Month: October 2008

There have been some reports that some programs could not be installed on a 64-bit version of Windows…

Per Microsoft:
“Many programs designed for a computer running a 32-bit version of Windows will work on a computer running 64-bit versions of Windows without any changes. However, in some cases there might be differences in performance. If a 32-bit program uses embedded drivers, the drivers might not work in the 64-bit environment…”

We had a short discussion about RAID and salvaging data…

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Using a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, or a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, involves two or more hard disk drives. By using a RAID configuration you can have your computing performance experienced enhanced, possibly salvage data, and/or store more data on larger volumes. It depends on the type of RAID you use…

There are various types of RAID to use to achieve different goals. Here are some of the descriptions of different types…

RAID 0 distributes data across several disks. It can improve speed, but all data on all disks will be lost if a disk fails. (I’ve found information that states Windows XP Professional, and Windows Vista Ultimate, support RAID 0.)

RAID 1 copies data to more than one hard disk so that if one drive fails, the data is available on another. It’s referred to as “mirroring”. Do not use RAID as a replacement for backing up: a system malfunction could overwrite data, a file could be damaged/deleted, and all could be lost if the computer is damaged (theft/flood/fire/etcetera).

RAID 5 uses at least three hard disks so that, if one drive fails, the data on the other two are available.

RAID can be accomplished by using operating systems that support RAID, and/or hardware controllers (supported by the motherboard, or by using an expansion card). Also, Network-attached storage (NAS) devices…disk drives on a network…could be used in an implemention of RAID.

Kelly called our radio show and said he is having problems uploading files to YouTube…

Here’s some information I found that might help:

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You can no longer upload videos longer than ten minutes regardless of what type of account you have. Users who had previously been allowed to upload longer content still retain this ability, so you may occasionally see videos that are longer than ten minutes…

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If you don’t think your current video file format is recognized by YouTube, you may get the best results from converting your file to MPEG4 video with MP3 audio.

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…YouTube accepts a wide range of video file formats such as .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG. Here are a few things that may work well for you:
* MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
* MP3 audio
* Frame Rate: 24fps or higher

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…We recommend the MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid, SVQ3) format at 640×480 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on YouTube.

(I had written about them over a year ago, but recently there have been some updates to their service…)

SpiralFrog is a website that allows you to download video and music…for free! Legally. It’s an ad-supported web site…

In the past, I needed to go to their website under 30 days to update my membership (by answering some survey questions). Now, it’s every 60 days.

You can copy song to compatible portable players. To my surprise, my Palm LifeDrive and TX are on the list!

I’ve been very satisfied with their service. I haven’t found every song I looked for, but it’s not as if I have been paying for their service.

According to DSLreports.com…

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Comcast will be shaking up their speed tiers as they deploy DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades…

…”Performance” 6Mbps/1Mbps subscribers will be upgraded to 12Mbps/2Mbps ($42.95). “Performance Plus” 8Mbps/2Mbps subscribers will be increased to Blast 16Mbps/2Mbps ($52.95). Both upgrades are at no cost. Comcast will continue to offer an “Economy” 768kbps/384kbps tier for $24.95, aimed primarily at light users and used as a retention tool.

…the company plans to offer a new “Ultra” 22Mbps/5Mbps tier for $62.95. Ultra should hit speeds of about 30Mbps when Comcast’s Powerboost technology kicks in. The grand daddy of all Comcast tiers will be the “Extreme 50” 50Mbps/10Mbps tier, which some markets will see as low as $139.95. Both new tiers will obviously require new DOCSIS 3.0 modems that won’t be available initially at retail, but can be rented for $3 a month.