Mac +/- for Macs & Mac users, plus or minus, more or less.

I've got a Blackberry 8830 through work, so I can become the expert on Blackberry for the university.

Never used one before. Never had any smart phone before, though I used a Palm for years, and a Newton before that.

I really, really hate this phone. If I hadn't purchased an iPod Touch a few weeks before getting the work phone, I'd probably only dislike it. But I have seen the Promised Land of interfaces, and Rim could not find it with a map.

Documentation is very scarce in the box. I am a tech guy, I can spend time learning it, because it is my job to do so. But it has left me completely convinced that the typical mode of set up for this device is for the user to hand it to his or her IT person and say "Make this work."

Mark Space's Missing Sync syncing is unreliable and very very slow. And it is insulting that we have to buy software to make it work at all--the free from Rim pocketmac sw was a complete failure.

Reading anything on the tiny, overly busy screen is a pain.

It comes pre-configured with an (in)convenience button that goes off randomly, leaving my pants repeating "Say a command!" at random times.

Oh, and it's broken now, with a scroll button that only goes up, left and right. No, I didn't drop it or spill anything on it. Hopefully I can get that fixed at Alltel tonight.

Blech.

Technorati Tags: Alltel, Tech, UVa

Watch out dynamic Internet, I'm taking a php class over the next 10 weeks. Soon your inner workings will be clear to me.

Technorati Tags: Funny, Tech

In the ITC "all" meeting this morning, our newish CIO James Hilton asked us to think of our jobs and community in terms of what is possible, not in terms of why something can't be done. (I'm paraphrasing here.)
So I do believe I'm going to try to find out who has control over the SQL servers for student and people and see what can be done about upgrading them.
Or at least moving my databases off of them!
The reason this site (and student) is so slow is because the database server is completely overwhelmed–or maybe underpowered. Serving any static HTML is lightning fast, but when serving dynamic content it slows to a crawl.
While I admit this is a sore point of mine, I really believe that removing these bottlenecks could have a profound effect on the community building our CIO wants so badly. Static pages don't build community, but you have to be stubborn as I am to continue to use dynamic content on student or people with performance as bad as it is. And as bad as it has been for a year or more.

Technorati Tags: Drupal, Tech, UVa

Based on the wide variety of lackluster and hostile reviews, the Zune is heading the way of Nehru jackets, Audreys and Newtons.

Considering how poorly thought out many of the technical features of the Zune are, it is no surprise.

I imagine a time a few months from now when retailers dump their unsold Zunes for substantial discounts. Since Microsoft's margins on a consumer device must be razor thin, once the clearance discounts start, a Zune will probably be worth more as parts than as a whole device.

So, like these previous devices in search of customers, before you know it industrious hackers will be tearing Zunes apart in order to use the drive, screen and other internal parts for their own hardware projects.



I'm sure the software guys will also work hard to break into the Zune's operating system, just like they found a way to turn the Xbox into the Xbox media center. Just like hackers are already working hard to do to the Xbox 360. I can't wait to see what comes first.

Here are a few of my guesses:

• Linux (really a prerequisite for many of the following things)
• wireless-based walkie-talkie (does Zune have sound in? No specs I could find list it)
• MAME Compatibility
• Doom

What hacks do you imagine will be possible on the Zune platform?

Technorati Tags: hack, Tech, Zune

Okaaay, clearly this is a very very serious and frightening matter, but for an article about fish they had to interview a guy by what name?

Technorati Tags: Funny

Thanks for making me a household word, George. How'd that work out for you?

Technorati Tags: Funny, Politics, macaca, UVa, Virginia

I'll bet you never read the "terms and service" agreements that almost everyone forces on you before you use their product.

If you're considering using the Amazon Unbox movie service, be glad that the folks at Boing Boing have taken the trouble to read and analyze it for you:

Boing Boing: Amazon Unbox to customers: Eat shit and die

For example, here's his analysis of their "privacy" terms:

Amazon says it respects your privacy, but this clause tells the real story. Click "I agree" and you've just signed away permission for Amazon to wiretap all of your viewing habits, and to search your entire hard drive continuously and report back on all the software you've installed. The entertainment industry can produce a blacklist of legal software that it just doesn't care for -- say, software that lets you take screenshots, or screen-movies -- and refuse to allow your movies to run if you've installed it. In other words, this clause lets Hollywood specify how you must configure your PC.

Like Cory Doctorow, I'll never ever buy one of Unbox's movies. At least not while these terms are in place. You shouldn't either.

Technorati Tags: Tech

Much to my eternal shock, last week my appeal of a UVa parking ticket was actually upheld. My confusion comes from the capriciousness of it--last time I appealed, it was for exactly the same reason and they rejected my appeal. Both times, I got a ticket even though my E3 tag was visible on the dashboard.

I'm not complaining this time, but it only improves my trust of P&T (and officer 210, whoever that is) a little bit.

Technorati Tags: UVa

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, DRM