The new format war

Finally the last nail was put in the coffin for HD-DVD. I have backed Blu-Ray since the launch as it never was any doubt which was the better format.

Yesterday Universal was quick to say they will switch to Blu-Ray, and then there's just really Paramount/Dreamworks who need to come forward and say they will start producing movies in BD and I will be a very happy man!

Now we can start focusing on the other format-war! Blu-ray vs DVD! Or SD vs HD as we will probably call it from now on. Standard Definition vs High Definition.

The sales-volume of both players and movies must increase so that the prices go down towards DVD-prices. Therefore you need to go out and buy a Blu-ray-player and a few movies now if you haven't done so already!
Tell your spouse I said it. You have my permission! :)

MS stupid explorer 6.0

A few years ago we who worked with html had a hard time creating sites that worked in all browsers. MSIE (5.0 - 6.0) was the easy one to develop for. - Little did we know...

Now that we are used to Firefox, Opera and even MSIE7 we naturally see what a load of crap Internet Explorer 6.0 really is and always has been. MSIE7 is a huge approvement as all of us developers know, but still a third of the users are using MSIE6! Make them stop!

Please, please, please.. If you are reading this with Internet Explorer 6.0: GO UPGRADE! Right now!!

Both securitywise and contentwise, an upgrade is the right decision!

(Of course, you should actually rather change to Firefox, but upgrade Internet Explorer anyway! It's good for you!)

Playstation 3 and Tversity media server

For weeks I've been trying to figure out how to get a stable connection from my PS3 to a Tversity media server on my network.

FINALLY I've found the solution, and it was of course very simple...

Here's my setup:
Playstation 3 patched up with the latest software.
Wired connection to a D-link DIR-635 router.
A desktop PC is set up with Tversity as the media server and this also has a wired connection to the router.

The router creates a NAT for my home network. There are two desktop pc's, one laptop connected wirelessly, and the PS3.

When I tested the connection properties on the ps3, I always get uPnP "Not available" although it should be possible through the router with the uPnP-setting set to "on".
"Nat type" is also Type 3 - which warns me that some game features might not work - and for a long time I was sure this was the source of my problems with the media server not working.

However - from time to time I was actually getting a connection to the media server, but not always and I never understood why - until today.
Today I tried quite a few things, and suddenly it struck me - my vpn-client!

I have a Check Point VPN-1 client installed on the desktop PC to be able to connect to the network at work. I'm usually logged into that, and today I just shut down the client, and what happened? - The mediaserver popped right up...
God - did I feel silly...

So know you know - ps3, tversity media server and vpn-client - not a good mix.
Nat type 3 is not a problem which I thought...

I will soon install a home server on my network which will be the new media server, and there will be no vpn-client on it, so then there won't be a problem. For now I just have to live with the fact that I can't stream content from my computer on the PS3 when I'm connected to the network at work.

The RIPE Database -serious business

I was looking up an IP-address in the RIPE Database - this is the database of all european IP-numbers. As i clicked into an object and scrolled down I was sort of baffled... Click on the link and scroll down...

Query the RIPE Database

One sorry nerds fantasy I guess... :-P

About Adobe

One of my tasks as a CTO at work is managing software licenses, and as we are hosting a few web servers with ColdFusion we naturally want to upgrade to CF8... But was that easy? Nah...

I have been working with CF since CF 3.0, and have followed the product from Allaire, via Macromedia to Adobe. I was in favor of all purchases, but the past six months have made me have doubts about Adobe. They have the worst customer service I have ever seen.

First it took four months to get a missing license key. Then when we finally got it, we were eventually given access to our license information on licensing.adobe.com. However - the site didn't work for us at all. It took two months to get answers and have them fix it for us. And when we finally got in, I found that it's not possible to purchase upgrades there - I actually have to CALL in the order... Is this 2008 or 1998?

Adobe have too many products, too many customers and too many different customer needs...
Why must licensing and shopping be so complicated?

And what's with all the Creative Suite-versions? Don't get me started on those... :-P

I think they have this system that is intentially made in a way that people will give up purchasing upgrades and buy the full package every time - Because it's cheaper than using so much time to manage licenses and get answers from Adobe...

1st

Am I really doing this? Starting a blog? In english?

Well, I guess I have a need for self realization as anyone else, and why not let the world in on my thoughts about stuff I work with, cool things I encounter and so on... :-P

I make sites for a living and as a hobby, so why do I use blogspot?
Well - for once I guess I should focus on content and written word instead of the technical part. ;) Blogger seem to have a good user interface, and I can definitely learn some and get a few ideas!