Tiptoeing Through ‘The Cloud’

A few days ago Google launched its “new” Google Drive service. It seems all they did was change the name of Google Docs. Despite that disappointment, that’s not really what this blog is about. It’s about cloud storage in general.

I find myself asking, “Just how much storage do we need?” With digital photography, ebooks, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, videos - all this data takes up space. And with so many people having smartphones these days, everyone needs someplace to store all those pictures and videos. My smartphone has more computing power and storage space than the desktop computer I had in college. In fact, I have individual files that would probably each take up most of the hard drive on the PC I had back then. Now, though, not only do I have a little over a terabyte of total storage on my current PC, but I have a shade over 80GB of storage online (not counting Gmail, or Yahoo Mail). Here’s the breakdown of the cloud storage I currently have:

• Dropbox - 2GB free
• Box - 50GB free (normally only 5GB, but I got 50GB for free during a promo for downloading their free Android app a couple of months ago)
• SkyDrive 25GB for free (another free promo - SkyDrive recently changed their free storage to 7GB, but I got to keep the 25GB for free since I was already signed up for it)
• Google Drive - 5GB

And here’s a chart, courtesy of ‘Geeks are Sexy’, that shows the various cloud services and their costs:

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2012/04/24/introducing-googles-new-cloud-storage-solution-google-drive/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews+%28%5BGeeks+are+Sexy%5D+technology+news%29

And another chart, from Lifehacker, that lists some of the ones ‘Geeks are Sexy’ didn’t:

http://lifehacker.com/5905702/dropbox-google-drive-skydrive-and-others-pricing-per-gb-and-more-compared-in-convenient-charts

So, Google Drive, in my opinion, seems a day late and a dollar short, considering how much competition there already is for cloud storage service. So far, I’ve only found a handful of practical reasons to use them. The first being sharing files between my PC, laptop and smartphone easily. It was, when I was job hunting, useful to have my resume in the Public folder on Dropbox for easy sharing with prospective employers. Other than that, I’m currently in the process of sorting and uploading all of my role playing game PDFs to my Box account (since it has the largest chunk of space) so they’re readily available for gaming night, even if I’m not at home.

So, the real question, for me anyway is, do I need all of this online storage? No. No I don’t. Not really. Mostly, I think I have all this cloud storage because, well, everyone offers free space in some amount and free stuff is almost always cool, and most offer Android apps even for the Nook (except SkyDrive - what’s up with that Microsoft?) and being a gadget and technology geek, it’s just cool to have them all.

Then there’s the debate about what should and shouldn’t be uploaded to ‘the Cloud’ like sensitive data. Naturally, anything uploaded that’s of a sensitive nature should be encrypted. For me, though, nothing is uploaded that would really need encryption. Data that I don’t want getting into the “wrong hands” stays on my PC’s hard drive, not the Cloud.

There are plenty of Cloud storage services out there to choose from, some free and some not. Pick any one, or several, of your choosing. Frankly, I don’t see any overwhelming differences between any of them that would make me endorse one in particular.

~ JC

Additional Links (if you’re interested):

• Wired.com - “Google Drive and Chrome OS: Has the New ‘PC’ Arrived?”

• Lifehacker - “Dropbox for Windows and Mac Updated with Auto Photo Uploading and Up to 3 GB of Additional Free Space”

U-verse vs Xfinity - Just My Humble Opinion

Back on March 2, the day after I had AT&T U-verse installed at our new house, I posted a comment on Facebook (see the below screenshot - and yes, the different colors indicate different people and was done to protect other’s privacy)

As you can see, I stated my very unvarnished opinion of Comcast at the time and was rather shocked that a former co-worker, who rarely comments on anything on my Wall, blasted me for it. Essentially, my assessment of U-verse being faster and their technicians actually knowing what they’re doing was challenged, mainly because he’s one of those people who thinks his opinion is the only correct one. He also didn’t know, or seem to care to know, why I held that opinion. So, here we go. The explanation of why, even though I don’t particularly like AT&T in terms of cell phone service, I do prefer their cable and internet service over Comcast.

First of all, my assessment of speed is based on experience, not a “speed test”. Frankly, I don’t give a shit about a speed test. I had Comcast’s Xfinity at my old apartment, and I was not impressed. Are they faster or slower based on speed tests? Don’t know, and don’t care. My experience and observation is that what I have now through AT&T U-verse is faster and more reliable. At the old apartment, whenever my roommate and I were both online, it became fairly obvious that we were being throttled. Hell, even if only one of us was online, getting Hulu to play without it buffering every 30-60 seconds was a treat. That’s not to say that things are perfectly smooth with U-verse, but it does seem much smoother to me. But ultimately, none of that even matters. What really makes me not like Comcast is their seeming lack of customer service and their install technicians’ lack of professionalism.

Let’s be clear here. I’m speaking from my experience and observations (and a little bit of some friends’ experiences as well). You may love Comcast Xfinity and get along swimmingly with them. I, on the other hand, hope I never have to have them for cable and internet service again.

First we’ll roll back a bit to the old apartment complex. There was a junction box for the cable and satellite companies to use to get their respective signals to the various apartments. Comcast left the cover off after installing ours. Now, that may seem an honest “oops”, but despite pointing it out to both our apartment management and to a Comcast installer, it remained uncovered and exposed to the elements the entire year we lived there. (strike 1).

The day we had our AT&T U-verse installed, the neighbor rang our doorbell to ask if the AT&T guys were still here. Why? His internet wasn’t working. Guess who he has? Yep, Comcast. Despite the fact that AT&T and Comcast do not share a junction box at this location, they still tried to lay the blame on AT&T for the neighbor’s internet working. The AT&T installer even showed our neighbor where they hooked up outside and how it didn’t affect anything running into his townhouse, mostly because AT&T doesn’t come in via coax, but through the phone lines and then piggybacks to the coax inside the house. Yet, the very next day, Comcast did unhook a line going into our house while working on the neighbor’s service and then a few days later, when they evidently, finally, fixed it, they left a length of coax cable running along the ground from three or four houses down to our neighbor’s house - where it still sits because they still haven’t come back to secure it or bury it (strikes 2 & 3). And no, I haven’t called them, because I’m not their customer, so I don’t give a shit.

Now, they already have three strikes, but here’s where they really take the cake for me. This actually dates back to before I moved into the aforementioned old apartment. I was still living at my best friend’s house. His (now ex) wife had moved back in and had a contract with Comcast. Naturally, she wanted to either a) have her service hooked up at the house or b) be let out of the contract if that couldn’t be done. She was told, despite the fact that they hadn’t been able to get anything but satellite service at that address since they had moved in years before, that they could transfer the service there. An appointment for installation was made - and subsequently cancelled because “service is not available at that address.” So, my best friend can’t get Comcast, his next door neighbor can’t get Comcast, but the very next house has Comcast. What? They can’t run cable another 300 (if even that) yards because “there aren’t enough potential subscribers in that area.” What the hell? We’re talking about two more houses over from where it stops, on a major road! Not impressed, Comcast; not impressed at all. Incidentally, he has U-verse now, too.

That’s not to say that I’m willing to let AT&T completely off the hook, mind you. Then again, to date I’ve not had any reason to complain about the service I have through them. Music and video stream just fine. We’ve not had an outage. The billing has been accurate.

Ultimately, it’s just like mobile service really. One person’s experience may be great with one provider and total shit with another while the next person has the complete opposite experience. As for me, though, I’ll stick with U-verse.

~ JC

Channels, Channels Everywhere

For the first time in over a year, I have full access to cable television. I have blogged a few months ago about how I really didn’t miss television all that much, so I have to admit that it’s a bit strange having it again. It’s not so much that I felt an overwhelming need to have cable again as much as it was actually cheaper to sign up for cable and internet instead of just internet. I realize that sounds contradictory, so I’ll explain.

When we were getting all our ducks in a row for the move a couple of weeks ago, one of things I needed to do was order utilities to be turned on for the new place. In this day and age, internet access is almost as essential as having electricity, water and gas. After comparing packages between both Comcast and AT&T U-Verse, I decided to go with AT&T. Initially, I was just going to order internet access and not worry about television, but the package deals they offer simply made more sense than getting just internet by itself. See, if I had ordered just internet, I would have ended up paying close to $250 in activation and installation fees. By ordering a package that included both internet and about 270 channels of television (plus HBO and Cinemax free for the first three months), the installation was free and the activation fee was waved. So, mathematically speaking, it just made more sense, at least in terms of initial cost.

The other upside is that the package I ordered did not require a contract, so once the six month introductory price is up, I can easily change it to be a smaller package of channels (ones that we actually watch, for example) without penalty.

For now, I have 270 channels, only about twenty, so far, that I’ve put on the “Favorites” list. In some ways, it’s kind of nice. At least now I can watch Morning Express with Robin Meade while I have breakfast again. And, of course, having a DVR so I can record things and watch them when it’s convenient for me is nice too.

~ JC

No Cable, No Problem

I haven't had cable for over a year now. When I moved to Atlanta, I lived with my best friend for the first five months. He has DirectTV, but a very basic package. When I moved into the apartment this past March, my roommate and I really couldn't afford cable, plus the fact that neither of us is really home enough to justify getting cable. The truth is, I haven't really missed it. Sure, there are shows on cable, like “True Blood” or “Game of Thrones” that I enjoy, but there are other ways of getting to watch TV in this digital age. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not advocating illegal downloads. But the internet is a vast and wonderful place, even with all the trolls.

First of all, there's Hulu. Granted, it doesn't have everything, but it is possible to find a pretty good selection of shows to watch, including old classics. Now, this isn't cable, but it's still my favorite source of TV viewing pleasure – CBS.com. I love that CBS posts all of their shows on their website the day after they air. See, not only do I not have cable, but I don't even have an antenna with which to watch broadcast TV. One of my favorite shows is 'NCIS', so I love the fact that I can watch it on Wednesday night on the website. I've also become a fan of '2 Broke Girls' which I would never have even known existed if not for CBS.com. In fact, I've been watching it as I've been writing this blog. The other networks, ABC and NBC have also followed suit and have their shows available on their websites as well.

Now, if we could only get HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz to follow this same model. Sure, they would charge for it, as where the networks just put play ads like they do anyway, but I'd be willing to bet that people would gladly pony up the dough to watch cable shows on demand via the internet. I know, I know, HBO already does this, but only if you already have a cable subscription through your provider. That idea seems a bit silly to me. Why should I pay for cable just to be able to watch the shows online instead? I'd love to see HBO offer an online only subscription model. I'd be much more likely to pay for that than actual cable at this point.

Anyway, I not only don't miss cable thanks to the other methods by which I can watch my favorite shows (both old and new), but because it has afforded me more time for other pursuits like reading more, or building and painting Warhammer 40k models. It's amazing, now that I think about it, just how much of my free time in the past was wasted just sitting in front of the “idiot box” not really doing anything.

~ JC

The Truth Is Out There

We've all gotten them and probably still get them; the dreaded email with a subject line that begins with “FWD.” We look to see who sent it, and sure enough, it's “that person”; the one who always sends forwards of LoLCats, promises of receiving $1 for everyone we forward it to ourselves, and various other supposed “I swear to God this is true” nonsense. The question is, why? Most of this crap is just that, crap! It has been floating around the Internet for as long as the Internet has existed. In fact, I've gotten emails from people as little as a few months ago that I had also previously gotten as much as five years ago! Are people really that stupid? I have to ask. It's not like there's no way to find definitive proof of whether or not the myriad of garbage that hits our in-boxes is true or not. By now I would hope that just about everyone has at least heard of Snopes. So my question would be, if you've heard of Snopes, and you get an email like that, why the hell wouldn't you go look it up on Snopes before forwarding it to the ten people in less than .5 seconds it asks you to? I mean really folks, the old saying “if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is” applies. What's more is, Snopes is not even the only source of finding out if that “FWD: DON'T DELETE THIS! I SWEAR IT'S TRUE” email really is true or not (and trust me, 99% plus of them are bogus). There is also Hoax Busters (which I had been using before discovering Snopes), and About.com's “Current Internet Hoaxes, Email Rumors & Urban Legends” page, to name only two.

My general rule of thumb is, if the email subject line starts with FWD and is from a particular person who's notorious for sending forwards of this type, I just delete it without reading it. I will, however, on occasion read it to see which bullshit legend the person is perpetrating this time, look it up on one (or more) of the afore mentioned debunking sites, then hit 'reply to all' and send everyone that received the forward the link (or links) to prove it's bullshit in the hopes that the spreading of the bullshit will cease. For the most part, it's worked. At least, the friends and family members who used to send that sort of thing have stopped sending it to me. I don't know if that means they finally wised up, or just got tired of me sending them links to Snopes articles, thereby making them feel stupid, but either way, I don't have to deal with the “FWD: OMG [fill in whatever varied hoax bullshit here]” emails very often anymore.

So, before you hit that forward button next time, or reply to that prince from some far off African nation, take a moment to look that subject line up on Snopes or a similar site. You just might be thankful you did. The truth is out there; you just have to take the time to search for it.

~JC

Internet Hoaxes, Email Rumors and Urban Legends Debunking Sites:

Snopes [http://www.snopes.com/]

Hoax Busters [http://www.hoaxbusters.org/]

About.com Current Internet Hoaxes, Email Rumors & Urban Legends [http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/internet/a/current_netlore.htm]

and don't forget to Google for other sites like these as well.

Wastin' Time on the InterWeb

Ah, the information super-highway. The world but a mouse click away. But have you ever really stopped to think about how much time we all really just waste surfing the Internet and world wide web? Like right now, for example; why are you reading my blog? My blog, of all blogs you could be reading. All I do is rant about stuff that strikes me funny or irritating or interesting. There's nothing much to learn here. You could be reading the news or something educational. But instead, you read my drivel.

Some of you have read me complain about how I have more books in my personal library than I'll ever get done reading. Well, this is why. Because I'm always online, wasting time. I'd like to say that I'm doing research for more meaningful essays to post on here, but mainly I'm just looking at boobies and checking sports scores and the occasional article about Magic: The Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons. Now that hockey season is over for my two favorite teams and the weekend is the only time golf tournaments are played, I'll be mainly looking at boobies.

So, what kills your free time online? Leave a comment... maybe it'll even lead to a discussion, which of course will be ironic because it means we'll all be wasting time online to do it. :-)

~ JC