The lowdown on pecosdave

It's about time someone decided to cut to the quick and do this:

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:50:52 GMT

Google is going to introduce the Google Chrome Operating System.

I'm not saying it should replace all OS's, but I do see a real use for this. I want some power on my home PC, so I probably wouldn't use it there but when I'm on the road all I use my notebook for (except when I'm working as a tech) is web use. I think of myself as an early adopter of web based storage and synchronization. I was actually a step ahead of Google on a few things for my own personal use, such as 10+ years ago when I used to upload my Netscape bookmark HTML files and browse them online/manually resync them, I used imap for email instead of POP3 so I could keep it on multiple systems, and used my webserver/personal webspace at work as web based hard drive.

Using Google as the "common ground" has helped me a lot and has taken the place of a lot of what I used to do manually. Not only because it's easier but because ISP's have become a bunch of asshats and make it difficult to do it yourself these days.

My guess is that the OS will be little more than a front end for most Google web services, and will probably have a plugin layer, my guess is this plugin layer will probably be for instant messengers and that sort of thing. Probably Linux versions of them, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. If this OS doesn't use local storage for anything more than caching content for offline use and storing applications and a few settings - not even all the settings - I think they'll make something well worth using. A mobile web based dumb terminal, I love the idea.

I've been thinking about copywrites, piracy, and who's doing what wrong.

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:42:07 GMT

This is a subject that's often on my mind since I read Slashdot.

What sparked this brewing in my brain was a recent (and reoccurring) article stating game publishers want a piece of the resell market. Of course I don't see where they have any standing to make these demands. I like to shop at Half Price Books a national chain of book resellers that has quite a few stores in the Houston area. They sell overstock and used books, movies, music, and yes, even video games, and just like GameStop, the target of the current debate, they'll even buy your used stuff from you at a fraction of what they're going to resell it for. They've been doing this for DECADES with books and records - other than the fact it's more profitable - I don't see where game manufacturers have any standing to complain.

So I started thinking about it - how do video games differ from music, movies, and books? I came up with the answer - repeat releases. A first edition happens when a song, book, etc.. comes out. Then, if demand is high enough, they do another - all of these types of media have this in common. The difference is, when 8-tracks and cassettes came out, what was formerly vinyl only got a new release on a new format (and more industrious people could transfer it on their own, but that's another story). Then when CD's came out it was superior to all the previous formats (with the arguable exception of a new vinyl record on a top end turn table) so everything came out on that and it became a really good long term personal "master" for other formats to come, and even as a master for making your own tape versions. The same could be said with the evolution from film to movie disk, to beta and VHS to DVD, etc.... Years later.

What typically happens with video games? Nada. When the game is new, they'll make new copies as demand increases. When the game is old, they stop doing it, even if the system is still current or has a compatible replacement. Sometimes there's a re-release, a classics collection, or a port, but not for everything. Sure it could be argued that not every band that was released on a 10" 88 RPM record got a CD release, but there certainly is a rift, and movies get a higher percentage of new format releases than even music does.

What if I want to play Final Fantasy 7? Well, they stopped making it years ago, along with the PSX. But the game will play fine on a PS2 and a PS3, even PS3's that don't play PS2 games will usually play a PSX game (little known trivia). Ok, so I'll buy an old copy - just go out on eBay and see how much an old copy of that game scratched up and used costs.

In the world of movies I'll give an example. At my old video store job we still had some Beta tapes left laying around in the back from when they were still rented out. Flight of the Navigator was one of these movies. We could have marked that thing free, sat it on the counter and some kid would have picked it up three or four days later, not because they wanted it and had a Beta player at home, but because they didn't know what it was, wanted to ask their parents, or quite likely pull the tape out and drag it up and down the street. But never fear, if it was actually the movie you wanted, we had a VHS copy out on the shelf. Now that DVD's are still the most common format - I'll let you argue among yourselves if it's an outgoing format or not - I picked up a copy of it to watch with my kid for I think it was $5 on DVD brand new off the store shelf. Final Fantasy 7 on the other hand, there's a store here in town I've found and I like the guy who owns it, he offered me a former rental copy for only $75.

To me that means game publishers are the ones who have created the resell market.

The way distribution of almost any copyrighted medium works is they print/press whatever a whole bunch of copies, then if the demand exist they do it again. But that doesn't work for everything. You don't want to do that for something that doesn't have a large demand, it's to expensive and wasteful. My question - if kids in my neighborhood can make a recording of themselves screaming into a microphone in their parents garage, upload the album to CafePress.com and let anyone with the nerve to tolerate it buy a copy, why can't they sell video games the same way? Print on demand back catalogs. Seriously, everything from the Dreamcast on uses optical disk. That works great! How about cartridge based systems? Well..... Those are memory chips. I can fit every NES, Genesis, SNES, Atari 2600, GameBoy, GameGear, and Turbo Graphix 16 - even the optical ones on my phone. You can't tell me we can't come up with a cheaper to make cartridge than the old ones, or lord forbid, a cartridge that will take an SD card that will work on the older systems. Sort of like the adapter my parents had so we could play cassettes in the 8track and the adapter I have that lets me plug any 1/8th" jack into a tape deck (I actually put one of those in the 8track adapter once). Really, all of these games are being pirated already, sure they'll want to make it difficult to copy, to keep the honest people honest, but there's nothing to lose doing that.

This post has been brewing in my head for over a month. I meant to write it a few days ago and just never did. Then, this story hit Slashdot, so I figured it was time to put this one out there. Steam is a step in the right direction. I really think it's a good idea to put the back catalog on something like that. A PS3 has the power to emulate just about any previous system and the controls are reasonable substitutes for most of the old ones, but that doesn't mean they should ignore the possibility of a print on demand market. Given a choice I would much rather buy my FF7 print on demand from Square/Enix than I would a used former rental copy for $75.

Buzz Aldrin made a music video?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:48:14 GMT

bbovenguy posted this in spacexploration

I'm not saying the song/singing is particularly good - but it's interesting. My actual reply follows:

The fact Buzz will do stuff like this, stays active, stays in the public eye, not to attention whore, but because he genuinely likes to educate people and enjoys sharing is why Buzz is my favorite old school astronaut. Make that my favorite astronaut. Despite all of the above, he is still a humble, friendly approachable person. Buzz Aldrin is a true American - make that world - treasure, and one of the very few people I consider a personal hero.

In the end, Buzz's adventure into singing is better than Leonard Nimoys.
just a link to the wikipedia article so you can decide if you want to suffer through clicking the video at the bottom or not for yourself

Nooo!!!! A plague of celebrity deaths.

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:29:47 GMT

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett - fine - but come on Billy Mays? Now who will yell at me through my TV? Vince doesn't yell enough, he just makes faces and beats up hookers.

I used to actually buy Oxi Clean, wasn't actually sure if it actually worked, or if it was the fact I was scrubbing it that made a difference.

We launch STS-127 around 04:30,

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:51:28 GMT

I plan to be sound asleep at that time. I think it's funny that as of this writing Wikipedia still has it listed as tomorrow. Usually people are breaking their necks to update that, I could, but I wont.

Scrubbed Never mind for now.

My first computer is in a recent article!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:36:14 GMT

Fifteen classic PC design mistakes - problem #14 bulky expansion modules. That's my old PC! With my printer and both sets of expansion ports attached if I was carrying it by the handle it would literally tap the ground with every step.

I kind of wished I still had that thing. It was an awesome word processor. It became impossible to get ink for the daisy wheel printer though.

For the expansion flaw, this thing had a lot of first:

1. The first portable PC that could run off of a battery. Older portables had to be plugged in.

2. First IBM compatible computer to utilize 3.5" floppies.

3. The first computer with a suspend mode.

This is just cool.

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:23:29 GMT

I just have to share the link to the barrel monster. I think they could probably sell it for more than damages done.

In response to ellyssians pictures - here's some from yesterday.

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:01:06 GMT

Click on the image to see it on SnapMyLife in an easier to follow format, with more pictures. Actually I recommend clicking on it and/or the links below.

First one

Second One

Third One

I've added more since then, but you can follow the stream, I'm not gonna link to them all.

Before long I should have some better image hosting.

I can't wait for the digtal television transition.

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:06:08 GMT

Not that I'm looking forward to a digital picture or anything. I'm just can't wait to stop hearing about it.

I keep hearing "If you have cable you're already ready!" I don't have cable.
I keep hearing "If you have satellite you're already ready!" I don't have a satellite.
I keep hearing "If you have an antenna you may be ok if you have an ATSC tuner, otherwise you're screwed!" I don't have an ATSC tuner or an antenna for that matter. I don't feel particularly screwed over it.

The TV is on non-stop at work, even if I turn it off it magically turns on a short time later. I swear they talk about the DTV transition every commercial break. I was watching Fox News while I was working out, and I still heard about it occasionally there. I now watch Sponge Bob Square Pants while working out. Much better, I don't hear about DTV transitions there. If I watch 10 minutes of the news channel (that is 10 minutes of the news channel that isn't commercial) I catch everything they're going to repeat over and over again the rest of that hour/day/week anyways.

I had satellite before Ike hit. I felt like it was a waste of money. I watched Battlestar Galactica if I happened to be able to catch it, which I rarely could. Otherwise I might turn it on occasionally for South Park or the History Channel. Yeah, I turned my TV on once every two weeks or so. Just wasn't worth it. Now I have Hulu and other peoples cable.

Considering the conversations at work earlier today,

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:35:03 GMT

I found this incredibly relevant.

Up - no spoilers

Fri, 29 May 2009 20:59:17 GMT

Sarah and I just got through watching Up, it was really good, better than I thought it would be. The first part of the movie shared with Wall-ee what made it great, very good visual story telling. The movie makers went way out of their way to make the characters "real", you really felt for Mr. Fredrickson. Even before the movie properly starts you have a real attachment to the main character.

So as not to give any spoilers, I'm going to stop there. I highly recommend it, kids or not. Obviously if you're going without kids I recommend as late of a showing as you can get.

This is akin to how the civil war started, and I welcome it.

Tue, 26 May 2009 18:40:01 GMT

The most ignored right of the bill of rights is gaining traction again. It's the turn down money part that's going to be difficult. The states are going to have to turn down lots of funding to stand their grounds on a lot of issues, but in turn they may eventually state taking a stand against sending money out. Ron Paul may have our backs on that one. BTW - he's in my district so I DID vote for him last election.

Baseball and/or fighting fans may like this link.

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:24:02 GMT

Jose Canseco getting pwned by a 7'2" Korean kickboxer. The guys at the shop liked it.

We should land at 10:39 local (15:39 Zulu)

Sun, 24 May 2009 14:43:55 GMT

Kind of looking forward to it. We have a week until the next L-14 after this.

update

Welcome Home.

I salute you Mr. Pink I Love NY boxer wearing soldier!

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:19:13 GMT

Mr. Zachary Boyd fighting the Taliban!

Nifty, I had no idea. The Carolina Dog.

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:57:01 GMT

Turns out a rather common looking dog is "The American Dingo". Some people actually call them that.

A big good picture of one.

Appearantly they were discovered right under our noses and were already our pets when they were found.

Criminals are starting younger and younger all the time,

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:49:17 GMT

such as these two who ransacked a house.

FYI - I will not be taking fashion advice from this man:

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:56:56 GMT

This guy is a well known journalist, and he really really hates denim. And poor people. And people who work for a living.

This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don't wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.

Uhmmm, no thanks.

Astaire remained something of a male fashion icon even into his later years, eschewing his trademark top hat, white tie and tails in favor of a breezy casual style of tailored sports jackets, colored shirts, cravats and slacks — the latter usually held up by the idiosyncratic use of an old tie in place of a belt.

I'm not knocking Astaire here - that's actually directed at the uptightness of George.

I've sort of had a bug up my bum about this subject matter since this article from years past. That links to my journal post about the article, not the article itself, but it's still there.

Old news is old, - but still pretty cool.

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:59:13 GMT

Wall-E Gamecube Mod.

I really liked Wall-E

They topped it.

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:03:06 GMT

I didn't think Burger King would ever top this shite but they did.

Tell you what, I've spammed your friends page enough already for the day, here's a link instead of an embed.

1967 VCR

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:54:50 GMT

I was searching for some property at work, and there was something with a vague description that's supposed to be somewhere in this room "Magnetic Tape Transport". Since I have no clue what that means (no context) I decided to do a Google Image Search. That's where I found this nifty stuff.

How.... Accurate.

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:44:34 GMT

Holy Crap Boston! Cut it out already!

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:56:51 GMT

Getting an illegal search warrant on a student for using Linux and being involved in a typical internet "questioning of sexual orientation" does not warrant this.

They took his computer, his mobile phone, his iPod, his storage media and his Ubuntu CD!

A simple DIY project I did yesterday. Martha Stewart would be proud.

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:48:14 GMT

So I looked on the swap shop at work, someone was selling a G model Airport Express for only $25, this isn't a bad deal. I already had 1 G model and 1 B model - the B was free to me and the other G I bought off of Amazon. As it stands I can play music at low and reasonable volumes and hear it well everywhere in my apartment, except for the bathroom. Music while taking care of the three S's isn't such a bad thing.

Note the presence of a USB port for printing. That will provide power.

I actually keep my apartment quite tidy and clutter free most of the time, I lapse a bit on occasion, but overall it's better shape than bad. I really didn't just want to string the crap out everywhere on the bathroom counter. So the wheels started to turn. I wanted as few wires as possible, I wanted the speakers to be USB powered to achieve that goal and I wanted everything concealed.

Here's the area I have to work with - notice the power outlet isn't in that great of a spot, the other outlet in the room is in an even worse spot so I wont show it. These are however well positioned for curling irons and hair driers. As you can see I have little use for those. My bathroom has two sinks, I never use that one.

My first idea was to go to Big Lots and get a wicker basket to put it all in. I don't think this would have been such a bad approach, but when I got there I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. I began to look around - the challenge, find something in Big Lots I could put it all in, but wont require me to hand in my Man Card. I found some really cool flower pots that I could hide stuff in, but I was worried about the sound getting through, and I really don't want anything so unruly as fake vines in my bathroom, and I really didn't want flowers. I found a wall hanging planter that could have worked perfectly, but again with the fake plants, and I really wouldn't have been able to use my towel rack if I did that. Then I found the Tiki Tea Light. Tiki gods, that's manly enough right?

Here's what I have to work with. I really wanted some of the cheap USB powered speakers that eMachines sends out with their hunks of junk. No luck finding any that cheap, Best Buy had some really expensive models, finally I found these for $20 at Fry's. Aren't the Tiki's cuddly? I hope they don't freak my kid out next time she's over.

The speakers would just fit inside of the Tiki's, so it was time to free them from their casings. About the time I first started to actually work on this was about the time it occurred to me that a soldering iron was something I hadn't picked up post Ike. Oops, no soldering allowed because I didn't want to spend anymore money or leave to get one.

The innards were a bit more complicated than I expected. That circuit board at the bottom was quite large, that's the one with all the knobs and power control and conditioning on it. This is something I was going to have to keep, and of course it was the one with all the wires attached to it.

Now ideally I would have just cut all the wires down to more manageable length, however being sans solder iron I had to take a different approach. I switched to a hack saw for the second speaker.

Holes in the Tiki's. This was a bit problematic. I couldn't tell what they were made from, they felt sort of like stone, I was thinking maybe some sort of poly stone. Holes drilled in them quite nicely, however I later realized I was going to need a bigger hole to stash the circuit board in so I switched to my Black and Decker Dremel knock off. The material the Tiki's were made of gave off a noxious plastic like smell. Whatever it was it was synthetic, and I'm not sure if it was the best thing to put fire in or not.

This part got nasty. I'm not proud of all of it. I'm not showing pictures of all of it since I'm not proud. The hole in the back of the one that housed the control board wound up being huge and I couldn't figure out how to mount it well. There's now a gaping hole on the back side of that Tiki. I'm going to figure out something to cover it with and make an old fashioned butt flap pajama bottom for it, or I may figure out a way to extend the control knobs and bondo or something. Longer control knobs shouldn't be a problem. Just depends on the amount of work I decide to put into it. I originally wanted to put the Airport Express and the control board in the same Tiki, but they just wouldn't fit, so I put it in the other Tiki. There's now three wires between them, USB power, the audio feed from the express to the control board, and the wire from the control board back to the other speaker. I'm leaving the Tiki's close together.

I used the tea light suspension brackets to suspend the speakers. On these HP speakers the mesh grill portion actually screwed into the lower portion, after unscrewing them they were still great for hanging the speakers off of and the black mesh looks good behind the Tiki's eyes. Unfortunately they're not long enough to go to the bottom.

You can click on any of my pictures to enlarge them, the couple of them that aren't mine, not so much.

I plan to buy some scraps of black cloth (or maybe retire a T-Shirt) to put at the lower part of the Tiki's so you can't see out their bums through their mouths, and to cover what's showing through there otherwise. As you can see the wires are still a bit unruly in the back. I'm going to do a bit more stuffing on the power cord

Another note - most modern Apple power connectors are deceptive. Even though they look like something fancy based on the folding connectors and the rivet/slot power cords, they're actually just a modified IEC-C8 connector (I'm not sure what the single notch version is called), luckily I had an IEC-C7 cord to use in it. I figured this would be easier than the Apple version of the cord.

I bought some LED light strands and some glass gems, I thought about putting those at the bottom to give it a fire effect, but there's really not much room left in the bottom of the Tiki's for that, and keeping the wire clutter down is problematic. After securing a soldering iron I may reconsider. I do think a red to orange, maybe even a purplish glow would look good, especially after putting some more cloth in for black out purposes.

Better wire management is eminent. Some electric tape will fix a lot of that, maybe now. The black cloth can't come soon enough either - I'm considering shirts for sacrifice now.

I found a strip of midnight blue cloth I forgot I had. It came wrapped around a blanket from the store, I've been using it to tie up my blinds when I open my windows so they don't rattle. Doesn't look bad in there, and I taped up the wires. Much nicer all around.

Bob returns!

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:53:16 GMT

Still not what I had in mind for a computing environment. I do have a really good idea for a computing environment to.