Dear PodTech:
Use HTTP Compression. It’s built into Apache/2.0.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:30:24 GMT
Server: Apache/2.0.53 (Fedora)
X-Powered-By: PHP/4.3.11
X-Pingback: http://www.podtech.net/xmlrpc.php
Status: 200 OK
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Probably save you some bandwidth and improve your performance, which is in the tank right now.
Podtech Live Web Performance
Best of luck.
Technorati Tags: PodTech, GrabPERF, Web Performance
Category: Uncategorized
Why United sucks…again!
So, I called United today to see if there were any special procedures I had to follow when we arrived at Logan on June 26, as Ms. Wiggles is going to Canada with us.
Turns out that they had completely screwed up our flights. And hadn’t bothered to inform us that they had changed the flights.
So, I forced someone cold and impersonal operator (who I am STILL on the phone with) to re-book our tickets so that we had enough time at O’Hare to actually make our connecting flights.
That’s it. They blew it. United is done.
Sorry United. You will have to do something pretty damn special to get me back as a customer after this.
Technorati Tags: United, UAL, customer service, customer disservice
Feeds and the Blink Test
Reading anything using a feed reader allows prevents us from discriminating against the content.
Start with an inflammatory statement, then back it up, using the wisdom gleaned from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. Why do feeds prevent us from initial discrimination? Because we have no point of reference other than the text in front of us, and the occasional image. There is no way to make a quality judgement based on differences in appearance or layout.
In fact, the feeds we read are often filtered by the influence of others. We react positively to someone’s raving review of a feed, and we incorporate it into our subscriptions.
The decisions we make in those initial seconds may sour over time. Feeds grow old, stale, uninteresting. But the why did we subscribe in the first place? Was it a decision based on the layour of a site? The way the person looks?
No. It is based on the feedback of others, and the content we encounter.
Technorati Tags: Blink, feeds, blogging, Malcolm Gladwell
Life in the busy lane
Life has been insane for the last 2 weeks as I struggle to keep up with a flood of new projects and preparations for our three-week vacation to Canada.
It will be interesting to go home. I have only been in Canada for one overnight trip since September 2004, and that was Toronto, which really doesn’t count.
As well, tomorrow is Kinnear’s 5th birthday. Yes, he was born on June 6. And yes, I know what tomorrow is.
But now I have to jump on another conference call, so I will try and check in with some of my varied adventures more often.
Modding My Moto: Things to do to your Razr V3
On my trip to Europe earlier this month, I picked up a Razr V3 that had been abandoned by one of my colleagues in the UK. Sitting in a drawer, it looked so lonely and abandoned.
It probably wishes it had stayed there.
Since I got it, I have been exploring all of the sites and boards that discuss the various hacks that people have performed on this magnificent piece of technology. Short of some of the advanced procedures (still trying to figure out how to convert the bluetooth into a directed energy weapon), this is not the same phone I received two weeks ago.
I have flashed the firmware (twice), switched on the Autoupdate feature for the Time/Date, and removed all of the Vodafone specific branding that came with the device.
I now understand how you can become heavily involved in phone modding. This device, which is a simple V3 that you see everywhere, is more powerful than my first 386. I can cruise the Web using Opera Mini, check directions using Google Mini-Maps, and use it as a modem if I am ever stuck for a connection somewhere.
I also have the Motorola Phone Tools software installed, so I can control my phone over USB.
A lot of what I have learned and done over the last three days is definitely in a “grey zone” as far as Motorola is concerned. However, given the number of people doing this, Motorola should open up their tools and let people know how to make the mods they want.
In fact, I would love to see Motorola should run a contest to see who can build the coolest Flash pack for the V3 that can be used by anyone. That would build intense customer interest and would make the V3 even more of a geek toy than it is now.
It is the single coolest gadget I have ever owned. It even outranks the Treo and the Zen Micro.
For those of you out there into the risk of turning your slek and sexy phone into a brick, I suggest Motox or MotoModders as places to start.
Long live MotoModding.
Technorati Tags: Razr V3, V3, Moto, MotoModding, Motorola, hacks, flash, modding
How I spent my Memorial Day
Memorial Day was going to be a very quiet and relaxing day, hanging around the house, tinkering in the garden, nothing special.
Then, after cleaning up a mess in the basement, Samantha went out the basement bulkhead, and one of the doors came off it’s hinges. Which should be no surprise when they looked like this.
We knew that this was going to be a project for this year, but it became a necessity today. So off to Home Depot for some plywood and supplies, and then three hours of sanding and caulking and priming. The base work is mostly done, all that has to be done is more primer on the new doors, paint them with a good green paint (preferably marine enamel), and re-attach them.
This is what they called “unscheduled maintenance”.
Technorati Tags: basement, bulkhead, diy, memorial day
Where am I?
I have been recovering from travelling, working like a dog for the man, and trying to fit in some time with my family. Been a long couple of months around here, and we have to start ramping up soon for the three-week adventure back to the Homeland, aka Canada.
I have also developed a new addiction, but that is for another post…
GrabPERF: You may experience some technical difficulties.
We are in the process of relocating the GrabPERF servers to new IP addresses. You may experience some weirdness as the DNS propagates, but this should die down in a couple of days.
If you do hit an issue, you can still reach the server at http://208.66.64.70/.
Technorati Tags: GrabPERF
Hamburg: An extra bonus night!
Looks like I get an extra bonus night in Hamburg, as high winds at Heathrow have delayed a number flights and I will miss my Boston departure.
So I am back at my hotel in Hamburg.
Hamburg. Having never been to any non-english-speaking city before, I was mightily impressed by the way the people of Hamburg treated someone who has no German skills at all. They were friendly to a fault, and went out of their way to ensure that I was not lost or abandoned at any time.
As a city, Hamburg is under major re-construction. New infrastructure in the central core and other major construction projects seem to be the theme for this trip.
Anyway, I am tired, hungry and have expensive and flaky wireless right now, so more updates later.
Technorati Tags: Hamburg, flight delays, LHR, Heathrow