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Twitter Updates for 2008-08-27

Olaf — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:59:59 +0000

Would you like fries with that hamburger? Took a spill on the bike this morning and attempted a base-slide into work. Didn’t work, I’m out! #
I think my pants are damp with lymph fluid – that’s going to suck later when I have to peel them off. #

Zune 2.x

Olaf — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:43:18 +0000

You may recall that I had written up the Zune Wish List a couple of months after I received mine in December of 2006. I took the time to assess my needs and what the Zune hardware and software could do to meet those needs. It has now been nearly a year since that list and it’s time to update it.Microsoft released their 2.0 Zune Marketplace software with the newer Zune hardware made available for Christmas of 2007. The new software addressed some issues with the older software, but more than anything I think the new version was an aesthetic shift for the product team. Maybe they’ve completely replaced the creative group in favor of a sexier image. At any rate, with a good number of users and a year or more on their belt as Zune users, there were clearly going to be some polarized debates about the change.Refresher: Here is the old and new iteration of the Zune (Marketplace) Software, respectively…
Here are my original ‘wants’ for the hardware and software after 2 months of use:

Zune Hardware:
- Alphabet ToC Navigation in addition to click-wheel
- Ratings categories (so I can play 4-star or 5-star music only, for instance)
- The ability to remove songs from my “quicklist”
- Setting EQ attributes to a song or album uniquely
- Inline normalization
- New category…or put a recently added link at the top of each category
- Make playlists of video files
Zune Software:
- Faster *My software has long periods of unavailability, though I realize I have an over-sized library
- Automatic playlist creation
- Support for OGG
- Insight into the folder monitoring – some sort of progress or status on this
- Better album art application – album art isn’t always displayed immediately after you add it
- Without knowing any better, I wish the album art was embedded within the ID3 tag of the file rather than being added as a hidden file in the directory
- Perhaps support for a real database back-end – I feel the need for enterprise class media management

There were also some real problems that needed attention:

Crashing…the software crashes, the hardware crashes. Sometimes it’s solid, but then it goes into a fit and crashes consecutively all to often. **UPDATE – I found out that the hardware is most likely crashing due to an electrical protection feature. Static electricity is not the Zune’s friend.
Renaming/hiding MP3’s. This could be related to crashing – I’m guessing that MP3’s were being indexed and something went wrong. Then, the Zune software went and renamed a *lot* of MP3’s to their cataloged GUID and hid them. The files won’t play until I rename them back to a .mp3 extension. It will annoy me when it comes up – so far only a few of these songs have come up in my shuffle list.

In the hardware category, Microsoft did exactly zero to fulfill my wishes. The closest they came was to introduce sorting by “date added” to the software. That’s actually very helpful, but it doesn’t help me find new music on my device after I’ve left the computer. The Alphabetical ToC thing would still be cool, but I will say that the click wheel seems to be spinning songs by faster than it used to. It hasn’t bothered me as much that I can’t jump to a letter in the alphabet quickly, though it would probably make me a safer driver if this feature were added. Depending on your attitude towards the “Ratings” debate, the new software either decimated your organization, or has drug you from Ratings procrastination. I’m somewhat in the middle on this. I’m adapting quickly enough, though I had finally figured out a decent way of rating my music along the 5-star basis that helped me managing my music. The new Zune uses only a “Heart” to signify the emotion a given song lends. You love, hate it, or are indifferent. Despite the change, there is still no way to play music on the device that you’ve “Hearted” unless you create a playlist first (static). Microsoft took away the “Flag” option in the Zune hardware. I was using it a little bit, but it was so unnecessarily slow and useless that I had stopped altogether. I had hoped that the new firmware would add much needed functionality to the flagging option, but now we find it missing in action. No love lost for the old function, but I would like to see the ability to flag a song for my review back at the software. I would primarily use it as a reminder to do something with that song (e.g. add to playlist, look up artist, etc.).

The Zune software; that is, the part installed on a Windows machine for interaction with media and the device itself, is a piece of work. I mean that in two very polarized ways. Piece of Work: 1) Quality craftsmanship, exemplary; 2) opp. The worst, poorly demonstrated – syn. Piece of Shit. I may sound a little harsh, but this new software encourages me to use Microsoft’s new “Heart” ratings to express my emotions. This brings me to my earlier comment regarding the product’s shift in direction. I really get the feeling they threw the old software out and started fresh. On the love side of things, I really like the new look. While I prefer the technical features of an app to let me do all matter of evil to it (i.e. preferences, customizations, tweaks, etc.), I really do like the slimmed-down simplicity of the new Zune software. The previous software left me feeling like I should see more options, but didn’t. This software, on the other hand, gives me the impression that what I see is what I get. It took a little while to get used to – I’m still a little unfamiliar in its kid-gloves aesthetics – but I’m gaining proficiency. I also like the fact that this software appears to be running faster with fewer crashes. I haven’t had any MP3′s get renamed (and hidden) to GUID replacements. While file monitoring still doesn’t lend any insight as to the percentage complete, it does seem to run faster and more consistently.

On the negative, the functionality of the software has been grossly gimped. I am no longer able to do something as simple as edit my own ID3 tags in a simple form-based interface like before. I can’t seem to update an album against a web lookup – it happens automatically, but I don’t have finite control over the process as was given in the previous software. While I love the addition of the podcast category, I don’t much care for the level of experienced interaction given to users here. I prefer the more technical feel when it comes to podcasts. They tend to vary wildly in format and compatibility, so it seems best that I have the option of modifying URL’s, identifying what URL’s are being used, and possibly see the actual error message for a given RSS URL when the Zune software rejects it.

Ultimately, the Zune software direction has the potential of being good. I feel more like I’m using an Alpha product than something released for public consumption, but the good stuff is really good. With the negatives going against my my expectations of software for this type of work, I would actually rather use a third-party application to synch to the Zune. As I’ve stated before, MediaMonkey is my favorite (in case their developers are reading).

Nerd? Geek? or Dork?

Olaf — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 13:01:30 +0000

My Score: Modern, Cool Nerd

69 % Nerd, 69% Geek, 13% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

I scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning me the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn’t use to be cool, but in the 90′s that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn’t quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and “geek is chic.” The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgeable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!

THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

DiY PC: Antec Nine Hundred (Case)

Olaf — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:00:15 +0000

I’m in the process of building out a new custom PC for the house – the first one in quite a while now. Contrary to what you might think, as a technology guy I’m usually a little late for getting things up-to-date around the house. As such, I’m replacing an old Intellistation dual-proc Pentium 3 XEON. It sounds phat, but trust me, it’s showing its age.

I tried once to just hit this project with one blow-out purchase and be done. Just as I was ready to do it, something else came up that took priority over discretionary money. As such, I’m going the incremental route and starting with the components that are least likely to change over a short period of time.

This post begins my adventure in building out what should be a great rig.

The case decision has always been a hard one for me. I have a memorable scar on my right thumb where I was attacked by a sub-$50 tower case back in 1996. I was attempting to push out metal break-outs in the case’s rear slots with my thumb. It was difficult at first, but when the razor-sharp edges of the slot sliced off a third of my thumb’s width, it slid in easily. Er – that wasn’t the intention, however. Some-odd stitches later (three through the thumbnail – ouch!), I was ready to get back to work on the case. I used a Clark’s head screwdriver and some pliers to finish off those slots. As fun as the ER visit was to break up my day, I was not entertained by the next case-catastrophe. I wanted to test out the case power and front L.E.D.’s before I began installing components. Holding firmly to the exposed metal from the case’s chassis, I pushed the large power button on the front bezel. Oh vengeful gods! 110 volts coarse through me, there’s a loud crack, and smoke boils up from behind the bezel. Unshaken (actually I was literally shaken, but still determined), I unplugged the power supply and reset the breaker that had tripped. When I investigated the power switch and back-side of the bezel, I found that it had welded itself onto the case. Having the equipment (a hammer and screwdriver), I gingerly broke the weld (gingerly, for an ogre). Turns out, the case’s sharp edges had struck again. During shipment – possibly before – the switch leads had been sliced and exposed. Unbelievably, I replaced the switch and went on.

With the exception of some minor cuts (again from the chassis edges), I experienced no further catastrophes with that case. It wasn’t until I had done some fancy coupling of two power supplies with one switch and electrified the entire case while the system was on that I finally ditched it. Good times.

What this painful experience taught me was that I would no longer spare any expense when it came to cases. Disregarding the beautiful custom cases out there, I seek out full tower cases with lots of room for hard drives, bays, and plenty of cooling options. As you might guess, I also check the status of the chassis edges – deburred or folded are the terms I believe they’re using now. I also look at cases that generally don’t include power supplies (PSU). Included PSU’s are probably cheaply made and may have suffered damage within the case during shipment or installation.

This brings me to my case of choice, the Antec Nine Hundred. It reminds me of the Spartan 300, but has nothing to do with that. My first choice was actually a Gigabyte (3D Aurora 570) tower, but it didn’t go on super sale when the Nine Hundred did. I chased the deal for a little while on the net where it bounced around from site to site at $89.99. I missed the deal on ZipZoomFly where shipping is generally free and got it at Outpost (Fry’s) – there I had to pay shipping and tax, but it was a far better deal than $130+ you see it elsewhere.

As I build out the actual system, I’ll be sure and add my feelings on this case. Until then, here are the spec’s directly from Antec’s site:

Unique Top mounted 200mm TriCool exhaust fan to cool the hottest system
Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake
Two front loaded HDD cages for up to 6 hard disk drives
The HDD cages act as air ducts to take air in more efficiently. Optional middle 120mm fan bracket to cool the hottest graphic cards or CPU
Two 120mm TriCool blue LED front fans to cool hard disk drives
Window side panel comes with an optional 120mm fan mount for maximum VGA cooling
Top mounted I/O ports for easy access
Top tray for your MP3 player, digital camera, etc.
Power supply mounts at the bottom of the case (power supply not included)
Advanced cooling system:
- 1 top 200mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 1 rear 120mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 2 front 120mm special black TriCool blue LED fans with 3-speed switch control to cool HDDs
- 1 side (optional) 120mm fan to cool graphic cards
- 1 middle (optional) 120mm fan to cool CPU or graphic cards
9 Drive Bays:
- External 3 x 5.25″; Internal 6 x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 6 x 5.25″; Internal 3x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 9 x 5.25″
Motherboard: Fits micro and standard ATX
7 Expansion Slots
Top I/O
Power & reset button with blue LED
2 x USB 2.0
1 x IEEE 1394
Audio In and Out
Case Weight Net: 18.52 lbs, Gross: 24.36 lbs
Case Dimensions: 19.4″ H x 18.4″ D x 8.1″ W

$105.78 through outpost.com (Tax & Shipping incl.)

Distractions

Olaf — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 02:14:00 +0000

I’ve been distracted lately by the more serious things in life, including work. It has drawn some pretty large gaps in my blog as of late, but I promise I’ll get back to things soon. Perhaps I may even talk about what has been so important as to have ignored this wonderful outlet.

Bullseye: Deep Impact Slams Into Comet

Olaf — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 14:14:00 +0000

The Deep Impact project was a complete success. One might think it an easy task to send a bullet the size of a little European auto into a wall the size of Manhattan (at about 100x faster than a standard bullet), but I’m guessing the logistics are a bit more taxing. Anyone doing any missle guidance probably knows that. There’s good reason that time synchronization is so critically important to guidance when a second off could mean 100′ at the target – or thousands of miles in the astronomical sense. With such a success, NASA has proved their stuff again in both logisitcal planning as well as creative forethought. The ‘bullet’ was equipped with a complete set of brains and three propulsion boosters for guidance correction after the drop-off. As a major point of concern, their confidence was bolstered as the projectile corrected itself shortly into flight with success. The hard part awaits; assembling the data into meaningful results. I’m sure they’ll find the question to the answer of which we all know and love, ’42.’ Scientists are already eagerly awaiting their next rendez vous with a comet, somewhere in the vicinity of 2014:

Yeomans hoped that the success of Deep Impact would lead to more ambitious missions. ‘The next step is to actually rendezvous with a comet, orbit it, and then land and do surface analysis,’ Yoemans said. ‘Which is what the Europeans expect to do with the Rosetta spacecraft in 2014.’

Pogo

Olaf — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 05:21:41 +0000

Three leggèd dogs are klutzes. Not that I suppose I expected anything less, but Yang is a bumping noise attrocity at night. She bumps into things and knocks things over all over the house (including Balthazar). The hardest part for her is that she doesn’t seem to care about bumping into things. If knocking into walls actually bothered her, I suppose she’d develop some grace. As it is, she isn’t phased by much of anything. She is certainly getting stronger in the solo, rear leg. Now that the second phase of infection is over, she’s acting more and more like a puppy too. She does this interesting trick on the patio window where she jumps up on the window to indicate her distaste for being left on the porch. But she’s up on one leg, so I can’t help but think I might be able to teach her to “pogo” on it. I’ve also seen her jump from the one leg into the air. She doesn’t get very high, but she does get all her feet off the ground in doing so. I’d love her to develop a lot of strength in her hips to keep her from having problems with them later in life. I’ve been told to allow her to grow slowly because of her breed’s size. Their metabolism is supposed to be very slow, so she shouldn’t be fed high protein foods like puppy food. When big dogs grow too quickly, their joints and bones don’t firm up correctly and they can have bigger problems later in life. The same is true in humans too, though you typically only hear/see the results in extraordinarily tall people (i.e. the record holders).

Moss Does Jackson for Your Viewing Pleasure

Olaf — Mon, 18 Apr 2005 13:44:40 +0000

With TV cameras banned from the court, Sky News is recreating each day’s events using court transcripts and carefully selected actors.

Granted, Edward Moss is no virgin to playing Michael Jackson (excuse the pun), but it does seem a little odd that Sky is doing this. Judge Judy is one thing, but this is an entirely new form of evil. Does this mean we’re going to see a new epidemic of court TV shows springing up to watch all those famous cases in history? How exciting is that? I sure am glad I have a day-job.

Darren at Barefoot.com brings us this selection: Link

Ice Cube Escapee

Olaf — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:10:00 +0000

I have an ice tray that consistently ejects ice from at least one cube with every freeze. I’m perplexed by this phenomenon! It must happen just as the surface of the ice freezes. I’ve opened the freezer early in the process to see partially frozen cubes. The offender can be found, prominently displaying its shard. What on Earth could possibly do this? How can water suddenly leap only to be frozen instantly?!?

Unfair Freebies

Olaf — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 03:06:00 +0000

At CheckFree, employees are given an awesome privilege of a reduced-price meal plan at the onsite cafeteria. The system works out to everyone’s favor, giving the company more productivity from employees and the employees have decent food, cheap. The problem comes in with contractors. Contractor’s are charged 250% the employee cafeteria price. I understand that contractors probably get paid more per hour, but they’re not paid for vacations, illness, or benefits. Contractors are also generally expensed by the company on their taxes. I should also expect that the company values contractor’s productivity just as much as an employees’, yet there is still a price difference. What gives?