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Organizing your Collections

Computer rigeneriamoci
Image by rigeneriamoci via Flickr

Organization is a hard thing. A few months ago, it took a week-long effort to index our entire movie collection. Now, when something is added to the collection, it takes a few seconds, which is minimal, but the benefits are major. We store our movies in two storage boxes, and alphabetization is not worth the time. On the screen however, we can open the file on a movie and get the location and locate it.

We champion open-source software, and looked for a piece of free software to use.

We tried a few different programs, but settled on the simple Griffith, which is available for Windows and Linux. It searches a variety of databases for data on movies, and, assuming it finds it, adds information on the cast, the director, length of the movie, and an image, if one is available. It makes browsing the collection on the screen appearing the same as browsing through it on a shelf.

An alternative is MeD Movie Manager, which, by virtue of running on Java, runs on all hardware. It supports two features that Griffith does not… Support for television series via the TV.com database and the ability to scan directories to retrieve movie file names, which saves you a lot of data entry hassle if you store movies in digital format.

There are better and more complete programs, but they cost money.

We maintain a music collection, but we don’t keep it indexed, instead we ripped it, keeping the original CDs as backup media. Now, there are a variety of ripping programs, as well as CD Databases such as freedb.org, but as they are contributed by multiple volunteers, the notation style is inconsistent. A future project we have on the books is editing the metadata to correct mistakes and adjust some inconsistencies. One of the big problems are our collection of commercial purchased mix CDs, ie the Best of (insert genre here). Since each track has a different artist, they are being sorted incorrectly by missing programs, and have to be manually retagged. A lesson we’ve learned is to review the data and edit it as the CD is ripped, something we will do in the future.

Finally, we come to books. Another project on our list, as space considerations require us to keep books in places where a reading of the spines is not as easy. We intend to index the collection, and already have chosen social cataloguing website LibraryThing, which offers a lifetime membership for $25, or free for under 200 books.

It pulls data from the Library of Congress or from Amazon.com, and permits a list or cover view of books in the collection, as well as searches. You can add reviews and ratings which can be read by other members. It can even recommend new books based on your collection, as well as a variety of other interactive tools to get you involved in the greater world of books.

Online Competitor, Shelfari, which is owned by Amazon, does offer an alternative social networking option for book-lovers, but not the level of cataloguing offered by LibraryThing. LibraryThing also indexes some small professional collections, as evidenced by a recent Massachusetts volunteer event where a group of LibraryThing volunteers indexed 2000 books in a day.

We’ll have more on our index, when we finally devote the time to starting it…Remember, one shelf at a time…But we’d love to hear your methods of organization. Post a comment if you have anything to add.

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Published on December 1, 2008
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Streaming TV to your Computer – Part 2

In a previous post, Streaming TV to your Computer, we pointed out our problem with streaming video sites such as Hulu…namely the presentation. When you stream, you have to navigate a website, and the flash player is available in a window, which you have to adjust to full screen.

Full screen itself can be an issue, as users demand better quality video, which sites are starting to provide. However, a TV-like interface is still lacking. Let’s explore a few options we discovered since last time. Reviews on some of these will be forthcoming.

My Media Player is a free interface for the clips and video at Hulu.com. It runs on Adobe Air, versions of which are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux OSes. Personally, we’d prefer an app that runs off of Mozilla Prism, which allows you to run web based applications, ie websites/flash players, minus the accoutrements of a normal web browser, ie bars, buttons, etc, and allows better desktop integration.

Next is Boxee, which is a fork of the popular XBMC project. It includes a closed-source flash player that integrates into the media center software to stream from sites like Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, and more coming. This is certainly more in the direction we are thinking of. They created code to allow you to navigate the sites, and a flash player integrated into their software loads the video and allows you to control it. Unfortunately, Boxee is in private alpha release, by invitation only. We arranged an invitation, but packages are only available for 32-Bit Ubuntu Linux or Mac, neither of which we use, so we’ll be getting an Ubuntu LiveCD and reviewing this in a later post.

In the world of High Def, Engadget HD reports that popular site YouTube already has unofficial support to play back and host 720p clips, as well as surround sound. With many sites already at this point, hope you all have enough bandwidth.

There will be more to come on this issue, which has become something of a pet peeve of ours.

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Published on November 23, 2008
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EnergyStar 3.0 TV Specification Goes into Effect

The Energy Star logo is placed on energy-effic...
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The new EnergyStar 3.0 TV specification went into effect November 1st. It includes a test for how much electricity televisions use when turned on, as well as when turned off. Even the default settings could save as much as $100 in power.

Keep it in mind when you buy new televisions. For those of us with old ones, consider turning things off.

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Published on November 13, 2008
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Streaming TV to your Computer

Image representing Hulu as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

We find the idea of streaming TV live to your computer very useful. The problem is the sheer number of sites that you can use to do so. We’re eagerly waiting more efficient aggregators, however, we doubt the sites that stream would appreciate this.

LifeHacker took a poll in September of the best sites to stream video from. The winner was Hulu. We like Hulu, although we admit we could stand to use it more. It is great when we’re on the road, except for the whole hotel room or houseguest bandwidth issues.

Hulu was founded in 2007 by NBC Universal and News Corp. It is an online video service that offers hit TV shows, movies and clips at Hulu.com and other online destination sites — all for free, anytime in the U.S.(or elsewhere if you convince it you are in the U.S.). To quote them…

Hulu brings together a large selection of videos from more than 100 content providers, including FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. and more. Users can choose from more than 900 current primetime TV hits such as The Simpsons, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Office the morning after they air, classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The A Team, Airwolf and Married…with Children, movies like Men in Black, Ghostbusters, and The Karate Kid, and clips from Saturday Night Live, Friends and other popular TV shows and movies.

Hulu is advertiser-supported, so you will have to watch ads, but you would have on normal TV as well. It perhaps sharing full-length episodes and clips, and requires only a Flash player to use. If you have an account, you can create a queue of programs you want to watch, as well as subscriptions to specific shows. Hulu offers standard videos in a 480Kbps-700Kbps(depending on the user’s bandwidth) bitrate and a higher-resolution 1000Kbps, and even streaming HD in 720p on some programs.

To be fair, there are other sites that are useful or helpful. SurfTheChannel is an aggregator, which aggregates video from Hulu, YouTube, MetaCafe, etc into a single searchable interface. It isn’t fancy, but it has its uses.

You can also go directly to the websites of the networks that air the show. CBS, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, etc. They usually provide links to episodes as well as extras you can enjoy.

For those who love high-definition, these sites are adding high-definition streaming, and new technologies are coming. Recast Digital has introduced a new optimization process that they claim is “less computer-intensive, requires less bandwidth, doesn’t require any special software download, and handles high frame rates and renders fantastic colour and smooth transitions.” You can catch a showcase of this at their site. It adapts quality based on your bandwidth, but it certainly looks good.

What we want for these sites is full integration into HTPC software and hardware streaming media players, which is certainly doable if the sites cooperate, which would be good for their ad revenue if they do. Netflix is already, it seems, willing to cooperate with manufacturers for its streaming service, the the Netflix Player by Roku coming to mind. They are selling advertiser supported content. If they open it up to developers with protections, they’ll be able to monetize much more effectively.

Thoughts?

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Published on November 12, 2008
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Increasing Wireless Security Now that WPA is Cracked

KeePass Password Safe
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Early on, wireless networks were encrypted using WEP encryption, until it was discovered even the FBI could crack that in a minute.

Then came WPA, which was supposedly much more secure. However, researchers have figured out a way to break the TKIP key in about 12 to 15 minutes. Experts had known that a brute force dictionary attack could eventually break such a key, however, it was not efficient.

Researchers discovered a way to trick a router into sending them larger amounts of data. More data allows them to break the key much more easily using new mathematical techniques. The technique has already been incorporated into popular Wireless sniffer program Aircrack-ng. The newer WPA2 is considered safe from this attack.

That is the simplest way to increase security. If your router has a WPA2 capability, update to it from WPA. If it doesn’t, check to see if there is an upgraded firmware, or consider switching to a custom firmware if one is available to you that may have it. We like DD-WRT, which has ports for many routers(List of supported devices). When you set WPA2, switch from TKIP encryption to AES only. It hasn’t yet been cracked.

WPA and WPA2 for home use use a passphrase to access the network. Recommendations are that this passphrase be at least 13 characters and not consist of any dictionary word. Too many people, both in securing their networks and other passwords, use weak passwords. Remember, you don’t have to remember the thing. Your computer can do that. You can keep it in a secure file, or a password vault such as KeePass.

Do not set your wireless SSID to anything commonly used. A list of the top 1000 most commonly used ones can be found here. Top ones to avoid: linksys, default, NETGEAR, Belkin54g, Wireless, hpsetup, WLAN, Actiontec, smc, Dlink…All of these give unnecessary information about what type of router you have, as many of these are default ssids. It also tells a malicious individual you may be vulnerable.

There is also MAC filtering, which is touted as a security measure as well. A MAC address is unique to a specific piece of hardware. But since they can be spoofed, this is more of a deterrent than anything else.

Other useful features include AP Isolation. This is a feature available on many routers that disables connections from the wireless device to any devices on the network. It would ensure that a wireless computer could access only the internet, not the internal network. However, if you want to access your internal network, this is not as useful.

If you want to go to Enterprise-level WPA2, you can certainly do so. But it is usually overly complex for a simple home installation and requires an external RADIUS server, which you would have to run. If you have an always-on computer around, this might be an option.

As a final measure, you can always just give up. Bruce Schneier, security guru, runs an open wireless network, and outlines his reasons why, and links to much commentary on the subject in this post. The question of whether or not one should have open wireless is a different one than security. We will say that you can always run a secure network independently of your insecure one, and run security independently of your wireless, or if you are technically proficient, have a gateway portal the way hotels do, that secures your connection.

For example, you can use VPN to connect to your private network for security and route all communications through it. Thus it is encrypted before it leaves your computer for the network. Many businesses use this technique for individuals accessing their files remotely.

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Published on November 12, 2008
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Good Gear

We troll the tech websites looking for things we find interesting or potentially useful. Here are a few selections…

  • Crunchgear turned us on to this car cigarette lighter with 4 USB connections.Most things can charge via USB nowadays…Cell phones, music players, etc. If you have four devices you want to charge and still have your cigarette lighter free for other things, this is certainly useful. The cost is $22.99 as of this post from USBFever.com with 2.99 per order S&H.

  • This tiny keyboard with a retractable USB cable was also revealed to us on Crunchgear. Cost is $25 from Brando.com.hk. It would certainly work better as a wireless keyboard, but something like this is useful to have in one’s arsenal of tools. We keep a toolbox with a spare mouse, screwdrivers, misc. little computer and data cables, etc for when we are off repairing something.
  • Ion, the company known for cheap analog to digital converters including Record Players, is releasing a $100 slide and negative scanner called Slides 2 PC. for those of us wanting to get rid of boxes of analog media, items like this that make it simple are worth the investment. Scan your media, archive it, and dispose of the slides. You can even make a DVD. If you don’t want to do it yourself, there are plenty of organizations that will do it for you, even your local Costco.
  • This tiny USB powered LCD monitor is useful, although we’ll wait till it is much much cheaper.

For more looks at the stuff we find interesting to consider as part of your hardware arsenal, keep reading…

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Published on October 13, 2008
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The Simplest Way to Save Energy – Shutting Things Off

Cable Box
Image by _ES via Flickr

This past week, prompted by increased utility costs, we became obsessed with the idea of vampire power. Vampire power, standby power, or phantom power, whatever you wish to call it, is the power a device draws when supposedly turned off.

So, we did the research. If you like tech, and we do, you can go with a Master Control surge protector. This is where the power draw on one outlet kicks in the power to other outlets. For top of the line right now, you can go with the APC Back-UPS ES BE750G 10 Outlet 750VA Master Control.

We rushed out and bought one of these things, which marries the idea with a UPS. One of the Battery controlled outlets can have your computer plugged into it, and when the computer is on, it flicks on three of the surge controlled outlets. We’re using it for our monitor and speakers on one system, and will be adding more to the controlled outlets as soon as we crawl under the desk to audit our wires.

Now, not everyone needs such a heavy-duty item, or even power protection. As an alternative, there is the Smart Strip LCG3. There are several variations that offer different numbers of outlets and/or coaxial or modem surge protection. One of the most useful options on this surge strip is a adjustment knob to adjust the master outlet’s sensitivity. The APC UPS also has three adjustment settings.

We couldn’t wait, so we went to the store and bought the APC Power-Saving Essential Surgearrest. It is that adjustment knob we missed. On the system we tried to put it on, it didn’t accurately detect the turning on of our low-energy thin-client PC. Of course, it may not have been designed for low-power systems, and lacks the adjustment knob of the Smart Strips.

BITS Limited, the company responsible for the Smart Strips, has not only come out with a 3rd generation version of their product designed with a “greater range of sensitivity and device compatibility for low-power devices like the Dell 800 series laptops and Mac Mini computers.” Which means it would have solved our problem with the APC. They all are accepting initial orders on a USB Smart Strip, identical to the LCG3 model shown above except in addition to the power outlet, this one will switch when the USB port receives power as well.

Being as we run multiple systems and are trying to be more energy efficient, for the low-power client and its peripherals we decided to go the low-tech route. We tried to find a switch to insert between the peripheral and the outlet, but no one seems to make three-pronged plug-in switches. So, despite Underwriter’s Laboratories’ recommendations about daisy-chaining surge protectors, we took the advice we found from Smart Strips FAQ and plugged a power strip into our UPS and then on to the components in question.

This is technically safe, as long as you don’t overload the circuit. The same people think an extension cord to a surge protector is dangerous and most of us do that. Our biggest problem was of a visual nature. How do you make the switch accessible without the unsightliness of the wires coming out in all directions?

One solution is another new product, the Belkin Conserve 10-Outlet Surge Protector with Remote Switch. Sounds good in theory. A surge protector you conceal with a wireless remote to allow you to turn things on. There are also all manner of surge protectors that hide the wiring.

We, on the other hand, went low-tech. We mounted the surge protector on the wall such that the switch was visible above the desk, but the outlets were below and weren’t visible unless you peeked under. Another option we considered was mounting the strip upside-down under the desk in such a position that you can flick the switch with little effort.

If you are more electrically inclined, you can build a plug-in switch using some basic electronics since no one seems to be selling one(comment if you’ve found one).

For those on the cutting edge of tech, semiconductor maker Rohm has developed a circuit that uses no power while in standby mode. They hope to start deploying it next year. In a few years, it could make it or circuits like it could make its way into most new appliances sold, reducing or eliminating the bulk of this problem.

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Published on October 7, 2008
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Taking Your Laptop on the Plane

ThWhen you go to the airport with your laptop, you are forced to go through the annoyance of removing your laptop from its bag and placing it in a bin. However, the TSA last month announced the results of its initiative to encourage manufacturers to design checkpoint-friendly laptop bags. Below is an image of the friendliest styles of laptop bags.

Now, the problem is the most popular styles are these unapproved ones. Purchasing one of the approved bags will not guarantee that you can leave your laptop in your bag for screening. If the bag does not present a clear and distinct image of the laptop separate from the rest of the bag, you’ll still have to remove it.

The guidelines for these bags are as follows:

  • Your laptop bag has a designated laptop-only section that you can lay flat on the X-ray belt
  • There are no metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on-top of the laptop-only section
  • There are no pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section
  • There is nothing in the laptop compartment other than the laptop
  • You have completely unfolded your bag so that there is nothing above or below the laptop-only section, allowing the bag to lie flat on the X-ray belt

The TSA does not endorse any specific bag. And these new bags that have been reviewed according to their guidelines will take time to flood the market, and will likely initially be more expensive than other bags.

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Published on September 28, 2008
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SanDisk introduces slotMusic – microSD cards preloaded with music

Apple iPod nano (third-generation), a best-sel...
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SanDisk has announced(see Press Release) the launch of a new music option. microSD cards will soon be made available with pre-loaded high-quality DRM-free MP3 music of top artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.

slotMusic cards enable consumers to instantly and easily enjoy music from their favorite artists without being dependent on a PC or internet connection. Users simply insert the slotMusic card into their microSD-enabled mobile phone or MP3 player to hear the music – without passwords, downloading or digital-rights-management interfering with their personal use.

The cards will be packaged with a USB sleeve to allow them to be interfaced with a computer. They will be encoded at 320kbps and…

Musicians will find slotMusic cards offer a compelling new way to express themselves to their fans. With 1GB1 (gigabyte) of capacity, slotMusic cards can hold songs, as well as liner notes, album art, videos, and other creative content that an artist may choose. Consumers can also add their own content to a slotMusic card, creating a personal plug-and-play media library.

We tried to be enthusiastic about this idea. We realize that the RIAA and SanDisk are trying. We reviewed the comments on a CrunchGear post about this very development. Many people feel they can just make their own, that a 1GB card was small.

However, they’ve overlooked an untapped market. The impulse buyer. They intend to distribute this at brick-and-mortar and online stores. Online is the worst distribution method for this. slotMusic will have a market in people who are in a hurry. They should sell it at convenience stores, airports, and train stations. It will do well with people who suddenly decide to buy some music. Best Buy and Walmart will do well with the impulse buy as well.

Wherever there are people who cannot be bothered to do otherwise, there will be a market. We also predict that this is merely the first step. Imagine this system linked into an online system where you go into a store, select your album or albums from a machine, and it is delivered to you on a card. But this has to start somewhere.

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Published on September 28, 2008
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Microsoft is in the Toilet

Crunchgear posted this amusing image from Russia. It reads, “Windows Vista – The Digital Future Starts Here.”

We’re not thrilled with Vista from the time we spent fiddling with it. It certainly, we admit, has some new features of us, but a lot of things are not as easy to locate in the system as they were under XP.

That aside, Microsoft is advertising on toilets. We can just picture poor Yuri, after a night of drinking vodka, stumbling to the restroom to worship the porcelain deity and…inspired by the ad he sees as he voids his stomach, buying a new computer loaded with Microsoft Windows Vista.

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Published on September 28, 2008
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