Who is Hahleq?

Netflix stock price skyrockets back to levels not seen since mass subscriber exodus – SiliconValley.com

Digital Life, Tim's Opinion No Responses »

Jan 272012

Netflix stock price skyrockets back to levels not seen since mass subscriber exodus – SiliconValley.com.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone anymore than the price increase did. NetFlix appears to be a fabulous service that remains heads and shoulders ahead of all others. I can’t vouch for it myself as I’m not a subscriber, but it seems everyone I know has it and loves it. The previous business model and pricing were clearly unsustainable as the content providers realize how much audience there is. NetFlix isn’t negotiating as a “new online thing that might be used”, it is now the big dog in what is clearly a strong market with lots of room for growth.

Those that left realized they didn’t really have any alternatives with the same breadth and depth of offerings and now they’re back. Until Amazon or Hulu or who-knows cranks up their game, where else they going to go?

VDHs Private Papers:: So Why Read Anymore?

Digital Life, General, Tim's Opinion No Responses »

Jan 232012

VDHs Private Papers:: So Why Read Anymore?.

I have nothing to add, other than to get to those classics I have on my Kindle that I keep putting off for “someday”.

Even Woz Thinks the Android Bests the iPhone – The Daily Beast

Digital Life, Software No Responses »

Jan 182012

Even Woz Thinks the Android Bests the iPhone – The Daily Beast.

Thought this might be of interest given my post last week on why I prefer Android over iOS.

Muslim Brotherhood Declares Mastership of World as Ultimate Goal

Politics, Tim's Opinion No Responses »

Jan 172012

Muslim Brotherhood Declares Mastership of World as Ultimate Goal :: Raymond Ibrahim.

Remember that democracy and Islam are completely incompatible. Doesn’t mean that countries can’t decide to go the route of Sharia, but there are geo-political ramifications for not only their nearest neighbors, but the entire global neighborhood. Politically correct blinders won’t change the reality, but only ensure that enslavement or death come that much sooner and as an unnecessary surprise.

Tablets: What Amazon and Apple know that all the CES tablet peddlers are still missing | TechRepublic

Digital Life, Gear, Tim's Opinion No Responses »

Jan 112012

Tablets: What Amazon and Apple know that all the CES tablet peddlers are still missing | TechRepublic.

Jason has a lot right in this article, primarily around the idea that Android tablets need to quit competing against each other and focus on competing against the iPad. Most of the current Android tablets are already more technically powerful than the iPad. I upgraded from my iPad to my Motorola Xoom and consider it to have been and continue to be a big upgrade. How can that be when the Xoom isn’t as powerful as the latest Android tablets and is probably barely on par with the iPad 2, particularly if actual weight comes into play?

Expandable storage. My Xoom allows for expandable and swappable storage. Fixed storage is a huge disadvantage and I don’t intend to be locked into such a situation until wireless connectivity is as fast and reliable as my home wifi, and reliable 24×7 and free everywhere. What can I say? I don’t want to watch stuttery, blurry videos on the plane and pay usurious rates to do so.
No bloody iTunes. In case you didn’t know, I abhor iTunes. I bought one album on it and have not purchased anything through it since. I connect my iPod to it for podcasts only and increasingly I don’t do that as my podcast listening is migrating to my phone. I was astonished and dismayed at having to attach my iPod to iTunes to get quite a few things done. Many of the apps I most used had to be attached to iTunes to load the files I wanted to use with those apps. Granted, my wife hadn’t attached her iPad to iTunes ever and perhaps she’s more of a “mass market user” than I am. However, we were both confused that she had to attach her iPad to iTunes to get the latest updates and iTunes screwed up a bunch of her apps, bookmarks and other settings. Pile onto this the continuing lack of Flash and needless to say, my wife’s next tablet will be an Android.
Apples purposeful gimping of all other services driving everyone through their store. It cracks me up that Applistas still think of Microsoft as the fascistic, big brother while they toil away in the shadow of Lenin’s, whoops, I mean Steve Jobs memorial proclaiming their superior liberalism. Jason points out that services is the key and he’s right about that, but I’d argue that the platform that gives me more freedom to use those services of my choice in the way I want is better than being locked into one. Android provides me access to Google’s Market and services as well as Amazon’s Market and services. Additionally, I get the best experience that other app / service providers can give me without them being hamstrung by Apple’s “no store but ours” policy.

Jason is also on the money in that tablets are already bloated with features and continuing to add crazy bells and whistles to them is counterproductive. For instance there are things my Xoom does as even a first gen Android tablet that I have never used and never expect to use:

Camera. I have cameras and a phone that do that nicely.
Front facing camera. I have no need to do video chat on this device. I can do that better and more easily on my PC, my laptops and even my phone. Not sure how much these camera bits cost, but I imagine they add the better part of 10% to the cost of a tablet.
HDMI out. This one is just a complete mystery to me. Why the frell would I want / need to attach the device with the least amount of video storage in my house (outside of my phone) to my TV to watch anything?

That last point on HDMI out brings up one thing that iPad does better than every Android tablet I’ve seen. Cable attachments. Seriously Android tablet makers and even Android phone makers, you are completely screwing up by not providing a single connector that covers power and device connectivity all in one. The iPad, iPod, iPhone, iTouch, etc. all have one thing that works across all devices. Plug that one thing in and you are good to go. This carries over into mounting your phone or device into other devices. In my car, my iPod (or iAnything) slides nicely down onto the plug where it gets power and broadcasts to my radio. Does the same thing for the various music players I have scattered around my house. My Android phone however, has a tiny micro port that is on the side and is a pain to get to and doesn’t dock to players other than through the headphone jack and then of course doesn’t have power. I know I’m going on a bit much about this, but it is a hugely glaring thing that needs addressed by the Android hardware community. Do it jointly guys and pick a standard. Give up on you each making individual margins on the bloody cables.

So now you know why I have and will continue to have Android phones and tablets vs. the Apple iStuff. I hope the Fire has gotten Android hardware makers thinking about Jason’s points and pulling out some of the over the top, price inflating functions from their devices. Of course, that being said, I’m eyeing the Asus Transformer Prime as my Xoom replacement if I had to buy something today. Good news is that I don’t have to buy anything today as my Xoom continues to do everything and more, that I ask of it.

GRCs | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?

Digital Life, Software No Responses »

Jan 102012

GRCs | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle? .

Nice tool to test out your current passwords for strength. Note how merely adding a repetitive character to a “weaker” password makes it exponentially stronger. For instance, “dumbp@swd” survives 1.02 days of Offline Fast Attack, but add a single “.” to the end of it and this increases to 1.98 months. Make it “dumbp@swd..” and now you’re talking about 9.75 years!

I’m going to be upgrading a few of my most important passwords taking this kind of thing into account. I already ensure that all my passwords for online sites are generated to be at least 10 characters mixed case, with at least one special character and one numeral. Running a couple test cases from my LastPass password generator indicates that these are safe from Offline Fast Attack for multiple years of cracking. I don’t have enough of anything to make that worth an attacker’s time <grin>.

Amazon Price Check promotion fuels Bay Area bookstore backlash

Economics, Rant, Tim's Opinion No Responses »

Dec 202011

Amazon Price Check promotion fuels Bay Area bookstore backlash – SiliconValley.com.

Anyone but me find the “shop locally” push an overly alarmist campaign? I’d like to propose that all shopping is local. I may buy any number of things online from enterprises that may or may not have local store presences, but I suspect that all those goods are delivered by someone with a job who is local. I suspect that person represents lots of other people local to me and local to others that have jobs. Don’t they count?

How many components or support mechanisms are there local to me that went into some portion of the creation, marketing, support, delivery, etc. of the product I bought from the evil, online enterprise? I paid with financial services that have a local presence and last time I was in my bank they paid their employees. Don’t these people count?

I guess I’m supposed to be sorry that the local mom-n-pop bookstore is going by the way-side (seriously, where are these mythical realms?), but am not going to shed any more tears over this than the loss of my local mom-n-pop hobby store or printing store or… name your own thing here. If you can’t compete, you don’t get to play for long. This is a rule of life and capitalism mirrors life most closely which is why it works better than other systems.

I love that one enterprising person decided to take on Amazon’s app approach with an app of their own. Great response if you want to compete, you have to compete, not beg for the pity and charity of your supposed customers. That may work once or near the holidays, but is not going to keep you in business even mid-term, let alone long term.

Don’t get me wrong, if you have a “local” store that you love and gives you fabulous overall value for your money, sweet. Keep going and spending your money. However, don’t be guilted into caving to corporate charity. You’re not doing the business a favor, merely slowly prolonging the inevitable. Better the business be confronted with reality sooner than later and make the necessary adjustments which may well include changing businesses. UPS and FedEx outlets are local too, remember.

Hillsdale College – Reagan: A Centenary Retrospective

Politics No Responses »

Dec 132011

Hillsdale College – Reagan: A Centenary Retrospective.

I can’t wait to watch these later in the week when time permits!

The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing

Uncategorized No Responses »

Dec 072011

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf

Yeah, it’s not all that stimulating, but gotta keep up with the lingo and various industry defined models.

Square’s App Refresh Makes Mobile Payments Hands-Free | Wired.com

Uncategorized No Responses »

Dec 072011

Square’s App Refresh Makes Mobile Payments Hands-Free | Epicenter | Wired.com.

100 meters seems a pretty long distance, particularly in a mall where you could be in multiple fences simultaneously. Then there’s the security angle of who defines and secures access to the fences? I’d need to see this actually backed and supported by the credit card industry and get built into the processes and procedures there before I’m going to jump on this functionality. This is one mobile app I’ll pass on for now.