May 5, 2008 by phillip.

I found myself feeling like a little bit of an outsider listening to the latest TWIT podcasts. They seem to read so much and I feel like I don’t read that much. I look at myself and say, “You really need to pick up your pace, these people are so much better than you because they read.” Well, this thought was very short lived. I guess I should get a book on confidence and self-esteem (problem solved I just ordered one). I’m constantly reading. I read because of something my Great grandmother told me when I was young about the bible. She said (and I paraphrase), “Anybody can come and tell people anything about their faith because most of them don’t read it for themselves.” Absolutely brilliant.

Due to this and reading a blog post once about a guy that was saying that he reads nearly 60 books a year, my bookshelves are huge and overflowing. In the car I even listen to audiobooks instead of the radio. His point really touched me. He felt that if you read nearly 20 books on any subject you could pretty much be considered an expert on that subject. I partially agree because I feel like a mixture of practice and usage with some subjects truly make you an expert.

I don’t want to let someone else always tell me second hand. I understand that that is exactly what a book is but a lot of times I just take it for granted that the person that is writing the book is pretty good at his/her subject. I have since done websites for authors and found that you also need to look at their publisher too because good publishers tend to weed out some of the rift raft but there’s good to be learned from the rift raft. Corwin Press, for one, is like a blog mentality for authors. It’s pretty easy to get published it seems. Maybe you’ll see a book coming from me soon.  I just have to figure out what I want to talk about.

I like where Amazon is taking this with the Kindle. I love this idea because you can just download your books in digital format. My only problem with this is getting used books. I have learned to order used books for as cheap as $1 on Amazon. After paying $400 for the Kindle sometimes I might want to load it up with cheap books. However, it seems that buying in digital format can cost me more even though I’m saving the environment. Audible.com isn’t helping much there either. Well, I guess, I’ll just stick with my way for now.

Oh, and for all of you like me… I found the source of my insecurity. I don’t read fiction and it seems that all the people that I listen to do. Don’t feel like an outsider. Read what you want as long as you read. Start with my blog.

Posted in My humble opinion | No Comments »

May 4, 2008 by phillip.

I was just listening to a podcast called Lugradio recently. They had a rather interesting debate that sparked a lot of thoughts about what I believe.

As a little background, Lugradio is a British podcast. The four members of the show throw around ideas about Linux and open source software. Now, I know that it may seem that freedom is relative to the location in the world you live in. You’d be wrong. Freedom is relative to you as an individual. This shows in the similarity in thought that open source software has ignited worldwide.

By definition “Freedom” is: Liberty and the release of ties, bonds, and obligations. To be obligated to use only free or open source software would be an obligation thus making us no longer free. At the same time to look at only open source software as good wouldn’t negate our freedoms but it would be irrational.

The open source movement can’t just be a band of raving technical zealots. Has that ever really worked? Legitimate religions of our time had to learn this early in their histories. People don’t listen to the person that’s just ranting and raving and casting condemnation on others. They are free too. Free people learn by education, choice, and reasoning. However, they have the right to choose whatever they want even though it is not the “right” choice.

I always think of it in perspective of all the cars on the road. If you looked at all the cars that exist you should ask yourself “Why?” Given the needs and styles wanted by a particular buyer a computer could kick out the perfect car according to color, body type, passengers, mileage, fuel consumption but yet there are so many.

Feel free to decide. That is the joy of being free.

Posted in Life Lessons | 1 Comment »

April 29, 2008 by phillip.

This post is going to be kind of quick but I just saw an article that Windows lovers might love. There’s a program called Bart PE that lets you make a bootable Windows CD. The article is at Tech Republic (a great site for tech info and howtos in many different areas).

Just as a disclaimer: I don’t suggest using Windows on a Boot CD or USB thumb drive. I suggest using a good Linux distro like Slax or even an Ubuntu disk. They add more features on a CD or thumb drive and they keep updating them often.

Posted in Tips | No Comments »

April 28, 2008 by phillip.

I seem to collect a lot of information on different computer related topics. I live to go to my local Borders or Barnes & Noble book store to look at books and of course there’s one I want to buy every time. My bookshelves can attest to this fact. Today I had an epiphany. I want to let some people do what they know best. I have a lot of newsfeeds, newsletters, magazines, and email subscriptions that I just don’t need. Now granted they’re all free (even the magazines but I’ll talk about how to do that another day).

I was looking through a folder that I have certain email routed to. I realized that the folder had a lot of Cisco tips and tricks for their routers. In cleaning out my email folders I realized that these emails were building up and had become a huge portion of this folder because I just never tended to delete them since I never get around to reading them. My thought process is like a pack rat: “One day I’ll need these.” Stop that! Get rid of this stuff. I don’t need to know everything about a Cisco router. I might possibly need to configure one once every two years. I deleted them all. Even though I took a lot of training on Cisco routers years ago if this situation arises I’m letting some other guy handle that. Unburden your mind seeing all the crap in your inbox.

Posted in Only for the techy people, Life Lessons | 1 Comment »

April 25, 2008 by phillip.

In a previous post about “Communist design” I got a weird thought about taking the opposite into consideration but in the real world. Open source vehicles, buildings, spaceships, boats, etc. People combining their thoughts for a better solutions. I found that these ideas already exist.

My first I’d already heard of was the Joint Strike Fighter aka JSF F-35 jet fighter. This jet fighter is a collaboration of a couple companies and countries. It’s actually a working plane that will be the next major fighter. It has stealth, virtical lift off, supersonic speed, massive firepower, and advanced computer and camera integration. In a word… COOL.

The next on our list… The OScar. Right now this car is strictly conceptual. The concept started in 1999 but became fully open to everyone in 2006. According to an article posted at Autoblog the Open source car actually debuted last March (2007) with it’s first concept vehicle. Looks pretty sleek and not totally the spec that is posted on the OScar website but there’s a lot of room to really make this something that could change the world.

Watching a video on TED I also was very intrigued by the open source textbook publishing company. Imagine, books that evolve quickly and are cheaper because the book can be printed and bound on demand. Our kids wouldn’t be left behind with old information because new books are in print, etc. This really would have helped out when Pluto was ruled out as real planet.

How about a music synthesizer? this video is from South by Southwest in 2006. A lady namd Limor Fried talks about her open source synthesizer and open source in the real world.

Why not collaborate on food? Yes it’s true. There is an open source cookbook and open source beer project.

So, there you have it. Those are some of the great real world applications for open source. I’m sure there are more and I would be very happy to know about them. If you are technically minded though, I also love to mention cool sites like: Makezine, Hack a Day, and Hackszine. It’s pretty much open source to me because the comments allow you to combine your ideas for a better final project.

Posted in Something to know, Announcements | 1 Comment »

April 24, 2008 by phillip.

Let me start by admitting that I’ve been taking in a lot of the Military channel lately. I’ve mostly been watching the history channel like documentaries on the wars of the past. Mixed with my Discovery channel viewing I got a couple of ideas.

I’ve talked to my kids and have talked about it many times but we need an enemy that the whole world is against. That’s when people come together for a common goal. During WWII the United States used its automotive industry to outproduce tanks and planes at a rate of almost 10 to 1 of Germany (and a couple other countries combined). At the same time peaks in technology development start due to the needs of weapons and surveillence. After each war technology development falls off. Ghengis Khan absorbed civilizations and turned their aim at the next target. The newly incorporated believe were treated good and soon offered their technology to his war efforts.

If we felt like aliens from outer space were going to attack in a given amount of time then we’d all get together and become prepared as a planet. People need to have a motivation and not just a desire for excess. Right now sea and space exploration seem to be excess. I guess nobody really realizes that their short on resources till they’re desperate. I need to start filling up my tank before I get on “E” too. Non-metaphorically speaking, I need to find where I can help here. Tell me if you have any ideas.

Posted in Something to know | No Comments »

April 23, 2008 by phillip.

Right now I’m so proud of myself because the Dell Laptop that I am working on right now has been my beast of burden for the last month. I believed the monitor was going out on it and sometimes it would blink out. Fearing paying for a new screen and someone to put it in would more than likely just make me buy a new laptop I was reluctant to deal with the problem. The worst part is that I broke my leg about a month ago so I’ve been stuck on a couch at night and using VNC to reach into my laptop. What’s worse is it was a Mac laptop that I really didn’t like. I HATE the one button mouse! I use dual button mice on Mac desktops… but I digress. So I had to break down and find a solution.

I did my research online and found out that the problem wasn’t the screen. I found that the number one problem with laptops is that the screen’s power inverter will go bad. Once it goes bad people give up on the laptop and get rid of it. A bad power inverter is usually evident because the screen is barely visible and looks dead but the problem is there’s no backlight. This is the inverter’s job.

With a lot of searching, I found an inverter for $20 online. I risked it and went back to my inner electrical engineer. I took apart my laptop found the piece and replaced it. Waaaallllllaaaah! It worked! It reminded me of taking TV’s and radios apart to fix them with my dad when I was a kid. I used to fix anything electrical by taking it apart but I don’t do that or raise the hood of my car anymore. I’m back in the game again.

Oh, and for those who used to do this with their dad too… Just like him I did have one tiny screw left over but everything works. This time though it wasn’t my fault. I found the extra screw left inside my laptop obviously during the assembly at Dell. Their dad was different than mine because they left extra screws inside.

Posted in Only for the techy people | 1 Comment »

April 22, 2008 by phillip.

I was recently watching TV and there was a Mac vs. PC commercial on. The commercial was a therapy session where the therapist was telling PC that it “Wasn’t his fault.” Mac explained that due to the fact the Windows tries to make itself available  to so many types of hardware and Mac only makes it’s computers from specific hardware that Mac approves that Windows can’t help but have problems. This has long been Mac’s policy but it really made me think about that concept that I want to explore a little bit more. I call it “Communist design.”

I refer to it as communist design because it reminds me of the Russian automobile industry of the 80’s.  During the cold war communist Russia only allowed their people certain choices. The government decided what it thought you needed and gave you choices in colors of basically black or white. Now, granted, if Apple was the government of cold war Russia then they would still have less choices but have been really stylish ones.

The good part about this is that Apple really knows their hardware like the back of their hand before they build anything on that platform. It allows them to integrate all the parts together well without worry of a quirk (for the most part). This is a good idea in one way of thinking but has its flaws to me. First, what I like about it is that Apple has it’s people focused in order to knock out a problem.

The problem with this concept is that part that troubles me the most. Totalitarian decision making. Steve Jobs need only have a beef with one company, say Nvidia, and decide not to use any of their cards. This really stops the user from having all the choices he wants. This is one of the problems with Linux on the desktop but only for a short while as the drivers are soon developed as the product becomes more mature. This also hurts Apple for the discerning user due to the fact that Macs are always more expensive than their counterparts.

Apple I’ve got your solution so give me the credit (and a check). Put more eyes on the problem because they’d love to help. The way you do this is by contributing to the BSD and Linux effort to your benefit (as well as theirs). Stick to the design that makes you so famous. People love the look and feel of a Mac. However, throw your hardware guys into the open source driver development arena. They get and give with their code. This allows Macs to be able to take on more devices internally and Unix variants to do the same. Why do this? Even if Mac doesn’t like Linux their core is developed by using the Mach kernel that comes from BSD (Linux’s cousin). Helping your cousin ends up helping you at the same time it hurts your enemy (Windows).

Posted in My humble opinion, Mac | 1 Comment »

April 18, 2008 by phillip.

As an agent of change I continually invite you to look at what you’re doing everyday and say, “Maybe there a better and cheaper way.” I continually look at my everyday processes and think that. Well, today I’m going to address my changes with concern to my addiction to instant messaging.

  When it comes to me sitting down doing mindless work I never want to be alone. Therefore, I sit down at a computer and fire up an instant messenger client. Here’s where I’m inconsistent. If I’m at a Linux machine I use Pidgin (it’s time to stop saying it but… “formerly called Gaim”). On a Windows machine I use Trillian. On a Mac I use Adium. Also, even though it’s known mostly for internet telephony I use Skype for those very few people that stay on Skype at work. Just for good measure I’ve added a new one to the flock. If I’m at a computer that isn’t mine I use Meebo.com to log into all my accounts.

I’ve been using Trillian for the longest and I’m finally going to have to end my many years with the program. It’s not that it did anything bad but it didn’t do anything really good. Pidgin however is open source and it’s great. It works on Windows and Linux/Unix/BSD (Amiga too reportedly). Since it is open source I’m looking forward to a OS X port soon but for now on that front I have to stick to Adium.

Here’s where the better comes in. Pidgin seems to be able to connect to every protocol imaginable. It does: AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ, Groupwise and believe it or not even Skype (with an easy to install plugin). Think that’s it? No. That’s only half the list that I know of. That’s the cool part of it.

Get addicted to Instant messaging again at home and in the office. Trust me, it’s a lot more productive than talking to people on the phone too. You can work and still keep in contact with all your friends. Let me warn you though, if you decide to use it from work you may decide to use the built in encryption or Off the record plugin (which also does make one for Trillian).

Posted in Mac, Windows, Linux, Software | 1 Comment »

April 15, 2008 by phillip.

In a post from a couple weeks ago I posted an article about the Photoshop replacement program Gimp. Well, I just saw this link about the new features of the Gimp. They fix a lot of the problems that I said may be small weaknesses. Check out the article here.

Posted in Software | No Comments »