Rants and Raves

The time is always right to do what is right
· Martin Luther King, Jr

Tags: Axiom //

Lots of whiny posts here of late, and I’m hoping that I will have more positive and fun things to BLOG going forward with the new year.

Again a reminder to all my readers, if you’ve had a good or bad experience you want to share, let me know — I’m happy to report on it here, and I’m happy to give you pointers on how to setup your own BLOG as well.

Originally posted 2009-01-27 01:00:50.

Tags: General //

I’ve been trying to scan some of my old pictures, slides, and negatives.

It’s time consuming to say the least.

Once I get the images scanned I’ll go through them and resize/crop some of them to post to my gallery to try and fill out many of the sections that have little or nothing there.

I do have a huge amount of digital images as well; but I figure since I’ve been wanting to deal with the years and years of film photography that that would be a good place to start.

Originally posted 2011-04-02 02:00:50.

Tags: Blogging, Communications, Technology, Travel //

All domain registrars and hosting companies aren’t created equally…

If all you need from your domain registrar is just to get a domain, then find the absolute cheapest (and many have discounts for some TLDs from time to time)… but in general you might want DNS services, web redirects, email, etc… or even a full blown hosting plan — so it’s work looking around.

My domains are registered with, and hosted by 1and1.com — do I think they are the best… NO, but I do think they have a very good price for the services I happen to want, and their system works reasonably well.

But before you make a decision, you really need to decide what services you want, and look to see who offers what.

Ask your friends, a personal recommendation is one of the best ways to narrow the field.  Remember, though, not everyone wants the same services, so make sure you ask what services your friends get from the various companies, any problems they’ve had, anything they particularly like or dislike — and ask if they chose it because of a special promotional price.  The best deal today, won’t always be the best deal tomorrow.

Do you need your hosting company and your registrar to be the same?  Well, no you don’t…  Often though you’re going to find you get a better price overall by having the be the same.  That said, if you’re looking to move your domains from one place to another you might want to “try before you buy”.

I’d say the only requirement that a company has to have for you to consider them is a “money back guarantee”.  You can look over the information, play with their dummy control panel, etc all you want… but you won’t know if you like it (and it does the job) until you actually try to use it.

Most reputable hosting companies provide a 30-day money back guarantee.  I certainly ended up taking advantage of that at an “unlimited” hosting company.  And that’s something you just need to be sure they have.

The other thing to look at is what the contract term is for a reasonable price.  Some companies want you to sign up for three or four years to get a good price.  My advice is go with someone who gives you a competative price for thee to six months, and maybe even is offering a promotional package that extends the time you pay for.  Never sign up for more than a year unless it’s some incredible price, and then consider whether the company is likely going to be in business for the duration of the contract — and make sure they have a money back guarantee — and pay by credit card.

What if you only need domain registration?

Well, look at the prices charged, and any extra fees imposed.  You can check what the ICANN fee is currently, and contrast that with what the company is providing.  Odds are, though, you do want more than just a domain registration unless you do your own DNS, eMail, web, and blogs…

Here’s a partial list of feature you will probably want to consider:

Price

• DNS (types of records you can create — additional domains, secondary domains)
• email (POP, IMAP, SMTP — SSL/TLS — how many domains, how many accounts, forwarders, responders)
• web (PHP, ASP, PERL, dot NET — how much storage, how much transfer, additional domains, secondary domains)
• web applications (blogs, web page editors, etc)
• database (MySQL, Postgress, Oracle, SQL Server — how large, how many)
• access (FTP, Telnet, SSH, SFTP, SCP, WebDAV)

Here are a few companies to get you started:

• JustHost
• 1and1
• NameCheap
• Dotster
• GoDaddy

And do an internet search on hosting companies – that will return quite a few.  Be mindful, many companies do business under multiple names.  I don’t generally consider this a very ethical practice; but not all companies who do this are dishonest.

One final personal note.

If NameCheap had more competative prices for hosting packages, and provided IMAP email I’d probably still be using them.  They do charge a little more than say 1and1, but they provide users the ability to control most every aspect of their domains.

I just moved all my domains from NameCheap to 1and1 when I decide I wanted to outsource my email, web, and blogs…

Originally posted 2008-05-12 13:17:53.

Tags: Internet, Technology //

I’ll have to echo what I said in my previous posts about not looking for a Mac clone, but rather an environment that was usable by ordinary people.

Dreamlinux has potential.

There are a number of visual elements about the interface that I don’t like, and don’t think they’re additive; but the bottom line is Dreamlinux works, it’s very stable, and it has virtually every component installed ready to use right out of the “box”.

Dreamlinux has a long way to go before I would give it a resounding vote of confidence — it’s still very much Linux, and Linux and all it’s geek appeal 0ozes out at every seam…

Geeks just don’t design software or systems to be usable — they haven’t learned that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

But like I said, Dreamlinux has potential, and it certainly warrants a thorough examination and review.

Dreamlinux

Originally posted 2010-01-07 01:00:51.

Tags: Computers, Linux, Mac, Software, Technology //

Neither of these digital SLRs are the top of the line or new models from either manufacturer; but I own one of each, and both are considered to be extremely good pro-sumer models.

With a DSLR, like an SLR, the quality of images you take will depend on the lens and skill of the photographer every bit as much as the equipment.

I’ve be interested in photography since I was a teen; and to be honest, I’m a technically great photographer, but I’m not a great photographer.  Or as I tell my friends, I’ve taken millions of technically perfect photographs in my years; and I have one or two that are actually good photographs.

What’s my criteria for comparison?

That’s easy.

I think you need to consider…

Price; that’s not easy with these two — in the years since I bought the D20 this technology costs significantly less — and even purchasing the 20D refurbished it will set you back substantially more than a D40 (you really have to go with a Rebel XSi or XTi or XS to be at a comparable price point, and those have plastic bodies like the D40 but more resolution than even the D20).

Construction; here there’s no comparison, while there’s nothing technically wrong with the D40, the 20D is solid, the magnesium alloy makes the plastic D40 body look like a joke.  And of course the additional weight of the 20D makes it handle like a “real” SLR, the D40 is so light that it has a bizarre center of gravity with even the lightest of lens attached.

Controls; both cameras are made by a camera company, so they act like cameras and you’ll be able to control them much like you can any SLR.  You might find the controls a little different than an SLR, but both companies have made an effort to make the cameras similar in many ways to their comparable SLR lines.

Ease of use; though rather than call it ease of use we should probably define this as straight forward controls that don’t require inordinate steps to do useful tasks; here the two are fairly similar, though I’ll have to say Nikon’s inclusion of “editing” features seems like a total waste, and serve only to clutter the menu.

Available accessories; both have an incredible range of accessories you can purchase for them, but I’ll have to say that in general the Nikon accessories will cost less than Canon.  Third party accessories for both are, of course, substantially less expensive.

Lens; again, both Nikon and Canon have an incredible range of lens for their cameras.  Nikon has, unfortunately for those of use who own an F series film camera, changed their lens (AF).  Third party lens for both are, of course, substantially less expensive — and you can argue the quality.

Raw imaging; both have raw imaging.  And both cameras offer

Image quality; both have impressive quality.  The 20D has more resolution than the D40 (you can get higher resolution Nikon models for about the same price, but the D40 is considered to have one of the best CCDs, and of course has a very attractive price).  The real difference for me in the image quality is I think the Canon has a more accurate rendering of color and detail (now you’re going to find people who say the exact opposite, in fact I was looking at a comparison between a Nikon and Canon model and the person was saying the Nikon was better, but in my mind 90% of the images looked like the Canon was better).  The bottom line of this is it’s going to depend on what you like individually — there’s no right answer, both of these cameras do an incredible job, and it’s DIGITAL, so you can apply some corrections with your favorite photo editing software.

Which is better… well, I’d give the Canon 20D that vote, which is interesting since I’ve used a Nikon F4 for years.

Whether you choose a Canon D20, a Canon Digital Rebel XSi,  Canon Digital Rebel XTi, Canon Digital Rebel XS, or a Nikon D40 you’ll be getting a quality photographic instrument made by camera company that will be a good general replacement for a SLR.  While all these DSLRs offer “point-and-shoot” modes, it really only makes sense to buy one if you’re a little more serious about photography.  As I said before, it’s also going to depend on the lens, accessories, and operator skill what kind of results you see.

For pricing and availability, you can check the price search engines on my side bar.  One word of caution when buying photographic equipment online; try and deal with a reputable company and avoid the headaches.  Also be mindful of grey market items and understand what you’re buying.  NOTE:  There’s no real issue with buying a grey market item (item that was not intended for US sale), but you should be aware of what you’re getting before you get it.

Originally posted 2009-02-26 01:00:22.

Tags: Digital Media, Technology //

You need to find a suite of office applications?

The place to start is OpenOffice.

OpenOffice has a long heritage, and the software was designed and built to be a cohesive set of applications (not a collection of various applications that did different parts of a job).

OpenOffice is written in Java, and if you’re running Windows you can download and install a version of OpenOffice that includes the Java Run-time Environment (JRE); on most other operating system it will already be installed.

OpenOffice is able to import and export most document formats you’re used to, plus it can use it’s own format (which is an ISO standard), and creating PDFs of the output is a snap.

Writer — if you’re a Windows person you’d probably think of this as “Word”.  It’s an excellent word processor, and it well suited for virtually any task you might have.  There are quirks (but hey, they are quirks in “Word” as well, and they randomly change from version to version), but overall it’s intuitive and easy to use.  Plus there’s good documentation available to answer most any question you might have.

Calc — if you’re a Windows person you’d probably think of this as “Excel”.  I’m not a big spread sheet user, but I can tell you that all the fairly simple tasks that I used “Excel” for Calc did without a problem; and it imported the spread sheets, converted them it it’s format, and other than a very slight print alignment issue on one they were perfect (and much smaller and faster).  From my experience and what I’ve read you shouldn’t have any issue with Calc for all your spread sheet needs.

Impress — if you’re a Windows person you’d probably think of this as “PowerPoint”.  It seems to work, has all the annoying slide ware capabilities a marketing person might want.

Draw — if you’re a Windows person you might think of this as ”Visio” or perhaps “Illustrator”.  There’s not an exact equivalent for this tool.  But it’s useful to do diagrams, drawings, etc.  But don’t confuse it with “PhotoShop” — that’s not really an office tool now is it?

Base — if you’re a Windows person you’d probably think of this as “Access”.  Works well and works with most any database you might have.

There is no email / calendar / contact replacement in OpenOffice, nor is there a “OneNote” replacement.  I don’t know that I feel email / calendar / contacts really belong in an office suite, but I certainly have gotten accustom to being able to collect a bunch of data together in one place with automatic references from where it came — so I’d love to see something like “OneNote” added to OpenOffice.

If you’re a casual user, a home user, a student, or a small business user (without restrictive corporate policies) you’ll find that OpenOffice will solve most all your needs.  Try it… save a little cash.

OpenOffice.org

Originally posted 2010-01-19 01:00:42.

Tags: Computers, Linux, Mac, Software, Technology, Windows //

Sometimes I wonder if Microsoft employees actually run the products they work on.

Elevated security, something that debuted on Windows Vista — and apparently derived from OS-X is a good example.

It’s a great idea.

As a user I should get to decide whether or not a pieced of software is allowed to make changed to my computer.  But the failing of Microsoft is they didn’t really think the problem through before they blindly copied what OS-X did.

In Windows there’s at least two levels of changes that should be approved…

When a piece of software I want is approved for install it should be able to make changes to a set of locations that is owned by the software vendor once I approve it’s installation.  However, it should not be able to make changes to my system configuration unless I specifically approve that.

What Microsoft should have done is something more along the lines of this.

A piece of software is launched and requests the user permission to install itself.  Microsoft fetches the security certificate bound into the executable and presents the user with that information when the system asks for the approval (the dialog should also have an additional detail button).  The user approves it, and the task is run with a security token created on the fly that allows the installer access to the vendors specific structure.

Should the installer desire to change system components it should have to ask to an additional elevation; at which time the operating system should again ask for approval and clearly indicate what system level resources the installer has requested access to.

Installers, would, of course generally be designed not to request access to modify the system (meaning they couldn’t install auto-start, install services, install device drivers, etc without a user knowing these things were going to happen).

When you installed software that did not have a certificate the system would still be able to present two levels of authentication (provided the installer properly requested the different access levels properly).

This would make Windows a far more secure environment… and it would prevent software vendors from install unwanted features onto a system.

Why doesn’t Microsoft implement something like this?

Well, it’s any ones guess… I prefer to believe that the people who design Windows don’t actually use it — but there are lots of conspiracy theories that could be put forth as well.

Originally posted 2010-01-18 01:00:02.

Tags: Computers, Software, Technology, Windows //

The eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of year 1918 AD marked the official end of German involvement in World War I with their signing of the Armistice in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest, Picardie, France (near the town of Compiègne).

Dedicated as Remembrance Day by King George V (England) in 1919 and proclaimed Armistice Day by President Woodrow Wilson (US).  Today is now known through much of the Western World (particularly in the Common Wealth) as Remembrance Day; though the US has celebrated is as Veterans Day since 1954.

Red poppies are often used as a symbol to remember the blood shed; white poppies are often (offensively) used as a symbol to be vigilant for peace.

We should always remember the past, and learn from our fore fathers so that we might leave the world a better place for those who follow.

Originally posted 2009-11-11 11:11:59.

Tags: General, History, Politics //

If you’ve got a home network, and you happen to have a server machine you should consider setting up one of your machines as an NTP server and synchronizing all you other machines to it.

Just do a quick Internet search on W32Time and NTP if you’re using a Windows server; that will give you information on how to setup the server to synchronize to a reliable time source (if you have a GPS receiver you could use that), how to make it synchronize every few hours (to keep the clock accurate), and how to make it broadcast time on your network and allow other machines to synchronize to it.

Then simply change you time server synchronization settings on all your other machines and appliances to synchronize to your time server.

The Windows time service is actually a very flexible and well thought out piece of software; though to change the setting to what you probably want you’ll have to use the registry editor (or course on a *nix machine you’d have to use an editor and understand some equally arcane syntax).

Originally posted 2008-07-25 19:30:03.

Tags: Computers, Software, Technology, Windows //