Adam's R&R » Techno Geek

Facebook, Twitter, Aol. etc.

adam — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:27:15 +0000

Well, it’s the end of an era – Facebook, Twitter and Flickr have completely sated my need to publish things to the web. I may come back and resurrect the blog at some point, or I may try something completely different but it seems certain given my infrequent updates that the blog will be neglected for the foreseeable future, unless something changes drastically.

Speaking of which, my Aol. days are now drawing to a close. I have chosen to accept the voluntary package and move on from what is my first real job. I started at AOL when I was 19 years old and it’s with a mixture of sadness, fear and excitement that I leave that company over 11 years later having made great friends in several countries and learned an enormous amount. Linked In can point you in the right direction regarding my qualification sif you are looking for someone with extensive experience in everything from dial up connectivity to web operations and Linux system administration.

Oh, and in reference to the post below, I caved and bought the iPhone. However O2 left such a nasty taste in my mouth that I will likely switch providers as soon as I can out of principle, so I didn’t cave really, right?

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Probably No iPhone for me in Ireland

adam — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:54:40 +0000

As this comparison shows, although the cost of an iPhone is reasonably subsidised, the data plan and associated call plans are very poor. It really is a disgrace – enough to make me not use O2 at all in protest. With that decision made, my only problem is the complete lack of a decent alternative – I have been reading up on several iPhone competitors (Nokia N95/96, Samsung Omnia, Blackberry Storm, LG Renoir) and none of them seem to be distinguishing themselves clearly.

I’ve also found the interface on the Nokia N95 I am currently using (thanks to a loan from John) to be very counter intuitive, which is sad since I used to think Nokia had a real edge when it came to UI design. Two guesses what John traded his N95 for…..

There is not a single phone I have found so far with WiFi, GPS, a decent sized screen and a UI that gets a decent review. If anyone can recommend one, then please let me know. Assuming my Macbook Pro comes back to me in working order sometime in the near future I may have to look into getting an iPhone and jail breaking it to work on any network.

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For all those Dr. Who Fans

Adam — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:34:00 +0000

I had often wondered how the Ood came to be, something related to Hollywood Video perhaps?

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New Pictures – Various Sources

adam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:21:45 +0000

It’s been a long time since I posted – one of those things where I just haven’t felt like it…..however since I finally got off my ass and decided to upload some pictures, I thought I would let people know they were up. On Flickr as usual:

New Orleans

Paul & Maria Visit

Lake House

New York (with Susan and Jay)

While I was at it, I upgraded to WordPress 2.5 – not sure how I like the new interface yet, but we shall see, maybe tryingt o make a decision will get me to post a bit more often

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AOL Releases a Nice Open Source Tool

adam — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:08:08 +0000

I don’t often toot the company horn (or comment on it at all in fact – this is definitely a personal site and I like the separation) but the fact that they have open-sourced this tool is one of the coolest things we have done in a while. The tool is PageTest and for those IE users (or just IE testers) starved for a Firebug type plugin, it is well worth a look.

As well as being available to install to your local PC we use it via a web interface to run tests from multiple locations and browser versions without the need to install them all or have multiple machines. In these dark times of layoffs and plunging stock prices it’s nice to see AOL doing some things not focused on the almighty dollar. Long may it continue.

Technorati Tags: AOL, open source, pagetest, Internet Explorer, firebug

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More Random Geekery

adam — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:52:11 +0000

First off, Synergy is a fantastic application – if you have more than one monitor and more than one machine, then get it and love it – since i got it set up I can’t figure out how I lived without it. You can see it here (writing this very post) running on 3 machines and 4 screens (counting the laptop) – for the record that is on 2 Macs and one Linux machine, though it will work with windows too.

I have a single desktop across all 4 – to switch between machines I just drag the mouse to that screen. Copy and paste works between the machines, with no problems. There is very occasional lag between the server (linux) and the clients (the 2 Macs) but nothing that would cause me to reconsider using it – the benefits are far too great.

For more on the geek front, I came across this story, “The case of the 500 mile e-mail” which made me laugh and shows exaclty the kind of random crap that can end up coming in when you are in my line of work, although I must admit that my problems have never been quite as interesting or had quite as novel an explanation

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Random Geekery

adam — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:20:03 +0000

I found an excellent article describing how to analyze a cracked Linux machine – I’ve had some experience with similar efforts on Windows in the past, but (so far) have been lucky enough not to have to do it on a Linux/Unix host. Serves as a good guide on how to break down a crack step by step, though the elementary mistakes made by the cracker certainly made things easier – it would not have been hard to do this in a way that would have been far more difficult to detect/correct.

So, for all of those people that think that non-Windows machines are bullet proof, take note.

Technorati Tags: Linux, cracker, forensics, security

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360 Arrival and Jenny Departure

adam — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:34:10 +0000

Well, the Amazon delivery fairies have arrived and delivered my XBox 360 Elite, hence it’s tough to justify staying in work I can’t wait to plug this into the new TV and see the 1080p HDMI output in all its glory, since that was my main reason for choosing one of the true next-gen consoles over the Wii – I am one of the few people that can actually use the greater capabilities. I’m also pretty curious about the XBox Live service that comes with it since it is the most commonly touted “superior” feature over the PS3.

I bought it to keep me company while Jenny is away – she got to Dublin safely and was pretty pleased with the new Aer Lingus direct flight from Dulles – they have a nice new Airbus 330, decent service and it knocked a good 4 hours off the total travel time. Matt also arrived back in Seattle safely, so good news all around, though the house does now feel a little empty.

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, Jenny, Aer Lingus, Dublin

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More Bluedouche-ery

adam — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:56:19 +0000

Yes, I know it is not a word, blame Joe for the portmanteau (ooh, that rhymes). I had to order a new charger for my phone, having left the old one in London, and I broke down and bought a bluetooth headset as well. As you can see for the nice blurry picture, it is pretty small…..

I had to do something to satiate my gadget buying instincts so that I don’t end up buying an iPhone – I try to stay away from the first generation of Apple products. In this case I expect the 2nd generation to have 3G and a far higher storage capacity, so I think I will wait.

Technorati Tags: bluetooth, LG, HBM-730, iphone, headset

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Make Children Behave

adam — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:50:31 +0000

Just show them this comic, that bad ass Santa will scare them into obedience in no time

For the those unfamiliar with VG Cats, the references can be a bit obscure so for a little more explanation, try Wikipedia.

Technorati Tags: comic, vgcats, funny, Santa, death note

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