen cap I made after installing Safari. Overall, it seems slick and smooth, although the Cleartype fonts are a bit overdone to the point of being fuzzy. Safari seems to work all right for viewing my blog, but it screws up the WordPress editor. Perhaps it’s more compatible with the latest version of WordPress, which is something I intend to install in the not distant future.

Unless you’re into technology for its own sake, I strongly recommend using a blogging service, such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com, rather than maintaining your own Web site, as I am doing. I started blogging as much for the learning experience as for the blogging. Well, sometimes learning is painful. But I have to admit, the hardest lesson I’ve learned is an old one — the absolute necessity of adhering to the rules that are followed where I work:

1. Do daily backups
2. Do a weekly database analysis
3. Do test restorations of backups

One nice thing about the way embedded Flash video can be done in WordPress is that I can update and, if necessary, downdate the player in a matter of seconds. An update to Jeroen Wijering’s player, version 3.7, was released today. [Link] Unfortunately, it breaks the “overstretch” feature, which is how 4:3 videos that need to be wide are posted in 16:9 format. So it’s back to version 3.6 for now.