Super Ginormous

Day: April 14, 2007

  • Feed

    I just finished up “Feed” by M.T. Anderson tonight. Man… what a good book! I picked it up based on the recommendation of a complete stranger, and I was not disappointed at all.

    Imagine a future where everyone’s plugged in… People have microchips implanted in their heads that connects them to the Feed. The Feed constantly delivers news, information, music, and so on based on how you feel, what you want, and more.

    I can’t help but think about how we’re inundated with so much information on a daily basis, and how much of it I choose to voluntarily consume… The book really struck a nerve with me, and really challenged me to unplug myself from the feed. I would definitely check the book out. I highly recommend it.

  • Wireless

    Well, this morning I ended up picking up a DI-624M from CompUSA, brought it home, installed it and didn’t have any problems. Then I tried to setup WEP, which shouldn’t have been a problem. But one thing led to another and the router ended up not working at all. Trying to reset the router to factory defaults didn’t work at all.

    A quick trip back to CompUSA resulted in me getting a cheaper D-Link router: the D-Link WBR-1310. It’s an 802.11g/b router with less range than my previous router, but I don’t bring my laptop outside much anyway. I was able to get my laptop, my wife’s laptop, the Wii, and the 360 all connected to the new router within about 10 minutes. I didn’t bother with WEP this time, but I may enable it at some point if I see that neighbors are leeching connectivity from me.

    What a way to kill a Saturday.

  • Optimization

    In an effort to conserve GPUs on my new web host, I’ve been taking the advice of OpenSwitch’s Ben Gray and trying to optimize this site as much as possible. I’ve temporarily killed the Flickr photos I had displayed on the sidebar, and made a few other tweaks to cut down on the number of queries on page load… I usually get less traffic on the site during the weekend so now’s a perfect time to do some testing and optimization of the site.

  • Disconnected

    Ugh. My wireless router kicked the bucket this morning after serving me well over three years. Time to buy a new one. It’s not a huge deal seeing as my laptop is only a few feet from our DSL modem most of the time, but if my wife wants to get online with her laptop, or if I want to get my game on with the XBOX360 or Wii — it’s a no-go. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised it has lasted as long as it has.

    Most people I know haven’t had good luck with D-Link routers, but most of them tend to be using Comcast as their ISP. I currently use AT&T FastAccess DSL (Xtreme) service at home, and the D-Link wireless routers, in my experience, have been wonderfully easy to use. (I’ve even set them up at family members’ houses that use DSL – in some cases replacing Linksys routers – and had tremendous success.)

    I’m looking at a couple of models to replace the dead D-Link DI-624 Wireless Router.

    My first choice is the D-Link DI-634M Wireless 108G MIMO Router which supports 802.11g/b. It’s gotten pretty good reviews at CompUSA and Amazon. It’s a little more expensive than I want to spend, but it would be the most comparable router I could get compared to what I currently have. Another option would be to simply replace the router I have with another DI-624. I’m not sure if they make the one I have anymore, but I do know there is a DI-624M available at CompUSA, so we’ll see…