Dave’s Guide to the Best of the Web

    My real job is as a network engineer for Collages.Net Inc. As anyone who works in the industry will know the field of knowledge is vast and the challenges continuous. How does one deal with the continuous expansion of knowledge and challenges? One way is by subscribing to Informit’s Safari Tech Books Online.

Safari is an online bookshelf with hundreds of titles from many of the most renowned publishers (O’Reilly, Addison-Wesley, Sams, Que, Cisco, Microsoft) and authors (Gary McGraw, Michael Miller, Jesse Liberty) in the industry. Topics covered include applied sciences, artificial intelligence, technical certifications (e.g. A+, CCNA, MCSE), computer science, databases, desktop publishing, desktop applications, e-business/e-commerce, enterprise computing, internet, programming, multimedia, networking, and security amongst others.

Here is a quick sampling of the sort of volumes you can expect from Safari:

• Programming Collective Intelligence, Toby Segaran (Artificial Intelligence).
• Cisco ASA, PIX, and FWSM Firewall Handbook by David Hucaby  (Networking/Security).
• Beautiful Code by Andy Oram and Greg Wilson (Computer Science).
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Unleashed by Ray Rankins, & co. (Databases).
• Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan (Programming).

Okay, those are some pretty technical volumes, but for those just getting started there are some excellent volumes as well. Whether you need to learn basic web design, how to edit multimedia files, it management skills, or any of dozens of areas of expertise - Safari InformIT can help.

It does cost money - but the cost is reasonable. Technical volumes don’t sell many copies (how many people want to read about low-level kernel details?) so authors and publishers have to make up for this lack in readership by increasing the price of volumes. A good technical volume can oftentimes run $50 or more at a traditional bookstore. With Safari InformIT you can read several books at a time for $9.95 per month, or get even more at a higher price. You really can’t argue with the price.

Apple’s iPhone is a pretty sweet device from all reports, but by no means perfect. While many consumers enjoy the device for its own qualities, many open source advocates and other strange geeks (I’m talking about myself, so I feel qualified to make fun of myself) look upon the iPhone not so much as a gigantic step forward as an actual device, but rather as what it represents - a push for more innovation and a challenge to the incumbent cell phone carriers to offer more.

But what if everything Apple is offering and will offer will in the long-term be considered only a footnote in history? I think that there is a grand possibility that this will happen. Why? Because of a small company called OpenMoko which is building upon the revolutionary concepts of open source.

Open Source rebels against the traditional concepts of capitalism in some senses. I have talked to many who embrace that traditional concept and when explaining to them the options they have from open source I often find them responding with befuddled expressions indicating their confusion as to how anything that is really free can also be really profitable. If you aren’t a geek (yeah, with big glasses and never having met a girl in your life) you might not be aware of open source - but its real and revolutionary. You would probably recognize some of its successes such as Linux (an operating system and the grand-daddy of successful open source software), Mozilla Firefox (the web browser), or OpenOffice.Org (the office suite).

Open source is spreading itself throughout society. While initially operating mainly within the confines of computer software it has spread to the furthest reaches of the imagination - including cell phones. OpenMoko has recently released to the public (though asking that only developers purchase them) the Neo1973. This phone is expected to become widely available according to The Economist in November 2007. OpenMoko is an open source phone. It provides most of the features hardware wise you could hope for in a phone and then leaves the phone open for innovation by developers and users. Developers can write applications for it, users can connect to it on any of a variety of carriers. No longer is one locked into a mandatory (and unnecessary) set of applications or to a certain carrier - rather the phone is designed to allow anyone to design applications for it and to be utilized by any carrier that will allow it.

So, take a look at the OpenMoko sites. They are attractive, the phone is attractive, and the concept is attractive. While OpenMoko’s Neo1973 isn’t the phone to buy just yet, I expect it to begin chopping up market share like crazy in the near future. OpenMoko has two sites - the first is for the public consumption of the phone, the second is for developers (or those interested in weird things) to view and assist in the creation/editing/maintenance of the code base/featureset for OpenMoko’s cell phones.

Bookmark OpenMoko. They aren’t anybody just yet - but they will be.

Note: I am aware that Ubuntu is not “Linux” in its most technical and basic conception, but it is one of the best distributions of Linux available and I chose it as a representative of the whole.

I’ve never been skilled artistically. Part of this is because I took an absolute minimum of artistic classes and never cultivated this skill - something I sometimes regret. Still, as someone who has for years worked on websites I have had to do quite a bit of my own graphics work. In the past I could never afford Adobe Photoshop, so I used JASC Paint Shop Pro - starting with version 7 and then jumping to version X after Corel acquired JASC. I wasn’t doing much - creating or manipulating simple logos, resizing or cropping photos, removing red eye - the simple stuff. JASC’s Paint Shop Pro was a pretty good web designer suite, but eventually I got tired of the slow startup times, reinstalling it every time I reformatted my computer (because of its size), and paying out money for upgrades. That’s when I began using Paint.NET - an application PC World listed as #19 in its Top 100 Products of 2007.

Paint.NET was originally a project by several students at Washington State University mentored by Microsoft. Created utilizing Microsoft’s .NET framework technology, under an open source license, and intended as a replacement for Microsoft Windows’ built-in Paint application it has since grown into a robust and feature-filled application. While it is by no means an Adobe Photoshop, or according to the reviews I’ve read, even a GIMP - it is still an intuitive and useful application - especially for those of us to whom image design is more of a duty than a love.

Paint.NET is capable of opening images in the most popular formats - Bitmap (BMP), GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF amongst others. Besides being capable in supporting a variety of image formats it has an active community. In just one of several forums discussing Paint.NET on the official site there are currently 30,000+ posts. There are numerous tutorials such as “Make an Animated GIF with Paint.NET,” “HDR Image Blending,” and “Easiest way to make realistic eyes.” These tutorials seem to be written in such a manner that even I could follow them to completion.

Additionally, there are numerous plugins available to extend the built-in capabilities of the software. While there are many traditional filters (such as Shape3D and Curves+) perhaps one of the most interesting is a plugin that allows one to view and edit Photoshop files.

Okay, enough about the community and extendability of the application. What does the application itself allow that makes it so great? As already noted, it can open and edit most common file formats and is also extremely intuitive to use (especially compared to GIMP, the previously dominant open source graphics editor). It offers the usual palette of tools including selection tools, paint bucket, gradient, paint brush, shapes, and a color wheel. You can crop, resize, and rotate images. Changing an image to black and white or sepia can be performed with the click of a button. Layering, an advanced feature is available as well as any number of effects (e.g. noise, emboss, frosty glass). I could go on, but I’m already stretching myself far beyond my artistic capabilities.

The point is - Paint.NET is free and may be just the application you are looking for if you need a quick and easy way to create or manipulate graphics or photos. Its much better than the software that came with your digital camera and for those of us who don’t know any better, will hold its own against Photoshop for our simple needs. It isn’t yet a professional image editing application, but that doesn’t mean that someone using Paint.NET couldn’t make some beautiful work. So, stop reading and go download now!

I am indebted to the following blog posts for some of the technical information as well as verifying my own opinions on the usefulness of the application: Mushly, Graphic Identity Gallery, Nuvve Nuvve, Peachykeen, SpamRipper, Your2ndPlace, and Everybody Loves Your Money.

The question is never if your hard drive will fail, but when. Every hard drive will eventually fail. Are you prepared? Oftentimes, creating a backup copy of our files is a smart thing to do - but something that we put off. It takes so much work to back them up onto a CD, floppy disks, or an external drive. Thankfully, technology has been rapidly simplifying this task using online backup. Online backup has two distinct advantages over traditional methodologies: (a) it is simple and automatic and (b) it is off-site, meaning even in the case of theft, fire, or flood your data will still be safe.

One of the best companies currently offering online backup is Berkeley Data Systems. They offer two services - Mozy and Mozy Pro. While the services are very similar, the one is aimed at consumers and at the other at commercial uses (e.g. businesses). We won’t spend time focusing on the commercial version (Mozy Pro) other than to note that it includes advanced management capabilities that allow you to oversee a large number of computers being backed up at the same time.

Mozy is a small software application. You download the application onto your computer and tell it the files you want to backup. It is also fairly intelligent and allows you to just tell it what types of files you want to backup (e.g. text documents, spreadsheets, photos, or music). Once it knows what you want to backup it will create an initial backup of all your selected files. Then, as your files change it will upload those changes to their servers. This has results in two nice features. First, they only upload the changes in your files - not the whole file each time. This means after the initial upload following uploads are much quicker. Secondly, they keep multiple versions of your file and you can select not just the latest revision of your file but also revisions from earlier dates.

Mozy is generally a set it and forget it type of application. For those who need 2 GB or less of space (most consumers who are storing just documents and not music or pictures) its free. For those who have greater storage needs, unlimited storage is available for $4.95/mo. Not bad.

The American Automative Association (AAA) is one of those select organizations actually worth subscribing to. Sort of like Consumer Reports. Yes, you might spend $250 a year on all these different subscriptions I recommend - but the end results are invaluable as far as peace of mind and quality of service.

AAA is the best-known automotive membership. Starting at $59.50 for a single individual at the basic level or $97.00 at the plus level (with additional members $31.00 and $51.00 respectively). The basic features include free tire changes (yes, I actually used this around a month ago), free tows (I’ve used this two or three times over the last two or three years - even though I now have a 2005 Chevrolet Aveo), free battery charges (you left the lights on again!), fuel delivery (no more walking for miles), and lockout services (if only you had forgotten the keys to your office instead!). There are many other auto related features - perhaps one of the most attractive ones is the $1,000 (or $2,000 with the pro account) cash reward to someone who gives information leading to the arrest and conviction of someone who either vandalizes or steals your car.

Beyond automobile features, the membership power of AAA allows for them to offer many other exclusive offers. For example, showing a AAA card at many retailers can add up to significant discounts (e.g. Hertz, Barnes & Noble, Six Flags, and Best Buy). AAA also offers extremely competitive options on a multitude of services - for example, credit cards, home insurance, and auto insurance. I’m one of those persons who shops around for auto insurance. I started with UnitrinDirect, moved to Progressive, and am now with AllState, but the rates AAA has offered me are significantly below AllState’s, so I intend to move again soon. Somewhat amazing since at each move I’ve saved not $50 or $100 but several hundred dollars - and yet AAA can still offer significantly lower prices.

I’ve only begun to touch upon all the benefits of having a AAA membership, so forget about all those other services (whether for prescription benefits, automotive, or discounts) and get a AAA account. You will feel safer driving on long trips knowing that a tire change, extra gas, or a tow is only a phone call away and a single utilization of the AAA services in a year will likely save you as much as you paid for your annual membership. Still, the real question is, “How much is your peace of mind worth?” I don’t know about you - but many is worth much more than $100 a year!

Note: This is not a sponsored post. This is my unadulterated view of AAA without any financial compensation behind it. I truly believe that AAA is more than worth the money.