Kevin's Musings

In case you care, here are some details about the fall TV lineup.

Had to share this video which is a spoof on the Apple Mac vs Windows Commercial… Sony PS3 vs Nintendo Wii. Scroll down and click play on the video.

I have played with a lot of different backup software. I started to play with Carbonite. I love the idea of Carbonite, a constant streaming of changed files from your system to their servers. It is encrypted on your system, transferred via SSL, stored on their systems. It is relatively cheap at $5/mo (or less if you pre-pay), amount of storage is unlimited. It seems quite easy to use. If you delete a file, the deleted file stays on their server or a couple of weeks, giving you some time to determine the file is missing. I have bandwidth to spare and am always connected, so, this seems like a great backup solution… except…

I don’t like that they store my decryption key on their servers. I don’t think they should have any access whatsoever to my data or even my filenames. My data should be locked tightly under a key that I specify and it should be impossible (except va a brute decryption attack) for them to look at my files in any way, shape, or form. Sure they state the decryption key is stored in a database that “is isolated and accessible only to certain Carbonite employees” (from their Technical FAQ) but why should I trust even those certain employees? You were afraid of Google employees scanning your email? Now you can have “certain Carbonite employees” who can, at a whim, look up any customer’s Quicken files, list of MP3s, whatever. I can imagine terribly things just given the knowledge of the filenames.

So, needless to say, I won’t be using Carbonite.

A few days ago I woke up and it was evident my hosting provider was having some major problems. My sites were all down and I wasn’t getting any new email. I eventually got an instant message from a friend that emails to me were bouncing. I contacted my hosting provider, but, got no response for about 12 hours.

When I finally did hear back, I got news that the hard disc in the server server where my account was located had crashed. To make matters worse, their “backup scheme” was, apparently, to duplicate the data on a second disc on the same machine and when the tech went to restore the data he accidentally formatted both discs. All data gone. For me this wasn’t catastrophic because I run a complete backup of all of my websites and databases every night (downloading the backup to my personal PC), so, I only lost about a day on my sites (and it was a weekend day with almost no new data).

After pinging support a second time, they finally got me the new login information for my account, I reconfigured my account, and restored my files and database and everything was back up and running in about 30 minutes. Total downtime (that I am aware of) was about 15 hours – they probably wasted a lot of that time stressing about what to do (who knows).
Remember: keep your data (and websites and databases) backed up, and store the backups as far as possible from the machine in question.

Probably since getting my first Apple Newton, I have been wanting to keep my devices (especially the screens) scratch free. I used the WriteRIGHT protectors long before Fellowes bought the the brand, back when you had to mail order them, and I have tried several iPod cases and protectors. I had high hopes for each of them, I thought for sure the Griffin iClear would be perfect — they say it is hard to scratch, but, it was scratched up practically before I got it home. I really liked that the Speck SkinTight provided good protection, but, the screen scratched / marred somewhat easily and since I do watch video (especially video podcasts), a clear screen is important to me. I had all but given up hope. Until…

Thanks to Major Nelson’s podcast, I found ShieldZone’s Invisible Shield. They make these protectors for every imaginable device, it is easy easy easy to apply, and while it isn’t ultra cheap, it isn’t expensive and you only have to buy ONE (per device), if you manage to scratch it they will replace it for $3 to cover shipping (after you return the scratched-up one). Plus, initial shipping is free. I bought a screen protector for my Treo 650 and a full body protector for my iPod and I can tell you this is the best anti-scratch protector going, bar none. Keep in mind it doesn’t add any drop protection, but, if your iPod is still in one piece after you drop it, it won’t be scratched. If you are still in doubt watch their videos and order one. Thanks to their “application solution” (spray) it is far easier to apply than any other screen protector I have ever used. Sorry to sound like an advertisement, but, I really am pleased with this and want others to know.

We went to see two movies yesterday, The Lake House and Clerks II. In spite of Keanu and Bullock (not my two favorite actor-persons), The Lake House was really, really good – I would highly recommend it pretty much anybody. It was well acted, written, the story was solid, and unlike most movies which play with time stuff there are no gaping problems. Good movie.

Clerks II was a solid Kevin Smith offering. It was very funny, but, not for the easily offended or even the somewhat easily offended. Basically, if you like Kevin Smith movies you will like Clerks II. Occasionally it felt like he was trying a little too hard, but, it was a lot of fun.

We also saw new Sci-Fi show Eureka — it shows some real promise. The first few episodes of Psych have also showed some promise, funny and quirky. We watched the first episode of of Kyle XY and weren’t quite as warm on it, but, may watch a few more to see. Lucky Louie is kind of amusing but seems to try to push the taste boundaries just to push them and I’m not totally enamored with the characters yet, we’ll see. Finally, we really enjoyed It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, better and funnier than most.

My sister pointed out RiffTrax to me, which is pretty appropriate since she is the one who first introduced me to the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3k), which I love(d). RiffTrax is a make-fun-of commentary that you play along with a movie. It is done by Mike Nelson who did a lot of the writing (and even some of the hosting) for MST3k. Basically, you pay a couple bucks and you get an MP3 that is the length of the movie + a few minutes of instructions. After you pay your couple bucks you download the MP3 and the watch the DVD — listening to both the DVDs audio and the MP3 audio at the same time. I played the audio on my iPod and used my FM transmitter to transmit the audio to a radio so both my wife and I could enjoy the commentary.

It works surprisingly well. We had some minor sync problems, but, those were probably all my fault. I won’t go into any specifics, but, I think if you follow the instructions you shouldn’t have any real problems. People might complain about the RiffTrax selection — currently one movie, Road House — yes, the cheesy classic starring Patty McSwayze, but, MST3k didn’t do the big movies, it did cheesy movies, so, it is really a perfect choice. I remember all of us watching MST3k and wishing they could do more modern movies and this was, in my opinion, a good cheesy, modern-ish choice. Sure, it would have been fun to have Tom Servo, Crow, and the rest of the gang in there piping in, but, we had a great time. If you’re feeling up for something fun and different, can sit through Road House with a bunch of extra laughs, and can find a DVD of Road House (the hardest part of the whole thing) I would definitely recommend it.

I have been able to get some game playing in, probably a bit more than usual. My quick impressions are:

• Titan Quest for the PC. This is a lot of fun, very Diablo-esque with really nice graphics. It is a touch buggy, crashing and having graphical glitches pretty frequently, but, when it’s running it is a lot of fun and looks great. No where near as solid a game as Dungeon Siege or Dungeon Siege II, but, more Diablo like than those.
• Prey for the PC and Xbox 360. I have played the demo of Prey for the 360 and the full version for the PC and I have to say this is a really nifty first person shooter (FPS). FPS almost always play better on PCs than on consoles, but, both version are good. Either way, get the demo and try it, pretty neat. The stuff they do with gravity and portals is a lot of fun.
• Tetris DS. This is a really stellar version of Tetris. I have gotten to level in the standard version. Can you do better? 🙂 If you have a DS, go get Tetris.
• Super Princess Peach for the DS. Lots of fun, really easy. A good intro for side scrolling platformers.
• Cloning Clyde for Xbox 360: Playing the demo, will probably got the full version. Lots more fun that I thought it would be from the screen shots. Wacky side scrolling puzzle solving, kind of like playing the first Oddworld games. Definitely worth a look.
• Frogger for the Xbox 360: Played the demo, no real interest in buying the full version.
• Battle for Middle Earth 2 for the Xbox 360: Played the demo, it was pretty good but I am just not into real time strategy (RTS) games any more, if you are into RTS but don’t want to play it on a PC, this seems to be a really good implementation for the consoles – control was remarkably good for not having a mouse.
• Uno, in real life (gasp) and on the Xbox 360: Always good, the 360 version is lots of fun, same in real life 🙂

I think that’s about it. Go play something!

We went to western Pennsylvania for a wedding (which was very nice) and decided while we were in the area we would head up to Sandusky, OH to visit Cedar Point, a park well known for its roller coaster (I am a big roller coaster fan). While I can see the attraction to the park, there are lots of good coasters, I would not call it the highlight of my theme park visits. There are a few reasons for this… The first reason is that it was very hot and humid, probably 95F and 70% humidity (or so it seemed, anyway). The second reason is that the lines were LONG. The really wimpy coasters at 15 minute waits, the mid-level coaster had 45 minute waits, the good coasters had 90-120+ minute waits, which is just crazy — we really should go back on a fall day when school is in session or something. But, what has really ruined theme parks for me is the advent of the QBot, a nifty device that lets you virtually stand in line for rides while you can walk around the park. Yes, you have to pay an extra charge for the QBot but to not have to stand in the line is completely worth it. Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great Adventure let you rent a QBot, Cedar Point does not. When the lines are long and the heat is high, the QBot is worth every penny. We would have stayed much longer and ridden many more rides if Cedar Point had the QBot — as it was we only got to ride 4 or 5 of the coasters. Oh well, maybe we’ll get back there this fall or next season.

For what its worth, I think Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is almost as good of a roller coaster park, is much closer to us, and DOES have the QBot.

I have uploaded a few pictures to my Flickr account of tonights Roosevelt Island Fourth of July event. I took just a few pictures of the fireworks as a proof of concept… I will take more next year if I get a tripod.

Click to view the Fouth of July event pictures

It was a fun event and the fireworks were just amazing. The view from the south tip of the island was fantastic, possibly the best anywhere in NYC — Macy’s really puts on a stellar fireworks show.