Archive for the “Technology” Category

One of my pet peeves on the Internet is the phenomena of cybersquatting and domain speculating.  Basically, most cybersquatters are people or companies who register blocks of domains for the purpose of reselling them to end-users or developers who ultimately want to create content around a given domain name.

Because we live in a capitalistic society, I won’t say it is morally or ethically wrong to cybersquat for profit.  However, as a website creator and content developer, I find myself blocked from using many domains that would be appropriate for a project or venture.

If there was a corresponding live website to a registered domain name, it would not bother me so much.  But most of the time when I view a registered domain, it shows nothing or a generic parked page.  That tells me that there are lots of people who either are not developing content for the registered domains or they are cyber-squatting.

There are domains I register and hold on to.  But it is not to resell them.  I have intentions of developing a website around the name.  For the most part, the days of domain speculation are over and yet there are many domains still being sat upon.

With ICANN’s recent expansion announcement, the Internet domain space will soon be expanded to the point where it will become unprofitable to cybersquat.  No longer will we be limited to .com, .net, .org, .info, etc.  We potentially will have a limitless supply of domain names with the creation of new top-level domains.

Up to now, I have been a strong proponent of getting a .com in a domain name.  However, I have softened my opinion on this because I have registered some .org domains as appropriate.  The biggest problem years back was that most of the public was ignorant of Internet conventions.  So if you did not have a .com, you were not as credible and you ran the danger of less sophisticated users not being able to recognize your Internet address as an accessible website.

I am tired of cyber-squattting and domain speculators.  In my eyes, they profit but they really add no value to the big picture.  With domain names soon becoming plentiful and diverse, the power shifts back to the website creators and content developers.  That is what people want, that is what I want to provide.

We are in the middle of 2008.  ICANN claims they will start accepting new applications around this time in 2009.  I predict that sometime in 2010, the domain space will begin to widen.  I also predict that cybersquatters and domain speculators are going to start dumping their domains when they realize it is going to be quite unprofitable unless they have a super-unique domain name.

As far as I am concerned, there isn’t a project I have worked on that I have not been able to be creative and work around cyber-squatters.  I simply will not allow them to profit from me.

Cybersquatting and domain speculating will soon become an obsolete and unprofitable thanks to ICANN’s recent decision.  The end, and new beginning, cannot come soon enough for me.  Start watching domain names not being registered next year.  The dumping will start slow but will eventually come fast and furious.

Since coming back from the 2008 Book Expo America in Los Angeles, I have been wanting to write my review on Amazon’s Kindle.

My relationship with Amazon is multi-faceted.  Like most book lover, my first relationship with Amazon is as a customer.  In my opinion, Amazon has the best website to research and search for books.  It also has the best book community support.

Secondarily, I am an Amazon reseller.  I resell my books and titles through their Amazon Advantage and Amazon Marketplace programs.  Overall, it is a good business relationship.

Essentially, I have grown to like and appreciate Amazon over the years.

With the launch of Amazon Kindle, I find myself as both a publisher and a book reader evaluating the merits of Kindle.  At nearly $400, I am resistant to buying an electronic device to read books.  Although, I love my computer and everything it does, I still like to read old-fashioned books.  I just like the convenience of flipping through pages and basically jumping around at a moment’s notice.  I am still resistant to the idea of being depending on any electronic device to read.  What happens if the device is damaged or lost?

What I don’t like about books, however, is that they are subject to wear and tear.  They are bulky and take up a lot of shelf space when you have hundreds of books like I do.  They are a terror to move when packed into boxes.  It is an annual ritual to purge books and either sell them or give them away.  And it is difficult to find specific content within a book even with an index.

As a publisher, I would like to do away with the printing of books and sell more content electronically.  There is no hard printing costs, no warehousing costs, and it saves lots of trees environmentally. Having said all that, you will have a sense of my inherent biases and internal battle with Kindle.

At BEA, I was quite happy to see Amazon with their large Kindle booth.  Amazon intelligently and insightfully understood that there is still a huge portion of book readers who have never physically seen and fiddled with the Kindle.  Unless you are on the cutting edge and don’t mind blowing $400 on an untried device, most people including me did not want to spend that money without actually having some hands-on experience with it.

The folks at the Amazon Kindle booth seemed friendly.  They were ready to engage anyone interested in playing with a Kindle.  I awkwardly too the device and admired its design.  It was light and clean looking.  It had a relatively simple and elegant look.  The quality of the reading screen even when viewed at a steep away angle was quite good.

For the most part, Kindle was easy to navigate.  I goofed a few times but I attributed that to my user unfamiliarity.  The browsing of Kindle-titles was easy.  The Amazon employee pointed out that there were still many titles not available on Kindle but work was aggressively being done to get more titles.  As a publisher, I agreed with that.  Amazon has been heavily courting publishers to release their content on the Kindle format.  For me, I am interested but I have taken a wait-and-see attitude.  I will get into why in another post.

Back to the actual Kindle device, what I did not like about Kindle were the placement of the long page-turning buttons on both the left and right side of the device.  I am guessing the idea of having a long elongated button is to accommodate different ways and styles that readers would hold Kindle.  Unfortunately, I found it difficult to hold and adjust the Kindle with accidentally pressing one of the side buttons.

There simply was no easy way to hold the Kindle in my left or right hand.  If I wanted to adjust my seating position or get up, I found myself accidentally hitting the side buttons.  The Amazon employee said that once you get used to it, that would no longer happen.  That may be true but I feel the side buttons are too exposed.  The designers gave too much space.

My view of Kindle, like other electronic hardware or software, that this is a version 1.0.  I asked about future revisions and that subject seemed to make the person helping me uncomfortable.  I am guessing her job was to focus on selling the Kindle in the here and now, not focusing on a possible Kindle 2.0.

I speculate that there will inevitably be a Kindle 2.0.  There will be design enhancements and improvements to the hardware based on the feedback Amazon is receiving.  Perhaps this review will be one they will refer to.  They are likely to improve the battery life and viewing options such as including color.  However, I believe color will come in Kindle 3.0.  I think it is too much of a jump from Kindle 1.0 to Kindle 2.0.  I don’t think Amazon is quite ready to so quickly obsolete Kindle 1.0.

Overall, I enjoyed my user experience with Kindle.  I understand why there seems to be a growing bubble of support for it.  It really is a good device.  But the downsides is still a deterrent for me.  Kindle has to come down in price more.  Even at 50% off, it would be $200.  I am not sure I would still buy it at that price point.  There has to be more titles.  And the annoying side buttons need to be resized, relocation, or redesigned.

It is ironic that I do want Kindle to be successful.  And yet, for me as an individual reader, I still greatly prefer my books.

Moving on to my 2nd post in the “I Don’t Get It” series is “The Sims”.

The Sims is a PC-based game published Electronic Arts. I have been told that the game franchise has sold 100 million units! This does not include the tens perhaps even hundreds of thousands of pirated copies that are in circulation. What a staggering number for a PC game.

I have watched as this game was first launched back in 2000 and one add-on/expansion pack/upgrade came out one after another. From what I can see, the whole idea is to create a fictional character that you will nurture through its online life. The thing here is that the environment you play this character in is based in normal, every day life.

I am thinking to myself “WTF?” Let me get this straight. Most of us live in the “real world” living an “average life”. And so to have fun, what do you do? Go create an alternative character so that you can play or guide them through their “average life”? Huh? I don’t need a game to live an average life. I am doing fine just now!

I could be wrong, but from what I have seen or been told, there are all kinds of restrictions on the character. You have to make money, go to the bathroom, sleep, and all the un-fun parts of life to support your digital character. Granted, it is not happening in real-time (accelerated or skip-over portions).

Maybe if I am extremely bored and I run into an inexpensive copy of The Sims, I may load it up just to see if I will eventually “get it”. For now, call me an idiot because the folks at Electronic Arts are making a fortune publishing The Sims game series.

I am going to deviate a bit from what I normally write about…

Recently, I came to the conclusion that no matter how smart I get or how much I learn, there are going to be some things I will have to resign myself to “not getting” in this world. “Getting” meaning I cannot comprehend or make sense of it in my mind why people spend so much time and energy on.

Am I alone and in the minority when I say, I just don’t freaking get “MySpace” and “Facebook”?

Maybe I am just getting too old. I can create and launch websites. I can assemble and configure entire computer networks. I can do some light programming. I consider myself a Power User of computers, networks, and technology, in general. I love the Internet and use Instant Messaging, email, and upload/download all kinds of files. But why don’t I “get” MySpace and Facebook?

I have gone to the trouble of setting up a MySpace and Facebook page. I have gone through the motions of setting up half-way respectable personal pages. And there it sits and continues to sit, month after month.

I know I can reach out to others and “make more friends” or create a community. Is the reason why I don’t truly understand the benefits of Facebook and MySpace is because it is meant for the Millenial Generation? If so, the I will concede.

Personally, I think Facebook and MySpace has little practical application except for the fact that perhaps the Millenial Generation use it. But outside of that, what does it do for you aside from serving as a Personal Home Page? Is that what the big deal is? That the Millennial Generation so desperately want to connect with one another and show off all aspects of their embarrassing personal lives to the world? Perhaps they are places to indulge their exhibitionistic tendencies.

I have to tell you, the things people put up for the public to see is embarrassing and will carry some negative consequences if those individuals ever amount to anything in life. The fact that so many of those people don’t realize it shows their naivety.

One day maybe someone will teach me and show me the light regarding MySpace and Facebook. Aside from a few minutes of interesting diversion in looking up some people and learning about their personal lives, what is the big deal?

In an earlier post, I mentioned how much of a fan I was of the “The Political Machine” PC game released in 2004. It was a relatively simple but very fun simulation game that allows you to become a campaign manager and compete to win a U.S. Presidential election.

Stardock Entertainment made the formal announcement and provided details on March 26, 2008 of the upcoming updated and revised follow-up version, “The Political Machine 2008″. It is scheduled to be released in June 2008 and priced very reasonably at $19.95.

I have followed the 2008 Primaries and have found the events of this election year to be interesting and exciting which only enhances my interest in the the upcoming game.

Read the official announcement by Stardock Entertainment.

More information on “The Political Machine 2008″ can be found at http://politicalmachine.com .

I have to admit I am getting addicted to the 2008 Presidential Election process. Part of the reason, I suppose, is that I am older and more aware of the issues. I have a greater sense of the ongoings of the world beyond my own personal life.

The other reason I am interested is because of a little PC game I discovered in 2004, The Political Machine, produced by Stardock. I remembered walking through a Wal-Mart and saw a PC game box cover that had a head-to-head caricature of John Kerry and George W. Bush. I also remembered that game being relatively inexpensive at $20, half the price of most commercial PC games.

The Political Machine game box had a certain charm to it. It claimed to simulate the Presidential election process using a cartoon-like interface. I figured, “what the heck”, it was only $20 and I could probably stand to learn a bit more about the presidential election process and have a little fun on the way.

In that game, I played a variety of presidential candidates such as Al Gore, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, and many more. I have to say, I was hooked. The game was simple, fun, and educational. I actually learned so much that I knew which states had the most Electoral votes as was most crucial in winning the election.

I found myself spending money, fighting for, and campaigning the larger states and other important battleground states much like they do in real life. Depending on whether I played a Democratic or Republican candidate, my strategy would change to favor certain states. I had no idea that a $20 game could be so addictive.

In any case, I am looking forward to the update, The Political Machine 2008. If the first version is any indication, the release date of Political Machine 2008 will likely be released sometime late Summer sometime around the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

There is a fan base who are really trying to find out the latest update and status of Political Machine 2008. Stardock is not talking. I am guessing they are incorporating the real-life elements and situations into the game. And so, Stardock developers have to watch the 2008 election process unfold like the rest of us so they can make the game more true to life.

The 2004 version of Political Machine contained many interesting real-life elements developments in the game. And so, I am guessing Stardock will do a similar thing.

When Stardock releases The Political Machine 2008, I am definitely going to get my copy.

For the last two years, I have been looking for signs on what would be the technological successor to the standard DVD. I love buying and owning movies on DVD. I am also a power user on the personal computing side. And so, I have a vested interest in knowing what direction the high definition DVD format would eventually go.

Warner Brothers, the owner of the largest movie library in the world, announced they would give full support to Blu-ray by releasing their movies exclusively on Blu-ray discs and discontinue releasing HD-DVD movies.  The tipping point has finally been reached.

For so long, it was HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray with no clear leader. I read all the technical opinions and the consensus was that Sony’s Blu-ray was technologically superior in many ways. However, HD-DVD offered a more affordable path for manufacturers to produce the format.

Sony has continued to brag about the number Blu-ray units sold that include the PlayStation 3 units. Quite frankly, I don’t think that a gaming machine is terribly decisive so I mentally discounted that. I know some of the PC industry folks such as Intel, HP, and Microsoft support HD-DVD. However, they are also not the driving force for adopting a new DVD format. So, I mentally discounted them also.

When Blockbuster adopted Blu-ray exclusively, that was a big sign of trouble for HD-DVD but not a deal-killer.

As much as I hate to admit it, the consumer market rules. They will follow whatever the movie studios decide. Most consumers have no interest in being bleeding edge. I have often said I would have no trouble shifting over to Macintosh computing if the market share was much larger. At 5% market share, Macintosh’s continue to be a minor player in mainstream personal computing.

The analogy is similar. I actually leaned towards HD-DVD, not Blu-ray, because of the cost factor. Although I like superior technology, I am not always willing to pay a large premium for it.

However, with Warner Brothers (the studio owning the largest movie library) committing to Blu-ray exclusively (joining Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Lionsgate, and Sony), they have seriously tipped the balance in favor of Blu-ray, ensuring the inevitable demise of HD-DVD. Essentially, that leaves only Universal and Paramount hanging on to HD-DVD.

I believe the only way HD-DVD can be resurrected is if there was a sudden surge in the numbers of HD-DVD players being bought and owned by consumers this year. And the only way I can see that happening is that players need to be less than $150. If that does not happen, I believe the folks in charge of the HD-DVD format will have to concede.

I think the HD-DVD camp will not give up without a fight. However, given how quickly technology markets move, vendors who don’t have any religious or financial commitment to HD-DVD will simply and easily accept Blu-ray as the triumphant format where the only barrier to entry is the cost factor. Once that happens, I believe the HD-DVD folks will concede the fight next year.

Quite frankly, I hope they will concede sooner so that everyone can move forward and let competitive forces start releasing more Blu-ray players and software (movies) in volume to help lower prices further.

R.I.P. HD-DVD, Long live Blu-Ray!

In the entire history of this blog, I do not think I have been moved to make a stellar recommendation about any vendor I have no personal relationship with.

Today, I will be doing exactly that. For years, I have had stacks of 35mm negatives sitting in various envelopes stored in a box in my closet. These are photos I have taken since the early 1980′s up until a few years ago when I finally made the move to all-digital photos.

I love photos because they can tell a story about how one lives life. It also allows you to relive those special (and not so special) moments in life. It is also great if you are building a legacy to leave behind. I have photo albums assembled over the years. However, in later years, the photos simply accumulated because I did not put a high priority in organizing them into albums.

I find that while having photo albums are nice for yourself, they are not conducive to sharing with others. Also, physical photos deteriorate and degrade over time.

I am not sure how it came about but I started researching companies that could scan in photos into digital JPEG format. There are many companies that do so but I ran into one that was exceptionally inexpensive compared to its competitors. It was ScanCafe. And for that inexpensive price, they offered a LOT. Normally, I am skeptical so I try to do my homework. After doing so, I took a chance on ScanCafe by sending 100 photos on 35mm negatives.

After a very uncomplicated process of selecting which photos I wanted to discard from scanning, I was left with a selection of photos that were going to be sent to me on DVD-ROM in high-resolution format. I have to say that photos from the DVD are amazing! It is like traveling back in time looking at these 15-20 year photos that look so clear and colorful. I have definitely changed in appearance from 15 years ago! (Look at the photo and you will see what I mean!) I was definitely moved by the experience of looking at these photos which are 15-20 years old.

I was so impressed, I assembled another batch of 800 photos on 35mm negatives to send to ScanCafe. That is 8 times the number of photos I sent during the initial trial run.

If you are 30 years old and over with older photos, chances are you will love and appreciate what ScanCafe has to offer. People under 30 most likely jumped directly into digital photos. They have limited experience in 35mm photos.

I don’t personally know anyone at ScanCafe, get no referral fee, and simply a happy customer. But I am so absolutely hooked that I am scrounging around for more photos to send to them. Having high-resolution photos of old photos at my disposal is amazing. I can print and email any of them at will. I am no longer constrained by envelopes and photos albums.

Go check out ScanCafe. I think you will want to dig out old photos and negatives once you do. They are an awesome vendor with a great service.