Commentary

Xerox Color Cube Technology is Cool

Posted by Don Kruse on Jun 9, 2011 in Commentary, Tech | 0 comments

I was invited down to the Xerox campus by my copier rep to get a overview of Color Cube technology.

On the left of the green sign is the packaging for the color cube ink and the maintenance cartridge over 4 years to the right of the green sign is the equivalent packaging and waste for a color laser print. Enough said.

Storage space is a premium in an office. In the IT Dept. we generate a lot of waste and recycling plus we have a need to store a lot of products both expendable and durable. A printer that can reduce the burden of this storage usage and the resulting waste that is generated is a good thing.

Vivek Kundra, CIO of the USA, WTF?

Posted by Don Kruse on Aug 27, 2010 in Commentary, Tech | 0 comments

Wiz-bang “open” government web sites are not bad ideas, quite the contrary I think they are very good ideas, I just think that the administration picked the wrong people to do the job.

Yes, I was quoted as saying that recently and I do not take it back.

Here’s the guy I dislike, the CIO of the USA, Vivek Kundra, note that his career starts on 9/11/2001 and that there are no entries previous to that:

Vivek Kundra – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And of course the article I originally read that detailed some of Mr. Kundra’s failings is “down for maintenance” so I had to find a cached version from Google:

Dvorak allegations againt US CIO and the Kundra bio on the White House website – UPDATED

The government approved and went ahead with this web site for $18M just for “rebuilding”, which might lead you to believe it wasn’t an entirely new website, and it isn’t, so what the heck is the $18M for?

Recovery.gov

And here’s who got the money:

Updated: Hoyer-linked firm wins $18M Recovery.gov contract | Washington Examiner

This is a related site that has “tons” of freely available information on it but I hear a lot of negative things about it (admittedly things I can’t verify since I’m not a researcher):

Data.gov

OK, I’m going back to do some real work.

Adobe vs. Apple vs. Flash vs. iPad vs. iPhone

Posted by Don Kruse on Apr 21, 2010 in Apple, Commentary, Tech | 0 comments

Someone has it backwards—it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe’s Flash is closed and proprietary.

Found on Gizmodo, says it with feeling, the way I’ve been feeling about it…

Why is Trudy right?

Until you can load FLASH in a web browser like this, for example:

(open carrot) fla src=”sample_flash.swf” attribute=”auto”…. (close carrot)

WITHOUT the need for a separate browser plugin…

WITHOUT a development cycle separate from all web browsers…

WITHOUT performance requirements separate from the browser itself…

WITHOUT incompatibilities across different hardware, even when the browser software is the same…

WITHOUT the plugin itself being of a closed an proprietary nature…

WITHOUT every browser vendor in existence beholden to the motivation of a single company to develop and optimize it’s source in hopes that a given browser may have a chance of running this plugin in a way that does not break web pages and does not egregiously consume computing resources thereby compromising the overall performance of said web browser…

Until, then, FLASH will remain nothing more than *another program* installed on a computer or mobile device, running in parallel with a browser, separately interpreting and rendering code to be *embedded* within the browser contents.

These are the facts. Now, it doesn’t mean that web developers and designers do not enjoy the creative freedom afforded to them by Adobe Flash-based vector graphics design and audio/video media creation.

Adobe should understand, though, that it’s multimedia solution is not unlike, for example, MS developing a PowerPoint browser plugin for Internet Explorer.

Macromedia developed flash and Adobe bought it – they didn’t stake their business on it. Heck, before flash-video, embedded Flash was mainly a tool for designer presentations, animated buttons and ads.

Adobe has tried very hard to make people think that “swf” and “flv” are web standards like “img” and “href” – they certainly are not. There are no standard cross-platform, cross-browser hooks directly into Flash APIs, beyond the use of javascript variable settings when embedding swf wrappers, which are used to call up flv files and depend on XML files which may or may not be dynamically updated by the embed script.

Layers upon layers of embedding and abstraction – who could EVER expact Flash to be resource friendly.

The truth is that Adobe has to re-invent the wheel every time a new browser comes out or a major upgrade is released or some new hardware platform is developed. Bugs and security vulnerabilities have to be separately maintained. Performance issues have to constantly be monitored and optimized as both it’s host browsers and operating systems get upgraded and evolve.

Let’s take for example the most ubiquitous of Flash implementations – video:

What wrapper file will you use?
-The swf file defines your video “window”. XML file(s) will define parameters.
-Actionscript in the swf wrapper files will hook into javacript variable settings and XML defenitions (or rather the other way around).
-Don’t forget video dimensions!

How will you embed that wrapper file?
-You’ll have to use javascript to call up the swf.
-You need to makes sure you set startup variables correctly for viewing the flv through the swf

Is the browser compatible?
-Chrome, Firefox, IE6,7,8,9, Opera, etc. all need compatible plugins

HTML layout?
-Oooh, make sure you set proper z-indexes
-Make sure you’re not accidentally covering modal windows with that Flash.
-Again, don’t forget video dimensions!
-Also, don’t forget to account for the player tool bar and frame.

Now, how do you embed video with HTML5?

Ex:

(open carrot) source src=”__VIDEO__.MP4″ type=”video/mp4″ (close carrot)

(slight over-simplification, since above is iPhone/iPad compatible. Webkit, whatever…)

Flash is not a true web standarded – it is an embeddable application. It is the aforementioned pitfalls that Apple is trying to avoid by not embracing Flash compatibility.

Do I wish, for example, that the iPad supported Flash? Sure, just like I want all my computers to open JPEG’s, Word Docs, Excel Spreadsheets, check email, run PowerPoints, etc. etc.

Macromedia developed a great web-compatible multi-media tool. Adobe, you bought it and had your chance to open it up and allow it’s use as a browser-agnostic audio & vector-graphic HTML standard, while still retaining the rights to the Flash development platform. You got greedy, lethargic and stubborn. Check back on this post in a couple years and it will read as either “Good Luck” or “Good Riddance” – only time will tell. Reply

Edited by Stevox at 04/21/10 9:22 PM

Shopping Online for the Holidays – A Common Sense Guide

Posted by Don Kruse on Nov 12, 2009 in Commentary, Tech | 0 comments

• If the price seems too good to be true that is because it probably isn’t true.
• The lowest price is not always the best price. Verify shipping charges before the final step of your order and if shipping charges cannot be verified then stop the order process immediately (close your browser if you have to).
• If it isn’t in stock then move on.
• Make sure you get a receipt online immediately, don’t wait for it to come via e-mail.
• Use search tools such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing to find reviews if the online retailer is unfamiliar to you. Try a search similar to “newegg opinions” or “best buy reviews“. You can also check up on a company using the bizrate.com store rating guide, resellerratings.com store ratings, or epinions.com.
• Read the customer reviews–if available–of the product you are buying as this may save you a headache later.
• Follow up afterwards by checking your credit/debit cards statements to make sure what you charged is what you were charged.

Sit back and enjoy the holiday shopping madness from the comfort of home.

Jack of All Trades: Sysadmin

Posted by Don Kruse on Jul 16, 2009 in Commentary, Tech | 0 comments

I am a sysadmin, aka “systems administrator”, which means that yes, I manage servers and networks, but I also manage circuit breakers, AC units, desktop and laptop computers, Blackberrys, iPhones, and the occasional audio cassette. I am a guru of technology (or so all the users I support hope I am).

The reality is that I become a generalist and even though I have a few things I am definitely an expert at, with most things I know “something” about them but not everything.

Occasionally, I find that it is simpler and quicker to do something myself rather than hire an expert (in this case an electrician) and because I am a generalist this is often what I do. For example the ancient air circulation fan that was in the telco closet of the firm I support simply died. Without this fan there is no true air circulation in the small closet that hosts the main PBX phone switch. I ordered an industrial blower instead of a fan simply because of the small space the fan has to fit. The blower moves a much larger volume of air per minute compared to a slightly larger fan.

So here’s what the sysadmin had to do to complete this Information Technology related project:

1. Research and purchase the replacement parts (purchasing dept.)
2. Cut a piece of wood to serve as a mount for the blower (facilities dept.)
3. Purchase the mounting hardware and electrical cord (facilities dept.)
4. Connect the AC cord to the blower unit safely and maintaining the ground (facilities dept.)
5. Mount the blower to the board and then attach everything to the wall (facilities dept.)
6. Plug in the blower unit to test (IT dept.)

My dad would be proud of the electrical wiring because it was done properly and I maintained the ground connection of the 3-pronged power cord. In fact all of the skills for this project I pretty much learned from my dad (my dad worked for United Air Lines (UAL) for some 36 years as a mechanic before retiring and before that served as an electrician in the US Army).

This is the telco closet with the blower installed near the ceiling in the center. The Tadiran phone switch is the big white thing near the bottom and the iBook serves as the hold music player.

This is a detailed view of the blower mounted on the board now mounted securely to the wall.

Warming Up to MacWorld 2009

Posted by Don Kruse on Dec 20, 2008 in Apple, Commentary, MacGeek, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Unlike most of the Macgeeks I know I was not surprised by Mr. Jobs announcement that he will not be giving the keynote speach at MacWorld Expo 2009. I was slightly surprised that Apple says they are pulling out of the MacWorld Expo altogether but you know what? I don’t care.

During the past few year’s MacWorld Expo shows I’ve spent very little time at the typically huge Apple pavilion because the really interesting and exciting stuff is spread all over the rest of the convention floor.

At the show earlier this year I encountered a host of interesting products and emerging technologies that are taking full advantage of either Mac OS X or the Mac hardware or both. The number of products out there for iPods and iPhones is stagering in it’s breadth and depth and quality. At almost every MacWorld Expo I stumble onto some software that I had heard about but never investigated but after using it hands on I buy it before I leave the show floor. Although I rarely ever buy a new computer at the Expo I was very tempted at the show earlier this year.

I might miss Mr. Jobs giving the keynote a little–maybe more than a little–as it is a little bit like getting to see your favorite actor give a talk about his favorite pet project. Could you imagine Charlton Heston coming out to present the MacBook Air? That would be wild but I don’t know if it would help Apple sell more Macs which, like any well managed company, is why they are in business.