Disqus - Latest Comments for cbemerine

Re: Are Google Chrome OS Devices Debuting Next Month?

cbemerine — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:02:14 -0000

Root access or NEXT!

I have had root access to configure my Linux handheld (Nokia N800) since 2007, why would I take a step backwards with new technology regardless of the various rumored promises that may or may not be proved true.

Also I have always been able to utilize high definition content (x.264 and h.264), that is 1080p, not some compressed artifact filled 380p, 480p or 1080i...or worse. So exactly how are you making me better off again?

No root access to fix the proprietary BS, no purchase...saves me from making mistakes while saving me money.

BTW there is a version of the Android that is supposedly root-able, but I have not played with it yet. I KNOW there are other Linux distros designed for smaller processors with less memory that give you everything...again if you are being limited, how is that a good thing?

Re: Firefox 3.5: The World’s Most Popular Browser

cbemerine — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:57:57 -0000

Yours has been the best analysis of the problems with IE that I have read, thank you for posting.

While I have steadily watched Firefox's share of the browser space increase, I am guessing that the reason is two fold, an increase in Firefox adoption and the increase of Google Chrome. It appears that both are taking market share away from Internet Explorer.

There are many government employees stuck using IE, only because of outdated corporate IT policies that will be breathing a sigh of relief to finally move away from Internet Explorer completely. Perhaps the news behind both Firefox and Google will help them improve their poor handicapped browser situation.

I was even able to get Firefox 3.5.6 running on my Asus Eee PC (net book) running Xandros Advanced mode. And let me tell you it is lightning fast. The only remaining issue for me to really enjoy the web is the market dominance of Flash. Since Adobe does not update all Operating Systems at the same time, there is always a lag for Linux/Unix/MacIntosh users. They do seem to favor Microsoft OS's don't they. If websites would stick to open source data codecs that would allow all operating systems to have equal access this would be a great thing!

At least the browser market is moving in the right direction. Baby steps in the right direction that benefits all, way to go Mozilla!

Re: Browser Linux :- If only you thought Google Chrome was the best

cbemerine — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:36:08 -0000

I am going to have to give Puppy Linux a try, have been hearing allot of good things about it over the last year. I do not plant to get rid of my Asus Eee PC (901) any time soon and it appears that Adobe could care less about having new versions of Flash 10 working on older hardware with only 512MB of RAM memory and processors under 1 Ghz.

I am currently still running Xandros Advanced Mode and have successfully installed FireFox 3.5.6, but not Flash 10...may try the Beta version that is reported to work.

Ultimately this is all just stop gap, as Xandros does appear to be allot more stagnant than the Eee Ubuntu Distro, Puppy Linux and others.

Which distro will I go to, that is the question and will I stick with Firefox or give Google Chrome a try? Having been impacted more than three times by vendor lock-in issues (both hardware ~ Intel, Foxconn motherboards and software ~ Microsoft, Lindros, Adobe Flash...to name just a few) I think I will makes sure that I can successfully install at least three browsers going forward at all times, should one of the vendors go down a dead end street hoping to vendor lock-in their user base, I will have two options and time to look for another third option.

With Microsoft's history over the last two decades, Internet Explorer will NOT be one of the three browsers I go forward with!

Re: Nexus One: Google Phone Shows Up in Visitor Logs [PIC]

cbemerine — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:11:20 -0000

The bar on hand helds was set with the Nokia N800 in 2005/2006 (I did not own a N770 which came out earlier), Linux (Maemo) + WiFi + GPS(add'l charge and optional) + 2 Micro USB (1 internal that could be permanent, think grow your file system, memory and 1 external that you can swap out 32GB Micro USB Cards...no storage problems anymore) + Reversible Webcam + FM Radio Chip + screen large enough that you can use a Full web browser (yes you have to move it around, magnify, etc...but the device has buttons for this and it is super easy, the best thing is you browse the web on the hand held in the same manner you do on a netbook, laptop or PC) + root access to tweak and configure should you need to!

Too many limitations on other hand held devices and phones. These limitations make them "dumb" in my opinion. If a device is going to be smart, you must be able to do more with it, without limitations. No tethering issues (dumb), no WiFi so you must you cellular (dumber), no root access if you need it to install, configure and tweak new software (dumbest).

As for those that suggest root access is too much of a security issue, get a clue and a life. If you do not protect root with a secure password and monitor the hardware/software for root kitting and other types of attacks then you are in trouble anyway. To blindly say put root in a sandbox or security through obscurity does NOT make you more secure. For Linux/Unix, if someone gets your root account they have the keys to the kingdom and this will never change. Often an artificial layer preventing root access (esp when you need it) does nothing to make you more secure. Just gives you a false sense of security. This will never change...get over it and secure your root account correctly..

For a computer to be smart, tests:

1) Must be able to access root (true root, not a sand boxed root or only root above a virtual layer). If the device has virtual OS, then you MUST have root to each of the virtual layers or else you will not be able to do what you need to do, when you need to do it.

2) Must have WiFi and must not be required to use cellular minutes to use WiFi. The ideal solution would be for the user to flip a switch, selecting either WiFi or Cellular and enable prevention of random, trickle charges due to unknowing using cellular when a WiFi signal is available.

3) Must not prevent tethering. Lets face it, if you have WiFi and you have Root access, tethering is a non issue. You simply can not be prevented from installing the software you need to install and using the device they way you see fit. See you bought it, its yours, you should be able to use it as you see fit.

4) Have the ability to put one or more distros of Linux on the hand held device. Not saying you have to use Linux, just that you should be able too. There have been embedded Linux for hand helds for many years before Maemo was used on the Nokia Nxxx series of phones/tablets/computers (its all of those for many of us and more). Warning, even if you do not want to use Linux, if the device does not allow for it, you will be limited in some other way, just say No to the device.

Those first three tests eliminate all dumb hand helds from consideration, period. If the hardware vendor or cellular provider (many dumb phones are connected to monthly cellular plans and limitations are introduced via hardware and software on the bequest of the cellular provider) prevent you from installing other software, especially a Linux distro meant for embedded devices, do yourself a favor and keep your money in your wallet or an investment and wait for a more intelligent choice. A really smart phone/hand held that does not artificially constrain you. You will be glad you did.

As for costs of hand helds being too high, while I would agree, I have to consider that I use to pay between $100 - $200 for a monthly cellular plan. So after 5 or 6 months of no cellular (thanks to WiFi + VoIP) you could save enough money to cover the cost of the most expensive Nokia N900 and still have money left over at the end of the month. My VoIP Skype costs less than $100 per year (yes PER YEAR) and you have your own phone number for people to call you, the only catch, is you must be online or they have to leave you a message (its the way it worked when I was younger). Ask yourself, is it worth saving $1,200 - $2,400 per year, to force people to leave you a message when you are busy doing something else? It was an easy yes for me. And I have been happily cellular free for over 5 years now.

If you must have cellular, thats okay, the Nokia N900 will allow you to have cellular also.

Heck you could use your savings to purchase a new hand held and a new netbook every year if you wanted.

Any parent who has gotten an inflated bill for any reason, right or wrong, and the cellular company will NOT work with you, this is your solution. Give your son or daughter an Android or Nokia N800 (less than $200 used) or a Nokia N900 for closer to $500 to $600 and they can text all day long via your WiFi Firewall/Router at home. For emergency use you could get a prepaid cell phone(one time $100 charge), still cheaper than a cellular plan with the risk of inflated multiple thousand dollar bills in your future.

If the company requires you to have cellular, then they should be paying for it.

A quick search on RipOffReports.com on any of the cellular providers will reveal the truth of your future if you give your son / daughter or even yourself a cellular plan. Its not a matter of if you will be messed with, but only a matter of when. Then you get to see what customer-no-service is all about. It sucks and is to be avoided. Fortunately today, we can all avoid such unnecessary hassles.

I love that Google is creating an unlocked hand held / phone and this can only help innovation in the industry. Finally, its way over due. However you do not have to wait for that device down the road, the future is here now, has been here since 2006, get a Nokia Nxxx (three x's not two), install Maemo (Linux) and start looking for applications that will actually enhance your life, there are thousands. With root access you have the capability to get them installed. And Remember the Nokia N800 had over 450 different software applications available specifically for it, my guess is that most if not all would run on the Nokia N900, even if their website does not show them all yet. And remember, with Linux, there are thousands of software applications you can install on your device. Having the external Micro USB slot for putting in a 32GB Micros memory card seems smarter. Heck I have not maxed out my 4 Gb Micro USB Card yet.

Aren't you tired of limitations, restrictions and being told you can not do something when you know you could if not for that company and their vendor locked-in solution? I know you are, we all are. So get smart, stop buying and vendor locked-in hardware and/or software and force the vendors to innovate to earn your business.

Why settle for less?

Thanks to the Nokia N900 and the new Android unlocked phone, the future does indeed look bright!

Re: No Price Tag for Happiness

cbemerine — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:12:09 -0000

Beautiful and oh so true. In life its the ones who do not just "think" about doing something or "dream" about something but those that have the cajones to take that next step, to take action and make the attempt regardless of the consequences.

I hope you are always able to live your dreams and make your life! Way to go!

Re: All About Maemo - There's more than one perfect smartphone form factor

cbemerine — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:29:48 -0000

I think you hit the nail on the head. Everyone would rather use their "smart" hand held device in the same or as close to the same way that they use their netbook, laptop, desktop or tower PC.

The Nokia Nxxx series of products (Nokia N770, N800, N880, N900) comes closest to giving the user this experience. Since the three previous versions before the N900 did not take the market by storm, one wonders if the N900 will see deeper market penetration. I believe it could, with enough Marketing, but not without that!

I love using a “full” web browser to view web content on my Nokia N800. Sure I have to move the screen around to see it all and sometimes I have to magnify the image to view some content, but that is okay as the Nokia N800 lets me do just that. Since I am browsing the web, seeing the same website, just in a smaller display foot print, I pretty much know where to look for what I need. And when I am at home or at work, I have a bigger monitor and keyboard available to me anyway.

Thanks to my Nokia N800, I will never settle for less. In fact the most important two tests before I will purchase a hand held device both need Yes answers or the device is not smart and I will not buy it. They are:

Will it allow me to run a distro of Linux?
Can I gain "root" access?

(About Root access: This has nothing to do with security concerns. You often need “root” access in order to modify configuration files in order to get a software application to work on your computer. You might not want to go there, using root, and arguably you should NOT have too, however, you must have the capability to get “root” access when it is needed to get work done. No root access, well the device is not intelligent, it is not smart, the device is “dumb”. The device is inferior to the Nokia N800 and capabilities I have had for well over a year now...so why would I buy it and take a step backwards with a restricted, limited device...how is that intelligent?)

The answers to those two questions MUST be Yes or I will not purchase it. I have been led down one too many dead end alleys proprietary hardware, operating system and software application wise since 1979 when I started working in Data Processing and Information Technology. I simply do not have the patience, time or money to waste on any hardware or software that limits my use of it in any way.

Why take a step backwards, technologically speaking. With Root access on a Linux computer there is a way to get almost any application configured, installed and working. Without you are stuck waiting on others to un-tether and let you have access. We see how favorable tethering and restricting access has become over the years.

There are already well over 450 software applications that worked on the Nokia N800 and N810, my guess is that most of these would work just fine on the N900 running Maemo, yet when I went to the Maemo.org website, this was far from obvious. In fact the lack of links to viable software apps that I KNOW will run on the N800, N810 and N900 leaves me wondering why and "what is up with that" (aka SNL). Hopefully maemo.org will realize that it is in their best interest to get those software apps and links back up as soon as possible.

If I were Nokia I would do the following:

1) Put a team of a dozen Linux software developers together to port every application that ever ran on the Nokia N770, N800, N880 over to the N900. Verify that they all work on the N900 with instructions how users can do it for themselves. 12 developers, getting out 2 apps a day, could get through 20 apps a day (4 less than 24) easily enough. Figure a month to get through 500 apps, add on 3 or 4 months for those applications that are difficult children to get converted as you know there will be some and you could port over all 500 in 4 months for sure. Probably faster. Releasing news, tweets and other social media comments after each successful port.

2) Have a second team (you pick the number...3 or 4) to put together “How Tos” in using the current development (dev) tools for Maemo and the N900. Help jump start new app development by new software developers whether they know and understand Linux or not. Preference should be given to tools that are not proprietary and do not result in proprietary data formats.

3) I would put at the top of my list, any social media application that will allow Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and raise the bar for "smart" handhelds. Highlight the fact that you should be able to use the device in almost the same way you use your netbook, laptop, PC, Tower. Focus the markets attention in having the capability to use one software application across all their devices, hardware and operating systems.

4) I would have booths, with Nokia N900's for sale, at every trade show for the next year. I would not just limit myself to tech trade shows either. Regardless of the trade shows focus, there is an application widely used by that market that can be ported to the Nokia N900. Make sure that you consider alternative and not directly related applications. For instance, Hermes ability to sink up with Twitter and Facebook would apply to all cases. GPS capable apps like Om Weather would probably cross over to all demographics as well. As would the Nokia's capabilities with high definition video via the H.264 codec. And superior audio with the Ogg codecs (data formats). Play up the additional capabilities that come with the addition of a 16GB or 32GB Micro SSD card, etc... Maybe have some inexpensive Micro SSD cards for sale, perhaps even as a loss leader to get buzz and eyeballs to the booth.

5) Provision a Linux server + VoIP + Chat capabilities (serving ads of course) that will allow a WiFi connected Nokia N900 chat with friends, whether the friends are using cellular, WiFi or LAN connections. Just show that to any parent that has gotten an inflated bill from their cellular company because of their sons or daughters texting and you will have a convert immediately. If that family has not personally been hit by the inflated-customer-no-service-bill they know a family that has. “You mean my daughter can chat, unlimited, without hitting our families cellular minutes?” “Sold”.

The killer app is simple, the ability to use a hand held (N900) in almost the same manner as they use their other computers and with the same software, without the need for modification. Thus whatever software is their "hot" button, becomes the killer app for that person. For Windows users, just point them to the superior open source app that will do more than the windows equivalent application and suggest to them a brighter future.

Nokia should be all over this market and raise the bar to such a high level (thanks to Linux + root access for installing full software applications) that other more restricted devices are perceived to be the inferior product that they are. Had Nokia started this with the Nokia N770 and pushed it over the top with the N800, the sales for the iPhone would have been severely limited as it would have been perceived as inferior, not the device to buy, very uncool.

Sure you can get one of those "restricted" devices for less money, but why limit yourself. Of course its worth a few dollars more to be able to use the software you want to use, in the way you want to use it, to do what you need to do. That should be the Nokia Nxxx sales pitch.

“You use a browser at home right, why not with your smart phone?”

“Your phone will not let you use a full browser, really, well that is not very smart is it?”

A very basic conversation even the most noob user can understand. Game over.

Everyone else would then have to start playing catch up, if they ever do...

Re: HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI

cbemerine — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:04:29 -0000

What no mention of A/B testing? Interesting article none the less.

Re: Twitter Corrects Follower Counts: How Many Followers Did You Lose?

cbemerine — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:53:39 -0000

Personally I am not out to get "followers", so I do not care if someone follows me back or not. If I find one interesting tweet (and they are not selling something) I will follow them. When someone does not follow me back its okay, EXCEPT the twitter following / follower limits. Now all of a sudden I have to go back and delete people who are not following me back just so I can follow a few more interesting people. Yet I followed those people because I thought they were interesting. I simply do not like that. So I will get one of those automated "if you are not following me" I will drop you tools and C'est la vie.

When you are about to lose 800 - 900 following in one fell swoop, losing 10 or so following / followers does not seem to matter as much.

I basically lose 5 - 15 followers each time twitter makes an adjustment, which really hits me now that I am hitting the first 2,000 follower / following limitation.

Does make me wonder how many others are simply losing followers because they are not following back.

Re: Happy 11th Birthday, Google. Nice Logo!

cbemerine — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:39:47 -0000

Dave, good post. I have definitely never lived in Socialism or any other
ism but capitalism. I can honestly state that I have no interest in living
under any other system.

My parents, here in the US had it much better than I do and my kids will
have given the current state of the US economy. All you have to look at is
the base sticker price of a car, cost of a house, cost for food, and all
utilities to see that even with lower salaries of yester-year my parents
were so much better off. Heck in my lifetime all of these costs have risen
in spite of market conditions that should have leveled some of them off and
reigned in others.

I find it fascinating that the same problem that ruins other isms, also
ruins capitalism; that is unscrupulous individuals. It would be funny if
it was not so pathetic.

Re: Happy 11th Birthday, Google. Nice Logo!

cbemerine — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:56:20 -0000

Google is NOT 'evil'; even their few miss steps have been quickly fixed. I would love for anyone to give me one company near the size of Google or larger (by any measure) whose corporate culture is either less evil or NOT evil. You can start with how they use lobbyist and move on from there. Does economics work in their market or are they either a monopoly or oligopoly? Are they making life better for Americans? Do they do the right thing? (Which implies they have the right stuff, going on behind closed doors) Do they help you only if you complain and take advantage of anyone who doesn't?

The reality is Google is an exceptional company when you compare it to many industries (Banking, Telcos, Credit, Pharmaceutical, Hospitals, Health Care, Insurance (all types), Cellular, etc...)

Do you experience Customer Service or Customer NO-Service with them?

Capitalism in an of itself is not bad. Its when the bad and questionable players are so thoroughly controlling not just their markets, but your elected leaders that things turn ugly.

Google evil, by comparison their friggin angels. Thank goodness for Google! My sincere hope is that they will enter into the home Internet access market, providing Fiber over the last mile to our homes and apartments; leveraging their undersea cables. In Japan it took the government to de-regulate NTT and by 2000, Japanese consumers were getting 100Mbps / 100Mbps for less than $55 per month. Thanks to the fiber already provided to the customers, they were able to switch out a customer's firewall/router and/or modem so that Japanese customers began getting 1 Gbps / 1Gbps for less than $52 per month. Yes the price went down, not a surprise if economics and markets are working. Here in America they are NOT working, because the players (oligopolies) prevent it by lobbying our elected officials at the rate of over $18 million per week. And they complain its too expensive to put fiber to our doors. Pathetic fail.

To add insult to injury, when Greenlight wanted to offer 100Mbps / 100Mbps and put fiber to peoples homes in a community in the Carolinas the telcos started lobbying the local officials to prevent it. Fortunately for the citizens of that community, the elected officials put citizens first, I can think of no other community in the US, where elected officials have put their citizens first with respects to Internet Access in this matter. Granted Greenlight is charging just under $100 per month for 100 Mbps / 100Mbps access, way better than any offering by any telco.

While I have picked on the telcos in this example, it would be just as easy to find multiple examples with each of the industries mentioned above where a community here or a community there bucked the typical corporate greed and business as usual and put their citizens first. Sadly for most of Americans this is not what we encounter, whether by greed, crook or crock, too many are willing to do anything to advance themselves in spite of what it does to their own family, friends and neighbors.

Its not the fault of capitalism which is a far better system than any other, especially socialism, it is simply a failure of many individuals who put their own greed ahead of everyone, even their own children, although many of them choose not to see it that way.

Its all about personal responsibility folks. We all have choices and doing the "right" thing is not always the easiest, cheapest or quickest. Vote with your dollars, do business with good businesses and when a business treats anyone poorly, regardless of how they treat the squeaky wheels, put off doing business with them for a period of time. If their actions over that period of time shows you they are doing the right thing (or at least trying to do the right thing) then perhaps give them another chance.

But every time they do the wrong thing (without correcting it, we all make mistakes which need to be corrected) then restart that clock based on their actions.

I suggest a three year clock. Further research the company on RipOffReports.com as they can not buy their way out of their bad behavior as they can with other reporting services. Plus you get to see how they respond and you can easily tell when a consumer is being unreasonable.

No reports in the last three years, reward them with your business (and money); however a bad report, restart the clock, stop doing business with them until they fix their business model.

Can you imagine how much better we would all be if a company refused to do the wrong thing, because they knew such an action was going to cost them business by a large percentage of customers to treat even one consumer badly?

They are just greedy enough to get the message and do the right thing.

To companies, capitalism is good, but are your actions showing you to be a good corporate citizen or not? Spend money and fix the problems, get out of the lobby business and you just might find that you are even more profitable.

And to conservative politicians and liberal politicians who profess to have faith in any religion (all faiths) follow the "Golden Rule" and you might like that person in the mirror again.

To Americans, if your elected officials actions show that they are not acting in you, your family, your friends and your neighbors best interest; fix it by voting them out of office. Tell everyone about their true actions. It really is easy to see if you but take the time to look.

Remember words can lie, but actions speak volumes. Make your decisions based on actions and stop being misled! Everyone in your monkey-sphere will be glad you did!

It really is that simple! KISS!

Re: Thai King Has Cooties, Drops YouTube Suit

cbemerine — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:20:20 -0000

This got posted in the wrong place. I reposted it in the correct place, which is here: http://mashable.com/2009/09...

If someone (from mashable) would like to delete this post and the one above it, that would be okay with me as it is posted in the correct place.

My guess is I hit a link with the multiple failed login attempts via Disqus (miss-spelled above) and Twitter. Twitter referred to Disqus. This is very confusing primarily because the "Post as Guest" button is the ONLY option to post, which leads one to assume that by clicking it you can ONLY post as GUEST. It is not until you click on it that you realize that Disqus will give you yet another chance to login and post as a person other than Guest.

If you can not fix the login via Disqus and twitter on the comments page. Granted this would help with the "Like" / "Reply" buttons under each posted comment. Then you probably should modify the button to be more accurate or better yet, provide two buttons, one to Post as Guest and the other to Login and complete post.

Is there a way that I, the poster, could delete a post? I tried clicking on my post, the icon, no joy.

Re: Ann Minch’s YouTube Video Spawns a Debtors Revolt [VIDEO]

cbemerine — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:12:42 -0000

Compare your bank against complaints on RipOffReports.com (they do not remove complaints, allowing companies to respond and fix, but the complaint and the resolution ~ if any, remain forever) You will be shocked at the number or reports, you might thing 10, 20, 30, no you will find 10,000+ negative reports with most of these larger banks. You honestly think that many people are all crazy? Think again.

Hint: 1 or two reports (< 10 total reports) with a good positive response from the business is what you WANT to see. Great businesses will NOT have any complaints. Even good businesses will have obviously crazy reports (its obvious) and you will see their response to the customer.

If you are in business you will get complaints, how you act / handle the complains speaks volumes to everyone that hears it. No wonder so many people want the complaints to be hush hush. That way they can take advantage. A great company will be proud of the way problems and complaints are handled, they have nothing to hide.

If a company does not try to fix the problem, enough said, do you really want to do business with them?

Compare every company you do business with against RipOffReports.com; if they do not provide true honest Customer Service (as opposed to Customer No Service) than stop doing business with them, period. Unlike the Better Business Bureau which can be paid off for a good report.

IF you continue to do business with them; you are, by your actions, saying you condone (agree with) their anti-consumer and anti-competitive business practices. Its like saying yea, you fixed me and I do not mind if you mess over my family, friends, neighbors and others. What kind of person would take that stance...a creep?

There is something very, very wrong with that message. Stop doing business with them!

Only do business with players were good track records based on their actions, not their marketing slicks. Wake up. Ask yourself how long of a positive track record is enough before you do business with them again. I would suggest a minimum 3 year cooling off period.

If a business KNOWS bad business practices will not only cost them business today, but for 3 years to come, they MIGHT think twice before they take advantage of you, your mom, your dad, your family, your friends, your neighbors. Perhaps they might become good corporate citizens once again. MAYBE.

Regardless you encourage market competition by encouraging new businesses who will practice acceptable to good customer service to enter the market. These days customer service is so bad I would be thrilled to have simply good customer service.

Sadly the bail outs prevented putting out-of-business these bad corporations with Customer No-Service practices, thanks primarily to the Republicans who begin the bail-outs (spreading fear and other FUD) and Democrats for voting for the bailouts. When your elected officials are paid off by lobbyists to hurt you economically as most are today, you have no other choice but to vote with your family's hard earned money. And today, for the majority of us that money is very hard earned indeed.

Its nice that BOA helped this one person, but the right thing to do would be to fix the business model so that it never happened again and to fix the problem for 100% of their customers. Anything less is unacceptable.

If you do not fix it for everyone, not just yourself, you allow them to hurt you and your family again in the future. That is crazy.

Are you crazy?

Re: Thai King Has Cooties, Drops YouTube Suit

cbemerine — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:07:44 -0000

If a company does not try to fix the problem, enough said, do you really want to do business with them?

There is something very, very wrong with that message. Stop doing business with them!

If you do not fix it for everyone, not just yourself, you allow them to hurt you and your family again in the future. That is crazy.

Are you crazy?
(attempted to post as who I am, but problems getting logged on via Disquis or Twitter. Twitter refers to Disquis, Disquis does not seem to log you in, as "Post as Guest" is still displayed?)

Re: VICTORY: FCC to Mandate Net Neutrality for the Web

cbemerine — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:28:26 -0000

Its not enough. No ISP should be able to advertise their service as High Speed Internet and/or Broadband if they do NOT offer their customers a consistent high speed bandwidth connection 100% of the time. If you have the right router software (DD-WRT, hint, hint) you can see your bandwidth in real time 24x7x365. This information can be logged and saved if you want.

The FCC definition (way too low given the state of technology) is 768Kbps. My logging software shows that I am throttled (kept below, prevented from using more) to lower than 100Kbps over 90% of the time. I am throttled to below 40Kbps 80% to 90% of the time. (It feels like I am throttled back 99% of the time) The only thing I see above 768Kbs are short 1 sec spikes to 1MB, 3MB and one time I actually saw one 1 second 6Mb spike (I was downloading a Linux distro). When I download large distros I do see a consistent 1MB - 3 Mbps most of the time, but as soon as the download is finished I am capped at 30Kbps to 40Kbps the rest of the time.

Makes DSL, if a guarantee of a consistent 1Mbps, look really, really good. Perhaps I should churn.

And this is the downstream limit that is thrust on me by the Cable company. I see my upstream capped at 0Kbps to 18Kbps frequently. They saw they do not throttle my service, okay so they do not call it throttling, I get that. Whatever they call it the end result is the same. I am prevented from using more bandwidth even though they advertise up to 8MBps when you join up. And this happens when people are at work and early in the morning when most people are sleeping, not just in prime time. I understand cable is a shared media that they prefer for their tiered pricing model.

Without the FCC or some government agency adding in a mandatory minimum to be considered broadband, you are still going to be manipulated in a negative way by your ISP. Even if you have Net Neutrality.

For those that stress free market, give it a rest because it just is not working. I too believe in free markets, but in the USA, there are simply too many oligopolies (or monopolies in many areas) that prevent the free market from working.

If we had working free markets here in the US, we would have 100Mbps/100Mbps for $55 per month or less like the Japanese had in 2000. Thanks to government deregulation of NTT. In 2006, Japanese customers started receiving 1Gbps / 1Gbps for less than $52 per month thanks to fiber to their homes laid back in 2000, thanks again to the government deregulation of the Japanese telco industry.

What happened in Japan is what is suppose to happen in a FREE MARKET. Yet since the 1990s, the telcos in the US have received money to put in Fiber and have made any excuse they could for not doing it. The most laughable excuse is that fiber is too expensive as they lobby our elected officials at the rate of over $1.8 million per week. It has been estimated (conservative estimate) that the telco industry has received over $900 billion since the 1990s (extra taxes, additional fees and money from American's tax dollars) specifically for building out Fiber.

Where's the fiber!? (Think the Wendy's commercials, Wheres the Beef? and you have the correct analogy. Even FIOS only offers something less than 100Mbps / 100Mbps. ) I have only heard of one company, Greenlight, Wilson, NC that is offering fiber to customers home and speeds of 100MB/100MB (symetrical Internet access) for a reasonable price. (around $100 per month; FIOS offers introductory rates of $119 per month (in some areas) for bandwidths of 50MB / 10MB. I am personally not aware of any other companies in the US offering 100MB / 100MB at any cost, much less around $100 per month.

In Wilson, NC, the local officials (elected leaders) invited Greenlight into their communicty. The telcos are fighting them, even there. Ask yourself why and follow the money.

If the free market was working here in the US (it is NOT working), as of 2009 we would have a broadband connection with consistent bandwidths greater than the FCC's definition of 768Kbps, but none of us do.

I would be interested to hear from some FIOS users that are utilizing the DD-WRT software (so they can actually see and log bandwidth in real time) to see what speeds their connection is throttled back to. Are they seeing the line not drop below 10Mbps?

The FCC definition should be at least 100Mbps / 100Mbps as this was reached by others in 2000. Probably higher in reality.

If an ISP does not guarantee speeds and bandwidths 100% of the time that are at and/or above the FCC definition, than the should NOT be allowed to say they offer either high speed Internet or Broadband. They should be sued for false advertising. They need to be regulated as they are obviously manipulating their market very effectively.

There is no excuse anymore, they had their chance back in 1996 (Telecommunications Act of 1996) and they did nothing. Well actually they did do something, they lobbied against it and won. Americans lost yet again.

They tell the truth to financial analysts when marketing to bump up their stock prices. Based on the facts they provide, there is no FREE market. The economics of the market tell us that the market is being controlled. And controlled very effectively.

We MUST have Net Neutrality, we must have fiber.

Give me fiber or give me death!

I attempted to post as myself, cbemerine, however my WAN was being throttled back to less than 30Kbps with one 393Kbps spike of one second and the Disqus login failed. While Either Disqus or Twitter (logins) were being attempted, my WAN connection was throttled back to less than 8Kbps down and 0Kbps upstream. I am surprised gmail will load as it sometimes does not when the Cable company limits my connection that severely. This might post as guest.

Re: Microsoft’s Best Buy Lies About Linux Debunked

cbemerine — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:28:06 -0000

You response was great. I loved the detailed comments. The end result is I
am even more excited about the prospect of this type of coding down the
road. It is not something I have ever tried to get paid to do. Simple have
never had a reason. Better to leave that as a hobby, along with surfing,
scuba and more.

If I had the cash I would go out and buy it this weekend, sadly I have other
obligations. So I will stick to working with OO PHP, Linux and MySQL this
weekend as I had planned to do. I probably will be able to get that new
system by Thanksgiving and can give it a go over the holidays. At least
that will be good timing as I will probably have some time off at that
time.

Thanks for the information and the feedback. The last time I did any
programming with a bus the MicroChannel Architecture was all the rage. That
dates me, ouch. Seems like most of my jobs have not been straight
programming positions except for the last few years and those were with
higher level languages, specifically web development (LAMP more than .NET)

I have irrational dreams of a building a production server farm from the
ground up based on Coreboot, Linux and Cinelerra; with whatever languages
and tools I need to throw in to get it all to work together. All open
source, all fast, all free, except the hardware and my time of course.
Nothing vendor-locked in, no worries about future dead ends. And if things
go the way I hope they will, that same basic system should provide an
excellent gaming platform, movie watching / Tivo type platform, etc... I
really do not care if it runs any Microsoft games or not. They (Microsoft)
are never going to develop games that will run in Linux without Wine, so why
should I give another thought to them. Besides their gaming platforms seem
to fail a week or month after the warranty expires. At least with my
platform it should run for 10 years if I want. Replace a power supply or
fan, no biggee. Its not like I even care to try to compete or anything,
that is not the point of the effort for this, though there are some obvious
applications where such a platform could not just compete, but surpass what
they can offer, thanks to the open source and FOSS community. In fact I am
more interested in the development tools/stack that would let a kid or
teenager create their own games, backgrounds, scenarios and play with others
via the Internet than I am with anything else.

Back in those MicroChannel days, when everyone said you had to use a
Macintosh to do anything with Video and sound; I was using OS/2 1.2 (thank
goodness I did not get involved with OS/2 1.0) and the Audio Visual
Communication software to edit and replay video and sound just fine. A
friend of mine was using a midi connection/adapter and keyboard to mimic
multiple instruments and build his own Orchestra all without a Macintosh.
It was fun doing things others said could not be done.

Today, there have already been movie productions designed, developed,
created, coded and produced on 100% Linux platforms, so that has already
been done. While I still use Windows for work and did last year. I have
been 100% Linux at home for almost two years now. I just figured it might
be fun to give a kid a very robust, very capable graphic platform with zero
limitations for under $500. And see what they come up with. I know I can
do that with Linux today, could have done this with Linux 3 - 5 years ago,
with the right hardware of course. But if I have to purchase the GPUs, and
based on what you have posted, my own efforts will bare out the truth of
that; the cost will definitely go higher. Heck I probably can not get a
quad core for less than $500. I know I can get a dual core for less than
$400 running Linux and a Nvidia 2 or 3 year out of date GPU adapter as
ZaReason sells that in a bundled package from their website now. (I do not
blame ZaReason and System76 when they can not offer the latest GPUs as I
understand that its the hardware industries current practices to release new
products for Windows first, and only 2 - 3 years later offer anything to the
Linux, Open Source community device driver wise...makes me recent that
industry and not give them any of my money however) When the hardware
device driver industry consistently releases their Linux, Unix and Macintosh
device driver in the same calendar month that they release the Windows
device drivers I will start supporting them again, but not before. The
ZaReason PC w/ the Nvidia (6xxx or 8xxx) adapter was $399 if memory serves.
So we can get a Linux box + GPU adapter for that price today. Not too
shabby. How long have the 9xxx Nvidia cards been out and on the market.

I am pretty sure that neither company builds their PCs with the coreboot
bios yet, but have honestly not checked this to be sure. Coreboot is one of
my must have requirements anymore. (If I have to write C code to turn
on/off the fan at a different time I want to be able to do that. True
story, the guys PC overheated because the BIOS ~ designed for Windows ~ did
not turn the fans off/on at the correct times, thus the PC would
overheat.) I only had to read about one incident to know that I did NOT
want those kinds of vendor lock-in issues/hassles in my future. Which for
me is a future deal breaker, though I admit the ZaReason box is very nice
and the price would be hard to beat. Best of all since the ZaReason box was
built with Linux from the ground up, you know with 100% certainty that you
can run future versions of Linux on it without fear of Vendor lock-in
preventing you. The opposite can never be guaranteed with any big box store
Windows PC, especially when they do not offer Linux. Just say no and save
yourself future headaches.

If I can get a Coreboot enabled quad core processor w/ an Nvidia 6xxx
adapter (not sure they have released the Linux device drivers for anything
higher ...8xxx or 8xxx yet) for less than $500, than watch out. Add in
either Xen or VMS running underneath two or three different Linux distros,
with solid development tools, on top. CMake, GCC, Qt and some others not
only would I have a solid machine that could be used in a production
farm(movie production), gaming platform(no need to Wine), but it would be
like a DVD/Tivo on steroids. What processor does the cable company put in
their DVD Recorders today, 200 - 300 mhz? I know they do not store the
movies you record on the local hard drive anyway, but only on the servers at
the office that serves your area. (Found that out the hard way when a
hurricane knocked out power. When the power came back on and Internet had
not recovered yet (It took them an additional 4 hours to get the Internet
back up. Well I figured no big deal as I was catching up on a series and
had recorded a couple of TV shows with the Cable company's DVR. Imagine my
surprise when I could not watch the shows or any movies only because the
Internet (via Cable) was not available. Up and till that point in time I
thought the movies and TV shows were on the DVR's hard drive, not.) Get
really crazy with this Linux box and add in a fiber connection (overkill I
know) in addition to multiple 1000 Ethernet NIC cards and what might I be
able to do from a home movie/video network perspective.

Oh that's right, nothing because the Cable Internet company's deep packet
inspection, bandwidth shaping software would throttle back my connection to
something insanely low. I wonder what will happen in the future with
Bandwidth caps?

Well all this rambling has been fun, time for me to get back to the OO PHP.
I am building a Model View Controller (MVC) framework over the weekend
starting tonight with only PHP. No C++, no Java, no .net, no C (not that
you would use that for this), no Python, no Ruby, no Perl, hopefully little
or no JavaScript, and as little CSS as I can get by with, primarily just
PHP. I am wondering how efficient I can make it, especially if I do not
have to load in the normal large OO libraries that many of us use today.
Why, for the fun of it (and a future project ;-) ). Fortunately some others
have gone this route so I will not be the first or in completely uncharted
waters. Probably add in some Xajax the jury is still out on that as I type
this, depends on what I have time for. I plan to give it a MySQL back end.
(Would add in MariaDB and PostgreSQL if I had time; after all if you are
careful how you code it, PHP does not care what RDBMS is running under it.)
If time permits, probably will not, I want to add in some Google Maps in the
web interface for the fun of it. Down the road tie in FFMpeg, Tagging,
Imagick, a little Regex, perhaps some OAuth (for interfacing with other
social media websites) and proxy front end. Make sure my blogging
environment is 100% PHP so when some weasel cracker finds a weakness (think
lately with Wordpress) I can patch it myself. It is nice to NOT be limited
by your framework / CMS / libraries / platform / whatever-you-want-to-call
it / someone-else-will-call-something-else.

Later and thanks for the info.

Re: Microsoft’s Best Buy Lies About Linux Debunked

cbemerine — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:12:19 -0000

I hear you, but do not understand completely, based on you stating this:

"I sort of agreed with you until I got to this line, clearly you've been
drinking the koolaid way too long or don't play video games. 2 processors
rendering graphics is NOT equal to even 1 older GPU, CPUs really, really
suck at that. Where you got to this level of crazy is anyone's guess."

Am I to assume that there is little or no communication between the adapter
card (GPU) and the systems processor (CPU) when outputting graphics? If
that is the case, then a GPU on an adapter hooked to the display would be
faster. However if very much communication needs to take place between the
GPU and the CPU (which is still my understanding), than the bottle necks
(either 8 bit, 16 bit or if you are lucky 32bit) somewhere in between (even
on 64 bit systems) is going to be your limiting factor. I understand that
the GPU by design is intended to offload processing from the CPU to the
GPU's processor on the adapter card; but I have been led to believe that
there is still significant communication over a smaller data pipe, between
the CPU and the GPU on the Adapter card. I have also been told that even if
the GPU is on the motherboard, the data path between it and the processor is
smaller and thus becomes a bottle neck. Heck every datapath (even between
northbridges and southbridges) is a bottle neck when it comes to doing
anything internal to the processors.

I have always believed that this bottleneck was significant. I have not
written this type of code yet, but plan to in the near future on a Linux +
Coreboot BIOS + Quad CPU (or more) box. I will be purchasing that this
year. So once I start doing the C code, what you are saying, I might have
more than one eye-opener. Sounds like fun.

If what you are stating is fact, at least there are a number of GPU adapters
that are compatible with Linux that I can make use of....

Re: Microsoft’s Best Buy Lies About Linux Debunked

cbemerine — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:49:33 -0000

Fortunately I have never been a shill for Microsoft. Having used their products for over 20 years and still do from time to time when a client requires it. But at home, I have been 100% Linux for well over two years now and am loving it. There is nothing I can not do better than a Windows box. And Microsoft specific games do not count in my book as they are designed NOT to work by default.

Now this year I plan to purchase a computer designed with Coreboot (Linux compatible BIOS) and Linux from the ground up. But I will not just be running Linux on it. I plan to either virtualize or dual boot a copy of Windows 7, that yes I will purchase. Its sad that the forced updates prevent me from reformatting and reinstalling from scratch, as with even one update all the bloat is back. I do not understand how anyone can sleep easy knowing that their system can be broken or turned off via one forced update. Not a matter of if, only a matter of when. I personally want more control over my computing environment that what that software has allowed since Windo3ws 2000. (Mid way through you could not turn off auto update, sure you could make the setting to wait for you to decide, but it did the upgrade anyway, how dare they.)

I am also going to purchase a Mac OSX machine as well. Even though I am 100% Linux, I need the other two for testing purposes ONLY.

The point is I am buying PC hardware that is designed to run Linux specifically. No more vendor lock-in crap from any hardware or BIOS vendors to create roadblocks to innovation and success down the road when Windows 7 support is withdrawn by Microsoft. As we all know one day they will withdraw support and attempt to force the next version on you. I wonder if you will have to purchase brand new hardware again as with Vista?

Even when they eventually withdraw their support for their current Operating System, I know that good hardware can be re-purposed and used with Linux, if the hardware and/or BIOS has not been specifically crippled to thwart you installing Linux as most of the hardware purchased from the big box stores are. Talk about wasting money.

Everyone should do this. Take away the incentive for hardware and software vendors to perpetuate the vendor lock-in crap and marketing FUD that is described so well in this article.

While I am sure a few less intelligent customers will buy the FUD, most Americans are getting smarter. The fact that Microsoft is putting shills into the retail chains to perpetuate the decade old FUD smells of desperation.

When you combine the FUD, the vendor lock-in crippled hardware and figure in the obvious planned obsolescence. Just look at how fast Xbox, Playstations and Wii game stations fail these days. Most do not last even one year. I know more than one EX-Xbox purchaser that finally gave up after his 3rd Xbox died a month or two after the warranty ended, how convenient. Shame he did not learn after the first experience. At least they do eventually learn, even if it takes an economic downturn to drive the lesson home.

The ultimate game PC is a Linux box with either a GPU that works with Linux or a quad processor, with 2 processors rendering the graphics (hey its faster than the GPUs)

And yes you can WINE if you MUST, pun intended.

Personally if it will not run with Linux, it just is NOT smart! (Hint: cell phones, hand sets, internet tablets, book readers, etc... anything smaller than a netbook!) I stopped purchasing dumb devices (anything that will not run Linux) years ago. How about you?

Disqus and Twitter would not let me login today, so I had to post as Guest, This is cbemerine and I can be found on twitter.

Re: A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide

cbemerine — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:20:24 -0000

Actually I take the opposite view, assuming there is room to include them, include all people who ReTweeted (RT) the tweet and give them their due. Chances are you would not have known about the tweet had it not been for the chain that ReTweeted it, therefore always try to keep the entire chain, when possible.

I have un followed a couple of Twitter accounts that were RT information without giving credit as it is dishonest.