Technology
Comparison between Time Warner Cable’s (TWC) Wideband, Turbo, Standard service packages
Nov 25th
Aside from using my internet connection for telecommuting to work, I also use it for VOIP calling (Skype), online gaming (EVE Online), and off-site backup (BackBlaze), just to name a few. None of which work well. And so it was that after struggling with Time Warner Cable’s standard broadband service for months, I finally decided to upgrade to their Wideband service. In the interim I upgraded to TWC’s Turbo package for testing and perspective. What follows is my comparison of all three service levels.
Basic ($30/month)
This package is supposed to deliver 10MB down and 512kb up, which I realize is not nearly enough for what I was trying to do.
As you can see, this leaves a lot to be desired. The extremely poor signal quality explains why I was unable to use Skype. It also explains the poor gaming experience I’ve had. The download speed was actually better than advertised and more than I expected. That being said, download speed was never my problem. It has always been signal quality.
Turbo ($45/month)
This package ups the ante to 15MB down and 768kb up.
The signal quality with the Turbo package is much improved allowing for the use of internet communications. The download speeds were again better than advertised on at least one of my runs, though remained within expected ranges. Overall this is a great upgrade for the money. I can’t believe I didn’t at least have this to begin with.
Wideband ($100/month)
Finally, with this service I ought to be getting 50MB down and 5MB up.
These numbers are right on par with what should be expect for a package with this price tag. I don’t know why it took me so long to upgrade. This was long overdue.
Pandora is Limiting Free User’s to 40 Hours a Month
Nov 17th
I just recieved a notice from Pandora via email informing me that I’m about to exceed 40 hours of listening this month. I was shocked! Not only because they want me to pay to keep using the service, but also because I just figured that I was using way more than that. How did I miss this news 4 months ago? I guess that I vaguely recall reading something about this and thinking about how tragic and sad it was. Though I never thought it would affect me!
Perhaps its for the best for both of us. I for one will be exploring other options with my listening time. I’ve got a few leads on some internet radio stations outside the jurisdiction of the RIAA that I can squander a few hours a day on. At $0.99 a month too keep the stream alive, I’m almost tempted to just bite the bullet reluctantly, but I won’t. For $36 a year I ought to be able to pick the exact songs that I want to hear and repeat songs that I like among MANY other things. For instance, there’s an echoing rumor that I’ll be able to subscribe to my favorite TV shows via iTunes inside of a year for about $30/month. That I could get behind. Pandora’s business model is a nice try, but ultimately its doomed to failure.
The real crux of my problem is that I (like many others) am philosophically opposed to the position taken by Pandora that followed the initial legal defeat. What position is that? ”If we have to pay ridiculously high fees to the RIAA then so should everyone else.” (paraphrased) They were in such a fatalist, compromised position that they made a deal with the devil. At this point, I’d like to thank Pandora for reminding me of this point so that I can take corrective action to avoid supporting them (and vicariously the greed-heads at the RIAA) in the future. It’s for the best that they just fade into history. Farewell, Pandora I hardly knew ye!
Does anyone know of any good alternative’s to Pandora that aren’t knee deal in slime from the RIAA?
The email from Pandora after the jump:
Free Google Wave Invites!
Nov 13th
I’ve a cool dozen left to give out to anyone interested.
HOW TO REQUEST AN INVITE:
- Register for this site with the email you want the invite sent to and post a comment on this page. Or…
- Send me your email address in a @jpgrace on twitter or on Facebook. Have a nice day!
UPDATE (11/15/2009 @6:10pm EST): ALL OUT OF INVITES! THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR DROPPING BY!
How to fix a Canon 50mm f/1.4 Lens with a Stuck Focus Ring
Mar 19th
I bought a used Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens off of Craigslist today only to discover once I departed that the focus ring was badly stuck between 3 meters and infinity. I considered taking the lens into a professional service center for repair, but need it for a shoot this weekend and that would take at least two weeks.
I discovered that the focus ring gets stuck often on this model lens and that most people send it off to be serviced. The most common cause seems to be dropping the lens. The method used to fix this isn’t for the faint at heart. I would certainly not recommend this to anyone who has never taken apart anything before (and successfully put it back together again) or someone who has a lot to lose if something were to go wrong.
If you try this and it doesn’t work out, I take NO responsibility for your failings. Do this at your own risk!
Thanks to those who went before me: fatigue from Clubsnap for documenting the entire process of dissassembly and Nick_b of Photography on the Net for documenting the focus ring part correction.
Before you begin, I would recommend getting several dry clean wash clothes to layout the disassembled parts on. You’ll also want a mini-screwdriver set, needle nose pliers and some latex gloves. I got gloves for free from the deli downstairs.
I’m going to try to get permission to republish the steps here. Until then, please follow the links to see directions and discussion.
- Step 1: Disassemble the lens. Personal note: the four screws on the metal mount are very tight and difficult to loosen. I had to apply pressure on the screw with the mini-Philipshead screwdriver and apply torque with the needle nose pliers.
- Step 2: Bend the focus ring back in place. Personal note: I bent mine a little too far and it caused the ring to get stuck at the infinity end. I just used the needle nose pliers to correct the overcompensation. I could see how you could destroy this piece very easily if you weren’t very careful.
- Step 3: Reassemble the lens. Personal note: make sure the four metal mount screws are tight upon completion. I failed to tighten mine all the way. This caused the USM to fail to engage, which meant that the aperture reading in my viewfinder and LCD read 00 and autofocus didn’t work. Tightening the screws fixed the problem.
Results
I just finished a few hours ago and only taken a handful of shots. So far every thing seems in order. I’ll post some pics from this weekends shoot to show how well its working. Here’s a photo taken at night in my bedroom with just the fan lights on. Only time will tell if this has indeed fixed the issue.
The is the full image shrunk down to fit on the web.
This is a close up of the first image to show detail
Wordpress Twitter Widget Throwdown
Jan 30th
Twitter’s growth continues to explode. Recently thier traffic surpassed Digg’s for the first time ever. Tweeters are still a savvy bunch. They require cross platform integration of services. With its open API, twitter widgets, plugins and apps have sprung up all over the internet, from Facebook to the iPhone and of course on wordpress.
The market for twitter plugins on Wordpress is fierce. With no less than five stand-alone twitter plugins (Considering there are really only two caching plugins I’d say this is a testament to the tweeters). Today let’s take take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the best of these plugins.
Throwdown Prerequisites
To be considered for this smackdown, a plugin must be considered a twitter only plugin. Plugins that don’t work with the latest version of Wordpress were also excluded. This was done to exclude the many other all-in-one or no longer supported plugins which were deemed to be outside the scope of the throwdown.
Twitter Widget Pro version 1.2.2
Screenshot of Twitter Widget Pro
Twitter Widget Pro lives up to its name. Of all the plugins I tested its execution of a widget was nearly flawless. I love plugins like this. The authors seem to better understand when to add a feature and when to omit one. If you’re just looking for a sidebar widget to display your feed, look no further.
Twitter Widget Pro options
It also includes this ominous option in Settings:
A few things of note, the title links to your twitter homepage and @ posts link to your friend’s twitter page. I would have liked the option to exclude @username and RT posts. The former is available in Twitter Tools, but the latter is currently not an option for any of these plugins so that’s a moot point.
Twitter Tools version 1.5.1a
If you’re looking for a little bit more twitter integration into your blog, might I suggest Twitter Tools. Twitter Tools provides several ways to interact with your twitter account right from Wordpress. It includes a sidebar widget, a post to twitter tool, and an option to include all of your tweets as posts on wordpress. This plugin offers the most features of any of the other plugins and yet still manages to do each task right. That doesn’t mean that it’s without it fault.
Unfortunately the widget title doesn’t link to your twitter account. Instead there is a link at the bottom of the module for “More updates…”. Which I suppose does the job, but adds to the clutter and breaks up the flow of information. This is really my biggest gripe about the plugin. Perhaps I’m nitpicking.
Twitter Tools in action
You’ll find the post to twitter tool is found under Posts > Tweet.
Here are a few screenshots of the settings page. As you can see Twitter Tools is vastly more customizable than the other options.
Twitter for Wordpress version 1.9.2
Simplicity is the name of the game here. Twitter for Wordpress is very simple to use. In fact there isn’t even a Settings page to configure it! All configuration is done in Appearance > Widgets. Just because its simple doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any tricks up its sleeve. It also features support for multiple twitter widget feeds.
Twitter for Wordpress widget options in all thier glory
As you can see below, the user experience is nearly identical to Twitter Widget Pro. Its greatest shortcoming is that the title doesn’t link to your twitter homepage. I would have liked to see the option for including your profile pic as well.
Twitter for Wordpress is better for users preferring a simple approach.
Summary
There’s a lot out there for the Wordpress community to choose from regarding twitter integration: Twitter Widget Pro is a superb widget module, Twitter Tools provides users with just a little bit more, and Twitter for Wordpress is perfect for the functional minimalist in all of us. None of these plugins are perfect, but you should be able to live with one them.
In the end, I decided to go with Twitter Tools here on jpgrace.com for a number of reasons. I was looking for a tool to both post tweets to the sidebar and to notify twitter when I post a new blog. The fact that it appears to be one of the more actively developed plugins of those reviewed definitely weighed heavily as well. The fact that @username reply can be excluded was important as well. So there you have it, Twitter Tools is crowned king of the Twitter Widget throwdown!
In closing, just a word of caution. These plugins don’t all play nice together. You’re better off picking the plugin that closest suits your needs than trying to mix and match.
Excellent Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse… By Microsoft?
Jul 25th
As many of you know, I’m not a huge Microsoft fanboy. In fact, it’s much the opposite. Thats what makes this post even more incredible.
Earlier this week a co-worker ordered a new keyboard for work. When the wrong model number arrived in the mail, what ensued was nothing short of a debacle. Mike decided that selling the wrong one and buying a new correct one would be the best solution. After sending out an email to a mailing list within the company to see if anyone wanted to buy his new, wrong keyboard a 3 hour mail thread debated the merits of various input devices.
All of this got me to thinking. Why am I using these painful, awful company supplied devices? It didn’t take long for that feeling to translate into a purchase. The model I chose the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 is amazing! It arrived today, a full 10 days ahead of schedule. Thanks to the good people at TigerDirect!
I’ve owned a previous incarnation of this model as well. All of which leads me to believe that for all its shortcomings, Microsoft has consistently been able to develop quality ergonomic input devices. Perhaps do to the fact that all of the engineers writing sloppy code in Seattle spend more time than most in front of a keyboard.
Ubuntu Blows Me Away!
Apr 2nd
Over the past several years I’ve been interested in switching to a full time Linux user. After evaluating a possible upgrade of my laptop to Vista, I decided against it. Two of the main reasons for this was the crippling DRM and bloated operating requirements. Then it occurred to me that now would be the perfect time to make the big switch to Linux.
I decided on a dual boot with XP/Ubuntu as my OS’s and a shared partition between the two. Everything went relatively smoothly during download/install, meaning that after reading through a few how-to’s I was able to do it without doing anything disastrous to my computer. However I soon discovered that my wireless card was not fully supported. I was determined to not let this setback dissuade me from switching.
After about a month of using a wired connection I noticed that the new beta version of Ubuntu (Fiesty Fox) had improved wireless functionality. After installation, it worked beautifully!
As a first time Linux user I was amazed at how the user experience rivalled windows. Many software packages even blew away my expectations of what was possible. I love the repository system for keeping everything up to date and running smoothly. Also the open source nature of all things Linux is a constant source of pride and joy to me.
Of particular note I am super pleased with the performance of Linux compared with XP. The two running the exact same types of programs have remarkably different memory footprints. With XP running I have been using up amost all of the 1.5 Gb of RAM installed on my laptop. Whereas in Ubuntu I’ve been using between 500-700 Mb.
Its gotten to the point that I hardly ever boot into XP anymore. In fact I’m so happy with the move that I would recommend it to anyone considering or so inclined. In retrospect I should have done this much sooner.
Pulling Back on Myspace and Facebook
Mar 3rd
Recently there has been some growing negative buzz regard everyones favorite bookmarking sites. Specifically with regard to putting your personal privacy in the hands of other people. There’s a really good flash presentation that gives you the idea.
Which got me thinking: “What am I really getting out of this relationship?” And: “Can’t I do this on my own?” That is why I will be investing myself more heavily here and pulling back on Myspace and Facebook in the near future. At least here I can control who gets to see what.
Not to mention the fact that now I get to benefit from the ads that grace my page. 
