Category: Tech

A blogger’s final post

I started using WordPress in September, 2006 with the then-current version, 2.0.3. A bit over a year ago I was curious about the differences between WordPress and the previous leading blogging software for self-hosted sites, Movable Type. (Mark Evanier uses an outdated version of Movable Type.) I found this item by a blogger named Derek K. Miller. I was particularly interested in Miller’s discussion of a WordPress plugin that generates static pages, instead of using a WordPress caching plugin as a way to speed up sites on shared hosting services. (I later decided to cache.)

Miller was a writer worth reading, so I checked out some of his other posts. He was a musician, husband, and father, living in Vancouver. Reading Derek K. Miller’s posts, it quickly became apparent that he was a very sick man, and he was being treated for advanced colon cancer.

Derek, you have a big and loyal following — fellow musicians, fellow Vancouver residents, and others whose lives are affected in one way or another by cancer. Because of that I didn’t link to your blog, and I didn’t contact you, but for the past year I’ve been following penmachine.com. I am saddened to learn that you died two days ago.

Roku XDS $10 off at BJ’s Warehouse

Roku’s top streaming video player, the XDS, is ten bucks off at BJ’s Warehouse stores until May 1st. The package includes a 6-ft. HDMI cable.

If you aren’t into iTunes, and you’re a Netflix user, Roku is the best streaming video player to get. I say that having also used a Wii, Xbox 360, and Sony Blu-ray player for Netflix Watch Instantly. The Wii interface is fun but it doesn’t do HD, the Xbox starts up really fast but it only does Netflix, and the less said about the Sony the better, because it’s a mess by comparison, which makes me wonder about their Blu-Ray player with Google TV.

My wish list for Roku channels includes Slacker and Amazon’s Cloud Player, but the offerings are otherwise excellent. One of my players is on Wifi (802.11g), the other is wired, and they perform identically. Standard definition Netflix videos are encoded at 1.5 Mbps, which shouldn’t be a problem on most broadband connections.

Apple-cation

This quote had me spitting up my tea.

“Apple is a very canny company that doesn’t necessarily originate ideas, but its core strength is in the implementation,” said Little. “This what is what Apple is about: it may one day be a first mover, but in most cases it’s a second mover where it has implemented things across a platform and ecosystem in a much, much better way than others do it.”

It’s from this article on the Huffington Post, which has more second-guessing about Amazon’s Cloud Player service. So it’s come to this, huh? Apple is now like Microsoft — an imitator, but an excellent implementer? I don’t think Apple’s at that point yet, with the iPhone and iPad being innovative, market-leading products (I own neither). However, in a couple of recent examples, Apple has been a follower. Apple took Roku’s lead with a small, diskless streaming video player, and Amazon is offering a service that Apple doesn’t. This quote in the article also seems off-the-mark to me.

“I’m not convinced that there is a huge consumer need” being filled by the offering, said Carl Howe, director of consumer research at the Yankee Group. “I have yet to see this as a big deal for consumers. It goes back to whether consumers are looking for a cloud-based music streaming service for music they already own. Do consumers really want to pay more for music they already own?”

The first five gig on Amazon Cloud Drive are free and available for uploading whatever music files you already have — the catch being they need to be MP3’s. (Correction: AAC is also supported.) For $20/year you can get 20 GB of online music streaming. Maybe that’s not enough for an entire music library, but it’s plenty for what you’re currently into hearing. Once Amazon offers Cloud Drive access on other platforms, especially the Logitech Squeezbox Radio and Roku player, it will be servicing my consumer need very well.

Scareware!

Worried about security on your computer? Wondering about that link you clicked on because a warning came up? Watch this video, posted today, about a problem that’s now on millions of sites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKI5dg1cs74