Category: Tech

Tech Tips for Tweeners: Buying a Tablet PC

babycomputer

One of the primary purposes of Newsome.Org is to introduce and explain computer-related programs and features to other in-betweeners like me- people who are the parents of our children to whom computers and the internet are as integral as the telephone and the children of our parents who will never fully embrace technology.

I’ve posted before about my transition to a Thinkpad X41 Tablet PC and how much I like it. My conclusion is that a convertible Tablet PC will do virtually everything a traditional laptop will do, so why not chose one that does both- like the excellent Thinkpad X41.

JKOnTheRun posted an excellent Tablet PC buying guide the other day. There are various types of Tablet PCs available and his post does a great job of helping you decide which one is right for you.

My Tablet PC selection came down to a couple of decisions:

1) Convertible vs Slate. For me having a keyboard is simply a must. I tried it the other way, and it was just too hard to be really productive on the road. The one without the keyboard is great for checking email by the pool, but was not good for writing or editing documents.

2) Weight vs Extras. This was harder for me, as I am not bothered by a few more pounds if I can get extras like a DVD burner, more ports, etc. I ultimately chose the X41 (lighter with no DVD drive) because a lot of my work on the road is done in airplanes and the X41 is the perfect size and weight for easy airplane use.

I chose a lighter, convertible model, for the reasons stated above. But before you run off and buy one read and consider the issues and tips in JK’s post.

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Movielink Update

I mentioned the other day that I was going to try Movielink when traveling with my new Thinkpad X41 Tablet PC. I hope that it will allow me to “rent” movies to watch on the airplane and in the airport when I’m on the road.

Well, I tried it last week when I went to Dallas to give a speech. The verdict: so far so good with one glaring exception- the Movielink web site does not support Firefox. The page states unapologetically: ” We do not support Mozilla or Netscape. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.” I’m not sure how any commercial web site thinks it can force its users to use a particular browser, but my need for movies trumped my annoyance so I fired up Internet Explorer.

TheMummysCurse-795640I rented an old Lon Chaney movie for $1.99. The way rentals work is that you select a movie and download it using Movielink’s download manager. Then you have 30 days to start the movie and 24 hours after you start the movie to finish it (or buy another 24 hours for, at least in this case, 99 cents). The movie downloaded easily and the Movielink download manager is easy to use and intuitive. I watched half the movie on the airplane and the other half that night before bed. The picture was excellent, even in full screen mode, and the sound was fine. In sum, I liked the process and will definitely use it again on trips. Assuming there will be a steady stream of new movies to rent, Movielink will greatly mitigate the lack of a DVD drive on the X41.

Kevin Maney posted about Movielink the other day, saying that Movielink is “crippled” by the lack of titles and the restrictions imposed on the movies after you download them. I enjoy old movies, so it will take a while for me to work my way through the catalog. When I do, however, the lack of new titles will be a problem. As anyone who reads this blog knows I am not a fan of DRM of any kind. When I rent movies or watch them on pay-per-view, however, I accept the greatest restriction of all- you have to pay by the day (for traditional rentals) and you can only watch it once (for pay-per-view) so I don’t find the restrictions to be all that troubling in this case.

I hope Movielink will make it. It is far preferable to watching the highly edited and often lame movies shown on tiny screens and with overpriced headphones in airplanes.

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New Houston Chronicle Page – Update

Here’s my update on the redesigned, very busy and ads aplenty Houston Chronicle web site. Part 1 is here.

One of the guys at the Chronicle has a blog about the Chronicle. He asked “How Do You Like Us Now?” and based on the comments to that post, I’d have to say not too much. The complaints range from too many ads, to too little content, to too darn slow.

Dwight Silverman posted yesterday and (a) confirmed (in my mind at least) the “community building” objective I mentioned in my prior post by announcing a bunch of tech-related reader forums (reader forums equal more page views which equal more potential ad revenue), (b) said that the problems that were making the site so slow have been resolved (it has seemed faster the last day or so) and (c) said that he thought we’d like the redesigned site once we get used to the change (perhaps I’m looking for my cheese, but I don’t think I’m going to learn to love the new layout).

I know that the whole newspaper revenue model is going up in flames as people move towards free web content in lieu of papers in their yard every morning (we haven’t subscribed to a newspaper in many years). And I applaud the Chronicle for trying to get out in front of this problem while there’s still time. And I even understand the need to sell ads to pay people like Dwight to write the content we want to read. What I don’t like is having the Chronicle’s front page try to push me toward those things (e.g., classifieds, job listings, etc.) that still generate revenue. I have never used that stuff and I never will. I want news and commentary. If I have to work too hard to find it, then I’ll get it someplace else.

I also don’t think all of these reader forums are going to turn the Chronicle web site into the page viewing, ad-clicking cyber-community they’re hoping for. Lots of media (read TV stations, radio stations and newspapers) have tried to build internet communities and most have failed. Here’s why.

There are two kinds of web site readers. One, people who either don’t know how or don’t want to get interactive. They just want to come to a site, get the information they want and leave. All of the reader forums in the world are not going to entice these folks to start debating school revenue or the latest Lost episode on some message board. Two, people who have the desire to be interactive and the knowledge to do it. Those folks generally choose their ultimate internet community (by ultimate I mean their internet “home base”) based on relatively narrow shared interests like hunting, sports, photography (think Flickr) and other shared passions. They may initially be drawn to all these reader forum links the Chronicle is putting out there, but eventually they’ll find a more comfortable niche elsewhere. A community built on a city or a newspaper is too broad. There’s no glue to hold people there.

So where does that leave us? The pages load faster. That’s good. The content is still there somewhere- I just have to click around to find it. I don’t care a whit about the reader forums or the classified ads. Don’t get me started about the polls (another doomed to failure attempt at creating interactivity). At least the lottery numbers seem to have been relagated to a link as opposed to a real estate hogging list.

It’s not horrible. It might even be getting slightly better. But it’s not good either. And it needs to be good.

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Tech Tips for Tweeners: Maxtor Network Storage Drive

babycomputer

One of the primary purposes of Newsome.Org is to introduce and explain computer-related programs and features to other in-betweeners like me- people who are the parents of the youngsters to whom computers and the internet are as integral as the telephone and the children of our parents who have no intention of ever using computers.

I have a pretty extensive home network. Most rooms and all bedrooms have wired network access leading to a Linksys 10/100/1000 Router. I also have a secured wireless network with access points upstairs and downstairs. It works fine except for one thing: backup.

The computer in my home office is so loud that putting another computer in there for backups simply isn’t an option. Raina’s office is too small (and chaotic) to accomodate another computer. The kids don’t and won’t have computers (or TVs) in their rooms. With the pending arrival of child number three, we’re down to one guest room that cannot double as my backup server room. Even when I had my backup server in that room, it was not a good solution. Everytime we lost power and often when we didn’t, that computer would be down or inaccessible over the network for some reason- requiring me to trudge upstairs, reboot and hope.

So, I decided to find another solution. After considering and quickly rejecting online backup, I elected to try network storage- specifically Maxtor’s Network Storage drive. Here’s the skinny.

Basically, a network storage device is an external hard drive that has a network connection and can be accessed from other computers on the network. After installation, it appears as a hard drive just like the other hard drive(s) on the computers.

maxtor_shared_storage-769255The Maxtor drive was a breeze to set up and install. You take the drive out of the box, plug it in, attach the included network cable to the drive and then to your network outlet, and turn the unit on. Then you insert the included CD on each computer you want to access the network drive and follow the step by step instructions to set up an access ID and password. It is that simple. Without cracking the instruction manual, I had the drive up and running and accessible by three computers in under 15 minutes.

The drive has a USB port that supposedly allows you to connect additional drives and increase the capacity. I haven’t tried that, but if it works it’s a very nice feature.

My only mild complaint is that the software you install on each computer to allow access to the network drive automatically creates a bunch of folders on the network drive (My Documents, My Music, etc.). I am not a big fan of the “My” naming convention. Fortunately, it was easy to rename or delete the created folders.

So what does this do for me? It gives me the very important backup capability without the necessity of maintaining a second computer. Plus, the network drive is much smaller and easier to place than an entire computer, monitor, keyboard, etc.

This is a great product.

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Tech Songs

Kevin Maney, USA Today’s tech writer, is also a songwriter. He has posted a couple of his own tech-inspired songs on his blog, including the excellent Found It On Google.

The other day he posted in search of tech-related songs. I emailed him a link to Lost in a 403, a song Ronnie Jeffrey and I wrote a couple of years ago.

He mentioned it in a post today. Many thanks, Kevin, for the link.

Look for more Tech Songs every Tuesday on Kevin’s blog. It’s one of my daily reads- for the tech and the music.

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New Houston Chronicle Page – Mixed Bag

Well, after this post I guess I can stop hoping for a link from Dwight Silverman. The Houston Chronicle unveiled its new web site design today. To put it diplomatically, the new front page is not very good. To speak frankly, I really don’t like it. The jury is out on the rest of the redesigned site.

While it was certainly not cutting edge, I liked the old Chronicle page because there was a lot of news on the front page. You could scroll down the front page and see links to most of the stories in all of the sections. Not any more. Not by a long shot.

My rough estimate of the real estate allocation of the new front page:

Menus/Site Info: 20%
Photos: 8% (including a tiny live traffic map- are you kidding me?)
Third Party Ads: 25%
Chronicle Ads: 5%
Polls/Forum List/Lottery: 10% (again, are you kidding me?)
Blog list: 5% (this is a good addition)
Classifieds/Jobs: 12%
News: 15% (that’s right- very little news content)

Lots of ads. Not much news. As bad as it looks in a regular browser, I can’t imagine how bad it will look (and how hard it will be to find the content) on a handheld.

There is some sort of a flash-looking thing that purports to provide “easy access to popular features,” but I find it to be exactly that- a lot of flash. If I want to see little boxes with little snippets of information, I’ll go back to AOL.

There is a News link at the top that takes you to a page with a lot more news content/links on it. This page, if it stays flash and ad-overfill free, may be the one to link to. I wish this News page was the front page.

It is obvious to me that the redesign has 3 purposes: first, to generate more page views (e.g., potential ad revenue) by making you click around to find the content you want. Second, to try to build some sort of community by adding blog listings and reader forums to the front page. Third, to highlight those parts of the site that make money (classifieds, etc.).

The bottom line is that the Chronicle dumped a useful design in favor of one that is less informative, less useful, too busy, and with a bunch of useless stuff on the front page.

Maybe this is a work in progress that will get better. But if the current design is any indication of where they’re headed, I am not hopeful that the end result will be an improvement over the old design.

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Blog Wars, Final Round (Unlikely)

I posted the other day about a couple of sites that seemed to be ripping off other sites. I also talked about some of the experiences I had when developing ACCBoards.Com and the other commercial web sites I created. Here’s the so-called final update on those stories and some of my thoughts about winning the blog wars.

fightIn the prior post I said that I was looking forward to the war of words between Jason Calacanis and the guy Jason says ripped off the look and feel of Weblogs, Inc. There were some words exchanged but not the shootout at the not-OK Corral that I was expecting. Today, Jason posted a “final update” on his blog. He has nothing good to say about the other guys, so I suspect this story isn’t over.

The other story I mentioned, involving JKOnTheRun and a site he was formerly associated with, seems to have been resolved satisfactorily. JK emailed me that the other site changed their slogan shortly after he posted the story. There was some heated discussion in the comments to JK’s original post, but as best I can tell, the only argumentative comments were from someone who seems to be going out of her way to take shots at JK. One thing I learned from developing message board sites is that there is always (and I mean always) someone who sees it the other way. That makes for a lot of carping, but it also creates the back and forth that message board sites and blogs need to thrive.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the “borrowing” of ideas and design from blogs is going to be a continuing problem as the blogosphere expands and matures. I don’t know what the answer is, but I suspect we will be better off policing ourselves that letting the lawmakers and lawyers do it for us. Here’s why.

The blog situation will probably follow the same pattern as the message boards did 5-6 years ago. After I founded and developed ACCBoards.Com into the most popular ACC sports site on the net, lots of people tried to copy the idea. At least one group rippped off the entire look and feel. It pissed me off greatly at the time. But because I had the traffic and, at that time, a partnership with JP Sports (who televised most of the ACC football games) and Raycom Sports (who did the basketball games), those copycat sites didn’t appreciably impact our business. But imagine if I had been a little slower to line up the deals- imagine if I was still in the early growing stages of ACCBoards.Com when someone ripped off the concept and design. Then I might have been royally screwed.

And here’s the problem. There’s just not that much to be done about it. There is a very low barrier to entry for web sites, message boards and blogs. It is cheap (sometime as cheap as free) and relatively easy to create a web site or blog. It’s even easier when you begin with the idea of replicating a concept. If your name is relatively unique, you can often stop someone from using your name (assuming you have perfected the intellectual property rights to that name via prior use and/or appropriate trademark and other similar filings, which most people have not done). You can probably keep someone from completely recreating your site (though they can come pretty close if they are careful- think generic soda, etc). But after spending thousands (at least) in legal fees, all you’ve accomplished is to force them make minor revisions to their web site which remains, in all substantive ways, a copy of yours.

So what do you do?

1) Get there first. Once the need has been filled, it takes an evolutionary advance to get people to move. Flickr is one example of such an advance (at the expense of Shutterfly, etc.), but those are few and far between. It’s much easier just to be first.

2) Market and market well so (like JK and the phrase, OnTheRun) people associate a phrase with your site and you. I didn’t realize this at the time, but the fact that people associate me with ACCBoards.Com and, accordingly, with sports web sites was very helpful to me in protecting ACCBoards.Com and launching other sites.

3) Make the deals with other vertical sites that embed you as the leader in the area (my JP Sports and Raycom deals created a barrier to traffic growth that otherwise would not have existed).

It’s hard and expensive to win by lawyer. It’s cheaper and better to win by planning and execution.

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TIVO Deathwatch: A Survey Says the Sky is Blue

File under the surveying the obvious category.

A survey has determined that TIVO is losing its buzz. Ya think?

blue
Yup

Maybe the fact that

1) DirecTV has abandoned it,

2) the HDTV boxes we paid a grand a pop for are either dying of a bad hard drive or about to be obsolete since they don’t do MPEG-4, and

3) nobody who dumped cable for satellite TV is willing to run back to the oppressive cable company just in the hopes of using a TIVO until the cable company pulls a DirecTV and dumps TIVO in favor of its own recorder

has something to do with it.

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10 Reasons Why I Rolled My Own

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In the summer of 2004, I decided it was time to retire my old Dell and get a new computer. After looking around and considering a Dell, a Gateway and a few smaller shop products, I decided to build my own. I’m still using it, and it works like a charm.

Here are 6 reasons I rolled my own and why I’m glad I did:

1) I’m the neighborhood computer geek, yet I’d never built a computer from scratch. I sort of felt like a pretender. No more, and it was actually even easier than I thought it would be.

2) I am an Intel guy and all of the small shops tried to brow beat me into using an AMD chip. OK, maybe it’s hipper. Maybe even faster. But I wanted an Intel chip and now I have one.

3) I wanted many hard drives in a RAID array. Now Dell and probably others are offering RAID as an option, but they weren’t back then. Plus, by building one, I was forced to learn how RAID works, which helps a lot when a problem arises that needs to be fixed.

4) I wanted to create my own BIOS splash screen, with the name of my computer (KN-1- not very snazzy) and a picture of my kids on it. I make all of our friends watch my computer boot up when they’re over. One day, someone is going to be really impressed.

5) Upgradability. I can now change out any part of my system with newer parts and keep this computer cutting edge for a long time. I’ve changed the video card and the fans in my never ending search for quietness. When I need to I can switch out the motherboard, chip, etc. It is very hard to do that with a Dell or other commercial box.

6) Size and bays. Because I use my computer for making music and films as well as all the other stuff you use a computer for, I needed a tower- not a mini-tower. I have 6 hard drives (including 2 for music composing that are accessible from the front so I can take them out and carry them around), a card reader, 2 DVD burners, a crappy zip drive (never again) and a floppy drive (that I have used only during installation of the RAID drivers and the BIOS graphics), a Creative Audigy panel, some USB ports and a fan controller. There is no way I could get all of this into a Dell box.

In the past I have used computers from Micron, Dell, Compaq, HP, Fujitsu, IBM and a couple of no-names. Having built one and used it for over a year, I can honestly say I’ll never buy another pre-built desktop computer for my home office. Nothing beats a KN-1.

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Microsoft to Remove Sony Spyware

I thought I was through with this story, but I have to add one more nugget. I and others previously wondered if Microsoft might add the Sony BMG spyware to the list of bugs removed by Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool. Well it seems it will.

According to this post on the Anti-Malware Engineering Team blog:

We are concerned about any malware and its impact on our customers’ machines. Rootkits have a clearly negative impact on not only the security, but also the reliability and performance of their systems.

The post goes on to say that removal of the Sony software will be included in the upcoming editions of the Microsoft programs.

Good job Microsoft.

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