J Puddy.net
Home of DJ and technophile Jonathan Puddle (aka J Puddy)
Apple: The future is ours
Jun 7th
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Apple (for the record, I’m not a fan of apples, either). I’ve used their products, I own their products, and I’ll be the first to agree that they make FANTASTIC products… but I still don’t like Apple. For those fanboys out there…I also don’t like Microsoft… though I like their products more than Apple’s. Here’s the thing though… I truly believe, all hating aside, that more people need to start seriously considering whether their computing future is one they are happy for Apple to control, or not. Because make no mistake… control is More >
IIS quirks in Windows Server 2008 R2
May 5th
We’ve been testing our first install of Server 2008 R2 this month, it will be replacing an aging webserver running Server 2003. IIS 7.5 brings with it a few new things, the most notable is a new interface. Less noticeable at first, is the lack of an SMTP server. Sometimes you need a quick and dirty SMTP server for delivering email from websites, and the Windows SMTP server is great for this. Coupled with the use of a smarthost for relaying, it can cover a lot of basic needs very well. Server 2008 R2 DOES actually include an SMTP server, More >
Who owns these basic words?
Apr 14th
I was bored today and had some time on my hands… I spent that time finding out what sites were at interesting places like “yes.com” or “no.com” for example. You may enjoy the fruits of my research… but likely you won’t. My favourite pick is “down.com” for showing just a touch of character.
blue.com – news aggregator red.com – Digital cinema company and community yellow.com – yellowpages black.com – Africa focussed news aggregator white.com – domain squatter
off.com – Off! bug repellent on.com – chat site like chatroullete
hot.com – Obama site? cold.com – domain squatter
good.com – Technology firm bad.com – domain squatter
yes.com More >
Using terminal services with MS NBL in VMWare virtual machines
Mar 22nd
While in Toronto recently, we rebuilt our terminal server cluster taking advantage of a new VMWare host server. We had 2 physical servers for our TS cluster before, linked up with Microsoft’s NLB (Network Load Balancing). We provisioned 3 new VMs (we’ve got lots of headroom, so we can pass that to our users), and went about setting up the NLB service to cluster them. We quickly ran into some odd behaviour, so I’m going to list a couple of things to be aware of.
- NLB can run in unicast or multicast mode. Each method has drawbacks and benefits, but if you’re More >
Settling into 2010
Mar 22nd
We’ve just got back from a 2 month trip to Toronto, where we had a lovely time with family and friends. But we are glad to be home, 2 months is a long time to be away… staying in other people’s homes, etc. Now we’re starting to feel like we can actually begin this year, which is a good feeling. We’ve got a few plans and goals for the year, which are exciting us now.
Such as:
- buying a car (looking for something used and cheap) - saving for a trip to NZ for Christmas - Maija finishing her thesis before More >
New mix: Goodbye 2009
Jan 20th
I was a bit behind schedule this year in getting my New Years’ mix down. My apologies to all… being a Dad is busy work sometimes. But the mix is ready for your listening pleasure! I chose to feature this mix on the Tastyfresh Homegrown podcast (which I am the host of), so it’s available exclusively from there. There was sooooo much good music this year, it just doesn’t stop!
Here’s the download link: http://www.tastyfresh.com/rokdownloads/podcasts/homegrown_ep10.mp3
Tracklist: Calvin Harris – Flashback (Eric Prydz remix) BT – Rose of Jericho (Sultan and Ned Shepard remix) DBN ft. Madita – Asteroidz (Sultan and Ned Shepard remix) Calvin More >
Offline book lending ruining the publishing industry
Jan 20th
The RIAA and others use ridiculous headlines such as mine, to try and explain their economic troubles. Piracy is always to blame. Strange that 2009 saw the biggest holiday records broken once again, despite the “rampant” piracy.
Here’s a great and humurous perspective on the matter.
Apparently, over 2 billion books were “loaned” last year by a cabal of organizations found in nearly every American city and town. Using the same advanced projective mathematics used in the study cited by Publishers Weekly, Go To Hellman has computed that publishers could be losing sales opportunities totaling over $100 Billion per year, losses which extend back to at least More >
Perspective and Priorities
Jan 12th
Andrew Gazaneo quoted a comment from Marc Driscoll, about perspective, which I liked:
“You can pray for a woman I just met. Got off alcohol only to get on prescription drugs, just lost her 2 little kids to the state, & her husband got arrested for beating her. Meanwhile, some people are really frustrated that their 3G connection is slow. Perspective is a great gift.”
I just finished a poll for Avaaz, a worldwide human action network. And the results from 40,000+ members trouble me slightly:
I don’t care about the specifics of global warming (or cooling), or climate change perse… but I More >
10 favourite cinematic experiences of the last decade
Dec 31st
Many people and organizations have released their best 100 or best 50 films of the last decade already, which are available elsewhere. I’ve decided to distill my own favourites into 10 of the best cinematic experiences. So that means the Lord of the Rings trilogy are grouped into one, as they truly are intended to be a coherent cinematic experience, but Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are separate. This is not what I think to be the best of the decade, just the ones that I personally enjoyed the most.
- Lord of the Rings (a masterpiece)
- Avatar (Avatar will literally and figuratively More >
Open Source Security
Dec 4th
As a cryptography and computer security expert, I have never understood the current fuss about the open source software movement. In the cryptography world, we consider open source necessary for good security; we have for decades. Public security is always more secure than proprietary security. It’s true for cryptographic algorithms, security protocols, and security source code. For us, open source isn’t just a business model; it’s smart engineering practice. – Bruce Schneier, Crypto-Gram 1999/09/15
Modern Technology vs The Past
Nov 23rd
CNet UK has a great writeup comparing our modern technology and lifestyle with the arcane wizardry of the past. Quite witty :)
Recent Comments