November 22nd, 2009

A Chrome OS Video Tour

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 8:53 pm

Categories: Free operating systems, General, Google, Linux, Networking, Open Source, Web Technology

Tags:

Fresh off the Interwebs, here’s a Tech Broiler video tour of the latest build of Chrome OS.

Also See: Chrome OS, Some Early Preview Videos

Have you tested the latest Chromium OS developer code yet? Talk Back and Let Me Know.

November 22nd, 2009

Roku becomes cloud-enabled with new Roku Channel Store and Developer SDK

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 6:37 pm

Categories: Business, Networking, Personal Technology, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology

Tags: Roku Inc., Managed Hosting, Cloud Computing, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Jason Perlow

The new Roku Channel Store, which is being rolled out to all Roku devices, will greatly expand the capabilities of the $99 set-top on-demand streaming device.

Late Sunday night, Roku announced that its players would now have a “Channel Store”, much like the “App Store” on other popular Internet-enabled devices such as the iPhone and Android-based phones.

Roku, Inc., maker of the popular and award-winning family of Roku players, announced today the Roku Channel Store and the first 10 free channels for Roku customers to enjoy on their TVs. From internet radio to video podcasts, professional web content to photo sharing and personal videos, the Roku Channel Store provides an open platform for delivering quality content to the TV. New channels now available for customers to add today to their Roku experience via the Roku Channel Store include: Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe. For the complete list of channels, specific channel descriptions and features please go to http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store

These first 10 channels are just the beginning for Roku. Many other developers are working on Roku Channels now, and Roku expects additional developers to adopt the Roku platform over time. New channels will appear in the Roku Channel Store automatically as they become available.

The Roku Channel Store represents an opportunity for content owners and publishers to reach an already large and growing audience of Roku customers. By creating an open platform for delivery to the television over the Internet, Roku has leveled the playing field for content owners.

Roku had previously remote updated its players for Netflix HDTV 720p on-demand video as well as the ability to rent movies on demand from Amazon.com. With the introduction of its new “Channel Store” the Roku moves towards becoming more of a cloud-enabled content viewing device. Having the ability to stream music from Pandora or being able to view my Flickr stream on my HD set is pretty neat.

Also Read: At $99, Roku Rulez with Incredible Future Potential

All current Roku players, including the Roku SD, the Roku HD and Roku-HR are compatible with the Channel Store, which will be automatically available on all registered devices over the coming weeks. To create a channel for the Roku Channel Store, a developer creates an application using Roku’s free software developer kit. This SDK is available free upon request by emailing partners@roku.com

What applications would you like to see for Roku’s “Channel Store”? Twitter? Hulu? Full FaceBook stream updates? YouTube? Vimeo? Video Podcast feeds? Talk Back and Let Me Know.

October 29th, 2009

My Top Scary Technology Trends

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 7:44 pm

Categories: Business, General, Hardware Infrastructure, Networking, Personal Technology, Security, Server, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology

Tags: Digital Media, Phone, Mobile, Information Technology, Smart Phone, E-books, E-mail, Smart Phones, Cellular Phones, Handhelds

Yes, it’s that spooky time of year again, and our “fearless” editors have asked upon the ZDNet contributors to come up with “Scary Tech”, the technologies that are so frightening, they’ll make you evacuate from multiple “interfaces”.

Halloween. All Hallows Eve. Dia de los Muertos. Whatever you call it in your culture, Halloween is a day that for many people evokes images of ghouls, the undead, vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts and goblins — creatures of fantasy that are meant to scare young children. Although I’ve often been emotionally compared to a child, none of these things frighten me.

However, there are some things, at least in the world of technology, that really do scare the living crap out of me. While there isn’t one particular item that makes me turn completely ice cold with fear this Halloween, there are a number of trends that definitely have been keeping me up at night lately.

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October 19th, 2009

What's next after SpamWaves, WavePorn?

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:19 pm

Categories: Business, General, Google, Networking, Personal Technology, Web Technology

Tags: Google Inc., Obviously Wave Etiquette, Public Relations, E-mail, Marketing, Corporate Communications, Online Communications, Jason Perlow

No sooner than a week after using Google Wave did I get my first unsolicited Spam Wave.

First, there was e-mail spam. Then there was spam forum posts and spam talkbacks. And then spam Twitters.

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September 21st, 2009

Frugal Tech Show with Centrify CEO Tom Kemp

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 5:30 pm

Categories: Business, Enterprise Computing, Linux, Microsoft, Networking, Security, Server

Tags: Centrify, CEO, Microsoft Windows Active Directory, Authentication/Encryption, Directory Services, Security Administration, Enterprise Software, Software, Security, Jason Perlow

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I talk with Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify, the Active Directory and Identity Management open systems integration software company.

Click Here to Listen to the Frugal Tech Show Podcast.

September 11th, 2009

Frugal Friday: Barbecue! Apple 2009 iPod refresh, CodePlex Foundation, Microsoft Best Buy Shenanigans, Schooner Information Technology

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 7:28 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Enterprise Computing, Hardware Infrastructure, Microsoft, Networking, Personal Technology, Podcast, Server, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology

Tags: Best Buy Co. Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Schooner Information Technology, Microsoft Windows 7, Podcasts, Marketing Research, Internet, Marketing, Jason Perlow

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I talk about the joys of Carolina and Texas Barbecue, the Fall 2009 Apple iPod launch event, the new Microsoft-created CodePlex Foundation, the recent exposure of Microsoft’s Best Buy 2009 retail marketing plans for Windows 7 and speak with Dr. John Busch, Co-Founder of Schooner Information Technology, the memcached and MySQL acceleration appliance company.

Click Here to Listen to the September 11, 2009 Frugal Friday Podcast

September 4th, 2009

Frugal Friday: Media Outrageousness, Snow Leopard Woes, Mac Virtualization, VMWorld 2009, EU kiboshes Oracle/Sun, Brocade

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 7:15 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Enterprise Computing, Hardware Infrastructure, Networking, Podcast, Server, Software Infrastructure, VMWare, Virtualization

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Oracle Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Brocade Communications Systems Inc., Media, European Union, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Storage Management, Server Virtualization

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I discuss the new “outrageous” trend in media and blogging, problems with the Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 upgrade, Mac Server virtualization, the European Union temporarily halting the Oracle/Sun Merger, reduced attendance at VMWorld 2009, and talk with Harry Petty, Vice President of Marketing for Brocade, the Ethernet/LAN and SAN switching solutions company.

Click Here to Listen to the September 4, 2009 Frugal Friday Podcast

September 4th, 2009

VMFS-3, How Do I Despise Thee

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 2:09 pm

Categories: Business, Enterprise Computing, Hardware Infrastructure, Linux, Microsoft, Networking, Server, Software Infrastructure, VMWare, Virtualization

Tags: Network, File System, VMware Inc., VMWare ESX, Virtualization, Ip storage, Linux, Hardware, Operating Systems, Software

The VMWare Cluster Locking File System, version 3 (VMFS-3) Is one of the core technologies used in VMWare ESX/vSphere 4 virtual infrastructure environments. Unfortunately, it’s also a completely proprietary black box that makes interoperability nearly impossible.

One of the perils of being a practicing systems integration expert versus someone who strictly writes about or reports on technology is that when it comes to taking care of paying customers versus attending trade shows, my customers come first. So while I would love to attend every industry trade show that would allow me to network with other industry peers and touch base with the companies that I write about, it’s not always possible.

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August 28th, 2009

Frugal Friday: SONY e-book readers, SCO, Snow Leopard, SCALE Computing

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 8:01 pm

Categories: Apple, Enterprise Computing, Hardware Infrastructure, Linux, Networking, Open Source, Podcast, Server, Virtualization

Tags: Sony Corp., SCO Group Inc., Apple Inc., Computing, E-book Reader, E-books, Open Source, Personal Technology, Jason Perlow

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I talk about the new SONY e-book reader launch, Apple’s Snow Leopard Mac OS X Update, The status of the UNIX copyrights and speak with Jeff Ready, CEO of SCALE Computing, which sells commodity hardware for clustered scalable storage using open source software.

Click Here to Listen to the August 28, 2009 Frugal Friday Podcast.

August 23rd, 2009

When you say SPAM, it had better mean canned luncheon meat

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:15 am

Categories: Business, General, Networking, Personal Technology, Web Technology

Tags: Jason Perlow, Spam Spam, Dilusso Pepperoni, Cyberthreats, Spam, E-mail, Security, Spam And Phishing, Online Communications

SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAMMITY SPAM! WONDERFUL SPAM! (Photo by Jason Perlow)

About a week ago I wrote an post about why I felt the United States Postal Service (USPS) needed a complete overhaul on how it handled bulk marketing materials — aka junk mail. In it I referred to junk mail as “Physical SPAM”, to make an analogy to many of the unwanted unsolicited emails that we all receive every day which slips through even the best of electronic filtering systems.

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