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.

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December 19, 2007 by phillip.

In a recent article posted on Ars Technica, Kenneth Sodomsky (oddly similar to sodomy if you know the story) was prosecuted for child pornography after some techs at Circuit City found child porn on his computer. No doubt he was wrong as could be. His computer was littered with video and pictures of 13 - 14 year old boys being “touched” (s0rry for the gory details).  His information was turned over to the police by Circuit City after a tech was supposed to be installing a DVD drive on the computer. It was deemed that in the normal process of installing the drive the tech didn’t violate his privacy because he needed to search through his files for videos.

This is an American tragedy. Not because of the fact that we have perverts in the world looking at under age children.  That’s the perfectly obvious part.  However, I am appalled that he was prosecuted and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upheld that the techs needed to search through his computer for videos.  When has it ever been necessary for a person to need the video files on the computer to install a DVD drive.

The issue at hand is your privacy.  If you send your computer into a shop they don’t have the right to rummage through your files.  Imagine if the tech went through the person’s database or accounting data. This is very sensitive information but if information is on my hard drive it’s all sensitive.  I don’t even send in error reports on anything because that developer may keep IP address information with the data sent back to him with any other data that could be sold. This data could be used to give a company a competitive advantage because they know something about me that their competitors could never know.

Imagine if you’re an avid Quicken user and you files are looked at.  You could be brought up on charges of tax evasion or money laundering because of your shoddy accounting techniques. Does the ends always justify the means?  In my book the answer is no.  In the case of the Kenneth Sodomsky he’s getting what he deserves however, I would have rather him get it from good investigative work that my false privacy beliefs from your local computer store.

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November 9, 2007 by phillip.

I’ve got to say, I really do love using Skype.  It is Voice over IP made very easy to use.  I’ve even heard about the new Skype phone that’s coming out.  That is very cool although I already have one.  It’s called a PDA with Skype installed on it.  Yes, you can install Skype on mobile devices and take advantage of the built in speaker and microphone using it like a cell phone.

Seeing all this Skypey goodness I decided to pay $30 at the beginning of the year and it gave me unlimited calling for the rest of the year.  I could call from my computer to any phone in the US and some abroad for nothing more than the $30 I paid.

Sounds really good.  However, a small gripe just came to me when I had just not used it in a while.  I got a letter telling me to either use it more or I forfeit my credit.  Who in the world thinks this is actually right?  Of course, it did work because I did end up using my Skype account again but what business is it of theirs?

It’s not really the same thing but can you imagine if clothing companies did this?  Imagine you buy a pair of Levi jeans and if you don’t wear them in a month someone knocks on your door and says, “We’ll be taking those back now because you obviously don’t appreciate them.”   Will satellite TV start cutting off stations because we don’t watch them much?

Oddly, enough, in thinking about this AT&T was doing this with internet access here in California.  They decided to lower everyone’s DSL speeds unless you called in to complain.  If you did they’d act like their fixing something and give it back to you.  Be warned Skype, AT&T did this to me and I called in.  However, they didn’t put my speeds back to where they were.  I’m no longer on DSL now.  I’m on cable internet.

Notice to Skype:  No VOIP is an island.  There are a million companies waiting for you to screw up.

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October 5, 2007 by phillip.

Why do us techies do it? What are the gadget freaks after? Why do we love it so much? Well, when we were growing up we saw something. Maybe it was Knight Rider’s car Kit. Dick Tracy’s wrist communicator. A space shuttle leave the starship Enterprise. For me it was the computer in the Bat cave on Batman.

There couldn’t have been a better example of a computer system that I dreamed for at the time. All the information on anything and anyone he needed but he had to use his brain to solve the problem. The live versions of the shows only had blinking lights but the cartoon was a vision of the future. The den of my house as a kid was my bat cave in the making. Now, I hope for the real thing. My office is networked and filled with computers as servers and workstations to do whatever I can.

That’s the goal for all of us techno types. To do whatever we can. Now, I’m too close to Batman. He had a good run but I’ve got to take it to the next level. I’ve got two big projects then I’m on to making my house a starship on the level of the Enterprise.

So, here’s the plan. If you can help that would be great. I’ve got to tame LDAP, Directory services, and maybe voice recognition and talk back capabilities. I’ll let you in on some of the contact data and database components when I know what I’m talking about.

I’m sure all the gadget freaks are onboard with me too. Dick Tracy’s watch isn’t so unbelievable if someone saw it in a magazine today. Still cool but not beyond belief.

Posted in Something to know, Life Lessons | 1 Comment »

September 27, 2007 by phillip.

I’ve been so wanting to post something in the last day or so but a lot of running around and getting ready for going to the Podcast and Portable Media Expo has had most of my focus.  I am out in Ontario, California today at the Podcamp the day before the expo.  I’m listening to some great speakers right now and had lunch with Roxanne Darling of Beach Walks.

I seemed to have had a ton of interest in a question I decided to speak up on about getting my grandmother on Linux.  More precisely it was about making her listen to the new media of podcasting like the old media of radio.  I’ve been approached by quite a few people about how I did it.  One man was saying that I was the hit of the show so far.  The bad part is, I introduced myself but not my website.

I’ll have more info about what I learned here and possibly go into more depth about my family podcast setup and my new job as programming director for my family’s viewing and listening needs.

Follow the link to Roxanne’s show.  I should be on her podcast later today.

Posted in Something to know, Cool Net Tricks | 1 Comment »

September 13, 2007 by phillip.

Allow me to rant a bit and give my take on what is a big issue in the free and open source community. I’m not one that is big on licensing issues and the like. So the Gnu Public License (GPL) that is the foundation of Linux and many other open source software is the last good thing the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has really contributed. I could definitely be wrong on this and am open to be corrected however, at every convention I stop at their table and try to figure out what their significant purpose is to no avail.

What I have figured out is the core of the problem. At the beginning of this year I went to a lecture that Richard Stallman (the head of the FSF and core original contributor to Linux) gave. First let me declare that this guy is the modern day mad scientist. Extremely smart and extremely nuts. It was no secret to the audience of mostly college students, due to the venue being USC, that this man lacked etiquette and hygiene awareness. However, a brief exclamation of why he believed Linux should be called GNU Linux cleared so much up for me. I’ll explain.

In the beginning, Stallman had the idea of free software and started programming all the parts of a clone of Unix. It was sheer brilliance and a lot of time spent coming up with all the programs that surrounded the brain of the operating system. The kernel. Meanwhile, over in Stockholm Sweden Linus Torvalds was creating the kernel based off the Unix variant Minix. Just like a Reese’s pieces commercial Linus’ chocolate ended up in Stallman’s peanut butter.

Which is more important to a Reese’s? The chocolate or the Peanut butter? It’s a trick question because they both are equally important. However, now imagine if chocolate and peanut butter had to name the product of their union. This is where Stallman’s issue resides. Linux was named by Linus Torvalds’ friends and followers. It’s the engine of the car they felt. Also, I regrettably must say, with the exception of Emacs (which I don’t even use because of VI) all the software would have logically been created to mimic Unix’s version like they are now.

It’s a regrettable situation because I must say that I’ve personally me Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman briefly. I liken the too to Dr. Frankenstein and Alexander Graham Bell. They were both brilliant minds (even though one’s mainly fictitious) but Torvalds was hard working reluctantly social Bell while Stallman was the massively confident mad scientist with little social empathy. In the end Stallman does have an understandable right to believe that GNU should be said before Linux but after a certain point does it really matter? To build a company of followers that faithfully extol your greatness but lack a good reason behind their efforts is now pure vanity that impedes progress.  Now to make himself relevant again he’s forcing GPL 3 on the masses.

Poor Stallman.  Doesn’t he realize that Dr. Frankenstien’s ego is what was his ultimate demise?  Go all ye Linux fans and shout Richard Stallman’s accomplishments from the rooftops.  You made this all possible in it’s current state. Now, let’s just get our heads back into the code and not the semantics of licenses or exercises in vanity.

Posted in Linux, Only for the techy people, Something to know | 1 Comment »

September 11, 2007 by phillip.

Ok, ok I’ll admit it. I preached the words I didn’t heed. My name is Phillip and I used to be insecure.

These would be the words I’d utter if there was an insecurity annonymous meeting. Without that facility to purge my transgresssions I will say them here. At work and for clients security was job one but at home… I was that guy with all the open routers. I was that guy with easy passwords. I’m not proud of my past I can only move on to help others.

In all seriousness, though, I was like many people. Insecure because we were too lazy to take the extra steps. Security always adds extra things to think about and that’s extra work. There are many good reasons for it though. First, I’ll give you the top 5 reasons people are insecure and then easy steps that remedy these problems.

1) “I don’t have anything anybody really wants.”

Know it or not there is so much information about you that can be known from a simple scan of your computer that can be used to get access to using your identity.

2) “I don’t leave my laptop laying around so anyone can touch it.”

Most security breaches aren’t from the intruder physically touching your machine. It’s from internet access to it. Especially when they know it’s idle.

3) “I use WEP encryption on my wireless. That’s good enough.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Something to know, Software, Tips | 1 Comment »

September 5, 2007 by phillip.

It’s a typical day in California. A little hotter than usual for a summer day but nothing else is different. I’m driving home from a client and I’m just taking in the views of life while I listen to podcasts on my radio. I love to people watch as I’m driving but today I’ve just got one pervading thought. Why do women and men moving mountains for a complete stranger with big boobs, cute face, or a great body? Sex doesn’t just sell products. It sells careers… or does it?

I see more business women showing cleavage than ever. It seemed that only ten years ago you could be shunned for being too sexy at work. Now you’re seeing half the HR department in tight pants and short skirts. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against it. The way I figure it, “Use whatever ammo you’ve got.” It seems that in at least one task a season on the American and the British versions of the Apprentice (I’m a big fan because of the business+reality show idea) a mostly female team will always think they’re sexy enough to use their sex appeal to sell. The funny part is… time and time again it hasn’t won them the task even though you’d think it would.

Video podcasts for tech have also taken this route by focusing on hiring women with nice boobs to tell you the technology news. For example: Natali del Conti of Textra, Amanda Congdon, Laura Petrelli a.k.a. Cali Lewis, Amber Macarthur, and Morgan Webb (pictures in order).

Bad policy? Not in my book. Well, except for one thing. Other than Amber Macarthur I have taken a male pole and nobody takes the other women seriously. Yes, we do like to look at their faces and bodies because like it or not men’s eyes are drawn to it. However, how far does this actually get you in business before you have to be able to seriously back up the looks with the skills. Morgan Webb is finding this out and reinventing herself now.

My take, you may ask? Appearance should mean a lot for women as well as men. It shouldn’t be your total focus but your first 8 seconds make up an impression that it takes hours, weeks, or months to overcome. Strength of character, know how, and a can do spirit should soon follow your initial impression or be a part of it. Believe that’s impossible? In the midst of writing this I realized I had a great example in one of my favorite video podcasts. I’ve also met this lady and she is truly a great spirit. Her show is “Beach Walks with Rox” with Roxanne Darling (winner of 3 Vlogger awards). She talks about business, life, and all things in between while walking the beach and usually in a bikini or sarong because she lives in Hawaii. Listen to me talk to her about it here on her video podcast.

Like I’ve said before in an earlier post about my daughter (Role models needed), we’ll definitely make sure she’s well kept but my 5 year old is already a computer junkie. However, with my wife being a teacher and being a knowledge junkie myself, she’s getting lots of learning early. However, I have to admit that I still watch most of the women above for my tech content because they’re all that’s there for video content. I play all my video podcasts on my TV and my oldest son actually stopped to watch with me because Natali del Conti was “the Jessica Alba of tech stuff.” Which you should infer is a very good thing. Maybe all of them or the companies behind the sponsored ones know more than I do though because the fact that all the women mentioned in this article are very easy on the eyes can’t hurt viewership. Maybe my children’s generation will start saying, “She’s got a face for audio podcasting” to reference the unattractive women.

Posted in Something to know | 3 Comments »

August 30, 2007 by phillip.

In a previous blog post (Backup and Encrypt) I talked about backing up all of your data and making an encrypted disk to keep a copy of onsite and somewhere else.  Well, your trusty computer guy has been more talk than action.  Computer guys always seem to preach security and backup and think we’re above the rules.  No more, my friend.  I’ve finally scanned in my file cabinet and here’s a couple of pointers.

The things you need to scan most are as follows: Deeds, credit cards (both sides), Driver’s licenses, birth certificates, all insurances, passports, bank info, medical papers, wills, and car pink slips.  Also, for insurance purposes, taking pictures of property and valuable items like paintings, jewelry, computer and tech equipment, and anything else priceless to you would be good.

Don’t just backup your computer.  Backup your life.

Posted in Something to know, Tips | No Comments »