Peter's Blog - Web

That's it. I'm done

Peter — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:54:06 GMT

I'm done making modifications to peterf.net. I will no longer be upgrading the blog or instituting anymore applications. I will continue my normal bloggings to the interwebs, and will resume my other nerdy online duties as soon as I acquire real hosting. F' shared hosting. I need my IIS admin control back.

Edit: Turns out the next version of this blog software includes support for openID. Naturally that involves network connections sever side. My shared hosting doesn't allow any modification of the trust level, so everything explodes. Ugh!

Amazon Mixes Porn with Standard Movies

Peter — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:05:38 GMT

Two things here: Amazon mixes porn with normal movie releases and there is porn on BD? See images below. The 2nd image shows Pirates 2 mixed in with a search that delivers new BD releases. The last image is a search for Pirates. I can picture it now,"Mommy!! I want Pirates of the Caribbean!!"...............

Now I did notice that Pirates [I] was labeled R, but wouldn't you think that anything that is blatantly porn cut down to an R rating should be filed differently? Pirates 2 doesn't seem to show a rating.

Chris, a frequenter of useful information like this tipped Amazon to see what their opinion on this was. They forwarded him off to another department. No response as of yet.

Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View is a Joke

Peter — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:22:32 GMT

I've been programming for many years. I'm pretty good, but I'm no fool to think I am the best. One thing that has annoyed me was developers' blatant disregard for web standards. They keep throwing in <div> <center <p> in random places, refreshing the page to see how it looks, and saying "job done" when it looks the way they want. I still make little goofy mistakes like leaving an "&" without converting it to "&", but that's the worst it should get.

I've adopted XHTML 1.1 for almost all of my sites* and decided to test it in IE8 RC1. One of my sites is http://www.newlenoxesda.net/. You can see the original site here that makes IE8 offer/recommend compatibility view. I loaded her up in IE8 and I got this cute little button telling me the site may not be compatible with IE8.

A few different angles here: IE 8 should be compatible with XHTML1.1 and therefore it should automatically know that a site listed as XHTML1.1 is IE8 compatible. Microsoft requires developers to add a meta tag to say the site is IE8 compatible. WHAAT? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME. I'm not a fan of the caps parade, but this is a insane. I thought we all were making progress by creating open standards and accepting other open standards? Why the hell should I have to worry about one more ****** browser I have to program for specifically? What about IE9? Will I need to have another tag for this? God help us if Firefox, Opera, and Safari decide they want to create a new version that wants a specific meta tag. I had to add Microsoft's recommendation/fix "<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE8" />" to make IE8 stop complaining.

There are still some pros to the compatibility view, but to force something proprietary like this is a bit disturbing. I'd be a fan of this if the IE8 engine was generating many errors, and THEN recommended the compatibility view.

*confession, my blog is not an example of this. I pay for shared hosting right now and it was the best choice

Pandora for Windows Mobile at last!

Peter — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:26:01 GMT

Just a quick entry. For those of us that use Windows Mobile phones, we can use pandora at last!!!! I've also posted a snapshot of my phone running the software. Notice the icon at the top for my bluetooth headphones. A2DP ftw

We're cornered-The future of internet

Peter — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:12:02 GMT

We've been used to unlimited downloads, and being limited by speed. It's worked for many years and could forever in my opinion. If you want to save some cash, pay for 2mbps, great! Don't expect to stream video.

Comcast has been sending out propoganda explaining that they're going to cap users @ 250 GB/month because a SMALL percentage of users are using a lot of bandwidth doing BAD THINGS! First off, ~~fuck you~~, I know you're talking about me. Second, why is it that you're going to give us double our speeds for free if you're strained so much?

Let me explain why: Comcast's first business in our area was TV. For example, if I start using Netflix's HD streaming via XBOX 360, I will be interferring with their business model and will be taking away money from them. So, this is where the cap comes in. Since I'm also a customer of their internet service, it is easy for Comcast to implement unfair control measures. The cap discourgages massive downloads and gets customers to begin to get used to limitations.

Perhaps someday we'll be tiered like we pay for TV: $50 for basic package, $15 more for X,Y,Z content, $15 more for the whole internet!

Oh Comcast, are you doing something nice to prepare me for something horrible?

Peter — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:21:50 GMT

Giz turned my head today: FREE SPEED UPGRADES for existing customers!

6Mbps/1Mbps upgraded --> 12Mbps/2Mbps
8Mbps/2Mbps upgraded --> 16Mbps/2Mbps

New Plans:
22Mbps/5Mbps $62.95/month
50Mbps/10Mbps $139.95/month

This has been needed for a long time. New providers (att, verizon) have recently entered the market and have been whooping Cable Co's asses. These upgrades are just keeping it competitive. But this makes me curious... why the free word, Comcast? Sure, I think the upgrade should be free too, but I will accept this upgrade cautiously!

Sad story though... there is no roll out date planned for Illinois (yet). Guess the part with not having much competition in IL makes us less of a target market.

Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 1 Released!!

Peter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:44:57 GMT

Seriously, it's not a leak! They actually released it.

They fixed some major bugs that were killing me. For example, if you didn't use the on-screen keyboard, but used the an on-board keyboard, they text box would lose focus in a few places.

Go download it. Go fight of some apple fanboys. :-D (I just pissed off half of my friends) ((and no jokes about me having 2 friends or something))

Edit: OMFG, it destroys your notification settings. I understand it's beta, but I seriously got screwed a few times. I get all of my emergency call outs via sms...... I can no longer in good conscience recommend this. Looking forward to future releases.

Edit2: Problem has been corrected, doesn't destroy notifications.

Facebook, you might have crossed that distant blurred line

Peter — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:13:49 GMT

Most of us enjoy the facebook. Mostly because it keeps our friends close, but we can easily push them away when they get annoying. But seriously, I wouldn't do that to you guys......

Anyway, one of the latest features allows you to comment on a friend's Mini-Feed. I'm going to specifically point out that this does involve relationship 'changes'. If you want to say something, say it on the wall, or in a private message, or better yet: just call your friend.... Chances are that if you don't have their number, you shouldn't comment anyway. Most people don't mind these items popping up on their Mini-Feed. Nothing wrong with it being known, but people micro-commenting on your life is a bit creepy.

So Peter votes +1, lets just remove that feature.

Netflix profiles are now staying?

Peter — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:37:30 GMT

I recently brought up that Netflix was killing off profiles. Well, now they're doubling back on that. So since you're going to keep them around, how about you allow the second profile to use "Watch It Now"? I understand I can create 10 profiles and give it to my friends so they can use my unlimited, but I feel that can be programmed around. Just my humble opinion.

Dear Peter,

You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

-Your friends at Netflix

Edit: Oh ALSO! Please figure out a way for us to delete profiles. I can help you drum up the SQL command if you really need me to.

Opera Mobile 9.5

Peter — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:55:10 GMT

Opera Mobile 9.5 has been something many have been looking forward to for a long time!! It generates full websites and does NOT need the mobile version that many sites provide. Some betas popped up on ~~XDA recently~~ 1409 build. It performs EXTREMELY well for a beta on my Kaiser (AT&T Tilt) running WM 6.1. I highly recommend it to anyone using Windows Mobile!

Set this browser to be your default via the registry. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\Rai\:DEFBROWSER. I just changed :MSPIE to "/windows/operal.exe". You should be able to go back to MSIE, but why would you? I found that reg key from the 1409 link. Thanks ycavan

Edit: Modified pic to show actual screenshot of application. Pic taken with Remote Zoom-in

Edit2: Also like to bleed my memory and not release it, just FYI

Edit3: 1409 build added. much more stable, rapes ram less. Also added regi option for def browser. Why wasn't this in the app?

To my fellow nerds... Server collocation

Peter — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:52:28 GMT

A few of us have talked about renting some dedicated hosting. Primarily collocation hosting. It'd mean upfront purchase and ownership of server, and only a monthly cost for rack space, power, internets, bandwidth.

Personally, I'm very tired for getting pw3nd by shared hosting providers. I do understand that it can't be perfect, but you still have to have a decent uptime, and you can't lie. I'd go into detail about how 1and1 has screwed with me over the years but I'll be brief (tried to cancel webhosting but keep Exchange, but told me I had to get a different Exchange account and transfer my mail, or else it would be lost since the Exchange was 'attached' to the webhosting. Seems like a billing problem, not MY problem. Also, if I call you to tell you your server has been down for 30 minutes, and I call and you fix it while I'm on hold, don't passively treat me like I'm bothering you because everything is working)

Also, their .net app restrictions are not the best.

Okay, it wasn't too brief. But I've played out the numbers assuming I purchase the server, and it'll cost you less than good meal per month.

Update: +1 BJ +1 SP +1PS

Check out http://ntsource.com/web-hosting/colocation-web-hosting.html

Update: BJ and PeterS have brought up cloud hosting options like Amazon's EC2 and GoGrid. I am not very familiar with these, and they seem to charged based on application. But if it were possible to have a single app running windows server 2008 VM, I could see it working.

Netflix discontinuing profiles (blogging at a ball game... )

Peter — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:50:21 GMT

I'm at the Sox game. Great game! My sister caught a foul ball and the White Sox are winning.

Onto the nerdy stuff. Just got an email from Netflix. They're discontinuing profiles. They never worked well, so at least they're going away. The main problem was that different profiles couldn't watch instant material. Sox scored. I can understand their hesitation since it could lead to abuse, but this could be avoided with limitations on the number of profiles and length of viewing allowed.
Sox scored. Thome almost had a heart attack.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Update: Photo added, was supposed to be email-to-blog, but 1and1 blocks sockets.... ftl. Looking for new hosting provider.

Getfirefox.com gets hammered as people look for FF3 - Servers die in process

Peter — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:20:51 GMT

I eventually got through and Firefox 3 wasn't even on the site at the appropriate time (maybe they took it down to limit downloads? nothing listed on their ~~blog~~ status). The site keeps going down. Hope they bring it up soon, they were putting a lot of marketing into the whole world record download within 24 hours.
As a partial defense to Mozilla, they did mention that you cannot use the self update as it won't count towards their record keeping. But it probably still shouldn't crash, eh.

Update: Finally got it downloading @ 2:00 PM CST (12:00 PDT). 2 hours late, but at least they still have 22 hours to go. Good luck!

Firefox 3

Peter — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:19:10 GMT

As Sam pointed out, hell has frozen over. I've practically changed over to Firefox and impatiently waiting for version 3 to come out tomorrow. I am one of the many who pledged to download tomorrow.
Compared to IE7, it supports my CSS much better. Which can be a problem. I make a site look perfect in FF, but looks horrible when many others pull it up in IE. No need to rant, but that's the way of the world. When developing, you must make it cross-browser. But this is also where the FF plugin for IE come in. I can easily change between browers within an IE tab to test a page. Also works well for site that require IE (OWA).
Another plugin is Ad-Block. I feel a bit guilty taking away ad content from sites, but most of the time I only do it for sites with HORRIBLE advertising. Example: Facebook. Advertisement are based on your personal status in your profile. I am listed as single, so they throw up singles ads. Makes sense right? Why is it that the majority of the ads sporting gay men? And yes, I know I opened myself up for jokes. Facebook is making a judgement, but they only looked as far as me being single. They didn't go the rest of the way to see what sex I listed as "interested in". *click* ads gone.
The plugin management, and autoupdate for each plugin is fantastic. I don't have to go back to the addon page to seek an update, it pops up and notifies me. Hooray. To be fair, FF3 RC3 has been a memory behemoth. I use it heavily @ work, and most of the time I cannot leave it running over night. It will typically crash once a day. Perhaps tomorrow will show improvement. Is that decent enough of a reason, Sam.