Leaving the red envelope for the red box

Like millions of other Netflix subscribers last week, I received CEO Reed Hastings’ strange “apology” for the recent price increase, along with the announcement that the business is splitting into two companies: Netflix for streaming, and Qwikster for the DVDs-by-mail service. The end result is two web sites, two accounts, two queues, two payments … …

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Windows 8 Developer Preview released

This week at the Build Conference, Microsoft released a freely downloadable developer preview of Windows 8 (you can download the ISOs here). If you’re an avid reader of this blog (and which of the five of you aren’t? ;-)) you know I like to jump on new technology early so of course I downloaded the …

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Remembering 9/11 – 10 years later

I was still a traveling consultant in September of 2001 and my assignment at the time was a PeopleSoft upgrade in the Chicago suburbs. We were in our daily morning meeting when we first heard the news about the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Like everywhere else that morning, the atmosphere was one of …

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Buffalo WZR-HP-G300N wireless router

Last month I spotted a Fatwallet deal for the Buffalo WZR-HR-G300N gigabit wireless N router ($60 from Amazon with free Prime shipping) that I couldn’t pass up. I didn’t have any wireless N clients and wasn’t having any real problems with my four year-old Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 wireless router (running DD-WRT), but hey, cheap new tech, …

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Universal’s Rip Ride Rockit rip-off

This past weekend I rode the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster for the first time at Universal Studios Orlando and really enjoyed it. I didn’t know anything about it before riding, so that first experience was really cool. You get to pick your own music from a selection of about 30 tracks and then …

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Home from Universal; a Disney comparison

Normally we spend the morning of Labor Day in the hotel pool but since we already had some pool time yesterday, we checked out early and bid farewell to Universal Studios. We had breakfast at First Watch (I tried the new bacon/cheddar pancakes, which were different, but surprisingly good) and then killed some time at …

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