Blog
Thoughts and things I care to shareWindows Home Server thread
There is quite a thread of discussion of the upcoming Microsoft Windows Home Server accumulating over at Tailrank. From the little information I’ve found on the device, it is designed to be a central repository at home for files and backups.
Mainly destined to be a media-file storage device, I wonder if this really makes as much sense as everyone thinks it does. Without a simple (as in automatic – not even one click), offsite backup solution that would keep a copy of the consumer’s files in case the server drives failed. Otherwise, the liability of file loss is simply being moved from the PC to another device.
As far as a local cache of extremely large video and audio files, it may be of use for people trying to go “all digital”. It would also me of use to all the users that have any amount of family videos that they want to back up and keep online for viewing.
Personally, I’m not really sold on the idea of a home server – I don’t see the need. Though I will admit that even as little as 8 months ago, I would have thought differently.
What are your thoughts?
Via: Tailrank – Windows Home Server will live in your closet, simplify your life
LinkedIn Profile Updated
Well I went back and updated my LinkedIn profile that I originally created early in 2006. To my surprise, there were several people in my own department at work with profiles on LinkedIn – two of them managers! Pretty cool.
So now that’s as current as it can get at this time. You can view my profile at the link below.
Technorati tags: LinkedInlinks for 2007-01-05
- Looking for that 1TB for your PC or server? Well, now you can count on Seagate coming through for you.
Instant Messaging – again
We’ll I’m back on IM again. You can find me on the following instant messenger systems:
- Google Talk (preferred)
- Windows Live Messenger
I’m not connected all the time, but you may find me from time to time. I’m currently trying to keep contacts to just friends, family, and coworkers, so you’ll have to email me to find out what accounts I’m using for each.
Personally, I’m still disgusted with the feature overload of Windows Live Messenger – the simplicity of GTalk is much better. My main goal of getting back into IM was to stick to, well, instant messaging and not all the other features.
links for 2007-01-04
- Refered by TechCrunch, tag2find is a local-pc application that allows you to tag your locally stored files on your PC for quicker search and retrieval.
- Google Calendar is on the rise. I’ve recently started keeping my schedule in an online calendar and guess which one I’ve chosen? My only complaint is that I’ve both a Gmail and a Google Hosted Email for my domain. I’ve got a GCal for each account – whi
- This type of news is the turning point (though not tipping point) of innovation. What I mean is that as more manufacturers churn out larger flash drives, and the trend towards lightweight, easy mobility in our computing devices, the more we have true inn
- Finally my pleas have been answered – but is it too little too late? With the boon of online Web 2.0 services, is there really a place in the home for a dedicated server? Will the average consumer really make use of this when they have Flickr, or use de
Would consumers buy a Microsoft Windows Home Server?
I’m not sure that many would. The biggest use of a home server would be for storing recorded video in its original high-quality state.
Most consumers don’t know what they would need a server for and those that have moved into recording or watching video content are using services like SlingBox or Orb. These types of services allow them to watch live TV over the Internet from anywhere with a broadband connection.
What else would consumers use a server for? Let’s try some ideas:
- Email: No, Yahoo, GMail, Live Mail, and many others have that tied up – why host or store your email anymore?
- Streaming Media: Why, with YouTube, online audio services, iPod/iTunes, and the like would you want to manage all those files and stream them?
- Web Server: Huh, all the free blogging services, hosting services and such – even the fee-based services are cheap! Why bother with managing a server?
- IM: Nope, GTalk, Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, etc… is where your friends are. Not “Bob’s Messenger” with you and your mom.
Well, I can’t come up with much more in the time I have, but you get the drift. A year ago, I still would have thought this was a great idea, but now I think MS would be better served coming up with better Vista licensing plans for consumers with multiple computers – Office too!
Via: Neowin.net – Microsoft to unveil Windows Home Server at CES
Out for lunch
I’ve made it out the door for lunch for once, a good time to catch up on some RSS feed reading!
Wishlist for my 2007 phone
Ok, there are several great new phones slated for 2007 from Samsung, HTC and others. But here are some of the features that I’ll be looking for in my next handset.
- Windows Mobile 6 (Crossbow) – Pocket PC
- VGA Screen
- Multi-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA on T-Mobile
- 400MHz processor (or faster)
- Bluetooth 2.0
- 802.11b/g
- Slid-out QWERTY Keyboard
- Scroll wheel
- D-Pad
- 256MB ROM
- 96MB RAM
- 3MP Rear-facing Camera
- VGA Front-facing camera
- MicroSD or MiniSD Slot
- GPS
- Tethering ability as GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA modem
- 2-Day battery life to fit my usage (to beat my existing T-Mobile MDA’s 24 hour limit)
I reserve the right to revise this list as I change my mind of course!
There are always great new things coming down the pipe that we don’t know about.
What about you, what features will you be looking for as you replace your phone in 2007 (if you are planning it)? Will it be a Palm, Windows Mobile, Symbian, or Blackberry device? Will you go back to a dumb phone and carry a UMPC? Or will you be moving from a dumb phone to a smart phone this year?
Let me know in the comments!
links for 2006-12-30
- Steve Rubel gives a brief review of the new Lifehacker book.
- Will Wireless USB ever make to the mainstream market?
- Forget Dick Clark and the Rockin’ New Year’s Eve party on ABC. YouTube wants you ringing in 2007 with them online.
- New UMPC coming to market. I’m hoping for a model with longer battery life, though a little more performance would be welcome. This unit has a slide out keyboard and seems to be running Windows Vista.
Spam Overload in December
So I’ve gotten spammed royally in December. The last two days alone I’ve gotten 863 spam comments.
So far this month the problem has been much worse than in past months. Total, I’m now over 12.5K spam messages since last February, with the bulk of them in the last 90 days.
By the way, sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, I’m off on vacation for another few days and will be working to get caught up again soon.
Later!
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.