This week Amazon unveiled public library books for the Kindle, a feature the Nook has had for quite some time. This evening I checked out (pun intended) the process to see how I could get a library book onto my daughter’s Kindle.
tech
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 64-bit version and installed it in a virtual machine via VirtualBox.
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, right?
Back in 2009 I had jumped on a similar deal and snagged a Buffalo WHR-G300N wireless N router for $35. After getting it all set up with DD-WRT, though, I discovered that with the lack of external antennas and no high-power radio the wireless signal wasn’t strong enough to cover my entire house like the WHR-HP-G54 was currently doing. Since I had effectively voided the warranty by flashing DD-WRT onto the router, I kept it for use as a switch in my office (and am still using it today, in fact).
I was hoping that the three antennas (two external, one internal) and high-power radio in the WZR-HR-G300N would do the job of replacing my WHR-HP-G54 plus give me a gigabit switch in the computer closet. I was also excited because Buffalo now included their own branded version of DD-WRT (they call it the “professional” firmware) on the router, so no more voided warranty issues!
Things never go as planned, though.
ActionTec ECB2200 MoCA adapters
I’ve been having issues with my Netgear MoCA adapters lately and since they are now out of warranty (no more free replacements) I decided to look into other manufacturers. I picked up two used ActionTec ECB2200 adapters on eBay for a good price, figuring this way I would have spares if (when) these Netgear units die again.
WebOS is dead … long live, er — uh, nevermind
Today, just six short months since announcing a slew of new WebOS devices, hp announced they are discontinuing the entire WebOS line. The successor to PalmOS and its related devices like the Pre just never took off and the TouchPad was pretty much dead-on-arrival, crushed by the iPad only 49 days after its release. It’s a sad end to a long, (relatively) proud line of Palm devices, dating back to the original Pilot 1000 in 1996. I can’t really mourn the death of hp/Palm devices though … since switching from my Treo 680 to the iPhone almost two years ago I never considering going back.
But …
HP’s press release doesn’t say that WebOS is dead. The wording instead suggests that the company will find some ways to extract value from its $1.2 billion Palm purchase, even if phones and tablets are off the table. In fact, according to a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, HP plans to expand webOS to household appliances and automobiles.
So while you may not be using WebOS on your new smartphone, you might be using it to wash your clothes. 😉
SysAdmin Day 2011
Today is the last Friday of July, which means it’s time once again to thank your local system administrator(s) on System Administrator Appreciation Day. What, you don’t know what your sysadmin does, or who he/she is? Read this and I’m sure you’ll figure it out.
ZoneMinder
Last summer, my mini-tech project was installing some wireless internet cameras inside and outside the house so I could keep tabs on things while I was away. For the past year I’d just been using the built-in features of each of the cameras (motion detection, e-mail alerts, etc.) which was hit-or-miss since each manufacturer offered different features, some better implemented than others, and none of them perfect.
This setup was fine, but I wanted to be able to better manage the system and maybe even store more history of events (or “live” video) without having it be all e-mail messages with static image attachments. That’s what prompted me to search for open source camera management software, and I that’s how I found ZoneMinder.
Amazon Kindle (2nd gen)
Back in May I spotted a woot! deal for Amazon’s second-generation Kindle e-reader and jumped on it, not for myself (I do my reading on my iOS devices), but as an end-of-the-school-year present for my daughter. We gave it to her on the last day of school in celebration of her straight As report card and she freaked. Her best friend had gotten a Nook for her birthday and she’d been asking for an e-reader ever since. She loves to read (we find open books scattered all over the house face down), so being able to put a bunch of books on a tiny device she can take with her anywhere was an appealing idea.
This was the first time I’d laid hands on, and actually used, a Kindle! Hard to believe, given my fondness for gadgets, but I’ve been reading books on small LCD screens since my Palm/iPAQ days so I never felt the need for a dedicated e-book reader.
Happy birthday, Big Blue!
Today IBM is celebrating its 100th birthday. From bar codes, to the floppy disk, to the IBM PC, to Watson, there’s no shortage of contributions IBM has made to the world over the past century.
I was an IBMer for just over a year, part of the Global Services division when they purchased PwC Consulting (my employer at the time) back in 2002. I remember it being a big adjustment, going from a large, private (formerly a partnership) firm of 30,000 employees to a giant public company of over 300,000 people. At the same time, as a tech guy, going to work for one of the largest technology companies in the world was an exciting opportunity (and the employee purchase program was nice, too). In hindsight, it was better than working for Monday or being bought by hp … it couldn’t hurt having IBM on my resume’, right?
I left IBM in 2003, not because I didn’t like working there but more because I was ready to get out of consulting. I still look back with pride on being a part (albeit very small) of that company for 13 months. So, happy 100 Big Blue! You don’t look a day over 50. 😉
World IPv6 Day
It’s a big day for the internet … today is World IPv6 Day:
On 8 June, 2011, Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai and Limelight Networks will be amongst some of the major organisations that will offer their content over IPv6 for a 24-hour “test flight”. The goal of the Test Flight Day is to motivate organizations across the industry – Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies – to prepare their services for IPv6 to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run out.
Why does IPv6 matter?
We’ve been running out of IPv4 addresses for some time on the Internet, but few sites already offer their services via the next generation of Internet addresses, IPv6. Despite the fact that we’re now down to the last few IP addresses, indeed Asia is already out, of major sites, only some of Google’s sites; Netflix, to a degree; Germany’s Heise Online; Facebook at www.v6.facebook.com; and Limelight currently offer IPv6 addressing on a regular basis.
IPv6 will increase the current 32-bit IPv4 addressing scheme to 128-bits, which means a lot more available addresses. “A lot” is a bit of an understatement, though:
So we could assign an IPV6 address to EVERY ATOM ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, and still have enough addresses left to do another 100+ earths.
Yeah, wow.
While the average internet user probably won’t notice the eventual switchover to IPv6 it will be interesting to see how (and if) it affects internal/corporate networks. Instead of using addresses like:
- 192.168.1.1
we’ll be seeing things like
- 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
Yikes! Time to start learning …