Planned migration
I’ve been planning to migrate to my new server for months now and it had been pending forever for several odd reasons. I finally have it up and running and the blog has been migrated so its almost fully functional. Some bits are still missing however this will get time as and when I find time.
Highlights of the migration
- New RAID 6 server so my data is secure.
- Centralized LDAP Authentication system. No duplicate/multiple registration.
- Email. Yay! I finally I have own email and don’t need to rely on Google or anyone else.
- Space. This is relative to my old server. Currently This is at 2TB after RAID but there is provisioning for a lot more.
Revisit: Android review
Its been a few months since my first look at Android. Since then I’ve had a chance to play with more of the finer details of how this OS works. And I’m very impressed with the direction it is taking.
First things first, living with the google stock image was good. But using a modded image takes this device to the next level. A rooted phone gives you access to some of the best apps I’m using the legendary CyanogenMod image that is based of the Cupcake 1.5 image and boasts massive optimization to give your phone some serious oomph.
Overall Android works very well. As a phone, it is easy and intuitive, everything is laid out well and should be a breeze for even dumbphone users. As a smartphone, the modded image provides almost anything that any other OS has to offer. Multi-touch, MS Exchange, WPA enterprise, wifi tethering (genius) among others make the package complete. Apps like Google Voice, Sherpa and Locale make everyday use of the phone just brilliant. Heck, I can even get turn-by-turn directions using CoPilot for just $35, which is a bargain considering a standalone one runs you around $100 or more.
Downsides. The one that bugs me the most is the lack of a better phone. I like the physical keyboard on my G1 but I’d be willing to use the soft-keyboard for a lighter smaller phone with a better battery life. Can’t wait for Rachael. However, this isn’t an OS issue. There are some issues with speed in certain areas. For example, switching orientation from portrait to landscape or back has a clear 4 second hang time. The touch screen sometimes isn’t responsive (again not sure if this is software or hardware). Apps like CoPilot or other more CPU intensive ones run sluggish on the G1 (maybe newer faster processors could fix this). While there are plenty of good apps in the market, there are certain areas where it is lacking. For example, the best task manager in the market is TasKiller, which is far from being perfect. T
The market search is terrible. Search is bad on a google OS? How does that make any sense? They are a search company! What is worse is that there isn’t a good website either to compensate for this. For example, a market website that lists all market apps, which can be searched and sorted by ratings or downloads (overall, month, week etc), post comments, links to developer site and other such info (Hint: Firefox addons).
I see Android as being well poised to challenge the market. Should keep things fresh and interesting as the competition heats up
Seconds anyone?
We are expecting baby two. And its a girl. Pictures to be up soon. Due Dec 12ish.
Sour Apples? Maybe, but you are hurting yourself
Apple may be slowly driving away its customer base by controlling its app store check-ins. The latest reject is Google Voice. Two clear reasons for this. One its an app by a competing phone OS and two AT&T would have twisted Apple’s arm (though it wouldn’t really need to) so its keeps its revenues where it belongs.
However, unlike the desktop/laptop OS’s where Apple can be rigid about policies, the phone market isn’t where Apple can afford to keep up with these nuisances. For one, this market segment has much more competition. Also, things can change quickly with a year or two. There is a minor wow-factor with the iPhone but that is quickly fading with better Andriod sets coming out and Palm, Mircrosoft among others pushing their own OS’s which are just as competive.
mini thoughts rather than posts.
I’m gonna start posting mini thoughts rather than full size posts. More twitterish but here since I dislike twitter.
First Impressions: Android
After much deliberation I finally picked up an HTC G1 android phone. A month into using it, my first impressions are GOOD.
I was a Sony Ericsson (not smartphone) user for a long time. I tried various other models and none seemed to match up to the Sony Ericsson in terms of usability. I think the interface was simple, placement of menu items was very intuitive and in general just easy to use.
The Android OS does just that. Everything is laid out in easy to read, intuitive places, Menu options are short and do not overwhelm. Enabling and disabling services is easy.
Most of the things I dislike about Android aren’t really the OS’s fault. It is the HTC G1. It is big and bulky, feels cheap and just lacking glam. However, the OS isn’t without its flaws. Considering it is currently at 1.5 I understand it has plenty of time to develop. However
* There is no support for WPA-Enterprise. The browser doesn’t support bookmarklets. I think these and others like these are basic functionality and needs to be addressed.
* The menu button provides additional options for the app or the OS in general. For one, this isn’t intuitive. Moreover, the options are still very basic. Furthermore, the options cannot be user configured. For example, if you are using the browser and want to go to the home page, you need to click Menu -> More -> Home page. If I want Home page to show on the main menu, there is no way to do this.
* The battery like is terrible. Not the OS fault but it contributes. Backgrounding processes keeps them running and keeps the battery draining. I’m not a fan of push notifications really, but something needs to be done.
* Wifi pickup is weak. Don’t know what the cause is but at coffee shops where my laptop works fine, the G1 doesn’t pick up the SSID or picks it up briefly then drops.
There are tons of other minor things but I suppose those exist with every phone out there.
It’s not all grey. As a smartphone, Android is great. It’s interface is clean. The usability is great. Most apps in the market are free and good. There are tons of those great little features that I really like and make the phone fun to use.
Overall, I’m sticking with it. Since I haven’t used the IPhone intensely, this won’t be a shootout. But I dislike the way Apple arm-wrestles the market, the apps, and its users and I don’t want any part of that.
Finally, one thing to point out is I’m using the G1 with no data plan. While most people I met say this defeats the purpose, I disagree strongly. Wifi is predominant in most places and increasing daily. Besides the two places I spend most of my time has wireless access. So I don’t miss out on anything.
Overall rating 3.5 stars.
Music on the cloud.
I’ve been looking for a solution to make my music portable. I’m slowly converting all my CD’s to mp3/flac to have them available in digital format. However, I find there aren’t many choices when it comes to media servers out there. Most web based players have one inherent problem. Everyone has a specific preference when it comes to music player (either because of ease of use or user interface or preferences it offers) and hence the web-based players need to replicate that functionality. This makes no sense since the players are already there. All you need to do is provide a protocol for the players to access that music.
Looking out for pure media servers, I found Firefly Media Server. Compared to some others I tested, I found Firefly very easy to install and configure. It is very basic in what it offers and that probably its beauty. Since most of the complicated stuff should be left to the player itself, all it needs to do is serve the music is a reliable way. Using DAAP protocol, I can connect using a variety of players to access my music. Players could be desktop based or web-based and gives you plenty of options. There is even a DAAP client for the iphone (though not very good).
I currently use Songbird with Sonbird DAAP Plugin to access all my music. I’ve also set up a server side frontend to the server so I can access my music when I don’t have my client of choice with me. I’m very pleased with how this has turned out. My main concern with the setup is DAAP isn’t a widely used protocol. So for example, I can’t use it to stream music directly from the receiver. Also, there aren’t other hardware devices that can do this either (Roku probably is one that supports this).
Overall, Firefly media server get an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Software moves like porta-potty.
I recently discovered portable apps. And I couldn’t be happier. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is precisely what the name suggests. Applications written with portability in mind. You can copy the app to your USB drive and move it to another PC and there you have it; setup exactly the way you want it, all set to go. I’ve spent hours working on other people’s PC, downloading stuff I need, configuring, setting everything up and then having to clean up everything when I’m done. No more. Just plugin a USB drive, everything is all set and ready to fire. Firefox alone, with addons saves me tons of time. Better yet, whenever someone remote tells me their firefox isnt working as desired on certain sites, I say download mine and run it. See if it works. And it usually does. Also, I don’t now need to carry my PC around when I travel. With all my apps on a USB, all I need is a host PC on the other end and I’m all set.
Another obvious advantage is that since apps are not installed on the PC, your registry stays slim and running faster. the files are not scattered all over the place, only where you installed it. Uninstalling is as easy as deleting the folder where you installed it. No more registry cleaners, orphan files all over taking up space. Overall, I find my system snappy with little to no bloat and yet everything there at my fingertips.
Now, if only everything else in life was portable. At leasy potty is.
Where is the fan, boy?
We all know and love/hate Apple fanboys. These guys are willing to look past the obvious evilness and daylight-robbing techniques used by Apple and just pay up their hard-earned paychecks to buy themselves some goodlooking goodies.
Now, we have a new wave of Apple-hating Google fanboys. Google’s evilness has been slowly but surely growing and with that is an increasing number of followers who swear by the google way. Andriod is the latest in this wave of followers which includes editors for the Washington post. If Apple introduces a hidden kill-switch on the iPhone, its baaaaaad. But Google does it, anounces it (they obviously know it will be found and don’t want the Apple bad publicity) it is great. Infact, it is for the better good.
Hmmm.. And the logic is even better. Google system is open and so people could exploit users but putting out malicious software that users can install and cause havoc. Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah, every OS in the world connected to the internet download stupid stuff like Anna Kournikova naked apps. Hmmm, I wonder how the Washington Post would like Microsoft to automatically delete software they bought just because they think it will be malicious.
OS Shootout.
Mac (Tiger/Leopard), Windows (XP/Vista), Linux (Ubuntu). The whoz who of OS, take periferral. This is a desktop shootout because in my opinion, the server shootout is pointless. Linux wins hands down there. So lets take aspects of desktop needs and compare the OS’s.
Eye Candy
Out of the box, Mac is a clear winner. It’s clean, functional and good looking. The dock, minimalistic yet functional toolbar, gorgeous icons are all craved for and replicated across other OS’s. Ubuntu comes in at a distant second, closely followed by Vista. XP just looks plain ugly out of the box.
However, when it comes to customizing the UIs as per user needs, Mac provides little help. Ubuntu comes with compiz, AWN/cairo docks (among several others) and plenty of other UI tools providing the user with a ton of options to tweak the UI as needed. Vista/XP also has freeware apps such as Uxtheme patch + msstyle themes, docketdock/object dock and freeware shell replacements that provide plenty customization. If done right, I’d say Ubuntu is a clear winner here. Mac still comes in second and XP/Vista last because of the lack of good/reliable freeware apps. However is you are willing to pay for software, XP/Vista are just as good if not better than the competition.
Winner
Novice: Mac
Expert: Linux
Ease of use
This one is a toughie. In my opinion, Windows is probably the winner here. Out of the box, its just plain usable. Installation compared to other options is a breeze. Program locations are in a simple start menu. Mac is a very close second. Although the layout of mac is better, apps such as Finder do a poor job of File System access. Spotlight is great but a little messy is showing the data and doesn’t search system folders by default. Ubuntu has come a long way from its Linux past. Gnome’s bloat is reduced, the layout is clean and thunar/nautilus are good file managers. Apt is a good installer app, but problems with installation means digging into the CLI and figuring out what happened. For beginners, this usually equates to game over.
The other aspect of use is what happens when you hit issues. Web searches will usually reveal good solutions for Windows. Ubuntu forums are quite good but novice users will find it hard to fix some complex issues. Mac, in my opinion is the hardest to find help online. The search results don’t usually yield good results.
Winner
Novice: Windows
Expert: Linux
Software
This is easy. In my opinion, Windows is a winner by a long shot. People have been making software for windows forever now. Which everyday apps is a close call, specialized software is almost always made for windows. For example, cell phone sync software, universal remote software, firmware upgrade for audio/video compoenents, wireless etc. However, if we narrow the field down to freeware standard software, I think Linux wins. Almost any software for windows has a free mac equivalent that work as good, if not better than its windows counterpart. Mac is probably lacking here overall. This is some really good stuff on Mac that is better than Windows/Linux but a lot isn’t available at all. However, with the switch to Intel hardware, this is changing rapidly. I think pretty soon, they’d reach parity. However, Mac will face similar issues as Windows where you will have to pony up the dough for the good stuff.
Winner: Linux
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