Don't Back Down

Of course I'm talking about file size when it comes to video. Or perhaps audio - though I don't really listen to much audio on my computer. Now that I think about it, I don't really listen to that much audio elsewhere either. Just in the car. But back to the point - if you store video, then you undoubtedly have come to the conclusion that it takes up a decent amount of space. If you browse most any of the popular file-sharing sites, you'll see that the low end of the equation - and I'm not counting the off-brand encodings, because they suck - come in around 700MB.

There are, of course, purists, who will tell you that 700MB isn't worth watching. And there are certainly examples where they are right. If you watch some videos (typically those with action in them), there are simply places where the frames can't keep up. Also, if you try and watch a 700MB MPEG, you aren't going to get very much video, unless you're just watching PR0N, in which case 700MB will get you all you need, and then some. But again, I digress. Let's say you want to settle in and watch a movie with the family. Just how much space do you need?

Read "Does (File) Size Really Matter?" »

One of the problems that you may encounter when you add new features to your site is that you run the risk of slowing down the page load time. Before adding anything to your site, there are a couple of things you should check out. Even if you aren't considering adding anything, you may want to take a look, just to see what's what.

First, take a look at Web Site Optimization. In the interest of disclosure, this is a client of mine for Movable Type Consulting, so I'm not a completely unbiased observer. But the site is a good one. You can use their free web site analysis tool to see how long it takes your page to load. A quick look tells you how long it takes the items on your page to load - HTML, images, scripts, styles and the like. What's even better is that you get a good look at how long it will take not just on your high-speed connection, but how long it might take on a slower connection as well, and some basic tips to speed things up. I'll talk about that more in a minute.

Read "The Effect of Multiple JavaScript Files on Page Load Time" »

There's a school of thought that says you should Fake It Until You Make It - that even if you aren't successful, that you should pretend that you are successful, because it will make people believe that you are, and that will in turn, lead to success. But just how long do you go on pretending to be a success? As long as it takes, of course. That's the standard answer. How long do real successes go on pretending? The simple answer is that they go on as long as they can keep you believing.

For a quick study, let's take a look at the man everyone loves to hate, John Chow. He took his personal blog from a couple hundred dollars per month in September of 2006, writing relatively decent content, to over $25,000 in December of 2007. All the while, he says that his traffic hasn't really increased (it has certainly increased from that point, but when he does share traffic figures, it shows that it hasn't changed much in recent months), but his monetization strategies have. Perhaps most importantly, it makes you wonder - has he made it, or does he fake it?

Read "How Long Should You Fake It?" »

Even though I deal with Movable Type a great deal in my job as a Movable Type Consultant, and I have written plugins for the platform for something like four years now (including the award-winning MT-Notifier), these days I tend to do more integration and implementation. I'm not complaining, that's just the way it is.

In spite of that - or perhaps because of that - I have never really used Subversion much. I guess that I just never considered myself enough of a developer to do it. Well, that and the fact that I never really had access to a Subversion repository. Sure, there is Beanstalk, but I just can't get into the habit of handing my data over to someone else. One is because I don't like to pay someone else to hold onto it, and two is because I'm stuck if I am ever offline for any length of time. As a result, I've known for a while that pair Networks offers Subversion, but I've never used it. That all changed recently.

Read "Using Subversion at pair Networks" »

This checkpoint was delayed not by more broadband delays, (those have finally been fixed), but by the camera acting up. In fact, it still is, so the picture just doesn't look very good. I'll have to do some practicing with it to see if I can figure out what is happening. Now that the broadband is restored, I'll probably have to go out and get a new camera.

Anyway - since last week, you can see (picture below) that the mustache continues to come in. I did have to make a slight adjustment to the rules. Mustaches for Kids - the official organization, I mean - doesn't allow any additional facial hair, and you can't really tell from my less-than-focused picture, but I had to leave a bit of a soul patch this week, because of a small shaving mishap last week.

Read "2008 Mustaches for Kids: Checkpoint 2" »

A bit over two weeks ago, my cable connection went out. A bit over a week ago, I mentioned that it was still out. I'm happy to report that the problem seems to be fixed. Finally. I've had broadband cable for more than seven years, and this was - by far - the longest outage I've experienced. There were just two times prior to this that I had problems, and both were fixed with relative ease (one with a replaced fitting on the end and one with a replacement modem).

This time, the first week went by with promises of a node fixing the problem. When that was replaced, the problem went away for a day, and then came back with a vengeance. The modem was then replaced and then I lost connectivity entirely. I decided that I'd take matters into my own hands and at least got back to a bad connection, instead of no connection at all - but it took another several days to get someone back out to check things. When h e arrived, of course, everything worked. Until he left, at which point I reported that it was down again, and another visit was scheduled.

Read "Finally, Broadband Has Been Restored" »

If you should happen to have connected your Alltel phone using Bluetooth - be it an LG 8600 like I used or something else - then of course the next question is how you go about using the phone as a modem. Of course if you have reliable broadband, then this isn't a typical need, but it's still nice to know how to do it, or if it's even possible.

I did some reading on the subject, and it seems that there is no complete guide to this - perhaps because Alltel doesn't want you to know how to do it or just because there isn't a lot of call for it. When I called them, the only answer I got was that I could purchase a data card and a data plan for ~$60 per month. For a backup to a service that doesn't even cost that, it's not really feasible. So I decided to do some exploring. The good news it that it seems to work and the speed is good. The bad news is that the connection isn't great and the unknown is what it will cost.

Read "Using Your Alltel Bluetooth Phone as a Modem" »

Now that I had picked up a Belkin Bluetooth adapter for myself, it was really easy to get it hooked up to my PC. Just plug it into the USB port and i was ready to go. Unfortunately I needed something that I could connect to before it would be of any use to me. Being a bit of a collector of gadgets, I don't always think things through when I purchase them - it just seems like a good idea at the time, so I decide to do so.

Luckily, when playing with my phone, I remembered that it had Bluetooth. So I enabled it, and a whole lot of nothing happened. The two just sat there like the proverbial bumps on logs. It turns out that more needs to happen before you can do anything useful. But it's actually not hard to make the two talk. You just need to know a few things that will allow a little back-and-forth action between the phone and the PC.

Read "Connect Your LG 8600 to Your PC via Bluetooth" »

CompUSA continues to go out of business, and it seems that they are going to be at it for a while longer. The signs on the corner say that the discounts have reached 20-40%, and if you step inside, you'll see that some of the shelves are now bare, but there is still a lot of merchandise left. Perhaps most importantly, you'll see that even though the discounts aren't going down very quickly, the real reason that the merchandise isn't moving appears to be because the prices on the items left are actually going up.

That's right, the product left on the shelves is actually being marked up while the discounts are ever-so-slowly drifting down. Not too long ago, networking equipment was at the 10% discount level. One item in particular - a Belkin Bluetooth adapter that was recently $29.99 has now been marked up to $39.99. So you could have had it for about $27 ($29.99 * .9) or now you can get it for about $32 ($39.99 * .8). Sweet.

Read "Finding Deals at CompUSA Doesn't Get Any Easier" »

I'm a little delayed in posting this, due to my continued broadband troubles. But better late than never, right?

In any case, the 2007 Mustaches for Kids event continues. After the kickoff last week, I now have a one-week growth of pure, corner-to-corner goodness. Or badness, I suppose - depending on whether or not you like mustaches. But regardless, it's here and it's growing. If you'd like to join in the fun, it's not too late - there are still three checkpoints to go. Well, there are two checkpoints and then the final Sweetest Stache Competition, which isn't so much a checkpoint as a race to the finale before Valentine's Day. But it's plenty of time to get growing is what I mean.

If you don't want to grow, but want to help out, check out the Donors Choose page and choose a cause (or more than one, even). You can do it now, or you can wait to see how big this thing gets before deciding what it's worth.

Read "2008 Mustaches for Kids: Checkpoint 1" »

Reports say that broadband penetration in the US is approaching - or may have even exceeded the 50% mark, which is great. I have to say that I'm a big fan of high-speed access, and I've become rather addicted to it. My best estimate shows that I've had cable access to the net since August of 2000, which means I haven't had to deal with dial-up for more than seven years. It's hard to even think of anything else. Unfortunately, when it goes out, it means dealing with a great deal of frustration.

Starting last Monday, the signal quality of my line has gone downhill, and when I say downhill, I'm not talking about the bunny slope. I'm talking olympic-level territory. On Monday afternoon, I called - and was connected to - someone who managed to reset things and get it up and running. I chalked it up to one of those annoyances that I have to deal with from time to time, but figured I'd deal with it and get on with things. Little did I know what was in store. If I did, I might have just gone on vacation.

Read "What Do You Do When Your Broadband Goes Out?" »