Dave's List
Gadgets, web and miscellany
Going to the internet for TV
художници на иконииконописSo a friend suggested I document my approach to going to a fully legal, download/streaming solution for all my TV and movie watching.
A little background: I have recently moved from a dual internet connection (CenturyLink 7 Mbit/s ADSL2+, Comcast 2 Mbit/s cable modem, bonded with a RV082 router) to a single 40 Mbit/s VDSL2 connection, because of some compelling pricing arguments (the cable price jumped from $15/month to $40/month). With this, I feel compelled to use this pipe for TV viewing, rather than pay separately for TV and internet. So the total cost of the solution or solutions must be less than the cost of internet and TV.
So here’s the shows my wife and I watch:
The Walking Dead, Dexter, Weeds, The Mentalist, Lie to Me, The Big Bang Theory, Eureka, Breaking Bad, True Blood, The Daily Show, House, The Big C, Community, Parks & Recreation, The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Nurse Jackie, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Here’s the solutions I’m looking at:
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, AppleTV, GoogleTV
From the start, it’s clear I have an uphill battle ahead of me. The problem is that the majority of these shows, especially the ones I really like are on HBO and SHOWTIME, networks who have notoriously stayed off the internet.
This post will fill out as I evaluate my options…
PHP 5.3 connecting to remote MySQL database
9 months ago
by Dave
in Technology & Gadgets
So there are many solutions out there discussing solutions to the error in PHP 5.3 while connecting using the built-in mysql library to a MySQL server:
mysqlnd cannot connect to mysql 4.1+ using the old insecure authentication. please use an administration tool to reset your password with the command set password = password('your_existing_password').
Unfortunately, none of these solutions seem to work on a remote MySQL server. I have WebFaction running my MySQL server, so it’s impossible to configure the old_passwords in a my.conf file. What you have to do instead is:
SET SESSION old_passwords=0;
SET PASSWORD=PASSWORD('existing password');
This should reset the password to the 41 byte hash compatible with mysqlnd in PHP 5.3.
Free of Bluehost at last
1 year ago
вик услугиSo this post has been a long time coming (almost 2 years), mainly due to my own lack of motivation and the sheer amount of work necessary to move a bunch of websites between hosts.
After trialling WebFaction for almost 1.5 years, and finding them to be reasonable and responsive, I have now moved this blog from BlueHost to WebFaction. Many folks have written about how bad BlueHost is, and so with this blog (finally) safely off of that host, I now feel free to add my $0.02.
Winning runs from Sunday’s Rally Cross
So Sunday Cassie and I went out to Fountain, CO for Event #6 of the Colorado Rally Cross season. I won, but barely. I videoed all 12 runs that Cassie and I did using my iPhone 4 with a homemade mount (lots of double-sided tape and taped ports to keep the dust out). I think the footage came out pretty good. Our car, a 2002 Jetta with recently replaced engine and transmission mounts (old ones kept breaking) sprung a coolant leak, so we were filling the coolant with water every run, and it redlined on temperature every run (260° F). By the end of the day, we managed all 12 runs thanks to everybody who let us maximally separate the runs, and Eric Genack‘s supplied water (used 2 gallons). The coolant was clear instead of red by the end of day (completely diluted).
Neat optical illusion
Takes a while, but quite cool. Follow the instructions…..
Cool Optical Illusion – Watch more Funny Videos
Now a BizSpark startup
My company, Tall Pine Technology, is now a Microsoft BizSpark Startup. I think with this development, it’s hard not to go all-microsoft for e-mail, etc.
Stalking me for tech support
Well, I have an interesting, if cautionary tale of why you might not want to help out strangers with software advice.
It started out when I posted detailed instructions on how to setup wview on Ubuntu. I posted and updated detailed instructions on how to set up a complete system, from start to finish. I maintain(ed) this very carefully, and when changes came up, I updated the article. Nonetheless, this process has become outdated, and so the procedure documented still works, but is not the easiest way to do it (techies: the developers have packaged up the install, so it’s almost a one-liner, now).
(more…)
Weather underground now making a video
This is the last 24 hours from my webcam:
Stuff I install on Windoze
This is a partial list of stuff I install on Windows Vista and newer, on nearly every machine I configure, with a short description of why I use it: (more…)
