At the Lyric Opera House on Friday, April 11, 8:00 P.M.
March 19, 2008
Today Toshiba announced that it would cease production of its HD DVD players immediately and exit the business by March.
This is good news for consumers. See my older note Why I Want Blu-ray to Win.
February 19, 2008
I have avoided taking political positions on my Web site or even hinting about my political leanings. For the first time in my life, however, I am confronted with a stark reality - that I might vote for a liberal candidate over an ostensibly conservative one.
My political disposition is simple - I believe in capitalism and freedom, the bedrock of bedrock conservative principles. If we Americans don't have these, very little else will matter.
Senator McCain's sponsorship of and support for the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act is at the root of my discontent. The campaign reform part of the law is ridiculous; I've got some nice swampland if you believe this law did a thing to remove corruption from political finance or provided any meaningful "reforms." But the law's restriction on political free speech is an abomination. No one who believes in limitations on free speech deserves to be president of our country. I include President Bush - he signed the bill into law knowing it included this provision.
Here's the letter I've just sent to Senator McCain.
Dear Senator McCain:
I will support you and donate to your campaign if you pledge, in writing and publicly, to repeal the anti-free speech provisions of McCain-Feingold.
I can not in good conscience support a presidential candidate who believes that limitations on political free speech are anything less than contemptible. I’m willing to compromise on the many other areas where I disagree with you and I must tell you that one, your position on immigration, will be a bitter pill to swallow. But if you pledge to restore unrestricted free speech to this country, I’ll sign up.
It pains me to say this - I will vote against you and work against you as long as our Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech is not one of your priorities.
Sincerely,
Will Fastie
Baltimore, MD
Viet Nam, '68-'70
February 13, 2008
New Nikon DSLRs are inevitable, but Nikon's recent introduction has me puzzled. The new D60 seems little more than the existing D40x. My observation is that sales of the D40x have been falling off because its advantage over the D40 is not clear. I'm not sure that Nikon has done enough with the D60 to make it a strong seller; it may simply cannibalize what is left of D80 sales and still leave Nikon with a void in the middle of the line.
I would not trade up my D40 for the D60. In fact, I'm thinking of buying another D40 for my wife, who loves her Canon G9 for travel but finds it problematic for flash situations. I'm not impressed by the rise in megapixels, which does very little for the photos I take but surely drives up the archival storage requirements.
Also a bit confusing is the new 16-85mm VR DX lens. I thought sure Nikon's next move would be to add VR to the 18-135mm lens. My problem is that the 16-85 is going to be as expensive as the incredibly popular 18-200 VR DX lens! The extra 2mm on the bottom moves the wide angle from a 35mm equivalent of 27mm to 24mm, which is significant. But I can't figure out why one would buy the 16-85 instead of the 18-200 when the price, weight and size are very close. There was certainly nothing in Nikon's press materials to explain that.
Nikon will offer the D60 in a kit with the 18-55mm VR DX lens for $750 list, due in March.
As far as I'm concerned, Ken Rockwell is the authoritative source for Nikon DSLR information for the average, consumer photographer. I don't know whether he agrees with me or not about this but I won't attempt to steal his thunder. Check him out. He's a great read whether you agree with him or not. I love his passion.
DP Review is a good source of information. When its editors first note DSLRs, they put up a chart of features and use a green asterisk to note areas of change or improvement. The number of asterisks for the D60 is very small.
I also like Imaging Resource. It has taken to creating show-floor videos that highlight newly announced products. There is a video on the D60, an interview with a Nikon USA representative.
January 31, 2008
The connector on the bottom of contemporary ThinkPad laptops is inferior to the connector on prior models. So is the basic dock.
I find it very difficult to place my T60 on the dock. With my previous T21 and T30, it took little more than gravity to make the connection and hear a definite click. With the T60 and this new dock, pressure and jiggling are required and the docking click is weak and less easy to hear. It's a huge disappointment.
As for the port replicator (aka Advanced Mini Dock p/n 250410U), it's another "side saddle" device. Again, because of the need to accommodate the larger battery on the rear of modern ThinkPads, the dock has its controls and most of the connectors off to the left side. Far worse, the dock does not fit well in the IBM ThinkPad monitor stand that I bought several years ago. This is a fabulous stand that was perfectly designed for the older port replicators.
The use of the dock on the stand creates another problem. There are three buttons and a light on the new dock instead of two buttons and no light on the old port replicator. On the stand, those buttons are under the stand's shelf and hard to see.
Ergonomics don't seem to be in Lenovo's vocabulary when it comes to these new ThinkPads. I also blame IBM, which designed most of these things before the sale to Lenovo. It's a sad turn of events.
January 31, 2008
On January 4, Warner Brothers announced that it would issue new movies only on Blu-ray in 2008 and will phase out HD DVD by May. Warner was the only Hollywood studio that had been supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD. Read Warner's press release.
This is a development of epic proportions in the battle between the two formats, and may be sufficient to doom HD DVD. This week everyone is in Las Vegas for the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show, so I think we can expect to hear more about this very quickly. I'm very interested in Microsoft's reaction.
There is no doubt that sluggishness in sales of players and thus the adoption of one of the two hi-def standard contributed to Warner's decision. Why the industry couldn't see this coming is beyond me.
I'm happy about this and what I see as the inevitable outcome. See my note Why I Want Blu-ray to Win.
January 7, 2008
Last May I discussed the new Hitachi 1TB hard drive and compared it to buying two 500GB drives. The prices have changed a lot.
The 7K1000 drive cost $450 last May and is now $320. A pair of T7K500 drives is now $240. The difference in price was 18¢/GB in May and is now a mere 8¢/GB.
There can be little doubt that both prices will continue to drop. Nonetheless, the trend is clear - the price for a single large drive is converging on the price of the two drive solution.
January 5, 2008
One of my clients signed up for Verizon FIOS Internet recently; it was installed at his home this past Monday. I'm thoroughly disgusted by the way Verizon treated my client.
First and foremost, Verizon completely disconnected my client's existing home network, replacing it with a Verizon wireless router. The existing equipment included a VPN router used to create a dedicated VPN tunnel from my client's home to his office and a wireless access point used with my client's laptop computer. This is totally unacceptable.
Next, Verizon degraded the wireless connectivity. The existing wireless access point was set to WPA; the new one is not. To make matters worse, Verizon left no documentation behind. My client thus does not have the username and password needed to access the router to a) adjust the security level and b) apply the security keys so that the existing wireless devices can connect.
Third, Verizon did not bring wired connectivity to the previously existing point of connection. To be clear about this, my client was using Comcast high-speed Internet. Comcast installed a wire to my client's den, where its cable modem and all the other equipment (router, WAP) was positioned. Verizon placed the wireless router in the basement in a location convenient for Verizon, then installed a USB wireless adapter on the primary computer.
Fourth, my client's Comcast installation included a static IP. The Verizon setup does not. A static IP address is available as an option and in theory my client should have asked for it. However, I believe Verizon should have had the courtesy to at least examine the existing infrastructure to make sure nothing would be lost as a result of the FIOS installation.
Finally, Verizon installed a software suite on the primary computer. This software changed the default home page for Internet Explorer to a Verizon page, added a proprietary Verizon toolbar, and also installed some Windows software that keeps popping up Verizon branded messages advertising other services (effectively adware). Microsoft ends up in court for making its own browser the default in its own operating system but Verizon brazenly installs its own brand as if it was perfectly natural. Yuck.
If this had been attempted at my home, the Verizon installer probably would have called the cops to deal with my extreme rage.
Verizon has no business mucking about on your PCs. Period. Don't let Verizon install any software on any of your PCs and don't let them convince you that it's necessary. It is definitely NOT necessary. If they insist, throw them out and go back to what you were using before. I'm no fan of cable-based high-speed Internet because for residential customers it hardly ever delivers the advertised speed, but at least the Comcast installation is sensible.
If you have a home network that is currently connected to DSL or cable TV and you want to order FIOS, make sure you specify that you want FIOS attached to your existing network. Do not allow Verizon to install any software on any of your PCs. Be there when Verizon comes and look over the installer's shoulder the whole time.
Here's another oddity. My client ordered 15Mbps/2Mbps service, which is a premium service. When the Verizon setup ran it showed the purchased level of service and the actual, tested level of service. The tested speed was 2.7/1.8. 2.7 when it should be 15? My client will be downgrading to 5/2 service post haste assuming, that is, that he doesn't just toss Verizon out on its duff.
A final note - don't let Verizon remove the existing copper wire from your premises. You have a period of time to decide whether you want to keep Verizon FIOS service. If you decide to dump it, you will need those copper wires to restore plain old telephone service.
I'm glad for FIOS and I want it, but not this way.
October 19, 2007
I continue to view ThinkPads, especially the T series, as the best-engineered laptops available. Sadly, my faith has been mildly shaken by my new T60.
The USB port has been one of the great advances in laptop design because it ultimately allowed designers to abandon the large and clunky parallel and serial connectors. Unfortunately, the freedom gained in port placement resulted in what I consider a major design goof - the relocation of almost every connector from the rear of the laptop to the sides. That move allowed designers to put the battery in the rear where larger, extended life batteries could protrude.
On my ThinkPad T60, the only connector on the rear is the power cord. Everything else is on the sides, mostly the left side. Once you start connecting things (a LAN cord, USB devices, a projector), the laptop sprouts "wings" and becomes much wider.
I'm in the habit of using a wireless mouse with my laptop when I'm away from my office. On my past T21 and T30 models, the receiver plugged into the rear, neatly away from the side. On my T60, the receiver becomes an obstacle if placed on the right (which has two of the three USB jacks) and an obstruction on the left, where I normally lay papers or other materials with which I'm working.
This arrangement is generally inconvenient but impossible on an airplane. It's even cramped in some of the carrels I've been given when working on consulting assignments, which have been as small as three feet wide.
Lenovo is not the only culprit, of course. My wife's HP laptop has most of its ports on the side and most other manufacturers do the same.
It's a design and ergonomic error. I doubt it will change. Too bad.
September 13, 2007
If you registered your phone numbers with the national Do Not Call registry, keep in mind that the registration is good for five years. Next year many of the earliest registrations in the list will begin to expire.
You do not need to wait to renew your registration but can do so at any time. The registration is then good for five years from the point of registration. It's worth renewing early because if there is any gap in the registration, telemarketers will be able to seize on that brief lapse to start calling you again.
Visit the National Do Not Call Registry.
September 7, 2007
Older notes from my home page...
ptCTOI invite you to visit my business site.
Sailboat
for SaleClick this sailboat for details.
I've written a brief essay on the capacity of fiber optic cable. You might find this interesting if you are considering FIOS.
Verizon has a page on its Web site that lists the areas in which fiber construction is in progress. It's poor - a mention of York Road could mean anything on its 25-mile run through Baltimore County. But it's something.