tech – Page 11 – Moby Files: Blog

eBooks

Ok Somehow, this damn thing posted before I finished….

I bitched a while back about some of my frustrations with printed media making the jump to digital, albeit slowly and sporadically. Since then, I’ve been watching a slow but gradual convergence. It seems unlike the music/movie industry, the book publishers haven’t been as stand offish over the whole digital jump. Don’t get me wrong, they are still being greedy by charging the same price as a paperback for digital content, but at least they are allowing it to be available.

Sadly, some authors aren’t as gung-ho and have fought to keep their works out of the digital forum. They will find themselves relegated to the dusty shelves their books are sitting on if they don’t wake up. From a simple supply/demand point-of-view, the digital convergence is not a matter of if but when.

I’m happy that many more works are making the jump almost every day though. This time last year when I was ranting about some of the draconian bills going thru congress, only 1 of my fave authors had all of their works available in e-format and now all 3 have chunks of their works online. Many of my favorite mags have also made the jump with only one not having an e-format.

I can honestly say I’ve started reading a lot more. Having an ipad with a Kindle app, I can access virtually any book in my e-library at a moment’s notice. The only down side is any of my favorite books that I already have in print still have to be repurchased in the new format. *grumble grumble*

Hell, even porn has gone digital. lol You can get a plethora of books, short stories, etc of the adult variety, gay or straight, on amazon, apple, google, or even direct from the author. And as the saying goes, ‘where porn goes, so does the rest.‘ You laugh but look back at every time the porn industry as embraced a new format and you’ll notice a giant shift overall. Oh yes, for all our nay-saying, sex still sells. lol

1000 Words

So this guys sends me a message the other day on Scruff wanting to hook-up. Forgetting for a moment, he didn’t even bother checking to see if there was any interest in that from me, he launches into how he used to do porn. ^[1]or may still do for all I know His profile picture and the 5 others he sends before I can even reply once are all from his production portfolio. Not really a problem as there are a good many porny boy here and they all tend to use their glamour shots. The problem is I’ve seen him recently in real life and he looks nothing like his old porn shots. One, he has gained a good 30lbs or so. Not bad in itself but why try to hide it? SF is a very bear-friendly city. Two, he then proceeds to lie about his age by like 10 or more years. Sad, considering he didn’t really look all that bad. Not my type but still not that bad if you can get beyond the obvious dishonesty and apparent lack of self-respect.

I guess he didn’t realize I have seen him in real life. Anyway, I called him on his pics. Now I was very polite about it. All I said was, “Hey guy, thanks for the interest. Unfortunately, not a match for me. I would recommend updating your pics though as having seen you lately you look nothing like the pics you sent.” OMFG! You’d have thought I’d just burned down his house he was so indignant. He proceeds to tell me, “How dare you say that? Do you know who I am? I could snap my fingers and have 10 different guys over here ***** ***** ****.” (I deleted the graphic sexual detail he referred to here lol) Forgetting the obvious why the eff are you messaging me then comment, I again politely reply back, “I’m not trying to be ugly, I just meant there is a clear difference between your pics and you now. If you really want a solid connection being honest about what/who you are is a big part of that.” Meanwhile, I’m giggling to myself cause I know this is also not going to be received well. Sure enough, I get a very long-winded email about how fabulous he is and what he does for the porn industry, blah blah blah. At this point, I realize my politely direct advice is falling on deaf ears so I just ignore his 3 additional messages.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am no bad-mouthing porn. I know several hard-working, good guys who do porn for a living. It’s an honest living and I have no judgements. While I usually avoid porny boys in my bedroom, it is more from a drama-management perspective. And I said “usually” because there have been exceptions. But the fact that you used to do porn is not license to lie. And to be clear, there are plenty of non-industry “fibbers” online as well. I use this story as its recent.

I used to just ignore these guys but when you make such a direct, hard-line approach to me then you should be able to back it up. The fact he was direct was the one good thing about the whole episode. I hate wishy-washy flakes. And this whole BS idea that your anonymous online and you can be anyone you wanna be is nonsense. The simple and obvious reason is once you meet someone in person your grand story is blown. Duh!

The moral boys and girls is be honest. Or at the very least, don’t blow a gasket when you get busted for being a big fat liar. (Pun intended. LOL) Sure the responses might be less, but they’ll be legitimate.

References[+]

References
↑1	or may still do for all I know

Mobile II

I’ve been tinkering with converting my blog to an app on Android. No, I’m not taking up Android programming, you can find a few sites online that will convert and compile it for free, albeit ads included. So far, I’ve created three very basic but different versions. All three are just wrappers. ^[1]meaning it’s just wrapped in a user interface

The first one is via WP-Appmaker and I like it the least. It renders very well but has no push notifications so you have to manually update it anytime you want new data. IMHO this completely defeats the purpose. The only real option you have is to sort posts by category. Considering it forces ads on you (I understand why) it should include more options.

The second one is with JoeMobi and had the most potential. Creating the app on their site was very buggy and time-consuming. If you forgot to fill out a required field or it didn’t like what you were trying to upload, you’d get an error. You think have to start all over from the very beginning. This one also renders w/ads but it includes push notifications. Push means the app would update itself anytime I post something new. It was also the only one that supported comments directly from the app vs having to link out to the web and then post a comment. Sadly, I couldn’t get the in-app new comment part to work. However, unlike the other two, you could see existing comments. It also works with a Blackberry if you have one of those.

The third one is thru Conduit. It’s not bad. Choosing or creating your own unique colors and layout were much easier to use for a novice. Unlike the others, it does not force ads on the reader. Conduit was the only free one to offer the option to include your twitter feed as a separate tab. This one would be perfect if they ever added comment support.

There were about 6-7 other sites that do the same thing but they were mostly geared toward businesses and charge some pretty hefty fees. I don’t have the money for such things right now. One worth mentioning was Mippin. It was unique in that you could tie in FB fan pages, twitter, picasa, flickr, etc. They charge a flat $99 fee for a two-device app. Sadly, it still doesn’t support comments.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining about the 3 above as they are free! But, you also get what you pay for. I wouldn’t have minded the in-app ads had they given me the option to make a portion of the revenue after a certain point. Yes, I realize that’s how they make their money but ads for such basic wrappers is kinda overkill IMHO.

I’ve included links to the apk files for all three versions I created. If you’re on an Android device, just select the links below. As mentioned, they are very basic but feel free to play with’em, if ya like. Also keep in mind, you’ll have to click the allow unknown installs on your Android device before it will let you install them. There is NO SUPPORT with the apps. If you don’t like, simply delete’em off your device. They are too basic to cause any problems but I can’t guarantee they’ll work with old versions of Android.

The WP-Appmaker version

The JoeMobi version

The Conduit version

If I ever decide to upgrade them, I’ll post a new update.

References[+]

References
↑1	meaning it’s just wrapped in a user interface

Comments

So I’m considering disabling my janrain plugin and switching to Intense Debate. I’m taking feedback from anyone who has used Intense Debate as an end user and/or on your own site.

This really only affects folks that log in via universal log-ins like Google, OpenID, twitter, etc. Those of you who have your own log-ins here, won’t be affected. ^[1]This means you still have access to all the “private” stuff I post from time to time. heehee The janrain plugin is easy to install but the back end setup takes more programming knowledge than I have to keep it running correctly. Plus, every time one of the big players update their api’s I end up having to start over with fixing it on my end. I don’t really have the time to screw with it. I like janrain because everything remains in-house, meaning all my comments are stored in my blog, not on someone else’s servers. This removes any problems with people not being able to comment if afore mentioned other servers go down.

There are a variety of comment management systems out there. I don’t like Disqus as I always have problems trying to use their platform from mobile devices. For whatever reason, the log-in mechanism never seems to go thru. Even worse, the comment box doesn’t seem to come thru as an actual box so I can’t activate the keyboard to type. Since about 70% of how I access blogs these days is thru mobile devices, I sure as hell ain’t planning to shoot myself in the foot. lol

Intense Debate seems to be very tightly integrated with WordPress. Instead of trying to hold all my comments, they sync with my WordPress installation. In simple terms, they keep comments added thru their platform on their servers but they also sync with my WordPress installation. In a nutshell, this means I get to keep my old and new comments. And, if I ever decide to ditch the platform I still keep all my comments. But wait, there’s more! I also don’t have to worry about mobile comments as my mobile plugin uses the WordPress built in comment system, which gets synced! I remember way back when I migrated from Blogger to WordPress, I lost all my comments. They didn’t have an import-comment function then and to do it manually was more headache than I wanted to research. Intense Debate also offers a variety of log-in options built into their platform. That means I don’t have to manage it on my own. You could still leave comments via your favorite universal long-in.

The only problem I can foresee is a user conflict if/when I switch over. Even when using universal log-ins, WordPress creates an internal user account on my blog tied to your email. I don’t know if a different platform like Intense Debate would understand if it’s the same user account or try to create a new one, which would generate a conflict. I sent Intense Debate an email asking how it would work since I couldn’t find anything in their FAQ or support pages.

Wish me luck!

References[+]

References
↑1	This means you still have access to all the “private” stuff I post from time to time. heehee

Game On

I am so looking forward to this game. The first one didn’t get much press but it was a very fun game. If you’re a nerdy console gamer like me that enjoys a game that’s fun to play, this is a good one to have. In the first one, the story isn’t overly complex but it gives you a decent history as it unfolds. It had a few bugs in that it was too dark on some scenes and the monologues were boring as hell and couldn’t be skipped. But the game play was fun. If you’re like me and you enjoy FPS ^[1]first person shooter games w/more than just army nonsense, then this one is worth checking out. Well the first one was. I haven’t played part 2 yet but it’s been getting good reviews.

Like blogging, I come and go on gaming. Free time tends to be limited these days so just finding time to get lost in a game is challenging enough. lol I gauge a games worth on how many times I play thru it end to end. If I play it once and put it down, then it might have been ok but not phenomenal. If I’m willing to play thru it on increasing difficulty modes or just like replaying over and over, then it’s a keeper.

Anyway, I’ve always been a fan of scifi/horror/fantasy games. I know everyone else is big on war and sports games but I need more than speed or just different scenes to shoot opponents. I like a game with good visual layouts, music that fits the game play, and ease of use. The latter can be harder than you think. Every game developer seems to wanna ‘reinvent’ the game world which can often start with large expectations and small outcomes. You also have to have a feel for the game developer. Some companies turn out crap over and over until they find a hit. Some actually spend a lot of effort really focusing on how gamers play the game. The later often turn out to be big hits. I’m a huge fan of the Gears of War franchise. The third one seemed a little rushed but it was still good. The God of War games were awesome too. Both had great game fly, difficulty but not too difficult, and wonderful visual/audio scenes. I wish they’d come out with another Ratchet & Clank game. It was one of my all time favorite games. lol I played each one over and over and over.

Anyway, rather than wasting money I don’t have on buying all these, I use gamefly.com. It’s like Netflix for video games. I can play a game as long as I like and send it back when I’m done or I can buy it at a reduced rate. I used to buy 5-8 games a year and that shit adds up. Now I play twice that many and only buy the ones I really like.

For you nerds, I’ve got Infamous 2, Darkness II, and Portal 2 all up next in queue. My username/gamertag for Xbox 360 and PS3 is the same as my twitter handle.

References[+]

References
↑1	first person shooter

Banned

Someone got banned by my spam blocker today. lol Apparently, his IP address was being used to hammer my admin account in an attempt to crack my blog. tsk, tsk! heehee I’ve removed the ban as I know it wasn’t him but I’m tickled it was his IP address. ^[1]A prime example of why you should never use your default admin account in WordPress.

As a reminder, if you find you can’t access le blog, email me and I’ll look into it. A good first-step is to try to access it from a different location or internet connection. Spammers often hijack open wifi points and/or unsuspecting users and use their computers to do all their dirty work. I see it time and time again sadly. While few sites are truly hack-proof, a few precautions go along way to keep out the bad guys.

Don’t randomly open links/files in emails that you weren’t expecting, even if it is from someone you know. If you use Chrome, they do a good job of blocking malware sites but it’s never 100% foolproof.

Don’t fall for “your account as been locked or suspended, here click on this link and verify your info…” scams. You can do like I do and manually type the link into your location field of your browser of choice. That way you know you aren’t being spoofed.

On a follow up to that, most email clients allow hover functions. Meaning if you hover the mouse over a link it shows a tiny pop up window that displays the actual link. If it is different, in any way from the one displayed, don’t click it.

When you aren’t using your computer/laptop, shut it down . The old adage about ruining your pc by turning it off/on too much is really nonsense. You’d have to do this a 100 times more than the average user to really cause a problem.

At the end of the day, do like my Maw-maw always said, “believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see.” In other words, if it sounds suspicious don’t just click it like an idiot. lolol

Oh, and welcome back Brett.

References[+]

References
↑1	A prime example of why you should never use your default admin account in WordPress.

Big Load

You were so thinking something dirty weren’t you? lol

Am I the only one that has become desensitized to FB and twitter? It just seems to be so much random info that I have begun tuning it all out. FB drives me absolutely nuts. The new layout is horrific and not at all user friendly. Not to mention, they sprung new ‘groups’ on my friend lists which annoyed the holy hell out of me. And on top of that, I got a lovely message from FB last week telling me they are phasing out RSS feed support. That means no more posts from my blog showing up on FB. I can still manually cross post them of course but that defeats the purpose. I’m not sure who is in charge at FB but from my perspective they are putting nail after nail in their own coffin. I’ve completely stopped adding new people on FB unless it’s someone I actually know. And it’s fine that they are phasing out support. I can share once from Google+ and bounce it out to twitter and FB at the same time so take that bitches.

I think I spend more of my time on Google+ these days primarily because the streams are more about data vs crap. People share funny, cutesy stuff galore but I’m also finding tons of news links as well. And the sharing just seems more intuitive to me. I’m also being careful on how many folks I follow or circle. I’m trying really hard to avoid info overload again. Its actually been quite nice logging on and only having to sift thru 10-20 updates compared to 100’s.

As an early-adopter I’m not at all dismayed by the current small amount of updates. This will change once Google starts releasing more API’s for developers to integrate with Google. Its a double-edged sword but it really does seem as if Google is moving into Plus being centric to the entire Google experience. The changes across their many services already indicate a gradual shift to total integration, which I love! Even better, managing, using, and updating is so much easier and nicer than FB. twitter still gets props for being the easiest site to update but its a one-trick pony and Google has a whole stable.

Heavy Roller

Well, my listing today on Amazon and I have ten, yes count them, 10 whole subscribers! lolol I didn’t really expect anything major mind you. 🙂

I also discovered changing the RSS feed being pushed to Amazon is very VERY easy. I was a tad worried how I could mantain control over certain types of content that isn’t necessarily for public consumption. *snicker* You very long time readers know what I mean.

I also have a lot of random drivel that I don’t share. One of the ways I keep myself blogging is I try to log on at least once a day (or so) to post my meanderings, basically “dear diary” sort of stuff. While completely boring and mundane, it keeps me talking not only to myself but to you. I didn’t want all that cluttering up everyone’s stream.

Annnnyway…. I just tweak the feed link on my dashboard for Amazon and hit publish. I can custom string basically any category that I want. *whew* So far it has handled pretty much everything I’ve thrown at it. I added categories, hid categories, etc and it worked. Most excellent.

I’m also trying to expand my list of blogs I read again. It’s been so long since I’ve followed anyone new, I really need to start blog hopping again. I really miss having personal blogs to follow and keep up with. I’m down to about 10 and that’s fewere than my first month all those years ago.

On a side note, I’ve been checking my site analytics and after filtering out FB, Google, and twitter, Large Tony is still the number one referal to my blog. And ironically enough, brettcajun was a distant second. I guess I should pop over and thank them for having such loyal blog jumpers. hehehe And speaking of Brett, he is ever the attention whore of the blog world. 🙂 It seems he and Jimbo are having a war to see who can flame the other the most.

References[+]

References
↑1	or not
↑2	jumping from blogroll to blogroll exploring friends of friends of friends, so to speak

Know Thyself

People really crack me up sometimes. They say perception is 9/10’s reality but there are also times when you need to use your head for something besides a hat rack. I just had a rather odd email conversation with a distant Facebook friend who was pissed at me for not knowing what was going on with him. Apparently, he’s been going thru some drama and updating FB with it. It was somehow my fault for not knowing. I saw him online, sent a polite message, and proceeded to get attitude because I was being jovial. Excuse the hell out of me!

On a similar rant, a while back I had another FB friend (who found me thru twitter) get pissy with me because I didn’t want to have cyber sex with him over cam. I first politely explained it wasn’t my thing even if I thought he was attractive. Sex over cam is so 90’s and boring to me. I realize it may be fun for some but that doesn’t mean everyone is into it. Finally after like the 4th or 5th push to show my junk, I got rather direct and let him know it was never going to happen. He has since unfriended me, to my delight.

So yes, all these sites can be wonderful mechanisms for communication. But lets face it, none of us only friend people we actually know in real life. Hell some folks have thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of friends on these sites. It is unrealistic to think every one of your “friends” keeps up with your every update. Frankly, it borders on impossible for anyone who has a life offline. For myself, I’m not so foolish to think everyone on my list knows everything I post. Most of what I post on FB and such is absolute drivel anyway. lol That’s when I’m even on. Most of my updates on FB come from my Google+ account (or twitter).

Yes, I have some nice friends online whom I’ve never met. I have some I’d love to meet someday as well. That still doesn’t mean I’m all up in their grill 24/7. If I’m a real friend to you or vice versa, then I’ll take the time to talk, text, email, or see you. in person. In person isn’t always possible but a friendship is only as good as the effort you put into it, not what you get out of it. And posting online is not what I would call effort.

The sex thing is funny. But again, don’t get all twisted because not everyone is into the same thing. I clearly have no problem with sex and/or hookups. That doesn’t mean every profile I have online is filled with a insatiable desire to get laid. Even still, if I politely decline 2 even 3 times, take the hint.

At the end of the day, just use your brain people. Don’t get pissy because some random stranger doesn’t know you’re having a bad day/week. Be happy someone actually took the time to reach out to you in the first place.

/ rant