Tag: Technology
January 1, 2015 / Technology

Back! Yes, I Was Gone

Due to a denial of service (DoS) attack and suspected breach of my personal website security, I was contemplating just wiping the slate clean and start fresh with my entire web presence. 

No more chrisdenbow.website, new social media accounts, new accounts on the iTunes and Google Play which would force me to lose my digital media purchases, setup new accounts, passwords and all the rest of the inconvenient hassles.

But I’ve worked too hard these past few years building my web server, email server, content, web accounts and more to just walk away from it. With the support of my web server host support and enterprise software providers, etc, I think I’ve rooted out the issues and am staying put.

So what has changed? Nothing on the surface. All my systems have been secured as best as I could. 

The content here still stinks but I’ll still crank it out. So yeah, I’m back. 
October 20, 2014 / Technology

Android To Apple

I’ve decided to go all in on Apple mobile products. I purchased a mini iPad back in May for my daughter and ended up keeping it when it was discovered she already had one purchased for her.

Then, I pulled the trigger and got the new iPhone 6.

I’m still formulating my thoughts on the conversion process from Android and will post later on it. 
October 19, 2014 / Technology

This Just Happened

July 18, 2014 / Technology

Apple > Android

So I went ahead and downgraded to the iPhone. I don’t know who I am anymore.
July 13, 2014 / Technology

Bad Apple

So the great iPhone experiment failed. Two days later I upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy S5. I tried, I really did. I wasted money on apps to help with the experience. 

Overall, the lack of customization and tweaking did it for me. It is such a closed system. I prefer open source software and systems. So I’m back to Android.
May 25, 2014 / Technology

iCan’t Believe This

Memorial Day weekend. I have decided to go all in to the Apple ecosystem. This is a departure from six years of Android. I have acquired the iPad mini with retina display. As soon as I am eligible, in July, I will convert to the iPhone 5s.

Will I enjoy this transition? Yes. I love trying new technology.

Will I regret it and go back to Android? Time will tell.
April 18, 2014 / Photography

Google Camera App

Google updated their stock camera app. Basically they took the best parts of my Nexus 5 camera app and enhanced it. 

Added a smart blur for greater depth of field, horizontal panoramas, 50MB photospheres, manual adjustments (like a DSLR) and more. Neat!
February 1, 2012 / Technology

Shit.

November 28, 2011 / Technology

Reboot

The term “reboot” means to discard much or even all previous continuity and start over with fresh ideas. It could also imply that I just wanted to scratch the whole thing and start over again. Previous posts (2005-2011) have been backed-up and shelved until I create an archive.
October 25, 2011 / Technology

Retweet

So I may have been wrong when I left Twitter recently and I’ll tell you why.

The community is a fantastic resource of information and updates.

At some point I will rethink its value and decide what to do but for now I am a Twit again.
October 19, 2011 / Journal

Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

I’ve been selling/donating books and throwing out old magazines.

I’m saving space and money by going digital.

The Evo has a huge screen but I still have eye strain when reading from it.

My birthday is coming way too soon.

I want/need the new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.
September 28, 2011 / Journal

Tinker & Tweak

Little DVD had a piece of her toy snap off and asked me to repair it recently. Once the part was snapped back into place she exclaimed that I was “just like Tinkerbell!” I assume she meant that I could fix things as well as that little fairy. But that got me thinking that I do tinker and tweak because I do perform a lot of maintenance on my machines. Sometimes too much.

When a new release of the Ubuntu operating system or when an Windows “upgrade”is released I do quite a bit of tinkering. Sure I could just upgrade and overwrite the obsolete files and programs but I always perform a clean install so I can determine what software is more productive and lean. I want a fast, responsive laptop.

Now is the perfect time to assess what software I want, need or to get rid of. Do I really need two image processing software or can I increase my knowledge of the best one and use it exclusively? Can I uninstall the pre-loaded media player for the one of my choice?

The same approach goes with my digital files. If I haven’t touched them in six months, then they are uploaded to my offsite server, zipped up and archived on an external hard drive. It would be even better if I can just go ahead and delete the ones I don’t need at all.

Media files make up a majority of my hard drive space…for now. My music can be purchased online and sync wirelessly to my devices. I need to take advantage of this and regain my 3GB of hard drive space. Photos are a big part of what I do and enjoy so there will always be the personal and client images there. After all this time I still do not have a workflow in place. Inexcusable. 

Website content, social media, RSS feeds, bookmarks all go into one folder and distributed as needed.

Maintaining your computer’s health goes a long way to ensure you will have it a long time. There are plenty of utilities and diagnostics to run on a weekly basis. 

As your digital needs evolve so will your workflow and maintenance. If you are like me and enjoy the tinkering and tweaking I think you will appreciate the benefits of a finely tuned and organized machine.
September 25, 2011 / Technology

Integration Testing

In another effort to de-complicate and simplify my digital world, I reworked my dual-boot Hybrid laptop. I deleted the Windows partition and added that hard disk space towards the Linux Ubuntu side. Hybrid PC no longer.  Ubuntu has won over Windows because of it’s simplicty and efficiency.  

The two biggest reasons that held me back for so long was my use of Photoshop, Lightroom and Microsoft Office. The open source alternatives such as GIMP (Photoshop), Dark Table (Lightroom) and LibreOffice (guess) were just as capable as their overpriced counterparts. Thanks to the cloud I can use MS Office online if needed or Picasa Web (soon to be Google Photos) to lightly edit a few images. My Android phone is Linux based so I can sync to it wirelessly or tether to it when I am away and am in need of an internet connection.

It will take me a while to discover the flow of how to import, work, export and organize but it can be done. I like to tweak.

There is an immediate, discernable difference between Windows and Linux on this machine. It is quieter, more responsive and not as hot as it was running just Windows. I’d say it was an upgrade even. 
September 25, 2011 / Journal

About Face

Following the recent changes and hype regarding Facebook, I’ve decided to delete my account. 

I’ve focused a lot of my energy back into this website and Google Plus. 
September 25, 2011 / Technology

Clean Slate

Ever feel like taking the pages out of your notebook and ripping them out to start over?

Yeah, me too. Since you are reading this you are involved in the process as well.

The Facebook accounts are “scheduled” for deletion, the GReader inbox has been thinned out.

People on Twitter that I am following has been reduced.

The website is being streamlined into something more manageable and readable.

Possessions that might have been useful or meaningful are neither and are being sold or given away.

The ideas I want to post here should be relevant, not random. They also need to be mine, not someone else’s idea. My media content should be posted here, not theirs. I can save that for Twitter or Google Plus. 

I suppose I just want this website to be a reflection of me and you are seeing these ideas and changes evolve as I am evolving. 

The first, overreactive response I had to this feeling was to export the content, archive it and restore the database with a fresh install.

I’ve done this many times with a computer’s hard drive, why not this website? Heck, I may still do it.

I want to be intentional, focused and fresh. I need a blank page to start this whole thing over.