The Blog of Peter Filias

…a self-proclaimed Computer Ninja

Category Archives: Internet

Postbox/Thunderbird and profiles

January 9th, 2012

So, I recently went through an exercise where I archived old mail in my GMail account. My inbox was ENORMOUS, like 80000+ emails. In doing this archiving, it seems that Postbox (an e-mail client based on Thunderbird that costs $29.95. Seems expensive when most e-mail clients are free (come with your OS), or webmail systems do what most people need. I got into Postbox early on, so I stuck with ‘em. Anyway, Postbox wouldn’ t get out of a Not Responding state after I did this archive, probably because the inbox was out of sync with what was on the server.

Nevertheless, I butchered my profile on the machine, at which point, Postbox wouldn’t even LAUNCH, saying that Postbox was already running. It seems that you shouldn’t go into your AppData/Roaming folder and delete your profile folder. Rather, you should use the Profile Manager to make these changes. So, I went into Postbox’s Profile Manager (same as Thunderbird) and deleted the default profile and created a new one. Right after that, Postbox didn’t complain about running already and all was well in the world of Peter’s e-mail.

WordPress Updated to 3.3

December 14th, 2011

Great news. WordPress updated to version 3.3. Lots of changes, mostly helpful for folks who run multiple sites. I’m pleased. Here are the highlights of WordPress 3.3:

Highlights

  • Easier Uploading
    • File Type Detection – A single upload button
    • Drag-and-Drop Media Uploader
  • Dashboard Design
    • New Toolbar in the dashboard, combining the Admin Bar and admin header
    • Responsive design for some screens, including iPad/tablet support
    • Flyout menus, providing single-click access to any screen
  • New User Experience
    • New feature pointers, helping users navigate new features
    • Post-update About screen
    • Dashboard welcome area for new installs
  • Content Tools
    • Better co-editing that releases post locks immediately
    • Don’t lose widgets when switching themes
    • Tumblr Importer
  • Under the Hood improvements
    • Use the postname permalink structure without a performance penalty
    • Improved Editor API
    • is_main_query() function and WP_Query method
    • Remove a number of funky characters from post slugs
    • jQuery 1.7.1 and jQuery UI 1.8.16
    • A new Screen API for adding help documentation and adapting to screen contexts
    • Improved metadata API
  • Performance improvements and hundreds of bug fixes

I’m loving the new toolbar. I’m loving that they moved Network Admin right under the My Sites menu item. LOVE THAT!

iPhone 4S (and iPhone 4) Speed Test: AT&T vs. Verizon vs. Sprint

December 1st, 2011

So, the other night, I had the opportunity to test a few phones across AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.

We had two iPhone 4S and one iPhone 4 phone.

One iPhone 4S was on AT&T, the other iPhone 4S on Sprint, and the iPhone 4 on Verizon.

I was quite astonished by the results of our Speedtest.net test on these phones, all running iOS 5.0.1.

iPhone 4S on Sprint

iPhone 4S on Sprint

iPhone 4S on AT&T

iPhone 4S on AT&T

iPhone 4 on Verizon

iPhone 4 on Verizon

Shocking. The 4S on AT&T was nearly 6x faster than the same phone on Sprint. That made me happy. Sprint has the most liberal data plans from what I gathered, but I’m glad to be that much faster. The sad thing to note her was how poorly the iPhone 4 performed on Verizon.

The Verizon phone had the weakest visible connection with 3 bars, the AT&T phone had 4 bars, and the Sprint phone had 5 bars. This is just for educational purposes. Hope you enjoyed it.

UPDATE: Thanks to Greg for running his own test. iPhone 4S on Verizon, Dec-1-2011.:

Greg's 4S on Verizon

Greg's 4S on Verizon

First Impressions of Fiio E6 Amplifier

November 17th, 2011

So I’ve been listening to my Sennheiser HD570 headphones at work a bit more as of late and I always felt they could use a little bit more oomph in their sound. I was looking around Amazon.com the other day, trying to help someone at work find some headphones for a gift purchase. In doing my research, I found the Fiio E6 that is distributed by Micca, who provides a Y-cable in the packaging.

  

Specification

* output power: 150mW into 16 Ohm, 16mW into 300 Ohm

* SNR: >95dBA

* Distortion: <0.0009% (10mW)

* Frequency response:10Hz~100KHz

* USB power supply port:DC 5V/500mA

* Power supply mode :Built-in rechargeable lithium battery.

* Size:41mmx40.2mmx9mm

* Weight:16g

After listening to them for a few hours with low volume (25% or less through the PC) through my cheapo Dell desk speakers, I wasn’t SUPER impressed. I think you need to turn up the volume to 50% or higher to really get a good idea of how the E6 performs. I then switched to the Sennheisers and pumped up the volume to 50% (I’m using Spotify as my music player and listening to some Armin Van Buuren State of Trance 500 album). Cycling through the 4 EQ settings, I’m able to:

  1. Hear the difference between them all and
  2. Truly benefit from 3 of the 4 settings: Neutral (still amps the signal), +3dB, +6dB, and -3dB.

I’ve never heard my Sennheisers sound this full of life before.

All in all, I think this was a great $24.99 spent at Amazon.com and I’d highly recommend this to anyone who has felt they could tweak their headphone listening a bit.

For a more in-depth review, you can read this one at headfonics.com or this one at anythingbutipod.com.

First Impressions of Fiio E6 Amplifier

November 17th, 2011

So I’ve been listening to my Sennheiser HD570 headphones at work a bit more as of late and I always felt they could use a little bit more oomph in their sound. I was looking around Amazon.com the other day, trying to help someone at work find some headphones for a gift purchase. In doing my research, I found the Fiio E6 that is distributed by Micca, who provides a Y-cable in the packaging.

  

Specification

* output power: 150mW into 16 Ohm, 16mW into 300 Ohm

* SNR: >95dBA

* Distortion: <0.0009% (10mW)

* Frequency response:10Hz~100KHz

* USB power supply port:DC 5V/500mA

* Power supply mode :Built-in rechargeable lithium battery.

* Size:41mmx40.2mmx9mm

* Weight:16g

After listening to them for a few hours with low volume (25% or less through the PC) through my cheapo Dell desk speakers, I wasn’t SUPER impressed. I think you need to turn up the volume to 50% or higher to really get a good idea of how the E6 performs. I then switched to the Sennheisers and pumped up the volume to 50% (I’m using Spotify as my music player and listening to some Armin Van Buuren State of Trance 500 album). Cycling through the 4 EQ settings, I’m able to:

  1. Hear the difference between them all and
  2. Truly benefit from 3 of the 4 settings: Neutral (still amps the signal), +3dB, +6dB, and -3dB.

I’ve never heard my Sennheisers sound this full of life before.

All in all, I think this was a great $24.99 spent at Amazon.com and I’d highly recommend this to anyone who has felt they could tweak their headphone listening a bit.

For a more in-depth review, you can read this one at headfonics.com or this one at anythingbutipod.com.

The Blog of Peter Filias

…a self-proclaimed Computer Ninja