X-Geek

Extreme geekiness

There are 701 posts filed in X-Geek (this is page 41 of 71).

Why does Paul Allen hate the Internet?

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is one of the top twenty richest Americans, and life gets hard when you’re at the top. Those megayachts aren’t exactly easy on the gas pump, if you know what I mean. So what’s a poor billionaire to do, you say? Why not sue the biggest companies on the Internet by claiming patent infringement!?

Yes, Paul Allen – a man who once did some cool things with his Microsoft money – has become a lowly patent troll, claiming his company invented a number of web technologies. His claims are absurd, in my view, and strike me as being a money grab. Allen’s reputation has dived deeper than the submarines he keeps on his yacht.

See Engadget, Ars Technica, or the FOSS Patents site for the techie nitty gritty, or ABCNews for the non-geek version:

Interval Licensing LLC, a company owned by billionaire Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, has filed an amended lawsuit against Facebook, Google Inc. and nine other companies, claiming they infringed on patented Web technology.

Interval Licensing, based in Seattle, owns the rights to information systems, computer science and communications technology developed in Silicon Valley by Interval Research, which Allen co-founded in the 1990s. Interval Research no longer exists.

The filing is a revision of the lawsuit Interval Licensing filed in August against Facebook, Google, Google’s video site YouTube, AOL Inc., Apple Inc., Yahoo Inc., Netflix Inc., eBay Inc., Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples.

via Paul Allen Refiles Suit Against Internet Giants – ABC News.

I created my own Roku channel

I am in geek heaven with our new Roku box. This book-sized media player is simple to use and its simple to write applications for it. I signed up for the Roku SDK a few days ago and this evening I began working on a way to get my saved media to play on it. I’m happy to say I succeeded!

I used the homevideo apps by Brian Lane to create the appropriate XML files on my Apache server. It was simply a matter of adjusting the pathnames and everything worked.
Continue reading →

Santa’s not bringing Google Fiber this year

It turns out that Santa’s backhoe won’t be making the rounds this year, after all. Google announced today that they are delaying their site selections for Google Fiber until next year. According to Milo Medin, Google’s new Vice President of Access Services, the overwhelming response received from communities has added to the time needed to evaluate all proposals.

Hey, Google, I hear Google Fiber makes a great birthday present (hint, hint).

Weather online again

MT.Net weather station file photo

Well, it took me about a year after I set up my weather station in our current house before I actually connected it to the outside world but last night I got around to it. Seeing Travis’s taped-up toy weather station sitting sadly in yesterday’s rain got me motivated to give the kids some weather graphs and statistics to check whenever they want.

Now anyone can check the weather in East Raleigh by clicking on this link. Weather information updates every 10 minutes “on the elevens.” I still have to repair my wind speed gauge but everything else is working. Eventually I hope to upgrade to wireless (and solar) instruments I can mount above the roof but this will work for now.

Joining the ranks of Roku owners

Roku player

Having long become enamored of the Roku player, we bought our first one this week: a Roku HD that a neighbor was selling. Once again, I am quite impressed by this little box. Roku gets mad props for designing a fantastic user interface. I firmly believe boxes like Roku’s are the future of television, where one will buy individual episodes of shows rather than subscribe to a channel, cable tier, or the like.

Now comes the question of channels. What are the other Roku owners watching out there? Which ones out of the available channels have the more entertaining shows?

Progress Energy’s SunSense rebates for residential solar

Photo by Gray Watson

There is good news today for homeowners who’ve been considering adding solar panels to their homes. Progress Energy received approval today [PDF] from the N.C. Utilities Commission to provide up to $10,000 in rebates for residential solar power installations. The program would begin January 1st and provide a $1,000 rebate per kW of solar capacity, up to a $10,000 maximum. According to the N&O’s John Murawski, a 10 kW solar installation that would normally cost $75,000 could be bought for $35,000 after the rebate and state and federal incentives are included.

I’ve been waiting for this program to materialize since fall of last year, so I’m finally glad it’s been approved. As for our home, I’ve been thinking a 6 kW system would be about right for our needs, though our large, southern-facing rooftop could host quite a bit more. I think 2011 will be the year to finally go solar!

“Chinglish” and Internet wholesalers

I was doing some Internet searches to come up to speed on some satellite TV technology when I came upon this amusing Chinglish description for an amazing set-top box. It combines many of my interests: amusing, over-the-top Chinglish; Linux; and DVB-S satellite set-top boxes.

DreamBox DM7025 is one of the latest in the serials of wares from Dream Multimedia System. It is highly advanced and scientifically ongoing digital satellite catcher which is obtainable at exceedingly low-cost and sound monetary values from the cyberspace. The device has the fullest and greatest capabilities than some other electronic device from the very same make. Continue reading →