Andy's Blog

And or course, I can't have a trip back to Illinois without a picture of Scout

Here is Scout at his most unhappiest -- getting a bath:

I have posted a gallery of all of the photos from my trip. Right now, Stan is over and we are doing a three-way music swap between my PowerBook, Stan's laptop, and Sara's iBook. I am not sure who is making out like a bandit -- it's probably a toss-up between Sara and Stan. :)

-Andy.

Thanksgiving in Chicago 2005

I'm in Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it is mighty cold here. My dad and I walked Scout yesterday, and we had to make it a short one, because the wind could easily penetrate all layers of clothing, going right to the bone.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Mary's house, and my dad was made a pest of himself, as per usual. Here is is, keeping a vigil for his dinner (because he was sooo hungry):

Dinner was great (as always), making the trip out here from California well worth it. As for the rest of the trip, so far I have just been taking it easy, and hanging out with the family.

-Andy.

Upgrading my MythTV machine to Ubuntu Breezy

In the mood for inflicting pain on myself, I decided to upgrade my perfectly functioning MythTV machine, which was running Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary), and upgrade it to Ubuntu 5.10, the Breezy Badger. I didn't have any really good reason to attempt this upgrade, except for a morbid curiosity as to how it would work. Or not work, as the case may be. After performing the upgrade, it seems like apt decided to wipe out all of the MythTV packages, instead of upgrading them to the newest version.

After re-installing these packages, I found:

1. The mythbackend process could no longer login to the MySQL database,
2. The ivtv drivers for my Hauppauge PVR-250 TV capture card were not included in the new 2.6.12 kernel,
3. The IR drivers for the remote control of the PVR-250 were not included in the new kernel, and
4. The "mythtv-themes" package doesn't appear to be in any of the official Ubuntu repositories, rendering the mythtv-setup and mythfrontend programs un-runnable.

So, as it turns out, I spent about 20 minutes doing the upgrading, and about two hours hacking my way through the aftermath, getting the machine to a state comparable with where it was when I started. And it was all finished in time to record the NBC Nightly News, as it does at 5:30 every day.

Fun!

-Andy.

Kevin's latest PC

So, ever since I bought my new iMac, this has brought "computer buying frenzy" to Sunnyvale. Kevin has upped the ante by purchasing two machines -- an iMac (for GarageBand), and a Sony of his owny (for Linux, Apache, and MythTV). The iMac hasn't arrived from Apple yet, so Kevin scooped up the Sony VGC-RC110G today, to start playing with that first:

In the Reitz family tradition, I made him take the machine apart before anything else happened with it. One of the reasons why Kevin chose this particular machine is because it is supposedly very quiet. Taking a look inside, this could certainly be the case. The 400W power supply has quite a large fan in it, which hopefully will spin at a lower RPM. The video card doesn't has only a heat sink (no fan), and the CPU has a heat pipe (potentially water cooled) combined with the biggest heatsink that I have ever seen (and I've seen the inside of the PowerMac G5). Sitting beside the heatsink is an even larger fan that what is in the power supply.

So, there is every possibility that this could be one quiet machine. I don't think it will be quieter than my iMac, but it will certainly be quieter than my Dell Precision Workstation 420 (which has at least one fan that is in some stage of going bad, so has been making quite an annoying racket for months now. But not annoying enough for me to fix it!).

Anyways, hardware-wise the Sony PC consists of an Intel 945P chipset (on an Intel-made motherboard), a Pentium D 830 (dual core Pentium 4 running at 3.0Ghz), 1Gb of RAM, and a 250Gb SATA disk. The machine also includes an ATI X300 PCI-Express video card (which can probably be made to work in Linux), and a Sony "Giga Pocket" video capture card. This card doesn't appear to be supported under Linux, but I found that it has a Conexant CX23416-22 chip on it, so getting it to work under Linux might just be a possibility. I am encouraging Kevin to work with the folks behind the ivtv project to see if this can be made a reality. I think it would be a nice story to take a piece of hardware that initially only worked with Sony's proprietary TV capture software, and now has been expanded to work with Windows Media Center Edition, work in Linux.

Expect more updates on that, and Kevin's general progress with this machine, in the coming months. For now, there is a gallery of photos available for your enjoyment.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Linux, Sony, VGC-RC110G, Giga Pocket, MythTV

Review of my new iMac G5

I have been using my new iMac G5 for a few weeks now, and it is going pretty well. I am quite smitten with this machine. The display is large and bright (much brighter than my PowerBook). The 16:9 aspect ratio was a little jarring at first, because I don't have any other monitors that are that "widescreen". The unit itself has some surprising heft to it (I believe the iMac is listed at 22 lbs.), yet the motion of the display on the stand is nice and smooth.

The fit and finish of this machine also stands out, as with all of Apple's machines these days. The machine feels solid as I carry it back and forth between my bedroom and the dining room (for Urban Terror sessions with Kevin). I installed a 1Gb DIMM in it, which demonstrated the lengths that Apple will go to in order to achieve their design. The one free RAM slot is in such a position that Apple had to invent two ring-tabs, so that you can eject the memory once it is in the slot. Also, the included ambient light sensor works as advertised -- the glowing sleep light doesn't bother me a bit when I am sleeping.

Some other random notes about this computer:

• Built-in Speakers - The built-in speakers sound great! I was quite surprised by the quality of the sound that was being generated from this machine. Without a doubt, this is the best built-in sound of any computer that I have ever used. Even though I have my Bose 301's in a position where I can drive them from the iMac, I find myself still using the built-in speakers on occasion.
• IR Remote / Front Row - The IR remote is great. It is easy to hold, and simple to use. This is the one "big new feature" that I use all the time. My ergonomic keyboard doesn't have any volume controls, nor play/pause controls (and I am too lazy to find some hotkey software to expose those sorts of things with control key combinations). But now, I can just lay my hands on the remote, and pause iTunes or change the volume at will. This is super-handy, and really well-implemented on Apple's part.

  Front Row is nice, but I haven't used it that much. The integrated movie trailer stuff works very well, and is quite slick. I can see myself using the iTunes part when I want to use the iMac as a stereo, which I want to do when I'm cleaning my room. Unfortunately, I almost never clean my room, so I'm not sure how often I am going to use this part of Front Row. :)

• Noise - Unfortunately, I can hear the fan in the iMac. And I'm not sure if it is the 10.4.3 update or some piece of software that I am running, but the fan is almost always on now. That is not to say that this is an end-of-the-world thing. By far, this machine is the quietest that I own (right up there with the PowerBook). It is just that I would like the fan to only run when I am doing intensive things.
• Performance - Boy, it sure is nice to have a G5 and a desktop hard drive again. The slow HD in my PowerBook was really beginning to wear on me. The G5, coupled with the fancy ATI graphics card, has no trouble running the Quake III engine at full speed, or scrolling lots of images in Mac OS X. So far, I have managed to make each Mac purchase double the speed of the machine it was replacing (from 600Mhz G3 iBook to 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook, and now from the PowerBook to the 2.1Ghz G5 iMac). I can definitely feel the speed difference over my PowerBook.

  Do I wish that I had a dual-core G5 CPU in this baby? Hell yes! It is one of the biggest letdowns for me. But apparently the dual-core G5's just dissipate too much heat for the thin iMac design.

• Mighty Mouse - I am glad that Apple is including the Mighty Mouse now, as it gives me a chance to play with it without spending $50. Overall, I would say that the Mighty Mouse is just okay. For desktop use, the built-in scrolly-trackpointy thing is amazing. It is really easy to scroll left to right and side to side, and the button is easy to push as well. But electrostatic left/right buttons sometimes get confused, so my left click gets interpreted as a right click. Even worse, the side buttons are nearly impossible to hit, rendering them useless. Oh, and forget about using this mouse for gaming. If you are holding down the "right" button, and then want to click left (to fire your gun, say), that second click won't be registered.

I would say that all-in-all, I am satisfied with my purchase. The only disappointments are the fan noise, and the fact that the new iMac as a whole is less servicable than the model that it replaced. Not only can't the parts be easily serviced by end-users anymore, but the stand doesn't come off, rendering VESA mounts (and nifty travel cases) out of the question. But I can live with those small complaints, while I enjoy all of the other great benefits of this machine.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Macintosh, iMac, G5, Front Row

The "lost" sake photo

Anjali was giving me the business because she thought I deleted this picture of her and Mark at Miyake's two weeks ago. As it turns out, I only deleted it after first loading it into iPhoto. Behold:

Just what the Internet needed.

-Andy.

Goodbye Slashdot, hello digg

Late last week, I saw a link called "digg vs. slashdot" posted to O'Reilly Radar. Curious, I skimmed the article, and then checked out digg. At first glance, it didn't really grab me -- but then I read the "about" blurb, and found that is like Slashdot + Wiki, and got intrigued.

O'Reilly has also come through with a link to a BusinessWeek article about digg, and I'm sold. I have been pretty unhappy with Slashdot for awhile now -- duplicate postings, low signal-to-noise ratio in the comments, etc. I have never even bothered to get a Slashdot user account, because I just don't see the point. I have never bothered to add the site to my RSS reader, and I have gotten down to checking it only a few times a week.

But all along, the basic problem with Slashdot hasn't been the site itself -- but rather it's editorial approach. And it is really looking like digg is fixing that, in a social software, "let's harness the collective intelligence of everyone", sort of way.

Which I really like. So, check out digg!

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Slashdot, digg

California sunset from the 101

While driving to Foster City a few weekends ago, I was dangling my camera out the window of Kevin's hybrid. I managed a few photos of the south bay sunset, and I liked this one the best:

-Andy.

Rushabh, Mike, and Kevin posing for the camera

A certain dude was in town two weekends ago, and we all had brunch (well, basically lunch) at a neato place in Palo Alto. After it was all over, I managed this candid picture:

I wonder if it speaks to each person's individual personalities?

-Andy.

Fall Out Boy on the cover of Spin

My dad scanned and e-mailed me the cover of Sara's December issue of Spin:

I haven't received my copy yet, so I can't comment on the article. What I can comment on, is that this band is getting pretty big.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Fall Out Boy, Spin

Kevin's latest science experiment

Chris and Tanya had a pumpkin carving part last Sunday (which I don't think that I ever got a chance to write about). At this event, Kevin carved a pumpkin. And of course, the stage was set for his latest "science experiment":

I don't know how he does it, but I continue to be amazed.

-Andy.

Finally!

For at least the last two weeks, I have been calling all of the Apple stores in my immediate area, looking for a new 20" iMac G5. Well, my ship has finally come in, as the Apple Store in Palo Alto finally had some in stock today:

Because I was out so late last night, I wasn't ready to go to work until 11:00 AM today. But, since Apple had the iMac in stock, instead of driving to work I first drove to Palo Alto to buy my new toy. On the way back, I decided that I should go to work, but I brought the iMac upstairs, in order to torment my co-workers (and also myself).

But thankfully, Shreyas made me crack, and I decided to open up the box, and play instead of doing actual, factual work. I have posted the out-of-box pictures in a gallery.

Unfortunately, both Mark and Rushabh are in town this weekend, so I don't expect to really put the new machine through its paces any time soon. In fact, Monday is starting to look like it's going to be a pretty fun day, actually...

-Andy.

A case for not rejecting comments on your blog

On the EDS Next Big Thing Blog, Charlie Bess wrote about the Austin Blogging Conference, and asked "What would you like to see covered in this blog that would peak your interest and desire to carry on a deeper conversation?". I decided to answer this question, by commenting on the EDS blog. Here is what I wrote a few days ago:

"My biggest problem with this blog is that "the future" is so amorphous and hard to hold on to. Saying things like "In the future, we'll have robots to take care of our robots" is great and all, but it isn't something that I'm going to put a lot of passion into discussing.

I think the focus needs to be a little bit nearer term. Not necessarily immediate, but I would say like 1 to 2 years out, tops.

In general, I would like to see EDS get a lot more aggressive with blogging. Take some more risks. A lot of our vendors (Sun, Microsoft, BMC) and customers (GM) are doing a lot more with blogging than we are. I think that's a shame, and we should be working our tails off to catch up, and then get out ahead.

-Andy."

But, if you were to go and look at that post now, you won't find my comment, because EDS's timid attempt at blogging relies on comment moderation. I can't say that I 100% disagree with them -- there is a lot of worry in business about legal liability, and comment SPAM is actually a pretty big problem.

But in this case, I don't agree with censoring my comment. But this is what makes blogging so great -- I can just take this comment, and post it on my own blog. I could have just posted this to my internal blog at work, but since I intended this comment to be displayed on the Internet, I have decided to post it to my public blog.

Ultimately, the EDS Next Big Thing blog loses out -- because it has lost a vital piece of converstation, which I will now be steering over towards my blog. My whole "life thesis" is that being open ultimately wins out over being closed, and that really seems to apply to blog comments.

UPDATE: My comment appears now, after about a 2 day wait.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: EDS, Blogging

The Fall Out Boy back stage pass

I was almost against posting this, since I was worried about would-be counterfeiters. But, since my scanner is so bad, I think I'm probably pretty safe, so here it is:

It looks a little worse for the wear because it is a sticker (that has since been unstuck). But while I was wearing it, we got caught in a torrential downpour on the way back to the car.

Nevertheless, it has survived, to join the detritus of the Internet. Enjoy, Internet!

-Andy.

Fall Out Boy live at the Warfield

Invoking the "roommate privilege", Kevin, Mark, Suzie and I all went to the sold-out Fall Out Boy show this evening at the Warfield. I forgot my camera (and I'm not sure that they would have let me bring it in anyway), so I had to make due with some crappy cell phone pictures, like this one of the boys on stage:

Kevin and I got to the show over an hour after it started, so I missed a few of the opening bands (I hear from Patrick that Panic! At the Disco is pretty great). I missed even more of the opening bands, however, by standing in the oppressively long merch line:

I was trying to buy a Motion City Soundtrack shirt for Sara, and a Panic! shirt for my cousin Iris. By the time I got my turn to purchase, both were sold out. So, having to buy something after waiting for over an hour, I bought a FOB t-shirt.

The show itself was pretty decent. FOB was really tight, and Kevin and I both thought that Patrick was doing a much better job of singing into the microphone, and thus not "clipping" his vocals. They played a pretty decent mix of songs from "Take This To Your Grave" and "From Under The Cork Tree", including "Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is My Boy", "Chicago Is So Two Years Ago", "Sugar, We're Goin' Down", "Dance, Dance", "Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year" (Patrick really held that note fora long time, it was great) and "XO" (one of my favorites).

It was a real surprise, however, when they reached back to their first full-length "Evening Out With Your Girlfriend", and played "Moving Pictures". I think I was one of the few people who had even heard that song before, much less knew some of the lyrics. The crowd in general didn't know what to do with themselves during that song.

After the show, we used our back stage passes (sweet!) to go downstairs, where we met up with Patrick for awhile. We had a wide ranging conversation that touched on Shredder, fake accents, weird intersections of evolution as exemplified by the platypus and broken kitchen sinks. I finally steered the topic towards music, or the creation thereof. I have been giving Kevin some shit recently about not recording any of his music, and his latest excuse is that he needs a drum machine. When Patrick heard this, he quickly deflated that notion, talking about how he has been creating lots of beats using Apple's GarageBand software.

And just like that, we were off to the tour bus, so that Patrick could show us GarageBand:

So, I will gush now -- this is the first time that I have been cool enough to be "back stage", or on the bus. I of course liked the Fall Out Boy bus because they had lots of toys -- several plasma screens with stereos, DVDs, and game systems, several macs (at least 4), tons of music equipment, etc. It definitely looks like a cramped way to live for months upon end, but still, it is a huge upgrade from the van that they used to drive. One of the neatest things that we saw on the bus was a painting of the band done by a superfan:

It is hard to make out, but it is a rendition of Fall Out Boy mixed in with a famous painting.

Anyways, the bottom-line is that it was a really fun time. The concert was awesome, I had a good time hanging out afterwards, and despite the traffic and getting rained on, it was well worth the trip.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Fall Out Boy, San Francisco, Warfield

Distressed about DRM

I read a fantastic article over at Ars Technica about the MPAA's latest attempt to add insane DRM to all of our lives. Basically, the giant content conglomerates are so afraid that people might see or hear their content without actually paying for it (gasp!), that they are going to great lengths to coerce government to coerce hardware manufactures to make devices that coerce consumers into playing by the rules. And of course, the rules are going to be written by the content conglomerates, so they will be more restrictive and draconian than ever.

Whenever I read an article like this, I find it to be really distressing. I think that if the MPAA were to succeed in all of their goals -- trying to consume content would become not only expensive, but annoying as well. I think that the more the content conglomerates try to crack down, the more people are either going to either:

1. Turn the TV off,
2. Turn to piracy (because as we all know, these restrictions won't stop the pirates), or
3. Turn to small content producers, who are thrilled when anybody consumes their stuff.

I know that personally, I would probably do some sort of combination of the three. But I would much rather buy content, for a reasonable price, that lets me use it in the way that I want. So far, Apple has been doing a pretty reasonable job in this effort (although FairPlay certainly isn't perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination).

The optimist in me hopes that we'll have this sort of cheap and fair-use friendly content in the future, but currently, my inner pessimist is winning out.

-Andy.

PuTTY on my cell phone

A few weeks ago, one of the high priced Tibco consultants that we had in the office mentioned that it was possible to obtain an SSH client for my Nokia 6600 phone. At the time, I didn't do anything about it. But I had some free time tonight, so I decided to do some research. And in fact, he was right -- some crazy folks have ported PuTTY to the Symbian OS, which is what my phone runs.

Behold!

Because I am buying the all-you-can-eat GPRS Internet plan from T-Mobile, I was able to SSH directly from my phone, through T-Mobile's network, through the Internet, to my FreeBSD machine that was about 20 feet away. That's sweet!

The screen and keyboard (specifically, the lack thereof) make this whole thing rather impractical. But I was able to run top, and even my most-favorite of all text editors, joe.

So, I think I have definitely scored myself a little geek toy that I can show off in the appropriate settings.

-Andy.