A couple months ago we cancelled our DirecTV subscription. I had a nearly complete HD package and two HD DVRs, so we were paying something significant for it every month. It was a tough decision because DirecTV is great coupled with a DVR allowing us to have something to watch almost all the time, but there were still those times when there was nothing on that we wanted to watch.

The options we had to choose or mix and match from included:

• Cheapest Cable TV package ~$40/month.
• Netflix ~$10/month.
• HuluPlus ~$10/month.
• Boxee Box
• Custom PC with various websites with streaming (Fox, CBS, etc.)
• Apple TV
• Cheaper Dish package

Cable TV

The point of this exercise is to save some money temporarily. Cable TV has an immediate negative from this perspective in that even the cheapest package available, with just a dozen or so real channels in standard definition, commercials, and general poor quality.

We used a high end Cable TV package prior to switching to DirecTV this last time. Even with the $100/month package that included HD and a DVR it still suffered from quality issues. I complained numerous times. One time they replaced the cable from the pole to the house and that seemed to improve it slightly, but then they replaced the cable from the entry point to the TV so they could blame that and charge me something for the “repair.” The interior wiring was fine and changing it out made no improvement.

The one thing the cable company is good for is their Internet service. It is currently the only high speed option available to me, so I get the fastest Internet only option 8mbps down 512kbps up. It is generally rock solid, and for where I live I’m very glad they offer it.

Netflix

I am a long time subscriber to Netflix having first joined when the service was brand new, although I have let my subscription lapse from time to time. The most useful part of the service, for me, is the streaming service. A DVD subscription is nice, but we always have trouble remembering to put the discs back in the mail. Streaming, especially for kids programming, is wonderful.
Netflix streaming works best when coupled to a 3rd party application. There are TVs that include this option, DVD players, or any Windows based PC.

Hulu/HuluPlus

Hulu still feels really beta to me. For one their refusal to allow Boxee or others to integrate seems ignorant and stupid. It’s not like these services are stealing advertising revenue. On the contrary, they would be increasing viewership. Also, their application for TV usage is designed more approprietly for a desktop computer. The typeface is difficult to view from across a room. The basic service is free, but for $10 more you get a broader selection of shows with more episodes, the ability to work with a few appliances, and HD access. Currently Plus is in beta preview right now, invite only, but still costs money which also seems disingenuous to me. Hulu seems to have an extreme amount of potential coupled with a lazy culture. It is almost as if they are just waiting to be bought out by someone who will take it to the next level.

Boxee Box

Boxee can be downloaded and used for free on any decent PC. Literally. They have versions for Linux32/64, OSX, AppleTV, and various flavors of Windows (XP and better). The Boxee Box is available only on preorder right now, but it looks to be decent except with a (possibly fatal) flaw in that it has not been confirmed that it will play Netflix. The general concensus is that it will not since it is based on Linux and Netflix does not work in Linux without some sort of virtualization.

Boxee’s aim is to provide a positive experience from a remote control on the couch away from the TV, and it does an excellent job at this. The downloaded version integrates just fine with Netflix. Boxee is best experienced rather than talked about, and the sign-up process is so simple that if you are at curious you should try it. There are some bugs with certain web site integration. Sometimes the video cuts off about 3/4 of the way down the screen. Sometimes it gets stuck in a paused mode while the video is still playing. Can’t argue with free though.

Custom PC

A PC to play these solutions has the advantage of being versatile. It can run Boxee, Hulu, Netflix, any video feeds from network sources, or old fashioned browsing. When Boxee has trouble playing an expisode of House (frequently) we can just use the web browser to browse directly to Fox’s website to watch. The negatives here include having an extra computer to take care of and startup costs. This became my solution because I had some extra computer hardware sitting around, and what I did have to purchase was saved in the first two months of being without a bill from DirecTV.

Apple TV

Apple TV looks to be about $100 and plays a variety of things from iTunes. At $0.99 per episode for TV, it is a great alternative financially, however it is not free. If the only shows I watch in an average week is House and CSI, I can get those for free on the respective network website, albeit a week behind schedule. The delay doesn’t bother me at all, so what is the point of paying $0.99.

Cheaper Dish Package

Dish is all about being the cheapest of the traditional solutions. Their initial term prices are always the most competitive, however it is still a contract and still includes startup costs. The quality is slightly inferior to DirecTV, but superior to any streaming solution. I opted out of this idea because of these downsides.

The problem: User data accumulates over time. There are many different types of wasted data on a typical company’s network shares. Here are the top four in no particular order:

1. Users who make a copy of everything as a backup “just in case”. These users will create a copy every time they revise a document. It may not be bad when dealing with a 50K word processing text, but make that a 20MB PowerPoint or a much larger engineering drawing and we are looking at serious wasted disk.
2. Users who do not trust IT. These are users who, possibly having experienced problems in the past, decide to copy their data to every network drive available to them. Say they have a home directory. They use this to back up everything out of a common directory and everything they touch off of an engineering share. Maybe they use this to fulfill #1 above.
3. Unauthorized file types. Some users will not listen no matter how many times they are told. No MP3 files on the network, no home videos and personal picture albums, no joke videos downloaded from the net. Etc.
4. Data no longer relevant. Creating data is easy, but knowing when or if it is safe to delete is a process that requires thought and is not required to get ones job done. What is the incentive for an employee to ever go behind and clean up?

The solution:

1. User education. Users need to understand the architecture to some degree. It makes no sense to have three copies of the same file on the same SAN, backed up to the same disk, tape, etc. It is no more secure than a single file.
2. The network drives also must remain consistent. It is easy and, sometimes we as administrators feel, the right thing, to only take down the minimum amount of resources necessary to get a job done. If the users see the home drive down less frequently than a common drive, they will tend to copy data they might just need on their home drive to guard against losing access during these maintenance events. When possible, take everything (or nothing) down for the users when maintenance has to be done.
3. There are two semi-solutions to unauthorized file times. A manual search and delete, or an automated server-based preventative software. Try to find one that is reasonably priced though. It is important to engage Human Resources and Legal if you are serious about this though. This type of data puts your company at risk.
4. Irrelevant data is always going to be a manual process. Maintaining tight quotas is the only semi-solution for this. If users perceive they are about to run out of space, and the barrier to getting more space is more than a simple phone call, then they are more likely to look at what they can do prior to demanding more space.

General solutions or best practices:

1. Installing deduplication software or using a back end deduplication solution will transparently solve #1 and #2.
2. Storage management software is a good solution for new data stores to allow users to define an expiration date for data retention.

I would love to have someone suggest or describe successful software packages that they used to solve or help with any of these items.

My Dell XPS M1210 has finally died. It is a sad day. I’m in the market for a new laptop, and of course would be glad to do any reviews if you’d like to send me one or give me a discount.

I’d really love another XPS M1210 but more modern. The closest thing I can find is the Alienware m11x however I’m not sure I am willing to buy into a Core 2 chip at this point. I’d be much happier if it were a Core i7 or i5. The graphics on the Alienware are very nice, but I’m concerned about performance in the normal things I do such as running virtual machines while browsing and using office type products.

Any suggestions? The biggest I think I’d want is 15″ but I would prefer smaller. The other problem I have with smaller laptops is how hard it is to find decent screen resolution.

I switched from Packet8 to ViaTalk a while back, and while I knew the service wouldn’t be as reliable, I couldn’t ignore the drop by more that 50% in the phone bill. For VoIP Packet8 is expensive, but they are also a premium service. In my year and a half with them I had rock solid availability and voice quality. ViaTalk on the other hand dies on a regular basis. I’ll call home and can hear them but they can’t hear me, or they can hear me but I can’t hear them. There are also times where there is no dial tone or just a fast busy when we pick the phone up to make a call. When ViaTalk is working it is wonderful.

To fix the problem when one of these issues happens I have to remove power and plug it back in and everything is fine. I just hooked it up to an appliance timer with one 15 minute interval set to turn it off in the middle of the night. We’ll see what happens with daily reboots and if it gets any more reliable.

There are some things that never change. One of those is people’s need for distraction. Seems like it would be a good time for video game and entertainment companies to make a killing. If they are not, it is probably because they are charging too much. We finally got a console game system, a Wii, with the intention of using it for family time and fitness. The problem is that in order to do anything on it, it just costs so much money. Looking around on the Internet you’ll find GameFly with about the best prices and deal if you are an average to big gamer. If your kids can play through a game in a few days, then it doesn’t make sense to spend $50 for something that will be boring to them in less than a month. With a GameFly subscription, similar to Netflix, you can borrow games and send them back when you are bored. Their prices on used games are also very cheap.

I’m not subscribed. My kids are just not the gaming type (yet), and I certainly don’t have time. If I was a gaming company exec I’d try the move of reducing the cost of all my games to see how much better they’d sell in this economy.

Walmart is now selling LED Christmas lights. For a string of 60 lights at 4.5 watts and pretty much zero heat generation this is a great idea. As someone who moved to CFL bulbs many years ago, this is just the next step in progression. Amazon has some lights available online, but Walmart’s 60 light string is about $6. This is a great deal!
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It wasn’t too long ago that we had this little thing called the dot com bust. What if the government had bailed out the tech firms as they plan to do to the auto industry? Here’s a little glimpse into what our lives would look like. Read the rest of this entry »

I have had the MagicJack for about a week now, but still have not had much time to do testing. I did try it on my laptop and noticed that it allowed me to connect through bluetooth. I set the options and connected my Plantronics 510 to it and it works like a charm. No external phone needed.

Pressing the “Send” button after typing numbers gives an instantaneous connection. I tried calling my desk phone and it almost seemed as if it was ringing before I pressed it. I have noticed some call quality problems, but so many people are used to VoIP and poor quality mobile phones that it makes little difference.

My plan is to forward my Packet 8 number to MagicJack starting some day this week and move the phone line from my Packet 8 ATA to MagicJack so all incoming and outgoing phone calls with be via MagicJack. If things go well then I do not see much incentive to keep Packet 8.

There is an article on eWeek about how to keep your tech job. There is some good advice if you happen to be working in the IT industry. Many of the ideas center around saving money for your business. The thing is that not every business is doing poorly. Saving money should always be a priority, but look too far into it and they will start saving money by cutting positions. It is good to be on the inside in such a situation, but none of these is a sure-fire way to keep your job.

I wrote an article recently about being overworked that was also based from something I read in an eWeek article. It is a good place to be right now in times of uncertainty. If you are overworked then they can’t let you go without removing some of the work.

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This looks like the best deal I have seen yet on a massive amount of consumer level external storage. 2 TB in a single externally connected box for $370 courtesy of Newegg my favorite vendor. Of course you need to run RAID 0 to make use of all that space, which i don’t think makes much sense for an external enclosure, but it is there. What makes more sense to me is allowing jbod in here. The difference in speed between RAID 0 and single disks isn’t going to be that huge in an external enclosure, and typically people don’t run applications requiring fast random access off of an external drive anyway, at least through a USB interface which is all this drive offers. Western Digital has made lower capacity enclosures with eSATA where RAID 0 would be a benefit. Too bad this enclosure doesn’t have that interface.

How about it manufacturers? Can we get one of these with JBOD so if one disk fails we’ve only lost half our data instead of all of it?

Thanks.