Performancing Metrics

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

LCD Scandal "Resolved"

So, somehow I missed the boat on this one, but apparently there have been accusations slung around that the major manufacturers of LCD screens, on everything from cell phones to televisions, have been colluding for years to artificially drive up the cost of LCD screens in a bid to make themselves more money without actually having to work.

I found this out today as I overheard a radio broadcast suggesting to listeners to check into a settlement that may get them a partial refund on their LCD-screened product, so I decided to look into it.

So, as the story goes, in and around 1999 at least seven major LCD producing companies banded together to form an alliance to insure that they could control the price of LCD screens and charge as much as they liked (here, here, and here).  They referred to the near 60 meetings as the "Crystal Meetings" (here).  This sounds way too ridiculously spy-movie for my comfort, almost enough to make one paranoid.

In 2006, they either disbanded or got caught, I'm not sure which, the details about everything get fuzzy around here, but by 2008, there were complaints being lodged in US courts (here).

Overall, this really makes me nervous as a consumer.  I'm not really complaining that much over the price gouging, thats something that corporations are notorious for.  I'm worried over the fact that so many of the players in the industry were involved.  There were seven who settled, but there are many more that haven't, and are fighting against the system.  Things like this are definitely causes to the global recession, and we can't have any more of this.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Search Reality

Just thought I'd share some of the humor I see in analytics numbers for all of you tech geeks out there interested in the business side of things.  This graph, taken from the analytics of our own website, I feel accurately reflect how search really works online:

I mean, do you really use Bing or Yahoo?  I know I haven't been on either of those sites for months, at least.  I mean, hell, Linux use has a larger piece of the pie.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Welcome Back!

Welcome back one and all.  Did you have a merry Christmas?  Good.  And have a happy New Year, too.

But on that note, I'd like to let you Digital Fruit Fans in on a little secret:  Digital Fruit celebrates the twelve days of Christmas, so we will be continuing on with our holiday celebrations and retail sales until the sixth of January.

So Merry second day of Christmas, and have another cup of eggnog, this is going to be a long one.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Happy Holidays

Just taking a couple of minutes to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Ah, USB Experiments

So, I being the geek I am, picked up a USB experiment interface, and have been enjoying the process of putting it together.  Its one of those kits you pick up at Radio Shack, and put together on your own.  A very high tech hobby kit, like the old computers used to be.

Anyways, I've finished assembling the thing, and I got to try it out on my computer the other day.  It works wonderfully.  Every part of the card works exactly as it should, so I know I at least have decent skills when it comes to soldering parts together.

But now comes the really fun part.  Now that I'm done with test the card with demo programs provided with its SDK, I get to write my own software to utilize this thing and its inputs and outputs.  A whole world of possibilities awaits, all at my disposal.  Guess I better get busy then.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Klout

I found out about a new service the other day that I'm still not sure about.  Just like FourSquare and its potential for violating privacy, Klout.com has a potential to really piss people off.

The idea of Klout.com is that everyone has clout within their community, and this should be recognized with in the online community as well.  They give you a score between 0 and 100, and award you with little things as you accomplish goals.

Honestly, its all starting to sound a little formulaic to me.  Its the same concept as Four Square, just on line.  Log in and make sure everyone knows you're the resident expert at what you talk about.

I'm giving the service a try, but if in a couple of months, I don't get some positive feedback for my actions, I'm probably deleting my profile(which you have to do even if you haven't signed up and don't want Klout to give you a score).  So, I'll be back in a couple of months to review, and that will be that.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Did You Forget Chrome OS?

I remember last year how big a deal everyone and everything seemed to be making over Chrome OS.  They were talking about how it would revolutionize the way we compute, and that we would all love and embrace it immediately.  Now I know that hindsight is twenty-twenty, but this is just laughable.

I thought the whole idea was terrible from the start.  An OS that can't do anything unless you're online?  There are so many things that can go horribly wrong with that idea.  And yes, I am aware that there are off-line options for some Chrome OS apps.

But the thing that made me laugh the most on this most forgotten "world changing OS" is that there were plenty of people that were saying Android(and here, and here) was only a temporary stop for Google, and they were only using it to get people over to Chrome OS.  Yeah, that worked out well.

With the user base of Android sitting nice and pretty, and the user base for Chrome OS nonexistent, I'm pretty sure that Chrome OS was a failed revolution.  Honestly, I've heard no news on this system in almost six months.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Next LAN Party

Okay Digital Fruit fans, our next LAN Party event is the 15 of December.  Its this up-coming Thursday, so make sure to mark it on your calender.  The game of choice will be Lord of the Rings Online.  Its a 7.2 GB download though, with a two hour intro for new characters, so you might want to start this one early.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Um, Confused

I'd like to say that my confusion was actually short lived, and this story really just made me smile.  I order something off of New Egg on Black Friday, and they package arrived yesterday.  I opened the box, found a sea of packing peanuts, plunged my hand in to find my prize, and pulled out this:





Ridiculous but true, I received a single package of coffee with my Black Friday splurge.  Do you think they were trying to keep me awake?  Cause I really don't want to offend them, but I don't drink coffee, I get my caffeine cold from a can of Coca Cola.

A Sad Sad List

Because this is becoming too much of a problem, I'm listing here a bunch of programs that have been broken by the lax interface compatibility of the Unity desktop environment.  I'll also be listing if they work properly in Gnome 3, so if you prefer to stick with certain programs, you'll know if you have a second option.

Well, here's the list:
  • IBM Lotus Symphony - Works in Gnome 3
  • Vuze

Aluminum Drive update 2

So, just a quick mobile post, after yesterday's recycle round-up, we've saved up $50.91 towards electric generating equipment.  Thank you one and all for your help with this project so far.  We've got about one fourth of our goal for the year, so we hope that you keep going strong with your aluminum donations.  I'd like to take the time today to ask you to think of anyone you know, just one person, that may want to particapate in the