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Trying to Build a Better Web Server

We’ve been working hard here, behind the scenes, upgrading the Weneca Media servers. The Weneca Media Group is the umbrella term for all the sites we collectively host together.

The Weneca server works on what is called a LEMP stack. Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP. Nginx(pronounced Engine-X) is a lightweight web server which powers about 10% of the world’s web servers, including sites like WordPress.com and Netflix. Most of you have probably heard of Linux, the MySQL database server, and the PHP scripting language.

Nginx has just announced SPDY support in its development version, which should speed things up more. SPDY is a Google developed protocol to reduce web page load time, and is implemented in both Chrome and Firefox. It can work concurrently with HTTP, the common standard for web serving.

So, with this, we have a solid footing for implementing a lightweight framework to serve a lot of web pages. However, Nginx does not have built in PHP support. You have to pass PHP to be handled by another program. In this case, we are using PHP-FPM, which is now part of the official PHP package. PHP-FPM is a FastCGI manager creates a pool of processes to process PHP scripts and return the results to the server.

To reduce load on this, Nginx supports FastCGI caching, so the results of any dynamically built page, with some deliberate exceptions, are cached for a few minutes, and can be served as static files. The duration of the caching is variable. If you want basically fresh content, you can microcache, cache in seconds. So, only when your server got hammered would it be seeing static content. If you have a bit less dynamic content, you can increase that to minutes, or even hours.

Now, we continue to tweak and improve the services. In future, we’ll be covering a little of the Nginx and PHP-FPM configuration settings you may find interesting.

 

 

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Published on June 29, 2012
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Mixing up the Workflow and Avoiding Overload

This is not the first time we’ve talked about our workflow. It has evolved over the years. Our workflow currently consists of a Read It Laterservice and a

If This Then That. com

long-term bookmark archiving service.

When we started, the Read it Later service was Instapaper. We adopted Pinboard as the long-term archiving service. It is nice to know all the reference material we might use is stored for later use.

We later moved to Read It Later, which has recently rebranded as Pocket. The problem is we have 11,000+ bookmarks in Pinboard, and near 3000 in Pocket. Just reading all the stuff we need to learn to keep informed is a challenge.

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Clay Johnson’s The Information Diet discusses this problem, and makes a large amount of suggestions on the subject. He refers to the idea as infoveganism. This is not to say we totally agree with Mr. Johnson, but we see the point that information overload is a problem.

Last year, Ars Technical posted an opinion piece titled, “Why keeping up with RSS is poisonous to productivity, sanity.” Perhaps RSS is but so is the alternative, social media. Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, etc are all sources of often repeating information. Who can keep up with all that?

The secret to a good workflow is to wisely choose your information flows, keep your inbox empty, and try to schedule spring cleaning for your accounts the same as anything else.

As part of that, we’re trying out ifttt.com, which allows you to tie together parts of the Internet. Using If This Then That logic, you can tie things together. For example, since Pocket support in Pinboard doesn’t allow bookmarks to be added when read, ifttt.com can add this functionality. There are dozens of suggested tieups between sites that otherwise would not be possible.

It is time to liquidate the Pocket account, get up to date, prune the Reader accounts again, prune the Twitter followers…

What is your workflow?

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Published on May 4, 2012
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Thinking about Dual Band Routers

RADIO FREQUENCY ENVIRONMENT AREA
RADIO FREQUENCY ENVIRONMENT AREA (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

Wireless-G has been the established standard for the last few years. We remember when we started playing with Wireless-B. It was only recently we jumped to Wireless-N. We didn’t need the speed jump.

With the increasing crowding of wireless spectrum, gigabit wired networks, where possible, are probably a good move.

We jumped this past month to dual band Wireless-N because of of the 5GHz frequency it offered. Wi-fi usually operates at 2.4GHz, but N supports two different frequency ranges.

Very few devices take advantage of the 5GHz band, which means that there will be little interference. Living in a city, there are at least 16 2.4GHz wireless networks in range of our test device.

Dual Band routers offer antennas for both frequencies, which means that you can have the devices that do not support 5GHz still operate.

After much consideration, we overbuilt and purchased the WNDR4500 when it was on sale.

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The router offers speed and reliability for the price, as well as multiple simultaneous full speed connections, guest networking, file sharing, and more. We needed the extra speed after we upgraded to wideband. The router had to keep up with the increased throughput.

This isn’t a router review. It is the most expensive router we have ever purchased. But if house networking is important to you, your router should be too. And if you are concerned about interference from other access points, upgrading to the 5GHz band is a viable option.

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The cost of a new Intel wireless mini-pci card is not prohibitive either. Most of these cards are easily accessible on a laptop, making it a simple upgrade.

But what do you think? Is less interference worth it? Do you care about the possible 450mbps throughput? What would be your rationale for going with a high-end router?

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Published on April 2, 2012
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Kodak Kills Slide Film – We Kill Our Slide Collection

An Old Family Ektachrome Slide of San Francisco

In December of 2010, we mourned the loss of Kodachrome, the iconic film. Now Kodak, amidst its financial woes, is discontinuing slide film. This leaves Fujifilm as the only provider in this area.

The remaining stock of Ektachrome E100G, E100VS, and Elite Chrome Extra Color should last six to nine months.

This comes at an interesting time for us. We just pulled out the old family Ektachrome slides back in December, boxed them up, and shipped them to Scancafe with the intention of having them scanned and subsequently disposed of. Of course, these scans hadn’t seen the light of day for years.

We had previously written about our efforts to do it ourselves, when we reviewed the Wolverine Slide Scanner. It wasn’t a reflection on the quality of that product, only our laziness. Stay tuned for a review of Scancafe. It takes weeks for Scancafe to scan slides. Despite getting them in early January, they have just started processing the 2260 slides sent.

 

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Published on March 5, 2012
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Switching to Induction Cooking

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Induction cooking (Photo credit: Sandy Austin)

Induction cooking is the wave of the future. We say this jokingly. Patents on the idea date back a century, and demonstration models were shown to the public as early as 1950, however, the idea has never quite caught on.

In recent years, however, there has been a slight increase in interest in this technology. A traditional electric burner heats a coil, on which a cooking vessel is placed. An induction cooktop also uses electricity, but it runs current through an electric coil, creating a magnetic field. When the cookware is brought close to it, it induces an electric current in the pot, which dissipates as heat.

Like some newer electric stoves, the top of an  induction burner is a glass-ceramic top. Because of the design, they are often safer than other cooktops. There are no open flames or explosive substances, as in gas. And the surface can be touched shortly after the cookware is removed, as it is much more energy efficient than other cooking methos..

There are limitations though. As induction works on the cookware, you need compatible cookware…specifically magnetic. We checked our existing cookware using a refrigerator magnet. If it doesn’t stick, or does so weakly, it is not sufficient. Stainless steel and iron cookware is ideal, aluminum and copper will not work. Being as your results will vary, you can get cookware that is labelled as induction ready. For example, we found a lot at Ikea at a reasonable price.

Covering that, the cooking properties of induction are most similar to gas. When you change the temperature, it happens immediately. There isn’t a gradual rise as there is in traditional electric cooking. It is why many chefs and cooking enthusiasts love it.

“Standing at an induction range, even great cooks must rethink their basic moves. The heat comes on so fast that anyone used to pouring oil in a pan and chopping the last of the onions while it heats is making a big mistake. Learning to control heat levels with numbered dials is like trying to master a new language.”

It makes it hard to make an omelette, and a learning curve. But we are slowly getting there.

If you are interested, a single plug-in burner can be had for between $50 and $100, like the one below.

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Published on February 25, 2012
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The Future is Brighter with LED Light Bulbs

We’ve been gradually, as the prices dropped, been converting our home to LED lightbulbs.

A few years ago, we jumped on the CFL bandwagon. It was one of our earliest stories on this blog, back in 2006. And we went hunting for dimmable CFLS.

We were convinced at the time, that CFLs would continue to improve, as would the dimmable type. However, dimmable CFLs burn out, and don’t quite have the dimming we’d like.

The common complaint about many CFLs is that they do not come up at full brightness, and the color output doesn’t quite match incandescents.

LEDs, however, have none of these shortcomings, although they can be highly directional light. They use less energy, they are typical dimmable, their color performance is more like an incandescent bulb and they last longer. The last longer part is relative, however.

Early models haven’t lived up to their longevity, by most reports. We haven’t had the decade to test them out, but Gadget Wisdom Headquarters is now 90% LED powered. The holdouts had been PAR20 and PAR30 bulbs, which were still $30 a piece. But the local Costco is selling 75 watt equivalent PAR30s for only $15. We got two to test, and will be expanding.

We also have a fixture that uses bulbs with a E12/candelabra base, and it is harder to find 40-60 watt equivalents with this base. They will come, we’re certain. They are hard to find in CFLs as well.

In several rooms, we’ve installed LED strip lighting from Ikea. They offer two models, the more economical Ledberg, and the more flexible Dioder. The Ledberg is one long strip, the Dioder can be installed as four separate strips, and other configurations. It is perfect for display areas, bias lighting, and undercabinet needs.

One of the biggest problems we’ve had was solved recently, trying to understand lumens to traditional watt ratings. The above diagram was shown to us, which has been very useful.

If you are reluctant to spend a lot, you may be able to justified a few strategically placed $10 LED bulbs in certain fixtures, which is the way we started. Either way, it is where we are all going eventually

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Published on February 25, 2012
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Back to the Toilet Technology – Part 3

Nearly two years ago, we took a special trip to the Gadget Wisdom bathroom to discuss dual flush conversion. We came back a few months later to review the MJSI Dual Flush Converter.

At the time we commented, “The nice thing about this design is that it does not require removal of the toilet tank to install. If you have to go as far as to remove the toilet tank, you might as well buy a new toilet with integrated dual flush, which we recommend if you have a really old toilet.”

Flush with our previous successes, despite not being professional plumbers, when our toilet tank started dripping, we decided it was time to dive in again. While there are one piece toilets, most toilets are two piece, the bowl and the tank. The tank is attached to the bowl using bolts and rubber washers that secure the two together, along with a gasket. When these start to fail, they can be replaced.

The replacement parts cost us seven dollars at the local hardware store. But as we had to dismantle the toilet tank anyway, we decided it was time to replace the MJSI Hydroright Drop-In Dual Flush converter.

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The product served us well for two years, but did have two design flaws we knew from the beginning. One, the item attaches around the overflow tube with a plastic zip tie. This did not stay on, and that created problems. There were common complaints about the quality of the gasket. We also had issues with the toilet running, forcing us to press the button a few times, similar to jiggling the handle of a conventional toilet.

So, because of these two design issues, the item’s usefulness degraded over time, to the point it started to waste water, defeating the purpose. So we opened up our browser to look for a new item.

We looked at several items, and decided to give the products at Being Water a chance. Being Water is a small plumbing company based on California. They do make a drop-in converter, similar to the HydroRight. However, it contains several design improvements. Instead of zip tie, it uses a removable base that attaches to the overflow tube with a wing nut. then the unit twists and locks into the base.

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The older your toilet is, the more likely it is in need of new internals. We had discussed another MJSI product, the HydroClean fill water saving valve. This allows better adjustment of the amount of water your tank fills up with initially, as well as offering a sprayer that sits at the bottom of the tank and keeps dirt and debris from accumulating. We’ve had no issue with this product since we installed it.

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Back to Being Water, if, in our case, you have to remove your toilet tank anyway, you might as well go for the tank removal style dual flush kit. This replaces your flush valve and overflow tube. The new flush valve has the locking mechanism built in to accommodate the Being Water dual flush converter. Toilet bowl cleaners may, over time, degrade the plastic of these valves, so you may be better off with manual cleaning and the HydroClean valve we installed. Your toilet won’t have blue water though, if that is something you like.

The tank removal style is thus better in the long term. Being Water provides videos demonstrating the step by step installation, and detailed PDFs explaining the procedure. When you purchase the item, in the interest of not wasting material, there is a minimum in the box.

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The company sells a complete kit that includes their dual flush converter, a replacement water saving fill valve, and a set of replacement bolts and gasket..everything you need. We just ordered the converter, but it included a bowl fill adjustment which allows you to adjust the water usage even more. We got our bolts at the local hardware store. Their kit includes a handle. Left for full flush, right for half flush, which is an improvement over the button of the HydroRight. you can get a button style from Being Water if you wish.

In the end, we’re very happy with the Being Water unit. We did have to call in someone to help, but that was due to an issue with the way our toilet bolts were originally installed. the installation process was very easy.

 

Published on February 25, 2012
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Review: Home Water Filtration

3 Baskets of Bottled Water - Starbucks
3 Baskets of Bottled Water - Starbucks (Photo credit: djwaldow)

Time after time, we start research all sorts of gadgets, from technology to productivity tools to…well, home tech.

This week, we are talking about water filtration filters. Many people buy bottled water. We’re not sure why they do this. Some bottled water is actually tap water. Tap water is actually more regulated than bottled water.

Bottled water isn’t a good value. The cost per bottle is significantly higher than a that of tap water. Bottled water actually has a higher per gallon markup than gasoline, and takes substantially fewer resources to produce. And it must be stored in bottles. which are estimated to total 1.5 million tons of plastic waste each year.

If you don’t like the taste of the local water supply, that is what filtering is for. If you are concerned about contaminants, that is what water filtration is for. Assuming you get water from your municipal water service, this water is already treated to a degree, but filtering in the house can give you a better experience.

Home water filtration began to become popular with the pitcher filter. The quality levels of these can vary, but a single pitcher is usually not enough water for a whole family. We migrated from this to the faucet filter. In edition to not being aesthetically pleasing, these filters can slow water flow significantly.

We chose to go with the under-sink filtration option. The first problem with these filters is that they require, if not a plumber, someone who feels comfortable with plumbing. You can either filter the cold water running through your faucet, or add a dedicated spigot, which may require drilling a hole. Our sink already had a cutout, so we went for the spigot option.

In reading review after review of these types of systems, the most common issues stem from installation. The systems leak, sometimes because of improper installation and because many manufacturers include cheaper plastic parts instead of heavier duty fittings and piping. For this reason, we brought in a plumber to do the job, and empowered and encouraged him to replace all parts in the box with more secure fittings, and to add an extra shutoff valve in the event there was a leak. This may be overkill, but the last time we had a leak under our sink, it turned into a mold issue.

This is probably the best lesson we can give about these filters. Go to your local hardware store and buy better quality fittings than any of these filters supply. The price shouldn’t add much to the bottom line. And add an extra shutoff valve, which will assist when you replace your filters, if nothing else. The cost of a valve is minimal.

There are two other types of filters we didn’t mention. A whole-house filter can remove some basic contaminants, such as sediment and rust, and are probably better if you have a more serious issue with these contaminants. Reverse osmosis filters use a tank under the sink as well as filters, and are the only type that can remove arsenic. However, they are slow, take up a lot of space and waste a lot of water.

We opted for a lesser known brand, but well thought of brand, based on a combination of reviews and research.

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The above is a three-stage filter. The price was reasonable compared to most two-stage filters, and the mail-order price for a years supply of filters was reasonable. It contains no electronic filter change reminder, so we added a recurring reminder to Google Calendar.

The same company does offer a 1 and 2 stage filter as well, but with the installation effort being equal, we opted for the best decision long-term. You will probably be served reasonably well by filters from a variety of different companies, but do your research.

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Published on February 15, 2012
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The Asus Transformer as a Productivity Device

Asus_EeePAD_Transformer_TF101_49
Asus_EeePAD_Transformer_TF101_49 (Photo credit: blogeee.net)

Last time on Gadget Wisdom, we were asking the question of whether a tablet can be your primary computer.

After we wrote this, we headed off on a long weekend with only an Asus Transformer. This is the original Asus Transformer TF101, not the newer Transformer Prime, but the concept is basically the same. If you want the benefits of a tablet, with the option to produce longer form content as needed, this is a perfect choice.

The tablet is wonderful for consumption of content. There are not enough tablet apps for Android, but there are enough to make us optimistic for the future.

Let’s go over a few of the apps we’ve started to use…

 News Reading

  • Reader HD (Free Version, Ad Free Version) – The best Google Reader app for Android tablets, in our opinion. The developer is very responsive with bug and feature requestss

There are a variety of magazine style news readers that draw from a variety of sources. Even Reader HD offers a magazine mode. We hope the promised version of ReadItLater Pro for tablets arrives soon, but the current version is adequate.

Word Processing/Document Creation

We have yet to find the best document suite for Android tablets. The Transformer comes with Polaris Office, which is not offered in the market. We also have copies of QuickOffice HD and DocumentsToGO.

We’ve actually been using a simple text editor, DB Text Editor, which is built into the Dropbox Android client.

We blog, and use WordPress, and WordPress for Android (Market Link) was recently updated and now supports tablets. It is still, like many things, not perfect. Nor is using WordPress in the browsers, but these things continue to get better..

Browsers

There is a build-target for a full build of Chrome for Android, but so far, there isn’t a full browser for Android. But the choice of browsers is not bad. While there is a tablet version of the popular Dolphin Browser, it is still in beta and has not been updated in a while. The HD version works fine for now, as does the Android version of Firefox. We hope to see more in this category in the future.

Email

Gmail is an example of what a good tablet app can be. It works nicely, efficiently, and it is a reference for many other apps.

Finance

Mint’s Android app(Market Link) just updated this week to support tablets. It shows that any app can become an indispensable part of one’s productivity if properly designed.

In the end, the market for tablet apps on Android is expanding. There are many good apps so far, including many we haven’t mentioned. There will be more, and the ones we have will only continue to improve.  So, what is the conclusion?

An Android tablet is one of the best options out there for content consumption and simple productivity. For word processing, with the addition of the Transformer’s keyboard dock, it means you can handle your on-the-go and travel word processing. We wouldn’t use it as our primary computer, but having it around means you can use your primary computer less and be more mobile around your house.

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Published on February 4, 2012
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Can a Tablet be your Primary Computer?

Asus TransformerHarry McCracken, who write the Technologizer blog, wrote a story in December entitled: “How the iPad 2 Became My Favorite Computer.” In it, he asked whether or not an iPad can replace a PC? Being as we’re Android people, we decided to look at that from a broader perspective.

The simple answer is no. The distinction between a tablet and a full-fledged personal computer is being blurred, but they are still very different animals.

The primary built-in input of tablets is the touch-screen, which is not conducive for creation of long form content. The occasional brief email, but even that can be a chore.

Having acquired an Asus Transformer, we know there are markets for tablets that offer an optional keyboard dock. For other tablets, there is the option of a variety of bluetooth keyboards, which is what Mr. McCracken uses for his iPad. These keyboards, dock and other tools add the typing ability needed to turn a limited device into a full device.

Once you have the keyboard, you can start long-form typing. As pointed out in our referenced article, “You’re typing into a radically different set of apps than are available on a notebook.” You have to find out how to perform everyday tasks you would use a computer for normally.

Tablets and their lower power processors allow for hours of battery life, and the manufacturers are always searching for better battery life..So, you pair a screen the same size as a common netbook with an optional keyboard, long battery life, and functionality equivalent to many computers…What is missing?

When you add a keyboard to a tablet, what you essentially get is a netbook. But a netbook that costs more and has limitations in comparison to an actual netbook sized computer. In the end, what is missing is the larger screen and increased flexibility. But, maybe it can’t be your primary computer, but could it be your primary travel computer? What about on the go?

We’d like to hear your opinion? Where is the line and what do you do?

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Published on January 22, 2012
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