Old is New

There’s a saying, “What was old is new again.”  While that may typically apply to fashion, I have found it to be true in the hardware I am using.  To be more specific, its my PDA that is new again.  I have written about my use of Palms and Pocket PCs in the past.  What I may never have mentioned is that I have a Palm IIIxe.  It was released in 1999, and the particular one I own was refurbished and given the new Palm OS, 4.1 released in 2001.

I ended up with this PDA after recieving it from a family member who bought it at a Fry’s Electronics several years back.  Rarely used and never dropped, it is in perfect – like new – condition.  No scratches, dents, worn areas, or dead pixels.  In other words, it may be close to 9-ish years old, but it still works just as it should.  I pop in 2 AAA batteries, set it up, and hotsynced it (it’s serial connection only) via a cradle I recieved from getting another old PDA, a Palm IIIe.

So now I am using the Palm IIIxe as my main PDA.  They usually get quite a bit of work, especially since it is what I take notes on, write out my calendar, and add my tasks.  Its working great — just a testament to the quality of early Palm devices.  Even if it does use 2 AAA batteries, the battery life is long and I do not have to worry about a rechargeable battery going dead on me.

Microsoft’s New Ads: Absolute Gold!

Wow… I never thought Microsoft could (or would) pull off a rather successful advertising campaign — that’s just kicking off.

I have long dispised owning a Mac computer because of the price and the attitude that came along with one.  So yeah, I’m not cool enough for a Mac, but I run Ubuntu, which by the way, is free, and cheaper than all the other offerings.

What the new ad campaign has shown is that there is indeed a rather large weak spot in Apple’s armor — the price.  Why pay more for a computer when you don’t have to, especially in today’s economy.  Even if you bought Microsoft Office to go along with the laptop shown in the commercial, you can still get the $125 version and save a couple of hundred bucks.  The Mac fan(atic)s and Apple web sites are full of anger with the new ad.  No doubt, this is the first real competition on the PR front they have faced in a while.

Seriously, if you want to really save some money, either buy a Linux PC (Dell or ZaReason), or download a free copy and save yourself some money.  Install Ubuntu 9.04 on a new PC (released next month), and you can prolong the life of your computer.  Everyone is looking for value in this economy, but only a few are looking in the right places when it comes to technology.  Get Ubuntu!

Georgia LoCo: March F2F!!!

Mark your calendars! The Ubuntu March face to face meeting will be held Saturday March 21, 2009 at 2pm. We will be meeting at the Athens Pizza House in Decatur (1341 Clairmont Rd Decatur, GA 30033).

The Ubuntu face to face meetings are a place to come and meet other Ubuntu and other free software users in the area. The meeting will be RSVP so I can get a large enough table for everyone. If you plan on coming, just send me an email (jreagan1990@gmail.com) and let me know how many folks will be attending. You don’t have to send me that now, just send it along when you are sure you can come. 🙂

Thanks!

Jon Reagan
President, Ubuntu Georgia LoCo

Miro 2: A Review

Today I downloaded Miro 2.0.1.  It’s not yet in the Ubuntu repositories, but the Miro project has set up repositories for the different versions of Ubuntu.  Before I start reviewing, I thought it might be best to give a little background on Miro.  Miro is a video player, and it has “sites” that can be downloaded as a feed so you can get the latest content.  It actually used to be called Democracy Player back in the day, but was renamed in 2007.  Miro has changed their content a bit for the second verstion.  Videos used to be hosted on “channels” but that appears to have been changed in favor of “sites.”  One thing to note, however, that doing a search for the sites does not work on Linux due to a flash player incompatibility.  Searching for feeds (which is what I’m after) does work with Linux.

So, let’s get started!

Miro 2.0 has an updated interface that seems faster and easier to work with than previous versions.  It also comes with a taskbar button that automatically hides/reopens Miro when it clicked.  The player consists of a main window, with a bottom panel that includes a search bar and controls.  The center window is where all the magic happens — videos and feeds can be viewed in this pane.  There is a side bar that includes links to all your feeds so you can manage your videos and go back to the Miro Guide.

Videos are downloaded locally.  Sure, you have to take the time to download the video, but once you have the video, there is no lag time and you get a higher resolution video.  The videos automatically download from the feeds you are following, and Miro even lets you know when they are done and ready to watch.

So, head on over to the Miro web page and download it!  While you’re in the Miro Guide, check out the Ubuntu Podcast, which has their own channel in Miro.

… and no review is complete without a screenshot! (right click and select view image if it is not complete in your browser — it should show an entire desktop)

Oh Yes

That’s a screenshot of my Ubuntu Studio desktop.  ‘Nuff said.

Where Have All the New Features Gone?

Today I ran across this article over on Yahoo! News.  The author asks the question:  Where are the new features?  The feature list, which can be found under the latest alpha in the Ubuntu “testing” site.  On the latest update, there are several new updates, but none seem to be that exciting.  The new notification feature seems to be the largest update, mainly because it is a fresh project.  While this next release may not have as many features as originally planned, software projects go through lulls like this.  Not to mention, it was also winter, so many individuals were in school, busy with work, and busy with family.  The next release, however, should have more new features.