(Panasonic DMC-TZ40)
Looks like somewhere out of a design magazine. So does everywhere in the Netherlands.
Monday 27 July 2020
Thursday 23 July 2020
My Western Digital Network Drive Has The Green Flashing Light of Death!
Western Digital My Book Live drives can get the flashing green light of death. They boot up, start talking to themselves and don't stop, locked in an endless read-write loop. Heaven knows what they are reading and writing, but that's what they are doing. Hold the device and feel the disk rumbling away to itself. A reset does not help. The drive becomes invisible to the outside IP world, so I assume it's failing to load some of its software. Good thing I did a backup of it in March. It was pretty darn old: I must have bought it in 2013 or so. (You do not know how long I just spent with my Calendar app trying to work that out.)
The My Book Live was a 2TB network drive: it had ethernet connectivity. Its main use was to hold my iTunes files so I could stream on my other iDevices, and load up my iPhone with music now and again.
They don't make ethernet drives like that anymore. Now the choice is between USB3 portable drives, USB3 desktop drives, and NAS units. Or Cloud storage.
Cloud services reserve the right to scan your content for copyright infringement and other naughties, and delete at will. Not that I have any content like that, but there is no appeal to Apple, so why take a chance? As well as that, I would be at the mercy of Talk-Talk. It so much as rains for twenty minutes and my alleged high-speed broadband drops to half-pace, putting them in breach of contract. I can live with the 20 / 7 Mbps that results, and it does seem to sort itself out after a few days. On the other hand, HDD's have mechanical failures and I bet NAS's get OS problems as well.
Nevertheless, it's worth having the costs.
5GB free at iCloud 2TB at £6.99
iCloud = £83.88 / year
2TB external HDD approx £70 = 10 months of iCloud
4TB Synology DS218Play £400 (2TB storage with Raid 1) = 57 months of iCloud = 5.5 external drives
2TB external SSD approx £320 = 4xHDD or 46 months iCloud
1TB external SSD approx £150 = 2xHDD or 21 months iCloud
512GB on Air £200
2TB on Air £800
(Note that Apple internal SSD storage is more than twice the price of external SSD storage.)
We text-people don't need lots of storage. It's photographers, video-makers and serious musicians who need serious storage, fast graphics cards and 8-core processors. If I was one of those, I would already have a NAS. Not all NAS are made by Synology, but it's the only name you hear in consumers circles. I could in theory get away with 500GB of storage: my music is around 120GB, my photos including Photos Library are about 15GB, and Calibre back-up is about 5GB.
Of course, using drives to share music is just so 2014. So audiophile. I mean, do I even Roon? https://roonlabs.com I dream about Roon-ing. Not so much having a subscription, but leading a life that would make Roon necessary. If you dropped a lifetime subscription in my lap, I would thank you very much. But I just can't justify it.
I listen to music on CDs. I watch movies and foreign cop shows on DVD. I stream music from Spotify, and I have been hitting the Above and Beyond live concerts on You Tube recently. I stream movies from MUBI and Curzon Home Cinema via my Apple TV. I have no desire to download anything.
If I want to stream music in other rooms, I can. It's called Spotify + Sonos. Spotify has all the music I do and a bit more. Without that I would have needed a NAS.
Which is cross-product substitution for you. £400 of Synology is 40 months of Spotify. This is a no-brainer of a decision. Unless you think you can tell the difference between a 320kps stream and a 4Mps uncompressed stream.
A NAS can provide back-up especially if it's RAID 1 or above, but one should still backup the NAS now and again, and that means portable drives. Which I have already.
So this is what I did. I re-set my Music directory to my Air and imported the files from the last backup. That leaves me with 60GB spare after clean-up, which is enough. Then I copied all my content directories onto a portable drive. After that fiddling around, I decided to find a proper backup / sync program, and found FreeFileSync. It's pretty easy to work out how to use it. I trialled it, it worked nicely, so I gave them a donation. It's now a whole lot easier to do backups.
Let's face it, I barely used the My Book Live. So replacing it with a more expensive NAS would be silly. Next time around I will spend money on additional storage in my iDevices instead.
The My Book Live was a 2TB network drive: it had ethernet connectivity. Its main use was to hold my iTunes files so I could stream on my other iDevices, and load up my iPhone with music now and again.
They don't make ethernet drives like that anymore. Now the choice is between USB3 portable drives, USB3 desktop drives, and NAS units. Or Cloud storage.
Cloud services reserve the right to scan your content for copyright infringement and other naughties, and delete at will. Not that I have any content like that, but there is no appeal to Apple, so why take a chance? As well as that, I would be at the mercy of Talk-Talk. It so much as rains for twenty minutes and my alleged high-speed broadband drops to half-pace, putting them in breach of contract. I can live with the 20 / 7 Mbps that results, and it does seem to sort itself out after a few days. On the other hand, HDD's have mechanical failures and I bet NAS's get OS problems as well.
Nevertheless, it's worth having the costs.
5GB free at iCloud 2TB at £6.99
iCloud = £83.88 / year
2TB external HDD approx £70 = 10 months of iCloud
4TB Synology DS218Play £400 (2TB storage with Raid 1) = 57 months of iCloud = 5.5 external drives
2TB external SSD approx £320 = 4xHDD or 46 months iCloud
1TB external SSD approx £150 = 2xHDD or 21 months iCloud
512GB on Air £200
2TB on Air £800
(Note that Apple internal SSD storage is more than twice the price of external SSD storage.)
We text-people don't need lots of storage. It's photographers, video-makers and serious musicians who need serious storage, fast graphics cards and 8-core processors. If I was one of those, I would already have a NAS. Not all NAS are made by Synology, but it's the only name you hear in consumers circles. I could in theory get away with 500GB of storage: my music is around 120GB, my photos including Photos Library are about 15GB, and Calibre back-up is about 5GB.
Of course, using drives to share music is just so 2014. So audiophile. I mean, do I even Roon? https://roonlabs.com I dream about Roon-ing. Not so much having a subscription, but leading a life that would make Roon necessary. If you dropped a lifetime subscription in my lap, I would thank you very much. But I just can't justify it.
I listen to music on CDs. I watch movies and foreign cop shows on DVD. I stream music from Spotify, and I have been hitting the Above and Beyond live concerts on You Tube recently. I stream movies from MUBI and Curzon Home Cinema via my Apple TV. I have no desire to download anything.
If I want to stream music in other rooms, I can. It's called Spotify + Sonos. Spotify has all the music I do and a bit more. Without that I would have needed a NAS.
Which is cross-product substitution for you. £400 of Synology is 40 months of Spotify. This is a no-brainer of a decision. Unless you think you can tell the difference between a 320kps stream and a 4Mps uncompressed stream.
A NAS can provide back-up especially if it's RAID 1 or above, but one should still backup the NAS now and again, and that means portable drives. Which I have already.
So this is what I did. I re-set my Music directory to my Air and imported the files from the last backup. That leaves me with 60GB spare after clean-up, which is enough. Then I copied all my content directories onto a portable drive. After that fiddling around, I decided to find a proper backup / sync program, and found FreeFileSync. It's pretty easy to work out how to use it. I trialled it, it worked nicely, so I gave them a donation. It's now a whole lot easier to do backups.
Let's face it, I barely used the My Book Live. So replacing it with a more expensive NAS would be silly. Next time around I will spend money on additional storage in my iDevices instead.
Monday 20 July 2020
Photographs I'm Printing (15)
(Olympus OM-10, Kodak black and white - scanned on Canon MG7570)
Standard operating procedure for young men with degrees and careers in the 1970's was to live in a number of different flats across London, before moving into the first purchase at age around late-20's. This was one of them, in South Wimbledon.
Thursday 16 July 2020
Hold The Economy Hostage!
We're nearly there. They think they've got us where they want us, but actually, we've got them where we want them.
The Government is getting desperate to have us back at work and spending money as the summer goes by. On its terms. With masks and one or two metre distancing and staggered working hours and all that jazz. Will we please take part in the economy but on their terms?
No. We will not.
The British people don't care about the economy because the economy stopped caring about them a couple of decades ago. They will give the politicians the economy when the politicians stop threatening them with the Virus, and until then, they will stay home, save money, and let the railways, the buses, the theatres, cinemas, restaurants and all those useless shops, bleed cash unto closure. Because most of the British public never did go to the theatre, or the ballet, or eat in a Michelin-Star restaurant, they hate commuting, and they have realised how much useless junk they have been buying.
It's not only the individuals. The corporations with big offices are not going to spend millions pounds on moving the furniture when the lifts and the Covid Security won't let them get the people in and out in time. So the city centres and business parks will stay closed for a long time.
The shops need our business more than they need us to wear a mask. Tell them you don't have a mask, but do they still want your money? If they turn us away once, they risk it being forever, as we find what we want online. Covid Secure is not the experience we want: we will not go into the restaurants and pubs: some people will, but not enough to make it worthwhile unlocking the doors. Wait for the first retailers to announce they are closing again until customers can come back without restrictions.
Profit margins are so slim, cash flows are so weak, that even having a fifteen per cent drop in turnover means it is not worth staying open. Even if we participate back three days out of five, which might suit a lot of people, the economy will bleed to death. The Government does not understand that yet.
Hold the economy hostage! Do not go back until they sound the All Clear, and we can huddle and muddle together like we are supposed to.
The Government is getting desperate to have us back at work and spending money as the summer goes by. On its terms. With masks and one or two metre distancing and staggered working hours and all that jazz. Will we please take part in the economy but on their terms?
No. We will not.
The British people don't care about the economy because the economy stopped caring about them a couple of decades ago. They will give the politicians the economy when the politicians stop threatening them with the Virus, and until then, they will stay home, save money, and let the railways, the buses, the theatres, cinemas, restaurants and all those useless shops, bleed cash unto closure. Because most of the British public never did go to the theatre, or the ballet, or eat in a Michelin-Star restaurant, they hate commuting, and they have realised how much useless junk they have been buying.
It's not only the individuals. The corporations with big offices are not going to spend millions pounds on moving the furniture when the lifts and the Covid Security won't let them get the people in and out in time. So the city centres and business parks will stay closed for a long time.
The shops need our business more than they need us to wear a mask. Tell them you don't have a mask, but do they still want your money? If they turn us away once, they risk it being forever, as we find what we want online. Covid Secure is not the experience we want: we will not go into the restaurants and pubs: some people will, but not enough to make it worthwhile unlocking the doors. Wait for the first retailers to announce they are closing again until customers can come back without restrictions.
Profit margins are so slim, cash flows are so weak, that even having a fifteen per cent drop in turnover means it is not worth staying open. Even if we participate back three days out of five, which might suit a lot of people, the economy will bleed to death. The Government does not understand that yet.
Hold the economy hostage! Do not go back until they sound the All Clear, and we can huddle and muddle together like we are supposed to.
Monday 13 July 2020
Photographs I'm Printing (14)
(Olympus OM-10 Kodak film - scanned on Canon MG7570)
This one goes right back to the late 1970's - the house of a university friend I would visit now and again. Then time and stuff happened and we drifted out of touch.
Thursday 9 July 2020
Mac OS Big Sur - Stop Futzing Already
I have seen at least three You Tube reviews of macOS Big Sur. Which is supposed to be an operating system. 85 new features later, nothing about the operating system. Emojis, searching in messages, some pointless new options in Music, face recognition in the Home App, and a bunch of other stuff in the Apps.
What about changes to the actual operating system? Does it use less RAM than Catalina? Does it load apps faster? How about the firewall? Improvements to the music playing software? Does it sandbox like iOS does? Any new features I might like to know about as a developer?
When the **** is Apple going to give us proper window management, because Windows still does that better than anyone. When are they going to detect all the hard drives and other equipment on my network, and re-connect to them, like Windows does, even if the devices aren't in Apple's ecosystem? And WHEN will they get the album art in Music sorted out? It works if I have all my files on my Air, but on the NAS? Half the images would go missing and the loading time was awful. My Sonos and File Manager apps on the iPod Touch did a better job. And please can we have the same wonderfully functional File Open / Save dialogs that Windows does so much better.
I get the feeling that Apple do a lot of hard-core OS-stuff to improve performance. They should crow about it some more. But maybe they don't, because they can fix it on the chip, in a way that Microsoft can't.
It may also be the reviewers, who assume their audience want to know about the awful battery icon more than the way Apple have (maybe) improved battery life by doing something with the battery management algorithm. I'd rather know about the algorithms. I can see the awful design for myself.
What makes a computer operating system is flawless multi-tasking, powerful peripheral management, and simple multi-user management. If I can't run Nora En Pure on my browser on one screen, while typing in Evernote and downloading some Amazon music, while rendering a movie clip, then it's not a real computer. So I would expect to hear about improvements to those things as well.
But OMG the desktop art on Big Sur! I suspect it's going to be a while before this late adopter adopts it.
What about changes to the actual operating system? Does it use less RAM than Catalina? Does it load apps faster? How about the firewall? Improvements to the music playing software? Does it sandbox like iOS does? Any new features I might like to know about as a developer?
When the **** is Apple going to give us proper window management, because Windows still does that better than anyone. When are they going to detect all the hard drives and other equipment on my network, and re-connect to them, like Windows does, even if the devices aren't in Apple's ecosystem? And WHEN will they get the album art in Music sorted out? It works if I have all my files on my Air, but on the NAS? Half the images would go missing and the loading time was awful. My Sonos and File Manager apps on the iPod Touch did a better job. And please can we have the same wonderfully functional File Open / Save dialogs that Windows does so much better.
I get the feeling that Apple do a lot of hard-core OS-stuff to improve performance. They should crow about it some more. But maybe they don't, because they can fix it on the chip, in a way that Microsoft can't.
It may also be the reviewers, who assume their audience want to know about the awful battery icon more than the way Apple have (maybe) improved battery life by doing something with the battery management algorithm. I'd rather know about the algorithms. I can see the awful design for myself.
What makes a computer operating system is flawless multi-tasking, powerful peripheral management, and simple multi-user management. If I can't run Nora En Pure on my browser on one screen, while typing in Evernote and downloading some Amazon music, while rendering a movie clip, then it's not a real computer. So I would expect to hear about improvements to those things as well.
But OMG the desktop art on Big Sur! I suspect it's going to be a while before this late adopter adopts it.
Monday 6 July 2020
Photographs I'm Printing (13)
Olympus OM-10 Kodak colour film scanned and printed on Canon MG7550
Back in the 1990's the British telecom industry used to have an annual bash in Brighton. I went one year, and before I got stuck into whatever it was I was there for, I wandered along the pier and took some photographs. It was one of those reels where every one was a winner.
Thursday 2 July 2020
10 Virus Dodges You Should Be Doing Now
From my limited recent experience in the real world, it seems that the official communications are one thing and the reality is another. A lot of those communications about Covid Secure working are for the benefit of insurance companies and compliance managers. Reality is not far from how it was in the past. Except you can't sit down in a cafe, you have to go through the mask-farce on public transport, and perspex screens.
Anyway, here are a bunch of fun things to do as we continue to be extras in this year's hit farce Two Metres and a Mask.
1. Ask if the sanitiser has alcohol, if it does say you can't use it. Look pained and apologetic when you say this, add that you can't drink the stuff either. Works for me.
2. No volunteering for tests. There are no reliable tests for the Virus or for its antibodies. You may as well flip a coin and stay in for 14 days if it shows Heads.
3. No tracing apps. The Apple / Android tracer that was downloaded automatically recently is set to OFF by default. You're just exposing yourself to the dodgy test results other people might get.
4. Edit the contacts on your phone. Delete anyone you don't want to hear from. Only answer your phone if there's a name you recognise.
5. Set up a filter on your e-mail to junk mails containing 'Covid', 'Corona', 'virus', 'difficult times', 'lockdown', and other such words.
6. In the unlikely event anyone official asks why you ignored their mail or call, say "We've been told at work only to answer calls or accept e-mails from people we know. For our safety."
7. Don't argue with anyone about this stuff. The bureaucrats who have to deal with it know it's bullshit, and it's not polite of you to point that their job is a meaningless waste of time. There are a lot of decent people who believe the scare, indeed, decent trusting and trustworthy people will tend to believe what their Government tells them. Just nod along.
8. DO. NOT. QUEUE. Just walk away, Rene. Do not use shops that do 'No mask, no service' or 'One in, one out'.
9. Use mail-order, delivery, click-and-collect and takeaway as much as possible.
10. If you are working from home, tell everyone the camera on your laptop has mysteriously stopped working (On Windows 10, Settings->Privacy->Camera->Let Apps Use My Camera set OFF) and turn off those Teams notifications. Go back to e-mail and phone calls. You will thank me for this advice.
Bonus: The trains and tubes are almost empty even in the rush hours. Put on a mask and enjoy the peace and quiet.
Anyway, here are a bunch of fun things to do as we continue to be extras in this year's hit farce Two Metres and a Mask.
1. Ask if the sanitiser has alcohol, if it does say you can't use it. Look pained and apologetic when you say this, add that you can't drink the stuff either. Works for me.
2. No volunteering for tests. There are no reliable tests for the Virus or for its antibodies. You may as well flip a coin and stay in for 14 days if it shows Heads.
3. No tracing apps. The Apple / Android tracer that was downloaded automatically recently is set to OFF by default. You're just exposing yourself to the dodgy test results other people might get.
4. Edit the contacts on your phone. Delete anyone you don't want to hear from. Only answer your phone if there's a name you recognise.
5. Set up a filter on your e-mail to junk mails containing 'Covid', 'Corona', 'virus', 'difficult times', 'lockdown', and other such words.
6. In the unlikely event anyone official asks why you ignored their mail or call, say "We've been told at work only to answer calls or accept e-mails from people we know. For our safety."
7. Don't argue with anyone about this stuff. The bureaucrats who have to deal with it know it's bullshit, and it's not polite of you to point that their job is a meaningless waste of time. There are a lot of decent people who believe the scare, indeed, decent trusting and trustworthy people will tend to believe what their Government tells them. Just nod along.
8. DO. NOT. QUEUE. Just walk away, Rene. Do not use shops that do 'No mask, no service' or 'One in, one out'.
9. Use mail-order, delivery, click-and-collect and takeaway as much as possible.
10. If you are working from home, tell everyone the camera on your laptop has mysteriously stopped working (On Windows 10, Settings->Privacy->Camera->Let Apps Use My Camera set OFF) and turn off those Teams notifications. Go back to e-mail and phone calls. You will thank me for this advice.
Bonus: The trains and tubes are almost empty even in the rush hours. Put on a mask and enjoy the peace and quiet.
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