Performancing Metrics

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Problems with Perfection

     I've just been reading a blog posting talking about how the top computer systems, Google, Windows, Facebook, and the iPhone, are too big to topple.  I'm not for or against any of these technologies(with the exception being Facebook, because of its general lack of concern for its customers, and in my opinion, its worthless point in existing), but there is one problem with perfection: Price.
     The writer of the blog post makes a comment at the end relating all of these technologies to sliced bread, saying that if something isn't broke, don't fix it.  But the problem stemming from that is that people aren't willing to pay for it either.  Once someone has gotten their hands on something that is perfect, they will never need another one, or if they do, they will feel cheated for having to pay as much as they did originally.  That's the problem Microsoft faced with XP, no one really wanted a change, and many still don't.  So the only way to get  people away from that system and get them to start paying for things again was to simple quit making innovations to it.
     So, with a need for imperfection essential to the business model of all the major companies, I would beg to differ on the idea that, like sliced bread, the major technologies of our time won't be toppled.  Some one is eventually going to be bold or stupid enough to knowingly create something better, that won't need constant repair and replacement, and they will put it at a price point that will have it flying off the shelf. (Or in the case of Google and Facebook, redirect all of their traffic.)
     Human beings naturally seek to become better, its how we've gotten to where we are.  So with that mindset, these giants will either need to put themselves out of business, or one day they will have to graciously accept defeat from a superior product, which will then in turn be replaced thereafter by something else, until we somehow reach a point at which there can be no improvement.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Quick Blurb 1

     Just a quick blurb:  Both the Digital Fruit website and the Split-Shot Charters Website will be overhauled in the upcoming days.  This may cause some erratic behavior out of these two sites.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Launch At Last (Well, Sort of)

     Well, I've learned a valuable business lesson, don't get your hopes to high.  I really had planned to have the whole Digital Fruit site up and running when I announced that it was officially on-line, but I'm going to have to settle for just the joy of telling everyone that something is up and running on the web.  So, for now, I'm letting everyone know that good things are coming to those who wait, and I'm really hoping to dazzle everyone.
     One of the things that I have in store is streaming video.  Something akin to hulu.com, but not quite so amazing and all encompassing.  What I hope to make out of this Digital Fruit TV is a place to showcase all of the animated work I hope to complete, both with computer graphics, and with traditional ink and pen.  I also hope to make this part of the site a place where budding new filmographers will be able to post their work to showcase to the community, so expect a local section in the future(I still have to figure out the logistics of how to work such a service).  I will say, though, that this will not be something like YouTube.  Any work submitted will be viewed by a committee assigned by Digital Fruit and evaluated for content and quality.  This section is to showcase the best of local talent.  It is not to be a garbage dump for all of the goofy things people like to do with(or without) their friends.
    And the last bit that I'm hoping to showcase, though it seems a long way off still, is the video game my wife and I have been working on for some time.  Things with that are developing, but not at a pace that I'm happy with, so this will probably be addressed in late blog posts, and I'll get some reader feed back about what to do about this problem.
     That's about all that I have to say for tonight, and I hope you readers will log back in soon to get the rest of the scoop about the Digital Fruit website and how things are progressing with it.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Senior Options

     Another quick idea for company development and business decisions.  I've been considering, at least temporarily instating a senior's referral program, where seniors that are retired and on social security will be able to gain vouchers for referring other customers.  These vouchers would make them eligible for a free tech service.
     How they would get these vouchers would be to apply for the program either in-store or on line, then when a customer would come in and say that so-and-so had referred them, they would be put on the mailing list for one of the vouchers.
     So, what does everyone think?  I'll be waiting for comments on this one before I really make a decision.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Thought on Safe Browsing

     I just had a thought about safe browsing habits, and something that might help keep things a little less crap filled these days.  What if there were law requiring anything of adult nature to be transmitted over a dedicated "adult content" port, something like HTTPS, and that any site not found to be in compliance with this would be shut down.
     This would allow for firewall applications to be able to block specifically adult content, which in turn may be able to stem some of the flood of spam and crapware that are flooding the net.  Also, it would help to keep things like child pornography down to a minimum, because any registered porn site would be transmitting it over the designated port, making it easier to track down information being sent down the incorrect port,  which would help to massively scaled down the work of law enforcement in trying to track these things.
     Also, it wouldn't require much change to initiate, just some fine tuning of servers, and it would be done, voila!
     I realize this musing is somewhat naive and possibly impossible, but it makes me wonder.
     I would like to hear my customers' and friends' feedback on this idea, so feel free to comment.

Project Natal Renamed to Spark Energy

     With the announcement that Microsoft's Project Natal controller system has been renamed the Kinect, and will go on sale in November of this year(the fourth to be precise), all I can say is that it stinks of been-there-done-that.
     And I don't just mean the whole motion control aspect of it either.  The whole marketing campaign, the technology used to achieve this project, and the hype they are trying to throw in about how much this will revolutionize gaming.  Nintendo and Sony have all done this before, and the XBox 360 is so late in the game to get around to it, and at such a higher price point, that I can only see it failing.  I mean, come on, renaming the project publicly just prior to its release?  Nintendo did that when they changed the name of the revolution to the Wii.  It wasn't because they thought that Wii was a better name, but because they knew it would bring a lot more hype to the a system that game developers were starting to lose interest in.  While it seems that developers really have been losing interest in Project Natal, the sort of naming trick Nintendo used usually works a single time.
     As to the technology; all it is is a web cam, that's all.  What should be touted as the impressive part is the motion sensing software, but from what I've been able to read about on the web, even that didn't make a great showing at E3.  Here is where the problem is with motion control being tied to a camera come in; the camera has to be able to see you!  Now I know I'm going to hear complaints about how the sensor bar in the Wii has to see you too, but that is a fallacy.  Only one aspect of the Wii remote is based on the sensor bar, and that is the screen pointer.  And none of Sony's PS3 motion aspects are attributed to a sensor of any sort.  Heck, with both these systems, thanks to wireless technologies like Bluetooth, most of the controller functions can be performed from behind the TV if you wanted too.  So in that respect, I see a major failing.
     And the one thing I can not ignore is Microsoft's track record with hardware.  Zune anyone?  And when was the last time you purchased a decent keyboard or mouse from Microsoft?  What about joysticks?  If any of you can relate with me, these are all places where Microsoft tried to move their way in and failed.  They suck at hardware.  So why would this be any different.  Even the Xbox 360 is an example of Microsoft's failure with hardware.  When was the last time you heard of a game company that had to shell out 1 billion dollars for an extension to the hardware warranty on a console they built?  I have never heard of one.
     So, as it stands, I put my personal mark on this Kinect as something that will fail to generate force for Microsoft's dieing entertainment division.  Farewell to Microsoft in the home as a multimedia staple.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Unregistered Bug with Microsoft Security Essentials

      Any of you out there in internet land suffering from audio card problems after installing Microsoft© Security Essentials?  Well, Digital Fruit may have found the cause.
     If you are running Windows XP, and have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card, there seems to be a problem with Microsoft© Security Essentials re-writing XP system files to Vista/7 versions.  This stems from the development cycle that Essentials took.  Rather than developing it with XP in mind first, then porting to Vista and 7,  Microsoft developed for Vista and 7 first.  This created dependencies with Essentials that relied on Vista code that XP doesn't have.  The X-Fi driver then tries to access the original XP file, now replaced with one from Vista, and the sound card doesn't know where the code it needs is stored, hence the errors.
     Now that we have an explanation, lets get to the diagnosis; an error containing the text "point_except_handler4_common could not be located" should pop up first.  Once you press the okay button, a new error box with a reference to P17RunE.dll should pop up.  In the worst case scenario, your computer will just bsod with an stop message to sysaudio.dll.
     And now the fix!  You'll need to have a registry search program that can find entries in the windows registry and access them(or at least point you to where they are).  You search for any registry entries containing P17RunE.dll, and delete them from the registry.  With any luck, this should fix the problem and not completely destroy your computer.  (WARNING!  As with any time you make a change to the registry, back up your registry first and keep a boot disc with registry repair options on hand.)  After this, you'll need to re-install the Sound Blaster Drivers from the CD(This step may need to be done first on systems that are getting the BSOD).
     So, I hope this helps anybody out there that has been having problems with a new installation of Microsoft© Security Essentials.  As of the time I've posted this, I haven't been able to find an article online covering a fix for this specific problem, but there are several how-tos about how to fix similar problems with Sound Blaster X-Fi cards.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Things Waiting in the Wind

     Well, things are finally coming together, and we are gearing up to build something big for Digital Fruit.  I don't want to give too much away, but we will be moving the majority of company operations to a new website, though this blog will remain where I come to make announcements and talk business with the customers.  But I just thought I would log in and help build up the anticipation for everyone.  Look forward to this next Thursday, 6-17-2010.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

2010 Numbers Are In

     After much work and anticipation, the Digital Fruit 2010 Cell Phone Survey has been completed.  I'll list the results here (the results are out of 324 active cellphone units):
  1. Verizon with 186 units, taking 57.4% of the total market share in Gray's Harbor.
  2. AT&T with 53 units, taking 16.4%.
  3. Sprint/Nextel with 32 units, taking 9.9%.
  4. TMobil with 27 units, taking 8.3%.
  5. US Cellular with 14 units, taking 4.3%.
  6. Virgin Mobile with 5 units, taking 1.5%.
  7. TracFone with 3 units, taking .9%
  8. Newcomer Consumer Cell with 2 units, taking .6%.
  9. Boost mobile with 1 unit, taking .3%.  Tying with...
  10. Newcomer Straight Talk. 1 unit, .3%.
     And that is the truth of it.  This being the third year that this information has been compiled, we here at digital fruit have noticed a 10% slide away from Verizon, and it leads this blogger to wonder, where did they all go?  When ten percent of the total market share slips away from a single company, you have to wonder why and where it went.  I plan to investigate into this matter with some interview and questions about what the cell phone market in Aberdeen looks like.  So if any of you run into me on the street, be ware! I might just be coming to question you...

6/23/2010 P.S.  If anyone would like to view numbers from before Digital Fruit was officially founded, I do have those on record.  If you would like to view them, send your request in an e-mail to sehamon@gmail.com

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Safty is a Priority

     Just thought I would drop a note in here about how safety is a priority within Digital Fruit.  Not just safety in terms of human life and well being, but the safety of the information and equipment of customers and staff as well (the staff being something of a goal for the future, seeing as we have no other staff than my wife and I).  So today I made a purchase that was something sudden but not rash.  I picked up some 120VAC varistors.
     How this ties into safety is simple.  As Digital Fruit moves more into the realm of power production, securities are going to need to be made about how to control and manipulate the power we generate.  Varistors will help to prevent spikes in the electrical systems by leveling them out and redistributing the energy a spike would waste.  This will help us to be more energy efficient and to keep things safe, as fewer spikes mean less damage to people, property, and data.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Qwest to Bring in OC 192 Connection

     From two different Qwest employees I have now learned that Aberdeen will be getting an OC 192 connection channeled into town, with an upgrade to an OC 48 going out to Ocean Shores.  This kind of upgrade to our communities fiber optic bandwidth means that high internet connections speeds for customers will be trickling down the line.  This should please a lot of the Qwest customers, and may even benefit customers of other providers as well.  I'll update as more information becomes available.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

New Site for Mobile Bliss

    From the company that redefined the way retail works a new website has been launched for all of you mobiphiles out there.  Amazon.com has started a new site called Amazon Wireless, where you can shop and select the latest and greatest of the mobile device the tech world has to offer, from all of the major carriers.
     Though I have yet to purchase a cell phone from said site, I have taken a look around, and I don't think anyone has developed a single location as comprehensive as this.  Its nice to have it all there at once.
     One of the nicest features is right on the main page.  A list of the top 10 selling phones on Amazon is shown, with the ability to flip through the list and actually see what the phones look like right there on the screen.
     So, if you are in the market for a new phone, why not head on over take a look?  Here's your ticket: