Obviously WAN balancing two connections will not double the download speed for a single file transfer through a single connection, but by using a download manager which makes multiple connections, or by using P2P, you can effectively download a single file at 2*XYZmbit/sec by balancing two XYZmbit WAN connections.
Our Dell PowerConnect 5424 switch arrived at the office today, we’re going to be testing the throughput capabilities for possible data center use. Below are some photos of the switch.
The lens has the motorized auto focus and the vibration reduction features which make it far superior to some of the other lenses available. It fits on my Nikon D60 without the use of any adaptor rings or other equipment needed.
Below are the pictures of the new lens compared to the 18-55mm lens that came with the D60 camera. As you can see the 70-300mm lens is extremely large, but I don’t find it to be too heavy.
Below is a video of me unboxing the new HDR-CX11E, the European (PAL) version of the HDR-CX12. It is Sony’s latest full HD record to memory stick camcorder. The unit is also capable of taking 10.2 megapixel photos.
The camera comes with standard component cables, HD component cables, a USB 2.0 connection and charging dock, battery, power brick, software, and remote. No HDMI cable is included, but the camera does have a mini HDMI output.
Being skeptical; I searched for reviews and the Wikipedia page for the Roomba for more information about how well these things actually clean. I found lots of praising videos on youtube , which combined with the information on Wikipedia that the 560 is the fifth generation of Roomba convinced me to order one.
A few things to note about the Roomba 560:
has IR sensors in the front bumper which allow it to slow down before bumping into any furniture.
carefully navigates around the top of stairs without falling down them (not shown in the video).
has an on-board scheduler and auto docking system so that it can clean and then recharge itself on a programmed basis without any interaction.
will clean for about 60 minutes each cleaning cycle.
using the included lighthouses you can block it from entering a certain room, or set it to clean one room fully before automatically going to clean the next room.
My Roomba arrived this morning. Below is a video of a quick run around my living room and entrance hall, at the end of the video I cut the cleaning cycle short to demonstrate the auto docking system.
You may also download a high quality .wmv version of the video here (147MB).
YouTube appear to be rolling out an option allowing users to watch videos in higher quality than before (example).
Not all source videos uploaded will be high quality/definition (cell phone video etc), but it appears that when a high quality video is uploaded to YouTube several conversions are now being made. This allows users with fast internet connections to watch the high quality version.
Sites, such as Putfile, that have had high quality video streaming functionality (example) for over a year have now lost an edge over YouTube which previously swayed some users to register on their site rather than YouTube.
With YouTube providing free high quality video streaming, revenue sharing, groups, and various other features; the days of UGC video sites popping up quickly or established non-niche sites even surviving are surely numbered.
Need I say more? Yahoo mail doesn’t seem to be able to filter out the spam very well at all. Perhaps Yahoo thinks that I might benefit from various drugs and a few Nigerian 419 scams.
If you’re not using gmail yet then you should be. I have been using gmail for about a year now and have not had any spam get through to my inbox, nor have I had any emails incorrectly marked as spam.
Revver has apparently sold to LiveUniverse (Brad Greenspan’s operation) for less than $5m, at a considerable loss to investors.
“Online-video company Revver Inc., which has tried to stake out a niche by broadcasting only material that doesn’t infringe on copyrights, has been sold to online-entertainment network LiveUniverse for less than $5 million, people familiar with the matter said.
The sale is a blow to Revver’s investors, who had sunk $12.75 million into the Los Angeles company. The deal demonstrates the difficulty many online-video start-ups are having competing with Google Inc.’s YouTube.”
UPDATE Jan 17th 2008: The original embedded player has been restored and is now working again.
A lot of people have been messaging me about this, and I’m sorry to hear about it.
It seems as though ZVUE, in their infinite wisdom, have disabled the embedded videos on Putfile. They have been replaced with what looks like an embedded player, but clicking on it will take you to the Putfile site instead. If that is ok with you then thats great just leave the code as it is and people will be directed to the video on Putfile when they click it rather than viewing it on your site, myspace, ebay, or wherever you had embedded it.
I’ve not been working with ZVUE (who purchased Putfile) since the later part of last year, so if you would like to complain please open a support ticket or contact them through Zvue.com.
I’m sad to say, but it certainly is true, that Putfile simply doesn’t measure up to the competition anymore. ZVUE seem to be focusing on adding music videos and redesigning (cluttering) the site rather than adding any much needed core features (ftp upload, upload progress bar, friends, groups, message boards).
If you’re looking for a new video and/or photo host I’ve started using Flickr.com for photos and Dailymotion.com for videos both of which work really well.
Below is an example of the now defunct Putfile embedded player:
