November 2003 Archives

    I haven't taken a chance to see if there are any good reviews out there yet, but I have found a little device that fits a major need in my household that I would love to test: SqueezeBox from a company called Slim Devices. It allows you to stream your CD collection (in AAC or MP3 format) to this device which hooks up to your stereo. What looks interesting are a few things:
1) The device reads the data off a central computer and does not simply play music remotely that is actually playing on a client on your computer. It reads the catalogue of songs directly, which means more than one of these means each one can be playing a different song/playlist.
2) It can read playlists not only from WinAmp/Windows machines, but also iTunes/Mac and XMMS/Linux (I know, iTunes is indeed available for Windows, but I am more interested in the Mac side of things). Let's say I am finally ready to dive into Linux, it is supposed to work there, too.
3) It connects to the central server via WiFi or ethernet. I can only imagine the hack options for this little bugger right now (creating a neighborhood music network). Yes, I know, I would probably have the RIAA screaming DCMA foul, but the ideas are there. (I could even VPN into my home network and play at the office - legally, I think.) Oh, on top of that, the server/service is free! Not yet another, buy a device only to find that you need special software to get it to work for you.
    This item appears to have solved all of my concerns about other devices (i.e. it doesn't actually play the music itself, it is dependent upon one OS or another and I have yet another portable music player that I have to sync with a local connection). I hope these people stay in business long enough for me to take it for a spin.

via: slashdot.org

    I have not only proven myself capable of wasting much time today, but also a poor reader - or one who has a hard time paying attention to detail. Mr. Mossberg wrote an article on the MPIO HS100 keychain storage device that convinced me it was the solution I was looking for. (He has done this twice now - the first and most notably, the upgrade from my Treo 300 to the Treo 600.) We need to transfer about 700 MB from one computer to another (across a 7 mi. distance where dedicated circuits like ISDN and T1's are prohibitively expensive) and I wanted an inexpensive and portable device that could handle the challenge -and was not ridiculously expensive. Plus, given the drive's size, it will allow us to keep adding documents to the pile and not worry about running out of room immediately.
    After reading Mr. Mossberg's article (paid subscription to wsj.com required), I immediately hit up my normal supplier (CDW) to see if they carried this little device. No avail there. So, I went to BestBuy.com to run a search using the part number that he gave in the article (and different variations on the part number), but couldn't find it anywhere. Or so I thought. So, I scoured the web some more and had no luck. Every search ended up pointing back to the article, which ended up pointing back to where I thought I couldn't find the device.
    So, after spending way too much time on this (especially on a busy day like today), I decided, what the heck, I'll email Mr. Mossberg and tell him that he is wrong. It struck me as odd that the article would be released without confirming that the device was, indeed, available at BestBuy (and in hindsight, I should have paid better attention to this gut instinct). I persisted, however, and wrote the following:

I honestly was not expecting a reply. I figured that I would have better luck tonight (on my broadband connection at home) finding it. I wasn't about to give up on listing myself as one of the world's best internet search masters...
    Some time went by and I was distracted by other work when I noticed a message in my inbox from Mr. Mossberg... Really... I feel honored.
    Then I read the email. (I won't post it here because I like asking for such permission first.) Ahem... the device is at BestBuy.com. (The link is above.) Other people have found it. So, I looked again. Voila, it was there.
    I have learned a good number of things today. 1) Mr. Mossberg has good advice (actually, I learned that some time ago, but it was reinforced again today), 2) OPEN MY EYES. That or increase the font size on my 17" iMac's monitor... 3) Mr. Mossberg not only responds to emails, but he does it from his handy Treo 600 - like me (sometimes). We must be buddies now, right? ohh, and 4) I [sometimes] am poor at finding info on the net... despite what my ego tells me.

    Adam has a very good post on not just his take on the SCO/IBM case (which I have been trying to follow in some respects at groklaw), but good reason to back up the claim that SCO is simply on a scavenger hunt for money. My favorite part:

I highly recommend looking at his post: The SCO Delusion

    I am usually not too quick to get excited about scams, but this one is slick - and scary. The URL looks legitimate - but is completely bogus. I sent a report to PayPal, but we'll see how quickly word gets out - and whether or not there are many other people receiving the email I received.
Here is the raw source: raw_text.rtf

On screen - in a mail client that can read HTML email, it will look something like this:

All I can say is, watch out...

     Although a bit simple for those out there used to hacking through a *nix filesystem, I always have a knack of forgetting the simplest commands and rely on google.com to help me remember how to do what I want. Today, I have spent a good deal of time making sure that I have duplicate backups of vital info. While I know there are detailed ways of comparing file data and making sure data was backed up thoroughly, a simple check I run when I am done moving data from one filesystem (i.e. ufs to hfs+, vfs, ext, fat, etc.) to another, I check directory sizes. Since I have never been a big gui buff on the FreeBSD side of things, I can't rely on the simple ctrl-click/right-click -> properties/info to check directory sizes - and I can never remember how to do this via the command line. So... for those of you who perchance got here via google.com, use the following commands to see the sizes of files and totals in a given directory (in this case, in the directory you are currently viewing):

Not many may need this reminder, but I do... and now I can go to my own website to refresh my memory ;) For more information, as always:

* By the way, this works on Linux, Freebsd, Mac OS X, etc.

    I know this rant seems petty considering all that is going on in the world - and considering many of the new toys (in the area of all-things-wifi) that have come out lately, but please... When is Bluetooth SDIO card that is compatible w/ Palm OS 5 ever going to make it to market??? I have literally been waiting for this for 2 months now (actually over 2 years since BT really made its big debut), but have seen and heard nothing. Can someone comment and tell me whether writing drivers for Bluetooth and Palm OS 5 is that difficult? If not, how much would it cost to pay someone to develop drivers to connect to BT enabled phones and my BT enabled Powerbook? I want to sync my Treo 600 via BT w/ my PowerBook now...

Any FreeBSD admirer/lover will like the following article:
From Linux to FreeBSD at OSNews
Even if you don't like FreeBSD and are in love with Linux, you might want to take a look. I agree with many of the issues brought up in the article. FreeBSD certainly isn't for a newbie or faint of heart. (Nor is Linux at times, either.) That is probably one of the reasons why I like it so much. Once you get it, it seems so simple. More importantly, it just works.