Brian's Leftbrain Blog

Amazon.com’s Fresh New Look

brian — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:50:14 +0000

I haven’t seen any announcements or anything but Amazon.com definitely has a new look. It’s not quite a redesign since the changes mostly have to do with site navigation. The changes seem to be for the better as far as I can tell. Though, at this point, I’m not sure I really remember what the old design looked like. Check it out for yourself.

Update: It looks like the new design is getting phased in so you might not see the new look right away.

Technorati Tags: Amazon.com, Amazon, redesign

DNS Stuff is Good Stuff

brian — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:18:32 +0000

I’ve been using DNS Stuff for years now. There some useful tools there and over time they’ve been refined and expanded on. The top tool is DNSreport which runs a series of tests against the nameservers for a given domain. It’s pretty much the first place I go when I run into DNS issues.

Other tools I find myself returning to time and again:

IP Information: An easy way to get an idea of where an IP address is geographically.
ISP Cached DNS Lookup: Useful for when you’ve changed a zone and want to see where the old info is still being used.
Spam Database Lookup: Great to check when you’re about to get a new IP or want to check an existing address for past abuses.

Technorati Tags: DNS, domain name system, domain, system administration, sys admin

Blu-Ray Development Alphabet Soup

brian — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:56:24 +0000

I’ve been looking into developing for Blu-ray which means I’ve had to soak up a bunch of new technologies including: BD-J, BD-Live, BD-ROM, BD-R/RE, HDMV, HAVi, DVB, MHP, GEM, Java TV, Xlets, and more.

Blu-ray development is a bit tricky because of this mix of free, semi-free, and non-free technology. Jared Boone has done a great job of describing this from the perspective of an individual developer. From www.earfeast.com:

Sadly, the Blu-Ray specifications are very expensive and there is no third-party documentation on the Blu-Ray specific APIs. I take this to mean there is no legal way to use the Blu-Ray specific APIs without purchasing a specification and/or license.

I’ve started collecting interesting Blu-ray development links on my bookmarks page.

Technorati Tags: Blu-ray, BD, BD-J, Blu-ray development, development, Java TV

Mythbuster Adam Savage Sighting

brian — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:24:16 +0000

I was walking down Bush near Kearny earlier today and passed Adam Savage from Mythbusters on the sidewalk. It looked like he was in a hurry but it was cool seeing him since I love the show. It happened so fast, there was no way I was going to get a picture but I did find this fantastic photo by Fred Armitage and he’s cool enough to share it via Creative Commons.

Photo by Fred Armitage

Technorati Tags: Adam Savage, Mythbusters, tv, television

Endeavor Docks with Space Station

brian — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:15:20 +0000

I just watched the space shuttle Endeavor dock with the International Space Station courtesy NASA TV. I’ve never made an effort to follow shuttle operations in the past so this was a new experience for me. It was strangely impressive: slow, precise, mechanical, and beautiful.

Via NASA

Technorati Tags: NASA, science, space, space programs, space shuttle, endeavor

Apple Reinvents the Spreadsheet

brian — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:59:06 +0000

Self-described finance geek, Rob Griffiths has written up a first look at Numbers, the new spreadsheet app in iWork ‘08. From www.macworld.com:

Like Pages when it first debuted, Numbers really changes the paradigm for spreadsheet work. For decades, every spreadsheet program has been basically identical: you get a grid of rows and columns on screen, and you place your numbers and text inside those cells. Over time, we gained the ability to store multiple sheets of these grids within one workbook, and to use formulas to refer to items on one sheet from another. But at the end of the day, the basic work area in a spreadsheet application is a grid of cells… unless you’re using Numbers.

Via Lifehacker

Technorati Tags: Apple, iWork, Numbers, applications, spreadsheet

Apple iMac and iLife Announcements

brian — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:13:26 +0000

I’m reading the live updates from Apple’s announcements and thought I’d comment. The new iMacs look sexy though I don’t know about the black border around the display. I’m really hoping to hear something about the future of the Mac mini since it’s a favorite of mine and the rumors are they’re going to kill it after one more speed bump. But nothing on that yet.

It looks like iPhoto is getting some nice improvements when it comes to organizing photos. They’re introducing the concept of an event as a group of photos. Sounds like what I’m already doing by hand.

And it’s hard to tell at this point but it looks like iMovie is a completely new app with an entirely new, easier interface. Making movies easier to create is always a good thing and it seems like they may have pulled off something big here.

The big news for iWork ‘08 is Numbers, a new spreadsheet app. It looks like the classic spreadsheet has gotten some well-deserved Apple love.

That’s it, the official announcements are over. We heard about the new iMacs, iLife ‘08, and iWork ‘08 (all available today). But wait, there’s more: according to Engadget, Apple COO Tim Cook responded to a question about the Mac mini by saying, “We’re refreshing the Mac mini today.”

Via Engadget

Technorati Tags: Apple, iMac, Mac mini, iLife, iWork

Free as in Beer Science Fiction

brian — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:44:31 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Cory Doctorow ever since I read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. It’s a good thing he made it available as a free download otherwise I may have never read it, which is the point. From www.craphound.com:

Me, I’m looking to find ways to use copying to make more money and it’s working: enlisting my readers as evangelists for my work and giving them free ebooks to distribute sells more books.

Fortunately, he’s not alone. I recently discovered the Baen Free Library (with a brilliant introduction by Eric Flint). There’s a good number of books here from a variety of authors. I just finished Fallen Angels by Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, and Michael Flynn. It was fun but a bit of a cop out since I was already familiar with those authors. I’m looking forward to taking a chance on some less familiar names next time around. Which, again, is the point.

Painting by Don Davis

Technorati Tags: Baen Free Library, free, science fiction

Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for HD Audio

brian — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:39:16 +0000

I recently built a new PC and ran into a problem where the integrated audio wasn’t working. The motherboard is a MSI P35 Platinum (revision 1.1) which uses the Realtek ALC888 codec. A new install of Windows XP Pro didn’t recognize the audio until I installed the HD audio bus driver from Microsoft.

Here were the steps:

Open device manager (I right-clicked on My Computer, selected Manage, selected Device Manager)
Look for an entry named PCI Device under “System Devices” with a warning icon (little yellow circle with a black exclamation mark)
Right-click on PCI Device, select Update Driver…
When asked Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?, select Yes, this time only or Yes, now and every time I connect a device, then click Next >
When asked What do you want the wizard to do?, select Install the software automatically (Recommended)
Wait for the wizard to finish

For me, this found the right driver, installed it and my audio started working immediately.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows XP, RealTek, install

New and Improved Blog: Now Even Brainier

brian — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:25:14 +0000

Welcome to my new blog. The motivation this time around is to have a place to share random yet geeky tidbits. Aside from the possibility of helping someone along the way, I’m hoping that getting this stuff out of my head will help me focus on more important stuff.

Technorati Tags: blog